cj barrimond  

I guess one could say that today I am feeling quite disgusted with everything around me.  I am sadly disgruntled by our government right now and I am disgusted with most things around here today.  I should be happy about the fact I am alive and somewhat healthy. 

I sit here listening to this news about the economic bail out and the more i hear about it the more disturbed I am becoming.  All these senators sitting up there who can't even handle their own money matters is attempting to fix the government's money matters.  What is this world coming to these days?

I know this is going to sound like I am aging myself, but truthfully I can remember when a soda was cents.  I used to be able to walk in a store and buy a grocery sack of penny candy for $1.00.  Today they want a $1.25 for that same soda and no candy is sold for a penny any more.  We grew up learning that you save every cent you could for old age.  Today it is almost impossible for a two working person family to save $5.00 a month.  First off they don't make enough to pay the mortgage, utilities, buy the neccesary foods, pay for maintenance on the house, buy their children clothing, pay union dues if in a union, buy a magazine or even pay for medical insurance for the family, not even life insurance on the the adults providing the income to the household.

Both my children work and their spouses work and they are having trouble making ends meat.  I even have a problem making ends meat when push comes to shove.  I am finding that most of the senators attempting to fix our money problems have homes in foreclosure and are defaulting on other loans.  And these are the people we want to fix our economic problems.  We as a country lend other countries money and yet we never end up collecting from those countries for some reason or other.  We have natural disasters like katrina and ike, gustav and tornados throughout Kansas, or idaho.  We pay for those who have no home owners insurance to rebuild their homes.  We give money to other countries to root out rebels or coos.  Yet we can't even take care of our own homeless living in gutters or under over passes.  We set our prices on products that make it a clear line of economic levels among our own people. 

They are trying to bail out banks and lending institutions for what reason?  Because they lent money to people who would not normally qualify to purchase a home and then turn around and charge them outrageous amounts on the repay.  Does this sound like loan sharking to you?  It sure does to me.  Our government is now in the business of being a loan shark.  I thought in almost all 52 states it was considered illegal.  Here is some more for you to think about.  A family of four bringing in 25,000.00 a year will no doubt have no medical insurance or home/renter insurance.  They will have some of the most major medical problems because they can not afford to buy the right foods to keep weight within limits or their blood sugars in limits or their blood pressure within limits.  Now this same family has to buy two cars because they don't work in the same places.  There is auto insurance and chances are they have the minimum on their plan which means if they hit you, you won't get a cent, because you can't get juice from a piece of dried fruit.  The CEOs of some of these major cooperations are drawing such outrageous paychecks that one of those checks could bail out at least four families out of debt at once.  Then those CEOs are caught doing something not quite ethical and the company releases them from their so called unbelievable contracts and while they are walking out the door, they are smiling so much that you could knock someone out with the shine from their teeth.  The check they are holding all the way to the bank could bailout a few of these failing companies. 

Personally I think a CEO draws a set salary and no bonus given for great profit records.  Every company should provide a medical plan to every employee at a discount.  These banking companies need to stop playing games with these adjustable rates and upping them over 1000.00 a year for each mortgage.  We have neighborhoods that are falling apart and unlivable for the most part.  That is because the homes are empty and homeless are taking over, but no running water and no electricity.  What do you think will happen next.  Here is more, these developers are putting up these expensive homes, using some of the most expensive material not really needed to make a home affordable for all, that means more of your money and you don't realize it but that is included in that $3000.00 a month payment.  When someone refinances a home, they are suppose to end up paying a smaller amount monthly not more monthly.  That is the banker getting rich again.  In walks the loan sharks.  I say every senator and congressman needs to take a pay cut for the jobs they are doing poorly at as they would for normal little men out here.  I say do away with sending money to other countries until we are in the red again.  Stop spending money on useless committees that don't really do anything expect sit around and gossip and drink expensive costa rician coffee and some of the most expensive danish, sandwiches and gourmet meals.  Our government pays out for people who can afford insurance and refuse to buy it because they know our government will bail them out no matter what.  If you build a home in an area that is considered high risk areas of disasters, then you should be paying more for those premium and no bail outs by the government unless you have existing insurance already.  If you have a farm and you are providing produce or meats to the local economy and have insurance than the government should be helping you stay in business at no matter the cost.  Without our farmers we have no food.  We spend buchu money on some of the most stupidest of things.  Our technology is surpassing our human knowledge taught to use these products.  Why you ask, because the manufactures make these items for the elite, those with super deep pockets and not for the average joe.  Remember when buying a house would cost you about $39,000.00 and that was a three bedroom, 2 bath, kitchen, livingroom, fully finished basement, and a yard with a garage.  Now you ask for a home to be built adding one bedroom and a den and you will pay about 150,000.00 for that house on the same 1/2 acre the three bedroom was on.  There is another problem with that now four bedroom home, you don't get a basement in that home in most western states and in some areas of the south.  Now you are paying three times more for a house with less quare footage and yet you have to give out more for less.  Now the utilities on that home that is supposed to be energy efficient, is costing you almost as much as the house payment.  If the developer sells you a home that is claimed to be energy efficient and the local power company puts their seal of approval on it and the utility bills continue to go up, I think the power company should eat the overages not the home owner, because you were sold a bad bill of goods.  I remember when I bought my house, they claimed it to be energy efficient and the local PG&E certified it, but my bill has gone up over fours times as much as what it was when I bought it.  I recently had to have a window replaced due to mildew recurring in the window, I learned that my windows are no more energy efficient that a 40 year old hot water heater.  Now who lied to whom?  Who made the big bucks on me?  And this country wants me to go along with these educated idiot to bail out these failing companies that most have stock in.  If those lobbyist in Washington would put their money in CDs or savings accounts or giving to legitimate charities that actually help people we would have a more honest government.  If those senators and congressmen weren't go damn greedy and trying to make a fast buck off the people who held trust in them then maybe we wouldn't be in this mess.  The old saying of supply and demand is as much a crock of BS as my dog telling me he loves me in english.  I have given you my disgusts for the day, I want to hear how you feel about the mess and how you think your ideas would fix the problem and where our government could trim back on gauging the american people.  I will listen, and you talk.  I dare you to open that mouth you eat with and give it to me straight.

This blog originally posted on myspace received 27 comments by readers. 

Here is a copy of a blog written by CJ Barrimond on her many websites about some of the problems plaguing Fresno City.  Is it a wonder why the crime rates in this city are so high.  Please don't be fooled by some of the reports coming out of Fresno PD's stats, they are doctored for your benefit.  Not only are gang members not being fully prosecuted, but other crimes in this city are going up.  The scenery is deteriorating and developers are getting away with shoddy work.  All because our City Council is not taking the people of their areas into consideration when making some of these decisions.  Is it going to take the people of Fresno communities to do the work and send the City a bill for the parts and your labor for them to wake up and take us seriously?  Think about these things when you go to the poles to vote for your next Mayor, next City Councilman and when you vote to have the Fresno PD and The Sheriff's Depart. to merge as one.  Why burden an already great organization with troubles from the Fresno PD.  Our existing city council and Mayor like to blow money outside of this state with their useless travels and yet we have problems here in this city that that money could have been used on to improve on those solutions.  We enlist worthless committees to decide whether something is a good deal or bad deal when we need to use that money taking care of our own problems in this city.  In this city I suggest to you there is honor among thieves.  Look at our city, I am sure there is plenty of money to fix broken sprinklers, trim those trees, fix the sidewalks that have bulges in them, put up stop signs in residential neighborhoods to stop speeders, prosecute gang members accordingly, keep taggers off the streets by holding some of the parents accountable, answer calls for help from the public when called upon to do so instead of sitting at McDonalds and behind other establishments hiding out so as not to have to answer calls because you don't feel like it or because you are having a bs session with your fellow cops.  The Mayor needs to change his open door policy to be real open door not just if he feels he can handle the questions and provide solutions.  It doesn't take six patrol cars to handle one unarmed suspect of a stolen vehicle and yet we on the streets see it everyday.  When a deputy is called for a stolen vehicle they usually have one person and that is all they are going to get.  They deal with and do just fine, but a biggest force and more resources at their disposal has to have six vehicles usually with two men each.  How lame is that?  Maybe there ought to be an outside agency to audit Fresno Police Department, because it is obvious they waste tax payers time and money.  A stop sign costs about $100.00 to put in and yet the city council will waste ten times that much deciding whether an area really needs it.  First off they don't live in those areas and the people who would know whether they need it are the ones asking for it.  Why do you continually second judge your voters?  I certainly hope someone in this city gets a wake up call soon.  I know I have had mine.

 

Better Said Now Than Never Said At All

While sitting here I started calculating the days since I notified the City Councilman in my District 1 last week.  I have been watching these tree blow in the winds and noticed that nothing has been done to prevent anymore braking of the branches in these beautiful trees.  While sitting in the swing in the back yard last night I could hear the water gushing from the broken sprinkler heads.  Still no action has been taken to rectify the problems.  You would be so surprised at what you can notice and hear while sitting there relaxing.  After having a talk with a local politician yesterday, I realized that the people of Fresno, Ca., District 1 have been taken for a ride to hell.  When we voted for a Councilman we were given a bill of sour goods.  No I did not vote for this person, I knew better than to bite into a sour bill of goods.  Now we are all left with a nasty taste in our mouth.  Nothing is getting done in our area and the performance of some of the workers is less than acceptable.  Just what are the qualifications to be on some of these work crews, because I am not seeing much intelligence.

As for the Mayor of our fine city, Alan Autry was another sour taste left behind.  As a proclaimed Christian he opening spoke of the new gay marriage law here in California and I don't know but I was always taught to believe that a true Christian is one who accepts people for who they are, not what they are and that we don't judge others less we be judged.  Well I guess you could say I am now judging him, but I am actually judging his performance as a politician.  His grade in that area would be a big fat F.  No I have not seen any real improve in this city by him.  The only thing I have seen this man do is take our tax monies and use it to fly all over this country for supposedly networking.  He spends more time away from this city than in it and yet we are supposed to believe in his abilities.  What abilities?  He has not business judging people or what they are if he is this so called proclaimed Christian.  Whether someone of the same sex is married to their true love has nothing to do with how this city is run nor does it have anything to do with his family life.  Sure they can raise children just like you and I and they can do almost everything else a man and woman can to as a couple, but that doesn't mean they are not to be afforded a marriage made in heaven.  Only God can judge them and I don't see him coming down here with giant bolts of lighting.  So where is your real beef Mayor Autry?  It is beginning to sound like someone is being a bigot.  Double standards is really alive and well in your mind.  Tells me more about you than I wanted to know. 

The Police Chief in this City named Jerry Dyer is another person on my list of ineffective people.  He claims to be rounding up all these gang bangers and putting the brakes on their activities, but what he doesn't tell you is that the courts in this city are so full, and we don't have the manpower to bring even half of them to justice.  They might get booked into the jail, but who is going to prosecute them, the kids in this city?  There is not enough assistant DAs to do the job.  Therefore all those booked into the jail end up getting off and no justice is handed down.  Heres another place our Mayor failed us.  Three fourths of our Fresno City Police live in Clovis, California and not in the city of Fresno.  So that in it self tells me that even our city cops have no faith in our Mayor's abilities.  The city cops should be made to live in the area they patrol and get a first hand view of the garbage we as citizen in this city deal with daily.  Better yet, maybe Chief Dyer needs to reassess his dispatchers.  You as a citizen see a car speeding through your neighborhood and the streets are lined with children and you call the city cops and the dispatcher tells you that unless that speeding car hits a child we are not sending a car out.  So we are left to hand out our own justice.  Exactly what do those dispatchers do besides sit there and eat non-stop, bs with the other dispatchers and talk about their own misfortunes.  I have not had a good rapport with one of those sassy, rude dispatchers yet.  If your house is being broken into the dispatcher will tell you that unless they have actually gained entry into your house and are there as we speak we will not send anyone out.  This is a synopsis of an actual call to Fresno PD by a family member.  If you e-mail the police department don't expect any reply, that is another thing that does not happen there.  I have sent numerous e-mails addressed to the Chief of Police and to this date I have never had a response from him or even a representative of the department.  The one and only time the Fresno PD ever  helped out this district is when we tried to eradicate the graffiti taggers in our area.  There was an officer they sent us to discuss the problem and he was like having an angel sent from above.  Office Junus Perry took our plight serious and he took action and worked with us and eradicated the taggers and they stayed away for a few years.  Once I wrote a letter of thanks to the Police Chief, he was gone.  He did too good of a job and they took him from us.  Now they are back and if you see them tagging, don't call dispatch because they actually want you to come face to face with the tagger and describe them down to their shorts.  Is there a mental defect in those dispatchers or what?   What will it take to get these city officials to do a job they sign on for?  I was given the advise to keep on blogging them and that is what I will do.

Now after reading this blog you are probably sitting there saying this woman always complains and has nothing good to say about anyone in her city.  Well I have lived here in this city going on 20 years and nothing changes here.  When I see something good to view and write about I will.  No I am not always so disgusted with my life, just the people put in positions to do a job they don't do.  If you are a city worker, you should be honored and take great pride in your work.  I have a street sweeper that is a blessing.  He cleans my gutters so well and I am so proud of him.  So why can't the rest of the city workers be like him?  Maybe the rest of you should take lessons from him.  Maybe the Mayor and the Police Chief should take lesson from the Sheriff.   She knows what she is doing and is not unapproachable.  Hint Hint.  At least when you call the sheriff's department to report a crime, they show up and take the appropriate action on the spot.  Fresno PD can't declare a female has been raped until a Sergeant  or above say they can and then it is classified as a possible rape.  When the sheriff's department takes that kind of call, the officer on the call makes that judgment and it is written as an actual rape not possible, and they don't need a supervisor's approval to write it up.  The sheriff's department doesn't pick and choose the call they wish to take either.  Fresno PD picks and chooses the calls they wish to take.  Don't believe me, listen to the scanners for a week and tell me I am not right.  They will let calls sit for hours before taking care of them and some calls are never responded to at all.  You say that, that can't be so.  Well on the Fourth of July last year and neighbor to my daughter's house lit some fireworks and they were obviously illegal fireworks, jumped and hit the street pavement, jumped again to the roof of her house and came down and burnt my granddaughter.  We were all upset and had to immediately run her in and treat the burn.  The Fresno PD was called and the incident reported to them, but to this date no one has ever shown up or a report taken by phone.  When does my grand daughter get her justice?  How many more time does this have to happen before they are held accountable? 

With the Mayor you call to make an appointment and he decides whether you get that appointment, in other words if you have a real problem, he can't handle it.  The chief of Police like the cameras too much to have private meetings with the general public.  The only time he has one is when you threaten lawsuits.  Funny.  These people worry about their image, yet they forget you are helping make that image.

Wake up Fresno, California, we are not being taken care of as promised, because of the double standards that exist in our city official's offices and because we have real problems they don't know how to deal with and because we don't live next door to these city officials.  What does that tell you?  Maybe it is time to get people we know can deal with real problems and not sweep them under the carpets and hide their dirty scandals.  This city is full of people associated to dirty scandals and majority of them run this city.  Isn't it about time we have a corrupt free city and people willing to do their jobs.  Here you go our new City motto, "Scandals be with you , only in Fresno."

There are such tings as HUD grants to get these officers to live in our urban areas, but this city doesn't seem to care about protecting it's urban areas in this city or they would have already put in for these grants. 

If you live in the urban areas and your fence to a main city street is falling apart, the city will spray over the graffiti, but they won't take responsibility for a double sided fence.  You as a home owner take car of the boards on your side and keep your side in great repair, but the city expect you to take care of their side as well.  That's not what you were told when you purchased the home, but as you know the city has to watch the spending.  New developments go up around you and they install concrete walls and perimeter fences and the wooden fences fall.  Take a ride along Clinton between Brawley and Blythe and look at the city's failures.  I called about this fence and was told I had to fix that fence where it backs up to Clinton.  I suppose next I will be told that I am responsible for fixing the sprinkler heads and the trimming those braking trees, how about the trash and the sidewalks that have large humps because of the tree roots.  The street lights, am I going to be held responsible for all of this as well?  With the current city official I just might.  If that is the case, I will expect more that what I am getting in a City Official.  I forgot the city of scandals!  Half the shrubbery on that stretch of the road is dying, why?  Because the sprinklers are broken.  Who is going to fix the problems?  Only the people of Fresno can fix these problems, elect someone who is willing to work with you and do their job the right way.

Some of these new politicians running for Mayor want to combine the two law enforcement agencies and that is probably a major mistake, because Fresno PD would not be able to keep up.  Not only that they couldn't pick and choose their calls anymore.  The dispatcher at PD would have to work for a change, I doubt that would be possible.  The people in the sheriff's department really do work, they take pride in the job they do and Fresno PD wouldn't know how to do that, they are too busy covering up their scandals and jokes for personnel.

There isn't really a category for this particular blog, because INCOMPETENCE, is not on the list. Now maybe my spelling is a bit jacked up, but at least if I am doing a job, I get the job done right the first time rather than spend countless hours doing nothing and doing it all wrong. Sometimes we run into people in this world who display great attributes and then we run into those that play a game with the general public and those bad attributes they have displayed for years appear to surface. They surface when we catch them cheating at that game they play with us. It is a shame when those attributes of greed, disrespect, and plain laziness are there claim to fame. In the city where I live, I have learned some of those players of this badly played game. When you as a supervisor of workers are associated with those attributes tells me you are not the kind of supervisor I want doing any job. I guess I am older and sometimes more wiser than I think I am. Maybe I learned too many lessons from my father about how to treat other people regardless of who they are or what they are. Maybe I am too set in my ways and expect more from city, state, federal officials.
Today we had a major wind storm in our city. During this so called wind storm we had some major damage. The streets here are lined with beautiful trees, or should I say trees that could have been beautiful if they were maintained the way they were supposed to have been. Last year I called the city councilman's office in district 1 because some of the trees lining the fence along clinton between brawley and blythe were in bad need of pruning. Some of the trees had very heavy branches and some had broken trunks. This made for some really ugly trees. The shrubs around the trees were over grown and out of shape. There was an enormous amount of garbage laying among the trees and shrubs. The graffiti was another subject for another day. There were no flowers, but lots of broken sprinkler lines and heads. There are street lights lining the street that do not work. The light people came out and supposedly fixed them. They did work correctly for a short time, but now they don't light. The sprinkler heads are still not fixed.
Well, today while standing in my back yard I stood there watching as one of those trees fell into the road way along clinton. I ascended the ladder to the pool and as I was standing there heard the cracking of branches from other trees along the road way in ear shot of my yard. While all this was happening, I watched my patio umbrella take flight. It landed in the neighbor's yard and was broken. I was by this time a bit pissed. I ran in the house picked up the phone and called the city councilman's office. I told that about the tree that I watched fall and a few other things. Needless to say they knew I was pissed. Now I should have never interjected my feelings into the phone call and should have probably been a bit more professional, but I wasn't. For that I apologize. If those trees had been pruned correctly last year that tree would never have gone down. The other branches would not have cracked. There are a couple of trees within plain view of my back yard that are in desperate need of pruning. There is one that if a strong enough wind gust comes thru it will land in my pool. Now if that happens, professionalism goes completely out the window. I will have no choice but to hire an attorney. We held elections last year for this new city councilman. He is supposed to be a nursery own. He is supposed to know these things about trees. He resides in the Tower District. The Tower District is attempting to revitalize themselves. The area has a woodstock type feel to it and it is great the way it is. But the rest of the district is being completely neglected. In the area of Ashland and Cornelia there is major drug dealing and homeowners who have let their property go. Now my area is a quiet place and the kids play in the street and until recently that was fine. Recently we have had a rash of speeding cars running our streets. Kids playing in the street has become very dangerous. We have asked the city councilman's office for stop signs. We were told they would send someone out to assess the area. Never heard another things from them.
Now I bet you have started figuring out who some of the people are displaying those bad attributes. Now as for that downed tree, a dump truck driver was driving by and made a u-turn. He decided the tree was too big to move and still needed to be cut from the remaining trunk and instead of getting a rope and pulling the tree off to the side even if on the sidewalk until tomorrow, he decided to run over the tree laying in the road with the dump truck. As he rolled over it, you heard the branches crackling. Now a redneck might say this is a jimmyrig way to remove a tree. We are supposed to be a bit smarter aren't we? As for the councilman, I think he fooled so many people in this district about how much he really cares about this district and it's people. He appears to be more concerned about the area he resides in. So I say, if you don't want to deal with the whole district, then get out of that office and let someone who is willing to sit there. It is easy, divide the district up into section and assign teams to do that particular area and have a supervisor assigned to each team. Now if you still get complaints in that area, then that tells me that supervisor is not doing his job. The councilman could drive the entire district in one day once a week and check on the work being done. He at this point can't really tell you anything about any of the work being done in any area but the Tower District.
Now on to the Mayor's office. Why would anyone say they have an open door policy if they have to approve why you want an appointment with the mayor during those open door times? Did you catch that little glitch I just said? (You need and appointment during an open door time!) Now if you really had some concerns and you called for this appointment, he has the right to decline taking the time to sit and listen to your concerns. Now is it me, or is there something wrong with that? Now I bet you think I am doing nothing but just complaining. Well, maybe but not as much as you think. What I am trying to do is bring to light the attributes displayed by these people we elected under false pretenses and the con game that has been played on us. We the people in this city are paying high paychecks to officials in this city that literally sit on those butts and pushing papers around. They don't do anything else. The Police Chief is another person that displays some of those same attributes. Though he is not an elected official, when is the last time you called to report a crime and was not satisfied with the respect you received or you e-mails the chief of police and never got a response or reply from him? I know for a fact that I have e-mails the chief on several occasions and never received a reply. I have also e-mailed the Mayor of this city and got the same lack of respect. I have a question for the mayor being as he feels no need to respond to the public's e-mails, did you take this job because you were washed up as an actor?
Here is another thing you the general public needs to know. When you place a call to the city building at 3:13 p.m. in the afternoon, would you not expect to get an individual to answer that call? If so, why does it take 4 mins to get someone to answer that phone? Isn't proper phone etiquette on the second ring? Evidently not at city hall. I would love to have the mayor's position for one month. There are some changes that could be implemented in this city and some waste that could be eliminated. I would also like the City Councilman's job for one month. There is so much work that could be done and the old saying, "a days work for a dollar" would mean something. I have a street sweeper the second tuesday of each month that sweeps my street in front of my house and that man does a job that I could not complain about. He makes several passes and when he is done, my gutters and the street are clean the way they are supposed to be. My trash man on fridays, he is another person that does the job he is expected to do. These two men obviously take pride in the job they do. So what is wrong with the rest of the workers, city councilman, mayor and other officials. We have city officials that you will never see in their office, but let that TV cameraman set up and that mug is right there to be photographed. They haven't really done anything that is noteworthy, but they expect to have that face plastered all over the TV. Greed, laziness, disrespect. Have I showed you these attributes in these people? Do you see them being displayed as much as I do? If you answer yes to those two questions, I now have to ask you, What should be done about it? Their greed is making them richer, their laziness is not getting work done the correct and efficient way, disrespect is leaving a bad taste in everyones mouth.
Are these the attributes you want in any employee you hire to do a job? If not, then why would we accept them from people who are in positions to achieve goals for people who are unable to? If I taught my children to respect their elders and to respect others as they would expect others to respect them, and you did the same thing, then why would we accept the opposite from someone else? I guess the human behavior is a strange thing and alot of people don't quite understand most of it. Why, I don't know.
Now as a homeowner, you would think you would take pride in both your home and yard. I guess that is another myth. I have several neighbors around me that really do alot of work weekly to make their yards look impeccable. Their homes are in great repair and it makes them feel proud. Then you have those around you that just don't care at all. Their lawn is in need of mowing, there are weeds where grass should be, there is weeds where there should be none. The lawn is dried and about 12 inches high. When is the last time it was watered? They don't water because as they say we are in a water crunch. Where did that come from? All the trees and shrubs around the house are also dry. Do you see something creeping up here? FIRE! A little water and that word would not be plastered all over the front of that house. If you didn't want to do yard work on the weekends or fix things around a house, then why even bother buying one. You could have bought a condo and hired a gardener for the yard. You could also had a handyman on speed dial to fix things. So if a house is the only really good investment we can put our money in, why not take special care of it and let it take care of us?