Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : Newhall Looking to Put on a New Face : Business: About 200 residents study ways to revive the downtown area. A Victorian or Old West theme are favored.

Downtown Newhall as a cutesy, Old West village? Or perhaps as a genteel Victorian hamlet?

These two schemes for reviving the downtrodden area were the clear favorites Monday night when about 200 residents met to discuss a downtown renovation report prepared by a consulting firm hired by the city.

The Victorian theme was preferred by businesses, while others argued that the Old West theme was more true to the area’s history of gold mining and Western movie making.

“We have a heart already and it’s Western,” insisted Cynthia Neal-Harris, a member of the Santa Clarita Valley Historical Society. She emphasized Old West restorations projects are taking place at nearby William S. Hart Park, a 300-acre park that gets thousands of visitors a year.

“We are already building on it and we already have it here,” she said.

Effie Bird, 78, strongly disagreed. “I did a survey of all the businesses on these streets, asking them if they want Victorian or Western, and Victorian won,” said Bird, a Newhall resident.

Downtown Newhall has been plagued by numerous problems, including rising crime, gang activity, overcrowding in nearby apartments and even a lack of sidewalks and gutters. There problems and others were cited in the report prepared by the Freedman, Tung & Bottomley firm after six months of focus group discussions.

Consultant Michael Freedman told the audience that the most effective way to deal with these problems is to bring in businesses that make more money. This would not happen, he said, without major changes to the neighborhood.

“Frankly, without wanting to insult anyone here, it’s in the advanced stages of death,” Freedman said.

He suggested that increased business would, for example, deter crime.

“It creates the idea that people are always coming and going, coming and going, looking in and out of windows, and always watching,” he said.

The report will be discussed at three more upcoming public meetings, then a final redevelopment proposal will be issued by the consulting firm to the City Council.