So much to cover, so little time! There’s the city council meeting tonight, Hart vs. The Signal, hot new real estate stats, the 19th Senate seat, auto theft ring bust, and what’s in Valencia’s sewage? All ahead in your Daily Brief.
News & Stuff
- Alleged vehicle thieves caught in SCV: Two men and a woman were arrested Saturday after allegedly trying to use a bad check to purchase a high end Cadillac Escalade from a Santa Clarita dealership, the Signal (and everyone else) is reporting today. A salesman at the dealership says he got suspicious when the buyer offered him a check from a Rhode Island bank; he then called the Sheriffs, who hid at the dealership to bust the man as he came to pick up the vehicle. It’s being touted as a great success story for the business/Sheriff anti-crime program. The three people had allegedly done this scam before and had purchased several high end vehicles, including a BMW M5, a Porsche Cabriloet, a Porsche Cayenne, and an Audi RS4. Link
- May Real Estate stats out, get them while they’re hot! It wasn’t just the temperature that spiked in May- sales apparently did as well, according to my cursory glance at the May sales statistics posted on the Southland Realtor Association website. Escrows closed on 396 properties last month compared with 324 (April 08) and 355 (May 07), but the median asking price for homes dipped slightly in May compared to April ($459k vs $469k respectively). The big change, as far as I can see, is the big decline in the median sales price- in April, the median sales price was $430k valley-wide while in May that declined to $407k, both of which are way lower than the May 07 median sales price of $535k. Would it be fair to say that prices are way down but sales are recovering big time? Perhaps. Look for the SRAR press release and resulting Signal story later this week. In the meantime, May 08 results, April 08 Results, May 07 results.
- Hart District to benefit from Castaic Mello-Roos sometime in future: Up to $6.5 million could enter the District’s coffers at some point in the future when developer Dan Palmer starts building homes in the Los Valles community in Castaic, the Signal reports. That money could someday be used to help build a Castaic High School or it could be used “anywhere in the District,” according to one Hart official. Link
- Valencia Superlatives: Two incidental mentions of Valencia in the LA Times have me grinning this morning. The first is rather surprising: in an article on how important a library has become to immigrants in New York, the Times says that the Valencia Library is the busiest library in all of Los Angeles county with some 1,000 visitors everyday and 775,000 circulated items last year. Incredible! Who knew our dinky old library was so popular? This definitely helps the case for the City/County’s proposed Newhall Library, in my opinion. The second Valencia-related superlative comes from the Times as well which says Valencia tied for the least amount of cocaine use in Los Angeles County. That’s right Valencia, you tied Long Beach for the least amount of cocaine use, according to an analysis of your poop. The 1.4 parts of cocaine per billion in your sewage put you low on the county average but still above cities like London, Omaha, and some other European cities. Cocaine usage county wide spikes on Saturday night. Fascinating
- Flap over City Council public comments at West Ranch Beacon: I don’t know where this particular rumor started, but Dave Bossert over at the West Ranch Beacon grabbed on to it to further his criticism of the “titular city council.” Bossert wrote yesterday that the public comments portion of tonight’s council meeting would be limited to 30 minutes total, no matter how many public speakers line up to address the City Council. He quotes the Calgrove Coalition, the group formed to oppose the Avenue project, and says that “this appears to be yet another effort by City leadership in silencing residents and tightening their grip on power.” The commenters on his commentary at first agree with him then dispute that there is any policy change. I haven’t heard anything like this and given Bossert’s history of criticizing the city I don’t think it’s very credible. I shall see for myself tonight in any case. Link
- Wall-E creater Andrew Stanton profile: I’m really looking forward to Wall-E, the new Disney/Pixar animated movie, and now I have one more reason to see it. The Boston Globe has a great profile of writer/producer/director Andrew Stanton, who conceived of the lonely robot back in the 1990s but didn’t start working on the project until 2002. Stanton, it turns out, is Cal Arts animation alum. Link
- Actor’s Strike feared: Just when you thought the movie/film industry was finally recovered from the long writer’s strike, the actors may strike if a contract is not negotiated by the end of June. An actor’s strike would also shut down production across Southern California and likely some shows/films in Santa Clarita. LA Times has more.
- Dennis McCarthy on Valley Fair veterans: McCarthy has an interesting and touching column on the veterans who’s produce and flowers will be judged at this week’s Valley Fair, held in the SCV. Link
- Santa Clarita could be key to 19th Senate Race: Or so says a blogger at the Ventura County Star, who notes that voters in the conservative SCV voted for Tony Strickland got twice as many votes as Democrat Hannah-Beth Jackson on the June 3 primary. He also says Jackson may spend more time in the SCV to offset Strickland’s advantage (Jackson is meeting the SCV Democratic Club this Thursday night, by the way). Link
- Newhall Comic book store to host singles night again: Brave New World invites “the nerds, gamers, hackers, coders, theater geeks,band geeks, or just your run of the mill, socially stunted, regular old geeks of the world (and those who love them) to meet, mingle and who knows, maybe even make the connection you’ve been looking for your whole life: someone who understands you.” Hey if I was single, I’d definitely check it out to find some geeky Star Trek babes who live in the SCV. What more could you ask for? Link
- Signal fights back against Hart: Hey Mr. Superintendent, your press release/letter to the editor was great and all, but you completely sidestepped the issue of pre-employment screening and just how an accused sexual assault suspect ended up coaching girls and football players at Canyon High, says the Signal in a good editorial. The editorialist surmises that parents can’t be comfortable with the”Relax, we’re handling it” attitude at Centre Pointe Parkway. And I like this part as well: “It is our responsibility as a newspaper - servants of the public interest - to ask questions, whether or not we get answers.” Damn straight! “Forever Vigilant” is the motto of the Signal after all, right? Good editorial