Let us start with this disclaimer - we in no way are trying to disrespect the good and hard-working residents of our sister city to the north and east of Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova.
Now that we have that out of the way, let's proceed.
For people who may not closely watch Elk Grove politics and the behavior of the Elk Grove City Council, our city's directly elected mayor Gary Davis is a native of Rancho Cordova. Mayor Davis is proud of his roots for which we commend him.
Like most of us, he has used his Rancho Cordova upbringing as a basis for his life decisions. As readers of this news site may note, we often have philosophical disagreements with Mayor Davis.
There is however one area where we find common ground with Mayor Davis. That is on the piss-poor planning that has afflicted Rancho Cordova and how that same sort of planning is affecting Elk Grove.
While the city leaders are trying to correct the numerous sins of Sacramento County planning, it is a challenge. A cruise down Rancho Cordova's main circuit - Folsom Boulevard - reveals an ugly mish-mash of strip centers populated with liquor stores, massage parlors, nail salons, smoke shops, prostitutes, and on the outer rings, topless bars.
On occasion, the mayor has spoken about this and has decried how these items can negatively affect a community.
As the mayor has often said from the dais, he saw and felt the effects of the horrendous planning in Rancho Cordova at the hands of the County. In the mayors youth, he said there was an abundance of liquor stores and all the other ills that follow it.
We agree with the Mayor. During the July 13, 2013 Elk Grove City Council meeting the mayor spoke, and voted against the Walmart application to sell liquor at their Elk Grove Boulevard store.
Aside from the numerous, and we will add, hair-brained schemes the mayor has conjured up - think attracting David Beckham and his Major League Soccer franchise to Elk Grove or his desire to transform the city into a tourist destination - he will face several tests in the coming months on the direction he intend to takes our city.
As EGN reported, three of his fellow council members spoke whole-heartedly on November 18 in favor of erecting electronic billboards throughout Elk Grove. Not surprisingly the trio of Vice Mayor Pat Hume, and council members Steve Ly and Darren Suen indicated their support of more visual blight in Elk Grove.
The only thing left to see for these three is who got to them financially. Financial disclosure they are required to file next year will reveal who is pulling their strings.
And trust us, Council Member Ly doesn't have the institutional knowledge much less the ingenuity to suggest an electronic billboard workshop to City Manager Laura Gill without someone whispering in his ear and lining his pockets with cash.
The only thing missing from Ly's scene is his ever present photographer taking pictures of the wanna-be big shot. Hey, who knows, he might be our Congressman some say - stranger things have happened.
That leaves Council Member Steve Detrick and The Mayor.
As we have seen with Detrick, he has never met a billboard developer he hasn't instantly become friends with. Of course that friendship has a price tag in the tens-of-thousands of dollars in campaign donations to slaughter some neighborhood of poor schleps who stand in his way, not to mention some fine wine and ski trips to the Sierra Nevada. But hey, remember, money doesn't influence his decisions.
As for The Mayor, that is a bit of a mystery.
Will the Mayor remember all the blight created in the Rancho Cordova of his youth at the hands of piss-poor planning and fistfuls of dollars from developers? Or will he once again succumb to the allure of good cold-hard-cash from developers and once again sell the soul of Elk Grove?
We hope The Mayor use what little political capital he has left -which isn;t much anymore - dispaly leadership for once, and kill this stupid idea lest his children move away 10 to 15 years from now to some other new edge city and bemoan the endless number of liquor-shop-filled-strip-centers and a proliferation of gaudy electronic billboards populating Elk Grove.
So what will it be Mr. Mayor - having courage for a change and taking a stance for the future good of Elk Grove or just be another tool in the "Rancho Cordovation" of Elk Grove.
The decision is yours.
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