By Count Friedrich von Olsen
I hope it doesn’t come across that up here in 5,174-foot elevation Lake Arrowhead I am looking down on 1,237 elevation Upland, although I must say, they certainly have some gall down there calling themselves Upland. I prefer to call it Lowland. It seems city leaders there, as in the past, have gotten themselves into a fix by one of their decisions, this time it being a move to close out the 111-year-old municipal fire department and have themselves annexed along with neighboring and slightly higher elevation San Antonio Heights into a county fire service zone which brings with it a taxing/assessment arrangement they heretofore did not have. It seems many Lowland, er I mean Upland, residents are upset, first, because they want to keep their city fire department, second, because they don’t understand why they should have to pay for something they don’t want and have never had to pay for before, and three, they resent not having been given the opportunity to decide this issue for themselves through a vote….
There is nothing to get excited about city officials say, as this is a good thing and completely legitimate and the proof of that is the county outfit that has authority over such issues, the Local Agency Formation Commission, says it is okay…
A good number of people have gotten a hold of me and they want me to put something in my column attacking the city for doing this. Well, I’m not going to do that for two reasons. The first reason is that up here in Lake Arrowhead, the county fire department provides us with fire protection, and as far as I am concerned, they do a fine job. A few summers ago fire was threatening my chalet and the firemen here did a wonderful job keeping me safe. The second reason is that I think the good people of Lowland, er I mean Upland, should reconsider, and take stock of just how fine of a thing their city leaders have done for them. They have initiated a move in the right direction. They just haven’t yet gone far enough. Let’s hope they have the good sense to see that they need to take this to its ultimate conclusion and close out Upland City Hall entirely, do away with its incompetent city council and duplicitous city management and turn the whole citadel over to the county, lock, stock and barrel…