Other Cities Lead While Sacramento Just Pretends

Sacramento Leaders Don't Understand Simple Math

Sacramento is the capitol of the most productive state in the United States. Within the last 10 years, California was the 6th largest economy in the world, surpassing developed countries of global significance such as Italy and Russia. One would think that the capitol city of that powerhouse should be strong and vibrant, a beacon of hope and prosperity.

However, Sacramento's leadership over that time has done an abysmal job of investing in city infrastructure, building safe communities, and promoting an inviting environment for job creation. What's worse, city leaders continue to ignore the voice of the people and pursue a losing strategy. Not only should Sacramento voters get more engaged in City planning, the City Council and Mayor should consider it their duty to reach out to the public ... not ignore them.

Other effective City Council Members are doing just that - asking residents what they need. In the City of Long Beach, Rex Richardson has taken a portion of the city budget, dedicated it to infrastructure investment, and held community meetings to set priorities for these expenditures. There are countless other strategies that can help local governments encourage citizen participation. The Municipal Research and Services Center (MRSC) researches, compiles, and provides for free packages of strategies and materials for use by local governments.

MRSC notes, "formal city hall and courthouse settings can be intimidating, and hearings can sometimes be dominated by those who are more comfortable with public speaking. Such hearings may not be the best way to encourage comment from a wide cross-section of community residents and may not fit into citizens' busy schedules. The format of hearings often leaves little, if any, room for reasonable discussion, give or take, or response to prior testimony. Instead, it is important to conduct a thoughtful public process in advance of the public hearing."

Would You Feel Intimidated?

 Oddly, Mayor Kevin Johnson is the current President of the United States Conference of Mayors (USCM) - an organization that itself gathers and provides best practices for local governments. So, one would wonder why he and his city don't follow many of them...

A myriad of other sources of information are also available to City Leaders, if they could just get past their own egotistical self indulgence. For instance, a survey of more than 13,000 small business owners was conducted, asking what policies make a city business friendly. Sacramento was ranked #82 on the list of lowest rated cities in the country. A thoughtful City Leader should consider its business environment, particularly when Sacramento faces higher unemployment than cities both to the East and West - higher than the state average, even. One vital finding of the survey was that the effects of poor licensing regimes (at all levels of government) were twice as important as taxation, and that easily understood tax regimes were at least as important as low taxes.

If City Leaders listened more to what residents need, and small business owners want, maybe the 2035 General Plan Update would have been more on point.  There's still time to change direction.

Racism in Sacramento's Police Department

According to Mayor Kevin Johnson, Sacramento's Police Department is racist enough that a Ferguson-style uprising could occur right here in our own city. He explained how driving a nice Porche in Oak Park got him pulled over and ticketed because he was black. He also claimed that only 2% of Sacramento's police force is African American (an untruth in itself). So the question is, was this civic-minded and thoughtful consideration of law enforcement in Sacramento, or just scare-tactic political misdirection in support of his own career ambitions?

If you're interested in an overview of crime in Sacramento, I highly recommend a read through the Police Department's Annual Report. I will presume that the report lags about a year behind, and the 2013 report will be released shortly - changes year-to-year are generally minor. Here's some data from 2012 that would seem to be relevant...

• SacPD is 72.9% White, 11.2% Hispanic, 8.8% Asian, and 5.4% African American.
• Sacramento is 45% White, 26.9% Hispanic, 18.3% Asian, and 14.6% African American.
• In 2012, the Sacramento Police Department had 28.4% fewer authorized positions than five years ago (less than three-fourths).
• In 2012, 39 of these authorized positions remained unfilled for a lack of qualified candidates or appropriations by the Mayor and City Council - lack of funds contributed to 19 of these 39 unfilled positions.
• In 2012, more than 43% of SacPD personnel had more than 10 years of experience in law enforcement.

These data show that Mayor Johnson's claims that only 2% of the police force is black are false. However, everyone would also agree that there is not proportionate representation when compared to the incredible diversity throughout Sacramento. It is important to note here that our neighbors whose history lies in the Middle East, North Africa, and related areas are grouped in the category of "White".

Does this affirmatively answer the question of whether SacPD is racist? In order to confirm Mayor Johnson's remarks, we would have to first believe that the Police Department would turn away qualified candidates simply because of their race - - - 20 positions remained unfilled and funded. Then we would have to look at the makeup of their applicant pool - data which is not available to the public.

Perhaps the problem is not with hiring practices of SacPD. The annual report does say, "Ethnic and gender demographics that are balanced and representative of the community have been and continue to be a priority of the Sacramento Police Department. As hiring resumes, a variety of efforts will be reinstituted to further our goal of hiring a diverse workforce. These changes can only occur, though, when an organization is able to add to its workforce through new hiring." (emphasis added)

If the problem is not with hiring policies and practices, maybe Mayor Johnson's experiences are meant to say that the officers themselves, as a whole, are racist. Oak Park, in the time the Mayor is remembering, was listed as one of the top three highest crime neighborhoods in Sacramento. If you drive through this part of the city today, you'll be in an entirely different world, because of the huge investment Sacramento has put into revitalizing this once-upscale suburb.

So, the situation as Mayor Johnson describes it, is that he parked his nice Porche illegally in front of the rundown Woodruff Hotel and sat there, in his car, waiting for an epiphany in one of the highest crime areas of the city. Tell me that isn't suspicious activity. I would be willing to wager that anyone reading this article would feel uncomfortable if a stranger parked his/her luxury car in front of their house and sat in it for a while looking at their home. I would also be willing to wager that the race of the individual in the car would make no difference for the majority of Sacramentans.

How does Oak Park look today, and would this still happen? Well, Sacramento has invested a huge amount of resources into renovating Oak Park. New construction has been happening throughout the area, and city leaders even want to "re-brand" it with a new name. Crime rates have dropped to less than 13 violent crimes per year, and less than 150 property crimes per year - lower than many other parts of the city. The Woodruff Hotel and Guild Theater Mayor Johnson referenced received more than $1 million in renovations, providing entertainment, retail and residential space. I'm still pretty sure that if someone parked illegally in front of the Woodruff and sat there contemplating his/her future that it would attract the suspicion of bystanders and police.

Woodruff Hotel and Guild Theatre After Reconstruction

Does racial profiling happen? Yes. Do crime rates correlate directly to economic status? Yes. Do officers spend more time enforcing among low income communities (which tend also to be majority minority)? Yes. Is the arrest rate for African Americans and other minorities in Sacramento higher than whites? Yes.

Is Sacramento a seething hotbed of racism and police abuse that could lead to Ferguson-style outrage? If you haven't felt it, the answer is probably "No".

Was this a convenient political stunt that was released while the U.S. Conference of Mayors was in town to hear their elected leader (the author of these statements) speak? Without a doubt. Mr. Johnson was elected as Mayor in 2008 - he's had six years to address race issues in his own police department if they are a problem. Why hasn't he done anything before now?

NOTE: I've had my own "run-ins" with some of Sacramento's a**hole police officers. Every department has them, and they're all full of their own impudent self-worth. This lack of community service and understanding of appropriate behavior, however, is a separate issue.