November 17, 2009 – Daily Brief

Posted on November 17, 2009 by Jeff
  • Local school districts say the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, aka the stimulus package, has saved 350 classified and certificated jobs in the SCV SIGNAL
  • Hasley/Sloan area neighbors have Hunt Braly as their lawyer and don’t think Castaic High would be a good fit for their area, citing a lack of public utilities and high traffic SIGNAL
  • Meanwhile, Hart Board president Steve Sturgeon is downplaying the Castaic High site selection vote on Wednesday, telling KHTS that “Wednesday’s vote is not a final vote by any means,” and that new board members Bob Jensen and Joe Messina will have “plenty of chances to vote on the site and school as it nears development.” KHTS says the meeting could be “fraught with controversy” KHTS
  • Democratic National Committee is airing ads against Buck McKeon in San Bernardino, saying McKeon is out of touch with his district on Health Care reform. SIGNAL McKeon’s spokesperson says that’s not true, saying CA-25 residents have “sent one clear message” to reject Health Care Reform, but an analysis & projection by 538.com says a plurality of CA-25 residents would not only support HCR but would support a public option as well
  • Lion spotted at area Starbucks! No for real. LAIST Probably going to Shambala Preserve?
  • City of Santa Clarita reopens VoteSantaClarita.com, its main website for information and polling place location for next springs City Council Election
  • Reviewing the recent election, Jonathan Kraut argues that Santa Clarita voters are largely ignorant, gullible and prone to manipulation in a SIGNAL piece. Meanwhile, he says a large proportion of political donations to Ferry & Ender come from special interests like developers and car dealers
  • Re: ignorant Santa Claritans, this just came across my twitter application: “I’ve lived in Santa Clarita all my life, and I’ve never known there was a “Downtown Newhall”.
  • SCVMOMSBLOG and SCENEINSCV now cross posting to each other’s sites, creating a sort of SCV Supermom site that all males should fear SCENEINSCV. But don’t forget the original SCV mommy blog, Vintage Thirty
This entry was posted in Daily Brief. Bookmark the permalink.

27 Responses to November 17, 2009 – Daily Brief

  1. leslie says:
    November 17, 2009 at 8:44 am

    For all the talk about the Castaic community wanting a high school, no one wants it to be near them. While the Hart Board can be blamed for the delays, so too can the community that said no to numerous sites.

  2. CastaicClay says:
    November 17, 2009 at 9:11 am

    How about building “Castaic High” on Commerce Center Drive between Witherspoon and Franklin Pkwy? It is a commercial property, does that matter?
    It’s graded with infrastructure in place nearby.
    It would be easier to access, the city buses already run right by the site and it’s further away from residential properties.

  3. IHeartSCV says:
    November 17, 2009 at 9:41 am

    I think there are problems with the 538.com projection.

    1. To extrapolate the results of this regression to all US districts, the writer would have needed a random sampling of districts nationwide. Instead, polling data from Tennesse’s 5th District, Kentucky, Montana, Nebraska, and Nevada are used. There is also one nation-wide poll in the mix, but that poll was conducted at the end of August, almost three months ago.

    2. The one nationwide poll used was paid for by the Daily Kos which, like its creator Markos Moulitsas, as liberal as they come.

    3. The writer of 538 thinks questions like the one below are “fair”:
    “Do you favor or oppose creating a government-administered health insurance option that anyone can purchase to compete with private insurance plans?” I think there are more acurate phrasings that could have been used.

    That the writer of the 538.com piece puts biased, non-representative numbers into Excel to make an ugly Excel regression graph without confidence intervals or an equation or anything else useful doesn’t give me a ton of cofidence in the number produced.

  4. Scene In SCV says:
    November 17, 2009 at 9:41 am

    Hey SCVTALK…don’t be afraid of us. Scene In SCV loves men too!! After the first of the year we are adding another fantastic male writer that you will really enjoy. Come “Be Our Guest” and guest write for us. We could use some more testosterone over here!

  5. Timothy Myers says:
    November 17, 2009 at 9:43 am

    Castaic Clay:

    Are you a little sleepy this morning? You surely remember that a year ago they tried to option a property in the Commerce Centre but then realized that the Commerce Centre deed restrictions preclude the building of a school on those pads.

  6. Timothy Myers says:
    November 17, 2009 at 9:52 am

    Re: Kraut’s Column

    There is a certain smugness that I see in these type of columns. My side lost because the voters are dumb, and the followup corollary, the astounding solution that we need to increase turnout and get some more uninformed voters out there making more random choices.

  8. CastaicClay says:
    November 17, 2009 at 11:59 am

    TM:
    I remember the Sterling Property (is it in the “Commerce Center” or adjoining?) was nixed for that reason. I was wondering if the property on Commerce Center Drive was under the same restrictions? If so, why?

  9. soccermom says:
    November 17, 2009 at 12:05 pm

    leslie:

    I disagree. I believe the district has been using this excuse, (among others), to intentionally delay the project themselves. If the district had REALLY wanted to build a high school it would’ve told the handful of NIMBY’s, “Sorry, you guys really need a high school NOW and this is the best place for it”.

    I guess I don’t understand who is saying no to the sites. There was one meeting YEARS ago and a few NIMBY’s showed up and supposedly the district backed down. Yeah, right. Like I said, if the district had REALLY wanted to build Castaic HS it would’ve been a done deal a long time ago.

  10. Timothy Myers says:
    November 17, 2009 at 12:57 pm

    CC:

    Every pad in that Commerce Center, and on Commerce Center Drive, has the same deed restriction.

  11. Timothy Myers says:
    November 17, 2009 at 1:00 pm

    soccermom:

    There were a LOT of people influential with the district who wanted to see that Hasley/Sloan property at least graded to receive a marginal economic advantage ten years ago. The fact is that a relatively small number of NIMBYS can stop something because elected officials hate to be yelled at.

    I believe the Castaic Town Council was also on record against this site for the NIMBY reasons.

  12. mike says:
    November 17, 2009 at 1:39 pm

    iheart: how would you word the question? In what respect is it inaccurate?

    Research 2000′s polls are as liberal as they come? That’s news to a lot of people. I recall them getting almost every state correct in 2008 and picking both Governor races in 2009.

    Since we aren’t going to poll every district, it’s just a loose estimate based on how certain attributes, across these districts make one more or less likely to support something.

  13. IHeartSCV says:
    November 17, 2009 at 2:36 pm

    Mike:

    1) “Do you favor or oppose creating a government-administered health insurance option that anyone can purchase to compete with private insurance plans?” I think it’s poorly worded to the benefit of those in favor of the government option. The last part of the question is a justification for the government plan (it will provide competition!), and makes an answer of “no” seem like opposition to marketplace competition. “That anyone can purchase” is another gratuitous, populist inclusion–it’s for all of us! The question should be phrased as:

    “Do you favor or oppose a government-administered health insurance option?” Everything else is superfluous.

    Better yet would be a question on the actual plan that the House approved, since it’s a specific plan that will be enacted.

    2) I said that the Daily Kos, which funded the research–and as such had control over the question, since one generally pays researchers to ask specific questions–is as liberal as they come.

    3)Yes, but the “loose estimate” part gets lost when you quantify things. As Jeff phrased it, “An analysis & projection by 538.com says a plurality of CA-25 residents would not only support HCR but would support a public option as well.” It was a shoddy, statistically indefensible extrapolation…so I don’t think it should count as evidence of broad support for health care reform on the part of those in the fightin’ 25th.

  14. CastaicClay says:
    November 17, 2009 at 3:15 pm

    I thought the Sterling site was maybe not in the Commerce Center itself, but adjoining and possibly under a different set of usage rules. Who imposed the deed restrictions and can’t they be changed like zoning if you “contribute” to the right people?

  15. mike says:
    November 17, 2009 at 3:22 pm

    iheart:
    1. better question, I agree
    2. So you were saying Kos is as liberal as Daily Kos, not that the Daily Kos/ Research 2000 poll is as liberal as the Daily Kos website?
    3. I guess I will also have to fault the daily brief for using a too-strong “says”. But I think it’s a very interesting way to show which districts would tend to support policy A in a way that simple party registration doesn’t tell us.

  16. CastaicClay says:
    November 17, 2009 at 3:25 pm

    Without connecting the Hasley/Sloan site to Hillcrest Parkway it would be a nightmare! The same would be true for the Hasley/Romero site unless there will be access from the “Downtown Castaic” side of the hill to the campus.

  17. Timothy Myers says:
    November 17, 2009 at 3:55 pm

    CC:

    The deed restrictions are private and one would have to pay off every single pad owner in the Commerce Center to waive the deed restrictions before any banking institution would loan money or bonding company issue a bond to move the construction forward. (The permitting authority (County) can’t abrogate them – Contract clause of the US constitution.)

    I know a lot of those pad owners and the opportunity to “negotiate” a waiver fee would be like Christmas coming early!

  18. Timothy Myers says:
    November 17, 2009 at 3:57 pm

    CC:

    ALL the high schools have poor traffic access with the acception of Golden Valley and Valencia, and Valencia was nightmarish for years until Copperhill and Decoro were finished.

  19. IHeartSCV says:
    November 17, 2009 at 4:09 pm

    Mike:

    I omitted “is” from my first comment. It should read: “The one nationwide poll used was paid for by the Daily Kos which, like its creator Markos Moulitsas, is as liberal as they come.” (I guess it’s a sloppy comment in terms of over-using pronouns). I just wanted to say that the Daily Kos and Markos Moulitsas are both exceedingly liberal entities.

    I don’t have much knowledge of Research 2000 as a polling body, but even if they polled perfectly honestly, the phrasing of the question skewed results in the favor of the poll’s funder, Daily Kos.

  20. Jeff says:
    November 17, 2009 at 4:21 pm

    I reject your analysis I Heart. Sure the “compete with private insurance plans” might bias respondents, but the phrase “government-administered” also conjures up, well, the DMV and IRS, which is why Frank Luntz and the GOP have emphasized “government takeover” so much. That’s been the key phrase Buck has used since the spring.

    Furthermore, the last clause is a proposal the Admin is making. It is right to query the public on whether they support that, because that’s what the Admin is proposing.

  21. Publius says:
    November 17, 2009 at 6:20 pm

    “Jonathan Kraut:I hate it when competency loses to hype.”

    Ironic that he would pen an article like this when his campaign for the COC board 4 years ago was based on nothing but hype, trying to leverage the voters’ “ignorance” onto the board of a college he knew next to nothing about.

  22. IHeartSCV says:
    November 17, 2009 at 8:18 pm

    Ah, Mr. Wilson; it is not you who has rejected the analysis but the analysis that has rejected you. But seriously, it’s an awful question. “Do you favor or oppose a government-run medical insurance plan that will lead to rationing, higher taxes, budget deficits, gross inefficiences, and increased government control of your life and the private sector?” would have been better.

  23. spineflower2 says:
    November 17, 2009 at 10:24 pm

    If the district wanted to take away the deed restriction by eminent domain, they could. They just won’t.

    And if they think they ewill build it at Hasley-Sloan they are naive, arrogant, or both. Won’t happen. Move on.

  24. Timothy Myers says:
    November 18, 2009 at 9:38 am

    spineflower2

    They could “take” it but there would have to be compensation paid and one would have aggressive legal representation on the property owners side because one would have over 200 businesses, some of them large, splitting the cost.

    Spineflower2, you seem like one of those Dodger fans that thinks the management can make trades just by adding people to the roster. It doesn’t work that way.

  25. Kevin D. Korenthal says:
    November 18, 2009 at 8:42 pm

    I don’t have an opinion on any of this because I am largely ignorant, gullible and prone to manipulation.

  26. mike says:
    November 18, 2009 at 8:47 pm

    Kevin, did you vote to endorse Colley?

  27. spineflower2 says:
    November 19, 2009 at 8:35 pm

    Tim, instead of personal attacks, please stick to the actual issue.