- Specialist Ian Gelig’s funeral mass will be held at noon on Saturday at Blessed Kateri Tekawitha Catholic church on Copperhill. The public is invited to pay their respects by lining the procession route after the funeral. A memorial service, also open to the public, will be at San Fernando Mission Hills Cemetary at 2pm. Full details at the SIGNAL, KHTS
- Facing budget challenges, Metrolink is pondering massive cuts to the Antelope Valley line, which stops at three stations in Santa Clarita. At least 17 trains, including 11 on weekdays, may be cut even though the Antelope Valley line is one of Metrolink’s more productive lines. In addition, fares may go up. DAILY NEWS, METROLINK
- Los Angeles County supervisors get millions of dollars a year in discretionary funds and spend that money however they like, the LA Times reports. Our supervisor, Antonovich, seems to spend his funds mostly on donations to various charities and institutions in the 5th District. But what’s the $275,000 given to the City of Santa Clarita over the course of 3 years about? LA TIMES, PROJECT SITE
- To really appreciate Captain Anthony LaBerge, captain of the SCV Sheriff’s Station, you have to realize what it was like before he came on board. A station commander out on medical live, a website from the mid 1990s and fewer outreach programs. KHTS has a good report
- A Facebook group seeking to ban pet stores from selling puppies and kittens for profit in Santa Clarita has over 220 members. The group, led by a woman named Caroline Squires, says its goal is to get the City of Santa Clarita to create an ordinance banning the sale of puppies and kittens that come from ‘puppy mills.’ You can watch the group’s video at their FACEBOOK PAGE
- Dave Bossert says that you can thank David Gauny for leading the Santa Clarita City Council on anti illegal immigration. I suppose that’s one way to look at it (or the City decided to strip Gauny of this issue). On the other hand, three cheers for Laurie Ender for standing up to the mob and having the courage of her convictions in her vote on Tuesday night. WRB
- Canyon Country Burglar arrested after chase SIGNAL
- That 65 year old man who suffers from Alzheimers and got lost last week has received a LoJack bracelet that should help relatives find him if he gets lost or disoriented again. No this is not a joke, they actually make LoJack bracelets CITY BRIEFS
- The new murals for the Golden Valley Bridge over Soledad Canyon Road are ready and they look really good. Special Children’s Art Foundation helped design them KHTS
- That church built into the ground in the Birdgeport area is nearing completion WRB says
- The wind was so powerful yesterday it blew a truck carrying a modular house on its side north of Castaic. Thankfully, today’s winds won’t be so fierce SIGNAL
- Reminder about the Santa Clarita Century bike ride coming up on April 3 SIGNAL
- Interesting column about Villaraigosa’s push to condense 30 years of rail and road building into 10 by getting loans from the Feds and repaying them with Measure R money, which was approved by voters in 2008 WAPO
- Beware email scams that appear to come from friends and family SCV Sheriff’s station says WRB
- Lynne Plambeck preemptively blames Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors for any future problems in water supply to new developments SIGNAL
- Tony Newhall opines on that Signal editorial last week, the one the Signal tried to explain this week SIGNAL
- Cool YouTube time lapse video of a “Lenticular” cloud formation over Santa Clarita YOUTUBE
March 11, 2010 – Daily Brief
Written by Jeff on March 11th, 2010Google Adds Biking Directions for SCV to Google Maps
Written by Jeff on March 10th, 2010Holy smokes. They’ve gone and done it.
Google has added Bicycling Directions and paths for the Santa Clarita Valley. It’s not complete, but it’s an amazing start:
In this map, I asked Google to give me directions from Valley Bicycles on Railroad Avenue to Regal Cinema in Canyon Country. As you can see, it routed me onto Newhall Avenue (not the best route, Walnut would be better, but better than Railroad!) onto 16th Street where it tells me to take the South Fork trail all the way up to the Soledad Canyon Bike path.
The routing is so detailed it largely duplicates the City’s trails and paths maps, including the street crossings on Soledad.
Mercifully for new cyclists, it doesn’t route you up Sierra Highway and its hills even though it’d be a shorter trip. (7.0 miles verse 9.8) But you can certainly drag your route that way if you like.
Notably, the maps don’t show Valencia’s paseo system, but those aren’t really good for transportation cycling anyway.
Here’s a video explaining the tool:
Way to go big G!
March 10, 2010 – Daily Brief
Written by Jeff on March 10th, 2010- After some debate, the City of Santa Clarita unanimously supported five of seven anti-immigration and anti-ACORN bills currently circulating in Congress. But two of the bills, both which would strip birthright citizenship from babies born to illegal immigrants, were voted on separately and Councilwoman Laurie Ender voted no on those. SIGNAL, I HEART SCV, KHTS
- Council candidate TimBen Boydston says the City isn’t enforcing codes restricting the size of the incumbent’s signs. “The City Attorney, in direct contradiction to the rules that we were given and had clarified, said that what we were told was not applicable because that would be a violation of free speech,” he wrote to supporters in an email. Boydston says the sign size limit is 12 square feet but some of the incumbents have signs as large as 32 sq. ft.
- “It’s been hair, teeth, and eyeball, ” David Gauny says of his fundraising efforts. SIGNAL
- Councilwoman Laurie Ender pens a primer on the City Council election for the ladies over at SCVMOMSBLOG.COM
- Hart District issues layoff notices to all 37 assistant principles as it tries to cut $15 million from its budget SIGNAL
- Environmental group says Santa Clara River “belongs to the world” and says SCV has an “obligation not to destroy the river.” All that in relation to the Newhall Ranch project. Newhall Land disputes that it will harm the river SIGNAL
- 7 year old Norwalk boy calls 911 after armed men break into his home and threaten his parents. “They’re going to shoot my mom and dad. Bring cops, a lot of them, and soldiers too!” he said to the dispatcher LA TIMES
- Buck McKeon co-authors Politico piece with Democrat Ike Skelton on why the US should not withdraw troops from Afghanistan by the end of 2010. The President isn’t proposing that but Rep. Dennis Kucinich is POLITICO
- Reminder: City Council candidate debate tomorrow hosted by The Signal, KHTS, and SCVTV. KHTS
- ABC News profiles the family of Jani Schofield, the seven year old Schizophrenic girl who was on Oprah a few months ago ABC NEWS
- The State Senate will take up the appointment of Assemblywoman Sharon Runner to something called the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board where she’ll earn $128,000 per year. Her husband George is running for the Board of Equalization in November SAC BEE
- No break from these awful arctic winds. In fact, we may have gusts up to 60 mph today LA TIMES
- “We can all learn something from the SCV’s monthlong social-studies session,” says columnist Gary Horton on the ”proud racist” issue SIGNAL
- WRB writer Chris Sharp says TimBen Boydston is a class act WRB
SCV, Behold Your Salvation
Written by Jeff on March 9th, 2010In the annals of SCV History, there has never been a moment like the one that we are about to experience.
It will be more momentous than when the first Tataviam came down from Alaska and cast his eyes upon our fertile valley; more awe-inspiring than when Gaspar de Portola introduced the wilds of Santa Clarita to the Europeans in his diary, more breathtaking than when ol’ Henry Mayo charmed the Spanish into giving him this land, and yes, even Awesomer than Newhall Land’s Awesometown.
Are ya’ll ready for this? An awed hush ought to be overtaking you now.
I’m talking, of course, about the completion & opening of the Cross Valley Connector, the here-to-fore mythical Silk Road of SCV-land, the only roadway in Santa Clarita with its own mission statement (Bridging the Gap), the long hoped-for link between the rich pampered people of Valencia and the downtrodden masses of Canyon Country, the road that will solve all our traffic woes, get us to Johnny’s soccer practice faster and make driving fun again.
Verily I say unto you, if St. Paul had lived in our time, he would have had his conversion moment on the Cross Valley Connector, not the Road to Damascus. 
You can let your breath back out now.
And because this is Santa Clarita and we absolutely love ribbon-cutting ceremonies of all types, we’re not just going to open the CVC and let you drive on it. No, that would be too simple, too ordinary for such a road.
No we’re going old school. Way back. Back before the hybrids. Back before the automobile. Back even before the bicycle.
The first wheeled human transport device to cross this road to nirvana will be a stagecoach!
Break it down KHTS:
Crossing town seamlessly! The Cross Valley connector is opening on Saturday March 27th linking the 14 Freeway with the I-5, by the 126, easing traffic across our Valley.Now you can be one of four lucky participants and become the first to cross the new bridge in the famous Wells Fargo Stage Coach!Join Congressman McKeon, Santa Clarita Mayor Weste and other dignitaries. Become a part of history and be part of the official grand opening for this once in a lifetime experience.The opening of the Cross Valley Connector on Saturday, March 27th at 11 a.m. You’ll receive a special City Certificate, including a photo of you in the stagecoach, Custom Framed by Fast Frame Valencia.You can be a winner by sending us an email about why YOU are excited the cross valley connector is complete. Log onto hometown station dot com for details. All Santa Clarita residents are invited to join us for the festivities on Saturday, March 27th at 11 a.m. time at Soledad and the Golden Valley Bridge.
Carbon neutral with all the refinements and luxury features you could possibly want from the finest in 19th Century transport, the Wells Fargo Stagecoach will take some lucky Claritan across this traffic-slaying roadway, this bridge to the future.
The unintentional irony is so delicious!
And you can travel with Buck McKeon and Laurene Weste no less! And get a certificate! Truly the City is pulling out all the stops for this red-letter day in our history.
KHTS says if you want to be one of the lucky ones to first go across our new road, you have to email them at contest@hometownstation.com. I hope they see this post and consider it my entry into the contest.
But even if I don’t win, I will spoil everyone’s fun and ride my bike across the CVC the night before.
In Defense of Frank Ferry
Written by Jeff on March 9th, 2010This is a little off the beaten path for me, so pardon me while I delve into religion and theology for a moment…
Maybe it’s the lapsed (and thus guilt-ridden) Catholic in me, but I really resent Not a Ferry Fan and other’s attacks on Frank Ferry for his comment that God doesn’t distinguish between American and non-American in the February City Council meeting.
Here it is played again in NAFF’s latest and quite possibly blasphemous video in which he takes on the voice of God and schools Frank Ferry on how sinful the illegals are:
After Ferry said this in early February, some said he was putting his allegiance to Cardinal Roger Mahoney before his allegiance to the City of Santa Clarita.
I say so what? So what if Ferry’s position on illegal immigration is informed by his Catholicism? Guess what, mine is too! The question for local conservatives and Christians is why aren’t your views on immigration shaped by your faith first and foremost rather than conservative political orthodoxy?
I’ll let Catholic theologian Richard Benson take over:
Every human being is created in the image of God and is both unique and equal. Some letters to editors refer to undocumented immigrants as “illegals.” I find this appalling language. Apart from the fact that it is bad grammar, it is a type of objectification of others reminiscent of the worst kind of racial profiling. No human being is ever to be reduced to being totally or even primarily identified by the color of their skin, their country of origin, their legal status or any other external characteristic. Every human being is first and foremost a person. In the book of Genesis, Scripture reveals that every human being is created as “imago Dei,” i.e. the image of God. Every human person is the child of God and therefore every human is a part of the family of God. We are sisters and brothers.
Local conservatives and Christians ought to be outraged when know-nothings like Not a Ferry Fan and Pastor Yancey take a person’s legal status before a human-created government and equate it with their standing before everlasting God. As if God would fault a poor man for crossing an arbitrary line on a map in order to better care for his family!
“Oh Jeff, you just don’t understand. The illegals are breaking the law! They’re illegal!” they shout.
But there is a higher law! A law and a law-giver who commands us to treat fellow human beings with respect, dignity and love. Whether that is a Catholic law, a Christian law, the Golden Rule, karma or any other principle that decent religious people have believed in and fought for throughout the ages, it is a higher law than United States Code or ICE regulations.
Shame on you!
I hope Frank Ferry doesn’t back down at tonight’s Council meeting. I hope he stands for his principles and yes, his Catholic beliefs.
Now back to your regularly scheduled City Council election intrigue.
Campaign Finance in the SCV-The New “Normal”
Written by Tim Myers on March 9th, 2010Candidates for the City Council filed their second report for the April election and the big news (and it is BIG news) is Dave Gauny’s rasing of $15K and “loaning” (probably personal money) of another $15K to his campaign to rack up the highest total in cumulative fundraising for this cycle; much higher than the current incumbents and other serious contender, TimBen Boydston. Contrast this with Frank Ferry’s anemic amount of less than $1,000 during the reporting period and “emergency” fundraising email late in February, and one can see serious cracks in the base of the wall of incumbency.
But perhaps the most shocking news comes when one compares the fundraising totals with the totals just two years ago in the 2008 election when Laurie Ender came first and incumbent Bob Kellar came second. Laurie Ender from HER OWN CAMPAIGN (independent expenditures aside) raised and spent just under $80K and Bob Kellar raised and spent just under $90K according to the public finance disclosures. My calculations show that at the current velocity of fundraising any successful candidate in the current cycle will probably raise and spend about half those amounts equating to a 30% annual DE-flation in the cost of running a local campaign, and even if Frank Ferry can execute on his heroic fundraising effort he will only achieve a cumulative number of about 70% of those amounts from just two years ago.
These big drops in support can only mean one thing: Real estate prices and commercial rents are not the only thing that burst after the piercing of a bubble. One can surmise that people just don’t have the money or want to spend the money they did just two years ago on political campaigns which changes the whole calculus of the election.
I have always touted the impregnability of incumbency in City Council Elections due to history, and such history has tended to repeat itself over and over again. The incumbents, already with what name recognition can be sucked from our apathetic town, monopolize endorsements and money to sail back into office, but the challengers have outmaneuvered them this time to thwart not just one but two of the three legs of the stool of incumbent impregnability.
For what its worth, my Nebraska bride has convinced me to give one of my three votes to TimBen Boydston. Sorry Johnny Pride!
March 9, 2010 – Daily Brief *
Written by Jeff on March 9th, 2010
Giddyup Dave Gauny, giddyup. Incredible shot huh? I had to wait like 20 minutes for the horse (stallion?mustang?) to do that in Sand Canyon
- City Council candidate David Gauny smashes all incumbent and challenger fundraising between 1/1/10 and 2/27/10 raising $14,259 in contributions. He also received loans in the amount of $15,789 and has the most funds on hand of all candidates at $24,279. Last time the City Clerk’s office released information, Gauny had only raised a few hundred dollars
- As for the other challengers and incumbents, Boydston received $9,039 and has $13,980 on hand, Frank Ferry received $980 (not a typo) and has $16,987 on hand, McLean received $5993 and has $17,430 on hand, and Weste received $7,325 and has $21,762 in da bank. Harrison Katz raised over $2,000. All data from VOTESANTACLARITA.COM
- Not a Ferry Fan pretends he’s God in his latest condemnation of Frank Ferry and the incumbents. He’s also outraged at TMS, as usual YOU TUBE
- 1,260 new homes north of Soledad and west of Sierra Highway? It’s possible if LA County approves the Skyline Ranch development SIGNAL *
- Sheriff’s spokesman says he doesn’t believe arresting Deputies were aware that Johnny Pride was a Council candidate at the time of his arrest, says The Signal. Also, independent eyewitnesses saw the two fourteen year old girls in his apartment. The Sheriff’s Department “anticipate(s) refiling the case with the DA again.” SIGNAL
- The 47 year old motorcyclist who crashed his bike and was killed Sunday in Bouquet Canyon had a wife and two daughters and is described by a friend as a “good family man.” Both the Signal and KHTS say he was travelling at a high rate of speed, but the CHP can’t say whether he was speeding or not. Was he alone or riding through the canyon with a group, as one witness reported here? SIGNAL, KHTS
- The City Council will vote tonight whether to support a number of regressive and loony anti-immigration bills in Congress, including ones that defund ACORN, make English the national language and remove birthright Citizenship of American babies born of illegal immigrant parents, as guaranteed by the 14th Amendment. Shameful if you ask me. I wish we had the numbers to show up in the Council chambers and turn our backs on them as they vote. KHTS
- An off-duty Los Angeles Police Department officer was robbed by two men on bicycles near Bouquet Canyon Road and Newhall Ranch yesterday. Deputies arrested one 20 year old man, but the other escaped SIGNAL
- A Santa Clarita man was among three arrested yesterday after a four year long FBI/LASD investigation into a credit card skimming operation that occurred in Santa Clarita and throughout Los Angeles County. The skimming devices were installed at gas pumps and are very difficult to detect, authorities say Some 15,000 accounts were compromised resulting in $3 million lost LAIST, LA TIMES
- A combination of “public apathy and corporate greed” will destroy the Santa Clara river valley unless you act now to stop Newhall Land from building Newhall Ranch, a group called Animals on the Edge says in a press release today. The group has made Newhall Ranch one of their causes and has posted a photojournal of various places along the river on their website PRESS RELEASE, WEBSITE
- LAist hikes Whitney Canyon Park in Newhall, which looks incredibly lush right now LAIST
- If you listen to just one radio show this week, make sure it’s This American Life’s broadcast on March 5. The opening act of the show is all about a scummy real estate developer who built and sold ‘luxury’ condos in a trendy Chicago neighborhood. But underneath the granite countertops and hardwood floor lurked…a building with no concrete foundation and bad plumbing. The developer? No where to be found! THIS AMERICAN LIFE
- Kevin Buck, Signal columnist, says local politics is too boring to write about. No, you just lack imagination Kevin SIGNAL
Actually Congressman….
Written by Jeff on March 8th, 2010The Congressman Buck McKeon interview that appeared in Saturday’s Signal is interesting on a number of levels. First of all, it’s rare to see our Congressman interviewed in our local paper on national subjects. Usually our local media just asks him what he’s doing for us in Washington.
Perhaps that’s why Congressman McKeon seems caught off guard and even a tad irritated at Randles line of questioning. And maybe that’s why some of his responses don’t hold up under examination.
To wit:
Term Limits:
Check out McKeon’s deflection when Randles’ asked him directly about federal term limits:
THE SIGNAL: On March 3, you announced you will be running for re-election. You have served in Congress for more than 15 years. How important are term limits for elected officials?
McKEON: How important are they? In what way?
THE SIGNAL: Do you think it’s important to have some sort of term limits on elected officials? You’re the only Congressman that’s serve in the 25th Congressional District…
McKEON: We had a 25th Congressional District before i served in the 25th Congressional District, it was just a different congressional district.
We have term limits every year. Every two years we stand for election so the people have a chance to make a choice at that time and I think that’s a good system.
That’s quite a contrast with what he told the Daily News in 1995. From the May 23, 1995 edition*:
“I believe term limits are necessary to increase citizen participation and revive the concept of the citizen legislator who serves for a short time as a civic duty rather than as a career,” McKeon said. “Without term limits, we will continue to move more and more towards a system dominated by an entrenched class of politicians that erode accountability and responsiveness.”
…
McKeon, serving his House second term, has pledged to limit his congressional career to eight to 10 years. McKeon’s district covers the Los Angeles County portion of the Antelope Valley.
Zoom forward to 2010 and McKeon tells the Signal that he will serve in Congress “as long as I’m healthy and able to continue on.”
Stimulus
But that wasn’t the only flip-flop. On the topic of the federal stimulus program, McKeon denied to The Signal that he ever said the the stimulus had failed to create jobs.
THE SIGNAL: You have said the $800 billion dollar federal stimulus has created no new jobs and…
McKEON: No, I didn’t say it hasn’t created no new jobs. When you throw out that kind of money it’s bound to create some jobs. What I have said is, since that bill was passed, we were promised it would create 3 million new jobs, but in fact what has happened is we have lost 4 million jobs. What I said was it’s been basically ineffective and for the amount of money that’s been spent, very few jobs have been created.
Actually Congressman, as recently as February you were saying the stimulus didn’t create jobs:
“The question is ‘Did the Stimulus Bill create new jobs?’ The answer is no. The Democrats’ claimed their stimulus plan was going ‘create new jobs’ and hold unemployment at or below 8.5%. The reality is new jobs have not been created. In fact, millions of jobs have been lost, despite the $800 billion boondoggle that was rushed through Congress.
And that was only the latest flip flop. Back in November, McKeon toured a local lock factory that hired 17 new employees with stimulus money. The Signal story about that tour said, “The congressman voted against the stimulus package but conceded that in the case of Pacific Lock, the program is working.”
Health Care
Few issues have lit up our Congressman’s press and outreach machine like Health Care reform. You should read his discussion with Jonathan Randles on the topic, but I wanted to zero in on McKeon’s abuse of the phrase “government takeover of healthcare,” which has appeared 16 times in outreach emails over the last year.
McKEON: Such as government basically taking over healthcare, and I have real concerns about that.
He goes on to claim that if Health Care reform passes, the 80% of Americans who like the insurance coverage they have “will lose it.”
For the last time, there is no proposal in the House, the Senate or in the President’s desk drawer that amounts to a “government takeover” of healthcare. Respected fact-check website Politifact.com tags Congressmen who say such things as “Liar Liar, Pants on Fire,” saying:
By any reasonable definition, there’s no way that the Democratic plan could be considered a government takeover. Indeed, its primary approach is to set up new systems to encourage private health insurance companies to provide more coverage and better services.
The cornerstone of the Democratic program is actually the status quo. The majority of Americans would continue to get health coverage the way they do now — from private insurance companies. That coverage would be paid for the same way it is now — by private employers and individual premiums. That’s not a government takeover.
Indeed, FactCheck.org said the whole “Government Takeover” mantra was one of 2009’s biggest “whoppers” alongside death panels.
It’s easy to figure out why Congressman McKeon continues to use this inaccurate phrase. Back in May 2009, pollster Frank Luntz said that was the only reasonable chance Republicans had of derailing health care reform.
I hope The Signal and other local media will do more interviews like this as the 2010 campaign season kicks off. Congressman McKeon works for us, after all.
* Jim Skeen Daily News Staff Writer. (1995, May 23). CONGRESSMEN BACK MEASURE ON TERM LIMITS MCKEON, THOMAS SUPPORT BID FOR CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT :[ANTELOPE VALLEY Edition]. Daily News,p. AV.1. Retrieved March 7, 2010, from California, South Newsstand. (Document ID: 19938913)
Putting the pieces together on Johnny Pride
Written by Jeff on March 8th, 2010What’s going on with the Johnny Pride case? Why was he arrested and placed in the slammer on $500k bail only to be released the next day?
An anonymous emailer speculates:
It is generally the policy of the LA District Attorney and LASD SVB to not arrest people for statutory rape until confirming DNA evidence is gathered and processed. Based upon the timeline of the complaint this DNA evidence would have been available sometime one to two weeks ahead of the actual election or maybe even after the election.
The SVB detectives, perhaps not understanding local politics very well, had a Patrick Fitzgerald moment. Like the intrepid US Attorney from Chicago who felt he needed to act quickly to stop Ron Blagoavich from selling a Senate seat, the detectives worried they would be savaged for letting someone under an active investigation for rape get elected to the City Council. So they arrested JP quicker than normal.
On Friday, bureaucratic laziness kicked in. Someone in the DA’s office said to release him because the arrest had come too soon. The LASD, knowing this would cause them pain, decided to pin it on the DA saying the DA had “dismissed” the case for insufficient evidence.
As this was getting ALL over local media the spokesperson for the DA’s office backtracked and said they could not confirm the actual dismissal. There will be a flurry of activity on Monday (3-8) and a probable arrest warrant issued.
This is all speculation and should be treated as such. But it sounds like a possible, if not plausible, scenario to me.
March 8, 2010 – Daily Brief
Written by Jeff on March 8th, 2010- No updates yet in Johnny Pride case, we’ll keep our ears to the ground today however
- SCV is home to at least 13 private schools and their appeal is growing, reports the Signal. More than a few of them teach “evolution as a theory” alongside creationism. Enrollment in the schools seems to be growing, with one (Trinity) set to open a full high school in a few years SIGNAL
- The Signal’s Jonathan Randles had a one-on-one interview with Congressman Buck McKeon on health care, immigration, and Don’t Ask Don’t Tell SIGNAL
- Second round of campaign finance disclosure forms will be visible on VoteSantaClarita.com by close of business tomorrow, March 9 I’m told. We may have some numbers for you today however.
- TimBen Boydston opens campaign HQ on Old Town Newhall TIMBEN.COM
- Go Weste the SCV Congress of Republicans says. SIGNAL
- Newhall Land officials must be tickled pink with the success of Awesometown and how the term has entered the SCV vernacular SIGNAL
- Mother thought man arrested for molesting her boy was a “weird guy,” but gave him the benefit of the doubt because he was in her church. That and more details in the Signal’s thorough story SIGNAL
- New Sheriff’s Captain ran cold case and unsolved murder team. He also has run the LASD’s city contracting bureau SIGNAL
- The two giant Texas oil companies who are apparently funding a California ballot initiative to overturn our landmark Greenhouse Gas law are staying quiet about the issue says the NY TIMES
- State Senate bill would forbid cyclists from riding while using their cell phone. Streetsblog is upset but I say what’s good for the goose is good for the gander STREETSBLOG
- Leasing companies and owners are using the SCV’s 25% of vacant office space for film production SIGNAL
- The motorcyclist killed in Bouquet Canyon on Sunday was a 47 year old man from Northridge. The CHP says his motorcycle collided with a car but no one else was injured SIGNAL
- Los Angeles International airport and its “faded, cramped domestic terminal” is us, the people of “the United States of Deferred Maintenance,” writes Thomas Friedman
- I should have seen this coming: Roger Gitlin quotes from my round-up of last week’s Minuteman Rally. Let me just reply with the Bob Kellar defense. The quote is completely taken out of context. SIGNAL
- Speaking of that rally, blogger Blazing Monk has put together an interesting highlight video of the rally BLAZINGMONK
- A perfect storm of media, crime, and the City of Santa Clarita in Dave Bossert’s commentary this week WRB
- About that editorial last week that hinted at the existence of a “Crime is Rising!!1!” hit mailer by one of the Council challengers, the Signal says it messed up and didn’t mean to cause such a fuss. There is no mailer…yet the paper says SIGNAL
