Did a Union Just kill hundreds of Jobs and Economic Growth for Palmdale, California?

The city of Palmdale was ready to complete a deal with Kinkisharyo International a Japanese company who agreed to build a $60 million factory on a city owned property. Kinkisharyo has a $890 million contract to build potentially hundreds of light rail cars for the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority. But now the company is taking its project to another state and many indicate a union is to blame. The plant would have employed 300 at a 400k square foot plant. The plant known as Site 9 was a warehouse space used in numerous movies like “Pirates of the Caribbean”, and “Terminal”. This would have been a big economic opportunity for the City of Palmdale as Kinkisharyo International recently moved its U.S. headquarters from Boston to El Segundo, Calif. Palmdale Mayor Ledford was recently quoted this summer as saying "I believe this is just the beginning of a manufacturing renaissance here in the Antelope Valley,”. An environmental group backed by the International Brotherhood Workers Union Local 11 challenged the company. They produced an appeal claiming that construction of the proposed factory would violate state environmental laws. The union wanted to organize the plant without any interference from the company, but the company said no. So the Union backed the environmental group which turned the project into a potential environmental hazard. “They are using California’s environmental laws as a pretense to put leverage on the company to get what they want,” Kinkisharyo spokesman Coby King told FoxNews.com. Thus the Unions demands were not met so they used environmental laws of water rights to reduce “dust spores” which killed the deal. Initially the Union push the card check agreement. Which is a plan also approved by the Obama administration? Card check is where a company must accept a union if the majority of workers accepts the union. A union spokesperson said they didn’t kill the deal, and that it was the environmental laws, but Kinkisharyo is now looking to build their plant in another state. Kinkisharyo paid $2 million to fight to build the plant in Palmdale. It looks like it is too expensive to do manufacturing business in California.

Rural Land in Antelope Valley May Soon Lose Significant Value, While Other Areas will be Subject to a SEA Zone Restrictions

We have posted before regarding the upcoming proposed changes by Los Angeles Regional Planning under their Town and Country Plan. Many parts of the valley are changing from rural residential land allowing one home per 2 acres currently to Rural Land 20 (RL-20) allowing one dwelling per 20 acres. This is happening all over the valley from the far west to the far-east in places like High Vista, and east of Lake Los Angeles. Other areas like of Redman, and Roosevelt and Tierra Subida. Other areas are changing from the current one home per 2 acres to one home per 10 acres for a domicile RL10. This may drastically reduce the value of many parcels that are not in the city limits of Lancaster or Palmdale. A great number of these parcels are under 5 acres and even if you own a 10 acre lot but the zoning in that area maybe changing to RL 20 you may only be able to build one home on the property. It appears that parcels that are currently 2.5 acres will be allowed to build one home on the property. But parcels that are 20 acres or more with a zone change to RL 20 will only be able to build one home on the property, so property owners with large parcels of 40 or 80, or even 160 acres will only be able to build one home on that property per 20 acres. This will make a huge impact on larger parcels, and less on smaller parcels. Most of the west side county areas are targeted to be zone RL-10 with some exceptions. The county seems to want these rural areas to be country ranch land or farmed land. The best solution for these areas maybe farming if there is enough water, or alternative energy if approved. There have been meetings and invitations have been sent out earlier this year, and there last meeting was on September 27th 2014. Other changes are SEA zones. SEA zones are Significant Ecological Zones. These are areas where burrowing owls, kangaroo squirrels and the desert tortoise live. They will also include areas where the Joshua trees and poppy flowers grow naturally. Most of these SEA zones are near waterways like the Little Rock wash, and even near the duck ponds between Hwy 14 eastward to 10th Street West from Ave H north to Ave E. In this area virtually everything north of Ave G maybe in a SEA zone. The SEA zones run along the mountains along the west side from generally Lake Elizabeth area to Centennial and Gorman. The good news is that many areas the zoning has change positively. 90th east to 105th East running on Palmdale Blvd is proposed to all be Commercial Zoning. Also from Ave F south to G and almost all of the area from Division to 15th Street East will be industrial/Manufacturing zoned M1 or M2. There is also some land west of Division near Sierra Hwy that will be Industrial zoned. Additionally, land running along Hwy 138 from 72nd Street East to 90th Street East is proposed to be Commercial land, and a few areas will be Industrial. The maps and the details of these proposed zoning changes can be found via the Los Angeles Regional Planning’s website under their Town and Country plan. LA County doesn’t want much growth in the outskirts of Lancaster and Palmdale. There may be some influence from UN Agenda 21, which we have written about not long ago. Agenda 21 is implemented locally, but push globally to reduce development drastically to its current levels and allow much much more open space and areas for plants and animals.

Arcadis wins Bid to Contruct Next Phase of Cal High Speed Rail

ARCADIS, and their parent company, ARCADIS NV, are respected industry leaders in construction management, design and consulting. Some of their past projects include the Germany Ebensfeld-Erfurt High-Speed Rail, Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority’s Metro Regional Connector Transit Corridor, the Port of Long Beach’s Middle Harbor. Phase 1 construction, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Hurricane Katrina Levee Reconstruction and the Chicago Transit Authority’s Wilson Transfer Station Reconstruction. ARCADIS U.S. Inc. is headquartered in Highlands Ranch, Colorado, but will open an office in the Central Valley. ARCADIS meets the Authority’s aggressive 30 percent goal for Small Business (SB) participation, with a commitment of 30.5 percent. In addition, the company surpasses the Authority’s 10 percent Disadvantaged Business Enterprise (DBE) and 3 percent Disadvantaged Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) goals; reaching a 15.6 percent and a 4.8 percent commitment, respectively. Work on CP 2-3 will extend in excess of 60-miles through the Central Valley beginning at East American Avenue in Fresno and continuing south to approximately one mile north of the Tulare-Kern County line. The route will bring thousands of jobs to the Central Valley, an area with one of the highest unemployment rates in California and the nation, provide environmental benefits, relieve roadway congestion and spur economic development.

Land as a Hedge Against Economic Collapse

The stock market keeps moving up to all-time highs the past six years, and gold continues to drop, yet many people don’t believe this economies “growth” is real. There are a number of books like Crash Proof by Peter Schiff, The Death of Money by James Rickards, The Coming Collapse by Harry Dent, and the research firm Stansberry & Associates who reference that the US deficit, demographics and a potential collapse of the dollar will bring hard times in the America. There is also loan obligations in mortgage insurance, and underfunded social security and Medicare benefits compound the US deficit into the tens of trillions. The dollar is currently the world’s reserve currency, but in the future that may not be the case due to debt obligations and a dollar currency collapse will change the way of life in America. These authors suggest a number of protective remedies to a collapse, and a main remedy maybe physical gold and silver in the form of coins or bars. These are a hedge against inflation, but they may also may be the money of the future. As currencies may go back to the gold standard. Central Banks may be forced to back fiat currencies with gold in their vaults. Additionally, land is also a means to preserve your wealth or investment in the event of a stock market crash and loss of the dollar as a reserve currency. Farm land can be ideal as it can be used simply to feed your family, and to grow enough to sell in a collapsed economy. Any commodity that can be sold will help you get by when the US has been turned upside down. Land is better than real estate with improvements in an economic collapse scenario as there is no maintenance, taxes are lower and an angry mob can burn down your rental home or building. Also, if there is an economic collapse then residents and commercial tenants can’t pay their lease or rent so a building with a mortgage and taxes can cause insolvency. Land also doesn’t lose a lot of value over time. It may fluctuate with the real estate market, but as long as you bought at a reasonable price then your land will hold its value. Most of the time land is bought with cash so it is a safe haven in hyperinflation When the collapse runs its course then you can sell your land later at a higher price when development comes you way. We have property at vacantlanddeals.com that may just fit a depression or longer term recession scenario.

AV College ready to sell 5 acres across from campus

Article from AV Press-The Antelope Valley College is putting up for sale five acres at 30th Street West and Avenue K that now is a vacant lot covered with California juniper bushes but which once was to get the college $1.25 million and be turned into a shopping center - before the "Great Recession" intervened. Under state law, the college first must offer the land to another government agency or a charity at fair market value, which the college is not disclosing, before it could be sold to a shopping center developer or other private buyer. "We've had several indications of interest," Antelope Valley College President Edward Knudson said Wednesday. "We couldn't act on it because we have to go through this process." Owned by the college for decades at the southwest corner of the intersection, across the street from the campus, the land once was described as an environmental study area, then was offered in the late 1980s as a potential site for a performing arts center. Posted there now is a real estate sales company's sign advertising "retail center coming soon." Lancaster officials in 2009 agreed to use the city's redevelopment agency as an intermediary, buying the property from the college for $1.25 million and selling it at the same price to a Newport Beach-based developer that planned to build a shopping center with 35,000 square feet of business space, including a restaurant. But the sale never took place, and college officials have declared the land is surplus to the college's needs, Knudson said. "I think because of the recession and the business climate, the developer or developers was not able to complete the work," Knudson said. College officials expect that whatever is built at the corner will be compatible with nearby neighborhoods, college students and traffic, he said. The property has a zoning designation of Commercial - Planned Development, which means any project proposed there must undergo a public hearing before the Lancaster planning commission and receive a permit setting conditions for its development, City Manager Mark Bozigian said. Any government agency or nonprofit organization interested in buying the land for fair market value must notify the college by Aug. 26, records show. If none does, the college can move forward with putting the land up for sale to private buyers, Knudson said. The property up for sale at the southwest corner of Avenue K and 30th Street West is different from the controversial site of a separate proposal at the intersection's southeast corner. Neighbors objected to the 8-acre project proposed at the southeast corner by J.P. Eliopulos Enterprises of Lancaster.

Cal High Speed Rail has been approved another 114 Miles From Bakersfield to Fresno adding to the Connection from Madera to Fresno

This is an article in part by Reuters from a CalHighSpeedRail press release. California's high-speed passenger rail project won approval from federal officials at the Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday to construct a 114-mile section from Fresno to Bakersfield. The line will be the second section of a larger statewide high-speed rail line plan, which runs 500 miles from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin. The Central Valley stretch will be subject to environmental considerations, noted the Surface Transportation Board, which regulates railroad and transportation matters. On Tuesday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority announced it had selected ARCADIS U.S. Inc to oversee a 60-mile section of rail from Fresno to the Tulare and Kern County line. ARCADIS would be responsible for the design and construction oversight and could receive nearly $72 million for the work over a five-year period, according to the California High-Speed Rail Authority. The total $68 billion high-speed rail project is estimated to be completed by 2029 and will transport passengers across the state in under three hours. The state has already started construction on a 29-mile stretch from Madera to Fresno. (Reporting By Robin Respaut reuters

Antelope Valley’s Expanding Medical Centers

Portions contributed by Jim Skeen in AV Press article Palmdale Regional Medical Center opened in December 2010, it ended Palmdale's 14 years of being the largest city in California without a hospital. According to a recent AV Press article the facility has 157 beds and can increase to 230. According to the article, the region does have to do a better job at building up the number of primary care physicians. There appears to be a lack of initial care facilities, and not more primary care facilities, but not enough primary care doctors. We previously wrote about the new Kaiser Medical center in Lancaster. It will open this month on 5th Street West at Ave L. This is an expansion for Kaiser as they have been in the area since the late 60’s. They have expanded this past decade as well with a Palmdale clinic in 2003, and expanded the Lancaster facility in 2008. Part of the need for this growth by Kaiser is its own growth. They have over 100,000 members in the valley today with over 10 increase over this past decade. Antelope Valley Hospital on 60th West near the prison was the main hospital in the Valley for decades. It currently serves about 200,000 patients. It has been the only full service facility in the Valley for decades. The AV Press article indicated that there are lack of mental health facilities in the valley. Due in part to the lack of psychiatrists. Our research has shown that Psychiatry has become merely a pharma drug pushing practice. They have gone away from the talk therapy, and happy left the lobotomies, electric shock treatments and strait-jackets in their past. Just this past June High Desert Regional Health Center Opened a $141.5 million High Desert Regional Health Center opened at Avenue I and Third Street East, which is run by LA Dept. of Health. Antelope Valley has seen a number of medical groups, and hospitals open or expand. This shows that these facilities see populations expanding in the valley spurning growth of these facilities. Growth and expansion is what the Antelope Valley needs to ensure a vibrant future.