I feel a rant coming on.
I’m getting a little tired of all the news reports lately about proposed locations for various new civic, public, or otherwise educational institutions and buildings around town. It seems our leaders at both the City and County level really have no clue what to do, and despite their claims that they are working closely to chart the future of this valley (think OVOV), their plans show just how scatterbrained they are.
The best example of this on the civic side of things is the location for the new courthouse. A few months ago, Frank Ferry and the City decided the best place to build a new courthouse (with state funds) would be in the terrible Golden Valley area. Golden Valley is the rotten filling in the city’s infamous donut hole; it’s located in that nebulous area south of Soledad on the poisoned land in between just about everything else.
I dislike Golden Valley. This is an area that is downright schizophrenic when it comes to development, land use, and planning. At the very tippy-top of Golden Vallye are houses and a high school. Below that, massive industrial parks, a Super Wal Mart, and another vague strip mall, plus open plots of land. Then there’s the Aquatics/Sports center, more industrial parks, and an indoor go-cart track and yet more retail. It’s all perched up on a hill dotted with oil machines, overlooking a trailer park, and it’s tough to get to from Valencia or Canyon Country. It’s also not very walkable.
It was in this area that the City said, “Hey, state of California, let’s build our new courthouse right here, next to the go cart track!”
What? Are you kidding me? Why shove the courthouse over there?
I may be backwards and old fashioned, but I take pride in Civic buildings, including courthouses that temporarily house bad people.
“Bad people” is what the County of Los Angeles said it had in mind when it selected an even stupider place to build our new courthouse: on the grounds of the Pitchess Detention multi-plex. KHTS reports:
The county’s donation of land on prison grounds would result in significant savings for inmate transportation; they would no longer need to be bussed to various courtrooms throughout the county for adjudication.
The land donation is the second being considered by the AOC and Ruano said that even though two donations have been received, the state will still hire a broker and examine the community to find the site that best fits the needs of that particular jurisdiction.
The City of Santa Clarita donated a 3.5 acre parcel on Golden Valley Road near the current site of Los Angeles County Fire Station 104 in March, then doubled the acreage to a resulting 7 acre parcel in May.
This is even more collosally stupid than building the courthouse in Golden Valley. Pitchess is, by design, difficult to access. It’s remote, in that thin strip of land that separates North Castaic from the Hasley Hills area of Castaic. Have a traffic ticket you need to take care of at the courthouse? Prepare for a trek up the 5, through the Sheriff’s checkpoint on the road to Pitchess, then wait around with no amenities or places to eat at whle you take care of business.
Courthouses and civic buildings used to be the centerpieces of communities, yes, even in places like Santa Clarita. After all, our existing Courthouse/library/civic center was built in what was then pretty much the center of Valencia backin the early 1970s.
This is the way it should be. Don’t shove our civic buildings off into poorly planned areas that are difficult to access! Why can’t we build up the center of Valencia into something resembling a downtown? For that matter, why is the concept of a “downtown” so heretical to our way of thinking?
I know I can’t expect much from the County of Los Angeles, but why can’t the City Council provide some leadership? Rather than just shoving a new courthouse in the place that offers the least resistance, why not think 30-50 years down the line and construct a new civic center, with a new courthouse, new library etc? Yes I know it’s expensive but good projects are.
The same scatterbrained insanity can be applied to the ever-evolving situation of where to put the new Castaic High School. I’m learning new canyon names I didn’t even know existed after the latest episode in the Castaic High saga. They really have no idea where to put it- if it’s not homeowner NIMBYs protesting, it’s business and commerce property owners who are upset and refusing. I think they’ve been debating the future location of Castaic High since I graudated from Hart, way back in the mid 90s.
This community knows development well. We know how to build things -homes, retail, services- but when it comes to building civic institutions or public projects, our leaders are pretty clueless* and scatterbrained. It’s really unfortunate too; they’re shortsightedness will be with us for a long time to come.
*I except Dr. Dianne Van Hook from this gross generalization. She’s thinking long term, she’s added institutions rather than just buildings to the community. She thinks big and has a vision. In comparison, our city leaders are basically throwing darts at a map of the SCV.