Senseless Violence Hits Home Again...

Another stark reminder of the problems in our city (Credit CBS5):

14-Year-Old Boy Gunned Down In Richmond

RICHMOND, Calif. A 14-year-old boy was fatally shot while standing on a street Wednesday night, police report.

The incident was reported at 9:02 p.m. in the 4000 block of Potrero Avenue, said Richmond police Lt. Rick Clark.

Witnesses told police the boy was standing on the street when a red vehicle pulled up and two gunmen got out.

"They fired several rounds that struck him, then got back in their vehicle and fled," Clark said.

Responding medical personnel pronounced the boy dead. He was a Richmond resident. Police are not yet releasing his name.
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Your comments are welcome this morning everyone. The Tazer sends its prayers to the friends and family of this young man.

The "Dread Cap-i-tan's Corner"...

The Tazer likes the Dread Capt's commentary, as it is always well thought out and gets to the point. We received this response this morning regarding the recent comments about The Tazer being "out of line", and here it is unedited:

The arrogance and petulance of "anonymous" is astounding!

Last I checked, to be "belligerent" -- which you misspelled, by the way -- is to be aggressively hostile. I much prefer to think of myself as very passionate about the direction of Richmond, and I think that the Tazer would characterize itself as similarly passionate.

If you find that I am "bashing the mayor and/or any attempts at maintaining control over meetings," I must ask why you think there needs to be so strict a control over meetings, or even over what is said here on the Tazer.

By "What has this blog accomplished besides decent (sic) within our community?" I believe you mean "dissent," but then what is dissent? It means to disagree, or differ by way of opinion.

Are you saying we must march in lockstep with the mayor or city council?

Do you fear discussion?
Do you fear opinions that are not yours?
Do you fear criticism?
Do you fear the truth?

Some Much Deserved Front Page Action...

The Tazer is tickled today...it seems we've managed to piss off the right people! This is from the comment box:

"At the rate comments seem to be degrading here, the Tazer is beginning to sound mighty beligerent and uninformed.Or is it that this page is mostly about bashing the mayor and/or any attempts at maintaining control over meetings?What has this blog accomplished besides decent within our community?"

My goodness, The Tazer is flattered!

Dear "anon" (or whichever political slug was given the task of posting this),

For the billionth time: THERE IS A STANDING INVITE FOR ANY CITY OFFICIAL TO EITHER POST OR BE INTERVIEWED BY THE TAZER, UNEDITED TO DISPUTE ANYTHING WRITTEN HERE AND/OR INFORM THE READERSHIP.

If we're so "beligerent" and uninformed, would you mind posting for the readership exactly where we're uninformed? This is a problem that has bothered many, including the Tazer for some time...

If you're going to complain or make statements like the one above, support the discussion style nature of the Tazer and add facts to back your statements. Making general ones like the aforementioned make you seem desperate to try and either discredit or quiet this blog, neither of which will happen anytime soon. The Tazer promises not to edit your facts, we will leave them as you send them to us and main page them.

The Tazer doesn't disagree with the Mayor attempting to control the flow of a council meeting, and we do understand that yesterday's session was about budget business. What we've seen over time though, is a Mayor who seems to very quickly become agitated with the same people she is suppose to serve, and then become downright nasty when they may not understand her sometimes vague explanations for why they are being asked to stop talking.

Not cool, especially with an elder who was simply fed up with the LACK OF ACTION AND ACCOUNTABILITY that her public servants show on a daily basis.

Which leads to the next point: You believe we bash the mayor, when in reality, this blog is the first publication to have enough sand to call out ANY city official who isn't doing their job. It wouldn't matter who was in the office, if they were performing like Mayor Anderson has, they would be called out on a daily basis if warranted. You see, election time is when the "piper gets paid" for lack of a better term, and people's failure to do their job as public servants is magnified because they are asking us to RE ELECT THEM AGAIN, even though some may be completely incapable of being effective in service.

Mayor Anderson and others write their own ticket my friend, good or bad. We simply keep people informed and offer commentary on how good or bad a job they do. Again, our offer still stands as highlighted above...and, as of now, NO ONE has taken The Tazer up on it.

The final line is our favorite: "What has this blog accomplished besides decent within our community?"

If you consider giving people an open forum for discussion and the ability to vent and share their feelings about the COMPLETE LACK OF ACCOUNTABILITY in this city to be "decent", The Tazer openly wonders what you consider "unity in our community" to be. The Tazer will not let lazy fat cats get away with not doing their jobs or pimping our city by keeping it chaos or simply not giving a damn, even if you (or anyone else) considers that to be "decent".

In closing, The Tazer awaits health discussion and disagreement if it inspires people to take action to improve our city. People are allowed to share their feelings here, and barring some outright threat of violence against another person or property, we will allow those comments to stand.

Another Day With The City Council...

Tazer friend Mike Ali offers today's commentary on The Council's AM Sessions:

At today's Richmond City Council's morning session regarding the operations budget,(June 13, 2006) Council person Jim Rogers admitted that both the City Government of Richmond and the City Council had a 'DISCONNECT' to the people and community of Richmond.

And they are struggling even harder to admit they have a 'TOTAL DISCONNECTION' to the Violence Prevention Movement, the victims and their families; and the issues that are surrounding why our young people KILL other young people here in Richmond.

I swear to you that our Violence Prevention Movement Boycott has been highly successful city wide in Richmond! 'The Committee of Families for the Safety of Our Children' and other organizations has not given up NOR will we give up the Boycott until the City Government of Richmond, the Mayor's Office and certain members are prepared to admit they have NO plans, NO leadership, and NO vision of how to develop and implement policies to contain and reduce the violence and killing here in Richmond!

TAZER NOTE: Some have wondered "Why are you boycotting when we need solutions?" THIS IS EXACTLY WHY! THIS SEEMS TO BE THE BEST WAY TO GET HARD HEADED PEOPLE TO LISTEN...now back to the goodies...

At the morning session of today's City Council meeting, an Elder spoke of her frustation and anger at the Mayor and certain members for their FAILURE to address the real issues to why the violence and killing are happening here in town. The current Mayor's response was to shutdown and censure the Elder at the microphone. Not only did Mayor Anderson show a total disrespect for the Elder's concern, she did not even respond as an 'elected official' to the Elder's concerns of why the CITY OF RICHMOND IS LOSING THE WAR ON VIOLENCE!

TAZER NOTE: This may answer our question as to whether "Policital Thuggery" is alive and well for this election year eh? Good going Irma...hope you didn't need that vote...

Just the use of blantant abuse to silence your critics in the Council Chambers, shutdown an African-American Elder because she using her First Amendent Rights to address her concerns that the City of Richmond's failure to stop the violence and killing is JUST DAMN WRONG !

And Councilman Rogers in the same breath states that the City Government and the Council has a 'DISCONNECT' with the residents of our City. I wonder why! Man, some people are just plain STUPID! The Richmond Violence Prevention Movement Boycott continues on, our victory is not all that far away! The Richmond City Council, NO leadership, NO vision, NO plan! They are the biggest JOKE in town!

Yours in the Struggle For Human and Civil Rights in the City of Richmond

Micheal Ali

CLARITY!

The Tazer apologizes for a mix up:

It seems that our friends at blogger.com (they are the geniuses who host blogspot) while making their changes thought the Tazer wanted to moderate postings all together before allowing them to be posted.

Safe to say, this isn't the case. And, for about the 20th time over the last 5 days, they've managed to slow down our progress.

The problem has been resolved and your comments will now post in real time without an issue so happy posting!

PS: A few folks have asked about the comments that The Tazer had to remove over the weekend. Safe to say, The Tazer will allow most things to remain, but these posts were not only full of vulgarity and VERY bad taste, they also made direct threats to people which The Tazer will not tolerate. Attack the issue all you want, but please do not threaten the person's person.

Mr. David Muhammad Speaks

Mr. David Muhammad is featured in the Times today:


Violence prevention is work in progress
By David Muhammad
GUEST COMMENTARY

ON BEHALF of The Mentoring Center (TMC) and our esteemed consultants, I am excited and honored to have been chosen by the city of Richmond to help establish the Office of Violence Prevention.

Richmond has been plagued by violent crime for many years. The past year and a half has been especially troubling.

Outrage and concern over the recent rise in violence led the City Council to authorize the creation of the Office of Violence Prevention -- to plan an effective and sustained effort to stem the tide of violence in this city.

Richmond is a diamond in the rough, full of untapped potential. The fear that grips many residents and the hopelessness that plagues our youth has paralyzed this city of Pride and Purpose.

Many are calling for and expecting immediate action to end the violence.

Some media reports and public discussion have erroneously portrayed the recent City Council action as a resolution to bring the Mentoring Center's program to Richmond.

The Oakland based Mentoring Center does conduct effective direct service programs for highly at-risk youths, some who do live in Richmond. But TMC's contract with the city of Richmond is not to bring our direct service programs to the city.

TMC actually was created to provide technical assistance and training to community-based organizations and government agencies to improve their work with highly at-risk youths.
To that end, along with its consultants, who are highly qualified experts in community and organizational development, TMC will spend the next 6 to 12 months assisting the city of Richmond develop a coordinated effort to combat violence.

This is an ongoing process, and while we are in this process, unfortunately, there will be more violence.

But the community must maintain its resolve to research, plan, and then execute an effective and sustained violence prevention effort.

We must be patient with the process. There are no quick fixes.

Richmond suffers from many decades of neglect, a poor social service infrastructure and significant lack of investment.

The neighborhoods where most of these violent incidents occur are environments ripe for destruction.

Far too many of our neighborhoods are characterized by blight, poverty, high unemployment, substandard schools, proliferation of liquor stores, and easy access to drugs and guns.
These root causes are not going to be reversed overnight, or even in a year.

Greg Hodge, DeVone Boggan and I have been asked to drive the process, but the actual solution must include the entire Richmond community.

Grass-roots community members, faith-based and community-based organizations, government officials and businesses must all work together in order to solve Richmond's problems of violence.

I have lamented for years that I live and minister in Richmond, but I haven't had the full opportunity to serve the city in the way I serve Oakland.

While this project doesn't yet afford me the direct service opportunity, it does allow me to use my experience to improve my own community.

TMC and its consultants plan to methodically and collaboratively assist the city to establish the Office of Violence Prevention.

TMC will cull currently published data and request new reports.

TMC will convene several community gatherings and invite the general public along with violence prevention stakeholders, including nonprofit, religious, law enforcement, civic and other leaders to provide input into the creation of this new office.

TMC intends to request a detailed analysis of violent crime data, such a report is essential to learning where and when to combat the violence.

TMC will map current violence prevention efforts conducted by all segments of the community, assess the gaps in successful service, and propose a plan to close those gaps. TMC will also research nationally recognized best practices.

This process of research, data collection, community gatherings, and asset and gap mapping will culminate in the establishment of an organizational infrastructure of the Office of Violence Prevention.

It is time for all of us to forgo our egos and our personal politics and make the safety and improvement of our communities the priority.

While the city's leaders bicker over petty differences, our communities suffer.

Some well meaning advocates have argued that there does not need to be an Office of Violence Prevention -- that the funds spent on establishing and then maintaining the office could be better spent immediately on violence prevention activity.

I partially resonate with this argument. But there is an old saying, "If you fail to plan, then your plan is to fail."

We do need immediate action to stop violence -- but scattered, unproven efforts can be ineffective and a waste of time and resources.

Richmond has a collection of groups and individuals who are passionate about their community.
We will be working to add capacity to this wealth of passion. I invite all those interested in seeing a safe and prosperous Richmond to join us in this work in progress.

Muhammad is the executive director of The Mentoring Center.
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TAZER NOTE: The Tazer applauds Mr. Muhammad being proactive and sharing his plans! Here's something to ponder: The Tazer wonders if the anger over the slow action of City officials to even get to this point in addressing violence prevention stems from wanting an immediate solution as much as it does from the lack of accountability from those who have lacked the ability to lead or govern for many years, thus the city of Richmond has become what it is.

The Tazer thinks most will agree with the feeling that we can ALL work towards the solution, but having those responsible step up, admit their mistakes and inability, and allow us as a city to NEVER allow those mistakes to happen again is a big step towards everyone moving forward.

Again, the Tazer supports Mr. Muhammad's desire to move forward, but we WILL NOT allow those who need to answer for this mess to slither away without taking their medicine.

A Great Question To Start The Week...

As we start a new week, Tazer friend Inge Oliver brings up a great question:


Well, I read the Tazer............ and I'm wondering, why wouldn't the Tazer go right to the source, Mr. Corky Booze to verify this part of my statement regarding the incident last Tuesday in the parking lot of the temporary City Hall, before making the questionable remarks?
Irma Anderson cannot testify to said incident, she was not involved, it was her son.
Everybody, who watched the CC-meeting could see Mr. Anderson approaching Mr. Booze in the chambers during the meeting, and short there after, Mr. Booze left the chambers.

As I see it, that is one piece of evidence, and Mr. Booze can give you the rest of the story.
I certainly agree with you, the language some people use, is less than unprofessional and very offensive, and the Tazer really should think twice before something like that should be published.

Thought, I have to share that with you.
Sincerely,
Inge Oliver
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TAZER NOTE: Thank you Inge. Mr. Booze has a standing invitation to offer commentary of any kind with the Tazer, and has had it for quite some time. We've requested this information through the same sources that brought us the story of Mr. Anderson allegedly doing something to Mr. Booze in the parking lot and, as of yet, have not received a response from Mr. Booze.

As soon as the Tazer receives a response or commentary from Mr. Booze, we will post it.

The Tazer offered Mr. Anderson an opportunity to explain this incident, as some pretty nasty commentary was being thrown around in regard to what happened. That offer still stands as well.

Posting Overboard!

While the Tazer has the goal of not editing comments, some of the things in the comments section over the last 12 to 24 hours border on rediculous.

Therefore, those comments have been removed as they DO NOT contain any healthy disscussion, but rather out and out flames and wasted space taking pot shots at Ahmad Anderson.

Again, healthy intellegent debate, discussion and disagreement is welcome here. Borderline violence and bashing is not.

A note to Mr. Anderson: Nothing has been delivered to the Tazer that proves you did anything to Mr. Booze in the parking lot as some have mentioned. Until such a time as it receives concrete evidence, The Tazer will not pass judgement and offers Mr. Anderson the opportunity to post here if he so chooses.

Here's to happy, productive posting!