Candidate Assails SCV Mayor's Ethics: Is There a Tie to Las Lomas?
From today's San Fernando Valley Business Journal
Activist Asks For Mayoral Investigation
A Santa Clarita Valley watchdog seeks an independent investigation into alleged financial improprieties of Santa Clarita Mayor Robert C. Kellar.
At a city council meeting Feb. 26, Bruce McFarland presented public documents produced between the years of 2002 and 2005 that he believes suggest that Kellar broke financial disclosure laws.
McFarland is organizer of the Santa Clarita Valley Ethics Alliance.
McFarland also told the council that Kellar did not disclose income from the 2005 sale of property along Sierra Highway that was purchased by College of the Canyons.
Thus far, the city council has decided not to investigate McFarland’s allegations.
Mayor Sam snoops have started to investigate campaign contributions to City Council members in order to determine if donations from developers have influenced their respective positions on the controversial and likely doomed Las Lomas development.
Unfortunately, it appears that transparency is not taken as seriously by the City of Santa Clarita as it is by the City of Los Angeles where its very easy to pull up campaign data online.
Stay tuned.
Labels: Bob Kellar, las lomas, santa clarita
Posted by Mayor Sam @ 2/28/2008 04:26:00 PM
4 Comments:
If Bruce McFarland wants action, then he needs to contact the Public Integrity Division of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office.
It is a bit confusing why Kellar would appose the Las Lomas project, but he has not problem with the 22,000 home Newhall Ranch project. He also has no problem developing land adjacent to the Santa Clara River at the same time he purchases open space with taxpayer money to protect the Sand Canyon area. His home in Sand Canyon has nothing to do with this open space purchase, I suspect. The questions being asked are appropriate in my view.
We should all get such special treatment
SCHOA ANNUAL MEETING MINUTES
SCHOA Annual Meeting
February 13, 2008 – 7:15 PM
Robinson Ranch Clubhouse
MINUTES
The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm.
Dave Hauser welcomed everyone.
Mayor Bob Kellar led the Pledge of Allegiance.
Ruthann Levison introduced the following guests:
Mayor Bob Kellar, City Manager Ken Pulskamp, Asst City Mgr Ken Striplin, Asst to City Manager Tina Haddad, Dir. Of Administration Svss Darren Hernandez, Public Works Dir. Robert Newman, Parks Rec. & Commun. Svss Dir. Rick Gould, PRCS Chair Laura Hauser, Planning Comm. Dennis Ostrom, City Chief of Police Anthony La Berge, LACOFD Comm Liaison Stephanie English, LACOFD Forestry Div. J.Lopez, CA Fire Safe Council Rep. Cathy Brooke, CHP Capt. Steve Bernard, CHP Public Affairs John Lutz, Fish & Game Officer Martin Wall, LACDACC Castaic Supervisor Carlos Pineda, LACDACC-ERT Linda Horrell, US Congressman Buck McKeon Rep Bob Haueter, LACBOS Rep. Rosalind Wayman, COC CCC Founding Dean Dena Maloney, Robinson Ranch/Mancera Rep. Bruce Rothman, Vista Canyon Ranch Reps. Jim Backer & Steve Vallenziano, Plaza at Golden Valley Ranch Rep. Stephen Strahs, VP Newhall Redevelopment Bob Spierers,
Dave Hauser announced the major agenda items.
The minutes were approved.
The Treasurers report by Dave Hauser: Dues $15,304.72, Beaut. Fund $10,469.00, Fire Safe Council $1,000. Total $26,773.72 Was Approved.
The current BOD was introduced. Dave Hauser, Ruthann Levison, John Higby, Susan Ostrom, Bill Parkinson, Sandi Parris (absent), RJ Kelly (absent) & Barry King (absent).
Retirement Plaques were present by Dave to the retiring BOD: Susan Ostrom, Barry King and Bill Parkinson. Susan & Bill accepted and spoke briefly.
The new slate for 2008 was presented and each introduced themselves: Dave Hauser, Ruthann Levison, John Higby, Sandi Parris (absent), RJ Kelly (absent), Dana Martin, Jennifer Jean Cacavas & Russell Myers.
There were no nominations from the floor and thenew slate was duly elected. The newcomers were invited to take their place at the dais.
GOVERNMENT REPORTS:
Cemex Mine: Bob Kellar reported on the current status, which boiled down to…there is still NO MINE. The City continues to work diligently to bring this issue to a positive and final ending.
City News: Ken Pulskamp reported on the various projects happening in our City. He touched on the bubble in the East side of the valley including parts of Sand Canyon being looked at for annexation, the completion of the Cross Valley Connector, the expansion of the Aquatics Center and Central Park, Closer to our Canyon’s interest he reported that the next segment of our “backbone trail” is in the design stage. For more information on the doings at the City check out the website at www.santa-clarita.com
Laura Hauser PRCS Chair and member of the Santa Clarita Valley Trails Advisory Cmte reported on SCVTAC trails activities. An on-site meeting is in the works to scope out extending our Robinson Ranch trail segment south to Iron Canyon and east to the Pacific Crest Trail. This is all part of the County plan to connect our communities with a trail system before all the development cuts us off from one another.
EMERGENCY SERVICES:
Our Chief of Police Capt. Anthony La Berge spoke briefly on our communities safety. He urged us to be vigilant in not helping the “bad buys” by leaving valuables in sight in our unlocked cars even in our own driveways. He told us it was obvious that our area is safer than others, but the sad fact is that as our population increases so does the crime. He urged folks to use the excellent new website www.SCVSheriff.com that is being partnered with the City.
Our local supervisor forCHP Capt. Steve Bernard also talked about the safety of our community. CHP has jurisdiction over the territory of our Placerita Canyon Road and the freeways so we do come in contact with their officers. He warned us about the “black ice” that has been so prevalent during our recent cold spells. If you see any water on the road during the day…it will freeze overnight and be black ice in the morning commute hours. There were 22 accidents on Placerita Canyon Road during a couple of days period so it is imperative that we all SLOW DOWN. Both Capt. La Berge and Capt. Bernard stressed that so much of our safety lies in our own actions.
LACOFD Community Liaison Stephanie English then spoke on the horrendous fires of this past October…she says we all (including the agencies) wish that these emergency events would go perfectly and according to plan, but alas that is not always the case. Emergencies are fluid, and decisions are necessary to be made on the spot and under fire to coin a phrase. Much goes right…. but some stuff does go wrong. We all do the best we can possibly do to make it ALL GO RIGHT. She praised our Sand Canyon Fire Safe Council for the great work we did taking in evacuated large animals during that period…. 150 or so.
Officer Martin Wall from the Dept. of Fish & Game then spoke on the “mountain lion issue” we have been experiencing in our canyon and in all the “urban interface” areas in southern California. The fact is this is “mountain lion territory”. We must share the space with them. There is more than one of them out there. He got a laugh when he said the lions don’t watch the Discovery Channel. They are not necessarily nocturnal. They hunt and eat when they are hungry. Occurrences happen at any hour. The most important steps are not to invite deer, which is their primary food source to your property. And very importantly, trim up the brush around your property. They hide in the low brush in wait to attack their prey. DFG does not ordinarily trap and never relocates animals. If lions are hungry enough they will eat smaller animals…. rabbits, dogs, cats, a weakened horse etc…you get the picture. We must be aware and wary and protect our small children and pets to the best of our abilities.
Dena Maloney Founding Dean of the new Canyon Country COC Campus gave us an update on the now open and very successful campus. They are very interested in forging partnerships with the community and hope that the campus will be a destination for everyone in the community to enjoy not only the students.
COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Beautification: Ruthann Levison reported that we are finally ready to implement our permit to beautify the railroad trestle. The majority of funds collected have now been spent in the civil engineers work…the drawings and the permit process. Therefore we will need to do further fund-raising to construct the project.
Fire Safe Council: John Higby, FSC Chair reported on our status that is a “full-fledged State of CA Fire Safe Council”. Ruthann urged everyone to fill out our “census” form so in the event of an all out disaster we will have information to help us assist our neighbors after we take care of our own families.
Annexation: Rob Parris, Chair spoke of our local efforts to annex the eastern and western flanks of Sand Canyon so we would be “one neighborhood” at last.
Safety: Our community safety was addressed earlier in the agenda and since Sandi was absent there was no further report.
DEVELOPMENT PROJECTS;
Mancara/Robinson Ranch: Bruce Rothman presented our Canyon with a gift from their group…a 20% discount on food (no alcohol) at the Clubhouse, 7 days a week excluding “special events” such as Valentines Day, Thanksgiving, Mother’s Day, etc. One additional caveat… 8 persons or less. What a nice Valentine gift to us all. Thank you Robinson Ranch! As far as the development of Mancara Ranch, the process continues albeit slower due to the slow down in the real estate market.
The Plaza at Golden Valley Ranch is due to open this summer according to VP Michael Strahs who made a short report to much applause that it coming soon.
A power point presentation was given onBob & Lynn Stevenson’s project on the east end of Iron Canyon. The Stevenson’s spent be coup dollars doing watershed/flood mitigation to help alleviate the terrible flooding that occurs downstream in the Iron Canyon wash and thereby keeping that additional water out of the Sand Canyon wash. They constructed water ponds (new & revolutionary) to contain the water on the development property. The City so impressed, has been bringing developers from other areas to view the site. This was not a requirement of the Stevenson’s, but they knew it was the right thing to do. Additionally, they saved every oak tree and did all native planting on the surrounding hillsides. A further benefit to the community (& not required) was to configure their entryway to give the fire department turn around space on narrow Iron Canyon Road. This is a great benefit to our entire community since we endure fires almost annually, sometimes even more
Vista Canyon Ranch: Jim Backer and Steve Valenziano presented the final development project. They presented a “mini city” project including a hotel, a metro link station, offices, restaurants and dense housing. They are including trails and very importantly a bridge over the Santa Clara River. Although a question from the audience prompted them to say the project would go forward without a bridge if necessary. Their proposal plans to keep Lost Canyon Road going east as a 2-lane road to mitigate traffic to our community.
However, with the freeway onramps at Sand Canyon there is no denying much traffic would come our way. I think they were surprised at the totally negative response from the community. It was asked if the SCHOA board was in favor of this proposal. Jim Backer said only that the Board had given some input regarding the bridge, the 2-lane road and the trails, but we did not acknowledge any approval of the project as a whole. There will be a scoping EIR meeting on February 27…a public meeting, therefore the public may attend and voice their concerns. Dennis Ostrom, a City Planning Commissioner and Sand Canyon resident got up and spoke briefly saying to the community that this is just the beginning of the process and everyone should continue to weigh in at all the public meetings. SCHOA will publicize the dates, as they are set.
The meeting program adjourned at about 9:45, however the question and answer period continued until 10:45 regarding the Backer project.
Respectfully submitted: Ruthann Levison
2/16/08
This is said to be the Bob Kellar project. Vista Canyon Ranch: Jim Backer and Steve Valenziano presented the final development project. They presented a “mini city” project including a hotel, a metro link station, offices, restaurants and dense housing. They are including trails and very importantly a bridge over the Santa Clara River. Although a question from the audience prompted them to say the project would go forward without a bridge if necessary. Their proposal plans to keep Lost Canyon Road going east as a 2-lane road to mitigate traffic to our community.
However, with the freeway onramps at Sand Canyon there is no denying much traffic would come our way. I think they were surprised at the totally negative response from the community. It was asked if the SCHOA board was in favor of this proposal. Jim Backer said only that the Board had given some input regarding the bridge, the 2-lane road and the trails, but we did not acknowledge any approval of the project as a whole. There will be a scoping EIR meeting on February 27…a public meeting, therefore the public may attend and voice their concerns. Dennis Ostrom, a City Planning Commissioner and Sand Canyon resident got up and spoke briefly saying to the community that this is just the beginning of the process and everyone should continue to weigh in at all the public meetings. SCHOA will publicize the dates, as they are set.
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