There are plenty of Naysayers on social media ready to pounce if someone dares to say something good. One of the Keyboard Warriors' favorite targets is Sunrise Mall. Yes, everyone knows it is failing. So are a lot of malls elsewhere, including Arden Arcade's Country Club Center - home of the Amazon Fresh ghost store - and Country Club Plaza - a large echo chamber with a leaky roof, black mold, homelessness and an unusual attitude towards its tenants - along with the City of Sacramento's Arden Fair "ghetto" mall. Indeed, the entire retail commercial sector is in the grasp of a transition from a pure brick-and-mortar environment to a significant online one. Both the City of Sacramento and the Sacramento County seem to be lettiing developers explore solutions along the lines of throwing spaghetti at the wall to see if it will stick. Those are short-term tactics (AKA hopes and prayers) without a long-term strategic context. By contrast,  Citrus Heights, to its credit, is actively engaged in planning for the next evolutionary stage at the Sunrise Mall site. Citrus Heights also seems to understand that solving the big mall problem requires a long-term strategy and is standing up to developers who just want to put band-aids over the cancer. Nevertheless, the social media Naysayers are quick to condemn Citrus Heights.

Ah, but what has Citrus Heights actually been doing without its once-treasured cash cow? Answer: making its residents happy. The Citrus Heights Sentinel published a list of good things that Citrus Heights has gotten done over the past year. They are not just things that make you go "hmmm...", they are things that truly impress. Things like roads and construction: resurfaced streets, ADA and pedestrian safety improvements, low-income housing and housing assistance. As well as: problem-oriented policing, homeless trash removal, drug takebacks, patrols for illegal fireworks, and nuisance and traffic enforcement. But also: mobile home repair grants, neighborhood ice cream socials, a new Arts District and fundsing for non-profit organizations. Along with: a Love Local shop and dine campaign for Auburn Blvd., 800 business licenses, 29 ADU permits, 3200 building permits, a 3-year work plan to help businesses, and, of course, enforcement of the safety and other code violations at Sunrise Mall. Whew! That's a lot for a city that's supposedly on the ropes because of the Mall.

Gee, you can't help but wonder what kind of progress would happen around here if we had a Mayor and a City Council to focus on local improvements. You can see with your own eyeballs how things are going hereabouts under the watchful (?) eye of our dear county Board of Supervisors. Remember, it doesn't work if just our Supervisor is on our side. It takes two other Supervisors - that we don't get to vote for, cannot recall from office, and probably have little or no clue about what our community needs and wants - to deliver the two other votes necessary to deliver any improvements our way. Depending on the kindness of strangers is a foolish business plan.