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Lets make one thing clear. Compared to SF, NYC, Chicago, even parts of downtown LA, Sacramento's OAK PARK is not an urban dense space rather it is primarily a single-story low dense SUBURBAN neighborhood. We like to think of it as an urban-dense space. Even Sacramento's MIDTOWN is not a highly dense neighborhood compared to Miami Beach or West Hollywood or many more urban spaces.
But I get it, Oak Park and Midtown are slightly more dense than many of the other suburban spaces in Sacramento. But they are actually closer in density to these other suburban spaces than they are to the SFs, NYC's and Chicagos of the world.
Oak Park is a suburb, of the same sort that were built 120-140 years ago--a "streetcar suburb," which is a very different animal in function and form than a mid/late 20th century streetcar suburb. Generally, streetcar suburbs were built most intensely along the streetcar lines where property values were highest--in the case of old Oak Park, this was along Sacramento Boulevard (now Broadway), 2nd and 5th Avenues. This is where commercial development happened, with stores that were built right up to the sidewalk instead of those set back behind later 20th century parking lots. Typically there were apartments above those storefronts, and they still exist in parts of Oak Park, and then residential apartments closer to the business streets, stepping down in scale to single houses.
Midtown also follows the patterns of a streetcar suburb, but with a lot more apartments--even after zoning became a thing it has always been zoned for higher density than SFH suburbs, and 90% of Midtown's housing stock is apartments. So in both cases, Oak park and Midtown, we're not talking about super-high density neighborhoods, but dense enough to support a comfortable and sociable sidewalk life and a growing level of local businesses. As population densities increase in both, the economic viability of small businesses rise.
West Hollywood is technically a suburb, as it's a small community of about 36,000 people and taking up about 2 square miles. Sacramento's central city (downtown and midtown, not including the Railyards or Rver District) adds up to about 36,000 people as of the last census (up about 5,000 since 2010), but 75% of the population is in Midtown since Downtown is still suffering from the depopulation that happened there in the 1950s-60s due to redevelopment. So while WeHo is technically a little denser, it's not dramatically denser. San Francisco's population is similar but on a larger scale--800K or so in 49 square miles. Of course, historically our central city had a lot more people--closer to 60,000 in 1950--and if current construction trends are any indication, we're well on our way to that kind of population density by 2030, as there's a ton of room for new housing downtown, and plenty of room for infill throughout the grid, without having to remove any of the existing housing. So while we're not quite there, we're definitely on our way there.
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The urban planners and local politicians in California and Sacramento were probably caught off guard by these trends that were catapulted into everyday life because of Covid lockdowns, a season of rioting in 2020, increased crime of all sorts, and the subsequent long-term physical and psychological affects upon the things that make an urban space vibrant. The denser the space is the more vulnerable and easier it is to destroy that sacred and vibrant space.
Except that's the opposite of what happened in downtown Sacramento. The greatest effects of Covid closures and 2020 protests were downtown, whose population density is closer to 7-8 people per acre (comparable to Land Park or East Sacramento, and in some parts of either of those neighborhoods, Downtown has an even lower population if you don't count those in the main jail.) Midtown, which has 3-4 times the density of Downtown, got quieter than what we'd gotten used to, and some businesses closed, but the rate of business turnover didn't seem much different than the previous few years where it seemed like new restaurants had an average lifespan of about 6 months before going under. Businesses pivoted to serving neighborhood needs (like closed restaurants selling ingredients in makeshift bodegas, filling the gap while stores had a shortage of goods in the early phases of COVID), delivery and then outdoor dining helped make up for limitations on indoor dining, and people opened up new businesses in Midtown to take advantage of the newly localized foot traffic. As it turns out, if your business was dependent on suburban commuters and you couldn't pivot, your business closed. If you could adapt to serve the needs of those who lived nearby, odds are you did okay. The denser the population, the less vulnerable it was; population and walkability mean resilience. And, perhaps to the mild annoyance of those who got used to a quieter Midtown, the central city gets pretty lively on weekend nights again!
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The trends affecting urban spaces:
1. Decreased retail on the street, specifically small business/mom and pop establishements. Not in Midtown or Oak Park; both have more locally owned retail opening.
2. Decreased foot traffic because there is no reason to walk down that urban street other than when you are taking a walk-break from your stay at home-work from home job.
Increased foot traffic because taking a break from work is done in the neighborhood where you live, not where you work.
3. Decreased foot traffic because 50-80% of office buildings are now vacant. This is definitely a problem downtown because of low population density.
4. Increased use of delivery services for just about everything including having a meal from a traditional lively dine in restaurant delivered to your home. This is also an issue in suburbs, so far as I know, but delivery is probably more expensive because the drivers have to travel longer distances. But this is also an opportunity--a delivery meal is cash in the till for restaurants, and has created economic opportunities for delivery services.
5. Decreased bar/restaurants, closed to due vandalism, theft, covid lockdowns, political public policies, government intrusion, etc. This is also an issue in suburban spaces for exactly the same reasons mentioned above.
6. Allowance of open camping/living on tax-payer funded parks and streets.
This is also an issue in suburban spaces where there's more room for parking and encampments.
7. Destruction of protected wildlife both animal and plant habitats due to allowance of said camping. I assume that you're not talking about urban downtowns when talking about protected wildlife habitats?
These trends are also negatively affecting suburban spaces, but at least in a suburban space you get a lot more bang for your buck in terms of square footage.
Well, you don't necessarily get more bang for your buck in terms of square footage, you just get more square footage for your buck in return for less bang. For the urban customer, we're still getting what we want--and in the interim period, people remembered how much fun it can be to live in a beautiful, walkable neighborhood that isn't a "destination" for the party crowd.
In a suburb, less is more: the lack of density is part of the appeal for a suburban customer. In a city, more is more: exactly the same features that the suburban customer doesn't want (more people, more diversity, more things going on) are the features that draw an urban customer. Urban spaces fail when, like downtown Sacramento's perennial failure on K Street, they attempt to simulate the suburban experience in an urban space, and then get confused when suburban visitors don't like it because they're not interested in urban spaces, and suburban experiences are far closer to the neighborhoods where they live (and don't charge for parking. If your product is hot sauce, you'll only go broke trying to market it to people who hate hot sauce. Instead, market it to people who like hot sauce! Cities are hot sauce--there's no point in pointing out how extra mild your hot sauce is.
The family is the first school. Every criminal you read about or see on the street started off by making trouble in their elementary and middle schools. It only takes a couple to disrupt an entire class. They got used to No Consequences a long time before they became adult criminals. They had a lot of special resources thrown their way in the form of Special Ed. funding, School Psychologists and Social Workers, Summer School as well as other intervention opportunities, etc. You tell me why "a significant percentage of criminals never learned to read."
I have family members who didn't learn how to read in grade school. They were passed on to the next grade, in spite of that. No social workers, psychologists or Special Ed people were involved. In one case, the school refused to hold the child back a year, until the he learned to read, when the concerned parents asked them to.
In both cases, they had parents, who could afford to take them out of public school for a year, put them in a private school that taught them how to read, then re-entered them into the public school system. Not all kids have parents who can do that, if they even have two parents.
I have family members who didn't learn how to read in grade school. They were passed on to the next grade, in spite of that. No social workers, psychologists or Special Ed people were involved. In one case, the school refused to hold them back a year, until the child learned to read, when the parents asked them to.
In both cases, they had parents, who could afford to take them out of public school for a year, put them in a private school that taught them how to read, then re-entered them into the public school system. Not all kids have parents who can do that, if they even have two parents.
Outdated information. Nowdays the students won't be retained without parental permission, and this practice is discouraged as the "worst form of intervention." Talk to any current teacher, and they will bring you up do date on how much of public school resources are spend on Special Ed., School site Social Workers, etc.
We still go to downtown Sacramento as much as possible to primarily support small businesses. And for LGBTxxx...pride celebrations, Juneteenth, Golden One Arena events and Sacramento River Cats games, and live local theater. Is it a fun vibrant quality experience as it was pre-Covid, riots/protests? Is it a fun vibrant quality experience before the days when open camping on streets and parks were less common...absolutely not.
Again, this not just a Sacramento problem it is a nation wide and primarily a west and east coast problem, overwhelmingly affects dense urban spaces way more than the suburbs.
I've seen it with my own eyes the difference between the southern states, the mid-west, Florida versus the east and west coast.
The sad thing about the powerful local politicians and their influencers is that they NEVER even been to most of these other places and cities that they purport to know so much about. Not sure why, afraid to fly perhaps, who knows.
We still go to downtown Sacramento as much as possible to primarily support small businesses. And for LGBT...pride celebrations, Juneteenth, Golden One Arena events and Sacramento River Cats games, and live local theater. Is it a fun vibrant quality experience as it was pre-Covid, riots/protests? Is it a fun vibrant quality experience before the days when open camping on streets and parks were less common...absolutely not.
Again, this not just a Sacramento problem it is a nation wide and primarily a west and east coast problem, overwhelmingly affects dense urban spaces way more than the suburbs.
I've seen it with my own eyes the difference between the southern states, the mid-west, Florida versus the east and west coast.
Why work for a living in the Midwest or South when you can get free handouts and social services and great weather on the West Coast??
Outdated information. Nowdays the students won't be retained without parental permission, and this practice is discouraged as the "worst form of intervention." Talk to any current teacher, and they will bring you up do date on how much of public school resources are spend on Special Ed., School site Social Workers, etc.
That's only if a child has been evaluated as needing Special Ed (a diagnosis needs to be made), Social Workers, etc. Middle-class kids who are well-behaved don't attract that type of attention, generally.
That's only if a child has been evaluated as needing Special Ed (a diagnosis needs to be made), Social Workers, etc. Middle-class kids who are well-behaved don't attract that type of attention, generally.
They attract attract academic intervention if they cannot read by 2nd or 3rd grade.
If they are well-behaved, then they are not going to be attracting the attention of school psychologists or social workers. But i was referring to those criminals who were on that path since elementary school -- the ones who have been exhibiting anti-social behaviors for a long time.
Terranova, wow, regarding that video, oh my. Do you really live in LA? what part?
Yes, West LA. I have an old friend from college in Sacramento, and have been considering moving to Sacto area after i retire. Why the surprised question about me living in LA?
Huh? I posted sources for everything I said, but just for you, here we go again:
Walgreen's already had planned to close those stores: It was only after the press made the association between Walgreen's closing and Retail theft that Walgreens started using that as an excuse:
Who was behind Boudin's recall? (Read the entire article, C-D TOS doesn't allow me to post the whole thing)
Your not citing impartial facts here, you are citing someone else's opinion and asserting that there opinion is a fact.
But the person who wrote this article is making a disingenious argument. Boudin isn't willing to file charges against these shoplifter because of prop 47, because individually these incidents are less $950 and there are no meaningful penalties no matter how many times you get caugh as long as each incident is under $950. So the SFPD isn't bothering to arrest people when they know these cases aren't going to get charged. So the stores stop calling the police to report shoplifting when they realize that doesn't do anything. But that doesn't mean that Walgreens is lying about shoplifting. We have seen the videos. Shoplifting is occurring in Walgreens in San Francisco
The fact that the stores are no longer trying to call police and have shoplifters arrested doesn't mean that shoplifting isn't happening, nor that theft isn't happening, but instead merely that Prop 47, has tied the hands of retailers and made it impossible for them to successfully prevent shoplifters by arresting shoplifters when they shoplift. This is why Walgreens are closing stores because they just can't afford to cover the volume of shoplifting that they are dealing with.
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Originally Posted by 2sleepy
Your screed about how bad San Francisco is just opinion, and you had the audacity to claim that what I posted wasn't useful because it was just opinion. But here's a question I would like to see you address, for some reason you made this about Boudin, so tell me this, how is the new DA going to stop car break-ins, retail theft or eliminate the urine or feces odor?
If the new DA starts prosecuting the drug dealers that sell drugs in front of the City Spomsored injection site (the linkage Center) and if the new DA was willing prosecute shoplifters who did have drug habits, now with convictions he has leverage to offer these people the choice of jail or rehab. The problem with the current program is that addicts have no incentive to actually seek treatment. They can keep stealing and they never go to jail, because as long as each shop lifting event is under $950, they spend no time in jail and any fines you give to a homeless addict mean nothing to this person. So they keep shoplifting to keep using. But if the choice they face is jail or rehab, then rehab becomes a much more attractive option because jail means no more easy access to drugs. Additionally diversion from jail helps to fund rehab. If you can argue that successful rehab is less expensive than a full jail term, that also helps to fund rehab programs.
The problem with the current program is that the addicts just are going to the safe injection site, but they aren't currently agreeing to go rehab. This article points out how the clients were neither aware nor interested in rehab. They just want to shoot up. Fentanyl deaths are at a new record in SF, but there are plenty of open spaces in rehab in SF. This is where thew current program is failing. The threat of arrest though is also the thing that will get them to agree to go to rehab though.
But if you did that, then you could actually start getting people off the street. But if you don't do that, the situation is going to keep getting worse.
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