#Modesto will die without grassroots
#LocalGovernment wastes money on needless prison
Imagine traveling to a developing country, some parts of which are the third-world. Sanitation is non-existent. Food is scarce. Education is sub-par. It’s a place where people believe you’re rich beyond measure simply because you have a sitting-toilet in your house, or maybe it’s the color of your skin. It’s a place where people still believe the internet is magic and the idea that information must be controlled. Officials here say they need farming equipment, trained teachers, and proper infrastructure including roads, plumbing, and electricity before these issues can improve.
Now imagine going from there to the United States, the richest country in human history. Imagine going to Modesto, CA, a relatively mid-sized town located in one of the agriculturally richest geographic regions within the United States. It’s a place where every house is equipped with a sitting toilet and most, if not all, houses have internet. It’s a place where information is supposed to flow as freely as highway CA-99 flows through the center of town.
Yet, in Modesto, you find that one in five of the city’s residents is in poverty. The crime rate is so high that it rivals metropolitan areas like the Bay Area and Los Angeles.
Modesto has all the necessary requirements for a first-world country, yet it has a poverty rate nearly identical to the developing country you visited above. And twice the rate as the rest of California. What’s the cause?
Mismanagement at best corruption at worst.
There are really two groups responsible here. The first is the city and county government. The second group is the citizens of Modesto, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
Here’s a great example of how city and county government reeks of mismanagement, maybe corruption. A lot of city officials, like the new mayor Ted Brandvold who is supported by the Modesto Police Officer’s Association, will say crime is at fault. And those same city officials will continue to preach for more police as the answer to crime like they’ve done for decades. And they all but completely ignore the apparent poverty crisis.
“Poverty is the parent of revolution and crime.”
― Aristotle
Economists by a large majority and philosophers alike have said for decades that crime is a symptom of poverty. A new study done by the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, suggests that poverty is the main cause of youth crime. If that is the case, wouldn’t it be smart to address the cause of poverty? That might be a little more difficult than just throwing money at the police, but speaking in the long-term, wouldn’t that be more sustainable?
A prison you don’t need that you can’t pay for.
Instead, city and county officials have agreed to build a new prison that costs nearly $90 million dollars. Don’t worry, 90% of that money was a grant from the State, but the 10% that needed to be supplied by the county is a different story. According to the Modesto Bee, which I’d argue doesn’t fact check well enough, says that 10% part mostly came from boring assets sells and Assembly Bill 109 realignment funds, money freed up by retiring county debt, and $1.8 million from a reduction in the local match for social services.
That’s right, they basically slashed the budget of one of the few things proven to help keep kids from turning to crime — social services. Clearly, irony is lost on city and county officials.
I should also mention that Modesto, and by extension Stanislaus County, already has two prisons with a third one on the way. The third was approved in 2014, has an additional 288 beds, will open in 2018. The first two prisons are never at full capacity.
The third prison, which is equipped with rehab and re-entry facilities, is not counted in the screenshot above. And it also doesn’t count for 2014’s expansion of the so-called Public Safety Center (it’s the second prison) which added 200 beds. So, by 2018 without the new prison, what would the existing capacity be? 1,700+ beds. More beds than necessary according to their 2012 prediction when requesting the funds for this prison facility. By the end of 2018, there will be over 2,100 beds with the new prison.
We’ve established there is no real need for bed or program space. Keeping that in mind, take a look at the type of beds the county is requesting. The facility really just serves as a maximum-security prison. They predict a need for 801 maximum-security beds. That’s nearly an 854% predicted leap in maximum-security inmates. In 2015, the average number of inmates stood just over 1,000 prisoners a month, well below 2012 capacity levels. Where are all these violent criminals going to come from?
Modestans can’t afford it.
So, crime isn’t bad enough in Modesto to fill all the new prison space. What do you think they’ll do with all that extra space? They have to pay to operate it, so it’s highly likely that Stanislaus County will import prisoners from surrounding counties. That sounds expensive, not to mention invasive for Modesto locals, so how will they pay to operate all of this? I’m so glad you asked. They don’t know. I’m dead serious.
“ Officials did not identify how the county would cover $18 million in annual costs,” says The Modesto Bee.
That’s right, they don’t know how to fund the $18 million operating budget. And let’s be honest, it’s likely to be a lot higher than that. So, what’s the most likely way to pay for it? It’s likely that the county will continue to cut social services and other basic programs while your fees will rise at the DMV and property taxes will sore. All just to bring more maximum security prisoners to Modesto.
Everyone’s expenses rise, crime prevention programs have their budget cut, and Modestans have more criminals in their city which can then all be used to call for more police. If that isn’t mismanagement, then I don’t know what is. Is that corruption? Probably not, but ask Mayor Brandvold who just announced a proposal to add more police from 219 to 240, then decide. Do city and county officials think that’s going to help the city’s poverty issue? It’ll almost certainly just make it worse.
It’s kinda our fault.
In 2015, Stanislaus County held it’s local elections for three city council seats and mayor of Modesto, among other positions. On the county’s official documents it was recorded that 22.3% of registered voters actually voted. Not everyone is registered to vote. That essentially means fewer people voted than are below the poverty line in Modesto. I’ll repeat, there are more Modestans in poverty than there are Modestan voters.
The mayor of Ceres even ran unopposed. He got the job simply for existing. His qualifications were irrelevant. And at only 22% voter turnout, how relevant are the qualifications of the candidates? That’s not to say that those elected last November have anything to do with the needless prison you can’t afford, but at the very least it is an example of the lack of participation civil society plays in local government. Which has by far, the most immediate effect on your life.
What’s our excuse?
We don’t have one. Over 80% over those who did vote, did so by mail. They never had to leave the house. Perhaps there wasn’t easily accessible information. Or maybe county and city governments didn’t care to spread the word. But no matter the excuse, we are responsible.
Continued decline
It is my belief, based on the evidence that we reviewed above, that Modesto is too poorly managed by its government and too neglected by its people to change. It cannot become the first-world city it has the potential to be because the local government holds no responsibility to their constituents because their constituents don’t vote. Mismanagement will continue to plague the city of Modesto until a grassroots movement can get the community involved in local politics.
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I’m Marck Ernest Thornton. I’m passionate about writing, interactive and digital media, social justice, journalism and design. You can ask me to work with you, invite me to speak at your event, or grab a coffee if you’re in Berlin. I’m excited to hear from you!
