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Antelope Valley called the 'last
valley' with room to grow
AND
Rosamond is at the affordable
end of the Antelope Valley.
Report: L.A. sprawl hits wall;
Valley still looks to good future
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press March 8, 2001.
By LISA WAHLA
Antelope Valley Press Staff Writer
LOS ANGELES - Don't let the shopping malls, cookie-cutter housing tracts and "big box" retail outlets fool you - suburbia L.A.-style is dead.
A new report on urban sprawl finds that Los Angeles, which for 120 years has modeled suburbanization for the nation, has reached its limit. "The suburban era for metro L.A. is not only over; it's been over for 20 years," said researcher William Fulton, one of the primary authors of "Sprawl Hits the Wall: Confronting the Realities of Metropolitan Los Angeles."
The Antelope Valley is the "the last valley" in Los Angeles County, and one of the last areas in the five-county area with room to grow, considering environmental restrictions in other counties. "It's not too late for the Antelope Valley," said Michael Dear, director of the Southern California Studies Center. "You're going to get growth - the question is how are you going to manage it? There is a way to do growth in constructive, hopeful ways, not destructive ways." The report was presented Wednesday by the Brookings Institution Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, and the Southern California Studies Center at the University of Southern California.
Researchers gave a bleak picture of those realities - crumbling infrastructure, desperate shortages in affordable housing, a serious jobs-to-housing imbalance and the worst traffic in America. The L.A. metropolitan area, which in this report includes Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and Ventura counties, will add 6 million people over the next 20 years.
L.A. is on pace to surpass New York as the nation's largest metropolitan area. But its traditional growth pattern - over the hill and into the next valley - is obsolete, researchers say. Strategies suggested by the researchers include considering the environment, closing the gap between rich and poor and overhauling a current economic system that discourages construction of needed housing. Most of all, researchers say, civic leaders must come together to find regional solutions to pervasive urban problems. For the first time in its history, L.A.'s growth is coming primarily from within, rather than through migration or immigration. In other words, the birthrate is far exceeding the death rate. While the explosive growth locally has grabbed headlines, researchers emphasized that older urban areas - long considered built out - have experienced an equal amount of growth. "In the last 20 years, 40% of the region's population growth - more than 2 million people - has occurred in older parts of the region that have virtually no `raw' land," the report said.
By contrast, the Antelope Valley has land and opportunity for quality growth and infrastructure development. However, the Valley's revenue base is low compared to many other areas, and it takes a lot of money to build infrastructure. Because few multifamily housing units are being constructed, this increased density in poor areas has meant more doubling and tripling in single-family homes. Recently constructed homes are mostly single-family dwellings, built either in affluent foothills or coastal areas or in outlying areas, far from job centers. "We're building the wrong type of housing in the wrong location at the wrong price for the type of growth we're experiencing," researcher Jennifer Wolch said. At this point, the Antelope Valley offers homes in the $150,000 range that would sell for a quarter-million dollars or more "down below" in the San Fernando Valley and elsewhere. The housing shortage is exacerbated by the state's economic system that encourages shopping centers and auto malls and effectively discourages new housing. The system rewards cities with sales tax dollars for commercial development, while needed multifamily units that would further drain limited fiscal resources go unbuilt. "Many jurisdictions like the Antelope Valley have not enough resources to address the kinds of infrastructure needs that exist," Wolch said. "The rules of the game in terms of state and local financing need to change."
Overall, the L.A. region has recovered from the recession of the last decade, becoming a "center of the high-paying `New Economy,' " with jobs in the high-tech and entertainment fields dominating the growth. But the desirable jobs are developing disproportionately in affluent foothill suburbs, such as Santa Clarita and Thousand Oaks. Low-skill, low-wage jobs are prevalent in distressed areas, deepening the divide between rich and poor. Of course, improving the job-to-housing balance has been a top priority for Antelope Valley leaders for years. Fulton suggested that the real problem isn't the scarcity of jobs in the Antelope Valley - the issue is the lack of affordable housing in the L.A. basin. The challenge for Antelope Valley planners is to look beyond the local need for jobs, he said. Local leaders must come together with their counterparts around the region to develop long-term solutions. "It's one thing to be on the Palmdale City Council and say we want jobs. It's another thing to be in on regional conversations about improving the job-to-housing balance throughout the region."
Los Angeles Times
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Mojave Desert News
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Rosamond
Town Council - Elections
525
New Home Subdivision approved by Kern County for Rosamond 9/16/2004
$10
million X-Prize launch scheduled for September 29
Mojave
transportaion hub inevitable
SpaceShipOne
historic space flight scheduled for June 21, 2004
Willow
Springs - Rosamond Home Development
World
focuses on Mojave Airport - Global Flyer
Global
Flyer idea originated with Voyager pilot Dick Rutan
FAA
takes major step toward Mojave Airport Spaceport approval
Mojave,
Rosamond studied for high-speed rail facility
Rosamond
1,200 home development
New
Westpark Elementary School in Rosamond
Metrolink
coming to Rosamond
Rosamond
breaks ground for new school
New
Rosamond Sheriff Station and Fire Station
Rosamond
1,200 home development update
Steve
Fossett and Sir Richard Branson - Global Flyer
East
Kern Airport District - Mojave Airport
Leumann
Ridge - Rocket Test Stand
NASA
going to Mars via Base Station on the Moon
Edwards
AFB - Training against WMD
Rosamond
Community Services District Office
Antelope Valley Press News Articles
Homepage
Palmdale
- Transient Village
Lancaster
housing and water issue.
Palmdale
low income housing
SCAG
Housing Plan
Water
- Water - Water ---Nowhere in the Antelope Valley
Antelope
Valley Cities - May 2005
AV
Homes prices up 32.4% April to May 2004
Test
pilots get tour of Mojave Airport Sept 2004
Nemesis
NXT race plane makes debut at Mojave Airport in California
XCOR
Copa
de Oro gets final approval from Kern County Board of Supervisors
Antelope
Valley home prices are up, but still a bargain compared to the rest of
California
Bill
to push future space launches at Mojave Airport advances
Edwards
AFB - X43A's
Kern
County's growth remains steady
Mojave
Airport plans for its future in Aerospace.
The
nation's expanding defense budget is good news for the Antelope Valley
and its resident aerospace industry.
Rosamond
Properties News Release
Antelope
Valley homes still affordable compared to other Southern California cities.
Home
builder to go to town in the Antelope Valley
Rosamond
Community Services Ground Breaking Ceremony
Air
Force Predator Unmanned Reconnaissance Aircraft
Palmdale
Regional Airport
Ripple
effect for Rosamond Housing Construction
Antelope
Valley Housing Soars 70%
New
Park for Rosamond
Antelope
Valley Home Prices up 40%
Space
Ship One - Dick Rutan top story of 2003
Mojave
Crossroads
Edwards
AFB - Tests aim to silence sonic boom
President
George W. Bush announced the dawn of a new Space Age for the nation
National
Air and Space Administration
Los
Angeles Daily News Articles
Home
prices in Palmdale and Lancaster up significantly in 2004
California City News and Real Estate
Rosamond California Links
California City Real Estate
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Land Specialists"
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Ca 93505
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