Post-Election Report: Plenty to Like Here; Katz’s Canadian Youth

The draining presidential campaign ends this week—time for anyone who got caught up in the back-and-forth to disengage from all the disputation and negativity. Here’s some help in the form of a couple of reminders from afar about how much good fortune resides in Orange County … Start with Ross Allen, the New York-based director of Trade & Investment USA for the U.K.’s Department for International Trade, who stopped by the Business Journal’s office last week. He’d started in L.A., and made sure to fill his dance card for a full day in OC—he also called on nuclear waste treatment specialist Kurion Inc., cyber-security outfit Cylance, and PIMCO’s headquarters—before heading to San Diego. Allen said he insisted on the OC portion of the itinerary based on market intelligence that some Yanks have yet to learn: “If Orange County were anywhere else but next to Los Angeles it would be recognized as a massive market in its own right” … The same day saw Prince Turki Al-Faisal finish an hour-long walk around the Resort at Pelican Hill by advising his traveling staff to enjoy their time there “because this is the closest you’re going to get to heaven” on earth. The prince’s account of that moment was a bit of lightness amid the gravitas he brought to his talk on “Saudi Arabia and Its Role in the New Middle East,” delivered to a packed gathering of the World Affairs Council of Orange County … What’s in a name? A good match if you’re Amanda Earnest, marketing events manager for Farmers & Merchants Bank. The family-owned institution displayed its earnestness at a recent luncheon where 10 individuals were honored for service to their communities as part of the annual California’s Strongest People You Can Bank On awards, with each getting a $2,000 grant to help their efforts. F&M is based in Long Beach, but the grants reflected its strong ties to OC, with half of the 10 honorees nominated by staffers at branches here… Friends or courtroom adversaries of Michael Katz can consider themselves forewarned about his curious circumstance by none other than New York Times film critic A.O. Scott, who says the partner at Greenberg Gross “appears to be a middle-aged American attorney [but] is actually a young Canadian poet.” A fine one, too, as No Turning Back will attest. The book harkens back to Katz’s youth in Montreal—with a forward by Scott—and is expected to be available on Amazon.com and at select book stores … Sullivan says: KSBR/88.5 FM from Saddleback College is worth a listen anytime you can get the signal … No one had more patience during the Cubs long road to their curse-busting win last week than Chicago native and UCI Law School Dean Erwin Chemerinksy. He’s a Southsider, which by Chicago tradition and geography means he became a Cubs fan by choice. Credit Chemerinsky’s naturally contrarian father as the inspiration for the crosstown conversion. But give Erwin all the credit in the world for making sure the show went on for the Business Journal’s General Counsel Awards (see news item on page 4, profiles on honorees in next week’s issue) even though the dinner overlapped with Game 7.