Los Angeles County

On-location film productions in Los Angeles County plummeted 19% in 2009 — the largest drop since the figure was first recorded in 1993 — contributing to the decline in working opportunities for the regional entertainment workforce, experts and observers said. Entertainment industry spending generates the majority of economic activity in Glendale and Burbank, where major motion picture and television studios — as well as related businesses ranging from prop shops to rental houses — are, experts said.

DOWNTOWN — A former Burbank police detective has been ordered to pay the city $22,500 to cover a portion of the legal fees it incurred in defending itself against his privacy and defamation lawsuit. Attorneys for Christopher Lee Dunn filed the lawsuit in July, claiming City Atty. Dennis Barlow illegally released his personnel records to the media the same day the former detective filed a wrongful termination and racial discrimination lawsuit. But Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Irving Shimer struck down the complaint on the grounds that it constituted a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation, or SLAPP.

On-location film productions in Los Angeles County plummeted 19% in 2009 — the largest drop in the figure since it was first recorded in 1993 — contributing to the decline in working opportunities for the regional entertainment workforce, experts and observers said. Entertainment industry spending generates the majority of economic activity in Glendale and Burbank, where major motion picture and television studios — as well as related businesses ranging from prop shops to rental houses — are located, experts said.

DOWNTOWN — Crime in Burbank dropped 8% in 2009, mirroring a slide across Los Angeles County despite escalating unemployment and a sluggish economy, according to year-end figures released Monday by the Burbank Police Department. The number of murders dropped 50%, from two in 2008 to one last year, according to the department’s FBI uniform crime report. Burbank Police Chief Scott LaChasse, a 32-year veteran of the LAPD, attributed declines across the region in part to “hardening the target,” the law enforcement tactic of beefing up of security to minimize the risk of an attack or theft.

The San Fernando Valley — the nation’s largest geographic nonmunicipal entity — has grown more educated and diverse in recent years as it expanded to include 1.74 million people, according to a report released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. The report was based on the American Community Survey of 2008 and shows that the region, made up of Burbank, San Fernando, Calabasas and Los Angeles, as well as some unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County and portions of Glendale, has developed into a multicultural region, a trend that could be further amplified in the 2010 Census, experts said.

The San Fernando Valley — the nation’s largest geographic non-municipal entity — has grown more educated and diverse in recent years as it expanded to include 1.74 million people, according to a report released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. The report was based on the American Community Survey of 2008 and shows that the region, made up of portions of Glendale, Burbank, San Fernando, Calabasas and Los Angeles, as well as some unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, has developed into a multicultural region, a trend that could be further amplified in the 2010 Census, experts said.