- Escape from the SCV Weekend! The National Weather Service in Oxnard says this weekend could be a record-breaking scorcher. I'll copy/paste their old-timey all-caps bulletin for dramatic effect while you imagine the sound of an old telegraph machine as it click-clacks the dire news one character at a time. Where you see an ellipsis say the word BREAK: "A STRONG UPPER LEVEL RIDGE OF HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD OVER SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA...BRINGING A LONG DURATION HEAT WAVE TO INTERIOR SECTIONS THROUGH THE WEEKEND..... RECORD OR NEAR RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED.......EXCESSIVE SUNDAY...AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES AR EXPECTED TO CLIMB TO BETWEEN 100 AND 108 DEGREES..... ZOMG RUN FOR THE BEACH..... the NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE concludes.
- It was so hot yesterday organizers behind one of those Thursday night street festivals on Main Street canceled the event following the regularly scheduled Newhall Farmer's market. Also, the County is hosting "cooling centers" in the SCV (Signal report doesn't say where), the CIty says you can hang out at the Aquatic center or the libraries, Mayo Hospital says they see routinely see a spike of patients during such heatwaves, and a Sheriff's Dept. Captain says that if staying hydrated isn't keep you cool enough, you can always put ice "on the groin or armpits." Wow. The more you know, I guess. Mallory Fencil at THE SIGNAL
- Also goes without saying but I feel the need: please don't leave pets or children in the car, even with windows rolled down or in the shade. Let's never forget what happened a few years ago to that poor mother in Saugus.
- More details emerge about the awful multi-car crash on Wednesday on I-5 near Castaic, in which at least two children and one woman were ejected from an SUV that rolled several times. Jim Holt at the Signal says that three of the victims -a 17 year old female, a 9 year old boy, and a 3 year old boy- suffered major injuries and were taken to UCLA Medical center, but have since left the facility, but the hospital won't say if they were released or transferred to another hospital. The other victims of the crash, including a five year old boy, were taken to Henry Mayo for minor injuries. All the victims were from the Wasco area in the Central Valley. Jim Holt at THE SIGNAL
- Meanwhile, the two men who drove southbound on Northbound Highway 14 within one week of each other, causing huge collisions, multiple injuries, and two deaths both had court dates yesterday. Rick Walker, the man involved in the first collision, injured 11 people and has plead not guilty to DUI charges. Bradford Pate, 38, missed his court date yesterday because he's still in the hospital after his collision killed two people, including a 77 year old pastor and a 60 year old woman. He also faces DUI charges and two murder charges. Perry Smith has more on the victims and circumstances at KHTS
- Enterprise Zone Gravy Train finally over Part 1: "Santa Clarita Valley's Enterprise Zone was effectively sentenced to death next year," reads the dramatic lede in the Signal today on A-1 above the fold. Indeed, it's true. Democrats and policy experts think the $750 million EZ Program as it stands now is ineffective and wasteful, and a bill to reform it passed the Assembly & Senate this week and will likely be signed by Governor Brown because, well, it was his bill. The reformed policy keeps tax credits for hiring, but targets them more effectively at communities that really need it, like the Antelope Valley. The SCV simply won't qualify, City officials think. Other pluses of the reform package are that if a company receives tax credits from the state, they have to pay workers they hire between $12 and $28 per hour, rather than minimum wage. Jana Adkins at the SIGNAL
- Enterprise Zone Gravy Train finally over Part 2: The SCV Business community and the City's economic development czar Jason Crawford seem pretty disappointed. Terri Crain at the Chamber says the end of the EZ program in the SCV will "definitely impact economic development." But four Republicans voted for the bill, and joined Democrats in criticizing the 27 year old program saying it "turned into a giveaway mainly to large corporations for jobs that would have been available without the tax breaks." Silicon Valley also liked & supported the bill as did Labor unions. Good overview at the LA TIMES
- Enterprise Zone Gravy Train finally over Part 3: And on the State's website, you can see what areas of the SCV were in the Enterprise Zone. Companies in the blue & red shaded areas qualified for tax credits; no surprise that much of the EZ areas in the SCV covered big retail developments in Centre Pointe, Valencia Market Place, West Ridge, Valencia Town Center mall, as well as places that have real jobs, like the Industrial & Commerce Centers. The EZ Program was established in the SCV in 2007, expanded to County areas in 2011, and was supposed to be in effect until 2022. On the City's EZ Program website, there's even a testimonial from a Lowe's Improvement Manager saying the tax credit made it really cheap and easy to hire workers. SCV EZ MAP, CITY SITE
- Tough break: Employees of Qdoba Mexican Grill in Valencia learned Tuesday that parent company Jack in the Box was going to close some 60+ Qdoba restaurants in Southern California, including the Valencia location. No word on how many local employees are being let go, but Jack in the Box will offer a severance package to some of them. Jana Adkins at THE SIGNAL
- KHTS got a hold of images of the six concept art pieces that are being considered for the Newhall Round About by the City Arts Commission. I'll withhold final judgment (the pics are low quality and look like they were scanned) but the interviews with the artists are pretty good. As expected, some reference the SCV's cow-town heritage, others its film legacy, and one references in name (and I guess design) the Tataviam people. Another one looks like a phallic symbol and frankly I don't know what to make of it. I'm trying to procure better images of the concepts. Luzzei Tsuji at KHTS
- Steve Petzold, who I dubbed the SCV's most effective citizen-advocate last year, is at it again, this time with an online petition urging the SCV Sanitation District to reject all four chloride clean up proposals and also asking the City to file a lawsuit to challenge the "arbitrary" 100mg/L chloride limit. 12 people have signed so far, but Petz is not just a charming chap, he's also a persistent one. PETITION
- Be sure to check out SCVTalk's 2013 Bro Truck Instagram contest in which we invite you to photograph and post to Instagram the SCV's most amazing and outrageous lifted trucks. Devlin lays out the rules and bonus point potential HERE
Nine years of the Valley’s town square · 2006–2015
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