How Can I Miss You When You Won’t Go Away?

The primary organization opposing the Arden Arcade incorporation is called Stay Sacramento. I’ve always found that a bit ironic, as Arden Arcade isn’t, and has never been, Sacramento. How can you stay what you have never been? We are part of Sacramento County, and will remain so, whether we incorporate or not. So I guess in that context, Stay Sacramento has already gotten what they want; we will always stay Sacramento (County). And no one on either side seems to have a problem with that.

When Stay Sacramento first came onto the scene a few years ago, they put up a list of reasons to not incorporate. The list was logically shot down in about five minutes, but they continue to keep pushing the same dead issues whenever there is an open microphone. And since incorporation is getting a lot more attention in the community and in the media these days, I thought it might be a good idea to clear the air on these specious issues one more time.

Following is the list of topics that Stay Sacramento offers as evidence of how bad incorporation will be, taken directly from their web site at www.staysacramento.org, ironically listed under the heading “Facts”. Let’s see if we can find some real meat among the gristle here. You will have to go to their web site to hear their explanations on these. This is copyrighted material, and although I think this would fall under fair use, these folks have more money (and more lawyers) than me.

Another Layer of Government?

On the surface, this one makes sense. Creation of a new city would bring a new form of government. But is it another “layer”? Of course not. This is about who provides municipal services to our residents. The county has been doing all of these services for years. Incorporation would mean that the new city would be responsible for handing part of what the county has been doing, such as police, trash collection, code enforcement, etc. Incorporation supporters want this because the county has proven they are pretty much inept at providing these things efficiently and competitively.

When Citrus Heights incorporated about ten years ago, they put out an open bid for trash collection. The winning bidder came in at considerably less than what the residents had been paying the county for refuse collection. And who was the winner? Sacramento County! By incorporating, Citrus Heights residents saved a ton of money on their trash bill, with the same guys driving the same trucks down their street!

If you go to your primary care doctor, and he tells you that you need to see a specialist, do you complain about another layer of health care? No. You go see the specialist, because they are better equipped to handle your situation. This is no different. Experience has shown, over and over again, that small cities are better equipped to provide municipal services than large, bloated county governments. Why not take advantage of that opportunity?

Higher Taxes

You really can’t fault Stay Sacramento for trotting out this one. Californians hate new taxes. So any time anyone wants to defeat any ballot issue, they claim it will raise taxes. It’s too easy to NOT use, especially since there are some people who hear “new taxes” and get apoplectic. The problem is, like the other Stay Sacramento arguments, it just isn’t true.

Proposition 13 guaranteed that new taxes could only be approved by a vote of the people. That doesn’t change whether that taxing body is a city, county or state. If anything, it ensures that any new taxes would be determined locally, by Arden Arcade residents. There won’t be a situation where a tax proposal is on the ballot, and our residents vote it down, but it carries because of voters in the downtown, Natomas, or pocket areas. Arden Arcade will control its own destiny.

Cityhood Proponents Exclude Voters from Decision Making

Long before incorporation was a ballot issue, a group called the Cityhood Study Team spent months walking the neighborhoods of Arden Arcade, talking with businesses and residents and getting their thoughts and opinions about cityhood. By a statistically significant margin, people in the strip south of Fair Oaks to the American River were less interested in incorporating. So when the Study Team drew up the initial boundaries for the proposed city, they left that area out. The team did not exclude them; they excluded themselves. Stay Sacramento has twisted the facts to claim that the southern area was left out to deny them the chance to vote on incorporation.

This is where it gets interesting. LAFCo, the government body that makes the final decisions about any changes in political boundaries, decided that it was in the best interests of the community to put this group back into the proposed city boundaries. So, on the same web page where Stay Sacramento accuses the incorporation group of leaving out the area south of Fair Oaks Blvd., they now claim that the committee (not LAFCo) has included the area as a way of getting more tax revenue. In other words, they blame the incorporation committee (which didn’t exist at the time) for excluding this area, then they blame the committee for a LAFCo decision to include the same area. You can’t make this stuff up!

Outsiders were Paid to Collect Signatures

Yes, they were. The incorporation committee contracted with a professional signature-gathering organization to collect signatures for the petition that started the incorporation process. The committee didn’t rely on professionals alone. Unlike most political efforts, committee members were in the neighborhoods, talking with people and explaining what cityhood could mean for Arden Arcade. I know this, because I was one of the ones out gathering signatures. No apologies asked or offered on this one.

The next time you see a signature gatherer in front of Wal-Mart or Raley’s, ask them if they are with the petitioning organization, or are paid professionals. By law they are supposed to reveal this information. Now see just how often the person getting signatures isn’t a pro. I’m guessing the election will be over before you find a single one.

By now you’ve probably seen the Stay Sacramento signs littering the area. I have it on good authority that this group actually went to a professional printer, instead of printing the signs themselves! How can we possibly trust them if they are hiring professionals to help accomplish their mission? Sound ridiculous? Of course it does.

Better Government

Stay Sacramento’s claim here is that to improve government services, we need to demand better from the county instead of shifting those responsibilities to a more efficient organization. Alcoholics Anonymous and other recovery groups have a saying: Insanity is repeating the same old action, and expecting a different result. So exactly how long does Stay Sacramento want the area to be ignored by the county before they see the insanity of their ideas? Sacramento County has been ignoring this area for ages, and anyone who has been here for more than a few years has seen the continual decline. The county (with the notable exception of the Sheriff’s Department) didn’t address the problems when things were good. How insane do we need to be to believe they will fix everything now if we just maintain the status quo?

Better government is accomplished by efficient management. The simplest way to accomplish this is through a smaller, more tightly organized government structure. Any other option is, well, insane.

Special Interest Money and other Funds

If there is a phrase guaranteed to invoke a knee-jerk reaction (even more than “new taxes”). It’s “special Interests”. Whoever special interests might be, they are definitely the opposition, acting in their own best interests to harm the rest of us. So who are the special interests? According to the Stay Sacramento web site, it’s difficult to say, since the incorporation committee is refusing to list their donors. But that’s just another lie.

I know, because I was the webmaster of the committee web site for several years, and I posted the list of donors a couple years ago. Granted, the list didn’t include amounts, because the committee didn’t want to make it look like they valued the corporation who gave $5000 higher than the retired couple who gave $25. The list also included a few (I think the number was 3) donors who had asked to remain anonymous. I don’t even know who the anonymous donors were, but I seem to recall their total contribution was less than $1000.

Since then the committee has posted a new donor list that shows every donor and the amounts given. There was a donation from a waste disposal company, and several from other cities and special districts. So there are the evil special interests we need to watch out for? Cities give for one simple reason. It’s called the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACoG). This organization is the voice of local municipalities at the state and federal level, and every added voice increases the ability of the council to serve its constituency. So when Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova and Elk Grove donate to the Arden Arcade incorporation, it’s because they know they will get a return in the form of better representation for their residents and ours.

Special districts are similar. The parks districts that serve our area may be autonomous, but they certainly communicate with each other. It’s no big mystery that the boards of our local parks have heard how parks in Citrus Heights and Rancho Cordova have been helped since incorporation. And since their primary responsibility is to serve the residents of their districts, it only made sense to work towards accomplishing the same results here, including financial contributions.

And then there is that icky trash company. Before the committee accepted that donation, it was clearly understood by all parties that this would not affect any possible future bids or contracts for trash services in the new city. The company’s response was extremely profound. By contributing to incorporation, they create a new opportunity to bid for a contract. That helps the industry in general. And then it is up to them to bid with services and pricing that will allow them to win the contract.

So What’s Really at Stake Here?

Stay Sacramento is a fairly small, if extremely vocal, coalition of local businesses and residents. Most of their members are located in the southern part of the proposed new city. I would never be so presumptuous as to claim why each of their people is against incorporation, but I have a hunch that seems to make sense for at least some of them.

The Stay Sacramento folks live just a bit higher up than most of us in Arden Arcade. I don’t begrudge them for that; they’ve earned what they have. But when they see things like the cuts in the Sheriff’s department, they are able to contract with private security to beef up the patrols in their area. These are people who can place a call to their county supervisor, and get an answer. Have you tried that lately? Think you get put on a long hold by the cable company?

When things are going well, you don’t want to disturb the status quo. A change in organization might mean starting at the bottom of the list politically. Of course that’s a fabrication, but it’s what many believe. And it’s hard to change beliefs.

So, we have a small group of people with little logic to support their stand. At least their leaders are schooled in rhetoric. They know that if you repeat something often enough, even if it’s a complete lie, people will eventually start to accept it. That technique worked for leaders from Robespierre to Hitler and Stalin. But I have faith that we are smarter. Do the research. Look at the fiscal viability studies, the endorsements from left and right, the history of what incorporation had done for the other cities in our area. Then make up your own mind. You’ll do the right thing.