Well, last nights city council meeting turned out beyond my expectations. I was the only one to show up and speak out against the dual park fee proposal by Councilman Ferry. My full comments are posted below. It only took three minutes to light Ferry’s fuse and expose the true motivation behind his park fee proposal; annexation! Of course the council voted 4 to 1 in favor of the proposal. I will have a piece on Frank Ferry’s explosive outburst and personal attacks soon.
More to Follow.

I don’t agree with Frank Ferry’s proposed dual-tier program for Park fees. No Surprise! Honestly, I felt that this issue was resolved last year??
These proposed fees for non-residents can not be instituted at former county parks. Any city park that was a county park prior to the City of Santa Clarita being incorporated can not have a dual fee system. The County has made this case before and I hope will fight any attempt to do so now!
I have to take issue with Councilman Ferry’s assertion in a recent Daily News article that the City is subsidizing non-residents. For those unaware, the City of Santa Clarita contracts many of its services from Los Angeles County. LA County recently did an audit which showed that contract Cities, including the City of Santa Clarita, were not paying their fair share for the contracted Sheriff services. It is important to point out the County Tax Payers had been subsidizing the City of Santa Clarita’s Sheriff Services for many years as just one example. This is now a known fact and one that has recently been corrected!

But put those couple of points aside!

More importantly, non-city residents are spending a tremendous amount of money within the City of Santa Clarita which is generating millions in sales tax dollars annually for the city. One only needs to look at non-resident dollars being spent at restaurants, fomerchandiseze and on automobiles! What would happen if 10%, 20% or even 50% of this spending went away? It would be financially devastating not only to the City but to the business community in this city.

Ferry’s proposal is dead wrong and is another example, if it passed, of the City trying to take the Gold Mine while giving the residents of the unincorporated areas the shaft!

Councilman Ferry’s proposal is a slap in the face to those non-city residents who are shopping locally in the city. The sales tax dollars that are generated more than offset any park issues. In fact, the City Park’s programs used by non-residents should be looked at as a thank you to the unincorporated areas for their patronage!

If the City has been managed into a financial corner regarding the parks programs than maybe that is indicative of larger more systemic problem with how the city is being operated. I would suggest that other options be explored to remedy this problem instead of the standard call to raise fees or taxes.

Frank Ferry has already chosen the easy road of arrogance, ignorance and uninspired vision with this poorly thought out proposal which will only further divide and strain relations between the City and its neighbors. It also showcases Frank’s myopic view of the economic landscape of the entire Santa Clarita Valley.

Now, I would hope that the rest of the City Council would chose a different path, one that is thoughtful and respectful of your neighbors in the unincorporated areas, and vote this ridiculous proposal down.

An alternate suggestion would be to have representatives from the various town councils come and meet with the city managers to see if we could collectively come up with a solution that would be palatable and inclusive to all. I believe that a win/win solution could be reach that could resolve this matter once and for all.

Thank you.