Cities tend to handle their problem land use sites differently than the way our County does. In general, the people who move and shake cities are always thinking about how to make things better inside the dotted line that defines city boundaries. Counties cannot focus like that. Counties have many big-ticket duties assigned to them by the state - things like running elections, collecting and distributing taxes, tending to public health and welfare, operating jails and, on occasion, using them for de-facto prisons so the state won't have to pay to incarcerate law breakers. And that's just the areawide stuff. Counties are also responsible for providing municipal services to unincorporated places. That's fine for a mostly rural county like Alpine County or Trinity County. But here in Sacramento County, there are over 600,00 people living in unincorporated , urbanized places. For the County's municipal services duty, that's like having to serve the City of Sacramento PLUS the City of Rancho Cordova. The result is that our County government, which has a hard enough time providing areawide services to all 1,600,000 county residents across the county's 994 square miles, isn't exactly able to do a stellar job with the municipal services as well. Or, as Supervisor Rich Desmond has said in public meetings, "the County isn't up to the job." No one should really be surprised to hear that. Our Supervisors have a truly daunting to-do list that is made harder by a structural governance problem.

That said, the dumpster fire that is slowly revealing itself in and around the Country Club area goes beyond your basic juggling and fumbling of the ball. The heart of our community doesn't deserve a mall with a roof subject to catastrophic failure and very high levels of toxic mold in the walls and the ventilation system. We expect our municipal service provider to crack down on those things. Maybe even crack down on them the way Citrus Heights has busted Sunrise Mall. What? Yup, as reported in the Citrus Heights Sentinel, the City of Citrus Heights conducted an intense, 3-day inspection of Sunrise Mall that found many violations:

• evidence of homeless people living in closed businesses like  the old movie theater and the Elephant Bar,
• plumbing and electrical violations,
• leaks and water damage, 
• an inoperable fire alarm system,
• safety hazards and sanitation problems
• maintenance issues ranging from minor structural problems to extensive deferred maintenance, and
• bugs and rats, lots of bugs and rats.

So the city issued code violation fines for more than $300,000 to the mall owner. What a concept! That's not avoiding the problem. Nor is it a tippy-tap on the wrist. It's a clear statement that Citrus Heights is serious about dealing with the demise of Sunrise Mall. And they have a plan for it, one that will take a lot of time to come to fruition because there is no Magic Wand to fix the place. But, hey, city residents want the plan to happen and the City Council, having listened to them, is committed to the plan. That's how a CITY gets stuff done. Compare it to what's going on in the County Club area - where enforcement seems to have been spotty and potentially serious health problems are said to be civil matters between the owner and business tenants. Maybe, just maybe, is it time for our community to be able to do something similar?  The only way for that to happen is for Arden Arcade to become a city. For some, that's an imperative. What do you think?