Friday Daily Brief, coming at ya!

News

• Las Lomas Land ownership: The 555 acres of land proposed for the controversial Las Lomas project aren’t entirely owned by the Las Lomas Land Company or developer Palmer Investments, Signal writer Jim Holt reports today. An elderly Van Nuys man named Frank McHaddad “owns nearly half the site” but has “signed an agreement with Palmer pledging his commitment to the Las Lomas Project.” But in a development document submitted to the County’s Regional Planning Commission, Las Lomas Land Company “is listed as the owner of the 555 acres earmarked for the project,” according to Holt. Holt asked Las Lomas for information on Thursday afternoon and was asked to hold on the story until a spokesperson could get a comment. All this under a huge headline “Building on Lies?” I ran a title search on the area and found at least four parcels owned by McHaddad in the project area (south of Calgrove, west of I-5).
• Writer’s Strike nearly over, work could resume Monday: Major studios and the Writer’s Guild of America are “putting finishing touches on a deal that could bring an end to the costly walkout,” the Los Angeles Times reports. Good news for us here in the SCV too.
• SCV Primary results: Parimal Rohit got his hands on Santa Clarita results of Tuesday’s Primary and has some data: Democrat Barack Obama finished first on the Democratic side with 50% of the vote (Clinton had 47%) while Republican Mitt Romney beat John McCain 47 to 39. What’s even more interesting is that 16,227 votes were cast for a Democratic candidate while only 12,930 votes were cast for a Republican candidate. Is the SCV turning blue? Probably not; the Democratic primary was open to independents while the Republican primary was not, but that statistic is surprising nonetheless. Also in the article is local reaction to Mitt Romney’s decision to suspend his campaign.
• Fire victim Jim Tindell heading home: The Bouquet Canyon man who suffered second and third degree burns while trying to rescue horses during October’s fire has been released from a rehab program and will return home. He told KHTS radio that his “First order of business…was to get Heads Up back in operation, which the organization hopes will happen this spring.” Heads Up is a therapy program for disabled children. More here.
• Union rejects hospital contract: The 500 employees in the United Electrical Union who work at Henry Mayo rejected a new contract that the hospital says is a “very good contract.” The workers, comprised of nursing assistants, clerks and technicians, have been without a contract since January 31 and voted last night. Katie Geyer has more in today’s Signal.
• Simi Valley Murder suspect arrested in SCV: Lauren Donahue is described as a 41 year old transient woman and police suspect her in the stabbing death of her 69 year old mother at her home in Simi Valley. Somehow, Donahue made it up to the SCV on Tuesday after the murder and was nabbed by police at the “Santa Clarita Amtrak station.” Obviously there’s no Amtrak station here, so it must have been one of our Metrolink stations. She’s due in court today. No details about this woman in the SCV Sheriff’s blog. Link
• “Change of Heart” on disbanding Saugus softball boosters: The coach of the Centurion softball team won’t disband the parent’s booster club, despite its “negative atmosphere.” Saugus High Principal Bill Bolde says “We embrace your involvement,” to parents of the players on the team. All this follows revelation this week that a Title IX complaint has been filed by parents against the Hart Distict. More in today’s Signal.
• New Charter school: Santa Clarita Valley International will open this fall serving students in grades K-4. Later, the school’s administrator hopes to accept students from K-12 and “welcome international exchange students and exchange teachers.” All this approved at Wednesday night’s Hart Board meeting. I have no idea what a charter school is.

City Council Agenda Hot off the Internets
Another important meeting with some big topics. Impacting Tuesday.

• Open Space Oversight Committee: The City Council will finally appoint applicants to the “Financial Accountability and Audit Panel” for the Open Space Preservation District. Recall that appointments were delayed in November due to the fires. A total of nine people have applied for the panel, including open space opponent Jim Farley, former Hart Superintendent and SCV Facilities Foundation honcho Bob Lee (full disclosure: SCV Facilities Foundation advertises on SCVTalk), naturalist writer Wendy Langhans, Henry Shultz, and Canyon Country advocate Alan Ferdman. Get the full list of names here. The City was even kind enough to post all the applicant’s applications, statement of intent, and personal references. I’m not exactly sure how the appointment process will go down; I think each Councilperson will select one person from the list of applicants, then they’ll debate or second each appointment. Agenda Report
• Council to decide on SFR Name: City Staff will recommend changing the name of San Fernando Road to Railroad Avenue from Lyons Avenue to Magic Mountain Parkway. This follows a recommendation from the Newhall Redevelopment Committee. May cost up to $20k for street sign changes. Agenda Report
• Community Services/Cultural Arts grants: An amount not exceeding $100,000 to various organizations, schools, and private entities for the purposes of expanding and supporting community services and cultural arts in the SCV. Details.

Clearing my desk:

• Brazilian Steakhouse: Barbacoa Churrascaria replaces Wild Thyme in the Valencia Marketplace and SCV Blog girl seems to like it.
• More chances to meet council candidates: Al Ferdman, Canyon Country advisory committee chairman, will host a February 20 meeting with all the candidates at the Caravalho Activities Center. You’ll be able to ask questions of the candidates. Link
• Amgen Race Street Closures: The City has FINALLY posted the list of street closures that will happen between Friday February 22 and Sunday February 24 for the Amgen Race and boy is it a long list. There’s no map and I’m a visual person so I’m having trouble “seeing” the closures, but it appears the Saturday closures will be similar to last year’s race. McBean between Magic Mountain and Valencia will be closed for 24 hours from Friday to Saturday. Other streets will be closed in the afternoon. Anyway, get the details here and don’t say we didn’t warn you. I promise to publicly mock the inevitable complainers.