Crane's Corner

Sacramento County is going to be looking for a new Sheriff in 2022 as current Sheriff Scott Jones seeks a Congressional seat.  After 12 years as Sheriff and 33 years with the force, he's looking for something different.  His endorsed replacement is Jim Barnes, a 22 year veteran with the Sacramento County Sheriffs department.  Join our conversation as I talk with Jim about his motivation for the job, his interests and what he thinks he brings to the table.  Why is he a great choice?  With crime on the rise, challenges with the state legislature and legal entitlements now favoring the criminals, what really needs to be done?  Hear Jim explain his perspective and his expectations should he be chosen by the people as the next Sheriff of Sacramento County.  

In full disclosure, this interview was done before any other candidates arose and since that time, a current Assemblymember has also decided to run for the role as well.  Jim Cooper will also be on the ballot as of this point in time.

For more information and to see all the Crane's Corner interviews and stories, visit www.edcranescorner.com

Listen in as today's discussion is with long time Real Estate Agent, Terry Knight.  We'll be talking about the market in general, some of the historical challenges real estate has faced and a look forward about what to expect in the near future.  Will our children or our grandchildren ever be able to get to the point where they can own a home as we know it today?  What could it possibly look like?  Is there a home buying challenge in our near future be it interest rates, inflation or even a dip in the overall economy?  We cover a lot of ground with an outlook that's probably a realistic view of where things are headed. 

It started before the Pandemic. I began working from home in January 2020, doing the morning news on a local radio station, and later other broadcast related work including writing and recording this Crane’s Corner Podcast.

I continue working from home, not because of Covid 19, but because the equipment I need is right here---so why pay the expense of an office, not to mention the travel time. It’s tough to goof off when the radio broadcast schedule demands content of a certain length at a certain time. But when a deadline is flexible, battling the urge to take a long lunch, watch some tv, surf the web do some work around the house is a daily challenge.

But I can relate to some of the horror stories I hear from my friends in management jobs around Sacramento. What began as a necessity---keeping people at home to prevent the spread of Co Vid 19--has in some cases turned into a major headache. As businesses allow working from home on occasion--workers are taking the perk of flexibility and turning into a license to goof off--staying home--but not working from home...or as some managers tell me...not even staying home or working from home….taking the day off without using a paid vacation or sick day--to due something else. 

Unless the office mandates a check in zoom call---it can be hard to track a worker down. Many people--especially younger workers have abandoned that hard wired home phone and can only be reached by mobile phone...which as the name suggests...goes wherever its owner takes it. So that worker you think is at home in Roseville, could be partying in Lake Tahoe or chilling at the beach in Santa Cruz. Some workers aren’t even pretending to be working. One friend told me that a newly hired subordinate called in one morning to say she’d be working from home because her pet wasn’t eating much and the pet store carrying a more suitable brand didn’t open till 10 am. Why come in one hour late when you can blow off the whole day. Some workers are actually more productive, knowing they can get up early, work like the devil from 6 am till noon...then have the rest of the day to themselves. That of course takes discipline, and a workload that doesn’t include communicating with people in different time zones or even local workers only available during regular business hours.

It will be interesting to say how this all shakes out, if Co Vid eventually dies out. Will companies think twice about paying all that overhead if people are just as productive at home, and continue to allow the work from home option? Or, as I suspect, companies will allow it but become much more vigilant in policing home workers, lest they become home shirkers--maybe through face timing calls or home based zoom calls. 

It’s not just the worker bees you have to worry about. A few weeks back I invited a friend, a manager with a lot of responsibilities , to play a round of golf early one Friday morning. I figured he was either taking the day off or working a half day---heading to the office after we finished 18. Apparently he planned neither. He didn’t tell anyone anything. Halfway through the front 9 his cell phone began ringing. He’d drop his club, jog to the woods or just off the fairway. It was working fine until he tried to swing and chat at the same time. An errant shot prompted him to scream FORE, Not only was he busted, he was so mad at himself his game went to hell, and he rushed off in shame as soon as the round was over.

Golf is a game of honor, but if you shirk your duties at the office, the Golf Gods will find out and you’ll be wishing you never left the cube farm.

I suppose every state has its problems. Michigan lives and dies by the auto industry, which is now at a crossroads. Production is being hampered by shortages of computer chips while prices are putting new vehicles out of the hands of many would-be buyers. 

New York’s governor jumped before he could be pushed out of office and crime in New York and other big cities like Chicago remains out of control. Covid’s comeback is hitting the deep south hard.

Maybe it’s because we live here and are too close to it’s problems, but California seems to be the unhappiest state in the Union. It’s been a record fire season, which sadly has become an annual event. Criminals are being released early and reoffending, in some cases committing vicious assaults and murder, crimes worse than the felonies that put them behind bars in the first place.

 It was a fair vote, but California now retains Governor Newsom, a politician who has done pretty much what he wants, regardless of public sentiment, while failing to adequately address the state's biggest problems. From Amador to Anaheim, drought and future water supplies are a concern and while California is among the states with the highest percentage of vaccinations, Co Vid is making a serious comeback, with even those inoculated subject to infection. 

Inflation, though it seems to be moderating across the country, has hit California especially hard. The highest gas prices in the country are getting ridiculous, $5 dollars a gallon in the big cities, close to it in other parts of the state. Inflation is noticeable during every trip to a grocery store or restaurant. The employment situation is truly bizarre. The statewide unemployment rate is close to 8 percent, among the highest in the country, yet it seems every sector of our economy is looking for workers. Generous jobless benefits and co vid induced rent moratoriums effectively invite would-be workers to stay home, with an entitlement mentality setting in. 

SMUD reports many customers, while enjoying free rent, are failing to pay their electric and gas bills. Intense summer heat and daily smog and smoke from seasonal fires are keeping many from enjoying California’s natural beauty and vast recreation opportunities. Living here has ceased to be fun, and the daily cost of living and fears about the future make things worse. The Golden State in many respects has been tarnished. The idea that California can bounce back any time soon ….File that one under Fools Gold. 

What was the big takeaway from Tuesday’s resounding defeat of the Recall Governor Newsom petition? That Gavin Newsom is a terrific Governor? That the recall never had a chance? Those visits from the President and Vice President made all the difference.

No. The big takeaway is that Democracy prevailed. Democrat voters outnumber republican voters by about 2-1 in California, the recall efforts were primarily but not exclusively republican, so the outcome, a landslide vote to keep Democrat Newsom in office was pretty much along registered voter lines, and by all accounts a very fair election.

That's good for all of us. But if Gavin Newsom takes this as a resounding referendum in support of the job he’s doing, Newsom is a fool. A lot of democrats have problems with Newsom. He’s arrogant, personifying the rules are for thee not for me to knock on many politicians. His administration has yet to seriously address the state's biggest problems, forestry and fires, homelessness and the brazen billion dollar robbery of the EDD by convicted state prisoners and their accomplices on the outside. Not to mention a moratorium on the death penalty and the early relese of hardened criminals, both of which defy the views of the people who either elected Newsom or didn’t but have to put up with him. The vote it seems was less about love of Gavin Newsom and more about the fear of Larry Elder, who stepped into the race a few weeks back and energized both sides, The conservative radio talk show host became an instant favorite of the recall Newsom contingent, but his hard right views on everything from race and abortion to covid vaccines and the minimum wage galvanized the state’s majority party.

Elder, who got 46 percent of Newsom’s would be challenger, now calls himself a former radio host and suggests he’ll seek a re-match against Newsom when he’s up for re-election next year, But if that scenario plays out, it almost guarantees 4 more years of Newsom. California’s way too blue for any of Elder’s positions, but state republicans don’t seem interested in backing any other republican now on the scene. Disgruntled state republicans seem to have two choices. Find a more moderate choice that most republicans and democrats fed up with Newsom can get behind..or as a growing number of Californians have already done...Move out of state.