AMGEN ‘09 details, followup on toddler’s death, some depressing real estate stats, and politicians plan to walk the SCV, all ahead in today’s Daily Brief.

News & Opinion

• Santa Clarita a start point for next year’s AMGEN race: There won’t be an exciting bicycle race finish in Santa Clarita during next year’s AMGEN race; instead, the tour will simply have a stage that starts in Santa Clarita and ends in Pasadena. The tour itself, however, is being enlarged to some 800 miles across California, but the route looks more like the riders will skip much of California’s coast, unlike the last two years. In 07 and 08, 150+ riders started a stage in Santa Barbara, rolled down along the coast and up beautiful Highway 126 and ended with a stirring three-lap circuit finish right on McBean in downtown Valencia. In 2008, they also started the next stage of the race in the SCV. But next year, stage 8 of the race will start in Santa Clarita on Saturday, February 21 following a time trial in Solvang. This is still good news for the SCV economically I’m sure; teams will no doubt stay the night in Santa Clarita before Stage 8 begins. Velo News
• Canyon Country mom not charged yet, authorities await results of autopsy: An autopsy was performed on young Jack Roscoe Winchester on Monday, the 23 month old boy allegedly left in a hot car for hours on Monday. Authorities say the mother in the case -still unnamed at this point- may face charges pending the results but they have not arrested her as of yet. The Daily News has that and more, including a description of the Canyon Country street the night the boy was discovered dead in his car. “The couple described Monday night’s grim scene: Worried neighbors gathered along the sidewalks behind police tape, trying to find out whether everyone was all right. An older woman arrived and screamed and bawled in the middle of the street after authorities told her what had happened.” The Daily News says temperatures can reach up to 172 degrees in a parked car, high enough that a child might die within 10 minutes. Link
• Other bad news about children: The Signal reports today that two other incidents involving young children occurred on Tuesday; in one, a five month old girl “is believed to have died of natural causes inside a home on Palomino Place,” while in the other, a child apparently “fell out of a two-storey window.” Not much details in either case, though the kid who fell out of the window was being treated at a hospital in the SFV. Link
• Foreclosures hit CA hard: Statewide, foreclosures jumped some 33.5% in the second quarter of 2008, reports the LA Times, though there might be a silver lining in that number. The Times also says that defaults -the first stage of a foreclosure- rose only 6.6% in 2Q08, compared with 39% in the previous period. That, to some realty watchers, could mean that either foreclosures are “nearing a plateau” or that lenders are “swamped and can’t handle processing any paperwork.” For its report, the LA Times put up yet another cool searchable database where you can type in a zip code or city name to see how many foreclosures were reported in your community. On the plus side, home prices have fallen such that I may actually be able to buy a real house with a yard and everything!
  
• Speaking of real estate crisis: Everyone’s linking to a 1984 New York Times article on the last (or was it the second to last?) real estate bust in Southern California. It makes for some interesting reading. 
•  McLean sounds alarm over state grab of local monies: It’s been rumored and whispered that the state may make a grab for local government’s pocketbooks, agencies like the City of Santa Clarita. In fact, SacBee columnist Daniel Weintraub recently told radio host Warren Olney that he felt it was a certainty that Sacramento would make a grab as legislators try to close a $15 billion budget gap. Well, in today’s LTE section, Councilwoman Marsha McLean says that “solvency and good financial planning seems to elude the state and now state officials are attempting to balance their bloated budget on the backs of California cities.” She asks readers to call the Governor, legislative leaders, and others to fight the threat. Of all the Councilmembers, I think McLean has the beat of the state down pretty well; she’s always working with SCAG, the Rail Commission and other groups.
  
• Smyth to walk Santa Clarita with Senate candidate Tony Strickland: A blogger at the Ventura County Star reports today that Assemblyman Cameron Smyth will walk around Santa Clarita with Republican Senate candidate Tony Strickland this weekend. The walk, which starts off at Veteran’s Historical Plaza in Newhall, will take place on Saturday at 10 am. What’s interesting about the blog post is that the left-leaning writer expresses surprise that his “favorite” moderate Republican Assemblyman -Smyth- is teaming up with a paleo-conservative like Strickland. “It is apparent that Cameron Smyth is a team player for the Republicans but so much for his image as a moderate. Tony Strickland is a tough campaigner but I think everyone pretty much agrees he is very conservative. He doesn’t support same sex marriage or civil unions. That seems pretty conservative for California or even this district. But I guess Smyth did work for infamous State Senator Pete Knight years ago,” he writes.
• City unemployment rate still looks good: Bumped up to 4.3 percent in June, just under a half point from May’s 3.9% unemployment rate. The Signal says there’s a labor force of 91,000 in the SCV, but only 87,200 are employed. We’re doing way better than the county, but one wonders what kind of jobs these are. Link
• River exhibit at Valencia Library: There will be a Santa Clara river exhibit starting today at the Valencia Library. The exhibit “provides an opportunity for the community to learn about how their lives are entwined with the survival of a wild and healthy river.” Link
• NSD Superintendent supports Newhall Library: The Superintendent of the Newhall School District wrote an interesting LTE in today’s Signal; he says that the current Newhall library is a “woefully undersized and antiquated,” and that a new library in Newhall would make a great “bookend” on the north side of Newhall with the City’s community center on the south side.
• Other LTE writer dissapointed councilmembers don’t stand guard on the border: As if the City Council wasn’t controversial enough; writer Christopher Miller of Canyon Country thinks our Councilmembers are “worthless” because they didn’t attend the recent jingoistic Love America/Hate Immigrant rally at the Civic Center. Link