I have read the latest Signal list of the most influential persons of 2022 and would like to express my appreciation of your efforts each year noting those persons who are making our Santa Clarita Valley a most desirable place to live and work.
I would like to recommend that Tom Lee, past chairman and CEO of The Newhall Land and Farming Co., be listed a No. 1 most influential person for many years. His efforts at Newhall Land from 1970 until he retired several years ago has resulted in the wonderful city of Santa Clarita it is now.
Valencia, the master planned community for those early years, has shaped our present city to be a great city. This early effort headed by Tom Lee at Newhall Land is now being thoughtfully carried out by our city government and elected officials.
The master plan created through the leadership of Newhall Land has created residential communities of high design quality connected by landscaped pedestrian ways (paseos) to parks, shopping and schools (you can walk from each house to these areas without crossing a street). Wonderful parks and quality neighbborhood shopping and a major shopping center are now a reality. Planned industrial centers, Valencia Industrial Center, and the Valencia Commerce Center, along with office areas provides local employment, relieving many of a long commute to work outside of our valley.
Jim Combs
Valencia
