At the Santa Clarita City Council meeting of October 28, Mayor Pro Tem Frank Ferry proposed that the City develop a comprehensive policy regarding closures, gates, or other physical barriers on public streets.
After a thorough discussion, including input from the public, the City Council, with vote of 3 to 2, with Mayor Kellar and Councilmember McLean dissenting, adopted a policy prohibiting the installation of closures, gates, or other physical barriers on public streets, with the understanding that the policy would not apply to private streets, the status quo, any traffic calming measures including bulb-outs and speed cushions, or private neighborhoods that maintain their own streets. The new policy would also be proactive with speed enforcement.
l-r: Ed Masterson (representing Assemblyman Smyth), Councilmember Laurie Ender, David Perry (representing County Supervisor Antonovich), Patty Kelly (representing State Senator McClintock), Councilmember Laurene Weste, United States Congressman Howard "Buck" McKeon, Allyson Felix, Kim Rhode, Crystl Bustos, Councilmember Marsha McLean, David Neville, Mayor Bob Kellar, Mayor Pro Tem Frank Ferry.
The Santa Clarita City Council recognized the outstanding achievements of local Olympic athletes at Tuesday’s meeting. Each of the athletes honored received medals at the Summer Olympics in China.
Crystl Bustos, a resident of Canyon Country and graduate of Canyon High School, and already a two time Olympic Gold Medalist, competed in softball and won a Silver Medal in China.
Kim Rhode is a member and active participant of the local Oak Tree Gun Club. Kim was able to train at a custom range at the Oak Tree Gun Club, which ultimately led to her earning a Silver Medal in Skeet Shooting.
David Neville is a track and field athlete who lives and trained in Santa Clarita. David won a Bronze Medal in the 400 meter final and a Gold Medal in the men’s 4 x 400 meter final. Allyson Felix is a Track and Field sprinter and Santa Clarita resident, who took home two medals at the Bejing Olympics. Allyson received a gold medal as a member of the Women’s 4 X 400 meter team and also won a silver medal in the Women’s 200-meter race.
At Tuesday Nights City Council meeting the Los Angeles County Fire Department’s North Regional Operations Bureau Deputy Chief John Tripp addressed the Santa Clarita City Council and gave an update on the status of local wildfires burning in the region.
The fires have since been controlled, but the Deputy Chief, responding to questions from councilmembers, urged residents to practice proactive fire safety measures. Deputy Chief Tripp also addressed the seriousness and urgency residents need to possess regarding ordered evacuations.
As part of their waste contract for business and commercial waste services in the City of Santa Clarita, Burrtec Waste Inc. is required to build a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in the Santa Clarita Valley. This task has proven to be difficult, especially with regard to the site selection portion. At the request of the City Council, the City’s Public Works staff drafted a public process for the selection of a new committee that will help the City Council select that site. The recommended process will involve a new Site Selection Committee of 15-20 members, to accomplish this task.
Solid Waste Sub-Committee and City Councilmembers Laurene Weste and Marsha McLean both agreed to recommend to the full City Council, a process to include the community by creating a new Site Selection Committee to help select a site for the Valley’s MRF. The Sub-Committee will bring the item to the Santa Clarita City Council for consideration after the first of the year.
To find out more about the process of finding a location for the Materials Recovery Facility check out the City’s website.
In recognizing the law enforcement challenges of accessing the City’s 30 miles of off-street trails and 30 miles of paseos, the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station just purchased two T3 Series Motion, three wheel electric personal mobility vehicles for the Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station.These new transportation devices can reach speeds of up to 25 m.ph, feature a zero-degree turning radius, use an efficient electrical motor system, are environmentally-friendly with zero gas emissions, and are completely equipped for emergency response.They operate at a cost of 10 cents per day of electricity which is equivalent to getting 500 miles per gallon in a car.Utilizing these vehicles, the deputies will be able to cover several miles of paseo patrols in a single shift, will be able to carry equipment necessary for patrol and enforcement operations, and can operate at any time of the day or night.
The two new vehicles have been received and are currently being equipped with a graphics package reflective of the City of Santa Clarita, identical to the patrol car graphics but on a much smaller scale.The Santa Clarita Valley Sheriff’s Station staff is currently in the process of training personnel on the safe use and operation of these vehicles.They are also developing deployment and accountability protocol, and are writing operational unit orders specific to this new Paseo Patrol Program and the T3 Motion vehicles.Look for T3 Motion electric mobility vehicles on a paseo or in a park near you soon!Questions can be directed to Sergeant Darren Harris at (661) 255-4991.
(l-r) Councilmember Laurie Ender, Councilmember Laurene Weste, Hart District Superintendent Jaimie Castellanos, Boardmember Paul Strickland, Boardmember Gloria Mercado-Fortine, Mayor Bob Kellar, Councilmember Marsha McLean, Mayor Pro Tem Frank Ferry
The Santa Clarita City Council recognized the William S. Hart Union High School District for achieving outstanding test scores at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. The district’s Academic Performance Index has increased to 804 points, which is above the 800 point goal set by the State for all schools and districts. The overall score of 804 points ranks Hart District as the highest scoring high school district in California with 10,000 or more students.
The One Valley One Vision website is a valuable tool for the community.
In its continued effort to engage the community and solicit feedback from the public, the City has launched a new website that provides outreach and information about the One Valley One Vision joint general plan effort between the City of Santa Clarita and the County of Los Angeles. One Valley One Vision is a planning process where-bye members of the community have the opportunity to provide critical feedback in the shaping of the Santa Clarita Valley into the future.
One Valley One Vision specifically addresses future land use in the Santa Clarita Valley; both within the City of Santa Clarita and within the unincorporated portions of Los Angeles County. Working on a valley-wide general plan will help ensure that future land use, whether it be residential, industrial, commercial or open space, is done in a sustainable and responsible manner.
Public input is heavily relied upon during this process and several workshops are upcoming for community members to participate in helping to shape the future of Santa Clarita.
From left: Mayor Bob Kellar, Parks Commission Chair Ed Redd, Councilmember Marsha McLean, Councilmember Laurie Ender and Rick Gould, Director, Parks, Recreation and Community Services.
Residents celebrate the unveiling of the Parkmobile.
The City of Santa Clarita recently unveiled its new Parkmobile vehicle at Bridgeport Park. The Parkmobile is a mobile recreation program offered for free through the City and held at local parks. The Parkmobile can also be rented for birthday parties and special events for a nominal fee. For more information check out the Parkmobile online at the City’s website.
As Santa Clarita approaches the one year anniversaries of the I-5 Tunnel Accident and the Buckweed Wild Fire, the City has developed a new system that will allow its residents to subscribe and receive mobile phone text alerts concerning emergencies impacting our community. Beginning today, all residents will be able to subscribe to automatically receive emergency related text alerts (eAlerts) from the City by simply texting the term “SCEMERGENCY” to 41411 from any mobile phone device and mobile service provider.
For added convenience, in lieu of setting this up from your mobile phone residents can also subscribe to this service by visiting the City’s website at www.santa-clarita.com/emergency. From there you will be able to enter your mobile phone number in the “Text Message Alerts” subscription box located on the right side of the page to set up this important service. As with any type of texting system, residents are reminded that standard texting fees apply (typically 5 to 10 cents per text) and will be charged by your mobile phone provider. Please know that it is the City’s sole intent to utilize the eAlert system only in times of emergency and will in no way use this system to forward any non-emergency/unsolicited messages.
For more information regarding the City’s new eAlert system please contact the City’s Webmaster at webmaster@santa-clarita.com
(l-r) County of Los Angeles 5th District Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, City Manager Ken Pulskamp, Environmental Services Manager Travis Lange, Mayor Bob Kellar
The South Coast Air Quality Management District presented a handful of prestigious awards to cities in the region which have demonstrated their commitment and action to improving the air we breathe. Santa Clarita was the recipient of the Model Community Award presented to Mayor Bob Kellar.
Santa Clarita received the award for its innovative and aggressive approach to improving the air quality in our region. Some of the programs presented in the winning award application include Bike to Work Day, Transit Oriented development plans, an environmentally preferable purchasing policy, air quality advocacy, a community energy partnership, facilities energy efficiencies and the City’s urban forestry programs.
“One of the very unique aspects of Santa Clarita is our ability to effectively balance the needs of businesses and residents with our concerns about the environment. Our winning of both a Model Community Award for Air Quality and being consecutively named one of Los Angeles Top 5 Most Business Friendly Cities is a clear example of this successful balance,” commented Bob Kellar, Mayor.
