Back in September 2017 in a locally published commentary, I observed “Broken windows; Lompoc is full of them”; this commentary was based on a theory by social scientists James Q. Wilson and George Kelling in 1982 that used broken windows as a metaphor for disorder within neighborhoods. Expanding on the theory, they wrote, “If the […]
Ron Fink
Posted inOpinion
The commercial space industry is poised to continue flourishing at Vandenberg Space Force Base
Vandenberg Space Force Base just outside Lompoc has been in the missile launching business for more than six decades. Initially there were scores of launch attempts before a successful mission was completed. Why? Because in the early days several test attempts were required to prove that the design would work. It’s no different with commercial […]
Posted inOpinion
County supervisors need to experience the stench surrounding cannabis operations before ruling on permit appeals
Anyone living near a cannabis operation is familiar with the horrendous stink that lingers in the air 24 hours a day for months at a time. Some of these operations are close to Lompoc, and being someone who lives in the odor path, I can tell you that these operations have a serious impact on […]
Posted inOpinion
Are projects Roomkey and Homekey helping Lompoc’s homeless?
On Nov. 19, 2021, the Santa Barbra County grand jury issued a report titled, “The keys to housing the homeless.” In it the members of the jury make several observations/recommendations concerning the implementation of two programs to help communities manage their homeless populations: Project Roomkey and Project Homekey. Summarizing their findings, the grand jury said, […]
Posted inOpinion
Lompoc City Council must now help the community face inevitable major electric rate increases
Previous Lompoc City Council members painted the current council into a corner because they had delayed an orderly schedule of electrical rate increases. Thus the staff is now predicting that at “the current projected pace of use of cash reserves, staff believes that with the 2011 rates in place currently, the Electric Fund will deplete […]
Posted inOpinion
Will Lompoc have enough housing to meet state mandates?
An update of the 2030 General Plan Housing Element is required every eight years by the state of California; it’s the state’s way of making sure cities are following its mandates. It costs a lot of general fund money to once again prove that proposed projects, some that were approved more than 15 years ago, […]
Posted inOpinion
Is our water safe to drink or our food safe to eat?
How safe is the water we drink and the food we eat? I guess it depends on who you ask. My grandma told me that “you have to eat a pound of dirt before you die” after I inadvertently got some mud in my mouth. After all these years I suppose I have “eaten” more […]
Posted inOpinion
Lompoc’s fire crews are well trained, but the city needs to fund a more robust department to ensure public safety
On Saturday evening, March 11, a very large fire occurred at the north end of Lompoc between Walmart and the airport. The property, known as the “Campbell Coolers,” is a very large vegetable processing facility. There are several football field-sized piles of construction material, pallets, and boxes stored on the property. It was one of […]
Posted inOpinion
Lompoc community members have ongoing concerns about ‘code enforcement’ and owners’ responsibilities
What is the purpose of a “code enforcement program”? In cities, the legislative body adopts policies and regulations designed to “protect the public,” and the public should be held accountable for compliance. Sometimes these policies can be open to interpretation, thus making enforcement a challenge. For example, the Lompoc Municipal Code says, “Excessive, unnecessary, or […]
Posted inOpinion
How much does providing shelter to the homeless cost all of us?
Now that the “unsheltered” (homeless people) are being provided with what the homeless advocates call adequate temporary housing, how much is it costing? In Lompoc a few months ago, the city decided to “clean up” some property east of the airport so it could be leased to farmers (previously the homeless had trashed the place […]
Posted inOpinion
Ever-increasing gas bills are hardly natural
Did you notice that your natural gas bill went through the roof last month? Well, at our house we did, so I did a little research to find out why. When many of you vote, or for those who don’t vote, you may think that what goes on in Sacramento or Washington, D.C., has little […]
Posted inOpinion
Lompoc has 200 unhoused people, largely thanks to government ‘helping hands’
I have been trying to figure out the “root cause” and some potential solutions for the homeless issue for the last several months. First, the “homeless issue” has been with us since homeless pilgrims arrived on our eastern shores in 1620. The difference today is that in 1620, “homeless” folks homesteaded land and built not […]
