City Governance

Who picks up the leaves?

2008-12-23T01:51:58Z

As a result of the recent wintry weather, downtown Sacramento is coated with layers and layers of leaves. While driving around I noticed that there were tons of leaf piles in the street gutters. And they were everywhere, from H street to U Street.

One thing I noticed about the piles was that some people would make theirs so large it would actually spill over into parking spaces. I later learned that this is one of the reasons why the department asks people to sweep out their piles less than 24 hours before scheduled pick-up time.

311 informed me that the Solid Waste Department of the City Utilities Department is in charge of picking up the leaf piles.

For even more information about leaf-pile pickup, I contacted Solid Waste Dept. Public Information Officer Jessica Hess. Hess explained to me that the department is out six days a week picking up the leaf piles.

Do you have leaf piles in your street? Do you rake your own leaves or do you wait for the City to dispose of them? Have you seen their trucks picking up leaves in your street?

To see when the Solid Waste Dept. will be in your neighborhood, click here.

Strong mayor initiative and petition

2009-01-08T01:50:14Z

Here is a link to the Initiative Measure to Amend the City of Sacramento Charter to Change the Structure of City Government. It can be found on the Sacramentans for Accountability website, and is the same link provided by Mayor Johnson in the previous article's conversation. To view the previous article, click on the "storyline" tab to the right.

Any advice for Mayor Johnson?

2009-01-31T03:30:08Z

On Thursday, the Sacramento Bee reported that Mayor Kevin Johnson has decided to postpone the strong-mayor initiative to focus on more pressing issues like the budget.

The strong-mayor initiative has been a pretty hot topic on Sacramento Press in the past few weeks, with readers voicing their opinions for and against the initiative and discussing the actual campaign tactics.

Now that the initiative has been pushed back, what is your opinion? Did Kevin Johnson make the right move by postponing it? What are your suggestions for the next round of campaigning? What would you like to see from Mayor Johnson before you are willing to sign the initiative?

Here are some previous SacPress articles about the strong-mayor initiative: "A stronger Mayor for a stronger Sacramento?, "Strong Mayor initiative and petition" and "Strong Mayor, Weak Ethics?".

A stronger mayor for a stronger Sacramento?

2009-01-06T23:55:38Z

Monday marked the kick-off of Mayor Johnson's unprecedented campaign to transition the mayorship from a weak mayor to a strong mayor. The campaign needs over 32,000 petition signatures by Jan. 16 to make the change.

Sacramento has previously operated under a "weak mayor" type of city government. The city council operates as the executive body as well as the legislative and the city manager - an unelected official - acts as the city's Chief Executive Officer. The mayor serves only ceremonial duties.

A "strong mayor" type of government gives the mayor a wider range of political independence and authority. The city council functions solely as a legislative body while the mayor retains his executive powers and functions as the city's Chief Executive Officer.

So what does Mayor Johnson hope to gain with this transition? In a word: accountability.

Since Sacramento still has a weak mayor system in place, the Chief Executive Officer is the unelected city manager.

"[Ray Kerridge is] the Chief Executive Officer of the city and he's not an elected member. And as a result you have council members and a mayor who are actually elected but aren't accountable for the day-to-day operations of the city," Mayor Johnson said on Monday in an interview on NPR's "Insights" with Jeffrey Callison. "If a mayor is the Chief Executive of the city then a voter's vote is able to hold that mayor accountable."

What do you think about Mayor Johnson's campaign for a strong mayorship? Do you agree that it will provide more accountability? What do think are the upsides or downsides to a strong mayor? Do you think a strong mayorship has a better structure than a weak mayorship?

This is what SacBee and KCRA also have to say about the campaign.