If you support this interview request: Please send a personal email to hfargo@cityofsacramento.org with a copy of the questions. Thank you.
The following email was sent to Mayor Fargo at 11:40am PST today via email. I will keep you apprised of her office’s response–if any.
Mayor Fargo,
I am requesting in interview, please. Email response is fine. If you prefer, I can call you. Either way, I commit to a quick, professional conversation and rant-free interview.
1. Are you collecting the $550 per month car allowance the mayor’s position affords? If so, are you using a vehicle for official business, and how many driving miles have you clocked in the past two years?
2. In the 2008 State of the City address you disagreed with the Corps of Engineers’ AE flood zone designation, and stated you felt the levees were “strong as ever” —-yet in the KCRA debate with Johnson you agreed with him that we are in fact in severe danger of catastrophic flooding. In fact, on May 11, 2008, you told the LA TImes “To me, floods are the biggest risk to public safety we face and the biggest risk to our economic viability,” said Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo, head of the flood control agency’s board. “In our 12-step recovery, we are way beyond denial.” Can you please discuss the conflict between your two statements?
3. In your interview with Inside East Sacramento, when asked what the important issues facing the city in the next 5,10 years were, you cited, “economic development, job development with our youth, flood protection air quality, and global warming..” Later, you would tell a News10 debate audience that the most important issue to you was public safety. In subsequent interviews you have again stated crime is the most important issue facing the city. Can you please discuss the reasoning behind your recent reprioritization of issues facing the city?
4. About a month ago, America’s Most Wanted came to North Natomas and filmed a segment on the NorCal rapist who struck there previously. Residents stood outside in the cold in solidarity and watched the shoot. The crew was on location for over 6 hours. To my knowledge, neither yourself nor Councilman Tretheway stopped by to show your support. As far as I know neither of you have publicly acknowledged this horrific crime that rocked our community to its core. You are also on record as defending the sparse number of police in N Natomas on the strength there are more violent areas in the city.
In stark contrast to the aforementioned, when you learned Kevin Johnson may have paid hush money to someone who had leveled a potentially career destroying allegation against him, you publicly denounced our police department’s handling of the local allegation, and declared you would not be tolerant of crime on your watch. Why did you not show the same “zero tolerance” attitude towards crime when the NorCal rapist struck in Natomas, or when John Walsh came to Natomas to film the segment for AMW?
5. You are quoted in a Bee article as saying you would not commit to further N Natomas annexation on the grounds “If we can’t put it in a magazine cover as a model, I don’t know why we would do more.” What exactly did you mean by this statement?
6. Th Bee reported you took 25 trips that cost taxpayers $44,000. How do you justify those expenses when all of your subsequent recommendations could have been gleaned from Google search or video conference calls–and even SMUD’s web site?
7. When members of the Metro Chamber recently complained that you were not responsive to their emails and inquiries, your response was that your job was complicated, and that your limited staff had to “triage” requests daily, and therefore requests were prioritized and responses could be delayed . The word “triage” paints a picture of a frantic hospital emergency room or battlefield mash unit. If your office is under siege in the manner you suggest, how do you justify missing 125 days of work since Oct 2005? Updated: 2:20PM PST
8. The NNFF (North Natomas Financial Plan) is said to be in flux now, and residents have heard that a $36 MILLION rebate to developers is even being proposed. Residents in N Natomas are paying EXTRA for amenities and public safety measures that were promised to them in the master plan for the area. What can North Natomas residents expect in terms of your commitment in seeing these broken commitments repaired? And, is it true that a $36 MIL rebate to developers is on the table?
9. Why haven’t you publicly denounced the Local 447’s hit campaign on Kevin Johnson? Do you approve it, or denounce it?
10. Please describe in succinct terms the relationship between gang violence and summer job opportunities for pre-screened youth.
11. Why are North Natomas residents carrying the burden of all new low income housing on its back? Related: do you see any correlation between low income housing and crime?
12. ADDED 12:39PST: When you announced your candidacy, you signed a document stating you promised to run a clean campaign and denounce ANYONE who sought to defame another’s *personal* character. Can you please explain why you have not followed through on that commitment?
Thank you for your time
Joe Sacramento
Let’s begin sending these questions to Fargo every day. If Joe Sacramento can’t get attention with his request for interview, perhaps a mass email campaign will get some focus.
Good topics…but why oh why did you have to make the questions into the “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?” variety? The longest question you have is regarding why Fargo didn’t show up on the set of America’s Most Wanted? Yes yes, I understand there’s a bigger question involved, and that you’re trying to spike her with her own statement…but seriously, that’s just a retarded example. I could just as easily use your line of reasoning and ask if Fargo (or Johnson) is so intolerant of crime, why she hasn’t put more city funds into finding out which teen egged my house last month.
Did you just compare the Nor Cal rapist to an egg thrower? Or am I reading your comment wrong.
Nope, you read correctly, and that’s how absurd your kind of questioning is. Fargo asserting whatever authority she has to get police to reopen (what she believes to be) a botched case is a different situation than whether she shows up to do an interview for a crime program. In the former case, the ability to get things “done” is at her desk**. In contrast, nothing she can do as mayor will solve the Nor-Cal case, unless you are implying that the SacPD/FBI are doing nothing in the investigation because of Fargo’s command.
The apples to apples comparison would have been to ask if she’s so concerned about sexual assault cases not being investigated well enough, why she hasn’t reopened X and Y cases that have had new evidence revealed. But no, you’ve got to do your grandstanding even if the answer to the question is that she wasn’t even around at the time.
**Note: I do NOT think she is right to pressure the police to reopen the case. I’m just pointing out the flaw in your comparison between the cases.
I see what you’re suggesting, but I disagree. I think my comparison is spot-on. I think it says: Fargo has never spoke out about crime or even shown marginal concern for crime victims in the media until NOW, in the middle of the election. Of course she can’t solve the rape investigation herself, but if she is so concerned about what happens on her watch, why is the biggest graphic on her web page a “Meet the mayor’s green challenge” ? Why doesn’t she ever make statements in the press about major crimes? Why does she raise more awareness about global warming than the dirtbags who are terrorizing our community? It doesn’t add up. Bottom line, Fargo is full of hot air and we all know it and I don’t know why you’re wasting your time defending her. Let’s agree to disagree on this.
I’m not defending her…I just want you to have a better chance of getting legit questions answered. You have some good ones, but that one in particular just stretched the bounds of reasonability.