Prison Brings Town Benefits

As one who has seen many a California “prison town,” I can only conclude that opponents of the Crown Coach site in downtown Los Angeles are attacking it with only political motives in mind. They cannot back down now without losing face even though--in their hearts--they know that the benefits of a nearby prison greatly outweigh any detriment it may bring.

In nearby Norco, for example, the California Rehabilitation Center (a Class 2 prison) has been in the center of town for 25 years now. During that time Norco has grown from a village of 6,000 to a bustling city of about 24,000. It is a city of beautiful homes, with nary a slum to be seen.

Thanks in main to the payroll of the 1,000 people who work at the center, Norco’s economy is strong. The center provides Norco with its parks and road crews, saving it considerable money each year. In turn, a community liaison group from Norco meets with prison officials each week to insure continuing good relations between city and prison.

San Quentin may have an odious reputation, but it sits on the edge of affluent San Rafael. No one up there complains about it. Nor do they complain about Folsom in the eastern environs of Sacramento. Once in the middle of nowhere, Folsom is now surrounded by lovely homes. There is a strong economy in the business areas nearby. And these two are the toughest of all California prisons.

The prison slated for the Crown Coach site, on the other hand, will be a “minor league” type of incarceration center--probably a Class 2 like the center in Norco. If San Quentin can blend with San Rafael, certainly Los Angeles should suffer nothing from what it will be getting.

But, knowing all this, Crown Coach opponents go on “saving face.” They remind me of the British high command of World War I who insisted on fighting their battles in the 19th-Century style of warfare: sending a million young men across barren fields to be mowed down by 20th-Century machine guns and mortars. By 1917 they realized their mistake, but by then it was too late for these million young men.

Soon it will be too late for the good people of Los Angeles should they keep listening to the siren song of the save-face Pied Pipers. They deserve a better fate. They deserve a stronger economy and a first-class community to go along with the first-class people they are.

A Crown Coach site prison will give these good things to them.

BLAINE NELS SIMONS

Long Beach