March 18, 2008 - Daily Brief
Written by Jeff on March 18th, 2008Ding-dong the MRF is dead, the wicked MRF, the awful MRF…News
- Materials Recycling Facility on Sierra Highway dead, NIMBYs win: Alan Ferdman, who heads up the Canyon Country Advisory Committee and sits on the Open Space Panel, announced in an email to supporters yesterday that Burrtec Waste Industries had decided not to pursue a recycling facility on Sierra Highway. “We realize that the Santa Clarita Material Recovery Facility project has raised concerns among local residents,” a VP of the company stated. “In light of recent community input, we have decided to postpone the current Santa Clarita MRF Project until viable options can be discussed with City staff.” The plan for the 170,000 sq. ft. facility that would have sorted all the trash in Santa Clarita faced opposition in the last two City Council meetings after neighbors mobilized. Ferdman ended his email by saying, “We are not done. Santa Clarita will still need a way to meet our recycling goals.” Katie Geyer has the story.
- Hart District lets two teachers go amid budget woes: School beat reporter Sharon Cotal says the SCV’s largest school district has laid off two teachers and will probably lay off an additional 20 classified employees as it prepares to deal with state cuts of up to $4.8 billion from education. Elementary school districts locally seem to be faring better according to the report. Hey- didn’t Hart just hold a teacher recruitment fair?
- Another Department of Education investigation into Saugus/Hart District: Remember the fracas a few weeks ago when the Saugus High administration and softball coach disbanded the girl’s softball booster club only to reinstate it a few days later? Well, the Los Angeles Times Varsity Blog says the US DOE Office of Civil Rights has launched a second investigation into the school after a parent complained that the booster club shutdown was in retaliation for an earlier Title IX complaint. Not many details on this one, but here’s the story.
- More on Las Lomas before the LA City Council: A Planning and Land Use commission made up of some of the LA City Council will meet today to consider whether LA City should stop its work on the Las Lomas project. The matter may go before the entire LA City Council tomorrow. Jim Holt has the report.
- Robbery at Local Gas Station: A woman was filling up her car with gas when a pickpocket took her gas and bank cards, according to The Signal. The unidentified woman then followed the man back to his car and demanded the suspect return the items. That’s when one of the occupants of the car threatened to shoot the woman. She was not injured and the cards have not been receovered. Parimal Rohit has the story.
Miscellaneous:
- One-on-one City Council Candidate Interviews: KHTS will interview all five candidates for an hour long starting next week. Bob Spierer is up first followed by Diane Trautman, Ender, Kellar and Gutzeit. The shows will be broadcast live but you can also get the podcast. Details
- Not to be left out: Of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t link to Leon Worden’s news maker interviews of all the candidates as well.
- CurbedLA readers review Old Town Newhall: Another popular LA Area blog takes a look at the redevelopment plan for downtown Newhall. So how do they view our ambitious project? Well, some don’t even know where Newhall is, the rest of them call it Fauxjai (Faux Ojai, get it?), and others think it could end up becoming a trendy littles pot. Link
- SoCalPundit reviews new Knight Rider TV show: It’s apropos to review this show since it’s filmed locally and Kevin Korenthal doesn’t like what he sees.
- West Ranch Town Council holds special meeting tonight: They’re going to dish on the city council candidates and endorse one more, according to Bossert’s blog.
- Ender mailer speculation: So apparently the Laurie Ender for council mailer that one SCVTalk.com reader characterized as a “hit mailer” was only targeted to specific neighborhoods. A reader tells me that the mailer only arrived in Valencia mailboxes, particularly the Summit neighborhood and other areas near the hospital. The reader speculates that Ender is targeting the same people Dave Gauny has targeted in his door-knocking campaign to encourage residents there to vote for Diane Trautman and Bob Kellar, the two candidates who have gone on record as opposing the hospital’s expansion plan until it can Mayo can guarantee an inpatient building.
Photo of the Day:
The brand new Wickes Furniture store in the Centre Pointe project still displays a “Now Open” sign even as a “Going out of Business” banner is hung over the door. Wickes Furniture is no more; all stores nationwide are shutting down amid the housing slump and deteriorating economy. At least three large furniture stores have shut down recently in the SCV.
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The complete blog without the Bossert omission!
mike Says:
March 15th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Seems Mr. Kellar can’t complete the required information for form 700 for a
reason that goes beyond his ability to use good judgement.
No other reasons come to mind at this point. It is good to read that the
Signal is doing its job and doing it well in reporting Mr. Kellar
shortcomings.
Perhaps with the new leadership at the Signal, we now have a real newspaper
and not a paper that panders to the special
interests. DAVE, are you still convinced Kellar made an honest mistake or is
it you are still motivated by your friends in WEST RANCH that will lose
their control of the CITY if Kellar is gone!
admin Says:
March 15th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Mike ,
It’s obvious from your comment that you are out of touch with reality in
thinking that West Ranch has any control over the City. Have you attended a
West Ranch Town Council meeting? No, your armchair observer that doesn’t
lift a finger to contribute but is quick to criticize, make suppositions and
generally talk out buttocks.
-Dave
mike Says: Your comment is awaiting moderation.
March 16th, 2008 at 10:40 am
Dave
No need to attend your meetings. And no I do not think you Dave, can
influence the City. However, anyone that follows the issue, do know that
several residents of West Ranch do, or try, to influence the City. I could
give you a list but that would be wasting your time. You know who they are.
I would not include you on the list because you are a lightweight. If you
weren’t a lightweight you would have posted the fact that Kellar has still
failed to complete the form 700 as required by law.
If you are not attempting to influence the City Council, why were all the
candidates invited to your Town Council meeting to speak. You are the one
that needs to get real as you are speaking out of both sides of your
buttocks!
Seems to me that you spend much more time at the armchair than I. This would
include spending the time to comment on City matters, only to claim later
West Ranch has no influence. Just look at your own website. Silly boy!
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c’mon man, it’s “mike 2″ or throw in an initial or whatever
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I think the teacher fair was a K-12 deal. You never know who may be resigning and what not. The two teachers being laid off might be different sorts of teachers than they might need come next year. But it does sound silly.
I’ll keep my own council related comments brief, but something has been bugging me about Laurie Ender’s candidacy which is underscored by a mailing targeted at the Summit and like-minded neighborhoods. She has talked a lot about wanting to represent a portion of the population that isn’t being represented now. As best I can tell, she’s referring to the upper-middle class white voters of the fancier parts of Valencia. I’m reminded of this brilliant gem from her blog regarding the last debate:
“The rest of Newhall has so much to offer–hair salons and doctor’s offices and restaurants (and Margo’s!) ”
I hope the good people of Newhall will enjoy their cake. Newhall is a primarily working class neighborhood that was once buzzing with economic activity but was been left behind when development shifted elsewhere. By offering up an example of a fancy dress shop for middle aged women as an example of its vitality, she could hardly be more condescending. Also, when I was growing up, that was considered Valencia. Valencia Pharmacy, Tempo Valencia, etc.. Double Deal Pizza anyone?
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“The rest of Newhall has so much to offer–hair salons and doctor’s offices and restaurants (and Margo’s!) ”
Words often claimed by one of the setting council members and Ender supporter. Mrs. McLean to be exact.
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Hi Jeff,
It was good to see you and say “Hi” the other day. Here is the e mail address you requested
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The Laurie Ender hit-mailer proves this woman will lie to win. And there are many misrepresentations of the facts.
The lie: “At a recent candidates’ debate, questions regarding the expansion plans of Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital came front and center and three of the candidates - [including Bob] Spierer - refused to state their positions on the matter.”
I can’t believe Laurie Ender said this, after dodging my question at the Senior Center candidates forum. Bob Spierer did NOT dodge my question, and neither did Diane Trautman and Bob Kellar. Laurie not only dodged it, one would swear she didn’t even hear it! Since Laurie Ender SO blatantly dodged my question about G&L’s escape clause, three candidates - Bob Kellar, Diane Trautman AND BOB SPIERER - received applause for stating their positions on the hospital issue clearly and honestly.
Yes, Laurie, MY question about the escape clause in the hospital’s Development Agreement was indeed “front and center,” no WAY it could be dodged, but you totally ignored it and went on to tell us we need a hospital expansion and we should trust the hospital board - the hospital board full of people, including Roger Seaver, contributing mightily to The Friends of Laurie Ender AND to the Frank Ferry Committee that sends out mailers for Laurie Ender. This needs to be looked into, as The Frank Ferry Committee is not a PAC, so Frank’s campaign committee should not be using its money for candidates as if it IS a PAC.
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Seems that neither Ms. Ender or the good officer Spierers have the correct answer when it comes to the safety statistic! Of course Officer Spierers must be correct!! They again who knows.
By Bruce Hector
Canyon Country
Posted: March 18, 2008 2:26 a.m. Wrote in a Letter to the Editor:
The Signal
Updated: March 18, 2008 4 a.m.
When it comes to making claims, Mrs. Ender either fails to do her homework or just ignores the facts. During a Canyon Country advisory forum, she stated that Santa Clarita is the second safest city in America, but did not offer any references to back her claim.
Instead, council candidate Bob Spierer corrected her and advised that pursuant to the Morgan Quitno report (which is based upon FBI statistics), we are ranked the 49th safest city. If Ms. Ender wants to make claims, she should at least be ready to offer some sort of support.
Santa Clarita, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Yahoo data report states:
Santa Clarita is the fourth largest city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2007 California Department of Finance estimate, the city population was 177,158. Including unicorporated areas of the Santa Clarita Valley, the population is estimated at over 200,000. It is located about 35 miles (56 km) northwest of downtown Los Angeles, and occupies most of the Santa Clarita Valley. It is a notable example of a U.S. edge city or boomburb. The FBI rates it as the sixth safest city in the United States with at least 100,000 inhabitants. Santa Clarita is ranked as one of the top 100 places to live by Money.
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According to Morgan Quitno’s 13th Annual America’s Safest (and most dangerous) cities results released in October of 2006, Santa Clarita is not even listed in the top 25 safest cities:
OVERALL: (371 cities)
SAFEST 25: MOST DANGEROUS 25:
1 Brick Township, NJ 1 St. Louis, MO
2 Amherst, NY 2 Detroit, MI
3 Mission Viejo, CA 3 Flint, MI
4 Newton, MA 4 Compton, CA
5 Troy, MI 5 Camden, NJ
6 Colonie, NY 6 Birmingham, AL
7 Irvine, CA 7 Cleveland, OH
8 Cary, NC 8 Oakland, CA
9 Greece, NY 9 Youngstown, OH
10 Coral Springs, FL 10 Gary, IN
11 Thousand Oaks, CA 11 Richmond, CA
12 Orem, UT 12 Baltimore, MD
13 Round Rock, TX 13 Memphis, TN
14 Dover, NJ 14 Trenton, NJ
15 Lake Forest, CA 15 Richmond, VA
16 Sterling Heights, MI 16 Kansas City, MO
17 Simi Valley, CA 17 Atlanta, GA
18 Roswell, GA 18 Cincinnati, OH
19 Lee’s Summit, MO 19 Washington, DC
20 Broken Arrow, OK 20 North Charleston, SC
21 Chino Hills, CA 21 Reading, PA
22 Gilbert, AZ 22 Newark, NJ
23 Edison Township, NJ 23 Little Rock, AR
24 Cranston, RI 24 San Bernardino, CA
25 Port St. Lucie, FL
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FBI Uniform Crime Report, May 2007
Santa Clarita is the 11th safest city in America for cities with at least 150,000 population.
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The lie: “At a recent candidates’ debate, questions regarding the expansion plans of Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital came front and center and three of the candidates - [including Bob] Spierer - refused to state their positions on the matter.”
It wasn’t Laurie Ender who stated this, it was the Signal…
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I guess the point is that there are several statistics out there. I did find the number officer Bob indicated and two different statistics. It may not have been fair to beat Ms. Ender over the head with her quote as was done in the LTTE in TMS.
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And Laurie’s mailer used a lie and that makes that Laurie Ender mailer another dirty hit piece against Bob Spierer from Laurie Ender. Just because it first appeared in The Signal, doesn’t excuse Laurie Ender from smearing Bob Spierer and the other csndidates with lies and misrepresentations, which seem to be what the Laurie Ender campaign stands for at this point in time. Bob Spierer has always been quite clear about his opinion regarding the hospital issue, Ms. Ender is the only person who cannot understand Bob, apparently.
All Laurie Ender had to do was run a clean campaign, like all the other candidates are doing. Laurie is the only one who is attacking fellow candidates with nasty hit mailers. She should be ashamed of taking SCV politics to such a low point. This is just very sad, coming from a “PTA mom.”