After Measure S, Council Going Back to What it Does Best

There are a few things our City Council doesn’t do very well. Public art solicitations and digital billboard schemes come to mind. But broken promises aside, the city has become quite good at purchasing strategic pieces of land for the sake of protection, and then putting that land to good use. Keeping open space open, while accessible to the public to enjoy. Buy some choice land at the right time, at the right price, in a way that protects that land from future development, and opening up trails through that land that welcomes us to explore and appreciate our natural surroundings. Open space is more than just a ridgeline to be appreciated in the abstract, from afar, but something to connect with. We have a great mechanism in place, and it’s going to be a gift that keeps giving for a very long time. 

Tonight's council agendas give us a little taste of the city at its best. I don’t know if any of the property in question is being purchased using open space funds or if it will come with the ironclad promise of preservation, but it gives us some great cause for optimism. It’s just the sort of thing that we could all use following the contentious and divisive digital billboard ordeal.

I’ll have more to say later about the importance of the Measure S vote, and you can believe I’ll have a few words for Bob Kellar attributing its loss to voter stupidity. You can also be certain that there will be a long list of public speakers that will be there tomorrow to remind the council of its loss on election day. Some will be especially gracious, some (ahem) less so. 

But let’s look at what we have going on. The biggest news is sitting in the closed session agenda. The council will be giving the City Manager direction on negotiating with the federal government on the price of a large piece of land that appears to make up most, if not all, of the Cemex mine that’s been looming over our head for parts of the last three decades. We have no idea whether the feds have an offer on the table, or the council is just setting a price range in case we have the chance. But at the very least, it’s an indication that there is reason to believe that there’s something behind the recent optimism on Capitol Hill for a deal to stop the mine. Barbara Boxer's bill has the support of Dianne Feinstein in the Senate and Buck McKeon has gotten back into the act and introduced a companion bill in the House.

To this cynical observer, it’s long seemed that McKeon’s inaction on Cemex owed a lot to his own ambitions within the Republican Caucus. Part of being a good soldier for the party means not making a stink over the pet issue in your district.  It’s the reason why I was concerned over Tony Strickland’s claim during the campaign that he would be in a more influential role than Steve Knight would be on day one. It seemed to me that McKeon was a lot more effective for SCV when he was on the sidelines—fighting for SCV more than his own position in the pecking order. 

But at any rate, there are no more ladders to climb for McKeon, and perhaps he has a chip or three to cash in his final days in office. Whether this will be McKeon's last big score or Knight’s first, there is a real sense that this might happen after all. And I’m sure President Obama’s recent declaration of the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument (that happens to be adjacent to the proposed mine) has helped too, however unintentional.

This may wind up costing the city millions of dollars. Enough to make you wince. And we can’t be reckless and jump at any figure, it’s hard to overestimate the value of preventing this once-inevitable mine once and for all.

The closed session also includes a donation of land in Sand Canyon, some negotiations over some land that appears to be adjacent to the Cemex site and some other land in Quigley Canyon that I can’t locate. All good news, it seems.

Since it’s closed session, we won’t know what transpired. So let’s keep an eye on these green shoots sprouting from the ground and hope something comes of it.

The lone item of new business on the agenda for the main meeting is for the city to pitch in $3 million towards construction of a new Senior Center. The County would also contribute $3 million. The most likely (but not quite final) location would be adjacent to a new home development along the Cross Valley Connector, where Golden Valley Rd. becomes Newhall Ranch Rd. (but in SCV fashion, not only does the street change names mid-stream, but Golden Valley will make a 90° turn up the hill and continue to Plum Canyon where it will, of course, change names again).