They couldn’t be more different. Yet within the past month, both have run afoul of norms of good behavior. One is a wealthy and successful producer and director; the other a respected civil rights leader. One is the star of “Mad Max,” “Gallipoli,” “Lethal Weapon,” and “Braveheart;” the other a former mayor of Atlanta, U.S. Congressman, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. One brought us “The Passion of the Christ;” the other brought the Olympic Games to Atlanta. And they have both brought us face to face with the sore that has festered and contaminated our country since the framers of the Constitution argued whether women should vote and black people should be free and said “no” to both. Their names are Mel Columcille Gerard Gibson and Andrew Jackson Young, Jr. On July 28, Gibson was arrested for driving in excess of 85 miles an hour with a blood-alcohol level of 0.12 percent, and proceeded to spew anti-Semitic venom and comments derogatory to women, to put it charitably. On August 17, Young offered the following diatribe during an interview with the West’s largest African American newspaper, the Los Angeles Sentinel. When asked if he was concerned that his (now former) employer, Wal-Mart, was forcing mom-and-pop retailers out of business, he said: ” those are the people who have been overcharging us, selling us stale bread and bad meat and wilted vegetables. And they sold out and moved to Florida. I think they’ve ripped off our communities enough. First it was Jews, then it was Koreans and now it’s Arabs.” In the memorable lead-in to an old-time radio program, the announcer asked in a sonorous tone: “Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of man? The Shadow knows.” We don’t know what evil lurks in the hearts of Mel Gibson and Andrew Young, but we do know what came out of their mouths fear, anger, and hatred of people different than they are. All the carefully-crafted apologies don’t erase the words or the revealing thought processes of those who spoke them. The international furor over their intemperate-at-best remarks forces us to look at our own community. Let us not forget that the Rodney King tragedy occurred in the San Fernando Valley, that approximately 3,200 Japanese Americans were relocated from the Valley to detention camps during World War II, and that the now-shopworn phrase “white flight” referred to what one blogger on Black N LA referred to as “the lily-white Valley.” But it’s a different world now. It is difficult to write about race relations in our society without being branded either a racist on one hand, or a victim of political correctness on the other. But whether one’s politics tilt to the left or the right, there is no denying that the San Fernando Valley has become a truly multicultural, multiethnic region. According to the most recent San Fernando Valley Economic Report prepared by CSUN’s College of Business and Economics, in 2004 the San Fernando Valley was composed of 62.69 percent Latinos; 22.99 percent non-Latino Whites; 8.85 percent Asian, Pacific Islanders or Filipinos; 4.79 percent African Americans, and a variety of smaller ethnicities. While the Valley is home to people whose ancestors came not only from Europe, but Asia, Africa, Central and South America, but every other corner of the globe, our business leadership does not reflect that ethnic and cultural diversity. While organizations such as VICA, the Economic Alliance, several chambers of commerce, and others, have recognized the advantages of more diverse boards, the recognition still far outweighs the achievement. To the leaders of those organizations: try harder. To those who would like to be leaders in those organizations: tell them so. My friend Marc Tapper shared a relevant story: One night an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on within us all. He said, “My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside each of us. One wolf is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, greed, resentment, inferiority, lies, and superiority. The other wolf is Good. It is peace, hope, love, humility, kindness, benevolence, tolerance, generosity, truth, and compassion.” The young boy thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: “Which wolf wins?” The elderly Cherokee replied simply: “The one you feed.” Two final thoughts: Loyola University awarded Mel Gibson an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters in 2003. They should ask for it back; he doesn’t strike most of us as “humane” at all. Similarly, President Carter awarded Andrew Young the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1981. Twenty-five years later he seems to have forgotten that freedom in this country includes Jews, Koreans, and Arabs. “By swallowing evil words unsaid, no one has ever harmed his stomach.” Sir Winston Churchill Martin Cooper is Chairman of Cooper Beavers, Inc., marketing and communications. He is the Immediate Past Chairman of VICA, Past President of the Public Relations Society of America-Los Angeles Chapter and of the Encino Chamber of Commerce, and is Vice President of the Los Angeles Quality and Productivity Commission. He can be reached at [email protected] .

A veteran financial analyst and one of its top producers has left UBS AG for Smith Barney in Woodland Hills. Robert G. Jacobs, a 12-year veteran of UBS, came on board at SB as senior vice president, wealth management and a member of the director’s council, which represents the top producers in the company, taking the bulk of his UBS accounts with him. In the past year at UBS, Jacobs produced about $2.6 million in commissions and fees, managing more than $400 million in client assets. Jacobs is joined by Philip Byrne, his team member at UBS who had been at the brokerage for about four years. Smith Barney, a unit of Citigroup Global Markets Inc., employs about 40 investment advisors at its Warner Center offices, a number that has remained relatively unchanged for many years, said Robert J. East, first vice president and wealth management branch manager for Smith Barney. “We brought over four recruits last year and a couple the year before,” East said. Jacobs, who began his career at what was then Shearson/Lehman as a trainer, also worked for now-defunct Drexel Burnham Lambert and Prudential Securities, which has since merged with Wachovia. He was with Paine Webber when that firm merged with Zurich-based UBS in 2001. At the time, UBS had plans to hire some 10,000 client advisors in the U.S., but has since backed off of those plans, according to published reports. Jacobs said one of the things that attracted him to the company was that, Citigroup has maintained the Smith Barney brand, which dates back to the 19th century, since it acquired the company in the late 1990s. UBS has re-branded the Paine Webber name since it acquired the company. The market for financial advisors has been changing as baby boomers age. The first of the generation, which numbers close to 80 million in America, hits 60 this year, putting added emphasis on wealth management, wealth transfer and retirement planning. At the same time, the recent stock market performance has changed the way many investors approach the market. “A lot of people went along in the late 1990s and didn’t give a lot of time to their investments,” said Jacobs. “When it stopped working, a lot of people realized it was time to start looking at their investments again.” Smith Barney culls its client base from CPA firms and other direct referrals. Jacobs, who said his performance puts him in the top 1 percent of investment advisors, said that about 90 percent of his clients from UBS have joined him in his new venture, and he expects more to do so in coming months.

The board of directors of Semtech, Corp. appointed Rockell N. Hankin as its new chairman of the board, succeeding John D. Poe, the company announced Monday. Poe stepped down as chairman of the Camarillo-based semiconductor supplier amid an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into the company’s stock option practices. Poe told the board he is taking a leave of absence from the board to avoid any appearance of a conflict of interest during the investigation, the company said. Hankin has been a Semtech director since 1988 and board vice chairman since 1998. He serves on the company’s audit and nominating committees. Semtech President and CEO Mohan R. Maheswaran said Hankin’s leadership will help in crafting and executing the company’s future strategy. “He has a broad range of business experience and is without question extremely well versed in corporate governance,” Maheswaran said in a written statement.

Mission Valley Bank re-opened for business on Aug. 23 following a takeover robbery the prior day. The robbery, by three armed men dressed in security guard uniforms, occurred around 12:40 in the afternoon. The bandits escaped in an SUV, later found abandoned, with an undisclosed sum. Customers as well as employees were present at the time, and no one was injured. Marianne Cederlind, senior vice president at Sun Valley-based Mission Valley Bank, said the robbers occupied the bank for a short time. The bank closed for business for the rest of the day to allow police and the FBI to investigate. FBI officials said they are investigating a possible connection to about 12 takeover robberies that have occurred in Los Angeles County since April.

The official title Allan Wells carried for this year’s Emmy Awards broadcast was screens technical director but he jokes that it could just as well have been Executive in Charge of the Space Bar. Wells came about that role by being in charge of the computer controlling the multiple video screens in use during the 58th annual awards show at the Shrine Auditorium on Aug. 27. “If all goes well, I’ll be hitting the space bar to play the next cue,” Wells said before the broadcast. A veteran of many major awards shows, Wells and two partners created the process now in place for transitioning between images played on the multiple screens now regularly used during Emmy, Oscar, Grammy and Tony broadcasts. His Universal City-based company Fontastics provides the hardware while his latest venture Mighty Dots (or MDots, as “they are twisting me to have it known as,” Wells said) produces graphic designs seen during the shows. The system Wells employs more easily and efficiently accommodates the multiple screens used during awards shows and other entertainment type programming. Previously, a show producer needed a second mobile unit for the equipment now handled by one computer. But Wells said that when the system was first used for the 2000 Academy Awards broadcast, he didn’t think that using multiple screens would last. For that show he rented the necessary equipment powered by software written by partner Bruce Bermester. “We did the show and that was it,” Wells said. Three months later when the Latin Grammy show rolled around, he repeated the process when a second mobile unit was not available for the broadcast. With Bermester’s software and the hardware designed by partner Andrew Sabol, the system that Wells employs is now the standard in the industry. Work on this year’s Emmy show began in June, with Wells collaborating with the production designer to come up with a concept that shows off and utilizes the set. On stage at the Shrine are two cylindrical towers with a pattern creating the concept of “Emmy City,” Wells said. When coming up with the concept and graphics, is it the live audience or the one at home who’s being considered? Both, Wells said, although it depends on the producer of the show. Some are very aware of the live audience, Wells said. “The producer of the Emmy’s (Ken Ehrlich) is one of those,” Wells said. “There are ways you can create a package that is different to the people in the audience than to the people seeing it at home.” Warner Outreach Responding to a survey of Burbank residents, Warner Bros. Studios has taken steps to improve its communications, studio accessibility and opportunities for young people to find jobs in the entertainment industry. While the studio has always had good relations with its host city and its residents, the survey and the programs developed in response to it provide a stepped up dialogue focusing on specific issues, said Lisa Rawlins, senior vice president of studio and production affairs. With the studio’s 80th anniversary approaching next year, Warner Bros. figured that would be a good time to gauge what residents think of the studio and its value to the city, Rawlins said. Three areas of interest emerged from the survey: better communication from the studio, accessibility to the studio, and maintaining quality jobs while creating opportunities for young people. In response to the third item, the studio created the Burbank Youth Enrichment Program and awarded two scholarships and summer internships to graduating high school seniors and a third summer internship to a third senior. By having the students return every summer, a relationship is built and it’s the studio’s goal to have found a fit for the students in the company by the time they graduate. “It’s not just about offering the scholarships; it’s not just about patting youth on the back and saying good job,” Rawlins said. “It’s a way of saying let’s bring you into our company.” To better communications, the studio mailed out in July to all Burbank households a four-page color newsletter. The accessibility issue resulted in a mid-August screening of the movie “The Ant Bully” at the Starlight Bowl and an invitation to residents living closest to the studio to visit the facilities on a Saturday in September and October. The residents are taken on a 90-minute tour and receive lunch afterward, Rawlins said. “It gives them a better understanding of the kinds of shows we’re producing and the business of the backlot,” Rawlins said. Size Matters On the third floor of a Sherman Oaks office building, the studios of GoTV create news, music, sports and comedy programming for viewing on mobile devices. Now the company waits for viewers to catch up to them. Executive Vice President Dan Tibbets said that 2007 will be the year as more of the American public uses cell phones with video capabilities. “This is still a nascent business,” Tibbets said, seated in a conference room of GoTV’s offices. Nascent or not, GoTV is staking its claim at a time when the entertainment and telecommunications industries merge to give immediate and personalized programming to ever growing numbers of viewers. The viewers GoTV targets fall into the 16 to 24 year old age range; high school and college students, especially males, wanting to catch up with news, watch a music video or get a quick laugh from an up-and-coming comedian in between classes or while waiting in line for a coffee. In June, GoTV re-launched its comedy network under the eye of Chris Greenleaf, a veteran of traditional broadcast television. To create the original content made at the GoTV studios, certain parameters are followed like shooting a performer from the chest up, no jerky camera movements and a stripped down style of comedy moving from punchline to punchline to punchline. “There is no time for the set up,” Greenleaf said. Tibbets and Greenleaf speak enthusiastically of GoTV’s future, in terms of both the expected growth in viewership and in working with creators who get to have their content available immediately and getting quick feedback. Tibbets takes his expertise on mobile content to a panel choosing the Jury Prize winner this October in the Third Screen Film Festival sponsored by Columbia College Chicago and Nano TV. Tibbets became a judge through his association with Jon Katzman, director of Columbia’s Semester in L.A. program and of the film festival. Entries can be viewed on Nano-equipped cell phones, mobile devices, and online. “I will be fascinated to see how filmmakers adjust to the medium,” Tibbets said.

In approving a business improvement district for the Magnolia Park neighborhood in Burbank, property owners and city officials say they want to move toward a vision of a commercial district attractive to both residents and visitors. In balloting counted at the Aug. 8 City Council meeting, owners of more than 50 percent of the property approved of the district in an area centered at Magnolia Boulevard and Hollywood Way. An assessment paid by the property owners will raise $250,000 a year for improvements and marketing the area. Rather than replicate the business and entertainment found in downtown Burbank, the district will maintain and build on the “charming, Melrose-y feel” of the neighborhood, said Gail Stewart, of the city’s community redevelopment department. “The residents love the area and want to walk to the stores and see what’s going on,” Stewart said. The district’s boundaries are Chandler Boulevard to the north; Clark Avenue to the south; Buena Vista Street to the east; and the city limits to the west. The business improvement district funds recommendations in a community action plan drawn up and adopted by the city in 2004 following a survey and a series of meetings with property and business owners and residents. The plan calls for the creation of 150 newly created or shared parking spaces; maintenance and landscaping programs; promoting the area through events; and recruitment efforts to attract and retain businesses. An 11-member board of directors will oversee the district. It is made up of property owners, business owners, residents, and city representatives. To address parking needs, the city approached the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power about using their land, Stewart said. Larry Ross, owner of Blast From the Past, a collectibles store on Hollywood Way, welcomes the planned improvements as the Magnolia Park area is “ripe” for taking off. “The stores are getting nicer and there are a lot of awesome little antique shops,” Ross said. “A lot of the shops around there are stepping things up so they look nice on a regular basis.” Plus, the addition of the Porto’s Bakery and Caf & #233; in the heart of the neighborhood added respectability, Ross said. Patty Harwood, who owns a building in the 3700 block of Magnolia, also praised Porto’s arrival as a boost in the arm for the neighborhood. “I see a lot o people walking around here now, which I didn’t see five years ago,” Harwood said.

The City of Glendale holds a study session to review community input on its long range plan. 10 a.m. City Council Chambers, City Hall 613 E. Broadway, Glendale (818) 548-4844

The L.A. City Council is expected to consider a motion in September to keep funds gathered through the city’s tax on hotel beds in the Valley and direct them to the San Fernando Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau. The fee is charged to hotel guests and helps fund LA Inc., the city’s tourism and convention bureau. The agency, based in downtown L.A., received $7.7 million from the city in 2004-2005, 17 percent of which came through the Valley’s bed taxes, according to the office of City Councilwoman Wendy Greuel, who introduced the motion. Greuel, whose Second District stretches from Van Nuys to Sunland, thinks LA Inc. isn’t representing the Valley as much as other areas of the city. She thinks the Valley is overlooked compared to Hollywood and downtown, even though Universal Studios Hollywood and dozens of Valley hotels help drive the city’s tourism industry. “There are a lot of other ways the convention and visitors bureau supports (other) areas of the city,” she said. “There has not been as much focus on the San Fernando Valley.” She pointed to the high occupancy rate for rooms in the San Fernando Valley, which in June came in at 83.9 percent, ahead of Hollywood, Santa Monica, the South Bay and downtown, according to the hotel tracking firm PKF Consulting. “My intent is to continue to remind people that the San Fernando Valley is part of the city. We need to market it,” she said. Under the terms of her motion, the Valley’s portions of the hotel bed tax would be redirected to the Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau, which would then market the area independently of downtown, Hollywood, South Bay and West Side. The Valley organization has been operated since 1997 by the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley and runs a website, manages events and organizes promotions, all with a budget of just $80,000. Economic Alliance President and CEO Bruce Ackerman said the organization has lots of plans but doesn’t have the money to implement it. “It’s a matter of funding,” said Ackerman. He would like to use the money to implement more programs to reach out-of-towners and educate visitors about what the Valley has to offer. Ackerman said he would also like to add more staff to the organization, which he has managed since David Iwata stepped down in April. In the end, he thinks the Valley bureau is in a much better place to market the Valley instead of letting LA Inc. handle it. “We have a better feel for what we need here,” he said. Plus, it’s the Valley’s money to start with, he said. “We’re not asking for money that is allocated anywhere else,” he said. That type of thinking is one reason LA Inc. thinks the City Council will be less than thrilled to pass Greuel’s motion: It would open the possibility that every region in the city could have its own, independent tourism bureau. “It sets a dangerous precedent,” said Chris Heywood, a spokesman for LA Inc. Heywood noted that LA Inc. has been working with the Economic Alliance to make sure the Valley is represented as strongly as other areas of the region. The two groups came together to work on a 24-page magazine highlighting the Valley set for release in September and LA Inc. has increased its promotions of the Valley, especially Ventura Boulevard, added more Valley-specific staff and expanded marketing efforts. This summer, the group hosted a phone blitz to market area hotels to national conventioneers. He said the Greuel motion would stifle all of that work and hurt the momentum LA Inc. has built in other areas of the city. “If you did it for the Valley, you’d probably have to do it for West L.A., San Pedro, Hollywood,” he said. “That would compromise the city’s ability to promote itself.”

The Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council hosts a forum for candidates running for council seats. 6:30 p.m. Sherman Oaks Elementary School Library 14755 Greenleaf Street, Sherman Oaks (818) 503-2399 shermanoaksnc.org

Transformed Robinsons-May stores will make their official debut as Macy’s units on Sept. 9 as parent Federated Department Stores rolls out a series of special events to mark the transition. The conversion will be marked by an electronic gift card giveaway, a charity shopping event and a 23-city tour of the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, among others. For the Macy’s West division, headquartered in San Francisco, there will also be some ribbon cutting events, receptions and fireworks events at various stores. Last year Federated completed the acquisition of May Department Store Co., which included Robinsons-May and began plans to convert the Robinsons-May stores it did not divest to Macy’s units. Following the conversion, the Macy’s chain will include about 800 stores in 45 states.