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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-Public Comments - o Q Good Morning. My name is Joe Bonadiman, P.O. Box 5852, San Bernardino. With me is Carole Main who will also have a presentation. I have been a resident and have owned property in the City of San Bernardino since 1961 and even though I was born in Los Angeles, I think of San Bernardino as my home. I am here this morning to talk to you concerning a very serious matter. AB you are all aware, last week our city got national recognition, not as being the new home of part of a federal accounting center, but as being the 6th most dangerous place to live in the United States. Even though I, and probably many of you realize that statistics can do strange things in placing us on this list, and as a matter of fact, we might not be as bad off as this set of statistics make us look, we do relllize that we are in sad shape as a city and that it is imperative that we take quick decisive action to do something about it We have read reports in the paper that the police department has plans - over a period of time -- to remedy the situation, but, we, the public, have not seen anything that gives us a lot of confidence that something can be done soon. Now I come to the main reason for being here this morning, and that is to propose that the city enacts a law, such as the one in Hong Kong in relationship to caning of vandals. That we send a person to Hong Kong for proper instruction in applying caning or we hire a trained caner from Hong Kong to come to San Bernardino to give instructions. We must all be well aware that the citizens of San Bernardino, as well as of our entire country, are completely fed up with the wanton destruction of property and the temole signal that gives, not only to residence of our city, but also to people who wish to locate business in our City. I can guarantee you that if we take positive action, such as I am suggesting here, "NOW', the people that hear about our resolve, will quickly applaud our action, to change the terrible image that we are developing here in our city. I am not suggesting this as a single source to our problems, I am suggesting this as a first step -- speedy option -- to show the citizens of San Bernardino, as well as others, that their city will never again be the sixth worst place to live in the nation. (pfr,fif #1 - 11. ~ o Q . This tremendous embarrassment to those of us who live in San Bernardino and have our businesses here, should never happen again. Additional steps to reduce crime would included ways to control gangs, control the influx of parolees into our community, control welfare recipients being dumped in our area, juvenile crime and so forth. Carole will mention some of these in her presentation. I can remember, so well, only a few years ago, when we were proud to be the fastest growing area in the United States, and how that turned around in a short time to put us in the temble economic position that we are today. We had no control over the recession, the reduction of the military, the economy and other things that cause the economic problems that we see today, however, we do have the ability to control crime and criminals. I am here this morning to beg you to take up this gauntlet I have handed you and speedily implement the first step which is caning. Thank you for this time to make this presentation. o o Good Morning. My nlUJ1e is Joe Bonadiman. P.O. Box 58S2, San Bernardino. With me is Carole Main who will also have a presentation. I have been a resident and have owned property in the City of San Bernardino since 1961 and even though I was born in Los Angeles, I think of San Bernardino as my home. .I lUJ1 here this morning to talk to you concerning a very serious matter. As you are all aware, last week our city got national recognition, not as being the new home of part of a federal accounting center, but as being the 6th most dangerous place to live in the UtUied States. Even though I, and probably many of you realize that statistics can do strange things in placing us on this list, and as a matter of fact, we might not be as bad off as this set of statistics make us look, we do reillize that we are in sad shape as a city and that it is imperative that we take quick decisive action to do something about it We have read reports in the paper that the police department has plans - over a period of time -- to remedy the situation, but, we, the public, have not seen anything that gives us a lot of confidence that something can be done soon. Now I come to the main reason for being here this morning, and that is to propose that the city enacts a law, such as the one in Hong Kong in relationship to caning of vandals. That we send a person to Hong Kong for proper instruction in applying caning or we hire a trained caner from Hong Kong to come to San Bernardino to give instructions. We must all be well aware that the citizens of San Bernardino, as well as of our entire country, are completely fed up with the wanton destruction of property and the terrible signal that gives, not only to residence of our city, but also to people who wish to locate business in our City. I can guarantee you that if we take positive action, such as I am suggesting here, "NOW', the people that hear about our resolve, will quickly applaud our action, to change the temble image that we are developing here in our city. I am not suggesting this as a single source to our problems, I am suggesting this as a first step -- speedy option -- to show the citizens of San Bernardino, as well as others, that their city will never again be the sixth worst place to live in the nation. - . o o . This tremendous embarrassment to those of us who live in San Bernardino and have our businesses here, should never happen again. Additional steps to reduce crime would included ways to control gangs, control the influx of parolees into our community, control welfare recipients being dumped in our area, juvenile crime and so forth. Carole will mention some of these in her presentation. I can remember, so well, only a few years ago, when we were proud to be the fastest growing area in the United States, and how that turned around in a short time to put us in the temble economic position that we are today. We had no control over the recession, the reduction of the military, the economy and other things that cause the economic problems that we see today, however, we do have the ability to control crime and criminals. I am here thismoming to beg you to take up this gauntlet I have handed you and speedily implement the first step which is caning. Thank you for this time to make this presentation. I am Carole Main, P.O. B09970 San Bernardino. I was born and eQated in canad~in Washington State and Kentucky before moving to San Bernardino 17 years ago. I am an American citizen. Shortly after moving here, my family became the victim of violent crime. I am well aware ofthe devastation it causes and I tell you from experience that there are people in this community who disrupt, destroy, maim and kill without cause or care. Crime, particularly juvenile crime impacts all of us. We have 3 choices: · to remain prisoners ourselves, in fenced, gated and alarmed buildings; · to board up our homes and leave; or · to solve the problems and return this community to some semblance of normality. A solution means working together- government, schools and parents. All of us will have to make changes we don't like. We will hear about rights-the people without rights are the victims of crime. This is not a racial issue. Across the board we have a serious problem with too many of our young people. However, I didn't come here only with complaints; I came with suggestions. On Gangs: Gang apparel sends us a message. Let's send them a message by registering, photographing and fingerprinting them. Once convicted of a crime, we can require them to wear computerized bracelets that give us the ability to monitor their activities. And, Let's make school uniforms mandatory. My children wore them in Canada. Long Beach schools now require them. They are an equalizer, they save money, and believe me they save arguments with your children everymornmg. On School Hours: Let's change Junior and Senior High School students' hours- 9 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., a regular day in other states. Teenagers don't get up early to commit crimes. On Juvenile Crime: During a very embarrassing radio broadcast about our situation, a S.B. Co. Juvenile Dept. employee remarked that only ~ serious juvenile crimes are prosecuted here. Criminals use gang members because there is no punishment or follow through. Let's recruit attorneys to serve as judges pro tem and prosecute juveniles. Then let's open the closed jail facility and make our own "boot camp." As you know, legislation in Sacramento will permit us to do this. San Bernardino should be No 1 on the list for funds. If these ideas are not palatable to our community, then we need the national guard. In SB we have lost our economic base. Over 35% offamilies are on welfare. At least another 35% are employed by the government and lor non-profit groups all funded by taxpayers' money. Many commute out of the area. That leaves only a few residents employed by San Bernardino businesses and remember, private enter- prise - business - pays the way. It creates new revenue. We need sales and business taxes to provide city services and social programs. Without action on San Bernardino's high crime rate, we will never bring private enterprise back to this area. We won't keep what we have now. We must redeem our city-not with blame, not with excuses, not with wishful thinking but with swift and meaningful action that says, "Stop now or suffer the consequences." Discipline is love! Thank you for listening. I'm willing to help. Are you? &/C-/r ~ ~ - () . __,.. _ -1/1