Bud Ovrom, general manager of the city of L.A.’s Department of Building and Safety, was a veritable quip machine when he addressed a packed house at the Hollywood Economic Development Summit on June 24.
This year, the annual confab took place in a theater at ArcLight Hollywood Cinema, and Ovrom, a longtime official who has held several posts in city government over the years, closed the meeting with a presentation on the future of real estate development in Los Angeles.
Soon after taking the stage, Ovrom began fiddling with the microphone, before wondering aloud whether a wireless mike might have been better – allowing him to roam the theater.
“I haven’t lasted 40 years in this business by staying in one place,” he joked, drawing laughs from the crowd.
As Ovrom sped through his presentation, he clicked on new slides quickly, telling the audience, “I hope you don’t get seasick when I do this,” as images flew across the screen.
Finally, Ovrom brought down the house when he referenced a slide that noted developers who are still solvent are continuing to pursue projects.
“That’s kind of an oxymoron – developers, solvent,” he said to laughter.
Attorney at Speed
When Altadena lawyer Ed Reeser first got behind the wheel of a race car, he was terrified of getting into a crash at more than 135 miles per hour.
But six and half years later, Reeser is still racing. He’s become so involved in the sport that he recently published a series of driving guides for racing enthusiasts.
Reeser, 58, said he wrote the guides, which are about such California tracks as Auto Club Speedway, Laguna Seca, Buttonwillow and Willow Springs, to help amateurs and professionals learn the intricacies of each course, maybe even before they drive them.
“When I learned how to drive, I learned the way everyone learns. You go to racing school and spend a lot of feet time in a car,” Reeser said. “But the problem with that is you take lessons and go out on the track and you are scared to death because you have no idea what’s going to happen.”
So Reeser a sole practitioner, spent two years writing down details such as the locations of course entrances, exits and turns, and even the sounds and smells associated with each track. He also installed a video camera in his race car so he could study the track and talked to others who’d raced on the tracks to get their input.
Reeser doesn’t expect to net a profit from the books, which sell for $16.95 and are available online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble, and at Burbank shop Autobooks.
“These were written to give back to the community of motor sport,” he said. “It’s something that’s useful and will make things faster and safer.”
Staff reporters Daniel Miller and Alexa Hyland contributed to this column. Page 3 is compiled by Editor Charles Crumpley. He can be reached at [email protected].
