{"id":11033,"date":"2012-04-07T16:32:21","date_gmt":"2012-04-07T23:32:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=11033"},"modified":"2012-06-30T12:04:17","modified_gmt":"2012-06-30T19:04:17","slug":"meet-lancaster-mayoral-candidate-david-abber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2012\/04\/07\/meet-lancaster-mayoral-candidate-david-abber\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet Lancaster mayoral candidate David Abber"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
David Abber (pictured at the 'Hoodie March for Solidarity' on March 29) is running for Lancaster Mayor.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER – Mayoral candidate David Abber<\/strong> is known to many as the man who was involved in an altercation with Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris at a 24-hour Fitness Gym two years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was standing by the racquetball courts when the mayor walked up to me, swore at me, shoved me into the glass and assumed a fighting position, and then ran away,\u201d Abber said Wednesday. \u201cBut that\u2019s old news, that\u2019s not what this election is about.\u201d<\/p>\n

The election is about restoring civil rights back to the City of Lancaster, protecting citizens\u2019 religious beliefs, creating jobs for residents, and providing educational and recreational programs for youths, seniors and veterans, said Abber, who is making his third bid for Lancaster Mayor in the April 10 election.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m about the people of Lancaster, not just the chosen few,\u201d Abber said.<\/p>\n

David Abber is a semi-retired widower with grown children who has called Lancaster his home for about 40 years. He spent time in the aerospace industry \u2013 at both Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman \u2013 and ran a Lancaster nightclub in the 1970s at The Sand Sailor hotel. These days, he operates Abber Tickets, a ticket broker business where fans can purchase tickets to popular concerts and big name sporting events like the Superbowl.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough my tickets business, I\u2019ve met many people, presidents of companies and banks, aerospace companies, machine shops, clothing shops and sporting apparel,\u201d Abber said. \u201cI\u2019ve been speaking to these people over the last 10 to 12 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abber said he has established a dialogue with major power players who would consider moving their operations to Lancaster, creating many jobs for residents. But he says it won\u2019t happen as long as the current leadership is in place.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t want to come here because of Rex,\u201d Abber said. \u201cThey want nothing to do with Rex and the way he runs things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abber has several issues with the way the current administration \u201cruns things.\u201d Among them is what he believes to be discrimination against citizens who are on the Section 8 Housing Program and the planned Aerial Surveillance System or \u2018Eye in the Sky.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Eye in the Sky is nothing more than a spy plane, a violation of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution,\u201d Abber said. \u201cWe already have a helicopter for air support for the Sheriff that doesn\u2019t create a further burden to the taxpayers\u2026 if the mayor is afraid for his safety then he should go back into private practice chasing ambulances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abber said he is also concerned about the mayor\u2019s purchase of redevelopment property.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very concerned about the [former] McMahan [furniture] building that the mayor bought that was a redevelopment property\u2026 I think that\u2019s something that needs to be investigated further,\u201d Abber said, adding that he believes the purchase to be a conflict of interest. \u201cHe bought that building for $600,000, it\u2019s worth five or six million dollars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abber said he does not dislike Parris and wishes the best for the mayor and his family. Rather, he says the two are simply opposites.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m for uniting this community and he\u2019s for dividing it, he\u2019s for a small group of people and I\u2019m for all citizens,\u201d Abber said. \u201cSo it\u2019s not dislike\u2026 I love everybody.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abber said his love for the citizens of Lancaster prompted him to get involved in local politics more than 30 years ago, and he said he\u2019s been very active in local politics for the past 20 years. That activism spurred him to action in 2000, when he made his first bid for Lancaster mayor. Abber ran against Frank Roberts, the first elected Mayor of Lancaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2000, I ran for the children\u2026 we were number one in child abuse here and that was something I was very concerned with,\u201d Abber said. \u201cWe [also] had problems with redevelopment. Redevelopment was out of control, as it was clear to the end, with Lancaster lending $50 million to redevelopment recently. Redevelopment does not exist anymore so obviously we\u2019re not going to get that money back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Abber says he ran for mayor of Lancaster again in 2004 and then ran for City Council in 2006 and 2010.<\/p>\n

Though unsuccessful so far, Abber said he continues to run for office because he is passionate about protecting the rights of all citizens.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy number one priority is civil rights, restoring the civil rights that I see being trampled on,\u201d Abber said. \u201cI\u2019m about bringing jobs here, I\u2019m about education, I\u2019m about the children, I\u2019m about the seniors, I\u2019m about the veterans\u2026 I\u2019m about equality for everyone and I\u2019m into uniting this Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n

*This is one in a series of profiles The AV Times has published featuring Lancaster mayoral and city council candidates. We previously published profiles featuring mayoral candidate David Paul <\/a>and council candidates John Kiramis<\/a>, Michael Rives<\/a>, Isaac Grajeda<\/a>, Ken Mann<\/a> and Sandra Johnson<\/a>. Profiles are published in random order.<\/em><\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER – Mayoral candidate David Abber is known to many as the man who was involved in an altercation with Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris at a 24-hour Fitness Gym two years ago. \u201cI was standing by the racquetball courts when the mayor walked up to me, swore at me, shoved me into the glass […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11034,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10,23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11033"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11033"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11033\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}