Dear Editor:

There is a season meant for talk and a season meant for action. Antioch has had it’s day lamenting runaway crime. Hand-wringing over back to back yearly bad news grabs needed attention but is ultimately just a temporary psychic release. It’s time now for townsfolk to take the bull by the horns.

The Friday Breakfast Club, a group of concerned citizens, has been working with an attorney on a ballot measure proposing a business tax levied on owners renting property in Antioch. The fees would be designated specifically for augmenting police services. Specific policy details, such as whether the first parcel is waived and/or what the precise fees should be, can be worked out by City Council and Staff. There is a growing general consensus, though, that renting property should be treated as a business and that any monies collected from licenses/fees should be police manpower targeted, with citizen oversight.

Let’s face a not so pretty picture. Since plummeting from 126 sworn officers to 89, with yearly attendant crime spikes of 30%, Antioch’s living a hellish page from the Wild West. Like others, I hold my breath coming home from a day trip or a vacation hoping my house has not been broken into.

This proposal generates tangible hope and seems the most pragmatic and least painful way of raising needed resources. Consider Antioch’s numbers; some 11,000 rental units, including 1,971 Section 8 homes and some out of town investment consortiums controlling literally scores of properties.

Other towns, like Daly City, Oakland, Pinole and Rancho Cordova have a property business fee.

Shouldn’t we likewise charge for the right of putting an investment shingle up in our town and using our public services? At, say $20 a month, we could potentially raise two to three million dollars annually for more sworn officers and/or in hiring for support less costly community service officers.

Yes, I despise taxes, fees and excessive government. I despise lawlessness even more, though. If government is not meant to insure law and order, then what is it there for?

Truth is, we are silently paying by not collectively acting. Paying through the nose, actually.

We are being robbed of peace of mind; of real property loss; of lost insurance deductibles; of lowered property values; and of the price of personal prevention initiatives. The ornamental gate I installed on my home’s

RV side cost me a cool $1,345. How about dog food for my trusty canine sentinel; alarm installation and fees; outside cameras and motion sensor costs? Yet with now ten successful and/or thwarted break ins in a three block area of my home over the past 15 months, I still justifiably worry without a moat around my castle.

I applaud the Friday Breakfast Club for going beyond complaining; implore the City Council to put a rental business fee unto an upcoming ballot; and urge citizens to carefully consider the alternative to inaction. As the ad goes, pay me now or pay me later. Passivity, as we’ve seen, comes with a price tag.

Walter Ruehlig

Antioch

By Corporal Rick Smith, Antioch Police Community Policing Bureau

On Monday, April 1, 2013 at 4:17 p.m., Antioch Police Officers responded to a residence on William Reed Drive after receiving a call of multiple gun shots fired into the back yard of the residence. A seven year-old boy was struck by one round and transported to Children’s Hospital with a non-life threatening injury. The child and his parents were visiting from out of town for a BBQ. No other persons were injured.

Information developed during the investigation shows the responsible fired multiple rounds into the rear yard from an area near the G Street over crossing.

This preliminary information is made available by the Field Services Bureau. Anyone with additional information is asked to contact Antioch Police Department at (925) 778-2441. Anonymous tips can also be sent via text to 274637 (CRIMES), keyword ANTIOCH.

Dear Editor:

As long as we citizens of Antioch have to lock our doors and windows, turn our alarms on, install motion lights, keep watch dogs and keep looking over our shoulders then the tax for police is a no-brainer.

Without the added police presence, our safety and that of our loved ones will be held in the hands of the criminal element- Those scum who prey on the unprotected.

I advocate for the 3/4% sales tax.

Richard Asadoorian

Antioch