My American Story Part 2 (cont)

Here it is my detailed plan for the first Border Community Homestead.....stay tuned for part 2 of part 2


My American Story Part 2 (cont.)
by
Craig Michael Crawford Sr.

My specific plans for the San Diego and Imperial counties will be covered in 2 parts:

Part 1 will clarify my homestead's actual plan and business model addressing concerns of safety, security, technology development, environmental awareness, sustainability, local economic growth, and community development.

Part 2 will cover issues explaining why the San Diego and Imperial counties are pivotal to the future success of our state. It will also describe what the benefits are of ensuring the successes of these two counties on a local, state, national and international levels.

Part 1:
Like I have stated before the best place to start any large scale plan is at the beginning. The safety and security of my family is my primary concern. It is now and always will be. The first step before I would put my family anywhere near the California/Mexico border would have to be building an effective, safe, secure wall dividing my homestead and my accompanying neighbor's homestead to the south. After this is complete American workers can safely begin the process of development of my property.

My 10 acre homestead's dimensions will be 250ft x 1700ft. The remaining 42.4 ft in width would be used for a shared roads /surveillance stations with my next door neighbor. The area in front of my homestead before the already constructed border wall (see “My American Story Part 1) will 50 ft x 1700ft. This area will include (from the wall to my property line) 30 ft of newly planted California Fan Palm trees. My inspiration for the selection of this tree specifically comes from the States largest state park, the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and specifically it's Borrego Palm Canyon Trail(California 3rd largest palm oasis, located not far from the entire border area. I have never been there, but I watched a PBS special recently, featuring HGTV's Outdoor Room host Jaime Durie, called Living Gardens which inspired me greatly. Jaime Durie is an strong global advocate for preserving our natural surroundings and environmental future. He also is an ambassador for Planet Ark's National Tree Day and sits on the board of the Royal Botanic Gardens Foundation in Sydney. He is undoubtedly the man I would want for the job of promoting a natural, eco-friendly solution to my small 1700 ft landscaping problem. I would use his expertise in landscaping in general on the entirety of my project. With an expert like this and the associated media coverage there would be no way I could act irresponsibly towards the environment. I believe his services would come free and am not factoring the costs of wall landscaping into my business model. After the beautiful sustainable 30 ft California Palm oasis, would come 20 ft of American Border Road (US Route 0). This road will further ensure my security by providing the now inept Department of Homeland Security with a road to travel on and police our borders. It will give them the ability to monitor and control traffic instead of fighting to hold it back.

Now that I know my business interests are protected I will be able to implement my own plan to realize my American dream on my homestead. My specific plan draws it's inspiration from my father(aka Santa Claus). When I saw my father for the first time in a few years and he had changed his whole appearance I was shocked. Then I saw how happy he really was playing Santa Claus for children all December long. For the real OC Santa the money was not bad for the time spent either. Many people have said if you want to be happy find something you love to do and do that for a living. That is what I intend to do.


I am going to grow 9 acres of choose and cut Christmas trees. I originally wanted to reforest the Julian, CA area with these trees on the burnt out sections affected by wildfires which are common here. Wildfires are much more common in areas without development and proper environmental practices. We can change this for the entire Cuyamaca forest area, and bring a brand new agritourism industry to San Diego. This industry is one of the fastest growing industries in America. Just ask the neighboring Temecula Wine country. I bought my house in Temecula for 132,000 in 1999. It was a sound investment at that time. My ex-wife and I lost it to foreclosure in 2001 when it quickly was resold by the bank for 183,000. It sold again for 328,000 near the peak of the housing boom. It is currently on the market for 135,000. Imagine what a turn around in the value of this one house could have if development and agritourism returns in force to Southern California. We have all the natural resources available and the experts in their fields to implement sustainable, environmentally friendly growth and prosperity.

The remaining one acre will be my house and family gathering area. My house will be a modest 4 bedroom 2 bath energy efficient, self sustaining modular home. The factory installed cost of a house like this per sq ft is just over $100. Imagine what the cost could be if produced in massive numbers. The current average home price per sq. ft. in San Diego county is $340. Immediate real estate gains would be made. In my yard will be the most well thought out innovative home garden the world has ever seen, because the proven world leader in Landscape Design is designing it for me and my family. I'm not sure how this will affect the value of the land or my property taxes???? In addition to my home and landscaping my final acre will be outfitted with a small wind turbine, small photo voltaic solar power generation system, and a back-up propane generator so I can ensure my family would never be without, or pay for power again. (I personally priced a system like this and found the cost to support an average 2000 sq ft homes needs would be in the range of $25,000 - $30,000 installed by the manufacturers with a 25 year warranty, but I would defer to the experts in this particular industry, and let them design the system that would be the most efficient.) All of this could be built in a matter of months.

If America chooses to adopt my attitude toward activism and social reform it will have a much greater economic impact on all of us as individuals, communities, states, nation and the world. We could again remember what hope feels like, and want our neighbors to see us and what we are doing. It is time for America to be the world leader, shun the politics, and
“look toward the future without the haze of the hatred towards all things loved and lost around them corrupting their vision.”
Craig Michael Crawford(2010) American Patriot, lover

I was taught by my 11th grade US History AP teacher to include quotes of famous individuals in my essays because it makes the words you use more powerful. I am ending Part 1 of My American story with the most important quote in American history:

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

United States Constitution (Preamble)

Learn it....Love it!!!!