Santa Clarita’s City Hall doesn’t answer to the public anymore. This city has been run behind closed doors for too long, and we’re all paying the price.
Let’s start with the lithium battery facility they allowed in Canyon Country. A massive, industrial energy storage site — just 250 feet from homes. No community involvement. Planning Commission meetings canceled repeatedly. Not even a heads-up from the Fire Department. The city manager (said) everything was “done by the book” back in 2021, yet hardly anyone in the community knew about it. Residents only found out in 2024, once it was practically finished. And when people asked about an emergency plan, they were told there wasn’t one. Families live there. Children. But somehow, it was all rubber-stamped. Who approved this? And why was no one told?
Then there’s Burrtec Waste Industries Inc. The city gave them a contract and a green light to raise our trash bills by 10% in November — and again in May by another 14% to 25%, both starting this July. That’s after they already forced us to keep old food scraps in a separate bin — and if you don’t do it “right,” a fine gets added to your bill. Some people are having to store rotting food in their refrigerators just to avoid penalties. If that sounds crazy, that’s because it is.
Let’s be honest: This isn’t about environmental responsibility. It’s about squeezing every dollar out of residents while giving companies a free pass.
It’s the same story with housing. They keep telling us they’re building for low-income families and seniors — but have you seen the prices on these new developments? In one case, the developer behind MetroWalk offered to pay the city just $16,875 per unit instead of actually building affordable housing. That’s pennies compared to the real cost to build — but they still expect the city to accept it. And even though it hasn’t been approved yet, the fact that it’s even being considered tells you everything you need to know.
Whittaker-Bermite is next. A site with a toxic history — still under cleanup — and now they want to dump over 6,000 new homes there. Not affordable housing. Not workforce housing. Just another expensive development in a part of the city that already struggles with traffic, fire access and pollution. But the City Council didn’t say no. They said, “Let’s study it.” We’ve heard that before. “Study it” means delay — then approve it when no one’s looking.
That’s how things are done in Santa Clarita now. Planning Commission meetings get canceled repeatedly so you can’t voice an opinion. Public questions get ignored. The council follows the lead of the city manager instead of setting policy themselves. And back in 2018, they quietly changed the rules so it now takes a four-fifths vote to fire him. That’s not democracy — that’s a fortress, meaning the city manager rules this city, not We the People.
They keep saying this city is run for the people. Show us where. Everything points to the opposite. Big landowners and developers get whatever they want. Contracts get handed out like candy. Rates go sky high, and no one listens to the people footing the bill.
We need a real change in how this city is run — a system where the top person in charge is someone we actually elect, someone we can remove when they stop listening. Right now, power is locked away behind the city manager’s office door, protected by a City Council that’s either asleep or complicit.
Glenda Roybal
Santa Clarita
