My husband and I have lived on lower Bouquet Canyon Road for more than 11 years, happily. We used to see the (youths) from Camps Scott and Scudder running along the road in their blue shorts and white T-shirts. There were no incidents with them, and all was well.
Recently, we have been following the news articles about a very surreptitious effort by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors to do an end run around the citizens and city government of Santa Clarita, to once again fill Camps Scott and Scudder. The plan was outlined finally, through the efforts of Supervisor Kathryn Barger, to bring light to this quietly developing plan to house the most violent of the young male offenders in L.A. County to live in this family-oriented community, with a large new development of housing planned within a block of these facilities.
Naturally, there was pushback at a few meetings of citizens, proponents and Santa Clarita government. Years ago, this was a very distant, more sparsely populated area, with ranchers, drug rehab facilities and adults with special needs, living far from the Board of Supervisors. All was well in those long-ago days.
Currently, there are more obstructions to the neat little plan that the supervisors tried to insert into the present-day community. There are more rigorous considerations of safety. Had there not been pushback, the “suits” might have been able to quickly bypass concerns about fortification of the camps for safety to guard against escape, drug smuggling and other nefarious behaviors that the young offenders and their friends might have attempted. There are also concerns about fire, with real danger to a supposedly secured population, as the area is against the hills, which have burned in the past.
One significant concern, in addition to those mentioned above, is property values of citizens who live nearby. When a property owner has enough difficulty in selling real estate during inflation, increased costs of products to be purchased, people leaving California because of extreme taxes and cost of living, real estate seems to lag in appreciation. Just add a nearby correctional facility with violent young offenders to further lower property values and desirability.
We vote a resounding “no” on the plan that the supervisors are considering.
Charlene and Martin Krell
Saugus
