Valley folk handle the business!

As you may have guessed, I totally appreciate grassroots activism and rebellion. I do not appreciate my local government’s ignorance to the community’s well-being, so when people from ‘round these parts go up against the powers that be I am in hog heaven! Some recent examples of regional muckraking are as follows:

• Books Not Bars, an activist group dedicated to the demise of California’s Division of Juvenile Justice, rallied outside the site of the former DeWitt Nelson Youth Correctional Facility in Stockton on Thursday. The group of protesters were turned away from the facility’s main gates by correctional workers, but they continued the rally directly across the street in a field. Books Not Bars advocates youth rehabilitation, as opposed to the current system of incarceration. I am in full agreement. It seems awfully fucked up that juvenile offenders are locked up in our already bloated prison system when unemployment rates, homelessness, inadequate educational systems, and poverty have more than a little to do with their criminal activity at such a young age. If they aren’t old enough to vote, to drink, to give consent, then I don’t think they are old enough to serve hard time.
• Union employees gathered outside the Stockton Caltrans building on Thursday to protest Governor Schwarzenegger's executive order to slash their pay to the federal minimum wage ($6.55/ hour). The idea behind the Gobonator’s order is that pay cuts (& elimination of scores of part-time positions) would save the state $1 billion and ease the financial difficulties (a $15.2 billion deficit, to be specific) projected in the upcoming fiscal year. Unfortunately, I doubt Arnold took into consideration the cost of living in California. Nobody can survive on $6.55 here, that’s why our minimum wage is $8.00/hour. Why not freeze the pay of elected officials & state judges (who are usually upper-middle class folk that can manage on a temporary wage cut)? Or repeal the retarded block on taxation increases brought on by Proposition 13? Of course, the state wouldn’t be entirely fucked if it just carried the deficit into the next few years, but Arnold’s up for re-election & that type of financial crisis isn’t good for his image, I suppose. Never the less, state workers do not deserve to carry the financial faux pas of Sacramento’s politicians on their backs.
• The California Black-Brown Summit on Re-Entry and Recidivism starts tomorrow in Stockton and will address the fact that black and Hispanic prisoners make up 67% of California’s prison population. Workshops will focus on education, housing, gangs, and employment. Groups such as Homeward Bound (executioners of a prisoner re-entry program), the NAACP, and the League of United Latin American Citizens organized the two-day event at UOP’s Grace Covell Hall. Here’s to citizens actively addressing crime and interracial cooperation in the San Joaquin Valley! Good work, y’all.

Big Picture Darwinism comes to Stockton…and it’s not here for a Spanos fund raiser!

                           

I have a T-Shirt that reads: Think Global, Act Local. I fully stand behind this message. It’s important that we think about things, like pollution or political corruption, in terms of their global effects because seeing The Big Picture reinforces the importance of issues. The only way any one person can change things on this planet is by doing their little part in their little corner of the world, by acting locally. I like to think that I try my best to Think Global and Act Local, but sometimes I feel alone in my efforts… especially here in Stockton, CA. So many Stocktonians are apathetic, unconcerned, or just convinced that the city is doomed to be Fucked for eternity. Doesn’t every native to the city dream of the day they can escape? Isn’t “Stockton sucks” our unofficial regional motto?

I have noticed that more & more of my fellow Mudville residents have been turning away from that kind of negative civic attitude in the last few years. A diverse music scene has developed because local musicians, promoters, and business owners have been doing their part to bring about change. While the economy is still dismal, small business owners in the area have done their part to improve the situation by banding together in merchant’s organizations like the Downtown Stockton Alliance or the Miracle Mile Improvement Association. Business coalitions like these are support networks and advocacy groups for Stockton’s small business owners, which is necessary in a city as hostile to entrepreneurship as this one. Citizens have been organizing senior-assistance meal programs, hosting teen leadership summits, and holding fund raisers to improve their neighborhood parks. Four years ago, I would have laughed at any asshole that preached about Stockton’s potential or suggested that local citizens were willing to work towards improvement. Now, I’m convinced that Stockton’s evolution will be brought about by the efforts of People Like You & Me. That kicks ass!

The most recent example of Stocktonians handling the mother f***ing business was reported in Tuesday’s Record under the headline Groups plan suit against Stockton. According to the paper, The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta and The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance have both decided to go head-to-head with the City of Stockton and San Joaquin County in two separate suits that cry foul on the way local government has been disposing of storm run-off and sewage. The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta is composed of South valley farmers & residents suing the city for allowing heavy metals, chemicals and pesticides to escape through storm drains and into the fragile Delta eco-system. The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance is beefing with the local government over claims that the city’s miles of sewer lines have overflown 1,487 times in the past five years. The waste usually ends up in the Delta’s waters, as do the pollutants from our wastewater treatment plant, & the Alliance is mighty pissed about what this does to the water quality.

Anyone that has ever drank Stockton’s tap water…or anyone that has spent an afternoon boating on the Delta, but were too grossed out to actually get in the water…or anyone that has heard urban legends about mutated Delta fish with arms & legs and didn’t doubt the authenticity of such tales… will agree that there is a problem & something has to be done to solve our water-related woes. We should all appreciate those hometown heroes doing their part to improve their little section of the planet & be inspired by their efforts. Visit the websites linked below for more information about the law suits, about the Delta, and about the water pollution that should concern us all.

The Coalition for a Sustainable Delta

The California Sportfishing Protection Alliance

Final thought courtesy of the groundbreaking anthropologist Margaret Mead:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”