December 9, 2009 – Daily Brief

Posted on December 9, 2009 by Jeff
  • Laurene Weste takes over as Santa Clarita Mayor for 2010. Next year will be a big year for the city as it completes the Cross Valley Connector and starts building a Newhall Library at the north end of Main Street. Also, Frank Ferry handed out DVDs to each Council Member that “he thought best represented their personality.” This sounds like a fun game to play here on SCVTalk.  Laurene Weste got “Rocky” but the SIGNAL doesn’t say what other council members got (did he give Clueless to anyone?)
  • Also, Marsha McLean becomes Mayor Pro Tem and City Manager Pulskamp praises Frank Ferry for Mayor Dude saying, “I have never in my life seen someone deal as positively with youth as you do.” KHTS
  • Speaking of the new library, it will be built with recycled trash bags and sawdust in an effort to make it more environmentally friendly and yet durable. Construction should start in June and take about a year. The 27,000 sq. ft. building will have 60 computers, free wifi, private study rooms, a family literacy program, and rooms with murals depicting Newhall’s history. Awesome! SIGNAL
  • State unemployment rate is peaking at 12.7% but won’t fall below 10% until 2012 according to UCLA economists. “Key industries such as housing and manufacturing probably won’t return to pre-recession levels for years,” the report says LA TIMES
  • Congressman McKeon introduces resolution to allow a 90 year old WW2 vet & Congressional Medal of Honor winner to continue flying his American flag outside his Virginia home after the man’s HOA told him to take it down. The HOA, unsurprisingly, has bowed to the pressure HOUSE.GOV, WIKIPEDIA on Col. Barfoot
  • 1958 Disney film foretells the rise of suburbia, like Santa Clarita, and our dependence on the automobile. The rest of it though? A manifesto for the “fully privatized life, as compartmentalized as possible from messy and unpredictable interventions from other people” says the DISCOVERING URBANISM blog
  • Film crews shooting TV episodes in the SCV can apparently set up shop on paseos. BLOG
  • Canyon Country Chop shop owners get three years probation after admitting to their crimes. All parties seem happy; the duo had no criminal record SIGNAL
  • It’s not enough that Frank Ferry poaches SCV football talent for his Catholic high school Alemany, now he wants to play his championship game on our turf at COC with Hart great Ted Iacenda and one of the Herringtons as his coaches SIGNAL
  • Letter writer says Berta Gonzales-Harper was unfair to TimBen Boydston in her recent letter. The Bonelli Tract resident says the city was unresponsive to queries about her driveway and downplays TBB’s involvement in organizing the Bonelli homeowners prior to their storming of City Hall SIGNAL
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    22 Responses to December 9, 2009 – Daily Brief

    1. Fred Butler says:
      December 9, 2009 at 8:30 am

      The HOA, unsurprisingly, has bowed to the pressure

      Good. The pinheads who regulate HOA rules can be some of the most undiscerning and small minded people in the world. It’s like a window into the true soul of big government.

    2. Money says:
      December 9, 2009 at 11:14 am

      From my experience, the HOA “police” are usually conservative, middle-age men with nothing better to do.

    3. Timothy Myers says:
      December 9, 2009 at 11:44 am

      If you want to know what really frightens white people into thinking that civilization is coming to an end, look at the CCR’s in an HOA.

      (Apparently having garbage cans out overnight is particularly terrifying!)

    4. Fred Butler says:
      December 9, 2009 at 12:08 pm

      From my experience, the HOA “police” are usually conservative, middle-age men with nothing better to do.

      Or cowardly old ladies…
      It’s the fact that they are conservative that makes their oligarchical draconianism particularly odious. They ought to know better.

    5. mike says:
      December 9, 2009 at 12:44 pm

      as a general observation, the more local the authority, the more likely people are to work counter to their political ideology. Think of the liberals that like free speech in general, but not in their neighborhood, or the many local conservative NIMBYists that are fine with a command economy and government regulation of private decisions.

      HOAs attract an odd sort. That is true.

    6. Jane says:
      December 9, 2009 at 1:22 pm

      HOAs – Why do people buy into an HOA managed home if they don’t like and agree with the rules? There are plenty of other options available.

    7. Bill Reynolds says:
      December 9, 2009 at 1:28 pm

      Timmy, you should go back to a more comfortable subject: making wrong political predictions.

    8. spineflower2 says:
      December 9, 2009 at 2:00 pm

      Maybe because if you lack rules, the abusers will grow and grow. First it’s the RV in front, then the boat, then the big rig… there are often good reasons for all those rules: people will push the envelope and the 1% that go too far ruin it and force more rigid enforcement on the other 99%.

      If you think HOAs are useless, count yourself lucky for never having that 1% defy common sense and safety in your neighborhood.

    9. JC says:
      December 9, 2009 at 2:21 pm

      Berta Gonzales-Harper doesn’t usually care about the truth when she decides to pick a fight with someone. No surprises with today’s LTE that proves Berta speaks with forked tongue. I knew it would be just a matter of time before someone came forward with the true curcumstances of the situation.

    10. Drive66 says:
      December 9, 2009 at 2:34 pm

      I think having an HOA is a good thing. There’s nothing like seeing you’re neighbors mattress on the corner for months, or their house painted pepto-bismol pink.
      ;-P

    11. Timothy Myers says:
      December 9, 2009 at 2:35 pm

      Bill:

      Only wrong so far on Joe Messina (where I was happy to be wrong) but otherwise have a pretty good handicapping record.

    12. Bill Reynolds says:
      December 9, 2009 at 3:05 pm

      So Timmy, what about your latest Mayor Pro-Tem prediction?

      HOA’s: The last I checked (and it is amazing), folks in America still choose where they want to live.

    13. NickelDime says:
      December 9, 2009 at 3:57 pm

      A little HOA goes a very long way.

      “Just a pinch” and you definitely notice it when it ain’t there.

    14. Timothy Myers says:
      December 9, 2009 at 4:09 pm

      Bill:

      Doesn’t count. Not an election.

    15. mike says:
      December 9, 2009 at 4:21 pm

      ND, you’re right. Enough to keep the elvis statues off the lawns, not so much where they write you a letter if your door is two shades too green.

    16. Publius says:
      December 9, 2009 at 4:23 pm

      Don’t know why Buck would need to introduce anything. It’s a first amendment issue.

    17. Bill Reynolds says:
      December 9, 2009 at 4:29 pm

      Timmy, I didn’t mention anything about elections… PREDICTIONS! Hello!

    18. cash says:
      December 9, 2009 at 4:58 pm

      What no smart retort from Ms. Gonzales? Seems her claim to always speak the true supported by fact, is actually false.

    19. cash says:
      December 9, 2009 at 5:10 pm

      Life is full of choices. If one does not like cc&r’s or HOA’s they may want to consider life in Canyon Country, Saugus, Castaic, Newhall or other such places. I may be wrong, as we all no is not likely, but it seems to me that Valencia “generally” gets all the attention. I am not sure why be it sure feels that way.

    20. Berta González-Harper says:
      December 9, 2009 at 5:33 pm

      Cash, nice to see you last evening at the Council meeting. I’m not surprised you did not make eye contact. While you are making remarks about me, I was visiting the Bonelli Tract again to refresh my memory. Yep, still looks like I last saw it and I’ll be responding to Ms. Bonja very soon with facts not conjecture. Love and kisses Cash.

    21. Bill Reynolds says:
      December 9, 2009 at 6:52 pm

      Cash, maybe because Valencia has been the “sweet spot” for many, many years.

    22. NickelDime says:
      December 10, 2009 at 12:09 am

      My friends in Orange County don’t have the foggiest idea where Santa Clarita is. Valencia, on the other hand, equals Magic Mountain.

      When asked where they live, my Canyon Country coworkers give the expected “Valencia” refrain.

      As mike has reminded us many times, much has been invested in the branding.