Advertising Jeff Wishmyer has been appointed sales manager of AdOut’s new advanced productivity solutions division, based in Van Nuys. He will be responsible for increasing sales and awareness at the newspaper advertising production company. Wishmyer was most recently with Multi-Ad Services in Peoria, Ill. Banking & Finance Cris Fulwider has been promoted to the new post of Thousand Oaks office manager of Los Robles Bank. He was previously vice president and commercial loan officer. Also, Lorraine Salas has been promoted to assistant vice president of the branch. Most recently, she was executive assistant to the president and CEO. Entertainment Steve Burg has been named visual effects art director and conceptual designer for Valencia-based Foundation Imaging. His first animation projects will be for Sony Television and Fox Family Channel. Burg’s credits include visual effects and set concepts for the feature films “Terminator 2” and “Contact.” Pam Coats was named senior vice president of creative development at Walt Disney Feature Animation. She will oversee development of creative elements for animated features and shorts produced by the division. Coats was previously producer of the animated feature film, “Mulan.” Also, Peter Cullen has been promoted to the new post of vice president of business development for Disney Channel. He will be responsible for overseeing all business planning and development for Disney/ABC Cable Networks. Cullen was most recently vice president of sales strategy for the channel. In addition, Elliot Tyson has joined Walt Disney Studios post-production services as lead re-recording mixer on Dubbing Stage A. Tyson was previously with Warner Hollywood Studios for 22 years. Don Gentile has been promoted to executive vice president and general manager of Pacific Title Archives, located in Glendale. Gentile was previously vice president of the company. Also, Dave Wedeen has been promoted to controller. His responsibilities will include supervising billing, accounts payable and receivables, and financial corporate reporting services. Wedeen was most recently manager of business affairs. In addition, Roger Bell has been named head of sales at the company. He will serve as a liaison to present clients and will spearhead new sales. Bell was previously executive director of library services for Twentieth Century Fox. Barry Gordon has been appointed director of business development at Image Entertainment, based in Chatsworth. His responsibilities include opening new sales and distribution channels for the optical disc programming licensee and distribution company’s DVD business. Gordon was most recently vice president of sales and merchandising at STV Communications. Also, Wayne Mooney has been named director of production. He will oversee all aspects of the company’s DVD, laser disc and VHS production. Mooney was most recently with Pioneer Video Manufacturing Inc. In addition, Marty Sikich has been named director of purchasing for the company. His duties will include buying DVDs from major studios and product suppliers. He was most recently national video product manager for Virgin Retail Group USA. William A. Sutman has been appointed chief financial officer of Universal Pictures. His responsibilities will include the studio’s financial activities, strategic planning and performance monitoring. Sutman was most recently vice president and controller for the studio. Also, Glenn J. Gumpel has been promoted to president of international business affairs for Universal Studios Recreation Group. He will represent the studio in all of its recreation-related international activities. Gumpel was most recently the division’s executive vice president and chief administrative officer. Health Care Cathy Allen has been promoted to vice president of corporate human resources for WellPoint Health Networks Inc., based in Thousand Oaks. Her responsibilities include human resources issues relating to employee relations, staffing and benefits administration. Allen was most recently human resources director of shared services for the managed care company. Manufacturing Fabrizio Bonanni has been appointed senior vice president of quality and compliance at Thousand Oaks-based Amgen. He will be involved in product launches and manufacturing facility start-ups for the biotechnology company. Bonanni was most recently corporate vice president of regulatory and clinical affairs for Baxter International. New Media Kevin Mayer has been named senior vice president of Disney’s Buena Vista Internet Group, located in Burbank. His responsibilities will include general managing all international businesses for the company. Mayer was most recently senior vice president of strategic planning for the Walt Disney Co. Gary Rosenblum has been named president of the environmental health and safety multimedia division of Digital Corporate Profiles, based in Encino. He will develop business for the division’s CD-ROM product. Rosenblum previously worked in environmental health and safety at Atlantic Richfield Co. Real Estate Peter E. Puzo has been named senior vice president and managing director of the Grubb & Ellis Co. office in Sherman Oaks. He will manage the office, which serves the San Fernando, Santa Clarita, Conejo and Antelope valleys. Puzo was previously associate vice president with the firm’s office services group.

By SHELLY GARCIA Staff Reporter Equity Office Properties has retained Cushman Realty Corp. to explore a number of alternatives for its dormant Burbank property, including possible sale of the site, sources said. Officials at Cushman referred calls to Equity, and officials there declined comment on their current plans for the project. But sources close to the developers said Equity wants to explore several different options, including selling the site outright. It’s the latest move in a year-long struggle between Equity and its development partner, J.H. Snyder Co., over construction of a 585,000-square-foot office complex called Media Center on a five-acre site at 3300 W. Olive Ave. It is also another sign that the Burbank office market is in the doldrums. Neither Equity nor Snyder have been willing to discuss the project since Snyder filed a lawsuit against its financial partners in January alleging breach of contract. According to the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles, Equity asked Snyder to discontinue any work on the site. Snyder had originally teamed with Beacon Properties LLC to develop the luxury office complex, but Beacon later merged with Equity. Before Snyder filed the lawsuit, company officials had indicated they wanted to continue with the project, and they were seeking a new financial partner. But the Burbank marketplace has changed since initial plans were made for the six-story center geared for entertainment tenants. Since the slowdown in entertainment-industry office growth last year, there have been few takers for pre-leased space, making it difficult for Snyder to attract another financing partner. ‘The Plant’ rings up a sale Why lease when you can own? A group of investors that includes some owners of Ricon Corp., an industrial tenant at “The Plant” in Panorama City, has acquired the build-to-suit space that Ricon currently occupies. The purchase price was $12 million. The investor group, operating as JADRR LLC, includes Ross Thomas, a principal of Van Nuys-based Delphi Business Properties, which will manage the property. The sellers, Selleck Properties and the Voit Cos., developed the industrial and retail complex in Panorama City, which also includes two other speculative buildings. Ricon, the first tenant to locate at “The Plant,” signed a 10-year lease for a 200,000-square-foot site last year, and the company, with 350 employees, has since moved into the building. Sun Valley deal RPS, a subsidiary of Memphis-based FDX Corp., which provides ground transportation services for small packages, has leased a 97,685-square-foot industrial facility in Sun Valley. The 10-year lease is valued at $6.4 million. RPS will use the space for warehousing and distribution. It is slated to occupy the facility this summer. Mike Davin and Jim Linn at Grubb & Ellis represented the lessor, Boston-based Cabot Industrial Trust. Jeff Kernochan of Fischer Pacific represented the tenant. Industrial building bought DA/PRO Rubber, a manufacturer of rubber parts, has purchased a 33,893-square-foot industrial building in the Valencia Commerce Center for $2.6 million. DA/PRO, which is currently located in Van Nuys, will be relocating to the facility at 28635 N. Braxton Ave. next month. The facility is part of a two-building project under development by Clark Management & Development LLC in Newport Beach. The second building, a 46,338-square-foot facility, is also nearing completion. Jim Linn and Mike Davin of Grubb & Ellis represented the seller. Mike Wood, also at Grubb & Ellis, represented the buyer. Multi-family dwellings sold Brokers at the Encino office of Marcus & Millichap closed four sales on multi-family dwellings in the San Fernando Valley. The brokers sold a 35-unit apartment building at 15127-37 Dickens St. in Sherman Oaks for $2.4 million to PCS Development Inc. The seller was Charles Willard. Clark Manor Apartments, a 28-unit apartment building at 18532 Clark St. in Tarzana, was sold to Sam Deutsch, Helen Deutsch and James Charles O’Keefe for $1.7 million. Brian Crane acquired a building at 21012-26 Victory Blvd. in Woodland Hills for $1.37 million from Victory Boulevard Corp. Marcus & Millichap also brokered the sale of a 41-unit apartment building at 7100 Fulton Ave. in North Hollywood for $1.4 million. The buyers were David and Dorothy Smith. Tony and Mary Hawara were the sellers. Marcus & Millichap’s L.A. office closed five apartment building sales in the Valley. An 86-unit complex at 1910 Yosemite Ave. in Simi Valley was sold to Davlyn Investments for $5.7 million. A 96-unit apartment building at 15116 Parthenia St. in North Hollywood was sold to Hansa Investments for $2.5 million. A 36-unit complex at 10939 Morrison St. in North Hollywood was sold to Shuman Yang for $2.25 million. A 68-unit apartment property on Columbia Avenue in North Hills was sold to Rancho Equity for $1.57 million, and a 33-unit building at 20951 Roscoe Blvd. in Canoga Park was sold to Ben Leed for $1.3 million. Ronald Harris, senior associate at Marcus & Millichap’s L.A. office, represented the principals in all the deals. He was joined by Arthur Arejian, also of the brokerage’s L.A. office, in the Morrison Street sale.

By SHELLY GARCIA Staff Reporter Woodland Hills may be known for the high-rise and campus-style offices clustered in Warner Center, but when Alex Puchner surveyed the area, he saw something else beer drinkers. Puchner, vice president of brewing for Chicago Beer & Pizza, operators of BJ’s, is in charge of opening the company’s first San Fernando Valley brew pub, a combination microbrewery and restaurant. What he needed was a location with a ready market of folks who like to hoist one, and he thinks he found it in Warner Center. “I’ve known for many years how many very knowledgeable beer makers and beer drinkers there are in this area, and it’s definitely a market that’s been on my mind for some time,” Puchner said. Microbreweries, or craft breweries as they are called in the trade, have been almost ubiquitous throughout the ’90s. There currently are about 240 such operations in the state, most with restaurants attached, up from just 44 in 1990, according to the California Small Brewers Association, a Sacramento-based trade association. But there also have been many failures, especially in Los Angeles. Brew pubs are expensive to open and operate, and they do best in communities with a large population of young consumers, typically college students, who are willing to go out night after night to party. “You have to be very careful of location,” said Ed Engoron, president and chief executive of Perspectives/The Consulting Group, an international food and hospitality consultant in Century City. Woodland Hills may not have a large university nearby, but it has something Puchner is betting will help boost the pub’s sales the Maltose Falcons, a club of home brewing enthusiasts with more than 100 members. Puchner himself was an active member for years, making a monthly trip to meetings from his Hermosa Beach home, before he turned beer brewing into a profession. Now he is betting that members of the Maltose Falcons will become BJ’s regulars, helping to fill the 13,000-square-foot restaurant that is set to open on April 10. The Woodland Hills eatery will be Chicago Pizza’s 29th restaurant. The publicly held, Mission Viejo company with annual sales of more than $30 million operates in five states. It expects to open in Valencia later this year as part of an expansion plan that calls for four to six new restaurants annually for the next few years. The Woodland Hills location will be the company’s largest. Puchner estimates construction costs at about $1 million and brewing equipment at about $200,000. The restaurant will be distinguished by a silo that holds 25,000 pounds of barley, located next to the restaurant patio. Inside, the brewery separated from the restaurant by a glass wall will produce 30 barrels of beer a week (there are 31 gallons to a barrel). It will serve a selection of 12 house beers; six brews sold in all its locations ranging from BJ’s Blonde, a pale beer, to Tatonka Stout, a dark, strongly flavored brew; and a number of specially brewed beers, seasonal offerings or concoctions mixed up to suit the brewer’s fancy. “We have creative freedom to brew different styles and come up with a new recipe,” said Puchner. “There are literally hundreds of beer styles. We probably have still 100 styles we have yet to brew.” There is a lot of potential profit, Puchner said. “It costs about 30 cents to make a pint of beer that we sell for $3,” although that does not include the fixed costs of operating. At most of BJ’s brew pubs, the suds represent about 25 percent of total sales. Besides good beer, brew pubs need good food. And they require the kind of atmosphere that will appeal to a population that can best be described as party animals. “The brew pubs we’ve found that are most successful are gathering places, and they have a number of things in common a broader, more exotic menu than hamburgers, and a party atmosphere every night when you walk in,” said Engoron. “People are in there celebrating something. It could be celebrating that today is Tuesday, but there’s a reason to celebrate.” In some Bay Area neighborhoods, brew pubs have become the local watering hole. But the Los Angeles sprawl has thwarted many efforts. “There’s the old story about there’s no downtown,” said Bob Judd, director of the Small Brewers Association. “But now that’s changing.” Los Angeles now has brew pubs in places like Westwood and Manhattan Beach, but Woodland Hills is neither a beach town nor a college community. “It’s a more mature audience,” Engoron said. Puchner is encouraged by the number of locals who have expressed interest in the venture. “We feel very good about this location. Every day I’m here (setting up the restaurant), pedestrians and people who work in the area stop by to ask when we’re opening and what we’re all about.” At the same time, BJ’s is planning two regular event promotions to help brew up interest in the restaurant. The company will hold tours of the brewery each month that include the chance to taste each of BJ’s house beers along with some appetizers. “We found that there are a lot of beer drinkers who are eager to learn more about beer, and the different styles and develop a palate for the different flavors, but there is a lack of published information,” Puchner said. “Part of our job is to schedule tastings and help educate our customers about beer.”

JENNIFER NETHERBY Staff Reporter The San Fernando Valley Conference and Visitors Bureau wants the city to hand over $500,000 in hotel taxes generated in the Valley so it can promote local tourism. But plans by the bureau to market the same attractions that L.A. already promotes, including tourist spots outside the Valley, has tourism officials over the hill complaining that a dual approach will be redundant and ineffective. “From a marketing standpoint, it doesn’t make sense to describe (the Valley) as separate from L.A.,” said Michael Collins, executive director of the Los Angeles Convention and Visitors Bureau. “Hotels want to be in L.A., not the San Fernando Valley. Universal Studios makes a point of saying it’s in Hollywood, though it’s in the Valley.” The push for separate tourism budgets is simply a byproduct of secessionist sentiment that has the Valley complaining it’s not getting its fair share, said Collins. “This is political, it’s not people talking intelligently,” he said. Not so, said David Iwata, president of the Valley tourism bureau. The goal is to promote Valley hotels and restaurants, while creating an identity for the Valley separate from that of Los Angeles. “It might take 20 years. But that’s what we’re doing right now in calling the San Fernando Valley ‘The Valley of the Stars,’ ” he said. “We want to create a brand identity.” Valley business leaders have been fighting for a separate tourism budget for the past two years, saying the city bureau has slighted the Valley in the past by leaving its hotels and tourist hotspots off city promotional maps. The Valley bureau, which represents the San Fernando Valley and the cities of Glendale, Burbank, Calabasas and San Fernando, is requesting $500,000 of the roughly $14 million in hotel occupancy taxes the area pumps into the city of L.A. coffers. In all, the city collects $90 million in hotel taxes. Iwata said the Valley bureau would use the money to hire a full-time employee and market area hotels to tourists from areas such as Northern California and Arizona. It also wants to publish a Valley brochure that includes the Getty Center, Rose Bowl, Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Magic Mountain, none of which are actually in the Valley. “What we want is visitors to stay in the San Fernando Valley and take daily excursion trips,” Iwata said. The Valley’s tourism guide would be similar to that of Los Angeles. The San Fernando Mission would be there, as well as NBC and Warner Bros. studios in Burbank. The same attractions are already in the Los Angeles bureau’s brochure. Tourism bureaus in Southern California cross city lines all the time to market their hotels. Even the L.A. bureau does it, marketing Burbank and Disneyland as part of L.A. Collins said most people outside of Los Angeles don’t recognize much of a difference between North Hollywood and an area like downtown. It’s all L.A. “If in London, you ask someone what L.A. is, you’ll end up with everything from Santa Barbara down to San Diego,” he said. “The consumer doesn’t buy in chunks, even though the local markets differ.” That is why, he said, the Valley shouldn’t separate from Los Angeles, in terms of tourism. “Hotels want to be represented by L.A.,” Collins said. “If anything, they want to be better connected and more connected to L.A.” Collins argues that Valley hotel occupancy and room rates are doing well, which indicates the region is enjoying a boost from L.A.’s marketing approach. In January, rates were up 1.9 percent over the like period a year ago to a high of $110.04 a night, according to PKF Consulting. “Across the board, the Valley continues to do quite well,” Collins said. “Within the city, it’s doing damn well.” But Iwata says that isn’t so. While Valley hotel rates are rising, occupancy rates have gone down, as have hotel revenues, he says. Members of the Valley bureau, which operates on a membership-driven $30,000 annual budget, believe a regional marketing approach will boost Valley hotels that are farther from L.A. and increase the number of business guests coming to the Valley. Iwata said he would like the Valley bureau to be a buffer to the Los Angeles bureau. He said in the end, the Valley will do better with its own identity. Iwata and other Valley tourism officials expect the Los Angeles City Administrators Office to hear out both sides and then make a recommendation on how much, if any, tax money the Valley should get to promote tourism. The recommendation could come as early as this month. Then it would be up to the L.A. City Council to make a final decision.

Busy People Need to Exercise Too by J.P. Linck There is a term used to describe the lives of people who live in our society – BUSY. People who work, go to school, raise a family, or are involved in any other normal life activities often find that trying to fit new habits, such as exercise, into their lives is a challenge. I recently had the privilege of presenting a workshop about this very subject. I’d like to share some of the ideas I offered to those attendees. Time-minded workout routines are designed to provide optimal training is fewer and shorter allotments of time. With planning, these workouts can be effective and fun. There are five steps required for a successful program. Before any activity is begun, the first step is to set realistic fitness goals. The specific goals vary with each individual, so each person must select the areas that they want to work on. Do you want to improve your cardiovascular health and improve your general health? Do you need to lower your blood pressure or try to counteract a family history of heart problems? Do you want to improve your stamina? Is your posture and body alignment a problem? Do you need to increase your general body strength or are you interested in specific muscle groups? Do you have joint problems or injuries that require exercises for improvement? Do you want to improve the tone and appearance of your muscles? Do you need to increase your flexibility? Do you want to decrease your amount of body fat? Do you need to decrease your stress level and improve your mood? It is important for the overly busy person to select one area to improve instead of a multitude of goals to keep the program realistic. Once you have decided which areas you are interested in concentrating on, the second step is to explore the activities that you could choose from. For example, if you want to keep your heart healthy and decrease stress, you would probably focus on aerobic activities. If you need to increase your strength or improve your posture, you would use a very specific resistance training program. The specific activities you choose should be ones that you can fit into your normal schedule. The decision about where to exercise is a large factor in considering the amount of travel time and accessibility. Your program should be enjoyable so that you will look forward to it and be more inclined to do it. If you have a long lunch hour and work very near a fitness facility, you may want to exercise at that facility. If you are an “early morning” person who enjoys a private time with the TV news before the family gets up, exercise can be done while listening to the reports. If you think being outdoors in the evening would be a treat after a long day indoors, you should explore outside activities. The third step in planning a successful fitness program is to decide how often you will exercise, how long the sessions will last, and how hard you will workout. The general ranges for aerobic activity is 3-5 times a week for 20-60 minutes at a pace that will cause you to breathe harder than normal but not so hard that you need to stop before the session reaches its cool down. These ranges include beginners to advanced exercisers, the beginners using the lower range and the active person working out harder and more often. Muscle or resistance training can be performed 2-3 times as week with as few as one set of exercise for each muscle group. More advanced exercisers can do more exercises or sets of exercises as they desire. But the average busy person can benefit with a very realistic and manageable amount of resistance training. The individual who does not own weights and chooses not to join a fitness facility can get a good muscle conditioning workout with large elastic bands designed specifically for this activity. Flexibility exercise is a part of the cool down or final part of either aerobic or resistance workouts. Additional stretching can be done daily if desired. Once your program has been planned, the fourth step is to make a commitment and begin your routine. This is it!! As you get used to including the activities in your week, you will form a habit of doing them. The fifth and final step is to record your program and access it regularly. A simple notebook or daily calendar can be used to write down your activities, including the amount of time, how hard you worked, and resistance used. You may want to note any changes you are noticing. About once a month, review your progress and see if you want to revise your program in any way. This step will help you keep your program working for you and motivate you to continue. Some people find they need more knowledge about exercise before they can follow these steps. There are many wonderful references about exercise available: books, video tapes, and fitness instructor. As a personal trainer, I have helped many people start and follow exercises programs they can live with. Make use of the sources available and you can enjoy time-minded fitness programs in your busy life.

A Different Balance Sheet Veronica Villaclara, an accountant by trade, always had a love of lingerie, and now it’s become the underpinning of a new career. After being laid off, the Northridge resident was thinking about her next job when she came across a magazine article about people who made millions on seemingly insignificant inventions. That night, Villaclara woke with the idea of developing the Brassiere Strap Hider, a contraption that allows women to keep their bra straps hidden when they wear sleeveless tops. After researching the field, she created a piece of cloth that fastens with hooks and eyes, built up an inventory, and made her first appearance at an intimate-apparel trade show in New York. After one year and a $35,000 investment, Valmimio Enterprises Inc. is in full swing, and Villaclara’s Brassiere Strap Hider is in 140 stores. Though she has recouped her initial investment, sales have been slow over the winter months, and Villaclara had to take a temp job to tide her over. But with spring fashions now in stores, she says business has picked up. She’s even working on some line extensions. “I’m hoping not to go back to accounting,” she said. Cookie Monsters The Studio City Residents Association is thrilled to have a new supermarket in the neighborhood after waging a long fight to get Ralphs to divest its Laurel Canyon Boulevard location. The residents have wanted a Vons market at the site since regulators ordered Ralphs to sell some of its properties, including that location, to avoid a monopoly in certain areas of the city. But the opening of Vons brings another benefit that’s particularly important to resident Gloria Woods. Woods is in charge of refreshments for the monthly Studio City Residents Association meetings. During the battle against Ralphs, it was she who had to cajole the $25 worth of donated refreshments from store staffers who weren’t feeling too kindly toward the group. “I’d go in and (the assistant manager) would roll his eyes and say, ‘You’re here again. I can’t believe you’d come in here after you made us move,’ ” she recalled. Woods says after a while it became a running joke between her and the assistant manager. When the store finally did close, she gave her card to him and asked that he let her know the location of his next store. “I said, ‘I’m really going to miss you. Let me know where you are and I’ll come and hassle you there,’ ” she said. She’s still waiting for his call. A Sporting Fellow Many residents and businesses in the San Fernando Valley know Walter Prince for his community activism. Among his many civic credits, Prince heads a group called Porter Ranch is Developed Enough (P.R.I.D.E.), and he also works closely with several Northridge associations. But Prince now has another claim to fame. He recently received the Award of Distinction from the Water Ski Hall of Fame for his contributions to water skiing. Prince, it turns out, authored, “Water Skiing for All,” one of the earliest books on water skiing, published in 1956. He has also contributed a piece on water skiing to the American edition of the Oxford Junior Encyclopedia. While living in the San Fernando Valley keeps him somewhat landlocked, Prince has remained an active member of the American Water Ski Educational Foundation. Tale of Two Dans When you call Mayor Richard Riordan’s Office of Economic Development and ask to speak with Dan Margolis, you’re likely to be asked which one. That’s right, there are two guys named Dan Margolis on Riordan’s economic development staff. And to make matters more confusing, their offices are literally across the hall from one another and they share a fax machine. They’ve even been asked to attend the same meetings with business owners whom the office is trying to attract or retain in the city. “We get each other’s faxes all the time,” said Daniel Reuben Margolis, who has worked as an economic and financial analyst in the office since November 1997. He uses his middle initial to distinguish himself from the other Dan, a communications deputy who joined the office two months later and goes by Dan I. Margolis or just Dan Margolis. Analyst Dan R. Margolis said there is one advantage to the similar names: “If something ever goes wrong, saying the other Dan Margolis did it is a convenient excuse.”

Snapshot Michael L. Klausman Position: President, CBS Studio Center Born: Feb. 2, 1951, South Gate Education: Bachelor’s degree in biology, CSUN Most Admired Person: Jack Hayford, Pastor, Church on the Way, Van Nuys Personal: Married 28 years; five children By SHELLY GARCIA Staff Reporter Late last year, the Studio City Chamber of Commerce tapped Michael L. Klausman to become its next president. The choice was not surprising. During the nine years he has headed CBS Studio Center, Klausman has built one of the most successful production lots in Los Angeles, home to such shows as “Seinfeld,” “Roseanne” and “Unhappily Ever After.” He has overseen an expansion that brought the number of sound stages to 18, while adding an office complex and a 1,250-car parking structure to what was already the largest and most prominent business in Studio City. But the studio’s standing in the Studio City community comes from more than its size. A key player in community affairs, CBS Studio Center has donated funds to area schools and made its parking facility available for the Studio City Farmers Market. Thanks largely to Klausman’s efforts, the studio has built a bridge between business and residents, creating a partnership that is unusual among such traditionally antagonistic factions. When he officially assumes his new position in August, Klausman’s first order of business will be to build a similar bond within the diverse business community. At the same time, he may face a new challenge for studio business from the proposed North Hollywood Studio Complex, which is expected to add 10 sound stages to the L.A. market. Question: You’ve developed a reputation for listening to your neighbors, balancing their needs against your studio’s needs. How have you accomplished that? Answer: I just pretend that I live in the area. Development with no regard for the residents is harmful. Residents with no regard for business is also harmful. Everyone worries about pollution, the environment and traffic and everything you should be worried about. Where the friction comes is when people believe that developers only make things worse. If you can develop and address these issues, and the chamber can help to do that, all of a sudden you’ve established a real credibility. Q: You make it sound easy. A: It’s a simple concept, but it takes a lot of effort. We work together with the residents on a number of things. The noise from Burbank Airport is a problem for me as it is for the residents in the area. We’ve worked together on the Farmers Market. When we can, we work together on common goals. Then when things come up where our goals are different, they know we’ll work with them on that, too. Q: What are some of the challenges the Studio City Chamber of Commerce faces in trying to meet the needs of area business? A: There are about 1,300 businesses in Studio City and about 250 are members of the chamber. I’ve been talking to a number of members, and a lot of them are on very small margins. You ask them to join a chamber, and you ask for special dues outside of the membership fees, and often people ask, “What do I get?” My big job now is to unify the folks to feel like they’re part of the group, but they have to put some effort in. It’s like joining a gym. You’re not going to lose weight just by joining. You have to put some effort in. Q: What are some of the things you hope to do to bolster membership in the chamber? A: In order to set goals, I’m trying to find out what the needs are. I’m also trying to find out what the perceptions are. There may be misconceived perceptions of what the chamber should do. Once I find out, I’m trying to get those two to mix. Rather than a shotgun approach, and doing a lot of little things, I’m hoping we’ll do some big things well. Most people want a chamber to represent them politically, to promote their business and to provide educational tools. We should develop a real club that’s proud of the business found here. Q: Do you have any specific things on the agenda so far? A: I’m looking at the Christmas Open House and the Fourth of July event and some of the mixers as my emphasis. We’ve talked about expanding the Fourth of July event to more of a taste of Studio City and bringing in the restaurants. We’re also looking at a joint membership program. For a higher fee you can get to be a member of four chambers. It sounds like a great membership tool. Q: Studio City has a particularly active residents association. The group has even begun a business alliance that has attracted a number of members from the business community. How is that likely to impact your plans for the chamber? A: I’m not concerned. It’s not crazy to think that the residents and the chamber couldn’t be one unit. If it does a better job than we do, then it should be stronger. Things have a tendency to spring up because they’re needed. If they’re doing a good job, it’s a good job for Studio City. There could be synergy between the two groups. Q: There’s some impending competition on your own business front as well with the proposal to build sound stages in North Hollywood. How do you think that might affect CBS Studio Center? A: I’m concerned that there are too many stages in the area. If the demand stays the same and there is an increased amount of supply, it lowers prices and increases competition. On the other hand, we’re competitive now, and I’m not afraid to go up against anybody else. We’re proud of our service and our studio, so bring them on. Q: How has your studio fared with the reported slowdown in the entertainment industry? A: The months of January and February, we were kind of slow due to cancellations, and there wasn’t much out there. But the pilot season came in late. Right now we’re booked for 16 pilots and counting. And there are a lot of movie inquiries. Pilots typically start in April, and in May networks decide what they’ll pick up and that’s when you negotiate your deals for the fall. I expect it to be busy with inquiries through the end of May. Q: In college, you planned to go on to medical school. Do you ever regret your decision? A: When I was going to school, I met a guy named Tim Berry, who went on to become one of the producers of “Cheers.” I needed a job and he got me a job as a page on “All in the Family.” As a result of some of the affirmative action programs at the time, it was hard to get into med school. So I gave TV a shot. I have no regrets. If someone’s sick, I think I would have liked to make them feel better. But I also make people feel good now. I try to make producers feel good. I try to make my family feel good.

By HOWARD FINE Staff Reporter The Los Angeles Unified School District board is scheduled this week to consider a measure that would likely steer some $2 billion worth of contracts to firms employing union workers. Even more significant is that approval of the “project labor agreement” could set a precedent that would have far-reaching impacts on public-sector contracting throughout Los Angeles. Such agreements typically pertain to specific major public-works projects, like an airport or dam. Their purpose is to head off strikes or other labor unrest that could delay work on such projects by weeks or even months. This is believed to be the first project labor agreement that would cover a host of contracts. “This is a test case for project labor agreements,” said Framroze Virjee, the O’Melveny & Myers attorney who represented the school district through nearly two years of negotiations with the Building Trades and Construction Council. “These agreements generally aren’t done for such geographically diverse and small projects. If the unions get it here, they can move on to the city and the county, as well as other school districts up and down the state.” Even if the measure does not open the door to other such agreements, non-union contractors insist that its approval would effectively shut them out of contracts tied to Proposition BB, the $2.4 billion bond measure passed by L.A. voters two years ago. “This agreement will eliminate 80 percent of the contractors available to bid on Prop. BB projects, simply because they are not union contractors,” said Joe Battaglia, director of the L.A. chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors, which represents non-union contractors. Battaglia, a non-union landscape contractor, said he would lose about 10 percent of his current $25 million annual revenue stream if the agreement is approved. Union leaders, not surprisingly, support the measure and insist its approval would merely require non-union contractors to pay their workers the “prevailing wage” on those particular projects. The state labor code defines prevailing wage as “a single rate of pay that is paid to the greatest number of workers in a specific craft or classification in a given geographic area,” determined by collecting wage data from unions, surveys of employers and federal data. “The assertion that this contract freezes out non-union contractors is nonsense,” said Richard Slawson, executive secretary of the Building and Construction Trades Council of Los Angeles and Orange counties. “This agreement allows union and non-union contractors to compete for contracts. The non-union contractors simply do not want to have collective bargaining agreements. Without such agreements, they are free to violate overtime and prevailing wage laws with impunity.” Non-union contractors contend that they do not violate employment laws, but that the measure would make Prop. BB contracts unprofitable for them to bid on because they would have to pay union scale, causing their health benefits costs to soar, and labor costs to increase up to 15 percent higher than the prevailing wage. The March 23 vote comes at a critical time for the school board. Four members are up for re-election next month in what is shaping up as the fiercest school board election in years. The election could change the balance of power on the board, which is now dominated by union supporters. Mayor Richard Riordan has raised more than $1.3 million to help fund the campaigns of three challengers, as part of his attempt to remake the board, which he has termed “a bunch of incompetents.” One of the board members facing a challenge from a Riordan-backed candidate is Jeff Horton, an avowed union supporter and major proponent of the project labor agreement. Critics claim Horton is trying to push the agreement through before the election, in part to reinforce his union support and also out of fear that the current pro-union majority could be lost. “This is one of the last board meetings before the election and there is a lot of political pressure being applied to rush this thing through,” said Richard Peters, vice president with Helix Electric Inc., a non-union Garden Grove-based electrical contractor with several Prop. BB contracts. Horton denied having any political motivations. “I’m pushing for this because it will result in better-quality construction work,” Horton said. “The vast majority of the jobs that we have problems with are done by non-union contractors. With this agreement, we won’t have to spend as much to correct these shoddy construction and repair jobs.” But fellow board member David Tokosfy expressed concerns that the agreement could end up costing the district between 10 percent and 15 percent more than current contracts. “This could lead to a shortage of contractors bidding on Prop. BB work. That, in turn, could drive up the bidding prices,” Tokofsky said. “That’s why I have yet to be convinced by the district that this will not result in higher costs.” Two weeks ago, the Prop. BB Oversight Committee, chaired by Riordan’s top adviser Steve Soboroff, recommended that the agreement automatically sunset after a year unless school district staff can prove that it’s saving the district money. The current proposal stipulates that the agreement can be terminated if staff determines it is costing the district more. Both Virjee and Slawson said they would be amenable to the oversight committee’s recommended change. But they remain far apart on another issue: a provision that non-union contractors pay into the unions’ health and benefit funds. Peters, the non-union electrical contractor executive, said many non-union contractors have their own benefit programs. Because they would probably not drop their existing programs just to pursue a single contract, such a provision would essentially require non-union contractors to double their health benefits. “This would put us at such a severe cost disadvantage that many companies like ours simply won’t bother to enter the bidding process,” Peters said. “We will simply have to look for work elsewhere.” As a way around that particular problem, Virjee said that non-union contractors could be required to demonstrate that they provide “substantially equivalent coverage” for health and other benefits. But the unions have so far rejected that approach, saying so few non-union contractors now contribute toward health benefits for their employees that double payment is a non-issue.

By SHELLY GARCIA Staff Reporter There is a strip along Ventura Boulevard where no quaint antique shops or vintage clothing boutiques are in business, where the coffee houses and outdoor cafes give way to auto repair centers, adult motels and tattoo parlors. Cross Ventura east of Colfax Avenue and you will find the seamier side of Studio City, the wrong side of the tracks. While merchants and builders scour the rest of Ventura Boulevard looking for sites, this stretch has languished, an undistinguished blur travelers see through their windows while on their way to the bustling shopping centers to the west or to Universal City to the east. Now that may change. Three new projects on Ventura Boulevard between Colfax and Vineland avenues promise to transform the area into a more active commercial district despite major obstacles such as the cost of land and topography that makes building difficult. “There’s been more interest in the past year than there has been in the last 10 years,” said Tom Henry, planning deputy to Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs, whose district includes most of the area. “That’s very encouraging.” The newest of the three projects is Studio City Plaza, a $1.5 million office complex nearing the end of the permit process. Across the street, Extra Space Storage has plans to build a 35,000-square-foot facility and public hearings have begun on that project. And at the eastern corner, VDA Property Co. has started construction on Studio Plaza, a 100,000-square-foot shopping center anchored by a Ralphs and a Rite-Aid. Locals hope that these three projects will serve as a foundation for further development that would extend the thriving Studio City village commercial district running roughly between Laurel Canyon and Coldwater Canyon boulevards to the community’s eastern border. “It’s like when you have a shopping center with anchor tenants,” said Robert Piken, president of the Piken Co., a brokerage management and development company. “That helps attract tenants to fill in the other stores between them.” Developers long have considered the corridor to be well situated for commercial development. It is close to CBS Studio Center, Universal City and the entertainment giants in Burbank, making it attractive for production-related companies. And the hillside homes perched above the south side of Ventura Boulevard, along with the multi-family dwellings to the north, provide a strong market for retail development. “The demographics are very good,” said Tom Von Der Ahe, president of VDA Property, which is developing Studio Plaza. In addition to the local population, Ventura Boulevard provides a major thoroughfare of travelers going west into the Valley or east into Hollywood. “Potential customers have to come right past our center,” Von Der Ahe said. But developers like Von Der Ahe and Joseph Shayfer, who is behind the Studio Plaza complex, have been reluctant pioneers in tapping these markets. Von Der Ahe began the project after a number of other developers approached him with an interest in buying the property. He initially faced opposition from local residents, who didn’t like the idea of a 24-hour supermarket in the area (although the group has since put its support behind the project). Shayfer, who also endured a long battle with the Studio City Residents Association, wound up spending about double what he had originally intended for his development. “Over the past three years, this property has been nothing but a nightmare,” Shayfer said. About three years ago, Shayfer set out to rebuild one of the buildings on his property that was red-tagged after the Northridge earthquake. The site had housed a body shop, auto-detailing center and a restaurant, and Shayfer’s plan was to rebuild the red-tagged building and repair the others, keeping the site an auto-repair center. But soon after Shayfer demolished the red-tagged building, city inspectors found that the soil under the property, which at one time had been a landfill, was unstable. Shayfer had to demolish all the buildings and erect pillars 60 feet deep before he could rebuild. “Before, I could have finished construction at $800,000,” Shayfer said. “From day one, it got out of control. First 20-foot caissons, then 30 feet. Finally, we got out of the foundation stage and we began going through the final permits, and I’m up against the toughest homeowners association, and they hate this project. So everything stopped.” So fierce was the opposition to the auto repair project that Shayfer ultimately hired a new architect and landscaper, and reshaped his development to become a 10,000-square-foot office complex. He estimates the cost will reach $1.5 million, excluding the land and the interest on the unanticipated loan he had to draw to pay the $400,000 bill for the new foundation. Only the Extra Space Storage project has gone smoothly, largely because the company anticipated the residents’ objections. Extra Space Storage hired an architect who designed the facade of the 35,000-square-foot facility to look like a European streetscape. The additional $100,000 the company plans to spend on the design represents a relatively small percentage of the $2.5 million development cost. And the extra features can serve as advertising to attract potential customers to the storage facility, said Bruce Kaufman, a partner with the Salt Lake City-based company. But even with community support, developers point out that the problems of building in this area can be staggering. First there is the topography. Because of the way the Los Angeles River and the Tujunga Wash snake through the area, and because of the hillsides to the south, the lots are narrow. Retail centers would require far more parking than the size of the sites allows. And developers can’t compensate for the land restrictions by building vertically because zoning regulations impose a three-story limit. The hillsides also pose problems. Developers have to build walls to make certain that the project doesn’t undermine the structure of the hill, and residents have insisted on expensive landscaping to hide the retaining walls. Finally, there is the nature of the neighborhood, which, in addition to the auto shops, houses at least three motels with signs advertising X-rated videos another deterrent to those who would seek to attract shoppers or even office tenants. “Due to the mountains to the south, it’s difficult to get depth, and it’s difficult to get a large enough site,” said Jack Norafshan, the principal of Reliable Properties, a Los Angeles developer that is interested in finding a project in the area. “Also, there’s a lot of motels that are not very inviting, so a lot of work needs to be done in order to make this a desirable neighborhood.” Surprisingly, the cost of land does not reflect the problems. Though he would not disclose the price of the property, Kaufman said, “We paid a ton for it.” And Norafshan said his search so far has not yielded any property, in part because asking prices have been too high. But that is not stopping Norafshan, who hopes to find a site for a shopping center. “If we find the right site, we’d be very interested in it,” he said. Studio City is a coveted location for retailers, and, except for this corridor, there is virtually no space to be had along Ventura Boulevard, its primary thoroughfare. “The area between Coldwater (Canyon Boulevard) and Laurel (Canyon Boulevard) is pretty saturated,” said Piken, whose company manages Studio City Place, until now one of only two shopping centers east of Colfax. “As the demand gets greater, they can’t accommodate all that demand, so there has to be more development.” Office Depot has recently announced plans to construct a store in Studio City Place, and occupancy at neighboring Studio Village has remained near full for a number of years. Todd Nathanson, director of the San Fernando Valley office of Centers Business Management, which manages Studio Village, said he expects demand in the area will increase further with the planned opening of the subway station in Universal City. “I think you’re going to have a lot of people who will park and ride, and they have to go right through the corridor,” Nathanson said. “When I think of opportunity, I think that section of Studio City is poised for it.”

Volume 4 Number 6 On the Cover REVAMP Commercial development could mean a turnaround for a seamy section of Ventura Boulevard in Studio City. SECESSION Separating the Valley and its 1.6 million inhabitants from L.A. County promises to be a costly, ugly battle. NO GROWTH The growth control movement is poised to make its move into L.A. County as Agoura Hills grapples with the issue. Up Front TURF WAR Burbank is looking to lure away Glendale’s lucrative auto dealers as a way of boosting sales taxes. 5 TRANSPORTATION Smart Shuttle, the West San Fernando Valley’s privately run mass-transit system, is seeing mixed results. 6 BILLS Labor leaders and trial lawyers are backing a host of bills in the state Legislature. 6 MAYOR Who will lead L.A. in two years? A look at the leading contenders and how they’re jockeying for support. 7 DEVELOPMENT Plans to bring entertainment companies to Cal State Northridge have fizzled, causing the university to reevaluate plans for its North Campus property. 8 ANIMATION Phil Roman, one of TV’s most successful animators, charts a new course after leaving the company he founded. 9 SCHOOLS A motion before LAUSD to consider only union contractors for construction jobs leaves their non-union brethren up in arms. 10 Fast Track HOME CARE Despite pitfalls in the home health care business, Sherman Oaks-based Dynamic Health/Dynamic Nursing has managed to double revenues in the last few years. 18 Spotlight On LAKE VIEW TERRACE A community once notorious for drugs and crime is now on the mend. 19 People MICHAEL L. KLAUSMAN The president of CBS Studio Center looks ahead as he prepares to take over as president of the Studio City chamber. 20 Columns & features Newsmakers 21 STRATEGIES Columns & features Enterprise 22, Personal Finance 23, Econowatch 23 REAL ESTATE Columns & features Real Estate 24