Our Situation
Arden Arcade has no local control. It is one of umpteen unincorporated communities in Sacramento County. As such, our community is just another faceless, nameless part of the County's vast unincorporated UnCity that is the largest political subdivision within the County. The UnCity has more than 600,000 people. Arden Arcade is home to roughly 100,000 people. Not that anyone would know that, because the three zip codes that apply to Arden Arcade are shared with small portions of the City of Sacramento and, wouldn't you know it, the Post Office calls all three of them "Sacramento". Most of Carmichael is in zip code 95608. The Post Office says 95608 is "Carmichael", and somehow people have come to believe that therefore Carmichael is a city. Besides, the freeways have signs telling you how to get to Carmichael. Well, folks, sorry to burst your bubble, but Carmichael is like Arden Arcade - just another amorphous part of the UnCity. The County says Mission Avenue divides Arden Arcade from Carmichael. We defy you to stand in the middle of Mission Avenue and describe how the west side of the street is different from the east side of the street. It is helpful for people to know whether they live in a city (with a Mayor and a City Council to focus on local priorities) or an unincorporated nowhere land for which the Board of Supervisors (BOS) is responsible for municipal services. Keep in mind that the BOS has region-wide responsibilities, too - for things like welfare, jails, the courts and tax collection. This section of our web site provides details about how the County runs things for us {Hint: with 1 Supervisor for every 315,000 people and every decision of the BOS requiring 3 votes, our neck of the woods is "undemocratic" and "invisible".}
