According to a report in Noozhawk, a temporary new facility for a three-year licensing program is being located near the Lompoc Airport: “A second Department of Motor Vehicles office is now open in Lompoc in anticipation of the start of a new law allowing illegal immigrants to obtain California driver’s licenses.” So now Lompoc, with a population of about 42,000, has two DMV offices, one of which appears to be for the exclusive use of illegal aliens.
The California Transportation Agency said in its budget document that it would locate one of these facilities on the “South Central Coast”; I didn’t realize that Lompoc was a big population center in this region.
By the way, this is one of the finest looking buildings in the city. Located in what was once a restaurant, I wonder how much money the state spent to renovate a building that, according to the CTA budget, will be used for only three years — by the looks of it, the agency spent a bundle.
And we learned that the DMV won’t do anything that’s different from what it is already doing at its other office two miles away on West Pine. Other media reports said: “The center will process original driver’s license transactions only, including 16-year-olds getting their licenses for the first time,” the DMV public information officer said. “All applicants, including undocumented immigrants, will be required to pass both written and driving tests plus have proof of insurance before receiving a license, according to a DMV press release.”
I agree that it’s a bad idea to have people driving around who haven’t studied the rules and demonstrated to a neutral DMV test agent that they know how to drive. I think you’ll agree that there are enough bad drivers who have driver’s licenses and theoretically understand the rules of the road, so we don’t need even more who don’t have a license at all.
OK, so first-time drivers will have to maneuver their car out of a parking lot onto the busiest stretch of road and most highly congested intersection in Lompoc to begin their first driving test. I hope the Police Department has a lot of that orange paint it uses to mark the scene of an accident because I see a high risk for some serious crashes as the fledgling drivers, some of whom are very new to our country, try to merge into traffic with their well-worn vehicles.
Next, does the Lompoc Valley have a large enough supply of “undocumented immigrants (illegal aliens)” to justify opening a processing center here?
Media report: “The DMV did not collect statistics on undocumented immigrants in the area, but the department did conduct a population study and determined that the processing center could handle the number of people who are likely to apply for driver’s licenses.” So, they don’t know but they built it big enough to handle the entire driving-age population of the Lompoc Valley anyway.
Let’s do some quick math. Let’s assume just for illustrative purposes there are about 50,000 people living in the greater Lompoc Valley and that 5 percent are here illegally. Using the hypothetical number, that would mean there could be about 2,500 people to process in three years — about 16 people per week.
Where will enough customers come from to make this DMV office cost effective? Of course, the government doesn’t have to worry about whether something is cost effective because they are using your money not their own.
So, where will the bulk of their customers come from? Most likely from Santa Maria, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura, which all have much larger populations. How will unlicensed illegal alien drivers get here? Probably by car.
But wait. The Noozhawk report said: “Some of the additional services the DMV will be offering include extended Saturday office hours by appointment for all new driver’s license applicants at up to 60 DMV field offices. These include the Lompoc driver’s license processing facility plus the DMV field offices in San Luis Obispo, Oxnard and Ventura.”
So maybe there won’t be a huge influx of illegal aliens to Lompoc after all.
The statewide cost of this three-year program is estimated at $64.7 million, an average of $4 million per year per facility. Considering the limited population to be served in Lompoc, this appears to be a gross misuse of funds — funds that could have been spent for road/bridge repairs to serve taxpayers who are here legally and to facilitate commerce.
If Democrats were determined to spend all this money to enable illegal aliens, why didn’t they just use the existing facilities in small towns to do it? Certainly the Lompoc DMV could have handled another 16 customers a week.
The mind of a politician is a thing of wonder. These folks are supposedly elected to represent the citizens of California; instead, they are going out of their way to spend millions of dollars to create a safe haven for illegal aliens.
— Ron Fink, a Lompoc resident since 1975, is retired from the aerospace industry and has been active with Lompoc municipal government commissions and committee since 1992, including 12 years on the Lompoc Planning Commission. He is also a voting member of the Santa Barbara County Taxpayers Association. Contact him at news@noozhawk.com. The opinions expressed are his own.
