I don’t know about you, but I fear for life and limb if we don’t give these skateboarders a home. Like totally man.News
- Skaters plea case before City Council: Scores of young and old skateboarders, their parents and others showed up at the City Council Tuesday night to protest a City parks plan that would shut down the existing skate park until a new, larger park was built. So many skaters showed up that skate park comments were heard for the first hour and fifteen minutes of the council meeting. City Manager Ken Pulskamp came prepared though and said that keeping the existing skate park open during construction of a new one could be done, but at a cost of $750,000. All the Councilmembers seemed sympathetic to the youth and the Council asked Pulskamp to convene a community meeting within a month to discuss the issue with skaters and residents. Jon Dell over at KHTS has the best report.
- The MRF: Peaceful recycling plant or rat infested garbage dump? Following on the success of a community-organized meeting on Monday night, several residents showed up at the Council Meeting to underscore their opposition to the Materials Recovery Facility, a 75 acre recycling project by Burrtec Waste Industries proposed for Sierra Highway in Newhall/Canyon Country. Noting that the project was still in its initial stages, City Manager Pulskamp said that there had been much misinformation on the issue: “Some of the people I’ve talked to have the misconception that this is a landfill. This type of facility is built to prevent the need for additional landfills,” he said. The matter will come before City Council at a future time.
- Deputies involved in Friday shooting still in the field: Parimal Rohit at the Signal looked into LASD policy on use of force in relation to the Friday night incident in which two Deputies fired their guns -but missed- at a suspect wielding a metallic object. Both Deputies are still on patrol since no one was hit. Link
- Bruce McFarland calls for investigation into Mayor Kellar financial disclosures: The longtime Democratic activist and candidate for State Senate alleged that Mayor Bob Kellar hadn’t properly completed several state income disclosure forms during last night’s meeting. “Unfortunately our Mayor, Bob Kellar, failed to indicate his gross income twice in 2002, twice in 2003 and once in 2004,” McFarland said. “Omitting the required information so many times casts doubt on the authenticity of all of Mr. Kellar’s disclosures,” he continued. “At this time, I’m demanding the city conduct an independent investigation into whether there was any wrongdoing,” he said. City Manager Ken Pulskamp let City Attorney Carl Newton handle the response: “There are some ambiguities in the law as to the duty to report income. That’s a subject that I’m currently researching and will have a report within a week,” Newton said. Kellar had no comment, other than to make sure that City Clerk Sharon Dawson had started the three minute timer at the beginning of McFarland’s comments. KHTS had a report on their website, but it’s no longer online.
- Pot Dispensaries almost banned in Santa Clarita City: Without much comment or controversy, the City council agreed with a proposed ordinance that would ban medical marijuanna dispensaries in Santa Clarita. Mayor Pro Tem Frank Ferry had some questions for Captain Anthony LaBerge about the issue, as did Councilmember Marsha McLean, who asked if the ordinance would affect those with legitimate medical problems requiring the use of medical marijuanna. LaBerge said he didn’t think it would, and City Attorney Carl Newton pointed out that the ordinance is a land-use ordinance that only forbids a medical marijuanna facility in Santa Clarita. The ordinance will return to the council at a future meeting. Katie Geyer has more.
- Dismal Real Estate picture: The LA Times Real Estate blog had a round-up of regional & state real estate news yesterday. Wherever you look, it’s not good news. Foreclosures rose 7.25% from December to January and is “pacing 120% ahead of year ago levels,” according to one report while the California Association of Realtors says sales fell some 29.8% statewide last month from January 2006 levels. And in Los Angeles as a whole, prices are down over 18% and sales are down 38%. And it’s not over; according to a respected Standard & Poor’s study released just yesterday, home prices in the LA Area are expected to decline some 20 to 30 per cent from their peak level which was in September 2006 (the time I should have sold my condo, in other words!). I can’t find any reports on the Santa Clarita market in January, but I’ll keep my eye out for them.
Opinion & Misc:
- Another I Heart City Council report: The City’s plan to put butts in seats in the council chambers is a roaring success, says I Heart.
- Does Canyon Country get a fair shake at the City Trough? To a some degree, much of human history (and conflict) can be attributed to one geographic dichotomy: east vs west. Locally, it’s no different, as opponents of the planned MRF recylcing facility complained last night that the City was dumping yet another terrible project on Canyon Country, something that would never be happen to the western communities (Valencia in particular). City Manager Pulskamp bristled at the suggestion that Canyon Country perpetually draws the short straw when it comes to “good” city projects and funding: “Canyon County is the only place that the city has built a library. It’s the place where we built our gym. Our only aquatic center. Our only teen center and our only skate park. We’ve planted thousands of trees. This City Council has spent millions and millions of dollars improving Canyon Country,” he said in rapid-fire fashion.
- Oh and another thing: Regarding the above, Pulskamp pointed out that the MRF was actually situated in Newhall. I suppose he’s going off the zip code for that area which is 91321, not the 91351 zip code of Canyon Country. I still think of anything north of Placerita Canyon on Sierra Highway as Canyon Country, but then again, when did the divisions between our communities ever make sense? Indeed, they’re getting even more blurry as infill projects are built and road names are changed. To wit: What community is Circle J located in? Are the new homes north of Soledad and east of Bouquet in Canyon Country or Saugus? Is Plum Canyon a Canyon Country or Saugus development?
- Points for variety: One commenter at the meeting last night scored points for the sweeping nature of his complaints all within three minutes. I didn’t get his name, but he started off by saying he was embarrassed that the City of Los Angeles City Council was investigating Newhall Ranch, the 21,000 home development west of Interstate 5, and intimated that our City Council ought to be ashamed of itself. He moved on to the skate park and said he saw no reason the old park couldn’t be kept open while the new one was under construction. Next, he targeted Canyon Country’s supposed “crime wave” and asked -like so many before him- “What’s going on in our city?!?”Finally, he moved onto day laborers on
San Fernando RoadRailroad Avenue and said he’d be embarrassed to bring relatives or friends to Newhall on weekends. He summed it up with an emotional “This city is deteriorating before my eyes!” - Starbucks in SCV, worldwide closed for three hours yesterday: KHTS gets credit for first reporting on this locally. The popular coffee maker closed all of its stores yesterday for three hours to train baristas in the art of coffee making. The AP has more on that story.