Fair Trade and Armed Robbery

Five armed robberies in ten days.
WELCOME TO LA MESA!

Trash and abandoned grocery carts litter our streets, alleys and vacant lots.  Young toughs and transients roam seemingly unhindered day and night. We have a high sales tax and a looming budget deficit.  It appears there are plenty of problems for our elected leaders to address. 

Yet our elected officials find it proper and necessary to spend time on matters like the “Fair Trade Town” resolution. The recent discussion about the “Fair Trade Town” brought to light the dichotomy of what our citizens perceive as the role of government. 

One faction feels that the government should be involved in the sociological direction of not only our own community with which they were charged but the whole world as it pertains to that community, involving itself in matters of social engineering. 

The other faction thinks the government's prime and foremost duty is to maintain a safe community where the citizens are able to live, work and conduct business in a manner that they see fit within the confines of decency.

In light of our recent crime wave of strong-armed robberies of both businesses and individual citizens, and the ever-increasing amount of trash on our vacant lots and streets, it seems misguided to pursue lofty matters of global involvement. They're letting the city fall to the standards of the lowest common denominator instead of lifting it to the standards of the people who make the city a good place to live.

The worsening conditions are bad for sales all together, free trade and otherwise.

The actual physical condition of the city’s streets and parks is better than most, and I appreciate that, but my fear is that we will lose what we have left if we continue down this path.

Last Saturday I participated in “Park Appreciation Day” at Collier Park. What I discovered was that 90% of the trash consisted of drug paraphernalia, discarded clothing, half eaten canned food torn open with a knife and alcohol containers of every description. The thought struck me that the problem is not the park or the streets.  The problem is the lack of respect from the people abusing them.

It would be one thing if we lived in a city with a low crime rate, clean streets, clean parks and the ability to use them without worrying about being robbed.  If that was the case, I might be amenable to the idea of our City Council working diligently on international problems.

But it’s not the case. Who takes care of the real needs of our city while our elected officials are on side trips of a largely symbolic nature?