October 29, 2009 – Daily Brief

Posted on October 29, 2009 by Jeff
  • County officials say they don’t expect too much opposition to Disney’s Studios at the Ranch project given that Santa Clarita already plays host to a number of other television shows. The Times also reports that construction won’t start for two years (pending approval) and will probably open in 2013 LA TIMES
  • Meanwhile, even the Governor had warm words about Disney’s proposal. KHTS also reports that Disney has contacted local homeowners association groups about the project.
  • Two more quotes: Jason Crawford on what this could do for SCV economy: “I think that now that Disney is committed to doing this, we’re going to see many post-production, visual effects and other film-related businesses that want to move here as well.” And Ken Pulskamp on commuters: “”What it does is there are hundreds and hundreds of people virtually every day that leave the Santa Clarita Valley to  work in the film industry in other parts of Southern California and for them to be able to have more of them work in the Santa Clarita Valley is a great improvement in the quality of their life.”
  • 18 year old female Valencia High student missing since a bus ride on Monday. Family say she may have broken up with her boyfriend on Monday and was last seen in Castaic KHTS
  • City about to close escrow on $6.2 million commercial real estate space in Old Town Newhall but isn’t sure what it will do with it. They hope the property will lure private developers to the area. SIGNAL
  • During Friday’s Hart/Canyon football game, Canyon Principal Bob Messina someone apparently hired an airplane with a banner reading “Miss you Harry Welch. Thanks, Bob” to fly over the stadium. Welch, the former longtime coach of Canyon says he misses SCV and people in Canyon Country but has no other comment. Canyon High is terrible at football now, unlike Hart, which is always on the hunt for glory. Valencia High has no such tradition of winning. DAILY NEWS
  • Buck McKeon and other House Republicans turn to Oliver North for advice/insight into Afghanistan.  POLITICO
  • Interesting article on Castaic Lake Water Agency’s high tech water laboratory which keeps our drinking water safe SIGNAL
  • Blogger/GOP Assembly candidate says Cameron Smyth is the “Last Man Standing” as a Republican Assemblyman representing any part of Los Angeles. He notes that a mere 3.5% stands between Democratic and Republican registrations in the fightin’ 38th DAVID HERNANDEZ
  • Homeless population in Los Angeles County is down 38% paradoxically WRB
  • City of Santa Clarita receives $500k from the feds to upgrade City Hall so that it can better withstand a Northridge style earthquake MCKEON
  • GOP Gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman gets caught in a whopper of budgetary lie by columnist George Skelton. LA TIMES
  • Auto thieves and Canyon Country chop-shop owners get three years probation. Last year they stole a ’56 Chevy Bel Air worth $100k SIGNAL
  • Lynne Plambeck comments on Impact Sciences, a consulting firm that produces EIRs for the City and other developers in town. She says the firm also may be part of the OVOV project SIGNAL
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4 Responses to October 29, 2009 – Daily Brief

  1. Need for Involved Citizenry says:
    October 29, 2009 at 7:38 am

    Jeff:

    Mesinna didn’t hire the plane (the message was slamming him!). Some parent or fan must have. Read the Daily News article a bit closer!

  2. Timothy Myers says:
    October 29, 2009 at 9:14 am

    I appreciate the hurt that Harry Welch’s Cowboys put on the “we lose once every decade” Concord de la Salle California champtionship, but instead of being kind and say I am leaving Canyon because I have maxxed out on my Calpers pension and a few years at a parochial school could feather my retirement nest, he goes into a whole psychodrama about how Bob Messina is undermining him and the program because Messina won’t let him run the campus!

  3. Jane says:
    October 29, 2009 at 11:05 am

    City purchase – I read the story in The Signal and I don’t understand. It seems that rather than let properties go into foreclosure and buy them at a cheaper price, the city steps in and pays above market value – Huh? Why?

  4. Timothy Myers says:
    October 29, 2009 at 11:11 am

    Jane

    From what I gleaned the properties are already in default and the noteholders would bid in the basis of their notes in a foreclosure sale anyway, so there would not be any “deals” necessarily. Plus, if it went into foreclosure it could tie up the property for years and cause other problems with redevelopment.

    As far as market value, that is always a range and they are probably within the range. The untold story is that the City government has actually pepetrated a creeping condemnation of the properties their for the last ten years, which is probably what everyone wanted but it was never discussed in a transparent fashion.