Page 3 - Sanger Herald 1-17-19 E-edition

Random thoughts Wouldn't it be great to hear how they did it, instead of why it couldn't be done?
By Dick Sheppard
I’mbecoming more
cynical than usual about
the mantra of experts who
have been telling us the
reason for Sanger’s stag-
nant commercial growth is
because Sanger is too close
to Fresno or Sanger doesn’t havealargeenoughpopulation. “Notenough rooftops” is their buzz phrase of choice.
If you doubt that Sanger has had stagnant commercial growth, visit the downtowns of Clovis, Reedley or maybe Dinuba. See how many more choices you have than in down- town Sanger – unless you’re looking for a thrift or a quinceañera shop.
My more cynical than usual attitude was triggered recently when I spent time with friends in Dinuba and Clovis.
Dinuba has a smaller population than Sanger and so did Clovis once upon a time in the 80s. Then Clovis, the little town right next door to Fresno had a population explosion accompanied by amazing commercial growth downtown. So much for that “too close to Fresno” mantra chanted by experts hired
by the City of Sanger apparently to excuse ratherthantoexplainSanger’slackofcom- mercial growth.
How about Dinuba? Its current population is 24,034 and Sanger’s is 25,161 according to the most recent United States census esti- mates. Dinuba has a smaller population than Sanger and we have repeatedly heard consul- tant “experts” hired by the City of Sanger say that the larger the population the better the opportunity for commercial growth. How has that worked out for little Dinuba with fewer rooftops than Sanger? Apparently it doesn’t apply to Dinuba, only to Sanger. Dinuba,
with a smaller population than Sanger has: two hotels, a Best Western Americana and
a Holiday Inn Express and Suites; a movie complex with six screens showing first run movies; a sportsplex with batting cages, bas- ketball and volleyball courts, turf for indoor soccer and an outdoor skatepark; a bowling alley; and a golf course inside the city limits.
Dinuba also has an impressive list of franchise restaurants, some also in Sanger, some not: A&W, KFC, IHOP, Wimpy’s, Togo’s, Fosters Freeze, McDonald’s, Jack in the Box, Subway, Panda Express, Sonic, Domino’s, Me-n-Ed’s, Pizza Hut and Little Caesars Pizza.
Is it possible Dinuba’s consultants are real- ly experts and Sanger’s consultant are really shills saying what the city administration wants residents to hear to justify the lack of two hotels, a movie and a sports complex, a bowling alley, a golf course and IHOP and KFC restaurants? (I love IHOP and KFC res- taurants.)
Back in the olden days when I was involved with electronic media we thought
of most consultants as people who borrowed your watch to tell you what time it was and then stole your watch. But, they were worth the loss of the watch when you needed some- one to blame for the problems you were hav- ing - or an “expert” to explain why it wasn’t your fault that you were having all those darn problems. That sounds to me very much like the City of Sanger and its “experts.”
Besides more buying choices, what are
Letter to the editor
other differences?
Let’s look at sales tax rates of cities I’ve
mentioned. Usually a larger retail tax base means a lower tax rate for residents. It’s cheaper to shop. The combined sales tax rate for Sanger is 8.725 percent. That’s a total of state, county and city sales tax rates. Using the same mix, the tax rate of Dinuba is 8.5 percent, Reedley is 8.475 percent and Clovis is 7.975 percent. You would generally pay more for the same product in Sanger than in those other cities.
A larger retail tax base brings in more money for the city’s general fund. That means the city wouldn't need to take money from designated funds for undesignated pur- poses – like looting the DBCP fund, the focus of the 2008-2009 grand jury report and rip- ping off the Measure S fund, the focus of the 2017-2018 grand jury report.
Sanger residents, in my opinion, are like the wife who was married to a politician for 10 years and her marriage was never con- summated because all her husband ever did was tell her how great it was going to be.
We were told how good it was going to be when the new Highway 180 finally reached Sanger. Now we’re being told how good it will be when the Academy corridor annexa- tionhasbeencompleted. (Samesong,second verse.) While we wait for it to get good we have fewer choices, pay higher prices and experience the indignity of an every other year grand jury report about municipal gov- ernance idiosyncrasies usually related to the city inappropriately using money from desig- nated funds to pay undesignated bills.
How did we wind up where we are and when, if ever, will it really get good or at least, better?
Our present situation has a lot to do with
a leadership vacuum that, in my opinion, existed in Sanger from the late 1980s into the 2000s. It created, like a butterfly effect, an environment that attracted an ex con and his cronies to town as crooked developers. With the help of an apparently complicit city man- ager and an obviously gullible city council the faux developers, according to lawsuits filed at the time, laundered millions of dollars with illegal real estate straw-man and Ponzi schemes.
By the end of that era of greed and gull- ibility Sanger was almost bankrupt and left holding a worthless letter of credit for unfin- ished subdivisions and for unfinished and unstarted infrastructure improvements. That ugly era gave Sanger officials many, many reasons to distrust developers – and to fall back on those overpaid excuse experts it has been hiring ever since. Coincidentally, toward the end of that era of greed and gullibility, the person assigned to clean up the mess
and then laid off before he could complete the job, is now Sanger’s city manager, Tim Chapa.
Will Chapa be able to put the memory of that experience aside and allow his staff to work productively with Fowler Packing, a company now proposing to develop much
of the area north of the city up to Highway 180? (See the story on page 1A and a graphic of the kind of development Fowler Packing is proposing on page 7A.) It would certainly require a change of attitude and direction from what one major central California
developer told me is the current stance of the City of Sanger in regard to developers, “A major difference between Sanger and other communities is that Sanger attaches little to zero priority on being a partner with develop- ers. Sanger seems to view us [developers] more as entities to be distrusted and tightly controlled, rather than as collaborators on important community development projects. Developers have enough other options that they are not likely to stick around to fight city hall for the opportunity to do business here.”
How much longer will voters let Sanger’s
dark past, bitter memories and shill consul- tants hold it back from a bright future with more choices, lower prices, and fewer grand jury reports? Maybe even a KFC and an IHOP restaurant, a hotel/conference center and maybe a sportsplex? Maybe.
Wouldn't it be great to hear from this administration how it managed to do some- thing - rather than why something couldn't be done?
Comments, complaints and suggestions may be emailed to sangerherald@gmail.com or may be made by calling 875-2511
SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, JANUARY 17, 2019 EDITORIAL & OPINION
Dick Sheppard
In my OPINION
How crazy is it to expect outcome parity
to flow from political correctness
By Fred Hall
that our income top tax rate at 13.3 is the highest in the nation; sales tax at 8.5 percent is forty-ninth; and a bewildering total of gaso- line taxes and surcharges is at 55 cents per gallon which is second highest in the entire country. Youknowtheshapeourroadsare in by making a simple two hour drive to our coast.
Surely our schools represent a bright, shiningpoint,youmightsay. Considerthe fact that our public school test score rank 46thnationally. Englishandmathscoresare embarrassinglylow! Nationalsurveysshow California's“standardfortheworld”system of roads and freeways come in with a rank- ing of 45th in the nation. Talk about a race to the bottom!
When simple facts are laid in front of one for examination, it's difficult to realize which California it was that Gavin Newsom was describing during his swearing-in ceremo- niesinSacramento. Hetalkedaboutagreat house that was filled with the good life for all. Increasingly we see two houses—the wealthy, well educated one and a permanent under- educatedunderclass. Taxesandgovernmen- tal regulations and rules have managed to decimate our middle class—the key support for money to fund our social programs—and sent them fleeing the state in search of an affordable cost of living.
Why do the political leaders who we elect take such a righteous look at “red state” Americawhenfully25percentofthehome- less population of this country sleep on the streetsofCalifornia. Ourliberalattitude toward crime and criminals has resulted in theStatetryingtoemptyourjailsandtrans- fer the expense of criminals running loose to thetaxpayingcitizens? SanFranciscoranks number one in per capita property crimes among all of America's largest cities.
During the last 15 years there have been approximately 6 million Californians who havefledtootherstates. Theseare—asa general rule—middle class Republicans who seekmorecomfortablecircumstancesfor theirfamilies. Oneshouldn'tworryabouta drop in population impacting our representa- tion in Washington because they have been replaced by immigrants capable of doing jobsatlowwages. Thatveryissuehasalso resulted in California being a state with polit- ical control in one party—the Democrats.
If you doubt the political shift then explain how Hillary Clinton lost her election against DonaldTrumpandthemedia. Ms.Clinton won California by 4 million votes which
was completely out of step with the rest of America.
Immigration alone has not done all of this to California but it sure as hell has con- tributed. Democracycan'texistwithwhat amounts to a permanent underclass and a wealthy elite who take advantage.
We've tried everything else and it hasn't worked. Buildthewall!
But, as usual, that's only one man's opinion.
In addition to the Sanger Herald, Publisher Fred Hall oversees two other Mid Valley Publishing newspapers - Reedley Exponent, and Dinuba Sentinel. He can be contacted by phone at (559) 638-2244 or by email at fred@ midvalleypublishing.com.
Gavin Newsom was
sworn in this past week,
becoming the 40th governor oftheStateofCalifornia.
Newsom announced, as
his administration's policy,
sanctuary for everyone as
well as a “pie-in-the-sky”
laundry list of more avail- ablehousing,healthcareforallwhetheror notyouareacitizen,affordablehousing,and alowercostofliving. Givenalonglistof unpleasant and inconvenient facts which now exist on the ground in our state, one would have to be either delusional or politically lying in order to make such a claim.
The Governor's promise of a bright future for California under the continued guidance of the Democrat party strains credulity, especiallywhenoneconsidersthelitanyof problemswithwhichwearefaced. Given the situation in which California finds itself, we have to seriously question those who claimthereisnonationalcrisisexistingat our Southern border by taking a critical look at what mass, uncontrolled immigration has wrought.
California has the dubious claim of hav- ing the highest percentage of residents over the age of 25 whose education ended prior
to the ninth grade...that's roughly 4 million Californians Weranknexttolast(48out
of 50) among states whose residents never graduatedfromhighschool. We'retalking about almost one in five Californians who havelittleformaleducation. Contrastthatto pockets, such as Palo Alto, where 40 percent ofthecityhasaMastersdegree,orhigher! That sort of disparity is the prescription for a disaster and, know what, it is directly attrib- utable to our desire to bring even more emi- grants into this country as cheap labor.
Howcanthisbethecaseinastate
where some of the most renown universi- tiesplytheirtrade? We'regladyouasked becausethereisarathersimpleanswer. The California State University System has been actively involved in creating a student body where only about 20 percent are English proficient. Sourcesindicatethat,atonetime, the remediation rate was about 35 percent but that has been recently scrapped as being offensiveandarchaic. Anyinstitutionwhich accepts “happy and stupid” as an alternative becausetodootherwisemightharmtheself esteem of a student is a direct contributor to failure.
We're left to ask, as most laymen, what the hell ever happened to “Academic Excellence” and“TheBestandBrightest?” Noquestion about it that there is a place for everyone in our society but the idea of outcome parity through political correctness is a non-starter. When people stand calmly aside and accept being fed bologna by academics, we get exactly what we deserve—a second rate soci- ety!
Taking a deeper dive into the asymmetri- cal mess that our state has become, one must ask the question of why, with the highest tax rates in the nation, do we enjoy such poor returnintermsofservice. Provingourpoint about burdensome taxation would be the fact
Fred Hall
Sanger Library and
the Sanger Friends of the Library (FOL) have great newprogramscomingsoon. The Inspired Yarns group meets weekly on Mondays, 1-3p.m. Thegroupisopento everyoneinterestedinyarn crafts, including knitting, crochet and cross-stitch. Also on Mondays, Chair Yoga meets 11 a.m.- noon to help folks needing gentle stretch exercise. You can work at your own pace.
Teen Council is a new group for teenagers under
the aegis of teen librarian Michelle Burton. The first meeting will be from noon to1p.m.onJan.26. The group will explore ways to have fun and their activities willbeencouragedby SangerFriends. Specialteen activities are planned in time for Valentines day, including candle making on Jan. 26, 10:30-11:30 a.m. and making sweet treats on Feb. 9, 1-2 p.m.
Sanger Library and Sanger FOL welcome input about programs you’d like to
Established 1889 • Published every Thursday 740 N Sanger, CA 93657 • (559) 875-2511
Fred Hall, publisher Dick Sheppard, editor
Lifestyles editor: Mike Nemeth
Sports editor: Mike Nemeth
Front office: Sharon Mendoza, classified ads
Display Advertising: Paulette Garcia
Composition: Susie House
Press Room: Tom Flores, Phillip Marquez, Ricardo Fernan- dez and Geno Bravo
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have at the library.
Plans are in the works for
more activities, including a Saturday chess group and classes on how to make magic along with basic photography tips.
We are currently looking for bilingual volunteers and for donations of books for the upcoming book sale.
FOL meets the third Tuesday of each month and interested folks are invited to attend and join.
Rosa Huerta
president, Sanger FOL
An award winning 2019 member of the California Newspaper Publishers Association
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