Wow. What a great time at the cityhood campaign kickoff celebration last night! Good times all around. Thanks to the organizers for... well, for everything. Thanks to the firefighters local 522 for rockin' the grill. Awesome dogs, guys (and ladies)! Thanks to the candidates to showed up to meet us common folk. Thanks to Stevie Scott and band for a great performance. And especially thanks to the dozens of volunteers who kept the trash emptied, kids playing safely, lawn signs and t-shirts moving out, and all of the other thankless tasks that made it all work.
For a political event, it really didn't seem all that political. This was community at its finest. People coming together from all races, belief systems, ages, and whatever else you can think of, simply to unite as Arden Arcadians. It rocked.
Shortly before everything closed down, I was chatting with Brian Rice from Sac Metro, when an alarm went off and three trucks, including the huge ladder rig, pulled out of the Butano station and temporarily deafened us all with the siren's blare. Someone, somewhere, was in danger of losing life or property, and our finest were on the way to stop the tragedy. That is community. That is what I don't want to see continually eroding, or swallowed up in the metropolis. That is what I want to keep. Not Stay Sacramento - Stay Arden Arcade. I'm not going to let you take that away.
***
You may notice the list of links on the right side of the page. People I meet out there in the real world keep asking where they can get the facts, and I finally decided to just post everything here and let the chips fall. If you are a candidate, and have a site I didn't post here, get it to me asap so you can be included. Then find a good search engine optimization consultant who can get you listed higher in Google. If you were in the first two pages, you would also be here.
I really went through a "long dark night of the soul" experience about adding the Stay Sacramento site to the list. But then I realized what several people have told me in the past few weeks. Nothing sells cityhood like reading their site and seeing how incredibly flimsy their rhetoric really is. I want this to be a place for open communication and debate, something their site just doesn't seem to appreciate.
***
Campaign signs are now available! Check the Cityhood web site for info on how to get one! They will be the fashion hit of the season!
***
This Tuesday (10/7) is an open debate at the Community Center in La Sierra Park. One of our council candidates, Anthony Hernandez, will be representing cityhood across the aisle from Dr. Mike Duveneck. This is an open event, but it is also a meeting of the local homeowner's association. If you're settled on the incorporation issue, which you should be after reading this blog, then don't go. But invite your friends, neighbors, relatives, and anyone else you know who is still on the fence.
***
More fun stuff coming this week. Stay tuned!
Showing posts with label incorporation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label incorporation. Show all posts
Sunday, September 5, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
The Myth of the Status Quo
- Warning -
This post includes a good amount of both politics and history. Forgive me for putting you to sleep. But stick with me, and there will be a reward at the end.
Over the past four years I've spoken with a bunch of people about incorporation, and I've heard just about every reason/excuse both for and against incorporation. There are a large number of pro-cityhood folks out there, and a smaller, but still signifigant number of people who don't want to see the communiy improve. So be it.
But what I don't get are the people who just keep saying they want everything to stay like it is. Heck, Stay Sacramento even made that their name, even though this area isn't, and never has been, a part of Sacramento City. And even when we incorporate, we will still be a part of Sacramento County. So the Stay Sacramento folks can rest easy. No matter what happens this fall, we will be just as much Sacramento as we ever were. But I digress.
I've lived in this area for almost 14 years now, and life has been good. Well, mostly. Over the past year or two I've started to notice the decline. Like the morning I dropped my kids at school, then headed down Edison across Watt, where three of our local working girls were soliciting for business. Keep in mind this was directly acros the street from the junior high where my son will be attending next year. I can't help but think there are better ways for him to learn about those sorts of things. That's why God created health class.
The Sheriff's Dept has already issued a statement saying that because of budget cuts and manpower shortages, prostitution will be pushed way down the scale, and it's doubtful they will respond to reports of hookers working our streets. Every update and revision to the budget looks worse, not better. But somehow people keep believing things will get better if we just don't rock the boat. Sorry, I don't see it. And the situation is mirrored when you look at drugs, gang activity, burglaries, etc.
But, let's play pretend for just a moment. Let's say that for now, crime on our streets wasn't rising. Let's say all of our parks were safe places to send our kids, even if they stayed out a little after dark. Let's even say that the county had a change of heart and started considering streets and sidewalks as somewhat important. What happens then?
Hey, if I had a working crystal ball, I'd be at the track instead of sitting at my keyboard writing this. But I can look around, and I see what appears to be taking shape.
Those of you who have studied WWII history, or better yet, lived through it, may remember that Britain and France had a policy of appeasement. They saw Hitler mobilizing Germany's armies on a foreign border, such as Poland, so they scheduled a meeting. At the meeting they would wag their fingers, and Hitler would respond: "Poland? I don't want Poland! I have never wanted Poland! I would never think of attacking Poland! I am happy with the status quo! I will never attack Poland!!!" Then, the French and British delegates would board the train for home, and Hitler would give the order to attack Poland.
This happened over and over again, until Germany controlled a huge chunk of Europe. Lather, rinse and repeat. And the Brits and French kept their heads buried firmly in the sand.
Of course, the big threat mobilizing on our borders is annexation by the City of Sacramento. Until my crystal ball repairman shows up to take a look at the thing ("our representative will be there sometime between 10 am and never."), I can't predict that Sacramento will make an annexation move if we don't incorporate. But I do know that the city included Arden Arcade as a "special interest area" for possible annexation in their 30 year plan: http://www.sacgp.org/documents/05_Part3.10_SpecialStudyAreas.pdf (page 4). Listing a community as an area of interest is the first step toward annexation.
Sacramento's Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) has rules that govern the processes for annexation and incorporation. One of those rules is that while any sort of process is in progress for an area, no other process can be started. So while the incorporation question is on the table, the city can't move forward with annexation. But once the election is over, if we should fail in our bid for cityhood, then the gloves can come off.
At that point the next step will be to declare our area within Sacramento's "Sphere of Influence." Basically that means that they are claiming to have economic, political, and social influence on our area. LAFCo has to approve this, but it's a no-brainer. How many of our residents shop at Arden Fair (in the city)? Attend events at Cal Expo (city)? Spend the occasional Saturday in Old Sac? Of course they have influence over us. That doesn't mean they control us, or that they should, but influence? Undeniable.
Compared to the four years spent on incorporation, the sphere of influence can happen in a heartbeat. They petition LAFCo to include us, there is some time for public comment (not that anyone listens to it), and they make a decision. A month or two, tops. And once the city has gotten the declaration, we have lost any possible chance for incorporation, or any other way to speak for ourselves.
After the sphere is settled, some time passes, mainly to make it look like Sacramento isn't in a hurry to get our tax revenue. Then they send another petition to LAFCo, this time to annex us as a part of their city.
Many people I've spoken with see this as a simple issue. If the city petitions for annexation, we vote that down, just like incorporation. The problem is, we don't get to vote on annexation. We get sixty days to get a certain number of signatures on petitions. I'm not sure of the number, but it's huge. Something like a fourth of registered voters - 15,000 or so. Keep in mind it took the better part of a year for an organized group to gather less signatures than that to start incorporation, even using paid signature gatherers. There won't be an organized group to fight annexation, and the time span is shortened to a fraction of what we had. Think we can pull that off? Sorry, but I have my doubts.
As I said earlier, I have spoken with a lot of people about incorporation in the past four years. The nearly universal truth is that no one in Arden Arcade wants annexation. Even Stay Sacramento has stated publicly on several occasions that they do not want to see annexation. But like Chamberlain in WWII, they either can't or won't see the mobilization taking place around them. And not wanting to be annexed won't mean a thing when it happens.
A successful incorporation effecively takes annexation off the table forever. That is in addition to the benefits we've discussed previously (and more we will be adding soon). That alone should be enough reason to emphatically support cityhood.
***
Now, for the promised reward. My lovely wife has created a new group page on Facebook: "You're an Arden Arcadian". The idea is to build community by sharing common (and probably a few uncommon) memories and feelings about life in this area. I liked the idea so much that I decided to adopt the phrase "I Am an Arden Arcadian" for this blog and some other actvities I had in mind.
I'm in the process of designing some pro-cityhood t-shirts. This will be a limited run of maybe 50 shirts or so, although I reserve the right to expand that if someone wants to put them up for sale to raise money for incorporation. If you want to get one of these limited edition masterpieces (yes, I am that good - I will post the artwork when it's finished), find my wife's Facebook group, join it, and then share a special memory, or something that makes you feel good about being an Arden Arcadian. My totally unbiased wife will pick the 5 best postings, and those people will get one of the shirts. I'm going to run the promotion through the end of September, to allow plenty of time to post, and still have time to show off the shirt (and your passion for cityhood) prior to the election.
So go, get started!
This post includes a good amount of both politics and history. Forgive me for putting you to sleep. But stick with me, and there will be a reward at the end.
Over the past four years I've spoken with a bunch of people about incorporation, and I've heard just about every reason/excuse both for and against incorporation. There are a large number of pro-cityhood folks out there, and a smaller, but still signifigant number of people who don't want to see the communiy improve. So be it.
But what I don't get are the people who just keep saying they want everything to stay like it is. Heck, Stay Sacramento even made that their name, even though this area isn't, and never has been, a part of Sacramento City. And even when we incorporate, we will still be a part of Sacramento County. So the Stay Sacramento folks can rest easy. No matter what happens this fall, we will be just as much Sacramento as we ever were. But I digress.
I've lived in this area for almost 14 years now, and life has been good. Well, mostly. Over the past year or two I've started to notice the decline. Like the morning I dropped my kids at school, then headed down Edison across Watt, where three of our local working girls were soliciting for business. Keep in mind this was directly acros the street from the junior high where my son will be attending next year. I can't help but think there are better ways for him to learn about those sorts of things. That's why God created health class.
The Sheriff's Dept has already issued a statement saying that because of budget cuts and manpower shortages, prostitution will be pushed way down the scale, and it's doubtful they will respond to reports of hookers working our streets. Every update and revision to the budget looks worse, not better. But somehow people keep believing things will get better if we just don't rock the boat. Sorry, I don't see it. And the situation is mirrored when you look at drugs, gang activity, burglaries, etc.
But, let's play pretend for just a moment. Let's say that for now, crime on our streets wasn't rising. Let's say all of our parks were safe places to send our kids, even if they stayed out a little after dark. Let's even say that the county had a change of heart and started considering streets and sidewalks as somewhat important. What happens then?
Hey, if I had a working crystal ball, I'd be at the track instead of sitting at my keyboard writing this. But I can look around, and I see what appears to be taking shape.
Those of you who have studied WWII history, or better yet, lived through it, may remember that Britain and France had a policy of appeasement. They saw Hitler mobilizing Germany's armies on a foreign border, such as Poland, so they scheduled a meeting. At the meeting they would wag their fingers, and Hitler would respond: "Poland? I don't want Poland! I have never wanted Poland! I would never think of attacking Poland! I am happy with the status quo! I will never attack Poland!!!" Then, the French and British delegates would board the train for home, and Hitler would give the order to attack Poland.
This happened over and over again, until Germany controlled a huge chunk of Europe. Lather, rinse and repeat. And the Brits and French kept their heads buried firmly in the sand.
Of course, the big threat mobilizing on our borders is annexation by the City of Sacramento. Until my crystal ball repairman shows up to take a look at the thing ("our representative will be there sometime between 10 am and never."), I can't predict that Sacramento will make an annexation move if we don't incorporate. But I do know that the city included Arden Arcade as a "special interest area" for possible annexation in their 30 year plan: http://www.sacgp.org/documents/05_Part3.10_SpecialStudyAreas.pdf (page 4). Listing a community as an area of interest is the first step toward annexation.
Sacramento's Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) has rules that govern the processes for annexation and incorporation. One of those rules is that while any sort of process is in progress for an area, no other process can be started. So while the incorporation question is on the table, the city can't move forward with annexation. But once the election is over, if we should fail in our bid for cityhood, then the gloves can come off.
At that point the next step will be to declare our area within Sacramento's "Sphere of Influence." Basically that means that they are claiming to have economic, political, and social influence on our area. LAFCo has to approve this, but it's a no-brainer. How many of our residents shop at Arden Fair (in the city)? Attend events at Cal Expo (city)? Spend the occasional Saturday in Old Sac? Of course they have influence over us. That doesn't mean they control us, or that they should, but influence? Undeniable.
Compared to the four years spent on incorporation, the sphere of influence can happen in a heartbeat. They petition LAFCo to include us, there is some time for public comment (not that anyone listens to it), and they make a decision. A month or two, tops. And once the city has gotten the declaration, we have lost any possible chance for incorporation, or any other way to speak for ourselves.
After the sphere is settled, some time passes, mainly to make it look like Sacramento isn't in a hurry to get our tax revenue. Then they send another petition to LAFCo, this time to annex us as a part of their city.
Many people I've spoken with see this as a simple issue. If the city petitions for annexation, we vote that down, just like incorporation. The problem is, we don't get to vote on annexation. We get sixty days to get a certain number of signatures on petitions. I'm not sure of the number, but it's huge. Something like a fourth of registered voters - 15,000 or so. Keep in mind it took the better part of a year for an organized group to gather less signatures than that to start incorporation, even using paid signature gatherers. There won't be an organized group to fight annexation, and the time span is shortened to a fraction of what we had. Think we can pull that off? Sorry, but I have my doubts.
As I said earlier, I have spoken with a lot of people about incorporation in the past four years. The nearly universal truth is that no one in Arden Arcade wants annexation. Even Stay Sacramento has stated publicly on several occasions that they do not want to see annexation. But like Chamberlain in WWII, they either can't or won't see the mobilization taking place around them. And not wanting to be annexed won't mean a thing when it happens.
A successful incorporation effecively takes annexation off the table forever. That is in addition to the benefits we've discussed previously (and more we will be adding soon). That alone should be enough reason to emphatically support cityhood.
***
Now, for the promised reward. My lovely wife has created a new group page on Facebook: "You're an Arden Arcadian". The idea is to build community by sharing common (and probably a few uncommon) memories and feelings about life in this area. I liked the idea so much that I decided to adopt the phrase "I Am an Arden Arcadian" for this blog and some other actvities I had in mind.
I'm in the process of designing some pro-cityhood t-shirts. This will be a limited run of maybe 50 shirts or so, although I reserve the right to expand that if someone wants to put them up for sale to raise money for incorporation. If you want to get one of these limited edition masterpieces (yes, I am that good - I will post the artwork when it's finished), find my wife's Facebook group, join it, and then share a special memory, or something that makes you feel good about being an Arden Arcadian. My totally unbiased wife will pick the 5 best postings, and those people will get one of the shirts. I'm going to run the promotion through the end of September, to allow plenty of time to post, and still have time to show off the shirt (and your passion for cityhood) prior to the election.
So go, get started!
Friday, August 6, 2010
And away we go...
see the update at the bottom of this post.
Today, at the end of the business day, we will have a final list of the candidates who are running for city council. There was a bit of confusion previously about whether the mayoral race would be separate from the city council, but the word as of now is that every candidate will register for the council election, and the one who receives the most votes will be mayor. If that person turns down the mayor's office, then the council will vote for one of their own to assume the office. And yes, I made that sound much more complicated than it really is.
Soon you will start seeing campaign materials for the candidates. Some will be good; some may not. Your job as a responsible Arden Arcade resident is to go deeper and get to know the candidates. Read the ads, go to their web sites, find out what they stand for. Find out how long they have been cityhood supporters. Get to a meeting where they will be speaking, and find out why they want to be on the council.
I will be doing my best to get out information on all the candidates, to help you make informed choices. I won't endorse anyone here, but I will try to share the information I get. To that end, I will be sending a questionaire to all the candidates (assuming I can get an email address). In a week or two I will collect the ones I get returned, and put the data into some charts and such that I can post on this blog. We'll see how it turns out.
You can be a part of the process. If there's a question you think needs to be asked, that has a general interest for the community, send it to me and I'll try to add it to the questionaire. But keep in mind I want to get these into the candidate's hands as quickly as possible, so send them as soon as you can. And please don't ask the candidates if they will come to your street and make your neighbor trim back her azaleas.
*** UPDATE ***
After spending a couple hours in Dante's 5th circle of Hell - also known as the county election office - I discovered the candidate list is complete, but not really final just yet. I got a list of the candidates who had filed and turned in their paperwork by close of business today, but the people behind the desk explained that the final turn-ins still needed to have their petition signatures verified, and all the other paperwork reviewed for errors or omissions. So even though I have a list, I won't post it here until it's blessed by the county. Look for that about Tuesday, I'd guess.
Today, at the end of the business day, we will have a final list of the candidates who are running for city council. There was a bit of confusion previously about whether the mayoral race would be separate from the city council, but the word as of now is that every candidate will register for the council election, and the one who receives the most votes will be mayor. If that person turns down the mayor's office, then the council will vote for one of their own to assume the office. And yes, I made that sound much more complicated than it really is.
Soon you will start seeing campaign materials for the candidates. Some will be good; some may not. Your job as a responsible Arden Arcade resident is to go deeper and get to know the candidates. Read the ads, go to their web sites, find out what they stand for. Find out how long they have been cityhood supporters. Get to a meeting where they will be speaking, and find out why they want to be on the council.
I will be doing my best to get out information on all the candidates, to help you make informed choices. I won't endorse anyone here, but I will try to share the information I get. To that end, I will be sending a questionaire to all the candidates (assuming I can get an email address). In a week or two I will collect the ones I get returned, and put the data into some charts and such that I can post on this blog. We'll see how it turns out.
You can be a part of the process. If there's a question you think needs to be asked, that has a general interest for the community, send it to me and I'll try to add it to the questionaire. But keep in mind I want to get these into the candidate's hands as quickly as possible, so send them as soon as you can. And please don't ask the candidates if they will come to your street and make your neighbor trim back her azaleas.
*** UPDATE ***
After spending a couple hours in Dante's 5th circle of Hell - also known as the county election office - I discovered the candidate list is complete, but not really final just yet. I got a list of the candidates who had filed and turned in their paperwork by close of business today, but the people behind the desk explained that the final turn-ins still needed to have their petition signatures verified, and all the other paperwork reviewed for errors or omissions. So even though I have a list, I won't post it here until it's blessed by the county. Look for that about Tuesday, I'd guess.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Independence Day?
When in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to...
With those words, the course of world history changed forever. But Thomas Jefferson didn't originate those ideas. The concept of independence was explained by John Locke, an English enlightenmenr thinker. Locke maintained that if a government did not serve the needs of the people, then it was not only the right, but the responsibility of the people to dissolve it.
Well, the revolution really didn't dissolve anything. King George III was still ruling Britain, but the former colonies had won freedom from the English government, allowing the founding fathers to begin the "Great Experiment" that is still thriving today.
Arden Arcade's quest for incorporation has many similarities to the American Revolution, which is why it seemed appropriate to launch this blog on the 4th of July. As with the country, this campaign began with the signing of a document. In this case it was the decision by LAFCo last month. After reviewing a comprehensive fiscal analysis and an environmental impact report, LAFCo ruled that the residents of our community were now entitled to vote on incorporation. The issue is slated to be on the ballot for the general election this November.
My goal for this blog is to accurately provide news and information about the progress of the campaign. No, I have no intention of being fair and unbiased. I was amember of the incorporation committee for two years, and although I left the group (due to personal issues), I am still convinced that incorporation is the single best solution to the growing problems in this community. If the handful of people who are opposed to cityhood want to express their opinions, they can find their own soapbox. Google will be happy to provide them with one.
I am hoping to update at least twice a week. One will be a report of the latest incorporation news, and the other will be an examination of the issues that our community is facing, and what is likely to happen with and without incorporation. I may find time to augment that schedule with a few extras is there is a need.
Keep in mind, although I am 100% in favor of incorporation, my opinions are completly my own. I want to everything I can do to help this community, and I'm not above knocking a few heads on either side if it's deserved. But no one is behind the curtain telling me what to say. If you want to try to influence me, please send me your ideas, in no less than 6000 words, handwritten on the backs of a series of fifty dollar bills. I might be able to be bought, but it won't be cheap.
In the meantime, stick around for the ride. It's going to be an interesting time around these parts. If there's some specific topic you would like me to address, send me a line at edldickey@gmail.com, and if I think enough folks will be interested, I'll try to work it in.
Peace out.
With those words, the course of world history changed forever. But Thomas Jefferson didn't originate those ideas. The concept of independence was explained by John Locke, an English enlightenmenr thinker. Locke maintained that if a government did not serve the needs of the people, then it was not only the right, but the responsibility of the people to dissolve it.
Well, the revolution really didn't dissolve anything. King George III was still ruling Britain, but the former colonies had won freedom from the English government, allowing the founding fathers to begin the "Great Experiment" that is still thriving today.
Arden Arcade's quest for incorporation has many similarities to the American Revolution, which is why it seemed appropriate to launch this blog on the 4th of July. As with the country, this campaign began with the signing of a document. In this case it was the decision by LAFCo last month. After reviewing a comprehensive fiscal analysis and an environmental impact report, LAFCo ruled that the residents of our community were now entitled to vote on incorporation. The issue is slated to be on the ballot for the general election this November.
My goal for this blog is to accurately provide news and information about the progress of the campaign. No, I have no intention of being fair and unbiased. I was amember of the incorporation committee for two years, and although I left the group (due to personal issues), I am still convinced that incorporation is the single best solution to the growing problems in this community. If the handful of people who are opposed to cityhood want to express their opinions, they can find their own soapbox. Google will be happy to provide them with one.
I am hoping to update at least twice a week. One will be a report of the latest incorporation news, and the other will be an examination of the issues that our community is facing, and what is likely to happen with and without incorporation. I may find time to augment that schedule with a few extras is there is a need.
Keep in mind, although I am 100% in favor of incorporation, my opinions are completly my own. I want to everything I can do to help this community, and I'm not above knocking a few heads on either side if it's deserved. But no one is behind the curtain telling me what to say. If you want to try to influence me, please send me your ideas, in no less than 6000 words, handwritten on the backs of a series of fifty dollar bills. I might be able to be bought, but it won't be cheap.
In the meantime, stick around for the ride. It's going to be an interesting time around these parts. If there's some specific topic you would like me to address, send me a line at edldickey@gmail.com, and if I think enough folks will be interested, I'll try to work it in.
Peace out.
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