1/6/11
Good afternoon.
Once again, we read a Modesto BEE story which tells us that Modesto is among the worst of the worst. In this case, Modesto’s unemployment rate ranks 366 out of the 372 largest metropolitan areas in America.
I have lived in Modesto during the last 4 decades. In that time, I have watched virtually every candidate for elected office claim that their single most important issue is getting more jobs.
It is not enough to say that they have all been miserable failures, they have proven themselves to be worse than virtually every other city in America. They rank in the bottom 1.6% of all elected and appointed officials. Think about it. If your grade in any endeavor were 1.6 out of 100, would you be claiming that you were “NOT THAT BAD”?!??
If you were in a race with 372 others, and you finished 366, would you say, “Not bad, let’s just keep on keeping on!”Of course, some silly people would argue that other Valley towns have similar problems.
That is true, and California generally is not a business friendly state. But why do we have to be as incapable as others? Cannot we excel despite what other failures are doing?? San Francisco does not, Irvine does not, Santa Barbara does not, Could it be that Modesto has higher water, electricity, and other rates than other cities?
Could it be that the state of our roads, crime, homeless, stupid sign laws, other high fees and inability of the City to approve plans, and total lack of shovel ready commercial land?Google “unemployment rates”, and see that these states have less employment that the average American state:Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, Texas, S. Dakota, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, New York, New Mexico, Michigan, and I quit looking at this point.
A selection of California counties have lower unemployment rates than Modesto, or even lower rates than average California rates:Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, San Mateo, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Alameda, Humbolt Kern, and again, I quit looking at this point.
What is wrong with our City?
You decide,
Dave
