What a travesty. Chavez didn't want an open border, and I'm certain he wouldn't have wanted amnesty for millions of people who would just end up competing and driving down worker wages. These people are misusing his legacy. Politicians pandering to ethnic groups?...ha! say it isn't so.....

Mr Burg, I was here in the 50's and 60's and although it was urbanizing, there was still bits of country everywhere, and the country was actually within walking distance. We had what we called "wino's" hanging around downtown and what's now old sac, and a little in oak park, but not all these gangsters, drug addicts, perverts and thieves waiting for a victim. And there were few street lights. Actually I remember the wino's and thugs hanging out around the light back then...in some spots anyway

@ Newguyinsac, this was the country before so many people packed up here and changed it from a nice quiet area to an inner city that fosters crime. The lack of lighting doesn't cause crime. If that were true, the rural areas would be engulfed with crime. Lighting up areas will help briefly, but soon the crime element will adjust to it and you'll just have the same problem with an added expense. Plus, like I said, you're body and mind is going to suffer over time

Soon the entire city will be lighted, and people will never experience the relaxation that the darkness of night brings to the human mind. It's simply amazing how we beat ourselves up to accomodate criminals.

Sounds to me like Shane Singh is trying to keep his name in the news for another run at public office. Hence the racial hustling and jab at the councilman.

William, I'm looking at Sac through a fifty year period. It's gone up and down a bit, but the ratio remains pretty close. Oak park was pretty bad when I was a kid, as was old sac. Both of those areas came up, and then oak park went down again. Downtown, while playing a bit of shuffling with good/bad areas, has always had its' share of problematic people. I used to live in several parts of old sac; some good some bad. Bad areas are now good/better. while good areas are worse or are still ok.

Deanhaakenson, We moved from downtown in 1992 or so. However, I'm always downtown doing work for the non-profit, and I stand up for the whole of Sacramento whereever I may be. I still see about the same percentage of troublemakers per square mile downtown as I always have. There's just more people now, so there are more incidents.

Rhys02, I have not read or heard where one single "mega Church" or Rush Limbaugh has said to go out and assault and batter gay people. You seem to believe it's wrong for those churches and limbaugh to have a contrary opinion about gays because that might encourage someone of weaker mind to assault gays. In seeking that, you suppress the free speech of others.

I'm not sure that's true William. I've been out of downtown for some years, but I previously grew up and lived there for some30 plus years before, and there were always problematic persons there. I had my share of incidents with people who lived in the area. Some blocks I just shunned to avoid current residents. Downtown has lots of apartments, flats, studios etc that are home to various temporary and semi-permanent people who would cause trouble and pick fights no matter where they were. I could tell you lots of stories from the 60's ,70's, and 80's that involved turds in downtown with too much time on theor hands or a weak character that needed constant attention or reassurance.

Free speech is supposed to work all ways; not just both

I hope they catch up with the assailant(s). They might kill again

Anti-gay rheoric on religious radio causes assaults? Way to go mr Pierce. You got religion and free speech indicted in one fell swoop. Does the first amendment have some sort of exemption for gays that I've been missing all these years? I don't know what Americans have come to lately. Violence has been a component to human interaction for as long as there has been human interraction. Now we have a bunch of special interest groups going around trying to paint religion and the first amendment exercise as the culprit.

I've had a good raport with the EMD for several years. They have supplied me with the entire lists of mobile vendors, but they weren't giving them letter grades back then, so there was no report to publish, other than whether they were issued a permit or not. I do PRA's like a bodily function; if I'm not delivering one or two a week, I start to get grouchy. We did have a slow, somewhat resistan start with EMD, but after some persistence, they were very helpful. They have followed through on our complaints about illegal vendors, with the exception of the mexican independence day ones. This year we will be a little more demanding

How is it they manage to miss the 50 or so vendors each year at the state capitol during mexican independence day?

Ha! You left out the rats and mice, which are quite plentiful in this area too.

Please, please, don't lobby for that corrupt American Apparel chain and its' deviant, sexist owner to come to Sacramento. That company has been the subject of ICE investigation and action for hiring illegals, has lobbied extensively for amnesty, and has repeatedly been sued by several of his female employees for his deviancy, sexual harassment, and indecent behavior.

And he's got an ICE hold on his foreign butt. Can't wait to have a look into this case.

I think an educational outreach aimed at showing people the problem should be the first step, not a ban. The county does this with signs on the storm drains urging people not to dump oil in them. If you make an attractive campaign, people will come around, and it will have a lasting effect on their other habits that also cause pollution. If you use force, it may induce a backlash, complicating any goodwill incentives for people to act on their own.

Not unless there's free beer for nostalgic contributions

No Jared,; The pirates of the carribean remake. You know; the pirate code...They're not really rules, they're more like "guidelines" matey. Glad to here you won't be removing my older stuff. Everyone should have access to our mindless babble before we became famous