No On Arden Arcade Cityhood

[AyatollahGondola]

I am advocating for a NO vote on the Arden Arcade Cityhood initiative. While I generally believe in community rule, I think it can be taken to extremes. We already have a functioning government in the county, and those who are not satisfied with it have not made any reasonable effort to address or remedy that within the normal channels first. I have not observed most of the proponents of the cityhood initiative being active in county affairs. If they weren't active in county government, why would they be good at managing a city? It is my opinion that the moving forces behind the cityhood initiative are glory seekers and financial hucksters. They want to be lelcted to a government management position, but lack the backing and experience that would give people in the county reason to vote for them, so their solution is to form a small clique where their smaller support base has more impact. I say they are not ready for the big time of municipal management, and should prove themselves in the existing arena first.

The initiative backers are not my only concern about Arden Arcade incorporation. Sacramento county needs the revenue from a large cross section of the area so it can provide the services we need. If smaller, income rich sections of the county are allowed to peel off the more lucrative income producing areas, it will leave the county devoid of funds to handle the mandated services. If the counties cannot make their mandated services, it will only be a short amount of time before the state legislature passes laws that make the cities responsible for more services, and soo the lure of cityhood will have proven fruitless. Cities across the state will then be prime targets for state revenue hunters. The county is in a much better position to stand up to state mandates, but we need the support of citizens within the county to accomplish that. Cityhoods will not have the same power base, as they will be smaller and less effective.

We can shore up our county and return it to prosperity, but we cannot do it as quickly if we divide it up and especially so if we shed the more affluent or business rich areas.

[AyatollahGondola]

Today marks the beginning of the mobile billboard campaign against Measure D. These pictures are from the tour:

This is from Watt and San Ysidro. I stayed here for a little over an hour this morning










Next, I went to the Whole Foods parking lot for an hour, but forgot to take a picture.

So next up was the Watt and Arden corner at the Petco/Rite Aid/Smart and Final:

[AyatollahGondola]

After about an hour or more at Watt and Arden, I moved farther down Watt to the Bowling alley for an hour:








Then, after an hour, I moved back to watt and Arden, but this time next to the old Black Angus:





Looks like we overshadowed the competition a little here:





After about an hour, I moved back down near San Ysidro and Watt, but on the opposite side. By now, the traffic up Watt was getting thick because it was between 4 and 5:00 oclock:

[AyatollahGondola]

I closed out the day with a tour through the neighborhood by driving down San Ysidro to the school:







I then made my way through the neighborhood to Fair Oaks Blvd. I back tracked to the one area mentioned at the end of Eastern for a half hour:

[AyatollahGondola]

Click on this picture for a short video of today's No on D Mobile Billboard Tour:

[AyatollahGondola]

So I had a fairly good reception today. There were several honks and quite a few thumbs up. Some folks are paying attention anyway. There's still seems to be a lot of brain dead folks who drive by an wonder "what's that all about anyway? "

I killed time during stops by shopping (not buying unfortunately) at whichever stores I was in front of. Whole foods parking lot brought me the only thing that passed for negative feedback, where one woman said she needed me to move so she could back out. She didn't need me to move at all; in fact a big flatbed truck next to her got out with ease before her. I accomodated her just the same and then moved back. this is actually pretty mild and even boring for me. I'm used to people picking fights, threatening me, or calling the cops over whatever message is displayed on the sign.

I got quite a bit of good exposure just going between deployments. Making sweeping U turns at busy intersections.

[AyatollahGondola]

From Thursday's tour:

[AyatollahGondola]

When I deployed at the Mira Loma High for the event, I went a little early to hopefully catch people driving by in the neighborhood. There's sporadic, but noticable amounts of locals using that street.

This woman on a bike rode by and took a piece of gum out of her mouth and tossed it at the sign. Disgusting childish behavior, although she was not a kid. I was in the truck as this happened, and she made no attempt to disguise it.

[AyatollahGondola]

Here's a short video of Day 2 tour
Click on the picture and watch the video:

[AyatollahGondola]

Started out the day trying to find a spot on Fulton. That's turning out to be pretty tough. Lots and lots of no parking signs. I sat in the parking lot of Target for a while, but after walking around and viewing the sign from afar, I didn't think it was a good spot. I probably drove around Fulton to marconi, back to howe, and up fair oaks to Fulton 4 times or more. Got some support and some people asking questions though.
Found a spot on Howe for a couple hours:




Here's a little video of Howe. Click on the picture below:







Next, went to whole foods for about 30 minutes, but too many cars couldn't get around the trailer, so I drove down Eastern, and then up el camino to the high school and drove around that area.

After that, found this spot on Arden, and it worked out for about two hours or more:










Later, drove down eastern and found this spot. It's got good exposure too:









Here's some video of the Walgreen's area at Las pasas and Eastern. Click on the picture below:

[AyatollahGondola]

I closed out the day by sitting in the B of A parking lot right on the corner of eastern and Arden, but after about 30 minutes or more, the bank personnel told me I had to move out.


I got a lot of good response today, and several people asked me what No on D meant. Gave out a few fliers, and had several thumbs up and honks.

I guess we're taking the weekend off though

[AyatollahGondola]

Here are some shots of Monday, October 24th tour, or day 4.:


I spent over an hour in the Target parking lot. Shopped a little at Target, then had a little sushi at Mana across the street.







But I guess Target called the parking police, or they have some sort of agreement with them because no sooner than I had returned to the truck when I saw the county sheriff's parking patrol enter the lot and head my way. I fired up the truck and left the scene of the crime:




I spent most of the day working the lower southern end of Fulton where those apartments, townhomes, and condos are. Parking options are horrible, but the area needs exposure, so I did a lot of revolutions and stopped at only a few spots.

















I got quite a few thumbs up today. In the late afternoon, I went by Greer School in the hopes of catching parents picking up kids. Turns out to be a heavily trafficked area around that time. I spoke with some kids from the middle school who were pooled up around fifty or so, and a few of them even knew what measure D was. After a while, I couldn't help but ask what they all were hanging out here for, and they said they were waiting because there was supposed to be a fight here after school


I drove through as many shopping center parking lots as I could fit, and kept our message as public as possible. I passed candidate Paul Smith for Congress who was waving a hand-held sign on Fulton. I must have discouraged him with our sign, because he left on my next revolution.

[AyatollahGondola]

I went to the Encina debate last night and displayed the sign there. The debate was a little less than inspiring overall, mainly because the room was stacked with supporters of measure D this time. I'll address the debate in another thread though. I'll post a video or two of the tour shortly

[AyatollahGondola]

Click on the picture below for video of the Day 4 tour

[AyatollahGondola]

Today, day 5 of the No on D billboard campaign, I started out the day by driving around the howe 'bout Arden area during the lunch hour. a lot of cars tend to pool up in that area for lunch. After that, I tried a spot on Alta Arden and Ethan for an hour. It was here I noticed two of the "N"'s were missing from the words, and it was likely due to the morning winds. I cut out some new letters and applied them while I was waiting.

Afterwards, I headed up Ethan. As I drove past those apartment complexes on Ethan, I noticed a big daytime population in there, and plenty of parking out front. I'll let you guys decide if you want to chance the exposure with the sign or not.
Next, I went through Home depot parking lot for a couple of revolutions, and was spotted by one of my arch-enemies, a day laborer standing out near the entrance. I've used the sign in many a campaign directed at stopping illegal hiring, and I have quite a reputation among the day laborer crowd.
So I got out of there and drove around the school and the park, then headed back up Howe, where I found this excellent spot at El Camino and Howe. Looks like the animal clinic shut down, and their parking lot beckoned us in:







This intersection was heavily trafficked, and because we haven't worked the northern sector that much, I settled in for the long haul today. Soon a rear-ender accident happened directly in front of us:




This actually caused traffic to back up going two directions, and it caused more of them to look our direction to gawk at the accident:








This turned out to be an even better location as the late afternoon traffick picked up quite a bit. We caught a lot of people getting off the freeway at el Camino, and heading towards the proposed incorporation area. that light stops a lot of commuters.







I'll have some video up in a little while, but something to consider in the meantime:
While there is a tremendous amount of traffic passing through here, the area itself is full of foreigners, who probably should not be voting. We'd be aiming at the passer's by if anything, but I did notice a little less people giving honks and thumbs up. No detractors, but less interest I think. But maybe that's where we need to work harder?