How Safe Do you Feel?

Cityhood opponents keep claiming the incorporation effort is using scare tactics to sway voters. Funny, but I never realized Sheriff John McGinness and the news staff at KCRA were working for the cityhood effort.

County May Lose as Many as 1000 Jobs

Sheriff's Department is "Reactive"

So let's work this through one more time. Cityhood opponents say everything is fine. Crime is not on the rise (Arden Park Homeowner's Association debate, August 2010). The Sheriff is handling things extremely well (same debate). Violent crime is actually on the decline (Mission Oaks North Homeowner's Association debate, earlier this summer). So why do all the crime statistics, and the words stright out of the Sheriff's mouth, all say otherwise?

Here is one thought. The leaders of Stay Sacramento tend to be clustered in the Arden Park area. And frankly, it's at least partially a money thing. Their level of protection is just fine, because they all pay extra to hire private (off duty cops) police protection. So they can pull into their gated drives at night, park in their garages, set the alarms on their houses, and feel pretty darn secure when they go to sleep at night. And God bless them for it! I'm serious. They have earned it, and they are entitled to it, and I'd be the last one to ever suggest they shouldn't have it.

But that does not mean they have the right to say that YOU can't be secure. They are perfectly happy to tell you that because they feel fine, you don't get to increase the police protection in your community. Because things are fine in their subdivisions, you don't get to improve code enforcement and put some restrictions on the massage parlors and head shops exploding around town. Because they can toss the kids in the Range Rover and drive them to school, they don't care that the hookers are propositioning dads when they drop off their kids ar Arcade Middle School.

This weekend I was able to get out and do just a little bit of canvassing, talking to people in the area. I love meeting people and getting to hear their questions. It turns out the Stay Sac folks have been canvassing as well. According to what several people told me, this was the pitch:

Canvasser: Do you want more taxes?

Resident: No, of course not!

Canvasser: Then put this sign in your yard, otherwise we will become a city and your taxes won't go up.

So again I feel I have to go through this...

IT'S A LIE, PEOPLE! THEY ARE LYING THROUGH THEIR TEETH AT YOU!

OK, better now. A bit, I guess.

If you take the time to study the facts and decide you are opposed to cityhood, then by all means, put up a sign. Convince your neighbors. Shout it from the rooftops. Run ads on radio and television.

I can say that with complete confidence, because I have spoken with dozens of people who were opposed to incorporation, then when they got the facts and digested them, they became supporters. I have yet to speak with a single person who could profer a logical argument against incorporation, except for the ones who would lose some of the political capital they have accrued over the years (Duveneck, Blanas, Cahill, et al). And I'm very sorry, but the response "Well, I just don't see that." doesn't count.

On the other hand, if you've seen the gang tagging around Howe Park, or the hookers working Watt Avenue on this side of the freeway, or the newest massage parlor along Fulton (who owns that property, anyway?), then spend a little time getting facts, not fear mongering from the ones who are worried about their own apple carts. Then when you see the truth, get out there and talk to your neighbors. Support the living snot out of this. Your kids are depending on you.