The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak this morning as I write this Daily Brief. No sleep last night here at the SCVTalk.com Orbiting HQ thanks to a house mouse that’s stuck in our furnace and won’t stop thrashing about. Anyone know a good HVAC tech?

News

• Median house prices actually rose in February: Yeah, that’s right! In February, the median price of a home in Santa Clarita actually rose 0.9%, making Santa Clarita the California city with the 10th greatest increase over the same time last year according to a hot ‘n fresh report from the California Association of Realtors. But the LA Times Land blog says “Not so fast” to those stats; according to a source it found, “listing prices in greater LA fell another $4,900 over the past week and have now fallen a stunning $119,666 or 21% from their peak in April 2006.” I’ll stick with the CAR report, thank you very much, but you should keep your eye on the Southland Realtor’s page; they usually have SCV statistics a day or two after these larger reports come out.
• KHTS Pulls Ferry/Ender/Alarcon donation story: KHTS’ Carol Rock had what seemed to be an intriguing and hot story during this political season on the radio station’s website, but it’s no longer up as of this morning. The topic? In February of 2007, City Councilman Frank Ferry and Parks Commissioner Laurie Ender -now running for City Council- gave $500 and $100 respectively to the “Friends of Richard Alarcon for City Council” committee. Alarcon, you’ll recall, was the LA City Council booster of the controversial Las Lomas project, and the guy who penned an angry LTE to the Signal decrying the “outrageous” Santa Clarita Valley. Rock tried to ask Ender about the donation but said the Parks Commish had not commented about it for the story. If you do a Google News search for “Ender,” you’ll see the story and a brief excerpt, but you get a fat “Access Denied” on the KHTS website.
• More Form 700 business: By now, Signal reporter Katie Geyer must be on a first name basis with just about everyone in the California Fair Political Practices Commission office; this morning, the city beat reporter has a story on Laurie Ender and TimBen Boydston’s failure to correctly fill out the same Form 700 forms that have dogged Mayor Bob Kellar for the last month. The Signal apparently told Ender of the problems with her form -she is required to fill them out when she files as a city council candidate- and Ender said she’d “be happy to go back and check the boxes.” The Signal reported on Boydston and Councilwoman Laurene Weste’s Form 700 discrepancies earlier this month. Link
• Paying the price for keeping your car clean: The LA Times completed a big investigation into car washes & labor practices in Southern California on Sunday. The story goes a long way toward explaining how Southern California is a labor magnet for illegal immigrants who get paid so little (some make $1.63/hr cleaning cars) that they are forced to live together in crowded apartments, thus leading to complaints of overcrowding. Santa Clarita car washes are no different than others in So Cal; the Times report found that a few here had been fined tens of thousands of dollars for “Payroll irregularities.” One Valencia car wash owner was interviewed for the report and explained that profit margins are very thin in the car wash business and owners who want an edge will often save up to $10,000/month employing cheap, illegal labor. Story, Car Wash Database (only 91355 returns results)
• CHP Officer saves suicidal woman: City Editor Josh Premako has an interesting and well-written story on a CHP officer who saved a woman who was about to throw herself off a bridge over Interstate 5. Teaser: “He saw a white car parked in one of the lanes and a woman walking along the bridge…[the] woman climbed on top of the railing, sitting precariously several stories above the freeway below.” Link
• A Rather Macabre story with a local connection: It’s just a few days after Easter, and themes of resurrection, rebirth, and new life are all around which makes me hesitant to post a story on some of the interesting new ways people are choosing to conduct funerals for their loved ones. The report, out of a New Jersey paper, mentions a Castaic company named Angel’s Flight, which “disperses remains in fireworks shot over the ocean.” Link
• New CSI Show at Magic Mountain: Variety reported last week that CBS will produce a half-hour CSI-type crime show at Magic Mountain. The Hollywood paper says the show “will let audience members witness a fake crime, then guide them through the “whodunit” process by using the scientific techniques featured in the series. Parkgoers will act as witnesses, suspects and crime investigators.” Wait a sec- CSI is all about murder, and the New & Improved Magic Mountain is all about Family Friendliness™, so what’s the deal? CBS says the show “will not be a murder” and will be family friendly. Debuts at the park on June 14. Link

Opinion & Miscellaneous

• Bob Kellar, the “Good guy defense”, and the tabloid Signal is in Death Throws? Nothing like a good old-fashioned Dave Bossert rant. The FormGate controversy surrounding Mayor Kellar has inspired the West Ranch Town Council president to pen another defense of the Mayor, and this time he lashes out at The Signal, local political “gadflies”, and partisan politics. “Its unfortunate the local newspaper would jump in on the feeding frenzy of Mr. Kellar started by a few local political gadflies that come out of the woodwork during the weeks leading up to the City Council elections. It is nothing but glaring partisan politics and it stinks.” Link
• More from the West Side: From high atop the SCV in a smoky backroom at the tony TPC, West Ranchers will decide tonight whether they should endorse a candidate(s) for Santa Clarita City Council. Okay, so it’s not going to be a smoky backroom and it seems like it’s open to the public, but that is what the WRTC will discuss tonight at a special meeting according to Bossert’s blog. How do they possibly hope to compete with what will surely be a blockbuster council meeting? Link
• Where all the action is tonight: So tonight’s City Council meeting is going to be a hot one. On the agenda: the City Council will decide whether skaters should get a temporary park while the city builds them a brand new one, the council may weigh in on increasing penalties for bandit ads, and finally the council will decide whether to buy a property in Old Town Newhall. But overshadowing all that is Mayor Bob Kellar, who told The Signal last week that he may have some things to say about his repeated failure to complete his Form 700s correctly. This would be the second time he speaks during a Council Meeting about the Form 700 mess. He promised to turn in amended forms to City Hall today. Also, I think tonight is the last City Council meeting for TimBen Boydston.