Hopefully Mayor Fargo’s meeting tonight at the Homecoming condoplex with Natomas residents will be more encouraging than the one shown here, videotaped by youths in nearby Kokomo Park and uploaded to youtube.com in the past year.
Along with Mayor Heather Fargo, representatives from the school district and police department will also be in attendance tonight to meet with residents of Homecoming at Creekside and surrounding areas.
Homecoming is the site of a recent murder whereby a girl who lived in a condo there was found shot to death in one of the common areas. Of course some city officials would have residents believe they should “feel safe” because “the victim knew the assailant,” but apparently there is no consensus on that.
Natomas community groups and so forth do not associate with me (which is probably a good thing because I refuse to play sweetheart when my neighborhood has the lowest cops-to-residents ratio in Sacramento, despite our excessive property taxes), so I have not learned the exact purpose of this meeting, (update: I am told this is Creekside Natomas’s monthly meeting, but given the guest list, I am going to go out on a limb and assume this is not their monthly audience, nor are they gathering to talk about the mayor’s “green challenge” and her #1 priority: Global warming).
The Homecoming condoplex sits just east of I-5, behind a Safeway shopping center which has played host to a revolving door of small businesses since its grand opening in 2004 (I think). According to apartmentreviews.net, approx. 40% of the people who live/lived there recommend it. Apartmentratings.com has it at 57% recommended. It appears as though there is also low income housing here– though I am only hypothesizing based on web site reviews from current and former residents.
The area where Homecoming is located is also known as the Kokomo Park area, and is home to a fair amount of high density housing. There are a lot of families in this area, and in my experience the majority or residents are hard working, honest citizens just going about their daily lives. I used to play basketball in the park there when it was first built and met some great people, but after witnessing a few fights and other disturbances, I stopped going.
Like most of N Natomas, this area seems perfectly fine if you’re just passing through on a pretty Sacramento day. In fact by sight it could even be called attractive. But therein lies the issue with a lot of residents’ passive attitudes about the area’s statistics-backed issues: A simple pass-through doesn’t reveal the under current of juvenile crime. And while these juvenile crimes don’t get much press–especially during election season when the mayor is attempting to trick voters into believing ella numero uno prioridad es la seguridad pública–they continue to be a thorn in the side of perceptive, vigilant residents whose heads are not in the sand.
“There are worse areas of Sacramento,” you say. Yep, heard that one before; but I don’t down-compare, so that argument is moot here. I tend to look at facts before flowers. I’m looking at Crime Mapper for Kokomo Park area where the Homecoming condoplex is, and I’m seeing 175 crimes REPORTED since Jan 1, 2008 within 2000 ft of the 4800 block of Kokomo Dr. Check for yourself. That’s an average of 27 crimes being reported per month. That’s almost 1 per day in a 2000 ft perimeter. To me, that number is totally unacceptable.
I honestly DON’T CARE how great Natomas is when compared to, e.g., the Bronx. I did not buy my house on the strength of its relative safety when compared to a high crime zone. I bought it because the city’s plan led me to believe there would be adequate public safety, schools, a police sub station (which some officials have now said won’t really make a difference??!), and because the area was said to be the “future of Sacramento.” I believed in the plan. I did my part and paid my taxes, now the city apparently does not want to do its part and give the area the TLC and resources it needs to be a family-oriented, overall safe community.
As always, props to the police department who have stepped up efforts in the Natomas area lately. I know they have also been watching Kokomo Park and taking care of business as best they can. Much appreciated. But I hope when Creekside Natomas residents meet with the green-thumbed mayor tonight they don’t go easy on her with softball questions and completely unwarranted praise. I’m not saying they should scream in her face or threaten her; I’m saying they should hold her accountable for the litany of failed commitments to Natomas homeowners and renters who have to constantly look over the shoulder, even when they’re standing inside Jamba Juice, or worse yet, in their own garages.
Yeah, CRIME IS EVERYWHERE. You don’t say. But is that all we ever aspire to as a city; to be another Stockton? WHere is the pride? Where is the love? Why do I feel like only one in a handful of people who are out of patience with this city government?
We all need to stop allowing Fargo–or anyone else–to down-compare going forward. Who CARES if our crime rates are “tracking with other cities” (like Oaktown)? Don’t we want to track HIGHER than those cities!? I keep hearing about all this Natomas pride. I’m told to come out and celebrate Natomas. What exactly am I celebrating? Give me something to clink my glass to and I’ll be the first in line.
Just because Fargo and Tretheway are OK with crime rates that rival those of Oakland’s does NOT mean we have to be.
Then again, on second thought, maybe this meeting is about greening the city and I’m completely reading into things. That would be funny.. kinda..
Will Tretheway be there also? I suppose only if Fargo tells him he has to be there. Man, that guy is such a turd.
No word on Tretheway. Of course emailing him is an exercise in auto responses, so there’s no point. But really, would it matter if he was there? He just smiles and bobs his head and tells his anecdotal stories and acts like a visiting grandparent who feels sorry his grand kids have to live in a high crime area. He may not even be aware he is the council person for this district. God love him.
I hope Natomas gives Fargo an earful. She deserves it. I was at the last crime meeting and people clapped for her. I sat on hands grinding my teeth. I wanted to boo her so bad.
It seems the issue that he’s strongest on is rallying the community after Fort Natomas burns down. Outside of that, he’s useless. I knew I should have challenged him for his council seat. The only problem is that I don’t like meetings.
You could not get elected with that name… I don’t think. It just stinks.
City council meetings would be brutal. Have you watched them on the community channel? Yikes. Maybe being brain dead is a prerequisite to being on the council. Only a corpse could sit still through one of those meetings
It’s not the name, Joe, it’s the charisma and the chutzpah that really count. I have no idea how KJ will be able to stay awake through these meetings.
Not sure Obama would agree, but ok, I’ll play along …. are you saying you could get elected with that name?
In Sacramento? Against an incumbent like Ray Tretheway? In a district that has such disdain for him? Absolutely I could.
Danny Farty for Sacramento City Council. Yeah. I am literally laughing out loud right now.
Danny Farty for City Council: “Because Our Elected Officials Stink.” I better reserve http://www.dannyfartyforsaccitycouncil.com. Well, maybe just http://www.dannyfarty.com.
Rolling eyes. Ok Danny
I am going
My family and I are actually moving into Homecoming in a few weeks from out of state. My new job is in South Natomas, and I was looking for a place that was close to work, reasonably affordable, and safe. I found those apartment rating sites to be completely worthless when I was looking around. The only ratings are from disgruntled, and often illiterate, former tenants with an ax to grind and employees pretending to be tenants. I was able to figure out pretty quick to stay out of South Natomas, but I did not think that we would have any problems in North Natomas since it is a newer area. Now I’m starting to get a bit nervous. Is it really that bad out there?
Hi DMC.. revised.. I think you have to make that call yourself. Everyone seems to have a different opinion based on where they came from. I will say this though, at this point in time I would not recommend N Natomas to family members who were considering moving here. I would point them to the newer part of Folsom, Roseville, and Rocklin areas. But that’s just me. One man, one opinion.
On the flip side Natomas is near everything and very diverse, two reasons we moved here to begin with. It’s kind of got a city feel to it, which I like, too. If you like socio economic diversity you will probably like Natomas, and if you move here, hopefully you will join me in pushing the city to follow through on its commitments. God knows we need all the great people we can get here given how many have moved away
On the brighter side we do have some good news around the corner .. in November we’re finally going to get a mayor that is in tune with people. We’re all looking forward to that
I live over right near Homecoming. It’s ok. There is some drama though. If you don’t mind seeing the po at night you’ll be ok. They come through all the time. Motor birds too. Kids running from the shopping center. There will always be that any time you are right on top of a shopping center like that. But all of North natomas is about the same. And it’s still better than south natomas. You got that part straight
natomas is not bad. natomas is not good. natomas is not folsom. but natomas is not the hood. its middleville usa
I live over near Comcast bldg across the street from Safeway right there and yes there is thugs right there. Some gangs trying to riase up in Natomas too. But all the other hoods think Natomas is soft so they are trying to act all hard and stuff.
That video is from last year too. They got newer ones up than that I have seen. Wait until school starts this year. You are going to see a lot of them I bet
Yeah, alot of people recommended Roseville, Rocklin, and Folsom to me, but I really did not want to sign myself up for a 25+ mile commute. If I had my way we’d live in Davis, which is actually about 10 miles closer to my office than those other areas, but it’s too expensive for someone coming straight out of grad school with two kids and a boatload of debt. For now, we’ve got a 12 month lease out in N. Natomas starting up in August, so we’ll see how it goes. We’re looking forward to being active in the community and are more than happy to lend a hand when it comes to keeping politicians honest.
Glad to hear you are coming. I hope you stay!