Rail Shake-Up
A recent audit charging the Metrolink commuter rail service with mismanagement has apparently led to an upper-level shake-up at the agency, with its executive director replaced and two other top managers placed on paid leave of absence.
Deputy Director David R. Solow has been named interim director of Metrolink by the board of the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, replacing Richard M. Stanger.
Metrolink Marketing Director Adrienne Brooks-Taylor and Finance Director Wanda Hill are on leave pending the outcome of a management evaluation.
Metrolink runs 107 trains serving commuters in Ventura, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Bernardino and Orange counties. The audit blasted Metrolink managers for their handling of such functions as hiring, billing, training, record-keeping and contract bids.
Kaufman & Broad Builds Profits
A booming demand for new homes boosted third-quarter earnings for Kaufman & Broad Home Corp. by 85 percent over last year, exceeding expectations from analysts.
L.A.-based Kaufman & Broad reported net income of $28.1 million (68 cents per diluted share) for the quarter ended Aug. 31, compared with $15.2 million (38 cents) in the year-earlier quarter. Analysts polled by First Call Corp. had estimated earnings of 60 cents a share for the giant homebuilder.
Wall Street remained unimpressed. The day Kaufman & Broad posted its earnings, its share price actually dropped by $1.50 to $20.50 a share. The homebuilder’s shares had traded as high as $35 in July. Analysts say investors fear the Asian economic crisis will lead to a slowdown in new-home construction in the United States.
Secession Suit Settled
Los Angeles airport officials have agreed to pay $50,000 to settle a lawsuit filed after supporters of San Fernando Valley’s secession drive were turned away from an air show.
Members of Valley VOTE say their constitutional rights were violated when security personnel ordered them to stop gathering signatures at the Van Nuys Aviation Expo, held at the Van Nuys Airport on July 18-19. Valley VOTE’s signature-gathering effort is for a petition calling for a study of Valley secession from the city of L.A.
The $50,000 settlement was approved by a unanimous vote of the Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners.
Garcia to Head LAX Group
LAX 21, a group of business and labor leaders who support expansion of Los Angeles International Airport, has elected the former head of the city Airport Commission as its president.
Daniel Garcia said his priorities in his new role as head of LAX 21 include expanding the group’s “public education efforts” and broadening its membership throughout the Los Angeles region.
Until his recent resignation as president of the Airport Commission, Garcia had spearheaded efforts to win support for the LAX Master Plan, which calls for doubling the size of the airport by 2015 at a cost of $8 billion to $12 billion. Former LAX 21 President Mee Lee has been named executive director of the organization.
Making the Grade
County Supervisor Mike Antonovich wants to give L.A. restaurants a chance to flunk.
Antonovich has proposed a plan to include a “D” grade on the current report card system for restaurants. Currently, eateries scoring below 70 percent on an inspection by the Health Services Department do not receive a letter grade. Instead, they get a card showing their numerical score.
Under Antonovich’s plan, to be considered by the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 13, restaurants scoring under 70 would get a “D” grade and be forced to shut down until the problems are corrected.
Since Jan. 16, when Los Angeles County instituted the letter grade system, 38 of the county’s 88 cities have adopted the ordinance, Antonovich said.
CB Buys Canadian Firm
CB Richard Ellis acquired the 73 percent of CB Commercial Real Estate Group Canada Inc. that it did not already own, for an undisclosed price.
Richard Pogue, a longtime CB Richard Ellis executive, has moved to Toronto and will become chairman of CB Commercial Canada, which will be renamed CB Richard Ellis. The rest of the Canadian company’s management, including a majority of its board, will continue to be made up of Canadians.
L.A.-based CB Commercial and REI Ltd., which merged in April to form CB Richard Ellis, posted combined 1997 revenues of $848 million.
MTA Bus Plan
To prevent a federal court from taking over management of L.A.’s bus system, Metropolitan Transportation Authority chief Julian Burke has urged the MTA board to buy nearly 800 more new buses than originally planned.
Burke recommended the purchase of 2,095 buses to replace the MTA’s aging and often out-of-commission fleet. Burke’s proposed acquisitions would cost between $700 million and $750 million over the next six years.
The plan drew immediate criticism from environmentalists because it calls for only half the buses to be fueled by natural gas. The other half would be fueled by diesel or other technology. Environmentalists point out that diesel fumes have been proven to cause cancer.
Honeycutt to Chair Committee
President Clinton has appointed Van B. Honeycutt, the head of El Segundo-based Computer Sciences Corp., as chairman of the National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee.
Honeycutt is the first leader of an information technology company to chair the committee, which is responsible for providing industry-based analyses and recommendations to the president on security and telecommunications issues. He succeeds Charles R. Lee, chairman and chief executive of GTE Corp., who had served as the NSTAC chair for the past 18 months.
Issues addressed by the NSTAC include the year 2000 problem, Internet and telecommunications outages, cyber security and crime, intrusion detection and related subjects.
JPL Contract for Caltech
Caltech has renewed its contract with NASA to manage the Jet Propulsion Laboratory near Pasadena through the year 2003.
The annual value of the contract is $1.25 billion, according to JPL Director Edward Stone.
Caltech has been involved with the laboratory since the 1930s. The facility, located on the La Ca & #324;ada Flintridge-Pasadena border, has been called JPL since 1944. It was used as a U.S. Army lab until 1959, when NASA was created by Congress and took over jurisdiction.
Compiled by Dan Turner
