{"id":8495,"date":"2012-02-09T16:31:37","date_gmt":"2012-02-10T00:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/198.57.196.122\/~gdatwofo\/theavtimes\/?p=8495"},"modified":"2012-07-01T14:16:01","modified_gmt":"2012-07-01T21:16:01","slug":"lancaster-mayor-lays-out-state-of-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/2012\/02\/09\/lancaster-mayor-lays-out-state-of-the-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Lancaster mayor lays out \u2018State of the City\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Parris said people using Section 8 for their own political agenda was the biggest threat to the City of Lancaster.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

LANCASTER – Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris gave the annual State of the City address at a luncheon hosted by the Antelope Valley Chamber of Commerce Wednesday. He addressed Lancaster\u2019s challenges \u2013 one in particular — before highlighting the city\u2019s economic growth and strides in health, wellness, education, and solar energy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest threat to the city right now are the people using Section 8 for their own purposes, for their own political agenda,\u201d Parris said.<\/p>\n

Parris described the city as being \u201cunder attack\u201d by both the lawsuit (read the complaint here<\/a>), which claims blacks and Latinos on Section 8 face discrimination in Lancaster and the ongoing federal investigation<\/a> into alleged harassment and mistreatment of Section 8 recipients in the Antelope Valley.<\/p>\n

Parris said federal officials were demanding several years\u2019 worth of documents, phone messages and emails from the city that were impossible to produce.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would literally take us about $100,000 to respond, and there\u2019s no way we can respond,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Parris said requesting the documents was a tactic meant to scare the city into a settlement, and said the city would not be backing down.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter how big the dog in the fight is, it matters how big the fight is in the dog, and they picked on the wrong dog,\u201d Parris said. \u201cThis is the city of Lancaster and we are proud of what we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The mayor credited Lancaster Station Captain Bob Jonsen for the city's low crime rate.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In listing the city\u2019s highlights, Parris said Lancaster had rebuilt its downtown during one of the worst economic turns, had cut its crime rate nearly in half<\/a>, and now boasted the most diverse and integrated population in Los Angeles County.<\/p>\n

\u201cI actually think we may be the most integrated city in America,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He pointed to the revitalized BLVD as one of the city\u2019s grandest accomplishments — creating 40 new businesses and providing 1,100 construction jobs and 802 permanent jobs within the city\u2019s core.<\/p>\n

He said even with the city\u2019s reduction in crime, the much talked about aerial surveillance system or \u201cEye in Sky<\/a>\u201d was still needed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to be the safest city in America,\u201d Parris said. \u201cIt\u2019s no more intrusive than the helicopters up there now, it\u2019s just available when we need it. That\u2019s the only difference.\u201d<\/p>\n

Parris also touted the city\u2019s five Wellness Homes<\/a> as evidence of commitment by the city to proactively address the healthcare needs of community residents and said the Master Plan of Trails and Bikeways<\/a> would put in motion a community-wide project to make staying healthy easier.<\/p>\n

Parris stressed the city\u2019s commitment to seeking foreign investors, saying he was willingly investing his own money for trips such as the one recently taken to Abu Dhabi<\/a> in order to secure foreign investment.<\/p>\n

Parris also listed some of the city\u2019s ongoing solar generation projects as evidence of its commitment to becoming one of the first net-zero<\/a> cities in the world.<\/p>\n

View the slide presentation used for the State of the City Address 2012 here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

LANCASTER – Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris gave the annual State of the City address at a luncheon hosted by the Antelope Valley Chamber of Commerce Wednesday. He addressed Lancaster\u2019s challenges \u2013 one in particular — before highlighting the city\u2019s economic growth and strides in health, wellness, education, and solar energy. \u201cThe biggest threat to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":8499,"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],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8495"}],"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=8495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theavtimes.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}