Where is Batman when you need him? Dark Knight anyone?
If there were ANY lingering doubts about Heather Fargo and company’s lack of commitment to public safety, I hope they have all been removed now.
In a JOLTING development, the City of Gotham Sacramento has decided to pair up OUR police officers and reduce OUR patrol car presence by 50% over the next thirty days. Why? They claim to be hosting an experiement in an effort to cut costs. But some folks are saying the move is nothing more than political chess, and the PD’s intent is to foster outrage toward Sacramento’s elected officials in light of the council’s outrageous expenditures of late (cat cages, tree counts, etc).
This bit of news started out as a peep but has grown into a loud roar quickly. Kevin Johnson quickly denounced it with a sharply-worded press release this afternoon. Kevin states:
“Sacramento’s police ought to be concerned about saving lives, not gasoline…what does it say about this Mayor when she is more concerned about counting trees, cat cages, and raising salaries for top management than keeping police on the street and fire stations open? This is Exhibit A that Mayor Fargo is out of touch with the priorities of our citizens.” -KJ on Police cutbacks
Residents in crime-ridden areas like Natomas are talking about protests. Many people appear to be completely outraged—rational people, that is. Irrational people, like Heather Fargo, who has NEVER, EVER put the safety of the public first, has “no comment.” Big shocker there. The “no comment” position is an election season safety measure; it insulates her from criticism if the experiment fails miserably. But in all seriousness, I will be even MORE critical of her if it fails for NOT TAKING A STAND and failing to back up her “Public Safety has always been my priority” position since the election started.
A few people have said those who oppose the two-cop-per-car idea are “cop haters.” Typical Sacramento style debate. 
Personally, I don’t think one should be labeled a “cop hater” just because they oppose this idea. I am not a proponent of the Marcos Breton approach to debating public issues—which is name calling and ridiculing those with dissenting opinions. It is what it is. I love cops, but this idea sucks, and Ray “Rain man” Kerridge and Heather “The Queen of Green” Fargo should have fought it tooth and nail all the way on BEHALF of their constituents.
Before you attempt to enlighten me on the benefits of paired cops, I realize it would be GREAT to have cops paired up if we had enough of them for our city; but alas, we DON’T. Listen to the police scanner. Cops can’t even get to the calls they have NOW in a timely manner in every neighborhood due to being understaffed.
And yes, I realize this is–as the police have said–”simply a trial” and that “It may turn out that the impact on our community and our service is too severe (despite) the cost saving..” but is that acceptable? Seems to me there is nothing “simple” about this. You realize that “too severe” means they find that more people are murdered, raped, robbed, and molested than they can respond to appropriately with the two-to-a-car approach, right? Seems like an awfully risky game of craps to play with our safety, doesn’t it?
Unfortunately, our public servants here in Sacramento continue to make unilateral decisions without consulting anyone, which makes it very difficult to get behind them, and leads to civil unrest and calls for drastic change, like we are seeing now. The PD has done a good job in recent months on our streets, and communicating with residents, but it all seems for naught now to me.
I feel this idea should have been broached in a public forum, AND at the very least, trialed on a very limited pilot basis, perhaps in one or two neighborhoods.I disapprove of the manner in which this is being rolled out, and think it poses a grave safety risk to the public, PARTICULARLY given these turbulent economic times.
When making decisions that affect the safety of human lives, our officials must ALWAYS take into account the risk involved, and in my opinion a proper risk analysis and soliciting of public opinion was not done here. In fact, I am confounded the police would risk compromising all the progress they have made in recent months with this experiment on a city-wide basis.
Also, at the risk of being called a gadfly (too late!), I wonder: Are Sac PD captains and sergeants going to be on patrol as was depicted in the original article in the Bee, where a Sac PD captain was shown in a patrol car? Out here in the private sector at my company, when we have a negative ratio of headcount to projects, we have an ALL HANDS ON DECK rule whereby all managers are expected to get in the trenches and do whatever it takes to get our products out there door as committed. Does our PD have the same policy? From that image of the captain in patrol car, it would seem that way, but I’m just double-checking for the record.
Anyways, at the end of the day article, the two-to-a-car experiment is yet another EFFECT of an underlying cause. The CAUSE of this and other outrageous measures, such as browning out our fire departments, are the inept city leaders at the helm right now. A quasi visual:
Cause: Inept city leaders (Fargo, Kerridge, et al)–>Effect1: Budget deficit–>Effect2: Public safety cost cutting measures. Basic cause and effect. Want to solve problems? Attack causes.
Public safety has been and continues to be LAST on our city leaders’ lists. It is time for change. We need mayor and city manager who is focused on our safety first and foremost. November could not come fast enough.
Call to action: GET MAD. PROTEST. OUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT.
rbraziel@pd.cityofsacramento.org
myoung@pd.cityofsacramento.org
hfargo@cityofsacramento.org
Also, from our “sista station” natomasbuzz.com:
Here’s a look at how the city’s budget cuts will impact the Sacramento Police Department:
-No Academy classes for about two years for the city.
-Trying to avoid layoffs, they are not filling vacancies as people retire.
-Cutting off counter services at sub-stations.
-Cutting special programs.
-No Overtime, that means when an officer has to go off shift he has to go off shift. They will leave in the middle of a report. They will pass off arrests to oncoming shift.
-Reports will not be submitted in the most timely fashion. Getting copies of reports will take longer.
-No more Auxiliary officers in records. There have been part-time personnel who have been working in records to expedite reporting and cross checking incidents. They are gone.
About time! Where you been! You are not allowed to take time off!!
This is a $#%$@%@%^ SCANDAL. Where is the protest going to be? I will be there with arena style cow bells on
Oh crap, I thought we might have got rid of you.
Joe how could you possibly be against this hair-brained idea? Don’t you know the young Chief Braziel is the Commissioner Gordon to your city of Gotham? He is a champion of the people! He will eradicated every shadow of evil in every corner of the city!
All hail Commissioner Rick Gordon! A true hero of the people!!
Welcome back Joe!
I think this idea sucks too. Terrible timing! What was Braziel thinking?
I’m up for a protest..how about we do it at the Celebrate Natomas event on Sept 13th????
I will wear a JoeSacramento.com t shirt and would volunteer to help man a joesacramento.com booth.
Seriously…while we are at it we can hand out Kevin Johnson literature and get sign ups for people interested in replacing Ray Trethaway.
Also, I’m a staunch law and order kind of citizen…but I also have critical thinking skills and am already taxed to death by every form of government. Clearly this is a simple ploy to get more funding for the PD. I guarantee you the PD cares less how much gas is costing the citizens of this community. Mark my words…the is a political move to position the PD to ask for more funding. Not that I’m against more police where needed…I just want to see some hard accurate stats that show more police would help the decline of our community…and I want to know what I’m getting for my money. Soon they will asking for the Gang Tax again…and this new tactic will reduce response times…leading the People to clamor for the Gang tax for more funding…I hate disingenuous public officials who try to BS me and just because I support the police doesn’t mean I’ll pull down my pants and bend over for them every time they ask…and cut their f’n retirement packages along with all other municipal employees..the savings alone could fund a hundred more police on the beat.
Do you want me to reserve a booth at the Celebrate Natomas day event Joe?
Fort Natomas, I am out of town that weekend on business, but feel free to set up a booth with a Joe Sacramento banner and petition to recall Ray Tretheway. Let me know how much the booth, snacks, water, and banner will cost, and I will consider funding it.
I wouldn’t count on many signatures, though. From my limited experience, my PERCEPTION is Natomas residents either; A) Think problems will magically clear up on their own; or B) Still think diplomacy will work with a local government that has proven time after time it responds to diplomacy only with lip service.
As I said previously: We should not be celebrating Natomas, we should protesting it.
Natomas continues to be neglected, despite the fact that Tretheway tries to mask the problems by trumpeting the new library and community center (that MIGHT be built by 2020 if we get lucky and funds magically appear) ad nauseam.
Weeds line our streets. Cops are in scarce supply. Lots remain empty. Hundreds of empty office buildings and warehouses in the middle of “town” stand in the place where family venues should have been built. Our levees are crumbling. We are paying more for public safety (tax assessments, flood insurance, et al), than anyone else in the city, and we have less of it than anyone else in the city. The North Natomas landscape continues to be flooded with low income housing while West Natomas seems to enjoy immunity from it. Multiple people young and old, as well as countless businesses, have been the victims of violent crime here.
The list goes on and on. I am not in the mood to celebrate ANYTHING except Fargo’s ouster in November.
I agree 100% Joe…my point was I’d like to see a booth…but I would also need other like minded folks to help out and be willing to articulately get the message out…that not is all rosy in the city of Gotham, and if there was a joesacrmaneto booth…the message would be loud and clear…like a steaming turd on the thanksgiving dinner table…
I also agree that the time for diplomacy is over…I have been active in communities for over 20 years… I know well the lip service and smiles that come from elected officials and those appointed by them…there are only two things they understand…lawsuits and injunctions and getting thrown out of office…nothing else will work
A booth wont work to sway the morons on the council’s opinions…but I don’t care… I for one am a citizen who will not hold my tongue to our elected officials just because they wont listen. The point of the a booth would be to show a presence, and allow other like minded citizens that their voices or feelings are not alone…
Anyone willing to help your community and city contact me by email.. it would suck to have to do this all alone.
enemyofpoliticians@gmail.com
btw…I wear my Gadfly merit badge proudly, you should too.
Go on, Fort Natomas! You’ve got me all fired up now. I love this line:
” if there was a joesacrmaneto booth…the message would be loud and clear…like a steaming turd on the thanksgiving dinner table…”
Now THAT is a great quote. That should be this web site’s mantra going forward.
Gadfly. That’s me. But you are giving me a run for my money.
I’m going to see about shifting my schedule around if you are serious about this.
Natomas residents get behind a status quo challenger? HAHAHAHAHA. Good one. There are only a handful of people in the community who give a crap about the problems, and those that do are in the political clique of scum who have pimped the area out to developers. It’s all one big happy, celebrating clique of hapless doofs who express sadness and disappointed every time a new cut is announced. These droids really think budget deficits like these are normal. It’s scary. It’s really, really scary.
Fire just Fargo and Kerridge? Ah cmon Joe. I was thinking every single one of the council members. I think all of them have failed us and all should be recalled.
I would go out to a booth but like a lot of people here I would not want to be a naysayer in a crowd of exuberant fools who think everything is awesome in Natomas. I would feel like the rain on their parade. I would feel like the “turd” on their Thanksgiving table. Doesn’t seem like the right time and place. And plus a lot more houses are gonna have to get robbed and invaded before you get Natomas people to get with it. These folks out here mind their own business and are as unfriendly as anywhere I’ve been in California.
Ouch!! This is horrible news! What in God’s name have these people done to our city? Fargo and her people had no idea how to manage our money during the real estate boom. They spent it all. Now look at us. This is terrible.
An aside from and Independent voter…
I just watched Sarah Palins speach…I was not a supporter of McCain and a bit miffed when he picked his running mate..holy cow I am now a believer…she is amazing…
PALIN FOR PRESIDENT!
Fort Natomas-
Despite the fact that I feel like puking (see below), I would be interested in putting some time in at a JoeSacramento booth or putting some cash up to make sure it happens.
Your comment on Sarah Palin makes me want to vomit- obviously you don’t know how many outright lies about her own record she told… Hello- Alaska accepted the money to build the “bridge to nowhere” and then didn’t even build it. So they took OUR taxpayer money. Did you hear the part about her giving back taxes to the Alaskans when oil/gas prices rose? That was her flaunting that YOU paid for Alaskans to get a tax rebate. What a bunch of crap. So many lies, flaunts and exaggerations before she even started making stuff up about Obama. I guess Joe has no “real experience” either since he’s just a new-age community organizer…
Ok geezus SacramentoBlog…I wasn’t trying to be a Partisan, I am not in any way, I detest all current political parties… I detest Bush, and McCain scares the hell out of me, you never know what you will get with him…at least with Obama, he is a straight forward Liberal… While I may not agree withhim on 85% of his issues, I respect him for having values that he sticks to…(He also will not be able to do anything about our trade deficits or the destruction of the middle class, he will not be able to control the overly greedy corporations selling our country out) I am also just saying that Palin looked amazing compared to what I had expected…and she is not a Washington Insider, which I love… I don’t like either Obama or McCain mostly on one issue alone… Illegal Immigration and the effects it has had on the Average Joe in America. I support the Average Joe (male or female) who gets up every day to pay his taxes and takes care of their family. Throw in the effect of outsourcing jobs and the destruction of our manufacturing base in America and what you get is what we are going through now for the most part. American workers having to compete on the world labor market with people who make $1 to 3 dollars an hour. We simply cant compete on that level, nor should we allow corporations to force us to. I’m a free market capitalist to for the most part, but when the Neo-Con free marketers will destroy our country for the sake of their stock prices. look at the quicly growing dispairity of the wealthy and the working class…even in hard economic times, the rich get richer and the middle class are being forced a much larger share of the burden on their shoulders..eventually the middle class will shrink to a very small class…the rest will be worker drones with no retirement and no ability to afford a decent living we once took for granted…Gee that’s why so many people want government jobs..they are the new fat cat middle class…sucking even more out of the tax payers pockets…If there is not a concerted effort to stop this trend, we are doomed as an economical force in the world, and we will be nothing but a consumer and services economy, manufacturing nothing but thin air with fake money printed by the Federal Reserve…Ta Daaaaa! guess whats happened to the dollar…
And BTW, some of your response appeared to come out of the Dems talking point playbook…and I would bet that most of what you have stated is incorrect..just because you read it somewhere does not make your assertions facts…time will illuminate her flaws…and who doesn’t have flaws..we have to pick the best of what we are allowed to pick from…
Throw in the cultural war, too many special Interest groups, the gang culture, the destruction of the American family unit and we could not design a faster way to destroy what we once had…
And BTW these are my own personal opinions…and my opinions should not deter anyone from working together on common goals…to be active and involved civically and to help improve our community…I believe Democrats, Republicans and Independents all want to improve Sacramento.
FN, I am also an Independent, but I can’t say McCain/Palin have my vote. I did not observe the sincerity and straight-talk I expected from her. I observed a lot of spin and empty rhetoric. Sac blog raises great points about her contradictions also. And what about earmarking? McCain is deadset against it, yet Palin exploited it to achieve her political goals? She is a die-hard abstinence proponent, yet her 17 yr old daughter is pregnant? What about troopergate? Did you read the transcript of that phone conversation where it is said she and her family are unhappy that guy had not been fired yet? Sounds like some entitlement-minded politics to me. But then in all fairness, Obama’s past ties (Rev Wright, the other domestic terrorist dude, the financier dude, etc) are very dicey. Not sure I agree with his choice of bedfellows. His wife’s statements concern me too. Then there is Biden. He has more conflicts than the UN. I am highly disappointed in the choices this election season. I am shocked that these are the best these parties have to offer.
I also agree that our politics and political opinions should NOT come in the way of our community involvement… EVER. I don’t let them affect any of my relationships. I don’t purport to have the cornermarket on truth. I am very much a work in progress and I reserve the right to change my mind every time I learn something new
Too late to get an “official” booth it seems at the Celebrate Natomas Festival
Also..the “committee” must approve all applications for booth’s…i would bet five bucks they would deny us a booth anyways….I’m looking into other means to get a booth at the festival under other legal means…i.e. its a public park for gods sake..and a publicly funded event…I swear, these guys want to control citizens at every turn
I would think that participants can set up a sun shade canopy in order to enjoy the festivities
Haha. You crack me up. I can see it now.. the Joe Sac welcoming committee! They would just LOVE that.
Perhaps we should hold ANOTHER event instead, rather than rain on their happy-go-lucky event? I hate to be a fun sucker. Maybe we hold another event in the fall called “Protest Natomas 2008″ I am sure we would have more support for that then we would for crashing this party.
Gives us some time to marinate our ideas AND we could hold it right before the election.
how about we hire some illegal aliens and give them t shirts and picket signs…. the citizens of the New American Century…outsource our protests…now that would be MONEY baby!
Outsource the protests?? I love it! Let’s do it! Talk about capitalism at work!
Fort Natomas-
I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a liberal Democrat. But I still sat and watched Palin’s speech. I was hoping that perhaps McCain didn’t actually believe that women are interchangeable and that Palin could be switched in for Hillary and all women would just rejoice in happiness. I was wrong. Other Republican women leaders should be insulted. Palin’s stepping in her own piles- she doesn’t need me to illuminate them. My information is easily citeable http://ontheissues.org/Sarah_Palin.htm and unrelated to the Dems playbook. I just happen to agree.
Joe-
I’m worried about protests at the event… we will have what- one police car on duty that day? If they’re busy arresting us… our houses will get robbed. I don’t want to go to jail AND have to file a police report in the same day!
Tracy DAMN YOU for that funny post! I had just taken a drink of my beer before I read it and… poof… beer spatters on my computer screen!
TOO funny — and a travesty at the same time.
I’m glad you’re a liberal Democrat, even though I’m not. In fact all of my friends have very different political views than I do and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I can give a punch, but I can take one, too. And God knows you’ve given me a few, woman!
Joe
Hey breaking news the feds have turned the KJ St Hope investigation over to the US Dist Attorney
Palin in 2012. You libs should be a little scared… she’s going to serve up Biden in the debate
To many this may sound like ominous news Joe… I hope KJ is not indicted, um… I mean I hope he has not broken laws and placed himself in a position to be indicted…but it must be remembered that this is normal in almost all investigations, once the investigation has concluded..they hand it to the either the local DA, the States Attorney General or to the US Attorney so they can review they case and see if their is enough evidence to file criminal charges.
I would guess that this could work out in KJ’s favor, at least they most likely will decided whether or not to file the case or not in a the near future,.he may soon crow that after a lengthy investigation there were no criminal charges brought against him.
HEY WHATS UP WITH THE T SHIRTS JOE? I need art…
As far as a “PROTEST” at CN festival, I did not really mean a “PROTEST” in the traditional sense. I meant, show up, have a booth and a JS.Com banner, hand out KJ schwag, and talk to people about their concerns for the community. It is a family event, and I will have my children their as well..so I wont be throwing Molotov cocktails.
OK OK OK… look I love this site mainly because it discusses local issues…and in my opinion….maybe only….This should be a community Squawk Box…it should not be a place to go back and forth about partisanship in the presidential election…and IT WAS MY MISTAKE to even post a little bit about Palin…
I have seen to many sites turn into nothing but flaming sites…with back and forth jabs about Liberal this or Republican that.. and that is exactly what the establishment wants, especially the Sacramento City Council… they love a fractionated and polarized populous…this is how they keep control
You do make a good point and I too should limit the presidential banter as it really has no place on the site. I tend to agree with you. I appreciate the gut check
T-shirts. What do you need? Did you see cafepress.com?
I sent you an email Joe explaining what I need..did you get it…?