June 11, 2008 - Daily Brief
Written by Jeff on June 11th, 2008No risk of salmonella in today’s Daily Brief.
News & Misc
- LandSource/Newhall Land BK: Ventura County supe has doubts Newhall Ranch will be built in wake of BK, McFarlane Partners (the guys who helped CalPers invest in Newhall Ranch) says that the 15,000 acre property is still a good long-term investment (but not worth the $2.6 billion as it was last year), LandSource gets what it wants on the first day in court (including funds to keep the lights on), and an LA Times Real Estate blogger wonders who’s getting screwed among SoCal firms that did business with LandSource/Newhall Land. Oh, and as a special bonus, read the comment from “Canyon Country Mom” on the Landsource BK at the LA Times realty blog.
- Budget’s tight, but not that tight: Approved at last night’s City Council meeting was a $165 million budget, and even though Ken Pulskamp was busy telling everyone how much belt-tightening would have to be done around City Hall, they were still able to create six new positions, pay for three new sheriff’s deputies, give an additional $50k to seniors (over the $25k they planned), buy two new commuter buses, spend $200k to fight Cemex, and $125k to help clean up Whittaker Bermite. Whew. What a mouthful. “Clearly, the city can’t do it all,” City Boss Pulskamp told the Council at the meeting. Could have fooled me big spendah. Nice work on the buses though, that ought to help demand and give commuters a shot at saving money. Also, KHTS has a report on the budget.
- Signal digs into FBI Crime Report: Parimal Rohit has the numbers, and crime was a mixed bag in 2007 in the City of Santa Clarita. Overall, 8,334 crimes were reported last year compared with 7,696 in 06. Violent crime was down this year compared with 2006 though property crimes were up. “Santa Clarita is still a very safe city,” Gail Ortiz told The Signal. “As a trend, the increase in crime does not keep up with the increase in population.” Santa Clarita’s only murder last year was 18 year old Brian Miranda, who was killed in a drive-by in Newhall last November in a crime that remains unsolved. Link
- Great LA Times story on Gibbon center in Saugus: We’ve known for awhile that the respected non-primatologist Alan Mootnick has wanted to move his famous Gibbon Center out of Bouquet Canyon, but we didn’t know just how close development was getting to the property where he houses some 30+ apes. Two nearby projects -an Edison power line project and a 334 home development- are literally scaring the apes, causing them to “stress out” and “dart and leap erratically.” Mootnick has been trying to raise at least $1 million so he can buy land in more suitable Ventura County, but it’s tough going so far. Mootnick, who never studied biology, has nonetheless discovered many interesting behavioral traits of the gibbons. For instance: “Gibbons are prone to “moon” an onlooker if the stares — from a gibbon or human — make them uncomfortable. And if they’re very upset they’ll sometimes break wind in the direction of the presumed antagonist.” Good story
- Water wells in the SCV: They’re less sexy than the big State Water Project water system or the Colorado River Aqueduct, or Mulholland’s pipes and dams that
stealdeliver water from the Owens Valley, but local water wells are still an important part of our H20 ecosystem, reports Jim Holt in today’s Signal. - No solution on Benz Road issue: The city performed a survey of some 500 home owners in the Benz Road area of Saugus. That survey found that the majority of residents in the area favored no traffic changes to Benz Road. But, as KHTS put it, the survey was so broad that Benz Road homeowners were simply outnumbered by neighbors on other streets who said any more “traffic calming” measures installed on Benz Road would lead to more traffic on their own streets. There’s no resolution to the mess now, staff will continue studying alternatives.
- July 4th Fireworks celebrations shaping up: Dave Bossert says the one in Stevenson Ranch will be pretty cool this year, as Assemblyman Cameron Smyth will attend. Hey, isn’t he up for election soon? On July 4, 2006, he was elected President of the WRTC at the polls which were opened on July 4 for a few hours in the afternoon. Link
- I Heart’s Council Coverage: He details the budget deliberations, including TimBen Boydston’s public comments about the Big League Dreams park, and of course the Benz Road controversy and survey, which I Heart says has “pitted neighbor against neighbor.”
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So, you got to watch the City Council meeting after all. I give it a B- for excitement. The Benz Road issue is quite the hot topic and reminds me of the great gate debate of Calgrove some years ago. The staffs recommendation to do nothing obviously is not going to be acceptable.
TimBen seems to have taken on the roll of Council member of the people. Since he was on the council, I now see him speak at almost every meeting on topics from all over the City. I wonder if he and Cam do lunch? Good for them or being active, at any rate.
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I was happy to see the Council agree to a raise in the Senior Center donation. After reading about the brand new multi-million dollar City sponsored Senior Center in Palmdale I figured our City could add a paltry few grand to ours. Raising funds through fundraisers for various programs is difficult enough these days so any additional help is welcomed. I did get a chuckle out of Councilmember Ender’s statement that the Seniors could just go to the Activities Center and play games.
It seems that there was never a problem in the Benz Road area until Copperhill was finally put through (we almost bought there 20 years ago. Whew!). Now it’s resident against resident depending on which through street you live on or next to. How about closing off all the roads that were opened up when Copperhill went through! No more problem!
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CC You will see more community action in coming weeks and months. Many people are fed up with the Council and the City Manager.
I will give credit for the move to reduce the Transit expense by rebidding the contract, but proposed the purchase of two more buses for 1.2 million dollars is troubling.
I think Pulskamp is probably wise to not commit to certain projects until after his has time to see what the economic downturn will have on the City. I think he is underestimating the sales tax revenue decline and that the city is going to find things to be tighter than he is projecting. Car sales are in the dumpster. We always claim to be special here in the valley, and we are, but we do not drive the economy. Gas costs $4.20/g here to, etc.
He is falling behind in the roadway maintenance and this is going to bite him big time in a few years. The seal coat does not help already damaged road surfaces. Replacement is very expensive. There are other areas of concern as well
I am really surprised that he is adding another staff member to care for the trees. Seems that money would have been better spent with the sheriff’s department. Though he has increased funding for the sheriff to cover a couple more new officers.
I sense Ken is starting to feel the pressure from the public; he does not seem as happy as he once was. His response to public questions and those of the council are becoming cryptic, with an angry overtone. Well he had better learn to adjust or he is going to be even more unhappy. The residents are restless and handed his way!
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More cash for the seniors is more than OK with me.
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“No risk of salmonella in today’s Daily Brief.”
Since California has been certainly excluded as a source of the tainted tomatoes, it’s a shame how many local eateries aren’t serving tomatoes, for this and many other reasons, they should be sourcing locally or semi-locally.
The Bouquet/Plum/Copperhill area is a great example of piecemeal planning that did not take future growth into account. If you look at a map, you’ll see a lot of houses with very awkward paths into town, cut off one path and you’ll impact another. Funny thing is, if you time it, Benz road isn’t much of a shortcut. If you live in the north, David way is about as quick, and if you live in the south, Haskell is faster. Even so, because of the way the street meanders, taking Copperhill, unless to another destination on Copperhill before the industrial center, will add miles on to your trip.
I heart I Heart’s coverage. There was too much basketball last night to bother with the council, so I’m grateful for his and Kaite Geyer’s recap.
Jeff, I’m picking up on some skepticism over the Gibbon guy, I think I share it. The article would have you believe a wind farm is coming in next door, but some power lines 500 feet from the gate of the complex can’t be half as stressful as living in steel cages. I don’t like the idea of development up there, nor the power lines, but something doesn’t smell right… but what do I know?
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Ken P has an unbelievably sweet golden parachute should it be necessary, which undermines his role as being subservient to the council, and by extension, the people. I can’t blame him personally for seeking that, given how the council screwed with George C. in his day, but it certainly isn’t in the public interest for the City Manager to have the luxury of indifference to job security. That said, so-called “Broadway Ken” is doing fine by me, on balance.
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Ken P has an unbelievably sweet golden parachute
If this is public record, please share the contract with us.
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It was discussed widely in the press when he lost the interim title, I’ll see what I can find.
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http://www.thefreelibrary.com/PULSKAMP+CONTRACT+OK‘D+SEVERANCE+WAS+KEY+POINT.-a094239626
Money quotes:
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wow, Jeff please delete my previous post, my wordpress skills aren’t up to snuff:
Here’s an article summarizing the terms from the Daily News:
http://tinyurl.com/6xjmne
“Should Pulskamp be fired by the City Council, he will receive 12 months of pay, increasing an additional month for every year of his tenure, up to a maximum of 18 months. ”
“The contract also includes $11,000 a year in deferred compensation, a city car, 20 days of vacation and 15 days of administrative leave. “
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I did not get Carl Newton saying that Annette Lucas was wrong when she stated that council voted to close Valley St. Yes, that is what the vote was about, CLOSING Valley St. and erecting a barricade. I think he was simply attempting to discredit her, and I must wonder why. Some of us remember the Valley/Calgrove “war” all too well, and the “battle cry” was “open it for all or close it for all,” and council voted to CLOSE it for all. Valley St. was not closed, as Carl stated, it was open to through traffic. Valley was open when we moved to Happy Valley, and we were using the Calgrove onramp and offramp until council voted to close Valley St. Also, I think if a speaker’s comments are going to be challenged or criticized like Annette’s were, that speaker should be called back up so the speaker has a chance to discuss what is being challenged.
As for Laurie Ender, she had nothing worthwhile to say about anything. Seems she has no problem spending money on everything else but she doesn’t want money wasted on seniors. Then she rambled on about senior activities, when it is FEEDING seniors that is the issue.
Laurie and Frank did not want to do anything about Benz Rd. Frank doesn’t want to do anything to help Benz Rd. residents because then other neighborhoods with same situations will want THEIR neighborhoods helped. Well, yeah, that IS what all this is about, Frank, saving SCV neighborhoods from ruination!
And thank you for your concern about seniors, Cash, that is very nice of you. The home-delivered meals program is so important because this program is all that stands between seniors remaining independent or being forced into a home simply because they aren’t able to feed themselves properly.
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Thanks Mike. I was able to find the link. With a City car Kenny won’t be feeling the fuel pinch the rest of us feel. I can see how he is out of touch with things. I don’t find the salary to be out of line. The deferred comp piece is a nice adder. I did not read of a 401k perhaps the deferred comp is it.
He has what my kids would call a sweet deal.
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The salary sounds fine to me too, it’s a big job requiring a rare sort of temperament. While I don’t quite share your views on urbanization, I get why someone concerned with urbanization would be worried about the views of a smooth and efficient operator. If he were incompetent, I doubt you’d be worried in the same way.
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For all I know, the severance package could be standard as well, but I don’t think it’s in the public’s interest any more than massive CEO severances are in the ultimate interests of shareholders. But if one can be axed on a political whim, I understand why it would be sought.
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guys!
Deferred comp is like a 401k plan for gov’t employees. In addition, I am assuming Ken also gets a pension..
for example, the new CAO of LA County gets paid approx. 300K a year. In addition, he retired from LA City as the CAO and his pension is approx. $160k per year. Pension is based upon years of service, time a percent of salary…for example LA county employees pension is based upon years of service times 3% of salary. If you work 30 years, you would get approx. 90% of your salary, plus def’d comp (assuming you contributed into it)…However, I am not aware of any public entity that matches def’d comp contribution…
As for the pension, instead of paying into Social Security, employees pay into the pension and the public entity matches it…
My understanding…and I can be wrong here. is that Ken has about 20 years of service and his pay is in the 180K range…I am assuming when he retires, he will get a nice six figure pension….
Remember, in Lancaster they fired the city manager and “buy-out” came close to a million dollars, when you added up money and benefits to be provided…
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Mike - The previous city council didn’t “screw” w/George - George was in bed with a lot of people who wanted to take the citizens of the SCV for all they could get.
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Geez, now I understand why Mr. City Manager is pushin’ to accomplish his agenda as he doesn’t care one bit if folks become too grumpy because he can simply slide into cushy retirement… with a CITY CAR! It’s Roger Seaver deju vue all over again.
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Carrie writes, on 6-10 “Wethepeople - You are an idiot.”
O really
You know what Carrie, that was a really insensitive comment about two people who have created a child of God that are as sweet as any children you’ll ever know. To say someone should have not had a baby because gas would one day make it hard on them is one of the most ignorant comments an adult with a brain could say. Your comparing gas to a married couple who made a family - that is disgusting. To draw those parallels is mentally, intellectually, and insultingly absurd.
Beyond that, what about your useless blather about your neighbor having to many kids and your mentioning their Mormon. Who in the heck do think is going to pay for your social security one day if we don’t have good, moral, hard working contributers to our entitlements that will need to feed your face? Is it going to be all those parents who should have 1 child like communist China? Lay off the Mormons. I don’t care who you are, you have no right to question ones family or how many children they have or what church they go to. These Mormons you speak of contribute more service and good to our community (with all those kids and their eagle projects and service projects, etc) with attributes far more advanced then most adults. Not to mention they shave a standing commitment to each month to freely serve doing meals on wheels for our seniors. If there is an idiot here Carrie it’s not WethePeoplSCV or me Sterling King.
Sorry Jeff if you don’t like my remarks to this person but when I hear someone insult a God fearing, humble, young, honest, hard working family and their God given inalienable right to create a family in love and respect, unlike millions in our country, I will say exactly what I think. So please don’t take this as a habitual violation to your warning today. I will not have any patience for that method of anti children bull crap.
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Sorry for my erratic spelling and writing today, I’m in a hurry and Carrie really pissed me off to no end. Read and fill in the gaps when needed. Thanks
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WethepeopleSCV, YOU ARE THA MAN!
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Sterling, with all due respect to you and your anger, there’s no reason to bring this spat into an unrelated post.
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Remind me not to disagree with Sterling! By the way SK keep pushing the City regarding the Northbound I-5 exit at Lyons. We need to get that PITA offramp fixed!
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Carrie writes, on 6-10 “Wethepeople - You are an idiot.”
First, Carrie, I know Wethepeople and he is definitely not an “idiot.” Carrie, we try to get along here and for the most part, we do a pretty good job, considering the differing opinions, so I hope you will be more positive and less angry in the future. Sometimes we get passionate with our views, but most of us steer clear of name-calling and personal attacks - just not necessary for adults to speak to each other that way.
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Mike, I am starting to believe you are Jeff in disguise! Or did Jeff assign you as the blog monitor? Please take your badge off and leave the rest of us alone! If you don’t someone may begin to focus on your shortcomings as a poster!
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Pauline - With the way you stick your nose in everyone’s business, I am not surprised that you would jump in here.
WTP was crying about his neighbor not being able to afford gas and mentioned oh yeah, they just had baby #3. I merely stated that his neighbor might find life more affordable with less children.
If you find that a personal attack, then you are even loopier than I give you credit for.
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“If you find that a personal attack, then you are even loopier than I give you credit for”.
Carrie baby, don’t end you sentence with a preposition!
Where is officer Mike when we need him!
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“Pauline - With the way you stick your nose in everyone’s business, I am not surprised that you would jump in here.”
Carrie, apparently, the load of anger you carry around makes it impossible for you to be civil to people. Anyway, have a nice day, I’m back to yardwork…..and my cutie-pie ducks.
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cash, me and jeff seem to have similar personalities, and I’m surprised that you’re the first person to accuse me of being him, because I’m so protective of the site. I love the site, and I love the comment section, and I think we should be self policing in a respectful manner. I’ve got no beef with the Sterling defending his friends who were unfairly dissed, but there really is no reason to let that personal spat spill over into another post, completely out of context.
I think it’s a matter of courtesy and common sense to keep comments about comments in the place where those comments occurred. Jeff obviously puts a lot of time into the DB and we ought to respect this day’s brief and not junk up the comments with something non-germane.
Now on to Carrie, wow, for the sake of everyone, please tone it down!
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Preposition at the end of a sentence, I’m not decided on that one. Winston Churchill had a funny line on that “rule” that I’ll try to find.
When Jeff asked, War, what is it good for? Y’all gave him hell, I know that much.
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maybe not him, but the joke is: “That is a rule up with which I will not put.”
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“I think it’s a matter of courtesy and common sense to keep comments about comments in the place where those comments occurred”.
No Mike, you just want to censure others with whom you disagree. Furthermore Mike, you want to impose your belief system on everyone else. A suggestion Mike, if you do like what people have to say on a particular subject, don’t read it.
You are rapidly becoming a troll!
Again, take off your badge.
If you have the need to control, consider a ride along with the sheriff or apply for a crossing guard at Newhall elementary school.
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Gee whiz, lets get on to another subject.
Man, the speakers at last night’s City Council hearing who railed on about the absurd, terrible traffic conditions in their neighborhoods were very emotional. Just watching that whole City dog & pony show made me feel really sad for those affected residents. It will be very interesting to see how our City Council handles this.
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Carrie - Uh, how about they stop having children they can’t afford????
WTP - You know what Carrie, that was a really insensitive comment about two people who have created a child of God that are as sweet as any children you’ll ever know. To say someone should have not had a baby because gas would one day make it hard on them is one of the most ignorant comments an adult with a brain could say. Your comparing gas to a married couple who made a family - that is disgusting. To draw those parallels is mentally, intellectually, and insultingly absurd.
Beyond that, what about your useless blather about your neighbor having to many kids and your mentioning their Mormon. Who in the heck do think is going to pay for your social security one day if we don’t have good, moral, hard working contributers to our entitlements that will need to feed your face? Is it going to be all those parents who should have 1 child like communist China? Lay off the Mormons. I don’t care who you are, you have no right to question ones family or how many children they have or what church they go to. These Mormons you speak of contribute more service and good to our community (with all those kids and their eagle projects and service projects, etc) with attributes far more advanced then most adults. Not to mention they shave a standing commitment to each month to freely serve doing meals on wheels for our seniors. If there is an idiot here Carrie it’s not WethePeoplSCV or me Sterling King.
Sorry Jeff if you don’t like my remarks to this person but when I hear someone insult a God fearing, humble, young, honest, hard working family and their God given inalienable right to create a family in love and respect, unlike millions in our country, I will say exactly what I think. So please don’t take this as a habitual violation to your warning today. I will not have any patience for that method of anti children bull crap.
Carrie - Yeah - I need to tone it down.
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Bob, I think they should let Ender run with this one! A signal light in the middle on the neighborhood was her fix. I noticed Ferry wasted no time coming to Enders rescue when she suggested the signal. Suggesting the neighborhood work it out was another brilliant ploy! There will be fist fight in the street if that happens.
I am so proud of our city council. They are very knowledgeable, critical thinkers! The best in the Valley! The rubber stamp, tag team!
The only serious drill down question I heard during the entire meeting, was when miss Weste put the president of the new bus contractor on the stop about his being able to honor his bid.
Mr. Kellar seemed happy. Things must be good in his personal life.
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It’s not in my nature to be mad a people or even you Carrie. I’m just get burned up when religion and family building start getting brought into things. I will try to stick to the daily brief - your 100% Mike.
CIB - ditto
Navigator - It’s cool, you can disagree. I’ve got it all out.
Lyons and I-5:
I got a call from the city yesterday letting me know they’re moving ahead on a median of some sort and getting a grant from Caltrans as well. They said 2 businesses hare having heavy issues with it because they wont get some traffic into their businesses. Well, it’s the traffic from the freeway that crosses Lyons from the offramp.
It was a positive update because things seemed to have stalled over the last year. It will be nice to get something done like this without 50 people showing up to city council.
O yes I almost forgot Carrie, Pauline and Duane Harte are far from loopy. They are boots on the ground folks who I would count on rain or shine to watch out for my neighborhood. They have a rare gene that likes to look out for the good of our city and that’s hard to find in people today.
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Navigator has it 100% correct: close the streets there that were opened up to Copper Hill. As a number speakers said last night, safety trumps convenience… and didn’t we hear over and over again how dear safety is to our Mayor, et al!? This is a no brainer!
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This just moves the problem from Benz to the other streets. I heard both side of the issue. No one will be happy until Copperhill is compete to Bouquet (sp)? Meanwhile the whining goes on!
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I can’t count the number of times I have exited the I-5 at Lyons only to find myself behind some joker who can’t decide if he/she wants to go to Wendys or Burger King. They have to stop at the top of the ramp and make up their mind then zip across 4 or 5 lanes of traffic to get to the other side. I’m sure that the gas station and Wendys and whatever will have a problem with those dummys not being able to risk my life and everyone elses but Burger King and Chevron will be that much happier as will I and many other eastbound Lyons motorists..
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WOW! and that’s exactly what I said after reading todays Daily Brief and seeing that there were 37 replies! But, to my dismay a lot of the same ole……Not the DB, but rather the replies. It would be nice if we could disagree and ‘tackfully’ relate our opinion (or viewpoint), but sometimes buttons just get pushed.
I read the story today in the LA Times about the Gibbons and wish them all the best! However in the brief today (and then of course the ‘comments’ being made by many), one thing stood out:
“Gibbons are prone to “moon” an onlooker if the stares — from a gibbon or human — make them uncomfortable. And if they’re very upset they’ll sometimes break wind in the direction of the presumed antagonist.”
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The council has two options and they know the two options, either implement phase 2 that they promised or gate the streets. They can massage this through their thick heads all they want but it comes down to two options. The promised phase 2 or gate. Last night they should have made a decision. Flat out!
They should have said;
“we have promised a mitigation measure in phase 2 that we and the neighborhood thinks will solve the problem, it’s the cheapest option on the table and could be the magic bullet that could fix this. We have nothing to loose and should follow our word we gave. If doesn’t work then we know our only option is C or D. We need to make a decision and not shine these citizens on for another 2 years while we do nothing. Lets make a decision people!”
Phase two would be nothing more then making some curbed turn areas and wouldn’t displace traffic onto other neighborhood streets. It’s cheep, and worth following through on to solve their problem. Ralf Edson (lives on Benz) and others feel the cities phase 2 option will work, end of issues. If it doesn’t work then it was an honest follow through by the council. If it does work then cheers to Ken for saving the city a few million bucks. They just needed someone on that council who would have just said, “lets do it and be council who follows through on our promises.”
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Reply to Pauline Harte:
Mr. Newton knows Annette Lucas cannot come back up to the mic and so, he thinks he will leave the listening audience with a statement that will discredit her!
I agree that if Mr. Newton has an issue with a speaker he should call that person back up to play fair!
Oops,silly me, “play fair” I can’t find that definition the the city dictionary
Laurene Weste was very clear in her statement to the people involved in Valley Calgrove…this road will be open or closed to all!
How do you close a road that is NOT open??
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Yet last I checked, the road is not closed to all. yes there is a gate, but I have witnessed people with key cards using the gate.
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“Yet last I checked, the road is not closed to all. yes there is a gate, but I have witnessed people with key cards using the gate.”
The Valley/Calgrove gate? I didn’t know it had a key card mechanism. Only emergency personnel have a key.
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Cash,
I know gas is high but, when in the area, check again!
This is 2008 and the Council closed Valley and Calgrove sometime in 2001 or 2002.
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cash, I don’t disagree with what he said, my motivation was only to keep it on topic.
Sterling, glad you agree, I meant it out of love, I promise.
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From the Signal.”LandSource spokeswoman Tamara Taylor said no employees of LandSource have been laid off as a result of the company’s debtor woes.”
This is not at all true. Layoffs did accrue before the BK was filed and they were done as a direct result of the “debtor woes”
Good spinmasters all put the best spin on things even if they are not exactly honest.