Hi Fred,
Thanks for contacting me.
I am very busy, but I really want to try and answer as many e-mails as I can before the election.
I took each question separated it and will give a quick answer:
I was wondering if LA County tries to coerce Lancaster into accepting housing projects and whether they go out of their way to send section 8 people to this city.
Yes and no - I heard all the rumors about a billboard saying, "your welfare dollars will go further in the AV." I and a couple of friends sat across from Norm Hickling about 1 year and half ago now and I asked him, 'Is Mike Antonovich really our friend?" And then went down a litany of the same urban legends as the billboard, etc. I have since found out that Mike Antonovich is on our side.
Long story short - because the Section 8 Housing Voucher is portable - they can take it anywhere in the USA. Since the housing prices are affordable in Lancaster, and since Police Chief Bratton is cleaning up LA at our expense, just as he cleaned up NY at New Jersey's expense he is pushing the criminals out of LA and they are finding their way to our lovely Valley.
There are no more projects being built - the line of thinking is that you put the downtrodden in good neighborhoods and they will conform. Not true! Read Howard Husack's book - America's Trillion Dollar Housing Mistake or go to City Journal website to read more re: section 8 housing. - http://www.city-journal.org/ and search Section 8 housing.
As part of the AV War on Gangs and Crime - my committee - the Performance Measurement Committee has had a meeting almost every month since it's inception. One of our meetings (I did not advertise in the AV Press) had a rep from just about every entity you can think of to have them come and listen to the concerns of citizens/taxpayers regarding Section 8 housing and we've point blank asked Buck McKeon to get it reformed in Washington. He said he was sitting down with HUD in February, we've not heard back from Mr. McKeon, but he will be running again and he better get his answers ready for me. Anyway, we had almost 200 citizens that came via e-mail and word of mouth to talk to these elected officials and City rep's including Mayor Hearns, Mark Bozigian, and City Councilmembers.
Another PMC meeting we had Lee D'Errico - Investigator for LA County Hud come and talk to us and we have had an investigator come and speak to us regarding Welfare Fraud. I have been very busy for over a year and a half. Having started 9 Neighborhood Watching in my sub-division alone and at the first AVWOGC meeting Shelli Henson said over 70 people signed up for NW. But of course you won't hear the City tell you that, they just brag about having over 100 NW's. But Shelli Henson is a great lady and will help you get started should you want to start one in your neighborhood. Just call the City - 723-6000.
If that is the case does it make spending money on excessive law enforcement sort of wasteful?
We are way behind the curve - we are just catching up and we need intelligent policing. We need enough Deputies that can patrol as well as run from call to call. I did a ride along with a Deputy a month or so ago and I asked he and a female Deputy this question. "If I am elected to the City Council and I have budgets to approve what can I ask for to help you do your job better?" They both said get rid of the Section 8's! We'll we can't do that, but I was really surprised at their answer - it tells a lot about where the crime is generated from. They know what is Section 8 and what is not. So the bulk of our crime and the incessant calls are to Section 8 housing and tenants! We have a new Capt. in Lancaster and I expect great things from him.
I have to admit that I am very confused by Lancaster politics. I read that their are problems with developers backing city council members and even the mayor so that they have difficulty making responsible decisions.
I can't speak for anyone but myself and as I have said all along, "I'm not anyone's puppet! I want to do what is best for the citizens/the taxpayers and the City of Lancaster!! I want to see Lancaster as the safest, most attractive city in LA County!!"
I would say that development isn't all bad ( for example, our own big book store would keep me shopping in Lancaster for as long as I live here) but building even more empty houses does not seem to be a good idea.
With the water problems we are told are coming (and is already here), we have to first and foremost educate citizens on the conservation of water. We use three times more water per person than is used in Phoenix, AZ (I believe is what I heard from the Water Workshop the City of Lancaster held). More than likely that is due to the landscaping we have in Lancaster. My husband and I are in the process of xeriscaping (low water landscaping) our property. We love the Palm Springs/Palm Desert look anyway and we live in the Desert! All that to say - we can't build more homes til we get our water concerns under control anyway. Love the bookstore suggestion, will put that in my repertoire of issues for later.
I have lived in Lancaster for 4 years and I work as a special ed teacher. My wife and I really like it here but we hear a lot of scary news about crime problems. Since I teach at a school in a certain neighborhood I know from where a lot of these crimes originate.
Fred, we have lived in Lancaster for over 15 years and we've seen the changes we deplore due to the crime and a lot of it came with the prison, but we dug our heels in and said we were going to fight to stay where we chose to live, no one is going to run us out of Lancaster!
I want to make it very hard on those parents/guardians of juveniles that roam the streets with no supervision. If we hit them with fines for their juveniles making trouble I believe they will watch them a little closer. There is an ordinance in Norwalk, CA that the parents are being charged to pay for the Deputies time that is required to deal with repetitive calls to the same homes; and they are also going after the landlords due to the same concept for a repetitive calls to a home. So I'm looking at that as one of the first ordinances to put in place in Lancaster should I get elected.
It sure would be cool if you could answer some of my questions before election day, but I know that you must be really busy.
I am dragging, but it is for a good cause - my daughter, my son-in-law and three precious grandchildren I love dearly and want to see them have a safe attractive city to grow up in; and I include your family and your children in that group!
Well Fred, I gotta go, as you can see I have a lot to say and not enough time to say it. I sincerely hope you'll consider voting for me and if I can ever be a help to you or your family, please do not hesitate to call me.
God bless and have a wonderful Easter,
Sherry Marquez
946-1461