A Hollywood movie franchise called The Purge
takes place in a futuristic dystopian America. Each year during a 12-hour annual purge, all crime is legal, including murder.
But this horror movies isn’t as scary as real life here in San Bernardino County and our Town of Apple Valley where it seems we operate under a 24/7/365 purge of sorts thanks to our do-nothing county sheriff, county supervisor, and Town Council.
Whereas the movie is set in the not-too-distant future, our crime fighting efforts seem to be anchored to the past. For the last decade, the number of deputies patrolling our streets has remained stagnant. For the last several years, our new, expanded jail that cost taxpayers $150 million has been not utilized to the fullest capacity — we have beds sitting empty while criminals roam our streets.
The same politicians that claimed they reduced crime when they sought your vote during election season are the same ones that announce crime rates have risen after they win office. But don’t worry, they say, we are tough on crime.
Woody Park Murder
The purge continues to encroach upon our beloved Apple Valley and the recent discovery of a woman’s body at James Woody Park is disturbing news. The latest, but limited reports suggest that it was a transient-on-transient murder.
It would be easy for many people to write this killing off as a one-time deal and breathe a sigh of relief at the revelation that both individuals were transients. It allows many of us to safely return to our bubble
where we can lie to ourselves — tell ourselves that we are safe and that wouldn’t happen to us.
Our elected officials will give us the newspaper quotes and press releases filled with clichés, platitudes and hand-wringing. They will utter empty promises that they will do something to address the crime problem.
But we all know that shortly thereafter it will be back to normal for our Apple Valley Council members. They won’t let a little old homicide get in the way of their pay and perks or their lavish and useless travel junkets. Nor will it force them to re-evaluate their policies and priorities.
This is the same council that gives away $200,000 plus compensation packages like AOL gave away free dial-up service in the late ’90s.
In 2016, Apple Valley had the third highest paid animal services director in the entire state costing us more than $250,000 a year. In 2017, the council deemed it necessary to have a marketing director and a communications director, both receiving compensation packages in the neighborhood of $250,000. And on top of that, there was something called a public relations specialist earning close to $90,000.
We have dead bodies in parks, rampant increases in crime, and instead of hiring more deputies to keep our community safe, our Council deems it necessary to spend $600,000 a year on fluffy marketing and public relations positions? It is absurd.
Political Purge
Apple Valley needs a political purge. It is time to rid ourselves of our do-nothing Council members.
Actually, a do-nothing council would be an improvement over this current crop of incompetent, out-of-touch, greedy politicians. They have managed to waste millions of dollars trying to take over a private water company and golf course, created a $2.5 million budget shortfall during a period of time when the economy is booming, real estate prices are at all-time highs, and the stock market is breaking records, and padded their own wallets with bloated vehicle allowances and other perks.
I mean, it literally takes skill to be this terrible at your job. The singular purpose of government is to provide protection of life and property. And the Apple Valley Council is failing.
[…]
Source: Angela Valles, Apple Valley Review