Open letter to the Board of Directors
Spring Valley Lake Association
Victorville, Ca.
September 8, 2009
The Goslaw family would like to make a statement. We have found Spring Valley Lake a great place to live. Robert (now deceased) and Marjorie have owned two consecutive properties for close to thirty years in this community. Local politic, for better or worse, has never been a priority in our lives. At this time, however, our concerns have to be communicated to our neighbors through the board of directors.
There is a conservative tradition in this family that most of us share. We oppose ever growing big government on the state, county, city and SVL level. The handwriting is on the wall in some quarters for a big government solution to our current SVL problems.
At the top of the list is the past administrations loose undirected management style and we homeowners who wrongly were content to remain aloof. We cannot farm out to employees our community government. Before anything new is tried the fallout from the past should be corrected.
The second most pressing problem is obviously crime on our streets. It is documented in the Breeze, the Daily Press, the neighborhood chit-chat and around the dinning room table. We really do live in the larger community and the downside of crime is a part of the whole ball of wax. The fear generated may be used as an excuse to invoke the big government solution with it’s unavoidable decrease in personal freedom and an increase in association spending. If the solution is a closed community and a further ballooning of an already bloated security budget, we Goslaw’s are opposed because association fees will also skyrocket.
Our patriarch lived for three things, God, golf and personal responsibility. Two of the three attracted him to SVL. Personal responsibility created this quiet, no fuss, take care of your own business community. We as a family wish not to see that environment change. Some wise character, surely in the distant past, expressed our opinion this way, “don’t ask others to do for you, what you are not willing do for yourself”. Personal choice and the ensuing responsibility is the definition of freedom.
Historically SVL has been predominately an owner resident based community. When owner's are present in house they can advocate for the family and for our neighbors. Times have changed and it is only a guess as to how many homes are occupied by tenants. Three of the five homes on our cul-de-sac are rentals. The management of the past didn’t seem to care or found it uncomfortable to make the distinction. Crime in SVL is largely tenant instigated, (writer’s opinion so please try to correct me), but no one knows the status of each property. Drunken fights on the beach and home invasions are cause and effect crimes that are not in the playbook of the home owner who occupies his or her residence.
How should the board proceed into the future? The following are only a few suggestions that would make sense to this member unit.
1. Identify all property as to owner occupied or tenant occupied.
2. Improve identification and verification procedures for all residents and guests.
3. Revise the guest policy to reflect the devaluing of tenant owners.
4. Reduce the clutter of manpower in the security department as the Breeze states, “if there is a real problem…call the sheriff:”.
5. All child care and youth resources and programs should be self supporting.
6. If fees are to be raised, it should only be raised on tenant occupied properties.
7. The board of director’s policy making should minimize the need for employees.
8. Encourage a management investigation of household profiles where crimes have occurred in the past, then make the report public.
These views are those of this association member unit. We are not affiliated with other SVL political units. We speak for none of our neighbors, our hope is that there is enough like sentiment in the community to make an impact on policy making into the future. The call is for efficient, minimal SVL government.
Marjorie Goslaw and Glen Goslaw
ggoslaw@ gmail.com
