The Citizen Media Group

Welcome to The Citizen

We are a nonprofit news and education organization dedicated to helping you be an informed and effective citizen. Launched in March 2006, our interactive web site has just been streamlined for your convenience. Check out some new benefits:

• Informative stories, updated almost daily, on family, finance, real estate and more under “Topics”;
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Santa Fe Screenwriting Conference Draws 17 Producers

By Diane Velasco

The allure of the City Different coupled with the hope of finding some raw talent is drawing 17 Hollywood producers and executives to the shadow of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains May 30 to June 3.

The reputation of The Screenwriting Conference in Santa Fe, now in its ninth year, spreads among movers and shakers, who compel each other to come.

The five-day event is not like “all the other” conferences, and it’s better than film festivals for finding scripts, producers say.

AG Creates Immigrant Services Unit

New Mexico Attorney General Gary King has created a new component in his Consumer Protection Division to deal with immigrant related issues. The Immigrant Services Unit will address issues such as immigrant-targeted consumer problems; wage claims and working conditions; development of illegal “colonias” that target immigrants; and victim assistance.

“Immigration policy is largely a federal issue, but as the State’s top law enforcement agency, the Office of the Attorney General may help ensure that state laws are followed and immigrants are not treated unfairly or unlawfully after their entry to our State,” King says.

AG Warns of Va. Tech Scams

New Mexico Attorney General Gary King is warning New Mexicans that several new web sites have been registered using domain names that might exploit last week’s massacre at Virginia Tech.

“Often after such tragedies, scammers attempt to prey on people’s generosity in order to solicit donations for fraudulent or non-existent ‘charities’ that supposedly support victims of tragedy,” King says.

ABQ Studios Owners Leveraged Albuquerque, Culver Name in Hollywood Deal

Katersky Takes Show on the Road to South Carolina
By Diane Velasco

Albuquerque Studios owners Dana Arnold and Harold Katersky’s standard line that they owned The Culver Studios helped them land the $41 million Hollywood office building project featured on their Pacifica Ventures web site.

The two also recited their experience redeveloping a Culver Studios building, a nearby parcel of land, and the Albuquerque Studios project to convince the Community Redevelopment Agency of Los Angeles to buy the Hollywood land from them for $5.4 million last fall, according to documents on record.

ABQ Studios Exec Under Subpoena

By Diane Velasco

Albuquerque Studios executive Nick Smerigan is under subpoena in the lawsuit against the studios’ owners Dana Arnold and Harold Katersky brought by former business partner F. Lee Tomlinson.

O’Malley Move Draws Fire from Taxpayer Group

Albuquerque City Council President Debbie O’Malley was sponsoring a resolution that would appropriate $224 million for a controversial streetcar project – until taxpayers caught wind of it late last night.

Culver Sues! ABQ Studios Owners Face Fraud, Racketeering Charges

By Diane Velasco

Note to readers: This is part five in an investigative series on Albuquerque Studios owners Dana Arnold and Harold Katersky, principals in California-based Pacifica Ventures. See parts one through four at the end of this story.

Dana Arnold

The real owners of The Culver Studios are suing Albuquerque Studios owners Dana Arnold and Harold Katersky alleging fraud, racketeering, misrepresentation and other charges related to their management of the historic California studios from April 5, 2004 to Nov. 1, 2006 and use of The Culver Studios name for their own purposes.

Hal Katersky

The lawsuit, filed Monday in California Superior Court, Los Angeles County, alleges the men inappropriately used more than $1 million of Culver Studios’ money, including at least $12,000 spent in pursuing the New Mexico studio deal.

Forest City’s Supporting Role: Developer Has Most to Gain, and Lose, from ABQ Studios

By Diane Velasco

Note to readers: this is part four of an investigative series. Albuquerque Studios owners Dana Arnold and Harold Katersky could not be reached for comment despite repeated attempts to contact them through their attorney and Nick Smerigan, vice president of Albuquerque Studios. Find links to first three parts at the end of this story.

Albuquerque Studios is the first high-profile project Forest City Covington, developer of the Mesa del Sol area, has been able to attract.

The project garnered national media attention, starting in early 2006 with a Forbes magazine article declaring Albuquerque the number one place to do business. The article said The Culver Studios, the famous studio complex in California, was building a 500,000-square-foot film studio complex in the Duke City.

A 12-page spread in the Hollywood Reporter last September on New Mexico’s rising film industry and Albuquerque Studios said the project “is backed by Pacifica Ventures, owner of The Culver Studios.”

Yet Pacifica Ventures is not, and never has been, the owner of The Culver Studios. (See part one of this series.) And The Culver Studios is not involved with Albuquerque Studios.

No doubt the public misperception was built by Albuquerque Studios owners Dana Arnold and Harold Katersky, principals in Pacifica Ventures who managed The Culver Studios for 30 months.

But in almost every public reference, Michael Daly, chief operating officer of Forest City Covington, also linked Albuquerque Studios with The Culver Studios.

Albuquerque Studios Owners’ Star Performance Belies Backstory

Their Past Takes Center Stage
By Diane Velasco

Note to readers: This is part three of an investigative series on Dana Arnold and Harold Katersky, owners of the Albuquerque Studios. Part one of this series debunks the claim their California-based company Pacifica Ventures owns historic The Culver Studios. Part two examines their claims of international experience. The two men have not returned calls for comment.

Albuquerque Studios Owners Dana Arnold and Harold Katersky go back a long way. Their company Pacifica Ventures, does not.

The company’s web site declares:
“Pacifica Ventures was created over a decade ago to take advantage of unique real estate and business opportunities in the entertainment industry, primarily focusing on the acquisition, development, and operation of entertainment industry production and filming facilities…”

“Pacifica Ventures serves major Hollywood studios, producers, and members of the entertainment community…”

Arnold’s Aspirations
The first statement more aptly describes Dana Arnold’s aspirations than actual accomplishments. And Pacifica Ventures has not served any other major Hollywood studios, other than The Culver Studios.

“All the World’s a Stage”: Pacifica Venture’s International Claims Examined

By Diane Velasco

Note to readers: This is part two of an investigative series on Dana Arnold and Harold Katersky, owners of the Albuquerque Studios. Part one of this series debunked the claim their California-based company Pacifica Ventures owns historic The Culver Studios. Neither man returned repeated calls for comment.

“All the world’s a stage and all the people merely players…”

Dana Arnold

Albuquerque Studios owners Dana Arnold and Harold Katersky give 21st century meaning to Shakespeare’s observation with their claims of international experience. Their Pacifica Ventures’ web site declares:

“Pacifica’s growing family of studio facilities specifically designed to serve the feature film and television industry, makes up the cornerstone of a unique world-wide network of specialty stage facility and production centers that will continue to obtain significant demand from major producers of content from Hollywood as well as all the emerging content production centers throughout the world.”

Hal Katersky

But, alas, it’s curtain call: Pacifica Ventures International LLC was not set up until June 14, 2006, according to California business registration records.

Special Report: ABQ Studios Owners Target of Lawsuit, Culver Audit

By Diane Velasco

Note to readers: This is part one of an investigative series. These stories are based on our review of more than 230 pages of court documents, corporate filings and other records, as well as interviews with confidential sources close to both the lawsuit and audit. A second lawsuit is expected to be filed soon.

Dana Arnold

Albuquerque Studios principals Dana Arnold and Harold Katersky are being sued by F. Lee Tomlinson, a former business partner in the company that set up Albuquerque Studios , Pacifica Ventures.
The men were involved in the negotiations with Sony Pictures Entertainment when Sony decided to sell the famous The Culver Studios in 2004.

Hal Katersky

The lawsuit has brought Pacifica Ventures into the spotlight.

Though the company has been hailed repeatedly in mainstream media reports as the owners of the California studios, it does not and never did own The Culver Studios.

Domenici, Bingaman Fight Funding Cuts to Health Care for Undocumented Immigrants

Bingaman Introduces Bill to Restore State Authority on Citizenship Proofs

New Mexico’s U.S. Senators Republican Pete Domenici and Democrat Jeff Bingaman joined a bipartisan effort to warn against reducing federal funding reimbursements to local hospitals, physicians and ambulance services for the care they give undocumented immigrants.

In a separate move, Bingaman introduced legislation that would restore states’ rights in determining appropriate citizenship proofs to qualify for Medicaid.

Tech Summit Draws Seven Countries

Even as Sandia National Laboratories is absorbed in its revived war-time mission, at least one significant international peace-time initiative remains.

Never Again--Weary Lawmakers Pass Bill to Limit Bills

Weary lawmakers in both the state House and Senate passed a resolution introduced by Rep. Henry Kiki Saavedra, D-Albuquerque, that would reduce the number of bills introduced in the Legislature.

Bingaman Bill Gives Greater Access to Presidential Papers

U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., has introduced legislation that would repeal President Bush’s Executive Order 13233, which bars public access to presidential papers.

Regional Housing Reform Bill Killed – Again

“The Poor of New Mexico Are the Losers…”

Democrats killed a second attempt to reform the state’s beleaguered regional housing authorities late Tuesday night.

Senate Bill 519 by Mary Kay Papen, D-Las Cruces, was the last bill heard, at 11 p.m., in the House Business and Industry Committee only to be tabled on a party-line vote, with the exception of Dona Irwin, D-Deming.

It’s companion House Bill 997 met the same fate earlier in the session.

Sony May Move 100 Jobs to Albuquerque

Sony Pictures Imageworks may move 100 jobs to Albuquerque from Culver City, Calif., if the state’s
incentives for filmmakers hold up through the legislative session.

Plans include eventually moving 300 of the company's 900-member workforce to the Duke City, according to the Los Angeles Times that reported the deal Friday.

Neither company officials nor New Mexico officials are commenting publicly yet.

22 Tax Relief Measures Passed in One Day

In perhaps an unprecedented move, the New Mexico House of Representatives passed 22 tax-related bills on Monday. The bills make up the bulk of $115 million to $125 million in tax credits, exemptions and deductions expected to be passed by the Legislature.

Housing Reform Bill Killed

The House Business and Industry Committee killed a bill that would have shut down the state’s scandal-ridden regional housing authorities and replaced them with a system overseen by the Mortgage Finance Authority. The bill also would have required audits of the seven housing authority regions.

Public Access Channels Threatened by FCC Action: Alliance Meets in Albuquerque

Thousands of people in Albuquerque use Channel 27, the public access channel, to communicate with the community. The station has at least 500 active producers of religious, educational and political programs, as well as hobbyists’ programs, like the New Mexico Gun Collectors.

But the station, like others around the country, is threatened by a new FCC ruling that could change the channel’s funding base – cable franchise fees. No one knows exactly what the final wording of the secretive ruling will be when it is published, says Steve Ranieri, executive director of nonprofit Quote-Unquote that runs the Albuquerque channel.