Negotiations

* In January, supervisors directed Transit Mixed Concrete to sit down with representatives from the city of Santa Clarita as well as the Acton and Agua Dulce town councils to work out reasonable mitigations for the proposed mega-mining project. Project opponents, exceeding 80 organizations from throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, cite major damage to the environment, traffic impacts and public health issues if the project is approved as proposed.

After several meetings, Transit Mixed Concrete halted negotiations March 20 with an ultimatum: The community must accept its 56.1-million tons of aggregate-to-market plan (the original proposed amount) or negotiations would cease. They did not reduce their original amount by even one ounce and refused to eliminate even one truck from the already-congested Antelope Valley Freeway.

When Transit Mixed Concrete returns to the Board of Supervisors April 24 claiming “reasonableness” and requesting approval of its project, it is [my] hope that supervisors will see the negotiations for what they were: an attempt to placate the 200,000 residents of the Santa Clarita Valley and continue with business as usual.

This project as proposed is unreasonable, and the unwillingness of Transit Mixed Concrete officials to move from their 56.1-million tons is not negotiating, it is dictating.

LAURENE WESTE

Santa Clarita Mayor