City Council Election Analysis (and partial recent gang activity summary) - DAILY SOUND November 20, 2007

What a week. We have had a small change to the city council and have been left to speculate – why didn’t Brian Barnwell do so well as an incumbent? After reading a week of media analysis and blog opinions, the turtles have decided that nobody gets it. All are scratching their heads, wondering how could this be? According to the Independent, the lesson Das Williams distilled from the election results is that candidates who worked hardest and walked precincts earliest did the best. In other words, Barnwell failed because he did not do this - he ran a “bad campaign”.

Nope, that’s not it. It is somewhat insulting to the voter’s intelligence to make the assertion that we are a group of suckers that vote not on performance, but rather on who has the best funding and who comes to shake our hand. It wasn’t that Barnwell performed so poorly in campaigning, it was that he performed poorly in office, in regard to the number one issue – public safety. Not just Barnwell, but the entire Council, Police Chief and Mayor. Nobody in leadership appears to be getting the loud and clear message we are trying to send that the City has a quickly escalating gang problem and people care about it!

Quite simply, the issue of public safety is becoming number one in the public eye. At least one challenger who made this his number one priority unseated an incumbent, with two other public-safety-oriented challengers not far behind. What really happened is that people are waking up to the ever-increasing threat imposed by decreasing public safety. The threat is not only to our personal welfare as we walk the city streets, but also to the welfare of the city’s economic vitality. The city’s vitality depends on its low crime image as a tourist and shopping destination and nice place to live and work.

The current council largely ignored the rapid increase in violent activity until it became too big and ugly to hide anymore. Of the three like-minded incumbents, at least one had to go, as a sacrifice to the public safety gods. Barnwell was the first to suffer because, of the three, he was the most middle-of-the-road (not as well supported by the progressive activists) and had the least hair, youth and campaign funding.

We prefer to look at the final tally this way: Incumbents 19579, Challengers 20703. Add it up yourself. In reality, there are more voters unhappy with the current council than the Williams/Schneider win would at first seem to indicate. For those who can’t figure it out, the shift in the council is a response to dissatisfaction with the City’s response to public safety issues. The current council members concerned about the next election should take note, because as Frank Hotchkiss points out – “In two more years, there are going to be five seats open”. Looking at the complete numbers, the undisputable fact is, this truly was an anti-incumbent election. Williams and Schneider’s success must be viewed in context with the current council’s imminent failure. As turtles we are elated, because we know that slow and steady wins the race.

Meanwhile, the ineffectiveness of the City’s weak response to gang problems continues to rear its ugly head. In the six short months since the “wakeup call” murders of Linares in March and Carachure in July, violence is increasing in frequency, ferocity and boldness. Current events continue to indicate that the target, - which should be currently active gang members – (as opposed to at-risk-youth) is being missed with no improvement in sight. Victims are no longer just rival gang members engaged in a brawl, but now are innocents in the community, taking walks or sitting in cars in their own neighborhoods. Gang member’s weapons of choice have escalated from small knives and baseball bats to machetes, large butcher knives and guns. In our back yard, we have murders by illegal nationals controlled by Mexican drug cartels that endanger our hiking trails. We have street gangs with the potential of being controlled by deadly powerful prison gangs, if they are not already. We have had meth-induced murder-for-hire schemes and murders.

Here is a summary of reported recent events, since the City “took action”:

November 19 (Today) - 23 students suspended for being involved in a gang fight at Dos Pueblos High School.

http://www.keyt.com/news/local/11628156.html

November 16, 2007 – Man assumed to be rival gang member attacked with butcher knife by Francisco Alcaraz 20, Enrique Moran 20, Jason Odale 21 and a 15 year old juvenile at 1:40 PM broad daylight at a USA gas station on Carrillo street.

November 13 – Two teens attacked and robbed while sitting in their car at Franklin Center by three gang members inflicting knife wounds.

November 13 - Five gang members – Emilio Mora 19, Jose Zavala 21, Roberto Amador 19, and two juvenile males breaking car windows with occupants inside and brandishing a large butcher knife.

November 10 – A 15 year old is left with gunshot wounds on the 2400 block of Alexander Street.

November 9 – A gang fight on Milpas after which four gang members are arrested for weapons violations – one for a parole violation.

November 8 – Gang fight at Foodland Market on San Andreas – two gang members arrested – one on a parole violation and one with an outstanding warrant.

October 28 – Three “people” with ski masks armed with machetes and bats victimize 16 year-old “boy”. Victim is struck in the head and suffered laceration to his neck in the 300 block of Ladero Street.

October 28 – A carload of “people” stab a 15 year old in the arm in the 600 block of Eucalyptus.

October 24 – Methamphetamine induced murder for hire scheme gone awry.

October 14 – A 28-year-old non-gang affiliate stabbed three times by gang members Wilfredo Medina 24, and Martin Mendez 24 (parole violator).

September 30 – A 50 year old man taking a walk near his house on Shoreline drive is assaulted and robbed at knifepoint by two gang members.

September 17 – Murder of 23 year old Adan Ruiz tied to a large illegal marijuana grow near Lompoc, which according to Sheriff Bill Brown is likely part of a large drug cartel operating out of Mexico.

Notice - these are only the incidents reported by the Daily Sound in the span of little more than the last two months. An examination of some of the local blogs indicates that many more incidents are occurring than are finding their way into the newspapers.

The good news is that our outstanding police force is right on top of these incidents and making arrests and is to be applauded. The bad news is that with the revolving doors of overcrowded prisons and deportation of criminals to Mexico who quickly return, this will soon be a problem they won’t be able to control without increased resources.

Here’s some alarming news for those of you who think the problem has been or can be contained merely by local youth programs and more focused law enforcement. Broad based prison gangs control most of the Hispanic street gangs and drug trafficking in California. The penalty for leaving the gang is death. More than one of the above listed offenders is a parole violator. It appears that those released from jail early without adequate monitoring, and gang members sworn into the gangs with the condition of leaving the gang being their own certain death, have one thing in common: None of them are being released from jail or exiting the gang and asking “Where can I sign up for one of those youth programs that the City is offering?”

Reason? As we have noted before, gang membership is derived from a culture that cherishes lawlessness, crime, anarchy, violence, drugs, disrespect of authority, does not value life, and is romanticized by media and youth. Gang members gain status with their peers by how “bad” they are. They turn away from the gang toward more positive activities at their own peril.

Mayor Blum on her weekly radio talk show last Saturday made the claim that local crime is on a downward spiral, according to a requested report from Chief Sanchez. How these numbers were manipulated is anyone’s guess. The intended assumption to be derived must be that the almost daily weapon-wielding crimes we have seen in the last few weeks are really not happening, or not a problem. The latest gang incident was ironically reported by the Sound on the same day Marty made this claim. This self-satisfied attitude is dangerous beyond belief in light of the obvious acceleration of gang activity that we all see right before our eyes. For the Mayor, and those that portend that the gang problem has been solved by throwing a previously earmarked Federal grant at it to support youth programs, and adding some bike patrols, the above noted activity in just the last week should prove a contrary view.

A message to Mayor Blum, Chief Sanchez, City Council members: Gang membership is derived from a culture that does not respect authority, law and order, education, recreational opportunities, jobs and the fine arts, and they are not composed of those who have any interest or hope in trying to make a better life for themselves. Gangs are not composed of “youths without enough opportunities or things to do” who must be served by the community; they are comprised of criminals who choose to be criminals, will continue to choose to be criminals because of the culture that has been allowed to evolve around them, and must be dealt with accordingly!

Those leaders who understand that, and take effective action, will remain after the next election. Those who downplay this inconvenient festering crime problem as insignificant or simply an expected result of social injustice, and “kids making bad choices” (Mayor Blum) will be removed from leadership. Those who feel that the higher mission of the city is to spread the gospel of Global Warming, must be removed from the council ASAP. Turtles have had enough of this head-in-the-sand glamour seeking “leadership". One down, more to go next time. Slow and steady wins the race.

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