- Mike Devlin with the scoop: Tony Strickland has filed papers to run on the GOP ticket for the 25th District of California, the Fightin' 25th that includes the SCV. But that's only if McKeon retires according to Perry Smith at KHTS and Luke Money at the SIGNAL who got a quote from a McKeon spokesperson who says the Congressman won't think "about 2014 until 2014." McKeon's spokesperson also called it a "conspiracy theory" to think that McKeon is setting up Strickland to be his heir apparent. But as SCVTalk readers know, dynastic succession is always a sticky and difficult topic, all the more so if McKeon kin isn't in a position to take the reins. SCVTALK
- **Wow! A judge has invalidated Palmdale's City Council election held just about one month ago. "Saying they came to power through “unlawful elections,” a judge ordered the entire Palmdale City Council removed from office by July and called a special election to give minorities a fair chance to seat their choice of candidates." DAILY NEWS
- More details emerging about Walker crash: What may have been the last photograph of Paul Walker standing near the ill-fated Porsche Carrera GT was posted by media outlets yesterday afternoon. Also new video: what appears to be a surveillance camera from a nearby building in the Industrial Center shows thick brown smoke wafting into the sky after the crash followed by at least a half dozen people in vehicles racing up to the scene and running toward the wreckage. NY DAILY NEWS
- Locally, Perry Smith is on the story too, and quotes an SCV Deputy who says "We think speed is the cause, but we're not sure of anything else." Other reports have stated that there were no skid marks leading to the wreckage, indicating perhaps a mechanical fault was to blame. Safe to say that a proper investigation is in order and one hopes it will be completed soon. KHTS
- Ahh the inevitable Signal headline: "Speeding cars somewhat common in area of Paul Walker fatal crash." Excepting for a moment that speeding cars are present everywhere in the SCV -by design because our roadways are more like freeways- I find this SIGNAL piece interesting. Growing up here, I always heard rumors of weekend underground races going on in the Industrial Center. The IC offers broad boulevards, straights, and has the added bonus of being pretty damn empty on weekends. Also, the City officially blocked or closed part of the road where Walker died to allow for a memorial and because hundreds, perhaps thousands, are visiting the site, creating a sort of ad-hoc shrine to Walker.
- Meanwhile, nice piece on Valencia businessman, race car driver, and Merrill Lynch all-star finance guy Roger Rodas, the driver and owner of the Porsche. SIGNAL
- Another Board vacancy, another appointment process: We couldn't leave 2013 with just the Hart District finding and appointing replacement board members, now could we. CLWA has a vacancy on its board after one member moved away for a career opportunity. KHTS
- Stuff of legends: Hart will face Valencia in the CIF Northern Division II championship game Friday. It's the fourth time the two titans of SCV football have faced-off in a championship, with Hart pwning Valencia 2 times and Valencia winning once. But there's extra drama this time: during a semi-final game last week, a standout Valencia player named JayJay Wilson cheap-shotted a Saugus player, knocking him to the ground and earning himself an expulsion from that game and the CIF championship. The hit was so bad that the Saugus player was down for five minutes and it nearly started a cross-town bench-clearing brawl between the two teams. Valencia appealed the suspension but lost yesterday; JayJay Wilson will not play against Hart. And though I tease Saugus, what that boy did to that other boy (detailed in the great Signal pic at link below) was just not right so this Friday at least, Newhall & Saugus are one standing against the bullies from the Master Planned side of town. SIGNAL
- Wow: I've read it twice and still don't know what to make of John Boston's latest piece here on Santa Clarita.com, in which he pretty much mocks the idea that racism is still a 'thing' in America, heaps scorn on liberals who he thinks are deluded and hallucinating, and tells us about his own mother who sounds like she was a severely mentally ill person. Oh, also, Obama worst president times 100 he says. JOHN BOSTON
- OMG new pizza place in town and I missed Lady Ducayne's post about it. LADY DUCAYNE
- Man I missed Manzer: Darryl Manzer weaves in the tragic death of his father in a helicopter accident of the coast of California with stories about moving to Carpinteria out of Mentryville because his father wanted his mother to have the modern conveniences of a 1960s home and then ties it all together with the death of Paul Walker and Roger Rodas last weekend. SCVNEWS
- Glad I wasn't the first to think of it: From Manzer's piece above, a question: "Somehow we still remember James Dean, and I’m sure the same will be true of Paul Walker." Yes James Dean supposedly had his last meal in the SCV before dying in a car crash. And now Paul Walker died in the SCV too. Both handsome young-ish actors, both died in cars. But we don't know what Walker's last meal was. And it's a troubling distinction for the SCV; let's not let the international media in on the Dean/Walker parralels lest we become known as the place young promising actors go to die in fancy cars. The "Santa Clarita curse" or whatnot can't be good for us, even if it is consistent with ThinkSCV goals.
- Coaster Guy redoes his blog, includes more ads. COASTER GUY BLOG
- Bossert frets over just-discovered SCV Apathy epidemic: "I’ve come to the conclusion that there are more people in our local community who don’t really care about much except for themselves. That’s right; most people don’t give a hoot about anything that is going on in the community until it affects them directly. That’s sad and it also highlights the fact that there is apathy and a lack of interest and sense of community by the residents!" No, what it really highlights is that while Frank Ferry may be a loudmouth, life here is pretty good and people don't see a need to turn out at the polls, much to the consternation of us in the SCV chattering classes. This post from Bossert is just further evidence of my grand SCV Unified Theory: for many, if not most, the "SCV" as a place is not much more than a community in which they sleep in at night, and few, if any, actually live out their lives in the SCV and die here (or are born here for that matter); most of our neighbors are just passing through, planting a life here for a decade or two so their children can go to a good school. BEACON
A decade of the Valley’s town square · 2006–2015
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