No risk of salmonella in today’s Daily Brief.
News & Misc
- LandSource/Newhall Land BK: Ventura County supe has doubts Newhall Ranch will be built in wake of BK, McFarlane Partners (the guys who helped CalPers invest in Newhall Ranch) says that the 15,000 acre property is still a good long-term investment (but not worth the $2.6 billion as it was last year), LandSource gets what it wants on the first day in court (including funds to keep the lights on), and an LA Times Real Estate blogger wonders who’s getting screwed among SoCal firms that did business with LandSource/Newhall Land. Oh, and as a special bonus, read the comment from “Canyon Country Mom” on the Landsource BK at the LA Times realty blog.
- Budget’s tight, but not that tight: Approved at last night’s City Council meeting was a $165 million budget, and even though Ken Pulskamp was busy telling everyone how much belt-tightening would have to be done around City Hall, they were still able to create six new positions, pay for three new sheriff’s deputies, give an additional $50k to seniors (over the $25k they planned), buy two new commuter buses, spend $200k to fight Cemex, and $125k to help clean up Whittaker Bermite. Whew. What a mouthful. “Clearly, the city can’t do it all,” City Boss Pulskamp told the Council at the meeting. Could have fooled me big spendah. Nice work on the buses though, that ought to help demand and give commuters a shot at saving money. Also, KHTS has a report on the budget.
- Signal digs into FBI Crime Report: Parimal Rohit has the numbers, and crime was a mixed bag in 2007 in the City of Santa Clarita. Overall, 8,334 crimes were reported last year compared with 7,696 in 06. Violent crime was down this year compared with 2006 though property crimes were up. “Santa Clarita is still a very safe city,” Gail Ortiz told The Signal. “As a trend, the increase in crime does not keep up with the increase in population.” Santa Clarita’s only murder last year was 18 year old Brian Miranda, who was killed in a drive-by in Newhall last November in a crime that remains unsolved. Link
- Great LA Times story on Gibbon center in Saugus: We’ve known for awhile that the respected non-primatologist Alan Mootnick has wanted to move his famous Gibbon Center out of Bouquet Canyon, but we didn’t know just how close development was getting to the property where he houses some 30+ apes. Two nearby projects -an Edison power line project and a 334 home development- are literally scaring the apes, causing them to “stress out” and “dart and leap erratically.” Mootnick has been trying to raise at least $1 million so he can buy land in more suitable Ventura County, but it’s tough going so far. Mootnick, who never studied biology, has nonetheless discovered many interesting behavioral traits of the gibbons. For instance: “Gibbons are prone to “moon” an onlooker if the stares — from a gibbon or human — make them uncomfortable. And if they’re very upset they’ll sometimes break wind in the direction of the presumed antagonist.” Good story
- Water wells in the SCV: They’re less sexy than the big State Water Project water system or the Colorado River Aqueduct, or Mulholland’s pipes and dams that
stealdeliver water from the Owens Valley, but local water wells are still an important part of our H20 ecosystem, reports Jim Holt in today’s Signal. - No solution on Benz Road issue: The city performed a survey of some 500 home owners in the Benz Road area of Saugus. That survey found that the majority of residents in the area favored no traffic changes to Benz Road. But, as KHTS put it, the survey was so broad that Benz Road homeowners were simply outnumbered by neighbors on other streets who said any more “traffic calming” measures installed on Benz Road would lead to more traffic on their own streets. There’s no resolution to the mess now, staff will continue studying alternatives.
- July 4th Fireworks celebrations shaping up: Dave Bossert says the one in Stevenson Ranch will be pretty cool this year, as Assemblyman Cameron Smyth will attend. Hey, isn’t he up for election soon? On July 4, 2006, he was elected President of the WRTC at the polls which were opened on July 4 for a few hours in the afternoon. Link
- I Heart’s Council Coverage: He details the budget deliberations, including TimBen Boydston’s public comments about the Big League Dreams park, and of course the Benz Road controversy and survey, which I Heart says has “pitted neighbor against neighbor.”