Controversy erupted in the local halls of powers last week as the Signal reported that West Ranch and Castaic Town Council members sneakily placed the Pitchess Detention Center in Tesoro del Valle, a planned community in the hills somewhere up there.
The whole affair has rubbed Tesoro the wrong way, sparking yet another only-in-the-SCV identity crisis, the community tells SCVTalk.com in an exclusive report.
“I have no identity,” Tesoro said. “I’m not like Valencia, with its paseos and well-defined boundaries. Saugus is nearby, but I don’t have nearly the same number of meth-heads per square mile. Hell, even Canyon Country has more definition than me. No one would put a prison in those places. I just want to be like the others,” Tesoro sighed.
Experts say Tesoro’s identity crisis began when the County of Los Angeles approved the creation of the several hundred home development, located at 34.46 degrees north, 118.55 degrees west, a dry, remote place many locals regard as “the SCV Hinterlands.”
“When Tesoro was in the design phase, it’s creator decided to build it way up in the hills, in a place so far removed from the rest of Santa Clarita that Tesoro immediately had the deck stacked against it,” a City Hall planner who spoke on condition of anonymity told SCVTalk.
Who am I? What is my purpose here? Tesoro asks
For years, realtors have tried to market the vague, undefinable community as part of the golden “Valencia” brand. But local media continued to refer to the far-flung nebulous region of Santa Clarita as “Tesoro del Valle,” or simply “Tesoro,” as in this 2007 report about a marijuanna grow house there.
“The grow house really damaged my brand,” Tesoro said. “Things were looking up. I was all built out, a school was under construction, and families were flocking to the good life in Tesoro, then the cops discovered that I had a grow house. I was devastated. From that day on, Valencia, the community I admired most, wouldn’t return my calls or texts,” the community said.
The situation has worsened since the release of the two annexation/incorporation reports. Both reports, one city funded, the other county funded, moved the County Pitchess Detention Center from Castaic to Tesoro based on the recommendations of two Town Council members.
“Do they have any idea what that does to my self-image?” Tesoro asked. “Now I’m home to one of the largest jails in the County, and no one wants to associate with me,” Tesoro said. “A prison is to home values as herpes is to dating desirability,” the community sighed.
Since news broke about the move of Pitchess from Castaic to Tesoro, Tesoro has lost several friends on Facebook, including blue collar Newhall and Canyon Country. Preppy North Valencia & Stevenson Ranch have even started an anti-Tesoro Facebook group, which advocates the continued social and governmental isolation of the hill community. And to top it all off, Tony Sand and Placerita Canyons have started referring to Tesoro as part of the Antelope Valley in their Facebook posts on the subject.
“About the only community to stick by me is Val Verde. The two of us are a sorry lot. I have a prison and Val has a garbage dump,” Tesoro said.
Tesoro said it is hopeful that someday one of the neighboring SCV communities might be open to adopting it.
“At this point, I’d be happy to be adopted by Newhall, Canyon Country, or even Castaic. I have nice parks and some trails. Surely someone will want me.”