Page 3 - Sanger Herald 6-6-19 E-edition

SANGER HERALD 3A THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2019 EDITORIAL & OPINION
Random thoughts 'We have met the enemy and he is us.'
By Dick Sheppard
The city council makes policy and the city staff implements policy.
Atleastthat's theway it's supposed to work.
An organization chart
or as it's more commonly
called, org chart, is a dia-
gram that shows a report-
ing or relationship hierarchy - it shows who is supposed to be boss.
An org chart of our city government might look something like this.
Hey fellow Sanger citizens, are you being heard?
I think not!
Your city council and planning commission are trying to push a medium-density, low- incomehousingdevelopmentplanby re-zoningareasthataregoingtoaffectyou and your family. You don’t want your housing value to drop? You don’t want the extra trafficinyourarea?Well,toobad,saysthe city council.
I have been proposing my land on the cornerofNorthandNewmarkavenuestoget re-zoned for that type of housing. Look at the benefits:
• It’s in the part of town that already has established home prices that this would match that kind of development.
• The area is located away from schools and other high traffic sites.
Liberal sharpshooter
Dick Sheppard
There's been some restructuring of staff responsibilities since the chart was created, but the point is still the same, "Citizens of Sanger" are at the top of the chart.
Wecanseethat,ontheorgchart,thecoun- cil is above the city manager so the city man- ager is supposed to report to the council.
The city manager is hired by the council to see that efforts of other employees, lower on the chart, are focused on accomplishing goals and implementing policies created by the council, higher on the chart.
The council is the board of directors.
The city manager is the chief executive officer.
The city manager and the city attorney work for the council and all other employees work for the city manager.
The "Citizens of Sanger" are responsible fortheresultsgoodorbadproducedbythe council.
The council is responsible for the results good or bad produced by the city manager.
The city manager is responsible for the results good or bad produced by other city employees.
The point of this brief - very simplified - civics lesson is that recently the tail has been wagging the dog. The city staff - perhaps directed by the city manager - certainly with his tacit approval - has been making major Measure S policy decisions like "No more grants to nonprofits that have been funded in the past," and "Grant money available to nonprofits each year will be reduced from $125,000 to $50,000."
The council at its May 30 special meeting
• Negates the issue of constraints seen with small lot developments.
• Close to Jefferson Elementary School
• Walking distance to: Gongs Shopping Center,Pharmacy,AdventistHealth,Del Monte, Pittman Farms and Initiative Foods.
TimeandtimeagainI’vebroughtupthese facts to the planning commission and city council only to get shrugged off.
So,Iaskmyselfasshouldyou,whyaren’t we being heard?
We don’t want this type of housing development located in our neighborhoods.
Why can’t it be in the area that I am proposing?
Whyisthismandatebeingpusheddown ourthroatssoquickly?
Are there development deals being made we aren’t being made aware of?
Itseemstometheserepresentativesare serving themselves instead of the citizens of Sanger.
Writeorcallyourcityrepresentativesand tell them about this site I’m proposing for thistypeofhousingdevelopment.Makesure you are being heard, because your voice as a citizen of this great city matters!
appropriately ignored without comment both staff created policies and funded a couple of nonprofits that have received grants in the past and bumped up the amount of Measure S moneythatwillbeavailabletononprofitsfor the next couple of years.
Neither city manager Tim Chapa nor coun- cilmember Humberto Garza were happy.
Chapa wants less Measure S money to go to nonprofits so he has more to support his fiction that the general fund budget is bal- anced.
Garza, on the other hand, wants even more Measure S money to go to nonprofits.
"Citizens of Sanger" should be happy because the council maybe finally figured out who is supposed to be creating and who is supposed to be implementing policy - who is boss. Maybe.
•••
There are not a lot of "Citizens of Sanger"
happy about the council scheduling an im- portant rezoning public hearing this evening
head to head with two 8th grade promotion ceremonies. (See the story on the front page of today's Herald.)
Shae Hill is one of the unhappy citi- zens,"Manypeopleincludingmyselfhavea conflict. Weexpressedourconcernsabout this long ago, yet nothing ever changed. We showed up at the special meeting but there wasnopublicforumontheagenda. Wewere toldtocall. Nothingchanged. Weweretold tocreateapetitionwhichwedid. Nothing changed. Thenpeoplewonderwhycitizens don'tgetinvolved. Itisverydiscouraging.I willstillbethereforthebeginning. Ihope others choose to show and represent for those of us who cannot be there due to promotion!"
Amen, Shae. Well said.
•••
"We have met the enemy and he is us."
-Pogo Possum
Please direct your questions or comments to sangerherald@gmail.com.
Marty Sangha
Sanger
In my OPINION
Some liberal politicians want opponents
considered guilty until proven innocent
By Fred Hall
Show me a man (or woman) who has never made a mistake and I'll be abletoshowyouaperson who has never made a decision of any kind or tried anything new!
actor—doesn't even get a slap on the wrist. In another case, this one in Washington with national implications, Robert Mueller stands up and says he was unable to prove the President innocent and Congress and the mediagowild. Hemustbeimpeached.
The very core of that statement is a direct affront to American jurisprudence.
One is assumed innocent and any form of
law enforcement must, in a court of law, provethemguilty. Wedon'tknowwherethis approach came from but it has routinely been usedrecently. Initiallyitwasestablished
by Democrats in Congress when Judge Cavanaugh was asked to prove himself innocentofspuriousclaims. Theywere joined by a couple of Republicans.
One of those specious claims which Democrats accepted so unquestioningly was made by an attorney now facing over 400 years in prison for other false allegations aswellastheftandextortion. How'sthat forareliablesource? Thatjusthappensto be the same guy whom CNN thought would be a great candidate for President on the Democratticket!
How really difficult is it for even the dumbest among us to realize, that it appears tobethereareonlyabout50Democrats
in The House of Representatives plus at leastoneRepublican(JustinAmash)from Michigan who are bell-bent on impeachment? How hard is it to understand that one is innocentuntilprovenguilty? Havingto prove one's innocence is akin to being
forced to prove a negative which is virtually impossible. Lies,innuendoandhearsay make a formidable case against anything evenremotelyapproachingreality. Sadto say,thoseliesandinnuendosarecoming from professionals in the media and the body politic who once were held in high esteem.
Not so much today!
Theso-calleddeepstateobviouslydoes exist and continues to look upon the people ofthisgreatcountryasthe“smellyWalmart crowd”andthegreatunwashed. It'smyfirm beliefthatthecurrentJusticedepartment, led by Bill Barr, is on the verge of making the political elite in this country realize that they haveunderestimatedthevoters. Thatsilent majority rose up in 2016 and sent a strong message to those reprobates. We believe they will continue the purge in 2020!
But, as always, 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.
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This should be long resolvedbythetimeyou
read this piece, but I would like to make a briefcommentontherecentFresnoGrizzly flap over erroneously showing a picture of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez during a Memorial DaysaluteattheballparkinFresno. Apparently the unfortunate event arose when a Grizzly employee downloaded a tribute to Ronald Reagan from the internet and, after watching a portion of the video, assumed
the entire piece had no problems. That, unfortunately,wasnotthecase.
Inthiscurrentpoliticallychargedperiod
it appears that simple human error cannot
be forgotten, even after an appropriate mea culpabyteamofficials. Apparentlyfor a couple of corporate team sponsors an apology was not enough and they immediately suspendedtheirsponsorship. Ihaveto wonder aloud if they or any of their people haveevermadeamistake. Snapdecisions, more often than not, tend to bite one in the backside.
They will tell you that their decision was based on the implication of racism.
We believe that it was strictly for politicalconsiderationsandhadnothing
to do with the high dudgeon they profess atasimplemistakebyayoungmanor woman. Financiallywearenotinaposition to provide financial support to this baseball team which is a treasure to this Valley, but they sure as hell have our personal, spiritual andemotionalsupport. GoGrizzlies,you're bigger than petty complaints from small mindedindividuals! Thegoodnewsoutofall ofthisisthattheGrizzliesdrewthebiggest crowdoftheseasononFridaynight. Thatis a pretty good statement that the fans have spoken!
Atthispoint,wehavetomakeasegue from the small, basically insignificant local event to one playing out on the national stage which has far greater implications.
During recent years, we have been witnesses to an American justice system that is being stood on its head and subverted so badly by its practitioners that we find it difficulttounderstandtherationale. Ithas essentially become corrupted by people who would use it for their own political ends.
In Chicago one man goes to jail for filing a false police report while another—who just happens to be a connected Hollywood
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