While the city mulls over barista’s and red light cameras, the fourth person to die in Yakima gang violence this year, the second in the past 8 days, has occurred. Depending on your source of media, its just another murder in Yakima, or tv news such as KNDO which has done a fair job, regardless of the “if it bleeds, it leads” type of reporting. If you ask what the city council is doing, lets go back to 2009.
Back then, Sonia Rodriquez asked for and got additional monies for police overtime in spite of her opponent calling it a ‘cheap shot’. Even Micah Cawley said back in August, ” we’re dealing with a crisis situation with gang violence”. Rick Ensey wasn’t as concerned, “I think we have to be careful about overreacting here”. Cawley however had no plan, opposing ‘throwing more money” at the problem. Candidate and retired RN, Mary Place had an idea to use cell phones, anonymously to report to police gang activity. Back when Place served as Mayor, she saw neighborhood development money used to clean up graffiti and run down houses.
Cawley conceded last summer in an interview with the Herald Republic, that Place had more experience, “But I didn’t think that’s what Yakima was looking for when I was (first) elected, I think the people weren’t happy with the way Yakima was heading.”
Where are you headed Micah, and the rest of the council?
At what point is one too many? More than last year, which is where Yakima and the rest of the valley is heading. Until it spills over to Yakima Avenue when patrons of the hotels and conventions no longer feel secure as it’s not happening on “the wrong side” of town anymore? Cities like Stockton, Compton, Baltimore have long had the stigma of communities with gang violence that has forever tarnished what was considered manageable a couple of decades ago. Does a city of 90,000 have to wait to become an urban icon of someones song or documentary before it’s decided it’s too small to fail?
And you voted for who in the last election, O yea you don’t live in Yakima. Thanks for your backseat quarterbacking.
The the voting public of Yakima have now proved twice they don’t like Mary Place or her ideas.
The problem is you always want to go back. How far back do you want to go, back to when Ronnie Bonnie was in office. His biggest concern was people parking cars on the grass. If he addressed this issue back than and did his job we would not be where we are today with the gangs.
I lay the blame on Bonslander for not getting gangs under control when he had the chance.
Really, so the current officials should do nothing and remain on vacation, stir?
So Mr. Stick, if you are a resident, why didn’t you work on being part of the solution? There are a lot of things that citzens can do to cut down on gang activity. Do you think you can just sit back and let someone else take care of it? You state that mainstreeter should not “go back” and yet Ron hasn’t been on the council for awhile now. So, this falls in the lap of your buds on the council at this time, according to your logic.
So if I read streeter right, the current city council is to blame for gang activity in Yakima?
I don’t remember Ron doing anything that stopped the violence when he was on the council.
Sonia should have been in a prime position to help with solutions, yet all she came up with was throwing a finite supply of money at the issue. Yakima (and most municipalities) doesn’t have the luxury of unlimited police funding. They have to work with what they have.
Virtually anything lawmakers come up with to deal with gangs gets challenged by the ACLU (I see they don’t like Obama anymore either)
as unconstitutional.
I haven’t heard of any “magic bullets” any cities have used that curb the violence.
I truly believe the only lasting solution will come from the Hispanic community itself.
Corie, what would you (or streeter) do to curb gang violence? what are you doing in your own towns?
the very first thing the council can do is address the ongoing feud between the police chief and the police union. We can never solve the gang problem with a dysfunctional police department. Down the future we need to eliminate the saturday night specials and get the gun nuts to start being sensible and realize the right to bear arms is not open ended. Everything in our government body of rules and laws require some restraint.
Neal, if you want to crunch numbers, the gang violence has increased since Ron and others left the council. The comments from Cawley and Ensey last summer are telling. Sonia did ask for overtime which enabled police to add more officers, but it was for a limited time. Are you against more spending, hoping that the gang violence just goes away? Summer is still several months away.
Well Neal I live in a rural area where there are few kids, so no gang problems in my immediate area. But what would I do to curb gang violence if I was on the city council? I would try to do what is being done quite successfully in other towns and cities. For one thing, you get community volunteers involved to keep the graffiti cleaned up..gangs use graffiti to mark their territory.
Send a clear message that violence will no longer be tolerated: Police ,probation officers,
religious leaders and other community leaders(aka Yakima City Council) work together to maintain intensive supervision of high-risk youths and ensure that any future gang violence is met with swift and serious consequences. That means they don’t cut funds for police and sheriff departments.
They need to work together to provide intensive support and services to keep these high-risk youths out of trouble–
Help high-risk youths and their families to connect with services that will help these kids keep away from drugs,stay in school,or get a job. Provide alternative activities for kids to do–work with the Boys and Girls Clubs to set up recreation centers or whatever the kids would like to do.
After-school programs and anti-bullying programs can protect kids from gang violence and remove some of the pressures they face to join gangs. Voluntary high-quality home visitation programs for new parents and high-quality pre-kindergarten programs for at-risk kids have also been shown to help kids succeed in school and to cut future crime in half or more. The high- quality home visitation and pre-kindergarten programs save taxpayers three to four times what the programs cost.
You get back what you invest in your community, Neal. This could cost money but there is a LOT that can be done by utilizing volunteers, the schools, religious leaders and the police. It does NOT get better when you have a city council that says “I think we have to be careful about overreacting here”, or consider it “throwing money at it.”
You get the community you are willing to invest in.
Streeter…Gang violence is up EVERYWHERE since Bonlender was in office. No point going there.
And yes, Strreter…it doesn’t matter if I’m “for” or “against” spending more money. What you don’t seem to get is..The money isn’t there. Hard to spend what you don’t have…at least it is for me. I guess liberals never got that memo.
And Corie…all you are proposing is great. Sonia didn’t do that.
Neal, blaming past members of the city council is a dead horse. The ACLU does not always do what is popular, but they do keep us reminded that church and state do not mix. If you want proof of that just be a mouse in the corner at one of the Tea Party gatherings.
Gunder, you got it right about the squabbles in the Police Department. It is a no-go-show as long as Granato insists on being the Grand Paboo, doesn’t want any questions asked of him and wants to install his buddy as a crime analyst at 111,000 clams a year. Lover is right to oppose the hell out of that, and keep Granato watching his backside. The best we can hope for is he gets that job in Corpus Christi.
The council has resisted moves to keep unstables from reaching out for more guns, and has stated ever so adamantly that if we are concerned, “go to the state legislature,” who has said, “go to Murray and Cantwell.” The latest plea to Ross about the gun shows, is that if the matter comes up in the legislature, he will surely keep my thoughts in mind. The city attorney provided the council with a perfect answer when he stated that by law, the city can make no laws that exceed what has already been prescribed by the state. Everybody is afraid to buck the NRA. Will it take a high mucky-muck being gunned down before some proaction develops? The safety of citizens is far more important than precedent or the next election.
And of course we would not want to do anything to diminish the money coming into the fairgrounds. The last two gun shows were in the Modern Living Building.
Corie you are correct, it takes a whole village. We cannot expect the council, the police or the Hispanics to take on street violence. We have all got to get hold of this rope and pull. There is way too much apathy, lethargy, loss of will, and comfort in the hills.
Whoop, I haven’t blamed anybody for anything…Until now..
“Politics killed anti-gang bill, Yakima lawmaker says”
http://www.yakima-herald.com/stories/2010/03/09/politics-killed-anti-gang-bill-yakima-lawmaker-says
Now, as it was killed by Dems, I assume you’ll find a way to rationalize its death..??
Comments?
Whoopeedo
“blaming past members of the city council is a dead horse.”*** Well, it works for Obama and the dems… they still like to blame Bush for everything…
This is what we need…more people not afraid to get involved, and using their constitutional rights to defend themselves…. “Police say a neighbor told them he saw a man beating a woman with a large rock in the driveway of her home.
“The resident tells the bad guy to stop,” said Lt. Mike Merryman. “By all appearances, he was trying to kill this woman, who he had down in a puddle of mud.”
The neighbor then fired his rifle at the man, hitting his right shoulder, Merryman said.”—Yakima Herald online
Neal, government is not perfect. There were mistakes in judgement made in our legislature, and I don’t think the failure of this bill is incumbent on any party or economic block. One thing that helped defeat it is it’s late coming to the legislative floor. You don’t pass good legislation when everybody is tired of the entire malfunction and wants to come home.
Jason, blaming past members of the city council is still a dead horse. What will you make better by doing so? So what is your point about the guy stopping the other guy from beating the woman–it is exactly what any good citizen should do.
What are you saying. We do not always get the point that you obviously see and understand. You have to make us aware of what you mean with words of explanation.
I’ve been doing all that my trifling energy will allow, trying to reduce the number of guns that might fall into the hands of domestic-violence offenders, felons, druggies, unstables, and under-age gangbangers, and such, but as Paul George said, “I got thrown under he bus.” Tell me what you are doing?
Whoopee, you know damn well the bill was killed by senate democrats. The senate version of HB 2414, SB 6785, only had Republican sponsors.
Looks like streeters rant caught the Dems in the headlights here.
As for gun shows, Whoop…you know I agree with you. But you and I both know stopping shows tomorrow won’t slow down gang violence in any meaningful way. Not for a generation anyway.
And Whoopie…about it coming late to the floor? Who’s fault was that??
The bill was pre-filed on December 7, and given its first reading on January 11, the FIRST DAY of the session.
As it was referred to Judiciary committees in both houses, where the committees are heavily Dems, I think it’s easy to see which political party killed this.
Any foot dragging on the bill can be laid at the feet of those in power.
Now that the gangs are shooting at the same officers Drew was talking about in one of his earlier rants, perhaps you can call YOUR party and ask…WTF???
Neal, why don’t you ask Norm Johnson if he really thought the way this bill was worded stood a chance of passing?
just get ride of the damn handguns and the violence will drop dramatically. Now we have gun nuts going into Starbucks with their guns lashed to their side. The wild west is no longer here.
Well, streeter..it passed the house (where even YOU know Norm is located)
90-6
I’d say Norm did HIS job just fine.
What happened to the idiots in the senate?
Seems to me after reading your rant, streeter, you would be pleased about ANYBODY doing ANYTHING to try stopping the violence…But..that wasn’t what this was REALLY about, was it?
Yeah it did pass the house, maybe Norm needs to include everyone in his future legislation.
Norm didn’t build any coalition like the previous gang bill signed into law 2 years ago.
In that, meetings were held statewide with prosecutors, law enforcement, legal aid and youth program directors. He needs to go back and craft a bill that can pass the judiciary committee.
whoopeedo
blaming the other guy IS a “dead horse” that was my point, how often does Obama blame the Bush administration? At some point you have to take responsibility for your own policies…success along with failures.
What I am saying is since the dems on the west side have killed all of our anti-gang bills, it is going to take people that are willing to step up and defend those people that need help, luckily the guy had a gun that saved the woman’s life. In that case the man attacking the woman was not armed with a gun, he was going to beat her to death with a rock….maybe you should start a new crusade to get rocks out of the hands of criminals, because in this case a gun saved a life, not take one.
Jason, guns save lives every day, and it has never been my point to vilify guns. My point is that they should never be allowed into the hands of persons who have no respect for the dignity of life and who would use them to end lives capriciously, for ego satisfaction and for profit or revenge.
Neal, the most savage of stances is to deny something you did and pretend you know nothing of it. I quote you:
“Whoop, I havent blamed anybody for anythiing, until now…”
(and before that statement)
“I don’t remember Ron doing anything that stopped the violence when he was on the council.
Sonia should have been in a prime position to help with solutions, yet all she came up with was throwing a finite supply of money at the issue. Yakima (and most municipalities) doesn’t have the luxury of unlimited police funding. They have to work with what they have.”
Please, if you take a stance, at least own up to it, and be honest with the rest of us. You have criticized and blamed past members of the city council…here it is in your own words.
Whoop
Whoopee…
I stand firmly by what I said.
What I said about Ron and Sonia didn’t blame them for anything. I simply pointed out neither of them had any lasting solutions to gang problems in Yakima.
And..I DID blame Dems in the Washington senate for killing something that may have had a lasting impact. We’ll never know now.
I guess when I point out an obvious fact about democrats screwing up, the only thing you can answer with is Death to the Messenger.
That serves no purpose.
WENATCHEE, Wash. – The 17-year-old Wenatchee High School student who was killed last month was hit on the head, strangled and stabbed in the neck.
look streeter and drew you have crime in you town to worry about now. At least here they have caught the bad guys. up there they don’t even have a clue as to who did it or where to start.
We’re talking about a pandemic stir, gang violence that has a recurring theme. Yakima County having 25 murders last year sounds like it’s not under control. How many gang murders did King County have?