So here we are Chico. Tomorrow night, all the cats are going to gather in the City Council Chambers, and shit is gonna get real. There will be lots of angry people, lots of nervous people, a disjointed attempt at herding the cats, lots of choreographed attempts at having meaningful discussion (but no real decisions), perhaps a bunch of intimidating guys in red berets, Council members who will (again) fail to assert ANY leadership, and when the evening ends, many will be wondering what the heck just happened.
So Chico, what are we going to do? What should we do?
Well, I have my own opinion (surprise!)....here it is:
To deal with all the crap that is going on with the miscreants Downtown, there needs to be a two prong approach. Prong #1 is the short term. In the short term, key agencies need to come together, form a multi-disciplinary team, and hit the street making personal contact with the problem citizens. The teams should be comprised of police, behavioral health, VA, perhaps the Jesus Center and/or Torres reps who know the citizens, other activist/advocates, and some kind of direct liaison to the DA's Office. These folks need to start working with street people one at a time, establishing relationships quickly, determining the nature of their challenges or anti-social problems, and referring/urging/compelling them as appropriate based on the circumstances. Prong #2 is based on re-establishing a culture of relative safety in the community. To do this, a well staffed, robust police department will be essential. As there is no money to pay for more police, there needs to be a firm plan to enhance the City revenue while preserving what is currently allocated to policing. In short, the best way to do this is a dedicated sales tax. Foes will argue all the reasons this won't work, but the bottom line is that it will if the citizens really value policing.
I, of course, have lots to say in elaborating on Prong #1 and Prong #2. I will be there tomorrow night, and may or may not speak. But either way, I hope there will be folks among us who can really look at our situation strategically, realize that whatever we do as a community must have a realistic immediate action component, and then it must be sustained. Its time for the talk to stop. For anyone to suggest that the City Council needs more citizen input by way of a herding cats meeting to determine the exact nature of the current problem is asinine! If they don't know at this point, they are truly blind and absolute idiots. Everyone can see what is going on. Lets make something happen Chico!
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