Santa Clarita Velo Club

With the Amgen Race having been hailed a success Santa Clarita can now look to its own residents to keep the cycling torch lit in the SCV. Based on the size of the roster at the Santa Clarita Velo Club we will not have a shortage of riders any time soon.

If you are a cycling enthusiast and you haven’t already joined this cycling club, you are missing out. With about 100 members on their roster, this club meets and rides every weekend. To participate you must be comfortable with a 15mph pave on flat land as well as adhere to some other safety rules. Go to their website for more information.

Restaurant Review | Rio Rio, Santa Clarita

So we finally went to Rio Rio. Honestly, if I do go back, it won’t be for a while. The food was just okay. The tri-tip was a bit dry. The service was slow, but that’s par for the course for a new restaurant.

The pricing was very high for the ambiance they offer. For a family of four our check came to $141.00. The only options are the $33.00 all you can eat (kids were $17) or the all you can eat salad bar (which didn’t look to thrilling). We had two cocktails and one dessert. We did leave there full, but not really satisfied. The sides are rather plain. They offer white jasmine rice, black beans, carrots and fried plantains.

The bonus is that there was no wait what so ever and they have dancing there as well, so that might be worth the extra money you’d pay for a mediocre meal.

Like I said before, I think I’ll wait a few months if we do go back.

Santa Clarita Restaurants

Family Watchdog US | Finding Registered Offenders

A friend of mine forwarded this information to me and I think it might be of use to some of you.

This site was developed by John Walsh from Americas Most Wanted. Consider this just another tool to help us keep ourselves and our families safe. This website will basically show you on a map where registered offenders live in your area.

Click here and enter your address. A map will pop up with a small icon of your house. Surrounding the icon you will see red, blue, and green, dots. Click on the dots and a photo will appear with an address and the description of the crime this offender has committed.

Santa Clarita Pride Week

I received this comment from a reader whom I only know as “K&amp M’s Mom”. Some good information here. I thought it deserved it’s own post.

Pride Week will run from Monday, April 9, through Sunday, April 15, 2007. Hundreds of residents will volunteer to clean up and beautify streets, parks, schools, and other areas around town. Please note…there is one important change for this year’s event. In past years, residents hauled their trash to various “dumpsites” throughout the City. There will be no dumpsites this year. Instead, residents may call their trash hauler to arrange for a pick-up of extra trash and/or bulky items, or they may make an appointment to take their items to the Waste Management facility, 25772 Springbrook Road, in Saugus. If you have any questions, please call Cynthia Llerenas at (661) 255-4918.

Daylight Savings Time 2007

In August 2005 congress passed an energy bill that extends Daylight Savings Time by a month. Beginning in 2007, Daylight Savings Time will start the second Sunday in March and end the first Sunday in November.

That means 3/11/07 it’s time to spring forward! Don’t forget! Mark your calendars!

Countdown to the Amgen Tour

As the city gears up for the Amgen Tour that will be racing through on Saturday we residents need to be prepared as well. Thousands of people will be lined up on the streets to watch the cyclists zoom by and if you aren’t planning on being one of them, may I suggest staying away from the area all together. The traffic around the race path will be horrendous. If you aren’t planning on attending to support the race and the city; stay home.

The biggest impact will be the closure of McBean Pkwy and Magic Mountain Pkwy on Friday night at 10pm and it will remain closed for 24 hours. There will be many festivities around this area including the “finish line”. That means if you were planning on going to the movies Friday or Saturday night, good luck. You’ll probably have to enter from the Sears side and either drive or walk over.

On Saturday, the tour will enter through the 126 at approximately 2:20pm and continue through the industrial center (I’m guessing Scott Rd) to McBean Pkwy. The tour will do a three lap “circuit” that will go down McBean to Valencia Blvd, then turn up to Tourney, and then back on Magic Mountain Pkwy till it hits McBean again by Town Center Drive.

The city is urging the public to go to www.Santa-Clarita.com/TourOfCA for information.

I’m really excited to see how this turns out and hope that Santa Clarita gains the notoriety it was looking for as a host of this leg of the race.

Santa Clarita Enforces Yard Violations

A recent article in the signal caught my eye regarding a local resident that had been given written warning that her yard violated six ordinances within the city’s Municipal Code. As I read through the article and learned about the situation, I have to agree with the city on this one.

Basically this woman became ill (the article didn’t state with what). At any rate, she’s had some hard times and has let her lawn go to the crapper.

I do agree that it is an unfortunate situation. However, there does have to be some consideration for your neighbors and the community as a whole. I believe that part of the attraction that brings people to Santa Clarita is the perception of a “Whisteria Lane” type community where all the homes have manicured lawns. I’m sure there are hundreds of residents that maybe facing a physical and/or financial hardship. I just don’t think the whole neighborhood should suffer from it.

I was feeling sorry for this resident in the beginning of the article, but by the time I got to the part where it stated that she was storing furniture on the side of her front yard. By the way, it was so much furniture that the city representative thought it was an abandoned vehicle. Not only that, but the article also noted that she had teen age boys. I don’t know why these kids weren’t made responsible for the upkeep of the yard, but that sounds like it could’ve been an option.

It’s good to know that the city will enforce the codes in a neighborhood with no HOA.

So here’s my question. How did it get so bad? Where were her neighbors throughout all this? Did anyone offer to help her before things got out of control?