OPEN THREAD: Rant and Rave here about the dirty laundry being aired between the city and the local police department.
Okay, I’m all for fairness and negotiating for what you want, but come on people, do we really need the “scary” billboards warning people about crime in Monrovia?
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No way! It’s like hanging out a welcome mat for all the criminals in the SGV. I fully support the MPOA in their battle with the city and I believe the city is acting idiotically and disingenuously. But these billboards realy have to come down. They serve neither the MPOA’s interests or those of the citizens they claim to be so concerned about. It seriously damages their credibility.
I think the billboards are like a poorly conceived commercial for a great product. We all saw the crime wave of January. There’s no doubt MPD officers are paid well below the average of local officers and that many have left (and, those who are hired, if they are retained, tend not to stay). So, what they say is true, at least to a significant extent.
The problem is, I don’t think the technique is effective.
However, it is notable the reaction of the community. Last week, the Old Town merchants had a protest. One of them told me, flat out, that once the billboards come down, she won’t do anything for the MPOA, because she really doesn’t have a position on their fight. Yet, at night, whom will she turn to for protection? The same folks she’ll turn her back on.
One other thought. Television news rooms rarely develop stories on their own. Things come to them by press releases, radio scanner traffic and news tips. Those bill boards have been on TV for two weeks in a row, and the same merchants were featured in interviews.
I must wonder if some of the same merchants who have complained about the bill boards are calling attention to them and multiplying the effect of their message.
Oh please, those billboards were pretty ineffective. Why? Because the one on the 210 is so far back and hidden with other clutter it took my wife 2 weeks to spot it. Wonder how many others have missed it?
The one on Peck Road, I wonder how much traffic enters town from that way either?
And why is a few in Monrovia so upset over those silly things when not a soul in Sierra Madre or Arcadia reacted that way over essentially the SAME billboard last summer when their police were negotiating for better contract terms.
I think it was a great big waste of money that has largely gone unnoticed. Had a few of the merchants not gotten themselves all worked up and brought in the TV news the whole story would never have gotten attention.
If city hall censors the news and what information we are given how else is it to get out?