Who’s sorry now?

Back in October 2015, the Town Council questioned the necessity of Apple Valley Ranchos Water drilling a well to replace others that were reaching the ends of their service lives (Drilling Discord, Daily Press, October 3, 2015). The water experts in Town Hall, including Art Bishop, grilled AVRWC personnel, and even got their amen chorus in the community to chime in.

By 2015, the Town had been in control of the Horsemen’s Center Park for 14 years, and knew there were problems with the well. Rather than resolve the issue, the Town chose to squander hundreds of thousands of dollars over almost 20 years on temporary measures, which has resulted in killing the turf there three times in two years, the loss of several trees, and the closure of the park. The Town says there is no money in the budget for repairs or replacement.

This is the second park the Town has closed for lack of funds since buying the golf course and subsequently losing more than $10 million on its operation.

Incredibly, the Town shamelessly implies that the fault lies with San Bernardino County, which gave the Town the park in 2001. Every time something goes wrong at Town Hall, it’s someone else’s fault, and they are the first to let you know it.

Imagine, if you can, the Town running our entire water system this way. Imagine them knowing for almost 20 years that a well was failing. Imagine the well finally giving up the ghost for good, with the Town having no plan or even budget to address the issue. Imagine residents of the town with virtually no water for days, weeks, or months at a time, while the Town Council was wasting millions on temporary patches.

I say we need to tell Town Hall loud and clear to get its act together, and a good start is to vote no on the proposed sales tax increase.

Greg Raven is Co-Chair of Apple Valley Citizens for Government Accountability, and is concerned about quality of life issues.