Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!

In no particular order

• Santa Clarita continues to find ways to entertain itself: Whether you wanted to hang out by Castaic Lake or Taste some food, “thosuands” of people turned out for the first ever Castaic Days and the expensive/exclusive Taste of the Town Festival last weekend. Details at The Signal.
• $4/gallon gas sucks, but it doesn’t stop me from driving: At least that’s the way I’m reading some of the people Tammy Marashlian interviewed for yet another “Pain at the pump” article in The Signal on Saturday. According to a local survey, a gallon of regular unleaded now costs about $3.93 throughout the SCV. One student interviewed for the report said he’ll simply work more hours to support his driving(slave to your car?). Link
• It’s Cinco de Mayo: And Parimal Rohit at The Signal dusts off the history books to tell you what the Mexican holiday is all about.
• SCV Man and Woman of the Year: The honors go to Carl Goldman, co-owner of KHTS, community volunteer, etc and Judy Penman. “It’s the Oscars of the SCV,” Penman told the crowd at the Hyatt. KHTS has the requisite ego-building coverage, including the lyrics of a song written for Goldman. Remember to play a slug-bug style game when you see the SCV Man & Woman of the Year License plate frames around town.
• Master’s College student helps out on Madonna project: A 22 year old TMC student is writing music for a Madonna documentary on the plight of children in a poor African nation, according to The Signal. The talented student says he “Loves” what Madonna is doing and says TMC has been great to him. Link
• More on 2008 Concerts in the Park: Stephen Peeples at The Signal describes the series of city concerts as a “mixed bag of musical talent ranging from American musical standards to original new-wave rockabilly to uplifting rock.” Link
• The Year to Date in SCV Real Estate: Blogger Linda Slocum runs the sold numbers from January to April and finds some interesting trends. Slocum says many of the foreclosed and pre-foreclosure homes are selling better now and that banks have traded “low-trained” mortgage button-pushers with “higher-trained personnel capable of making decisions” on complicated loans and short-sales.
• SCV Chamber newsletter for May 2008: Did you know the City of Santa Clarita only had a six percent turnover rate among its nearly 400 employees in 2007? Is that about what one would expect for government work? The Chamber says it’s a good number and attributes the city’s success at keeping its employees to a “On-Boarding” program, an “open door” communications policy, and a buddy program that matches newbies with experienced city staffers. That and a few other interesting items are in this month’s Chamber Newsletter. The Chamber continues to tout its planned China trip this fall; you can still go for a cool $1700. May 2008 PDF
• On Vietnamese and Nail Salons: In just about every strip mall in the SCV, one can find a nail salon, and just about every one of them is run by a person of Vietnamese ancestry. The LA Times explains why the Vietnamese are part & parcel of the “nail industry.” Mani/Pedi
• LAist visits Val Verde: The popular Los Angeles blog takes a look at the “Black Palm Springs” known to us as Val Verde and posts a short history of the town west of the SCV. Link
• Karen Elowitt to quit smoking: First it was City editor Josh Premako and his efforts to get in shape, now we’ll get to hear from Signal features writer Karen Elowitt as she enrolls in a Henry Mayo program to help her quit smoking, something she’s done on-and-off for 20 years. She’s “tempted and terrified” in her first article. Best of luck Karen! Pretty soon Creekside will guilt-trip us all into healthier behavior.
• Overheard in the Best Buy this weekend: Angry Shopper to poor Best Buy cash register clerk: “Can you turn off that goddamned Mexican Music, I can’t hear myself think!” Best Buy was playing some Cinco De Mayo celebration music in its Bouquet Canyon store.
• Scott Wilk dishes on Council Election: The consultant/unelected COC Board Member/lobbyist who managed Mayor Bob Kellar’s campaign (and seemed to have worked on Ender’s campaign) has an interesting piece in today’s Signal in which he discusses the election results. He says the Form 700 controversy cost Kellar first place (and mentions rogue websites lol), and says the 2006 re-election campaign for Governor Schwarzenegger led to some 3,000 new local voters in the SCV receiving a city council ballot. Good stuff