Going beyond Neighborhood Watch.

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There is a lot of noise in the news about crime in Stockton.  Due to poor planning by Stockton officials, the mortgage crisis and the generally crap economy Stockton is broke.  The state has taken money, the City has gotten less tax revenue from retail sales and property taxes each year and has had to reduce the police force along with the rest of City staff.

I’m not going into blame or innuendo.  It is just the way it is for now.  As citizens of our community we need to be a bit more alert to oddities that might be criminal or suspicious in nature.  I just watched a story on News10 about a woman who heard something suspicious.  She noticed a dark vehicle that did not belong there, saw some activity and called the Roseville Police.  A few blocks away the vehicle was caught in a traffic stop and 4 people arrested.  The bad guys, it seems, had a busy night collecting used catalytic converters from operating vehicles without the owners knowledge or permission.  Jail Time!

We, as a community, must pay attention and alert the Stockton Police on the emergency line when things don’t seem right and a crime may be in progress. 209-937-7911 Let them decide from your information what is imperative and in need of a response.  You may save property or even lives.

Along this line, are you aware that the Stockton Police have had crime mapping going for more than a couple of years now?  They provide the information on crimes in a generic manner and it is mapped with icons and annotations to let you visualize the spread of crime.  Take a look at the Crime Map and look for trends, it may alert you to things to watch for to be safe and secure.

Crime Map is a web-based tool, accessible by anyone, via the internet.  Our goal is to reduce crime through a better informed citizenry.  Creating more self-reliance among community members is a great benefit to community-oriented policing efforts everywhere and has been proven effective in combating crime.

The data available through Crime Map has been filtered to remove confidential information and is limited to three (3) months of data.  This website is used by over 160 law enforcement agencies nation-wide to provide citizens access to crime information in their communities.

 

Blood Pot

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Do you smoke a little dope to cope with today’s high pressure  world?  Are you smoking Blood Pot?  I hope you realize the recreational use of pot in the privacy of your own home is not a harmless thing to do.

In today’s world people are dying, literally, to get recreational drugs to Californians, as well as the rest of the country. Blood Drugs is the correct term to use.

FWIW, this is why I use the term Blood Drugs…

http://bit.ly/ztH6g3

Mexico’s drug war death toll: 47,515
12,903 deaths in first nine months of 2011

Mexico’s federal government on Wednesday reported 12,903 deaths related to disputes between criminal groups during the first nine months of 2011. The figures, released by the federal Attorney General’s Office, bring the official death toll of Mexico’s drug war to to 47,515 since President Felipe Calderon took office in Dec. 2006.

and

 http://trib.in/w3E4Vz

Five severed heads found in northern Mexican city

MEXICO CITY, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Mexican police in the
northern city of Torreon found the severed heads of five people
killed in a suspected outbreak of drug gang violence.

Officials were still searching for the bodies. The heads
were found in black bags in various parts of the city late on
Friday, a spokesman for the ministry of public security in the
state of Coahuila said on Saturday.

 

I would like to see mandatory life sentences for any individuals found to be trafficking. Just because a person is driving a vehicle with drugs does not mean they are the actual traffickers. That is a reality our laws fail to discriminate on. A trafficker is a person that arranges the distribution of drugs, weapons, security and drivers, as a beginning. Please take it from that perspective. And if said trafficker is a foreign national, they must serve the life sentence, with a minimum of 30 years behind bars in a US Federal prison before they are deported.

Save lives, don’t smoke recreational pot.

Chuck’s for Coffee?

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It is time to have a relaxing cup of of coffee.  Perhaps a bowl of real oatmeal, no packet stuff, cooked in a pot over a gas flame.  Just like I learned to do as a kid in the 60′s.  Maybe a fine Denver omlette with hash browns and toast.  Better make the doctor less upset, make it a 1/2 order.  Still more than Denny’s serves for less money and less greasy-oily stuff.

Chucks is my place of choice for the bottomless cuppa joe, nice waitresses, and a quietly pleasant curmudgeon cook.

The people are regulars, occasionals and even patrons totally new to the experience.  One can sit alone at a table or the counter, join a companion or four, or even share a table with freinds you never met before.

One can sit, order, eat and leave.  You and any companions can sit for a longer time, no one will hate you for it, just compensate with courtesy and a decent tip, leaving when you realize the place has had folks waiting for a table longer than your guilt complex can handle.

If you are not the morning type there is lunch. The real name, Chuck’s Hamburgers, tell’s it all.  Tasty, on a bun, grilled into a sandwich or even open on a plate cradled on crispy lettuce.  There are fries, settle again for a half order.  More companion time, as you need, until guilt kicks you out.

Join us at Chucks Hamburgers when you can and feel free to comment on Chucks or some other local place you prefer as a comfort zone.

Chuck’s Hamburgers
6034 Pacific Ave,
Stockton, CA 95207-3708

 (209) 473-9977 ‎
Transit: Pacific & Swain (260 ft S) 

Bussing the workers

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Do you work anywhere close to a BART stop? Did you know that you can take the ACE train to connect to the BART system and avoid the maddening drive to the Bay Area? I’m sure you do. It is all over in news reports and advertising.

Perhaps that is not the best option for you.

Do you know you can take an RTD bus from Stockton, Lathrop, Manteca and Tracy to Bart in Dublin, arriving as early as 7am? As a bonus you can return on a bus from the Dublin station as late as 6:30 pm. This means you can do things in the Bay Area, aside from work, and get home without the hassle of driving and finding parking. No car needed, just get to the proper stop.

I once found it is expensive to park in the wrong place, even at BART. I once had my car stall half way up the Altamont. I have spent hours in traffic. Drive. Stop. Roll a few feet. Stop. I rolled just a bit too far once, bumping another car because I got drowsy in the stop and roll traffic.

 

Effective September 6, 2011

The RTD-BART Commuter offers regular, frequent service to BART.

Residents in Stockton can hop on the Commuter at the Downtown Transit Center and travel to the Dublin/Pleasinton BART Station with 7 departures from 5:00am to 5:00pm every weekday.

Map

 

This service has two feeder buses, one originating in Stockton, and one originating in Manteca. The two buses meet at the Tracy Park-and-Ride, where the Manteca passengers transfer to the other bus. The combined bus then travels on to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LLNL) and the Dublin/Pleasanton BART Station.

Reservations

RTD’s Interregional Commuter Service is a subscription service and advance reservations are recommended to ensure space availability.

Reservations can be made by calling RTD Commuter Services at (888) 802-WORK (9675)

 

Remember Cleveland School

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January of 1989 I was a student at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.  I did not watch television with any regularity because there was more of a need for me to study than to watch TV or go to movies.

I do, however, remember the events of January 17 1989.  Much like the events of October 17 1989 it is burned into my memory forever.  Every time I have driven upper El Dorado Street for the last 20 years and I see the school, I am reminded.  Of the crazy murder of children in a schoolyard.

5 innocent children.  Dead.  29 innocent children. Wounded. 1 teacher. Wounded.  A city. Mortified.

We cannot change the past,  the memories will never die as long as one person remembers.

Offer up a prayer to whatever entity guides you that this never repeats.  If it means you turn in a demented or mentally ill family member or friend, do so.  We each have a part in helping our community be a better place.  Take positive actions to do so.

Here is Wikipedia’s article about the event if it is not familiar.

Suffer the Children, or, Our Suffering Children

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This is in response to an brief editorial in The Record.  I am simply making a point about how too many in our community see those bits that comprise our city.  A venue that serves adults is of far more value to many than a venue designated for kids.  Are we back to a Victorian View that “Children should be seen and not heard?”

Or, perhaps, it is more like WC Fields is often quoted about children:  ”Children should neither be seen or heard from – ever again.”

I do not think for a second that it is the way of our community.  It just seems that it is so.

Mr. K, you suggest the community should be in tears over the potential loss of the Fox/Bob Hope Theater. Screw that.

The real loss to our community will be the Children’s Museum. I suppose you and other community leaders don’t spend much energy or thought about the places kids can be safe and still be kids. I don’t recall hearing you say anything about a Gala for the Children’s Museum.

With Historical designations protecting The Theater, it will likely remain a theater. The Children’s Museum, on the other hand, is just a big box building on the edge of town. Great venue for a New and Exciting Night Club. Losing that place for the kids of Stockton will be a very difficult thing to replace. Consider the value to the kids in our community of a place where imagination is king, and fun is the pattern of the day. That as opposed to the dodging of gangs, punks and bad things at home.

Treasure our children just a whole lot more Mr. K. You had some little ones at one time, but I doubt if they had the home and neighborhood environment those that patronize the Children’s Museum these days do.

 

It seems that there is agreement from Fox40 over the value of the Children’s Museum.

Regrouping After Redevelopment Goes Bust

With redevelopment funds off the table, cities like Stockton are going to have to figure out if they can hold on to what they have or watch what they’ve redeveloped disappear from their control.

Stockton’s Children’s Museum is all about helping little people dream big by discovering the world around them.
…

 

 

 

 

 

Who is the Stockton Police Chief?

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It has been reported many times and places, mostly  in The Record, that our current Police Chief was going to be chief for several years.  Then suddenly he had to take a retirement in a hurry because he needed to protect his retirement.  Then, as a Retired Chief of Police he became an Interum Chief of Police.  Now he will no longer be Interum Police Chief because it too is going to mess with his retirement.

Easy solution.  Have the City pay $1 a year and you can still help the community, Chief, and keep your retirement.  Or even become a pure volunteer.  Just stop crying.  Or just stop trying to be the boss and retire for real.

Pain in the night

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I broke a tooth last weekend in Reno and could not get in to Mr Dentist in a timely manner.  I took pain meds and ibuprofen and sucked down 20% benzocaine gel and paste until it stopped hurting.

I was fine for a couple of days and then last night BAM! Pain that grew and grew. Pain pill after pain pill until I finally called 1-800-dentist.  I was way over the daily limit for pain pills and there was no diminishing.  After a few minutes I was offered a New Doctor with years of experience and an emergency number. I called it at 4 am thinking it was an answering service and hung up after 3 rings.  I repeated it about 5:30 and still no answer.  I got a call back about 6:30 am from the New Doctor.  It seems it was his number and he actually answers it.  I was in the office by 8:30 and out after root canal part I by 9:30.  I was not yet even in the computers to be billed.  Wow!

I tell this tale to remind you that the many doctors in our community are real people, and more than might expect would do as New Dentist did:  Take care of a desperate patient in need, fitting said pained person in around the regular schedule.

We have awesome medical professionals in this town.  I have met several.

If you need to know who New Doctor is, send an email to realstockton at gmail dot com

A celebration of life and music

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Every year there is a birthday party.  It is a celebration.  A couple of stories have run in  The Record  and 209Vibe telling the community all about it.  Look up the articles and enjoy the details.  Anna Banana’s Birthdays are wonderful events, and they happen because of the birthday lady.  Are there others like her in our community?

We need more people with skills, talents, strength and determination to improve the community.  We have several groups like Stockton Beautiful or the Friends of the Lower Calaveras and San Joaquin  Film Society, celebrating its 5th anniversary with a Fesitval  this month, that do good things for the community.  What we don’t have enough of are individuals that do something special.  Perhaps they are just not well recognized.

It would be awesome to have you share such people so we can recognize them here on RealStockton.com.  Please send an email to  RealStockton at gmail dot com and tell us about them  It would also be best if you told them what you were doing for the simple reason they may not want the recognition.  Many awesome people are simply doers, and are quite humble.  If you can, share a contact point so we can be sure they are ok, or have them contact us.

Take care of your community.

We don’t need more Ugly Downtown

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In the Record today Mike Fitzgerald touches on the issue of Stockton’s Downtown now that redevelopment is dead. “Where there’s will there’s way for downtown’s carcass”

It is a subject that I find to be a must discuss.  Just a few years ago the city under a former City Manager, Stockton was in the mode of “Tear it Down, They will Build” which resulted in destuction of several businesses downtown plus the loss of interesting architecture.

I guess beauty is indeed relative.  At that time the perception from here was that beauty was based only on the dollars a property brought to the city coffers.  If there is no significant revenue because the property was rundown or unused, it needed to be replaced with a parking lot.  Said parking lot might bring in more revenue and would be considered ready to build on with minimal demolition expense to the new project.

Totally a wrong approach, IMO. The face of a city is what can make it warm and fun to visit.  Imagine beauty of the former Mervyn’s Building in Hayward with its build to the sidewalk approach.  It is an ugly utilitarian building on a main thoroughfare for all to see.  It does not fit in with anything in the community and now thart it stands empty brings no revenue to the city.

That is the way of a city.  Consider the building Stockton recently bought in a fire sale from a bank.  The building was built by one of the largest S&L operations in the country.  We should also know that American Savings was in the forefront of the S&L debacle.  it is considered one of the largest Bank Failures in the country  As a reult it went from a corporate headquarters to a WaMu bank branch.  A few years later the huge bank called WaMu was declared insolvent and was taken over by an East Coast bank, Chase.

All of these companies seemed strong and failed to the point that the building became an asset to divest for the sake of efficiency.

When we continue to build our city, we need to consider what the future will be when the existing owner/builder/occupant ceases to exist, as it most certainly shall.  Will the now empty building be an asset to market for more business or will it be an ugly cube on the sidewalk, like the UniFirst Laundry operation on Hunter St, across from Eden Park.  No Garden of Eden there.