Claudia,
I am moving to palmdale in a month- got a job in aero. I spent hours driving around Palmdale/lancaster and figured out a few things with the help of some of the locals that I know.
1) don't even look on the east side for your residence. That's where all the rif-raff is and all the crime. Just read the AV Press online, watch where the crimes occur, it is almost always on the east side.
2) W. Lancaster has some cute communities by the college, but be careful if you are buying not to get too close to the prison. Inmates families move near the prisions that they are at, and you probably don't want to live next to a murder or a child rapist's mom. You don't want that guy as a neighbor when he gets paroled.
3) W. Palmdale is the best. I like it because it is newer and it is prettier because it is closer to the mountains. I was there in february when there was snow very close on the mountains- absolutely gorgeous.
4) If you want to go all-out on the best communities they are the Rancho Vista area (most of these homes built from about 1989-present) or you can go to the brand new AnaVerde community. Everything in AnaVerde is new. It is a master planned community and they just finished phase one of I think 3 or 4 phases of homes. It will eventually be about 5,000 homes. Parks here and there and shopping will be put in soon. Only thing is that the property taxes are a little higher because they need to pay for the infrastructure to be built, it is extremely close to the fault line, and it is also very close to a dump! But it is still really pretty!

I am waiting another year or so to buy a home. It's not that I can't afford it, it is that I have been studying the real estate market for a few years now and I believe we will see another dip/crash in home prices in the AV between %10-%30. Imagine if you could get that half million dollar home for only $400k? That is what I am waiting for. The rental market, in the meantime, is flooded. Take a look in the AV Press and on any given day there are about 125 ads for rental homes (if it doesn't say west side, don't bother calling- they would have said in the ad if it was, and if it says section 8 ok, don't call them either, just trust me.) I just put a deposit on a 3bed 2 bath rental home on a cul-de-sac in the Rancho Vista area yesterday and my rent there will equal my rent in my one bedroom apartment in Santa Clarita!

DOn't worry about the crime. If you stay in the right neighborhood, you will be fine.

As for this article, I really enjoyed reading about the history of the area where I am going to raise my future kids. THe history of the land prices and economy just confirmed what I already believed about the housing boom and subsequent bubble burst we are about to see in 2006-2007. I had been wondering why the grid system suddenly changes direction, and now I know why! Some local told me last week that it is because of the earth's curvature and I did not think that the grids were large enough for the curvature of the earth to force the grid to have that "wrinkle" in it.

I was born and raised in the Antelope Valley so, I have seen the changes first hand. Growing up in Palmdale in the 70's was fantastic, we not only knew our neighbors, we were friends! In the summer parents would sit outside on the front lawn together while all of us kid's would play baseball or football in the street.Palmdale has changed since then. The racial dynamic has changed, the tension is unbearable. The housing boom and the Urban Sprawl is not what scares me or makes me angry. It is the illegal dumping of trash, it is the Meth. labs, it is the 400 child molesters that have been relocated to th AV, and it is the racial anger that I feel when I am their. My husband and I moved to Arizona 4 years ago and we are now thinking about moving back, for the simple fact that both of our families still live there and most of our childhood friends are still there. BUT my question is, Is the AV making a turn for the better? Is crime down? Is something being done about the gangs, the dumping of trash? The 400 child molesters? The social unrest?
And how do I get involved to help clean up the city???????

I had purchased a 2.5-acre land in Avenue C 42nd Street West.
Could somebody provide me any details or development going on around that area?

All I can say is, amen Matthew.

I am so insulted. Have you people ever lived anywhere else, besides one room apartments housing TVs constantly tuned into MTV Cribs or Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous? There isn't a community in California with a population size and comparable individual income like ours that is any better off. Give me the name of a city that doesn't have a meth lab and gangsters in it that wasn't built up in the last five years and then you can complain to me about how the AV hasn't lived up to your ridiculously idealistic expectations. The AV isn't the ONLY PLACE that has changed since the 70s--the whole rest of the world is in the 21st century now. There are cops in OTHER so-called "NICER" areas and the sort of crime they deal with every day is the same.

My point is, compared to the rest of Southern California, it is NOT that bad. If you're counting on something like the Big Bad Earthquake of Doom to take you out, move to Iowa, to another less-than-ritzy location you can pick apart because you don't have anything better to moan about. If you don't like it, LEAVE.

A very intriguing article and discussion. I share sentiments about the amount of natural resources that are being consumed in the Valley, especially water. It seems like while the issues related to crime could be more prone to occur in certain areas, the problems with high water use may be caused in greater proportions by residents in different areas who are trying to maintain large lush green lawns in a dry, hot and windy environment. I don't think many people would argue policing dollars are better spent to control crimes against humanity rather than citing residents who waste water on their yards, but aside from that type of enforcement I wonder what it will take to reduce the amount of water that is being used to maintain the appearances of the "nicer" areas. I'd like to hear from others who live in the Valley of the efforts government or the water companies could take or messages that would provoke change in residents to curb the unusually high amounts of water that average families use.

The web location of the original article has changed:

http://radicalurbantheory.com/mjalbert/AntelopeValley/

(rut.com is no longer used; update bookmarks to http://radicalurbantheory.com)

Edited by author 02-21-2007 03:52 PM
I'm now blogging the Antelope Valley on Le Blog Exuberance:

http://leblog.exuberance.com/antelope_valley/

Photos and discussion of L.A. County's Antelope Valley. Feel free to comment on posts!

Subversion of Rural Innocence and/or The raping of the Antelope Valley

https://www.avenue-s.org/flashfraudalert.html
https://www.avenue-s.org/theponzi.html
https://www.avenue-s.org

and who gets to pay for their crimes? we all do!!!

Old Palmdale Cemetery. Who owns it now? The City? I had been told that someone bought it for back taxs. I find that hard to beleve. I am very interested in this Cemetery as both of my Great Grandparents and my GrendParents are buried there.

Whats the crime rate in the AV? It can't be as bad as some other places right? I know there's a site that shows all the city's crime rates but I don't remember the site's name. I hear a lot from people that AV isn't a great place to live, but I sort of like it. One of the main arguments from these said people is the crime rate is high, but I'm sure it's not as bad as some places right?

How much does a 1 acre lot cost nowadays in Antelope Valley?

It seems like the same thing is happening all over again here.

Stop complaining about the crime, it's everywhere now. We live in Los Angeles county, get used 2 it. I agree with jenny. If u dont like this place, MOVE. Nobody told you u have 2 live here, and there are cheaper places to live elsewhere anyway. So don't let that be your excuse on why not to move. Another thing, as the world population goes up, the population of Lancaster/Palmdale goes up, Therefore more industrialization/ urbanization will be brought here, so stop complaining about the cities getting to big. Matter a fact, let them get bigger. If you really want to stay in the Antelope Valley, and not worry about crime and city life, MOVE TO MOJAVE, or some other unincorperated city, i'm tired of people that sit & complain and do nothing about it. If you dont know what to do, take my advice. (stay or leave). By the way mic, if I were you, I would live on the eastside. Why? There are 2 reasons why. 1) the west side of Palmdale is mainly on a faultline. dont let ur eyes fool you. check the geogrphy of the land. And 2) there is still crime on the westside, so just think about it, all the cops will pay attention to the east and not the west, the stations are in the eastern portion of the A.V. anyways, so think about how long it would take the cops to get to your residence if a crime were to have happen in your area. So to all the haters in the valley, God bless. ( written by a 16 year old who has some sense)