Kinkisharyo agrees to Continue Work on new Metro Light Rail Vehicles

Back in 2012, Kinkisharyo was awarded a contract for a base order of 78 new light rail vehicles plus contract options for additional vehicles for Los Angeles Metro., Kinkisharyo agreed to assemble light rail cars at a new facility in Palmdale, but late last year unions fought the agreement and Kinkisharyo decided to move on and back to Arizona. Since then the LA Mayor Eric Garcetti and the Metro Chair announced an agreement between Kinkisharyo and the unions The mayor was quoted in Nov. 2014 “Last month, the lines were drawn in the sand and we were going to see jobs that could be in L.A. County go somewhere else. But because we brought both sides back to the table to grind out night and day negotiations with my office, L.A. County is going to see new middle class jobs and an expansion of our manufacturing base,” Mayor and Metro Chair Garcetti said. “As I oversee the nation’s largest public works project as Mayor and Metro Chair, it’s critical to me that our economy benefits from our $36 billion transportation build out, and this agreement makes that happen. Creating good, local jobs as we strengthen our local infrastructure is key to my back to basics agenda for L.A.” Now according to news reports Kinkisharyo will expand the current light rail car assembly and testing operations at its existing site in Palmdale to include manufacturing tasks, which will create up to a total of 250 jobs. The 175 cars being worked on at the facility will be put into service on the Crenshaw, Exposition and extended Gold lines. The agreement includes a neutrality agreement, as well as a commitment to explore additional skills training and assistance for disadvantaged L.A. County workers. This is an opportunity for more jobs in the valley to go along with further progress at Plant 42, and BYD’s Electric Bus in Lancaster.

Cal High Speed Rail has been approved for another 114 Miles From Bakersfield to Fresno which adds to the Connection from Madera to Fresno

This is an article in part by Reuters from a CalHighSpeedRail press release. California's high-speed passenger rail project won approval from federal officials at the Surface Transportation Board on Tuesday to construct a 114-mile section from Fresno to Bakersfield. The line will be the second section of a larger statewide high-speed rail line plan, which runs 500 miles from San Francisco to the Los Angeles basin. The Central Valley stretch will be subject to environmental considerations, noted the Surface Transportation Board, which regulates railroad and transportation matters. On Tuesday, the California High-Speed Rail Authority announced it had selected ARCADIS U.S. Inc to oversee a 60-mile section of rail from Fresno to the Tulare and Kern County line. ARCADIS would be responsible for the design and construction oversight and could receive nearly $72 million for the work over a five-year period, according to the California High-Speed Rail Authority. The total $68 billion high-speed rail project is estimated to be completed by 2029 and will transport passengers across the state in under three hours. The state has already started construction on a 29-mile stretch from Madera to Fresno. (Reporting By Robin Respaut reuters

Illegal Dwellings and Debris Removal has been Stepped Up for Land Owners in Antelope Valley

The mayor of Los Angeles County Michael Antonovich has been on the LA County board of Supervisors for thirty one years. He has organized a Nuisance Abatement Team (NATS) since 2006. The team under city permit and building codes has removed a number of illegal dwellings and the biggest target area has been in Antelope Valley. The NATS group has forced homeowners of makeshift homes to dismantle them, face fines or go to jail. One notorious illegal dwelling was “Phonehenge” (a take off of Stonehenge). It was not sufficiently dismantled by the property owner who was then prosecuted and sent to jail after a dozen other prior misdemeanor convictions.

The Dept of Public Works handles smaller issues from potholes, downed trees, and uncollected trash, bulky item pick up and graffiti issues. Recently, the department has been reduced by approximately a half a million dollars so many areas have are now overlooked.

Illegal dwelling will not fall under Public Works issues as that is now a NATS target. They also enforce dumping on property. Lots of debris is dumped on vacant land parcels in the valley. Instead of residents going to the dump and paying to have the county recycle and burry their unwanted goods, they unload it on vacant unused land parcels. Often several to hundreds of tires have been found on unsuspecting land owners. It costs nine to fifteen dollars or more to recycle a tire. Some unscrupulous tire installers don’t like to transport and pay that fee even though they charge the customer. So when they get a sufficient load they hall it and dump it off the road behind a hill in the valley.
Code Enforcement
Each city (Lancaster, Palmdale, Ca.) and the LA County have several ordinances that are designed to maintain a healthy, safe and clean environment. They carry out land use policy and preserve the quality of life standards for residents and businesses.

The Uniform Building Codes, Housing maintenance codes, various health and safety codes are the codes that target illegal dwellings and dumping. Part of the illegal dwelling issues and weed abatement is the prevention of fires. Every summer fires seriously impact Los Angles County costing local government and businesses, insurance companies and home owners millions annually.
If a City or County staff member observes that code violation exists then typically a general notice of violation is issued to the owner/tenant to correct the code violation in a timely manner. The City may also issue citations or take court action if the situation poses a significant risk to the community or if the individual has ignored the notice of violation.
In most cases, the individual responsible for the code violation is given the opportunity to voluntarily correct the situation and comply with current codes without a penalty. If the correction is not made, then the individual may be subject to fines and civil injunctions or other penalties. In many cases the code violator is not the property owner so the property owner initially gets a notice in the mail. If the violation is not taken care of in a timely manner then the city or county will remove the debris. In such a case a lien will be recorded for the expense to remove the debris. If LA County clears the debris then it will likely cost much much more then if you do it. It is the land owner’s responsibility to ensure their property meets the codes set out by the city and county. We recommend you take any notice seriously.

New Highway from Los Angeles County to San Bernardino County Would Increase Land Values on Antelope Valley’s East Side

There has been a proposal for a High Desert Corridor Highway (E 220) of approximately sixty three miles from Hwy 15 (SR-18) in San Bernardino to Palmdale Ca. (SR-14). This will greatly enhance access between the two major cities of Palmdale and Victorville, Ca. as the current thru road is Hwy 138 which is a two lane road. The High Desert Corridor Joint Power Authority (HDCJPA) is administering the project and it is currently in the environmental phase. The HDC will construct this new 60 mile east west expressway and likely a truck toll facility between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties within the decade. The highway segment would be an eight lane freeway and it includes a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane in each direction from SR-14 past the Palmdale Airport to 50th St East along an alignment paralleling Ave P-8 in Palmdale, Ca. It may have to drop to Ave Q to pass Lake Los Angeles and reconnect to P-8 once near Palmdale. Most of the land along Ave P-8 is open space without any road access. It also looks like it will run north south along 50th street East up to Ave E and then run to Ave D (Hwy 138) west of Hwy 14. The exact details of the road route are not totally specific on the land targeted. It may still be under review while the environmental phase continues. In 2009, the Metro Board approved $500,000 for the HDCJPA to support the agency’s efforts. Measure R provided $33 million for environmental clearance. The City of Victorville received an $800,000 federal earmark which was transferred to the HDCJPA for the project. These funds will be used for the environmental clearance. The environmental clearance phase is scheduled to be completed by 2013 and construction completed by 2020. It looks like they will need additional funds for the construction phase.

An eight lane expressway will need to take a considerable amount of space along Ave P8 where land values are at there ten year lows. There are also opportunities along Ave E between Hwy 14 and 50th Street East. The project is not fully approved and technically it has not begun but buying land on the far-east side along this freeway route looks like a good long term investment in our opinion. As buying low priced land and holding it for long term investment is the essence of land banking. Even if the proposed route changes the land prices on Antelope Valley’s east side are currently very low. If you are interested in low price land opportunities then contact us for potential land banking acquisitions.

There has been a proposal for a High Desert Corridor Highway (E 220) of approximately sixty three miles from Hwy 15 (SR-18) in San Bernardino to Palmdale Ca. (SR-14). This will greatly enhance access between the two major cities of Palmdale and Victorville, Ca. as the current thru road is Hwy 138 which is a two lane road. The High Desert Joint Power Authority (HDCJPA) is administering the project and it is currently in the environmental phase. The HDC will construct this new 60 mile east west expressway and likely a truck toll facility between Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties within the decade. The highway segment would be an eight lane freeway and it includes a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane in each direction from SR-14 past the Palmdale Airport to 50th St East along an alignment paralleling Ave P-8 in Palmdale, Ca. It may have to drop to Ave Q to pass Lake Los Angeles and reconnect to P-8 once near Palmdale. Most of the land along Ave P-8 is open space without any road access. The exact details of the road route are not totally specific on the land targeted. It may still be under review while the environmental phase continues. In 2009, the Metro Board approved $500,000 for the HDCJPA to support the agency’s efforts. Measure R provided $33 million for environmental clearance. The City of Victorville received an $800,000 federal earmark which was transferred to the HDCJPA for the project. These funds will be used for the environmental clearance. The environmental clearance phase is scheduled to be completed by 2013 and construction completed by 2020. It looks like they will need additional funds for the construction phase.

An eight lane expressway will need to take a considerable amount of space along Ave P8 where land values are at there ten year lows. The project is not fully approved and technically it has not begun but buying land on the far-east side along this freeway route looks like a good long term investment in our opinion. As buying low priced land and holding it for long term investment is the essence of land banking. Even if the proposed route changes the land prices on Antelope Valley’s east side are currently very low. If you are interested in low price land opportunities then contact us for potential land banking acquisitions.

SoCal Edison Power line Project in Western Antelope Valley the Electromagnetic fields (EMF) Your Health and Property Value

Southern California Edison (SCE) is undergoing a project to install new High Tension power-lines through Antelope Valley and expand existing power lines. The new power-lines will run through Angeles National Forest and run up along 105th Street West to and through the western portions of Kern County. SCE would be required to obtain new easements across over 100 privately owned parcels, as they expand their existing lines and create this new path. The mere mention of a proposed high voltage transmission lines and a new utility corridor in a community causes concern to property values. Eminent domain procedures have been occurring where in some cases 2.5 acre parcels are cut in half to expand current power line paths leaving property owners with tiny remnants of their parcel sitting along the high tension lines. The project will have a direct affect by potentially reducing property values within their visual range. The loss of the panoramic scenic vistas most properties enjoy could decrease the value of their homes, parcels and ranches. Most would agree that power must be supplied from somewhere, but nobody wants a negative effect on their investments, asset or lives. Virtually 90% of western Antelope Valley and Kern County is vacant unused land with small pockets of custom homes and some farming. SCE is proposing to install these power-lines on uninhabited land(investment land), but the long term investor could be affected, or will they?

The issue with power-lines is that it will ruin the view, but mainly the effects of Electromagnetic Field (EMF) that it produces. EMF has many sources and includes overhead power lines, radio broadcast towers, telephone/television microwave transmission and computer equipment. EMF is invisible radio wave energy that in some circumstances can change biological function. EMF from SoCal Edison’s proposed power-lines is called "extremely low frequency" magnetic field, which are produced by high voltage power lines. Several studies have linked high voltage power lines with increased cancer risk for children. Research from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and the University of Colorado found a five-fold increase in childhood cancer, particularly leukemia, in those homes near the highest level of extremely low frequency fields. Homes showing increased cancer risk were within 48 feet of power line wires designed to carry very high electric currents and within 22 feet of power lines designed to carry lower currents. Risks of breast cancer, depression, and other negative health effects are based on much more limited evidence and are even more speculative. There is enough information to have some concern, but not enough to set exposure standards they indicated. Other studies have indicated that the question of a "safe distance" is, at least, a complete unknown.
National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) said that the "strongest evidence" for health effects comes from statistical associations observed in human populations with childhood leukemia and chronic lymphocytic leukemia in occupationally exposed adults such as electric utility workers, machinists and welders. "While the support from individual studies is weak," according to their report, "these epidemiological studies demonstrate, for some methods of measuring exposure, a fairly consistent pattern of a small, increased risk with increasing exposure that is somewhat weaker for chronic lymphocytic leukemia than for childhood leukemia."
However, laboratory studies and investigations of basic biological function do not support these epidemiological associations, according to the report. It says, "Virtually all of the laboratory evidence in animals and humans and most of the mechanistic studies in cells fail to support a causal [cause and effect] relationship."
While sections of the report say EMF exposure "cannot be recognized as entirely safe," the report concludes: "The NIEHS believes that the probability that EMF exposure is truly a health hazard is currently small. The weak epidemiological associations and lack of any laboratory support for these associations provide only marginal scientific support that exposure to this agent is causing any degree of harm."
Research continues on some "lingering concerns," the report says, and efforts to reduce exposures should continue.

It appears from the studies that the risk of power-line exposure is possible, but also maybe only a small hazard. The risk is enough for some land investors to not buy land near power-lines or sell at a reduced rate. We have observed numerous housing projects, strip malls, restaurants, and businesses operating along high tension power-lines. You can perform you own visual research and you will find medium sized power-lines in densely population areas. Development occurs in all facets around these power-lines, so in the long term when development is needed builders will buy and construct at and near power-lines. It may occur in the later stages of development, but when your parcel is surrounded by development then you can ask the highest value. Our conclusion is that property investment has its risks, but for longer term investors even power-line property can be profitable. But as there is an abundance of unencumbered land available in Los Angeles County then buying land today closer to development and services is a better investment today.

Is the California High-Speed Rail Coming Around the Corner?

AP Business news reported on Governor Swarzenegger’s trip to China promoting California products and tourism, but a main point on this overseas trip is to investigate high-speed rail technology and financing. The New York Times also reported in early April of this year about China negotiations with Sacramento to use their high speed rail technology to build the rail-line from Sacramento ultimately to San Diego. The proposed rail would initially be built from Los Angeles to Anaheim and San Francisco to San Jose and then expand from their (see cahighspeedrail.ca.gov). A future rail stop will also be in Palmdale Ca. In the AP News article the Governor was to travel from Shanghai to Nanjing using China’s speed train. Currently China has the world’s longest high-speed rail network spanning 4300 miles, and can run up to 220 miles per hour.

The Governor is also planning stops in Japan and South Korea to experience their high speed rail systems as they are also suitors to build the California Rail System. Interesting though South Korea and China learned the technology from France and Germany which have also presented proposals to Sacramento along with Italy and Spain. The Europeans are skeptical of Chinese technology, since its European grown, so there maybe some licensing issues. There may also be labor issues as Chinese labor laws do not favor the laborer. Yet, the Chinese have preliminarily agreed to abide by all US labor laws. The NY Times indicates the cooperation agreement would entail eighty percent of the components to come from American suppliers and assemble to be done in the US. A potential site would be the previous auto plant in Fremont Ca. thereby keeping most of the jobs in the State. The largest obstacle may be financing as the project is expected to cost $46 billion, but Chinese Banks may also be the solution. Up to $8 billion has already been pledged by the Federal Government as part of the Recovery Act. The Chinese have offered to also help further finance the project. Can the US afford such a large contribution in technology and financing from a foreign power? Can the State afford not to with 12 % unemployment? Would travelers actually take the train? There are many real issues that can derail this project, yet numerous governments are also fully behind it.

Many investors in Lancaster and Palmdale have been looking for signs of growth, so the potential for a rail line with the expansion of Solar and Wind technology in the Valley does show current and future expansion. The State Department of Finance is also expecting population growth from 2010-2015 to increase by 2 million and potentially an additional 18 million by 2040 with Southern California getting most of this growth. There looks to be speculative land opportunities still on the horizon, and Antelope Valley looks to benefit.