Santa Monica’s Week In Business

Michael Rosenthal

   Main Street News
   There is a new sheriff on Main Street. His name is Josh Needle and he is the recently elected chairman of the Main Street Merchants Association (MSMA). Needle seems ready to rock and roll in his attempt to fulfill the master plan envisioned by city planners in 1991. The concept is centered around "making it all a village, and a pedestrian oriented shopping center." There are plans to put in brick crosswalks, straighten out sidewalks damaged by tree roots, plant a new urban forest and put all the power lines underground. As of this writing and for the past two weeks all the street lights on Main Street have been out, frustrating Needle, who says "Edison won't get our lights working and I can't get a straight answer when they will come on."
   Needle is the owner of Impolitic, "a gallery of opinionated art" at 2665 Main Street (www.impolitic.com). (See related story on page 19). Needle was elected to chair the association with 3 objectives in mind; 1) To bring shoppers to Main Street, 2) To make them smile as they enjoy the great variety of shops and restaurants, 3) To keep them happy and eager to return. The new lights wound around the trees on Main Street have improved the scene considerably and made the street more pedestrian-friendly. Among many other things on Main Street, you can find a great taco stand (Holy Guacamole) a cool bar and restaurant (World Cafe), one of the finest breakfast restaurants in town (Omelette Parlor) and a world class surf shop (ZJ's Board House). 
   Main Street has retained the feel of a community neighborhood and, fortunately, is in the midst of a densely populated residential area from which its basic clientele comes. Still, merchants need other Santa Monicans to visit and thus Needle is encouraging the Tide Shuttle to expand its route into other parts of Santa Monica with linkage to Main Street. "Ride the Tide" is a critical answer to some of the traffic concerns in Santa Monica. 
   The 25-cent shuttle currently serves a limited route from the beach parking lots to the Third Street. Promenade. It needs to go further, on to Montana Ave and up and down Wilshire, to permit residents to move easily around all of Santa Monica without the parking and traffic hassles.
   As a side note, the MSMA has a paid staffer, his name is Gary Gordon and, when he is not assisting the association, he can be found performing his music -- at the Main Street Farmers Market on Sundays occasionally and at Arcadia on the Santa Monica Pier on Monday nights. His latest CD, "The Smoking Gun Cafe," is available at Impolitic.

   Chamber Involvement
   The Main Street Merchants Association is currently organized as a committee of the Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce which takes an annual fee for administering the Main Street Business Improvement District (BID). This arrangement may end soon, however, as Needle is concerned that the Chamber's activist political stance is incompatible with basic purposes of the merchant association. He believes the group's primary focus should be on customers and business, not social and political issues. The Pico Boulevard and Montana Avenue associations may follow the lead of Main Street and manage their own affairs soon. The Chamber is currently discussing the formation of a separate nonprofit organization, made up of the Montana Avenue, Main Street and Pico Boulevard BIDs, to serve as Administrator, thus ending the Chamber's role on June 30, 2001. 
   The Chamber had a difficult year at best with its membership income down for the year and the major black eye it suffered when its support of prop KK was soundly rejected by the residents of Santa Monica. The Chamber's financial statements show a net operating loss for the year of $94,448.11, partially offset by promotional income of $44,373.91, resulting in a Net Income Loss for the year of $50,074.20. However, the organization's overall financial picture is healthy, with $221,615.40 in its checking and savings accounts. Santa Monica-based First Federal holds most of the Chamber cash -- $144,265.26 -- in a money market account. 
   New Santa Monica City Council member Herb Katz recently resigned from the Chamber's Board of Directors, citing a conflict of interest.

   Business Briefs
   Good news for Blue Cross health insurance members. The giant insurer has come to terms with St. Johns Health Center so that Blue Cross members can once again utilize the services of this world-class hospital. The 233-bed hospital had ceased accepting the insurance carrier's members in August of last year, in protest of its rate of payments. 
   Santa Monica based Activision is one of the plaintiffs in a suit against selected web site operators for allegedly distributing pirated software over the Internet. Interactive Digital Software Association claims game companies lose $3 billion in sales each year from software piracy.
   Advertising sales have reached all-time highs in the last ten years and are continuing to grow. In just three years, the internet has gone from less then $2 billion in ad revenues to a projected $12.1 billion this year. Television advertising remains the largest producer -- with a predicted $57.4 billion, but newspaper ad revenue is not far behind with a projection of $52.1 billion in 2001. Nationally, ad revenue for newspapers increased 8% and classified advertising 4% in 2000. According to Lee Westerfield, media analyst for UBS Warburg in New York, "advertising is no longer considered discretionary funding...it's an intangible asset that you need to maintain."
   Roy Kim has been named COO of Fandom Inc., a targeted media distribution company, headquartered in Santa Monica, that focuses on an affinity audience of fans ages 18-44.

   Internet News
   Santa Monica-based WorldClassRock .com has signed an agreement with downtown-based Hiwire Inc. to provide its proprietary live-stream ad-targeting technology on Clear Channel's flagship station. Enigma Digital, owner of several internet-only radio stations (KNAC and Grooveradio.com) and also located in Santa Monica, was acquired earlier this month by Clear Channel's Internet Group. Hiwire's technology allows for streaming ads to be played on users' computers based on information they provide as they log in. The data provided permits advertisers to determine who is listening so it can target advertising to them based on their demographics. This promises to be BIG business in the near future and will help on-line radio stations generate revenues and become viable financially.

   Law Firms
   The largest law firm in Santa Monica is Haight Brown & Bonesteel LLP established in 1937 currently with 113 attorneys and 52 partners. Gary Bague is the managing partner, Cheryl Hunter is the executive director. 
   Ranked #2 in Santa Monican but headquartered in St. Louis is the firm of Bryan Cave LLP with 54 attorneys and 20 partners. Gary Moeller is the executive director and Steven H. Sunshine is the managing partner.

   Health Care Firm 
   Santa Monica-based Protocare, Inc. has signed an agreement with PacificCare Health Systems Inc. to assist it in becoming a full service managed health care company. Protocare Trials manages 11 leading clinical centers in eight major markets across the country. Protocare Sciences provides pharmaceutical, biotechnology and nutrition industries, with a wide array of customized health care solutions using proprietary databases and analytic, consulting and disease management services.