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New Semester at COC

Written by Jeff on February 8th, 2010

We’re big fans of College of the Canyons here on SCVTalk and that’s why it’s worth mentioning that today begins the Spring 2010 semester.

Like every other high education system in California, College of the Canyons has had a rough go of it lately. There are widespread reports among students that many classes are impacted while others have just been canceled. The winter session was even worse, with scores of classes canceled due to a lack of funds.

Statewide, funding for California’s community colleges has been cut $520 million, or 8% in the current fiscal year, but COC somehow keeps chugging along, now enrolling over 20,000 students at two campuses.

Late last year the Dianne Van Hook University Center opened and it seems to be attracting some post-grad students, judging by its sprawling parking lot south of the main campus.

Speaking of parking, it’s really the only perpetual complaint anyone has about COC. Last week the college tweeted:

The spring semester begins MONDAY! Please arrive early. The first few weeks take extra time to find parking & get to class.

Allow me to retort in my standard, annoying bicycle-advocacy-nag sort of way. Did you know there are complete bike lanes to COC all the way from Wiley Canyon in Newhall? That’s right, you can bike up Tournament to Rockwell Canyon and enjoy a bike lane to yourself the entire way. From Valencia, you can likewise cycle up the wide paseo path on the north side of Valencia Blvd to COC.

There have even been improvements made to walking infrastructure around COC. A sidewealk now extends from the Valencia Blvd/I5 overpass all the way down to COC, meaning the kids in West Ridge can get there easily.

Yes, parking is truly terrible at COC. It’s probably the worst place to park in the SCV, considering how crowded it is and that most of the drivers are barely out of high school. But you can avoid all that nonsense, get fit, and save gas money at the same time by riding your bike there.

My bicycle advocacy quota has been filled for the month, I’ll shut up now. (But seriously it couldnt’ be simpler, I ride there all the time now, it’s wonderful)

Posted in Advocacy, Education | 6 Responses »

February 8, 2010 – Daily Brief

Written by Jeff on February 8th, 2010

The City has a high tech traffic operations center, but it doesn't get ESPN

What a game for the ages, eh? Indy was outplayed and most importantly, outcoached. Happy for New Orleans
On the agenda at this week’s City Council meeting is well….not so much actually. There’s a few ordinance and zoning changes (including one for that new medical building on Sierra Highway). Also, the City will reward nearly $100,000 grants to local non-profts like the Santa Clarita Autism and Asperger’s network, the Food Pantry, LARC ranch and other worthy organizations. Also, the City will establish itself as an Industrial Development Authority, which will allow it to issue tax-exempt industrial development bonds to help finance capital projects. All this is on the consent calendar so the meeting might end in record time. COUNCIL AGENDA
David Gauny says Councilmember Ferry and others on the Council are ignoring the real problem of illegal immigration in Santa Clarita. To emphasize the point, he embeds Not A Ferry Fan’s latest video on his campaign website. Furthermore, Gauny is “grateful to be the only candidate to receive Bob Kellar’s endorsement in this election.” WRB, ELECTDAVIDGAUNY.COM
Speaking of that, Signal columnist Steve Lunetta suggests that Santa Clarita ought to “publicly haul” illegal immigrants down to the Federal building in Westwood, cameras and media in tow. Wow. Didn’t we get rebuked when we shipped off our homeless to LA? SIGNAL
Nine homes were red-tagged and 43 were damaged after rain turned a La Canada street into a fast flowing river of mud and debris. Evacuations were also ordered in Acton but I don’t think there was any damage up there. LA TIMES, SIGNAL
Sadly a 23 year old Ventura County man died after his vehicle hydroplaned and crashed into another vehicle on Interstate 5 on Friday. The victim’s car plunged off the Gavin Canyon bridge and he ended up on the Old Road. KHTS
Hart District officials delayed a vote on a contract which would help determine which of two possible sites are appropriate for Castaic High School. The District still wants to open a high school by 2013 SIGNAL
Castaic Lake Water Agency to get tough on delinquent accounts SIGNAL
President Obama plans a televised, bipartisan summit on health care reform NY TIMES
Congressman Buck McKeon gave his “major policy address” speech to the Heritage Foundation last week. Here he talks to a Heritage Foundation blogger about his remarks. HERITAGE.ORG
Wall Street sending big checks in the GOP’s general direction NY TIMES
Old Town Newhall Auto businesses on land that City purchased in November are alleging that the City is in driving them out of business. The city says it doesn’t have plans for the block of land…yet. SIGNAL
Senator George Runner introduces a bill that will celebrate February 5 as “Ronald Reagan Day” VV DAILY PRESS
Meanwhile, Assemblyman Cam Smyth and a Democrat are challenging Californians “to go one week without cussing.” I’ll take that challenge! Down with coarse language! FRESNO BEE
Barbara Cogswell, a fellow condo-dweller, says Santa Clarita needs community gardens. She’s organizing meetings to find land and invites you to email her. SIGNAL
Speaking of gardens, the Master’s College delivered a bunch of locally grown vegetables to the Santa Clarita Valley Food Pantry. Nice work SIGNAL
Signal columnist Nate Imhoff is the most reasonable voice yet in the immigration debate SIGNAL
Tim Myers on the emergence of SCV charter, magnet and private schools SIGNAL
Dave Bossert tells about his immigrant heritage and says it’s absurd to suggest he was bashing Catholics in his post last week about Frank Ferry WRB
Letter writer complains about giant water tanks on top of hills around SCV. She suggests that we let local kids paint graffiti art all over them LTE
Congratulations to SCVTalker and local astronomy guru Steve Petzold, whose son Spencer has been accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point for the 2011 class SCVTALKERS

Thanks to NickelDime for doing a great job with the Daily Brief last week!

Posted in Daily Brief | 9 Responses »

Activity Without Accomplishment: Illegal Immigration as a City Council Issue

Written by NickelDime on February 7th, 2010

As a sort-of companion to the Sunday article profiling a Newhall day laborer, Jonathan Randles of The Signal also penned an article entitled “City lacks power to regulate illegal immigrants.”

Since the early 1990s, Santa Clarita officials have considered plans to address day laborers in the city, but the city can’t do much to address the problem because issues related to illegal immigration are handled by the federal government, city officials said.

In 1996 the Santa Clarita City Council adopted an ordinance that attempted to regulate day laborers in the city, said Mike Murphy, the city’s intergovernmental relations officer.

In a recent SCVTalk post (“Santa Clarita is Not Tecate“, Feb 1), a series of questions was posed to the SCVTalk community regarding the appropriateness of illegal immigration as an issue for the City Council:

Before the roadshow from Antelope Valley and Hesperia rolled into town, was this a topic of concern for the City Council election? Is it now?

What exactly do you expect the Santa Clarita City Council do about illegal immigration?

Does illegal immigration trump the myriad other City Council priorities?

In the 45 responses to this post, not one answered the questions directly; however, there were two constructive suggestions:

Option 1 – “Enforce the Law”

From Rocky:

The City Council can direct the Sheriff Dept. to enforce the law, or if they are not, to ask why not. If they are not, it might be a good argument for Santa Clarita to have their own police department.

Currently, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s department protocol mirrors the LAPD – the Sheriff’s department only reports immigration status to the Feds when arrestees are booked. This has been upheld in court a number of times, including a January 2010 challenge. Sorry, Rocky, nothing the City Council can do here – and I’m not sure establishing our own police force to skirt this issue amidst an $817k deficit is particularly feasible. Supposing we went down this path, we’d end up in front of the same judges…

Option 2 -”Make Noise and Get Noticed”

SCVfan:

As elected officials they have more access to more powerful people. They can make noise and get noticed.

Rocky:

It seems to me that the Santa Clarita City Council can issue a strong resolution directing the state and federal representatives to ensure enforcement of existing law and to make other legislation that deals with illegal immigration in a serious manner.

With due respect to SCVfan, we’ve already made noise and have gotten noticed (internationally, actually), though I’m not sure if the attention was all positive.

Rocky, if a resolution is all it would take to get this crowd quiet–much as I might possibly disagree with the message–it would be non-binding and therefore a meaningless paper tiger. It would also involve expense to outside counsel to review and advise on the wording.

Problem is, the outcome on passing a resolution like this is, at best, neutral. At worst, it would draw more attention to our City, possibly the kind that would make businesses think twice about relocating here. The business community already has jitters related to our esteemed foot-in-the-mouth Councilman.

Option 3: Prohibit Solicitation

For purposes of rounding out the list, I’ll add this one. The City Council could prohibit day laborers from soliciting work on the streets. Again, from Mr. Randles reporting, this was already tried in the mid-nineties:

Santa Clarita adopted the ordinance from Los Angeles County and other cities in Southern California with similar laws, Murphy said.

Federal courts determined the county’s ordinance violated citizens’ First Amendment rights, Murphy said.

As a result, the ordinance is not used by Santa Clarita, he said.

Some communities, most of which are outside LA County, have retained such ordinances. As referenced in the Feb 3 Daily Brief, Costa Mesa was recently slapped with a lawsuit from day laborers in response to an undercover police sting enforcing the rule. More lawsuits, more costs. Is there any doubt Costa Mesa will dial back the ordinance? I’ll bet they don’t even appeal a lower court ruling.

What is the end game?

Prolific contributor Berta González-Harper gave an impassioned, detailed narrative on why and how the US should deport those who are here illegally. Berta, I respectfully disagree (as you very well know ) — but even so, can you please advise how the City Council can affect something that is clearly under the purview of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement?

Across town, Mr. Bossert goes so far as to implore attendees of the next CC meeting to “ask the question again during the public comment section; ask each Council member what their position is on illegal immigration.”

Why don’t we ask them about their position on healthcare, gays in the military, bank regulations, NASA funding? All of these issues affect SCV residents in some way, right? So WHAT ARE THEY GOING TO DO ABOUT IT ?!

It strikes me as odd that folks like Mr. Bossert and Mr. Jorge who don’t live in the City of Santa Clarita continue to advise City residents which issues are relevant.

I personally welcome the debate about a path forward on illegal immigration. In my view, mass deportation ignores the sanctuary policies that have accommodated many who have made a life here, and there are innocent, naturalized citizens that irrevocably complicate the problem. The US also would benefit from this fast-growing demographic as our boomers age–both in tax revenue and for the long term viability of this country. In my mind, for both practical and humane reasons, the United States needs to establish objective criteria for legalizing these immigrants, deport those that don’t meet the criteria, secure our borders, and punish employers who skirt the system. This is a great debate to have for our upcoming congressional elections.

In the interim, though, can we keep our City Council election to local issues — please?

Posted in City Hall, Opinion | 16 Responses »

Signal talks to a Day Laborer

Written by Jeff on February 7th, 2010

I applaud the Signal for its courageous report today in the face of overwhelming public support for Bob Kellar and his remarks:

His feet blistered as he crept closer to the U.S.-Mexico border. He passed dozens of holes covered with rocks – the unmarked graves of others who had died along the way.

“What if that is my fate?” Lopez said he had asked himself. “What if that happens to me?”

The American Dream kept him going – the idea that he could earn more than four times what he made in Mexico.

Lopez, 39, is an illegal immigrant.

He’s been caught and deported once, and has made the brutal trek across the border three times with hopes of giving his children a chance to have the education and shot at the American Dream he never did.

A wise journalist once told me that a newspaper’s job is to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. And that’s what Jonathan Randles’ great reporting does today. Men like Lopez scratch out a meager living doing the chores that comfortable Santa Claritans don’t want to do. We know because we finally bothered to talk to one of them.

Good newspaper reporting also puts you, the reader, in the shoes of the person being reported on. We can see that Lopez’ decision to live and work here is rational, from an economic standpoint. He earns $250-$500 a week doing the work we ask of him, much more than he would earn in Mexico. His motivation isn’t different from the millions of western, southern and and eastern European immigrants who came here over the last two centuries.

And with Randles’ reporting, we can see a way forward. You don’t like that men like Lopez live in the shadows among us? Then support legislation that closes the borders and penalizes him but gives him a way forward out of the underground economy that Americans are only to happy to exploit. It’s the only way.

Posted in Media, Opinion | 18 Responses »

KROQ Boosts Signal to SCV, but we’re still largely in the RF wilderness

Written by Jeff on February 6th, 2010

A small slice of radio spectrum in the United States

The SCV just became a little less dark, radio-frequency wise. KROQ, the famous LA rock ‘n roll radio station,has added an FM booster to a mountaintop nearby that blankets the SCV in KROQ’s altogether too predictable mix of over-processed rock and pop bands plus Kevin and Bean in the morning, whoever they are:

It has come to our attention that, a mere three decades after taking to the airwaves in Southern California, our crack Engineering team has installed boosters that (we’re told) allow KROQ to be heard in the following cities:

Santa Clarita

Valencia

Newhall

Canyon Country

Agua Dulce

Stevensen Ranch

Saugus

Val Verde

The last time I listened to KROQ was when I bought the first Green Day album, so I’m not particularly excited about this news. However, I am ecstatic that big Los Angeles broadcasters are finally realizing there’s a market of 250,000 up here.

You see, I’ve been bitching for years that radio reception sucks in the Santa Clarita valley. Mostly, I’ve been upset that I can’t get my NPR reliably; KCRW 89.9 has boosters all around Southern California (even Lancaster!!) but nothing for us in the SCV. As a result, in certain parts of town, their signal gets washed out by a religious broadcaster in Kettleman City, CA (I kid you not, I did a full investigation with recordings a few years ago and contacted both stations and the FCC).

But many of us don’t listen to “terrestrial radio” anymore anyway, so who cares? Well, we all should. The VHF and UFH spectrum that carries FM radio carries broadcast television too, and it just so happens that if you want to get the best high-definition television experience (and the cheapest!), you don’t go with the compressed HD signals on Satellite TV, Cable, or even AT&T’s Uverse. No, you go with uncompressed Over the Air HD (OTA-HD) reception. The problem is, we have some big mountains in the way of LA’s VHF/UHF transmitters.

Six years ago, a colleague of mine tried to get OTA-HD from his home in Valencia. He hung a large Yagi UHF/VHF antenna in his attic in his house by the hospital. He used online tools like AntennaWeb.org to orient his antenna, and he was disappointed to receive only ABC 7 in HD and a few other channels. “It just sucks out here, you can’t receive anything,” he told me, his experiment largely failed.

Yet in other areas of town, results can be much better. Last year, my dad, a veteran radio engineer, hung a $100 Yagi UHF/VHF antenna on his roof and received over 50 LA-area television channels in full 1080p. ABC, NBC, CBS, KCAL 9, and scores of others. Free. And the quality is spectacular because the signal is not compressed in any way.

He lives in Sunset Pointe with a clear view of transmitters to the south east, yet AntennaWeb.org predicts very poor results for his location. Knowing that big LA broadcasters haven’t really bothered to install repeaters or boosters for our valley, what could explain his great reception? We think his house is more or less in the line-of-sight of Mt. Wilson, where most of LA’s Broadcasters have towers. Folks in Stevenson Ranch, West Ridge and parts of Canyon Country may also be able to receive these signals.

In contrast, I live on the valley floor and if I were to try to hang a Yagi to receive HD or even FM, the results would almost certainly be poorer. So I’m stuck with my sub-standard & expensive Dish Network HD signal and my Logitech wifi radio to pick up KCRW.

In the future, Santa Clarita’s poor radio frequency coverage may not be an issue at all. Why? Well within 10-15 years, I believe radio and TV signals will be largely irrelevant because broadcasters will start using the newly-opened 700 mhz spectrum to deliver data & internet traffic, voice calls, radio and HD television. Any device you carry will be able to tap into this, and coverage will be widespread, even better than today’s cell phone coverage. Speeds will be phenomenal and indeed, there won’t be any demarcation between different types of media; it will all be IP based right to your mobile device.

Until that glorious day arrives, enjoy your KROQ!

Posted in SCV.Tech | 23 Responses »

SUSD Holds Meetings, Tours of West Creek Academy

Written by NickelDime on February 6th, 2010

West Creek Academy

Saugus USD will hold a series of three informational meetings, along with 2 on-site tours, to provide prospective parents with more information on the forthcoming West Creek Academy, a new $35M elementary school in the West Creek / West Hills communities of Valencia.

Informational meetings will be held:

Tuesday February 9 at 9 AM at Skyblue Mesa Elementary School
Tuesday February 9 at 5 PM at Bridgeport Elementary School
Tuesday February 16 at 6 PM at Rosedell Elementary School

On-site tours March 3, at 9 AM and 10 AM at West Creek Academy.

Maps of all SUSD schools are on the SUSD web site.

Interest in the school has escalated since SUSD Superintendent Dr. Judy Fish provided more insight into the proposed cirriculum, which would center on music as a platform for learning. The school may also integrate international and cultural awareness; there have been discussions about a connection with Korea, both in culture and language. There is also a possibility the school will be open to students outside SCV. In more ways than one, this is a one-of-a-kind treasure right in our valley.

As a West Hills parent whose mello-roos are paying for the school, I’m bullish on West Creek Academy. SUSD has open enrollment at most of its campuses, which gives us a local choice of Tesoro or West Creek. I’ll also admit I don’t exactly like the idea of writing a check for something that other parents enjoy (hell, we can move to an Alta Vista nabe and just sent our kids to WCA). In the end, though, having my little ones sit next to (but not cheat off of) the best and brightest from our valley and beyond leads to better educational and life experiences. Care to split my tax bill, fellow West Creek Academy parents?

Posted in Education | No Responses »

A Tale of Two Valleys or: How Irvine Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Environmentalists

Written by NickelDime on February 5th, 2010

Another milestone in the Newhall Ranch development, and we all know what’s next: another legal challenge. This sort of volleying will continue until both sides run out of options. As a former OC resident, I find myself wondering why development, even today, seems to roll along so smoothly for our neighbors 80 miles south, the greater Irvine Ranch.

It’s hard to overstate the number of parallels between the greater Newhall Ranch and the Irvine Ranch. The similarities go beyond stucco boxes and manicured streets… here’s a partial listing:

	Irvine Valley / TIC	Santa Clarita Valley / NLF
Primary Land Owner	The Irvine Company	Newhall Land nee Newhall Land and Farming
Logo
Incorporated	1894	1883
Major asset	Irvine Ranch	Newhall Ranch
Past	Family owned agricultural	Family owned agricultural
Transition	Sold to Donald Bren	Sold to Lennar
Present	Developer; Commercial, Resort & Apartment operator	Developer; Commercial operator
Eco-treasures	Cleveland National Forest, Laguna Canyon	Santa Susanas, Santa Clara River
Master plan	Irvine	Valencia
Planner	William Periera, 1963	Victor Gruen, 1965
Plan Concept	Villages; high density homes with generous common area	Villages; high density homes with generous common area
Historic area	Tustin	Newhall
Modern development	Tustin Ranch	Newhall Ranch
Cross Valley Connector	Tustin Ranch Rd. (recently extended, 5 fwy -> 405)	Newhall Ranch Rd. (recently extended, 5 fwy -> 14 )
Close Competitor	Mission Viejo Company	Tejon Ranch
Exurban Aspirants	The IE	The AV
Blighted Neighbor (former gem)	Santa Ana	San Fernando
Day trip	San Diego	Santa Barbara
Jobs per home	3.3 : 1	1 : 1
Net Population Change due to Commuting	+73.8%	-16.1%

For all the cute coincidences I’ve cherry-picked above, there are coveted differences – jobs and serious environmental credibility. To obtain both, The Irvine Company committed the cardinal landowner sin: they gave it away.

Our UC isn’t a UC

In 1959, The Irvine Company sold 1,000 acres of premium ocean-breeze land to the Regents of the State of California for the tidy sum of $1; that dirt became UC Irvine. The campus opened in 1965, and the bustling new town of Irvine sprang up in the early 70’s. The research and activity that surrounded the University gave rise to some of the most innovative companies in southern California. The 3.3:1 job:house ratio and one of the lowest commute times of any suburb in the southland (22.5 minute average) speak for themselves.

Cal Arts, Masters College, College of the Canyons – now the University Center. None are research institutions. Despite some prominent companies headquartered in our valley, there remains an imbalance of jobs to homes. This is a bedroom community that has attracted (some rather impressive) companies based on its pro-business stance. Lacking a research institution, our valley will continue to have this imbalance.

Growth Without Challenge

In 1992 The Irvine Company–even then, a “big, bad developer”– pivoted its environmental stance 180 degrees. It partnered with the Nature Conservancy to designate 50,000 of its 90,000 acres of the Irvine Ranch public land. Most of it would be managed by the Nature Conservancy, who, along with the Irvine Ranch Conservancy, cares for this environmental treasure (40k of the acres are a state & federal designated Natural Landmark). A sort of truce was formed, with both sides compromising beautifully. That truce is now a very strong collaboration; for many years, a sign stood off highway 133 in Laguna Canyon that read “Thank You Irvine Company” – a sort of love note from the Nature Conservancy. Beyond positive PR and green cred, the move also made the dirt that was left that much more valuable. Brilliant.

TIC’s Great Give-away of 1992 obviously wasn’t a half step. It was a seed planted early on to win over the environmentalists before any more significant development occurred.

Newhall Land has also donated portions of its holdings to the public–and plans to do more–but it may be too little, too late. Despite a significant chunk of the proposed Newhall Ranch development being preserved, I’d argue that it still won’t placate Plambeck. SCOPE is the anti-NLF, and nothing except “nothing” will satisfy this crew. If it isn’t Lynne Plambeck’s idea, it won’t be supported – in fact, it will be litigated. Imagine the possibilities if SCOPE sat down with Newhall Land in a sort of “so what is it going to take” conversation… the baggage between these groups would preclude that sort of discussion, which underscores the value of TIC’s 1992 pivot.

The Environment as a Stalking Horse for Inconvenience

Residents of Newhall Ranch will have a lower carbon footprint, use more recycled water, and be in a town with a higher walk score than most reading this blog. I believe that’s true, and if the population of our great bankrupt state will continue to swell over the long run, perhaps a sustainable development is better policy than one that isn’t.

The environmental concerns raised by SCOPE, regardless of legitimacy, are trumpeted by people in this valley who could give two rips about riparian areas and the spineflower. Their issue is traffic and people, plain and simple – but that’s just bitching, so we’ll go with “saving the environment” as a means to stall this puppy.

In fact, if you believe traffic will be more of an issue with Newhall Ranch than without, you are 100% correct. Newhall Land estimates the project will add 20k jobs or so for the 20k homes that are intended over the long term. That means roughly one job per home, or about the same as we have now. The development won’t be accretive to our 1:1 jobs:homes ratio even by Newhall Land’s own estimates. That means those that aren’t slinging coffees or bagging groceries will be hitting the 5 freeway with you and me. Unfortunately, it is much more difficult to litigate inconvenience, so for now, many in the SCV will be cheering on Ms. Plambeck.

Meanwhile, Tejon Ranch just a few miles up the 5 marches on, as does development in our southern neighbor, the Irvine Ranch.

Is there a path forward for Newhall Ranch? Without SCOPE and the average Claritan on side, it’s hard to see it being a smooth one. Especially after reviewing the timeline of the last project in this town.

Posted in Development, Opinion | 17 Responses »

Our Great Recession

Written by Jeff on February 5th, 2010

Chart by Calculated Risk Blog, click for original post

The United States lost another 20,000 jobs last month, and December’s totals were revised up to 150,000 jobs. The unemployment rate dipped to 9.7%, but the standard caveat about people no longer looking for work still applies. Since the Great Recession began, 8.4 million jobs have gone away, and many economists fret, that, in the immortal words of Bruce Springsteen, “these jobs is going boys, and they ain’t comin’ back.”

In California, the picture is even bleaker. California’s unemployment rate is still in the 12.4% range.

I feel fortunate to be living in Santa Clarita during these times. At least our unemployment rate is holding steady at 7.4% in December, according to a preliminary Bureau of Labor Statistics report. But all around us, stores are closing up shop. There are many vacancies all around the city; Town Center Drive would look abandoned if it weren’t for the few restaurants still operating there. Even the once-powerful Creekside auto row is a shadow of its former self. Been by the Saturn dealer lately? It’s now practically a used car dealership.

There are some exciting things coming -Sprouts for one- but overall the pace of “For Lease” signs is only increasing and I haven’t even looked into the residential market lately.

But at least I’m employed. I wish the best to any SCVTalk readers who have been hurt by this terrible recession.

Posted in Business, Economy | 2 Responses »

February 5, 2010 – Daily Brief

Written by NickelDime on February 5th, 2010

War of words escalates as Kellar remains defiant, turns tables on our Congressman and first Mayor Howard “Buck” McKeon SIGNAL
Amidst Wednesday’s deadlock by the Hart Board, Rabbi Mark Blazer of the nascent Albert Einstein Academy looks to the LA County DoE for a path forward SIGNAL
Dr. Dianne Van Hook University Center holds 21st Century Business Symposium; aims to take advantage of spillover from nearby colleges KHTS
Gated communities are so safe, even the cops can’t get in SIGNAL
Anthem Blue Cross set to increase rates for individual CA policyholders–some as high as 39% LATIMES
In an apparent effort to get SCVers outside, Wendy Langhans compares a shopping mall to a wildlife corridor KHTS
I bet Jeff’s already getting excited. Snippet of the flyer with some details on the 2010 OLPH Carnival this September leaked FLOWER BLOSSOM
13 year old boy signs with USC. Remember this name for five years: David Sills MYFOX NY
It keeps going, and going, and … Lexus Hybrid now under investigation for brake issues LATIMES And on the heels of a Prius recall, the big cheese bows down, low HE’S SORRY Admits “crisis” LEFTLANENEWS
Go big – by going small: He was the first with a blog, and now, the first to resign via Twitter (a haiku, no less)… ladies and gentlemen, the former CEO of Sun Microsystems, Jonathan Schwartz CNBC
I guess I never thought of it that way: skier Lindsey Vonn on the Sports Illustrated cover in a “semi-provocative” pose JUDGE FOR YOURSELF
A stucco box for a mere $10k a month (with tax) – and that’s with 20% down. Home for sale in SCV for a cool $1.6M. BLOCKSHOPPER, ZILLOW
Storm expected to drop a few inches of rain today and tomorrow; possibly more on Tuesday WUNDERGROUND

Posted in Daily Brief | 15 Responses »

NotAFerryFan Unhinged

Written by Jeff on February 5th, 2010

The YouTube blogger bundles all the anti-illegal alien rage he can into a 10:21 video (including pictures of day laborers standing on RailRoad) and even works me into the video at 6:30:

In all these anti-illegal immigration videos, I keep hearing Lee Greenwood. So let me reply with a message from someone they are sure to appreciate, someone who never shied away from social justice and compassion for those who have less than us, Big John Cash: