“…one of the worst things about civilization is, that anybody that gits a letter with trouble in it comes and tells you all about it and makes you feel bad, and the newspapers fetches you the troubles of everybody all over the world, and keeps you downhearted and dismal most all the time, and it’s such a heavy load for a person.”
- Tom Sawyer

News

• Housing prices back where they were in 2004: House prices fell some 29.3% in six Southern California counties in June, according to the LA Times, but sales rose in several areas as “bargain hunters” stepped in. The picture was a bit better in LA County, where prices dipped only 23.9% to a median price of $415,000. The Times says that even ritzy places like the West Side of Los Angeles are starting to “stumble” now. No details on Santa Clarita’s market, but I’ll keep an eye on the SRAR website this week for June stats. Link
• Rare debate over historical structures in Santa Clarita: What I thought may have been a no-brainer topic has actually caused some debate as the City’s Planning Commission found out Tuesday. Katie Geyer details the debate between some homeowners -primarily in Newhall it appears- who are taking issue with the City’s proposed historical property ordinance, a measure that would require property owners to seek city approval before doing work on propreties the city considers to be historical in nature. One homeowner’s house was built in 1913, and though she doesn’t have plans to modify her house, she wanted the Commission to know that their action has caused her to become a “private property rights” activist. Another gent told the Signal that “Once you get on the [historical preservation] list, it’s like the kiss of death.” The SCV Historical Society says this is a “bigger picture” issue and said that once historical properties are lost, they never come back. The SCV Has History? Yes!
• Six Flags stock price at record lows: The firm that owns Magic Mountain and Hurricane Harbor had its shares close at a $0.48 cents yesterday after a research firm predicted “fewer Americans will visit US amusement parks this year and admissions will improve only slight in 2009.” Well, look on the bright side; no one is talking about demolishing Magic Mountain and building homes anymore because the real estate sector is also tanking! Daily News
• Astronishing Drop out rates for California High Schools: An incredible 1 in 4 students drop out of high school statewide, though there are some caveats to that number. Locally, we’re faring much better. The Hart District has a dropout rate of 4.1 percent. Sharon Cotal has a report here.
• Defense Attorney arrested at Valencia Courthouse, other crime: Stephen Sitkoff, an attorney who represented West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin back in the 90s, was arrested yesterday after allegedly running into the back of a car on Valencia Blvd then trying to fleeing the scene of the accident. He went into the Courthouse, but the other motorist involved ask Deputies to pull him out and arrest him. He was cited with a misdemeanor and released. Also, a Canyon Country man was questioned in relation to copper wire theft after a DWP airplane spotted him up in Bouquet Canyon. Parimal Rohit has more on both stories.
• Nearly 70,000 tons of marijuanna discovered in local mountains: The pot plants, estimated to be worth around $306 million, were seized by Ventura and Kern County Sheriff’s departments. Two men were arrested. No word on whether they’re going to set all the plants on fire. Link
• Gas prices: I’ve been keeping watch on gas prices at one particular station in Newhall: for weeks, American Gas Company on Lyons Avenue seemed to have some of the highest prices in Santa Clarita at $4.69 a gallon for regular. Last night, I saw that the price had dropped some $0.35 to $4.34 per gallon, and, ironically, is now listed as one of the cheapest gas stations in the SCV by GasBuddy.com. That’s a drop of about $4-$5 for an average fill-up, but prices still remain high; the San Fernando Valley Sun Newspaper (new?) reports today on how gas prices are affecting SFV commuters, including one fellow who used to drive to our Costco to work.
• Signal wins awards, promotions too: Signal reporters, photogs, and even webcast producers won some 8 awards this week from the National Newspaper Association. Most of the rewards went to specific stories written by Signal staffers and, looking over the list, they were memorable ones. Also- apparently City Beat reporter Katie Geyer has been promoted to “Assistant City Editor.” The Signal has the story and links to the articles that won awards here.
• Donde Bruce Borquin? Today’s Signal masthead says Escape Editor Greg Eichelberger is once again the Signal Sports editor; so naturally one wonders what happened with Bruce Bourquin, an SDSU graduate with 7 years of sports writing experirenced who took over the Sports desk in early June? Bourquin had already received some plaudits from Signal LTEs (and that’s saying something since LTE writers are prone to whine.) It looks like the last article written by Bourquin was on July 15.
• Buck McKeon re-introduces self on YouTube Channel: Our Congressman is so grandfatherly and, well, just down home in his latest YouTube video. He says he’ll be using YouTube to keep 25th Residents informed on what he’s doing in Washington. He’s got a pretty messy desk if you ask me but what looks to be a nice office. So far the 7 term Congressman has released 7 videos; sadly, only a few dozen people watch any given one. Link
• Awesome lecture on SCV pre-history coming to COC Next Week: Just check out this lede and tell me you’re not interested: “It is theorized that some 16000 to 20000 years ago, the first humans migrated while tracking big game animal herds from Siberia into Alaska and the Americas across a land bridge on the Bering Strait formed during the last Ice Age. From there they spread southward across the North American continent. Evidence of the first inhabitants of the Santa Clarita Valley dates back about 13000 years, but little is known about them. Just over 1500 years ago, the previous inhabitants of the Valley were displaced by a people who migrated westward from the Great Plains. For many years modern historians called them the “Alliklik,” but this turned out to be a derogatory name given to them by their neighbors to the west, the Chumash. “Alliklik” roughly translates to “grunters” or “stammerers”, a reference to the sound of their Uto-Aztecan dialect. More recently they have been known as the Tataviam or “people of the sunny slopes”, so named by the Kitanemuk Indians of the Antelope Valley, due to their habit of building  villages on southern facing slopes of mountains to maximize sun exposure.” The lecture will be given by Dr. John Johnson of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natrual History at 2pm at COC on Saturday July 26. SCV Historical Society has more.
• Canyon Country residents wants block party in her neighborhood: Linda Morgan says the City and the City’s Canyon Country Advisory Committee pretty much ignore her neck of the woods since she lives in a mobile home park. Morgan says the City and Committee are biased towards the folks in and around Whites Canyon, and she wants to know why the city won’t hold a block party for her neighborhood. ” We live here in this city, we pay taxes here, we shop here, and we work here. We all deserve a block party. The only help we receive is when we need to call the Sheriff’s department or emergency personnel. But we have illegal day care centers, the roosters are crowing day and night, etc. (I didn’t know we lived on a farm!)” Sounds to me like the food for a block party is already near her house, just get the rooster and fire up the barbie! Link