A training facility in North Hollywood for manufacturing workers closed its doors this month to make way for the proposed Valley Plaza retail project. The National Tooling and Machining Association facility on Victory Boulevard near Laurel Canyon Boulevard falls into a city of Los Angeles redevelopment district now owned by developer J.H. Snyder Co. The training center ended its last class in mid-August and the association is deciding what to do with its equipment, said Dan Watts, a trustee with NTMA Training Centers of Southern California. The NTMA, however, plans to continue training in the Valley by providing instructors and course material for in-house training at several Valley manufacturers while also negotiating with the North Valley Occupational Center to provide computer-aided manufacturing training, Watts said. Besides being in the way of the Valley Plaza project, the facility’s closure involved other factors, namely not having enough students to keep it going and a decrease in state funding for training. “We were concerned about what to do out there,” Watts said. “We weren’t getting enough entry level students to make it viable. And you can’t keep it open with the retraining students.” The closure reduced the number of NTMA training centers to two from four it had four years ago. A center in Costa Mesa closed about 18 months ago because it couldn’t attract manufacturing students in an area populated with high-tech industry. The manufacturing industry as a whole faces difficulties in attracting a qualified workforce. NTMA Chairman Mike Mittler places the reason on loss of manufacturing jobs and a false perception there is no place for people to go in the industry. “There is still great opportunity but however we still need to attract those people to come into our industry,” Mittler said. Mark Wilkinson, of Prompt Machine Products in Chatsworth, said that while the center’s closing may not have a big effect it does cut off an avenue of education in the manufacturing field. The industry as a whole falls short in educating potential manufacturing workers, said Wilkinson, president of the NTMA chapter in the Valley. “It’s not just everybody else’s fault we’re not getting employees,” Wilkinson said. “It’s the fault of our industry. We don’t get involved enough with what we need.” The association opened the training facility in a 10,000-square foot space about four years ago. Its students were of two types: new hires receiving 16 weeks of instruction funded through the California State Employment Training Panel, and workers upgrading their skills in a 12-week session. To get the state funding, the responsibility to find jobs for the new hires fell to the association. But the state’s contribution to the new hire training was cut several years ago, leading the center to accept students paying with loans, grants and scholarships. The new hire program for the paying students, however, wasn’t all that successful, Watts said, because of a lack of involvement by employers. “It was a little hard getting the support from the community out there,” Watts said. The last classes for paying students ended about three months ago. As the association clears out of the North Hollywood space, the equipment there may end up at NTMA training centers in Norwalk and Ontario.

Alan Comins has helped to build two companies to $14 million in sales and more, but today the former CPA is sitting in the warehouse of his not-quite-two-year-old company projecting about $1 million in revenues by the time the year is out. Comins decided to start over after his and his former partners’ goals began to diverge, making his new company, Premier Carpet, a newcomer even if Comins is not. This time, he has chosen his partners more carefully. “He’s really good on the phone. I’m real strong at blueprint estimating,” said Joe Nye, the other partner of Canoga Park-based Premier Carpet. “Then I hand it off to Alan and he puts it together and puts the pricing to it.” Premier Carpet provides mostly commercial flooring through general contractors, architects and direct to corporate accounts. A small portion of the business also provides flooring directly to homeowners, usually of the luxury variety. Since opening in 2005, the business is due to grow more than two-fold this year, thanks largely to the partners’ former contacts and their focus on pleasing their customers. “We use them because we don’t have to worry about things being redone or anything changing from the point of signing a contract,” said Peter Anastassiou, general manager at Broadway Real Estate, which owns and manages a number of properties including Aon Center, a 62-story high rise in downtown L.A. that Premier recently carpeted. “It’s an industry where service is not the highest quality. So when you find someone that’s willing to be responsive, get you bids in a timely manner, have the bids be accurate and priced right and then follow through and get the job done, you use them.” Comins a CPA by training, started out as CFO of a Glendale flooring company that grew from about $8 million to $20 million in sales before it was sold to a large mill. Troubled partnership After the sale in 2000, he joined up with two other partners to acquire another flooring company, Carpetland. But after about four years, the partners began to disagree. “My goal as a CPA is to find a deal and maybe sell the company. When we realized we weren’t seeing eye-to-eye we didn’t have a sale anymore. We decided it was best to disband what was left and move on,” Comins said. Carpetland had seen revenues grow considerably under Comins and his former partners, expanding to about $14 million in sales from about $5 million when they bought the company. “I was competing with them, and they would either have the contract or be competing against us all the time,” said Nye, who decided to throw in the towel and join up with his Carpetland rivals several years ago. When the owners decided to close Carpetland and go their separate ways, Nye joined up with Comins. “I’ve never found anyone who has the same goals I have, and I never found anyone I could trust,” said Nye, who had worked alone until joining Carpetland. “When I was working at Carpetland, Alan was the only one I liked.” Wary of partnerships, the two worked out a somewhat tentative arrangement, structuring the company to be certain they will avoid any serious financial consequences if they decide to part ways. The two set up a 10,000-square-foot warehouse in Canoga Park where they store sample books, remnants and other materials. And they have invested in a computer system that automates the process of estimating and bidding, making the company both fast and accurate when vying for jobs. Client history Meanwhile, both of the partners have been able to bring past business clients into the company. “I don’t use anyone but him,” said Thad Smith, vice president at KV Mart Co., owners of 22 supermarkets under the names Top Valu Markets, Valu Mart and Valu Plus, who has worked with Nye for years. “He’s a very conscientious person and he looks to make sure the customer is satisfied. If you’re working under a deadline, like a grand opening, he’ll get it done for us. He doesn’t come up with excuses.” The company has picked up jobs at Cedars Sinai, where it has installed flooring for some of the medical suites; Nike’s regional offices in Culver City; Santa Monica Audi and a number of Wells Fargo bank branches, among others. Still, Premier has to compete with a handful of much larger players, and Comins has had to develop a business development strategy using less traditional avenues. Instead of attending meetings of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA), where many of Premier’s competitors get sales leads, Comins prospects business groups like CPA associations and venture capital organizations. “He’s a social butterfly,” said Nye of his partner. The young company still works with general contractors, but Comins hopes to establish more relationships directly with corporations. “There’s probably about five competitors that are in the $15 million to $30 million sales range,” Comins said. “But there’s plenty of work out there for everybody and it’s all about who you know and how good you are at responding to the clientele.” Premier Carpet Year Founded: 2005 Revenues in 2005: $300,000 Revenues in 2006 (projected): $1 million plus Employees in 2005: 4 Employees in 2006: 8 Driving Force: Companies of all kinds are continually expanding or remodeling.

Bankruptcy filings fell to a five year low after a federal law made it tougher to seek protection. Read the story on Bloomberg.

These are the lazy days of late summer. A lot of businesspeople are on vacation. The freeway commute is as nice as it gets all year. Fewer phone calls, so it seems, as things take a break right before everything revs up again after Labor Day. A way to catch our breath a little during a very hot Valley summer. Seems like there’s sort of a lull except in the restaurant robberies that are terrorizing restaurant workers and patrons across the Valley. There has been a rash of robberies hitting mostly non-chain local eateries in the Valley such as the Valley Inn, Barone’s and most recently Ca’ Del Sol. Robbers wearing ski masks charge into the restaurants near closing time, rob the patrons and the restaurant and bar then leave. The robberies kicked into high gear in March after a lull of several months. This summer, they have been of increasing frequency, scaring the daylights out of everybody. Recently, I’ve found that the robberies are on a lot of readers’ minds. Some are asking why we haven’t written anything about these incidents that are affecting local businesses. Here’s the reason: I haven’t felt that we could add anything constructive. The daily newspapers and broadcast media have been reporting on the robberies when they happen. They’ve also reported what police are doing about the situation and the various initiatives by chambers of commerce and other organizations to help the restaurants. Except for reporting on our daily updated Web site, our status as a bi-weekly newspaper leaves us as looking very stale if we simply reported the incidents in our print edition many days after the robberies happen. That leaves us with other options such as in-depth reporting or analysis of the situation. But this is where it gets difficult. We don’t want to reveal what precautions the restaurants are taking to thwart the robbers. And we also don’t want to give the robbers any ideas of what restaurants to hit by quoting some restaurant owners who have not been hit yet but may fit the mold of eateries that the robbers like to invade. We at the Business Journal would certainly hate to be responsible for someone getting hurt. So being terribly creative with in-depth analysis of the situation could be risky. But I’m writing this column because the business community and restaurant patrons need to be aware of what’s going on out there. Not to stop eating out but to just be smart and prepared. As patrons of our neighborhood restaurants, we need to watch their backs. Report anything that might help police about suspicious activities near restaurants. The police suggest that restaurant owners themselves need to do some basic things like hiring security guards and locking doors as closing time nears. One of the theories of why such restaurants are being targeted and banks less so is because banks have put in more sophisticated security systems over the years. Local restaurants haven’t. So better security seems to be the key. I’m confident the police will catch these guys. It’s a big Valley. They can’t be everywhere at all times. But the LAPD is as sophisticated as they come. They’ve undertaken an organized informational campaign for the business community to make them aware of what they can do to help thwart these robberies. Let’s try to cooperate. As a newspaper and a voice for the Valley business community, we will publish articles about the robberies when we feel we have something constructive to contribute. Business Journal Editor Jason Schaff can be reached at (818) 316-3125 or at [email protected]

The sporting goods chain Sport Chalet Inc. has been ranked as the most desired retailer in the 2006 Retail Demand Today Report issued by Kanbay Research Institute. The firm, based in Virginia, looked at 104 retailers in 16 retail categories and conducted more than 6,600 web interviews with consumers. La Ca & #324;ada-based Sport Chalet was ranked No. 1 by consumers and received the top retailer in sporting goods, according to the study. Founded in 1959, Sport Chalet has more than 40 stores in the southwest.

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.