Letter to the Editor: Sycamore North is a Monument to Mismanagement

- This letter was written by Hercules resident Bill Kelly and submitted to City Council members.

Honorable Council members,

There has been much to discuss for we Herculeans as of late, and the subject of Sycamore North has not been a focus for some weeks. It is now time to refocus on that situation.

Sycamore North is a “monument” to the mismanagement of our City and its finances, and I fear, it is about to become a central issue in causing even greater harm to our beloved City.

It appears that Hercules is heading in a direction which means establishing an environment with a substantially increased potential for promoting crime and violence at a time when Hercules is also reducing the City’s ability to provide law enforcement and public safety services to our citizens. I suggest that it is imperative that the buyer of Sycamore North be contractually required to carefully screen applicants and vigorously enforce rules of tenancy. Should it be that such a buyer is unwilling to meet these standards it might well be in the best interest of our citizens to tear down this structure and risk being sued by the state, rather than endangering the public’s safety.

The City has no ability to pay any award the state might get meaning that suing may well be a hollow threat – Hercules is very likely judgment proof.

Negotiations continue in an effort to sell this gargantuan structure. It is encumbered with not only the affordable housing requirements which are normal and usual, but carries the added weight of having had affordable housing requirements from other developments in the City transferred to this project.

The bottom line is that over 70 very low income rental units will be included in this project which apparently will be managed by a private owner. My concern is that within my experience as a police officer I have encountered many instances where large concentrations of very low income households helped establish a breeding ground for drug trafficking, prostitution and gang related violence.

I understand that the City is burdened with these requirements of state law, but this comes at a time when the City has substantially reduced police presence in Hercules; the other law enforcement agency from which Hercules receives support have similarly been reduced and our District Attorney is less equipped to prosecute criminals than in the recent past.

It may well be that the only real choice here, and the one which is the least harmful, is not building Sycamore North and being sued. It may be that senior housing is the alternative?

Yours truly,

BILL KELLY