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"Vista Square," part of the Vista Canyon "live, work, walk, ride community" in Canyon Country (note to graphic artist- include some people of color next time)
- City may buy Placerita Canyon land by May: It’s been under consideration for awhile, but the city council may be ready to purchase some 140 acres in Placerita Canyon as part of its open space initiative, which is funded by homeowners like you and me. The property, east of P-Canyon Nature Center and near Sand Canyon, has “low levels of chemical contamination” according to The Signal, but the foreign contaminants are so minor a state agency recommends the city do nothing to clean them up. 30 percent of the $2.5 million price tag will be paid for with Open Space Preservation Funds.
- Developers announce details of 185 acre Vista Canyon Development: The new east-side development, being sold as a “Town Center for the East Side,” would include up to 1,350 homes (live/work homes, townhomes, and high-end apartments), relocation of the Via Princessa Metrolink station to Vista Canyon, four miles of interconnected bike, pedestrian and equestrian trails and a 200 room hotel plus a “corporate campus.” It’s all located on the south side of the Santa Clara river in Lost Canyon, just west of Sand Canyon. Reaction to the project, which was unveiled at a VIA business lunch yesterday, was mixed, according to The Signal with most of the protests coming from those elite homeowners in Sand Canyon who don’t want their horses spooked (but may enjoy having more dining options than Denny’s and In ‘n Out). The development website, refreshingly, is loaded with details and graphic renderings and says that some 3,000 “new jobs from service to professional” would be created in the “sustainable” development, and thus, traffic might not be so bad. They even say they will make use of solar energy materials and engage in “water conservation practices.” What do you think? Cool, green development, or is it just sexy sprawl? It reminds me of the “Avenues” Project in Newhall, which was compact and higher density and sold as live/work.
- Burglaries increase in Castaic, Canyon Country: In Hasley Hills, some 13 homes were burglarized since the beginning of the year compared with just two homes last year. Vehicle burglaries have also risen. The Signal says the reason is that the crooks have easy “access” to the Interstate or Highways. And here I thought it was the economy- but no! The two suspects wanted in some Canyon Country burglaries drove a white Mercedes Benz SUV!
- Speed humps installed in Benz Road neighborhood: Behold, the saga of Benz Road continues: the City of Santa Clarita has installed “speed humps [on Alaminos Road] in the community located near Benz Road in Saugus.” The “traffic calming devices will be left in place for a total of six months while traffic engineers study their effectiveness in deterring cut-through traffic and reducing speeding in the area” according to SantaClaritaCityBriefs.com.All this follows that climactic city council meeting a few months ago where scores of inconvenienced drivers bitched to the City Council that it wasn’t right to forbid access to their favorite short-cut (CopperHill to Bouquet via residential Benz Road). The city folded and removed the k-rails that closed off the street but promised to install these instead.
- Real Estate beginning to turn around? Some hopeful signs from DataQuick via LA Land, which reports that the Southern California Median Home price in February was $250,000, the same as January. Sales were up too. Meanwhile, our own Mayor Dude says via Twitter he was at the SCV Realtor Association breakfast and learned that there are “10-15 offers per house in the SCV.”
- Stricklands, Runner ignore local .edu officials: Senator Tony Strickland and Assemblywoman Audra Strickland have “ignored a succession of emails” from Ventura County educators who wish to meet with them regarding state education funding says a columnist in the VeCo Star. Senator George Runner has also ducked out of meeting with Ventura officials, according to the column. The column was about the protests last week on Pink Friday but is relevant going forward as the state says it may have another $8 billion to make up for soon. VeCo Star
- Gas leak in Placerita Canyon: A punctured gas pipe led to the evacuation of some 60 homes yesterday in Placerita Canyon, the Signal says. No injuries thankfully.
- New device helps turns off your sprinklers during rains: The Newhall County Water Board has a rebate program to try to encourage you to get the device, which detects if your soil is saturated from rain and will, as a result, turn off your sprinklers. Newhall says so far 46 homes have the device and its resulted in 2.9 million gallons of water being conserved. Signal
- Hot damn! A Third Farmer’s Market in SCV? Say it is so! Fresh, juicy, tasty tidbit today from MyCastaic.com, a heretofore unexplored website by yours truly, which cryptically reports that a Castaic-area Farmers Market may open soon on Saturday mornings from 9 am to 1pm at the Castaic Regional Sports complex. Fresh fruits, vegetables and flowers would be sold at the market. MyCastaic says a date hasn’t been set but organizers are “working diligently to set the Grand Opening Date.” That would be PERFECT- you could hit the City’s Farmer’s Market on Thursday evening, the Castaic one on Saturday morning, and the COC/Ventura Farmers Market on Sunday Morning. You could buy enough tangerines to last a month! Hat tip to SCVTalk reader Mike for the find
- Marine mom wants graduation dress policy to go nationwide: The mother of that Saugus High Marine who fought with his high school to walk in his “dress blues” says she wants a written policy to be adopted not only by the Hart School District, but all schools nationwide. The Hart District will consider that very issue tonight at a board meeting, according to The Signal and KHTS.
- NotaFerryFan targets Mayor Dude superhero: The video blogger questions whether it’s legal for the city to spend time and money on promoting an individual city council memeber just 13 months before voters go to the polls to decide whether to reelect him. But see, they’re not promoting Frank Ferry. They’re promoting Mayor Dude. It’s completely different, don’t you see?! Besides, it’s for the children! YouTube
- McKeon mentioned in Politico article on YouTube: Our Congressman has taken quite a shine to the video sharing YouTube site, and that hasn’t escaped the attention of the ace reporters at Politico.com, who mention him in an article on whether Politicians are “Spamming YouTube.” McKeon gets only a brief mention, but his posts on the site have been quite prolific; sometimes he holds informal chats, other times he records himself on the phone during a tele-town hall conference meeting, and other times he interviews his staff. You can see most of his videos here.
- Gary Horton nails it- “There’s hypocrisy in conservative SCV” He argues the feared OMG SOCIALISM!!!11!! is all around us, even in Santa Clarita, a place the Daily News recently called the “New Reagan Country.” A+++, would read again