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January 19, 2011· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

January 19, 2011 – Daily Brief

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

  • OVOV Plan on Deck, commissioners and the usual crowd discuss: I Heart has a great post covering last night’s One Valley One Vision meeting at the Planning Commission. The commissioners heard from staff about Santa Clarita complying with AB 32 (encourage but not require everyone to pollute less), Santa Clarita’s water supply by the year 2050 and several bike lanes being eliminated for wider roads under the plan. I HEART SCV
  • Cities across California are scrambling to spend redevelopment agency dollars before Jerry Brown kills the popular and controversial programs. Some cities even held emergency spending sessions on Martin Luther King day. At issue: property tax that critics say is handed over to private for-profit developers that the Governor argues is better spent on hard-hit schools, fire, police, and counties LA TIMES, SAC BEE
  • Joe Messina’s strike against Gloria Mercado-Fortine ends not with a bang, but a whimper as Hart District counsel finds she committed “no overt wrongdoing” between her employment with a charter school and her elected position. The contents of the Hart counsel’s findings are protected as attorney-client privilege, but Messina could always go to the FPPC if he desires SIGNAL
  • CLWA wants to replace a water pipe in the Copperhill/Newhall Ranch area to increase water pressure for some residents. The $10 million plan won’t kick off for two years though SIGNAL
  • KHTS talked to the City’s disaster preparedness person about yesterday’s much clicked-on superstorm story in the Daily Brief. She doesn’t come out and say it, but you get the feeling the 500 year ARkstorm could turn Santa Clarita Valley into Santa Clarita Lake, erasing all our water problems and angst over development in an instant KHTS
  • Bomb scare in Valencia over frozen food. The bomb squad came out and buildings were evacuated. It ended when the bomb squad x-rayed the suspicious pacakage and found it contained food KHTS
  • The real estate market in Southern California was really soft in December, with median prices increasing only 0.3% from December 2009. Sales were down 12.5% compared to the same time period and even new homes didn’t sell says the LA TIMES
  • Stimulus Act funds new lights for City streets and parks. The induction lights will give off more of a white glow than our typical yellowish lights and should save the city about $25,000 per year in electrical bills CITY BRIEFS
  • Buck McKeon has quickly become the #1 booster of Guantanamo Bay, having lead a delegation there recently. Yesterday he told KPCC that he doesn’t think the extra-legal detention facility in Cuba will inspire recruits to join “the Al Queda.” He promises to fight any effort to close the facility KPCC, POLITICO
  • Speaking of McKeon, he’s being targeted heavily by Organizing for America, the DNC’s main outreach machine to Obama’s 2008 voters, over the health care repeal vote today. OFA advised subscribers via email and text in the 25th District to call McKeon’s office and tell him not to vote to repeal the health care law, which passed last year LINK
  • I Heart’s Inside SCV Column for February INSIDE SCV
  • LTE Writer says texting is ruining student’s minds and destroying their already-meager academic skills “The classroom has become a social hall for undisciplined, texting students who have no regard for anyone or anything except themselves,” she writes LTE

Comments (39)

  1. PetzJanuary 19, 2011 at 7:53 am
    Petz thought that Dan Walters gave a nice recital of the abuse of Redevelopment and Enterprise Zones in yesterday’s Signal. It is hard to pencil out how the Newhall project makes economic sense given the huge amount of money used to buy out body piecing and auto shops in the area. Newhall Hardware and other stores have been forced out of business. Here is alink to the same article published in The Sacramento Bee http://www.sacbee.com/2011/01/17/3328869/dan-walters-jerry-browns-plan.html
  2. Joe GrandeJanuary 19, 2011 at 12:03 pm
    The city wants to increase property taxes to support a redundant library system. It takes an old hippy democrarate to get any truly conservative action.
  3. Phil EllisJanuary 19, 2011 at 12:55 pm
    Parcel taxes are different and separate from redevelopment areas. I don’t believe Brown’s budget proposals touch on parcel taxes.
  4. Joe GrandeJanuary 19, 2011 at 2:11 pm
    Taxes is taxes. Don’t much care which hand you use to pick my pocket.
  5. PetzJanuary 19, 2011 at 8:20 am
    Bucks’s defense of Guantanamo is a realization the the war waged against the west by a dominant minority of Muslims will continue for our lifetimes. Recruitment of “radical” Muslims has little to do with the existence of Guantanamo when a leading cleric in Egypt has called for Fatwa authorizing an offensive jihad against infidels. The news from the Middle East is not good and the mainstream media refuses to report the truth. http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=203876
  6. Timothy Myers SRJanuary 19, 2011 at 8:57 am
    Thank God for Lois Eisenberg! Who knew that before there were cell phones and texting students sat with perfect posture, paid close attention, and learned like crazy! (Personally, I seem to remember thinking a lot about Amy Peck in the front row, particularly when she wore her cheerleading outfit on game days.)
  7. NateJanuary 19, 2011 at 10:42 am
    Text messaging or Text on a paper passed to their friend? What is the difference?
  8. spineflower2January 19, 2011 at 9:44 am
    Whadaya bet the new CLWA pipeline actually has nothing to do with local water pressure, and is being replaced at CURRENT ratepayer expense to benefit the first stage of Newhall Ranch? CLWA has a history of failing to make new development pay for it’s infrastructure needs.
  9. Need for Involved CitizenryJanuary 19, 2011 at 10:11 am
    Funny, I was thinking the same thing. I’ll bet water pressure wasn’t an issue 10 years ago!
  10. Kevin D. KorenthalJanuary 19, 2011 at 9:47 am
    Speaking of Gitmo, wasn’t this one of the promises on which Obama was elected? I must say Petz that The City of Los Angeles Redevelopment Agency and other big city CRA’s have given redevelopment a bad name. For all of the public money it uses, redevelopment in Santa Clarita is given a historical but most derelict part of Santa Clarita a fighting chance to be a vibrant part of the Santa Clarita economy. FULL DISCLOSURE (Hear that Jeff): I sit on the Newhall Redevelopment Committee and actively support the projects therein. The LACRA uses it’s power and money to place large swatches of private property under public control with no intention whatsoever to return a benefit back to the public.
  11. JeffJanuary 19, 2011 at 9:55 am
    “The LACRA uses it’s power and money to place large swatches of private property under public control with no intention whatsoever to return a benefit back to the public.” Like the Staples Center and all the redevelopment that’s gone on in Downtown LA? That’s not beneficial to the public?
  12. PetzJanuary 19, 2011 at 12:40 pm
    Check with the city of Inglewood.
  13. Street KnowledgeJanuary 19, 2011 at 10:04 am
    Too bad Kevin Korenthal didn’t win. He wanted to install a steam pipe to blow hot air.
  14. NateJanuary 19, 2011 at 10:43 am
    That is true.
  15. Coastal SageJanuary 19, 2011 at 10:41 am
    Concerning the ARkStorm predictions, the USGS website page with a layman’s discussion of the hypothetical storm can be viewed at: http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article_pf.asp?ID=2683 and yet another summary and the full blown report can be viewed at: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2010/1312/ (Link to report pdf at right) In theory, all flooding impacts are relative. I downloaded the body of the report, and its appendices, expecting predictions of absolute mayhem, based upon the amount of flooding of the Santa Clara River in 1985 or 1986, when the Soledad Canyon Road bridge over the river, near Camp Plenty Road, washed out. The reality is that the USGS report is far more focused on widespread flooding and persistent “lake” creation in San Jose and parts of the “Silicon Valley” and in certain locations in the Central Valley. From a Santa Clarita point of view, the report provided little information for Santa Clarita property owners and public officials. It is said that river and stream bottoms, and their flood plains, are the “sponges” which absorb a significant amount of rain water during heavy rain storms. Obviously, it would be great to have an unbiased engineering calculation concerning what will happen in Santa Clarita during an ARk super storm, based upon “new” hardscape which has been created since that huge storm more 25 or so years ago, and based upon projected development on top of the Santa Clara River’s floodplain upstream from that infamous Soledad/Camp Plenty bridge. Unfortunately, this USGS study doesn’t provide that calculation.
  16. CastaicClayJanuary 19, 2011 at 11:09 am
    When the price of a home doubled between 2001 and 05/06 and have only gone down 25% since it’s no wonder home sales are flat.
  17. ReaderMamaJanuary 19, 2011 at 8:18 pm
    Prices went down more like 40% from the absolute peak. And keep in mind that you only need a 50% drop to wipe out a 100% increase.
  18. CastaicClayJanuary 20, 2011 at 7:51 am
    Okay
  19. Joe GrandeJanuary 19, 2011 at 2:13 pm
    The city planning commission wants to turn the bicycle lanes into wider streets to accommodate more cars to consume more gas and create more pollution to attract more “conservatives” to support our local chain stores. Brilliant.
  20. Leon WordenJanuary 19, 2011 at 10:28 pm
    thought this might interest you (LASD press release) A joint federal-state law enforcement operation this morning led to the arrest of 27 people linked to a Lennox street gang, some of whom are named in a federal racketeering indictment that alleges the gang is a criminal enterp…rise that has engaged in violent crimes, extortion and narcotics trafficking. Some of those taken into custody today face federal charges, others will be presented to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office for prosecution on various offenses, and some are allegedly illegal immigrants who face criminal prosecution and deportation. Today’s operation involved nearly 500 law enforcement personnel and is the result of an 18-month investigation by the federal Southern California Drug Task Force and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The centerpiece of the investigation is an 11-count indictment that alleges violations of the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. The indictment charges 15 defendants, with six of those being named in the RICO count. Nine of the defendants named in the RICO indictment were taken into custody this morning, and two were already in state custody. Additionally, authorities arrested one woman on a federal weapons charge, eight on state narcotics charges, five on probation violations, two on federal criminal charges of illegal re-entry after deportation, and two on suspicion of being illegal aliens. The federal indictment that led to this morning’s takedown focuses on Lennox 13, a street gang that was formed in the mid-1960s by Mexican-Americans in the Lennox area of unincorporated Los Angeles County. Lennox 13 now consists of approximately 650 members, with approximately 250 members regularly conducting criminal activities. The “13” stands for the letter M and was added to the gang’s name about 20 years ago when it became associated with the Mexican Mafia. The indictment alleges that drug sales comprised the bulk of the gang’s profits. In the gang’s territory, just east of Los Angeles International Airport, narcotics were typically sold by street-level dealers who were allowed to sell drugs within the gang’s territory if they paid regular “rent” or “tax” to the gang. In exchange for the tax payments, Lennox 13 members protected the drug dealers from robbers and competitors. The indictment also alleges that the gang generated money through routine extortions of legitimate business owners operating in territory claimed by Lennox 13. The gang allegedly paid a tax to the Mexican Mafia, which provided protection to Lennox 13 members in the prison system. In addition to the tax paid to the Mexican Mafia, the indictment alleges that the gang used the profits of its illegal activities to purchase weapons and drugs, pay attorney’s fees for gang members who have been charged with crimes, contribute to funeral costs for gang members who have been killed, and deposit money into the prison accounts of incarcerated gang members. The RICO conspiracy charge in the indictment alleges a series of specific overt acts, including assaults and narcotics transactions. Those named in the RICO indictment are: Miguel Estrada, also known as “Stranger,” 42, of Hawthorne, a Lennox 13 shotcaller who allegedly was directly involved in drug sales, tax collections and …extortion of at least one local business (currently a fugitive); Baldemiro Ulloa, also known as “Pana,” 53, of Lennox, a Lennox 13 shot-caller who allegedly was directly involved in narcotics sales (arrested this morning); Cesar Facio, also known as “Tamal,” 34, of Lennox, a Lennox 13 member who allegedly distributed cocaine and methamphetamine, collected taxes from drug dealers and was involved in the extortion of at last one local business (arrested this morning); Marco Ruiz Nario, also known as “Tony” and “Sniper,” 34, of Lawndale, a Lennox 13 member who allegedly supplied cocaine to the gang (arrested this morning); Jose Manuel Gonzalez, also known as “Cyclone,” 37, of Hawthorne, a Lennox 13 member who allegedly engaged in violent crimes on behalf of the gang (previously taken into state custody); Cesar Enrique Barreiro, also known as “Weasel,” 24, of Hawthorne, a Lennox 13 member who allegedly participated with Gonzalez in robberies and assaults (previously taken into state custody); Jorge Arturo Hercules, also known as “Joker” and “Trouble,” 25, of Westmont, a Lennox 13 members who allegedly assaulted innocent citizens on behalf of the gang (arrested this morning); Elena Martinez, 55, of Hawthorne, who owns a Lennox 13 hangout called The Den in Hawthorne and allegedly distributed cocaine and methamphetamine (arrested this morning); Donald Salazar, Jr., 45, of Inglewood, who allegedly distributed methamphetamine (arrested this morning); Alejandro Sepulveda Armenta, also known as “Trini,” 43, of Hawthorne, who allegedly provided methamphetamine to the gang (currently a fugitive); Santiago Larios Rodriguez, 36, of South Los Angeles, who allegedly supplied the gang with methamphetamine (currently a fugitive); Joe Martinez, also known as “Scrappy,” 27, of Lennox, a Lennox 13 members who allegedly distributed methamphetamine (arrested this morning); Robert Velardez, 26, of Gardena, an alleged methamphetamine distributor (arrested this morning); Maria Hernandez, 51, of Lennox, an alleged narcotics distributor (currently a fugitive); and Dante Hurtado, 47, of Hawthorne, who allegedly sold narcotics out of a Lennox barbershop where Lennox 13 members congregated (arrested this morning). Estrada, Ulloa, Facio, Nario, Gonzalez and Barreiro are the six defendants named in the RICO count. The indictment also alleges a series of drug offenses and several violent crimes in aid of racketeering. “The drug-related violence of street gangs continues to inflict devastation in many of our communities,” said Timothy J. Landrum, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration, Los Angeles Field Division. “Today’s arrests demonstrate the positive results that can be achieved when law enforcement works together. The DEA is committed to working with our law enforcement partners to ensure fewer drugs and the violence associated with street gangs impact our neighborhoods.” Captain Ralph Ornelas, of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department, Narcotics Bureau, stated: “This collaboration of federal, state and local agencies once again proves how much we can accomplish in the fight against gangs like Lennox 13. Because gang violence isn’t confined to one jurisdiction or community, it is important that each agency work together to better the quality of life for all the surrounding cities and neighborhoods.” Those charged in the RICO count face a statutory maximum sentence of 20 years in federal prison. Twelve of the defendants named in the indictment face 10-year mandatory minimum penalties if they are convicted of charged narcotics offenses. Those taken into custody this morning on federal charges will be arraigned this afternoon in United States District Court in Los Angeles. Federal prosecutors intent to file writs to take into custody the two defendants named in the federal indictment who are currently in state custody. An indictment contains allegations that a defendant has committed a crime. Every defendant is presumed to be innocent until and unless proven guilty in court. The RICO indictment also includes a criminal forfeiture count, which will allow authorities to forfeit all property and money associated with the offenses alleged in the racketeering conspiracy charge. “Gang crime and gang violence reduce the quality of life in our communities,” said IRS – Criminal Investigation Special Agent in Charge Leslie P. DeMarco. “Today’s takedown of the Lennox 13 street gang is indicative of law enforcement’s resolve to investigate and prosecute those criminals who use violence and intimidation in promoting and protecting their criminal enterprises. In conjunction with our law enforcemen
  21. Gang FangJanuary 19, 2011 at 7:45 am
    Mmmmm……yeah, nice attempt there JA. Cute.
  22. Phil EllisJanuary 19, 2011 at 8:39 am
    That was my first thought when I read it.
  23. john adamsJanuary 19, 2011 at 7:50 am
    Attempt? That was my fullback on a half yard dive over the defensive tackle. Touchdown! Now I may go for 2. (but when the point is so easily made (It is easy to make stupid people look stupid)vthey might only give me 1)
  24. Gang FangJanuary 19, 2011 at 7:54 am
    Man, you lost me with that double parenthesis train wreck coupled with a football analogy. Ouch.
  25. john adamsJanuary 19, 2011 at 7:56 am
    Targeted- Crosshairs? What is the difference? I am sure jeff will offer up a quick apology and we will move on. http://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2011/01/18/cnn_apologizes_for_guest_using_term_crosshairs.html
  26. john adamsJanuary 19, 2011 at 7:57 am
    LOL Gang! I read it after I hit post and said to myself “WTF?” LOL
  27. Gang FangJanuary 19, 2011 at 8:32 am
    The important thing is Gabrielle Giffords is doing better, and anyone who does something as stupid as Palin and her campaign geniuses probably won’t survive as far as any kind of political career goes. Or whatever Palin is doing now, doesn’t seem many care anymore.
  28. john adamsJanuary 19, 2011 at 9:42 am
    The important thing is we don’t use words like targeted or Crosshairs because according to the Matthews-Olbermann crowd it will intice violence.
  29. CCJanuary 19, 2011 at 4:21 pm
    Palin’s selling books. She HAS to stay relevant.
  30. NateJanuary 19, 2011 at 10:50 am
    Your childishness has reached new levels today. Congrats
  31. john adamsJanuary 19, 2011 at 1:20 pm
    LOL Thanks! I have had better mornings. Coffee intake may have been a bit low? But I was able to get jeff to delete my first post pointing out the vicious rhetoric.
  32. MikeJanuary 19, 2011 at 1:36 pm
    is there such thing as great coffee in Vegas?
  33. john adamsJanuary 19, 2011 at 1:49 pm
    Not real close to me but good http://www.rejavanatecoffee.com/
  34. SFCPerezJanuary 19, 2011 at 3:25 pm
    DD
  35. john adamsJanuary 19, 2011 at 1:54 pm
    Nevermind my buddy at work says they have closed. I am not really a big coffee shop guy? I do like the coffee at the peppermill. Also, Bouchon has a kiosk in the Venetian
  36. Your Web GuruJanuary 19, 2011 at 4:42 pm
    No she doesn’t. She just has to make the news cycles by any means necessary to sell books.
  37. Whiskey Tango FoxtrotJanuary 19, 2011 at 9:55 pm
    What is it about the obsession the left has about Palin? Wow. Much of the media attention she receives is from the left talking about her 24/7. I’m not a Palin fan nor do I dislike her but I laugh when she says something in the media that she knows will stick in the left’s craw. The liberals squawk for a few days which translates to more media attention. Haven’t you figured out that you are helping her in her efforts to stay “relavent”. She’s playing all you cats, so who’s the dumb one?
  38. Gang FangJanuary 19, 2011 at 11:10 pm
    Nope.
  39. NateJanuary 20, 2011 at 9:31 am
    What is with the obsession with defending some obvious insensitive and inappropriate gestures and rhetoric? A douche bag on the right or left is still a douche bag. The Alaskan grizzly mama should have just apologized for it and been done with it. All sides need to stop and condemn the violent, extremist rhetoric and quit defending and rationalizing it.

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