“Oooh, so Mother Nature needs a favor?! Well maybe she should have thought of that when she was besetting us with droughts and floods and poison monkeys! Nature started the fight for survival, and now she wants to quit because she’s losing. Well I say, hard cheese.” — Mr. Burns
News
- Avenues Project suspended: Once again, massive, early opposition to a controversial development seems to have put an end to the idea of building a mini-city on 37 acres of land in a Wiley Canyon neighborhood. At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, City Manager Pulskamp announced (briefly) that the developer behind the controversial project, Monteverde Companies, had sent a “formal request” to the city to place the project in suspension. The Avenue project would have transformed the former mule ranch between I-5 and Wiley Canyon road into a high-density urban area with twin 12 story towers, hundreds of residential units, and scores of retail and office spaces. No reaction from the people at “We the People SCV” yet, and Monteverde/developer consultant Jeff Lambert had no comment for The Signal by press time. Link
- Speaking of mules, Buck holds a teletown conference call: I remarked in the forum that Tuesday night was civics night at the SCVTalk Orbiting HQ, floating high above the SCV. In the midst of hearing Laurie Ender talk about local athletes, my phone rang and it was Congressman McKeon, who’s been all around town in the last few days in this election year. McKeon was holding another town-hall teleconference, and 25th District residents lined up to speak to the eight term Republican. What was the biggest topic? Unlike the last conference call in which discussions about illegal aliens dominated, this time it was all gas prices. Residents from the high desert to Santa Clarita to Inyo County wanted to know why they were shelling out $4+ a gallon for gas. McKeon’s answer was predictable: the Democrats were to blame, whether it was Bill Clinton’s refusal to drill ANWAR ten years ago or Nancy Pelosi’s lack of action on fuel prices since the Dems took Congress in 2007. McKeon was quick to remind listeners that he’ll be at a Valencia gas station today to talk about that very subject. I’ll have an op/ed on this later this morning.
- CEMEX bill status: The complicated land-swap deal engineered by Buck McKeon and local leaders that would stop aggregate mining in Soledad Canyon faces an “arduous” process in Congress before it can get passed, according to KHTS and some members of the City Council. City Intergovernmental relations guru Mike Murphy -just returned from a trip to DC- told the City Council last night that his reading of the Congressional cards shows that the Cemex bill is “receiving favorable signals” but that much work remains to be done. “They generally indicated that they were conceptually supportive of what Mr. McKeon is attempting to do through his legislation,” Murphy told the Council. How’s that for .gov-speak? KHTS has more on that and the Avenue project suspension here.
- LA County may raise developer fees for unincorporated areas: A brief story at the Times yesterday says LA County supes may raise developer fees in the SCV in order “to pay for a new sheriff’s station in the area.” The matter will be decided on at a June 24 meeting. How does annexation look now? And is this related to the new civic center idea that’s been in the works for a few months now? Times
- Thirteen year old accidentally shoots self in the head: The Canyon Country boy was playing with a loaded gun his 12 year old cousin had given him on Sunday when the gun discharged and struck the boy in the head. The bullet “entered near the boy’s temple and exited hear his eye,” but he is expected to make a full recovery, according to KHTS. The fuzz is considering whether to charge the owner of the gun with felony charges. Link
- Other City Council business: Nary a comment of opposition was heard last night as the City went ahead and approved the $1.2 million purchase of a 6,200 sq. ft. property on Spruce Street in downtown Newhall. The property, currently occupied by a chiropractor, may ultimately become a library, though real estate blogger Linda Slocum has doubts about that. Also, the council amended its contract with two waste haulers to allow for a 3.95% increase in fees. Fuel costs factored into that increase.
- Guy with cerebral palsy bowls perfect game in Newhall: Excellent story from Jim Holt today on local resident Eddie LeGault’s perfect game at the Valencia Lanes bowling alley on Lyons Avenue. Here’s the setup: “More than 200 people were suddenly silent.None of 120 other bowlers in lanes on either of side of Ed’s lane sent their 15 pounds of rounded stone crashing onto the polished hardwood. Instead, they just held them in their hands as they watched Eddie LeGault prepare to bowl 12 strikes in a row, knocking down every single pin, every single time with just a dozen bowling balls.”You couldn’t even get through here, it was so crowded. But, nobody talked.” Mr. 300
- Some LA County homeowners may receive reduction in property tax bills: If you purchased your home between July 1, 2004 and June 30,2007 and if your home has dropped in value below what is known as the “Proposition 13 limits” you may pay some $750 less in property taxes this year, according to The Times. At least 128,000 homeowners will receive that good news, and there’s some kind of appeals process if you think the tax on your home ought to be reduced. Link
Miscellaneous
- I Heart wraps up the council meeting: A rather drab and ordinary affair that ended ten minutes after seven, he says.
- SoCalPundit hacked: So says Kevin Korenthal, owner of the SCV-based site that focuses on “conservative news and views from Southern California.” Korenthal, who started the site in 2005 or 2004 I think, says it was hacked by someone who is “obviously not in favor of us having a voice.” He’s appealing for donations to help him get the site up and running again. Bummer
- So what Jim? Don’t get me wrong, I think Jim Holt is a great reporter. But for the last several weeks, he’s been detailing consultant expenditures at the Castaic Lake Water Agency. A typical lede: “During the month of _______, the Castaic Lake Water Agency spent ________ on __________ consulting, a number that is _______ percent higher than last month.” Now from a reader’s perspective, that’s all good information, but where’s the sizzle? Usually we accuse reporters of having too much sizzle and not enough steak, but with these water/consulting stories, there’s simply no answer to the question of “So what?” Are those consulting expenses out of line with other water agencies in SoCal? How about talking to an independent source (like a water expert or professor of government) about them to see if they are out of line? I can’t make heads or tails of what this information is telling us. Link
- Housing blogger says LandSource collapse was like a perfect storm no one could anticipate: “Housing Chronicles” blogger Pat Duffy says that two years ago, the conventional wisdom was that the SCV “with a lot of local employers, could probably ride out a downturn better than outlying areas such as the Antelope Valley or the Inland Empire.” That’s in reference to the 15,000 acres of land where Newhall Ranch is supposed to be built and Duffy says CalPers, which invested some $1 billion in the venture, simply could not anticipate the credit collapse happening at the same time as the real estate downturn. Link
- SF Valley Fair at Saugus Speedway: Some guy from the Valley Fair appeared at the City Council last night. I didn’t get his name, but he reported that the Valley Fair -to be held for the second year at the Saugus Speedway this year- would feature Queen, Fleetwood Mac, and Eagles tribute bands. He also actually used the word “Pimp” in the Council Chambers in reference to MTV’s “Pimp my Ride” TV show, which is going to be at the fair as well.
- Signal sports desk trouble: When former Signal Sports Editor Cary Osborne left on May 1, we barely batted an eye here at SCVTalk (that’s cause we don’t cover sports much here). But many do subscribe to the Signal solely for its excellent local sports coverage…coverage which some readers are now complaining about after The Signal failed to send a sports photog to a Valencia High School volleyball final (I think they won CIF or something.) Here’s what one reader has to say in The Signal’s blogs: “While I like Trevor Sojka’s story, it concerns me that your coverage is down. It’s time to answer questions Jay Harn. Are you too cheap to send the photographers down there? What happened to the coverage from the past?” That got Signal Escape editor and apparently interim sports desk head Greg Eichelberger to respond: “I do take responsibility for not having a photographer at the Valencia volleyball championship. As the interim sports editor (as well as Escape and This Week editor), it was my duty to assign a photographer, which I did not. The ball was in my court and I dropped it. As far as our “less than stellar” sports coverage, the public needs to be aware that within the past five months, four fulltime sports reporters have left this paper. Then, without warning, our longtime sports editor vacated the position.” Some animosity there perhaps?
- Where’s the best Lakers bar in town? I’d like to know your opinion on the best place to watch the Lakers demolish the Spurs on Thursday in Game 5 of the semi-finals.