I'm sorry I missed the last city council meeting.
I want to publicly thank Mrs. Lunsford our City Manager for her Effort in "creating" a solution to a problem our Film Studio faced under the last City Manager.
Mrs. Lunsford was able to find a solution to that problem just months after taking the City Manager position one that satisfied both me and the city, because of her head strong effort to find a solution to a problem that would have caused our studio to pull up stakes and move from California City as so many other business have done, I am proud to say that two years latter we are not only still here but we are thriving and in the mist of even greater accomplishments.
It's people like Mrs. Lunsford that roll their sleeves up and dig in that get things done,
she will be greatly missed by me personally and I'm sure by most of this cities citizens.
Thank You Mrs. Lunsford for all you have done to advance are Film Studio forward. Enjoy your retirement.

Russell Michael
California City Studios, President
Mojave Film Festival, CEO.

All of you involved in the construction or destruction of the California City Parks Canals may want to look at these sites. The California City Canals were a great asset and should have been considered, as we all thought we had a commission behind what was going on. You may also want to ask the Mayor Larry Adams, who requested a parks commission in the first place, why he is so fast to turn on them, that were forming it. The Mayor should have at the least supported them in their efforts to build a commission and ordered anyone wanting to side step them to confer with them first... We need careful planning, attractions that are rare, are very important to our growth, such as a Space Port Theme Park. The Golf Course and our lakes.

C. Blame it on everyone else hoping it gets confused and fizzles out from brain melt down.

E. Face it head on and solve it, put it behind you so it dose not spawn other collateral damage.

If you guessed (E) you probably don't work for California City in any position of authority position.

Tonight was one for the record; I have video tape of the last issue with the city council, Desert Jade and local California City contractors. Here is what happened at the last RDA meeting, City council directed staff and the City attorney to formulate a plan that would allow contractors to summit proposals, Mr. Bevins and Mr. Lemieux (staff) drop the ball, and nothing was done.

California City Studios Investigated by BLM today for environmental violation issues and Federal land use violations

We did nothing wrong stated Russell Michael, owner of California City Studios.

“We are cooperating with BLM and hope to resolve these issues as soon as possible” said Michael.

“We have a lot on our plate dealing with this city and we hope to resolve all of it by end of summer” stated Michael.

Kern counties film industries is hoping, we have penciled in a lot of new deals not for California City but for other assets we have recently acquired, we hope to keep a steady flow of filming this year and right through the winter, this is shaping up to be the best year yet for us. We are in production on our own shows and have several top producers we are negotiating with, one who owns property as well, here in Ridge-crest and is very familiar with the area, it also helps that he has been producing show for ABC for 35 years, we just have to complete some water, land use issues and other matters here at this studio in California City we know they will take time but we are doing our best to fast track them said Michael.

The City Decided on Friday to play hard ball with California City Studios and up the anti for land owners in Wonder Acres by sending out letters demanding 55 foot easement from them instead of the normal 30 foot. This new development is a tough blow for us at California City Studios, though we new it was coming, they have to drive us out, or make us perform like yard animals, not sure why. For anyone keeping count, this makes it impossible for the land owners of those properties to sign, who in their right mind would sign away a 55 foot easement, when the norm is 30 foot, and again no cal from the city to these people, just a sign and shut up letter, my advise to these land owners is to tell the city shove it, or explain why.

Tuesday I learned that Mr. Bevins has asked that his employees not talk to a certain City Council Person. I have heard stories such as this before in different departments about Mr. Bevins. I know people want to keep their jobs and therefore need to keep quiet and be careful who they tell about this sort of abuse, but it is abuse.

One reason why I fought so hard to keep my film studio in California City is nested in last night's city council meeting. Last night the city council listened to the citizens and there were many, speaking of dogs and OHV issues that concern them, they stood in rows waiting their terns, polite orderly and stead fast in their commitments. The city council lead by Mayor Larry Adams ignored the timer, listened to every word and offered great comments and insight on how they should best proceed, as I said another great night for the city, if this keeps up you will have a great city, this is all it takes, city council people that listen and act in the best interest of the city.

Fairy Dust is a term Mayor Larry Adams used to describe what contractors were spreading on a deal he wished to go to his daddy, or whom he apparently believes is his daddy, he refers to Jim Quiggle as his Daddy all the time, to the point, I'm not sure, he may believe it. This alone should disqualify him from voting on anything Mr. Quiggle brings to the table.

I have one more thing to say about Mr. Bevins statement in The Mojave Desert News. He stated in the Mojave Desert News on January 12 that He would say no to any development in Wonder Acres today because of the lack of water.

If he would say no to development in Wonder Acres now then why did he allow a Day Care Center and 9 new homes to be developed with no water, and not adequate water pressure for fire abatement?

Is Mr. Bevins being selective based on what type of development he will allow, or is he being selective based on the name on the City License?

The real question is why would you allow a Day Care Center and 9 new homes to be built where he believes there is no water, and where there is not water pressure for adequate fire abatement? That also begs the question what did the city know in 2000 when we came here? Stay tuned it's going to get interesting you'll be surprised what a good water sluice will unveil!

The latest in Blatant Bad Behavior by California City officials towards California City Studios has just surfaced, this time the studios whole existence is in jeopardy said the studio head, Russell Michael, he says he has had it. We have tried everything we can to stay in California City said Russell. Our studio and all of Kern County for that matter have survived the ups and downs in the Film industry from our beginning here in California City in 2001, when our Industry and the world was devastated by the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York. We struggled through the writers strike in 2002 and 2007. We have been dealing with the turmoil that the actors have been struggling with in their union negotiation talks, talks that have been ongoing all through 2008 and to date, these talks slow the industry and leave production up in the air, over start dates. All of these events have devastating impacts on our industry, Not to mention our own struggles with California City officials.

For all of those who have been calling the studio to find out what's going on with Wonder Acres and why I think I should get a water line out here. Let me say first there is no argument that trumps safety, we need water lines and fire hydrants to protect us. We also need water pressure to operate the fire hydrants safely..

It is also a fact that roads and the water lines were promised to me by the former city manager almost 9 years ago and I'm tired of hearing that the city council never acted on those promises. All of them where seated while the city bought pipe and laid temporary roads and a small line to us, meaning the city council approved those checks and those work orders.

There is always someone new that comes to town and needs it more, so the City caters to them first, because we are already here. It is an old wound that now, will never heal.

I was cheated just like every business owner in town has been cheated by us not having a road that brings our business to Cal City, instead it goes to Mojave. They needed a bike trail more. We have no road signs that could be a great land mark for people trying to find us, yet we have brought it to the attention of the city time and time again. It is unsafe for people trying to find us to not have road markers.

When you license a business, you must try to protect them and not ignore them and treat them with the disrespect that I have been treated with, ask Michael Ellison or get a copy of his article written in the Mojave news on how badly he was treated, he left and I decided to stay.

I have complained to the city about the water pressure here in Wonder Acres and the burden of not having those lines in have placed on us doing business with banks, film company's and insurance providers. How it jeopardizes our growth and deprives the city retail stores from profiting when we have a movie shoot at the studios. I have filed another complaint 2 weeks ago and I have yet to hear a peep, not one word from any of them on my complaint.

What they do about my compliant is their business. Equally, what I do about it is mine.

After sitting in on the last January council meeting, Hearing and listening to Mr. Bevins explaining that it could take up to 5 years to get these lines in, I decided to take the matter up elsewhere, where people listen and act on situations of unfairness, and its not the county grand jury.

I have had it, and will take not one more minute of this type of behavior from anyone.

The last straw as far as I'm concerned has been drawn.

Russell Michael

I must tell you that the relationship between the Desert News and me is not good. I was critical of their political handling and I said so publicly. If Mr. Bill Deaver would have had the courtesy to call me back or answer my e-mails, I would have said the same things to him, as my opinion. However, that didn’t happen and now, it appears I’m banned from ever having anything published in the MDN. As proof of that is that recently, I’ve sent “Press Release” to Mr. Deaver, Publisher of the Mojave Desert News and none have been published.

The first couple of press releases can be considered as self-serving since they were about events that we plan to promote and he did not publish them. OK, I can understand that.

However, the last two have nothing to do with me personally but are dedicated for the benefit of the City of California City. Still, he has chosen not to publish them.

The first was an article I wrote about our “Local Riders” and the fact that some, not all, are causing some problems with our citizens. I offered suggestions as to how we can try to mitigate the problem.

The second was a ”A Call to Arms” which deals with the City Park and how we, as citizens of this great community, must take it upon ourselves to upgrade and bring back our City Park to the glamour and status that it once was. The article called upon people to contact me and volunteer to help.

Still Mr. Deaver has chosen not to publish it. That’s really too bad, because it really concerns the whole city of California City and I believe it is important that we all should be aware of what’s happening.

It appears that in the future I’m going to have to rely on friends to submit editorials to the Mojave Desert News under their own name. Hopefully some will get through.

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