When Forth & Towne, a new retail concept from Gap Inc., moves into Los Angeles this fall, it will locate two of its first three L.A. stores in the San Fernando Valley. It’s no coincidence. The new chain, which opened its first location in a New York suburb just short of a year ago, is catering to what it sees as an untapped market of women who may have left their youth behind, but not their fashion sense. Calling the area “a fast growing suburb,” executives at the new retail chain noted that the area is well suited for their new store concept. “Certainly we want to make our shopping destinations convenient for women, and we think our concept will play very well as a community destination,” said Kimberley Grayson, senior vice president of marketing for Forth & Towne. In September, the first L.A.-area stores will open at The Oaks mall in Thousand Oaks and at Westfield’s Century City center. In October, the third store will open at Westfield Topanga in Canoga Park. The stores, which will carry a range of merchandise from casual to career wear, cater to those 35 and older, but executives say Forth & Towne will address a mindset more than an age. “We thought there was an opportunity to serve women who are grown up but remain connected to fashion,” said Grayson. “We felt that customer wasn’t being served well.” Forth & Towne will carry sizes from 2 to 20 at prices that Grayson said will be “affordable to a very, very large range of women.” The stores will also feature style consultants and expanded fitting areas. Forth & Towne in all will open about 10 stores in 2006 in markets including Atlanta, Houston, Northern California and Seattle. New Store for Mitchell Litt After more than 30 years in the same Sherman Oaks location, Mitchell Litt Antiques and Home Furnishings is opening a second store. The family-owned business will open a warehouse store in Encino in August to accommodate its more recent expansion into more moderately-priced furnishings. “We used to be 100 percent antiques,” said Kevin Litt, the son of the founders, Mitchell and Sharon Litt. “Now we have a blend of new and old, but everything carries a similar feel in terms of being traditionally-based.” Mitchell Litt was a criminal defense attorney and his wife, Sharon, a teacher, when they made their first buying trip to Scotland to open the store 32-years ago. Since then, the store has grown to include antiques from Asia as well as Europe and reproductions sourced from 35 different countries. As it became harder to find enough antique merchandise to fill up the 25,000-square-foot store in Sherman Oaks, the Litts began adding newly manufactured pieces to their assortment, which now ranges from designer and decorator pieces to moderately priced furnishings and accessories. Now the Sherman Oaks store cannot accommodate all of its wares. “Because we bring everything in on a direct basis, we have to buy a lot,” said Litt. “There’s not enough floor space to show everything we wanted to show. The warehouse will be a continuation of what’s on our floor here in Sherman Oaks, in addition to value-priced items.” The warehouse will also give the company the opportunity to feature suites of furnishings, say for the bedroom or dining room, set up as they would be in the home. Sherman Oaks Boutiques For a number of years now, Studio City has been the location of choice for upscale boutique owners who want to locate outside shopping malls. But that may be changing. In recent months, two such apparel boutiques have opened in Sherman Oaks, both hoping to attract local customers seeking merchandise that can’t be found in department stores or shopping malls. The latest, Ruthie, opened only a month ago on Van Nuys Boulevard, just north of Ventura. Founded by veteran retailer Michael Weintraub, who also owns Dressed Up in Tarzana, an off-price evening wear store, Ruthie is focused on the shopper 30 to 50 years old, who is seeking sophisticated, often one-of-a-kind items, Weintraub said. “We decided it was time to take a stab at a more daytime customer and a more Westside, Studio City customer,” Weintraub said. “We wanted to diversify.” The store’s assortment is about 40 percent evening wear and 60 percent day-time wear. Tops can run from $25 to $150, with the majority of the items in the $50 to $100-range. Evening dresses average between $300 and $400. “I have no problem going to a very expensive line and buying one style,” said Weintraub who does most of the buying for the shop in New York. “That’s how you put together a compelling story.” Scandalo L.A. Boutique, which opened on Ventura Boulevard in March, is primarily stocked from manufacturers in Milan and from young designers, including the store’s co-owner Alexandra Damiano, who got the idea for the shop while attending fashion school in Milan. Sonia Orlenko, Damiano’s mother, said the store is designed to appeal less to an age group than to someone who wants unique items and hand-crafted accessories. “It’s for anybody who wants to feel unique,” Orlenko said. “We had customers buying for bat mitzvahs. They know the girls are going to be the only ones wearing that type of skirt.”

The Kosmont-Rose Institute Cost of Doing Business Survey just released for 2006 shows that some of the neighboring cities to Los Angeles have gotten pretty pricey for businesses, largely because of energy and other utility tax rates and property taxes. The survey also found that the recent business tax reform measures in the city of Los Angeles did little to impact the cost of doing business in that city. According to the Kosmont-Rose survey, Los Angeles ranks 16th in the nation in the expense of doing business. Among greater Valley cities, Burbank was second to Los Angeles in costliness, followed by Calabasas, Santa Clarita, Thousand Oaks, Glendale, Agoura Hills and Westlake Village. Westlake Village, which has no business taxes or fees whatsoever, ranks lowest within the greater San Fernando Valley for cost of doing business, according to the Kosmont-Rose Survey, followed by Agoura Hills, which imposes a flat rate, minimal fee on businesses and Glendale, which also has no taxes or fees, but where the property taxes are higher than in Agoura Hills. Thousand Oaks, which does charge gross receipts taxes, ranked just behind Glendale, primarily because the city charges no utility taxes. Santa Clarita, although it also has no business taxes or fees or utility taxes, still ranked fourth most expensive among greater Valley cities because of its sales and property taxes. Calabasas, which the Kosmont-Rose survey ranked with $$$$, landed just behind Burbank and Glendale among greater Valley cities because of its utility user tax rates, property taxes and sales tax rates, although the city charges no business tax. Burbank with utility tax rates higher than Calabasas, ranked as the second most expensive among Valley cities. Calling the recent business tax reform in Los Angeles “cosmetic,” the Kosmont-Rose survey said it did little to improve the city’s overall cost rating.

It’s been hard to miss the tug of war that’s been going on between the Fed as it tries to slow the rate of inflation, and the Street, which is worried about the consequences of higher interest rates for business growth. But closer to home, another tug of war has been underway in the business community whether or not to pass along rising costs in price increases. Whether it is the cost of making goods, packaging them or transporting them, costs have crept up for many businesses over the past year, largely as a result of higher energy and oil prices. After holding out for some months, some are now moving to raise their own prices. Others, worried about global competition, are still hoping to hold the line. But the inflationary pressures that nearly all business have felt in the last 12 months are not likely to go away anytime soon, experts say. “Inflationary pressures are continuing and they probably will rise,” said Dan Blake, economics professor at California State University Northridge and director of the San Fernando Valley Economic Research Center. “Grocery stores have to deliver the goods, and the heating and air conditioning guy has to come out to your house, and it starts putting pressure on when you’re paying 50 percent more than you used to. So the business people seeing that are starting to pass on those costs, and that’s going to cause this inflationary pressure to rise.” In a survey of small business owners conducted by SurePayroll in June, two-thirds of respondents said they thought inflation would negatively impact their business in 2006. The Consumer Price Index, a major indicator of inflationary trends, has been moving upward for some time. By last month, the index adjusted for urban areas had risen to 4.2 percent, nearly double the year-ago figure of 2.8 percent nationally. But things are far more dramatic in Los Angeles, where the Urban CPI registered at 5.4 percent in May, compared to 4.2 percent for the year earlier period, according to the SFVERC data. Culprits like gas and housing take a lot of the responsibility for those hikes. But the issues they raise go well beyond whether consumers will have enough disposable income left over when they finish paying for gas at current prices. “We have our heaters that are generated by electricity, and our booths are generated by electricity,” said Chris Bement, president and CEO of Sherman Oaks-based Earl Scheib Co., referring to the work stations at the company’s 170 collision repair shops. “But our bigger cost increase is petroleum-based product. Whether it’s polyurethane or the actual resin, we figure that since January, it’s probably gone up around 12 percent to 13 percent.” So far at least, Earl Scheib has no plans to raise its prices, although Bement said that the company will discontinue some of the discount programs it has run in the past. At Remo in Santa Clarita, prices are slated to increase, and officials note that the move is probably overdue. “Inflation’s already bitten us,” said Doug Sink, CFO for the drum manufacturer. “Our raw materials are petroleum based. DuPont has increased our prices three or four times since last fall. Recycled aluminum, that’s gone up. You’re seeing surcharges on deliveries. We’re doing a price increase August 1. We can’t subsidize our customers any more than our suppliers can subsidize us. That’s the spiraling effect of inflation, so I think it’s very real and it’s here now.” With oil prices rising above $72 a barrel as of last week, and demand increasing from China, it is not likely that the price increases for petroleum and other oil-based products will abate anytime soon. But when the Fed met and hiked interest rates another 25 basis points last week, it was worried about more than the price of gas. Some price increases haven’t really shown up yet in the statistics. Among the big question marks are what will happen to home prices and home buying, and whether wages will begin creeping up. “The Fed’s big scare is that firms and individual workers will say prices keep going up so I need my wages to go up,” said Ryan Ratcliff, economist at University of California at Los Angeles Anderson Forecast. “The firm says I have a higher wage bill, I have to raise prices.” The Fed hopes that by raising interest rates, it can slow down economic growth and keep the spiral in check, but, especially in California, wage pressure is coming from forces that have little to do with inflation. With unemployment levels so low, economists say that wages are likely to rise by virtue of market forces alone. “I don’t think the inflation scenario is going to change through the rest of the year,” said Ratcliff. “The Fed isn’t going to catch a break that inflation is going to go away.” Businesses are not likely to catch any breaks anytime soon either, and indeed things could get worse. With sales strong at many Valley companies, the price increases have not yet had an overall effect on business, even though profit margins have grown thinner. “Things are okay,” said James L. Robinson, president and CEO of The Hip Hop Beverage Co. in Pacoima. “But three-quarters of our business is shipping and receiving, and so that’s very much affecting the bottom line.” But as the economy slows, whether due to the Fed’s efforts or the housing market, the combination of slower sales and higher costs will likely take a bigger bite out of these businesses. “We believe it is manageable because from a business standpoint this is a good year on the revenue side,” said Rick Pocrass, CEO at Chocolates a la Carte Inc. in Valencia. “But it is a challenge to make our profit objectives. If we started on the recessionary side, and you threw this on top of it, the issues would be much greater.”

By CHRIS COATES Staff Reporter Larry Mankin, president and CEO of the Santa Clarita Valley Chamber of Commerce, was still in shock last week that Six Flags was considering selling Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor in Valencia. For the past 30 years, the 250-acre park has been a cash cow for the Santa Clarita Valley. Losing it, and the thousands of jobs and throngs of thrill-seekers it brings in, would not be good for the area, Mankin said. “It is one of the largest employers in the community,” he said. “It will touch a lot of people in a very negative way.” The 35-year-old Valencia theme park is one of six sites that New York-based Six Flags Inc. is considering shopping to interested buyers leaving open the possibility the park could be dismantled and revert to residential uses. The offering is part of a move by Six Flags to rebrand itself as a family-focused chain. In an investor call, Six Flags CEO Mark Shapiro said that Magic Mountain’s current makeup of 17 roller coasters including the 170-foot Tatsu that opened in May and a clientele of mostly coaster enthusiasts does not fit with the company’s new mission. “(Magic Mountain) has been successful because it has been marketed as a thrill park,” he said, adding that attendance has been solid this year. Still, Six Flags, at $2 billion in the red, could possibly benefit more from divesting the property while focusing on the core performers, he said. Wendy Goldberg, a Six Flags spokeswoman, said the company does not disclose the value of its holdings, but Shapiro acknowledged that the land could bring in significant offers. “There’s a perception they sit on valuable land,” he said. Goldberg said the company hasn’t made a decision about closing and there is no timeline. That indecision, however, hasn’t helped stem concerns especially among those who count on the park as a source of income. “It would be a huge loss for this valley if Six Flags were to leave,” said Gail Ortiz, a spokeswoman for the city of Santa Clarita. Gas stations, tourist shops, hotels and restaurants would be dealt a blow, she said. The countless suppliers that help keep the park running would also lose a significant client, Mankin added. “It takes a lot of towels and uniforms and cooking equipment,” he said. County taxes would also be affected and Six Flags is a major customer of utilities, Ortiz said. All of that would be lost if the property goes residential, she said. Plus, there is a question as to whether the area needs more residential housing, Mankin said. He cited estimates that show more than 60,000 units are already in the pipeline. “When you look at the current state of affairs, you got to wonder at the wisdom of a business plan like that,” he said. Back to the families Ironically, the Magic Mountain site was originally envisioned as a residential development by its original owner, the Newhall Land and Farming Co. In a bid to attract residents, the company in the 1960s decided to partner with Sea World Inc. to create a theme park on the property. The company sold the park in 1979 to Six Flags, a chain founded by a Texas oil barren, Angus Wynne. In the 1960s, Wynne created his first park, Six Flags Over Texas, outside Dallas as a regional attraction stocked with family-friendly fare and wholesome entertainment. It was an immediate success and Wayne used the formula again and again as he purchased new parks. Over time, the company amassed 30 parks across North America and shifted to thrill rides and roller coasters. That blueprint proved initially successful. But Shapiro said that Six Flags has hurt the brand image in recent years by focusing on increasingly flashy rides. The company is $2.1 billion in debt; attendance is down 1.3 million visitors companywide this year. “What we couldn’t realize is just how many families have literally given up on Six Flags,” he said. To stem the losses, Six Flags has been evaluating non-core assets, eliminating parks in Texas, Sacramento and Oklahoma City while selling portions of properties in Illinois and Missouri. The latest move has the company also possibly shopping Denver, Buffalo, Seattle, Concord, Calif., and Houston. With the Magic Mountain asset, Shapiro said that they have not ruled out adding more family elements to balance out the facility. But before investing more cash, “I think we have to at least have some conversations with those that have expressed interest,” he said. A new owner could either continue to operate the facility as a theme park; dismantle and sell attractions; or demolish the park and reuse the land. Whatever path Shapiro takes, Ortiz of Santa Clarita said she would welcome Six Flags to meet with Santa Clarita officials before a decision is made. “We’d certainly be interested in talking with them,” she said. “We would hope they make a stop at city hall before they left town.”

Homeowners looking for a carpet can go to a carpet showroom and those in the market for a new bathroom or kitchen can go to a design showroom. So it was pretty clear to Hector Galvan that those who supply masonry and stone for yards and patios were missing the boat there were virtually no showrooms for anyone who wants to see how a finished back yard might look. So after about a year of planning and another six months of building, Galvan, the president of Prime Building Supplies, opened just such an establishment in North Hollywood last month. About 500 products are on display in the 5,000-square-foot building, 147 of them, installed and neatly numbered on the floor, show exactly how natural stone or beach pebbles, for instance, might look on a patio or walkway. The walls are lined with synthetic stone used for home facades. There is a fireplace, a fountain, a barbecue and even a pizza oven decked out to show homeowners how their own space be designed, and Galvan has added homey touches, like ceramic parrots that hang from the ceiling. “When people come in they can touch and feel and see how it’s going to look,” Galvan said. Galvan, who bought the building about a year ago for $1.1 million and gutted and renovated it from top to bottom since then, had been waiting for just such an opportunity for some time. He had been selling the stone and masonry used in landscape architecture and home design from his two building supply yards in Oxnard and North Hollywood, but the space just wasn’t conducive to higher-end products or, for that matter, to a lot of the decision-makers in the sale. “You used to go to a masonry supplies yard and you’d be walking around this dirty, hot, dusty yard with your clients with heavy equipment rolling by and that can be a real turnoff,” said John Tikotsky, owner of Tikotsky & Associates Landscape Architects in West L.A.and president of the Southern California chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects who assisted Galvan with the design of the showroom. “Here we have a very comfortable environment with all these great materials to choose from.” Plasma screens The showroom, which has a Starbucks coffee machine and plasma screens that play videos from many of the vendors represented, gives customers and designers the opportunity to leisurely browse through the offerings. “It shows you ways that you can take material and use it in ways that you might not have thought of,” Tikotsky said. “The other thing is he brought in quality local craftsmen to build different types of amenities that designers and homeowners alike can be inspired by and integrate into the overall design.” Galvan, who said sales have increased 25 percent in the month or so since the showroom opened, noted that walk-through traffic has also picked up considerably. But the showroom is about more than numbers. It affords Prime some important competitive advantages as well. For one thing, high-end suppliers, who once shunned an account like Prime because they did not think the building supplies yard would show off their products in the best light, now are anxious for Prime to carry their wares. “What’s nice is the vendors are fighting for wall space,” Galvan said. The assortment, including a large number of high-end materials, also helps Prime to compete against retailers like Home Depot and Lowe’s, who have been elbowing out independent retailers. With his new showroom, Galvan can offer products to more affluent customers that are not carried at the big box retailers. “We’re never going to be a Home Depot or Lowe’s,” said Galvan. “But this was to maneuver around them.” An average house may have tile or brick for $2 a square foot, the type that is commonly sold at the big box stores. But at Prime’s stone showroom, many of the items sell in the range of $250 to $750 a square foot, a market that big retail competitors ignore. Different mix With that type of upper-end selection, a sales staff that includes some experienced in installing these products and an environment that invites browsing, Galvan also hopes to shift the mix of his customers. At the yard, about 75 percent of Prime’s masonry and stone customers were contractors, but at the showroom, Galvan hopes to attract a larger percentage of landscape architects and designers. That means that each sale will be bigger. “The average homeowner spends about $2,500,” Galvan said. “With an architect, it can be $30,000.” So far, Galvan’s plan seems to be working. The other day, singer and songwriter Sheryl Crow showed up with her designer to select stone for her Malibu home. And Prime has picked up commercial business from architects building new locations for Kohl’s and Olive Garden. “By year end, 15 percent of our business will be commercial,” Galvan said. But mostly, the store is the culmination of a dream Galvan has nursed since he opened Prime Building Supplies 11 years ago. “This is really my proudest, because it’s really separated me from everybody else,” he said.

By CHRIS COATES Staff Reporter The once-troubled medical staffing firm On Assignment has filed a shelf registration with the SEC in hopes of generating as much as $125 million for future acquisitions. On Assignment President and CEO Peter Dameris said it took the step because of signs that the Calabasas company is steadily recovering and will likely need cash to expand. “We’ve spent the last two years really fixing up this business,” Dameris said. “The next logical step for the company’s growth is to do some acquisitions.” The move comes after six lackluster years for On Assignment. The company last year reported a net loss of $96,000, or $0.00 per share on revenues of $237.9 million, on top of a 2004 net loss of $42.4 million, or $1.68 per share on revenues of $193.6 million. Those numbers were confounding to many, especially since On Assignment seemed like a business that would be in strong demand amid the biotech boom and as hospitals demanded a higher nurse-to-patient ratio. Tobey Sommer, an analyst with SunTrust Robinson Humphrey Capital Markets, has watched the company closely and said On Assignment appeared to be in a freefall. “On Assignment fell further than the other healthcare staffing companies during the market correction in 2002 and ’03,” Sommer said. Three years later, however, that tide may be changing. Last August, the company turned a profit for the first time in eight quarters, tallying a modest income of $146,000 on revenues of $57.4 million. For the first quarter of 2006 that ended March 31, revenues increased 34 percent over year to $66.7 million. With the secondary stock, On Assignment can either sell it all at once or offer chunks of any size any time over a two-year period without penalty or being forced to re-register the security. That allows the issue to be offered as soon as possible, when funds are needed or simply if the market is favorable. While plans are in the early stages, Dameris said he’s looking to diversify by adding more staffing services or perhaps creating entirely new divisions. “We’ve got good growth. We’ve got great margins. But in the scheme of things, we’re still a pretty small public company. You either need to be larger or part of a larger business,” he said. That has observers thinking On Assignment, which has 450 full-time employees and contracts with 1,600 temps, is turning around. A day after On Assignment filed to issue its offering, Harris Nesbitt Senior Research Analyst Jeff Silber wrote to investors that while secondary offerings are sometimes seen as dilutive to current stockholders, the On Assignment move “signals some positives as well, as it shows the company is ready to move beyond the turnaround stage.” On Assignment started in 1985 to provide trained scientists to laboratories and medical facilities. Much like a temp agency, On Assignment would interview and hire the scientists, then contract them out to companies that needed help. The simple model proved successful, and On Assignment grew, eventually going public seven years later. By 1999, it had offices in the U.S., United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Belgium and was a regular feature on Forbes’ Best Small Companies list. That growth continued through the early part of this decade as On Assignment expanded its nursing staffing and lab support division. Then the fickle labor market slowed and On Assignment had a management transition. “The company just started failing,” Dameris recalled. The nursing division, for example, which brought in $35 million in 2002, sunk to $20 million in 2003. “There were some bad decisions made, strategically and operationally, in the face of a pretty difficult labor market,” Dameris said, everything from IT concerns and losing senior employees to poorly-timed acquisitions. “We had industry issues, which everyone suffered from, then we had some very unique company-specific issues.” Dameris was hired on in late 2003 and moved to retool the company, replacing the core management team, creating a cohesive communication system among sales people and axing extra spending such as consultants. “That refocused the company, in particular the sales force on actively selling,” Sommer said. Finally, starting last year, the markets improved and it saw sales growth. At the same time, the company built an internal system to support additional revenue, Dameris said. “We spent a lot of money building a sales recruiting and payroll processing infrastructure,” he said, which puts the company in a good position to expand further. Dameris said that the investments put the company in a good position to look at acquiring other entities, preferably ones that could piggy-back off On Assignment’s existing infrastructure and business practices. He would not elaborate about the types of acquisitions in which he was interested. “We’re seeing some good opportunities. And we were thinking that if the market conditions are good, we would avail ourselves to the market,” he said. Dameris said the filing allows the company to have the money lined up, but does not require On Assignment to issue an offering. “When market conditions are good or when there’s a need for additional equity or capital, you can pull it off the shelf, go on a road show, market your securities and raise capital,” he said. Mark A. Bonenfant, a former senior attorney with the SEC and a lawyer with the firm Buchalter Nemer in Los Angeles, said companies like On Assignment use secondary offerings to bypass the lengthy SEC public stock offering approval process, which can take up to seven months. “This way, you file today, you get a registration statement. Six months later, if you decide you need money, within a few days you could be in the market selling your stock at a favorable price,” he said. “The goal here is to take advantage of the market without having to be penalized by the time constraints that occur when you file with the SEC.” Of course, there are risks. Dameris said that the market was especially bumpy last month. “Our share price has dropped along with the market and a little more,” he said. “And I’m not particularly interested in raising money at these levels.” Still, Dameris is hopeful and said it’s a matter of timing and finding the right opportunity. “If I find something that’s very attractive, it would be sooner than later,” he said. After that, Dameris said he expects the company to continue to grow. “When the labor markets get tight, staffing firms get more calls,” he said. “That’s where we are.” Sommer, the analyst, is likewise optimistic. “It’s currently our top pick,” he said, adding that of the companies he follows, On Assignment has the fastest internal revenue growth for first quarter 2006. “They do have cash on the balance sheet. They don’t see debt. They must see some opportunities.”

In the world of business aviation in the San Fernando Valley, the big players with the big names based at Van Nuys Airport get the attention and the media coverage. And that’s just the way AvJet Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Marc J. Foulkrod likes it. Based at the Bob Hope Airport in Burbank, the aircraft management and sales company goes about its business while maintaining a cloak of secrecy for its clients. Even the company’s newsletter won’t divulge who the company serves. A story in the winter 2005 edition announced that AvJet got an account with the “largest international company in the world” but didn’t give any names. “We like to think we are the low-key company,” Foulkrod said. “We have a lot of name recognition-type clients who prefer that anonymity.” But low-key doesn’t mean no growth. In June, the company had a lease agreement approved by the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority to construct a new hangar to go with the four it already has at the airport that it subleases from Mercury Air Center. The 54,000 square-foot hangar will house a 737 Boeing Business Jet owned by Shangri La Entertainment, a motion picture production company. The new building will also include up to 10,000 square-feet of office space. The hangar, which Foulkrod said would be completed by December 2007, and other improvements are expected to cost a minimum of $5 million. Airport authority Commissioner Charlie Lombardo said the lease is a plus for both the city of Burbank which will realize tax revenue and the airport because of the improvements that AvJet will make for years to come. “That’s a very nice plane, and very quiet,” Lombardo said of the Boeing jet. While the company provides charter service with its jets when not being used by clients, aircraft sales, especially overseas, are a major part of the company’s business plan. AvJet recently did a deal between a Chilean aircraft owner and a Japanese buyer. It has also sold aircraft in Europe and India. Russia, however, seems to be the hot market, which Foulkrod attributes to access to greater wealth by individuals and companies. Foreign businesses purchase airplanes for the same reason that American companies and business people have their own private jets as a means to get away from traveling on commercial jets and dealing with the inherent hassles of security, canceled or delayed flights or traveling at an inconvenient time. “They’d rather pay to have their own than go through all that turmoil,” Foulkrod said. AvJet is among the handful of general aviation players found at Bob Hope, the others being Million Air, Mercury Air Center and TWC Aviation. Being at an airport with a heavy commercial use can have its advantages in the amount of security and the discretion it allows. “When you have a client coming in and they need that level of security I think it’s quite good here,” Foulkrod said. But Million Air’s Harold Lee, who operates fixed base operations at Van Nuys and Bob Hope, said the Burbank airfield has its advantages and disadvantages. Although there is only a short distance between the two airports, passengers coming from the west Valley and west side of Los Angeles prefer not to take the Ventura (101) Freeway to get to Burbank and fly out of Van Nuys instead, Lee said. “You find a lot of the studios and anything to do with the east side (of the Valley and Los Angeles) and downtown have an interest in the Burbank area,” Lee added. Also, general aviation has to compete with commercial aircraft with takeoffs and landings at Bob Hope and depending on the wind direction only one of the two runways can be used for landings, Lee said. But there is less competition at Burbank as the airport administration understands that the flight-based operators need to make money, Lee said.

By VANESSA HERMAN Staff Reporter Woodland Hills-based Health Net Inc.’s government operations division, Health Net Federal Services will give $300,000 to the Armed Services YMCA (ASYMCA) for educational, recreational and support services for military families. The funds will support military families in the TRICARE North Region at Camp LeJeune and Fort Bragg/Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina, Fort Drum in New York, Fort Campbell in Kentucky and Fort Lee and Hampton Roads in Virginia. Armed Services offer support to families who have members who have been deployed. Among the programs offered are hospital assistance, health and wellness services, childcare, spouse support services and computer training classes. Steve Tough, president of Health Net Federal Services, said in a statement: “Health Net is proud and privileged to contribute to an organization like the ASYMCA that share our mission serving military beneficiaries, both active duty retirees , and their families. These six ASYMCA sites located through the TRICARE North Region will touch thousands of our beneficiaries and their families in a meaningful and important way we are honored to be associated with this organization.” Housing Help Calabasas-based Countrywide Financial Corporation pledged $50,000 to non-profit Rebuilding Together in Cleveland to contribute towards hiring professional management for the improvement of low-income housing. Countrywide’s Bob Brown, executive vice president in Ohio, said in a statement: “The volunteer directors and committee members will remain the vital drivers of Rebuilding Together Cleveland’s work, but they face difficulty expanding the program without full-time management. By providing support for the hiring of an executive director to professionally administer fundraising, volunteer recruitment, logistics and other functions on a full-time basis, Countrywide believes Rebuilding Together will be able to fulfill (the) need for these services in Cleveland.” Brown announced the pledge as employees worked on the renovations of the home of a 76-year-old woman, one of 10 projects Rebuilding Together undertook on its 11th annual Rebuilding Day. “The all-volunteer board of directors of Rebuilding Together Cleveland is to be congratulated and thanked for their admirable work in developing and operating this annual program of home repairs for elderly, disabled and low-income homeowners,” Brown said. Countrywide is a national sponsor of the Washington, D.C.-based organization with more than 240 affiliates nationwide. Countrywide employees are set to work on more than 150 company-sponsored home and non-profit center renovations throughout the country. Legal Foundation Scholarships The Valley Community Legal Foundation of the San Fernando Valley Bar Association has awarded $23,000 in scholarships to local students as well as $25,000 in law-related grants to local organizations. Monroe High School graduates shared $6,000 in scholarships. The recipients were presented the award by Judge Michelle Rosenblatt. Students awarded were Lizeth Castillo, Justin De Peralta, Sophie Etemadi, Azziz Hussaini, Yumaira Melchor, Yuliana Rafailova and David Sforza. Pierce High School distributed $5,000 among its graduates Maria Ajemian, Alex Balta, Katherine Bowyer, Robyn R. McAllen, Andrew Penn and Sevag Shirvanian. Students of California State University, Northridge, Kata Kim, Tracey Merrell and Joseph Pourshalimy were awarded $2,000 each. A total of $6,000 was distributed to five students of the University of West Los Angeles. Ori Blumendeld, Blanca Gomez, Pamela Krieger, Michael Rahmanou and Bita Yaghoobian all received scholarships. The Valley Community Legal Foundation gave $25,000 in grants to organizations dealing with domestic violence, legal services and court programs. The Foundation awarded Haven Hills, for its court advocacy program for domestic violence victims. The Domestic Abuse Center, which assists domestic violence victims with restraining orders, also received funds. The Alliance for Children’s Rights was awarded for its Emancipated Foster Youth Project, aimed to educate youth exiting the foster care system about getting services as they transition into adulthood. Among other organizations receiving grants were the K.E.N. project to train parents of disabled children in finding services to help their children, Los Angeles Valley College for a program to educate students on consumer rights, the Drug Court Program to help communities with drug issues, the Family Law Facilitator’s Office to provide family law workshops, and Van Nuys Court for the construction of a Children’s Waiting Room to assist parents so they may leave their children while they resolve legal issues in court. Founded in 1979, Valley Community Legal Foundation is made up of attorneys, judicial officers and other members of the community.

When Richard Hodkinson founded Elite Aviation, the company had only one client with an airplane and got most of its customers as overflow from other charter airline firms. As Hodkinson president and chief operating officer prepares to step away from daily operation of the aircraft management and charter company, Elite has 24 planes and employs an aggressive marketing campaign to get new clients. As of June 30, Hodkinson’s role is limited to aircraft sales and acquisitions. At year’s end he intends to take stock whether to continue with sales at Elite or instead pursue real estate or personal travel interests. “I’m still active in a lot of ways through Elite,” Hodkinson said. “I’m just not going to be doing it every day.” Becoming more involved in the running of Elite is Bob Lyle, a former client when he owned an apparel tag and label company who became a majority owner two years ago. Lyle is looking for a new chief operating officer. “Bob has really enjoyed the business and put a lot of money into expanding it,” Hodkinson said. “It is through his efforts that the company has ramped up its marketing and retail sales efforts.” As a client, Lyle was in a good position to see how the aircraft management and charter company operated, the services it provided and the way customers were treated before taking on an ownership stake. Having established a trust with Elite, it made business sense to get a share of the company, Lyle said, adding, “Frankly I’ve been impressed with their integrity and how they did business.” Hodkinson had worked for other aircraft management companies before starting Elite in 1992. His philosophy was that if a company offered great service and a great deal while providing a good return on the investment the aircraft owner made there was room for another aircraft management and charter company in the San Fernando Valley. The model Hodkinson pursued allowed Elite to not only be financially competitive but also allowed the company to claim that it had the customer’s best interests at heart because there was no financial gain in the other services offered. “We made money primarily on charter revenue,” Hodkinson said. “Most of our other services were passed through or at cost.” Elite operates out of a 40,000-square foot hangar at Van Nuys Airport and also has planes based in Orange County, Long Beach, Arizona and Colorado. In 1999, Elite and Hodkinson gained some notoriety by purchasing a Gulfstream IV jet via the aircraft manufacturer’s website, reportedly the first transaction to take place in cyberspace. From their different perspectives, Hodkinson and Lyle believe in the services they provide. Lyle saw the benefit of having a corporate jet when he owned the tag and label company, estimating it grew by one-third by his being able at a moment’s notice to go anyplace “to solve problems or capitalize on an opportunity.” In his more than 20 years in the aviation industry, Hodkinson said he’s seen corporate travel go from being seen as a perk to an accepted business tool. “Time is becoming increasingly valuable to executives and business travel uses executives’ time efficiently,” Hodkinson said. “I think that’s an easy sell to stockholders if they believe it’s being used properly.” Management firms themselves are seen in a different light as well, what with their volume purchasing power and expertise in services that go beyond just managing and maintaining aircraft. Elite offers a concierge service for hotel and restaurant reservations and arranging for ground transportation at a passenger’s destination. Hodkinson added that charter customers and aircraft owners are much savvier when looking for services because of information available through the Internet and from industry watchdogs such as AR/GUS and Wyvern that rate management and charter companies.

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