- Fat times are here again, time to take out that HELOC, build a pool, buy a boat, stomper truck, and timeshare in Maui or Tahoe! Home prices hit levels in June not seen since late 2008 (before Obama took over and ruined the local economy) with SFR median home prices of $430,000 and condos with a median home price of $263,000, both at levels not seen since October and August 2008, respectively. And just as importantly, nearly 70% of home sales in June were standard closings, with less than 25% being short-sales or foreclosures. That's more than double June 2012's trades of which only 32.5% were standard sales. “Rising prices are an enormous help for homeowners who owe more than the current resale value of the house, lifting them ever closer to a positive equity position,”, said Bob Khalsa, as if he was reading my mind, located in my head, which is sits atop my body, just barely buoyant in the water as I paddle slowly and hope. Equity is the word of the day my friends. Worden at SCVNEWS, Adkins at SIGNAL
- In survey of Cities, Los Angeles County ranks Santa Clarita 36th out of 88 in fiscal health, which is better than last year, but 9 spots worse than the year before, putting us in company with the likes of Lancaster, La Puente (La who?!?), and "Temple City," and other cities you've never heard of or would care to visit. While we scored high for only having two employees making north of $200k per year, we got demerits because technically, during the surveyed year, we paid more than we took in because of capital improvements, at least according to the spin by Deputy City Manager Darren Hernandez, one of the two guys making $200k+ a year. The report is actually commissioned by an LA County Grand Jury and it has some recommendations for Santa Clarita, including our aging and still up-in-the-air future of our Civic Center. Smith at KHTS, COUNTY REPORT
- LASD arrests one of their own: A 7 year veteran of the force, Deputy Jose Rigaberto Sanchez was arrested last night on suspicion of rape and soliciting bribes as far back as 2010. Internal affairs investigators say Sanchez "coerced a woman into having sex, threatening to arrest her if she didn't comply. Sanchez most recently patrolled out of the Palmdale station, but was booked at our SCV LASD station where Patrick Healy of NBC 4 filed this REPORT. KFI & other sources say Sanchez worked out of Palmdale but lived in another community. He was arrested at his home, but authorities won't say where he lived.
- Judge throws out case against a 25 year old Newhall man who SCV Deputies say attacked a woman inside her Canyon Country condo five months ago. Robert Pena denied the allegations and his case was dismissed "due to insufficient evidence." Holt at SIGNAL
- A 17 year old boy was injured Sunday night after a woman, allegedly driving under the influence, crashed into a car, which then hit another car on southbound I-5 near Calgrove. No word on the boy's condition. SIGNAL
- Phew: Another summer day, another near drowning of a child at a pool, this time in Stevenson Ranch. But like the last one, this one was resuscitated by the time a helicopter came to fly him to LA. SIGNAL
- Last weekend a car ended up inside someone's living room in Canyon Country, injuring four. Well yesterday two cars collided at Hillsborough and Decoro, with one of them destroying an electrical box and taking down power in the neighborhood, and the other in a bush. One driver was transported to the hospital for minor injuries and the other one stuck around and said simply, "Everyone in this valley needs to slow down." KHTS via SCVNEWS cause they have a PIC
- James Farley, an SCV Talk reader who lives in the area, wants to know why so many accidents happen at that intersection and says he was one of the few (along with me, I was there too!) who supported re-striping Decoro down to one lane as a traffic calming measure after residents complained of people speeding too fast. Of course the community turned out en masse and pushed the City to reverse its decision and keep Decoro a high speed dual lane road. SCV LTE FACEBOOK
- More details about the three challengers in the Sulphur Springs and Saugus School board races. Ken Chase, running for Board at Sulphur Springs, is an accountant and says his money management skills can help the district. Bruce Fox, a newly-announced candidate for Saugus District, is a a lieutenant with the Glendale PD, while Kevin Trunkey, also running for Saugus, is a CFO in the pictures industry (always wanted to write that). A good lineup with some fresh faces is nice to see. Allison Pari at KHTS
- College of the Canyons says its online classes aren't being outsourced to private companies, like other universities are doing. The school offers between 100 and 200 online courses, including some that are a hybrid model, with online & lab interactions. I took an online course with COC once and got a C in PHP Programming. Ugh. I still hate myself for that. SIGNAL
- Wow, a Coachella Valley paper & website called MyDesert.com actually writes a really nice article on how beautiful Santa Clarita is, citing our "wealth of history and rural meanderings - all worthy of a "close-up." Hat tip to Vanessa Wilk for finding the piece and on behalf of this semi-arid Mediterranean community to your stark, wind-blasted, tumbleweed place, I say thanks Coachella Valley. MY DESERT
- Boo! Magic Mountain tears down its old and beautiful, hand-painted frescoes of the park's greatest roller coasters (along the Calle de la Revolucion, near Viper, where I used to sell soft frozen lemonade) and replaces it with poster-like metal renditions. Gone from the greatest coasters in MM history are such giants as Revolution, Colossus, Viper & Ninja; in are the dumber movie-themed ones. Coaster enthusiasts seem upset by the move and think it may portend that several rides are going to be dismantled in the park. Great post with great pics by COASTER GUY
- Another Democrat in the SCV denies reality and says there are no concentrated populations of minorities in the City of Santa Clarita and accuses Rex Parris and Kevin Shenkmen just being in this for the money. But then in Jonathan Kraut's last sentence, he echoes City father Carl Boyer, saying that having districts might make elections less expensive and influence on the City harder to exert, which is precisely correct. If you think our City is dominated by *insert powerful interest here* splitting us up into districts would likely diminish significantly that power. SIGNAL
- New milkshake place opening in SCV has the foodies all excited. Milkshake Mania gets peoples juices flowing on FACEBOOK but for me, all the hype about Ritas and milkshakes and shaved Italian ice ignores the empirical fact that the 7-Eleven Slurpee is the greatest cold ice beverage in history (80% Coke, 20% Fanta Cherry is the sweet spot). FACEBOOK
Nine years of the Valley’s town square · 2006–2015
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