- Something wild happened at the City Council meeting last night when the Council finally approved the controversial council member for life, er increased campaign contribution limits ordinance but few media details exist. IHeartSCV has no new post, the Signal has a weird story about taking over County libraries, and KHTS has a teaser about public participants violating Roberts Rules of Order and addressing Council Member Ferry directly (procedure and decorum requires addressing the chair of the meeting, a process that Council Member Ferry has violated on several occasions himself) and an unnamed person escorted off the premises. More is promised!KHTS promises more coverage later and we need to hear from you IHeart!
- A followup to the Garnica case where we get introduced to the attorney for the family. Unfortunately, there has been so much injury here the family will sue the City since the policy limits of the driver(s) directly responsible will probably not come close to covering the costs.An interesting irony for the Garnica family. Criminal charges against the driver(s) would not necessarily be in their best financial interests since an intervening criminal act can sometimes absolve a party (like the City) of negligence. Part of the weird world of unintended consequences.
- A letter writer provides political cover for the two Hart Board member who tonight will for sure vote for the Sloan Canyon site. Will it be enough cover for the third and deciding vote? (I’ve got no preference. I just root for the Sloan Canyon site because I want to see if John Kunak’s or Dave Bossert’s head will actually explode
- And IHeart weighs in at last!
- KHTS weighs in with a detailed piece, which adds the name of founding Council member Carl Boyer to the mix and a nascent “Committee to Take Back Our City.” This is important because Carl Boyer was involved in the last successful recall campaign in the SCV. More on that tomorrow.
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The Newhall Ranch project is projecting 70,000 students generated by their project at full build out. A population of 70,000 students would indicate a need for TWO separate high schools within the Newhall Ranch project itself.
The Castaic area has several projects already approved, which will add even more students to the current numbers. The Romero Canyon site is in the geographical center of the future growth in Castaic, has the largest useable lot size, can accommodate the best location for an actual campus plant with room to expand if necessary, and has many permits already in place that would speed up the process by years. In addition, Castaic Town Council and Val Verde Civic Association and others support the Romero site. There is less neighbor resistance to Romero. If you are interested in more information there is a website http://www.castaichighschoolnow.com with maps and lots of other info about the Romero Canyon site.
Although I live in Canyon Country, millions of OUR tax dollars and bond money is available to make this campus a reality and keep a promise made to Castaic residents long ago. Some of our other Santa Clarita Valley campuses such as Valencia and West Ranch will also benefit from relieving overcrowded campus conditions, alleviating traffic congestion near those schools, and allowing our students more opportunities to participate in extracurricular activities such as football, band, without long waiting lists. Castaic needs and deserves a high school and Romero is the best option to make it happen in my lifetime.
You can’t say on one hand that the high school is needed because of Newhall Ranch and on the other hand argue that the Romero Canyon site, in north BFE, is more centrally located.
I think the projection is for approximately 20,000 units with a total population of 70,000. Not sure how many students would be generated though.
Please see above since that is not what I was saying.
I was replying to Mike.
ND, this is an important issue because one of the reasons given for NOT building a high school in Castaic is that Newhall Ranch will build a high school.
I based my numbers on the following:
http://www.cnpsci.org/html/Conservation/Newhall%20Ranch.htm
June 2003
“As you likely read in the newspapers, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to approve Newhall Land & Farming Company’s “Additional Analysis” (L.A. County Project Number 94-087) prepared by their consultants, Impact Sciences. CNPS reviewed the information and found it to be lacking/inadequate, although at least this time they owned up to actually having lost of San Fernando Valley Spineflower (Chorizanthe parryi var. fernandina). The project will consist of over 21,000 dwelling units, commercial and business uses, and lots of infrastructure (roads, pipelines, bridges, etc.) at the southeast “corner” of I-5 and SR126 (W of Magic Mountain) on the eastern end of the Santa Susana Mountains and along the Santa Clara River. The Kern County courts will now review the new document and Supervisors’ decision and determine if they are adequate, this because the “Additional Analysis” was required by the judge for a previous CEQA lawsuit.”
NLR’s own website states 20,885 homes will be built in several “villages”. At let us say to use round numbers 21,000 homes, estimates range between 60-70,000 residents. At even 60,000 residents (2.86) per residence is not an unreasonable number to extrapolate. Of those 60,000 how many do you think will be high school student age? I tried to find those statistics but was unable to locate that info.
I used Hart District current High School enrollment numbers from http://hart.schoolwisepress.com/home/
Canyon=2,585, Golden Valley= 2,025,
Hart=2,180, Saugus=2,529, Valencia=2,975, West Ranch=2,608.
Pick any number or average them out. Even using a 3,000 student number per high school campus if you have approximately 60-70,000 number total residents living in 21,000 homes I find it hard to believe only 3,000 would be High School age.
Newhall Ranch will most likely need to build at least two high schools just to educate high school age students from that development.
Hi ND.
I used the word “students” twice instead of residents inadvertently so no wonder it did not make sense. I was so focused on the numbers that I goofed up the words. Of course, you are correct 70,000 residents are very different for 70,000 students. Sorry.
I just returned for addressing the Hart Board. Romero Canyon has been selected as the site to begin the preliminary EIR process and other necessary studies to move the process forward. Barring any major unforeseen issues, there should be a Castaic High School in Romero Canyon by 2013!
PS I will be long gone before you are playing chess at the senior center!
I was appalled as I sat and watched Frank Ferry and Marsha McLean laugh as some of the speakers poured out their hearts about the campaign contribution limit.
Maybe the cameras should cover the actions of the council instead of the speakers!
Belly laugh, slight chuckle, or the particularly maddening smug smirk?
Seriously, if one is not willing to politely listen to the public even if you disagree or think they are bat crazy, one needs to bail out of elected office. Its just part of a civil society to listen to complaints as long as the speaker exhibits their own decorum.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rYfGCMORVoY
Our very own Sterling King was escorted from Chambers last night. Way to go SK. The Council voted 4-1 to increase the amount one can donate for election to $1000. I’m sure that Tim Meyers will agree with me on the following: A statistical analysis is a good indicator of how something will turn out as a whole. Statistically speaking there was a small, but certain, statistical sampling of the community at the Council meeting last night. To a man the vote was against raising the contribution limit. Not one person spoke in favor of it. Statistically speaking again that would indicate that 100% of the community is against the motion give or take 5-6% for error. What does the Council do? Just what everyone knew they would do. They ignored the people they serve. Did they ignore the people who got them elected? I guess not.
Sterling????? What did he do to invite special valet treatment?
Navigator,
According to incumbent numerical analysis if 100 people show up to complain about the limit increases than the 82,900 registered voters who did NOT show up were perfectly fine with it.
Just another reason for a moving camera.
When Frank began to berate the speakers, like saying the 22 speakers were ONLY there because DG sent an email and ask us to come, Sterling spoke up and ask why not debate the issue?
Whew, here comes the sheriff…there goes Sterling.
I am so proud of Sterling for doing what so many of us were thinking.
Some, including myself walked out in support of Sterling!
I did not get David’s email and I spoke on the limit increase so Frank is wrong again!
Ferry is an ass!
That’s incumbent (Laurie) analysis for you.
Since the City Councilmembers have voted to give themselves seats for life, it is up to the citizens of Santa Clarita to initiate a referendum on a three term limit for City Councilmembers.
Who’s with me?
Not it!!!!!
Where do I sign up!
I’m there. Tell me where to sign.
count me in, I wanted this in the first place
Tim Myers says:
July 14, 2010 at 10:53 am
“…..Seriously, if one is not willing to politely listen to the public even if you disagree or think they are bat crazy, one needs to bail out of elected office. Its just part of a civil society to listen to complaints as long as the speaker exhibits their own decorum…..”
Couldn’t agree more!! As f0r Sterling, he is always so calm and clear-headed, so this just shows how frustrated even the most courteous of people have become at being treated with so little respect from some elected representatives.
Add me to the “shocked!” column.
What went on last night was a crime. Marsha and Frank were laughing at all the speakers and then they snarled insults at them. You had to see it to believe it. Frank claims no one knew him when he first ran? Hogwash, his brothers and dad are contractors, and they got a lot of money to Frank through family connections to developers all over this state. The first time Frank ran, no one knew him because he hadn’t even lived here long, but the second time he ran, he had Newhall Land and Farming bucks added to all his family’s developer contacts, and he get lots of funds from other states, and lots from the San Fernando Valley. Most of these developer contacts would have gladly given a thousand bucks, and that is what City Council is counting on. This time, Frank felt the crunch of the economy as times are hard for the building industry. Hence, Frank’s desperat e-mail for money.
All the developer contacts will be donating much heftier sums to the INCUMBENTS now, but ONLY the incumbents will benefit from this campaign donation hike, as NONE of the developer contacts will be donating to challengers.
And they actually have the nerve to tell us this hike is to make running EASIER for the challengers? ANYONE believe Frank and Marsha and Laurene and Laurie raised the campaign donation limit to make it easier for the challengers? If that’s the case, if they are SO wanting to help challengers, why does Frank always attack Gauny and Boydston? Even last night, Frank whined about Gauny sending out an e-mail informing people about the council meeting. So Frank goes all nuts about challengers “daring” to send out an e-mail ( even though Frank sent out his own emails begging for campaign doantations!) but Frank wants to “help” challengers raise more money so challengers have a better chance at winning. And not to forget how Frank threatened David Gauny during the last election, hoping to scare David off. But now Frank is leading the charge to help the challengers! Amazing, what this City Council thinks they can get us to buy!
By the way, thanks to Frank for proving Laurie Ender did NOT run a “grass roots” campaign. Frank himself said Laurie Ender used $25,000 of her own family’s money for her campaign. Added to Frank’s illegal campaign donation of $12,000, added to G&L’s wopping $30,000, well, that means Laurie Ender didn’t get much money at all from the residents of SCV. Frank himself has used enormous amounts of his own money to keep his seat. Guess their won’t be any fancy colleges for their kids, huh? Frank has admitted himself he has raided his kids college trust fund to keep his seat, told us this right from his Council seat.
News Junkie:
The only thing that shocks me is when people are shocked when humans (including elected officials) act in their own self interests!
(By the way, Laurie Ender’s child is attending a not inexpensive private college, and the Ferry scion got a volleyball scholarship from back east, so I guess they are swinging it OK.)
Tim, I don’t think they “are swinging it OK” at all. These people are not wealthy, yet they take money from their family’s savings accounts to run for public office. So nice their kids are in private school and in college in spite of selfish parents, but I must wonder where Frank Ferry’s kid would be without a “volleyball” scholarship. The fact is, these people go to great lengths to get there, including emptying their kids college funds and using illegal means, then they treat us like crap once they do get there. But, since they have already proved how selfish they are, I guess it is silly to be shocked at how useless and crappy they are, and even though our councilmembers display a huge lack of class and intelligence on a regular basis, last night’s meeting was still shocking, I am sad to say.
Jill:
Two weeks from Monday I “celebrate” a birthday where one’s present is getting a camera shot of one’s insides, so at this point life is too short not to see the humor in all this stuff.
Smile big Timmy! Or…grin and bare it.
The best part is the prep! You’ll love that!
I’ll never drink gatorade again for the rest of my life!!!
Timmy, my guess is that you will have a great birthday!
Jill,
They make a “loan” to the campaign and depending on fundraising they can payback themselves and most times after victory they do…All you have to do is check their campaign disclosure statements to see how much that loaned themselves and how much they have paid themselves back.
I continue to be amazed that there are live, breathing (but not thinking) bodies that voted for three of these City Council members just a couple of months ago.
The lack of consideration and courtesy is apalling. But then again, anyone who shows up at a Council meeting to speak knows a bit about what is going on at these meetings and probably didn’t vote for any of the folks on the counsel but Bob. Although I must admit, I’ve voted for Weste and Marsha when there were only less desirable candidates but not this time around or ever again given that they’ve gone to the “dark side”.
NFIC:
There is a certain amount of self selection. Remember almost no one shows up at a City Council meeting from the general public to congratulate them on a job well done, and right now the people not showing up (but still interested or obsessive enough to cast ballots) amount to a 9%-7.5% plurality. (Remember the OVERWHELMING majority is 83% I don’t know/I don’t care/I’m too stupid to figure it out.)
Tim
You are probably right, but, so what!
It is a Council Members job to represent the public and City Management Staff’s job to manage the city according to the polices set by the Council. If they did not know that they would have to deal primarily with problems they chose the wrong career path.
That is easy to fix. Resign and let someone who wants and can do the job have it.
Its also a two-way street. Some of the speakers name call, ridicule, and show no courtesy to the Councilmembers. Everyone needs to be nicer.
Derrick:
You mean calling someone a mafia Don is insulting? (Actually, Ken Pulskamp would be the “consigliere,” not the Don.)
The council has earned the treatment they receive!
By tomorrow morning, I am sure there will be plenty of comments for and against the high school site selected for Castaic, if the Hart District Board does it tonight. I don’t have a dog in this hunt, but I wanted to let all of you know that the California Department of Education School Site Selection and Approval Guide, online at the website below, tells you what the State requires school districts to evaluate in picking a school site.
See: http://www.cde.ca.gov/ls/fa/sf/schoolsiteguide.asp
[Funny, one of the Foundation Board members told me he had never hear of the guide and that complying with it was Mike Otavka's problem. This from someone on the board of directors of a charity which is supposed to be "saving up" money to build school facilities in SCV.]
In addition to that State criteria, the issues of site preparation (e.g. costs of grading, soil compaction and landslide mitigation) and road/sewer/utility infrastructure construction costs for the District are supposed to be considered, and assuming that two sites meet the State’s criteria, the most cost effective school site is supposed to be selected.
However, the reality in the Hart District is that they have a history of building high schools in remote locations, as a means of giving a “freebie” to developer friends, through the District/taxpayers bearing the entire infrastructure costs even though they also benefit neighboring properties. Assuming that both proposed sites meet the State’s criteria, one group of interested parties (and their neighbors) or another will get the big infrastructure freebie. That’s the real reason for all of the intense lobbying.
There is also a California statute requiring that the Planning Commission with jurisdiction over the territory surrounding the school site pass a resolution that they find the school site chosen by the school district to be appropriate, from a land planning point of view. We never found any resolutions by the Santa Clarita or L.A. County Planning Commissions, backed up by thoughtful staff analysis, to support the location of the last three new schools built by the Hart District, so I have little expectation that law will be followed either.
The bottom line is that either school site is highly growth inducing for the rural areas of Castaic, because once all of that infrastructure for the school is built, the nearby property owners will want to capitalize on it, claiming the rural tranquility of their canyon has been destroyed by the traffic, noise and students-on-foot coming from the school. The “nearby property owners” in both cases are Santa Clarita luminaries. It’s just a question of which group will win the infrastructure freebie.
Hey Leon, when are you going to release those school site selection related documents which were delivered to you anonymously?
derrick says:
July 14, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Its also a two-way street. Some of the speakers name call, ridicule, and show no courtesy to the Councilmembers. Everyone needs to be nicer
Oh give me a break already. The speakers last night were not objectionable, and as far as Bruce McFarland is concerned, that was no big deal and Laurie Ender IS tethered to Frank Ferry with a leash, as anyone with half a brain has figured out by now. IT’S THE TRUTH that pisses these City Council members off, and the truth coming from so many people is what thet can’t stand. In case you didn’t see the Council meeting, there were people from the upper reaches of this city speaking, not people who should be treated like crap by a bunch of corrpted politicians.
If they can’t function without their giant egos being stroked, they need to get down. If they are not capable of behaving in a PRPOFESSIONAL, RESPECTFUL manner, they need to step down. It is their JOB to behave in a professional manner, and not just to the ego-strokers. As for all the family money being spent on these elections, I doubt Laurie Ender had a crystal ball, she sure didn’t know she was going to win and she was still so driven by her ego she used a considerable sum of her family’s money just to be a crooked politician in the end. Didn’t Ender promise “change?” Yes she did, so she is also a liar. The behavior from City Council last night was ugly and very unprofessional.
Elections have consequences.
Look in their eyes, their eyes tell the truth! No one is home at Mcleans, Kellar is unhappy, Ender is in over her head, Ferry is a dumb ass, and Weste, well in her case it is unclear.