Summary Business: Electronics equipment rentals Headquarters: Van Nuys CEO: Daniel Greenberg Market Cap: $404.4 million Dividend Yield: N/A* Total Liabilities: $84.8 million P/E: 12.81 Long-Term Debt: $0 * Electro Rent does not pay dividends When Van Nuys-based Electro Rent Corp. broke its revenue record in 1999, the future looked promising. But by last year, the sensational growth had come to an end. Most of the growth came from the acquisition of General Electric’s Technology Management Services unit but, as it turned out, the expansion proved more than the company could effectively manage. In the last fiscal year before the purchase, the company posted $24.1 million in net income and $150.5 million in gross revenue, and followed it up with $32.3 million in net income and $255.5 million in gross revenue the following year. As a result of the acquisition, Electro Rent revenues grew to $269.7 million in 1999, with net income of $24.1 million. In 2000, the company posted $24.9 million in net income on $241.8 million in revenue. Electro Rent bought the General Electric unit, a business similar to its own, for $240 million in 1997, resulting in a 70-percent increase in revenue almost overnight. The company leases equipment to the electronics, defense and aerospace industries. Company CEO Daniel Greenberg blamed part of the company’s slow income growth on its acquisition of GE’s rental unit, a business twice as large as Electro Rent’s. Most of the unit’s top managers did not join Electro Rent following the acquisition, leaving the company without the expertise to manage the unit. Moreover, a decline in the rental of computer equipment, which accounts for about a third of Electro Rent’s business over the last three years, reduced the company’s revenue, Greenberg said. “It’s the uncertainty of the technology sector and the drop in the computer sector of our business,” said Greenberg, whose family owns 16 percent of the company’s stock. David Gold, an equity analyst with the New York-based investment firm, Sidoti & Co., said, “They acquired the rental business of General Electric, and it did well for a time. Then it started to lose revenue and when the rental contracts were up, their revenue started to go down. “It’s the nature of the business. These customers wanted to go with GE and they weren’t GE. They were a company that they hadn’t heard of, so they lost business.” Despite the drop in revenue, the company still has good fundamentals. “Because they’re a rental company, it’s difficult to tell what’s entirely going on by the revenue figures,” he said, “You have to look at the cash flow and they’ve been able to accumulate cash through their operation and are in a good position.” The company has $50 million in cash on hand and, Greenberg said, continues to accumulate more. In fact, he said, the company is looking to make more acquisitions of equipment rental companies in the next year or two. Debt service for the General Electric purchase ate up a lot of revenue over the last three years. Now cash is suddenly being freed up, Gold said, making Electro Rent’s prospects brighter. “We classify them as a buy with potential for growth,” he said, adding that his firm gives the stock a 12-month target of $22. Electro Rent’s stock peaked at $18.37 in February, with a 52-week low of $9.31. It was trading at $16.32 per share on the Nasdaq exchange on May 25. Recently, Electro Rent entered into what it calls a new strategic alliance with one of its main competitors, Palo Alto, Calif.-based Agilent Technologies Inc. Agilent, an electronics maker which also rents its equipment, will now supply electronics testing products to Electro Rent. Greenberg said the agreement allows his company to be a full partner in delivering testing equipment to customers familiar with Agilent’s brand. Moreover, the recent jump in activity in the fiber optic technology sector of the broadband industry gives Electro Rent potential for added revenue in the rental of testing equipment for that industry, Greenberg says. “We feel there is a substantial amount of business to be developed in the fiber optics and telecommunications field,” he said.

Imagine that you’re getting ready to open your very first retail store in Los Angeles and you already have 300,000 customers. It may sound like wishful thinking, but not for Coldwater Creek. The Sandpoint, Idaho-based company only has 10 stores throughout the country, but it has amassed a hardy following of at-home shoppers through its 17-year-old catalog business. Thanks to the database of loyal customers Coldwater Creek has collected, company officials can strategically place stores in areas where they know their shoppers live. That way, instead of fighting entrenched retailers for recognition, Coldwater Creek can bring with it its own core of shoppers. “It’s a real advantage,” said David Gunter, the company’s spokesman. “It allows a cataloger to take that brand to the customer who has only experienced it in the abstract, and it allows us to do a little data mining.” In June, Coldwater Creek, a retailer that caters to women aged 35 to 55 with apparel and accessories, gifts and home furnishings, will open its 11th store at Sherman Oaks Fashion Square, the first of several it expects to open in the L.A. area. The new address lies within an hour’s drive of about 300,000 customers who not only are familiar with the Coldwater Creek catalog, but buy from it frequently. “Fashion Square popped off the screen with a great hurrah as the place to look at a store for us,” Gunter said. With sales of more than $325 million through its catalog division and newer Internet business, Coldwater Creek is one of the larger and more successful companies of its kind. But like all retailers, it struggles to keep customers loyal in a fiercely competitive environment. Multi-channel selling, the new buzz word that has emerged to describe the move to market through the Internet, catalogs and stores, is a way to accomplish that. “For those who can pull it off, (multi-channel marketing) makes a lot of sense,” said Richard Giss, partner in the consumer business practice of Deloitte & Touche LLP. “Multi-channel (retailers) have more points of contact with you, they are more in front of you and more in your mind. They have more potential ways to market to you and they make it much easier for you to buy in the way that you want to buy.” Indeed, Coldwater Creek joins a growing list of catalogers moving into the brick-and-mortar channel of distribution, from Sur La Table and Williams-Sonoma Inc., to a newer expansion by apparel cataloger J. Jill, which has opened about 28 stores since 1999 including locations in Westfield’s Shoppingtown Topanga in Canoga Park and Glendale Galleria. In coming months, J. Jill too is slated to open at Sherman Oaks Fashion Square. Each Coldwater Creek store, complete with a waterfall beckoning customers inside, costs about $1 million to launch, with about $350,000 of that going to stock the shelves. It is an expensive proposition, especially for a company that already enjoys more than 2 million customers through its catalog operation. But catalog stores bring several built-in advantages to a brick-and-mortar operation. Using data from their catalog operation, they can tell not only where their customers live, they can also determine with greater certainty what items are most likely to sell well. “When it comes to fashion, consumers can be quite finicky, so from that standpoint you want to have enough information so that you’re not jumping on a wish and a prayer,” said Patrick J. O’Hare, market analyst with Briefing.com. In theory at least, catalog retailers can also better service customers who visit the store. If the store runs out of a size or a color, they can use their catalog distribution system to get the item to the customer the next day. “If they do it right, they can ship it tomorrow,” Giss said. “All of a sudden, what was a missed sale is a made sale.” And the stores can enhance the catalog and Internet operations. “When we have a store in a particular area, we notice we have an increase in web and catalog sales as well,” said Gunter. “What’s happening is these customers are coming into the store to validate the sizing and quality of the merchandise.” Customers who like the merchandise Coldwater Creek carries may be reluctant to buy it sight unseen. But once they visit the store and try on the apparel, they may also feel more confident about placing orders through the catalog and the Internet. “Our best customers are now shopping with us through more than one channel,” said Gunter. “If she’s sitting home on Sunday, she wants to review the catalog. If she needs something quickly, she wants to get it online. We’ve taken that one step further and said when she gets a chance she much prefers to shop in a brick-and-mortar retail setting.” Coldwater Creek officials point out that, despite the inroads made by e-commerce, some 80 percent of apparel sales continue to be made in traditional store settings. Despite the company’s success, it plays in a relatively small arena. With only a handful of stores so far (the company also operates outlet stores, something many catalog retailers do to manage excess inventory), Gunter pointed out that less than 10 percent of the company’s sales come from its retail operations, or just over $12 million for the most recent fiscal year ended March 3, 2001. Eventually, Coldwater Creek officials hope to open some 80 stores. “If we were to look three years down the line, we’d love to see an environment where the web, catalog and retail stores each represented a third of the business,” Gunter said.

WB Television Network officials say the little-network-that-could will become profitable by next year with a new fall schedule emphasizing situation comedies over dramas, despite the loss of one of its top rated shows to a rival network. Jamie Kellner, the network’s head until he recently accepted the CEO slot for AOL-Time Warner’s Turner Broadcasting System, had pledged that WB would be profitable by next year. And even with the recent departure of WB’s breakout hit, “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer,” the network insists it can achieve that goal. “We feel that we’ll have a better chance with Buffy gone,” said Keith Marder, a spokesman for the Burbank-based network, 67 percent of which is owned by AOL-Time Warner. Marder explained that the five-year-old series featuring Sarah Michelle Gellar had become very expensive about $1.1 million in licensing fees per episode, before 20th Century Television asked for more money. Last week’s season finale and the series’ 100th episode was seen by an audience of about 5.5 million viewers. Last year, the network posted $453 million in revenue, compared to $384 million in 1999. Its fortunes have been largely tied to hit shows like its top-rated “7th Heaven,” “Dawson’s Creek” and “Buffy,” which last year alone accounted for about $35.2 million in advertising revenue for the network, Kellner said. Youssef Squali, an equities analyst with ING Barings, said he believes the network can break even by next year, given its target market of young people between the ages of 18 and 34. The soft advertising market that hurt nearly every TV network last year seems to be picking up for broadcast networks, giving WB reason to believe it can’t be far behind, Squali said. WB is banking on a slew of new situation comedies to offset the loss of “Buffy,” which moved to the United Paramount Network earlier this month after 20th Century Television sought to double its licensing fee. WB’s move toward comedy was hailed by John Swift, a group director at the ad agency OMD USA, which purchases television air time for its clients. Swift said sitcoms often attract more viewers than dramas and have higher ratings as reruns. Susanne Daniels, WB’s co-president of entertainment, said the new schedule is an intention to focus on developing situation comedies that will increase viewership. As part of the two-year “Buffy” deal, UPN will pay $2.3 million apiece for 22 episodes next season and $2.35 million per episode in 2002-03. WB had been willing to go as high as $1.8 million per episode. The show was seen by an average of 4.4 million viewers and was last week ranked 84 out of 104 network programs, according to Nielsen Media Research. By comparison, other teen-oriented shows like UPN’s “Moesha” and “The Parkers” were ranked 94 and 87, respectively last week. Instead, WB has come up with a slate of sitcoms like “Deep in the Heart,” starring country singer Reba McEntire who plays a Southern woman dealing with a cheating husband and a pregnant teenage daughter. Others include: – “Men, Women & Dogs”: Four young men struggle with their careers, girlfriends and dogs. – “Off Centre”: Two roommates move into a luxury apartment in New York City. – “Maybe I’m Adopted”: A family comedy starring Fred Willard and Julia Sweeney. – “Raising Dad”: Comedian Bob Saget stars as a widower in charge of two young daughters. But, Daniels said, that’s not all there is to the new fall schedule. “We wanted to attract more male viewers to our fall schedule too,” Daniels said. So, there will be two new reality-based programs: a dating show dubbed “Elimidate Deluxe” and “Popstars 2,” the second edition of its “Popstars” show which followed aspiring performers aiming for success in the music world. And the network isn’t forsaking drama altogether. It has also added two new dramas, “Glory Days,” about a burned-out writer, and “Smallville,” featuring Superman as a teenager. Perhaps in response to the departure of “Buffy,” WB has also agreed to long-term deals to renew its top-rated “7th Heaven,” as well as “Dawson’s Creek,” “Charmed” and “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch.” The network says it is continuing to attract a growing number of viewers in the key demographic, ages 18 to 34, through its youth-oriented programming. According to Nielsen, the network ranks first in that demographic among all six broadcast television networks.

PIVOTAL POST Core Business: Post-production services for film industry Year Founded: 2001 Employees (DES) in 2000: 120 Employees (Pivotal) in 2001: 30 Goal: To be the top provider of cutting edge post-production services Driving Force: People doing business with people A North Hollywood post-production house, hammered by the dot-com fallout, has resurrected itself with the same talent, a leaner operation and a new name The temp at the reception desk of Pivotal Post in North Hollywood recently summed up just how fast and furious things have evolved at the post-production company. “Three days ago we were DES, now we’re Pivotal Post,” she said, replacing the handset on a sleek, black telephone. As DES, co-founder Patrick Ready and director of sales and marketing Jeff Buchignani were at the bleeding edge of post-production history: the first house to deliver film dailies in CD-Rom and DVD formats. Since the business was founded in 1993, Ready had managed to build up a solid list of clients including DreamWorks SKG, Universal Pictures and Columbia TriStar Pictures. At its peak, DES had 120 employees and more than 300 film credits, including “Gladiator,” “Hannibal” and “Titanic.” After Buchignani came along in 1995, they ventured into broadband film distribution and editing services. “We saw comparable companies to ours making a billion dollars in broadband and so we said, ‘We’re here in Hollywood, let’s do it here,'” said Buchignani. “Then the market crashed. And that left us with a huge amount of debt.” Plenty of DES employees were laid off as a result of the dot-com blood bath. Now the company is out of the broadband business and the equipment associated with it is up for sale. “It was an interesting time,” said Buchignani. “But we both had a sound understanding that we would land on our feet.” With a capital infusion from Avalon Asset Management of North Sioux City, S.D., Ready, Buchignani and their new partner, Jeff Majkrzak of Avalon, were able to buy out another partner no longer involved with Digital Editing Solutions Inc. That’s when Pivotal Post was born. So, with a new name, a Rolodex stuffed with established clients and a plan to shift the focus back to its core product, Pivotal Post was in business. Majkrzak said his firm respected and admired the DES story, but knew the company needed to go through some sort of “dot-gone” recovery process in order to keep its foothold in the industry. “We understood what went on in the tech market here in the last two years, and DES was just such a healthy organization,” he said. “We got very attracted to the idea of getting the capital together to help take the company back to its roots.” Falling back on a confidentiality agreement between other former DES executives and their attorneys, Ready said he could not disclose revenue figures for the old company. And he declined to offer any revenue projections for Pivotal. Pivotal’s primary focus again is on post-production services for the film industry. TV projects, said Ready, are not out of the question, but they’ll have to wait while the company regains its footing. Upcoming projects include “Planet of the Apes,” “Oceans 11,” “Vanilla Sky” and “Rush Hour 2.” The transition, say both Ready and Buchignani, from dot-gone disaster to a start-up sequel was essentially seamless because of the contacts already established through DES. “Pivotal is really a start-up that has immediate clients and business,” said Ready. “And our message to our established clients and to the film community now is we are on very solid footing and are refocusing on our core product. It’s completely a getting-back-to-the-basics objective.” Marty Cohen is in charge of post-production services for DreamWorks. He said the studio intends to continue to contract with Pivotal for Avid equipment servicing, rental and film editing services. “They are a company that is very reputable,” said Cohen. “They come through, they produce quality work and I don’t feel like I’ve gotten beaten up by costs. Unfortunately for DES, the broadband industry took a dive and they just got caught in the middle of it.” Delivery of edited film in CD-Rom and DVD-Rom formats as opposed to videotape makes it possible for film executives to see the results of a day’s shoot on their laptop or desktop, whether they are sitting behind a desk in Studio City or on an overnight flight to Hong Kong. “We essentially pioneered the DVD dailies process,” said Ready of DES. “The only other people currently who have as much recognizable market share in the post-production industry are the studios themselves.” Pivotal will typically work on as many as 15 productions at a time. Film is sent in daily, usually five days a week, and staff members work under tight deadlines to get dailies back in the hands of the studios by the next morning. Adventurous as it may sound, Pivotal is already laying the groundwork for expansion into new facilities in the rapidly growing film markets in New York, Canada and London. “We are definitely on solid ground,” said Ready. “Avalon came forward and they love the business model. It was a match made in heaven. We now have the capital to grow the company.”

Kim Kurowski feels like she’s seen life from both sides now, at least the life of a chamber of commerce executive. Kurowski, who ran her own balloon decorating and party planning company, had been active in the Santa Clarita Chamber of Commerce for years, including a stint as its board president and more than one term as a board member. Then last summer when the previous executive director resigned, Kurowski took over temporarily as acting director. After several months in that role, she decided she liked the job herself and put her name in the running for the permanent position, which she has held since December. Kurowski talked to Business Journal editor Michael Hart last week about the challenges of being the executive director of an organization she was once a member of and answering to a board of directors she once headed: “I know how it was on the other side of the fence. But I really liked this position. So, while they were doing the search, I decided I wanted the job. “I was the president a couple of years ago and I was on the slate to be re-elected to the board again. So, I do know what the board of directors is thinking about. “What has made a difference for me was all the connections I had already made throughout the city, having that personal connection and knowing all the key people in the community. I knew everything that was going on, rather than having somebody come in and start from scratch. “And from a staff point of view, I know how things work too. I do understand their philosophy. Juggling everything with a chamber of commerce is really something. We have our hands in everything, including a film office since Santa Clarita is a location for so much film production. Holding it all together is a big challenge. There are so many different facets to the chamber business. You name a date and we’ve got something going. “Getting a staff together was the main thing. There were some controversies and I had to come in and clean it up. But we ended up with three new people (out of a total staff of eight). I had had my own staff for so many years and staffing issues were so different here. There are a lot more rules and regulations to pay attention to than way back then.”

If there is a serious economic slump brewing on the horizon, at least one industry is refusing to use or be intimidated by the “R” word. In fact, say representatives from the Valley’s two amusement parks, Universal Studios Hollywood and Six Flags Magic Mountain in Valencia, forecasts for attendance this summer are strong, capital expenditures are up and, for the most part, theme parks have a built-in barrier to recessions: it’s called “fun.” But factor in the steep price of gasoline consumers are paying at the pumps, the threat of rolling electrical blackouts across the state and increased competition from a new Disney attraction in Orange County and all of California’s theme parks are facing challenges to getting warm bodies through their turnstiles. Nevertheless, officials at both Valley theme parks are expecting a great summer season. In fact, Six Flags has recently completed installation of three new roller coasters “D & #233;j & #341; vu,” “X” and “Goliath Jr.” and the park is so certain of the impact the new additions will have on the marketplace, it is now changing its unofficial title of theme park to “Extreme Park.” Debbie Nauser, a spokeswoman for the Oklahoma City-based Six Flags Inc., won’t give out financial information on the cost of the new rides, nor will she report attendance figures. But the additions bring the total number of coasters in the park’s collection to 15, affording it placement in the “Guinness Book of World Records” for having more coasters than any other theme park in the world. Universal Studios has also added several new attractions and is projecting strong attendance figures on the heels of an aggressive marketing campaign. “In the last recession we were not super-affected because we find family entertainment continues to remain a priority for our customers,” said Brian Pope, vice president of marketing services for Universal Studios Inc. “This is a real exciting summer for us because we have more attractions coming out this season than we ever have before in any one season.” The Nickelodeon Blast Zone, a 30,000-square-foot water and interactive play area, opened April 6. So did “Animal Planet Live,” which features live-animal performances (monkeys, birds, a bull terrier/lab mix and two cats) and behind-the-scenes attractions from the popular cable show by the same name. And “The Mummy Returns: Chamber of Doom” opened in conjunction with Universal Pictures release of the film, “The Mummy Returns,” on May 9. Nauser said Six Flags Valencia is not reliant on large numbers of out-of-state visitors, drawing roughly 90 percent of its visitors from within about a 150-mile radius. And, because entertainment is typically one of the last things to be cut from many family budgets, gas prices, belt tightening and the potential for park shutdowns caused by rolling blackouts won’t have that strong of an impact. Hayle Kissel, an analyst covering the leisure industry for Merrill Lynch & Co. in New York, said parks like Six Flags continue to do well during economic slumps because they are not considered destination parks, but regional attractions capable of drawing from a strong local base of consumers. And regional theme parks, she said, have always provided a solid option for entertainment at a price that doesn’t threaten to bust a family’s budget at least some families. “The cost of admission for a day at a park like Six Flags is roughly $27 to $28, so for a family of four it’s slightly over $100 for a full day of entertainment,” said Kissel. Both Universal and Six Flags are served by Southern California Edison and subject to blackouts and higher energy bills. “I think it’s going to be a decent year for the local theme parks, but probably not as strong a year as before,” said Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles Economic Development Corp. “Because of the blackouts and the high cost of fuel, they will have to work a little bit harder for their money than they thought. The gas prices are going to pull a lot of cash out of the pockets of the consumer, which could have an effect on how they spend their money for entertainment.” Even for so-called destination parks, like Universal Studios, which draws significant attendance from across the country and abroad, there have been few signs that consumers are pulling back on leisure spending. “While some people might drop off the lower end during a slowdown in the economy, there is always a group of consumers that substitutes a weekly vacation to someplace exotic for a vacation that includes a destination park,” said Kissel. “We aren’t expecting any problems at all,” Six Flags’ Nauser said. “Attendance at the park has been great and we think it’s going to remain that way despite any slowdown in the economy. The only thing that has ever really affected our attendance figures in the past has been rain. But we provide great entertainment value for families, and that’s why people will continue to come.” Pope said of Universal Studios Hollywood, “We do think people will get in their cars and spend vacation time in Southern California this summer. So, in addition to the new attractions, we are also trying to make it easier for folks to get here.” From behind the ‘Orange Curtain’ Still, Universal and Six Flags both may also feel a pinch on attendance figures due to the opening of Disney’s new California Adventure theme park, which opened this spring. “There is a real possibility the two parks could see some strong competition from California Adventure. New theme parks tend to get a significant amount of attention, and they have the draw of the other (Disneyland) park nearby,” said Kyser. Six Flags may be too far from Disneyland territory to care, but Universal has already given competition from Disney some serious thought. In February the park launched a shuttle service from the Anaheim area in an effort to pull tourists out from behind the Orange Curtain. The shuttle service is free with the price of a reserved ticket for admission to Universal Studios. Shuttles depart from most of the Anaheim/Disneyland area hotels. And officials from both parks say they have contingency plans in place to deal with rolling blackouts, if they come at all. Both say blackouts won’t affect the bottom line because rides are backed up by generators or, in some cases, can function without electricity. “We’ve already had to absorb costs for energy over the last year, so it’s not new to us,” said Eliot Sekuler, a spokesman for Universal Studios. “And we have generators in place to back up our attractions, should we have to shut something down, so our dinosaurs will continue to roar through the summer.” Nauser said Six Flags was “near completion” of a deal with SCE that would allow the park to reduce its energy consumption enough to exempt it from rolling blackouts. She added that electricity shortages or rolling blackouts do not pose a significant safety threat, and the park intends to get that message out as it rolls out its media campaign touting the new coasters. “It’s not a safety issue for our guests because coasters are gravity-based and they would continue on their normal path, regardless,” said Nauser. “So it’s not a question of endangering anyone.”

At the Grownups’ Table When about 40 members of the San Fernando Valley CEO Roundtable sat down last week with LAUSD Supt. Roy Romer, the table wasn’t round at all. It was square and big. So big, in fact, that meeting participants could barely read the name plates in front of those who sat directly, if about 50 feet, in front of them. The meeting took place in the Ray Kroc Board Room of the Los Angeles McDonald Corp. headquarters in Woodland Hills. About 380 McDonald’s Southern California restaurants and about 80 franchisees report to the office on Victory Boulevard, so it makes sense that a big conference room would be necessary. The massive wooden table takes up almost the entire room however. Jeff Schwartz, McDonald’s regional vice president, explained that the table had to be built before the room had been constructed. The table is as big as it is, he said, as a way to make sure total capacity in the eyes of fire marshals, anyway is never exceeded. “At least that’s what I told my boss,” Schwartz said. Outta Here Let’s all remind ourselves that the next time around we want to be chief financial officers for the Los Angeles World Airports, which operates LAX, Van Nuys, Ontario International and Palmdale Regional airports. When the Business Journal called last Thursday afternoon to confirm (or deny) that the Van Nuys Airport loses roughly $4 million a year, LAWA spokeswoman Gail Gaddi said there was no one to ask. “The chief financial officers have already left for the long Memorial Day weekend,” she said. Did the airports recently adopt a four-day workweek and forget to send out a memo? Gaddi did not have an answer for that question either. Just One More Thing Wearing a suit but not his trademark rumpled raincoat, actor and Valley resident Peter Falk couldn’t help but laugh when he was presented earlier this month by Universal Studios executives with an original copy of the first “Columbo” script ever shot. Marking 30 years since the character hit the small screen, Falk and fellow actors and members of the show gathered to mark the occasion at a downtown Los Angeles hotel. “It’s a great character that everyone loves,” said Universal spokeswoman Terry Curtin of the fictional, but tireless, Lt. Columbo. The event also honored veteran TV producer Steven Bochco, who wrote that first episode, and Steven Spielberg, who directed it. Both were on hand. The episode was titled “Murder by the Book” and aired on NBC on Sept. 15, 1971. Jack Cassidy, who is now dead, played a murderous mystery novelist. Plenty of Hunt and Peck Martin M. Cooper, owner of Cooper Communications in Woodland Hills, says he is considering putting his collection of historic typewriters on display. “I always wanted to put them somewhere where the public could see them,” said Cooper. Today, the collection, which numbers more than 100, features an 1881 Hall typewriter, one of only 1,000 built and one of which is on display in the Science Museum of London. It features a pointer used to tap letters one at a time. Others include a 1912 portable named “The Fox,” made by the Fox Typewriter Co. of Grand Rapids, Mich. The oldest is the 1897 Blickensderfer, the first machine with a removable type wheel, made by the same company to produce the first electric typewriter in 1902. Some of the machines are in Cooper’s office, but most are at home, he admitted. He’s still looking for the right spot. Freeing the Felines Cats may soon be free to roam the streets of Glendale. The Glendale City Council has asked for a revised version of an ordinance that would exempt felines from a local leash law. The current ordinance states that any animal found at large on public property is a nuisance and its owner is subject to a fine of up to $100 for the first violation. “I know people have been given warnings, but we have never prosecuted anyone,” said City Attorney Scott Howard. At a council meeting last week, speakers came out on both sides of the issue of exempting cats from the leash law, including one woman who spoke about her personal experience in trying to get a leash on a cat. “I think this woman was correct when she said, ‘If I tried to put a leash on that cat, it would hurt me bad,'” Howard recounted.

OK Near for New Warner Center Plan The Los Angeles Planning Commission has approved modifications in the Warner Center Specific Plan that will reduce the cost of development and allow more parking in the area. Trip fees, charges designed to offset the additional traffic generated by new building, have been reduced to $3,567 from $4,907 per trip for office buildings and $3,169 per trip for other types of buildings. (The number of trip fees assigned to any new facility are determined by the size and use of the facility.) Certain other fees pertaining to intercept parking were eliminated. And parking ratios for office development were increased to a maximum of 4 per thousand employees. The proposal, which is expected to pass, goes to the planning and land use management committee in the next few weeks. From there, the plan goes to the Los Angeles City Council. Brad Rosenheim, executive director of the Warner Center Association, which spearheaded the effort to change the specific plan, and principal with Rosenheim & Associates, said he anticipates that the proposal will be approved by July 1. VICA Award Finalists Announced Fourteen businesses, nonprofits and individuals have been selected as finalists in five categories for the Valley Industry and Commerce Association’s (VICA) first “Excellence in Business Awards.” Award winners will be announced at a dinner June 7 at the Sheraton Universal in Universal City. Finalists for the Start-Up Entrepreneurial Company of the Year are Critical Capital LLC of Calabasas and Toolshed Inc. of Northridge. Finalists for the Not-for-Profit of the Year are Meet Each Need With Dignity of Pacoima, the North Valley Occupational Center/Aviation Center in Mission Hills and the Women’s Care Cottage in North Hollywood. Finalists for the Small Business of the Year are Box Brothers of Woodland Hills, Mike’s Roofing of Van Nuys and the San Fernando Valley Business Journal. Finalists for Executive of the Year are Gil Cabral of Spirent Communications, Joseph Cabral of Chatsworth Products Inc. and Irwin Rosenberg of Laidlaw Transit Services. VICA Member Company of the Year finalists are Greer/Daily/Minter of Los Angeles; Kirsch, Kohn & Bridge of Encino; and Precision Dynamics Corp. of San Fernando. Mann Gets OK to Buy Land The Los Angeles City Council has unanimously approved a land sale that will allow Al Mann, founder of Northridge-based MiniMed Inc., to build a new biomedical plant in Sylmar. City Councilman Alex Padilla had blocked the project for months, insisting that Mann meet several conditions, including an internship program for Mission College students. Mann intends to build a cancer drug research and manufacturing plant for one of his fledgling biotech companies, CTL ImmunoTherapies Corp. The facility could open by 2003, creating up to 800 jobs. Mann had originally intended to use the eight-acre property to expand Advanced Bionics Corp., which operated on adjacent land and manufactures ear implants for the hearing-impaired. But Advanced Bionics outgrew the space as Mann waited for approval to buy the land, owned by the Department of Water and Power. Fed up with the delays, Mann moved Advanced Bionics to Santa Clarita last fall and proposed bringing CTL to the Sylmar site. Film Roman-Pentamedia Deal Is Off Film Roman Inc., a Burbank television production company best known for animation, has formally notified Pentamedia Graphics Ltd. that Pentamedia was in material breach of a stock purchase agreement between the two companies. Under the stock purchase agreement, Pentamedia was to acquire a 60-percent stake in Film Roman through the purchase of newly issued common stock of Film Roman in exchange for $15 million. Under the original terms of the agreement, Pentamedia was required to make its payment on March 26, 2001. However, at Pentamedia’s request, Film Roman extended the payment date from the original date until April 13. Pentamedia failed to make the payment and Film Roman extended the date to April 28. Pentamedia missed that deadline too. The companies then entered into another agreement, but Pentamedia has recently indicated it is unwilling or unable to adhere to a key component of the new understanding, providing an acceptable guarantee of payment of the agreed-upon purchase price. Film Roman has terminated the transaction between the companies. The company is now prepared to seek other strategic alliances and financing sources that it was not free to pursue under the restrictions imposed by the stock purchase agreement.

Business growth, not ethnicity, now shapes minority strategies Back when his collection business was still new, Rudy Sanchez attended his first Valley Industry and Commerce Association meeting looking for networking opportunities. He has rarely been back. “I was asked what I was doing there. One of the board members said, ‘We have housing for you people,'” recalled Sanchez. “I was taken back. I just came from upper management in a corporate environment. I lived in Porter Ranch. That’s the way the Valley is. That’s the way the Valley was.” Today, after 20 years as president and CEO of Balboa Collections Service in Northridge, Sanchez has a sense of humor about it all. “If I walk into a room and say I’m Mexican, they might ask me to clear the tables,” he quipped. Still, the VICA incident was an early lesson many minority business owners are just beginning to learn. There is no automatic entry to the business world, not unless you have something to offer. And while minority labels have opened doors to business deals these owners might not otherwise have had access to, they have come at a price. Years of good-intentioned government programs designed to give minority business owners a leg up have also branded these businesses as small, inexperienced or, even worse, disadvantaged. Concerned about the potential harm stereotypes carry, some minority-business owners are casting their fate to the winds of the free market foregoing time-honored networking opportunities with “their own kind” and even certification programs that can open the door to contracts in the public and private sector. “There’s costs and benefits to being defined as a minority,” said Fernando Guerra, director of the Center for the Study of Los Angeles at Loyola Marymount University. “The benefits have not increased while some of the costs may have. It can only hurt you, not help you with most decision makers.” No majority group The mood swing has been bolstered by recent U.S. Census data showing no clear majority ethnic group in California and some other states. Not only are the numbers of minority businesses swelling, so too is the minority consumer market. Run the numbers, say these business owners, and it is clear that big business needs ways to reach these groups, and that gives these minority firms newfound power. “I’ve heard people say time and time again, we’re not a minority, we’re a majority, and we’re not disadvantaged,” said Kim Anthony, vice president of programs for the Black Business Association. During the several decades affirmative action programs were in place, minority business owners found it advantageous to trade on their ethnicity. Regulations required government contractors to recruit suppliers from the minority community and many private-sector corporations employed diversity managers to ensure that these businesses were represented in the bidding process. But beginning in the 1990s, a series of lawsuits charging that minority businesses received an unfair advantage put a halt to many of these programs and led to the passage of Proposition 209 in 1996, effectively outlawing the quotas put in place by affirmative action legislation. Minorities can still take advantage of outreach programs designed to increase access to bidding opportunities, but the payoff is far less certain, and they still must endure a complex certification process. “It’s so invasive to become certified that some people don’t want to give them access to that information,” said Martha Diaz Aszkenazy, co-founder of Pueblo Contracting Services, Inc. in Pacoima. “You have to give them personal and business tax returns for three years. They call your bank and creditors. They do a site visit. It’s a complicated process, and if you’re not going to get something out of it, why go through it?” The private-sector diversity programs have not panned out for many of these business owners either, who now say they were little more than toothless public relations efforts. “People are just now realizing that you can’t get to the real decision makers by identifying yourself as a minority or small business,” said Gene Hale, president of construction equipment leasing firm G & C; Equipment Co. and president of the Greater Los Angeles African-American Chamber of Commerce. “They have a niche for you and the people in those areas really can’t write any purchase orders or sign any purchase orders, so you’re at a dead end.” Maturity calls for different thrust The situation is somewhat different for startups and first-generation business owners where the main emphasis is on staying afloat. These businesses typically find it more helpful to seek out any opportunity to bring in business, and they continue to seek out networking opportunities, often within their own communities. “We like to be viewed as working in the mainstream, and that’s where I’m trying to bring our group,” said David Honda, president of D.S. Honda Construction Inc. and head of the Asian Business Association. For Honda, a Japanese-American, focusing on ethnicity is a severe departure from what he was taught. “My mom and dad always said, ‘The peg that stands up gets knocked down.’ That’s related to being interned in the camps,” Honda said. But his own experience as a Japanese-American businessman led him to believe the only way to build clout was to first mobilize as a group. “I started to see there was no business advocacy,” Honda said. “Not all small Asian companies that are first generation join chambers of commerce. They feel more comfortable amongst themselves, with their culture, their own ideas and their language. And the Asian Business Association recognizes the difference.” Eventually, though, the ABA, like other organized groups of minority business owners, learned their success will rise and fall on the ability to compete on the open market. “There seems to be a threshold,” said Guerra. “When you’re starting off you use (minority status) for networking leads and work, but once you pass that threshold, it no longer assists you, and it begins to hurt you because, if you’re seen as a minority business enterprise, you’re seen as only being able to do so much.” Owners of more mature businesses have also come to realize the challenges they face have little to do with their minority status. They are the garden-variety problems of growing the business and mobilizing and managing resources. “It’s no surprise to me that they want to be identified with the mainstream,” said Pedro Pulgar, business editor at La Opinion. “What they lack is access to capital. That puts them in the same league as everyone else.” Minority businesses still lag Despite their growing numbers, minority business owners point out that their size trails the averages for business at large. The recently released Census reports showed that annual gross receipts for Hispanic-owned businesses averaged $155,200 nationwide, African-American-owned firms averaged $86,500 and Asian- and Pacific Islander-owned companies averaged $336,200, compared with average gross receipts of $410,000 for all businesses. That gap, minority owners say, won’t be closed chasing specialized contracts, but by learning the same techniques that have built businesses for decades. “One thing about black-owned business, there’s a clearer understanding of the need to increase revenue,” said Pat Means, president and publisher of Turning Point Magazine, a publication geared to the African-American community. “So they are targeting in on serious business opportunities rather than meet and greet.” Many of the efforts underway by minority business associations have turned from a focus on expanding contacts to finding the points of contact most likely to result in a business deal. The Latin Business Association, through its Business Development Committee, has been canvassing major corporations that want to sell to Latinos with the argument that, by using minority suppliers, these businesses can better understand and target the market they want to attract. “We’re not looking to identify ourselves as Latinos, but as the Latino community identifying those corporations that want to embrace the community,” said Sanchez, who also heads the business development committee for the Latin Business Association. “So it’s that access that we offer to corporate America. In turn, we want corporate America to do business with us.” Similar efforts are underway in the Black and Japanese business communities. The difference may appear subtle, but it has shifted the focus from exclusion to empowerment. “Nowadays, I think the (minority and women-owned business) status you keep as an extra designation that may come in handy, but it’s not something you necessarily wear on your sleeve,” said Diaz-Aszkenazy. “I wear it on my face everyday, but I don’t think about it. I compete against white-owned firms and male-owned firms every day and I have to be better than they are.”

One more time. Burbank city officials are hoping that four times is the charm in their continuing effort to redevelop the site of the old police headquarters. As of the latest deadline for bids, May 18, nine companies submitted proposals for the 3.2-acre site bordered by Olive Avenue, San Fernando Boulevard, Angeleno Avenue and Third Street. The slate includes: CIM Group, Opus West Corp., Trammell Crow Co. and Urban Residential Partners, all in L.A.; Avalon Bay in Newport Beach; Chandler Partners in Burbank; Lambert Gangi Development, an L.A.- and Glendale-based partnership; Olson Development in Seal Beach; and Southland Cos., Pasadena. All the proposals, which are currently under review, involve a combination of residential, retail and office use. “It’s a pretty cookie-cutter type of approach,” said Bud Ovrom, Burbank city manager. Then, too, the whole history of the site has left little room for innovation. A whole range of options had already been eliminated by the time the latest request for proposals was released. Several years ago when Burbank first began its efforts to develop the parcel, officials hoped to build a commercial center with hotels, offices, movie theaters and retail shops. But one by one, many of the initial components were abandoned, victims of changing economic conditions. First, movie theater operators retrenched, then hotel operators pulled back and most recently, the office market has slowed. Each time the economy took another turn, so too did a developer, and Burbank officials went back to the drawing board to devise a new plan for the site. Officials nixed the most recent bidder, Burbank-based Cusumano Real Estate Group, when the company reduced its bid to $1 million as a result of a prevailing wage requirement that the company believes could dramatically increase development costs. Although Cusumano was invited to participate in the latest RFP, the company declined to do so. “When we made our final proposal, it was really our best possible proposal,” said Michael Cusumano, vice president of the firm. “We went back and reviewed it again and again and determined we couldn’t improve it.” Cusumano pointed out that the new entries in the bidding game were able to review his company’s proposal, making it less likely that resubmitting the original bid would succeed. Burbank officials said the current bidder list will be reviewed and whittled down to three or four proposals, which will be submitted to the city council. A decision is expected by early July. NoHo Sale Gopez Corp., an auto parts company, acquired a 25,600-square-foot building at 7600 Laurel Canyon Blvd. for $2.1 million. Gopez is moving its business from Northridge. Sue Horowitz and Randy Sheinbein of NAI Capital Commercial represented the buyer and seller, K & M; Properties. Glendale Sale A three-building portfolio in Glendale has been sold to Commonwealth Partners. The buildings had originally been part of a four-building complex known as Allstate Plaza, later acquired by Westbrook Partners, the sellers in the latest deal. Included in the transaction was a 130,000-square-foot building at 700 N. Central Ave.; a 10,000-square-foot building at 200 Burchett St. and a 270,000-square-foot office building at 801 N. Brand Blvd. One floor, or 22,000 square feet, in the 801 N. Brand building will become available for lease in July. Bill Boyd, a broker with Grubb & Ellis Co., is marketing the space. Warner Center Moves Two new tenants are moving into 6300 Canoga Ave. in Warner Center. Alchemy Communications, an Internet infrastructure and web-hosting company, has subleased 18,243 square feet from Superior Consultant Holdings Corp. and Infosys Inc., a provider of remote database applications, has subleased 17, 331 square feet of space from Blue Shield of California. Forrest Blake and Bryan Lewitt, brokers with Cresa Partners, represented Alchemy. Jim Lindvall, senior vice president with Grubb & Ellis Co., represented Superior in the sublease deal. Duane Cody of Cushman & Wakefield represented Blue Shield. Senior reporter Shelly Garcia can be reached at 818 676-1750, ext. 14 or by e-mail at [email protected].