A non-profit group that promotes an “urban forest” through programs to plant and maintain trees is likely to receive a $750,000 federal stimulus grant to hire additional staffers. The Sacramento Tree Foundation has been selected to receive the American Recovery and Reinvestment grant and is ironing out the details for how it plans to use the money. The federal stimulus dollars will be distributed through the U.S. Forest Service and will be administered through California ReLeaf, a Davis-based... KathleenHaley HennyPenny 2009-10-18T17:22:09Z 2009-10-18T17:22:09Z

Thank you, Jim, for taking the time to comment on this story. I live on endangered farmland, and it's always good to know who has their fingers in the developers' pie.

HennyPenny 2009-10-18T17:22:09Z Jim Knapp 2009-10-17T04:08:21Z 2009-10-17T04:08:21Z

Tony do you even live in his district? I do. I speak to many pople in the community, firefighters,, police, neighborhood associations etc. I am very comfortable making the statement that he is universally disliked. Everything I stated is public record, and is very easy to verify. You can chose to doubt whatever you feel like, if you feel like blindly supporting Tretheway, you would be in the minority. Tretheway will go the way of Heather Fargo, his close friend and political compatriot. Fargo lost in her own neighborhood overwhelmingly 70-30. I am confident that Tretheway will see the same fate, as he should.

Jim Knapp 2009-10-17T04:08:21Z Tony Sheppard 2009-10-16T23:50:57Z 2009-10-16T23:50:57Z

"He is universally disliked by everyone in his district..." An unprovable and hyperbolic statement like this is likely to cause readers to doubt the rest of the points being made.

Tony Sheppard 2009-10-16T23:50:57Z Jim Knapp 2009-10-16T16:15:02Z 2009-10-16T16:15:02Z

Gee BIG surprise... an politician, Tretheway, is going to benefit from free government cheese. Thretheway needs to be ran out of town, I am sick and tired of corrupt.politicians running this town. Tretheway claims on his IRS forms to work 40 hours a week at the Tree Foundation, which is a lie on a government tax return, while pulling in a salary of over 65K per year plus retirement and benefits. At the same time he claims to be working at the Tree Foundation, he spends mostly in City Hall as a Council member selling out his constituency to developers desires, while collecting another roughly 65K per year plus retirement and benefits. The Board of the Sacramento Tree Foundation has almost entirely been made up of developers, or those that make a living from unsustainable urban sprawl. Thats right, big surprise, not made up of environmentalists. These same developers raise money to pay his salary. Tretheway also votes on zoning and other important land deals before the city council. He votes on matters that effect the same very developers and related businesses that pay his salary - Gee no conflict of interest there. (side note: if a City employee in a decision making position did this it would be a criminal offense...but Tretheway uses a loophole in the law which allows politicians to rake in money while working for "non-profit" organizations...it seems that Tretheway has profited heavily from his position at the Tree Foundation) He is pushing the annexation of thousands of acres of farm land, for his buddy and benefactor the Tsakopoulos mob so they can develop and build tens of thousands of more stucco tract houses and strip malls, on irreplaceable farm land, all the way up to the Sutter County line, creating a donut of urban sprawl which will soon surround the airport. He then has the audacity to face the People of Sacramento and claim in be an environmentalist. Try to name a more duplicitous politician in this town...go ahead and try... He has created quite a sweet life for himself. Being a politician is quite lucrative. He owns four or five homes and a very nice cabin near Tahoe, while collecting his fat salaries. It must be nice being a public servent. He makes more than three times what the average Sacramentan makes. He is universally disliked by everyone in his district...I cant wait until the election to finally get him off of the council. And for those of you who hate the Strong Mayor initiative...he was the swing vote needed to put the measure on the June ballot; that ought to stick in your craw. Tretheway is the epitome of a the kind of politician our city does not need. One who lines his own pockets and only supports issues that benefit him personally in some fashion.

Jim Knapp 2009-10-16T16:15:02Z