Fri 29 Dec 2006
If you have been a reader for a while you’ll know that Darryl Manzer and I don’t always see eye to eye on issues. The one thing we do however agree on is that we care about the Santa Clarita Valley; whatever shape it may eventually take.
Death threats (I couldn’t resist!) and verbal sparing aside, I have communicated with Darryl for a number of months via email. Surprising to some, we actually agree more often than not. Several times I have asked Darryl to write a piece for the Beacon about some of the West Ranch history since he actually lived down in Mentryville for a good part of his youth. Finally he was able to get some free time to pen a piece for us. Maybe at some point he’ll do a piece on the rich history of Mentryville.
As with all contributors to the West Ranch Beacon, Darryl’s opinions are his own and don’t necessary represent those of the West Ranch Beacon or its staff. Enjoy! –Dave
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Dave Bossert has been hounding me to write a piece for the WRB for the last six or eight months. In the spirit of this holiday season I have finally buckled under to his pressure and here goes. It also helps that I was a feature of his latest column.
Dave is right…maybe all of you in West Ranch should boycott the stores and shops in the City Limits of Santa Clarita, especially the car dealers. Talk about economic impact! The trick would be on how to organize such a boycott.
Yes, I live in Tidewater Virginia, but my heart is still in the Santa Clarita Valley. I lived in “West Ranch†when there were very few of us there. The Marriott hotels just West of I-5 are about in the same spot as the home of the Hoag family. As you travel up Pico Canyon road, today past Southern Oaks, the Larinin family had a home and way up a southern branch of Pico Canyon, (you had to cross the Larinin place to get to it), is where Mr. and Mrs. Wicham lived. My folks and I lived in the Big House in Mentryville and over the hill on the SUNRAY Oil lease the Pigg family had their home. There was nothing and nobody else, (in the way of “civilizationâ€), near us. We really did “Ranch†in West Ranch and we had real cows, horses, chickens, hogs, and one time, some sheep. (Hated those sheep).
I’m not so much for having West Ranch annexed into the City of Santa Clarita as I am for y’all to throw off the shackles of Los Angeles County. And shackle you they have done well. It wasn’t Santa Clarita that allowed the developers on the West Side to burden you with the Mello-Roos Bond debts…it was Los Angeles County. That was part and parcel to getting the development approved at the County level. Pass the costs of infrastructure to you. The developers got off free of debt and made a bundle of bucks. You’re still paying for that little trick of law.
Mr. Antonovich has repeatedly stated that he has never met a developer he didn’t like. Simple reason is that as the Northern part of Los Angeles County is developed, more tax money flows to the County. I don’t disagree with his desire to help the area grow but he, like the County Supervisors before him, have taken the money and used it outside of the SCV. Sure, you get a few small parks and fire and police protection but you’re still paying on those bonds…and the County has a surplus this year. How about the County pays off your bond debts from Mello-Roos?
In throwing off the County and either being annexed into Santa Clarita or forming a new city I would strongly caution you against the later action. 2007 marks the 400th year of “development†in the Tidewater Virginia area. In that area are seven independent cities and two counties. Let me list them: Norfolk, Suffolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Hampton, Newport News, and Virginia Beach are the cities and Isle of Wight and York are the counties. I call the area, (as do many), “Tidewater†but it also has the name “Hampton Roadsâ€. Politically divided, the area, no matter what you call it, lacks the single large voice needed in Richmond or Washington, D.C. Nine different voices screaming for help on many different subjects means nothing happens.
Tidewater or Hampton Roads, Virginia, (in case you didn’t know), has the highest population in the Commonwealth of Virginia but for the size of the population has the worst highways and roads. In event of a major hurricane over three million folks would have to evacuate via two highways that are two lanes in each direction. (US-58 and I-64). You saw the mess prior to the hurricanes in Louisiana and Texas. They have bigger roads.
Since there isn’t one voice but many without a united cause, nothing is being done at the Statehouse and even less in D.C. concerning our transportation problems. The nine different cities and counties have different priorities for roads and thus nothing gets done. If you go to Northern Virginia you can see what good effect that the two counties and two cities have had on the highways because they are united in a cause for better roads.
That won’t be the case in Tidewater. Four-hundred years of communities once separated by miles of farms and now nearly one large metropolitan area still have the political divisions of those four-hundred years. Heaven forbid that Norfolk has the same goals as Portsmouth or Virginia Beach. No other city in the area wants to grow like Virginia Beach…San Fernando Valley on the Atlantic Ocean. Divided voices get nothing done. Just like in the Santa Clarita Valley.
No, I wanted y’all to have a figurative “lump of coal†because it may just light a fire under the West Ranch Community to do something about taking control of your own destiny. Los Angeles County has approved, (or soon will), 20,000 more homes in your part of the SCV. What is the County going to do to mitigate the traffic and infrastructure problems that huge development is going to cause? Allow the developer to use Mello-Roos to tax the new home buyers? Increase taxes in Northern L.A. County to pay for more services? And in that Dave was right again…it was a gift that little bit of coal. It sure got Dave fired up!
One other point – I do take umbrage at being compared to Frank Ferry. Unlike Frank Ferry, I am listening to y’all. We may not agree but I am listening. Since I get paid so much from the SIGNAL, (AKA – “Fish Wrap†per Dave’s definition), I am beholding to none. If they doubled my pay I would get exactly the same…ZERO. It is the same pay I get from the City of Santa Clarita. Read my column on Sunday and see my wishes for the new year for the SCV. Could someone get Dave a whole copy of the “Fish Wrap†for a change? If he reads the whole thing he may be surprised. Not every writer in it is like me. Some will really burn him up!
Darryl Manzer
Commentary
December 30th, 2006 at 4:01 pm
Simply stunning to see your article here, Darryl!
I do agree with you on most of your points. I think the biggest obstacle to any change in the status of the west side is motivating the residents. Surely, the tax revenues generated by the west side would sorely be missed at the county (and impact Antonovich); no doubt the county would work very hard to maintain the status quo.
I have run such an effort in my neighborhood – not on a “here’s three choices, pick choice A” issue, but on an issue more like “if this happens, our whole neighborhood is screwed”. I went door to door to get people to sign the petition, write letters, and show up at a city council meeting. The process took over three months to negotiate this issue through city hall, and I & my colleagues spent numerous hours going door to door.
It was a major effort, and the residents didn’t have any options to choose from (annex, incorporate, or do nothing) nor anyone (well funded like the county) really working against us. (Think of the Stonecrest annexation!)
When I think of the amount of effort it would take to fire up the residents of the west side, and keep them fired up and united in whatever option they might favor, over the length of time required to see this process through to the end … I get tired just thinking about that.
Which is not to say it can’t be done, but that it would take a highly motivated core of residents, willing to spend the countless hours involved in order to get the job done.
Likewise, I was raised in the Reno-Sparks area (Nevada) – technically called the Reno-Sparks area because there are two cities there – in an area similar to the size of our valley.
There are numerous issues common to the area, such as air quality, planning, etc. – which have necessitated setting up yet another layer of government in the form of “Joint Powers Authorities” to attempt to solve them. So, if one likes more government, then this is the option to go with, because it would set up another layer of governmental bureaucracy in the SCV.
And, every one of those new agencies would have to be funded and staffed – all out of our taxes, which means less money for other things.
It will be interesting to see how this issue pans out over the upcoming years.
Happy New Year to all,
-Chris Austin
December 30th, 2006 at 6:18 pm
Chris,
You should know that many of us here in the West Ranch area have put in an unbelievable amount of time on the issue of self determination. There are not very many residents that actually care about the topic. Some believe that they do live in the City of Santa Clarita already, others have moved here from the City and don’t want to be part of the City of Santa Clarita anymore, and a vast amount don’t care what-so-ever.
What many of us have been trying to do for years is get some informative, unbiased information out to the community so they can be educated and make an informed decision. Once that happens than the community can vote on what they want. The sad fact is that the City keeps shooting themselves in the foot with their dishonest tactics in trying to circumvent the community leadership.
As the years go by the process will get tougher and tougher, it is the City of Santa Clarita that has control over the outcome. Unfortunately they are choosing to go down the road of arrogance which will yield few results.
Happy New Year,
-Dave
January 1st, 2007 at 6:57 pm
Dave,
Indeed I am sure that you & others have put a great deal of effort into it. I am aware that attempts in the past have not suceeded. I do know that apathy is the largest hurdle.
Before my neighborhood issue arose, I don’t think I really cared that much either. I didn’t know who was on the city council, never bothered to vote in the city elections, and really didn’t have any reason to bother.
Reality seems to be that most people don’t pay much attention to their local government as long as things are running smoothly and their lives aren’t really affected.
I don’t doubt that Antonovich does much to make sure to keep you & your neighbors happy – he would be stupid not to.
I don’t really recall seeing posts critical of the county, and in fact, you tend to point out the good things the county does for the west side. The inference I get from your blog is exactly that: things aren’t so bad over here on the west side, so why change.
You certainly don’t have much love for the city, on the other hand. I don’t think I have ever seen you post a blog that was positive about the city – but please, correct me if I’m wrong. I would probably have to say that you are one of their most vocal critics. If I were going to attempt to garner support for annexation, let’s just say you wouldn’t be my first stop.
I am curious to know what these ‘dishonest tactics’ are that you refer to. I have a hard time believing that you can’t get ‘informative and unbiased information’. You seem like an intelligent and resourceful man. What are these issues you feel you can’t get answered?
January 2nd, 2007 at 3:47 pm
Happy New Year Chris,
You should know that I have from time to time written positive about the City and have taken the occasional negative swipe at the County. It is clear though that I have taken the opposing side too many of the underhanded tactics that the City has used over the years. This has certainly has given many in the Valley the impression that I am anti-city which is simply not true.
As an example, the City has tried to circumvent the local Town Councils in their attempts to annex the Valencia Commerce Center and the Lyons Canyon Development. These are examples of the tactics the City has used in order to get a toe hold on the west side.
The only tactic that will work is one that comes from a place of respect and honesty. One in which the City is willing to sit down at the table with the Town Councils to have meaningful and complete discussions that will lay out all of the details. That will allow for the community to have a full understanding, to be educated, about annexation and the other options that are available. To date, the City has broken off or has not follow through on those types of discussions.
Maybe 2007 will be different, who knows!
-Dave
January 3rd, 2007 at 2:29 pm
Happy New Year to you, too, Dave.
Since the time I have been following the WRB, I don’t honestly recall any swipe against the county, but certainly a lot of animosity towards the city. (I don’t recall ever seeing a positive post about the city.) Seems they can’t blow their nose without you complaining about the direction they stood & what brand of facial tissue they used. OK, maybe not quite that bad, but from where I sit, due to the sheer volume and tone of the blogs posted, I perceive you as pro-county, anti-city, oh, yes, and of course, anti-fishwrap.
The Lyons Canyon Ranch and Valencia Commerce Center were situations that occurred over 2 years ago. From your comment, I thought Frank Ferry was hanging out at the local Vons in a pair of Groucho Marx glasses, handing out free latte’s to residents while getting them to sign the super-secret annexation petition in invisible ink!
I am sure all sides need and want to come from a position of respect and honesty. In order to come to the table for any productive discussions on this subject, it would seem to me that all parties involved need to sit down with a open mind, ready to discuss things from this point forward, not to rehash years-old resentments & grudges. Any attempt to do so would likely result in a meeting that would be, at best, a waste of time for all involved, and at worse, continue the petty grudges & resentments far into the future.
Hate and anger only corrode the vessel that carries it. And so my wish for 2007 is for everyone to release the grudges, resentment and anger of the past, and to go from this point forward with a clear and open mind – not just in annexation discussions, but in life as well.
It’s a New Year, a chance for a new start for everyone. May everyone make the best of it!
-Chris Austin
January 3rd, 2007 at 2:57 pm
Chris,
I don’t live in the past but I believe it is important to understand history so that we can try not to repeat it. Pointing out the Valencia Commerce center and the Lyons Canyon examples represent recent history. It is part of a pattern of behavior that needs to be acknowledged in order to move forward.
It would be no problem wiping the slate clean and starting anew. Sitting down at the table and starting fresh discussions has always been an option and the door to such has always been open. I certainly think that 2007 will start with a fresh outlook and an optimistic view. Let’s hope that the City will be able to do the same.
-Dave Bossert