Government at Work
Sacramento Bee Headline
American River Beach looks like ‘diluted sewage‘
The above photo is of visitors at Tiscornia Beach on the American River Parkway in Sacramento. The article with the photo and caption tells us:
“Tiscornia’s E. coli readings were three times higher than the safety threshold on August 27th and six times higher on August 13th. The American River Parkway attracts millions of visitors annually. Despite this widespread popularity, few public bathrooms are available 24 hours because officials have refused to provide them where homeless congregate, saying campers would just destroy them. Officials remain unwilling to point to the homeless, which number between 200-300 along the American River, as a source of the fecal bacteria.”
“Instead, they’ve embarked on a three to four year study that will test the DNA of the bacteria to determine its exact source. The cost to taxpayers: $600,000 to $800,000.”
“Local officials say that aside from the study, they’re taking other steps to address the homeless issue.”
The above quotes are from the front page article of the Sacramento Bee – Sunday September 15, 2019 issue. Available on line.
Forgive the sarcasm but I feel much better knowing that we are going to do a three to four year DNA study costing $600,000 to $800.000 to find out if the fecal matter (human waste) found floating in the water is from nameless, homeless people using the river as a toilet because the same city government cannot provide sanitary toilet facilities on a 24 hour a day basis.
The city is also working on more shelters that will “come on line” in “coming months”. I shudder to think what the ultimate cost of those will be with this same city government in charge of the project. Another “Shelter” that the city managed (and ultimately closed) ended up costing the city about the same amount per homeless person as it would have cost to put them up at a Motel 6.
It seems to me that government has a habit of trying to solve problems with long range, expensive studies and well meaning but generally ineffective plans instead of tackling the root cause of these problems, which are all too often caused by the same governments poor management, excessive taxation and taxpayer waste which, in turn, puts such a burden on citizens that they cannot afford housing and become homeless.
Bob Bandy – September 2019
I think this is a real great blog.Much thanks again.
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