A very nice ad found on the 1,200 member strong "You Know You're Old School SCV When..." Facebook Group
- Stick a fork in it, Las Lomas is DONE: A Judge last week ruled that the City of Los Angeles doesn’t have to “reopen its environmental review of a controversial 5,553 home development” in the Newhall Pass, according to the LA Times. KHTS has a story also. This follows developer Dave Palmer’s resignation from the Las Lomas company last Thursday, and in the words of LA City Councilman Greig Smith, “is a great holiday gift for the community.”
- Lucky Students get Inaguration tickets, courtesy of McKeon: Congressman Buck McKeon gave 40 Academy of the Canyons seniors tickets to attend Barack Obama’s inaguration on January 20. McKeon apparently has some 250 tickets as a member of Congress. Over 1 million are expected to attend the inaguration. KHTS
- That’s all you got Cold Arctic Stormfront? A total of 1.24 inches of rain fell on the SCV from Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon, according to The Signal. More rain is expected today and tomorrow, though it will be intermittent. Cold temps are expected to continue. Signal
- BB Gun Sniper arrested, resident complains about Sheriff response: A 22 year old man from Canyon Country was arrested “for allegedly shooting at moving vehicles on and around Soledad Canyon road” according to The Signal. Report Jim Holt also spoke with a victim of one of the BB gun shootings; Dusan Klein says he was driving around last Friday at 10:45 am when a BB pellet pierced his window. He called the SCV Sheriff’s station and asked for a deputy, but none came, and apparently, the Sheriff’s station treated the BB gun shooting as vandalism. Nuts to that, Klein says: “If somebody vandalizes my car while it’s sitting in the driveway, that’s vandalism. But when someone shoots at me as I’m driving-hello??” The response from a Sheriff’s spokesperson is…well…wanting. Link
- Mixed Use development coming to Old Town Newhall: The City Council last week approved an agreement with a firm that will redevelop a block of Old Town with “an active retail and restaurant component and underground parking for the planned expansion of the Newhall county library.” It’s also got a senior housing component, I think. Newhall Redevelopment Committee chair Phil Ellis says it’s a positive thing for Old Town Newhall, which, to my eye, has a growing number of retail vacancies. Link
- California Republicans want to cut .edu funding by $10 billion: Among other things. State Republicans released details of their plan to get California out of its budget crunch, and it involved some $10 billion in cuts to K-12 education, reductions of monthly payments to SSI recepients, and “dip into voter-approved funds intended to pay for mental health services and children’s health care.” But…it doesn’t raise taxes! The SF Chronicle has a good article on this plan, on Schwarzenegger’s reaction to it, and on the Democrats’ plan, which involves some cuts but also tax increases. All this because we’re facing a $40 billion budget gap by June 2010.
- Local Democrats to throw party: The Democratic Alliance for Action will “celebrate the national Democratic landslide and the tremendous impact of local volunteers” at their regular meeting this Thursday at Vincenzo’s in Newhall. Details here. No need to feel left out if you’re a Republican Woman though; something called the Santa Clarita Republican Women’s Federated will meet today at the IHOP to hear Patricia McKeon speak. Oh that community room at the IHOP sure has some history!
- Signal reporter reflects on Ellen show: Melissa Gasca got tickets to an Ellen Degeneres show, and describes what it was like in a cool little column. Link
- What to do with the Donut Hole? Look at a map of Santa Clarita, and something’s missing. It’s that big gap in the hills between Valencia/Newhall and Canyon Country, aka the Whittaker Bermite property. Ten years ago, some homes and a new City Hall were set to be built there, but contaminated land and water derailed that, and since then, several sketch developers have tried but failed to get approval to build on the land. All this history had The Signal propose an interesting question last week: What should we do with the land? Should something special and unique -a tourist attraction perhaps- be built there? Editorial.