Forum… Or Against ’em

By Count Friedrich von Olsen
As you all know, I am a bit behind the times, owing of course to my advanced age. I never gained personal entre into the computer era. Nowadays, these cybernetic devices are all the rage, a staple of life, and I have still not caught up. I have something of an understanding of what it is all about. I take it these modern contraptions, in cohesion with their attendant internet and emails and websites, are a modern version of the teletypes we had in my day. Around my household we do have a computer, more than one actually, one in the basement, one on the first floor, another on the second floor and one on the the third floor. To my butler, Hudson, falls the duty of tending to them. One of his assignments is to mine the internet for things that might be of use or interest to me. He uses a printer attached to the computer to provide me with an oversized page of whatever he has come across, so large I can read it without my monocle…
This week, Hudson left on my desk something or other from financialhub.com entitled “The Ten Worst Cities In California To Live In.” Of the ten listed, five were in San Bernardino County…
Tenth on the list, meaning it was the best of the ten highlighted, was Hesperia. Hesperia’s 10.8 percent unemployment rate was noted. In addition, it is stated that Hesperia has one of the longest commute times in the state and its schools are “25th lowest in California. Hesperia’s residents have a lower income and its schools are rated slightly lower than their neighbors.”
Coming in at number 9 is the county seat, San Bernardino, which is credited with being among the worst five percent per capita in crime as well as having an 11.3 percent unemployment rate and the 8th lowest ranking statewide in education. “Perhaps the only thing surprising about San Bernardino being 9th is that it wasn’t higher. Crime here is horrible, more than 1 in 10 residents are without jobs and …we could go on and on about San Bernardino’s issues,” financialhub.com states. “As professionals continue to flee into the nearby enclaves of East Highlands, Yucaipa and Redlands, the City of San Bernardino, which saw its glory days spike in the late 1970s, will continue to head down the drain and unfortunately, become an area only for those who have no aspirations to exceed in life.”
Joshua Tree is ranked at number 7, with a house vacancy rate of 16 percent and higher than average crime. “There’s a good chance you’ve never been to Joshua Tree, unless 1) you were a Marine stationed at Twentynine Palms or 2) you took a family day trip to the far corners of the desert,” financialhub.com states. “You can see pictures of Joshua trees online. You don’t need to see them in person.”
Coming in at number 3 is Adelanto, with a 13.1 percent unemployment rate, 16.6 household vacancy rate and crime statistics that leave it within the worst 20 percent in California. “Its residents most likely work in nearby Victorville or make the trek through the Cajon Pass to shlep into San Bernardino or Riverside,” according to financialhub.com.
Number two on the list is Lucerne Valley, which financialhub.com says has a 28 percent household vacancy rate and the 32nd longest commute time in California. “Lucerne Valley is another desert town on the fringes of society where there’s nothing to do, residents earn meager salaries, and have long drives to their jobs when they can find them. When you consider the fact that 28% of the homes in Lucerne Valley are vacant, and the public school system is ranked in the bottom 20% for financial support, a case can be made that Lucerne Valley is a real pit. If you haven’t been here, don’t bother. It’s not even worth the extra 20 minute detour on your way to Vegas to see.”
Now comes the point where I take offense. My guess is that those slugs from financialhub.com don’t live in San Bernardino County. Well, I do. With my wealth, I could literally live anywhere on the globe. I have a castle in Germany, a chalet in the Italian Alps, an estate in Marseille, apartments in Venice and Trieste, a house in Lisbon, and a penthouse atop the tallest building in Monaco. I choose to live in San Bernardino County…
And this website or web posting or whatever it is says these are the worst “cities” in California in which to live. Well, for starters, neither Joshua Tree nor Lucerne Valley are cities. Rather, they are unincorporated communities. If the financialhub.com cannot get even that much right, I am not sure how accurate anything it has to say is…

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