Valley Talk – If at First You Don’t Succeed COMMENTARY If at First You Don’t Succeed Burbank City Manager Robert “Bud” Ovrom had a recent suggestion for Ben Reiling, president of Zelman Development Corp., concerning the Burbank Airport Authority’s decision to increase passenger access fees for off-site parking companies and impose levies on their gross receipts. Zelman is preparing to break ground next month on a $7 million two-story parking garage near the airport. Instead of fighting the levies and fees in court, where both the city of Burbank and the airport have been battling it out for years over terminal expansion plans, Ovrom suggested an alternative. “It is pretty clear that the airport is going to do anything they can to make life miserable for (Reiling’s) parking lot project,” said Ovrom in a recent memo to the Burbank City Council. “Ironically, he might be better off paying them $200,000 to $300,000 per year in blackmail, rather than get tied up in endless litigation. “We know better than most how litigious the airport is.” Do You Hear Something? That buzzing sound emanating from a parking lot at Panavision Inc. in Woodland Hills isn’t one of the company’s newest cameras or cranes. It’s the radio-controlled cars that race around a makeshift circuit nearly every afternoon, said Jason Kay, a technician with Panavision’s Remote Systems unit. “It’s just the guys who like to bring their cars and race them around during their break,” said Kay, one of about a dozen or so workers who gather regularly to watch the small-scale auto race. “They just race them around and then they go back to work. It’s like a tradition here,” he said of the races that have been held almost daily for more than five years. “It’s great to watch.” Running, Not Sparring Patrons at El Cubano Market in North Hollywood were a little surprised to see a former boxing champion and a vote-hungry politician among the assorted fruits and vegetables at the market early this month. “They just wanted to come out and meet the people,” said market manager Alex Rodriguez, of a visit by former welterweight champ and Valley resident Carlos Palomino and Democratic Assemblyman Tony Cardenas. Cardenas, now a runoff candidate for the city’s East Valley 2nd District council seat, was well received by the market’s mostly Latino patrons. “I think people liked him, but I don’t know if they would vote for him,” Rodriguez said. “Palomino is still popular though. He was a pretty good fighter in his day.” Darkest Hour Just Before Dawn The attacks of Sept. 11, coupled with an already sagging economy, forced the guru of economic forecasting, Jack Kyser, chief economist for the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., to revamp his predictions for Valley businesses in 2002. Speaking at VICA’s annual Business Forecast Conference Oct. 26, Kyser said state budget cuts are going to make economic recovery here and across the state much tougher and slower than he predicted last year. But, gesturing toward Assembly Speaker Robert Hertzberg, who was in the audience, Kyser offered up a quick cure for coping with tough times to come: “It’s not going to be pretty,” he said. “So we should all get together and buy some Prozac for the speaker. Then, maybe he should buy us some because we’re all going to need it.” Then he offered up this little glimmer of hope: “I’m older than dirt. I’ve been through all of these recessions and there’s always a recovery,” he said.