Back in the days when it seemed people would pay anything to live in Santa Clarita – that is, a few short months ago – a new idea was floated to free up space for more housing. Just get rid of the Six Flags Magic Mountain amusement park, and voila! Sprawling new acreage for even more housing units would suddenly surface.
It seemed like a great idea for some, especially if you could contract into both the demolishment of Six Flags and then the building of a yet more condensed housing project with the same back-rubbing agreements.
But what we are missing here is the public saying “yeah.” In fact, ever since Magic Mountain got into the news with this story, people have become less excited about living in Santa Clarita. Housing prices have leveled off drastically. Unsold houses have begun to find a permanent home in listings.
I wonder why. How on earth could the fact that a gravel mine is moving in while an amusement park may be heading out make Santa Clarita less attractive as a home? What do people have against gravel these days?
Why isn’t there any cheering about this, especially since Congressman Howard “Buck” McKeon has drawn a line of allowing only 300,000 tons of Cemex mining in Santa Clarita per year. Look, if Magic Mountain is no longer here, there will be less reason for our kids to be outdoors breathing this tonnage into their little lungs. Right?
In fact, I am certain that if Cemex can prove successful in taking over the center stage of Santa Clarita, we may see it do the same in Anaheim, especially if we can give this determined mining company some elbow room and get rid of Disneyland as if it were Magic Mountain. Essentially, that’s what I want to write about. More Cemex and less Magic Mountain.
Basically, I blame Magic Mountain for our overpriced housing in the first place. Have you ever noticed that all cities that have kept their housing prices low have economized to the hilt on offerings for kids – giving their small fry only the schools they are required to offer and a few slides and swings in public parks? It is so rare to have something like a Magic Mountain for children in any American city that this attraction is bound to attract the serious American families who inflate our housing market with their never-ending spending and support for their little ones. No wonder our schools have such high learning scores.
I much prefer the way that Cemex is already succeeding in creating a “correction” on our inflated housing market – that is, sending our housing prices toward Palmdale values. Once the mining begins, the daily presence of Cemex is surely going to be so great that I myself am considering making a presentation to the City Council that we rename Santa Clarita “Cemex City.”
This image of Cemex City will surely get rid of much serious housing, serious families and serious schools so we can blend in with the not-so-serious places surrounding us.
I haven’t heard much recently about this idea of demolishing Magic Mountain – apparently this talk didn’t exactly help our real estate picture look promising at this time – but I am sure it will come up again. And if so, goodbye, old Magic Mountain. Hello, Cemex City. It’s coming, ladies and gentlemen.
Chris Sharp
Commentary