Letters for July 28, 2011

Letter of the week
Homesick for Sacto

Re “I (almost) love Sacramento” by Sasha Abramsky (SN&R Feature, July 14):

This article touched me because I totally understood where Sasha Abramsky was coming from and feel like I am in the same, but slightly different boat.

I grew up in Sacramento and left when I was 19, and I have been living in San Francisco for over seven years now. When I would go home, I would wonder why Sacramento wasn’t like this or that, wasn’t like San Francisco. Why was it not happening? Why was there no art, shopping, fashion, interesting bars, cool restaurants? Why was there no scene?

Now I am married with a baby and struggling to raise my family in San Francisco. Now I see all the beauty of Sacramento and its cute shops, restaurants and bars; Second Saturday; the antique fair; and festivals. I want to raise my family there. Like Sasha said, I want my son to “run around barefoot outside eight months out of the year.”

Once again, I am running into the same problem of Sacramento not being forward enough. I work in the fashion industry and I am finding very little to no work. So I am stuck in San Francisco, and all I want is to move home and have a simple, quality life. The yearning to be “home”—appreciating Sacramento for what it is, not what it isn’t or should be—and realizing it is an amazing little city with so much to offer a new family with the nicest people.

I love Sacramento! I just wish I could move my family home.

Monica Olmo
San Francisco

Take it as a warning

Re “Push me, pull you” by Cosmo Garvin (SN&R Frontlines, July 21):

Michael Boyd’s comments about wanting to be with the “more affluent neighborhood” of Curtis Park should be terribly alarming for the people of color who make up the vast majority of residents who live in Oak Park. Most folks who push for gentrification are usually smart enough to not come right out and say it.

Mr. Boyd—a close ally of Jay Schenirer—doesn’t seem to have that problem. Thanks to Mr. Boyd’s comments, the people of Oak Park are now on notice that they must be extremely vigilant about what Boyd and Schenirer have in store for our community.

Rashad Williams
Sacramento

Crawl away from the smoke!

Re “I (almost) love Sac” by Sasha Abramsky (SN&R Feature, July 14):

The article’s author appears content that no one asked his friend to stop smoking in the courtyard of the cafe where his daughter is depicted crawling around (in the illustration). But a closer look at the sketch is most revealing: Note how the infant, with apparently grim-faced determination, is crawling away from the smoker.

The kid had the right idea. Crawl, baby, crawl!

Charles Goodman
Sacramento

Sacto make you less snobbish

Re “I (almost) love Sac” by Sasha Abramsky (SN&R Feature, July 14):

In regards to Sasha Abramsky’s condescending article: Living in Sacramento helped you become (a little) less of a snob. Congratulations—seriously!

John Phelps
via email

Politicians, butt out!

Re “Footloose in Roseville” by Raheem F. Hosseini (SN&R Frontlines, July 14):

It’s a shame that the city is attempting to bludgeon The Station [Bistro & Lounge] into moving to Old Town Roseville, the location of which is a complete mystery to most people on the planet. The Station’s current location, in contrast, is convenient and easy to find.

Furthermore, we dancers really appreciate a clean, orderly, well-run place such as The Station and wish Roseville’s politics would butt out. As for the noise issue: What is noisier than an interstate highway? Come on!

Roger Zabkie
Citrus Heights

They can start by TPing his house

Re “For your health” by Nick Miller (SN&R Frontlines, July 14):

I think it’s kind of strange that the obesity “epidemic” in the last 15-20 years is because of fast food, candy and soda, which all have been widely available for 70-plus years.

But the Internet and cable television exploded in the last 15-20 years, and I haven’t seen a tree getting toilet-papered, nor do I see kids playing football, baseball, basketball, etc., in the streets, either—for roughly the last 15-20 years. Must be a coincidence.

Steve Huot
Citrus Heights

Who owns the Co-op?

Re “Don’t squander Sac’s food co-op” (SN&R Letters, July 14):

What is fascinating (or horrifying) is that a Vermont law professor, The Sacramento Bee, and the [Sacramento Natural Foods] Co-op board want to have a say in what products the Co-op carries and how it is run, but none of them want the members to have a say.

What is behind this refusal to just let the members vote on the proposed member-sponsored initiatives? Is this the power of the “Israel-right-or-wrong” lobby? Or do the Co-op board and management fear the membership might really embrace not only human rights, but buying local—and decide they really don’t want products from Israel or China? Or maybe if members realize the power they actually have in their bylaws, they’ll put an initiative on the ballot to restore dividends and/or lower prices.

The board has now put a proposed bylaws amendment, Measure 2, on the Co-op ballot that would prohibit members from raising any issues about products related to the Co-op’s or community values. So desperate is the board to stifle members that it has posted a phony ballot argument “opposing” this amendment instead of one that legitimately criticizes it (see www.coopdemocracy.org for more info).

Those who want to suppress member voices would do well to remember that it was a myopic board and management that shoved the disastrous second store down the throats of many reluctant members. Too bad those members didn’t put an initiative on the ballot—they could have established realistic requirements for consideration of a second store and saved the Co-op millions.

In a co-op, the power belongs in the members’ hands. If the members have no say, then it isn’t a co-op.

Maggie Coulter
Sacramento