July 15, 2008 - Daily Brief
Written by Jeff on July 15th, 2008Dog days of summer already, I think. Kind of slow today. Just poking around and not finding much. Shucks.
News
- Alleged Forger, Identity Thief, caught by SCV detectives: Following a two month investigation,Sheriff’s Detectives arrested Mohsen Moaddab, age 43, on Friday after linking him to “a series of identity thefit cases,” according to Parimal Rohit at The Signal. Moaddab allegedly stole mail from mailboxes, then would copy check information onto blank checks. Deputies estimate he may have pilfered some $10,000. No word on who the victims were. Link
- LA Times explains why there’s traffic in LA: This story gets a big “no duh” from me: The Times says that the reason there’s so much traffic in LA County is simply because people live in one area but work in another, particularly downtown LA, the West side and other areas. There’s a few big and interesting maps of job density with the report, like this one, that shows Santa Clarita with a low density of jobs.
- Deputies still searching for clubbing suspects: Sheriff’s Deputies are said to be “still searching for two men who clubbed a Canyon Country woman in the head on Friday night,” according to the Daily News. The DN says one of the men wore “a law enforcement type of uniform consisting of a tan short-sleeved shirt with green shoulder patches.” The woman, who lived in a gated community off Sand Canyon Road, was hit in the head with a blunt object, “similar to a baton” according to Deputies. Deputies think there could be a personal connection between the victim and the suspects. “We don’t believe this was just a random act of violence,” Sgt Harris told the paper. Link
- Part two of water series: Jim Holt completes his two part series on how Santa Clarita gets its water here.
- Affordable housing activists to bike through SCV: Bike & Build, an NYC advocacy group, started cycling cross-country from Boston in early June and will pass through Santa Clarita the week of August 11, according to the Victorville Daily Press. Participants in the ride are supposed to raise money that goes towards affordable housing issues. There are 31 riders in the group. Link
- Hiller out at LA Times, Newsroom cuts coming early: The publisher of the LA Times resigned abruptly yesterday, and pink slips are being handed out in the LA Times newsroom. No list of reporter names so far; I’m keeping an eye out for those since I know a few Times reporters who cover the SCV occassionally. LA Observed and Tell Zell are the best places for info.
- Christian school expands to include 7th Grade: Legacy Christian Academy capitalized on some vacant ReMax space and is opening a 7th grade. The school formally only had K-6. The school says it offers a “21st century learning focus.” Signal
- ZipSkinny my new favorite website: Yesterday’s statistics in the Money “Best Cities” article got me searching for more stats on the SCV, and I came across ZipSkinny.com, a website which allows you to compare multiple values in different zip codes. So off to search I went, comparing 91321 with 55, 81, 51, and 84. Some interesting notes: 51% of Newhall is married, while in Valencia and the Westside, thta number is 58 and 70% respectively. Newhall is 36% Latino, while Valencia is only 9.8% Latino. A full 11% of West Side residents make $150k to $199k per year, while Canyon Country has the biggest group of workers earning between $50k and $75k. Finally, there’s even a “stability” metric: 48% of Newhall residents stay in their home for 5+ years. That is similar to Valencia (52%), but way different than the west side, where only 24% of residents stay in their home for 5+ years. Link
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Jeff,
Not to be a nitpicker, but I think your title header has the wrong date - today is July 15th.
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Oh, so it is Wendy! Thanks for the correction
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I’ve always found ’statistics’ very interesting for several reasons. First, people really want to know in order to ‘compare’. Second, someone actually takes the time to do these statistics. Informatin needs to be gathered by research and polls.
However, the statistics listed above doesn’t seem surprising. I remember when the “Westridge” area was being built and we watched those BIG BEAUTIFUL homes were going up, what I usually heard from people was, “Who the &*$$ can afford those”?! Obviously those that can afford them; rich people and/or 2 income households, with rich people!
However, what I’ve found is that the people living in those BIG BEAUTIFUL homes may have larger incomes, but may very well be ‘house poor’ and perhaps that’s the reason for the percentage of 24% that live 5+ years, compared to the higher percentage in Newhall and Valencia. It takes a lot to maintain the ‘upkeep’ in those homes, compared to the smaller (older) homes.Of course this is coming from someone who lives in a home less then a quater of the size of some of the new homes built in that area.
Also, the demographic statistics don’t surprise me either. When Newhall as a farming area (way back when), most of the crop workers were hispanic so of course that area has a large hispanic population.
As far as the married statistics, I believe you’ll find more single people living in those areas where they can afford to live. I doubt you’ll find a single person living in one of those newer larger homes, unless of course they make an incredible salary.