It is pretty clear from this video that the roof at Country Club Plaza is not in good shape. The video was posted to TikTok yesterday, a very rainy day. It clearly shows that the mall's roof is leaking in several places. It is our understanding that one of the mall's tenants had a roofing company look at the roof several months ago, which resulted in an assessment that the roof has significant problems. Oddly, when our people have asked the County to look into it, the County's response has been either that 1) sorry, but code enforcement doesn't apply to commercial property (a falsehood, according to the Office of Assemblywoman Maggy Krell),  i.e. "nothing to see here, move on", of 2) the roof is OK - i.e. "nothing to see here, move on" - or 3) the County knows about lawsuits against the property owner but doesn't want to get involved, i.e. "nothing to see here, move on".

Further, we have heard that the laundromat business isn't going to open and the hair salon next to it has been forced to close. Among the reasons: bad roof, black mold, County inaction and the cost of lawsuits.

Finally, we have heard from some readers of this blog that "we are too negative". You know, we're awfully sorry about that, but our newsroom always seeks to be in touch with reality. Try as we might, we can't find a bunch of nice words to say about a mall that is clearly failing. We're concerned about things like:

• the businesses that have acted in good faith to provide us with products and services there - they seem to be having a very tough time
• public safety at the mall - we hope people won't slip and fall on the wet floors or unattended trip hazards, we hope the homeless situation will be addressed and we want codes to be enforced
• a lack of vision for the mall's future - is it just there for an absentee owner to make money (such as by not spending money on maintenance) and/or to benefit from tax write-off's or it is supposed to be an valid economic engine for the community?
• the County's apparent lack of concern - what with wacky land use proposals (like the self-storage + hotel or apartments pipe dream), alterations (like the fast food chicken sandwich thing), along with persistent reluctance to even acknowledge the community's genuine concerns about the mall, and
• the costs of repeated law enforcement activity at "our Sayonara Drive" and in the nearby vicinity.

We sure wish we could tell you that the property around Watt and El Camino is being developed to meet community needs (e.g. how Rancho Cordova, El Dorado HIlls and Elk Grove have created vibrant  "something out of nothing" mixed use centers), and that there is a valid long-term plan for the country club malls (like Sunrise Mall in Citrus Heights, for which the city recently got a significant planning grant). But we can't report things like that here  and you know why: we do not have local control of our municipal affairs.

However, being Californians, we DID think of something good to say: "It sure is nice to have all this rain after so many hot, dry months, isn't it?"