Rob Olmstead was pleased to welcome back for his fourth time, the ever popular, always welcome, County Supervisor Rich Desmond. Rich has been a big supporter of our club and our poker tournament. He was in Italy this year and could not attend the tournament, but someone needs to help out Italy's economy, so Rich volunteered, showing his true selflessness and willingness to do good wherever the need is... even in Italy. Rob noted that Rich even attended our first AED kickoff at 5:38 am. He is very active in the community and keeps Rob's wife very busy... it was at this point that Al asked Rob for a clarification. Al then apologized to Vanessa, explaining that his question was intended to harass Rob for his depiction, and not to impugn her reputation. The secret word is "Busy."
Rich was not sure if he was going to come back to speak to the club, but now that it has a lot more cachet with it being the club of the District Governor, well... it made it all worth it. He noted that he was among friends and acknowledged Tim Cahill and Emily Ballus from FEC and Jason Borg is back. Jason and Rich went to grammar school and high school together. It is nice to be with friends.
Rich is going to touch on some of the recent progress made on homelessness and transportation in the county, contrary to the perspective put forth by the only newspaper in Sacramento, that nobody reads. He is happy to hear that Captain Steve Girdlestone was here to speak to the club. He has a good working relationship with Sheriff Cooper and Thien Ho. We are extremely fortunate to have them as our top law enforcement officials in Sacramento County. They are doing a great job. Sheriff Cooper goes out of his way to connect with the residents of the county. His evidence of commitment to service oriented engagement really filters down through the ranks as exhibited in Captain Girdlestone amd all the rank and file.
Rich represents the "Unincorporated District" as 90% of the 300,000 people he represents live in the urbanized unincorporated portion of the county. This is a unique anomaly in the state of California. This means that the county has to provide services normally provided by cities for the area. Counties were not formed for that purpose. Rich's office is the point of contact for all city service type problems. This is on top of the normal county duties and responsibilities. He is not complaining, he finds it an honor to be the representative. It just helps his constituents to understand the uniqueness of the area.
Every two years they do a point in time count to count how many homeless individuals are living in the country. The last count showed a reduction in the numbers of homeless people. Sacramento County has taken a very balanced approach to make this happen.
Rich speaks of his 4 C's of homelessness:
Compassion, needs to be at the core of all the county's actions;
Coordination, with all the cities in the county;
Capacity, improvements in getting more shelters built, including permanent supportive housing, as well as market rate housing; The county operates about 1,000 shelters, most of which are in the unincorporated areas, some in the City of Sacramento. They are adding a lot of beds all the time. Many are safe-stay communities comprised of tiny homes that afford privacy, services and allows dogs and are more effective in bringing the homeless off the street. The biggest effort is at the old Price Club on Winona and Myrtle. This will be the biggest shelter north of the Bay Area. When full, it will accomodate 350 people. This will
have tiny homes and safe car parking spaces. It will also feature an emergency housing area
to adress weather events and emergency capacity needs. There are two hotel conversion projects under state funds, Project Turnkey. This is designed to turn old hotels into homes for
the homeless. The Arden Star Hotel at Howe and Hurley and the Super 8 at Madison and Myrtle. The Residence Inn is also undergoing transformation and will be affordable housing
as well as provide about 30 supportive housing units. We need a lot more market rate
housing. The county needs to do a better job of planning and providing additional
housing. Infill and rezoning of old commercial areas are priorities and can help
address housing needs. Business conditions within the county need to improve to attract
businesses and contractors to the county.
Addiction and mental illness is a huge part of the homeless problem. It is important that drug
addiction and mental illness services are increased to address the root cause for the homeless
issue. There are 370 additional in-patient treatment beds for behavioral issues since Rich
came into office. They have dramatically increased the resources for outpatient services.
Rich has gone out with law enforcement and engaged with the homeless. 100% of those he
has encountered have, by their own admission, either addiction problems or mental health
issues.
Consequences, Homelessness can't become an excuse to commit crimes or create problems for
businesses or for our neighborhoods. It isn't fair to all of us, or the people suffering from
homelessness. They are living in squalor and destined to die early. Some people need
consequences hanging over their head or they will never get help. Rich used to meet with a
group of former homeless individuals that lived on the American River. When asked if the
homeless would take advantage of the homeless shelters if there were more shelters available
they all laughed. They all were offered services and shelter 100's of times. They were not
interested, as they were slaves to the drugs out on the street and it would separate them from
their ability to get their drugs and use them without restriction. The only way they made the
leap to sobriety was coming before a judge and being offered jail or treatment. These four
individuals ended up getting clean and changing their lives.
Proposition 36. Prop 36 passed with 70% of the vote. Prop 47 changed some things for the better but made other things worse by removing accountability. Drug court participation dropped by 90%. There were no consequences for not showing up at court. Prop 35 reinstated felony status for hard drug use and possession. This resulted in either people taking jail time or treatment programs. Retail theft once again became a felony after the third offense. This is beginning to reduce the blatant shoplifting that has been going on and taking its toll on businesses. It is important to have the treatment facilities and programs in place to ensure that individuals arrested are provided a real opportunity to change through treatment programs. The county has a different approach to the homeless issue than does the city. The county passed an ordinance prohibiting camping on private and public lands. This law has been successful in moving people into housing and off the streets.
Transportation. The county unincorporated area has a 1.4 billion maintenance budget deficit. It is a monumental problem. It needs 60 million a year just to keep the status quo and not reduce the backlog. Rich is always looking for ways to get money for transportation, SECOG, Federal Funds. Within the next year there will be discussion regarding the 1/2 cent sales tax, keep it or increase it. It is one of our biggest sources of funding for road repair. There is no way to make progress on the backlog without additional funding. Our roads are an embarrassment. There are a few big Complete Streets projects on Arden Way, Fair Oaks Blvd. and Watt Ave. These projects are to improve bicycling, walking and the aesthetics of the streets. Undergrounding of utilities is being done in some area.
Economic Development. The county needs to think more like a city and less like a county when it comes to developing our communities.
Afghan Refugee Community. We have the largest Afghan refugee community in the country, 30,000 individuals, 70% are in Arden Arcade. A lot of these refugees are here because they helped our military as translators and interpreters while being embedded with the military. Their lives were in danger because they helped us during the war. Many of these individuals are highly educated with degrees and are working minimum wage jobs or are Uber drivers. These are third world refugees and the culture shock is big and can be hard to adjust to. Services are needed to address these differences. With the help of Emily Ballus the county is putting on a Unity Fair on at Howe Park on May 17th from 11::00 AM to 3:00 PM. This is being done to help bridge the social gap between the refugees and the long-time residents.
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