CITIZENS DOING THE JOB--CAN'T WAIT

Report by Lou Peralta

CALIFORNIA CITY, CA - AUG 5, 2009 - Driving down Cal City Blvd. this morning, again I saw several people working in the Aspen Mall parking lot, hot and sweating, nevertheless, relentless. I had seen them last week and again earlier this past weekend. This time, I decided to stop and talk to the people doing the cleanup work. I ran into Mr. Bob Russell and his crew of two ladies, Adela Jimenez and Denise Lowery. It seems that all three plus a couple more volunteers have been tackling the age-old problem of the Aspen Mall parking lot, the shrubs, the dirt, the leafs, the overgrown bushes and the junk that people have left behind. Not surprisingly, they have done a marvelous job, which they are about to complete, and Bob Russell and his crew should be commended. Proof, that when people want something done, they can’t wait for City Hall.

I met Mr. Russell a few weeks back during a Council meeting, where the Aspen Mall problem was again discussed. There were more reasons and excuses why the project had not been cleaned and why it may not get cleaned any time soon, than you could imagine. It seemed that owners of the Aspen Mall, all thirty-three of them had never gotten together to decide how to get their parking lot cleaned (maybe only five or seven of them actually got together once). Aspen Mall has been an eyesore and a point of contention by many who want to present California City in the best possible light to the thousands who come into our city, especially during weekends.
The Council meeting went on and on, to the point that Mr. Russell suggested for the city to lend money to the Aspen Mall owners to get things cleaned up and that he would stand behind the $3,000 it would take, in the event it was not paid back to the city. Then there were opinions (everyone has one, of course), that the City could not lend the money because they are not in the banking business or the RDA. To this observer (as most things in City Hall do), it got very complicated and I don’t believe that anything was really decided or accomplished at the end of the meeting.

So it took two days after said meeting for Mr. Russell to take matters into his own hands and select a small group of dedicated people to get things done and not wait another month or two.
Today, it is nearly the culmination of dedicated citizens of this city of ours, to have completed a herculean job, that apparently others seemed reluctant to take on or considered too hard or too expensive. What a shame!

Fortunately, everyone will enjoy the fruits of Mr. Russell and his small army of volunteers, which include (as aforementioned), Adela and Rene Jimenez, Denis Lowery, Judy Butterfield and of course Mr. Bob Russell, who not only cleaned up the owner's portion of Aspen Mall but also the forty-feet that belongs to the city.
Fortunately, others in the city also jumped in to help, namely: Ace Hardware, who lent most of the tools to do the clean-up and trimming; Pizza Factory who has been feeding the crew lunch every day they have been there; Pat Spandorf, at the Flower Shoppe, who said the crew can come in any time and grab a nice cold drink, Cruzin Coffee (Bob) who stops by and offers free coffee for them and Benz Sanitation who has delivered extra dump cans to haul away the trash and trimmings. To all these people, the City and its citizens owe a big "THANK YOU!"
This is a perfect example of a few citizens coming together for a greater cause and for the pride of their city. Everyone involved should be congratulated.
Now if I can only get the park and waterfall done, I would be a happy camper as well.

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