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Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Thumbs down to the city of Sacramento
by Rhonda Erwin, published on March 28, 2012 at 2:42 AM
Storyline: City Agenda's
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Today I was given the middle finger and told “F**k you” by the City of Sacramento!
I awoke thinking it is going to be a good day. I headed out the door to work at 6:30am.
Some people are fortunate and wake up with a simple Things to Do list. I am not as fortunate. I am from the low income community and we often wake up with a Struggles to Endure, Battles to Fight List hopes to endure another day list.
Recently I have gone to various government offices and watched some within the city, county and state offices treat many low income residents as if they were voiceless, powerless and not worthy of being treated with respect.
I am low income. I believe whenever we have concerns we should also have a voice. When we have a voice we can disarm aggression - remain in the spirit of love- and arm ourselves with power.
With all the struggles I face on a daily basis I have to have a voice to disarm the mounting pain which can cause aggression. When my son was sentenced to prison his county/ state funded court appointed attorney looked me in the eyes and actually said, “F**k you”.
I am not privileged. I am in a community divided into victims and suspects, aggression, pain and anger surrounds me. I am trying to raise a son who will live in this city and I do it mourning the deaths of so many others that I love.
Too many of our children are dying prematurely. Too many of us are drowning, suffocating without a voice. I refuse to die in pain and let my struggles be buried with me.
I am trying to raise my son to know freedom and not live or die in a California prison.
I am teaching my son the pen is mightier than the sword. I am teaching him he is entitled and worthy of respect. I am teaching my son there is power in having a voice.
With all the struggles I face throughout the day, being a low income resident, I will not start my day being told “F**k You” by a City Employee.
When you are a city, county, state employee what you do on your own time in your own vehicle is your business. When you are in a city, county, state office or vehicle you no longer simply represent yourself --you represent the city or county of Sacramento.
This morning I attempted to enter the right lane to merge onto the freeway. I put my blinker on and when it was safe I attempted to merge into the right lane.
Suddenly I noticed a white city truck speeding up in an attempt to not let me in front of him. I couldn’t believe the driver would deliberately make me miss the freeway entrance because he did not have the courtesy to allow me to merge onto the lane.
The city truck sped up in efforts to prevent me from merging onto the freeway. Fortunately the driver behind the city truck allow me to enter the lane.
As I drove onto the freeway I entered into the left lane. I noticed the white city truck was in the right lane with several cars in front of him. We waited for one car to merge onto the freeway per green light.
My turn arrived and now this time I am in front of the white city truck. The driver sped up close to the back of my car. As we entered Interstate 5 he raced on the side of me. I looked over and this man, appearing filled with anger, rage, leaned toward his passenger window threw his arm towards my direction with his middle finger pointed at me stating ‘F**k You”
What the driver of the truck didn’t know is that I was not going to yell and cuss back at him. I have too many battles to fight, too many struggles to endure, bigger fish to fry, too much heartbreak. I was not going to throw my middle finger back at him or yell ‘F**k you”
I simply reached over to my purse and grabbed my camera. After witnessing so much from so many government workers I now carry my camera wherever I go. For me, “The pen (accompanied by photographs) is mightier than the sword”
I have respect for many city officials, departments, events, services and employees. And I do not believe we, as city residents have to tolerate disrespect by city, county, state government employees while they are representing the government office.
If he was in his own vehicle and raced up close to me, flipped me off and said “F**k you” I would not write this opinion.
The aggressive and angry man was in a City truck therefore he represented the City of Sacramento. And I will not be flipped off and told “Fu*k you” by the city of Sacramento.
Thumbs down to the City of Sacramento.
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I've had similar attacks form Curmudgeon on another subject it doesn't bother me. I have bigger fish to fry, sharks to go after; heck I'm not concerned with a guppy swimming on websites.
Bottom line, not only were the actions of the city employees unsafe and disrespectful, they were unlawful. Complaining like that is the only method I know to get the city to correct their actions. And once again, those ARE the actions of the city when their employees perform them
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If she had landed one of these unionized and civil service protected public sector jobs, she too could drive a publicly owned vehicle and give the middle finger with impunity.
Deal with it Rhonda. In this state and in this town, public servants are royalty. They receive the best retirements taxpayer money can buy, and they almost never lose their job. Certainly not for a middle finger to you, or even to their boss.
I used to be a Sears appliance repairman. If this article had surfaced and included my truck number, I would have been walked off the job by lunch. Same for Fedex, UPS and many other trade drivers out there. But Sacramento royalty plays by different rules.
Just wondering, should I post a SacPress news article each time I have a notable on-road incident?
Based on your previous postings, I have noticed that you don't like the city, but I think you accusations are one sided. You have claimed that the employee said, "F**K YOU" but what did you do? Did you cut him off? Or, worst yet - Did you give him the bird first? Most city employees I know will go out of their way and I think you are just being an opportunist here!
Lets not use this forum to slander the city or it's employees....
You explanation is accepted, but my comments have nothing to do w/ being of one "class" or another.
All that said, why then not pick up the phone & call the city?
As you stated in your article, government employees while representing their agency must be in their best behavior without question, but I'm just tired of seeing these folks who are often over worked and under appreciated being slammed in the press instead of someone just picking up the phone and addressing the issue. Like in the olden days - Remember?
Take care!
Perhaps publicly writing it will help someone else have a voice or prevent someone else from behaving inappropriately. That’s why I didn’t pick up the phone and make a call to address this issue. Contrary to popular belief, while the article details my struggles, it is really about more than myself. I often throw myself and my struggles out in public view, knowing I will be criticized, hoping that some people will see me and in turn begin to see more like me-struggling within the community divided into victims and suspects, to have a voice and have that voice deemed worthy of concern. Thank you and take care as well.
You weren't there but thank you for your opinion. I guess you see me as Madea, a mad black woman racing on a freeway with a camera not watching the road but looking in the lenses of a camera snapping away lol--- that is hilarious. lol Sorry Mr Runge you are way off. I have a son whose appeal can only be done by me, I wouldn’t put his freedom or my life and or freedom (driving recklessly) at risk to take photos of the driver whose irrational behavior I expected some to condone because it was someone like me that it happened too... In fact, I did expect for some, who were not there, to make excuses for the driver and attack my character, motives, driving… So your comment is of no surprise.
I am now in contact with the city of Sacramento… and the matter is being addressed… And fortunate for me there are some (in fact quite a few) within city hall that I have met over the years who care about the concerns of city residents-- such as myself-- than it appears some city folks care. I'm just glad the city is showing unconditional love on this matter. Some of the comments I have read are down right scary. What the heck do we need a Strong mayor form of government (for complaints of potholes lol??) when some city folks go out of their way to protect city officials and afraid to hold some city officials accountable??? Scary... Have a good day
This rant is all over the place. Pick one of these, and ride it out to the end. You talk about the pen being mightier than the sword? Well having a pen or sword requires some responsibility from the wielder to 'swing' at the correct target. This will save you some time and energy for the real fights.
PocketGoPer- you are appearing like a stalker, does this article concern you that much, or do I concern you that much that you are still watching and reading what will be posted? LOL. Have a great day too
Also, just to be clear, Rhonda did not ask me (the "Sac Press nanny") or anyone at Sac Press to remove any of the comments.
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We had a somewhat similar article by another contributor awhile back and it was even picked up by a news station.
http://sacramentopress.com/headline/55700/Parking_Enforcement_Fail