Appalling

Even after nine and a half long years, it is truly astounding that decent legal access remains out of reach for this tiny neighborhood. All we in this community want is the legal right to drive to our homes over our traditional, historical route—a little over a mile of dirt road—that we and our predecessors had been continually using for close to a century.

That’s all we want: to drive on a road that had been in common, constant use since before any of us were born, to our own houses. I need to state that over and over again, because the fact is so basic and we do not want it buried under a lot of verbiage.

The consequences to us of this injustice are dire, and the spoils to those who block us may be enormous, but I want to review just the appalling nature of our predicament in this post.

It is appalling that our route home is almost indistinguishable from that of several other communities along Soledad Canyon, but only ours is blocked.

It is appalling that the organizations blocking our route home are public agencies that should properly have no interest in bedeviling us or depressing our property values.

It is appalling that a deputy of Supervisor Michael Antonovich of the County of Los Angeles will tell contradictory stories according to what suits his office at the time, and continue to pretend to be truthful.

It is appalling that Los Angeles County would place a property in the hands of an aggressive player in this drama, a player that would then withhold legal access at our only other point of entry, albeit an astonishingly rough and difficult drive of five and more miles—a drive that has already killed one of us. (His car was found aflame down a short ravine. Maybe he died of a heart attack and not the crash or the fire. His body was too charred to tell—but struggling on that bad road did not help.)

It is appalling that a public official—again Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich—who represents more than two million people in the most populous county in the United States of America cannot find a way to allow us across a legal obstacle created in large part by a commuter rail line, Metrolink, on whose board he sits with his fellow supervisors.

Whoa! Read that again!

Michael Antonovich sits on the board, he has power only a handful of people can even imagine, the unfairness of the blockage is obvious to everyone to whom any of us has spoken, and in almost a decade he has produced zero results. We cannot legally cross those tracks, though our crossing is just like all the others. That’s a zero. All that power, all that posturing, all that time, and all Michael Antonovich and his deputy Norm Hickling can accomplish is zero.

Appalling.

I hear it all the time, and I heard the accusation again just the other day, that Mr. Antonovich just wants to see his name on a sign. We really struggle to be more decent about it, but it is very difficult for us to quell suspicions that Mr. Hickling’s and Mr. Antonovich’s motives are far more nefarious. But hoping that fame will please the gentlemen, we are proud to offer the following:

This blog, and hence the names of Michael D. Antonovich and Norm Hickling, have been viewed well over 3000 times, and you know how they say that any publicity is good publicity. We expect our numbers will continue to grow faster and faster, and are looking forward to 10,000 page views soon. You can erect signs all over our properties after we have been squeezed out, but they cannot compete with these numbers in such a short time.

Furthermore, only people who drive by the signs with Michael Antonovich’s name will see them. This blog, on the other hand, is viewed worldwide! True, the thousands of page views come mostly from local citizens of Los Angeles County, but hundreds of others come from other countries. Think of it! If Mr. Antonovich wants fame, his name is now being seen and read by hundreds in

France

Malaysia

Indonesia

Canada

Australia

United Kingdom

Czech Republic

Germany

Belgium

Netherlands

Isn’t that cool?!

You’re welcome.

What’s a County For?

Some years ago, already deep in our sordid struggle to regain access to our homes over our historic, usual route, we attended a town meeting in Agua Dulce. Norm Hickling, Deputy for our Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, spoke about our issue. I must apologize that I have little recollection of Norm's comments other than my own frustration. He handed out a booklet about what Los Angeles County could and could not do. I cannot refer to the title exactly right now because I threw the booklet away a couple of years ago.

But let me summarize and read between the lines:

The County of Los Angeles cannot stop itself from causing the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Rail Authority to close a specific crossing, while leaving other equivalent crossings open.

The County of Los Angeles cannot take control of a road in order to keep it open for residents who live along it, except for the hundreds of roads it does keep open. The County does not want to be responsible for our dirt road. Are we supposed to believe that there are no other dirt roads in all of the County of Los Angeles?

Two questions:

Are we to believe that the County of Los Angeles is too WEAK to create or enforce a policy of fairness for all of its citizens?  Really?! There is no way, there is no person or committee creative enough to find a way to correct a wrong largely perpetrated by this very County? REALLY?? Yes, I’m yelling now. REALLY??!?

Let’s get this straight. The County of Los Angeles is more populous than forty-two of the fifty states. It is the most populous county in the State of California, nay the entire country! Each of the County Supervisors represents two million people. And we and you and everyone else is supposed to believe that with all those people, and all that power, there is NO WAY Michael Antonovich and Norm Hickling can correct a misreading of federal railroad guidelines, NO WAY they can pick up the phone and insist on honesty and responsible care for this community.

Bull. With a constituency of two million people it is inconceivable that Mr. Antonovich could not re-open our road tomorrow. We can’t help it; we just do not believe it, and as long as we get no sensible explanation as to why we are legally cut off from the blacktop, it is exceedingly difficult to feel we are being treated fairly or honestly.

Maybe some are fooled into believing that with such a large population to tend to, Mr. Antonovich has no time to take care of a small neighborhood. Yet Mr. Antonovich has time to tweet about adopting pets, and his deputy Norm Hickling has time to talk to members of our community and soothe us with pap that the facts render us unable to believe.

We are left with no choice but to believe that the County of Los Angeles has no desire to restore our access and property values. Speaking just for myself, if I had that kind of power and responsibility, I would move Heaven and Earth to make sure that our roads worked for everyone, and that all were served fairly. This episode is a blot on the honor and integrity of Los Angeles County, and, sadly, supports the contention of University of Illinois at Chicago Political Science Professor Dick Simpson that Los Angeles County is the second most corrupt in the country.

So what chance do we have against a steamroller that intends to crush us?

We believe that there are two forces that are more powerful even than rogue agencies of the State of California and County of Los Angeles:

·         The People of the County of Los Angeles, the State of California, the United States of America and even the world. Our plight is being recognized across the nation and in ten other countries. We are confident that public opinion can overpower this injustice, just as it has in other fights for the fair treatment of the citizens of America as well as in other countries.

·         Dedicated, honest members of the Government of our state and county, wherever they may be.

We await your awakening and action.

Our Plight is Your Plight

Our little rural community of eleven families and numerous bare-land owners has been struggling for the past nine years to survive. First closed in by admitted criminals, we are now legally landlocked by public agencies of the County of Los Angeles and the State of California. We have been fed lies after lies after lies, but have never been given a believable reason for the official maneuvers that have reduced our property values by 80% and more.

The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States asserts “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.” So consider this measly way around eminent domain: landlock thousands of acres of property, wreck their values, and sit back and wait for everybody to give up, move away and stop paying taxes.

We have tried every remedy we can think of. The Title Insurance companies won a lawsuit over one piece of the necessary easement, only to be confronted by three more blockages created by agencies of Los Angeles County and the State of California. We will be recounting strategies we have tried, in posts on this blog. We anticipate that readers will suggest others.

We Americans are recovering from a hard kick to the heart. A realization has been forced upon us, in a strikingly rude way, that our elected representatives do not represent us, that they are not at all concerned with the welfare of the American People.

It doesn’t matter what your politics are. Maybe you support the idea of universal health care, maybe you do not. Maybe you believe in rights for the as-yet-unborn, maybe you believe in a woman’s right to control her own body. Maybe you insist that guns be controlled, maybe you hold to our right to bear arms.

It doesn’t matter! And it doesn’t matter what our elected representatives believe. You don’t enforce your opinion by making trouble for the American People.  

Like it or not, we are all at risk together. If the recent shutdown did not demonstrate that, then you might as well stop reading. But the rest of us, the vast majority of the American People, now recognize that too many elected representatives have found too many ways to abuse their power. If we can’t change national politics right now, we can start in our neighborhoods.

Most abusers of the public good scurry for cover when the light goes on. We beg your participation as follows:

1.       Our story is too long to tell on one page. We will tell the story in regular installments on this blog. We ask you to follow, comment, and subscribe.

2.       At some point, and it might not be long from now, you will understand the injustice of our plight. We ask that when you do, you do more than just read. Jot a note or an email to let our oppressors know that you are on to them. Turn others on to our blog.

3.       It is important that all of us realize that this abuse of power and neglect of the People’s well-being is epidemic. If we can demonstrate that informed, participating citizens have the wherewithal to shame public officials into decency, we win a victory for all. We expect that other cases all over America will come to light and be brought to our readers’ attention. We pledge to study and support the causes of others and ask that our readers do the same.

Think of all the good that united Americans have accomplished! National policies have changed. The very consciousness of the People has evolved. When I was a kid in New Jersey, the idea of a Black or female bus driver was unthinkable, just to pose one astounding example. Together we can do amazing things. These are the grass roots.

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