Los Angeles County, by far the country's most populous at about 10,000,000 people, consists, from south to north of the Los Angeles Basin, then the side by side suburban San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys, then the mighty San Gabriel Mountains, and then the dusty, windy high desert. The climate deteriorates the farther north you go in LA County because you get farther from the Pacific.
The high desert communities of Palmdale and Lancaster were once places where aerospace engineers could find big backyards for their big families. But the good jobs dried up and LA County has been exporting its poor blacks and Hispanics to the high desert via the Section 8 rental voucher program. The high desert communities have been trying to slow the onslaught, and that has LA County, which is who is trying to dump the NAMs in the desert in the first place, crying racism!
From the LA Times:
L.A. County looks into alleged racism in Antelope Valley housing-subsidy crackdown
The county had been paying half the cost for Section 8 investigators in Lancaster and Palmdale. Supervisors postpone that funding after civil rights groups say the probes are biased against low-income minorities.
Los Angeles County supervisors opted Tuesday to postpone additional funding for a subsidized housing enforcement program in Lancaster and Palmdale and called for an investigation into charges that the Antelope Valley cities are using the program to discriminate against low-income ethnic minorities.
The county had been contributing half the cost of extra investigators in the two cities to ensure that landlords and tenants comply with the regulations of the federal Section 8 housing voucher program. But a lawsuit filed in federal court by the NAACP earlier this month charged that Lancaster and Palmdale are waging an "unrelenting war" against blacks and Latinos who receive public assistance.
The lawsuit alleged that the cities conduct unfair surprise "compliance checks" of Section 8 residents, the majority of whom are black and Latino. Housing inspectors were often accompanied by armed Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies, and overzealous enforcement had cost as many as 200 local minority families their federal housing assistance each year in the Antelope Valley, the suit charged.
At Tuesday's board meeting, Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, whose district includes the Antelope Valley, made the motion to put off the decision to renew funding for the program until after county housing officials investigate the allegations.
Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris said he was disappointed by the board's decision. He told supervisors that the Antelope Valley had been inundated by the county's poor and lacked sufficient social services to handle their needs.
"This really isn't about race," Parris said. "Since the beginning of time kings have sent their poor into the desert and they have sent them there to wither and die. That is exactly what's going on today."
Here's my 2008 short story about renting to Section 8 tenants in the high desert.
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31 comments:
San Bernardino county has been doing the same thing with its poor, pushing them up into the Victor Valley and Barstow. Until about 10 years ago, Barstow had few Blacks. Now they seem to be everywhere I look. There is a particular street here, about a mile long, lined with low income apartments. Drive past any time of day and I'm sure to count at least 30 people milling around. I also try to do my shopping early in the morning because thier is less of them up at that time.
So let's see. Northern LA county has:
Bad climate
High unemployment
Long commutes
Unsellable homes
High taxes
But don't worry-its only going to get worse.
So why does anyone live there?
WWII generation guys like my uncle moved up to Hesperia to get away from LA and all the...stuff there. His last wife was a hispanic whose family provided lots of drama in his last days.
"I also try to do my shopping early in the morning because thier is less of them up at that time."
Somewhat off topic, but I was wondering if anyone has noticed the phenomenom of the percentage of minorities being somewhat higher in the evening (in shops and malls) than in the morning?
I live in a suburb of Toronto that is about 60 percent white, and I've noticed that during the morning the mall will be mostly older white folks (even when school is out) but by the evening the mall will transition to about 60 percent non-white. Another mall west of me goes from about 70 percent non-white in the morning to about 90-95 percent non-white on a friday evening.
Isn't this the whole point of the Section 8 program?
The problem with public housing is that housing trends shift, an a neighborhood that might have been an undesirable dump can become a hotspot for 6 figure salary yuppies. See Cabrini Green.
With Section 8 vouchers, the amount is fixed, so poor people will always end up having to move to the cheapest part of town.
It's not some sort of crazy conspiracy that the High Desert region has the cheapest housing in LA county. It's the least desirable part of LA county outside of South Central. It makes El Monte look like Beverly Hills.
I had no idea that aerospace engineers used to live there. For the last few decades at least it's been a blue collar meth haven.
" "This really isn't about race," Parris said."
Whenever some public official says this, it is almost certain that it IS about race.
John and Ken on KFI had this two weeks ago. Slowly all the White enclaves in California that are middle/working class are getting squeezed out.
The LA County Board of Supervisors, the NAACP, and the media are fighting the local cities on the other side, the White (and a few Mexican/Black residents who moved there years ago) lower middle/working class people, who have nowhere else to go.
This will not end well. At a certain point, people have nowhere to flee to. Certainly not now with the economy in the toilet. For most people there, their homes are all they have. They are desperate and have nothing to lose.
"Somewhat off topic, but I was wondering if anyone has noticed the phenomenom of the percentage of minorities being somewhat higher in the evening (in shops and malls) than in the morning?
I live in a suburb of Toronto that is about 60 percent white, and I've noticed that during the morning the mall will be mostly older white folks (even when school is out) but by the evening the mall will transition to about 60 percent non-white. Another mall west of me goes from about 70 percent non-white in the morning to about 90-95 percent non-white on a friday evening."
In my area, a lot of non-Whites don't work, therefore they stay up late, and sleep in the next day.
You have to take the weather into account. Yeah, a place like Bakersfield is 100 degrees and smells of cow manure, but it is *still* better than Detroit or Buffalo or Cleveland in the winter.
Is North LA county really that bad? I'm a doctor and I'm entertaining a job offer in Lancaster. I have yet to visit though. From the pictures it looks pretty decent. Major employers are defense and aerospace. And I have terrible asthma/allergies so I would actually prefer to live in the desert.
I live in a suburb of Toronto that is about 60 percent white, and I've noticed that during the morning the mall will be mostly older white folks (even when school is out) but by the evening the mall will transition to about 60 percent non-white.
NAM's like to stagnate in public places, doing nothing. Down South any movie theater in a 30% black town will have about 85% blacks milling around there aimlessly on Friday and Saturday night.
The new trend down South is to replace the old-style enclosed malls with upscale shopping centers of the outdoor and "open" variety. This is due to the fact that large hordes of NAM teens will eventually invade every indoor mall until the infestation drives away all of the actual paying (white) customers, and then the whole process starts all over again.
"Is North LA county really that bad? I'm a doctor and I'm entertaining a job offer in Lancaster."
If you're on a doctor's salary you can probably live well anywhere.
The High Desert is no worse than say, most of Texas. Just make sure you're not living next to a meth lab and you'll be okay.
"Is North LA county really that bad? I'm a doctor and I'm entertaining a job offer in Lancaster. I have yet to visit though. From the pictures it looks pretty decent. Major employers are defense and aerospace. And I have terrible asthma/allergies so I would actually prefer to live in the desert."
Assuming you are not trolling, yes, it is not exactly God's country. But it depends on where you are practicing now.
Many of your patients will be on Medicaid, which pays worse in CA than most other states. Many others will have no insurance. So, financially this is a loser.
I haven't worked in Lancaster/Palmdale specifically, but I suspect that like most of surrounding communities, your medical colleagues will be majority non_American medical graduates. Most will be from India, Iran, or are Americans who couldn't get into a real medical school and thus have degrees from Mexico or the Caribbean.
There is really nothing to do in these towns - no decent restaurants, no real stores, no significant sports, nothing. Practically everyone with money (like doctors) head for the coast or LA every weekend they have off.
But it still better than Detroit in the winter.
"I live in a suburb of Toronto that is about 60 percent white,.."
So the others are 30% Chinese, 10% Indo-Pakistani. When Americans talk about 60% white, the demographics are a bit different.
(I used to live in Toronto.)
"I was wondering if anyone has noticed the phenomenom of the percentage of minorities being somewhat higher in the evening"
i think everybody in every city has noticed this. when i lived in vegas one of my best friends was a security guard who was training to be a police officer. for a few months, we regularly went to this pool hall around 8PM to meet up with some other guys. when we got there my buddy was often the only black guy in the place. then by 11PM when we were ready to leave, me and the other guys we met up with were often the only white guys in the place. complete demographic turnover in 3 hours.
"Down South any movie theater in a 30% black town will have about 85% blacks milling around there aimlessly on Friday and Saturday night."
LOL no shit. i noticed this in north carolina. friday and saturday night at the movie theater, the police get lots of overtime pay keeping things under control. random people congregating outside the movie theater, loitering, acting goofy, not there to see a movie, maybe there to see and be seen by others.
it's pretty disorienting going into the movie theater at 8PM for some major blockbuster, then coming out 3 hours later and trying to remember which row was that where you parked you car and WTF when did the movie theater get moved to nigeria?
www.bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm
Lots of warm weather cities with litterally half the unemployment rate of Northern LA county cities, lower taxes, shorter commutes etc.
eg Midland, Amarillo, OK City, Santa Fe, Tulsa, Lubbock, Austin...
"So the others are 30% Chinese, 10% Indo-Pakistani. When Americans talk about 60% white, the demographics are a bit different.
(I used to live in Toronto.)"
Unless he lives in Scarborough...It's so nice to FINALLY read something from folks from the GTA that are not boasting about how wonderfully multicultural your city is. It comes across like residents there don't feel the white population provides anything of value when this is the first thing out of the mouths of almost everybody from there.
It's not a bad, violent or ugly city by any means, but even with all it's diversity, it has less character than every other place I've visited in Canada.
For every aerospace engineer up there they gotta have at least 600 guys employed in law enforcement. These are the ones clogging up the 14 on their way to and from serve-and-protect business in Woodland Hills.
So the others are 30% Chinese, 10% Indo-Pakistani. When Americans talk about 60% white, the demographics are a bit different.
In my area it is about 15% black (mostly caribbean with some African muslims), 15% South Asian (mostly muslim) and 10% others (Filipino,Chinese, Latin American etc).
Back to the OP, I've noticed that they seem to be promoting this section 8 program in more middle class suburbs - as opposed to the remaining upper class white areas in LA county (ie Malibu and Santa Monica). Do any predominantly white and middle class municipalities still exist in LA county?
Section 8 housing is not always a bad thing. I own 2 homes in West Texas and I have been letting a section 8 tenant rent one of them. This is a great program the government has let people use. It helps people in need and it helps out the owners get a steady rental paycheck at the same time.
Great article and write up.
Gringo we know the LL's are getting a good deal, and so are the recipients.
It's the neighbors who are getting screwed.
"Now our Jamaican gangbangers do that in a single summer weekend of mayhem."
Is that a result beautiful cultural experience that is Caribana, or just a random hot weekend near Jane and Finch?
I live in Lancaster. We were told that the cost of living would be less up here than down in the LA Basin.
The rent may be a little bit less, but the electricity costs in the summer are out of sight and will wipe out the savings in rent.
I've talked to some old-timers up here, and they all say how wonderful it used to be before all the diversity moved in.
Yeah, they are shifting former South Central blacks and hispanics to this area through Section 8. That's where most of the rise in crime comes from.
Some landlords are indeed tempted by the easy Section 8 money; but the smarter ones realize that that might be wiped out by having to remodel the unit completely in between tenants.
Yeah, a lot of the diversity up here have a bad attitude, and they never miss a chance to be rude to white people--just because they can.
I myself have had several run-ins with these wonderfully diverse people. For instance, one time I came home and there was a black teenage girl plus a teenage Hispanic couple loitering on the driveway of the half of a duplex which we rent.
First thing out of the black girl's mouth when I asked all three of them what they were doing on my driveway was "Fat-Assed White Bitch." They all had cursed me by the time they walked away.
I have had several other cute little interactions too.
For the doctor contemplating this place: One ER doctor I talked to told me this place sucked. He wasn't very happy up here. Yeah, if you're on a doctor's salary, I would probably avoid this place, although there are some nice houses around.
Not to mention the meth-heads, though fortunately we haven't had any run-ins with them.
Last week I saw a bunch of young blacks running around on the street here; then a bunch of them got into cars and drove off. I didn't see any media mention of a flash mob, but it's probably only a matter of time.
We also have a prison up here. Some of the local diversity moved up here to be near their incarcerated loved ones.
As soon as we can save up enough money, we are going to be OUT OF THIS PLACE.
I don't object to them being poor (I've been there myself), or even being black or Hispanic per se... it's their behavior I object to.
Regarding shopping with minorities in Lancaster: Certain stores up here have more blacks during the day. Whenever possible, I do my shopping in the wee hours of the morning. I work nights in my home office, so I have some flexibility that way.
I have nothing against children per se, but it'd be hard not to notice that certain groups (esp. Hispanics) let their kids run wild and scream their heads off in stores and inexpensive restaurants. Since I must use a cane for getting around, this is no small matter to me.
So, hopefully at 3:00 a.m., most of the little monsters are home in bed, and I can shop in peace. Fortunately we have some 24-hour stores up here.
Reply to Marc B: BOTH SIR.
There has been a lot of violence at Caribana, despite a very heavy police presence, (which I wouldn't attend under any circumstances.) Doing just well with my own culture, thank you very much. Don't need to be "enriched" by blacks. As for Jane and Finch? Wouldn't be caught dead within miles of the place. When I was a kid I could walk pretty much anywhere in the city and be perfectly safe. Now there are whole areas I wouldn't even think of going near - even in the daytime. Nice of the Liberal party and its multicult vote-chasing enthusiasts to give Toronto its very own previously unknown black ghetto. Can't imagine how we got by for 150 years without it.
LOL no shit. i noticed this in north carolina. friday and saturday night at the movie theater, the police get lots of overtime pay keeping things under control. random people congregating outside the movie theater, loitering, acting goofy, not there to see a movie, maybe there to see and be seen by others.
it's pretty disorienting going into the movie theater at 8PM for some major blockbuster, then coming out 3 hours later and trying to remember which row was that where you parked you car and WTF when did the movie theater get moved to nigeria?
What does your black best friend think about that, jody?
Hey, what are the Tamils, Sikhs, and East Indians like in Toronto?
Reply to anon:
I could do without any of them, and we were never asked if we wanted them. But to your question;
The Tamils are easily the worst of the bunch. In a class by themselves. They seem to commit a lot of crime, especially violent crime, much of it seemingly senseless. Many of them are scamsters. Great numbers are on welfare. They come here as illegal aliens - or show up on our coast in rust bucket ships for which they pay human smugglers as much as $50K - and immediately go on welfare. They apply for every government service there is and are a big burden to our healthcare system. Every male Tamil seems to have a mustache and they all have attitudes - very 'in your face' way about them. As a comparison I would say the nearest match might be ghetto inner city blacks in the USA. There are about 200,000 Tamils in Toronto. I believe over half of them who live outside Sri Lanka live here. They didn't exist in this city when I was young.
If there was just one group of people from the sub-continent I was allowed to exclude it would be the Tamils. Hope this answers your question.
"What does your black best friend think about that, jody?"
you have a black best friend jody???? you got pow-banged for multiculturalism there!
anony-mouse said...
let's see. Northern LA county has:
...
So why does anyone live there?
People live where the jobs and money are, not the reverse.
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