Sacramento County Holds Forum for Arden Arcade Residents

The County of Sacramento held an exposition and forum for Arden Arcade on November 5th. Postcards announcing the forum were mailed to Arden Arcade residents. The Arden Arcade Incorporation Committee was offered a table in the open portion of the forum where the County placed fifteen tables staffed by County service providers to answer questions from residents. However, since the forum was a County of Sacramento event, the incorporation committee was not invited to participate in the program.

In the 45 minutes allotted for the program, Supervisor Susan Peters, along with outgoing County Executive, Terry Schutten, representatives from law enforcement, and the Administrator of the County’s Municipal Services Agency, Paul Hahn, spoke about how they serve Arden Arcade. Bill Chiat, Executive Director of the California Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) took a while to explain the LAFCo process. While he stated Arden Arcade residents can vote to reject annexation by the City of Sacramento, he neglected to tell about 200 attendees that we are only given 30-60 days to gather signatures from 25 percent of our registered voters to get annexation to a vote. That’s a heroic undertaking and a daunting task.

The County allotted 45 minutes to answer written questions from the public. The questions were pretty general, and topics we generally hear in our meetings with Arden Arcade residents did not come up.

Topics like the blight and crime creeping in from the western and northern boundaries of our community. I’ve lived near Country Club Plaza for 34 years and in the past year or so, I’ve learned to distinguish gun shots from cars backfiring or fireworks, something I never expected. There are parts of my community where I no longer feel safe because I am regularly approached by strangers when I am getting in or out of my car.

We understand the budget and economy issues, and are prepared to watch grass grow down the middle of our streets while potholes ruin our cars, but it took years for this blight and increased crime to reach this point. I appreciate the Sacramento County employees who do their best and have provided good service. They have no say about Sacramento County’s priorities. Counties across California are helping their local communities incorporate because times have changed, and the old county models don’t work very well. Incorporation offers us a chance to reverse crime, blight, and keep us out of debt without raising taxes.

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Posted by Pat Cole on Nov 17 2009. Filed under Viewpoints. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.