But, here’s something that you don’t know. I’ve had the opportunity to take a deep dive in the Signal archives, buried deep within a vault ‘neath William S. Hart’s ranch in the sky. My research reveals that, while John Boston might exaggerate some Signal history, Creekside and its writers have been on the wrong side of history many times, with several incidents in very bad taste or spectacularly ill-timed. Here’s a sample:

• In a 1986 front page editorial, the Signal endorsed New Coke, saying it tastes better and is more refreshing than Coke classic “or that barnyard animal slop they call Pepsi”
• Shoulder pads for women: The Signal was at the forefront of the 1980s fashion movement that encouraged women to wear big shoulder pads and big hair. “Narrow Hips + Big Hair + Big Shoulders = A Whole Lot of Woman” read the August 1987 headline. 
• In 1997, the Signal praised technological progress, remarking that it had let go three editors in lieu of Paperclip, the Microsoft Office tool that offered spelling and grammar assistance
• The 1992 editors of the Signal were impressed with H. Ross Perot’s selection of Admiral Stockdale as Vice Presidential candidate, saying that his “military skills, keen mind, and diplomatic acumen strengthens the Reform Party ticket.”
• Of the movie Glitter, The Signal’s film editor gushed, “A dazzling cinematic triumph -peerless even- perhaps with the exception of last year’s Gigli “
• In April of 1937, the Signal hailed the dawn of travelling by airship, remarking that the Hindenburg was the greatest achievement of mankind, hailing a day in which “a gentleman traveler could fetch a lady friend from across the country in comfort in as little as a fortnight”
• In 1998, the Signal published front-page instructions on how to dance the Macarena, saying “This universally-loved dance is the dance to know for the 21st century- and beyond.”
• A  May 1, 1980 Signal edition featured a full page ad from the Mount St. Helens Chamber of Commerce, advertising deep discounts for spring holidays in bucolic Washington State
• In an August 2001 editorial, the editors of the Signal advised the City of Santa Clarita and Edison to outsource electrical management to Enron, the high-flying & innovative Texas energy company

So while the Signal may not have supported the internment of Jews in Germany or trashed Martin Luther King, a perusal of its archives indicates it has certainly exhibited very unfortunate errors in judgment in its otherwise illustrious 90 year history.

Ryan Gosling checks out the SCV scenery in the new movie Drive

I’m not much of a movie goer or reviewer  but my wife and I found ourselves in rare cinematic agreement Saturday when we both agreed to see the new movie Drive.

I thought it looked really cool from the previews. “Like the Fast and Furious, only more serious,” I thought. “Film noir on wheels in the City of LA,” my wife thought. Whatever that is, I thought in response.

Overall: “It’s a car movie and she wants to see it….how bad could it possibly be?” Well….

My brother, who works in the “Industry,” told me a funny anecdote once. He was working on the distribution of the trailer for the Tom Cruise movie Valkyrie. The trailer sent to American theaters contained lots of explosions, gun play, airplanes, angry men shouting, and excitement. It probably raised the pulse of everyone in the focus group it was tested on. The trailer sent to European theaters, in contrast, was serious-minded, dialog-heavy and had virtually no explosions. Same movie, different trailers.

Drive’s trailer was more like the former (to attract low brows like me), but should have been marketed like the latter. Its car scenes are well-done but rare. It excels in its study of the characters and it has some exceptionally violent scenes. But I went for the cars and they tricked me so for that reason, I was disappointed.

What I wasn’t disappointed in was the fact that much of Drive is shot in the SCV. You see more of the SCV in Drive than you’ve seen on any screen -silver or small- since CHiPs. It’s all there: a scene with a race car on the old Saugus Speedway (the crowd was visibly excited by this authentic SCV pride moment and I was shooshed by someone I was so excited), a chase scene on Sierra Highway near the COC Canyon Country campus (along with a brief flash of the Sand Canyon sign), and some other scenes on what looked like the old Ridge Route or Old Road, north of Castaic. Once I rent (not buy) the DVD, I’m sure I’ll be able to pause a few scenes and pick out more SCV locales* from this critically acclaimed film.

So while Drive wasn’t all that I expected it to be, the scenes from our town make it a must-watch if you’re a loyal SCVer. I give it a B+.

Speaking of SCV-spotting in Hollywood films: my eagle-eyed wife spotted COC in Good Will Hunting recently. Can you see it just beyond Robin Williams’ feet? Someone should make a video compilation of shots of the SCV in major Hollywood films from over the years. 

Shamelessly ripped from Signal site. Click pic for original

Reporters get all the glory, but behind every good report is some anonymous editor who’s doing less visible work and they deserve recognition too.

So it’s understable that after I posted Jonathan Randles’ goodbye piece that lowly copy editor Austen Montero became jealous and bitter. He rakes me over the coals and reminds us all not to forget the unsung and lowly-compensated but still important heroes of Creekside who bring us our news every day:

I recently left The Signal too, and I’m bitter that I didn’t get a blog shoutout. Jonathan Randles is a personal friend of mine, and I’m just plain jealous. Maybe it’s because I was just a lowly Copy Editor and the collective Santa Clarita Valley finds me faceless and incompetent.

So, Hello, I’m Austen Montero, former Copy Editor at The Signal.

So, yeah, Jeff, where’s my sendoff now? I spent exactly 20 months in that building. I was there on Sunday nights, when no reporter was to be found. I was there when the heaviest snow in 20 years dusted the shoulders of the Santa Clarita Valley like dandruff. I was there when my brother’s girlfriend’s friend’s friend drove his car into a garage, and though he claimed he wasn’t drunk, broke his high score on the breathalyzer. I was there when the roof of a Castaic gas station fell, and I had to resist using a quote from the (I’m sure legal) immigrant that went like this: Oh, dat Soopermang guy. He not combing, but ees whateeber.

I braved hungry children and fowl-addicted cretins to report on the grand opening of Chik-fil-A, braving the elements for an excruciating 24 hours. (Never mind getting the 52 free meal tickets). I sacrificed my waistline and cardiovascular health just to review KFC’s Double Down – Double the meat, double the cheese and double the bacon.

Where’s my sendoff now Jeff? WHERE’S MY GODDAMN SENDOFF?!

You should have gotten hazard pay for the epic story on Chik-Fil-A and KFC’s Double Down Austen. And we all appreciate your work during our 2011 Snowpocalypse Extreme event on New Year’s Day. Sorry for forgetting you but I join SCV Talk in wishing you and others all the best as you move on to better and hopefully more lucrative opportunities!

PS: My email box is always open for disgruntled former (and current!) Signal staffers. Drop me a line at jeff (at) scvtalk.com. Anonymity guaranteed.

This message is to let you know, but to really let Petz know, that my final day reporting for The Signal will be tomorrow. I got a job covering courts in Los Angeles for an online publication.

The past 19 months at The Signal have been some of the strangest and most interesting of my life. It’s been a blast and I consider Canyon Country my adopted home. But the Santa Clarita Valley, no matter how Awesome, will never replace where I grew up: Tustin, home of not one but TWO Costcos.

I’ll miss covering Tea Party rallies. If you haven’t been, go. You will not regret it.

Save Our State trying to get me fired; Daniel Henriquez’s missing military and education records; that one time I got shot with a laser beam at Pitchess Detention Center.

All memories I will cherish.

The stories were good, the people were better. I love SCVTalk, but keep reading the newspaper. Godspeed!

Best,

Jonathan

 

Ahh indeed those were high times for Randles, The Signal, and SCVTalk.

Most Signal reporters come and go without establishing a reputation or becoming well-known outside of a small community. But not Randles. Randles reached the upper echelon of Signal journalists known to the community at large, evidenced by the fact that he earned not one but two nicknames from local conservatives. Petz nicknamed him the “Bearded Liberal,” and when the rabid anti-immigration group Save Our State was upset with how Randles covered their rally (impartially and fair) in the wake of Kellar-gate, they tried to get the Signal to “flush the little turd” and fire the “SOB.”

But Randles survived that and went on to cover City politics, crime, court matters and more with aplomb and dedication to the story.

Alas, we knew it must end. Someone as talented as Randles deserves more pay than a fry cook at McDonalds and so, he, like Parimal Rohit, Brian Charles, Josh Premako, and several other top-notch reporters before him, is moving on to bigger and better things. We wish him the best and thank him for keeping us informed and educated on local news.

Charles Hill Morris Jr., regional manager of The Signal, announced today that Ian Lamont, publisher for almost three years, has resigned, effective immediately.

“I wish all at The Signal and The Signal itself much success,” Lamont said. “I came to love this paper and the Santa Clarita Valley community, so a piece of me will always remain in the SCV and at The Signal.”

Newspapers are under revenue pressures and need leadership able to fully commit to the process. Lamont could not currently make this full commitment, and thus both sides agreed to an amicable parting.

While the resignation is effective immediately, Lamont will be available for consultation throughout the transition to new leadership.

“Ian Lamont joined the Signal at a critical time. We are grateful for his and his team’s contributions to the business and we wish him well in whatever he chooses to do in the future,” Morris said.

To you and me, the Signal is a critical if flawed newspaper of record for the SCV. The only newspaper of record for our town, and its 250,000 inhabitants. The Times doesn’t cover us, the Daily News moved on years ago, and so for local news, The Signal is the only game in town, and that’s why I’m invested in it and want it to succeed.

To the Morris Multimedia owners in Georgia, however, The Signal is just a profit vehicle, a means of extracting wealth from us while giving us a mediocre product in return. They couldn’t care less about improving our paper or keeping quality journalistic talent on board, that’s why they pay our reporters about what a fry cook at McDonald’s makes. That’s why we’re witness to a revolving turn-style of publishers every 18-36 months and why no good Signal journalist ever stays a good Signal journalist and instead moves on to other papers.

Morris only cares about ad revenues and profit margins and you can see confirmation of that in the statement. It all but confirms the rumors I’ve heard from publishers and ex-Signal journalists for years: a publisher is given a certain time frame and a certain target for ad dollars/profit margins, and when he doesn’t meet those impossibly high targets, he’s gone.

Nevermind the quality of the paper. Nevermind the quality of the journalists. Nevermind new features or products or publications that have been rolled out during the publisher’s tenure (like altSCV). Nevermind the awards the paper wins now and again. Nevermind our town even. It’s all about maximizing the amount of money they can extract from us while minimizing costs under the banner of a “community newspaper.”

I follow the newspaper industry closely and I can’t think of a worse owner than Morris. So I’ve given up caring about news releases like this. Nothing will change on Creekside until Morris is bought out, goes under, or gets consumed by someone else. I’ll always support the young reporters and editorial staff there but who the publisher was, is and shall be in the future doesn’t matter a bit.

The item says that, overall, the three County Libraries in the SCV have over-reported how many materials they have on site by almost a quarter of a million items. As a result, the City wants to spend $1.3 million to purchase new materials (separate from the forthcoming purchase of existing materials, which is, as far as I know, under negotiation) in order to bring the entire valley-wide collection up to date and up to par with other regional libraries by opening day. The $1.3 million amount also includes furniture fixtures, technology products, library signage and promotional material.

Anyway, back to the materials (books, DVDs, etc). Here’s text from the item:

On January 27, 2011, collection development specialists from LSSI conducted a comprehensive on-site assessment of the local public library collection. Overall, LSSI’s collection development professionals identified many areas where the collection requires enhancement through the acquisition of additional library materials. In addition, it has been determined the local library materials collection of approximately 287,000 items is much smaller than previously understood based on information from the website of the County Library (which states approximately 524,000 items), in the Newhall facility library needs assessment (which states approximately 431,000 items), and in the library facilities impact fee study prepared two years ago (which states approximately 403,000 items). By comparison, the Burbank Public Library has a library materials collection of approximately 514,000 items, and the Glendale Public Library has approximately 773,000 items. The purchase of additional library materials to enhance the local collection available to customers on opening day, and the continued emphasis on collection development every year through the 22% increase in the annual budget for library materials previously approved by the City Council, will over the next several years raise the quality of our library materials collection to the high standards expected by the library customers of the City of Santa Clarita

And here’s the breakdown of where they want to spend the money on materials (for a total of $900,000 of the $1.3 million):

I think overall this is encouraging news. I like the emphasis on e-book purchases (though I’m a Kindle owner and won’t benefit) and adult books. I’m pleased to see that Twilight will only account for 17% of the purchases, though I bet there’s plenty of Twilight books in the existing collection as is. I think this is a good move and will make the Santa Clarita Libraries better on opening day.

HOWEVER….implicit in this request for more “start up and service enhancement costs” is a sort of backhanded accusation (edit: Darren Hernandez’s comment on that is here)that the County of Los Angeles has over-reported the amount of resources available to existing library patrons. Is that true? I  have no idea. I’ll take the City at its word with this one big caveat: it’s LSSI doing the counting and LSSI that’s going to get the $1.3 million order for new materials, furniture and technology products.

This is the way it works in our brave new outsourced, privatized system: the City cuts the check based on LSSI’s recommendation, and LSSI buys the goods.

Something to ponder as we continue to watch this slow-motion story unfold.

It’s no exaggeration to say that the LASD touted Nixle as a revolutionary way to communicate, in real time, crime and law enforcement information to interested citizens. Here’s how they made it sound back then:

Nixle® is now being used by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department to send free geographically-specific e-mails and text messages directly to the public. Messages include arrests, neighborhood-specific alerts and advisories, traffic incidents, road closures, wanted persons, missing persons, crime trends, and more. “With the Nixle instant notification system, the Sheriff’s Department can communicate accurate,timely, and reliable information directly to the public via your cell phones and email,” said Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca. “Nixle is a great success story of a public-private partnershipthat enhances public safety at no cost to taxpayers,” he added.

Sounds grand right? I thought perhaps the system was so advanced it could notify me why, for instance, the Sheriff’s Department helicopter was -once again- orbiting my Newhall high density condo complex at 10pm. Or maybe it would text me based on my geolocation when there was police activity in the area. All sorts of neat stuff would be possible, I thought. Why, I could even disassemble my ancient police scanner!

Too bad that since then, Nixle has become little more than a County-wide LASD spam system which occasionally imparts useful information. Most of the time, the Nixle alerts don’t even concern the SCV. The rest of the time, I’m left reading about LASD events or distant crime stories.

Instead of becoming more specific to my location (the whole idea of the system), the Nixle system is even less specific than the press releases and blog posts I used to read on SCVSheriff.com.

At the same time, the Newsroom portion of SCVSheriff.com -which was redesigned in 2009- is no longer available. The Newsroom blog was written and composed by local SCV Deputies, Deputies like Sgt. Darren Harris who was a great resource for local reporters and bloggers. The Newsroom link and Harris’ posts are gone, replaced with a generic link to Nixle.

Those changes -the move to Nixle and the sunset of the Newsroom site- makes the Sheriff’s Station feel a little more distant and the City a little more in control of what gets reported concerning crime in the SCV.

And that’s a feeling I don’t like to have.

You didn’t back the County of Los Angeles Library System because it has ably served Santa Clarita for decades. No, you were scared into your position by thuggish librarians intent on spreading literacy with a side of lies. Meanwhile, it was Mayor Pro-tem Marsha McLean who offered a refreshing message of hope: “Cracks are forming!”[2]. You heard about severe restrictions on inter-library loans, the potential for new fees, and the loss of one-of-a-kind resources, but this was propaganda spread by questionable sources, like the County Librarian. You just lacked the basic reasoning skills necessary to critically evaluate these misleading messages. Thank goodness Leon and the gang at Creekside are on the case.

This widespread ignorance also explains why the dozens of comments given at the City Council meeting on the library takeover didn’t matter. According to The Signal editorial board, “They [the City Council] didn’t need three hours of testimony. Were their minds made up before the meeting? Yes…” You may think you know what you want, but it’s best to let the City Council and The Signal (their opinions typically indistinguishable) decide what’s best for you.

Only thing I’d like to add is that we here on SCVTalk (and in letters to the editor, the discussion forum and elsewhere) were questioning the takeover move way before SEIU unions got involved. We wanted some simple questions answered: Will unincorporated residents have check in/check out privileges at new City libraries? Will we have the same access to County resources we do now? Will the City be able to collect the special library tax (it now appears the answer is no, just like the 1999 City study said)? Why did the city treat our libraries, a valued local institution, like just one more line item to optimize in a budget? Why didn’t they hire a real librarian in, say, the Spring, to add some credibility to their takeover? Why did we have to choose between listening to our well-regarded County Librarian and Darren Hernandez, a finance guy? Why did this idea go from zero to light speed in a mere 50+ days when the City has deliberated for years over matters of far less importance?

Don’t depend on The Signal to answer those questions for you; their editorial makes it clear which side of the debate they are on, and they, at least the editorial staff, have contempt for anyone who dares raise questions about this move.

It’s difficult to feel anything but melancholy about the Golden State these days. High unemployment, dire financial straights (year after year after year) and a big divide between the Coasties and the Inlanders, but at least we still have Huell Howser.

And our state song is way better than Texas’.

The Deadwrite blog has some history about the Mesa:

Mystery Mesa is the name of the spot, and Kimi and I were lucky enough to get a tour of it recently. It’s not very well known outside of the ranks of Hollywood’s location managers, but in fact, it’s one of the most used filming sites in the entire Santa Clarita Valley.

The Mesa was once the site of Christian tent revivals in the 1920s. It later became a filming spot for the likes of William S. Hart in the silent Western days and has literally been seen hundreds of times over the years on screen.

It was here that Steven Spielberg filmed the conclusion of his memorable thriller Duel in 1971, where the killer truck drives off the same cliff as in the O’Brien clip (the cliff is only 120-feet tall, by the way). Spielberg came back here in 2005 to film several scenes from War of the Worlds. It was later used as the desert airport in The Aviator, and around the same time it doubled for ancient Egypt inThe Scorpion King. More recently, the mesa became the island of Iwo Jima in the South Pacific for Clint Eastwood’s Letters From Iwo Jima. Next year, the Mesa will show up on the big screen again in Kenneth Branagh’s fantasy Thor, which stars Natalie Portman.

Back in 2007, an anti-war activist group held a photo shoot on the Mesa. Their plan was to have protesters lay down on the ground as if they were dead, then photograph them as a visual representation of the number of Americans who had died in Iraq up to that point. I covered the event then and it was my first trip up to the Mesa.

The Mesa certainly is a flexible spot for filmmakers and producers. I’m glad it was never developed. If you haven’t been there, you owe it to yourself to at least drive through Vasquez Canyon and check out the interesting geology in the area. It’s like nowhere else in the SCV.