One dark morning at Powerhouse 2
No one believed what the damkeeper knew
Deep muddy water, churnin’ and cold
The St. Francis Dam was ready to blow

- from “The St. Francis Dam Break” poem.

The dam broke 80 years ago today, killing 400+ people in the SCV and surrounding areas.

News

• Blockbuster council meeting just finished this morning: Quite literally in fact; the City Council met last night with a lot on their plate: a pot store dispensary ban, contracting a firm to study the extension of Lyons to Dockweiler, closing a street in Canyon Country that’s been problematic for residents, and some other items but it was all overshadowed by that dang dirty MRF, the proposed Materials Recycling Facility that may be built off Sierra Highway in Newhall/Canyon Country. That matter -not even on the council agenda- dominated the first two and a half hours of the Council meeting after 30-40 residents showed up to protest the proposed project. More on that and some other Council business below, but here’s the links to The Signal and KHTS‘ coverage of the meeting.
• SCV Hearts Hollywood: Oh yes we do, so much in fact that the City has allowed film makers to close Golden Valley Bridge road so that they can film there this week. Pat Aidem at the Daily News says the film -named Super Capers- stars Adam West of original Batman fame and that producers will film a battle scene at the bridge all week long. The film is the first feature film to be shot in the SCV since the Writer’s Strike ended, and the City’s economic guru Jason Crawford actually used the words “thank goodness” in his quote in the paper, noting that film companies bring in some $2million per month into the local economy. Pat Aidem reports
• Traffic circle, boulders and other enhancements for Old Town Newhall: Main Street in Newhall will get a makeover starting in July that reflects “Newhall’s natural environment and its early Hollywood-inspired history,” according to The Signal. Among the enhancements: an authentic Euro-style traffic circle at 5th and Main, shade trees and misters to keep people cool in the summer, street lamps that emulate hitching posts, and boulders from Newhall Creek with historical plaques built into them. Not everyone is a fan of the changes; business owners in Newhall said the construction could harm business, but the firm doing the work said each business should only be affected for one week. Geyer reports.
• Castaic Lake’s tiny enemy: the quagga mussel: Closing Castaic Lake to boaters due to the threat of a tiny, invasive and non-native mussel seems to be off the table, but officials at the lake are stepping up education and inspections of boaters, Pat Aidem at the Daily News reported yesterday. In her article, Aidem details what the effects of the quagga mussel on Castaic Lake could be, and talks to fishermen and a state Fish and Game official who says quagga-sniffing dogs are planned to help find boats contaminated with the mussel. Link
• Open space dedication today: Today the city will dedicate some 900 acres of open space in Golden Valley west of Highway 14. The open space acquisition was done through a partnership with Pardeen Homes and PacSun. It’s not clear if this land was purchased with funds from the Open Space iniatiive which was passed last year. Anyway, if you want to go, it’s at 11am today. KHTS has the details.
• Learning Post High School saved, for now: Staff at the alternative/indepedent high school on the grounds of Placerita Junior High convinced the Hart District board not to close the school, according to The Signal today. Instead, staff at the school proposed other cuts to their own program; 88 students attend the school and the principal said she was “very happy” that the school would remain open next year. Link
• City creates online service system: PSA from the City: if you have potholes, burned out streetlights, or want to know about the approval process for that addition you’re building onto your house, you can visit Santa-Clarita.com/eservice to “submit various questions, inquiries or questions to the City and the system will automatically forward the requests to the appropriate staff person.” I visited the site, curious to see how the city populated its complaint drop-down list. Everything from keeping and breeding bees to construction projects and “unsightly” buildings is on the list, and I see that the City is using Google’s Analytics engine to monitor the site meaning they’ll get some fascinating daily/weekly/monthly reports on what residents bitch about most. Link

Council Notes
So last night’s blockbuster meeting had some great one-liners from Councilmembers plus a candid speech by Mayor Bob Kellar on FormGate. We’ll start there.

FormGate:

• McFarland throws another grenade, Kellar’s frank response: Bruce McFarland, local Democratic activist and candidate for 17th State Senate seat, came before the council last night and said that Mayor Kellar still hadn’t properly filed Form 700 disclosure forms, despite the fact that the Mayor amended his forms last week. McFarland asked that the Mayor “comply with the law or resign immediately,” and said that no elected official is exempt from the requirements, even if he works professionally in Real Estate.

After the public comments were over, Mayor Kellar took the mike for several minutes. “I’m in an impossible circumstance,” he said, referring to responsibilities to his real estate clients and to state law that requires he disclose his income. “I’ve got two independent sources making a requirement of me and they are not in concert.” He continued: “Folks, I goofed. But the revelation of checks going into my company will put me out of business. And I don’t think I deserve that. Maybe I do. I don’t know.” He concluded by saying that he “seriously seriously” doubts he’ll ever run for City Council again. Kellar noted that most commissions earned from real estate transactions in his firm exceed $10,000 and remarked that complying with the disclosure rules would compel him to place his clients “on a list” at City Hall, something he says would be bad for business. Kellar received some applause after his comments.

CouncilMember Boydston later asked that the City Attorney release his confidential “opinion memo” on the matter of the Form 700, saying that “the more discussion we have [about disclosure], the better off we are.”

Dang Dirty MRF

• TimBen favors due process, Ferry/Kellar condemn MRF before it gets started: There was an interesting and brief exchange last night after the 30+ residents of Canyon Country who showed up to protest the MRF were finished. City Attorney Carl Newton was asked to explain the city’s obligations to a private land-owner who wished to develop on the property. Newton replied that all such land-owners are entitled to due process and consideration before the City Council.

Councilmember Boydston said that he was planning on conducting “unannounced” tours of other Burrtec recycling facilities to see what they are about and understand the issue in greater depth. To one resident who voiced concerns over the project and said that the City Council would never approve such a project in their backyards, Boydston said that the MRF project was located close to his home.

During his comments, Frank Ferry slowly upped his response from skepticism to outright hostility to the project. He began by saying he didn’t think the Sierra Highway site wasn’t an appropriate place for a MRF due to its proximity to senior housing and children and then mentioned a call he received from Council Candidate Laurie Ender about her opposition to the project. That prompted Boydston to interrupt and ask Ferry, “You wouldn’t be campaigning for Laurie, would you?” Ferry denied that and continued to slam Burrtec: “They did a poor job. There shouldn’t be all these residents here if this was the right site,” he said, “I don’t have a problem stepping up and killing this early.” Then Boydston, noting the City Attorney’s comments earlier, asked “What about our legal requirements,” to which Mayor Kellar responded later: “The writing has been placed fairly clearly on the wall on this matter. If they’re [Burrtec] in the room, take a hint.”

Beat-up-on-Scott Wilk Night

• Lobbyist/COC Board Member Wilk is Kellar’s Campaign Manager: At least three residents voiced their opposition to Mayor Bob Kellar’s choice of local lobbyist Scott Wilk as Kellar’s campaign manager. Noting that Wilk was behind the controversial open space mailers last year and is a lobbyist for a number of local institutions, including Henry Mayo Hospital, Bruce McFarland said that hiring Wilk puts “recent votes in question, especially the Henry Mayo Expansion. Kellar will have to recuse himself from that and other issues.” Lynne Plambeck said that Wilk had been behind “dirty” mailers in past elections. Kellar said that “there will never be discussion of another candidate” in his campaign and said that he respected Wilk.

Blogs, Opinion & Misccellaneous

• I Heart’s Council Wrap-Up: Like me, I Heart gave up watching the council meeting after it entered its third hour, but he’s got a column describing the parade of anti-MRFers, and other topics. Link
• Cameron Smyth: Our populist Assemblyman: Interesting column in today’s Signal by Gary Horton. The businessman/columnist writes about incarceration rates in America and mentions a website linked to by Assemblyman Smyth addressing the proposed release of thousands of prisoners in California in order to relieve overcrowding. Horton says Smyth is using fear tactics to gain support. The Assemblyman has shown a certain knack for getting his name in the press on the populist/conservative side of controversial wedge issues. Just last week, he jumped into action after a 17 year old foster kid was denied entry into the military by what the right is already calling an “activist judge.” Smyth has already proposed a bill that would address that situation. Before that, Smyth got his name in print when pictures of some San Diego high school water polo players showed up on a gay porn website; Smyth said a bill he was working on that would combat that. And of course last year, Smyth beat a trail back to Santa Clarita City Hall to host a “Town Hall” meeting on Jack McClellan, the wanna-be pedophile who stirred up Santa Clarita last summer. He proposed a bill on internet “stalking” that some experts thought wouldn’t pass Constitutional muster. Anyway, here’s the website Horton mentions; Horton points out that the images on the site all show people of color behind bars or getting arrested.
• Mayor Kellar not getting a fair shake in the press: So says KHTS owner and Kellar friend Carl Goldman, who says the SCV would be poorer without Bob Kellar at the City Council. “No one is pointing to all the incredibly positive things Bob has done and continues to do for our Valley over the years. It’s ironic. Bob is being attacked by a political liberal activist over his finances, when I know for a fact Bob has sacrificed his business, year after year, by giving his time, heart and soul to his job as Councilmember and Mayor,” Goldman says in a rare editorial. He says several community leaders have come to him and complained about press coverage of FormGate and wonders why more aren’t publicly circling the wagons for Mayor Kellar. Link
• Filing time over, where’s Buck’s Challenger? It’s only March, so maybe I’m being a bit unfair, but I haven’t seen one quote from Jacquese Conaway, the Barstow-based Democrat who’s running to be the Democrat who faces off against Congressman Buck McKeon in November. Every story I see with her name mentions that “she wasn’t available for comment.” It’s a damn shame no Democrats from Santa Clarita decided to run this year; we’d all be richerif someone had and there are local Democrats who would make things interesting this fall (Alan Cameron comes to mind with his booming voice, handsome looks and ties to business and local Democratic groups. )
• SCVTalk readers react to Laurie Ender on hospital plan, remarks about other candidates: David Gauny, the Valencia resident who has organized opposition to the Henry Mayo Hospital expansion project (or as TimBen Boydston referred to it last night, the Henry Mayo Medical Office Building Project) posted a comment Sunday on a blog post here on SCVTalk. The mortgage professional said that he was “disappointed to hear Laurie Ender’s remarks regarding the hospital, as well as her attempted swipe at the other candidates.” In a Sunday “vote for me column” Ender claimed that other City Council candidates had flip-flopped on the issue. Gauny says not so fast: “Diane Trautman was well-researched and has remained steadfast on the issue since the proposal was in front of the planning commission more than a year ago. Bob Kellar has been loud and adamant about his concerns with building 200K sqft of office space with only 6K sqft committed to critical medical uses. Bob Spier has spent nearly a dozen hours in meetings with us and the hospital in order to find a suitable conclusion.” Link
• Premako on SCV murders: The City editor reflects on some of the murders he’s covered in the last few years in a sober blog post on what it’s like to be a journalist covering murder. Link