Dear Diane Savanian,
I have read the first and second part of your three part commentary on annexation and can’t wait to see the third part in the “Mighty” Signal. Normally I would have waited to read the final installment but your pieces were so rife with misinformation and hearsay that I couldn’t wait any longer. You see, I respect the fact that you have an opinion, which clearly is pro-annexation, but I don’t respect that you have not done your homework when it comes to the facts. Some of your statements are nothing more than the regurgitation of spin doctors at the Santa Clarita City Hall and perpetuated by the local papers.
You stated numerous times in your column that you have “heard” this or that around town. The real kicker was your admission that you haven’t attended a West Ranch Town Council meeting for years. In fact I can say that you have not been to a Town Council meeting on the west side for at least two and half years. So basically you have missed out on the monthly conversations and updates regarding annexation. You have also not contributed your view point to those discussions. What you have missed is a group of elected council members that are genuinely interested in making sure that our communities are treated fairly and respectfully.
In regards to the sheriff services in the unincorporated areas of the valley you are truly misinformed. One just needs to do the math and look at the facts. First, the City of Santa Clarita, as you stated, has 15 Deputies per shift for the city which has a population of approximately 175,000. That would be roughly one Sheriff Deputy for every 11,667 residents.
The flip side is that the unincorporated areas surrounding the city have a population of approximately 49,375. The non-city areas have 15 Sheriff’s Deputies (yes, 15!)not the 2 you “heard” were patroling the unincorporated ares. There are 9 Deputies working in radio cars serving West Ranch, Castaic, and unincorporated Canyon Country, 4 are assigned to Pyramid Lake and Gorman, 1 in Community Relations, and 1 is assigned as a School Resource Deputy.
But wait there’s more, we have an Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) patrol which consists of 2 Sergeants and 6 deputies and as of April 24th 3 COPS Deputies. As a side note, the West Ranch Town Council and the Stevenson Ranch Civic Association lobbied for, and the Sheriff received, state grant money to fund the OHV patrol.
Now, let’s divide 49,375 by 6 assigned Deputies (we won’t include the OHV patrol, the COPS Deputies and only part of the regular Deputies for the most populated West Ranch/Castaic areas) to the unincorporated areas and you get roughly one Sheriff Deputy per 8230 residents.
Big difference huh! Going by square miles is ridiculous since much of the unincorporated area surrounding the city falls into the Santa Susana Mountain Conservancy, private land, or developer owned land virtually all of which has no population.
This would account for the FACT that crime is lower in the West Ranch Communities. In fact, according to the Sheriffs, crime has been trending lower for some time in the West Ranch communities and actually trending higher in the City of Santa Clarita. You would have known this had you attend the West Ranch Town Council meetings where we get a monthly update from the Sheriff’s department.
Let’s face it, if you want to blindly jump into the arms of the City of Santa Clarita without first fully investigating the issues and facts, be my guest. I’m sure that there will be plenty of Lemmings that will follow! But for me, I would rather ask hard questions, investigate the information being disseminated from all sides and truly understand the facts before I make a decision. Annexation is a complex matter that requires time and intellectual understanding, not basing important decisions on things we “hear around town”.