The Yucca Valley Town Council received a comprehensive economic study last night from Dr. John Husing, a research economist who has specialized in the study of Southern California’s economy since 1964. Managing editor Tami Roleff says Husing went into detail about how Yucca Valley is doing compared to seven other similar cities…
Dr. John Husing explained to the Yucca Valley Town Council that Yucca Valley is an “edge city,” meaning it is just outside major metropolitan areas. Edge cities such as Yucca Valley are the first to suffer from recessions and are the last to recover when the economy picks up again.
While Yucca Valley’s job growth was faster than the Inland Empire’s prior to the Great Recession from 2008-10, and the town’s job losses during those years were faster, the town has added jobs at the same rate as the Inland Empire since 2010.
Husing noted that Yucca Valley’s population is better educated than most of the seven other nearby cities, has the third highest median household income, and has affordable housing, especially compared to Los Angeles and Orange counties.
When councilmember Merl Abel asked what the town council could do to bring in more jobs to the area, Husing said the town should target tourists visiting Joshua Tree National Park, and gave an example of a type of business that targets a larger market: “Go get anything that sells to a broader market than just locally…. It’s a value-system question.… I’ve been working with Coachella, and one of the thing’s Coachella has done is go after cannabis. Cannabis is tough in that the infrastructure to support it, you need the electrical systems, you need the law enforcement systems, all sorts of things to do it. But it is a product that sells all over the place, but that is the kind of thing that you could consider.”
The council then heard a budget report, in which they learned that the cost for public safety is approaching 50 percent of the town’s budget. The effect on the town’s budget is minimal, because Measure Y revenues are absorbing most of the cost for the increase in the Sheriff’s portion of the budget.
During public comments, the council heard comments from Diane Mann, Ashley Goana, and Frank Goana about bullying in the schools and asked for the council to support an anti-bullying task force. Frank, who is a student at La Contenta Middle School, brought tears to the eyes of many at the meeting as he talked about being bullied so much that he has considered suicide.
During a meeting of the successor agency to the former Yucca Valley Redevelopment Agency, the agency heard a report about re-financing bonds, from a current interest rate of 5.85 percent to 3.85 percent. Reducing the interest rate on the bonds would save the town about $143,000 per year for the next 20 years. The agency approved the refinancing unanimously, and the matter will go to several local and state agencies before taking effect.
