Archive By Author - Karen Jonas
Incumbents have raised most cash in City Council race
The two incumbents in the Santa Clarita Valley City Council race have raised the most campaign funds, according to reports released this week, while two of the three challengers did not receive any new donations during the last six months of 2011. In the semi-annual campaign finance reports - which cover the period from July 2011 to December 2011 - Councilman Bob Kellar and Mayor Laurie Ender reported the largest amounts of campaign contributions with ...
A 'green' glow
Santa Clarita residents may notice some changes to the lights throughout the city, including Valencia Heritage Park, as workers begin replacing traditional lights with energy-efficient illumination. Late last week workers were changing lights at Valencia Heritage Park to energy-efficient induction lighting in an effort to save electricity. While many of the lights throughout the city are high-pressure sodium or metal halide lights, the city of Santa Clarita will be replacing 843 of them throughout the ...
The falcon patrol
As Shelly - a 5-year-old saker falcon - swooped through the air on a recent morning, the dozens of seagulls that had been lingering near newly disposed trash at the Chiquita Canyon Landfill hurriedly left the area. Shelly returned to her handler, Justin Lilly, of Castaic, and grabbed a lure - a piece of leather that Lilly swings by a string - before receiving a piece of raw quail. Shelly eventually settled down on Lilly's ...
Appointments divide at City Council
A Santa Clarita City Council meeting turned heated this week when council members shuffled membership in committees and subcommittees, leaving nearly every council member with fewer appointments to committees that discuss important local issues. With committees as varied as the Public Safety Committee, the Cemex Ad Hoc Committee and the Library Ad Hoc Committee, Mayor Laurie Ender proposed dissolving some that haven't held meetings for long periods of time and combining others that are similar ...
City stresses safety after child’s accident
City officials are stressing safety rules at the Santa Clarita Skatepark after a 12-year-old boy was injured at the park last weekend. The boy suffered an injury on his bicycle and was knocked out after a crash on Sunday afternoon, according to fire officials. The boy was transported to Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital by ground ambulance. Stephanie English, Los Angeles County Fire Department spokeswoman, said the firefighters who were on scene reported the boy ...
City takes on agency, and debt
The Santa Clarita City Council agreed Tuesday to take control of the remnants of its redevelopment agency and the agency's $93 million debt, which may take 30 years to pay off, according to officials during a meeting in Council Chambers. Council members voted unanimously to take charge of the redevelopment housing agency and approved a payment schedule for repaying the agency's debts. The city will automatically become the successor agency for the redevelopment agency Feb. ...
Hit the brakes and let playtime begin
As several children took their turn at playing handball, a handful of others jumped rope, swung hula hoops and colored chalk drawings at Bridgeport Park in Valencia on a recent afternoon.
Victorville delays vote on Cemex bill
The Victorville City Council this week tabled support for a bill that would stop a large-scale gravel mine in Soledad Canyon, saying it needs more information on the bill. Santa Clarita officials had asked the Victorville City Council to support Senate legislation aimed at halting the proposed Cemex sand and gravel mine. Santa Clarita Intergovernmental Affairs Officer Mike Murphy said it was important that the city of Victorville support the legislation. "I think that the ...
Northridge earthquake: 18 years later
Eighteen years ago today, the earth shook, freeways crumbled, and thousands of people were injured during the Northridge earthquake - one of the most severe temblors to hit the Santa Clarita Valley area and one of 11 disasters that has befallen the city in the past 24 years.
Commission approves 3-year PAC contract
The Santa Clarita Arts Commission has unanimously agreed to a three-year contract with the Santa Clarita Community College District for public use of the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center on the college campus. The city of Santa Clarita helped fund the construction of the Performing Arts Center with a $2.4 million contribution for its construction. In the past, the city has signed an annual memorandum of understanding with the college district to allow the center ...
City OKs support of redevelopment agencies
The Santa Clarita City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to support potential legislation that would extend the sunset date on redevelopment agencies. The state Supreme Court issued a blow to redevelopment agencies statewide when it upheld the Legislature's ability to dissolve such agencies in a Dec. 28 ruling. The state's high court said lawmakers can't order the agencies to redirect their tax money, but can eliminate them. Santa Clarita City Manager Ken Pulskamp said ...
Planners back Palmdale high-speed rail route
A proposed high-speed rail project that would connect Southern California to the Bay Area should avoid Santa Clarita and the Grapevine and instead run through Palmdale on its way north, the project's planners said in a report this week. Although staff with the California High Speed Rail Authority suggested in 2005 that a route connecting Southern California to Bakersfield through the Antelope Valley would have fewer potential environmental impacts than a route that would follow ...
Local businesses speak with members of Congress
Local aerospace and defense contractors met with members of the House Armed Services Committee, including Chairman Rep. Howard "Buck" McKeon, R-Santa Clarita, on Monday in Santa Clarita to discuss future defense cuts and the difficulties of cutting through Department of Defense red tape. McKeon told Signal staff that there are going to be cuts in the defense industry, but he doesn't know yet know exactly what they'll be. "There are going to be some of ...
UPDATE: 2 qualify for April City Council election
The required signatures have been verified for both Castaic Lake Water Agency board member Ed Colley and Deputy District Attorney Jon Hatami, making them the first two official candidates to qualify for Santa Clarita City Council in April, City Clerk Sarah Gorman said Friday. Two seats are open in the election, and incumbents Laurie Ender and Bob Kellar are both expected to run. Meanwhile, one potential candidate announced that he won't ...
Forecast calls for warmer winter
For some Santa Clarita Valley residents, the 80-plus-degree temperatures of the past week are just perfect. For others, they've been cause for marital conflict. "I turned the air conditioner on yesterday, and my wife made me turn it off," said Richard Langlie, a Valencia resident who was at Central Park on Thursday watching his 6-year-old grandson play. Langlie, who said he's originally from Minnesota, has found the recent weather great for teaching his grandson golf, ...
No Articles Found.
