The New Apartment Complex....

Where do I start with this? Okay, there is a new apartmenet complex possibly coming to town. The folks who live near this proposed property are pretty upset because it is going to change the whole dynamic of their mostly quiet neighborhood. Well, lets face it. Most neighborhoods in the Valley are quiet. Adding hundreds of residents in a couple of large lots is a pretty drastic change. There are two things at work here. One, the proposed complex is supposed to be "affordable" housing. Now evidenlty you can't challenge this based on that. The neighborhood folks are challenging it on the basis of inadequate studies ahead of time. Like traffic. It's a pretty bogus deal that they did a traffic study in August. That's when the population of this place is at its smallest. A lot of folks on the last minute vacations. No school. There are a couple of schools near this area. So it wasn't a "peak" situation.

So we're having those people on the air to talk about it. Now I want to afford all parties equal time. It's what we're supposed to do and I think it makes for compelling radio. Problem is, my friends at the city CAN'T take sides. They have to remain objective and take all things into account. So I'm trying to track down the developer. No luck yet. However, his reputation isn't exactly shiney. After talking with one city official though, the "affordabe" (read low cost) part may not be what it's supposed to be because it's based on median income. Ridgecrest has a pretty healthy median income because of all of the D.O.D. jobs in town. Stay tuned.

-Eric