THE NOW INFAMOUS, KNEE-JERKIN’, UNFILTERED, STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS RANT

PLONK

Fine! Let’s change the game. Let’ just start saying MANY NEIGHBORHOODS aren’t safe instead of generalizing and saying Sacramento is not safe. This tit-for-tat thing is getting RIDICULOUS..

The local newspaper here wrote yet another fantastically pro Heather Fargo piece targeting mayoral candidate Kevin Johnson’s so-called inflated claims about rising crime in Sacramento. The piece starts out with a lead line that sounds as if it were mined from a Heather “Not-on-my-watch” Fargo speech:

“To hear Kevin Johnson tell it, Sacramento is a violent place.”

Uh, to hear Johnson tell it? You mean to hear the FBI tell it… right? Kevin Johnson doesn’t make up the crime rates, he just reports them. And thank God he does report them, because prior to his arrival on the political scene, the incumbent Mayor Fargo had no clue how bad crime had become since she took office, and even admits to calling the police chief to verify the numbers after a debate with Kevin Johnson.

But there is some good news to come out of this that residents are celebrating at this hour: FINALLY Mayor Fargo has discovered what the rest of residents in her ‘unfit-for-a-magazine-cover’ neighborhoods already knew: Sacramento’s crime is highest in the state, second to only Oakland, CA.

And speaking of favorite neighborhoods, the article in question naturally drew online comments from neighborhood-partial stoners like “justanothermidtownhomo” who agreed Johnson is inflating the numbers, and that there is no serious problem in the area. One detractor even wrote, “I walk downtown at lunchtime and I feel very safe.” It proves my earlier article which suggested people will be voting by neighborhood and the one with the most neighborhoods in their corner will win.

The article also criticizes Johnson (yes, the article’s author criticizes him—we don’t pull punches here) for not having a succinct plan to achieve his public safety goals. That is about the only reasonable part of the article. I wholeheartedly agree that it’s concerning that he hasn’t really stated how he intends to combat the problem given the $58 million deficit Fargo is leaving him with. But to suggest our streets are safe? What?! What an OUTRAGE.

Fargo: “…I don’t think it’s the job of the mayor to make people feel unsafe in their city…I want people to feel good about where they live.”

Riiiight. So what Fargo is really saying is “it might be unsafe, but I don’t want people to know that. I want them to stick their head in the sand like I do and pretend everything is peachy.” Nice.We ALL want to feel good about our city, Heather. Problem, we can’t, we don’t feel SAFE in many neighborhoods.

Then there are the remarks by Sacramento police spokesperson, Matt Young: “while Sacramento has crime issues ‘just like any other big city,’ people should feel safe.” Feel safe? With a serial stabber on the loose? With our neighborhood parks being torched? Sorry, I do not feel safe unless I am at home behind locked doors, and even then I have doubts. Shame on city officials for downplaying the crime problem they KNOW exists, especially in light of recent fallen officers Sgt Jeff Mitchell and Det. Vu Ngyuen (both officers were gunned down in the line of duty just outside city limits within the past two years).

“Sacramento Police spokesman Sgt. Matt Young said that while Sacramento has crime issues ‘just like any other big city,’ people should feel safe.”

Look, I am as big a proponent of law enforcement as you will find, but is this low bar thinking acceptable, Sacramento? Let’s take another angle. Say you’re a vested Cavaliers season ticket holder. And say LeBron’s scoring dives from 30 points per game to 13 points per game. And say the Cavalier brass publicly declare “LeBron’s 13 pts per game average is on par with the league average, so fans should feel good about winning a title this year.” Would you be OK with that? Of course you wouldn’t–and either would the guys on the floor who depend on the 30 points a night LeBron is getting paid to produce.

Sacramento: are we going for a title, or do we want to be cellar dwellers with the Stocktons of the world?

Isn’t the idea to make our city BETTER and SAFER than competing California cities? Can’t Fargo dot the lines between the crime rate and her “magazine cover” dream for the city and increased tourism? Apparently it is to much for ol’ “the plans were just coming in so fast” Fargo.

You call 5,129 violent crimes not a problem? Really?

Maybe city officials should ask the people who have been stabbed by the serial stabber if there is a problem. Ask the people who have been raped if there is a problem. Ask the people of South Natomas where their Fort Natomas was recently torched again if there is a problem. Ask the families of all the Hispanic guys who have been shot and killed by what appears to be a serial killer in downtown Sac. Ask all the business owners (how many now—10 in the past several months?) in North natomas who are being robbed at gun point if there is a problem. Ask Trader Joe’s employees in East Sac who just got robbed at gunpoint if there is a problem. Ask the family of the woman who just got shot to death in North Natomas if there is a problem.

I think officials will not acknowledge the problem for the same reason Fargo won’t: THEY WANT PEOPLE TO THINK THEY’RE SAFE. If people think they are NOT safe, the city will have a PR nightmare on its hands, and will have to say goodbye to its Kiplinger’s List livable city award (which should be returned by the way). So the solution? DENY DENY DENY. Sad thing is, the denial just strengthens ignorance about the severity of the problem.

I’ll tell you what: Sacramentans who don’t think there is a crime problem ,including the article’s author: IF YOU DON’T THINK THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH CRIME, SEND ALL YOUR ALLOTMENT OF PATROLS TO MY NEIGHBORHOOD PLEASE. We will gladly take all the police officers you don’t think you need. My kids can not even go to the park without being CHASED by older kids from all the low income housing we are surrounded with now.

The most telling part of the entire article, and the reason Heather Fargo should not even be considered for another term as mayor, occurs in fourth paragraph of the article where the lazy reporter (who obviously lives in one of Fargo’s favorite neighborhoods). writes, “Fargo initially questioned Johnson’s [high crime] figures. But she now says Police Chief Rick Braziel has confirmed they are correct.”

She didn’t even know what the stats were.

You can’t have your cake and eat it too, Fargo. You can’t draw tourists AND have a state high crime rate at the same time. Hello? Can you really not make the correlation between crime rates and tourism/property values/resident pride/ etc? Is your head THAT deep in the sand??

INCREDIBLY, this is the same newspaper that produced THIS article from writer Daniel Weintraub only weeks ago:

But Los Angeles’ violent crime – not just the rate, but in raw numbers, too – has since plummeted, while Sacramento’s has been rising. Los Angeles went from about 1,400 violent crimes per 100,000 people to just 770. The murder rate dropped by 25 percent. Now, a person is just as likely to be killed on the streets of Sacramento as in Los Angeles, and far more likely to be raped or robbed in Sacramento.

My friends at sacrag.com also have a great piece on this HERE