Bike to Work Day, Bike to Work Day, Bike to Work Day, RAH RAH RAH! Actually, it was terrifying to bike to work today. I will never ride around Hart/Placerita at quarter to 8 again. All those angry and late parents in their SUVs honking, and hollering. Blasted cars! Nevertheless, at least 25 people turned out at the 16th Street/Newhall Avenue “Pit Stop.” Cheers to the brave bicycling commuters of the SCV!
News
- Jesus to return before Castaic High School gets built: At first, parents and their eager young high school children were told that Castaic High School would be built and completed around 2007. Then delays prompted the district to revise that to 2010. Now, Sharon Cotal at The Signal reports, Hart says it won’t be able to build a new Castaic High School until 2013 -”give or take a year or two”- and the District won’t even share the possible locations it’s thinking of building at. Despite all the broken promises (and hearts), the District is busy floating a new $240 million bond initiative that would have Castaic High as a “major component.” Only if that passes and the planets align and Haley’s Comet makes an early appearance will the District consider building a new school. Cotal has the report.
- Geyer details Ethics debate: “I could see it in some ways being used as a weapon,” Frank Ferry said at Tuesday’s Council Meeting of the proposed ethics code, which the council later passed unanimously. Katie Geyer, city beat reporter, has a fabulously detailed article on the matter in today’s Signal. The Daily News also covered the debate but to a lesser extent here. .
- LA County to fix ballots that confused voters in Primary: The Registrar’s office will issue a new ballot and instructions for the June 3 primary, according to the Daily Breeze. The change follows a confusing February 5 ballot in which “nearly 50,000 votes were not counted because of the confusing ballot design.” The new ballot will eliminate an extra step for voters who decline to state their party affiliation. Link
- SCV Education fares well under new proposed budget: For awhile, it appeared as though the SCV’s school districts would be forced to cut some $25 million from their budgets for the 08-09 fiscal year after Governor Schwarzenegger’s plans to slash 10% across-the-board funding from the state budget. Well, the Governor has submitted a new budget proposal that would “fully fund K-14 education in accordance with Prop 98,” according to Jon Dell at KHTS. How to pay for it? Outsource the lottery system and make cuts elsewhere. Dell has the full report plus reaction from local Assemblymembers Smyth and Runner here.
- More on Buck McKeon’s plans to bring Space Shuttle to AV: The SFVBJ reported on Monday that Congressman McKeon was working to bring a space shuttle to the Antelope Valley once the fleet is retired in 2010. The report is now online here.
- Providence expansion is to SFV as Henry Mayo Expansion is to SCV: The generally well-regarded Providence Holy Cross hospital in Mission Hills broke ground on an expasnion project yesterday that will outfit the hospital with a new neo-natal care unit, and a “state of the art labor and delivery unit.” The project should finish in 2010. But what’s interesting in this Daily News report is how similar the conflict between supporters and opponents of the expansion sounds with our own debate about Henry Mayo’s Expansion. Opponents wanted an expanded Emergency Room and a full, accurate EIR. Daily News reports.
- A Hell of a day to bike to work: Nature’s not going to make it easy on those who ride their bikes to work today. CBS 2 says inland locations like Santa Clarita could reach 100 degrees today thanks to a heatwave that will last throughout the weekend.
- Six Flags asks bond holders to cash in: So reports the Los Angeles Business Journal, which says that Six Flags’ debt is “a high 14.6 times its annual earnings.” The company, which owns Magic Mountain, is asking bond holders to “swap notes maturing in 2010, 2013, and 2014 for 65 cents on the dollar in exchange for $400 million of new bonds maturing in 2016.” For their cooperation, holders will get a bump in the interest rate on the bonds. The move is designed to avoid defaulting. Who knew Six Flags was in money trouble again? Link
- Democratic Presidential race to blame for lack of perchlorate cleanup funds: The Democratic nomination process has House and Senate Democrats so busy that they won’t be able to even consider giving the SCV money to cleanup perchlorate contamination until the fall, at least according to Republican Scott Wilk’s lobbyist firm. Jim Holt has details.
- Student’s vehicle vandalized with racial messages: A Saugus High student’s pickup truck was splashed with green and orange paint and “racial and sexual” graffiti on Wednesday near the campus. The SCV Sheriff’s station went all CSI on the vehicle and got fingerprints and handprints from the not-so-bright vandals who actually left “green handprints all over the vehicle.” Parimal Rohit reports.
Miscellaneous
- Indiana Jones learned to use a bullwhip right here in SCV: Anthony De Longis is a Canyon Country man who’s a master of martial arts, horsemanship, and -most impressively- the bullwhip, a weapon/tool that can reach “velocities of 1,400 feet per second and can slice flesh, break bones, and wrap around knees, ankles and necks.” Over a year ago, De Longis received a phone call from Harrison Ford who was prepping for his upcoming role as Indiana Jones. Ford wanted De Longis to train him on the bullwhip and apparently Ford was at De Longis’ Canyon Country ranch for weeks learning to master the tool. ““He’s in tremendous shape, fighting trim. He’s a very apt pupil, extremely intelligent,” De Longis says of Ford. Indiana Jones returns to the big screen on May 22. Article, De Longis’ website
- City looking to hire redevelopment manager: The City wants to pay someone between $99k and $120k a year to be “responsible for the City’s redevelopment and housing programs and activities.” You need to have superior knowledge of California redevelopment law, “tools and best practices,” along with project management skills. The position reports to the Community Development Director (Paul Brontzman I think?). Anyway, this comes at an interesting time for the city; to my knowledge, the only redevelopment project is the one in Newhall and despite setbacks (back in parking, protests, etc), changes to Main Street have been moving forward. The City is advertising this position on the American Planning Association website, not on its own, and is using a headhunting firm to coordinate the search. Does this signal a change and/or acceleration of Newhall Redevelopment? Why is the City looking outside City Hall for redevelopment expertise? Link
- California’s 25th District and Republicans: So, political geeks are all a-twitter this week following the election of a Democrat in a Mississippi congressional district that was solidly Republican and had voted for a GOP house member for the last 14 years. The election, closely followed by the national press, is being called a harbinger of things to come for the GOP in the fall. Well, Air America -the liberal radio network- decided to take a look at other GOP Districts in the country to see whether other upsets might be expected this fall. What did they find? The Mississippi district in question had a “Partisan Voting Index” of R+10 (meaning heavily Republican). California’s 25th District -home to the SCV and Buck McKeon- is rated as an R+7. But Democrats ought to temper themselves, Barstow challenger Jacques Conaway only has $151 cash-on-hand to defeat the mighty McKeon. Link
- Lynne Plambeck op/ed: The SCOPE president had an interesting column in today’s Signal in which she talked about planning standards, environmental impacts of developments, and neighborhood preservation. So what? That’s what she usually writes about. Well, I noticed a subtle shift in tone from the long time environmentalist who has challenged just about every development ever in Santa Clarita. Gone is the more abstract focus on water issues; she’s now writing more to residents who feel threatened by projects like the Avenue and she’s inviting people to attend workshops on planning and civic empowerment. The column isn’t online but you should read it.
- Bossert doesn’t like us complainers on SCVTalk: The West Ranch Town Council president says I’m a blowhard complainer for dissing the SCV Auto Dealer’s “Be Cool to your School” Test Drive contest. “It’s never good enough! The local grippers [sic] will throw stones no matter what, if the Auto Dealers were to give away $50,000 these entitlement whiners would be cursing the dealers for not giving away $100,000. No matter the amount it will never be enough. That is what the armchair blowhards are all about, they just want to whine but never lift a finger to help their community.” Link