In the latter half of the last century, people flocked to the newly developed Citrus Heights area. It was a great place to buy affordable homes and raise families. There were good schools, nice parks and plenty of stores.  But like any Sacramento suburb, Citrus Heights had a dirty little secret called Sayonara drive.

Before Citrus Heights became a city, the place was run by Sacramento County. Quick-buck developers began buying up 4-plexes from absentee landlords, with a concentration on Sayonara Drive. The properties there were the domain of slum lords who exploited their low-income renters. Sayonara Drive became a huge magnet for crime and drug sales. It was known as the most dangerous street in Citrus Heights. It dominated the calls for Sheriff's Deputies.

Once Citrus Heights became a city, things started to change. Fed up with the drain on police resources, the city implemented a community-based policing strategy that focused on building trust with the law-abiding residents who had feared to report the crimes on Sayonara Drive. Eventually the city started condemning and buying the blighted 4-plexes.  A children’s community center and a beautiful park now replace the run-down units.  The city is also breaking ground currently on new houses for low-income homeowners, with help from  Habitat for Humanities. The once-notorious street has now been given a multimillion-dollar facelift, all thanks to their incorporation.

There are many similarities between the old Sayonara Drive and our own Country Club area centered around Watt and El Camino. Our version of Sayonara Drive has homeless camps, trash, absentee landlords, blighted properties, and significant drug use. Sacramento County has done a hit-and-miss job of enforcement, leading to code violations, crime and serious health and safety problems. Nearby businesses are suffering, while careless property managers are given wide latitude. Calls for attention from the Sheriff and the Code Enforcement Department have skyrocketed. Once the heart of our community, the Country Club area has become a new version of Sayanora Drive.

Perhaps you have seen our posts about the County's inability to deal with the economic problems that plague our community, the pandering to developers - especially out-of-area developers, the stupid drive-through fast food chicken strategy, the homeless shenanigans at the old Sam's building, the dumb tolerance of unused property like the Amazon Fresh ghost store, and the lack of consistent law enforcement and code enforcement at places like Country Club Plaza (CCP). The CCP mall is a mess. It has fallen into complete disrepair.  In addition to the constant homeless camps and crime, the whole mall roof has been leaking for years now into almost every business in the mall. Large panels of the roof are missing where rain water pours directly into the main mall area. Businesses and patrons of the mall have complained to the County about the mall's deplorable condition. Nothing gets done. The owner and property manager are given lots of slack. The Sheriff, the Code Enforcement Department, the D.A. all have other fish to fry. However, things are starting to hit the fan.

In 2023, Rebounderz (the trampoline place where Sport Chalet used to be) filed a lawsuit against CCP owner Intelli LLC, citing breach of contract for a leaking roof, sewer issues and public safety. The suit said there were over 12 leaks in Rebounderz space in the mall. It has been scheduled to go to court later this year. Yet another lawsuit has just been filed against the owner of CCP, this time by WaveMax laundry facility that was said to be going into the site of the long-vacant La Bou coffee business. (Note: the ink on the WaveMax complaint has barely dried. CCP has not yet responded, as the time period allowed for response has only just begun.)  If you have been wondering about the laundromat just sitting there unopened, now you know - WaveMax's lawsuit says the company is unable to open the business due to toxic mold conditions from leaks in the roof that have never been fixed by the owner. The suit calls out both the absentee owner and the Yuba City-based property manager, Helm Property Management. It's not a pretty picture. The complaint is public record. You can read it here (warning, it's long) along with WaveMax's press release about their complaint:

Long story short, WaveMax alleges that the mall owner and the property manager intentionally covered up existing structural roof damage, water leaks and environmental defects at the property. Further, WaveMax asserts, in November 2024, Helm and the roofer Helm hired misrepresented that the leaks had been fixed. WaveMax apparently felt CCP was pulling the wool over their eyes: continuing leaks after the roof was said to have been fixed prompted WaveMax to bring on another roofer to assess the situation. That firm found the roof to have failed catastrophically, noting there was an immediate risk of further structural damage, environmental contamination and health hazards if not comprehensively remediated. 

Beyond the roof problem, WaveMax had independent mold testing done on their part of the property, the old La Bou. Lo and behold the tests revealed widespread and very serious toxic mold contamination within the walls, ceilings, and HVAC system. The report said there were heavy growths of toxic black mold, airborne spore counts exceeding safe occupational exposure limits by 400% to 500% - from Grade 4+ growths of Stachybotrys and Chaetomium molds and the extensive presence of other hazardous molds - all associated with serious health risks. WaveMax's lawsuit states all the washing and drying machines and equipment in the building are a complete loss and have to be demolished due to the contamination.  According to WaveMax's press release about the complaint, completely restorating of the old La Bou site would cost around $1,400,000. 

The WaveMax complaint also indicates that the majority of the damage likely came from the adjacent, contaminated, old Macy’s building. It says that the Macy's basement was filled with water and that there is a mold infestation that is quickly spreading to other areas of the mall.  Maybe the laundromat does not share the same HVAC system with the other tenants of the mall, but wouldn’t it be prudent to assume that since there is widespread leaking all over this mall that there might also be mold inhabiting other places too? Is it safe to even inhabit the building at this point ? Should the whole building be declared off-limits due to contamination? If not, are you willing to be the proverbial canary in the coal mine by patronizing the mall? Is now the time for the "out of an abundance of caution" strategy? Or are the problems called out by the WaveMax complaint without merit?

Sacramento County Northern Community Relations District Attorney Ron Linthicum and Supervisor Rich Desmond were contacted about the mall's leaking roof  in November 2024 and again in March 2025.  The County has not responded to those public requests for comment. The County even told WaveMax it would not address the roof problem, claiming it was a “civil matter” - i.e. not a public nuisance. So Sacramento County did not inspect the roof at CCP for code violations. The County instead opted to just send a letter to the owner about the active homeless camps on the property.

Why does our community have to tolerate this? Why should we have a Sayonara Drive here, in the heart of our community? Why should you have to think twice before you venture into places - places authorized by the County for public use despite having leaky roofs, trip hazards, people getting high on crack, and high concentrations of toxic mold. Why does our community have places with problems like that? Public places where you might want to watch a movie, use exercise equipment, get a bite to eat, or take your kid for a birthday celebration. You know why, don't you? Yup, we don't matter, only out-of-area businesses do. We don't have local control. Our community is not a city. We are invisible nobodies, ignored within the County's vast, unincorporated UnCity. Maybe you are OK with all that. Maybe you just want to live your own life. But if you are not OK with it, are you willing to help correct the problem? Given the County's reluctance to engage, it's really up to all of us, isn't it? One thing is sure: we cannot count on the County.