In June of 2009, I attended an Army Corp of Engineers meeting held at the Rancho Pico Jr. High School to comment on the Newhall Ranch development. It was a painful meeting to sit through not because of the dry material but because there were a number of individuals from outside of Santa Clarita who drove their SUV’s and Luxury cars here to speak out against the Newhall Ranch Project. The problem was that most of them didn’t know what the hell they were talking about!

Now, the usual local eco-terrorists are trying to convince residents again that a well thought-out project should be stopped. It is the same old broken record and is reminiscent of that meeting last year. Here is what I wrote about the meeting last June:  

I have been very picky and choosey over the years as to what community meetings or events to attend and which are not worth my time. As a community volunteer you have to manage your participation or it becomes an all consuming and overwhelming situation. Even the monthly homeowners association, which I attended monthly, has dropped down to every couple of months unless there is a pressing issue.

But last week I decided to do a little civic duty and attend the Army Corp of Engineers public meeting on the Newhall Ranch development.

You see the folks at Newhall Land have been attending our community meetings regularly and have kept our community abreast of the Newhall Ranch project including taking seriously any concerns and/or suggestions that our residents or community leadership may have had. They have, as well, supported the community over the years through thick and thin. This was my chance to reciprocate a little.

Pulling into the parking lot at the Rancho Pico Jr. High School, where the meeting was scheduled in the multipurpose room, I saw a group of protesters with placards in front of the entrance. Alright, it was more like a group of 20-25 milling about and most of them were unfamiliar looking. In other words they were people from outside the West Ranch area and in some instances outside of the Santa Clarita Valley.

I have to give the Army Corps of Engineers credit for dealing with loons, crack-pots and generally erratic, unstable individuals at these types of meetings. They truly get to see the concentrated and sometimes demented underbelly of a community.

Note to Congressman McKeon: Consider extending combat pay to the Army Corps of Engineer soldiers for enduring excruciating community meetings populated with a lopsided number of miscreants and halfwits.     

Once the meeting got underway, I observed a disproportionate absence of decorum. Members of the audience, mostly those associated with the environmental groups, were prone to shouting out comments and questions without regard for courtesy. Simply raising your hand would have sufficed.

Honestly, at one point I thought I might have stumbled into a Tourette Syndrome support group meeting. 

One woman came in and sat in the last row, furthest from the speakers, and started blurting out in a snarling tone; “I can’t hear you”, to the speaker several times. After about the third time I turned and suggested, as did several others, that she might want to move up closer. She didn’t.

Note to Newhall Land: For the next round of community meetings consider buying a half dozen or so “Lee Majors Bionic Ear” pieces to have on hand for cranky elderly folks who are hearing impaired and insist on sitting in the back row. It will be the best $14.95 you’ll ever spend!

During a discussion of the Santa Clara River another woman, to my sheer astonishment, shouted out; “What’s a tributary?” My God I thought, how could a woman apparently in her 40’s come to a meeting which is discussing the possible mitigations to the river not know what a tributary was!

I immediately thought that; a) this person may have been unconscious much of her life; b) she must have grown up on some other planet without any water; and c) she will never be eligible to be a contestant of Jeopardy.

Honestly, how do you become an adult and not know the definition of a “tributary”?  

It was precisely at that moment that I closed my eyes hoping to be magically transported to my home where I could cork a bottle of wine and turn it into a tributary to my brain.

No sooner than the definition of a tributary was somewhat explained by the speaker than another member of the audience, a Ted Kaczynski looking character, shouted out; “what, you don’t trust Mother Nature?” An odd question but one I pondered for a moment anyway.

Sure Mother Nature gives us bountiful harvests, picturesque sun rises and sunsets but she also gives us earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes, volcanoes, lightening induced wildfires, rouge waves and tsunamis. So no, I don’t trust Mother Nature much because she can be an unpredictable bitch.

Note to Army Corps of Engineers: Consider administering an intelligence test to individuals attending these public meetings. Ask question like; what’s a tributary?; or is Mother Nature a real person: True or False? It will help weed out the imbeciles and allow the meetings to run a bit more smoothly.  

 I have to say, the Ted Kaczynski looking character was a bit scary. He was taking copious notes right from the get go and at one point I thought that he was writing, in long hand, some kind of hallucinatory manifesto. He was one angry bastard!

Fortunately at this point the presentation was nearing the end and the comment period would start. I thought this was handled well in that they called three speakers at a time and then each would speak in secession. Essentially, the moderator only called out the speaker order after every third person as apposed to after each one.

I was reminded of a valuable lesson that evening from Larry Mankin, the CEO of the SCV Chamber of Commerce; get to these meetings early, fill out you speaker card immediately and turn it in right away. The speakers are taken in order of requests received so if you hand in your request first, you speak first. 

I was so envious of Larry because he got to speak first and shortly thereafter was able to leave. Me, I had to sit through a block of speakers regurgitating much of the same misinformation about water, land mitigations, development in general, and that damn weed, the San Fernando Spineflower.

Note to Environmental groups: It’s called the San Fernando Spineflower not the Santa Clarita Valley Spineflower and therefore should be repatriated to the valley south of us from whence it came. We could round up some volunteers to excavate the weeds from the Newhall Ranch property and redistribute them from our car windows as we drive around the San Fernando Valley.  

Some of the speakers were articulate and others completely unprepared. I suspected that several of the speakers really didn’t even know much about what they were saying, they were just mindless parrots. 

But generally, it was a hostel crowd of carpetbaggers many of whom came up from Los Angeles and the Valley to rail against the Newhall Ranch Project. Of course, the usual local suspects were present many of whom have become cartoons around Santa Clarita, neither taken serious, nor viewed as productive, and mostly laughed at.

Wouldn’t it be refreshing if these environmental terrorists just decided one day to take the tact of meeting with the developers to initiate an open and honest dialogue with the intention of trying to find common ground and a way to create a win/win for all? The millions in legal fees that would be saved could actually be used to set aside even more open space!

The Newhall Ranch Project is setting aside 65% of the property to be preserved as natural open space, never to be disturbed by development, ever. There is a thoughtfulness going into the project that is intelligent; unlike the planning and building circus that occurred in areas of the San Fernando Valley years ago.

But I am convinced that if the project set aside 95% of the land as open space that many of these whack-jobs would be doing exactly the same thing in trying to prevent any building on the remaining 5%.

Those tactics have to stop because they are not productive nor is it accomplishing anything other than increasing the cost of homes, commercial space and hurting the local environment. The amount of time and resources being wasted battling these Eco-terrorists is in fact having a greater impact on our environment with missed opportunities to preserve more natural resources using the funds that otherwise are being spent on the relentless and often fruitless lawsuits.

By the way, the meeting on Thursday night June 11, 2009, was attended by about 50 or so people. There were about 25 that represented the Army Corps, Newhall Land’s employees and consultants, Fish and Game, and two Sheriffs Deputies. The other 25 or so ran the spectrum from legitimate, rational environmentalists to halfwit idiots.

What is sad about the attendance is that if local residents like something they are more apt to stay home and not come to these types of meetings just to say “hey I like this!” It’s sort of a “if it doesn’t affect me, I don’t need to speak up” kind of attitude. It is just as important to come out and support projects and issues that you like as it for the ones you don’t.

Note to self: Consider organizing a protest against environmental terrorists at the next local Army Corp of Engineering community meeting replete with placards supporting the open space of the Newhall Ranch Project, new homes, jobs, and maybe even burn an effigy of that Spineflower weed.

We need a real blast of grounded reality to show that commerce and environmental stewardship can coexist together benefiting our community, business and our valley wide ecosystem. It’s not an “either/or” proposition.  Now is the time to turn the tables on these interloping environmental carpetbaggers!!!

That meeting was a circus filled with individuals that were hell-bent on stopping any development. I would much rather look at each project on its own merits and determine how it will benefit our community. The Newhall Ranch project is a smart, well thought-out plan that will allow for 65% of the land to be set aside as open space in perpetuity and for more than 18,000 oak trees to be left intact and protected. It is vital that our community fully support this project which will allow for most of the natural beauty of the west side of Santa Clarita Valley to left intact.

The Army Corps of Engineers has extended the comment period for the Newhall Ranch project through Aug. 4, 2010. Don’t let outside interests dictate policy or development in our community. Please take a moment to write a letter of support for this valuable regional project that will bring local jobs, reduce freeway commuter traffic which in turn is good for the environment and many other benefits for our valley  and the local economy. The letters should be addressed to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Regulatory Branch, Attn: CESPL-RG-2003-01264- AOA, 2151 Alessandro Drive, #110, Ventura, CA 93001.

Dave Bossert-Commentary

Dave Bossert is a community volunteer who serves on a number of boards and councils. His commentaries represent his own opinions and not necessarily the views of any organization he may be affiliated with or those of the West Ranch Beacon.