Built as promised….you know I risked getting a stern talking to by the teenaged bicycling security guard for taking this picture.

•  Murder hearing delayed: Michael Dean Stephens, 19, allegedly ran over and stabbed a 20 year old named Josh Pipho to death last November in a Stevenson Ranch condo complex, but it looks like a trial date will be delayed, according to the Signal. A preliminary hearing was pushed off on Tuesday. Stephens is still being held at Men’s Central Jail -pretty much the worst jail in the country- in lieu of $1.5 million bail. Link
• 21 Year old Man falls from 4th floor of parking garage: The unnamed 21 year old man was “trying to slide down the handrail of the structure stairwell when he fell” some 40 feet. He suffered unspecified “serious injuries”and is being treated at Henry Mayo. Darwin award
• Mike Day blows away competition, advances to Olympic BMX Finals: The 23 year old Valencia High graduate blew past the competition and placed first in theBMX semifinals on Wednesday, telling VeloNews that the race “seemed effortless.” The finals competition will be on Thursday.
• SCV Economic News: Unemployment bumped up a half percent in Santa Clarita to 4.9 percent in July, a full point above what the number was in May, the Signal reports. California’s unemployment rate rose to around 7.25%, the highest in 12 years and the fourth highest in the nation. Meanwhile, the LA Business Journal reports that Santa Clarita had the fifth highest number of pre-foreclosures in LA County in July (334 total), behind Los Angeles (2,443 filings),Lancaster (951), Palmdale (934), and Long Beach (591).
• Runner sends Elsmere/Rim of the Valley legislation to Governor: Elsemere Canyon is one step closer to becoming a part of the Rim of the Valley Corridor after Senator George Runner got a bill through that “allows the owners of land in Elsmere Canyon to seek inclusion within the boundaries of the Rim of the Valley Trail corridor.” The corridor is a federal designation and includes huge tracts of undeveloped open space land west of Santa Clarita. The Times reports that the bill, if signed (and Schwarzenegger isn’t signing legislation right now) would allow the Santa Monica Mountains conservancy to make improvements to trails, fire roads and other parts ofthe land. Runner carried the bill on behalf of the City of Santa Clarita. Link
• County wants more Deputies to work on illegal immigrant jail cases: The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors last week requested that more Sheriff’s Deputies interview suspected illegal immigrants in county jails in order to kick off deportation proceedings. Deputies undergo training with the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement department and interviews are conducted on the day of the inmate’s release. Since it was implemented, some 11,000 county inmates have been recommended for deportation. Whittier Daily News
• Schwarzenegger tells legislators not to attend National party conventions: “I recommend everyone to stay here until we have a budget and not for anyone to leave,” Governor Schwarzenegger said on Tuesday in reference to the stalled budget negotiations in Sacramento and the Democratic and Republican national conventions, which kick off next week. Why does this matter? Well, our Assemblyman, Cameron Smyth, is an official California Republican delegate at the convention, meaning if he obeys the Governor, he won’t get to wear the cool GOP hat and cast his vote for John McCain in Minneapolis come September 1. Bummer. SacBee
• Local Astronomy club gets national recognition: Local Group SCV got props from no less an astro authority than Sky & Telescope for its June 2008 Astronomy Day activities, which the magazine reports was organized and led by a 13 year old kid. They even linked to my cheesy YouTube video from 2007 which I made for the group. As the astro guys say, “Dark skies!”
• More on Placerita Canyon: Ben Curtis, the P-Canyon homeowner who filed that FPPC complaint against Councilwoman Laurene Weste last week, stopped into this blog yesterday to share more of his reasons for his filing. “Laurene Weste is one of our neighbors, and a long time friend of Val Thomas and I. Our complaint was filed so as to force her and others at City Hall to understand that planning issues are required to be decided on a fair basis without conflicts of interest. We are hoping that Ms. Weste understands that she is, without question, conflicted on this issue, and will totally and completely recuse herself from any and all activity surrounding it.” Link
• LA Times Column One: “Paparazzi of Pain” The Times has an interesting story in today’s paper on twin brothers from Britain who monitor police scanners and race through the streets of LA in order to film “police pursuits, shootouts, terrible car accidents or good sized fires.” The brothers then sell the footage to news stations. Link
• John Boston on “Confessions of a Soledad Road Hog:” The former Signal columnist doesn’t write about Santa Clarita much anymore on his website, the Boston Report.net, but he posted a real gem on Tuesday about how he’s intentionally aggravated other drivers on Santa Clarita streets. “Years ago, I was at the north intersection of Orchard Village Road in my hometown of Santa Enchirito. I was about to make a left onto Lyons Avenue. The left arrow turned green and I’m not kidding you, the nanosecond — the NANOSECOND — it lit up, this big fat lady behind me was standing on her horn. I quickly glanced in my rear view mirror and you know what? Her lips were pursed in frustration. At me. Sweet, decent me. How rude.” Good read
• New crime beat reporter at The Signal: It appears the Signal has hired a new crime beat reporter to replace Parimal Rohit. He is Brian Charles, and as you might suspect with a name like that, I’m having trouble finding out where he came from or if he has any newspaper experience, though I did see the same name attached to a story in the Big Bear Grizzly newspaper. Anyway, from the two brief stories in today’s Signal (the murder trial delay and the guy who fell from the garage), Charles looks like he can put together a fine lede and story, as brief as they are. Here’s hoping the addition of Charles leads to some fine crime reporting in our one and only, sad and lonely SCV newspaper.
• And finally…. Epic Failure 

A picture during the fires of October 2007

• Brothers re-arrested in 2006 Murder case: Brothers Christopher and Ralph Rosas were arrested way back in March 2006 following the stabbing murder of Louis Campanelli, a Canyon Country bar owner, but were released shortly thereafter for lack of evidence. But on Friday, Detectives re-arrested the pair  and arraigned on charges of first degree murder on Monday. Jim Holt has a detailed report.
• Home sales in So Cal jump 13.8% in July: The LA Times says “fire sales” boosted home purchases in Southern California last month, though experts say home sale prices will still take “months to hit bottom.” What’s more, the median home price in SoCal fell some 31% year over year in July from $505,000 to $348,000. Not sure on the stats for Santa Clarita yet, that report typically isn’t released until late in the month, but I have a friend who just bought a house in Canyon Country (on an 8,000 sq. ft. lot no less) for $178,000. Link Meanwhile, the Economist has a report that says the maturing of Option ARMs is the next “ticking time bomb” in American real estate.
• More on opposition to Hart Ballot Measure SA: First it was the Signal’s Sunday editorial on Hart’s proposed $300 million ballot iniatitive that would go towards modernizing schools and perhaps building a high school in Castaic; now KHTS has an article on the 2001 Measure V parent’s group that’s formed to oppose the current measure. KHTS reporter Jon Dell mentioned the group’s objections to Measure SA and got Superintendent Castellanos to speak on the record about the criticism. Castellanos seems to brush off the group’s concerns in the report,even going so far as to say that Measure V funds “were never used for district salaries.” That’s not the whole story, however; in October 2007, auditors found that the Hart District “lacks documented proof that Measure V funds were not inappropriately used” on vehicles and district salaries. KHTS story Also, Dave Bossert has what looks like a new press release from the parent’s group.
  
• Part 2 of Mentryville story: The debate about whether pepper trees are “historical” and ought to be preserved even if they are dying continues today in Part 2 of Jim Holt’s series on Mentryville.
  
• LA MTA details commuting patterns: The Times Bottleneck blog says the LA MTA is trying to defend its half cent transit sales tax by showing that commuting, traffic infrastructure and driving patterns are regional issues, rather than only Los Angeles issues and that the sales tax hike will help everyone in the LA area. That’s probably to counter Supervisor Antonovich’s claims. In any event, the MTA released a series of interesting slides that show traffic, commute, and job density patterns. One slide shows what MTA thinks will be commuting patterns in 2030- it says 49% of North County residents will still leave their “subregion” to commute to work. Link
• Hero of the week: Two thieves attempted the distract/purse snatch crime in a local grocery store on an 81 year old woman, but the woman was so sharp she warded them off and alerted store management. She then read the Signal story last week about the purse snatch crimes and “put two and two together.” Here’s the woman describing how the wanna-be thieves tried to separate her from her purse: “I wasn’t paying (strict) attention because on my right was suddenly another man and he wanted to put ice cream in my cart,” she said. “All the time, I had my hand on my purse. When he put the ice cream in my cart, I said ‘No’ and I said ‘Go away.’” Link
• SCV Republicans to welcome Senate Candidate Strickland at where else….IHOP! Tony Strickland, the Rooty-tooty, fresh ‘n fruity Republican who’s fixin’ to replace Tom McClintock in the California Senate, will be at the International House of Pancakes next week to talk to local Republicans. Speaking of that race, Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson is asking the Strickland campaign to put a stop to a 3rd party television spot, while Strickland’s campaign is running two television spots; one that touts the “unity” of the Olympic stage and the other which says $5 gallon gasoline was unthinkable five years ago and touts alternative energy solutions.
• LA Times Travel Blogger says new Magic Mountain CSI show “horrible”: Brady MacDonald recently visited Magic Mountain with a friend and after riding as many coasters as they could, they checked out the new CSI live-action show in the par. “To say it was bad would be putting it mildly. Other words come to mind: boring, pathetic, horrible. They should rename it “ACI (Air Conditioning Inside) because the theater’s cool respite was the show’s only redeeming value.” Link
• Olympic Story #1: The Daily News’ Tim Haddock, a sports writer, has an in-depth profile of Valencia high grad and BMX Olympian Mike Day. Day, it turns out, loves golf before BMXin, but he’s simiply not very good at golf. He made Team USA by skipping money-making events and learning “every hill, jump, and speck of dust” on a replice of the Beijing track in Chula Vista. Day races this week I think. Link
• Olympic Story #2: I Heart profiles several SCV Olympians in his latest blog post. Here’s his opening, which simultaneously made me smile and squirm: “Of course, there’s a very special place in my heart for all the Olympic athletes from Santa Clarita. Their intense training, hard work, and natural-born talent certainly helped them get to Beijing, but don’t underestimate how much us Claritans helped. We formed the womb from which these athletes so gloriously sprang, so it is our victory as much as theirs. Right?” Link
• Good commentary on North Newhall Specific Plan and Placerita Canyon’s “Rural Equestrian Lifestyle”: I’m now adding “rural equestrian lifestyle” to the lexicon of unique SCV phrases (the other being, of course, suburban bedroom community) after reading P-Canyon resident Valerie Thomas’ good explanation of some of the issues homeowners in the Canyon have with the City’s North Newhall Specific Plan. Thomsa gets specific on the zoning for the Casden property and how P-Canyon residents were promised back in the day that homes in the Placerita Canyon special district would be “zoned for no more than two homes per acre.” Now though, a developer plans some 650 homes, 600,000 sq. ft. of commercial space, and a rebuilt Southern Hotel/Spa for the location. But that will only fly if the city can build an alternative railroad crossing. I wonder if Ben Curtis, the guy who filed an FPPC complaint against Laurene Weste, is a P-Canyon resident. WRB

Valencia Marketplace, the finest in Big Box retailing, earning money for the County since 1996. Woe unto our landscape.

• Newhall resident targets Councilwoman Weste with FPPC complaint: Weste (or her mother?) owns a large piece of property in Placerita Canyon, just a stone’s throw from several properties (and roads) in Newhall that may or may not be redeveloped in connection with the North Newhall Specific Plan, and resident Ben Curtis doesn’t like what he sees. Weste says she abides by the City Counsel’s advice and guidance and abstains from voting North Newhall Specific Plan matters.  Link
• Cross Valley Connector “one bridge away” from completion: East-west motorized conveyance will get a boost as the city kicks off the last phase of its 10+ year, $245 million road project linking Highway 126 to, eventually, Highway 14, the Signal reports today. The last phase is a 1,100 foot long bridge that will connect Golden Valley Road to Highway 126. Katie Geyer says construction on the bridge may begin in December.
• Play Bob the Builder with Newhall Library cutouts: It sounds a bit cheesy, but at Wednesday night’s Newhall Library workshop, participants will be able to build their own library with “cutout forms” that will “provide an opportunity to let [participants] play around and come with their own personal design of the library.” The outreach meeting is the first held by architecture firm LPA, chosen by the city to lead the design of a future 16,000-30,000 sq. ft. library anchoring Old Town Newhall. Link
• Signal profiles homeless person in SCV: Writer Tammy Marashlian had an excellent Sunday feature about “Karan,” a 58 year old woman who sleeps in her car and struggles to find stable work in Santa Clarita or elsewhere. “There’s absolutely nothing in my background that prepared me for this. I came from a solid, middle-class family and people worked.” Good article
• “Very sexy underwear,” Pomeranian dog stolen: No, not necessarily in that order, but Signal reporter Jim Holt has a round-up of some bizarre thefts lately in Santa Clarita, including $500 worth of “very sexy” underwear from a shop on Magic Mountain. Not only did someone steal the sexy lingerie (and here I’m assuming it’s female undergarments), but they had to take it from the “very sexy room” in the shop. Link
• Mentryville, Trees, and History: Interesting A-1 story in today’s Signal on the cutting down and removal of what former Mentryville resident Darryl Manzer calls historic trees in the old oil boomtown west of Santa Clarita. The Santa Monica Mountains conservancy says the trees are diseased, rotting from the inside, and might fall on some of the old buildings there, but Manzer says they’re part of history. The story will continue when Manzer takes Signal reporter Jim Holt on a walking tour tomorrow. Link
• Fire in Green Valley: A massive plume of gray smoke consumed the northern horizon yesterday in Santa Clarita as a 150 acre brush fire near Green Valley marked the start of fire season. SCVTV has a report.
• Cops, firefighters gather for motorcycle rememberance ride: Santa Clarita is “fire and police country,” Mayor Bob Kellar told some 1,000 bikers who gathered at Valencia Town center for a 100 mile ride around the SCV to commemorate fallen firefighters and police officers on Sunday. Link
• Signal says Hart ought to start building Castaic High before bond vote: Creekside says that if the Hart District wants $300 million from us, it ought to “figure out where to build a high school in Castaic, tell the community when and where you will start construction, and then do it.” The Sunday editorial talks a bit about the last bond measure -$158 million in 2001- and mentions the parents group lead by Joe Messina, which opposes the current measure unless specific steps are taken. Link
• Hospital/Campus Expansion dominates Sunday Op/Ed: I’ve got to compliment the Signal on giving abundant space to David Gauny and Tim Myers to argue the specific points of the Henry Mayo Hospital expansion in Valencia. Gauny’s column was organized, coherent, logical and pretty powerful, while Myers’ column wasn’t very convincing. I won’t bother to sum either one up; you should read it yourself and be informed. Also note, I Heart seems to agree with me.
• Great ad on same sex marriage: Is this a political ad or not? Opponents of same sex marriage say it is, but others don’t see it that way. Whatever the case, it seems to have people talking, which I suppose is the point. Link

A 1920s era photo of a rodeo somewhere in Saugus. Boy they really packed the rafters back in those days eh?

• Revised Hospital plan released, Smart Growth not impressed: “It looks like more of the same,” remarked David Gauny on the latest development agreement between the City of Santa Clarita and Henry Mayo Hospital. Geyer has the details.
• Deputies still looking for hate crime suspects: There have been no further arrests for a Saturday night attack on a black man in Canyon Country that authorities are calling a hate crime. One man, arrested later that night, has been charged. Link
• Driving in California down 3.7% in June: Summer months are typically the busiest months for driving, but not in the year of $4.00 gasoline; based on automated vehicle sensors, the Federal Highway Administration says motorists nationwide drover 12.2 billion fewer miles last month, a decrease of 4.7% over a year ago. Times
• My new favorite real estate website: Redfin has added a Market Data report for just about every place you can think of, including Santa Clarita. The site has some nice graphs charting the amount of homes for sale, the price of homes per square foot, and some condo data as well, and you can search within the rough boundaries of Santa Clarita to get a more holistic picture. The charts on pricing cover October 2006 to July 09 and look like the first drop on the rollercoaster Viper at Magic Mountain. Market Data report
• West Ranch Town Council announces 2008 election details: The quasi-official government body representing Stevenson Ranch, West Ridge, Sunset Pointe and Southern Oaks will have elections on Tuesday, November 4, the same day of the general Presidential election. Locations are still being determined (as are hours the polls will be open apparently), but WRB says the “four candidates who garner the most votes will be named winner of the Council seats.” The election is the first one held since a 2006 election which was held on July 4 for a few hours in the afternoon prior to fireworks. There’s an application process if you want to be put on the ballot. Will people on the West Side really go to the trouble of voting twice in one day? Link
• Daily News visits Rattlesnake Slims: There’s still no suspects or arrests in the “suspicious fire” that caused near total damage to a new western cafe/music house in Newhall, but the owner of the business is promising to rebuild. Says a 68 year old customer who liked the shop: “It’s awful. It’s like a big part of my life has been shut out.” Daily News
• Grocery store thieves target seniors: It’s like deja vu all over again! The SCV Sheriff’s station sent out an alert yesterday advising senior residents to be wary of people who ask for help inside grocery stores. Turns out at least three seniors have been duped by the scam in which one shopper asks a seniro for help, while another shopper rifles through the victim’s purse. Authorities suspect three Latino males in the crimes. Last year, two Lancaster women were arrested after performing similar crimes in SCV grocery stores. Link
• SCV Auto dealers gas card offer: The SCV Auto Association started a gas card giveway in August and says that so far, they’ve sold 53 cars as part of the promotion. Buyers have a chance to win one of four cards valued at $5,000, $2,000, $1,000 and $500. All you have to do is test drive or purchase a car in August. They’re so excited about the program they’ve even made a fake news video at their site. It’s the second such promotion this summe; the Assocation says they sold 21 cars earlier this year in a “Be Cool to My School” event.
• Cyclist hit by car: A man who blogs about cycling in Santa Clarita was hit by a careless teenaged driver on Saturday. The teenager, an employee of Magic Mountain on his way to work, simply”drove into” him. The cyclist wasn’t injured too badly, but says the teenager took off after apologizing. The bike blogger says several people stopped to help him. This is why I avoid the west side of town; with the exception of Valencia Blvd in West Ridge, there’s practically no bike lanes. Link
• Signal invades YouTube: Creekside has been posting high quality video and news reports for months, but they’ve always been hosted at The-Signal.com, meaning they don’t come up in my searches for videos on Santa Clarita. But that’s changed; the newspaper has posted dozens of vidoes on YouTube in the last several days, most of them under Online Editor Stephen Peeples’ YouTube account. There’s movie reviews, news reports, and other media on the site. This means that people searching for SCV videos on youTube or Google will now find SCVTV’s videos as well as the Signal’s. Link

My wife and I standing atop Haleakala volcano in Maui, May 2007

News

•  MTA Sales tax to be on November ballot: Supervisors of LA County reversed course last night and decided to put the fate of a half cent sales tax before voters on the November ballot. The five supes voted 3-2 to put the measure on the ballot, but then also voted 3-2 to officially oppose the measure, which seeks to raise some $40 billion over the next 30 years to fund transportation infrastructure. Our Supe, Mike Antonovich, voted no on both counts, and, prior to the vote, called the measure “criminal“  in a press release.
• Hasley Hills annexation delayed: Last week, Dave Bossert was the first to break the news that the City of Santa Clarita’s application to annex some 1,500 homes (and scores of businesses) in the Castaic area had been withdrawn due to a “procedural technicality.” That technicality is related to a state law that requires a “Sphere of Influence” application to be completed before an annexation application. Today, the Signal picked up on the story and reporter Katie Geyer got word that the city will resubmit the Hasley Hills paperwork in January, which would delay the entire annexation process until mid to late 2009. Not online yet.
• Hot NY Times article on Section 8 Renters and white suburbs: Boy, if this doesn’t get people talking, I don’t know what will. There was a great article in yesterday’s Times on how the foreclosure crisis in suburbs has lead to landlords seeking federally-funded Section 8 renters from the inner city to fill vacant, foreclosed homes. The Times looked at Antioch California, a Bay area community, for its report and detailed both sides of the issue. On the one hand, the mostly African American renters says the fuzz in Antioch is harrassing them and using the smallest of violations to force the renters to leave their homes. On the other hand, white, middle class residents in Antioch say that violent crime has moved in with the renters, and some residents say they’re ashamed to admit it, but they now “fear black youths.” The Times describes the whole situation as a “culture shock” for the suburbs, but really, this kind of topic calls to mind all the chaos and emotion of busing and “white flight” in the 1970s, does it not? This is the original wedge issue.  Link
• Hart Bond measure: In November, the Hart District is going to ask you to approve a $300 million bond initiative to modernize infrastructure and perhaps build a new high school for Castaic. Turns out Hart isn’t the only district in the LA area seeking funds this fall; the LA Times reports on other districts around LA (Hart’s asking for the third highest bond in the list, by the way.) Meanwhile, former Hart board candidate Joe Messina (who lost his bid for a seat on the board last November) has started up a group called “Parents for Measure V Reform.” The group says Hart ought to withdraw “the $300 million bond proposal set for November’s ballot” until a site has been found for Castaic High and “Measure V processes are fixed.” The group’s manifesto says the projects sold with Measure V, the $158 million bond from back in 2001, “have not been completed or even started.” Messina also mentions that “as much as $40 million of those funds have not been properly accounted for and the Board has refused to engage a forensic audit,” something which I wrote about quite a bit last year when the Castaic high debate was hot. Will Messina’s message find traction, given that he couldn’t win a seat last fall? Does Hart have any credibility these days? We need good reporting from the Signal to help voters sort it out.  WRB also has a story
• Bike advocate says 25% increase in bikes on LA County Streets: The Daily News has a good story today on bicycle commuters in Los Angeles county, the hazards they face, and the lack of infrastructure (paths, lanes and parking facilities) that makes it difficult to commute by bike in LA. The paper notes that there are some 1,252 miles of bike routes, lanes and paths in LA County, but advocates say more needs to be done to encourage commuting by bike, which is cheap and has less impact on traffic and the environment than buses or vehicles. The reporter also talked to a number of cyclists who say it takes a lot of courage to ride on the streets of Los Angeles. “Commuting on a bike in this city is challenging. I’ve been nearly hit a number of times. … You can feel the hostility out there towards cyclists.” Link
• 19th Senate battle goes to the airwaves: Tony Strickland, the conservative Republican running to replace Tom McClintock in CA-19, has bought his first television spot, the Ventura County Star reports. Meanwhile, his Democratic challenger, Hannah-Beth Jackson, says a far-right group called the “California Taxpayer Protection Committee” is about to air a vicious attack ad against her. Remember, the 19th District includes Stevenson Ranch and parts of Valencia meaning we have a dog in this fight too! See the Strickland ad and Jackson press release here
  
• SCV Solar company gets good press: CNet and a number of other technical publications have written some stories about BioSolar, a Santa Clarita firm that “aims to develop thin-film solar applications” in the future. The firm has just announced a new product that serves as a “protective coating for photovoltaic cells.” The material is made from cotton fiber and castor beans and is supposedly sustainable and renewable. The product puts Bio Solar right into the same marketspace as DuPont, which markets a rival material that’s in short supply in the booming solar power industry. Link
• AT&T to once again host Champions Classic golf tournament: There was some doubt this year whether AT&T would return to sponosr the Champions Clsasic golf tournament, which has been a spring sporting fixture since 2001. But have no fear, Jon Dell at KHTS says AT&T will return as the lead sponsor next year (March 9-15) but will “pass the baton” to another sponsor in 2010. Link

Misc:

• Canyon high celebrates 40 years: Canyon High opened in the same year as the Summer of Love, and even Buck McKeon has fond memories of the second oldest (and second best behind Hart) high school in Santa Clarita.  SCVTV has a video report.
• Newhall Library workshop next Wednesday: Want to have a stake in the future of Old Town Newhall? Then perhaps you should join me and others who are planning to attend a meeting next week at Hart Park to “discuss the man options and opportunities” about the proposed Newhall Library. The event, hosted by the city, features “hands-on exercises and group discussions [that] will help the design team understand the community vision.” Link
• Regarding the Above: Looks like SCVTV has built a great website where all the community non-profits can dump their press releases. The service is free for non-profits and includes scores of events, news, and other such things. Link
• I Heart’s September insideSCV column: It’s a bit futuristic in that it will appear in next month’s mag, but I Heart has some ideas for what Claritans can do come September. He says August has been pretty lazy. “Even the straight-laced City Council took off most of August, presumably to prank call Ken Pulskamp and go drinking at Doc’s Inn.” Link
• Beer and Politics with a special guest! Mike Cruz posted on our SCVTalker’s forum a few days ago to announce a “Beer and Politics” meet-up at Mulligan’s tonight. Soak up some suds and discuss the latest in the hot presidential campaign, perhaps opine on Russia’s true intentions in Georgia, or maybe even talk about local issues. Cruz says local political strategist Scott Wilk might even attend. Link
• Bossert takes advantage of City’s two black eyes: First the City botched its application for the Hasley Hills annexation, then it screwed the pooch on the commenting period over the Henry Mayo Expansion EIR. Of course Dave Bossert would characterize it that way, and he does in a commentary posted today.Such “missteps” are why “there is a grassroots effort building Valley-wide to get rid of some of the City leadership at the next election. There is such disgust and contempt…for those that are running the City. They are no longer willing to sit back and allow the City leadership to trample their bedroom community for urban villages or extinguish what they consider to be their American dream.” Uh-huh. 

News

• Man arrested for attempted murder in Canyon Country: John Naglich, 49, is alleged to have hit and choked his 52 year old girlfriend. During the altercation, the victim blacked out, and when she awoke, Naglich was allegedly attempting to break her neck. She was able to get out of her house and a neighbor called 911. Katie Geyer has the story.
• Black man assaulted, Deputies allege hate crime: One man was arrested and authorities are looking for three more men after the suspects allegedly attacked a black man on Saturday night. The victim, 26 years old, was sitting in a car with a girl when one of the suspects approached him, had words with him, and then punched him in the face. The victim managed to get out of the car (as did his passenger), but then the three suspects “got a hammer and a bat and smashed all the windows and quarter panels” of the victim’s car. One white man, 21 year old Cameron Campbell, has been arrested and the fuzz is investigating this as a “hate crime.” Link
• Negative Equity in California real estate market: The LA Times Land blog has a summary of a Zillow.com report that details the amount of “underwater” homes cross referenced with the year they were purchased. Underwater homes are properties that are worth less than what is owed to the bank. The long and short of it is that if you bought a home in 2003, it’s not likely to be underwater, but 71% of homes purchased in 2006 are likely underwater (at least in the greater LA area). Link
• Property tax increase possible: The Torrance Daily Breeze reports that the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors may hike property taxes “to help stem a massive deficit in the health services department.” Specifically, the supes might vote to increase the Assessment of Measure B, a 2002 measure. The average homeowner might pay some $55 more per year.
• And more on the MTA tax: It’s still possible that the half cent MTA transit tax might go to voters on this November’s consolidated ballot; the Daily News says the LA County Board of Supes “is expected to reverse its decision and vote to put the measure on a consolidated Nov 4 ballot.” Now the tax faces hurdles in Sacramento though. So has Antonovich changed his mind about the tax? No; matter of fact he introduced a motion opposing the tax, remarking in a press release that “The Antelope and Santa Clarita Valleys will more than double in population over the life of this sales tax measure, yet receive only 5% of the total project funding.” The tax may raise up to $40 billion over the next 30 years.
• COC Prof reflects on situation in Georgia: Kevin Anthony spent some time in the Black Sea nation this spring, and left behind many friends and students he’s worried about as the Russian army continues its military action in Georgia, a former Soviet state. “We knew in May that the Russians were coming, and that it possibly might even happen while I was there,” he told Sharon Cotal at the Signal.
  
• Neat web tool simulates quake damage, casualties: The Internet Loss Estimation Tool (InLET for short) uses soil data, USGS info, census data, and other geological information to estimate the effects of an earthquake on California. With the tool, earthquake planners can run simulations on quakes, even selecting different epicenters and the system will spit out data on how many buildings are damaged, how many casualties occurred, and where the shaking is felt. A guy who works for Microsoft even used the tool to simulate an earthquake in Santa Clarita.
• 51 Most Influential: I was wondering if the Signal would put together a fourth annual “Santa Clarita’s 51 Most Influential” special this year, and it appears they will. In a quarter page sized ad in today’s Signal, the paper says the special supplement will appear on Sunday, August 24 and says it will be seen by some 39,000 readers, which I suppose is their Sunday circulation figure. So who’s going to be Number 1 most Influential this year? The City Council is usually in the top 10 somewhere, along with Ken Pulskamp, and of course the Captains and Lieutenants of SCV Business Inc always make a showing, as well as the champion volunteers. Media figures are not allowed, so I don’t think we can lobby for I Heart. So take your pick.
• George Runner on same-sex marriage proposition wording: The conservative State Senator takes issue with Jerry Brown’s efforts to re-word the proposition that would outlaw same sex marriages in California. Link
• Jon Dell evangelizes bicycling gospel: The KHTS reporter posted an editorial yesterday on how great it is to ride a bicycle in Santa Clarita. “Santa Clarita has been somewhat forward thinking when it comes to public mobility. For years they have been building bicycle paths, lanes and trails to offer an alternative for those who want to travel around town under their own power.” He says that in comparison to mass transit, bicycles allow people to “go where we want, when we want,” and says that the trail and path systems are so good, you can ride from Newhall to McBean & Decoro without leaving a path. He’s right on all counts of course, although I wish we could get some more bike lanes in Newhall along major roads. Speaking of riding, I went for a 25 mile ride yesterday. Started off in Newhall, rode up Soledad, then down Sand Canyon (what a swank beautiful part of town), then rocketed down Placerita Canyon which was incredibly fun and dangerous. Thank you to the motorists who gave me a wide berth.

My wife painted her toes in honor of the Olympic rings of the Games of XXIX Olympiad and even allowed me to display her feet on this site. Props to Natural Nails in Newhall for their color coordination, selection, and Olympic Spirit.

News

• Gauny zings City on procedural technicality for Mayo EIR: The City of Santa Clarita extended the review period of the Environmental Impact Report for the controversial Mayo expansion project after SmartGrowthSCV’s David Gauny held a press conference Friday saying that the public wasn’t going to get a fair shake at cracking the 3,000 page document. The review period was supposed to end today, but written comments were supposed to be in by Friday afternoon, an apparent screw-up by City Hall. Now the review process will extend until September 29, bringing the review date past the public hearing date on September 9. Signal and Daily News have articles.
• Antonovich/Yaroslavsky calls for calories next to fast food menu items: Fifth District Supe Michael Antonovich (representing North County residents) and Zev Yaroslavsky will “present an ordinance that would require eatery chains to print menus and billboards with the number of calories for each item alongside the price.” New York already has such an ordinance and the supervisors say that “The Menu should be as informative of what its effect is on one’s waistline as it is on their pocketbooks.” The ordinance would only apply to chain restaurants that have 15 or more outlets, so you can still eat that chili-cheese burger at Jimmy Deans sans guilt. Yaroslavsky suffers from Type 2 Diabetes and says “this is personal” to him.
  
• Gas prices dip below $4 in SCV: So reports Tammi Marashlian at the Signal who says that “Drivers in the Santa Clarita Valley have been getting a niec break over the past several weeks as gas prices in the area have continued to drop in light of a decrease in oil prices and world-wide demand.” The average price in Santa Clarita is still about $4.12, but at some places in the valley, you can buy your fossil fuel for a penny less than $4. Link
• Henry Mayo sells expansion plan with ice cream social: More than 200 people attended an ice cream social on Saturday to learn and ask questions about the Henry Mayo Memorial Hospital expansion plan, the Signal reports. The event featured 10 supporters wearing “Ask Me” buttons who fielded questions from ice cream-consuming neighbors. A hospital spokesperson says four people changed their mind about the hospital after consuming the delicious treat on a hot summer afternoon, but others remained unconvinced about the 327,000 sq. ft. office/inpatient expansion. Link
• One supervisor changes his mind on MTA Tax inclusion on November ballot: Don Knabe voted against including the MTA’s half cent sales tax on the county’s November ballot, but he had a change of heart just a few days later after realizing that it’d cost taxpayers some $10 million to host a special ballot alongside the customary one. Knabe is still opposed to the measure itself, but wants “the voters to have the opportunity to decide for themselves,” according to a spokesperson. Knabe made a motion to reconsider the recent vote; that could happen Tuedsay. Meanwhile, a Democratic state Senator is threatening to kill the entire measure if a rail project of her’s isn’t addressed.
• Chamber August 2008 Newsletter: Haven’t had time to review the august organization’s publication for this month (double entendre ha!), but from a skim, it appears water conservation is a topic plus Larry Mankin pimping the Chamber’s visit to China in November.Link
• Latino marketing firm moves to SCV: The Daily News had an interesting article this week on Power Media, a Latino-focused marketing and public relations firm that recently opened new offices in Santa Clarita. The company “is a multimillion dollar enterprise that specializes in creating Spanish-language ad campaigns for high profile clients seeking to reach the booming Hispanic market,” The Daily News says. It counts among its clients big firms like Universal Music, Vivendi Entertainment, and others, but also works with small businesses to promote more routine products such as “red and hot pink” lipstick, which the company says is popular among Latinos. The company purchased a Sierra Highway building back in July and has already been toasted by the folks over at the Chamber. Link
• Bike shop gets harrassed by fuzz over motorcycle deaths: Props to the Signal for printing this story, which offers an interesting look into the Sheriff’s station relationship with an SCV business outside the mainstream as well as several revealing quotes from Captain LaBerge. Over the weekend reporter Jim Holt detailed a conflict between a Canyon Country motorcycle shop named 5150 Custom, which “fixes motorcycles and, sometimes, augments them to enable riders to perform stunts” and the Sheriff’s station. Along with the fact that that 5150 is in the motorcycle-modification business, it’s very name (5150) and the recent rash of motorcycle deaths has put it on the radar of the Sheriff’s station, according to Holt. Some six people have been killed on motorcycles in the last year, and four of those were “young adults on crotch-rockets” according to LaBerge, who has met with the owner of the 5150 shop. The shop owner says the fuzz are trying to put him out of business, but LaBerge denies that, but says his Deputies will “keep handing out citations until [the shop] proves to us that each and every one of your bikes meet legal requirements.” Link
• Daily News notices Hart Bison: Great profile in Sunday’s Daily News on the 16 Bison -including some new babies!- at Hart Park. Writer Jerry Berrios goes into the history of the Bison in the park (Disney gave them to William S Hart after driving the herd through Newhall), and even details some of the individual bison that roam on some 25 acres behind Hart’s mansion in Newhall. Link
• Plaza Shopping Center set to open soon: East valley residents have waited a long time for a good shopping center to open and soon the wait will be over as a 620,000 square foot retail center “located between Golden Valley Road and Via Princessa” may open as soon as October. The Plaza at Golden Valley, as it is unimaginatively named, will have a Kohl’s, Circuit City, Lowes, Target, Bed, Bath and Beyond, and other stores. The report quotes City economic manager Jason Crawford praising the project, but I’m pretty sure it lies outside city territory, which means all that tax money goes to the County, just like the Valencia Marketplace over in Stevenson Ranch. Link
• New school year upon us: Elementary, junior high and high school students are set to return to school this week, reports the Signal. Features Editor Michele Buttelman has some advice for parents. I’d only add one more: in your frenzied rush to get your precious child to school on his/her first day, please be conscious of other road users, especially bicyclists. K THX BAI

Misc

• John Boston’s History of the SCV scheduled:  The former Signal writer and valley folklorist/historian will host another History of the SCV class in September. The class begins September 17th and is held at a different significant spot in Santa Clarita every week until November 19th. Here’s some teasers: “ Newhall was once attacked: by our own Air Force. As recently as the 1970s, there were Bigfoot sightings in Sand Canyon. Were we home to the world’s biggest grizzly bear? A Chinese general once named Saugus as one of the top military targets on Earth.” Link
• What’s Myers know that we don’t? In his Sunday piece in the Signal, he details an imaginative financing deal on a vacant piece of land during an economic downturn (*cough* Smiser *cough*) and shows how developers can get creative even during slowdowns. It’s obviously aimed at the Smiser deal, I think, but is he describing whatcould happen or is he slying saying what is happening? Link
• Signal says Ender should prove she works for us: Great editorial on Sunday on Laurie Ender, the hospital, and the $30,000 spent to help elect Ender in the spring. The Signal says Ender “needs to go above and beyond in winning -and keeping- the trust of the people she represents.” Not to be too contrarian to the Signal and my own readers, but she did get more votes than anyone else. The hospital issue was hot back in the spring -indeed it was one of the main issues- and yet she still won. One might say she would have won even without the $29,500 mailer since her PTA organization was so strong and she got people in Valencia to the polls. Indeed, one might say that the majority of Santa Clarita is fine with such politics and politicking, that we who ask questions and seek answers are the minority. She doesn’t have to win our trust, in other words, more people trust her than don’t trust her. Just the facts! Link

What do you think of the new digs? I find the design to be minimalist -desolate even- which is similar to how I sometimes feel about the Santa Clarita Valley. Anyway, love it or hate it, it’s just an experiment for now. That out of the way- who’s watching the Olympics tonight?

News

•  City Fumbles Hasley Hills Annexation? The City of Santa Clarita has “withdrawn the Hasley Hills, Live Oak, North Bluff and Vlaencia Commerce Center annexation application due to a technicality in the filing process,” according to what looks like a press release over at West Ranch Beacon. That technicality? Apparently there’s a LAFCO rule that any application for an expansion in the City’s “Sphere of Influence” ought to be complete and approved before any further annexation matter is ruled on. Whatever the technicality, the annexation of Hasley Hills looks like it will be delayed; the release says the City will resubmit the annexation request in January 2009. Speaking of LAFCO and annexation- where’s all those financials that were to help west siders decide whether they could graduate from unincorporated vague communties into legit cities? Link EDIT: Also, Bossert has posted the text of a letter sent to LAFCO reps outlining the West Ranch Town Council’s opposition to Hasley Hills Annexation
  
• Final moments in freeway death of brother and sister: There were several witnesses to Monday’s terrible accident on Interstate 5 that claimed a brother and sister from the Central Valley. Jim Holt has a touching and dramatic eyewitness account from one of the people who saw what happened and even stopped to help.  He told Holt: “I rushed to the car. I couldn’t tell if the driver was a man or woman. I touched the arm. It was the girl, I touched her arm. She was barely alive. I said, ‘Oh my God, don’t let her go.” Killed were brother and sister Alan and Lindsay Poggi. Lindsay was an animation student and after poking around on the net yesterday, I found her blog. Looks like she was quite talented. 
• Gauny to hold press conference today on “City due process”: After a hurried email campaign to senior city staff and members of the City Council, hospital expansion critic David Gauny will hold a press conference today at 10 am in front of City Hall to call for more time for residents to review and respond to the Hospital’s latest expansion plan. Link
  
• Hart District mysteriously pulls  PR item from agenda: The District was supposed to decide whether to hire a reputation-boosting PR firm so it could sell its $300 million bond initiative to skeptical/unsure/or apathetic voters, but it mysteriously pulled the item from the agenda at its Wednesday night meeting. KHTS says its “unclear why the item was removed in the first place.” 
• Yet more drama in MTA Transit sales tax: The Los Angeles City Council voted yesterday to ask the County Board of Supervisors to place the MTA’s half cent sales tax measure on the november Ballot. “Transportation is in a crisis-point in all of our region, we have to do something,” one Councilmember said. Antonovich opposes the measure because he says it’s unfair to North County residents like us. His letter to Villaraigosa was posted yesterday on KHTS’ website, but so far, no media in the SCV is even talking about the matter; it’s as if we’re an island and traffic in Los Angeles doesn’t affect us. 
• Dummy tries to pass bad check, then runs to Sheriff’s station: He must have been from out of town. The Signal reports. 
• No more DMV hours on Saturday: I guess if you have business with the DMV office in Newhall, you’ll have to take time off work from now on: Governor Schwarzenegger’s layoffs and the budget crisis have forced the hated-agency to close its doors on Saturdays. I think they were only open one day a month anyway. Link

Misc:

•  Lay off the Metrolink pest, says Daily News: Prosecuting that guy who refused to sign his Metrolink monthly pass amounts to “prosecutorial overkill,” the Daily News writes in an editorial.
• Carole Lutness vs Cam Smyth: Brian Dennert, Ventura County Star blogger, wonders if Lutness has a chance against Smyth. Lutness herself says she’s participating in one of 54 races being watched by state Democrats, and if Lutness’ “polling looks good in the 38th for Obama and if Obama looks like he is going to swep CA the way we think he is, then we will be really supporting your race.” So what do you think of Lutness’ chance? I’d venture to guess she’d have better results if she actually campaigned away from Santa Clarita, which is where Smyth grew up, served on the council, and had a father who helped found the city. The Fightin’ 38th stretches from Acton/SCV all the way down to just north of Burbank and west towards Simi Valley. But a commenter on Dennert’s post says otherwise: “The Loch Ness monster has a better chance of hosting his own special on Discovery channel in the next three months than Lutness, Masry or Jorgensen have of winning, let along even coming within 10% of their opponents.” Link
• Maria Gutzeit, the original green bike commuter: I’m unabashedly fond of Maria Gutzeit because, like me, she’s a bike commuter and advocate. But dont’ let my rose-clored classes distort your view of her; she’s also got her ear to the ground on other green initiatives, like a proposed Los Angeles County Green Building ordinance, which she details in a piece in today’s Signal.
• New Ender/Ferry/Hospital Video: YouTuber NotAFerryFan seems to have fallen off the earth, but someone new is stepping into fill the void of SCV political satire videos on YouTube. “SCV411″ has a pretty good (and relatively short) video up today in which he/she imagines a discussion between Frank Ferry and Laurie Ender. The topic? “How to take money from developers in the SCV.” The cast includes Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the disgraced Republican congressman from San Diego who was booted out of congress after it was found he had accepted millions in bribes from businesses there.

My body is here in front of the computer, but my mind and heart are out on the road. I just got a new bicycle, and this time, it’s a racing bike. I’m planning to enter a triathlon this fall, though I’ll only be performing in the biking segment of the event. Anyway, if you see a streek of lightning this morning in Newhall, it’s probably me.

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State workers protest, transportation tax debate, the status of CEMEX, Laurie Ender’s approach to Mayo Expansion, plus, McKeon racially profiles? All ahead in today’s action-packed, seat-of-your-pants, thrill-ride, summer blockbuster Daily Brief. haha

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