All you (n)ever wanted to know about Ridgecrest (Los Angeles: attorney, home)

[FresnoFacts]

Just thought I'd add a link to this article on this thread. It is info about Ridgecrest doing better than the rest of the state for jobs right now.

Last month Ridgecrest unemployment was 8.4%, lower than California's 11.6% for June.

Navy weapons unit produces a high-desert boomtown
"The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division at China Lake plans to add 1,000 civilian jobs by 2011, spurring construction projects in nearby Ridgecrest that are drawing workers from across the West."
Navy weapons unit produces a high-desert boomtown - Los Angeles Times

[Count David]

Originally Posted by FresnoFacts

Just thought I'd add a link to this article on this thread. It is info about Ridgecrest doing better than the rest of the state for jobs right now.

Last month Ridgecrest unemployment was 8.4%, lower than California's 11.6% for June.

Navy weapons unit produces a high-desert boomtown
"The Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division at China Lake plans to add 1,000 civilian jobs by 2011, spurring construction projects in nearby Ridgecrest that are drawing workers from across the West."
Navy weapons unit produces a high-desert boomtown - Los Angeles Times

Thanks FresnoFacts!!!

I think what's going on in Ridgecrest is fantastic!!! I can't believe Ridgecrest made the Los Angeles Times. I wish it the best.

[Crumville Resident]

I enjoyed Aguilar's posts and they are spot on, some of the other post eluded to realities of Ridgecrest, but the city is vastly different depending on your income level. Rich people (base scientists, ect) will find a very quiet, conservative, and friendly environment. Poor people will find a lot of temptation when it comes to drugs, a hostile and harassing police force, and racism. The middle class will find difficulty advancing on the base without a lot of further education (luckily there is Cerro Coso and many base employers help out) however, there will also be a lot of isolation, the people are quite rude when wandering around the town, the small shops gouge and Wall Mart is bent on driving any specialty shops out of town, so far there is only Red Rock books and Planet Art (which only exist due to being special projects of very rich old families) Most importantly, (and probably not mentioned because the average ridgecrest resident is either above or below middle class) the middle class face problems the poor and the rich do not know about. The poor and rich element in ridgecrest (regardless of race) are unaware of problems specific to the city, although they have been mentioned (drugs, conservatism, racism, isolation, road problems).

First, let me explain the reason for some of the problems previously identified:
1. The local zenophobia is due to the campaign that larger cities have to convince low income families to move here. They never seem to mention the large, zealous police force and criminal court system here, however and when they come they feel harassed especially since there is very little for teenagers to do in this town other than mix in with the bad element. Cyclically, motorcycle gangs have left their girlfriends in ridgecrest to make meth labs. At least once a year a meth lab is raided by local police. All the trouble, it seems, comes from "outsiders". And the particular phobia of hispanics is because of the Vagos and Eme who use this town as a semi-permanent base (which also explains the tough on crime attitude)

2. The roads, abandoned houses, construction problems, are due to a highly corrupt city council. Chip Holloway and Duke Cunningham have systemically drained most of the services of the city and lined their own pockets with it. In fact, the City Hall (which is a big glass building in the middle of the desert) was a huge scam that they also ran in Lone Pine. The town shuts down at 7 pm, if you want to work on the base you will be pressured heavily to open up an account at Alta One, the local credit union, there also seems to be an inordinate amount of Mormons on the city council and a lot of jobs require being mormon. The police and city council are always fighting each other over local traffic laws, speed limits, ect. Over all there is a big "good ol boys" feel to the town and a few local families run everything.

3. Mental health problems are due to the Eli Lily company having a half-way house here. The local hospital is woefully incompetent and there are several "fake" abortion clinics in town that will essentially lie to teenage mothers who want to end their pregnancies. They even constructed a high school for pregnant teens called Mesquite.

Other things not mentioned but should be:

1. The city has an inordinately high rape and violent assault statistic. Rapes are rarely given the same seriousness as other crimes. The local police, (The sheriff, his sons and some recently graduated Burroughs High students) are genuinely good natured, but several police officers tend to get moved to ridgcrest for discipline and legal problems they had in other cities. There is a distrubingly high amount of reported rapes against police officers in ridgecrest, and there does seem to be a lack of follow-through with domestic abuse cases and child abuse cases are virtually ignored because the city has no services for things like that. One of the biggest scandals in Ridgecrest involved a prostitution ring of teenage girls happening through Burroughs.

2. The racism in ridgecrest is pretty intense, and the High School and local park have had violent confrontations based on race, including an event ridgecrestians might remember as the "race riot".

Everything good in ridgecrest is essentially the bare minimum you would expect in any community. But there is a lot of bad, especially if you are born here, its difficult to leave and its 100 miles from anywhere.

[N4TECguy]

Our wonderful police force here in Ridgecrest! Not only did they choose someone who has FOUR felony drug convictions to "buy" drugs (in order to arrest the sellers), but then they found a needle in her car, and proceed to destroy the evidence (TWICE), and then cover it up by lying for 8 months.

Major operation in jeopardy after disclosure of Ridgecrest ... - Bakersfield.com

[starkeep]

i grew up in ridgecrest but have noticed over the last few years a lot of growth there. the carrage in hospital expansion, marriot and hilton hampton and many more soon to be built. As far as realestate crisis its not near as bad as many other places in the country and is growing plus cero cosco geothermal near there and pistachio farms and solar plants in the works the place will probobly be a lot better as time goes on there.

[freedomfighter100]

Dear Airmech80,
I see that you are considering moving to Ridgecrest to work on the base. I feel it is my duty to share with you my point of view so that you get the full perspective of what you may be getting yourself into.

In my opinion, (and I know many who agree) Ridgrecrest is one of the most horrible places you could possibly move to. This may not be the case for you considering that you will be working on base. That is the attraction here, and it may be worth it for you. Otherwise, aside from the great job on the base, Ridgecrest is a stagnant, dead, negative, ugly, weird, boring, lame, hole in the middle of nowhere that sucks the very life out of you.

I have never lived anywhere that had such a negative "aura" . I have never met so many scandalous, thieving mooches per square mile. There is nothing to do, tiny population, there is a very weird vibe here. Very negative... Very corrupt. It's hard to explain but I wouldn't recommend it to ANYONE. You'll be sorry you moved to this isolated life-sucking hell hole.

I hate it here. I want nothing more than to move away from here. There is nothing for me here whatsoever, and I have been somewhat "stuck" for the last few years. I have reached the point though, where there is nothing left for me to do here. For me to stay any longer will only contribute to the deterioration of my life. I moved here with my children's father, and had to stay due to financial reasons. The only thing that kept me sane, and gave me hope was the college. Now that I have received my associate's degree, and taken all the transfer ready units for University, it is obviously the time for me to finally break free from what I consider the "prison" I've been living in. I've never been so isolated, lonely, unfulfilled, depressed etc. etc. etc. There is nothing right about this place. There are a few good eggs, but not many.... Forget about dating... non-existent. The food stinks, the general mentality is negative and judgemental... people are weird. It is a corrupt town, and it is small.... They make their own rules here. The agencies don't operate according to state and federal regulations, and for some reason, they don't seem to have to. I have had so many items stolen from me here, .. my next door neighbor stole my spare out of my car..... Bicycles, tricycles, telescope, my musical equipment, ..... I had lying fraudulent landlords in my last place who would let themselves in to my home while I was sleeping.... sent a letter of cease and desist, they did it again... They retaliated, kept my security deposit.. I took them to small claims court.. Unfortunately I am unfamiliar with the whole process, and them being the fraudulent professionals that they are, lied, countersued me and basically charged me to renovate their apartment. The judge didn't even look at my pictures, and yet was somehow able to determine through mental telepathy that I was a "hard" tenant." The laws that govern the proper procedures regarding security deposits, and preliminary inspections were completely disregarded. The facts weren't considered in this case and yet I had to pay them $1200 on top of the $1000 they already illegally kept. It's a backwards little city.

Every time I dealt with the court, justice didn't seem to be something that prevails around here. My kids father was court ordered to do 52 week anger management, or go to jail. He never did it, and was never held accountable for it. He was also ordered to attend meetings, and a program in order to have visitation... He never did it, and was never held accountable for it. I've never heard of this happening ever... When someone doesn't provide proof of compliance to the court, the consequence is always handed down. Didn't happen... He never pays child support, never visits his kids..... The child support agency stole my child support from 2004 - 2007. Unbelievable.... The things that go on here. All the judges here make up their own rules. They base their decisions on their personal preferences and then make comments such as "if you don't like it, take it to appellate court."

It's a creepy creepy place... I suggest you visit for a week before you consider moving here. It has an evil disposition. I can't wait to move away and never come back. Do your research.... You'd be making a big mistake to move here. It's the worst place I have ever lived and I will be happy once I am looking at it in the rear view mirror. Good luck...

Sincerely,
disgusted with crumbville.

do your research on this place..... really... you might not like what you find. If you're not a mormon or a mason, your time on the base won't be quite as enjoyable as it could be. Peace...

[stevemorse]

i have a friend in Ridgecrest, she hates it too. She is bored out of her skull. She has relapsed back on meth. It seems thats easy to do in Ridgecrest. It sounds to me from what she decribes also a terrible place. Oh yes its affordable, you must weigh is it worth it. To me it sounds like a weird place too. She has a bunch of church going people, a weird cultish like church it sounds to me and she bullcraps them and basically blew a good stretch of sobriety until she got stuck in Ridgecrest. Now I know that relapse is not the area that caused it deep down but she said she was so borded and miserable it drove her to it. I dont know, but to me sounds like hell.

[From_the_hell_hole]

My family moved to RC about 8 years ago thinking we would only be there for a couple of years. My husband works on base but I must say, that what everyone is saying here is true. The law enforcement here is terrible. Unless you are one of the wealthier families in town, you might as well not even call if you need help, because they wont even come to your home. Of course, when they see me driving (a Latina woman) on base or off base, I will get pulled over with the most ridiculous excuses such as "you didn't signal to turn" or my favorite "speed limit is 35 you were going 37", and then all of a sudden 4 more police vehicles will pull up behind the original car that pulld me over, they have nothing better to do here than to harass people to make revenue for this "crap hole" and I'm not sure where the money goes because a lot of areas still have no sidewalks and the majority of the streets have a ton of potholes. Just do your research before you move here, even if it is to work on base.

[freedomfighter100]

Notice that the article says "will add." It doesn't say "has added," indicating that no, Ridgecrest isn't doing better than the rest. For those who do not get a job on base, good luck finding any work that is worth mentioning. Considering the population in Ridgecrest is only 30,000, yes, of course the unemployment rate by comparison would indicate a success rate, but in comparison to the population of California, which is 20,039,000 these statistics are hardly supportive of the true state of affairs of living in Ridgecrest. It's funny how statistics can be twisted to indicate an outcome which is supportive of the point of view for whom presents the information. For example, when the county presents its statistics reports to the state and the world regarding welfare recipients, it reports those who are no longer receiving aid as "success stories." This is a "success" from the counties point of view as their only priority is to get people off aid. (Not that I condone people remaining on aid, but for those who need it and are unfairly treated, I am an advocate.) the county fails to mention that included in these people no longer on aid are those who were "timed - out," and follow up on their status is not a concern of the county when reporting these statistics. Those who are "timed-out," are most often times not a success. Being "timed-out," most often times leads to the deterioration of these families and oftentimes homelessness. Also reported on these statistical reports are those who have acquired minimum-wage jobs. They are considered a "success." Minimum wage jobs are hardly enough to support a mother with 2 children so no, statistics as reported by the agencies who provide them are twisted and confined to the information that supports their interests. Claims from Fresno of the "success rate" of Ridgecrest are hardly convincing to those who live and know how limited the opportunities are here, unless you live here because you work on base.

[freedomfighter100]

This is a joke. Come see the "boomtown" for yourself. "Plans to add" and "already exists" are very different definitions. These claims are not based on reality. It is typical of those who want to believe the myths and fairytales, but these are not facts based on reality, and not everyone here wants to, or is cut out to work on the base. Yes it is true that they are building several large hotels, yes it is true that they have been promising thousands of jobs to open up since 2006, yes it is true that they raised rents in anticipation of all the new jobs and all the thousands of people supposedely moving here. Haven't seen any action yet except for the raising of the rent and a bunch of unneeded hotels. In 2006 they were supposedely consolodating with another base, and thousands of people were moving here to take the thousands of upcoming job openings. It doesn't change life for those of us who aren't engineers, scientists, or weapons testing managers, except for the rent raises, and raises in the other costs of living. It's all a bunch of sugar coated rhetoric and information provided by the scandalous leaders of this community who profit from their shady business endeavors.