Watsonville seeks new image: Marketing campaign designed to att...

The city is paying Indianapolis-based Geradot and Co. $35,000 to develop a theme, logo, slogan and print and Web-based marketing materials to set itself apart from the thousands of towns across the nation trying to recruit new business.

[Socialist Joker]

That's one mighty tall order considering Watsonville is a declared Sanctuary City for illegal immigrants, has the highest crime rate in the county due to the large number of Hispanic Norteno and Sureno street gang criminal activity, and the highest unemployment rate in the county also due to the highest number of uneducated illegal immigrants! Yep, a mighty tall order!!

[Santa cruz is worse]

Socialist Joker wrote:

has the highest crime rate in the county

Watsonville, CA Santa Cruz, CA
Population: 48,359 55,253
Forcible Rape: 17 38
Robbery: 82 107
Aggravated Assault: 199 251
Burglary: 359 537
Larceny Theft: 1485 2412
Vehicle Theft: 163 249

Just google "city crime comparison" and type in the 2 cities.

Yep, a mighty tall order!!

Not really - it's already happened. You must hang out in one part of Watsonville. The best Sushi places are in Watsonville - without a doubt! And WiFi cafe places are plentiful now. I agree Watsonville has problems, just like any other cities - but it's lot safer and more affluent than Santa Cruz.

[Watsonville Dude]

Good luck. The residents aren't even excited about being there, so why would a business be excited about being there? Put the money to better use...like maybe... crime victim compensation.

[watsonville]

Patriot wrote:

A discount knife sharpening/screwdriver sharpening business would probably do well there.

Oh... as well as Home Depot, Target, Granite Construction, Sushi restaurants, Green Valley Grill, Holiday Inn, Red Roof Inn, Pajaro Dunes rental,... Too many to list :)

[watsonville]

Watsonville Dude wrote:

Good luck. The residents aren't even excited about being there, so why would a business be excited about being there? Put the money to better use...like maybe... crime victim compensation.

Oh yeah, we hate our acreage of farmlands in our back yard, short distance to Pajaro Dunes and Mt Madonna, or the best sushi restaurants in santa cruz county, peace, quiet, tranquility - 15 minutes to santa cruz and 15 minutes to Monterey, Elkhorn Slough, bird watching, exponentially safer than Santa Cruz,... The list goes on. Don't get jealous because you can't afford to live here.

[Lucas]

On May 8th 2,007 the Watsonville City Counsel voted on a resolution to make Watsonville a Sanctuary City by a vote of 4 to 3.

The city counsel members who voted for the resolution:

Manuel Quintero Bersamin
Oscar Rios
Greg Caput
Kimberly Petersen

[resident]

Decent marketing and image can do wonders for a city or a business that needs a new direction.
However they have to deliver on the image as well, real change has to occur along with it.

[Kids out of Control]

I have not shopped in Watsonville for several years. On my last shopping trip a little boy wiped his runny nose on my jeans, another little boy deliberately ran the shopping cart he was pushing into my hip, and yet a third little boy took a shampoo bottle I'd placed in my cart and ran off with it. All of these children were with large families with parents present. These are the sort of kids who get a little older and become gang members because their actions have never been questioned or controlled. If a child is not taught to be responsible for his or her own actions, robbing or killing someone does not mean anything to them. Watsonville needs to do some remedial work with families regarding raising children to be responsible members of society. Teenage is too late.

[Lucas]

Section 274 felonies under the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, INA 274A(a)(1)(A):
A person (including a group of persons, business, organization, or local government) commits a federal felony when she or he:
* assists an alien s/he should reasonably know is illegally in the U.S. or who lacks employment authorization, by transporting, sheltering, or assisting him or her to obtain employment, or
* encourages that alien to remain in the U.S. by referring him or her to an employer or by acting as employer or agent for an employer in any way, or
* knowingly assists illegal aliens due to personal convictions.

The key words to look at are: "local government" - "commits a federal felony when she or he" - "knowingly assists illegal aliens due to personal convictions."

[Wats-Resident]

Wow! That will make business want to come in to Watsonville? Have you seen downtown lately? It's a GHOST-TOWN! Empty, vacant building and suites everywhere! For sale, for lease, GOING OUT OF BUSINESS galore! The unemployment rate is high, crime is high, our teen who do succeed in school, get the HELL out of town because there is NO FUTURE IN WATSONVILLE! This place is DEAD. The city leaders of present and past (Campos, Osmer, etc.) are to blame. They have a personal agenda to help out the "Speacial" friends they have in town. "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" mentality.
Don't even get me started on the PVUSD, has to be one of the WORST in the entire state.

[Duuude]

New theme: "Hail, hail, the gang's all here!"

[Annie]

I think Watsonville runs their city better than Santa Cruz to begin with. Watch a city council meeting, you see professionalism from both council and community. Ours is a circus. I am happy to see them do some marketing. They already at least let in businesses. I shop in Watsonville about 3 times a month. They have many programs for their youth. I have friends who moved to Watsonville because they feel safer. Go figure!

[Annie]

reginaldo de watsonville wrote:

$35,000 for an out of state company to come up with a fresh image of Watsonville! How ridiculous!
How about offering a contest to the locals here in Santa Cruz County instead?
What does an out of state company know about the 'sanctuary city' image of Watsonville?
We live in Mexico right here in Watsonville.
Let's clean up the graffitti.
My friends retaining wall gets tagged all the time. They would call the City and get it painted over. Now after 3 times this year, the City is billing my friends for this service.
I watch the City Council meetings on cable tv. Very interesting to see who's in charge in Watsonville. Very interesting...but not surprising!

Santa Cruz also bills owners for graffiti removal. It's the owner's responsibility.

[kevin]

"The city is paying Indianapolis-based Geradot and Co.$35,000 ..."

Does anyone else see the problem with outsourcing their marketing? I guess Watsonville really wants to support business in Indiana. Any relatives of Council members involved in Geradot?

[Dan Young]

As a native of Watsonville with experience as a public relations consultant, I'll do the job for less than $35K and keep the $ in the county.

[Serf City]

Watsonville is not as bad as North County people think.

It has a lot of potential.

But I doubt that the city leadership has what it takes to completely rehabilitate Freedom Blvd. and Downtown Watsonville. Freedom looks like a dodgy street in East LA and Downtown looks like Sadr City in Iraq.

One of the great things about Watsonville is that at least the city is willing to invest in developing its infrastructure.

If Watsonville had Micah Posner and Fred Keeley running the show like they do in Santa Cruz, Watsonville would be a hundred times worse off than it already is.

However, if Watsonville really made a commitment to strong economic development, all the liberals would come out of the wood work to oppose it, because the thought of Watsonville becoming a city full of wealthy Americans displacing the poor illegals would horrify them.

[Berry Well]

We need more berry growers. Or, use the $35,000 to buy a longer ladder for the Fire Department's Tonka Truck.

[Aptosian]

Dan Young wrote:

As a native of Watsonville with experience as a public relations consultant, I'll do the job for less than $35K and keep the $ in the county.

I'd rather it went to you or another local company. Why in the world did they go out of the county AND out of state to hire someone?! Crazy! That decision right there makes me think poorly of Watsonville.

[HEREFORLONGHAUL]

I would go to lower main in watsonville before even thinking about shopping on Pacific Av.in Santa Cruz. Last time I was in Santa Cruz I was accosted atleast a dozen times by Bums, vagrants, and drug pushers. I moved to Santa Cruz in 1974. The town was a haven for Long Hairs Whom were peacefull and basically self supported. About 1976 It seams that a new influence arrived. Dot commers and vagrants. Property values started to rise and more crime arrived. I puchased property in Watsonville in 1978. Watsonville was a quite place. At apple harvest time and in the spring the town would experiance an influx of migrate farm workers. Basically the workers were mostly law abidding. The disappearance of apples and the appearance of berries brought all year round farm labors, this tottally changed the makeup of Watsonville for the worse. If Watsonville can bring in more middle income jobs that would be great. This will have to be done without elliminating any farm land,no increase in water consumption,and fill in excisting vacant businesses. Untill the economy makes a 180 I do not see any point in spending Watsonville's overdrawn bank account on some out of the area consultant.

[Pat Kittle]

Aptosian wrote:

<quoted text>
I'd rather it went to you or another local company. Why in the world did they go out of the county AND out of state to hire someone?! Crazy! That decision right there makes me think poorly of Watsonville.

"They go out of county AND out of state to hire" hordes of illegal aliens, so why wouldn't they do the same thing to try to cover up the predictable results?