West side lights finally synchronized, the Daily News’ editor is out, Buck’s challenger finally has space on the web, and the Economist on the “Hydra of Los Angeles,” all ahead in today’s stupendous, one-of-a-kind Daily Brief.
News
- Now a man can drive from Pico Cyn to Castaic on the Old Road without stopping: Or so says Los Angeles County. Today’s A-1 Above the Fold story in The Signal comes from Jim Holt, and it’s about the synchronization of traffic lights in the Western Santa Clarita valley at some 26 intersections from southern Santa Clarita near I-5 to Castaic to Copper Hill Drive in North Valencia. The County says the project cost some $5 million and will save “$218 million in vehicle costs, 14.8 million travel hours; 18.7 million gallons of fuel, and 7,700 tons of pollutants” in just one year. Link
- Daily News Editor Ron Kaye out: LAObserved is reporting that Ron Kaye, the editor of the Daily News, “will be replaced by an editor from Northern California.” Kaye was in charge of the Daily News from way back in the day (last year or so) when the paper had three or four journalists covering Santa Clarita in our own daily “wrap.” It was Kaye who wrote a letter to SCV and Antelope Valley readers when a decision was made to stop production of our wrap, and finally, Kaye “presided over last month’s buyouts and layoffs that stripped out 20% of the Daily News newsroom.” From my reading of the tea leaves, Kaye was generally liked in the newsroom and was apparently quite emotional when staff cuts were made last month. No telling what a new editor will bring to the paper or coverage of SCV news. Link
- LA Trying to Change: The Economist magazine takes a look at all the hubub in Los Angeles over smart growth, high-density, and our car-dependent culture. The article mentions the City Council’s rejection of Las Lomas last month, a sign that city leaders believe “the metropolis must now grow up, not out.” Quote of the day: “Los Angeles is a collection of suburbs in search of a city.” Link
- Donor pays for renovation of Castaic Animal Shelter: An anonymous donor “provided funds to allow for substantial refurbishment of the 48 cages that house the dogs” at the Castaic Animal shelter, Karen Elowitt reports today. The renovation is the first in the shelter’s 30 year history and was paid for by a “private donor.” Good karma
- Two from Six Flags: Magic Mountain either is or is not the true Roller Coaster Capital of the world, depending on which Six Flags exec you believe, according to The Times. “When it comes to being the coaster capital of the world, it’s measured in thrill quality, not ride quantity,” the president of the park said in reference to the other mega park, Cedar Point in Sandusky Ohio. And in what seems to be a late April Fools day trick but is not, Six Flags and other American amusement parks are busy building new mega parks in … you guessed it, Dubai.
- More Real Estate Statistics from February: The Signal has two articles on February real estate statistics, but I’m having trouble finding it online. The Daily News has a few paragraphs that cover the stats we read about here on SCVTalk last week. “People are venturing out of their foxholes to see what’s around,” Jack Kyser says of the stats. Oh, and Linda Slocum has foreclosure numbers for February (they’re down in the SCV).
- Buck’s Challenger finally speaks: Jacquese Conaway, the Barstow Law Clerk who was the only Democrat to file papers for CA-25 Congressional seat, has built a campaign website. There’s not much at the site right now other than some of her ideas for legislation and a brief bio that outlines her knitting, farm, and education credentials. And over on the Calitics blog, the writer ranks different CA Congressional districts according to the likelihood of a Democrat unseating a Republican. CA-25 is a “tier three” district, which means it’s not bloody likely McKeon will lose, but the writer notes that more Democrats than Republicans turned out in CA-25 for the February 5 Presidential Primary.
Thursday Junk Drawer
- Victory Mail sees fit to send mailer to slobs in 91321: Imagine my disappointment this campaign season as my wealthier neighbors in Valencia (really a stone’s throw from my house) received agitprop/hit/campaign mailer after mailer. I see people describing them and talking about how manipulative and bad they are, and I’m reminded of the good ol’ days when I too, in my lowly Newhall neighborhood where English is the second language, received manipulative yet wonderful Open Space mailers. So joy of joys last night when I opened my mailbox and saw a new mailer endorsing Laurie Ender. This one can’t be classified as a hit mailer; rather it reads more like an advertisement for the Hospital’s Expansion plan. “LIKE YOU, LAURIE ENDER SUPPORTS THE EXPANSION OF HENRY MAYO HOSPITAL,” the mailer says. There’s pictures of happy & healthy black, white, and Asian families, a bullet point list of features the expansion plan would bring to the SCV, and a fresh endorsement from Buck McKeon. The Citizens for Integrity in Government have sent this one out and the flyer says it was “Not authorized or paid for by any candidate,” but the postage paid note says “Victory Mail” is behind it. I’m pretty sure that’s the same mailing house that sent out the open space mailers last year which were attributed to local lobbyist Scott Wilk.
- Tim Myers = SNL’s Debbie Downer: There’s no reason to vote the high priest of local election numerology says. Even if turnout is healthy, it’s already been decided by the absentee ballots. You can’t fight The Man (or the PTA in this case). Don’t even bother. Kellar and Ender are in the bag. Whatever. I’m still going to vote, as is my wife who just became an American citizen. And I’m going to wear my Vote sticker all day too and dip my finger in the purple ink.
- Pauline Harte on Ender Campaign Mailers: Longtime SCVTalk reader and former Signal Columnist Pauline Harte wrote a brief editorial for KHTS on “yet another Laurie Ender hit piece full of lies and smears about Bob Spierer.” (Must be a different one from the warm and fuzzy one I received) She says the latest mailer is proof that “Laurie Ender and her campaign committee are all devoid of a conscience.” Link
- In the Antelope Valley they actually sue over mailers: A story from last weekend in the AV Press says that some candidates for office up there are suing others over vicious hit mailers.
For the Record
In the March 21, 2008 Daily Brief, I summarized and linked to a story by Carol Rock at KHTS on the closure of Lauren Broadcasting, Richard Budman’s company that produces news, variety, sports and other televised content for SCVTV.com and Channel 20.
The article said:
The entity providing local television programming for Santa Clarita has closed its doors.
Lauren Broadcasting, which contracted with the city to provide locally-produced content, including SCVTV News and Your SCV on Channel 20, gave employees their walking papers last week, handing final paychecks out on Monday.
The company’s news hotline has been disconnected and calls to their primary number are referred to the owner’s cell phone.
Shortly after I posted the link, the story on KHTS was removed. You can still read it here in a Google cached copy.
I felt at the time that it was a legitimate news story and that it confirmed what I had heard from various sources.
But Richard Budman wrote me in the last week telling me that the story was wrong and asking me to issue a retraction and apology. I explained to Budman that I didn’t actually report that Lauren Broadcasting was out of business, but I did link to a story that did.
There seemed to be some confusion about the matter, so I asked Budman for an update. Here’s what he told me:
My content is for channel 20. The website is in addition to our channel 20 viewers but a very, very small part. We have many more viewers on Channel 20 than on the website. I do not run the website. So my content may or may not appear on the website. That does not mean we are out of business and the radio station mistakenly reported based on wrong information and rumors. They looked on the website and saw no new content and concluded we were out of business because we canceled a show.
Budman also spoke about the current state of Lauren Broadcasting:
Yes, we did cancel the original news show. Yes we did let five employees go. However we still employ 18 people in one capacity or another and we were NEVER out of business. We have renewed our other three shows, Your SCV, the magazine show, Inside Sports and SCV’S Top Ten. All three of those shows are in production now and will start airing beginning this Friday. We have at least two new shows in production, one is a sports show with Dave Caldwell which will air beginning April 18th and the other is a different type of news show which will air beginning sometime in May. We are still on the same nights Sunday, Monday and Friday from 7:00 PM till 10:00PM and Tuesday and Saturday from 1:00 PM. till 4:00 PM.
So, for the record, I regret not checking with the City to see if Lauren Broadcasting was still producing content for Channel 20. Lauren Broadcasting produces high quality local content and deserved a fair shake before I relayed a report on the company’s closure.
I did however ask Budman for comment in an email on March 14 when the rumors initially surfaced. But he was apparently out of town that week, which probably made the entire situation worse.
Lauren Broadcasting is not out of business and is in fact still producing content for Channel 20.
- Jeff