Mike Tyson Plants the seeds on 40-acre Marijuana Resort Ranch in California City

News reports indicate Iron Mike Tyson has broken ground on resort in California City. The former heavy weight boxer and business partners have broken ground on a 40-acre ranch. California legalized marijuana for recreational use, and Tyson and his partners are looking to the wide open space of Antelope Valley to stake their claim. California City is a small town in the Mojave Desert near Edward Air force Base. Land is very cheap in this area, and there is nothing really appealing about California City. It is not Napa or Sonoma Valley havens to the wine growing industry of California. Can Tyson celebrity status draw enough interest to make it a desert resort? That remains to be seen. It is about 110 mile north of downtown Los Angeles. According to the news source The Blast they quote “taking care of men and women who have served in the armed forces is a top priority” for Tyson Holistic, the company that will operate the resort, to be called Tyson Ranch. The Blast also notes that there is an extract of marijuana call cannabidiol (CBD). This extract doesn’t provide the high that THC produces. According to sources this extract has been used by some veterans to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The extract has been touted for other therapeutic qualities. California City in Kern County much like Adelanto in San Bernardino County has opened its doors to marijuana cultivation in preparation for this laws approval. These cities are looking for the revenue to boost their fledging economies. These new progressive industries may help boost their economies in the short term, but it remains to be seen how marijuana will affect California youths in the long term. There are unknown long term effects to these drugs, and the crimes that they may bring into cities. Is marijuana a precursor to a larger drug openness culture?

BYD Looks to Expansion of Lancaster, CA Plant

BYD started in California in 2011. Their first big order for an electric bus came from the City of Long Beach and now they have 60 new orders from Los Angeles Metro and with University orders from Stanford and Cal Berkeley. The BYD team has since established a manufacturing foothold in the Americas with the procurement of the Lancaster, California plant near Ave H and Division. The electric Bus is their foundation in Lancaster but they are working on production of electric trucks and forklifts, which they have recently started producing. They now have the largest single building in Lancaster with their 450,000 square feet facility with a total staff of 700 with plans of producing 1,500 electric buses per year. We also noticed they purchases 160 acres of land at 50th West at H according to public records. This is the only large parcel of land of this size in this area, but it is currently zoned as Rural Residential once house per 2.5 acres. It is hard to imagine that they bought this land without some zoning concessions from the city of Lancaster. This large parcel is about a mile west of Michaels Distribution center. Gas lines run on Ave H which also has electric power, but there is no water or sewage line to 50th West at this point. BYD purchased this property in 2016, so looks like some changes to the area are coming in the future.