Month: January 2015

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Trying to just take a deep breath

After yesterday, I’ve decided to try to spend the day in my office writing, and looking for a new job.

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The doors are locked, the alarm is on, and I’ve got the office door closed with music playing.

The crowds were already developing at the base of the hill at 7:30 am.

I can think of some folks I know down that way who are no doubt just “Thrilled” to have people gawking in their windows during breakfast, or their shower.

One way I thought of that might be fun to drive all these people away would be if all of us along the wash just got naked and opened our drapes. We could go about our business, have sex etc and give all these unwanted “guests” an education.

The problem with that is that in effect we’d be stripping the innocence from the children who’ve don’e nothing wrong. Their parents brought them up here, plopped them in the snow and didn’t give a thought to the fact that this is a neighborhood and they’re interfering with our living our lives.

So giving everyone a show would be morally wrong. There is a part of me that would love to see the court battle though.

“Yes your honor, that man was naked!”

“How did you see he was naked?”

“I was in his back yard looking in his window with my kids playing in the snow…”

“Oh so you were being a peeping tom?”

“Uhhhhh…”

“Case dismissed!”

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This whole sudden snowplayer problem has opened my eyes a bit.

There are many things I liked about Wrightwood. But those were things I liked 15 years ago or more.

Time has moved on. When I look at the Wrightwood of today, it’s not as endearing a place.

The negatives have begun to outweigh the positives by an increasing margin.

Victomville, to the North, is a cesspit. Phelan, also to the North often has a crime rate that rivals the inner city. Meth, gangs, prostitution, theft, you name it, are rooted deeply in the desert.

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Both cities are within 20 miles of us and loaded with exactly the kind of trash we’ve seen up here in the past few days. 

When I first moved here, The desert floor was dark. You could easily see the rest of The Milky-way. Constellations were clear and bright. Now the light from Victimville and Phelan obscure the sky.

It was easy to forget that just over the mountain was the cacophony of LA, Orange Country, and The Inland DIMpire.

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At the time, Victorville was a smallish place populated mostly by Airforce personnel, their families, and various support staff. It was a growing place, that’s true. But when Clinton started closing bases and gutting the military, Lots of houses under construction in Victorville were suddenly without buyers.

That inevitably led to HUD housing and lots of people from South Central LA moved to Victorville.

In fairness these were decent folks trying to keep their kids off drugs and out of the gang lifestyle. But it was too late. the gang affiliations had already been made.

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Now, I drive through Victimville just like I do South Central.

The only thing missing is my car saying, “WARNING! You have entered a Personal Hazard Area. Do Not exit your vehicle, Do not stop.” But I hear it in my head.  Logan’s Run had a district where the little bubble cars on tracks would start playing a similar warning.

I actually accelerate. I just want to get out of those zones as quickly as possible. The problem is, those zones are crashing on the shores of our mountains. It’s only a matter of time before all the same ills that exist below exist up here.

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I can’t help feeling like its time to sell the house before the property values drop. Looking at the homes for sale here it may already be too late.

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OK This is officially the WORST it’s ever been…

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I’m talking about the flatland ANIMALS from the areas surrounding Wrightwood.

In many ways my neighborhood is a microcosm of this area of Southern California, since the ANIMALS are able to surround my neighbors and I thanks to the flood control project.

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Yes, THAT flood control project. 

See, in addition to the gaping wound the Flood Control district left in their wake, they also smoothed out access to the nice wide channel, and they created lovely access roads on both sides of the channel.

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What was once a rocky, small, not so nice place to play in the snow, is now a great place and accommodates 300 people or more screaming and yelling.

But wait, it gets better!

People can now access the ENTIRE wash all the way up to the forestry service property line. Which means people want to park on our street, in our driveways, and on all the other streets and driveways going all the way up behind the houses that abut the wash.

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My neighbor was right. Her fence is actually keeping the ANIMALS off her property although they’re constantly peering through the slats, and trying the latch on her gate.

There was a strange car that drove up to the end of the road (A Private Road) and then turned around. As he came back down I told him “This isn’t the snow play area, your need to go to the ski resort at the other end of town.”

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He said, “I’m just going to park here,” I said “You can’t” He said, “Watch me” At which point I reached for my phone.

It’s out of hand here now. 

Too many people, too much trash, too many low class people.

These photos show the damage done to the newly planted pines and Mt. Mahogany plants. 

The trampling of the snow is after only one day. We counted over 100 people at one point in the area shown in the picture to the right, I snapped this photo after a sweep by the police.

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All told we believe that there were about 300 people up & down the wash area.

Then there’s these people, They just decided that they’d play in our street and on the neighbors property. 

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On the plus side,  We spoke today with a very nice officer who told us that we pretty much have no rights.

I appreciated his honesty. We, as homeowners have no right to ask any of the crowds to leave unless they are on our property. The police can only ask them to leave if they’re parked blocking the streets or firelanes, or if the police actually witness something amiss happening.

Just before sunset, the cops had to come again. This time after a fight broke out, they gave the order to disperse and waited until everyone got the hell out of the area. 

I suppose having a throw down is a nice end to the day for everyone, if you’re some kind of lowlife trash. On positive was that the crowds weren’t here into the evening like they were yesterday.

Yeah all these people want to have a nice day with their family, but what about my right to have a quiet day in my own home. 

Don’t get us wrong, we get that people want to have a fun snow day. We get that traffic is bad, and we get that it’s a holiday weekend. 

However, should we have to hunker down in our homes when there are designated, maintained play areas a short distance away? Should we have to watch the area be littered, and people urinating or defecating? Should we be expected to clean up dirty diapers, and fast food wrappers? This is OUR neighborhood! These people wouldn’t tolerate it, if we behaved this way where THEY live.

This is not disneyland and these ANIMALS are not paying guests.

I moved here from the beach to avoid this kind of crap. I live in the end of town furthest from the ski lifts and snow play areas. I chose this area precisely because it was off the beaten trail and because of its quiet family atmosphere. When I moved up here there wasn’t anyplace that remotely looked like a place to play in the snow. 

And for 15 years we had no trouble. 

Now, thanks to the county not listening, thinking, or planning…

My next door neighbor bailed out today. They just couldn’t take the chaos, and swarms of people wandering around us on all sides.

You feel like you’re trapped in your home. You feel like you have no privacy, the traffic is a nightmare, the police are stretched to the breaking point, and we have observed a number of “questionable” people checking out the vacation homes. 

There is of course no relief in sight, until the thaw.