December 10, 2009 – Daily Brief

Written by Jeff on December 10th, 2009

In anticipation of an $8.2 million budget shortage, the Saugus Union School District is thinking of closing five of its 15 schools SIGNAL
$13 million in “tax exempt private activity bonds” are available for Santa Clarita businesses as part of a City recovery program KHTS
$35,000 offered as reward for information about the men who attacked and beat up a Sheriff’s Deputy last month. The two perps were apparently using stolen credit and debit cardsd in town when a Deputy performed a traffic stop on them. SIGNAL
City’s Work Source center, which helps residents find work, will move from an old retail space to some new digs at the COC University Center. SIGNAL
Chihuahua dogs are the number one dog in animal shelters around California, thanks in large part to the small dogs’ starring role in a number of Hollywood movies LA TIMES
Speaking of the dogs, head on over to the Boston Phoenix and read a calm and assertive interview with Ceasar Millan, the dog psychologist, who calls Santa Clarita home PHOENIX
The Newhall Ranch EIR/EIS doesn’t properly account for how much greenhouse gases the 70,000 new residents might create, argues Friends of the Santa Clara River SIGNAL
On the other hand, this letter writer says the globe isn’t warming (it’s actually cooling) and the only thing to be scared about is “extreme green legislation.” LTE
John Boston finds a liberal SCV school’s winter solstice celebration event and inadvertently gives me a good idea for a party HILARIOUS

Posted in Daily Brief |

28 Comments so far ↓

Jim Farley says:

December 10, 2009 at 10:58 am

Boston’s article is indeed hilarious. Being the astronomy nerd that I am I only suggest one change. The party should start at 9:47 AM to coincide with the actual Winter Solstice.

http://www.timeanddate.com/calendar/seasons.html?year=2000&n=137
Drive66 says:

December 10, 2009 at 11:08 am

Both Hart and Saugus say they have budget problems. I guess the the $3000+ a year Mello-Roos they each put on the Plum Canyon developments didn’t help.
Timothy Myers says:

December 10, 2009 at 11:21 am

Drive66:

For what seems like the umpteenth time, a Mello-Roos is a tax put on a tract by the developer to repay bonds issued for necessary infrastructure or fees, ranging all the way from curbs and gutters to school fees. Effectively, the developer is shifting that cost directly to the folks buying homes.

Naturally, if the developer covered the costs they would have to fold this into the price of lots and finished homes. However, by placing it in a Mello-Roos they can “lower” the price. In any efficient market a home price in a Mello-Roos tract should be lower than one that is not in a Mello-Roos tract since this constitutes a real incremental cost to carry the property.

Now for people to swallow the Mello-Roos, tract salespeople and real estate agents always say it was “for the schools.” This might be indirectly true at best
Drive66 says:

December 10, 2009 at 12:27 pm

Timmy,

Mello-out!
Timothy Myers says:

December 10, 2009 at 12:56 pm

Drive66:

Sorry, but it has become an article of dogma in real estate circles that Mello-Roos is always for schools, and not just a way of funding development infrastructure, INCLUDING schools in some cases.
Jim Farley says:

December 10, 2009 at 1:17 pm

Hey Timmy:

How long is the term on most Mello-Ross assessments. 20 years? My house in Northbridge is about that old. Should the assessment be reaching a horizon?
Money says:

December 10, 2009 at 1:47 pm

OK, cash lives in Saugus so scratch that off the list of places to move to…Jimbo lives in Northbridge so scratch that off, too. Now, if I can just find out what area Petz and Fred live in, I can scratch off those as well.
Timothy Myers says:

December 10, 2009 at 2:15 pm

Jim Farley:

The Nebraska bride handles all the finances. I thought the Mello Roos fell off a few years ago? (Of course, we were in the last houses built in Northbridge in 1996 so maybe we did not have it, but I thought we did for a while.)
Timothy Myers says:

December 10, 2009 at 2:15 pm

Money:

I live in Northbridge. Do I cancel Jim out? (hee hee)
Jim Farley says:

December 10, 2009 at 2:21 pm

Come on now Money. Please move to my hood. Maybe some of my (and most of my neighbors)good Conservative values will rub off on you. It would do you a lot of good.
Jim Farley says:

December 10, 2009 at 2:25 pm

…..and you’d have T.M. to help you maintain your lefty perspective.
Valencia Joe says:

December 10, 2009 at 3:02 pm

I live in Northbridge also. If I remember right, they refinanced the original set of bonds a few years ago, which does lower the annual assessment, but does extend it out. There may be ten years left on the refinance bonds.
Drive66 says:

December 10, 2009 at 3:16 pm

The Plum Canyon Mello-Roos is 30 years
Timothy Myers says:

December 10, 2009 at 3:19 pm

Jim:

I may just have to show you some 2008 presidential precinct results for Northbridge that you’re not going to like!
NickelDime says:

December 10, 2009 at 4:49 pm

Timmy:

There was really only one choice this past election, and many conservatives simply voted with their feet.

I’ll buy you a cup of coffee if you see that repeated in the mid-terms.

Last Gallup poll I saw, our President had the lowest ratings of any president in history during his first year.

He’s upsetting both his base and those on the right.
Timothy Myers says:

December 10, 2009 at 5:19 pm

Nickeldime:

80% of people with a graduate degree voted for Obama.

Think about it!
NickelDime says:

December 10, 2009 at 5:29 pm

Timmy:

That doesn’t surprise me one bit.
mike says:

December 10, 2009 at 5:35 pm

ND, the turnout was off the charts in the SCV, despite your gut feeling, conservatives, like everyone else, voted in droves in 2008. After all, there were civil rights that needed stripping, right?
mike says:

December 10, 2009 at 5:37 pm

ND, are you going out on a limb to predict a Buck McKeon victory in 2010? That’s pretty bold, yeah?
Timothy Myers says:

December 10, 2009 at 6:03 pm

ND:

On behalf of all the cool kids who mistreated you in high school, please accept my most sincere apologies.
NickelDime says:

December 10, 2009 at 6:12 pm

mike,

We had ~90% of the 85k registered voters vote.

We have 275k people in the valley Assuming 1/3 are under 18, that leaves another 92k unregistered voters.

This valley has a tremendous amount of apathetic folks in it.
Jim Farley says:

December 10, 2009 at 6:51 pm

“80% of people with a graduate degree voted for Obama.”

This statistic is not that surprising being that those who spent the most time in colleges that lean very liberal would vote for Obama. I’d like to know how that number breaks down between those who graduated in liberal arts vs those in business and science.

Many who voted for Obama were voting for the ‘anti-Bush’. As the current polls are showing many are now regretting that vote. I’d like to see how that polling is playing out in the precincts of Northbridge now.

The only poll that will really count is the elections in November. Me thinks the conservatives will make a comeback.
Timothy Myers says:

December 10, 2009 at 6:51 pm

ND:

Your numbers are slight off. In fact one-third of the population is under 18, but the 85 number is the number of registered voters in the City proper with 160K in people and one third under 18, sooo the City residents are about 80% registered to vote. Not perfect, but not bad. If one kicks up adult expatriates the City is probably closer to 90%.

The County areas not so much. There are 16,000 more voters out of an incremental population of 115K. Kick out the kiddies and that results
in a registration rate of about 20%. No wonder Dave Bossert gets elected with 23 votes!
mike says:

December 10, 2009 at 10:46 pm

ND:

I was about to say what Tim just said. But to your hypothesis that conservatives “voted with their feet”, are you suggesting that they somehow “unregistered” to vote? hardly. This is a town that is rapidly becoming purple.
NickelDime says:

December 10, 2009 at 11:30 pm

Timmy,

So the apathetic flock to the unincorporated areas – I suppose my gut instinct relayed above is correct, but not in your ‘hood. I stand corrected.

Mike,

A sample of one election doesn’t make a pattern. I’ll be the first guy to nod my head with you at the mid terms. Don’t get too smug in the meantime, and stay away from the koolaid.

I keep a healthy distance from either party knowing we’ll all get burned if we hang around long enough.
mike says:

December 10, 2009 at 11:52 pm

ND, the pattern isn’t in the 2008 election but in the the gap in party registration in Santa Clarita, which has narrowed substantially over the last half-decade. Feel free to wish it away, but there are a lot of things at play that are moving these numbers. In short, people under 35 aren’t becoming Republicans like they used to, and people who are moving to the SCV don’t have the same motivations as people who used to move here had. Newer areas like West Ranch and Tesoro are among the valley’s most Democratic.
NickelDime says:

December 11, 2009 at 8:38 am

mike,

it’s interesting, though, again, the proof is in the pudding. it will be interesting next election to see how much the trend holds.
mike says:

December 11, 2009 at 8:53 am

Locally, we’ll just have Smyth and McKeon in 2010. Nationally, the GOP will gain a bunch of seats, it seems. After 2010 we get redistricting, which may change the game entirely. The first great SCV showdown may come if Runner wins the Board of EQ race and there is a special election to replace. Runner’s district is nearly even, much more purple than Smyth’s, for example.

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December 10, 2009 – Daily Brief

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