March 7, 2008 - Daily Brief
Written by Jeff on March 7th, 2008Usually by Friday, the Daily Brief is out of gas, sputtering along, hoping to make it to Saturday. Not today though; it’s literally bursting at the seams and makes me wonder if I need an Evening Brief too?
News
- City expects $2m in lost revenue: And now the financial hammer falls on the city: A slumping housing market and a struggling state economy will impact city sales tax and development revenue to the tune of $2 million, City Manager Ken Pulskamp told The Signal Friday. Development revenues are expected to drop some 11% while sales tax may hold steady at $33 million as new businesses come online this year. There’s no talk of cuts yet; Pulskamp says the City has spent conservatively, saving for rainy days like this. Katie Geyer has the numbers.
- County Planners to Signal: We’ll check our paperwork in the future, k thx : And one wonders why people in Santa Clarita are suspicious of Los Angeles County. Check out these quotes Signal writer Jim Holt got from a county planning administrator on the Las Lomas land-ownership mess: “This is something we need to correct. We probably were not as diligent as we should have been. I’ll probably tell my staff that they should start checking these more thoroughly,” the planning boss told Holt about paperwork submitted to the County on Las Lomas. Recall that that paperwork indicated that the Las Lomas firm owned all the land in its proposed project area. But last month The Signal reported that some land was owned by an elderly Van Nuys man. The County says it has squared things away and that “everything now appears to be in order,” so I’m not clear on whether the project will proceed at this point, but there are, or were, at least two investigations called for by Assemblyman Cameron Smyth and LA Councilman Greig Smith. Holt has the story
- More on Hart Cuts: We learned yesterday what might be slashed from the Hart District’s budget if the state has its way with 10% across-the-board cuts, but Sharon Cotal at the Signal has more on what happened before the District arrived at a $10.4 million cut figure. At first, the Board thought they’d have to send a “qualified” budget to the state- qualified budgets are those in the red, but after four hours in front of a packed audience, they were able to settle on a number. Notable quote comes from Board Member Paul Strickland: “The problem really begins with the state … and we have to come up with ideas to save their necks? I would just say, ‘Here’s the qualified report - deal with it’.” That, plus a detailed list of cuts, here.
- KHTS on McClintock, McKeon and 4th District race: Reporter and KHTS news director Jon Dell’s interest was piqued when he learned former State Senator Tom McClintock was heading north to run for Congress in CA-4. So he called McClintock’s primary challenger, Republican Doug Ose, to get a quote. Dell has that quote plus more on McClintock’s move here.
- Simi valley Foster kid wants to be Marine, Smyth introduces bill to support him: A 17 year old foster teen named Shawn Sage went before a judge recently and asked -begged- to be allowed to enter the US Marine Corps before his 18th birthday. The judge apparently denied his request saying that she didn’t support the Iraq war and didn’t trust recruiters or the military. That’s when our Assemblyman jumped into action, authoring AB2238 that would “allow foster children 17 or older to sign up with the consent of a foster parent or social worker,” according to the Daily News. “I find that to be a horrific abuse of her power,” Smyth said in regards to the judge. Link
- State home school ruling sends “shockwaves” through state, SCV too? A February 28 ruling by a state appeals court says “parents do not have a constitutional right to homeschool their children,” a ruling that a homeschooling advocate group calls an effective ban on the “fundamental right” to homeschool children. The ruling says that if a parent intends to homeschool their children, they must be credentialed by the state. Home school groups are said to have been blindsided by the decision which arose out of a child welfare case involving a mother who home schooled her eight children. Locally, it appears that many in the SCV homeschool their children; there’s a Yahoo Group called HomeschoolinginSCV who’s 366 odd members post hundreds of messages a month.
- Two from the Features Desk: Be sure to check out Signal reporter Parimal Rohit’s piece on the St. Francis dam collapse; Rohit spoke to a 97 year old woman who lived in Newhall at the time of the dam collapse on March 12, 1928. “Moments later, she heard yells of the local newsboys who claimed that there was a flood in Saugus. ‘I thought, how can that be?” the woman told Rohit. And writer Karen Elowitt today has a long article on postpartum depression.
- And how could I miss this? Jim Walker, the Signal’s features editor, reported recently on the Silver Spur Award, which was given SCV concrete king Wayne Crawford this year at a ceremony in Hollywood. During the gala event, like all gala events in the SCV, an auction was held and the big item on the list was the rights to name College of the Canyon’s Canyon Country amphitheater. The winning bidder, developer Larry Rasmussen, will pay $25k for the rights to name the facility for his father, Carl Rasmussen. Link
City Council Agenda caught hook, line and sinker, still flopping about
Quite the diverse council meeting ahead for City Hall
- Combating City Hall Leaks: No, not of the media kind (I wish they’d leak more), but rather of the water kind. A consent calendar item notes that the City Hall building is over 20 years old and is experiencing “water intrusion through the brick and concrete facade and masonry joints.” They actually started fixing the problem in January and were finished by February. Whatever happened to the plan for a new city council building, one with Greco-Roman columns and a grand facade, something we could really be proud of?
- EIR for North Newhall Plan, Cadsden implications: So, someday, the city wants to connect Lyons Avenue to Dockweiler in Newhall, and if/when they do that, they’ll also eliminate/relocate the dangerous and terrible 13th Street/Railroad Avenue railroad crossing into Placerita Canyon. So staff is recommending that the city council enter into an agreement with a firm to prepare an EIR for that project; the cost: up to $195,293. Also mentioned in the item is the fact that a state commission has kibboshed plans for a housing development on vacant land adjacent to 13th Street/Railroad Avenue, the so called Cadsden Project, until that terrible railroad crossing is addressed. The EIR is the first step in that, though the item says the city would pursue the extension of Lyons independently of that development. It should be interesting to see how Councilmember Laurene Weste votes; she owns land a stones throw from Lyons/Railroad Avenue in Placerita Canyon. Item with aerial photo.
- Other items: A review of architectural design guidelines, a recommendation against closing a street in Canyon Country where neighbors have complained of excessive speeding, landscape maintenance district proceedings, and more. Link
Rumor, Innuendo, Speculation and Miscellaneous:
- Newhall Hardware closes forever on Saturday: The 60 year old revered hardware store on Main Street will shut its doors forever on Saturday after weeks of liquidation sales, according to an ad in today’s Signal. Discounts up to 85% off says the ad. During our interview, I asked council candidate Diane Trautman about Old Town Newhall redevelopment and Newhall Hardware specifically; her answer was interesting, so you should listen to the podcast (shameless plug).
- You’ll lose an hour of sleep this weekend: Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead this weekend. Yeah, I know, so early in the year? KHTS has that and a nag list from the city on what you should do during the DST switch.
- So how much did Kellar fail to report on his Form 700? The Signal report yesterday said Mayor Bob Kellar earned more than $10,000 in 2005 on a land sale he coordinated as a realtor for the College of the Canyons Canyon Country project. The Mayor confirmed that he earned a commission larger than that, according to The Signal, and the rub lies in whether Kellar disclosed that on mandatory state disclosure forms. But the question of exactly how much the Mayor earned lead to some speculation by readers on SCVTalk’s own forum: “ReaderMama” pulled up a 2005 Newsmakers Interview of then COC board Member Ron Gillis and Board Member Joan MacGregor and calculated a 3% commission for Kellar based on the figures in that interview. One of the parcels sold to COC during that transaction was sold for $6.452 million and “assuming Kellar split the commission with his partner, that amounts to $96,780 in income to Kellar for that one parcel,” she says. The sentiment in the SCVTalkers forum seems to be that The Signal ought to keep digging, though the fact that it is election season seems to be lost on them. What do you think?
- Fresh real estate numbers from SCV real estate bloggers: First up, Linda Slocum, who reports -exuberantly I might add- that foreclosure numbers for Los Angeles County were down some 34.6% in February, and Santa Clarita continued to have “low foreclosure numbers compared to the rest of LA County.” And I hesitate to post this link because her blog makes my eyes bleed, but realtor Paris Macivor has the foreclosure numbers in the SCV for March by community: 2,114 homes are for sale now, 533 of which are “short pays” which I think is the same as a short sale and/or a home nearing foreclosure. Link
- Do rumors generally have specific names attached to them? From an anonymous source on the Lennar/LNR/Newhall Land/UAE Takeover rumor: “Here’s some food for thought on your Newhall Land and Lennar story,briefs and reader comments. Newhall Land was bought by Lennar and LNR in 2004. LNR was later sold to Cerberus Capital Management. In 2004,Lennar and LNR formed a new company, Landsource, which took control of Newhall Land. A few years later they sold most of Landsource to MW Housing Partners. Now MW and its partners are trying to sell their stake in Landsource to a sovereign fund controlled by the royal family of Dubai. The fund is known as Istithmar.” Google searches for Istithmar show the firm has its hands on a lot of things, including real estate, and the reference to MW is accurate: recall the news last year Lennar sold its stake in Newhall Ranch to MW Housing Partners and a consortium group, including CalPERS. Reina Slutske, then business writer for the Signal, had an article on that. So according to the anonymous tip, it’s MW Parnters, not Lennar, that’s trying to sell to a Dubai-based fund. Does this story have legs? We don’t have an official denial on record.
- On the City, NIMBYism, and power: Long LTE in The Signal today, outlining a reader’s distrust of the city government and reflecting on NIMBYism. Bill Reynolds, of Valencia writes: “Why do we “suburban bedroom community dwellers” have to suffer City Manager Ken Pulskamp’s stated and continuously implemented goal of converting the SCV into an urban center?” My opinion: Now more than ever I’m convinced there’s a generational divide in the SCV between those who moved (escaped really) here and those of us who were born or spent most of our youth here. I like quality growth, growth that puts Santa Clarita on the map, growth that means I don’t have to go to LA, growth that is environmentally sensitive and transit friendly etc…. But others seem to really want us to be the small town sticks we were in the 1970s.
- City Survey on Public Television: “The City wants to know what residents are interested in with regard to their local television station and are asking for opinions to about 10 questions regarding what residents want to watch on local public access television, channel 20,” the press release says. You can take the survey here.
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Kellar matter and the Newhall Land matter. Great reporting.
Things may not always be as the appear. More to come!
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Great interview with Trautman today! She certainly doesn’t seem to be in favor of the current Old Town Newhall redevelopment efforts, saying that the City should have looked at “all possible outcomes” before implementing the streetscape changes.
Love the reference to the unnamed City Council member who says that “Old Town Newhall will be boarded up soon” as well. This is truer than you would think - many businesses are considering leaving the area before it gets worse. They don’t want to be caught trying to do business in a boarded-up ghost town.
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wow BIG set of errors in the KHTS article:
“The Congressional elections take place on June 3rd. Locally, Buck McKeon is running for the 25th district against Jacquese Conaway.
Also on June 3rd, State Senator George Runner will be running against Bruce McFarland, and Assemblyman Cameron Smyth is running against Carole Lutness. ”
June 3rd is a primary!
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on growth… I think it’s in a our nature as longtime SCV residents to shudder at density. We like things far back from the street, we love short buildings. But the toothpaste is out of the tube. We really have to understand that it is a large city and that future planning should take cues from well-planned large cities and not the 80,000 resident suburbs we once resembled. Mass transit needs to be made more practical and we need to find some ways for a larger portion of the population to live closer to where they work and to create some genuinely walkable spaces.
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now this is completely unfounded, but where there is smoke there may be fire. There was considerable controversy over how the college’s intentions were made public, to the chagrin of 4/5ths of the board, because it raised the value of the land substantially, causing the college to pay much more than they would have. Kellar, while not necessarily a college insider, is certainly in the know about all things SCV, to say the least. Was he able to use any particular knowledge in order to get a better price from the district, and by extension, the taxpayers? There’s also a wider question of the propriety of one local official in a transaction where his fiduciary duty is to get the most money possible out of another public agency. For a man so wealthy, you think he’d take a pass on such a sticky transaction.
I don’t mean to accuse anyone of anything, but this seems like a lead worth pursuing. I have no idea when his particular parcel sold in relation to the others, so this could be a non-issue.
I’ve always been troubled, and I mean no offense to the realtors in the audience, about having a realtor on the city council during a housing boom. A few years ago, when houses were selling so quickly, the effort involved in selling a house was much less than it was before (or especially now), but the payoff was huge. This didn’t necessarily benefit realtors in general, because so many people got in the game and diluted everyone’s share. But if I had interests before the council, you ought to bet that I would sell my house with Bob Kellar.
I’m not constructing a grand conspiracy, but if it’s true and there has been a consistent pattern of turning in incomplete and/or false disclosures and there is a pattern to those falsifications and/or omissions, you have to start wondering what someone’s motivation might be.
A superb daily brief today, Jeff.
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Mike, keep following the dots. It is not difficult to connect the dots. One only need follow the activities of the College leaders, certain foundation leaders, the Chamber of Commerce and the City Council, etc. to see what is happening here. The Keller matter seems to be the first possible chink in the armor to surface. Time will have to tell if all was OK. One thing that is clear, and that is that there is a strong business network at work in this City. The mayor makes not bones about it in his speeches.
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While you’re at it, follow the dots for Old Town Newhall. Think our City Council and Planners have no personal agendas or property ownership in that area?
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Linda, the dots may go directly to Ms. Weste for one, but to get there one may have to connect her Mom first.
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Weste is actually not that hard to track. Wonder how many others have ownership in properties there where the ownership isn’t that apparent? They could be held in family member names, corporate names, etc. rather than in their own personal names.
There will be lots of properties going up at Fire Sale or tear-down prices before this is said and done. Current plans call for two-story buildings, which means most everything along San Fernando Road will have to be torn down and rebuilt. Those buildings are too old to be able to add a 2nd story without significant costs to bring the existing structures up to code.
Listen to Jeff’s podcast where one City Council member apparently admits that the Old Town Newhall area will be boarded up soon.
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I did listen to Jeff’s interview. I think the comment referenced was actually made by a candidate for council, not a sitting council member. I heard Maria make that statement at one of the debates. Others may have said this as well, but I have not heard it. The members of the City Council continue to project an “all is Rosie” outlook. Down Town is doomed if something is not do about the current demographic, and no one has the political well to make this statement. The area is rapidly become a slum, in my view.
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You cannot do anything about Downtown Newhall’s lower-income demographic without running them out of town, either by “buying out” the buildings they occupy, or by raising rents so high that they can no longer afford to be there. They are part of an overall ecosystem so to speak, with the residents and the businesses that support them all with easy access.
I’m actually rather impressed with how many businesses cater to a population that has limited access to transportation in that lower income demographic, with company vans used to transport shoppers to Vallarta Market and other vehicles bringing groceries and produce to their doors much like an ice cream truck tours residential areas during the summer months.
Meanwhile, lots of higher-income demographic business owners in the Downtown Newhall area are seriously considering moving elsewhere, for fear that the Ghost Town effect with boarded up buildings will create a dangerous environment for their customers.
Seems it will get much worse in that area before it has a chance to get better, but at least they’ll have a pretty streetscape to enhance the run-down, boarded-up buildings!
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Long live downtown Newhall (aka San Fernando Rd). One way to save it is to continue to support the retailers. You can find this Valencian enjoy the fine food at Thai Pepper or the cool thrift duds at Carmen’s Closet from time to time. And come on down to the community center…the best kept secret in the SCV. I enrolled in the adult boxing program a year ago and love it! I highly recommend the place!
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Agreed. We also have a very well subsidised transit system that carries the demographic of which we speak, to other areas of town for them to work and shop. $16,000,000 a year to haul them around. The City, VIA and the Chamber have done an excellent job of creating a heaven for “lower-income demographic” to support their respective businesses. A well known newspaper person’s mother deserves much of the credit for the transit system we taxpayers are burdened with. Sorry folks, but the quality of life here in the valley is in a death spiral. Soon to be like Mr. Kellar’s home town of Pacoima! Unless of course you live in Placerita Canyon or Sand Canyon with your special standards regulations, or on the west side of town where most communities are gated.
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I don’t agree that the SCV on the whole is in a death spiral.
Every town will have its lower income areas, and the Downtown Newhall area just happens to be one of them. You can’t just board up their businesses and hope the people will go away. And you can’t cut off public transportation in the hopes that you’ll keep these people away from your part of town. After all, they’re likely the people you invite to your neighborhood to mow your lawn and clean your home, right?
Honestly, if the City would just ante up some funds for some paint and minor building repairs, as well as possibly some new building facades, they would do more to pretty up the area than they will by changing street names and adding “streetscape” to the area. Right now the new streetscape and the gazillion new stop signs do a terrific job of highlighting just how much upkeep is needed on the existing buildings.
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We will have to disagree on the demographic issue. I did not suggest we cut off public transportation. I did suggest that $16,000,000.00 a years is a burden. I will further add that if you pay attention to the numerous buses you pass as you travel the valley, you will see fewer than 10 and sometimes fewer than 5 passengers. I have seen the matrix used by the city to compare efficiency and cost of operation with other cities, and I have seen for myself that we subsidise at a far higher rate than do other comparable cities. Too many buses, too many route, and too few fares collected. The Chamber should be very happy about this as should the VIA. Taxpayers should be upset, in my view.
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Why should the City use taxpayer funds to help paint the buildings, etc.? Some of those buildings have had the same owner for more than just a few years. Why should they not be expected to keep the buildings up? The City is not painting my house for me!
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Jeff, your Newhall Land source my have a different understanding after today.
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The City’s not adding park benches, realigning and renaming roadways, adding new street lights, or painting parking stripes (twice) in front of your home either. I’m not saying that the City should pay for all the building updates, but thus far all they’ve done is tell the owners that they should do the updates on their own with no support from the City. If the City wants things to be done a certain way, then they’re going to have to take some responsibility for it. Better to spend on something that will last than the $60k spent restriping the parking spaces for the second time.
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We will have to disagree on what government should or shouldn’t do. However, I really do not what the City to paint Mrs. Weste building with taxpayer money. By the way, have you not seen all the nice new benches and shades we have paid for so that the riders of the inefficient transit system have a new place to sit? Oh and a place to park their shopping carts, that if they haven’t pushed them to a street corner near your neighbor hood. I beat the fares won’t increase, and unless we have more of the same demographic arriving town, ridership won’t improve either.
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Kellar files amended financial forms:
http://www.hometownstation.com/kellar-fppc-clarita-2008-03-07-16-51.html
Silly to do this on a Friday afternoon.He should have gained maximum exposure and filed them before the City Council meeting or something.
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“It was a simple mistake. I believed I was filling these out properly, but apparently there is one section of the form that was incomplete,” Kellar said. “I was too busy and didn’t take the proper time to fill out the form.”
Giving Kellar the benefit of the doubt, can we really trust someone who is too busy to follow instructions to run our city?
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Too busy doing what? Running to the next special interest or social event. Perhaps a photo opportunity for the local magazine, like “Elite”. Then again he may have been doing real work like finding the next real estate sale. All of the above are just fine, if you are not the Mayor of the city.
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I’m honored brother. Sorry about your eyes. Still learning on this end.
Be Safe
Connor MacIvor
“I’ll be back”
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Too busy to answer the same question three years in a row?