By Sarah Norberg
Maybe everyone grows up underappreciating or even resenting their hometown. I distinctly remember complaining with my friends in high school about the limitations of Folsom, California — a suburb east of Sacramento — where we had grown up in privilege: boring, upper-middle class bourgeoisie with top performing public schools, low in diversity, in safe Republican state assembly/senate and congressional districts, etc. Nothing could be more stifling in our collective imaginations at the time. I felt so strongly stifled that I moved away from Folsom for over a decade. I went off to college and wanted to make more of a difference by working in pre-college and student services in an underserved area (the Salinas Valley, a majority-Latino community with many migrants). In that work, I mostly supported the children of field workers in their academic and professional growth; it was highly rewarding, but over time I became increasingly aware of the blessings afforded by my upbringing in Folsom.
Today, I would give anything to reclaim how Folsom used to be. Since the pandemic, the city’s character has changed in ways that make it unrecognizable to the place I grew up. Not all the changes have been negative: Folsom has become more racially and culturally diverse, with sizable Desi/Indian-American and Asian-American populations, and the local leadership reflects this diversity. But the community is currently embroiled in a clash over a ballot initiative in this year’s election that exemplifies the city’s identity crisis.
Folsom, as it was.
Before we get into the controversial ballot initiative, I want to briefly explain how Folsom used to be. The city was always a desirable place to live, often ranking first among family-friendly communities in California due to our public schools outperforming others on the state level. Despite being known to many outsiders as the home of Folsom State Prison (which Johnny Cash infamously sang about), we were also known as a safe community in which to raise a family, with low crime and robust parks and trails. In addition to the prison, Intel and other tech companies are major employers, offering a robust range of career opportunities.
My perspective on the Folsom of the past is uniquely informed by my family and my own career trajectory. My dad is a retired correctional officer who spent most of his career at Folsom Prison. He met my mother in Tehachapi, a waitress in her twenties who was undocumented (she had immigrated from Mexico to California alone at age 14). After I was accidentally conceived, my dad transferred to Folsom Prison for our family’s benefit; even the prison in Folsom is among the most desirable prisons to work at in the state.
Leaving Folsom, and returning.
As I grew up, I found myself drawn to education as a career path, and I felt the need to serve more marginalized student populations. Folsom was not the place to pursue that work, so in 2011 at the age of 21, I pursued a career elsewhere.
I made the most of the educational opportunities afforded to me through quality public schooling and solid community colleges in the greater Sacramento area, and I decided that educational advocacy was the best avenue to channel my desire through to do good in the world. I applied myself devotedly to my studies, and by completing general education course requirements across three local community colleges and taking excessive courseloads, I earned my BA from UC Davis at age 20 and my first MA degree in education at age 21.
True to my cause, I spent about a decade in leadership positions in public education in the rural Salinas Valley, which is home to many migrants. Once the pandemic moved my student services position online, I left my failed decade-long relationship with my ex and moved back in with my parents in Folsom, having missed the city dearly after being away for years. In 2021, I earned my second MA degree in education, but despite my robust academic and work qualifications, I never made significant career progress in the Sacramento area.
I looked into employment at the prison instead, and I finally caught my big break last year when I was hired as a contractor at Folsom Prison, mostly providing healthcare-related benefits to inmates. But I’ve also applied myself to civic engagement tied to the ballot initiative I mentioned at the start of this piece.
Folsom, changing.
When I returned to Folsom after my self-imposed exile, it was as though Bay Area families felt the same pull as I did during Covid and moved east, bringing bloated Bay Area housing prices and cost of living increases with them. I know gentrification is nothing unique to communities like Folsom, but it has transformed what was a relatively affluent but attainable community with conservative values into a den of wealth and extreme unaffordability. Meanwhile, an influx of liberal voters has turned the town from red to purple politically.
Along with these changes, Folsom has been newly targeted by unprecedented amounts of organized retail petty theft (including porch piracy, collective mailbox theft, carjackings, and so on). It’s become a hotspot for homelessness, which has brought violent attacks on innocent people in once safe public places like city parks and the library grounds. And we are buckling under the weight of overdevelopment and excessive traffic congestion.
It may seem that I am exaggerating about the increases in crime and the rest, but city statistics speak to these trends. At a city council meeting a few months ago, the Folsom police captain reported a 47% increase in violent crime between 2022 and 2023, and both city officials and nonprofits have attested to the significant increases in the homeless population in conjunction with higher crime. Development in town used to feel steady and healthy, with new restaurants and housing developments coming and going, but long-time residents increasingly feel we are overdeveloping, which is degrading the character of our town.
I had been a registered Democrat since I turned 18, and I voted for the Democrat for president every election cycle, only voting Republican for local offices here and there (to the perennial chagrin of my parents, who are devout conservative Evangelicals). But I reregistered as a Republican last year to cast my primary vote for Nikki Haley, and like many others, I now feel politically alienated by many failed policies from the left. Today, amid all of the population growth and development, a small group is pushing a third attempt at raising the city’s sales tax, using a deceptive method after previous attempts failed to meet the 2/3 supermajority normally required to raise taxes in any way in California. One naturally wonders, where is the increase in funds from a larger tax base and developer fees going?
The ballot initiative.
This attempt at raising the sales tax in town is the result of advocacy from a group of about fifteen local people, maybe half of whom are retired city employees with their underfunded CalPERS pensions on the line. Last year, they organized and mobilized as “Folsom Takes Action,” proposing a permanent sales tax increase from its current rate of 7.75% to 8.75%. They used tricky language alluding to a 1% increase, but one cent on the dollar is vastly different to the percent increase they’re proposing from the current sales tax rate (about 12.9% higher). And because Folsom Takes Action mobilized as “citizens” rather than public officials, they were able to exploit the “Upland loophole” that enables them to make the tax increase a ballot initiative, requiring just a simple majority to pass this November.
Those in favor of the sales tax increase courted large developers for tens of thousands in fundraised donations, with the local chamber of commerce and other vested interests donating thousands of dollars as well. It’s no surprise why these groups support the initiative — called Measure G — as they will each receive their piece of the tax increase pie if it passes. Supporters of the tax increase spent about $27,000 on professional signature-gatherers who tabled outside of Walmart and elsewhere months ago, which is how they got over 8,000 signatures to successfully place the measure on the November ballot.
If their effort is truly citizen-driven, would such expense be necessary?
According to those who want the sales tax increase passed, they estimate the increase will bring in an additional $29 million dollars to the city’s budget per year. The city’s projected budget shortfall, however, is much lower, closer to $20 million. Those who want the tax attempt to persuade voters with the promise that the Citizen Oversight Committee would manage the funds, but a majority of the committee positions would be filled by city staff and other interested insiders, posing major conflicts of interest. When asked by city council members at a council meeting to consider raising the tax rate by only half cent on the dollar, the organizers behind the tax refused, and when city council asked to sunset the tax after 3-5 years, the organizers behind the tax increase again refused.
As of September 18th, the pro-tax side had fundraised over $194,000! (the disclosures can be accessed through the City’s website here). This seems awfully high for a local city measure. The group I’m part of, the Citizens Against the Folsom Tax Initiative, has raised maybe $5,500, and we have no stake in the outcome, no city pension on the line like many of those in favor of the tax do. We in opposition are 6 members, four of us being local Folsom residents and two serving in an advisory capacity on the board of Sac Tax (the Sacramento Taxpayers Association).
When I was growing up, it would have felt sacrilegious for Folsom’s mostly conservative residents to volunteer to permanently raise taxes on ourselves. Enough change is enough, and I for one refuse to be asleep behind the wheel while something like 15 of my neighbors as well as several local and out-of-area big developer donors impose their will upon the rest of us.
I have been donating inordinate time to this cause all in an effort to engage everyday people — who, when educated on the details of the tax increase, overwhelmingly oppose its passage. Folsom needs something like Revenge of the Normies, everyday people standing up against the technocratic experts who have thus far mismanaged city funds amidst steady population growth and tax revenue increases, and who should not be trusted with an additional $29 million dollars per year.
I have to hope: Maybe my hometown can be restored, after all!
My name is Sarah Norberg and I am a political animal. I love my hometown of Folsom, CA!