We’re Not Done!

It looks like things have slowed down. The word according to Norm Hickling, deputy to Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich is that negotiations are moving along at last, that someday soon the Briggs Road Community will be free from the landlocking perpetrated by a private LLC, Los Angeles County, the Southern California Regional Rail Authority, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

Whew! What a cast of characters! And to think that all these agencies just happened to deny passage to the residents of our little community all at virtually the same time—supposedly independently of each other!—between 2004 and 2006.

If you are a new reader of this blog, please skim through earlier posts to get a more complete story.

What is happening right now is that a permit for Briggs Road residents to cross the Metrolink tracks was found, after nine years of being lost, somewhere in Los Angeles. Trouble is, the permit was lost for long enough to endanger our court-mandated easement across the LLC Property. If everyone is telling the truth, and the several parties involved are independent of each other and wish to accomplish what they say they wish to accomplish, it really is in the best interest of all involved to unlock this landlocking. Now.

If, on the other hand, this whole issue is as laden with secrecy and malevolence as it would appear, anything is possible. It could well be that the game is being delayed while the obstacles to our access are being reinforced. There remain several ways that our community could be played for fools. Though we are aware of that, we must be very careful with our accusations at this point, for reasons that are easily understood.

Shortly after the errant railroad crossing permit was unearthed, the word came down that Fish and Wildlife was open to the creation of an affordable Arizona crossing of the Santa Clara River, and that Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority was ready to discuss granting an easement across their holdings at the other end of Briggs Road. Also, plans to improve the road out the back way were revived.

That was three months ago. Since then, nothing.  I am not aware of the production of a single document, or even a hand-shaken agreement, that takes us any further with either of the two remaining access blockers: California Fish and Wildlife or Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

If my intuition is at all valid—and it often is—I just get such a strong sense that something is dirty. I smell dirt. I suspect that if the human beings behind this effort to choke a good neighborhood to death are successful, they will likely finish their lives content in the knowledge that they killed a community for their own profit. I also suspect that their own grandchildren will correctly despise them, as do the offspring of several recently exposed perpetrators of corruption. I would be delighted to be wrong and, as I have said earlier, proud to be one of the first to admit my error and celebrate the great goodness of those I have maligned in my heart.

Until that happens, I am keeping my eyes open.

I wish to make three entreaties of you, dear reader:

1.       Too many have been coddled into complacency by recent assurances that have produced nothing. Please urge your friends to keep up with us, to keep up the communication with us. Please let’s all keep the light on.

2.       If you have connections, if you know of an honest government official or a compassionate member of the media, please put us in touch with each other. We are already developing a surprisingly extensive network, but until something real happens with our access, it is not enough. Yet.

3.       Stay focused and steadfast on this issue. Granted it is a local issue, fought at a local level against local opponents, possibly outside of your sphere of concern. But have you heard of the Broken Window policy that has been so effective in curbing crime? [Not to be confused with the Broken Window Fallacy.] The theory is that if blight as minor as a broken window is left unaddressed, criminals get the idea that more brazen acts will also go unnoticed. Conversely, repairing windows discourages crime. It does work.

We must discourage corruption and victimization by government in the same way. You may feel that our issue does not touch you, that our broken window does not let freezing air into your home. But if you fight in whatever way you can—by writing letters to Governor Brown or Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, or by spreading the word about this blog, or sending us your ideas—you will be joining us in sending the message to all public “servants” that the People will not tolerate mistreatment. And that may well matter a lot to you one day.

One last point. We are seeing more and more allegations about Agenda 21 these days. Agenda 21 is a 300-page document produced twenty years ago by the UN. Its intent is ostensibly to address the ills of the third world, but the Glenn Becks and other reactionary conservatives have chosen to read it as advocating the shoveling of all of us into urban high-rises. I don’t know how many of the Agenda 21 alarmists have actually read the thing, but I don’t share Glenn Beck’s vision.

Anyway it doesn’t matter. Our local problem may or may not be related to this strange and dire theory. But I fear that if we ascribe all of our troubles to an Agenda 21 or other massive faceless oppressor, we are going to collapse into a soggy, passive muddle, unable to face so large an opponent. Remember the Broken Window policy.

Turn on the light. Focus on the issues at hand.

We’re not done!

Closer?

At a community meeting with Los Angeles County officials last Friday, April 11, 2014, Briggs Road residents learned of the progress the county has made toward restoring their traditional access to Soledad Canyon Road. 

Briggs Road Community Cherishes and Maintains the Natural Terrain

But first, bottom bottom line: we are not there yet. We cannot drive any closer to Soledad Canyon Road than we could after the last meeting a month and a half ago, nor do we have an easement by the other, long and tortuous “back way.” I do apologize for starting off with this downer disclaimer, but after the last meeting newspapers and friends had the impression that we were finally freed from government forces besieging and land-locking us. That was not the case then, and it is not the case now.

On to a more positive slant—

Norm Hickling, deputy to County of Los Angeles Michael D. Antonovich, listed these encouraging developments [comments in brackets are mine]:

Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority is now willing to give the Briggs Road Community an easement through that last parcel where “the back way” emerges onto Agua Dulce Canyon Road. [I cannot tell you what the time span is between “willing to give” and “has given.” In the opinion of this very naïve observer it should not take long at all, but in the lengthy experience of this very jaded casualty of callous government, who knows?]

  

The Dust Trap

The once celebrated straightening and shortening of the back way, such an encouraging promise eight years ago, is back on the list of possibilities. This time, though, the community will have to pay the several tens of thousands of dollars—maybe even a hundred thousand—for the grading. [Until we can do that, even with an easement at the end we still do not have a decent access for fire and emergency vehicles. However, it seems to this very naïve observer that establishing the easement, even without the new road, would go a very long way toward restoring our devastated property values.]

California Department of Fish and Wildlife and Los Angeles County engineers are working toward creating an expedient access across the Santa Clara River. [A low non-obtrusive Arizona crossing would suit the Briggs Road Community best, but Oasis Park may have commercial intentions and need a higher crossing which would cost more and possibly wash out more frequently.] Since it is the users who will bear the expense of construction, Los Angeles County counsel is fully engaged in working out how the Briggs Road Community and Oasis Park will share rights and responsibilities.

Low Crossing Would Suffice for this Typical Low Flow

We will meet again in 40 to 60 days, unless something wonderful and positive occurs, in which case Norm will contact us.

Now here is the sad part. Our trust has been badly damaged. As I have said before, I want to believe what I hear from the office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich, as do most of the rest of us. And so I choose to believe that these developments are actually occurring. But my neighbors and I find ourselves unable to fully commit to believing anything any official says about our access any more. Some just don’t believe any of it. Others are compelled to append the phrase, “if they are really telling the truth,” to any discussion of what a Los Angeles County official says. This may be deserved, or it may be an artifact of government indifference and neglect. Whatever the cause, speaking only for myself, this loss of trust is very unfortunate and an additional complication we do not need.

Downtown on Briggs Road

Let us all—officials, residents, and any others involved—make a sincere effort to be worthy of trust, and to trust generously but judiciously.  

The World Will Know

I am going to take a charitable approach right now, because I want to present the most upbeat interpretation of events I can manage. Our positivity makes it easier for the other players in this drama to be creative and flexible—and kind. So let me spin the events of the last nine and a half years in the most positive light I can imagine.

Dawn's Early Light

What if it really is a coincidence that four different obstacles to our property access were set up within about one year? Let’s resist the appeal of a conspiracy theory for a while, just to see what we come up with.

The new owners of Oasis Park had their reasons for closing our access over their existing road. Maybe they were a little nervous about getting their new venture going.

Maybe the Metrolink office misplaced the permit for the Briggs Road railroad crossing, and so closed one of the at-grade crossings that have a perfect safety record (not all of them do) kind of by accident. We were happy and grateful when Norm Hickling reported recently that a member of Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich's staff has found that permit.

A Bad Sign at the Railroad Crossing

Maybe at about the same time, Los Angeles County officials decided that the best thing to do with a tax-delinquent parcel of land was to slip it quietly and very cheaply to a state conservation agency with a history that some find controversial. Maybe it is normal for one governmental body to sell things to another governmental body at an 80% discount. It would be wasteful to do otherwise. Unfortunately the far end of Briggs Road passes through that property.

Maybe California Fish and Game officials got mixed up when they threatened to arrest any Briggser who put a tire into the Santa Clara River, or to fine any minnow-killing Briggsman $2000 per fish. Maybe they were just having a bad day, and their more reasonable treatment of other Santa Clara River crossings could really apply to Briggs Road residents as well.

Whitewater in Soledad Canyon

Got the picture? Now let me tell a famous story—famous in the Briggs Road Community, anyway.

Once upon a time, after enduring their lack of proper access for four years, after receiving promise after promise from Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich that he would work very hard to restore our access, and after winning the court case that county officials told us we would have to win first, the denizens of Briggs Road got fed up and restless, and began calling the office of Supervisor Michael Antonovich’s deputy, Norm Hickling. Mr. Hickling’s response was to ask, “What the heck do you people want?” In stingier days I might have poked fun at Mr. Hickling for an incredibly silly question, but maybe that would not be fair. Supervisors and their deputies have two million people to look after, and it might not be reasonable to expect them to keep track of a little neighborhood to which they had made—and broken—several promises.

We told Mr. Hickling that we wanted out and suddenly our hills were alive with surveyors and their trucks and equipment. We were going to get a new road, a wonderful straight and level road that would be our very own. There were some glitches, such as a cliff in the path of the roadway, but we were pleased and hopeful that these little problems could be worked out.

Our present route is neither straight nor level

Then came discussions with Mountains Conservancy and Recreation Authority, the state outfit that had bought that last parcel on Briggs Road at a stupendous discount. To summarize a bit, the conservancy attorney refused to grant an easement, even becoming verbally abusive to advocates of the community.

The entire project came to an immediate halt. The conspiracy theorists among us—most of us—chose to believe that the conservancy attorney was working under the instruction of her agency, that the conservancy and the county were working hand-in-glove (as they have been known to do), and that Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich’s office had simply come up with a plan that made them look good while still denying residents access to blacktop at either end of Briggs Road.

Norm Hickling told me in a recent telephone conversation that this impasse is now near resolution. The argumentative attorney is no longer with the conservancy, and more reasonable heads are prevailing. The diehard conspiracy theorists among us don’t believe it. They believe Los Angeles County to be inextricably bound up with the Mountains Conservancy and Recreation Authority. But I am very tired of that negative analysis, and prefer to believe that we really are near a breakthrough.

In that telephone conversation Norm also told me that a creative solution to the river crossing was under discussion, and assured me that the California Department of Fish and Wildlife was much easier to deal with than our conspiracy theorists have made them seem.

Okay. I want to believe Norm. He comes across as a very kind and caring man, especially if I choose to trust what he says. I am troubled that a recent news story by our local radio station KHTS has quoted him as reluctant to be optimistic, but anyone who helps supervise two million people has clout and help and resources beyond my poor imaginings. I believe with all my heart that Norm Hickling can make this thing finally happen.

When we from the Briggs Road Community tell our story to others, the most common response is, “They can’t do that! Isn’t that illegal?” And so, in order to tell our story in the most believable way I can manage, I refuse any credence in conspiracy or skullduggery. The most I will say about hidden agenda is to note the peculiar coincidence of events. I will tell, in other words, the most believable story I can manage, while still telling the truth.

Mr. Norm Hickling has demonstrated what I believed he could do all along. He has shown that he is capable of creating change, and that he is strong enough to publicize that change. I have immense respect for him for that. But you must understand this: there are folks around here who impute trickery to Norm’s actions. They insist on believing that the four besiegers of the Briggs Road Community are in tight cahoots, and that when one blockage fails, county officials will erect another one, until we all fall down. Some folks expect a disappointment of the nature of the Great Survey.

Join me, if you will, in the belief that Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich and his deputies have the will and the power to accomplish what they said they would from day one. Join me in the belief that they are, and have been, sincere.

Red in the Morning

I can think of a dozen ways that Mr. Antonovich’s office, in the capable hands of Mr. Hickling and others, can negotiate and persuade our way out of this encirclement. I will not yet state any of my ideas, so that all of them will be available for ownership by the real movers and shakers. I have total faith, and absolutely no doubt that a supervisor of Los Angeles County can break the Briggs Road Landlock.

And so know this: if through some equally creative turn of events legal access for the Briggs Road Community is once again delayed, in the hope that we will once again be lulled to sleep for another seven years, we will know for certain that we were foolish and naïve to believe again. And the world will know, this time.

This time, the world will know.

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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