But he's got the dirtiest job in town
Bendin' low at the peoples' feet
On the windy corner of the dirty street
Well, I asked him while he shined my shoes
How'd he keep from gettin' the blues
He grinned as he raised his little head
Popped a shoeshine rag and then he said
Get rhythm when you get the blues - Johnny Cash, Get Rhythm The rhythm of the SCV, freely available to all in today's Daily Brief.
News
- Violent crime in SCV jumps over 16% in 2006: The FBI's 2006 Uniform Crime report is out, and the news is mixed for Santa Clarita. Totals for Violent crimes, which include murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assault, rose from 336 in 2005 to 392 in 2006, a jump of over 16%. Property crimes (Larceny, Burglary, Motor vehicle theft, and arson), in contrast, were down from 2005 numbers. But numbers without context are meaningless- Santa Clarita is still a safe city, in fact the FBI ranks us as #236 out of 254 cities for serious crime, which I interpret to mean we are the 18th safest city in America for cities with a population greater than 100,000. In 2005, we were ranked #228 out of 254 cities for serious crime. The FBI's report (complete with a pop-up disclaimer advising against this kind of ranking) is available here, but the Daily News has laid out the stats in a much better format. 2005 Data, 2006 Data, Daily News report which mentions the SCV.
- Storm produces record rainfall: Newhall was hit with 1.18 inches of rain on Friday and Saturday, making the weekend storm the strongest to hit the SCV in September in almost 25 years, according to Katie Geyer's report in today's Signal. Dozens of drivers probably didn't appreciate the inclement weather though; the report says 46 traffic collisions were recorded during the storm, some three times the average.
- Vital Express assets sold, saga ends: Carl Goldman, who busted the Vital Express mischief story wide-open in July 2006, has what amounts to an epilogue for the storied shipping company and its relationship with the SCV. Recall that in the summer of 2006, Dan and Lisa Boaz, the founders of Vital Express and darlings of the SCV charity circuit, promptly sold their Sand Canyon home and moved to North Carolina. In their wake were allegations of fraud, unpaid bills, unpaid employees, and wild overspending on the part of the Boazes. Goldman tells us today that Vital Express' name -once attached to COC's brand-new Performing Arts center- assets and customer base have been purchased by a Houston-based Diligent Delivery Systems for an undisclosed sum of money. Read more, including the original 2006 articles, here
- CalTrans tells Castaic Man to move house off freeway: Castaic resident Patrick Richardson only wanted to move his mobile home from Santa Monica to Santa Clarita. He obtained a permit from CalTrans which allowed him to tow the home up the 405 Freeway to the SCV, but chose to take a different route that was more level. He ran into problems almost immediately and was forced to abandon the house 10 days ago on the side of the 110 Freeway after it hit a freeway underpass. Since then, the house has become something of an urban legend, the Los Angeles Times tells us. Thousands pass by it on the freeway, taggers scrawl new graffiti on it everyday, radio DJs joke about it, and homeless people reportedly live in it. That should all end soon, however; CalTrans has ordered Richardson to move it. A Series of unfortunate events
- SCV Marine returns from Iraq: Katie Geyer has a great story on Timothy Bogna, a Marine who's served two tours of duty in Iraq. Bogna returned home recently and told Geyer about his experience and said that the situation in his area of Iraq had improved. Link
- Pedophile bill tabled until January: SCV Assemblyman Cameron Smyth's so-called "surrogate stalker" bill won't be heard in the state legislature until January, Smyth told Republicans at a meeting at a local IHOP last Thursday. The bill, crafted by Smyth during the height of the Jack McClellan scare, would "make it illegal for non-caregivers to put children in harm's way." Katie Geyer's article on the matter includes an interesting quote from Smyth who admits that he saw the McClellan mess and his bill as an "opportunity" to score points with his constituency.
- Do your part and join the PTA: Sharon Cotal at the Signal tells us a bit about the SCV's various PTA and PTSA groups. Yeah, these days students can join the PTA! In my day, parents dictated everything and students had no voice.
- Lennar posts massive losses: For the third quarter, home sales dropped 44% leading to a loss of some $513 million for the nation's second biggest home builder and parent company of Newhall Land. Lennar says it has slashed jobs by 35% as a result of the losses. Link
- Solar powered homes sell: "With foreclosures rising and home prices diving, there is a bright spot in California's residential real estate market: Solar-powered homes are starting to outsell traditionally electrified new homes in several markets, and developers are stepping up their use of the technology," the Los Angeles Times reports today.
- A "Ferry Bloc" and city politics on TITTS forum:For the most part, the Signal's "Tell It" forum has degenerated into a board where Republicans and Democrats trade childish barbs over national news, but occasionally there's a thread worth looking at. Check out this " Leadership in Santa Carita" (sic) post in which one Tell It user says council candidate Laurie Ender is simply a pawn of Frank Ferry. Others defend her, of course. It's only September, but things look to be heating up ahead of April's election.
- Speaking of Laurie Ender: The Dog People The council candidate and parks commish has a blog post talking a bit about the "dog people" of Santa Clarita who, for years, showed up at Parks meetings to pressure that board into creating an off-leash park for Santa Clarita's canine residents. Hey, for the record, "Dog People" is offensive. We're just tax-paying residents like everyone else and a fenced-in, off-leash park benefits people who like dogs and those who don't. The City Council will vote on whether to create an interim dog park at tonight's council meeting, and I expect that a few people will speak for and against it.
- Hospital Debate tonight: Will Ferry throw a tantrum? Will McLean throw her arms up in frustration? Will TimBen hog the mic and pepper staff with questions? Can we expect an emotional outburst from Officer Kellar? What will soft-spoken Laurene have to say? Has Santa Clarita ever had an opposition figure like David Gauny, who's business approach and organization skills have changed the entire dynamic of the hospital debate? Oh, and most importantly, just how late will this meeting go? I'm betting 1:15 a.m. or so. All those questions and more answered at tonight's City Council meeting. I'll be there, but I don't know if I can stay late, I'm not getting paid for this blog.
- Buck Blogs Mahmoud: Our hawkish Representative, Buck McKeon, couldn't resist opining on the political and media circus surrounding Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Columbia University in New York yesterday. In case you're not sure what to make of the whole matter, Buck sent this statement out to press recipients, oddly drawing parallels between Mahmoud's visit and military recruiting on university campuses: "President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called for the destruction of Israel, the defeat of American troops in Iraq and is a known terrorist supporter. If the University wishes to provide such a leader a forum to speak, they should then also provide the same forum to the ROTC." Also, over on TheHill.com blog, a quote was attributed to Buck on the same topic. I asked Lindsey Mask, Buck's spokesperson, if the quote really belonged to him. She said she was checking and the quote has since been removed. Of course I copied it before it was deleted. So whether or not it belongs to Buck is in question, but it certainly sounds like it could come from him. In this quote, McKeon says Columbia University's activities are outrageous and show that the university is intent on embarrassing and disgracing the United States: "Columbia University disgraces and embarrasses the United States with its invitation to a man who is personally promoting the death of American soldiers in Iraq. To allow someone who cheers the death of Americans and seeks to develop nuclear weapons to use against the United States and its allies, particularly Israel, is outrageous." And that's all for today!
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