Where Maria Stands:
On Business: Santa Clarita needs good high paying jobs. No business category should be “banned” as long as they can comply with environmental and zoning regulations. I support a wider variety of employment options and more consistent permitting process. The new Enterprise Zone designation is a fabulous direction that needs to be expanded to help more local businesses.
Though I support the Downtown Newhall redevelopment, the execution could have been better. Prior consultants recommended assisting with the relocation of existing businesses. We need to ensure the City is not bankrupting existing business owners during the slow going change, or we will have even more vacant storefronts.
On Environment: Environmental regulations absolutely need to be effective and enforceable. We need clear and firm goals, but then we should allow the regulated community to find ways to meet those goals in the most efficient manner. We need to ensure regulatory agencies monitor activities in our community, so that our citizen’s health is protected and so those businesses that are in compliance are not competing with those who are profiting by breaking laws and polluting.
The Cemex mine in Canyon Country is a prime concern. Even if the City is succesful at holding it at historical mining levels, I will request computerized perimeter monitoring to ensure dust is not leaving the property. Our understaffed regulator agencies cannot monitor it effectively, and automated monitoring will document compliance (or lack of it) with air rules. Las Lomas, a huge project at the 5/14 interchange, was just killed by the City of Los Angeles. I will work to annex the area or extend our sphere of influence so we have better control over what happens there, if the builder brings it back.
On Safety: Our communities make Santa Clarita great. Citizens should not have to be our police force – calling in graffiti or code violations with limited success. I propose regular monitoring and automatic action to correct graffiti. We need an ordinance, like that in many other cities, that fights illegal conversion of single-family homes to multi-family residences or businesses. Streets, sidewalks, and facilities should be regularly fixed before reaching a state disrepair. We need more sheriffs on the street to stop the growing gang problem. If we do not take a firm stand now, things will spiral out of control.
On Development: We need to grow in a smart manner. Incentives should be given for builders willing to try transit-oriented housing, environmentally-smart building, and other techniques. Lower cost housing options, some mandated by law, should be offered to seniors and public servants like police, firefighters, and teachers. The City needs to take a firmer stance in reviewing projects proposed for the County. Negative effects on our residents, such as poor traffic routing, need to be opposed, and positive partnerships, such as linked trails and parks, should be supported.
On Traffic: We need to comple several key roads through the Whitaker Bermite site, including the Magic Mountain extension. We must support smart tasks like traffic light synchronization, adequate parking and more frequent trains for Metrolink, and ensuring the safety and convenience of healthy alternatives like cycling and walking. County development that impacts City roads must fund local improvements, rather than sending money out of our valley.
On the Hospital: We absolutely need full service, state-of-the-art medical care for the large population of the valley. The hospital needs to be able to handle things it can’t now, like emergency helicopter access and advanced infant care. However, to reduce traffic and save costs, non-critical care services should also be provided on the eastern end of the valley. A Canyon Country medical complex offering a walk-in clinic, doctor’s offices, testing / XRay labs and transitional care could handle many routine needs and reduce the pressure on Henry Mayo and surrounding neighborhoods.
On Illegal Immigration: This is a top concern that many people ask me about. Parents on both sides of my family were legal immigrants. I support legal immigration and all cultures that make America what it is. I do not support those who knowingly break our laws. Undocumented workers without a social security number do not pay State or Federal taxes, and also do not have much recourse if abused by business owners. If they are paying income taxes, they are doing it with a stolen identity. What will become of our healthcare, medicare, education, and infrastructure programs if a portion of our residents do not contribute to them? Another concern is that business owners who do things legally cannot compete with those who hire undocumented workers paid in cash. Unfair competition hurts many, partiicularly in the middle class.
Though certainly not just an illegal immigrant issue, the City should target unsafe makeshift housing. We need a single-head-of-household ordinance so our houses are not rented out as multi-family apartment buildings. We can look at day labor ordinances as have other California cities. We can take a proactive stance to deal with businesses that do not obtain city permits.
Yes there are also big issues only the Federal Government can resolve. How do we secure our borders once and for all? How do we get documentation from people already here? Our City needs to support solutions to these issues. The City reaches out to Washington and Sacamento on a multitude of other issues....they can speak out on this too.
On the Material Recovery Facility:
Update: The project has been withdrawn, at present, by the proponents, Burrtec. Please continue to watch for the EIR scoping since, unless the City removes the requirement for a local MRF from their contract, they are obligated to build it somewhere.
This project has been proposed along Sierra Highway north of Placerita Canyon, south of Golden Valley, on the east side of Sierra. The City has mandated that a Material Recovery Facility (MRF) and trash transfer station be built in City limits per the residential trash contract. I do not support that mandate, but rather support the most cost-effective and environmentally-protective way of doing the recycling. To find out the best solution, the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) must evaluate the following options, in addition to the proposed project: 1) another location in the City, such as Gate-King Office Park or Keysor-Century 2) another location elsewhere, such as the San Fernando Valley or a nearby landfill 3) a "clean" MRF only with no trash handling and 4) no project. We do not know the details of this project or the alternatives. The City is obligated to choose the one with the least environmental impact (unless they find overriding considerations.) ALL concerned citizens must write to the City Planning department regarding this project and insist that the alternatives listed above be included in the EIR, so the City can make the right choice.
