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Tamara Cobb
I am a community activist and I’m very concerned about our area [south Merced]. I was one of the pioneers of bringing the council out through our efforts in the community. I thought a town hall meeting would get a greater response from the community if it was held in the community. That was about two years ago.
I thought the meeting tonight was great although it looks like it was just a haphazard dialogue. I think this $2.63 million spent at McNamara Park is a farce and I plan on doing something with this as soon as I get a pair of glasses and I can see the numbers. I know there is not $2.63 million dollar worth of expenditures in that park. I was one of the ones pushing for the planting of trees and renovation of that park, I was part of the group that helped open back up that swimming pool and I’m very concerned. I went there as a young child swimming everyday.
I don’t think more police will make Merced safer. All the police can do is come take another report or arrest. They can’t stop crime from happening, the police uniform is not a deterrent to crime. The answer to keeping our streets and our city safe is getting more people involved. More people reporting crime, talking about crime that’s happening and not being afraid to tell what they saw. Also longer sentences for criminals. It is the community that makes the community safer. Police are only there for assistance.
Cheng V., 14
I came tonight because I wanted to speak out for us youth that work hard and want a park, just some place to hangout where we can be safe and have no problems or worries that we’ll be shot or hear gunshots. It’s very important for these kinds of meetings to happen because people of Merced can come and express themselves and share real problems that people may not even know exist.
In my opinion a safe community is a place where you can just go out and meet friends. You can talk to random people and not have a fear that they might hurt you.
Jennifer Ruffalo, 38
I came out tonight because of the skate park they’re planning on building in south Merced. I was curious to see who was representing that part of the park renovation, if the city has anyone that is knowledgeable about skateparks behind the effort.
I don’t think more police would necessarily make Merced safer. In my opinion, I think it starts with the youth. We need more mentoring, getting kids when they’re young, giving them a sense of ownership of their community and getting them to participate in their community. I think there are other ways where you have more people involved in community that could create safety. Good things happen in Merced when we work together and I believe everyone should invest something in the community that they’re planted in, whether it’s time, talent or whatever your gift is.
Patricia Pratt, 33
I came tonight with the Merced County Parent Leadership Training Institute. I found it disturbing that the city council wasn’t willing to pay the $32,000 for trees in a park in south Merced right now but if you look at their budget, they have $34,000 that they spent on cameras in that same park.
I believe that the safer the community is the more you’ll see people outside engaging with each other. If people aren’t comfortable enough to be outside in their own neighborhood then you know it’s probably not very safe.
