Living in Lancaster
-
5/4/2007
The city of Lancaster California is a "bedroom community". Since there are few to no high paying jobs in the entire Antelope Valley area, most people who live in Lancaster drive the 60 miles into the San Fernando Valley or an addition 15-20 miles, into the city of Los Angeles. And since there is only one freeway that takes you there (14 freeway), the traffic can be very crowded, taking you up to an hour and a half to get home.
There is a state prison that is in the heart of Lancaster and the town has section 8 housing, which has caused the "wrong crowd" to move into town. In a few years, the city changed from a small town enviroment and quickly turned into ghetto-ville. So, it became pretty depressing to pay for a nice home, work real hard to make a life for your family and then find out that you live in a South Central LA enviroment.
But, the local people are trying their best to combat the problem. Lancaster does not have their own police department and as of right now... we have to rely on the big LA County Sheriff Department. I believe that this is a big problem. The local citizens have started their own Crime Prevention program and are trying to work together to stop the gang problem. As of right now, the Sheriff department is doing their part in an effort of making the citizen's happy. So, maybe crime will go down after all.
The weather can be a problem too. We have two types of weather out here in the high desert. The first one is the Winter months. It is cold and very windy. And the second is the summer months... and it is hot and windy. So, if you like a lot of wind... this is the place to be. And the cold can be a bummer because it does not snow very often. If it snows one time a year... we are lucky. But, it is always cold enough in the winter to snow, but it just never does.
Kevin | Lancaster, CA