- Group alleges Brown Act violation against City of Santa Clarita, saying unspecified members of the Council met and decided before the August 24th Council meeting in which the City Council voted to privatize the operation of the libraries. The letter, signed by about 10 individuals, doesn’t say who is alleged to have met, nor does it say when the meeting took place. The group says it will give the City 30 days to respond and/or vacate its decision then it may sue. SIGNAL
- The City of Stockton is also considering outsouring its library operations to LSSI, but they’re holding public meetings and hiring a consulting company to help them through LSSI’s contract. Some observers in Stockton say they don’t see how LSSI can maintain high quality and enjoy profits at the same time. There’s also detail on what Stockton LSSI library workers would be paid, compared to their public sector salaries LIBRARY JOURNAL
- A quiet, quick City Council meeting sees the hiring of a company to handle parking tickets in the City of Santa Clarita, continuing questions about the library takeover, annexation matters, and Frank Ferry’s opinion on the marijuana initiative. I HEART SCV, KHTS
- The trial of accused murderer Michael Dean Stephens will begin today. Stephens is accused of stabbing then running over Joshua Pipho, a then 20 year old former Canyon High baseball player, at a Stevenson Ranch party in 2007. Jonathan Randles talked to Pipho’s mother, who has since moved away from the SCV and can’t find peace SIGNAL
- New Yorker blog post on Benjamin Franklin and the founding of the public library system in Philadelphia. The post mentions the controversy over library privatization and Santa Clarita NEW YORKER
- Santa Clarita suffers second unhealthy air quality day in a row. It’s either the 103rd such day this year in the City or in the County. Jonathan Randles talks to AQMD about what causes the pollution SIGNAL
- Awesome: A Canyon Country woman rescued a turtle from certain crushing death on Live Oak Springs road. The best part? She named it Jeff and is searching for its owner KHTS
- COC’s Small Business Development Center, part of COC’s Economic Development office, is the “connective tissue” connecting small business and education SIGNAL
- There’s a brief slideshow of the “Box City” homeless advocacy event that took place last weekend in Valencia LA EXAMINER
- A “blustery and vigorous” first debate between Meg Whitman and Jerry Brown, with Whitman accusing Brown of being a stooge for the Unions and Brown saying Whitman was trying to buy her way into office. Sadly I missed the debate LA TIMES
- The Times’ Steve Lopez sees the race this way: “Brown has run for everything; Whitman has seldom voted. Whitman said Brown would be a labor dupe as governor, and union bosses would end up flocking to Sacramento with IOUs; Brown said Whitman, the former EBay chief who had spent $119 million of her own money on the campaign, would lead cheers for big business and dole out nifty tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires like herself.” LA TIMES
- Buck McKeon signs onto a bill condemning whoever stole that controversial cross in the Mojave Desert and urging federal officials to allow a veteran’s group to place a new one on the site VICTORVILLE PRESS
- With 100% victory assured, one wonders why the anonymous people behind the Stop Buck blog even bother. But they do: they now have a defeat Buck fight song. Points for creativity STOP BUCK BLOG
- And Governor Schwarzenegger has signed a bill authored by Assemblyman Cam Smyth that would consolidate the state of California’s IT resources NEWSWIRE
- Three more food trucks profiled by Awesometown Blog. You gotta love these names: Great Balls on Tire, The Tapa Boy, and Munchie Machine. October 16. Be there or be hungry AWESOMETOWN
- Who saysy ou can’t find Art house cinema in the SCV? COC shows them every week on Friday nights. COUGAR NEWS
- Great Gary Horton column on human empathy and interconnectedness and America’s recent spasms of selfishness and dislike of others SIGNAL
@SCVTweets onTwitter
- Bike to Work Day
http://t.co/jWAkeDfm2012/05/17 16:01 - Excellent! RT @Petz2: Cadet Petzold
http://t.co/mfXxCymI2012/05/16 12:31 - It's an embarrassment of riches. As of today, 4 the 2nd time ever, there are 2 actual barbecue spots in SCV: @longhornsbbq and @Lucilles_BBQ2012/05/16 10:27
- Over the months, we've reached out to @Lucilles_BBQ several times to talk BBQ and got the cold [pork] shoulder. But still, we welcome real Q2012/05/16 10:17
- If you love substance like we do, Jeff has a great interview with @LeeCRogers.
http://t.co/sJj9FNvc2012/05/10 09:04 - Tone of the meeting: BK and FF playing dads to TBB rebellious teenager. LW and MM the aunts who don't see why you need to dress like that.2012/05/08 23:39
- Bike to Work Day
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Tell the lady that found the turtle that if no one comes forward she can contact the Calif. Turtle and Tortoise Club for adoption.
Or release it back into the wild from where it more than likely came.
Always so sure of yourself, aren’t you?
The turtle in question is asemi-aquatic turtle, native to the southeast. Not a SoCal species.
Tell the lady to release the turtle at the Bridgeport lake. This will give the homeowners another pressing issue to manage.
Mike,
I am fairly confident:
http://www.californiaherps.com/turtles/pages/t.s.elegans.html
Funny, I don’t see Santa Clarita on that map.
You do see southern california, right? That’s what the red means on the map. Four of the pictures specifically name Los Angeles, California.
Yes, Los Angeles, the city by the sea.
Are you like this with everyone?
Just admit you were wrong.
But I am not wrong. To be more specific, those pictures say Los Angeles County.
The last time I checked, awesome town is in LA County.
Instead of attempting to one up me, you may do well to actually read the website I linked.
It explains rather well the whole red slider turtle situation and their habitat.
You are impossible.
He’s only trying to lead you to the lord, Mike.
So I take it you deny the accuracy of that official website?
Okay.
There is absolutely nothing to substainiate the claim that the turtle “more than likely” came from the wild, much less that these turtles live in the wild in Santa Clarita at all.
Los Angeles is so small after all… why wouldn’t a turtle live in the high desert. I bet they run around and play with the antelopes in Lancaster and Palmdale
I love that you guys are getting into a debate about a turtle named Jeff.
turtles are serious business.
The Japanese restaurant in SR and Crista carwash both have a collection of these turtles (they all look like turtles to me.)
Three years on for the Pipho case before going to trial is just astounding, especially since Stephens has been in custody the whole time. I still wonder if the defendant will try some type of mitigation defense. Josh Pipho, according to reports, engaged in amateur backyard mixed martial arts fights that were put on Youtube. Reports that night said that he had an altercation with the defendant and others over the alleged vandalization of a pickup truck before the homicide. Will Stephens assert some type of twisted self-defense mitigation that he thought he would not be safe until Pipho was dead?
For legal junkies Stephens cannot assert the positive defense of self defense since there is no evidence that he was in imminent danger. The facts as currently articulated state that he left and came back later to accomplish the homicide.
Running him over, erased any legit self-defense
Coastal Sage, we need you to weigh in on the legal efficacy of the threatened legal action. It would seem that the Council could cure any Brown Act violation by having the three public hearings, looking bored throughout, and then voting the same way anyway.
Plus the fact that they only got ten residents to sign this letter must mean that people are at bottom more apathetic than even I thought. They couldn’t even muster 20, the amount required to get a recall petition going.
Timmy,
If I remember correctly the rush to vote on this was based upon a deadline or an annual opt out window…meaning the city would have to wait for a period of time, for the window to open again and give notice of its intent to opt out of the county system and couldn’t give control to LSSI until mid 2012
No Tim, they did not circulate it to get many signatures, they only wanted the ten. Or shall I “go Ender” on you and assert that all those who didn’t sign must necessarily have meant to support it?! (okay, cheap shot!)
Serial meetings are prohibited. The City hanging its defense on having a subcommittte of two is irrelevant and ducks the question.
Does anyone seriously think the City entered this deal with an open mind and in consideration of what the public wants? Really?
Only one voter or property owner’s signature is required to file a Complaint with the D.A. over a Brown Act violation. It doesn’t have to be a “petition” with many names. The letter is largely a formality before a Brown Act lawsuit gets filed.
If the D.A. doesn’t want to bother to act, and he probably won’t since he’s running for the Attorney General, a lawsuit can be filed.
There is a lot of political blood shed going on in the Bay Area right now concerning multiple City Councils violating that law. Fortunately for the potential plaintiffs, a lot of hot shot Bay Area attorneys have already done the legal research.
The good ole boy nework and your city staff and appointed officals……. Remember, taxpayers foot the bill that leads to business hand outs!!!
Board of DirectorsStrategic PlanJoin Our Mailing ListCareer OpportunitiesContact Us Board of Directors
SANTA CLARITA VALLEY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Bill Kennedy – Director and Chairman / CEO; Executive Committee Member
Principal, Wingspan Business Consulting AKA your planning commissioner
John Shaffery – Director and President; Executive Committee Member
Managing Partner, Poole & Shaffery, LLP
Don Fleming – Director and Vice President; Executive Committee Member
Owner, Valencia Acura
Calvin Hedman – Director and CFO; Executive Committee Member
President, Hedman Partners
Dr. Dianne Van Hook – Director and Secretary; Executive Committee Member
Chancellor, College of the Canyons
Larry Rasmussen – Director; Executive Committee Member
Owner, Spirit Holdings
Ken Pulskamp – Director; Executive Committee Member AKA your City manager
Manager, City of Santa Clarita
Rosalind Wayman – Director; Executive Committee Member
Senior Deputy, Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich
Bill Sloan – Director; Executive Committee Member
Regional Manager, California United Bank
Ian Lamont – Director; Executive Committee Member
Publisher, The Signal
Greg McWilliams – Director; Executive Committee Member
President, Newhall Land
Roger Seaver – Director; Executive Committee Member
CEO / President, Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital
Tim Burkhart – Director: Executive Committee Member
General Manager, Six Flags Magic Mountain AKA your planning commissioner
Arthur Sohikian – Director
President, AVS Consulting
Kerry Carmody – Director
COO, Providence Health & Services
Laurel Shockley – Director
Project Manager, Southern California Edison
Casey Kirkman – Director
President, AQMS Mayflower
Adam Gilbert – Director
Director of Corporate Real Estate, Disney CORE Services
Matt Reeser – Director
Broker, Century 21 Real Estate
Chris Chase – Director
President, Triple C Electric Inc.
Rick Robb
General Manager, Valencia Travel Village
Thomas Dudley
President / CEO, Liberty Building Maintenance & Services, Inc.
@Cash – You neglected to mention that John Shaffrey is also the Chair of the Chamber of Commerce. Why would you want someone on the EDC that is not friendly to the business community?
I did not neglect yo mention the linkage to the Chamber, that is another subject. This overarching issue is that local government seems to have lost sight of an appropriate balance for supporting business and the taxpayers. Having Palskamp, Kennedy and Burkhart on the board, and expect that they maintain an unbiased position when addressing public policy and business/developer activity, is a bit of a stretch.
Just last night the City staff introduced a proposal to restrict were car dealers can locate within the city. Not necessarily a bad proposal, but given the political influence that exist within the GOBN, one could question what is driving the plan to restrict. The issue did not surface until competition was discovered to be looking at our valley.
Isn’t it a bit troubling that 2 of the members are also on the Planning Commission.? Who is watching the store?
NFIC:
No need to watch anything because the likelihood of this expansive board ever mustering a quorum to take any action is slim to none.
The issue is not the board as much as the influence it will have on our planning commission, council, and city manager. There is a conflict of interest and a decent code of ethics could correct.
Please don’t make me dumb down so that we can communicate. You know how this city and the GOLBN works.
Read the strategic plan and you will see that this group has agreed to push for more density and taller buildings. Watch what Kennedy and Burkhart do the next time a developer wants to ask for a height variance. What we have here is a city of Bell kind of government, that manuvers under the radar screen.
cash:
Take heart that with 22 members of the Board and 13 members of the executive committee they are not really serious about getting anything done. How are they even going to muster a quorum on a regular basis?
Good point!
navigator:
This reminds me of another local organization where there was a large board and so that fact ended up meaning that the Executive Director ran the organization for good or ill.
So we let this bunch run around loose and hope they don’t do anything? I guess I just don’t understand politics.
Let’s put it this way. If there is venal intent afoot, by having this expansive board that is never going to be able to muster a quorum, they are going about their theft in a most inefficient and ineffective manner!
What really scares me is that makes sense!
They have an executive director. The board simply oversees the process.
That’s certainly an unwieldy number of Directors. Will they have trouble doing business if less than the majority show up at each Board meeting? Who will really show up and vote on a regular basis?
http://www.scvedc.org/upload/SCVEDC_Strategic_Plan.pdf
■COC’s Small Business Development Center
Is the a free service to business? Is this another way for the gobn to have the taxpayers fund business. See the potential linkage above.
Any rightwingers principled enough to condemn Neo-Con golden boy James O’Queefe’s behavior?
?… Some Many things wrong here
O’Keefe is just sexually frustrated because all the young Repub ladies have taken purity pledges.*
*At least they tell HIM they have taken purity pledges.
I guess. If leftwingers are principled enough to condemn similar antics from goof balls like Michael Moore.
Fred:
Did Michael Moore hack into a Senator’s phone lines or try to lure a (female) CNN reporter onto a boat with sex toys? When O’Keefe was dressed up as the white suburban boy’s version of a pimp I thought that was way cool, similar to the ambush tactics to Michael Moore (if you are involved in public advocacy or a public figure you gots to be ready to deal with that) but this sex toy thing has now cross the line into creepy.
Anything specific or you just pulling one out of your veggietale underoos again?
You guess? Jesus is frowning, Fred.
Jesus is not a fan of dildos or telling the truth, just ask Christina O’Donnell.
Where is Berta when I need her? I know she won’t wimp out and pull punches.
Call it Berta is this guy a scum bag or what?
Berta is getting her hair straightened. This may take a few…… (<:)
@Cash not a chance. What would you guys have to talk about if I changed my hair?
Why mess with perfection?
@Hi Nate nice to be missed. From what I have read about “Neo-Con golden boy James O’Queefe’s behavior”, the guy is a scumbag. I only wish he had pulled his crap on this blonde-haired reporter and she happened to be an armed expert markswoman who in self-defense turned him “from a rooster to a hen” to quote Dolly Parton in “9 to 5”.
She would have punked the punk….
HAHA! Nice! Berta calls a spade a spade.
Berta has her opinions, but she calls it pretty straight.
@Nate and mike wow guys I am feeling the love today, thanks!
I am busy all afternoon but I will check in later for more information on all the hot topics. Have a great Wednesday…
PS I do not consider myself a “right winger” and I just received my absentee ballot in the mail!
I do not consider you a right winger either, I read some of your posts the past few weeks and I do believe you are a more a big tent Reaganese moderate.
@ Nate I think you mean that as a compliment but I am not sure it fits me. While I do consider myself a moderate (not extreme in either direction), and I respect many things Ronald Reagan accomplished and stood for, I do not consider myself a Republican.
I am a lifelong registered Democrat but agree less and less with the Democrats. I am not a fan of Jerry Brown but I don’t trust Whitman either so what is a girl to do?
I am only waiting for the November election to be over to change to Decline to State status because to be really honest, I am sick of both parties. Neither is listening to us and putting aside their personal egos and agendas to do what is in the best interest of the American people.
Dare I say Nate we are actually getting along. If we can, so can Congress and the Senate to get something done to get this country moving in the right direction again.
Pay no attention to john adams snippy remarks.
I would like to know who is working the strings on this puppet?
Can the council members involved in violating the Brown act do prison time? Just asking.
Prison time for violating an open meeting law? Let’s have some sense of proportionality here, or have we become North Korea where they penalty for everything is death!
OK, just asking. We’ll just have to find another way to send them all to prison. Hmmmm, the death penalty. Have to think about that one.
You might think about voting for their (serious) opponents in the next election!
True, but I like the prison idea better. Ferry and Kellar want to put me in prison for smoking a little grass. I want to put them in prison for selling out our libraries. How’s that for a sense of proportionality?
It probably would not hurt for those two to spark it up. Might take the edge off!
Ferry might get the mad munchies – not a good thing.
Probably not for just violating the Brown act, but council members that use their office to benefit personally most likely can. Violation of the Brown Act could be a secondary issue in that case.
Statements made at the Council meeting last night seemed more interesting to me. Speaker gave the opening and closing dates for the RFP which were in August and then stated that there was a June date on LSSI’s proposal – hmmmmmmm……………..
It’s a misdemeanor
The worst punishment I’ve seen is a slap on the wrist and a mandatory Brown Act seminar.
The more acute punishment would be making them attend more council meetings, and turn off the Wi Fi!
On “Buck Stops Now”
I gots meet these people and visit their unicorn preserve!
I just listened to the Boxer and the Greyhound debate online. The Boxer is not going to out run the Greyhound. Listening to Boxer bark reminds me of just how dumb she can be. Please call the Boxer, Senator, she does not like to be called ma am.
Santa Clarita suffers second unhealthy air quality day in a row. It’s either the 103rd such day this year in the City or in the County……..another dirty secret about Awesometown….some of the worst air in the USA.
Yes, but luckily through natural selection our grandchildren will be able to breath methane through their skin!
Frank: it’s the 103rd such day in the County. We have some horrible air quality, but so do all the other valleys.
I am a 30 year SCV resident, Awesometown use to be, afforable housing, great schools, low crime, no traffic and you guessed it clean air, my perception is that SCV residents need no longer fear LA…..it came to us.
Speaking of methane and children, did you know there a couple of large natural gas pipelines that parallel McGrath school.
And one near Golden Valley High School.
Yes there too. What were the decision makers thinking when they apporved the sites? There is one less than a ridge line away from west ranch high school as well.
Cam and I spent 18 months trying to get the school sites farther away from the high pressure pipelines. The Hart District hired a lawyer/lobbyist whose girlfriend was the #2 person at CalEPA, which is the home of California Department of Toxics Substances Control, which is supposed to vet school sites on safety issues. You can see who won that fight.
DTSC’s policy is that they don’t care what is AROUND a school site in terms of risks. They only care what is ON the school site. They are politically motivated and morally bankrupt, at the very least.
The school administrator need to have emergency incident plans in place, the problem however, is that they may not even know the lines exist.
The school districts may not want to prepare evacuation plans because they may not want to admit they made unsafe choices as to school sites. Principals have to think up a plan on their own, quietly brief a few key people, and then hope for the best.
The parents at McGrath should be informed about the “three” location of the pipelines. The lines are hard to miss, as the signs are adjacent to the entrance to the school. The signs a printed in english and the majority of students at McGrath are Mexican, bringing to question their parents ability to read the signs. It is unthinkable that the school does not have an emergency plan in place.
That’s two high pressure natural gas main pipelines Tim. They’re said to be 24″ and 30″ diameter in documents from 2000 or 30″ plus 30″ according to The Signal’s recent article.
The existence of two high pressure natural gas main pipelines in immediate proximity doubles the explosive power when one goes boom for whatever reason. As anyone can see from the San Bruno photos, the blast hole shows a very powerful explosion, which would easily rip open a second pipeline.
National standards of the thickness of these pipelines are ridiculously small. Less than 1″. Even less as they start to corrode.
The “new” state regulation is that school SITES (not buildings) need to be 1500′ feet away from high pressure oil or natural gas main pipelines. Too bad it wasn’t in effect when SCV’s newest schools were built.
Sorry to hear there are high pressure pipelines near McGrath Elementary. Perhaps Larry and the Newhall District would have had the money to move the pipelines if Larry’s silent partners did not need to be paid.
Then there’s heaven knows what near Valencia High School, since Bob Lee once angrily told me that the Valencia site where my son went to school was far more dangerous than the risks at the Golden Valley site.
And then there’s that old high pressure pipeline near West Ranch High School which supposedly was never moved and replaced, despite Hart District promised the State they would do.
That is reminiscent of Carson-Gore Elementary in LA, where LAUSD promised to remove chemically contaminated soil before building the school, but didn’t. During the week before the school opened this year, LAUSD was digging up and removing all soil on that school site, to a depth of 40′. However, LAUSD had no way to dig the contaminated dirt out from under the school buildings. Then during the concerned parents group’s press conference the week before school started, the oil well right next door to Carson-Gore belched and gassed the moms and the reporters with airborne acids, making them ill.
Your government and tax dollars at work.
That last fiasco reminds me that airborne contaminants are coming out of the oil field waste injection well next to Golden Valley, let alone the 2 or 3 new oil wells which were to be drilled on oil well pads built at the Hart District’s expense.
Your local bond assessment dollars at work.
At least there are no major gas lines that are located at the Bermite property where according to the cleanup info there are things there that can go “boom”.
Sorry to hear there are high pressure pipelines near McGrath Elementary. Perhaps Larry and the Newhall District would have had the money to move the pipelines if Larry’s silent partners did not need to be paid.
Rasmussen and Wrage know how to move dirt, but they know nothing about pipeline safety.
Thank God finally the trial for monster Michael Stephens will begin. Hopefully he will get exactly what he deserves for the horrific murder of the beautiful Josh Pipho. No-one deserves to die the way he did by that monster. Josh may you be at peace watching over all your loved ones, and may Mr. Stephens rot.