Graboff Named to NBC Post
Marc Graboff was named Thursday as West Coast president of NBC Universal Television. The elevation of the veteran business affairs executive reinforces a trend among media companies to promote attorneys turned business executives ahead of creative executives as contract negotiations and deals become more complex, the Los Angeles Times reported. Graboff is based in Burbank, where he has informally overseen administration for the network and television studio since parent company NBC Entertainment President Kevin Reilly and NBC Universal Television Studio President Angela Bromstad will report to Graboff on business, operational and administrative matters. They will continue reporting to Zucker on creative and programming issues.
Connell Gives Up Donor Funds
Former state Controller Kathleen Connell has complied with a demand to give up $22,000 in political contributions to her 2001 Los Angeles mayoral campaign because the donors have admitted the money was laundered. The action increases pressure on other L.A. politicians who have received laundered contributions , including Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, City Atty. Rocky Delgadillo and Councilman Jack Weiss , to write checks to the state or city, the Los Angeles Times reported. At least 19 contributions received by Connell’s campaign committees were made in the name of someone other than the true source of the money, said contributors, who admitted the money was donated in a scheme hatched with an executive of Casden Properties Inc.
405 Lane Expected to Be OK’d
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is expected to sign legislation today to jump-start construction of a 405 car-pool lane and preserve $130 million in federal funds that could have been lost if work was not started in time, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported. After months of efforts by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, Schwarzenegger will come to L.A. to sign the bill that some had worried would get held up in Sacramento politics. Fresh from his new proposal to reconstruct California’s sagging infrastructure, Schwarzenegger moved quickly once the bill landed on his desk this week, seizing the opportunity to fast-track the 10-mile lane that promises great traffic relief between the Valley and the Westside.
Foreclosure Activity Up
Residential foreclosure activity across the nation spiked to its highest level of 2005 during December, an indication that rising interest rates are making an impact. Last month the owners of 81,290 properties nationwide entered some stage of foreclosure, up 13.5 percent from November, said RealtyTrac. That’s one new incident for every 1,422 U.S. households, the highest foreclosure rate reported last year. California reported 7,674 properties entering some stage of foreclosure, a 27 percent increase and the third most new foreclosures reported by any state in December. But with new one foreclosure for every 1,592 households, the state’s foreclosure rate remained below the national average, the Daily News of Los Angeles reported.
Gold Line Faces Delay
Construction of the Gold Line extension from Pasadena to Azusa could be delayed from three months to one year because of a glitch in calculating potential ridership on the train. Every transportation project seeking federal funds must submit ridership projections to the Federal Transportation Authority, which then uses the numbers to rank projects. The ridership model being used to analyze the Gold Line appears to be excluding certain segments of the population, resulting in low numbers, the Pasadena Star News reported. Unless the authority can figure out how to alter the model to capture these populations, the Gold Line numbers may be too low to qualify for funding.
DWP Starts Work on Owens River Restoration
The Department of Water and Power has begun the court-ordered construction of a project to send water flowing into a 62-mile stretch of the Lower Owens River, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Thursday. The project will reverse damage to the river’s environment caused by L.A.’s diversion of water from the Owens Valley to Southern California. The courts have fined the city $5,000 a day since September for delays , or $645,000 , and another $2.4 million in fines are expected before the project is finished, the Los Angeles Times reported.
