I'm a sucker for graduation speeches. No matter the year or the school, they're all so reassuringly the same. Some bright-eyed valedictorian comes to the podium and talks about how their class has come so far, accomplished so much, and is now oh so ready to take on life's challenges and succeed. "The future" is always the central concern of a graduation speech, and we're invited to meditate on just how unbearably bright and beautiful it promises to be.

Unfortunately, cities don't get to graduate. But let's not let that stop us from thinking in the vein of what the future holds for Santa Clarita, and whether things are looking as bright as they are for the class of 2008. Based on where we've been, where will this valley be years from now?

Neo-Agrarianism, Meet CC & Rs
Futures in wheat, rice, and corn have nearly doubled of late. By the time you're seeing this in print, I wouldn't be surprised to see Basmati rice priced at $45 a grain at Von's ($44.50 with your club card). What is one supposed to do if food prices continue to rise uncontrollably?

I think Santa-Claritans-of-the-future are going to ditch their lawns.Grass is very needy but not very palatable. If things really get tight, it would make a lot of sense to devote our land and water to making something we can actually eat. Instead of a few untidy tomato plants in the backyard, perhaps the SCV home of the future will have rows of rutabagas and beds of broccoli.

Of course, such a transition wouldn't come easily. There would be a bitter war between local homeowners' associations and homeowners themselves. If one can be written up and fined for having clover in the lawn, what kind of righteous vengeance would converting the whole front yard to corn provoke? I can see the H.O.A.s sending out field teams in unmarked vans. Armed with Roundup herbicide - scratch that - armed with flamethrowers, they would destroy standing crops and immediately cover up the damage with a facade of fresh, fine-textured sod. At some point, though, cash-strapped Claritans might win out and we'd see a valley green from crops, not grass. If grains triple in price, keep an eye out for signs of this brave new world.

The Avenue Cometh
Even if you're a bit dubious about my prediction of front yards going under plow, I'm sure you'll agree that Santa Clarita has a lot of building and development in its future. And if Monteverde Companies and Jeff Lambert - their well-compensated local advocate - have their way, they will be kicking off something called "The Avenue at Santa Clarita."

The project is, in a word, ginormous. The design fits a lot into the 37-acre parcel that was the Smiser mule ranch not so long ago. Initial plans call for a 12-story hotel, 500 residential units, and more than a half-million square feet of shopping and restaurants.

For The Avenue at Santa Clarita to be a part of SCV's future, however, developers will have to get through an organized and vocal group of local residents that would prefer to see a park over high-density, mixed-use urbania. They even have a name: the Calgrove Corridor Coalition. With that much alliteration, they should prove a worthy adversary. I'm sure in a few years there will be an agreement to build a reduced version of the Avenue, and Santa Claritans will flock to it for two years before the next consumer hotspot opens up. Our hunger for new places to spend money is, after all, timeless.

Back to School
At least in the short term, it's pretty easy to predict what those high school seniors will be doing in the near future. It will be an anxious summer of hunting down a job, getting ready for college, or trying to find an apartment and make it on their own. For those bound for schools out of state - or at least out of SCV - there will be awkward, protracted summer break-ups with boyfriends and girlfriends. Young love can survive many things, but rarely does it endure meeting several thousand attractive coeds while living away from home for the first time.

For even though high school speech-givers may assure recent graduates that the future is bright, it's only a matter of time before we start noticing thunderheads blotting out the light. And the worst part is, if the future is one we're not so keen on, we have to lay a lot of the blame for it upon ourselves.

Ten years from now, will Santa Clarita be a site of warfare betwixt homeowners' associations and suburban farmers? Will we embrace our rural past or a world of high-density convenient consumption? Either way, it's up to us to make a future Santa Clarita we can heart as much as the city we heart now.

Contact I.M. Claritan at iheartscv@insidescv.com.