New Year: What’s in Store for Crucial Area Sectors?

Aerospace The era of the Space Shuttle ends in 2010. That will close an era of sorts for Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in Canoga Park, manufacturer of the main shuttle engines. The aerospace firm isn’t getting out of the rocket business just yet by staying involved with space exploration with developing the J2X engine that will power the Ares One and Ares Five rockets that will replace the Shuttle. Up north in the desert, the NewSpace industry has gotten well off the ground at the Mojave Air & Space Port. Apart from the media attention given Scaled Composites and the spacecraft its building for Virgin Galactic, the small rocket and aerospace firms exist in relative obscurity. XCOR, for instance, will use its Lynx vehicle for suboribital flights. Test flights of the craft could begin this year. Masten Space Systesm, developer of launch vehicles to take payloads into space, has funding available to take it through the next year (and longer) after winning more than $1 million in the Northrop Grumman Lunar Lander Challenge managed by the X-Prize Foundation. Antelope Valley For the Antelope Valley, particularly Lancaster, the new year will bring progress in two areas: the city’s downtown, and in making the region a center in alternative energy. In Mayor R. Rex Parris and developer Scott Ehrlich, the city has two proponents who do more than just talk about doing things different, they make things happen. Ehrlich opened his artists’ lofts building and Brooklyn Deli in 2009 and will follow that up this year with his Bex restaurant in a long-vacant building in downtown. The city has plans for streetscape and parking improvements in 2010. Parris is up for re-election in April and one would guess he has not reached all his goals for the city. The economic stimulus program started during his first term has moved into the next phase of a tourism and visitor’s bureau. Parris has championed alternative energy production that is already getting a foothold in the Antelope Valley region and which continues to attract new projects both within the city boundaries and in Los Angeles County-controlled land. Aviation Charter and aircraft management operators at Van Nuys Airport anxiously await for activity to pick up again at the Valley airfield. In the meantime, there are other issues occupying the time of the major tenants, namely those of a financial nature. With less activity bringing in less revenues, the Van Nuys Airport Association has taken a stronger stance with Los Angeles World Airports, the city agency operating Van Nuys, to do more to reduce operating expenses rather than relying on the higher rental rates and new fees. With a full City Council seated beginning this month following the election of Paul Krekorian perhaps the wait will end on a vote on phasing out older, noisier jets at the airport. The proposed ordinance has languished in a council committee since May. Burbank There is more in store for Burbank in 2010 than just righting itself from the turmoil involving the police department. A new economic development team headed by City Manager Mike Flad looks to position the city as a place where business can open or expand. Work will continue on the project at Empire Avenue and Buena Vista Street and the first tenants are expected to move into the Pointe tower in the Media District. The struggles at Bob Hope Airport may well continue as passenger numbers remain low when compared to past years. Carrying over from 2009 is what to do about a mandatory curfew at the airport. In November the Federal Aviation Administration rejected the airport’s application to curb overnight commercial flights (save for a few exceptions), which in turn had Congressman Brad Sherman announcing a legislative route to achieve the same end. No language for such a bill has yet been proposed and if months go by with no action from Sherman’s office his announcement could be seen as just political grandstanding on his part. Entertainment Changes that started toward the end of 2009 in the entertainment industry will carry over into the new year, the biggest, of course, being the deal making Comcast the majority shareholder in NBC Universal. Now it’s the federal regulators turn to look at the deal, particularly paying attention to whether Comcast’s competitors have access to NBC Universal programming. Approval from the feds may not even wrap up in 2010. In Universal City business is expected to continue as usual on the surface. In public at least NBC remains committed to its Evolution Plan for adding studio space, homes, and a commercial district to its property all tied together with improvements in public transit and traffic mitigation. But will Comcast have other ideas about that project and NBC being the main tenant in the Thomas Properties Studio@Lankershim project still proposed outside the studio gates? As for the upcoming slate of feature films, expect more sequels, remakes, television shows and 3D. Staff Reporter Mark Madler can be reached at (818) 316-3126 or by e-mail at [email protected].