In the past, this blog has reported on the "renaissance" of Stockton, and it remains apparent that improvements have taken place in the "Sunshine Seaport." However, Stockton is still hampered by an image problem, one of crime and poverty.

In today's Stockton Record, city consultant Roger Brooks talked about Stockton unfairly being label by its own citizens as a grim place to live. Meanwhile, for an outsider's perspective, Elk Grove columnist for the Sacramento Bee Bob Walter fantasized about a future Amtrak station in Elk Grove, giving an anecdote about a conductor in Stockton warning him not to park his car in the lot overnight to avoid the fate of a previously unfortunate rail customer who had his car stripped.

Brooks recommends adopting a logo of "Celebrate" to get Stocktonians to enjoy their downtown amenities. He suggested playing music in public squares such as the Weber Points Event Center, and putting a fountain in the turning basin. The idea is to make Stockton residents feel more civic pride and get them to go downtown.

Michael Fitzgerald wrote in his Record column about the need for people on the street to keep crime down. He talked about pedestrians and the benefit of having an increase of residents in downtown housing. Eyes from windows and people walking around are theorized to make the less bold criminals think twice before doing things society frowns upon.

Here's were Stockton's problems become confoundedly complex. Will upstanding residents move into a community they know has violent and property crime issues? Fitzgerald partially covers this conundrum with the need for Stockton to reduce red tape and reduce costs for downtown developers by $100,000 per housing unit. Will Stockton be able to attract enough developers to gentrify the downtown area enough to make it attractive for all residents of the city, and at some point in the future, tourists? Why would developers or residents take a chance on moving downtown when so many have had their own anecdotes about crime and thuggery in the central city?

It becomes obvious Brooks' ideas to improves citizen's moods must go hand in hand with an evident change in downtown. Brooks himself warned the City Council from advertising a slogan until the reality of the idea is met. His idea to decorate a police car resulted in a negative response by Chief Tom Morris, who said Stocktonians "want a professional and visible police presence that will impact our violent crime rate." Another idea by Brooks, to put free WiFi throughout downtown, will definitely not bring the intended consequences (of having people use their laptops). Clearly, people carrying around laptops through Stockton's current downtown will last only long enough for someone to "offer" to take it off your hands, for free!

The problem is Stockton's problems aren't perceptions of its residents. It's that the perceptions are based in reality. In 2006, the FBI ranked Stockton with the 30th highest murder rate in the country among cities 200,000 or larger. By comparison, Los Angeles was 31st, Sacramento 32nd, and San Francisco 36th. Other similarly maligned Valley cities Fresno and Bakersfield had lower murder rates than Stockton. Meanwhile, Stockton had the 2nd highest violent crime rate of the state's large cities, behind only Oakland. Furthermore, Stockton had the highest property crime rate in the state, with 6811 cases per 100,000 residents.

There is a balance in Stockton, with the focal point being the downtown neighborhood, and the lean of the teeter totter of justice going to the lawless. Efforts are being made to combat these problems, but Stockton has a long way to go before it begins tipping into prosperity.