RCA recently received an anonymous letter from a Rosemont resident complaining vehemently about various conditions here in our community. No doubt his or her experiences here are real and indicate serious problems that no community wants to have. We want to build on that letter and begin a constructive conversation in the community. Please read on…
All of the complaints noted are in fact ones that both RCA and County agencies are trying to address: crime, cleanliness, property conditions, homelessness, scavenging, etc.
Without defending in the least our present conditions, we all need to understand that RCA is an entirely voluntary organization of concerned and committed residents working part time to correct these kinds of problems. We work to engage people here to be civic and community minded to do more than complain, but also to help keep their neighborhoods clean through organized volunteer action as well as report problems to law and code enforcement. In fact, in this regard RCA has a very respected reputation in the County for its engagement and effectiveness.
Understand that RCA has no direct authority to enforce laws or codes; it has only the same authorities as any one of us does as a citizen. And County agencies are also somewhat limited by laws, budgets and priorities; Counties simply do not have as their top priorities the types of municipal services that are the responsibilities of cities and which would more actively address the problems cited. Sacramento County does what it can to provide municipal type services in its urbanized but unincorporated areas like Rosemont, but it has other State-mandated responsibilities that take precedent. This is not to excuse the County, or RCA. Rather this is to try to explain the dilemma Rosemont is in as we experience typical urban problems without the normal municipal tools to address them.
The letter writer expressed serious criticism of RCA and various public officials for not doing anything to solve the noted problems, even saying that if these people don’t solve these problems they should “get out of the way and let someone else take over for you who has the energy and vision to give a damn!” We certainly welcome any and all such people (and note that the writer did not volunteer to be that person.) We sincerely hope that his or her concerns and commitment extends beyond just complaining. As part of RCA’s mission to make Rosemont bloom, we invite and welcome all such people to participate in improving our community.
Perhaps it is time that the residents of Rosemont begin a conversation about how we can come together to build the kind of community that we want, with the kind of service levels we want. There are numerous options by which we could organize and more aggressively and successfully address these issues. Each of them would take much effort, deliberation, time and money to explore and act on.
Is this enough of a concern to enough people in Rosemont that our community should now seriously explore what our options are? Please let RCA know your thoughts on this very important matter. Send us your thoughts at info@rosemontca.org or come to a Board meeting every first Thursday of the month at 7:00pm at Atonement Church, 9242 Kiefer Blvd. Or write RCA at PO Box 277194, Sacramento, CA 95827. And mark your calendar for Tuesday evening, May 9, when RCA will hold its annual membership meeting. Let the conversation begin!
