Response to Barb Stanton (December 7, 2014)

In addition to my earlier post about the Town of Apple Valley’s mystifying series of attacks against Apple Valley Ranchos Water Company (AVRWC), I posted the three attachments from that post on Facebook and invited anyone from the Town to respond substantively.

So far, the only response has been from council member Barb Stanton, who wrote:

Read today’s letter to the editor in Daily Press. Merry Christmas!

The letters section from today’s (Sunday’s) Daily Press (actually, on Sunday it’s the Press Dispatch) is not yet online, but here is my response:

Merry Christmas to you, too, Barb.

Unfortunately, your letter to the editor must have been edited for length, because there is no substantive information in it, which gives the impression that you are merely spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt.

You write that water prices have gone up. So what? Other prices have gone up, too. Why didn’t the town buy Valero when gas prices shot up? Why didn’t the town buy Edison to stabilize electricity rates? Why didn’t the town buy a hospital to keep medical care affordable? A better question is: Why is the town so rabid in its attempts to buy Apple Valley Ranchos Water Company? As for water rates going up, the Federal government is addicted to inflation, so the prices of just about everything are going up. Too, you might have noticed that we’re in a bit of a drought period.

You also claim that people are protesting rate increases, so you have to do something. Really? Are you saying that mob rule is OK, as long as the mob is big enough? Or maybe, as long as the mob agrees with what you want to do anyway?

In case you don’t have a copy of the paper at hand, one of the things that must have been edited out was the part where you promise that if the Town of Apple Valley utterly botches the job of keeping rates low without forcing other residents to subsidize the low rates, the town will sell the utility back to the former owners. It never would, of course, because the government never backs winners and never does anything efficiently, and it also never acknowledges its own mistakes.

Here’s an idea, if there are town council members who think they know how to provide water at a stable rate to residents of Apple Valley, they should resign and start their own, privately-held water company, and compete Apple Valley Ranchos off the face of the map.

Until then, enough with the misinformation and distortions coming from spokesmen for the town council.

Greg Raven is Co-Chair of Apple Valley Citizens for Government Accountability, and is concerned about quality of life issues.