Emile Haddad says fast-moving Lennar Corp. likes to work with communities that have “political will and vision.” In its back yard of Orange County, Lennar has partnered with can-do pols Larry Agran in Irvine (the Great Park) and Curt Pringle in Anaheim (Platinum Triangle). Lennar’s casting a big net in the Bay area, too, hooking up with San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and, maybe, with Oakland Mayor/ex-guv/state attorney general candidate Jerry Brown. Already working on three former military bases in or near San Francisco, Lennar recently was tapped by 49ers owners Denise DeBartolo and John York to oversee plans for redeveloping Candlestick Park, including a new stadium, commercial uses and thousands of homes. In Oakland a deal is less certain, but Lennar is negotiating for a largely vacant downtown block where it would put 600 homes and provide a boost for Brown’s housing initiative …
Alan Charlton had visited Los Angeles before and he’s watched “The O.C.,” but until last week the career diplomat never had been in OC. “I’m staggered by its dynamics, the huge scale of everything,” Charlton, deputy head (No. 2) of the British Embassy in Washington, D.C., said of Southern California during a swing through the county. Charlton met with Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido to discuss the British Museum’s “unique” relationship with Bowers Museum and to get policing tips from the mayor and police Chief Paul Walters; England, struggling with immigrant crime, considers Santa Ana a model of law enforcement, Charlton said. The diplomat also dropped in on UCI and the OC Register editorial board. He had home cooking at Gulliver’s in Irvine, where he received a local business briefing from countryman John Gibson (Allergan and the British American Business Council) and EE RR. “The U.K. has much more invested in California than China or India does,” Charlton said …
Here’s a New Economy-Old Economy comparison: Broadcom’s market value ($24 billion as of last week) now is almost as much as Ford and GM combined. To be fair, the struggling automakers still have a much greater enterprise value (market value plus debt) than the Irvine chipmaker …
The New York Times reports that OC-based blogger and radio host Hugh Hewitt will be a key contributor to thedavincichallenge.com, a Web site that Sony Pictures is setting up for critics of the book (and its upcoming film) “The Da Vinci Code” …
EE RR makes pollster Adam Probolsky’s list of OC’s Top 10 Power Broker Journalists at www.flashreport.org. Probolsky says the ranking is in no particular order,good thing, as EE RR is only listed third. The others: Pasco, Wisckol, Moxley, Mickadeit, Greenhut, Alicia Robinson, Fleischman, Jubal and the above-mentioned Hewitt. Adam, EE RR will let you know what “executive editor” means as soon as he finds out.
