- The vote on whether to annex the Tesoro Del Valle community into the City of Santa Clarita was delayed at yesterday’s Council meeting. Five members of the Tesoro HOA board showed up at the Council and said they had their own survey showing far less support for annexation, but one resident told the Council that it should proceed with the annexation based off the results of last fall’s vote. Money quote: ““Those that show up make the decisions in this country, and that’s the way it’s supposed to be.” Council will take this matter up again on October 12. SIGNAL, KHTS
- REsident of Tesoro writes impassioned plea for annexation, saying that the homeowners there are being manipulated by a developer to oppose annexation to the City. The same writer said last night that many Tesoro residents are confused and think they live in hte City of Valencia or Santa Clarita right now. SIGNAL
- Also at last night’s Council meeting, the City approved $20,000 for the creation of a community garden at Central Park. I call dibs on squash (my wife makes some awesome spaghetti squash dishes)
- Wow: the CHP cracked down on semi trucks that were trying to avoid the scales in Castaic. Among the 111 violations found on the 39 trucks that were inspected: 24 had brake problems and five had non-functioning brakes altogether. I wonder if this ‘crackdown’ is a result of all the recent semi truck crashes we’ve had recently SIGNAL
- Realtors in the SCV are sending “hang in there” notes to homeowners who may be just a bit late in paying their mortgages, and that’s upsetting some homeowners who receive the unsolicited mailings. Jackie, over at SCV Family, talked to one homeowner who said the mailing made her feel like a deadbeat. So Jackie called up the realtor and he basically said that realtors have the capacity to mine data on neighborhoods in which foreclosures are likely and that he was just a businessman trying to promote himself. Jackie felt bad for him and offered to help him craft a more sympathetic message, then he spammed her, asking her to promote a home he was trying to sell on her site. Great stuff. SCV FAMILY.COM
- The 11 year long fight between the City of Santa Clarita and the Santa Clarita athletic club over its old electronic billboard sign near I-5 and Calgrove is finally over. An appeals court ruled that the City was right. Read the whole convoluted story over at KHTS
- The LA Sheriff’s Department, LAPD and several other law enforcement agencies have launched a nationwide Community Based Information Systems database that will aggregate crime, demographic, social service referrals, school information and other data sources. WRB
- Tea Party romps and stomps its way to massive electoral upsets over moderate Republican candidates in Delaware and New York. Some commentators are saying that the only moderate Republicans left are those two female senators from Maine. NY TIMES
- Buck McKeon is mentioned as a “Young Gun Conservative” in a new book by three House Republicans. The book, by Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan and Bakersfield’s Kevin McCarthy, is aimed to lay out an agenda ahead of November’s elections. Buck McKeon is 72 and will likely become the chair of the powerful House Armed Services Committee if the Republicans take back the House this fall. BOOK REVIEW
- County passes symbolic resolution in suppot of businesses and free enterprise in LA County. Jack Kyser explains the plight of businessmen and women in LA: “The business community feels like they’ve been kind of ignored,” Kyser said. “They feel like they don’t get their phone calls returned. If any local government gets a call from a business, they need to get back to them as quickly as they can because in many cases, time is money.” SIGNAL
- With her latest $15 million donation to her own campaign, Meg Whitman has spent more than any other candidate for office in American history, a total of $119 million LA TIMES
- Great post from Robert Reich taking a big picture look at our economic woes in the context of the last 40-50 years ROBERT REICH
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Anyone else as disturbed by the precedent that is being set here by Whitman, Bloomberg, et al? Or, in general about election spending….
Whitman, for all her talk of job creation, and fixing whats broken… how much could she fix for the $120 Million she’s spent on the campaign???
Although, I’m happy to see that her overspending on the campaign has not resulted proportionally in a difference in the polls. I hope she loses, just so that it proves you can’t buy an election (although, I’m not particularly fond of Brown, either).
Totaly agree…..we have two bad candidates, oh what she could have done to create jobs with $ 120 million,what a waster of money and most of that money has gone to out of state printers, designers, and ad agencies…she is a totla phoney
Yes, I am stunned. I like the way the U.K. does it. I saw somewhere that they can not spend money on TV ads. That’s a start!
Do we call her MEGabucks, or NutMeg?
I agree, I have found Meg Whitman’s spending to be distasteful and a waste of money. It does nothing to convince me that she is wise in money management and, while I am not at all fond of Brown, I am likely voting for him. I don’t trust Meg Whitman, or her motives for winning this election. My feeling about her is that she is intoxicated by the prospect of power and the title and will spend whatever it takes to get there.
Re Realtors: Notice of Default (Pre foreclosure notice) are a matter of public record. With the changing economic situation many realtors have become ‘Certified Pre-Foreclosure Specialists’ and are making a killing in short sales…BUT, they do save homes from being foreclosed upon which does keep neighborhoods up and foreclosure stats down.
Whether the message is considered crass or not, the agents are smart to keep themselves in front of distressed homeowners as a way of helping them prevent foreclosure. Loan mod qualifications are only at around 9%, and if a home goes to foreclosure it’s a minimum of 7 years before the former homeowner can qualify for a loan under Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, as opposed to 24 months under a short sale.
However, Mr. Realtor dude, don’t spam the blogger! Now THAT’S crass!!
Agree that realtors can be helpful but explained to Mr. Realtor that sharing his experience and education would be a much better received message than calling them out and feeling sorry for them.. Making families feel like losers can send them into hiding (leading to foreclosure) because they can’t even cope, never mind ask for help b
People are always shocked by how much information is in the public record. The only reason it remains suppressed is that people just don’t bother to look!
I agree that it is all in the message. Obviously there is a level of tact that should be applied to marketing pieces such as this. Although by the time a Notice of Default has been filed by the lender, it might be wise for the homeowner to get over their sensitivities long enough to get help for their situation. Maybe because I narrowly avoided my own foreclosure due to circumstances beyond my control I feel it is best for anyone facing that same situation to get help first, then complain about the approach later.
Might I add that what was TRULY crass were the moving companies that cold-called my cell phone once my NOD was posted. Talk about awkward…
@Jeff, a footnote to the 11 year long fight between the City of Santa Clarita and the Santa Clarita Athletic Club over its old electronic billboard sign near I-5 and Calgrove.
I was one of the residents that worked hard negotiating a compromise with the owner of the Santa Clarita Athletic Club. They also had a Canyon Country facility at the time. The Canadian owner was a grumpy old man who felt he did not have to comply with any rules and regulations he did not agree with and refused to do anything to change the size of his huge sign. He fired his own son as the local Club Director because after working with us over a period of several months his son agreed to a reasonable compromise to change the sign. The old man was over the top unreasonable. It was actually much longer than 11 years when you factor in the amortization period of the ordinance.
In my opinion, the City was absolutely correct to go in and take down the sign after exhaustive attempts over many years to arrive at a reasonable compromise were unsuccessful. The courts appropriately sided with the City when he sued.
It’s just a sign Berta! I have worked in the health club industry and it’s tough to compete with corporate giants like LA fitness and 24 hour fitness.
I mean, maybe us residents should complain about all of the Valencia Auto Dealership signs or the Awesometown signs that are all over the valley!
Scott:
Ironically, the sign in question was left over from when the location was an auto dealership!
Scott, this is just part of the continuing irony of suburban life in 2010. The same people who extol the virtues of the Tea Party and libertarianism will flog for sign ordinances that outlaw the large signs that frighten white people not directly involved in some retail business.
A lesson in social anthropology: If you want an exhaustive list of what really frightens white baby boomers look at the articulated CCR’s in a homeowners’ association!
You hit it righ on the head Tim! I have read the ccr’s of my hoa and what a crock! My neighborhood is patrolled by these creepy, old, baby boomer witches that have nothing better to do than walk around all day taking pictures of umbrellas and barbecue covers. Thank God I’m just renting… I mean, I’m not even allowed to drink a beer at my neighborhood pool!
Too bad there’s not a lot of options for buying a home that’s not in an HOA around scv.
@Scott, we have plenty of homes for sale in my tract of North Oaks in Canyon Country and we do not have any CC&rs.
I however would appreciate it if you would not consider relocating to my hood as we already have plenty of inconsiderate smart mouth folks living here. Thanks.
And maybe because that building was no longer in “the club” of auto row that runs City Hall (along with big developers), that is why they became a target of City “enfarcement.”
Awsome bit of hypocrisy for the City to go after his sign, then construc their own, larger and brighter, just a mile or so up the I-5 to advertise the “special people” businesses of the mall and Auto Row.
Shameless.
I can’t go so far as to call it hypocrisy. The sign that exists now is not visible by anyone any more than a couple hundred yards away. I don’t think a single private residence can see that sign.
I remember that sign being able to be seen for at least half a mile around.
A major exception was made to the sign ordinance to allow for this sign. It’s hypocritical in that it’s allowing certain businesses to do something that others can’t. It happens to suffer from very poor execution, so I doubt it’s very effective, certainly not enough to justify the exception.
What also irks me is that an exception was written into the law itself for these huge “Valencia” signs that dot corners around Valencia, pointing to new home developments. It isn’t uncommon to see these signs pointing entirely to destinations outside city limits.
All that said, the SCAC sign was an eyesore, and a complete violation of the ordinance. It was in disrepair and they sold a lot of space on the sign to other businesses. It was more a moneymaker in and of itself than an advertising vehicle for the club.
An unreasonable Canadian? He has to be the only one!
I’m with BGH here.
@mike thanks.
The Vice-President (the son) negotiated in good faith with us and the final agreement was to have been: The Santa Clarita Athletic Club cuts down the height of the existing Calgrove facility sign, we (the City) allow greater mass than permitted so they can keep that sign until is eventually replaced years down the road due to wear, and they agree to fix burned out lights in sign within 48 hours (months elapsed before replaced at both locations). They were also to paint rusty sign and post and maintain the sign and landscape the dirt clod at the base with flowers or other greenery and maintain that too. A total expenditure based on their own estimates of around $2,000-5,000. Dad said no, fired his son, and it costs him many thousands more to do it his way and the sign came down altogether.
Yes, the old man was an obstinate, unreasonable Canadian.
What does him being Canadian have anything to do with this?
@Nate, to illustrate that anyone can be a jerk and because this particular person felt that because he was a Canadian citizen, with a business here, he should not have to follow our laws! Ridiculous…
The reason for the Canadian reference was obvious in the original post. Nate wants make an issue of this because he is a victim of discrimination: he was born a twit.
Dear Internet Tough guy,
Might want to get that keyboard fixed before it gets you into trouble.
love,
DI
Greg… FYI: Dame Genie is way beyond a twit! He (he-she) has no grasp of reality. Thought you should know.
Once again your grasp on conservative principles confuses me. Isn’t it generally the conservatives position to stay out of the business of business? Tim & Scott had a point, which you made no long winded response.
What is called “conservative” today is all over the place in terms of principles.
I personally would like the sign removed if it is an eye sore…
I don’t see what him being canadian has to do with the issue. It seems focus heavily on people ethnicity.
@DamageInc:
It is a “man bites dog” thing. Canadians are almost always thought to be reasonable!
I agree with Scott on this one; my first thought went to the large (‘electronic billboard’) sign off I-5. The city doesn’t seem to have a problem with that one. Hmmm, could it be because it advertises for the auto dealerships? Why can one advertise that way, but not the other?
Because the City is a whore to sales tax revenue!
One has to wonder if that sign would still be up today if the Nissan and GMC dealers were still at Calgrove.
I agree Ivogel, but as long as it pisses off Dave Bosshart, I’m good.
Agreed.
Anyone else find it kind of ironic that five citizens from Tesoro against annexation show up a council meeting and they postpone the vote, yet hundreds show up against taking over the libraries and the council votes any way?
Exactly.
@Berta, as we discussed previously, it’s a forgone conclusion – and unfortunately, not in the right direction.
I found it quite interesting that as soon as reference to potential annexation of homes and land in the Tesoro del Valle area appeared in the newspaper, comments were posted by someone clearly aligned with Montalvo Properties (allegedly owned by the Farmer John family) appeared online, attacking the annexation.
Once again, SCV is seeing developers peddling b.s. This time about the “detriments” of annexation. When the homes were sold, about their being in the City of Santa Clarita. I know about the later misrepresentations because now Mayor Weste went to the sales office with a small delegation from the Board of Realtors, and the stupid salesman for the developer gave a wonderful sales pitch about the jobs of living in the City of Santa Clarita. That’s when Ms. Weste dropped the bomb on him, and told him his project was in the County not the City. The salesman continued to argue with the ladies, tellling them they were wrong. I guess there’s no fixing stupid.
Just a funny story, but the point to be made is that it doesn’t matter how much people pay for their houses, the majority are uninformed and gullible. Perhaps the City should do a mailer to all of the affected homeowners explaining what’s going on, in language understandable by a 6th Grader.
And, as an additional matter of humor to some of us, the developer putting up the big fuss doesn’t even have water rights to develop more of its project. But that’s another story.