Editor's note: A couple of days ago we got a  copy of this this letter from a long-time supporter. The writer gave us permission to post it as a Letter to the Editor. We suspect many of our readers feel the same way as the writer.

Dear Supervisor Desmond,

I have lived in Arden Arcade area for 25 years.  When I first moved here, it was a great area, I loved living here.
In the last 25 years I have seen the entire Arden Arcade area decrease in quality of life.  Many stores and restaurants have just closed up and left. The Country Club mall is a joke with shuttered shops and homeless people.  To do any major shopping you have to go to Roseville/ Rocklin or Folsom area.  The roads are full of potholes.  There is just a general sense of decline and neglect wherever I look compared to when I first  moved here. The Fourth of July has become a war zone, and is a perfect example of the County BOS doing nothing to address the problem for years, and now it has gotten so out of control that it is endangering life and property.  And enforcement has been so lax for so long that people  now feel entitled to use illegal fireworks, so it is impossible to control.  Illegal fireworks in a rural area might not be much of a problem; here in Arden Arcade it is a huge problem. I have traveled all over the country, including for July 4, and nowhere have I seen the amount of illegal fireworks as here.  

I attribute the source of our problems to Arden Arcade being an urbanized area stuck within a political system that was designed to handle ranches and farms.  This District is hamstrung by the other Board of Supervisors. Our District is highly urbanized and developed.  The other 4 supervisors' districts have very different needs than our district, and thus the other 4 supervisors do not vote for allocating the resources we need.  How much does our district contribute to the overall tax base of the County compared to each of the other districts?  My guess it is very disproportionate, with our district providing most of the taxes.

I am a strong supporter of making the Arden Arcade area (and whomever else wants to join in, like perhaps Carmichael) its own city, where our muncipal taxes can actually go towards supporting our community.  The Advocates for Arden group has been trying to organize around this, but are struggling to make any headway.  I have been here long enough to see how much better Rancho Cordova is since they became a city, and not just part of the unincorporated County.  I do NOT want Arden Arcade to be incorporated into the City of Sacramento, where we will continue to be neglected and be the dumping ground for their problems.

It’s my understanding that since the last effort to make Arden Arcade a City was rejected by the voters some years ago  ( I believe based on a smear campaign that spreads lies and distortions about what it would do to our taxes), that state laws still make it much more difficult for areas like our district to incorporate.  So we are not the only part of the state suffering under those rules.

Regardless, I am done. I don’t see anything changing anytime soon, so I have no hope that things will get better, and the 3rd District is likely to continue to decline.  I am moving out of the area. In fact moving out of the entire state.  I have lived in CA and the Sacramento area for 40 years, and I am done.  The political system here has no regard for the middle class people or neighborhoods.  All the resources go to the rich area (City of Sacramento - who stole County tax base with incorporating areas like Cal Expo and now just dump homeless there), or to deal with the homeless, drug addicts, and mentally ill.

(Name withheld by request)