May 15, 2008 - Daily Brief *
Bike to Work Day, Bike to Work Day, Bike to Work Day, RAH RAH RAH! Actually, it was terrifying to bike to work today. I will never ride around Hart/Placerita at quarter to 8 again. All those angry and late parents in their SUVs honking, and hollering. Blasted cars! Nevertheless, at least 25 people turned out at the 16th Street/Newhall Avenue “Pit Stop.” Cheers to the brave bicycling commuters of the SCV!
News
- Jesus to return before Castaic High School gets built: At first, parents and their eager young high school children were told that Castaic High School would be built and completed around 2007. Then delays prompted the district to revise that to 2010. Now, Sharon Cotal at The Signal reports, Hart says it won’t be able to build a new Castaic High School until 2013 -”give or take a year or two”- and the District won’t even share the possible locations it’s thinking of building at. Despite all the broken promises (and hearts), the District is busy floating a new $240 million bond initiative that would have Castaic High as a “major component.” Only if that passes and the planets align and Haley’s Comet makes an early appearance will the District consider building a new school. Cotal has the report.
- Geyer details Ethics debate: “I could see it in some ways being used as a weapon,” Frank Ferry said at Tuesday’s Council Meeting of the proposed ethics code, which the council later passed unanimously. Katie Geyer, city beat reporter, has a fabulously detailed article on the matter in today’s Signal. The Daily News also covered the debate but to a lesser extent here. .
- LA County to fix ballots that confused voters in Primary: The Registrar’s office will issue a new ballot and instructions for the June 3 primary, according to the Daily Breeze. The change follows a confusing February 5 ballot in which “nearly 50,000 votes were not counted because of the confusing ballot design.” The new ballot will eliminate an extra step for voters who decline to state their party affiliation. Link
- SCV Education fares well under new proposed budget: For awhile, it appeared as though the SCV’s school districts would be forced to cut some $25 million from their budgets for the 08-09 fiscal year after Governor Schwarzenegger’s plans to slash 10% across-the-board funding from the state budget. Well, the Governor has submitted a new budget proposal that would “fully fund K-14 education in accordance with Prop 98,” according to Jon Dell at KHTS. How to pay for it? Outsource the lottery system and make cuts elsewhere. Dell has the full report plus reaction from local Assemblymembers Smyth and Runner here.
- More on Buck McKeon’s plans to bring Space Shuttle to AV: The SFVBJ reported on Monday that Congressman McKeon was working to bring a space shuttle to the Antelope Valley once the fleet is retired in 2010. The report is now online here.
- Providence expansion is to SFV as Henry Mayo Expansion is to SCV: The generally well-regarded Providence Holy Cross hospital in Mission Hills broke ground on an expasnion project yesterday that will outfit the hospital with a new neo-natal care unit, and a “state of the art labor and delivery unit.” The project should finish in 2010. But what’s interesting in this Daily News report is how similar the conflict between supporters and opponents of the expansion sounds with our own debate about Henry Mayo’s Expansion. Opponents wanted an expanded Emergency Room and a full, accurate EIR. Daily News reports.
- A Hell of a day to bike to work: Nature’s not going to make it easy on those who ride their bikes to work today. CBS 2 says inland locations like Santa Clarita could reach 100 degrees today thanks to a heatwave that will last throughout the weekend.
- Six Flags asks bond holders to cash in: So reports the Los Angeles Business Journal, which says that Six Flags’ debt is “a high 14.6 times its annual earnings.” The company, which owns Magic Mountain, is asking bond holders to “swap notes maturing in 2010, 2013, and 2014 for 65 cents on the dollar in exchange for $400 million of new bonds maturing in 2016.” For their cooperation, holders will get a bump in the interest rate on the bonds. The move is designed to avoid defaulting. Who knew Six Flags was in money trouble again? Link
- Democratic Presidential race to blame for lack of perchlorate cleanup funds: The Democratic nomination process has House and Senate Democrats so busy that they won’t be able to even consider giving the SCV money to cleanup perchlorate contamination until the fall, at least according to Republican Scott Wilk’s lobbyist firm. Jim Holt has details.
- Student’s vehicle vandalized with racial messages: A Saugus High student’s pickup truck was splashed with green and orange paint and “racial and sexual” graffiti on Wednesday near the campus. The SCV Sheriff’s station went all CSI on the vehicle and got fingerprints and handprints from the not-so-bright vandals who actually left “green handprints all over the vehicle.” Parimal Rohit reports.
Miscellaneous
- Indiana Jones learned to use a bullwhip right here in SCV: Anthony De Longis is a Canyon Country man who’s a master of martial arts, horsemanship, and -most impressively- the bullwhip, a weapon/tool that can reach “velocities of 1,400 feet per second and can slice flesh, break bones, and wrap around knees, ankles and necks.” Over a year ago, De Longis received a phone call from Harrison Ford who was prepping for his upcoming role as Indiana Jones. Ford wanted De Longis to train him on the bullwhip and apparently Ford was at De Longis’ Canyon Country ranch for weeks learning to master the tool. ““He’s in tremendous shape, fighting trim. He’s a very apt pupil, extremely intelligent,” De Longis says of Ford. Indiana Jones returns to the big screen on May 22. Article, De Longis’ website
- City looking to hire redevelopment manager: The City wants to pay someone between $99k and $120k a year to be “responsible for the City’s redevelopment and housing programs and activities.” You need to have superior knowledge of California redevelopment law, “tools and best practices,” along with project management skills. The position reports to the Community Development Director (Paul Brontzman I think?). Anyway, this comes at an interesting time for the city; to my knowledge, the only redevelopment project is the one in Newhall and despite setbacks (back in parking, protests, etc), changes to Main Street have been moving forward. The City is advertising this position on the American Planning Association website, not on its own, and is using a headhunting firm to coordinate the search. Does this signal a change and/or acceleration of Newhall Redevelopment? Why is the City looking outside City Hall for redevelopment expertise? Link
- California’s 25th District and Republicans: So, political geeks are all a-twitter this week following the election of a Democrat in a Mississippi congressional district that was solidly Republican and had voted for a GOP house member for the last 14 years. The election, closely followed by the national press, is being called a harbinger of things to come for the GOP in the fall. Well, Air America -the liberal radio network- decided to take a look at other GOP Districts in the country to see whether other upsets might be expected this fall. What did they find? The Mississippi district in question had a “Partisan Voting Index” of R+10 (meaning heavily Republican). California’s 25th District -home to the SCV and Buck McKeon- is rated as an R+7. But Democrats ought to temper themselves, Barstow challenger Jacques Conaway only has $151 cash-on-hand to defeat the mighty McKeon. Link
- Lynne Plambeck op/ed: The SCOPE president had an interesting column in today’s Signal in which she talked about planning standards, environmental impacts of developments, and neighborhood preservation. So what? That’s what she usually writes about. Well, I noticed a subtle shift in tone from the long time environmentalist who has challenged just about every development ever in Santa Clarita. Gone is the more abstract focus on water issues; she’s now writing more to residents who feel threatened by projects like the Avenue and she’s inviting people to attend workshops on planning and civic empowerment. The column isn’t online but you should read it.
- Bossert doesn’t like us complainers on SCVTalk: The West Ranch Town Council president says I’m a blowhard complainer for dissing the SCV Auto Dealer’s “Be Cool to your School” Test Drive contest. “It’s never good enough! The local grippers [sic] will throw stones no matter what, if the Auto Dealers were to give away $50,000 these entitlement whiners would be cursing the dealers for not giving away $100,000. No matter the amount it will never be enough. That is what the armchair blowhards are all about, they just want to whine but never lift a finger to help their community.” Link
Re: City looking to hire redevelopment manager…
Another waste of our tax dollars! What the heck is Broztman’s job anyway?
Laurie Ender says it’s City Council’s responsibility to ensure City employees operate ethically - what a joke. Frank Ferry says an ethics code could be used as a weapon against them. In recent years, it certainly seems that a few of our City Council Members and a number of City Staff Employees are THE weapons against SCV citizens.
Wow, CIB Bill, that was an interesting comment. Not bad!
Bossert,
If he’s listening! You have an interesting take on things that’s for sure. I think you provide a great West Ranch website and is a fantastic resource for your area and neighbors. Over here, in a city of witch your not a resident, we appreciate Jeff for his public participation in the dialog of our daily life and news. (Yes, a republican can stick up for a democrat) Until your an resident you should consider criticizing and ridiculing your own neighbors. Considering your audience for attention is a bit limited over there then you should advocate your annexation so your comments about us whiners can actually mean something to us. We have a completely different set of issues that effect us in ways you don’t need to concern yourself with. I’m sorry you feel so inclined to name call toward people you don’t even know. That says more about you then anything else.
This wasn’t meant to be a hate post either. Take care Bossert!
First impression is that Mrs. Ender brings no improvement to the Council. She has added very little in the way of value at this point. My belief is the public out cry and increased participation at the Council meetings is the only thing that will cause the necessary changes to take place. Kellar has falling back into his beat cop leadership style. A big change from the nice gay he portrayed during the election process. I still would not trust Mr. Kellar to support the needs of the general population.
The manner in which our City Council & City Manager have handled things in recent years, I do not blame West Side folks for resisting annexation with SCV.
Dave and I mended fences ages ago (formal truce, even, at a West Ranch Town Council meeting) so I am steering clear of this and moving on to Tuesday’s city council meeting:
Tuesday night, I addressed the issue of Avenue at Santa Clarita’s rep, Jeff Lambert, attempting to shut up the Calgrove Corridor Coalition by promising to help them open the Valley-Calgrove gate - many of those people comprised the Citizens Against Barricades group, and Annette Lucas was the president of that group. So Jeff Lambert and Joyce Rogers called for a meeting of this group and the meeting was held at Annette’s house; shortly thereafter, Annette informed me of Jeff and Joyce’s offer that invloved opening the calgrove-Valley gate.
As I stated at council, the Calgrove-Valley gate issue was a nightmare for years, neighborhood fighting neighborhood, lawyers everywhere and friendships lost - NO ONE wants to go back there again! I personally took a neutral stance on the issue back then, because I have friends on both sides of the gate and both sides of that issue and I didn’t want to lose any of them as friends. When Valley Street was closed by our city council and permanently desiganated a rural road we all accepted the closure and moved on.
Now in comes Jeff Lambert and Joyce Rogers, attempting to open Valley Street (and old wounds!) and turn Valley into a four-lane highway leading to the Rogers’ project on Smiser Ranch.
I wanted to know if there were any back-room deals going on between the City and Jeff Lambert regarding re-opening Valley street, or if Jeff was just luring the Calgrove residents with a worthless offer that couldn’t be backed up. I informed council that this time around, there would be no North and South battles because we are ALL united, Calgrove area residents and Happy Valley residents, and we will fight together this time around to keep the Valley-Calgrove gate closed, as council ordered because BOTH sides of the gate are now committed to keeping the Calgrove-Valley gate closed - united we stand THIS tIme around!
When Annette Lucas spoke about this issue at council, she added details regarding the meeting at her house with Joyce Rogers. Very interesting stuff, just go to WethepeopleSCV, and click onto: YouTube - Annette Lucas on Lobbyist Shenanigans & 2 residents say no (maybe Sterling can help with the Annette Lucas link, I am embarrassed to admit that I am woefully ignorant of such complicated techie maneuvers, sorry)
Bossert!
Fleming is the president of the Valencia Auto Association. Last I checked, Fleming is on the West Ranch Association board, or was! Fleming lives above us all in West Ranch! The owner of the Advertising firm hired by Flem and his Auto buddies, lives on the west side. Bossert is no more than a (loud) mouth piece representing Fleming. Car dealers pass our sales tax payments onto the appropriated government agency. They act like they are doing something special for us. Well they are not! Fact is, if the law did not required them to send the taxes, they would most likely keep them. Remember, we are talking about car salesmen here, not parishioners! And Kellar is in their pocket. What a joke folks. The latest TV add is the lowest form of political abuse.
Pauline Harte you did a nice job at the meeting. Thanks for setting Ferry straight. You were much nicer than I would have been. Ferry would be better off if he would just shut up and vote. Every time he opens his mouth I see his foot hanging out of it. And he is a well educated man, or should I say he had the opportunity to be a well educated man.
CIB, perhaps, but I wonder if such a resistance actually exists. Over and over, when given the chance, communities support being annexed into the city. The only people who seem to have trouble with it are the town council members who want to be the George Washington of a future city. I live just on the edge, in unincorporated LAC and would sign an annexation petition in a heartbeat. The county is for the most part and absentee municipal authority. For all the things we complain about here, a great majority of them occurred or were set in motion under county rule.
Think for a moment of the five worst housing developments in the valley, what would you say, and why?
since Dave is waiting all day to approve my post, for the sake of discussion, here’s my 2¢ on his piece:
Dave, when you are done talking to the straw man, let me know.
Four things:
1st: $3,000 is insignificant, on the level of a free eraser for each child in each of three schools. $50,000 would not be insignificant.
2nd: They are spending more to advertise the giveaway than they are actually spending on the giveaway. That is disingenuous on its face.
3rd: This is, at least in part or indirectly, a taxpayer-subsidized endeavor and as such, an improper use of funds.
4th: Many members of the association are very generous with their donations, Wayne Crawford and the Flemings being the most notable, I suppose, which makes the sum all the more puzzling.
But back to number 2, why are you spending so much hot air defending such an obvious farce?
I’ll buy a new car where I can get the best price & a few years ago when I made my last new car purchase I really preferred and tried hard to buy a particular model here. But alas, I got a much better deal outside SCV. As for paying taxes, I’m in favor of paying less and anyone who thinks our tax rate should be higher should go ahead and immediately start paying more.
Yes, Pauline… you were awesome and so was Sterling King & Bruce McFarland.
Re: Think for a moment of the five worst housing developments in the valley, what would you say, and why?
Those with Zero Lot Lines; those that have no sidewalks/narrow streets; most condominiums; most apartment buildings.
It’s far less hassle to buy locally if they will give you a square deal. Last time it worked out for me, but it usually hasn’t. I’m not aware of any dealership out here that is known for their low prices. I even recall, not too long ago, an item on a sticker of every car at a local dealership that was a 1-2k “market adjustment” markup above sticker. Not a SoCal based markup, but it was explained to me as being an SCV-based markup. Suffice it to say, I didn’t buy local that time around.
Very funny Mike.
Dave Bossert= the George Washington of West Ranch. But I thought George never told a lie. By the way Mike, I doubt the Flemings do anything for this City or its residents that they don’t get back in some form of subsidy or tax break. My guess is that their accountant has told them exactly what to donate and when, to get the maximum return on the business or personal income tax. I am not saying there is anything wrong with this, just calling it like I see it. The Acura King and Queen love the attention, if you have ever seen them out and about.
I didn’t understand Laurie Ender’s “logic” when she counted our numbers then announced there were thousands more residents that weren’t there with us so that means they are all happy. Huh? She had previously recounted in wonderous praise about how a community came together to help a man in need, but we are dismissed because the room didn’t have “thousands” in there with us? We are there from several communities to help each other, but WE are not praised, we are DISMISSED because thousands more are NOT there.
Angry, “displaced” skateboarders weren’t told that, they weren’t told their presence at council was irrelevant because there were hundreds/thousands more skateboarders not complaining there with them, And Frank is even shown bragging on a YouTube video that 20 skateboarders came to city hall and got a skateboard park. But tax-paying homeowners come in numbers and we are pretty much told we don’t matter because there are thousands more who aren’t there complaining with us? I guess we all need to start towing skateboards with us when we go to city council if we want to be taken seriously!
As for the monstrous traffic problems that have caused once-quiet residential streets to turn into freeways because cul-de-sacs have been opened to allow thousands of speeding cars from new developments to invade neighborhoods, instead of CARING about these horrific, nightmare conditions that are causing the ruination of neighborhoods, Frank Ferry’s answer is to say the city might put up signs telling residents the cul-de-sacs may be opened? How about some traffic calming measures for these poor people!
Next time, bring a skateboard to city council - that is what seems to get attention and solutions. Just being a hard-working tax-paying homeowner is not good enough, apparently, for certain councilmembers to bother with.
As for Frank’s opinion that neighbood problems should only be addressed by the people in that neighborhood, SPARE ME! If a neighborhood is being ruined at one end of this city, that sets a precedent for the rest of us. Once a developer manages to get a project developed that surpasses our General Plan, that sets a precedent for the next developer, and the bar is raised again, and again, and again…..and project after project gets bigger and bigger and bigger…..and that’s EVERYONE’S problem, and these massive projects need to be addressed (fought!) BEFORE they reach the planning commission. And all I heard the other night was “landowners have rights.” Well, aren’t we homeowners landowners, too? What about OUR rights? Once we buy a home, that’s it, no more rights, don’t think your neighborhood will be protected by a council that won’t take your problems seriously until “thousands” converge upon City Hall.
We are NOT anti-development! But we do have a General Plan, and it is unfair to allow developers to continually ignore it. Did all of us waste our time when we became a city, working to insure that SCV did NOT become the San Fernando Valley? And now the General Plan is being changed WITHOUT ANY citizens advisory committee like what was formed to help craft the original General Plan that was going to save SCV from massive San Fernando Valley-type urbanization and they wonder why we are so pi$$ed off?
Next time, BRING SKATE BOARDS! THAT’S what gets attention and solutions and respect at city council.
That they do, and with auto sales down, there is less of them to be seen.
Pauline, you are on a roll Baby!! Unfortunately, it has become necessary for SCV residents to fight city hall together, just as that video awhile back indicated:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4U3P2aircKg
Here’s another video I think we all can relate to:
http://www.youtube.com:80/watch?v=sEJfS1v-fU0
wow, and were are doing so well
typing too late, nevermind, I’m placing myself under grammar arrest
Mike, don’t you hate it when you hit submit and THEN see the typos when it is too late to do anything about them?
And some people are serious nitpickers about that stuff :o}
yeahwrz teh Edit button when you nede it¿
I missed some great remarks yesterday due to the unfortunate need to work.
Pauline & CIB Bill,
You have expressed my very thoughts that have been solidifying in my mind the last few days. Your right on. We have zoning standards and we all know the city will approve something over zoning but we just don’t know where that threshold is. Where, over zoning, is Kenny willing to say yes without being run out of town? How far over zoning will he, staff, and council agree to? At what point will he sell out our 8 neighborhoods for a few bucks? Where will the council finally say yes to the Avenue and how much over zoning will it be? No circumstance in public safety or protecting neighborhood integrity has changed since it was zoned last. So why would Rogers present a plan that big, knowing it was so bloated? Because he knows Ken and company will let him have his way with thousands of peoples hard earned homes and properties.
Evey block in 8 neighborhoods is owned by citizens who work hard to pay a mortgage for their slice of heaven in a beautiful family community. We the people own these neighborhoods, not the city and not Ken P. - One developer and a city manager do not have one single right to decide that thousands of residents need to change there life style from a bedroom to Urban neighborhood. This is not the peoples vision. The city manager and council are there to protect the people first and implement our vision for the neighborhoods we live. They’re the line of defense we have from the greed that has proven to destroy great places to live and should fight off developments that would strip mine our quality of life.
The question every home owner in SCV needs to ask is, “who decides what the quality of life is where we live?” Who determines that density NEEDS to be such that we’re now an urban, busy, noisy, crazy, congested place to live? Is that progress? If so, who says? Ken Polskamp, city council, the planning commission, or city staff? Who? I suggest to you that it’s the people who own their neighborhoods who decide their future.
With collaborative relationships between big business and local citizens a quality respectful equilibrium can be found that enhances our place to live and respects neighborhood environments. The Avenue at Santa Clarita is no proposal that was derived from respectful collaboration for what is best for our town. It was all about greed and disregard. Clients feeding that beast will not be locals. (Locals couldn’t support 3 restaurants) This will be fed by 250,000 cars passing by on the freeway leaving us to drown in their tide of vehicles, smog, and craziness.
Mr. Polskamp has a great opportunity here so show he can handle this developer and hold him to the zoning standards. I would be the first to journey over to city hall bearing gifts and apologies if he did so. What he wants doesn’t trump what we want and if he sees that vision then we’ve just jumped the shark from that urbanizing mentality.
PS- I hate hte esnd btton. I understand what you mean.
My comment is awaiting moderation??? Ummmm…..where am I, West Ranch Beacon?
Dave Bossert reminds me of my new puppy. He barks at his own reflection in the mirror. If he goes back and reads some of his own stuff he will get the point.
Laurie Ender is going to have to get a grip on the issues for real, now that the election is over, and prove everyone wrong that has been saying she doesn’t really get it. Time to put down those pom pom’s and read up on what the real issues are. Not listening to the voters has been known to get one unelected. Prove everyone wrong Laurie and do your homework. Thats what I want from my elected officials.
If Mr. West Ranch can cause Frank Ferry’s panties to knot up, he can’t be all that bad.
Indeed, Ender started off terribly. It will be very interesting to hear more from her.
“…..Laurie Ender is going to have to get a grip on the issues for real…..”
Actually, Bill, Laurie doesn’t have to do anything she doesn’t want to do since she was bought and dumped in that seat snd she made that very clear at the last council meeting - she is already a perfect example of why we need term limits. I was determined to give her a chance, but every time she opens her mouth, she makes it cleaer and clearer that she doesn’t belong there.
From the first night when she actually had to ask what “mixed use” meant, many knew she was in over her head - mixed use is a BASIC planning term, and the fact that Laurie didn’t know what mixed use means after serving 5 years on Parks and Rec proves she is totally clueless. Laurie has as much as said that unless “thousands” of people accompany us to city hall, our numbers will not be taken seriously - see last city council meeting for proof; and Frank couldn’t care less about us or our neighborhoods or this city - see EVERY council meeting for proof.
People say term limits won’t help because the same developers and corrupt politicans will just keep those seats filled with their PAC supported puppets, but so what - at least we will have a continual turnover of NEW puppets and MAYBE, someday, one of the puppets will actually give a rat’s patoot about us in spite of being a puppet. And that is better than seeing the same uncaring, clueless, dishonest, greedy, win at any cost puppets (we have now) keeping those seats term after term after term after term no matter how lousy they are because they have access to too much money to be ousted!