Local government, Vernon style ...

  Yesterday I wrote about towns that abuse land use law to keep themselves largely residential and largely affluent.  But then there’s Vernon, Cal., with only 91 permanent residents but dozens of industrial facilities that fill up most of the municipality.  The local government has been “run like a fiefdom,” according to a state judge that decided an election lawsuit brought against newcomers who –- despite once being evicted from their new residence in an old building –- want to break up the cozy relationship between the city (which owns most of the residential houses in Vernon) and its leading family.