I’m really late today!

News

•  Former Governor Gray Davis stumps for LandSource: Signal reporter Jim Holt dug through the torturous legal documents in the LandSource BK case and scooped everyone else: LandSource has tapped the talents of former Governor Gray Davis, who’s job is to act “as sort of a troubleshooter to protect Newhall Land’s proposed 21,000 unit housing development Newhall Ranch.” Holt has more on the LandSource BK and says that the firm has about a year to “turn things around before its main lender, Barclay’s Bank, can foreclose on the company,” and presumably, that valuable land west of Magic Mountain. Link
• Oblivious to cost of gas, Mother Nature carelessly burning oil deep beneath ground near SCV: At least that’s what geologists think is causing a phenomenon that got reported on widely over the weekend. The Ventura County Star reported Saturday that a patch of land north of Fillmore had a temperature of 812 degrees. “We’re a little perplexed at this point,” a geologist told the paper. Scientists think an underground oil field might be on fire as there is “streams of smoke” wafting from cracks in the ground. The Ventura County Fire Department has cleared brush from the area in order to prevent a surface fire. Yeah, let me repeat that: the ground itself in this area is 812 degrees! Link
• MTA Tax Plan wouldn’t benefit SCV very much: If passed in November, the .5% sales tax hike might bring some $30 to $40 billion into regional transportation coffers and might lead to a sexy high-speed transit option over the Sepulveda Pass, a Red Line subway extension to the sea, and possibly a subway link to Bob Hope Airport. But it doesn’t help out the Northern San Fernando Valley, nor the Santa Clarita or Antelope Valleys enough, argues Supervisor Antonovic. In fact the SCV would really only benefit from an 11 mile extension of truck lanes on the 5 freeway from Highway 14 to Highway 126. Others argue that the money ought to go where the real demand is; in the SFV and in LA itself. “Beggars can’t be choosers,” one fellow says in this great Daily News report.
• SCV Disaster week: The Signal’s Tammy Marashlian had a great Page 1 story on Sunday on preparations you can do for the “Big One™“, while the Daily News reported Sunday that this fall’s fire season “could be one of the worst,” and over in the UK, the Guardian Newspaper describes the nightmarish apocalypse that would greet Southern California after the Big One (1,800 dead, $213 b in losses, freeways collapse, pipes burst, craters open, and 1,600 fires), and finally, lest we forget our past, a Vision Magazine writer walks the path of the St. Francis dam collapse, which killed hundreds or perhaps thousands when it failed back in 1928. Whew! About the only thing missing from these reports is a tie-in to the book of Revelations me thinks.
• SCVTV interviews Cam Smyth as Newsmaker of the Week: Looking quite metro in a beige suit and pink tie, Santa Clarita’s Assemblyman Cameron Smyth sat with Leon Worden for a half hour last week to discuss the budget crisis in Sacramento, how he divides his time between Sacto, the District, and the SCV and more. Worden even makes reference to a recent Ventura County Star blog in which the left-leaning blogger said he admired Smyth for penning environmentally-friendly legislation (I think it was that HOA/Solar Panel bill that was passed recently.) Worden asks, “Cameron, have you gone the other way on us?” Smyth’s response: “We’re trying to find that balance between environmental sustainability without driving businesses out of the state.” There’s lots more in the interview, I just haven’t had time to watch it, but you can see it here.
  
• CEMEX Bill languishing in Committee, clock ticking: That’s the unspoken status of HR 5887, the Buck McKeon land-swap bill that could potentially end the City of Santa Clarita’s decade-long fight with Mexican mining giant CEMEX. But that’s only if it can get passed out of the Houses’ Ways & Means Committee before Congress adjourns on September 26. Katie Geyer has an excellent report on the status of the bill, which so far has 9 co-sponsors. Link

Misc

• Myers destroys Hart District credibility on drop-out stats: The Signal columnist argues that comparing the suburban Hart District with the urban LAUSD (the largest school district in the Country, if I recall correctly) “tilts” Hart’s drop-out rates in a more favorable light. He says we should compare Hart with other suburban Districts and then goes on to compare apples with apples.  For example: Districts in Thousand Oaks, Simi Valley, and in Orange County had a much lower dropout rate than the Hart District did. He concludes the excellent piece with this stinger: “
  Is the Hart District living up to its obligation to provide accurate information? Maybe random drug testing of school athletes will solve the problem.” Link
• CLWA Board Member discusses water conversation, says Signal article inaccurate: Water conservation is working, CLWA Board Member RJ Kelly says in a piece on Sunday, and a recent Signal article that claimed water usage was up 13% was inaccurate. In the long piece, Kelly also rakes environmentalists for using water as a tool to limit development. Link
• I Heart on $30,000 hospital mailer for Ender: I Heart’s not really surprised at the news that Laurie Ender benefited from a G&L Realty-paid mailer that advised residents to vote for her for City Council. Though Ender was on vacation at the time of the report last week, I Heart knows how she’ll respond: ” It is obvious how all of this will play out for Ender. She’ll say something to the effect that, as a mother and someone concerned about the health and welfare of Santa Claritans, she has always been in favor of expanding the Henry Mayo campus. Her commitment to this position attracted funders with the same goal: more medical office buildings. It’s just logical, right?” Link
• Speaking of that: Some YouTuber created a “Master Card Priceless” type commercial about Laurie Ender, the hospital, and the $30k donation that went towards funding those mailers. I give it a B-
• Amen Sister: Alana Quinn (assuming female here) says that while the SCV has some nice paseos, bike paths, and other bike-friendly features, there’s very few places to actually lock a bike in town. “Why don’t the mall and other stores around Santa Clarita have more - many more - bicycle racks?” My thought exactly. I’m tired of locking my bike to parking signs, trees, and other immovable structures. Is it too much to ask that the County and City require at least one small bike rack at each new office/retail development in town? Link
• An Idea for the SCV no/slow growthers: So the November Ballot is already packed full of iniatitives, not to mention the crucial presidential vote and other votes. But if you were living in Santa Monica right now, you’d also have the option of voting for/against a measure called RIFT. RIFT aims to reduce traffic in Santa Monica by slowing down the approval and growth of office and commercial properties in town. You see, Santa Monica kind of has the opposite problem of the SCV: by day, Santa Monica’s population doubles thanks to all the jobs in that city, but that also swells the traffic, so activists there hope to put the squeeze on future traffic by limiting commercial development there. The measure has its opponents, but the fact remains: organizers in Santa Monica are bringing the jobs/traffic/housing issue directly to the voters. One wonders if something similar could be accomplished here? Is there a process by which SCV residents could put a measure on a local ballot that would limit residential growth? LA Times has a report on the Santa Monica situation. 
• Bossert chimes in on Ender/G&L Mailer: He says it’s not surprising that Ender benefited from the mailer/donation, and goes further wondering why city residents are so complacent. ” The most amazing thing to me is the fact that people have become somewhat complacent and conditioned by this kind of outrageous behavior. Either that or no one really cares as long as it doesn’t affect them directly.” Link