Henry Harry
SACRAMENTO CITY COUNCIL
ISSUES
Mayor's Tax Plan. We need details - (Click Here 45s Video)
TAXES
Folks, I’ve said this before. Sacramento’s endless push for higher taxes and fees, like Mayor McCarty’s new property transfer tax and Councilmember Maple’s vacant property tax are mainly driven by years of repeated council overspending. We must reject these tax grabs.
Just listen to San Diego Supervisor Jim Desmond’s warning of the same thing: “Over the next year, you’re going to hear politicians say taxes and fees have to go up because there’s a “deficit” at the city, county, and state level. What they won’t tell you is the truth: Their policies created the deficit. Don’t let them fix their failures by taking more of your money. They already take enough.”
DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Everyday across the country, there is another tragic story about a domestic violence killing. There are some things that are tough to do. Then, there are other things that are easy and meaningful. Having the district attorney provide us with weekly reports on the number of domestic violence cases at his office and their disposition (filed, rejected, warrant issued) will help us understand the size of this problem and motivate people to get involved with this clear and present danger. I’ve been pushing the city council to do just that but haven’t heard a reply.
I’ll keep pushing – I won’t give up.
POLICE ACCOUNTABILITY
Leaders of our police department must be one hundred percent committed to open communication and transparency.
This is a focus on department management, and our police department must be an institution of trust. I have pushed the department and council to stop hiding crime data. I am also pressing the important effort to stop the city council from controlling both the police department and the city agency that investigates police misconduct (OPSA). In addition to this structural conflict, councilmembers seek endorsements and take donations from police officers, a practice that can breed mistrust.
The agency investigating the police department should be under the oversight of a stronger and more independent Sacramento Police Commission. I have been trying to make this happen.
CONSULTANTS
I’ll push a policy of posting all consultants payments online.
Anybody remember the fiasco when San Diego approved spending 4.5 million on a consultant regarding trash collection? Payments to consultants is an issue across government. Sacramento County was recently scrutinized for a $75,000 payment to a consultant. I questioned how much the city of Sacramento recently paid Raftellis, the consultant who facilitated a meeting of the council to help it set its priorities. The amount was not in the public agenda documents. So, I have to keep trying to get an answer.
BUDGET
We see cities crippled by financial issues, scrambling to pay bills and maintain basic services. Without budget discipline, cities do not function well. Just look across the country - at places like Oakland, New Orleans, and San Francisco. Sacramento’s budget problems are twofold. For many years, we’ve operated in a “structural deficit,” where councilmembers repeatedly spend more than we have. Plus, our mayor is failing at communicating the budget to the public.
Right now, in a budget crisis, councilmembers are actually prioritizing spending on illegal immigrants over services to seniors at our community centers, and over fixing potholes and adding much needed infrastructure like sidewalks.
Just a few days ago (March 18TH) at a community meeting in Oak Park, the city’s budget director, Pete Coletto seemed genuinely excited with my idea for his agency to do some educational videos on the budget.
Here are some additional actions that would help:
Get mayor to do monthly video budget updates.
Phase out the practice of “deficit spending.”
Reset management pay levels, including the council.
Make full contracts visible online
Update each department’s home webpage to show the manager’s photos, full pay, a resume summary, budget size and number of employees, clickable links on major projects completed and up-coming projects.
LAW & ORDER
A south Sacramento grandmother once pleaded for me to run brazen drug dealers off the block so she could make money providing childcare at her home. At another open-air drug market, a lady was providing in-home therapy to a child. She said she was likely to stop coming to the neighborhood, because of the drug dealers. It’s well documented that Downtown and Old Sacramento business owners feel so unsafe that some have started closing early.
Crime should not erode our tax-base or make people fearful about dining and entertainment choices? Workers should not fear the area of their work locations are too dangerous.
We’ve had several documented instances, where police officers did not show-up to serious crimes. At least two, involved suspects attempting forced entry through the front door of occupied homes. There was a long delay in the mayor explaining how the city lost the service of 41 reserve police officers. This happened while the department was already declining in officers – dropping from 715 to down near 600 sworn officers; and Chief Lester recently shared that we are officially in the five hundreds.
It’s very concerning that all of this happened after the grand jury warned the city years ago about a coming police officer shortage. Now our city is under 600 officers. A well-staffed, well trained, and well-funded police force must be rebuilt to meet the challenges in our city: domestic violence, internet crimes, elder crimes, sexual violence, human trafficking, drug trafficking, gangs, sideshows, large protests, terror threats, well-armed and well-organized violent criminals.
The police are the heart and glue of our city. If people don’t feel safe in their homes, schools, houses of worship, on public transportation, malls, parks, just standing on the sidewalk, or going to a store, then what good is all the other stuff cities do? Without a strong foundation of people feeling safe, a city has failed at one of its core missions.
The challenge of rebuilding law enforcement to adequate staffing levels will be with us beyond the next decade. We must act, with new and creative approaches that puts policing boots on the ground. That’s why my plan to train and hire Level II reserve police officers is so important. I’m looking forward to getting this done to protect you and your family.
Each year, the council presents us with an either-or-choice: fund the police verses funding other programs. It’s time to trash this (BS) scheme and implement a separate, non-conflicting, police funding stream. Plus, we need to stop the bogus and harmful comments about police overtime. Officers work long hours and lots of overtime because it’s the nature of the job and way the council has ran the city.
We should let citizens decide how they want to grow and fund the police department. I think the council is afraid of this plan because it takes away their ability to pull-off smoke and mirror budget tricks each year.
HOMELESSNESS
Common sense, decades of effort, and numerous meetings make clear we are not solving the homeless crisis in a single year or single decade. As a cop, you get to see a lot of public policies playout up close. Around 2004 when I was working the streets in south Sacramento, they were starting to push a ten-year plan to end homelessness.
A lot of the homeless just refused any services they were offered. So, I know these are tough issues. I just want a chance to add my point of view to the council.
While I have criticized some of the efforts of our leaders, especially around how they go about informing the public on important issues, I haven’t thrown rocks at the mayor’s six-point plan. I know these are tough issues.
We’ve tossed a 120 million dollars at the problem and its worse. Spending 100 thousand on a single unit of housing is crazy and wasteful. Putting able-bodied people into tiny houses without strong requirements of sobriety and doing public service work will fail. I don’t support an approach where we enable a 25-year-old drug user to become a 50-year-old user, and then a 75-year-old user, all on the public’s dime.
Whether its large empty stores or warehouses, we should make cubicles and showers available to people who are truly working to get back on their feet.
Empty Store 24TH @ Florin Road
I told you cops see public policies up close. At some point, cities must build mental health facilities that detain people. We already do it indirectly, using very expensive workers. We call it the county jail.
