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11.12.20
Big challenges for Sacramento County by Jeff vonKaenel
je ffv @ ne wsr e v ie w.c o m
As I write this column on Nov. 6, I do not know low-income housing, supportive housing and who will be replacing Susan Peters as the new homeless shelters. The county staff should be Sacramento County supervisor in District 3. She congratulated and recognized for the ongoing has been one of the five county supervisors for important difference that they are making. But they 16 years. Gregg Fishman is currently leading need significantly more resources to effectively in the race over the more conservative Rich deal with the ever-increasing problems of lack of Desmond, endorsed by Peters. affordable housing and supportive services. What we do know is that Sacramento County Red tape is not a building material. And even is facing major issues in the coming year, and if we could cut through the red tape and find whoever is elected will have an opportunity to resources to build supportive housing, there often end the current political gridlock among the has not been the political will to overcome supervisors and make a real difference neighborhood opposition. We need to for the 1.5 million people living in support our supervisors when they our county. make unpopular zoning decisions At a time While the mayor of in their districts for the greater when there is Sacramento has our region’s good of our entire community. much concern about most powerful bully pulpit, And finally, the county Sacramento County has the needs to build trust with police misconduct much larger budget. The the public by increasing and racial profiling, it county’s annual budget is transparency and access is imperative that we about $6.4 billion compared to the experts on staff, have confidence in the to the city’s $1.3 billion. It moving away from a habit is the county that runs the of communicating via dense fairness of local law health and human services bureaucratic reports. There’s a enforcement. programs, as well as providing great team of talented, municipal services for 564,000 knowledgeable county department residents in the unincorporated area. heads and technical experts. Do The city serves only 508,000 residents. supervisors hear from them directly and regularly, The new county Board of Supervisors will face or does their expertise get filtered out? many critical issues. When we can’t hear the experts directly First of all, there’s Sacramento County Sheriff explain complex issues, it appears that important Scott Jones. At a time when there is much concern information is being kept from us. Just as Anthony about police misconduct and racial profiling, it is Fauci’s straight talk has helped Americans imperative that we have confidence in the fairness navigate through the pandemic, let’s have straight of local law enforcement. Unfortunately, Jones talk from our own local experts about child abuse, has not earned that trust. mental health, environmental safety, roads, buildSacramento County keeps writing checks, ing safety, etc. now totaling more than $20 million for claims With more candor and more backbone, of excessive force and sexual harassment in the county officials can increase trust and produce Sheriff’s Office. When Jones denied the inspector real results. And it can start with the new general access to his department’s records and supervisor. Ω staff in 2018, it demonstrated how afraid the sheriff was of independent oversight. But supervisors Phil Serna and Patrick Kennedy could not get a third vote on the board to stand up to Jones. Hopefully either Fishman or Jeff vonKaenel is the president, CEO and majority owner of Desmond will come through. the News & Review. Secondly we need more housing, especially