City of Ukiah - My reflections on China

 It is unfair to paint everyone with a broad brush. That said, the 40s-50s generations were generally more conservative. Ukiah today is less that way, in many respects.

As the leaves have begin to fall, I have witnessed the daily army of blowers out at City Hall, and perhaps a block in all directions. It reminded me of my time in China.

I spent three weeks in China in the very early 1990's. I was part of one of the first western tech companies to set up manufacturing on the mainland. Being a communist state, employment was assigned. They government didn't have the modern street sweepers and other such tools, so they employed armies of people with large bamboo brooms, to sweep the roadways. Every so often, driving out in the middle of nowhere, there would be someone sweeping the road. A mile later, there is another. On and on it went.

This is the model for the City of Ukiah. The City is a socialistic welfare state, to a degree. Certainly, government is needed. I am a progressive... so for me to call a system socialistic... it is a hard thing to do. Nevertheless, it is the truth. 

Look, the city has its claws into just about everything, to generate revenue, to fund all of these workers... to simply maintain headcount... because that is what management does... maintain headcount. Maintain, or increase budgets, year after year. Doing less for more. The city has parking lots, to generate revenue. The city generates more revenue by patrolling them with city employees, providing more jobs at the welfare state. The city runs Camp Covid in the summer; the babysitting service that raises $1000-a-head, per month. Of course, the city has also seized control of the utilities. The city refuses to do ANY customer service related to the utilities, because that is COST; a liability. Yet, the city gets a cut of each transaction that it processes, every month. Maximize profit margins by not providing the service that you are being paid to provide. Good work if'n you can get it,

Gotta feed the monkey, man. When you have executives making $189K per year, and an army or leaf blowers out daily, keeping the monkey's lawn free of leaves, you need to get your claws into every aspect of life; exploiting citizens as much as humanly possible. High taxes. Parking. Child care. Fines. On and on it goes. Ukiah Police Officers and Community Service Officers walk or drive right by long-term homeless encampments on School Street, in order to make it to you... to suck a few shekels from your coffers. That is the reality of it. Citizens with means are getting nickel-and-dimed through taxes, city-owned parking, and the bevy of fines that one can face.

But, and this might tick some folks off because of the sensitivities involved, this area has a tendency to establish socialist systems. Look at the obvious example of Jim Jones. 

The socialist system set up in Ukiah is not meant to benefit the poor. It is set up to provide for city employees. It exists to perpetuate itself... 

The executives at city hall, making six figure salaries plus great benefits, are nothing more than leeches on the butt of taxpayers.