The Antelope Valley Times

Your community. Your issues. Your news.

Watch Mayor’s State of the City address

by •


Lancaster Mayor R. Rex Parris last week highlighted the City’s many projects during his annual State of the City address to the Antelope Valley Chambers of Commerce. View the full presentation.

26 comments for "Watch Mayor’s State of the City address"

  1. ABOUT 80 PERCENT of Bangladesh is alluvial floodplain, most of it a few meters above sea level. Yes, Bangladesh will disappear if our atmosphere continues to fill with carbon dioxide and climate change continues unabated.

    • Was carbon dioxide the cause for the melting of the ice after the Ice Age, the end of the lush and green Sahara, and the cause of the mini ice age during the Middle Ages? If the world has been warming since the Ice Age up until about a decade ago when temperatures have flattened, what were the pre-Industrial Age causes? How has the Netherlands been able to exist below sea level?

  2. Okay so we are at a cool half a billion in debt its funny how our city keeps plunging into debt while every close to rex and is doing business here are making out like bandit oh thats right they are a bunch of CROOKS

    • i think this post is dead on. none of the improvements made to our city have come because of mayor parris. you mean to tell me he is the one person responsible for a multi billion dollar corp. like kaiser to expand?the county facility on avenue i is an expansion based on the county recipients that have been moved to the edge of la county to get rid of them.marriott and best western? you mean those empty parking lots by the jethawk stadium?try driving to walmart on east avenue j when it rains and drive through that lake in front of taco bell. what about that million dollar drainage ditch on ave i and 20th east that remains bone dry that has a mosquito infested pond in front of it?and how much MONEY FOR ROUNDABOUTS so him and his go kart buddys have a nice little track once ayear. i also agree with “wakeuplancaster”,how can the mayors law firm represent the city when he already receives a paycheck and possible pension from the city? confict?

  3. Unfortunately Lancaster will be a nothing town run by “the good ole boys” for their “good ole boys” cronies and special interest. Since R. Rex has been mayor nothing has changed. Same ole, same ole. *sigh*

    • This has to be the stupidest post I have seen on here in a long time! Nothing has changed? Are you dumb or blind or both?

      The new City of Hope Cancer Center under construction means nothing?
      The new Kaiser facility on Avenue L under construction means nothing?
      The new Morton Manufacturing facility means nothing?
      The new County Medical facility on Avenue I means nothing?
      The new Incotec facility means nothing?
      The new Marriot and Best Western hotels under construction mean nothing?
      The new office space on the Blvd under construction means nothing?

      And this is just the tip of what’s starting to take place here. And it was all done under Rex Parris’s watch as mayor.

      Give credit where its due!

      I know that all of the hateful trolls are going to come on here and vote my post down like a bunch of spoiled children, so have it.

      • Rex Parris deserves credit for much more than that.

        The lawsuit against the ACLU means nothing?

        The lawsuit against Quartz Hill Cares means nothing?

        The lawsuit against the Mongols means nothing?

        The lawsuit against David Abber means nothing?

        The lawsuit against Cedar Street Theater means nothing?

        The lawsuit against the city of Palmdale means nothing?

        The lawsuit against Bowles means nothing?

        The lawsuit against Waterhouse means nothing?

        The lawsuit against Doe means nothing?

        The lawsuit against the Coalition for Open Government means nothing?

        The lawsuit against the Housing Authority of the County of Los Angeles means nothing?

        The lawsuit against Rubin means nothing?

        The lawsuit against the Miracle Star Women’s Recovering Community, Inc. means nothing?

        The lawsuit against the Save Our Neighborhood Group means nothing?

        Overseeing the drop of the city’s bond rating means nothing?

        Blowing through the city’s cash reserves means nothing?

        Overseeing enormous debt means nothing?

        A 14% unemployment rate means nothing?

        Spending $2 mill to steal a business from Santa Clarita means nothing?

        Buying a building for your law offices in a redevelopment zone which is a no-no means nothing?

        Overseeing the departure of Lemmle Theaters on the BLVD means nothing?

        Spending a million bucks a year on a spy plane that is owned by a buddy means nothing?

        Making the News of the Weird for thinking bird sounds will lower crime in the city means nothing?

        Seeing business after business close on your watch means nothing?

        Settling the Section 8 lawsuit after saying you never would means nothing?

        Killing 2,000 pit bulls means nothing?

        Trying to bring businesses from a Communist country and human rights violator to jeopardize our national security means nothing?

        Give credit where credit is due! Let me know when those hotel groundbreaking happen.I want to be there. I want to be at the W boutique hotel on the BLVD groundbreaking too.

        • The Theater on the BLVD is still up and running. There was a licensing agreement with the Laemmle brand to establish the business for the first couple of years and now that it’s a known theater there are no benefits to paying for the name. (Think Franchise)
          It’s the most affordable and comfortable theater in the A.V. hands down and not all just ‘independent’ and ‘foreign films’.

          Also the boutique hotel is already being built on the BLVD, the retail space is ready for lease with the hotel component to be built in the future.

          The AV is coming out of a recession period. During that time businesses have closed all over the place, but at the same time both Lancaster and Palmdale have been aggressive in pursuing new business opportunities for our community. For every business closure in both towns we can probably list multiple others that replaced it.

          While the lawsuits are noteworthy the remainder of your argument is just a lot of opinions that fail to live up to reality when compared against the tangible facts. (Like buildings actually being built..)

          • What’s the real deal with the theater? Did the city pay any money to bring it or what? Why would a company build it then leave it? Is it doing good business?

        • I am glad the city filed a suit and kept the Mongols out of the city. Thank you Rex Parris.

          I am glad the city filed a suit against HACOLA and forced the issue to the front pages where it had a bright light shining upon it. Silently, changes are being made, such as a lower 1 bedroom voucher rate that has lowered the percentage of private home owners renting their homes out for an unseemly profit.

          I don’t know of the other suits, but every city has them. I am sure there are some good and some bad ones. But what is important is that the city isn’t just resting on it’s laurels letting things rot. They are proactive in protecting the vested interest of its citizens. As one of those citizens, I have to say the improvements have been very good. Both for our business and for our personal lives in the city.

        • @ Wakeup Lancaster… Obviously the lawsuit filed on behalf of Jane, Jake and John Doe against the City of Lancaster Sex Offender Ordinance proved to be effective as the City repealed it last night when they had adopted it on September 11. Had of the City listened we could have saved the citizens of Lancaster thousands of dollars from a senseless ordinance in attorney fees etc. Now for the next Lancaster illegal ordinance; the Group Home Ordinance needs to be discussed or do I need to file a lawsuit for that to be discussed? I guess time will tell.

        • Furthermore, Unfortunately unscrupulous lawyers and an overly complex system have led to an abundance of costly and unnecessary lawsuits.

          Lawsuits should be the last resort particularly for cities faced with reduced budgets. City officials need to focus on the problems which create these lawsuits and come up with solutions. This way it reduces unnecessary lawsuits and saves the citizens from costly litigation. What citizen in their right mind wouldn’t want to save city money and spend those savings elsewhere on services that are financially hurting and need the cities assistance?

      • Sure all this construction means S O M E T H I N G.

        It means the welfare girls (you know who I mean) enrolled in (not necessarily attending) medical assistance classes will have someplace to work and steal identity from.

        It means, more minimum wage jobs.

        It means more Hotel rooms that will sit empty, except for a couple of weeks a year. Example: all the hotels between J8 and west Ave K. Hotels that later can be turned into housing projects.

        County Medical…oh yippee, more county!

        Another new (empty) building on the Blvd. If someone wanted to move to the Blvd, why not move into a space that is already built and sitting empty? There are plenty of them.

        Credit? Yes, the credit goes to the City and Staffers.

      • Isn’t property cheaper in Lancaster than in Palmdale, hence, the location of some of those new developments?

        But, remember, LOCATION. LOCATION. LOCATION.

        Does anyone see a future where property will be valued higher in Lancaster than in Palmdale?

        Palmdale will be the premier city in the Antelope Valley in the foreseeable future despite all the ‘fixes’ by the good ol’ boys in Lancaster and explanations from Adam Chant.

  4. Yes we should Karen. Say when is that spaceship supposed to stop by and pick us up to take us to see Hale-Bopp? Hmmm. My drink tastes funny………….,,.,,

  5. It’s all wonderful what the Mayor is saying and I do hope that we as a whole city achieve it.. now, we just need to teraform the city.

    • yes I did. and I was saddened to see that we will be losing Bangladesh. It is sad that all George Harrisons and Ravi Shankars hard work was in vain.

  7. What would be really cool is if someone did a mashup of his abundant hand motions and overdubbed it with Gangnam Style. “Mayor do it Gangnam Style!”