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Today in S.C.V. History September 1
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Latest Additions to SCVNews.com
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2001 - LASD Deputy Hagop "Jake" Kuredjian gunned down in Stevenson Ranch while backing up ATF [story]
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College of the Canyons Women's Soccer won its second match in as many outings, this time posting a 4-1 road win at San Diego Mesa College.
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The city of Santa Clarita encourages interested and qualified residents to apply for an unscheduled vacancy position on the Santa Clarita Planning Commission. The unexpired term ends Dec. 31, 2026.
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As August comes to a close and the school year starts for all student athletes in the Southern Section, I want to officially welcome everyone back as we begin the 2024-2025 school year. This school year will be significant for a variety of reasons
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The Santa Clarita Master Chorale, led by Artistic Director Allan Robert Petker, is holding auditions in advance of its upcoming 25th anniversary season.
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The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Missing Persons Unit is asking for the public’s help locating an at-risk missing person last seen in Canyon Country.
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Metro has a plan to enhance safety and improve mobility in the SR-14 Antelope Valley Freeway corridor, which is a lifeline route in North Los Angeles County.
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College of the Canyons cross country began its season in successful fashion, with the women's team taking first and then men's squad running third at the season opening San Diego Cross Country Kickoff.
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Grant applications are now open for two of the three available arts nonprofit grants from the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture.
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California State Sen. Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) announced his bill to expand access to low and no-cost spay/neuter services has successfully passed both the Senate and Assembly and is now headed to the governor for approval.
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Residents of the city of Santa Clarita are asked to join the Santa Clarita Public Library's Food For Fines campaign this September.
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The Santa Clarita Artists Association will feature watercolor artist Ray Hunter at its monthly meeting, Monday, Sept. 16 at Barnes and Noble Booksellers
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Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency has announced that it has been awarded the prestigious Investment Policy Certification by the California Municipal Treasurers Association.
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The city of Santa Clarita's Central Bark dog park for large breeds will be closed Friday, Aug. 30-Monday, Sept. 2 for renovation.
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2009 - L.A. County Fire Capt. Ted Hall, 47, and Firefighter Specialist Arnie Quinones, 34, are killed in the line of duty on Day 4 of the Station Fire [story]
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Nancy Pollock Coulter, 80, the 2009 Santa Clarita Valley Woman of the Year, died Wednesday, Aug. 28, of a heart attack.
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The United States Attorney's Office, Central District of California has announced that law enforcement arrested six defendants on Wednesday, Aug. 28, that a federal grand jury charged in a 46-count indictment alleging a Canyon Country couple facilitated a crime tourism group, then laundered millions of dollars in illicit proceeds.
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As fall is approaching, the city of Santa Clarita prepares for one of its popular annual events, the River Rally and Environmental Expo.
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College of the Canyons opened the 2024 campaign by competing in the annual Chuck Melendez Invitational held at Olivas Links Golf Course on Monday, with COC freshman Sahya Kitabatake earning medalist honors with an even par round.
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Fostering Youth Independence students were well equipped to go back to school following the non-profit’s eighth annual Back to School Bash and Career Fair.
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The Val Verde Historical Society will host Back to Val Verde for Val Verde’s 100! on Saturday, Aug. 31 at 11 a.m. This all day picnic and celebration will feature food, music, games and raffles.
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In recognition of his leadership and work on behalf of animal welfare, Sen. Scott Wilk (R-Santa Clarita) was pleased to be the recipient of the California Veterinary Medical Association’s inaugural Legislator of the Year award.
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ARTree Community Arts Center Santa Clarita, a local nonprofit is looking for sponsors for its All Ages Student Art Show at the SCAA Gallery, Nov. 9-10, 11 a.m. - 5 p.m. with a reception on Nov. 8.
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26 Comments
If you continue to let the landfill operators define the law, you are going to continue to be at their mercy. Get a lawyer and do what you have to, and pay the lawyer in any way you can. Your homes and your health depend on it.
Thanks for highlighting this. We must all come together to fight this expansion and hold them to their original contract. I mean, term sheet.
Val Verde will not lose this fight. This fight is for the entire Santa Clarita Valley. Forty years is enough! We cannot fight Elsmere Canyon dump and win than let that fight be meaningless because we allow this legal commitment to be violated. Elsmere Canyon was in the county when the City of Santa Clartia took up the battle to defeat it at tax payers expense. It is up to the public to hold those same elected officials to the same standard now.
Lawyers don’t come cheap. This is not Valencia it is Val Verde. They picked this area on purpose because it is a low income majority neighborhood. It has been 42 years of suppressing this town and it does not appear to be stopping any time soon. Val Verde did exist before the landfill.
Oh well…Val Verde is a town of disposable people per anyone who supports the expansion. After all, it is all about the money and it is not in their backyard.
Great Article!
I know lawyers are not cheap. Read the contract/term sheet and find out if the losing party has to pay attorney fees. If they do, some attorney might be interested in looking at the problem.
Yes, the term sheet. I would be very interested to know what a Judge might think about that little issue.
Everyone can read this article about the definition and purpose of a term sheet here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_sheet
For more information and to see the items mentioned please see this web site
http://www.chiquitalandfill.net/
This is a web site the citizens of Val Verde have for reference for anyone who wishes to see the documentation for our concerns.
What’s upsetting about this is how they call a contract a term sheet. Here’s what a term sheet is and how it’s typically used. A term sheet is used in business transactions where there will be quite a bit of negotiating. The negotiations get to a certain point, then a term sheet is written up. The term sheet lists the terms agreed to up to this point and both parties sign it. This does two things: it clears up any confusion about what has been agreed to and it also keeps both parties in the negotiations. It’s typically not a legally binding document and is not meant to be one, however there are rare instances where one party sues another. It most certainly is not the final contract which both parties sign.
So, if Mike Dean from Chiquita Canyon Landfill truly believes that the document is a term sheet, then why does he reference the document as a contract when it’s to the landfill’s benefit? For instance, he said that the CBFC funds cannot be used for a health study, as it would be a violation of the contract. Or that the contract says that CBFC funds cannot be used by the community to hire a lawyer to sue the landfill.
In my opinion, downplaying the importance of a contract to a mere term sheet should not have been done, but it was. Some will say it’s another game by the management of the landfill. Others will say it’s normal negotiating practices and all part of the battle. Still others will say it’s the job of a PR firm to do things like this, so stop complaining. Either way, the document is not a term sheet; it’s a contract and I will continue to treat it as such.
Thank you.
Greg
Great article Steve. To the point with facts to back yourself!
Will you allow the landfill reps to respond?
I hope SCVTV allows their comments, if they do. I would love to see them respond to this.
I hope that their comments are actively solicited. We can then see if they have the guts to say publicly what they have apparently been saying semi-privately.
Thank you msc545, after reading the Term_sheet definition, I am convinced it was a contract, since we followed it to the tee.
I am not sure if it is or is not a contract – a lawyer would be needed to determine that. However, if it is a contract, and if you followed and they didn’t, that might be meaningful. Again – you really NEED a lawyer!
If Mike Dean says its a term sheet, That means we can take the CBFC funds and get a lawyer
I don’t live in Val Verde, but I have an interest in the problem because I do live in Santa Clarita and I don’t want this to end up happening to my neighborhood too.
Eventually you folks are going to need to hire or persuade a lawyer to help you, or you are going to get stuck with that landfill expansion. There really are no alternatives since the landfill people are not going to back down on this.
Is Mike Dean a lawyer and qualified to state if it’s a contract or not ?
Kevin, I’m afraid you went back in time and killed your grandfather. ;)
I am sure anyone can reply.
At the VVCAC meeting, I arrived late, but I heard that Mike Dean had called some residents “blatant liars”. Can someone verify this?
Mike Dean is the Division Vice President for Waste Connections and was present at the December VVCAC meeting.
The following comes from Chiquita Canyon Landfill.
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Apology to our Val Verde neighbors
Chiquita Canyon takes very seriously its commitment to minimize odors from the waste received at our facility and we offer our sincerest apologies to our neighbors in Val Verde for the situation that occurred on the morning of December 20, 2014.
It appears we received a number of green waste loads in the morning from one of our regular customers. We routinely receive material from this company and it has a “normal” green waste smell. Unfortunately, we were unaware that our customer had a mechanical problem with his green waste grinder that prevented him from moving the green material through his facility last week. As a result, the green waste sat in his yard for much longer than usual before being processed. By the time their machinery was operating properly the green waste had a very strong odor. This customer delivered the ground green waste to us on the morning of December 20, 2014. Because the green waste was being used as mulch for erosion control it was placed away from our active working face, so our operators did not notice the strong odors coming from the green waste. We became aware of the odor issue in Val Verde only after AQMD arrived at our site on Saturday.
We discontinued accepting this “old green waste” and have taken steps to neutralize the odors coming from what was placed on Saturday. I have spoken with both the customer and personnel at the landfill to establish procedures so that this will not happen again.
This was a singular event. We offer our sincerest apology to our neighbors in Val Verde.
Mike Dean – Division Vice President
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This sounds great and it’s appreciated, however that same evening, Mike Dean called the residents of Val Verde “blatant liars” at the VVCAC meeting. Also, on December 24th (2 days after the apology), the residents of Val Verde again made complaints to the AQMD, regarding the same type of odors coming from Chiquita Canyon Landfill. So, what gives?
Let’s see – placing the blame on someone else, denying any responsibility for the problem, referring to it as a”singular event” as if it had never ever happened before, and having yet another run-in with AQMD.
This guy is going to keep doing his shuck and jive routine with you people until you get it together and throw him and his company out of your neighborhood with a successful lawsuit.
Greg – and the additional stink/smell on December 24th – Christmas Eve – many of those calls were verified as well by AQMD, but due to the holiday the inspector received many of those calls over three hours later and had already left the area. We had the joy of a horrific smelling holiday with headaches for us all to enjoy, but these kind words from the landfill should give everyone comfort, right? They are NOT a good neighbor. If they were such good neighbors our property values would sky rock and everyone would be trying to live here – LOL :-)
I was the one Mike Dean called a “blatant liar” and then he denied it. When I suggested his stenographer read it back, everyone froze. I am positive of what I was called. Mike Dean’s apology was NEVER sent to me. Mike Dean does have my email address as I sent him a link a day after he called me a “blatant liar” about people who have died from green waste toxicity in the last 4 years.
I do not see the DUMP as being a good neighbor!
I have a big question for Mike Dean and the Chiquita Canyon Landfill….if you are so sorry why did you not make this apology more public? You could have written it as a commentary and I am pretty sure it would have been published. If Greg Kimura had not posted your apology, U would never have known you did apologize. So, Mike Dean, why did just a few receive your written apology?
Does anyone from Val Verde really expect that Mike Dean or anyone else from The Chiquita Landfill will deal with them honestly and in good faith? These people are out to make money, and they won’t let any of you stop them unless you do it by legal means. They don’t care about any of you in any way, and that includes your health and your homes. Money is far more important.