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18 • THE <strong>Reader</strong><br />
<strong>Reader</strong> Opinion<br />
o u r V i e w<br />
leases as well as alternative and independent<br />
films that don’t often find<br />
their way into the Santa Clarita Valley.<br />
Also included are a six-level public<br />
parking structure and mixed-use<br />
buildings with retail spaces and 46<br />
housing units.<br />
Absent from the vote was Councilwoman<br />
Laurene Weste, who recused<br />
herself from the proceedings because<br />
she owns property near the<br />
project, which would create a conflict<br />
of interest.<br />
The lone dissenter was Councilman<br />
TimBen Boydston, who is employed<br />
as executive director of the<br />
nearby Canyon Theatre Guild. He objected<br />
to the public expense of $15.2<br />
million for the 400-space parking<br />
structure as well as the project’s $3.4<br />
million subsidy for the theater.<br />
State officials had cleared the way<br />
for Boydston to participate, saying<br />
his role with the nonprofit CTG did<br />
not constitute a legal conflict of inlaemmle<br />
Deal an investment in<br />
old town newhall<br />
DaV e b o S S e r t<br />
by Dave Bossert<br />
Contributing Writer<br />
<strong>March</strong> <strong>2016</strong><br />
horticulture Death has<br />
descended onto Stevenson<br />
ranch<br />
What kind of Old Town<br />
Newhall do you want?<br />
We’d like to see an Old<br />
Town Newhall that serves as a hub of<br />
community activity for decades to<br />
come, a haven for arts and entertainment,<br />
with great alternatives for<br />
shopping and dining.<br />
That, fortunately, appears to be the<br />
kind of Old Town Newhall that the<br />
majority of our City Council wants,<br />
too. Many steps have already been<br />
taken, from the addition of live theater<br />
and new shops and restaurants,<br />
to the construction of the city’s signature<br />
library.<br />
The latest step came as the council<br />
voted 3-1 in favor of a project that is<br />
likely to become a major anchor for<br />
a revitalized historic downtown, and<br />
it represents a major public investment<br />
in helping Old Town Newhall<br />
secure its role as a long-term community<br />
centerpiece.<br />
The highlights include a sevenscreen<br />
Laemmle art-house theater,<br />
which will show mainstream film re-<br />
Community Should reserve Judgment<br />
on Clwa-nCwD merger<br />
See Laemmle, next page<br />
Let’s all take a deep breath. When<br />
the Castaic Lake Water Agency<br />
and Newhall County Water District<br />
announced they were in discussions<br />
about joining into one agency,<br />
you could have predicted the kneejerk<br />
reactions from CLWA’s critics.<br />
Those predictions would have been<br />
accurate, as evidenced by the critics’<br />
testimony at a Feb. 4 workshop held<br />
jointly by the two agencies.<br />
Do the critics have some valid<br />
gripes? Perhaps. But they, and the<br />
rest of the community, would be<br />
wiser to reserve judgment – because<br />
it’s possible CLWA and NCWD just<br />
might be onto something. Ironically,<br />
that “something” could address<br />
many of those same critics’ long-running<br />
concerns about public control<br />
over the way our valley’s water is<br />
managed.<br />
Here’s a <strong>Reader</strong>’s Digest version of<br />
how it works now:<br />
We get water from two primary<br />
sources: Local groundwater, and imported<br />
supplies, led by the State<br />
Water Project. CLWA is our local<br />
wholesaler of imported water.<br />
Water is provided to customers by<br />
four retailers, each with its own service<br />
area. The NCWD is one. The other<br />
three include a small L.A. County<br />
water district serving Val Verde, the<br />
Santa Clarita Water Division (which<br />
used to be a private company but<br />
was acquired by CLWA, which now<br />
operates it) and the Valencia Water<br />
Co., founded by The Newhall Land<br />
and Farming Co. as it developed Valencia.<br />
CLWA is overseen by a board that<br />
is mostly elected by the public, but<br />
also includes one appointed representative<br />
from each retailer. CLWA<br />
acquired Valencia Water a few years<br />
ago, meaning it now owns the two<br />
largest retailers, and that’s one of the<br />
issues that resulted in litigation between<br />
NCWD and CLWA.<br />
That litigation led to settlement<br />
talks starting last year. From there, it<br />
Over the last several weeks I have taken<br />
special notice of the trees along<br />
Stevenson Ranch Parkway in Stevenson<br />
Ranch. A few of the trees are starting to<br />
bloom but many look like the skeletal remains<br />
of once vibrant trees. Drip irrigation<br />
lines have been hastily added around these<br />
trees recently, likely when the Landscape<br />
Maintenance District (LMD) realized that the<br />
trees might be dying.<br />
It is heartbreaking to see a horticultural<br />
genocide playing out in our community especially<br />
since, as residents, we are all paying<br />
LMD and HOA fees to maintain the common<br />
areas. It is appalling to see dead or dying<br />
ground cover that has been sprayed with a<br />
green substance masking its hideousness. A<br />
center median that is filled with weeds that<br />
occasionally gets mowed. Remind me, why<br />
are we paying these fees?<br />
The community common areas as a whole,<br />
look tattered; an unkempt mess of weeds and<br />
dying trees. Long gone are the days when<br />
driving into Stevenson Ranch felt like driving<br />
into a beautifully landscaped environment<br />
that was lush; a dreamy corridor of well<br />
groomed shrubs, manicured lawns, healthy<br />
trees, and center medians capped with lavish<br />
flowers bursting with color. I’m forlorn for<br />
those days.<br />
To may dismay, the community evergreen<br />
tree, a majestic forty footer that becomes a<br />
holiday tree adorned with lights during the<br />
Christmas season has succumbed to neglect.<br />
Those responsible have murdered what was<br />
a healthy vibrant tree. They have in essence<br />
killed a Christmas tradition, for if lights were<br />
strung on the bare branches of this dead tree<br />
it would likely turn into a momentary vertical<br />
Yule log; a brief holiday funeral pyre. Replacing<br />
such a mature tree will be prohibitively<br />
costly.<br />
If all of these trees are dead, then who is<br />
responsible? The LMD, which has done an exceedingly<br />
poor job and is responsible for the<br />
was kind of like a new couple meeting<br />
for the first time at a nightclub:<br />
One thing led to another…<br />
The negotiations led to discussions<br />
of the agencies’ common goals<br />
and principles. Evidently, they have<br />
more in common than they once<br />
thought.<br />
Fast forward to early-<strong>2016</strong>, and<br />
the agencies have jointly announced<br />
they are in discussions that could<br />
lead to the creation of a new valleywide<br />
water agency that would oversee<br />
wholesale and retail operations.<br />
They’ve made no formal decision,<br />
and if a new agency is to be created,<br />
it will almost certainly need approval<br />
from both the state Legislature and<br />
the Los Angeles County Local Agency<br />
declining quality of the landscaping over the<br />
years, which is evident of that deteriorating<br />
service. Or should we point to the HOA and<br />
the lack of leadership in directing the LMD<br />
service? Either way it continues to spiral<br />
down with no indication of a plan or even signage<br />
hinting that plan is underway.<br />
I’ve been hearing that there is a plan for rehabilitating<br />
the landscape but none has been<br />
revealed to the community. This has been<br />
going on since last year and nothing meaningful<br />
has been disseminated to residents, instead<br />
all we see is continuing degradation of<br />
the common areas, a gardening massacre,<br />
which is having an impact on the esthetics of<br />
the Stevenson Ranch neighborhood. The lack<br />
of visual curb appeal has a direct correlation<br />
to home prices.<br />
We all want to live in a community that is<br />
well taken care, which has curb appeal; a<br />
community that you are proud to call home.<br />
Look at Valencia Blvd in Westridge or the Pico<br />
Canyon medians, they have draught tolerant<br />
plants. How long does it take to make a similar<br />
choice for the Stevenson Ranch medians?<br />
It doesn’t and there is no plausible reason at<br />
this point as to why it has taken as long as it<br />
has to get the landscaping fixed.<br />
The state of the common areas in Stevenson<br />
Ranch is abysmal in comparison to the<br />
home values and what homeowners are paying<br />
in LMD and HOA fees. It’s time that both<br />
the LMD and the HOA step up and get the<br />
community common areas back in order. If<br />
they can’t do that then it’s time for new leadership<br />
that can actually get that job done. R<br />
Dave Bossert is a community volunteer who<br />
serves on a number of boards and councils. He is<br />
an award winning artist, filmmaker and author.<br />
His commentaries represent his own opinions<br />
and not necessarily the views of any organization<br />
he may be affiliated with or those of the<br />
Westside <strong>Reader</strong>. Dave writes a regular weekly<br />
column online at www.thescvebeacon.com<br />
Formation Commission, which oversees<br />
government agency boundaries.<br />
They’ve promised an open, transparent<br />
process, and it will take time<br />
— we’d guess it will go into 2017.<br />
There are many details to sort out,<br />
and the LAFCO approval process, in<br />
particular, should provide the community<br />
ample opportunity to review<br />
the concept and weigh in on it.<br />
Is a new valleywide water agency<br />
a good idea? Maybe, maybe not. It’s<br />
too soon to know for sure, so it would<br />
be irresponsible to rely on knee-jerk<br />
reactions. Community members<br />
should reserve judgment, and render<br />
informed opinions when all the details<br />
are — if you’ll pardon the expression<br />
— flushed out. R