Johnson Park in Pico Canyon
A proposal to move an at-risk youth program from East Canyon to Pico Canyon is expected to be sent back to the L.A. County Parks Department on Tuesday for further evaluation.
On June 2, when the Board of Supervisors delayed discussion of the proposal, it rescheduled the matter for this coming Tuesday, June 30. According to the supervisors’ June 30 agenda, “the Director of Parks and Recreation requests that this item be referred back to the department.”
At issue is an at-risk youth program (ages 14-24) that has been funded through a county park bond and run by the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority since about 1999 in East Canyon. MRCA was seeking to move the program to Johnson Park in Pico Canyon and add overnight camping.
Both canyons are in the Santa Clarita Valley west of Newhall, but unlike East Canyon, Pico Canyon is a California Historic Landmark as the home of Mentryville and California’s first commercially productive oil well. The oil well itself is also a National Historic Landmark.
At a June 3 community meeting, members of the public and the West Ranch Town Council expressed concerns about the compatibility of the program with a historic resource, and about the overall strategy for the preservation of the resource.
At the community meeting, a representative of Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich told the Town Council that MRCA’s proposal to move the program would be put on hold. Tuesday’s recommended action from Parks Director Russ Guiney would do just that.
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6 Comments
Someone needs to use common sense. Bringing campers to this area would mean disaster. One carelessly tossed cigarette and look at what would be lost.
Have them rent some space in Peter Pitchess Detention Center. Let them see how it is. Maybe they with rid themselves of their at risk status.
at risk youth, but they are as old as 24? thats all we would need to bring to the stevenson ranch area – on purpose!
i think we should have our jr high and high school district students who have been slated for the diversion program go out there and work to beautify their own community. We have our own at-risk teens here in SCV that could use a real dose of reality
I was at the June 2 meeting. “At risk” was described as being young people who reside in areas that have a high crime and gang rate. As told, it has nothing to do with the boy or girl having a criminal record. Three graduates of the program were there and, while I don’t know them, one spoke on behalf of the program and removed my fears as to what kind of kids are being brought in for this. I initially thought that “at risk” meant that these kids would have a criminal background, but the three I saw looked like they are on their way to being great citizens. The program has some similarities to Boy Scouts, where kids are promoted as they complete certain phases. They are exposed to and taught about nature, which is pretty important to a kid who may have never been out of an urban environment.
Thank you Leon for staying on top of this !!
Again this program should stay in Towsley, the next canyon over,
where it is being very successful. Nature is nature, History can not be
replaced !!!