I can’t tell you how many times community members have come up to
me after a public hearing and asked if I thought their presence and
comments did any good. Or how often I have heard grumbling that it
wasn’t worth missing the football game to show up at City hall or
the town council because the Council members just voted to approve the
project anyway.
My answer to them is as Margaret Meade once said – “Never
doubt that a few committed people can change the world. Indeed,
that is the only thing that ever does”. But change comes
slowly and accomplishments sometimes occur behind the scenes.
Successes may be measured in what we DON’T have, as well as what
we do have. So I just wanted to remind everyone of some of the
hard fought battles that we have won because regular people showed up
at hearings and participated in public meetings in large numbers to
speak up for our community and our quality of life.
We DON”T have the toxic hazardous waste landfill that was
proposed to be sited here in the late seventies. That was a first
effort at community activism for many people and it was successful. We
do NOT have a concrete box channeled river (except where it was
illegally concreted by Newhall Land in Bouquet Creek) because many
people spoke out against this proposal in the eighties, attended
meetings and gave their time to prepare a community vision for the
Santa Clara River.
Our City was formed in 1987 by a group of volunteers that were upset
about having to drive all the way down town for meetings and wanted
more control over how our valley developed. Community members
were on the City General Plan Committee and helped write the Oak and
Hillside ordinances. We do NOT have Elsemere Landfill, a huge
dump proposed in the early nineties in the Angeles Forest as a result
of the hundreds of individuals and organizations that spent many
volunteer hours to oppose this project. Many housing proposals have
been substantially altered before approval due to suggestions and
concerns brought by members of the community.
SCOPE was also formed in 1987 by a group of residents just like
everyone that attends hearings now. We are proud of the substantial
efforts made by many of our members who were intimately involved with
all these issues. Our members were on the City formation
committee. We helped write the Oak and Hillside Ordinances.
Members have spent countless hours to protect the Santa Clara River and
open space, to fight landfills and now the proposed gravel mine.
In a 1993 lawsuit we won a Court decision that tripled of school
mitigation fees paid by developers and will require $10 million for
libraries helping both these public services keep pace with growth in
our valley. We speak out to ensure adequate water supply, against
air and water pollution and for parks and open space and preservation
of our valley’s incredible biodiversity. None of us are
paid except in the satisfaction of looking back at what we have
accomplished over the nearly 20 years of community work in the Santa
Clarita Valley.
There are many issues that still need to be addressed. We should
not be building in flood plains as is obvious from the recent floods,
yet the River Park project proposes to do this. We are still
concreting our creeks such as Newhall Creek, poor planing that may have
been partly responsible for the flooding in that area. We still have
unresolved water and air pollution problems. Traffic is a
nightmare. So, our local government bodies still need to hear
from people like you and me at public hearings. They need to hear
our concerns and our ideas. They need our support and thanks when
they do the right thing (for instance, the wonderful community events
such as the River Rally). They need to hear our opposition when
they allow the destruction of oaks and hillsides or over build for the
capacity of the existing infrastructure.
As a SCOPE officer and a member of the Castaic Town Council, I also
sometimes sit on the other side of the dais. It is important for
me to hear from the public on what they support as well as their
concerns. If I only hear from the development community it is
hard to make a decision about what is best for the WHOLE
community. Community members can tell me about issues in their
neighborhood that I would not know of otherwise. They can bring
to light errors in reports that I might not see. Public input is
instrumental in making a good decision. I am always grateful to those
that are willing to give their time to the community to bring their
issues to public meetings.
So take a little time to keep the Santa Clarita Valley on the right
track. And don’t ever think that your time, your letters
and other efforts don’t make a difference, indeed, it is the only
thing that ever does!
Hope to see you at the next public meeting!
Phil Hof,
Castaic Town Council and SCOPE