Chancellor Van Hook sounds kind of scary, doesn’t it? How do we refer to her now? Do we call her “The Chancellor” like we call Bush “The President?” Does her new title come with an official residence, perhaps, and or other honorary titles like, “Your Worship” and “Your Excellency?” Does Her Excellency get an official limousine and security detail? Do we play music when she enters a room? Does she now wear long black robes instead of pantsuits? These are the questions on Santa Clarita’s mind this morning as Chancellor Van Hook “The Benevolent” extends her power beyond academia and into Santa Clarita’s Main street.
News
- Public Utilities Commission says “NO YOU!” to City’s Lyons railroad crossing to Placerita Canyon: I’m sure the homeowners in wealthy Placerita Canyon are happy this morning after the California PUC “balked” at the idea of creating a railroad crossing at Lyons Avenue & Railroad Avenue in order to support a proposed development at the 200 acre Cadsen property on SFR & 13th Street (think Cowboy Festival parking lot). The Signal’s Katie Geyer says the PUC typically does not approve such crossings, “preferring other methods such as bridges to keep vehicles off railroad tracks.” Of course, the PUC’s opposition is only to the preliminary plan, so this could change. The existing crossing at SFR & 13th Street is one of the more awful railroad crossings in town. Link
- Shooting investigation in Newhall: On Wednesday night, a 28 year old man suffered two gunshot wounds in what authorities are calling a gang-related shooting. The unidentified man was shot in the hand and leg and is expected to survive. The incident occurred on Race Street in Newhall, the same area where 18 year old Hart High Grad Bryan Miranda was murdered during a drive-by shooting after a party in December. That crime is still unsolved. Link
- Pondering California’s safe House seats: The only real question about election night (aside from the national race) on November 4, 2008 will be how much Buck McKeon wins by. Will he make the 60% threshold as he did in previous elections, or might he win with “only” 50+ percent of the vote? That’s kind of how I’m reading a great Daily News piece that examines local Congressional Districts -including California’s massive 25th- and how safe they are for incumbents. Daily News reporter Tony Castro spoke to a poli-sci professor about the seats and he says there’s only three ways an incumbent can lose. “The advantages of being an incumbent are so spectacular that only one of three things poses a problem: One, a scandal. Two, redistricting. Three, their party is in trouble.” True, in 2008 the Republicans appear to have everything going against them -an unpopular president, a sluggish economy, and an unpopular war started on their watch- but but two of those three factors didn’t matter to 25th voters in 2006 when McKeon destroyed Democrat Robert Rodriguez in the election. And Rodriguez actually campaigned, unlike Buck’s challenger this year. Link
- Why so many are graduating from COC today: It’s the economy stupid! At least that’s what has historically been true in California, according to Jerry Berrios at the Daily News. Berrios took a look at the record-breaking number of graduates at COC and found that many had returned to higher education to get trained or obtain new skills “that they need for the workplace.” Overall, enrollment at California’s community colleges is up this year over last year by some 100,000 students. Locally, COC has become such a bargain that over 60 percent of SCV high school graduates end up on Rockwell Canyon or Sierra Highway, especially since fees at CSU and UC schools have been hiked between 7 and 10 percent in recent years. On a related note, the college released a new factbook in March that details not only the makeup of the student body but also demographics & income of the SCV and the college’s vision for the future. Statistics junkies who love pie charts and bar graphs can download a copy here.
- Dianne Van Hook gets new Chancellor title, and raise? This year marks 20 years that Dianne Van Hook has been at the helm of COC, and the colleges’ Board decided this week to confer a new title on the indomitable leader of the nearly 20,000 student college, that of Chancellor of the Santa Clarita Community College District. The title of Chancellor, the press release is quick to state, dates back to Roman and Medieval times when a Chancellor was the only literate person in the village and was usually a priest or monk. “As keeper of the great seal used to authenticate royal documents, the chancellor became, in most medieval kingdoms, the most powerful official.” Indeed. There’s also rumors that with the new title came a fat new raise, but the College’s Board minutes haven’t been updated yet, so I can’t confirm that. A raise would put her yearly salary somewhere north of $230,000.
- City to plant $170k of trees in areas burned in last year’s fires: The Council approved a plan Tuesday night to plant some 200 to 300 trees in areas that were damaged and destroyed by last October’s firestorm. “The majority will be in the Canyon Country area as a result of the Buckweed fire,” the Signal says. Link.
Misc:
- Bossert: Pulskamp and the Titular City Council are driving SCV growth: So the folks at WeThePeopleSCV, the anonymous NotAFerryFan YouTuber and now Dave Bossert have lashed onto a quote from City Manager Ken Pulskamp who told The Signal in August of 2007 that his goal was to “turn Santa Clarita from a suburban bedroom community into a legitimate urban center of its own” and used that quote to condemn Pulskamp and the City at large as the force behind the possible growth of the SCV into a community of 500,000 people. Bossert said as much in an opinion piece yesterday at the West Ranch Beacon: “What we are witnessing is a splintered grass roots movement scattered around SCV in which ordinary residents are now starting to question the judgment of City of Santa Clarita officials on various proposed projects. It seems that the next logical step is for these individual community groups to link up into a loose valley wide coalition,” Bossert says. Are we witnessing a new movement that’s savvy and sharp and could change the face of SCV politics? Or is WeThePeople, the Calgrove Group, and NotaFerryFan simply the same old Anti-Growth song and dance sexed up with Web 2.0 and YouTube videos? Link
- Signal staffers ride X2, survive to report: Ace reporter Parimal Rohit and crack photog Francisca Rivas rode the revamped X2 ride at Magic Mountain. I was highly entertained by their report and in particular the picture of a scared looking Rivas being strapped into the ride. Not online yet; in today’s Escape.
- Cool senior prank at West Ranch high: Did you see the photo on Page A-3 of The Signal this morning? There’s not many details, but apparently seniors at the west side high school cut a car in half and wrapped it around the campuses’ main flag pole. There’s also a picture on the rotation list at the Signal.
- Reporter Karen Elowitt and smoking: The Signal reporter quit smoking about a month ago and writes today on how she’s dealing with the awful cravings. It’s a pretty heart-wrenching account, made even more desperate by the fact that some medicine that could help her isn’t covered by insurance and would cost her over $200 on her “meager reporter’s salary.” I say we take up a donation to help her buy the meds.