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February 2, 2011· scvtalk.com · WordPress (SCVTalk 3.0) · Wayback capture

February 2, 2011 – Daily Brief *

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

  • The Environmental Protection Agency is threatening to kill the entire Newhall Ranch project, according to an article in the Times. The EPA says flood mitigation efforts approved by the Army Corps of Engineers may not be enough. Specifically the EPA is concerned about some plans in the Portrero Valley, and an LA EPA official says if it’s not dealt with, “We are prepared to elevate this case, if necessary, to our headquarters in Washington for review, which could result in a veto of the project.” An EPA official has also said Newhall Ranch is “not sustainable growth.” But Emil Haddad of Newhall Land’s parent company says they’ll modify the project if necessary and Marlee Lauffer says the company still hopes to break ground on the 21,000 home development in two years. LA TIMES
  • Congressman Buck McKeon abandons Cemex bill, all hope for resolution in Soledad Canyon rests on Democrat Babs Boxer: McKeon says his Cemex bill amounts to an earmark, and given that earmarks are banned under the Republican’s austerity measures, there will be no Cemex bill introduced in the House this year. But Senator Boxer has a similar bill that her staff says will be introduced to the Senate. SIGNAL
  • Jeff Stenroos, the LAUSD cop and SCV resident whose claims that he was shot by a long-haired man in his 50s lead to an hours-long lockdown of Woodland Hills, has admitted he lied about the whole incident. Stenroos told detectives that he accidentally shot his vest with a weapon that was not his. ABC 7 *
  • A woman is questioning how the Hart District has spent its $300 million in Measure SA bond money, which was approved by voters in 2008. Michele Lecrivain says she’s been trying to get information from the District for months, so now she’s turned to the Los Angeles County DA’s office to compel the District to stop “stonewalling.” The Signal tried to get a comment from the Hart District’s PIO, and you won’t believe the District’s inscrutable, lawyered-up response claiming that such matters are protected under attorney-client privilege. SIGNAL
  • Mayor Marsha McLean says e-books will be available for checkout at the new Santa Clarita Library system for patrons with devices like the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Sony eReader. COLAPL had the same system, by the way. The Mayor says its full speed ahead for the library takeover, though she doesn’t mention a word about the special library tax that staff is currently studying. KHTS
  • A gas line mistakenly ruptured by maintenance workers forced the evacuation of some Canyon Country apartments yesterday. SIGNAL
  • The LAPD cop who ran over two people after leaving a Saugus bar, then fled the scene leaving his badge behind is going to get a medical evaluation which might let him serve probation rather than time in jail, according to the SIGNAL. William Skett was reported to be a member of the LAPD’s elite Metro division when this story first broke in 2008.
  • Glenn Beck explains the crisis in Egypt GOOD GOD SOMEONE GET HIM OFF THE TV
  • Whoa: Did you know we actually had an open-mic night recently here in the SCV? Yes we did, at the Coffee House in Newhall, and people are talking about it. Here’s ProxArt’s post about the beatnik-style event, not seen in these parts since, well, forever
  • The City of Santa Clarita has arranged for some food trucks to appear alongside the Newhall Farmer’s market on Thursday afternoons. The “Art Walk” will also be held during that time from 3-7pm. Now you can get your produce shopping and food truck craving taken care of all in one convenient place, our renovated Old Town Newhall WRB
  • LTE writer shocked that a friend of his believes that Obama hates America SIGNAL
  • John Boston on why the Santa Clarita Valley is so windy (no, it’s not just because Palmdale sucks so much). WRB

Comments

26 · as published
  1. Fred ButlerFebruary 2, 2011 at 8:06 am
    Okay. Not at all a Glenn Beck fan, but watched the video. What is it that is suppose to be loony?
  2. JeffFebruary 2, 2011 at 8:37 am
    Look, I get it….the end of times prophecy that Russia will invade Israel from the north makes sense to you, steeped as you are in fantasies of eschatalogical violence and mayhem, the rapture and forthcoming torment of the unbelievers, but that doesn’t fly with most people who consider it to be, yes, loony. I especially liked it when Beck was using both hands to squish the two sides of the middle east together…”They’re going to come together…like this!” All this based on an obscure anti-capitalism text written by some psuedo-intellectuals in France 4 years ago. Loony is the right word.
  3. Fred ButlerFebruary 2, 2011 at 9:00 am
    Not sure where you are coming from with all the eschatological stuff seeing that Beck didn’t even mention that. Any how… All I saw him saying is that there could be a major international problem. Do you deny there is a potential, international problem at hand here?
  4. NickelDimeFebruary 2, 2011 at 8:40 am
    You don’t see it? It’s obvious Jeff Wilson is in on the plot. Jeff lives in Newhall, which is very close to the North District LA County Tax Assessor’s office . That office is run by John Noguez – now you may not know that name, but trust me – you should. Mr. Noguez was endorsed by the LA County Realtors® in the election, so he’s clearly in their pocket. What prominent Realtor® has been using SCVTalk to slyly feed us with “information” about the RE market? Yep – our very own Petz. And when asked DIRECTLY about the impact of the distressed sales on our market, Petz offered NO RESPONSE . The “Post Comment” button is waiting, Petz… still no answer… So, we can obviously conclude that Jeff is in Petz’s back pocket to feed him leads – and now you know why: the Noguez connection. And I’ll guarantee you Noguez won’t refute this – he has my address, after all, and he is welcome to send me a letter.
  5. PetzFebruary 2, 2011 at 9:05 am
    Petz has actually working on the statistics requested and wrestling with the best format area to make them meaningful to readers Without moderator privleges he was wondering how to bring hislocal perspective without violating the rules of the board. Petz voted for the Assessor candidate with the German surname and is usually disgruntled with almost any position taken by NAR-CAR or other political PAC.
  6. NickelDimeFebruary 2, 2011 at 9:21 am
    Are you or are you not a card carrying Realtor®? Do you or do you not have a connection to the California Realtors® Association?
  7. PetzFebruary 2, 2011 at 10:06 am
    Petz is a member of NAR , CAR- and the Southland Board of Realtors-he wears a Realtor pin etc…..As with most “unions” Petz finds himself in disagreement with many of the political stands taken by those who make the decisions at the top. They love FNMA and FHLMC-FHA etc….Petz believes a free market approach would aid homeowners and the real estate market lonfg term-no first time homebuyer credits that inflate prices-reduce inventory etc…..
  8. PetzFebruary 2, 2011 at 10:45 am
    How do you make the R copyright sign?
  9. MikeFebruary 2, 2011 at 11:50 am
    Option-r on a Mac. On a PC it’s a process comparable to entering an NES cheat code.
  10. JeffFebruary 2, 2011 at 11:53 am
    ROFL. I am ashamed. But only a little.
  11. ReaderMamaFebruary 2, 2011 at 2:08 pm
    Normally, you would hold down the Alt key and type 174. But on Jeff’s board it doesn’t work. (Google “Alt codes” for the full list of symbols.) But if you insert the symbol on Microsoft Word and the copy it here, it does seem to work. ®
  12. MikeFebruary 2, 2011 at 2:50 pm
    So less NES cheat code and more like using a resource editor and a bin hex calculator to get more money in Sim City 2000.
  13. MoneyFebruary 2, 2011 at 8:51 am
    Alright, Buck. Way to bail on us. Maybe we should put up some more “Thanks a lot, Buck” banners all over the city.
  14. Coastal SageFebruary 4, 2011 at 5:34 pm
    Hey Money, do you remember back when NY City was crashing economically, and a famous NY newspaper ran a headline “Pres Tells NYC: Drop Dead”??? I think that the proper, current headline “Buck Tells Canyon Country: Drop Dead”. Focusing on Jeff’s commentary on loyal LDS block voters in SCV, I have to ask SCV’s LDS community: Can’t you find a better LDS candidate than Buck McKeon? The guy and his staff are so incompetent, they’ve had 7 years to try to get the Soledad Mine bill passed, and it’s gone nowhere. The asthmatic children in SCV who will be breathing in mine dust will include Mormon children. The adults caught in more-horrific-than-usual traffic jams on the 14 and 5 Freeways, because they will be filled with Cemex gravel trucks, will include Mormon commuters. LDS members pride themselves on their ability to get things done to protect and enhance their communities. It’s time for the local LDS leaders to find a new, energentic, truly intelligent LDS member to run for the “Santa Clarita” seat in Congress.
  15. MikeFebruary 2, 2011 at 8:56 am
    “THANKS BUCK” -Gail Ortiz
  16. spineflower2February 2, 2011 at 9:01 am
    The Santa Ana (or santana) winds come from the northeast, so Palmdale doesn’t suck, it blows.
  17. NickelDimeFebruary 2, 2011 at 9:02 am
    Comment of the week!
  18. ReaderMamaFebruary 2, 2011 at 7:56 pm
    And man, is it blowing cold air!
  19. Need for Involved CitizenryFebruary 2, 2011 at 9:24 am
    Newhall Ranch isn’t sustainable or smart growth in any form or fashion. It is just more sprawl. Buck sucks. I can’t believe people believe he’s done a good job representing this community when he hasn’t been able to get a bill passed in how long? The Hart District looks bad when they don’t provide full disclosure as all too often is the case. I had a friend on one of their oversight committees and he said it was all after the fact, with as little information as possible shared and no real input by the oversee’ers. Most people were there to get their names on a list, not make meaningful contributions – just the way the District wants it (reminds one of the Library Oversight Committee and the Open Space Committees).
  20. CCFebruary 2, 2011 at 9:37 am
    I concur on all three. It was like Christmas when I saw this blog. Newhall Ranch has been an abomination from the start. Thankfully, the political winds just might save us from more stucco mcmansions. Buck is sooooo bad, but he is the first to claim victories when he hasn’t done a thing to help. Why can’t we find someone better to run against him? Hart district has a bad history of nondisclosure from the time of the foundation. This is one of the many reasons that I vote NO on school bonds.
  21. Berta González-HarperFebruary 2, 2011 at 10:46 am
    @CC I agree the Newhall Ranch project is a problem and said so before the Board of Supervisors years ago. I also had problems receiving requested public records from the Hart District and finally went straight to Wendy Wiles, attorney for the Hart District. I received a call to come pick up the requested docs within a short time.
  22. Berta González-HarperFebruary 2, 2011 at 10:40 am
    @NFIC, as a member of the Citizens Public Library Advisory Committee I can assure you I consider my input “meaningful”. If I felt my input was a waste of time or the process was rigged and just “window dressing” to represent one perspective exclusively, I would speak up just as a do as a member of the Canyon Country Advisory Committee.
  23. Lori RivasFebruary 2, 2011 at 1:01 pm
    I would bet money that all the “ideas” generated at the library advisory committee are 99% the exact same ideas generated at any other library advisory committee meeting led by Dubberly. Not a slam on the committee members, who have diligently volunteered their time, but a slam on the process, which does not inspire any original thinking. Take care of the kids? It’s there. Access to Internet? Yup. Seniors? Storytime? Homework help? All there. All very generic. I suggest that Dubberly could have better used the time by presenting a generic “this is what most other libraries do,” or, horrors, “these are the current services and programs offered by COLA,” and then asked committee members to amend that list accordingly. Why are committee members being asked to re-invent the proverbial wheel, rather than be apprised of current services, both successful and otherwise? Wouldn’t that be a more efficient manner for 37 citizens to understand library needs in SCV? As it stands, the committee may finally agree that, say, teens need a monthly event, but without knowledge of how that event currently plays out at Newhall library, what draws/doesn’t draw the teens, then our local tax money will be spent on a program that already has already (potentially) failed.
  24. Gang FangFebruary 2, 2011 at 9:46 pm
    Word.
  25. spineflower2February 2, 2011 at 11:39 am
    While Newhall Ranch as a whole may not be stopped, it is REAL PROGRESS if the water shortages and the threats to downstrem flooding are finally recognized, and the project scaled accordingly, along with fees that reflect the true costs to the public for this project. But we may have to hurry before the ‘Pubs decimate the EPA as they are trying to do now. http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sc-dc-0127-oversight-20110126,0,7118026.story
  26. EricFebruary 3, 2011 at 6:08 am
    Regarding e-books available from the library…I wonder if our library ad-hoc committee or our Citizens Library Advisory Committee have given any thought to how this sea change in reading will impact library services in the future (and not the distant future). Do you need “longer hours” when the virtual library is available 24/7? Can you reduce your space requirements by reducing the need for shelf space? Will our community need 3 branches five years from now? Think about it…..Maps vs GPS; CD’s vs Itunes; Public phones vs cell phones. Is our community investing in a beautiful new set of The World Book Encyclopedias when Encarta is around the corner?
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