First Impressions of Sacramento: So Much Poverty

Sacramento, California.

The last time I visited the state capitol, I was finishing my last year in college.

I saw what everything looked like from the upstairs galley surround the state senate floor, but that was it.

I did not spend a lot of time in the city, either, since I was just passing through that year.

15 years later, I visit Sacramento for real and really walk the town and talk to the people.

I decided to stay at a Motel 6 rather than stay at the more expensive Regency Hyatt. For that, I ended up seeing much of the city which I had not expected to make contact with.

The first and dominant feature throughout Sacramento?

The abject poverty.

I can't believe how many people I have seen in Sacramento who are on the street.

I expect the dinginess and rampant homelessness in Los Angeles or San Francisco.

Not as beautiful as advertised

But Sacramento?

Even though the city is smaller that those two larger urban areas, the moral decay is stifling.

After driving around the city, I noticed so many hanging out in fast food restaurants.

I visited one fast food place, and an elderly woman had been standing out in front with her walker.

Later tonight, she was still there.

This is incredible, and incredibly depressing.

This is the state capital of California, yet a dingy malaise of poverty and misfortune just hovers over everything.

The city does not look or feel clean. A sense of dull failure just dominates the city.

Downtown is better, perhaps, but the majority of people in this city live … all around the city.

This is the best that Sacramento leaders could provide? Really?!

This is terrible.