May 6, 2010 – Daily Brief

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

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An ad for Henry Mayo Newhall's auction services in a San Francisco newspaper in February 1862

City of Santa Clarita to lose $1.1 million after judge rules that it’s okay for the State of California to raid local redevelopment agency funds KHTS, MERCURY NEWS
Santa Clarita has donated nearly $20,000 to the pregnant widow of Deputy Glover. Incredible! SIGNAL
Three local women’s groups are rolling out a program to assist battered and abused women. The volunteer “advocates” will stand by women while at court, inform them of their rights, and escort them to and from their cars. Other courthouses have programs like this; this will be SCV’s first SIGNAL
Vote delayed on new Hart Superintendent as contract negotiations are still underway SIGNAL
An employee or employees at NBC LA have won the state’s $266 million mega jackpot super duper lotto, but they’re not ready to come forward. What do you think they’re waiting for? Are they still screaming YESSSS!! LA TIMES
In their desire to convince some voters of their true-blue, red blooded, Tea Party-approved conservative bona fides, Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner risk alienating the rest of the state and independents as GOP registration is only 31% says the SAC BEE
Alternate Day of Prayer event taking place at the Church on the Way (the old Mann theaters on Cinema). Organizers of the non-denominational event expect 500-600 people SIGNAL
A fundraiser for Jeff Laird, the 41 year old man killed on Plum Canyon road last weekend, will be held this Saturday at Baja Fresh LINK
Amazing pictures of Nashville flood at BIG PICTURE
Letter Writer goes outside of SCV to find tasty Mexican tamales, then finds out that you can Think and Eat SCV because quality tamales are available right here in town SIGNAL
The same letter writer says hanging out in Santa Clarita’s courthouse is quality entertainment SIGNAL
John Boston’s Time Ranger column this week is pretty good WRB
Lynne Plambeck argues that the City of Santa Clarita should require LEED design elements for new commercial buildings in the SCV SIGNAL

Comments (12)

CarrieMay 6, 2010 at 8:09 am

We really are in Mayberry! The deaths last week of a deputy and a citizen – both in vehicular crashes have again highlighted for me what a strange place the SCV is. So far the deputy has received a huge tribute complete with “donated” civic space, what looked like a hundred patrol cars and several hundred uniformed deputies, a large presence from the fire dept complete with a hook and ladder truck, and $20k raised for his widow with more to come – the sheriffs are asking for food to be donated for their fund raising bbq this weekend. Uh, who says “no” to the local law enforcement? The private citizen’s family is having a difficult time to even raise enough money for a modest funeral. He had been taking care of his spouse’s 3 children as well as one of his own. So tell me – who is paying for the type of ceremony outlined in the first case? Who at COC said it is okay to donate a venue that is a public space? Who said sure put that hook and ladder out of commission for a couple of hours, or all of the patrol cars sitting there? Who paid for the fuel for these vehicles as well as the time of the personnel driving them? And please don’t even start with the “hero” nonsense. The deputy seems like he was a nice guy, but he did nothing heroic. He didn’t die in the line of duty, it was a vehicular collision, the same as the citizens.

ToddMay 6, 2010 at 8:41 am

Wow, who tainted your Wheaties this morning? Any loss of life is tragic, no doubt… but we, rightfully so, honor public servants, regardless of how their passing came about. Or would you now suggest that our retired veterans should now be buried without military honors, since they didn’t die in combat either?

Jim FarleyMay 6, 2010 at 8:10 am

The Tea Party movement is not a GOP movement although most I know who are involved would like the GOP to adopt it as their platform. While I don’t know the numbers there are also Democrats and Independents in the movement so Whitman and Poisner may not be alienating as many as you think.

Sterling Owen KingMay 6, 2010 at 1:23 pm

It’s interesting to see so many people who have entrenched themselves politically and or ideologically against each other set aside fringe differences and unite like the Tea Party Americans. Tea Party participants have either realized that doing the christian thing of forgiving other and finding common ground is more important then fighting, or people are just not as divided as the drive-by’s make us out to be. Good to hear from you Jim.

Jim FarleyMay 6, 2010 at 1:39 pm

Likewise Sterling. I actually met two people at the last rally who said they voted for Obama and are now regretting it. I have a feeling there were alot more.

lvogelMay 6, 2010 at 8:16 am

I think I’ve just crossed over into the ‘Twilight Zone’, Carrie….you took every thought out of my head!

KLBMay 6, 2010 at 8:46 am

My thoughts exactly Carrie & lvogel.

ReaderMamaMay 6, 2010 at 12:00 pm

I agree with Carrie as well. It is tradition that officers turn out en mass when one of their own falls . . . but this was not a death in the line of duty. To me it seemed a bit over the top and in these tough financial times, especially so. Also, I am betting that the officer’s life was well insured, and his child will be eligible to collect Social Security until the age of 18. My heart goes out to his widow, but it goes out equally to Laird’s widow.

CoastalSageMay 6, 2010 at 1:00 pm

Rollowing up on Jeff’s comment on Lynne Plambeck’s Signal column on the wisdom of building new commercial buildings under the LEED energy saving standards, I make note, as an FYI, MGM Mirage’s brand new 16.979,000 square foot compled in Las Vegas, called “City Center” is the largest LEED certified complex in the world…which MGM Mirage chose to build in a very down economy. See: http://www.archdaily.com/50724/city-c.. . The fact that infamously tough investor/developer Kerk Kerkorian’s company would spend the money to build this humongous LEED Certified complex proves that LEED building is the right way to go, economically, for commercial developers. Of course, Santa Clarita’s City staff are are too pro-cheap-developer and its City Council are simply too unsophisticated to push LEED certified buildings commercial buildings. The same holds true as to the illiterate rubes running the L.A. County Department of Regional Planning and sitting on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, so don’t expect anything better, in terms of commercial buildings, north west of the City of Santa Clarita.

CoastalSageMay 6, 2010 at 1:41 pm

By the way, since the days of wine and roses are over at the Santa Clarita City Hall, someone should be asking WHY the City Council is paying Burke Williams & Sorensen to write briefs in trial court cases and in appellate cases where the City’s participation is not critical. This sort of “amicus” and “co-plaintiff” activity by the City costs beaucoup bucks. See the attached Court of Appeal opinion dismissing, out of hand a whole laudry list of objects Santa Clarita and 32 other cities made to permits, regulations and policies adopted by the Regional Quality Control Board. http://ceres.ca.gov/ceqa/cases/2006/County_of_Los_Angeles_et_al._v._Cal_State_Water_Resources_Control_Board_et_al..pdf It certainly would be interesting for someone to do a public records act request on how much the City paid for Burke Williams & Sorensen to engage in this lawsuit on the City’s behalf. In terms of investigative journalism, someone like the Signal should be asking how many of these legal boondoggles Santa Clarita taxpayers money has paid for in the past 5 years, and how many the city is engaged in right now…when it has just lost $1.1 Million to the state’s tax grab. The bottom line is that the City of Santa Clarita has got to pay back the $22 Million it had to borrow to pay for the Bermite portion Golden Valley Road condemnation case. Santa Clarita’s taxpayers paying for more of these “municipal lawyers club/run up our client’s costs on unnecessary litigation” simply has to stop.

Sterling Owen KingMay 6, 2010 at 2:13 pm

Coastal, a records request would be interesting. you’re just the one to do it. By all appearances you seem to be versed enough to find what needs to be discovered. It would be nice to know what you find.

Need for Involved CitizenryMay 6, 2010 at 2:31 pm

The City would not want to require LEED buildings because they are slightly more expensive to build (even though if you hold them for even a short period of time, you’d recover those extra capital costs). The problem is that most developers want to sell the building or house as soon as they are built and the buyer is not sophisticated enough to adjust pricing accordingly (kind of like Mello-Roos fees).

CarrieMay 6, 2010 at 8:09 am
We really are in Mayberry! The deaths last week of a deputy and a citizen – both in vehicular crashes have again highlighted for me what a strange place the SCV is. So far the deputy has received a huge tribute complete with “donated” civic space, what looked like a hundred patrol cars and several hundred uniformed deputies, a large presence from the fire dept complete with a hook and ladder truck, and $20k raised for his widow with more to come – the sheriffs are asking for food to be donated for their fund raising bbq this weekend. Uh, who says “no” to the local law enforcement? The private citizen’s family is having a difficult time to even raise enough money for a modest funeral. He had been taking care of his spouse’s 3 children as well as one of his own. So tell me – who is paying for the type of ceremony outlined in the first case? Who at COC said it is okay to donate a venue that is a public space? Who said sure put that hook and ladder out of commission for a couple of hours, or all of the patrol cars sitting there? Who paid for the fuel for these vehicles as well as the time of the personnel driving them? And please don’t even start with the “hero” nonsense. The deputy seems like he was a nice guy, but he did nothing heroic. He didn’t die in the line of duty, it was a vehicular collision, the same as the citizens.
ToddMay 6, 2010 at 8:41 am
Wow, who tainted your Wheaties this morning? Any loss of life is tragic, no doubt… but we, rightfully so, honor public servants, regardless of how their passing came about. Or would you now suggest that our retired veterans should now be buried without military honors, since they didn’t die in combat either?
Jim FarleyMay 6, 2010 at 8:10 am
The Tea Party movement is not a GOP movement although most I know who are involved would like the GOP to adopt it as their platform. While I don’t know the numbers there are also Democrats and Independents in the movement so Whitman and Poisner may not be alienating as many as you think.
Sterling Owen KingMay 6, 2010 at 1:23 pm
It’s interesting to see so many people who have entrenched themselves politically and or ideologically against each other set aside fringe differences and unite like the Tea Party Americans. Tea Party participants have either realized that doing the christian thing of forgiving other and finding common ground is more important then fighting, or people are just not as divided as the drive-by’s make us out to be. Good to hear from you Jim.
Jim FarleyMay 6, 2010 at 1:39 pm
Likewise Sterling. I actually met two people at the last rally who said they voted for Obama and are now regretting it. I have a feeling there were alot more.
lvogelMay 6, 2010 at 8:16 am
I think I’ve just crossed over into the ‘Twilight Zone’, Carrie….you took every thought out of my head!
KLBMay 6, 2010 at 8:46 am
My thoughts exactly Carrie & lvogel.
ReaderMamaMay 6, 2010 at 12:00 pm
I agree with Carrie as well. It is tradition that officers turn out en mass when one of their own falls . . . but this was not a death in the line of duty. To me it seemed a bit over the top and in these tough financial times, especially so. Also, I am betting that the officer’s life was well insured, and his child will be eligible to collect Social Security until the age of 18. My heart goes out to his widow, but it goes out equally to Laird’s widow.
CoastalSageMay 6, 2010 at 1:00 pm
Rollowing up on Jeff’s comment on Lynne Plambeck’s Signal column on the wisdom of building new commercial buildings under the LEED energy saving standards, I make note, as an FYI, MGM Mirage’s brand new 16.979,000 square foot compled in Las Vegas, called “City Center” is the largest LEED certified complex in the world…which MGM Mirage chose to build in a very down economy. See: http://www.archdaily.com/50724/city-c.. . The fact that infamously tough investor/developer Kerk Kerkorian’s company would spend the money to build this humongous LEED Certified complex proves that LEED building is the right way to go, economically, for commercial developers. Of course, Santa Clarita’s City staff are are too pro-cheap-developer and its City Council are simply too unsophisticated to push LEED certified buildings commercial buildings. The same holds true as to the illiterate rubes running the L.A. County Department of Regional Planning and sitting on the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, so don’t expect anything better, in terms of commercial buildings, north west of the City of Santa Clarita.
CoastalSageMay 6, 2010 at 1:41 pm
By the way, since the days of wine and roses are over at the Santa Clarita City Hall, someone should be asking WHY the City Council is paying Burke Williams & Sorensen to write briefs in trial court cases and in appellate cases where the City’s participation is not critical. This sort of “amicus” and “co-plaintiff” activity by the City costs beaucoup bucks. See the attached Court of Appeal opinion dismissing, out of hand a whole laudry list of objects Santa Clarita and 32 other cities made to permits, regulations and policies adopted by the Regional Quality Control Board. http://ceres.ca.gov/ceqa/cases/2006/County_of_Los_Angeles_et_al._v._Cal_State_Water_Resources_Control_Board_et_al..pdf It certainly would be interesting for someone to do a public records act request on how much the City paid for Burke Williams & Sorensen to engage in this lawsuit on the City’s behalf. In terms of investigative journalism, someone like the Signal should be asking how many of these legal boondoggles Santa Clarita taxpayers money has paid for in the past 5 years, and how many the city is engaged in right now…when it has just lost $1.1 Million to the state’s tax grab. The bottom line is that the City of Santa Clarita has got to pay back the $22 Million it had to borrow to pay for the Bermite portion Golden Valley Road condemnation case. Santa Clarita’s taxpayers paying for more of these “municipal lawyers club/run up our client’s costs on unnecessary litigation” simply has to stop.
Sterling Owen KingMay 6, 2010 at 2:13 pm
Coastal, a records request would be interesting. you’re just the one to do it. By all appearances you seem to be versed enough to find what needs to be discovered. It would be nice to know what you find.
Need for Involved CitizenryMay 6, 2010 at 2:31 pm
The City would not want to require LEED buildings because they are slightly more expensive to build (even though if you hold them for even a short period of time, you’d recover those extra capital costs). The problem is that most developers want to sell the building or house as soon as they are built and the buyer is not sophisticated enough to adjust pricing accordingly (kind of like Mello-Roos fees).