Safe Routes to School Grant

The City of Santa Clarita was recently awarded a $435,000 grant from the State of California’s “State Safe Routes to School Grant.” The grant money is allocated to the City’s ongoing campaign to create a safer environment surrounding schools for children as well as to encourage them to walk and bike to school, which should help to decrease traffic. This is the second year that the City has received this grant.

The money awarded this year will go towards installing improvements in the areas surrounding Canyon Springs, Meadows and Emblem elementary schools. These improvements are scheduled to be installed in the Summer of 2009. The three schools chosen for last year’s grant, Santa Clarita, Newhall and Cedar Creek elementary, will have their improvements installed in the Summer of 2008.

“As a result of the City applying for and receiving this grant, the areas surrounding the elementary schools in Santa Clarita will be made safer so that children can walk and bike to school without incident,” said Mayor Pro-Tem Frank Ferry.

Originally the City visited all of the 26 local elementary schools and did an assessment, ranking them on a level of safety and the grant money that is received goes toward upgrading the areas surrounding them according to the need.

The “Safe Routes to School Grant” will be used to do numerous upgrades including redoing all cross-walks so they are more visible, updating all signs to the required neon yellow, installing countdown pedestrian displays for the street crossing
signals, installing driver feedback signs that monitor and relay the speed of those driving by and extending out the sidewalks at key intersections  to make the distance of crossing the street shorter and pedestrians that are standing on the sidewalks more visible.

For more information about the upgrades that will be used to increase safety for the City elementary schools, or more information about the “State Safe Routes to School Grant,” please contact Ian Pari, City Senior Traffic Engineer at (661) 284-1402.

2008 Dodger Day

Even though I am a die hard Angel’s fan I’ll go ahead and put this out there because…well…it is baseball season now after all.

Santa Clarita Dodger day is Saturday June 7th with a 1pm game time.  You can purchase tickets through W.S. Hart Baseball at the canteen or through Washington Mutual Banks throughout the valley.   Quantities are limited, so if you want to go with a big group I wouldn’t wait too much longer.

The Dodgers play the Cubs that day, but SCV day at Dodger stadium is typically a fun day and they also have some pre-game activities where usually some local kids are chosen to go out on to the field.  Chances are you’ll know at least one of the kids out there. 

2008 Man and Woman of the Year Nominees Announced

Each year the Man & Woman of the Year Committee selects 2 nominees to receive this outstanding honor.  Nominees are submitted and undergo a vigorous judging and voting process by their peers.

Here are this year’s nominees: 

2008 Woman of the Year Nominees
(and their nominating organizations)

Mary Ann Colf
Santa Clarita Valley Rotary Noon

Grace Elliot
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks Santa Clarita #2379

Betty Rabin-Fung
Assistance League of Santa Clarita

Shelley Hann
Betty Ferguson Foundation
Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Health Foundation

Janice Hoskinson
Child & Family Center Foundation

Kris Hough
The SCV Theatre Project
SCV Facilities Foundation

Marlee Lauffer
Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital

Jill Mellady
Michael Hoefflin Foundation
College of the Canyons Foundation

Anna Ott
Boys & Girls Club of SCV Foundation

Judy Penman
Zonta Club of Santa Clarita Valley
Circle of Hope

Heidi Webber
Placerita Nature Center Associates

2008 Man of the Year Nominees
(and their nominating organizations)

Greg Amsler
Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Hospital

Harry Bell
Santa Clarita Valley Rotary Noon

Kerry Carmody
The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Wayne Crawford
Carousel Ranch
Henry Mayo Newhall Memorial Health Foundation

Jack Elliot
Benevolent Protective Order of Elks Santa Clarita #2379

Bruce Fortine
Betty Ferguson Foundation

Carl Goldman
Zonta Club of Santa Clarita Valley
The SCV Theatre Project
Santa Clarita Valley Disaster Coalition
Providence Holy Cross Foundation

Bob Hudson
Samuel Dixon Family Health Centers, Inc.

John Mahaffey
Boys & Girls Club of SCV Foundation

Steve Sturgeon
Child & Family Center Foundation

Jay Weiner
The Gentle Barn

Steve Zimmer
College of the Canyons Foundation

Underwater Hockey

Well I have never heard of this before, but it sounds interesting and like it’d be good exercise.  The Santa Clarita Aquatic Center is offering Underwater Hockey to city residents on Wednesday nights from 7:30 to 9pm.

This sport has been around for more than 50 years (where I don’t know), but basically you wear a mask, fins and a snorkel and you swim around the pool with a stick trying to move the puck across the pool to score.  

If you want to give this a try you just need to show up and it only costs $3 to play.

Oh and by the way, the pool is heated. :) 

For more information you can contact Chris Lundie at 661-250-3771. 

Speed and Agility Training

Don’t have your kid be the slowest on the team.  Check out this speed school available to SCV residents.  If you know me, you know my kids aren’t known for their speed, but my son did this camp last year and we did see an improvement and he really had a good time.

Here’s some info on the camp…

Run Faster, Move Quicker, Condition, and have some fun.

Any sport or ability level. Ages 7-14

2 - 4 week sessions up to three days a week Tuesday ,Wednesday, Thursday  5:30-7:00p @ Chesebough park (McBean and Sunset Hills)

$225:00 per session. 1st session starts April 29th 2nd session starts June 3rd.

Training will focus on:

• Proper Running Technique
• Explosion Exercises
• Quickness training
• Balance                                                                 

Timed events to see progress!!!!!

No matter what your sport or ability level, get off the couch, turn off the video games and come have some fun. Space limited. T -shirt included.

For sign ups and info email Dan Waitman at gwtmn(at)aol(dot)com.

Report Graffiti

Keep our city graffiti free by reporting it if you see it.  You can either call 25-CLEAN (252-5326) or use the city’s new e-service online form. 

The City of Santa Clarita’s Graffiti Removal staff and a group of Rio Vista Elementary school students will be working together on Friday, March 28, from 12 p.m. to 3 p.m. to clean up the wash located behind Rio Vista.

The Rio Vista students will be painting over the graffiti in the wash as well as picking up trash. The grade levels of the students that are participating in the clean-up range from kindergarten to sixth grade.

It’s great to see these kids being proactive in the community and helping to keep it clean. 

2008 Monopoly Mania

Santa Clarita, CA…“Go to Jail.  Go directly to Jail.  Do not pass Go.  Do not collect $200.”    One of the most well-known directives in board game history comes to life as the SCV School & Business Alliance prepares for its fourth installment of Monopoly® Mania.  Participants in the annual game-fest, the Alliance’s signature fundraiser, spend a lively evening buying, selling, and monopolizing property investments while sending fellow players “to jail.”   Monopoly® Mania 4 is set for 5:30 p.m., Saturday, May 10, 2008 at The Paseo Club in Valencia.

Proceeds from Monopoly® Mania support the Alliance’s School-to-Career programs such as job shadowing, internships, Educators in Industry and other learning opportunities designed to connect schools with businesses and community organizations.  Experiences offered through the Alliance provide students with valuable exposure to the workplace and helps prepare them for their future.

Tickets are $75 per person and include game participation and dinner.  The event is open to adults 18 and over.  For ticket, property sponsorships and information, please call the School & Business Alliance at (661) 259-0033, extension 230 (skramer(at)hartdistrict(dot)org) or Jacquie Malcolm at (661) 373-8496.  Seating is limited.