AROUND THE VALLEYS

ValleyCrest Companies honored five of its employees with superior workplace safety records by giving each a new Ford truck. Now in its eighth year, the Safety Day truck giveaway reinforces the Calabasas-based company’s commitment to workplace safety by encouraging employees to perform throughout the year accident free. The employees receiving the trucks were: Aureliano Benitez-Garcia, a crew leader with ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance, East Las Vegas, Nev.; Jose Luis Ruiz, a foreman with ValleyCrest Landscape Development San Diego; Benjamin Rodriguez, an equipment operator with ValleyCrest Golf Course Maintenance, Wildcat Golf Club, Houston, Tex.; James A. Wooley, a gardener level III with ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance, West Orange Fla.; and Exau Dominguez Perez, a crew leader with ValleyCrest Landscape Maintenance, Dulles, Va. Workplace safety is a top priority at ValleyCrest because the workforce is deployed outdoors on thousands of commercial customer job sites every day across the country, said President Richard Sperber. “In a typical day our crews are out on the road in more than 4,200 trucks, pulling nearly 2,150 trailers to job sites where they’ll operate some 7,700 pieces of equipment ranging from mowers, edgers, and blowers, to loaders, soil compactors and trenchers,” Sperber said. “That’s a lot of moving parts at a multitude of locations and it requires us to be on our toes every minute.” In the eight years since starting the program, the company has given away 42 trucks. – Mark R. Madler CONEJO VALLEY Westlake Village Dessert: Arleen Scavone will compete against three other bakers in an episode of Cupcake Wars to air on the Food Network on July 27. Scavone is the owner of cupcake shop Sweet Arleen’s. As part of the competition, she was required to create an innovative new cupcake flavor. Before opening her cupcake shop, Scavone had spent most of her career in banking. SAN FERNANDO VALLEY Van Nuys Trust: Electro Rent Corp. was listed among the 100 Most Trustworthy Companies by Forbes magazine. It is the second year in a row the company has been placed on that list. Independent financial analytics firm Audit Integrity surveyed companies for transparent and conservative accounting practices and solid corporate governance and management. “We feel honored to be recognized among the more than 8,000 publicly traded companies for our trustworthiness,” said Electro Rent Chairman and CEO Daniel Greenberg. “Just as we have maintained the highest level of financial, governance and management standards throughout our organization, Electro Rent has always maintained the highest level of commitment to its customers, vendors and employees, hoping to earn their respect and trust through sound business principles, customer oriented sales, rental and service policies, and prudent management practices.” Burbank Rides: The Bob Hope Airport is offering free shuttle service between its passenger terminal and the downtown Burbank Metrolink station. The service is the airport’s way to play a part in addressing local and regional traffic issues that stem from dependence on private automobiles. “The free shuttle service is intended to enhance connections for Airport patrons who ride the Antelope Valley Metrolink line, which stops at the Downtown Burbank Station on its way to and from Union Station in Los Angeles,” said Dan Feger, Executive Director of Bob Hope Airport. “We hope this convenient connection will help increase the use of alternate transportation modes to and from the Airport, which is one of our primary missions in the coming years. Shuttle passengers can make advance reservations at 1-800-224-7767. Entertain: The Downtown Burbank Partnership presents the 7th Annual Come Out & Dance Festival on Thursday nights through the end of August. A stage and dance floor will be located on the AMC Walkway at San Fernando Boulevard and Palm Avenue. Dance lessons courtesy of The Dance Family Studio take place at 6 p.m. with the two hour concerts starting at 7 p.m. Among the acts scheduled to perform are Barbara Morrison and the Bu Crew; Legends of Swing; High Street; Ronnie Gutierrez; and the Pete Escovedo Orchestra. Woodland Hills Technical: The Navigation Systems Division of Northrop Grumman Corp. completed in June its 5th annual Worthwhile to Help High School Youth mentoring and scholarship program. The program ended with a student engineering competition between 11 Canoga Park High School students and Northrop Grumman employees involving using autonomous vehicles of their own design to complete obstacle courses. “The WORTHY program offers students an incredible opportunity to experience real world science and engineering first hand,” said Liz Iversen, sector vice president and general manager of Northrop Grumman’s Navigation Systems Division. Canoga Park Exhibit: Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne donated an RS-68 rocket engine to the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. The engine will be part of an interactive display simulating a rocket lift-off with smoke and footage of rocket launches. The RS-68 is a liquid-hydrogen/liquid- oxygen booster engine used to power heavy-lift Delta IV rockets to carry payloads into space vital to worldwide communication, navigation, research, and weather prediction. CONEJO VALLEY Westlake Village Dessert: Arleen Scavone will compete against three other bakers in an episode of Cupcake Wars to air on the Food Network on July 27. Scavone is the owner of cupcake shop Sweet Arleen’s. As part of the competition, she was required to create an innovative new cupcake flavor. Before opening her cupcake shop, Scavone had spent most of her career in banking. [W/ART] Agoura Hills Film: Outdoor clothier Gramicci has signed on as a sponsor of the documentary, “The Last Wild Mountain: Portrait of the American Climber.” Gramicci will donate signature organic hemp “Camu Tees” to support the production, promotion and distribution of the film. “The Last Wild Mountain” follows the parallel stories of the first two generations of rock climbers in America “This film’s mission is an ideal match to the very roots of the Gramicci Brand, so we are honored to be a part of the film,” says Patricia Babka, US vice president of Sales. “The film-makers explore both the past and the future of climbing — the wild experiences, the offbeat antics, and the environmental aspects on which the future of climbing depends.”