Sunday 03 August 2008
You better live your best and act your best and think your best today, for today is the sure preparation for tomorrow and all the other tomorrows that follow.
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Posted by Rob Defrees on Sunday 03 August 2008 - 12:38:35 |
Wednesday 07 January 2009
Welcome to Calaveras Street!
Packed computer email box
Like all good things, a visit to a place filled with many fond memories has to come to an end. The time spent with friends and wandering the streets and places of interest has beenpacked with more new memories to take back to California with MOI. Got to taste the many culinary delights offered, and my eyeballs ache with all of the sights taken in. Ears will ring for days with the honking horns of the taxis, the many languages heard on street, and that special way that only New Yorkers have of talking.
It was not my first visit to New York, and hardly think it will be my last. There are too many memories held of the City that will always be very special to me. MOI has been staying in a rather smart hotel on the Eastside, just off Madison Avenue and one block from 5th Avenue, close to everything and an area that makes hailing a taxi very easy! This old geezer has walked, and walked. To the Village, Times Square, Central Park and to theatre district to look up at all of the bright lights. So many Stars on one road. Not enough time to see as many shows as one would like. Some how the whole of New York looked cleaner, brighter and friendlier than remembered from the past, that could be due to my rose-coloured glasses and the warmth of friends.
For a price(everything in New York can be had for a price) the hotel placed a laptop in the suite and it was much used. Thanks to mates more clever than MOI, there was much learned over the past days. What wonders the computer holds if you look in the right places.
We got to digging about for information on my website and am gobsmacked at the number of places it pops up and the many comments it has generated from folks unknown and places not 'au fait' with. My hatred for drugs and drug dealers is one topic that keeps going round and round, and the use of cameras and being pro-active in trying to clean up the road lived on. With help, was able to pull up some interesting things, and will share them with you;
COMMENTS -
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Posted by Rob Defrees on Wednesday 07 January 2009 - 01:24:23 |
Tuesday 06 January 2009
'SILLY HALL' gains a giant!
Lee Brand - Council member for District 6
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdrEmZ35fxc C'est Moi! MOI can think of no one better suited to have this tune applied to. Allow MOI to explain....................
Lee Brand wore out several pairs of shoes walking roads and knocking on doors in seeking the office he now lays claim to. He won his place on the City Council with a comfy margin and not one to rest and wait for the big day to arrive, he has spent many an hour to learn how to come up to speed so that when he takes the oath and takes his place, he will be up to speed with the problems faced and ready to jump right in and contribute valuable input to the many problems facing the coming days. There is not a mean bone in the man's body, and he has offered his hand in friendship to one and all on the council. He has travelled to other cities in seeking information and has spent many a long night reading up on what can be done to make a difference. He has met with the new mayor and even had a chat with Councilman Perea. A true GIANT of a man has joined the ranks of the Fresno City Council.
Lee Brand, unlike many who get elected to the city council sees his role in local government to not only serve the folk from his district but to try and make good on promise to try and find ways to help folks on different roads, not just the the roads in his district. How grand is that? A councilperson who wants to serve the needs of the entire city. Something this city needs in these trying times.
Were that the only happening at 'Silly Hall' today it would be a big thing, but there is more.............
Councilwoman Sterling gets 'crowned' Council President
Not for just a day, but the whole coming year! Proving that a councilperson who has no interests in anything other than her district can rise to to the top of the bottle. A pocketbook full of lint and as blinkered as anyone can be about the goings on of the City of Fresno. She must truly be hoping that the stars in heaven have lined up and one will fall from the sky and add luster to her resume when she is made redundant in two years. Opened this email received from her new Chief of Staff while sipping a glass of wine on sofa in New York and almost spilled a very good year.........
Rob please know that as our office gets busier with Councilmember Sterling becoming Council President, we will continue to do our best to serve you. Enjoy the rest of your trip.Erica-Erica A. Franco-CabreraChief of StaffCouncilmember Cynthia A. SterlingDistrict Three(559)621-7836- direct
A good set of roller skates might help!
The real show stopper today will be the swearing in of Mayor-elect Swearengin. With no hair out of place, flashing white teeth and an outfit that will make all on the dais look shabby, she will take the reins of power and proclaim that a new day has arrived in Fresno. She tells Jim Boren and Bill McEwen on their radio show that she will be making many trips to Washington to bang on doors and plead for funding for our fair city. Will she pack a T-shirt with a large 'OR' printed on it??
The City Council Chamber will be packed............will the exalted personages give full voice to the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance? Will the hall ring with their voices? Will Councilman Perea stop sulking and give the new Mayor a 'high five'.
In these hard times it might be appropriate for the assembled members of local government to take a moment and give voice to a tune that was written by one who came to these shores, got wealthy and famous and never forgot what he owed to his new found country.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r26_CSzk3Xw God Bless America!
Comments: 8
Posted by Rob Defrees on Tuesday 06 January 2009 - 02:21:14 |
Monday 05 January 2009
FRESNO NEIGHBOURHOODS WERE ALLOWED TO DIE!
A Neighbourhood is many things
The spatial division of cities into districts or neighbourhoods is one of the few universals of urban life from the earliest cities to the present. In the words of the urban scholar Lewis Mumford, “Neighbourhoods, in some primitive, inchoate fashion exist wherever human beings congregate, in permanent family dwellings; and many of the functions of the city tend to be distributed naturally—that is, without any theoretical preoccupation or political direction—into neighbourhoods.” Most of the earliest cities around the world as excavated by archaeologists have evidence for the presence of social neighbourhoods.. Historical documents shed light on neighbourhood life in numerous historical preindustrial or nonwestern cities. Neighbourhoods are typically generated by social interaction among people living near one another. In this sense they are local social units larger than households not directly under the control of city or state officials. In some preindustrial urban traditions, basic municipal functions such as protection, social regulation of births and marriages, cleaning and upkeep are handled informally by neighbourhoods and not by urban governments; this pattern is well documented for historical Islamic cities.In addition to social neighbourhoods, most ancient and historical cities also had administrative districts used by officials for taxation, record-keeping, and social control. Administrative districts are typically larger than neighbourhoods and their boundaries may cut across neighbourhood divisions. In some cases, however, administrative districts coincided with neighbourhoods, leading to a high level of regulation of social life by officials. For example, in the T’ang period Chinese capital city Chang’an, neighbourhoods were districts and there were state officials who carefully controlled life and activity at the neighbourhood level. Neighbourhoods in preindustrial cities often had some degree of social specialization or differentiation. Ethnic neighbourhoods were important in many past cities and remain common in cities today. Economic specialists, including craft producers, merchants, and others, could be concentrated in neighbourhoods, and in societies with religious pluralism neighbourhoods were often the specialized by religion. One factor contributing to neighbourhood distinctiveness and social cohesion in past cities was the role of rural to urban migration. This was a continual process in preindustrial cities, and migrants tended to move in with relatives and acquaintances from their rural past...... Lifted from Wikipedia.
These past days walking round the City of New York, MOI has seen many different neighbourhoods, some grand and some not so grand. But they are by definition 'neighbourhoods', pockets of folks living as part of the whole.
Fresno has seemed to forgot that. In the rush for the have's to distance themselves from the 'have nots' they have allowed a serious crime to take place. One that many elected officials have refused to adress for many, many years. The only answer seems to be to throw buckets of cash at the problem, and even that does not make certain that it will change the character of the neighbourhoods long ignored. There is much blame to go round.
The New Mayor wants to change this, has placed a chap in charge who will make all things right. A new 'Homeless' Czar' has been placed in charged of trying to find solutions for the countless numbers of 'uncovered' wandering the roads. Even Councilwoman Sterling has found her voice and wants to be a part of the process.
Greedy property owners are being singled out as the main cause of the blight. Fulton Mall. a mall out of date and in need of much new life, is thought to be a key to fixing what has been wrong for so very long.
DOWNTOWN did not die overnight and it did not die due to a lack of FREE parking. FOLKS voted with their feet and pocketbook and stayed away in droves. Elected officials and local government are more to blame than they want to admit.
Blight happens when neighbours look the other way. Snide remarks in the Opinion Talk blog get it all wrong. Not sure if the comments are 'tongue in cheek' or just how folks feeL about folks who happen to become 'uncovered'. There are many reasons for one to give up hope and wander the streets with no place to call home. In these hard times it could happen to many of us.
New York may not be perfect, but it has tried to hold fast to the idea of neighbourhoods, something that was allowed to die in Fresno a long time ago.
Want answers? Talk to Dr. Don Simmons, who continues to believe in neighbourhood, or Bob Macias, or Jesse and Andrea, or Anitia, or Armando and Maria, or Ron. The lovely lady who is in charge of historic preservation loves to look at a map that blocks out Historic Calaveras as part of DOWNTOWN.........................as do many others. For 6 long years, Councilwoman Sterling and her staff have ignored the plight of the less fortunate and sucked up to the 'boys with cash', allowed DOWNTOWN to become the mecca for social services and non-profits that many well not play into a new and better DOWNTOWN. Lucky Councilwoman Sterling, she will be redundant in two years and will always be able to say that she want not a part of what DOWNTOWN became.
NO NEIGHBOURHOOD LEFT BEHIND....................TOTALLY RUBBISH.
Comments: 1
Posted by Rob Defrees on Monday 05 January 2009 - 04:02:02 |
Sunday 04 January 2009
OUT OF TOWN
Warm fire, comfy chair and solitude
Word reaches this old geezer that the Mayor-elect Ashley Swearengin is having a meet and greet on Monday at the Convention Center. Thousands of her 'friends' will have the opportunity to pluck down $15.00 to press the flesh and perhaps place a words in her ear before she is sworn in as the new mayor. To be sure there will be many who will want to rub shoulders with and fight way through the palace guard in the hopes of getting a private word with the great lady. MOI is on the other side of the country and will not be one of them, has better things to do with $15.00. Will get more warmth from the fire in suite than at the Convention Centre.
Just before Christmas, 'H' Spees came by my flat and we had a very interesting conversation. My opinion of 'H' has softened since MOI went after him so harshly."H" has made many efforts to be a source of inspiration to this old geezer and one of the most important things learned from the man is that what has plagued Fresno for so very long is still very much in place in Fresno. Fresno is a 'Tales of Two Cities', has been for many a year and still remains a place where the haves hold tight to what they have and do not share with the have nots. There is a great divide in Fresno, and so far, nothing has been done to close the gap. The poor are still hurting, large pockets of poverty are sill in place, hatred still lives in the city and the 'uncovered' and mentally ill still are in much need of love and understanding. More's the pity that what 'H' has come to know about Fresno is not picked up and made right by many who could make a difference.
No matter how hard one tries to push 'Historic Calaveras', the message reaches some good souls but the real 'movers and shakers' in Fresno are not interested and that dooms the road and the community. Public employees can be legend in their efforts to right the wrongs but with out the backing of the 'powers that be' at 'Silly Hall' only so much will be done. Councilwoman Sterling will continue to ignore, she has more important agendas to push. Mayor-elect Swearengin will find other ways to draw attention to problems without looking just down the road from 'Silly Hall', the new DOWNTOWN Czar will keep his eye on what is happening at Fulton Mall and other places nearest 'Silly Hall', the 'uncovered' and the mentally ill will get lost in the shuffle as usual.
The faith based groups and non-profits are licking chops at the massive amount of cash they feel well soon flow into the city from Washington. Monies that will keep them afloat and able t write another report about how grand they are and how many lives their programmes has touched.
The Fresno Recuse Mission will continue to struggle to fill the needs of the folks they are striving to make whole. Cash will be in short supply but they will try to help any and all that cross their door. As will the local food bank.
Thousands of miles away from Fresno, it is hard to believe that where one is now is the same country that contains Fresno. Hard times all round, but there seems to be hope here and the willingness to march forward. The belief that tomorrow will be better than today.
MOI will be well rested upon return..............ready to pick up the challenged faced. Still has a few more days to put the road on the back burner...............what was left will still be there upon return.
Comments: 4
Posted by Rob Defrees on Sunday 04 January 2009 - 01:07:19 |
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"I'm surprised that no one has mentioned the "delivery" drug dealers. My neighborhood apparently is full of users rather than dealers and the dealers run constantly. Literally, all night every 20 minutes or so. Loud bass music... loud motors on the muscle cars, etc. I try to mind my own business. I don't care if you get high in your own home. I don't care what you do -- as long as it DOESN'T AFFECT ME. But it does affect me when a neighbor owed money apparently and the dealer pulled up in broad open daylight with people outside and proceeded to tear up their house with a pipe. Literally, beat the screen out of the screened in porch and then broke out the windows. Calmly walked back to his car and drove off. That was scary... really scary... because the next step will be shooting and drive bys." (on the day the dole is passed out, the drug dealers drive up and down the road to collect. they have got rough with folks but so far have not seen a house torn apart, that may be coming)
"Weed dealers and their clients arent my concern, its the tweekers (or methheads if you prefer). They are a whole different animal. Everyone in my neighborhood either smokes, grows or sells pot, not a problem at all. The tweekers however speed through the windy roads at all hours, steal shit, and basically make me worry for my childrens safety. Even with vigilant and sometimes aggressive neighbors they still stick around. Even after they were evicted, they "squat" the property and the police are doing nothing despite constant calls. All it takes is one meth dealer in your neighborhood to put everyone on edge. If you dont have meth in your area yet, watch out cause it is coming. Its far worse than any other drug, FAR WORSE. Not only are these addicts totally wired for days at a time, but they are VERY ACTIVE which equals crime. I'd rather have any other drug around than meth, its hands-down the worst." Last looked it is illegal to grow weed and to sell it.
"Here in Florida it is illegal to videotape tape someone without their consent. I cannot secretly tape the teenage pot dealer across the street. He has traffic all the time, boom boxes, ragedy vehicles with loud mufflers, teenagers with large deisel trucks peeling out, showing off for their friends, teenagers in the street, under age drinking, cursing, horn honking, yelling and fighting as all hours of the night, and the sheriffs department says that they have rights. I was chastized last Sunday night by a Deputy because I called three times. I told him everything that was going on and he said that maybe they were not dealing that he has a right to have his freinds over. He did not see any underage drinking when he drove by. UNBELEIVABLE!!!!! Thank God my next door neighbor called also. I told the deputy that one of the teenagers followed my sister's car with my eight year old neice in her car into my driveway, and when my brother opened the front door the passenger was yelling "backup, backup" so now we can't even drive into our driveways at night without being afraid that one of these "non threatning pot heads" as you so call them, won't kill us in our own front yard. Everything is quiet for now because the teenager was scared and went to stay with relatives or friends for a few days when he over heard my conversation with the deputy in the street. His clientel keeps pulling up in his driveway, and knocking and blowing the horn trying to get him to come out. Then they peel out around the corner at 2:00 am. I don't know what to do anymore, so I have been documenting everything and hoping that if they do get busted I will be able to sue the parent who does not live there. The sad thing is that this house is a Habitat for Humanity that the single mother put 350 hours in to build and she pays the mortgage but she rents out a room to many different women, and her teenage son lives there too. Last year there was crack dealers squatting in the house. Thank God now we only have ignorant redneck and wanna be gangster teenagers. I read that there is a "Hass Act" where a victim can recieve some money from the confiscated property of the offender. I am at the point of standing in the street with the video camera. If I get killed my son will get my small life insurance policy. My family will get my property. I can film my own murder, send it to a news station and the DA's office. My family can sue the homeowner, and maybe Habitat for Humanity,(although I cannot be upset with them because they were just trying to help the homeowner) And then the police will have to clean up this neighborhood whether they like it or not. I want to move but I can't because the houses in this neighborhood are not selling. Some of them have been sitting on the market for over a year. Next month is my three year anniversary with the SBA loan that I had to take out to purchase my new house after Hurricane Ivan destroyed my home. I am thinking of renting this home out since I cannot sell it. But who accept druggies would want to rent it? Any suggestions people?"
"And then there are the people associated with said drug addicts: family, friends, etc. An addict may not think he's changed and may not see how unstable he's become, but believe me, everyone else does. That shit doesn't just hurt the person doing it... it hurts the people that care about him as well. This shit can destroy families, friendships, marriages... So what was that about drug dealers not hurting anyone? Yeah, that's what I thought.
The worst part is that the dealers know all too well what they're doing. They don't care, because they're going to get paid regardless. They don't have any personal interest in you... you think they give a shit what happens to you? They want you to get addicted. If you become an addict then you're more likely to keep coming back. Congratulations: You just became that bastard's source of financial security. One of many...
So yeah, I think drug dealers suck ass. I think the great majority of them need to be shot on sight. Most of them do not contribute to the community they live in at all, which in today's terms means they are no longer a productive member of society, a waste of human life, undeserving consumers of precious non-renewable natural resources, and generally just dripping with Fail. Epic Fail."