We all have ideas about the way the world should work. But others have ideas, too, and they're different than ours, and thus, we have the world as we know it. For many, this is simply unacceptable. Political types especially are always pushing to make places, laws and society align more closely with their ideas of perfection. Witness the race for California senator or governor - any political race, for that matter. Each candidate is selling a vision for a brighter future; each wants a chance to make their ideals our reality. Though we don't have any major local races this Election Day, Santa Clarita's leaders are showing the same ambition and idealism found on the campaign trail. The trouble is that different, at times opposing, ideas for a more perfect SCV are now colliding.

Vision, Revision
The draft One Valley One Vision general plan and environmental impact report are available for review. It feels like the 46th time I've written that - the documents get revised and tweaked all the time - but Director of Community Development Paul Brotzman believes OVOV's time is now. He hopes that the City Council will approve the general plan early next year and that the County of Los Angeles will also be quick to give its OK.

One of the primary challenges for planners has been trying to incorporate everyone's ideas for the future of the Santa Clarita Valley into a single, cohesive concept. Many Claritans want restrained growth and lots of open space, while others want Santa Clarita to become more metropolitan and grow rapidly. Brotzman tries to satisfy both camps, which doesn't quite work. He writes, "Does this planning effort encourage or promote growth? The answer is no." Yet the EIR concludes: "The existing and proposed General Plans would result in growth [...]a general plan is inherently growth inducing." It's nice to see that Brotzman is delivering such a consistent message. Realistically, many as-yet-undeveloped areas will indeed be developed to accommodate a population projected to approach half a million people. Most of this growth will be outside of the city's boundaries. The mountains around Santa Clarita will remain undeveloped and protected, a fringe of green encircling a rapidly changing valley.

No Room to Vroom
One group that doesn't figure into many visions of a more-perfect Santa Clarita are smaller auto retailers and repair shops. The city loves the dealers on Creekside Road (not to mention the tax dollars they generate), but heaven help the guys who want to run an automotive business in Newhall! They're treated with a mix of annoyance and hostility. Recently, the City of Santa Clarita bought land in Newhall that they hope to redevelop, and they got things started by evicting Wanjon Auto Body as well as Automotive Technology. The two shops have to close their doors by December - just in time for Christmas, noted one of the owners in an interview with The Signal.

The City Council has also issued an urgency ordinance that declares a moratorium on any new businesses that sell cars (existing dealers are fine). City Manager Ken Pulskamp justified the move by imagining dangers posed by retail automotive sales: "This [moratorium] is necessary to protect the public safety, health and welfare from the negative impacts of additional retail automobile sales businesses." It seems that Santa Clarita is business-friendly only to an extent; you better not try to sell or fix cars in districts where city leaders envision art galleries and clothing boutiques, not repair shops. It's just the city's latest attempt to micro-manage Santa Clarita to meet the personal preferences of planners and council members.

A Bountiful Harvest
Not quite in time for Thanksgiving, a community garden will be opening up in Central Park. This will be a chance for Santa Claritans to play at the idea of growing their own food. Driving to tend crops every week in a park that's not really close to anyone's home is a far cry from the traditional neighborhood gardens tended by landless city apartment dwellers. It just doesn't seem very efficient. However, some green-thumbed Claritans point to the fact that they can't garden on their own property. Most homeowners' associations forbid any plants, save closely-cropped turf grass, in the front yard. So now there will be more driving trips to tend gardens that HOAs won't let people plant in their own yards. Some see landscaping perfection as green lawn after green lawn, while others see it as home-grown vegetable row after home-grown vegetable row; the community garden might satisfy both.

In the best of all worlds, the gardens will prosper. Maybe parents can tend plots while their kids are at soccer practice on the other side of the park. And next Thanksgiving, families may well furnish their tables with squash and greens plucked fresh from Claritan clay. Since not yet realized, it's still possible to project the vision we heart most for these gardens. If only the same could be said for our city as a whole...
This column is intended as satire and a (sometimes successful) attempt at humor. Suggestions, catty comments and veiled threats intended for the author can be e-mailed to iheartscv@insidescv.com.