Sometimes it’s the little things you spot when walking along that make you stop and ponder what the authorities are telling you. That’s what SCVTalk reader Lisa realized as she saw a leaky water pipe in Stevenson Ranch and tried for two weeks -in vain- to get someone to repair it.

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Picture this: It’s 4:45 pm on a warm, lazy Saturday in Hart Park. There’s a slight breeze coming out of the north east that makes the giant oak trees sway gently in the sun-kissed afternoon. Families are everywhere. One is enjoying a picnic. The other has a father playing frisbee with his son. A young couple is reclined on their backs, enjoying paperback novels. Everyone’s having a nice time at one of the best times of the year in Santa Clarita in one of Santa Clarita’s coolest parks.

Then it happens.

A rude security guard in an SUV drives on the pedestrian path leading to the restrooms. He’s honking his horn, shouting at everyone that the park closes in 15 minutes.

Honk! Honk! “We close in 15 minutes, okay?!” he shouts, ruining everyone’s lazy Saturday afternoon.

What the hell?

Everyone is aghast at his behavior - how come he’s shouting at us on this perfect afternoon?!? Yeah we all read the sign that says the park closes at 5pm -an absurd time to close a park on a summer afternoon- we don’t need to hear you honk and shout at us.

A closer inspection of the sign reveals  as of November 2004, Hart park officially closes at 5pm, no matter that nature has created the perfect day. Some of the park guests get together to complain about the rude security guard and speculate why the park closes so early.

“I heard it’s because they are afraid of vandals to the house on the hill,” one park patron says, referring to Hart’s Museum/mansion at the top.

“I heard they close it early because the senior center asked them to,” says another.

The website for the park says it doesn’t close until sunset, but 5pm is along way from sunset at this time of the year!

Five minutes later our rude security guard is at again, honking at people, shouting that the park closes in 10 minutes, and driving off to harass other park users.

He totally ruined our peaceful afternoon and I promised my new friends at the park that I’d post here about it, so here it is. If someone from the County is reading this, could you explain why the park closes so early? Could you also train your security guards to not be so rude?