12-30-2010, 04:14 PM
faraway Wrote:Russ, you are right. There is no prototype in Vernon for a "banana building". The building became more prototypical with a straight wall but is was to massive and dominated to much. I learned that I may show the front of "large" building in the rear of the layout but must place smaller buildings in the foreground.
I did follow fast car's example on the left side and broke the building into three smaller units. That works fine and one building follows the curved track.
Another observation is the difference in the optical appearance of free space in Vernon. All top/bird view show a dense development. That changes drastically if you switch to street view. There is a lot of space not occupied with buildings. Some space are parking lots, some are fenced areas and some are the very typical areas of "nothing" to be found in the US so often. Another unique feature of Vernon are the sidewalks. That unusual for an industrial area and I missed them in the beginning. I have started to implement them as lots become new populated.
ps. It is funny to see how the sidewalks have been carefully planned and how thankful they are taken to populate them with all kind of utility poles etc. until they are totally blocked
Vernon is almost a "private city." The Leonis family almost owns the city because the total resident population of the "city" is less than 100. There is a massive scandal here in So Cal that I think may have started by an investigative report done by the L.A. Times on Vernon and other small cities around it. Apparently, the mayor of Vernon (Mr. Leonis, last I heard) makes almost $1 million per year in salary! No body paid any attention because the city had such a small population, and the taxes on the businesses were well within reason for comparable commercial property, and such a low population did not require nearly as much in the way of services as larger cities with less commercial property. The city "crooks" running other neighboring cities with larger resident populations decided to use Vernon's salary structure as a pattern for their own salaries. The problem was that they had to offer more services to the local populace, and had a lower tax base to pay for it with. The result was that taxes were too high for mostly poor people and the services that their tax dollars should have paid for were lacking while mayors, city managers, police and fire chiefs were making upwards of $750,000.00 per year in salaries! After the Time exposed these neighboring city officials greed, the state investigated and found out that Vernon had similar salary structures without the complaints made by the other cities. It seems now that city officials in neighboring cities are facing criminal charges, but ther was nothing illegle about Vernon's civic leaders actions. However since the city has less than 100 people, the state is moving to unincorporate Vernon so that it will just be part of Los Angeles County.
I mention this because it explains why there is so much "clutter" by utility poles, etc. on Vernon's sidewalks. It is an old city and the electrical loads have been upgraded considerably since 1900. The clique running the city (Leonis family) has kept industry happy by upgrading power and utility needs the least expensive way possible. If the sidewalks get blocked or partially blocked by utility poles, there are only 100 people or so to complain anyway, so who cares! If the fire chief has a problem with access to anything, he knows that expensive repairs mean his salary is compromised, so they "work around" it.
My son-in-law used to work in the planning dept for the City of Long Beach, and he became aware of the corruption of many other cities in So Cal., but apparently no one noticed who was in a position to do anything about the problems until the Times brought it to the attention of authorities outside of some of the cities in question. There are some other cities in So Cal who might be in a similar situation, but so far are sliding "under the radar."