It isn’t easy to ask for a date when you’re my age. As long as I’m at it, I’m going to ask for two dates. OK?

The first date all y’all have to remember is Monday, July 28. Why? That is the day the Val Verde Community Advisory Committee is meeting with the Chiquita Canyon Landfill folks at the Embassy Suites Hotel, just off of Newhall Ranch Road near the I-5. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. and everyone who wants to hear what is being said should show up.

The next meeting where you can voice your concerns about the landfill expansion is on Thursday, July 31, in the Castaic Sports Complex gymnasium. That meeting starts promptly at 6 p.m.

These meetings aren’t just for the residents of Val Verde. This concerns everyone in the entire SCV.

I wonder if any reps from the Santa Clarita City Council are going to attend either or both meetings? Since a lot of the trash going into the Chiquita dump comes from Santa Clarita, maybe a rep should show up. That would be great, since at one time the folks in Val Verde wanted to become part of the city of Santa Clarita. Maybe a visit by a council member would help them on the path to joining the city.

Val Verde residents say they were told in 1997 that the expansion then was going to be the last one. What is this proposed expansion now? What happens if isn’t approved and the dump reaches capacity soon?

Up in northern California, there was a dump between two former capital cities of California. I used that “landfill” in the late 1970s and transferred to the Puget Sound area of Washington State for nearly five years. The Navy sent me back to northern California in 1982 and we bought a home about a mile from that dump … only it wasn’t there any more. It had reached capacity and converted into a kind of open space between the two cities.

It was good that space was there. You see, those two cities acted like they blamed each other for not remaining the state capital. The rivalry was and maybe still is a little intense at times.

About all you could see of the old dump was some gas monitoring pipes and rather nicely planted landscape. The plan was to make it into a park. I don’t know if that has happened yet.

What this is all about is that we don’t know the real reason for the requested expansion of the Chiquita Canyon Landfill. Do they just want to increase capacity for a far-distant time when it would be full? Maybe some other nearby dumps are at capacity and Chiquita is betting it can take the trash that would go to Sunshine if it were closed. Of course, it might be because of the 20,000 proposed new homes to be built due south of the dump on the other side of the Santa Clara River.

Whatever the reason, it had better be good. The folks of Val Verde deserve better. The little neighborhood has a rich history that shouldn’t be besmirched by a huge dump.

I can see the sign now that could go up at the turn to Val Verde from the 126. I imagine it would read:

“Welcome to Val Verde / Home of the Largest Dump in the Santa Clarita Valley.”

I sure hope not. Something seems wrong with the whole concept. The stink isn’t just from the dump, either. Maybe we can learn more soon.

Has anyone figured out the two cities I wrote about that had the dump between them? Both were the capital of California at one time. They are Vallejo (state capital in 1852-53) and then Benicia (1853-54). The capitol building in Benicia is still there as a state historic museum. The building in Vallejo that served as the capital burned down in 1880s.

So now you know.

In the flatlands of Tidewater, Va., they have a unique way of creating a landfill. The trash is dumped and a hug pit next door provides the dirt to cover it. The city of Virginia Beach is home to two of those “trash mountains.” The pits they get the dirt from become lakes.

There is a park call Mount Trashmore. The other one is called “Mount Trashmore 2.” It is still active, last I heard. A third trash mountain is building up in Suffolk, Va., about 20 miles from the second mountain in Virginia Beach.

In all three instances, it was a case of expansion, filling and moving on. As the dumps grew, it was apparent there is a lot of truth to the saying, “If you build it, the trash will come.”

But does it have to be in Val Verde?

Darryl Manzer grew up in the Pico Canyon oil town of Mentryville in the 1960s and attended Hart High School. After a career in the U.S. Navy he returned to live in the Santa Clarita Valley. He can be reached at dmanzer@scvhistory.com and his commentaries are archived at DManzer.com. Watch his walking tour of Mentryville [here].