Marcos Breton: Mayoral candidates should listen to south Sacramento youths

May 18, 2008  |  Sacramento Bee

Sacramento's mayoral race is hopelessly, shamefully disconnected from reality.  It's an exercise in cynicism posing as a contest of hopes and ideas.  Real hopes and ideas – and idealism – are alive on the streets of Sacramento. It's just that there is a chasm separating what's hopeful about Sacramento from mayoral candidates who inspire the opposite of hope.  I've seen hope this past week. Real hope. I've looked in the eyes of Sacramento's youth, many from neighborhoods of great pain and loss – and yet these kids still believe.

They are not like Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo, who appears desperate to simply hold on to what she has at all costs.

They are not like candidate Kevin Johnson, who many want to believe in, but who remains so tightly controlled and remote that it's hard to know what about him is real – and what's a campaign slogan.

And they are not like the other mayoral aspirants whose names, frankly, don't deserve any more ink. Court jesters are amusing, but not legitimate.

The youths belonging to Sacramento Area Congregations Together are legitimate. They are a coalition of churches, schools and neighborhood groups who banded together because they were being ignored by City Hall.  They are from across Sacramento, including neighborhoods such as Meadowview – areas too often associated only with crime.
Crime is the great unaddressed issue of this mayoral election. As my colleague Daniel Weintraub wrote last week, Fargo seems clueless that Sacramento has the second-highest crime rate among California's 10 largest cities.

Meanwhile, Johnson has proposed more cops on the streets and other crime measures already in place.

Do such ideas impress the kids of Meadowview?

"If you have more police, too many kids are going to get locked up," said Rashea Allen, a 17-year-old student at Luther Burbank High School. "We need more counselors, more classes. We need something other than more police and jail."
These kids aren't dumb. They know what's going on.

"The freeway overpass that leads from Meadowview to Greenhaven? When you cross that overpass and go into Greenhaven, it's like you've entered a whole new place," said Bria Taylor, a 14-year-old Meadowview resident. "Everything in Greenhaven seems like it's perfect. … When people there find out you're from Meadowview, they think you are going to hurt them."

Personally, I'd love to hear Fargo or Johnson respond to that statement. In fact, Sacramento ACT will host a mayoral forum Monday at 6:30 p.m. at Burbank High.

It may be the most substantive mayoral forum to date because it's been structured to avoid mud-slinging.
The candidates were given questions in advance relating to jobs and more opportunities. "We want them to think about their answers," said Sayuri Sakamoto, a south area school teacher.

Sadly, Johnson won't be at Sacramento ACT's forum. He's met with members and spoken to the group at another event, but is "too busy" to attend Monday's forum, Sakamoto said. Will the remaining candidates say anything worth hearing?
The Sacramento ACT kids remain hopeful.

"I think anyone is capable of making an impact," said Ashliegh McDaniel, a 17-year-old Burbank student. "They have to put actions behind their words."