The Daily Brief, everything you need to know about the SCV from the best sources on the internet coming at you at 75 words per minute (now with only 5% error rate!)
News
- Hasley Hills Annexation Moves Forward: The City will proceed with initiating the annexation process for Hasley Hills (including parts of the Valencia Commerce Center) with LAFCO, the LA County Agency that manages all annexation requests. Jon Dell has a good report on the Council’s decision last night and Hasley Hills’ context in the larger annexation debate.
- Open Space Committee Appointments at next council meeting: At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, Jim Farley spoke during the public comments portion of the meeting asking why the city still had not made appointments to its open space financial audit committee. Recall that appointments to the committee were delayed to the end of December to give potential applicants more time in light of the October wildfires. Farley, who opposed the open space district last summer, has applied for a seat on the panel and “promised to serve professionally.” During his response time, City Manager Ken Pulskamp said the appointments would be made at the next Council Meeting, presumably on February 5. The Council also discussed bylaws for the committee. All this comes after the proposed purchase of some land in Placerita Canyon with the funds.
- “Gran Prix” on Canyon Country Street: At least 11 residents of a Canyon Country neighborhood spoke before the City Council last night demanding city action on speeders, crime, and other quality of life issues in their neighborhoods. The show of force had an effect on the Council with Councilmember Boydston offering to visit the neighborhood and Councilmembers Weste and McLean suggesting that the city needs to do more. Jon Dell has that story.
- One Trial to end, another begins: The fate of Dwight McDonald, a one-time city council candidate, now rests with a jury in San Fernando which will decide whether the former CHP officer deliberately attacked a jogger in Valencia with his car last year. Karen Elowitt has the prosecution and defense closing remarks in today’s Signal. Also in today’s Signal are new trial details in the case of Jaqueline Linaras, the 23 year old woman who is accused of murder after she allegedly placed her newborn baby in a trash bin outside of a Newhall mobile home park in May 2006. That trial may begin in April after many delays.
- So Long San Fernando Road: The Council approved the name change of San Fernando road from 4th Street to the 14 Freeway to “Newhall Avenue.”
- Hart District to take up mandatory drug testing/audit tonight: For several months, staff at the Hart District have been researching “random drug testing, including implementation procedures, costs, timelines and possible funding sources,” and the Hart Board will discuss, but not vote on, the findings tonight. This follows some board member comments last year that the SCV has a youth “drug problem” and at least one suggestion that the District re-implement a so-called “Narc” program. Sharon Cotal has the story in today’s Signal, Jim Holt has your archived story from August 2007. Also at tonight’s meeting will be a discussion on the 2006-07 Audit report which has been prepared by a new accounting firm following the District’s firing of its old accounting firm late last year.
- Foreclosures highest ever in CA in Q4: So says a report in the SacBee which states that foreclosures “jumped to 31,676 in the quarter, the most since DataQuick began tracking those numbers in 1988.” That puts foreclosures in California over the 84,000 mark for all of 2007. The SacBee also spoke with a Santa Clarita mortgage broker about the Fed’s rate cut yesterday and whether it would improve the real estate and mortgage industries in 2008. Link
- Animal Rescue at Lancaster ranch: Nearly 100 dogs still remain at a ranch/farm in Lancaster, but they’re being fed and cared for by volunteers with the Gentle Barn and other animal welfare groups. Some 300 dogs have been sent to shelters, foster homes, and permanent homes while the more exotic animals (emus, llamas etc) have also been rescued. Jim Holt also has more on how a Santa Clarita animal welfare group was the first agency to respond to the problems at the ranch in today’s Signal.
- New Chamber Chairman: I neglected to post a link to The Signal’s coverage of the Chamber of Commerce’s new chairman, Charlie Gill. I’m not sure who Gill is, but outgoing chairwoman Pam Ingram is the point person for Sunset Pointe annexation, so I’m wondering if this change will free her up to pursue that more.
Misc:
- Don’t miss I Heart’s coverage of last night’s Council Meeting.
- Coots: Councilmember Laurene Weste and Marsha McLean had quite a bit to say about Bridgeport resident’s plans to kill a certain number of migratory American coot birds. McLean even asked that the city inform the US Fish & Wildlife Service, which grants the Bridgeport HOA with the “depardation” permit about the Santa Clara River ecosystem. City Attorney Carl Newton suggested that the matter be moved to a future council meeting.
- Choice Quotes from Council Meeting:
- Teresa Savaikie on Coots: “Isn’t it ironic that we’re killing migratory birds across from the Bridgeport Marketplace where a migratory bird art project is being installed?”
- Weste on coots: “This is a worldwide ecology issue. People don’t see the bigger picture“
- McLean on coots: “If people don’t want wild life, don’t live on a lake. Or drain the lake so the birds will go elsewhere.”
- Boydston on Big League Dreams litigation against critics in Texas (he passed around another BLD horror story): “I hope I won’t have to get myself a lawyer when I leave the council.”
- Courtney Longshore on the new Canyon Country park named after her deceased father Todd: “Everyday before I go to school, I see my dad’s sign and how pretty the park looks, and it just reminds me what a great guy my dad is, and it makes me want to be more like him everyday…There’s no better feeling to know that people can enjoy such a beautiful place.”
More Gossip from Council Meeting: Bob Lee is rumored to have applied for the City’s Open Space Audit panel. Yes, that Bob Lee, he who helped create the controversial SCV Facilities Foundation which speculates on land in order to maximize taxpayer funds in the creation of Hart schools. 2004 Interview
- Beacon Notes: Watch Dave Bossert’s blog today for reaction to the City’s Hasley Hills action and Tim Myers’ column which appears on Wednesdays like clockwork. Oh, also, Bossert changed the colors from traffic-cone orange to SCVTalk blue. Please don’t confuse us. Link