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May 13, 2010· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

May 13, 2010 – Daily Brief

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

  • The new Newhall Library will be the most spectacular thing anywhere, at anytime says Councilwoman Laurene Weste. Others are happy with the redesign too (though not that happy apparently). I think it’s going to be spectacular and fabulous. SIGNAL
  • Sanitation rates set to rise for Santa Clarita, but a comparison with other communities along the Santa Clara river shows we’re still paying much less ($80 a month in Fillmore vs $24 for SCV in 2013). SIGNAL
  • In a reversal of the usual trend, gas prices are heading down by as much as 22 cents as summer approaches. More supply and a slow economy are to credit/blame DAILY NEWS
  • Daily News columnist Dennis McCarthy writes about Santa Clarita husband-wife team who commute daily to their nursing and therapy jobs at Valley Presbyterian Hospital’s Neonatal intensive care unit. The couple care for premature babies and McCarthy writes about their experience with one two pound baby who died DAILY NEWS
  • Assemblyman Cameron Smyth endorses Carly Fiorina for US Senate. And Sharon Runner switched from endorsing Chuck DeVore to Fiorina CARLY FOR CA
  • LA DA Steve Cooley, running for California Attorney General, stopped by the Tournament Player’s club on Tuesday KHTS
  • Hart District’s Zero Tolerance policy for drugs questioned SIGNAL
  • Everyday is a good day to bicycle to work, but the official Bike to Work Day for Santa Clarita is May 20, a week from today, not May 13 as the Signal reported today. More power to those guys riding for the first time today though! I hope this doesn’t depress turnout for next week’s event.
  • Hey speaking of Bicycles, Los Angeles County is holding another meeting/workshop to gather community input on the County’s Bicycle Master Plan. They held one in Castaic a few months ago, but this one will be on Thursday June 17 at Hart Park WRB
  • Cool “Power of the Sound” demonstration to be held at COC tomorrow night. Sounds really neat. hah! KHTS
  • “Park 101″ is a plan for downtown Los Angeles that would involve building a park, housing and commercial spaces over Highway 101. Rendering looks pretty cool STREETSBLOG
  • A gray whale has been entangled in fishing nets off Dana Point since Monday, but whale rescuers successfully freed the animal after they “caressed the whale and spoke soothingly to it” and cut it loose. Now the whale has gone back out to the ocean LA TIMES
  • Los Angeles has never liked its County Supervisors LA OBSERVED
  • New Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department website SHERIFF.LACOUNTY.GOV
  • WalMart is expanding its electronics section at stores to compete with the likes of Best Buy. That’s good for us in the SCV, we have one Best Buy and three Wal Marts. And no Apple stores or Fry’s. Sigh. LA TIMES
  • Handicap parking abusers ought to be tarred and feathered. Or at least that’s how I feel after reading this LTE
  • On this date (well tomorrow actually) in 1874, the “Womanizing bandito and pistol fighter Tiburcio Vasquez [incidentally he's pictured above] was caputred in the Hollywood Hills, literally jumping out of the bedroom window of the wife of one of his men. As he was attempting to run and put his pants on at the same time [no doubt in a comical fashion], Vasquez was wounded in the leg and buttocks by a shotgun wielding deputy.” Whew! All that and more in John Boston’s TIME RANGER
  • Cam Noltemeyer says the City is lowering its development standards and selling out the City’s residents SIGNAL

Comments (28)

  1. navigatorMay 13, 2010 at 8:07 am
    Before the daily discussion begins I would like to mention that the final touches are being put on the Memorial Day Observance at Eternal Valley. Everyone is welcome to join us Monday, May 31 at 10 AM sharp for a most memorable event. In the meantime check out this Youtube video at http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=5pfBUUZNbFM . Grab your Kleenex.
  2. TimBen BoydstonMay 13, 2010 at 8:51 am
    The proposed sanitation fee increase is only the beginning of a series of planned increases that when last estimated (Weste and Ferry put this off last year until after the election) would reach over $600 per year per house. The total cost of the cloride removal plant, brine lines, pipe lines, and water purchases will be just a few hundred Million dollars. And for what? To supply water for downstream farmers and developers. Some money from this tax increase was going to buy water from the Kern to put in the aquifer for the use of other interests. Some of the money will be to take the salt out of the water, and to build a pipeline to send water to the Oxnard Strawberry farmers. When asked how much, the Sanitation district had no answer. There is no evidence of any crop damage from the level of salt in the water discharged. Read the actual reports. There is NO evidence of damage to strawberry crops, no evidence of damage to nursery crops, and no evidence of damage to the fruit of the avocado trees. There have been no studies on the local farms, only a survey of articles written elsewhere. The only thing that has been found is some “burn” to some the avocado tree leaves, of which there is great debate as to the cause. The number of total farmers affected by this false assumption of too much cloride? One farmer. First our government made us take out our water softeners that used salt, and they said that would fix the problem. Now, even as the cloride levels are still falling and before all of the sofeners are removed, they want to ram this tax increase through. Why? The water is safe to drink. There is no crop damage. The State water project sells us water with this level of salt. It is not about the cloride. Stand up people of Santa Clarita. There is no reason to stand for this outrageous tax.
  3. RemStarMay 13, 2010 at 9:08 am
    Will the sanitation district get sued or fined if they do nothing? I don’t know the answer, I’m just curious. Is there someone/something they can sue tog get the requirement lifted?
  4. navigatorMay 13, 2010 at 9:41 am
    It totally irks me all to hell that this 1 grower can carry such weight that we are caused to carry the funding of a project that enables him to live well beyond our means. Alternately the high chloride level water that we get from NoCal can’t be cleaned up before we get it because the cost is too great. So we get to sit in the middle and eat it. As you stated, there is still no proof that the water we put into the Santa Clara destroys crops downstream. I certainly haven’t seen any shortage of strawberries and avocados at the markets on 126 during season.
  5. Saugus SplasherMay 13, 2010 at 3:31 pm
    These increases could have been done during the election and you still would have gotten hammered, TimBen. After all, it’s not like you were even close to winning….
  6. Love Santa ClaritaMay 13, 2010 at 3:43 pm
    Tim Ben, Responding to you and Kevin Korenthal’s post. Please get the facts straight. The City has opposed this increased and you know it. The legal orger is from the Regional Quality Control Board to the Sanitation District. If they don’t do this costly project, there could be huge fines. I AGREE THAT IS WRONG! So instead of attacking the Council or event the Sanitation District, or claiming that this is a water grab for developers, which there is no evidence of, learn to work cooperativly with us local residents, the City and the Water Districts and our Legislators to defeat the Regional Water Control Board. THAT IS THE ISSUE AND SHOULD BE ALL OF OUR GOAL
  7. Alan FerdmanMay 13, 2010 at 6:53 pm
    Love SC Our Santa Clarita City Council members make up 2/3 of the District 32 Sanitation District Board. In 2009 they granted the Sanitation district another 11.2% fee increase when the Consumer Price index was zero. That brought the cumulative approved increases for the previous 5 years to 55%. While over that same period the consumer price index went up a mere 13.2%. Putting the figures in dollars, the assessment per sewage unit went from $118 per year to $199 per year. In addition, connection fees were raised 58% over the previous 3 years. What they did do was request the Sanitation District Staff come up with an alternate plan and present it after the election. Unfortunately, this new plan sounds a lot like the old plan revisited. If Sanitation District 32 was interested in working with our community they would hold all of their meetings in Santa Clarita not in Whittier. If the assertions by the Sanitation District Staff are not deemed valid and reasonable, by our board members, they should just say NO. Hiding behind statements like “we will get fined” will not be accepted by the community. When every Santa Clarita resident sees a $600+ increase on their property tax bill, the Council Chambers will not have an empty seat. If our City Council had the resolve to fight Cemex and the Bureau of Land Management, they should display the same resolve in fighting the Regional Water Control Board if what is being asked is unrealistic and unreasonable.
  8. cashMay 14, 2010 at 9:27 am
    CEMEX was and is being fought for the “special interest” and the “Sanitation district” is not being fought for the same reason. Everyone know we are dependent on reclaimed water utilization to make the water requirements work. “Newhall Ranch” has no chance without improved sources of water, but “mum” is the word when you are in the business of selling water.
  9. TimBen BoydstonMay 13, 2010 at 7:31 pm
    Hey “Love Santa Clarita”. I love Santa Clarita too and I would love to work together with you to stop the Chloride Tax mess…If only I knew who you were.
  10. Love Santa ClaritaMay 13, 2010 at 8:08 pm
    Well Tim Ben, that is what is great about not running for office and this blog. However, what about the points I made?
  11. TimBen BoydstonMay 14, 2010 at 8:36 am
    I look forward to seeing you at the May 27th meeting at 6:30 pm at City Council chambers to fight this tax together.
  12. Kevin D. KorenthalMay 13, 2010 at 9:08 am
    I cannot believe that someone actually wrote that LTE about the use of a handicap spaces. How do you know that the author was not talking about me? I have a handicap placard and from time to time I actually use it. Though I will rarely take the last handicap space in the lot. I only do that when I am experiencing an evident issue with my prosthetic or residual limb. But as with many handicapped persons, it is what could happen rather than what is happening that qualifies me for the placard. I for instance have been walking around Wal-Mart, healthy and happy as a clam one minute, then all of the sudden, the vacuum system in my prosthetic decompresses and I am limping out of the store in incredible pain as the end of my residual limb crushes the bottom of the prosthetic socket. Having said all of that, I think the bigger problem with handicap spaces are the people who do not have a placard that use the spaces as a waiting zone. I have been appalled when I have approached these individuals about parking in the spaces and being told to mind my own business or to f… off. Handicap people should not have to prove they have a handicap every time they use a hc space and people without handicap placards should NEVER use hc spaces, even if they think they may need it at that moment.
  13. mikeMay 13, 2010 at 9:19 am
    “But as with many handicapped persons, it is what could happen rather than what is happening that qualifies me for the placard.” Well put Kevin, that just about says it all. I’d imagine that when you are wearing pants, you probably get your fare share of judgmental stares when you exit the car.
  14. Valencia JoeMay 13, 2010 at 9:19 am
    I totally agree with you about able-bodied people occupying the handicap space in a lot as a waiting area. That is one BIG pet peeve of mine. They do this a lot at the parking lot for my daughters’ after school classes… moms (or those few dads) in their overpriced, arrogant-reeking cars waiting for little Johnny or Janey to come out of their class, taking up handicap space or spaces during their wait.
  15. Vince HansMay 13, 2010 at 12:05 pm
    Yes, well said Kevin – I am in complete agreement with you. On a lighter note, being in Wal Mart puts me in incredible pain also
  16. ReaderMamaMay 13, 2010 at 12:34 pm
    One of the local TV stations did an investigation on the use of handicap parking placards in downtown L.A. They found a lot of business owners were using the placards, but not one of the users had a disability. The placards belonged to relatives. I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about who is using those spaces myself. I’m just grateful I don’t need them.
  17. Kevin D. KorenthalMay 13, 2010 at 9:20 am
    I will be participating in the June 30th discussion, you can be sure of it. Once again, Santa Clarita residents and businesses are being asked to pay the price for a lack of imagination by County, State and local water and sanitation leaders. The high levels of chloride in Santa Clarita’s water are not the result of anything done in Santa Clarita. The chloride originated up North where 50% of Santa Clarita’s water comes from. The ingredients in Santa Clarita’s own groundwater are not the cause of the high chloride levels. As evidence, the World Health Organization reported in 2003 that the main sources of chloride in drinking water are, run-off containing road de-icing salts, the use of inorganic fertilizers, landfill leaching, septic tank waste water, animal feeds, industrial waste water, irrigation drainage, and seawater intrusion in coastal areas. None of these processes are widely utilized in Southern California. Calls by the Los Angeles County Sanitation District to solve the problem on the backs of Santa Clarita ratepayers without further study of the origins of the excess chloride is a perversion of policy and justice that has become the hallmark of water treatment leadership in California. Hopefully, the numerous public hearings that will be held on the chloride issue will help our leaders see that other potential solutions need to be examined. I don’t pretend to be an authority on chloride or the problems it poses. In fact I am not even sure which solution would be best. But what I do know is that many water professionals I’ve spoken with remain unconvinced that all options have been given a fair hearing.
  18. Valencia JoeMay 13, 2010 at 9:22 am
    The “park over the freeway” concept was already done in La Canada already (built right above the 210 around the 210/2 interchange), and was in the planning stages in Hollywood before funding fell through. Good concept if they can pull it off, but it will involve closing down some downtown streets which commuters will not like.
  19. PetzMay 13, 2010 at 10:04 am
    Sicken by the “Conservatives” in the SCV turning their backs on Poizner and Devore
  20. navigatorMay 13, 2010 at 10:06 am
    Not all of us
  21. Whiskey Tango FoxtrotMay 13, 2010 at 10:31 am
    Under the current Hart drug policy, I was very surprised to read that the Sheriff’s Dept “might” be contacted if drugs are found on a student at school. For starters, the school board should change the “might” to “shall”.
  22. Kevin D. KorenthalMay 13, 2010 at 10:36 am
    Petz: Nothing I have read about Poizner tells me he is any more conservative than Whitman, though I think he has a better record of getting to the polls and voting. I support DeVore and will be voting for him even though I know that Fiorina will be the Republican nominee.
  23. mikeMay 13, 2010 at 10:56 am
    In polling, Campbell is leading Fiorina by 11 points. http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=f74df263-5576-4f7f-97fe-32fd0d35835c
  24. Kevin D. KorenthalMay 13, 2010 at 12:22 pm
    Campbell is a tax-raiser and Israel-hater. Other than that he’s great!
  25. mikeMay 13, 2010 at 1:10 pm
    Even so, Fiorina is a long shot.
  26. BrianMay 13, 2010 at 3:09 pm
    The disturbing part is that so many desire a single point of view government. As long as it’s their point of view that is! Please tell me how this is going along with the founders vision of America when elected officials are thrown out of the party for not voting in lockstep against any differing views. There will be no debate and no other opinions. That is not the American way!
  27. PetzMay 13, 2010 at 5:08 pm
    Petz has decided to support Carly based upon the endorsement of Sarah Palin. We need the most Conservative candidate who has a chance to win. With absentee ballots out it is not possible to wait any longer. Isn’t Korenthal the guy who rides his bike in marathons? Petz feels better now.
  28. mikeMay 13, 2010 at 5:27 pm
    Petz, you actually take cues from Sarah Palin? Like for real for real? She ought to take tips from you. You can make up your own mind. Fiorina just called in a favor with McCain, who called in a favor to Palin. Anyway, get ready to stomach Tom Campbell.

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