Sacramento City Politics

Downtown Sacramento: Weekend Ghost Town

2009-11-16T07:40:54Z

As the capitol city, Sacramento has a dependent relationship on the state government. We've let the state government fill our core with monolithic government buildings. The incentive has been to keep jobs and development, but the cost has been the soul of the city. Contrary to the state employee work week, on any Saturday or Sunday you can ride your bicycle down the middle a street in downtown with hardly any cars to worry about. Many restaurants on K Street and around downtown are closed on weekends.

This is not a new problem. A 1987 Sac Bee article wrote "It's 10 p.m. in downtown Sacramento, and light rail is making its last run along the K Street Mall, temporarily bathing the deserted shopping center with fluorescent light." A 1989 article wrote "State government may be Sacramento's reason for being -- its economic lifeline -- but it has also helped produce much of the city's blandest architecture, .... The state's dominant role, according to a number of civic and government officials, has also kept Sacramento from breeding the type of dynamic business leaders who often promote progress in other cities."

Poor planning decisions made in the past have undoubtedly contributed to the problem. In the 1980's, Sacramento planners encouraged building offices to replace rundown hotels. In the past decade, housing development in West Sacramento and Natomas was touted as an opportunity to spur activity downtown. Of course, it didn't. It merely spurred development of strip malls in those areas. Building offices centrally and sprawl outside has been a recipe for a lifeless downtown on weekends. If city planners really want to revitalize areas like K Street mall, they need to think beyond state employees. We need to have enough people actually live near business centers so they will stay open on weekends. Call it "mixed use", or "smart growth", or just call it "normal". It's what you'll find in any smaller city that has life on weekends, like Davis or Chico.

Kevin Johnson visits Southside Park

2008-10-29T07:03:11Z

On a whim, I emailed both mayor campaigns & asked if they'd stop by our neighborhood to talk about some local issues. It was a pleasant surprise that both candidates were able to (especially so close to Election Day).

Kevin Johnson was scheduled to stop by the Southside Park bandstand area today at 5:45pm.
It was short notice, but I announced it on the neighborhood association newsgroup and there was a sign up at the park. Unfortunately not a lot of people showed up, but Kevin was still gracious enough to talk with us & ask about our concerns.

Here is a video of the visit today. Apologies that the sound is hard to hear... but it should be audible if you turn your volume way up.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1362077477006388920

Mayor Fargo is scheduled to drop by this Thursday 10/30, at 6pm.

Heather Fargo visits the Farmers Market

2008-11-04T02:11:22Z

Mayor Fargo was scheduled to drop by the park last week, but due to the rainstorm plans were cancelled. She was going to be at the Farmer's Market at 6th & X under highway 50 this last Sunday before election, Nov. 2nd. We announced it to the neighborhood association group, but due to the crowds at the Farmers Market there wasn't much opportunity for a lengthy discussion about neighborhood issues.

The Mayor was being interviewed by News 10, and greeting locals who happened to be at the Farmers Market. Several of the Mayor's supporters were behind her holding up Fargo signs. It was interesting (if not awkward) that 5 feet to her right, an equally large entourage of Kevin Johnson supporters were there holding up signs. Nearby, there was a chicken supporting Prop 2 (as well as a beautiful array of bell peppers I had to take a photo of).

Based on the polls, it seems fairly certain that Kevin Johnson will be Sacramento's next Mayor. A recent Sac Bee article pointed out that the central city tends to support Fargo, while the outlying areas tend to support Johnson. Kevin Johnson's focus on the outlying areas probably helped him win this election, because those areas are more populated with voters. Still, many Johnson supporters are likely looking for "change". Fargo has had a good run, and we owe a lot to her for the years of service and dedication she's given our city. As a Southside Park resident and a native Sacramentan, I truly hope we don't neglect the core of our city. What kind of reputation and image will Sacramento have if we neglect downtown - the most visible face to our city? The next mayor will have to face tough choices prioritizing Sacramento's goals with a tight budget.

Anyways - Thanks to both mayoral candidates for dropping by our neighborhood!

Should Our New Mayor be Granted More Power?

2009-01-20T08:34:19Z

While exiting Target or the supermarket recently, I've been approached by young folks with clipboards collecting signatures. The first of these petitions is to put proposal on the ballot to grant Sacramento's mayor more power (to propose budgets and appoint positions, currently the City Manager's role). The conversation went something like this:

Petitioner: "Excuse me, are you a registered voter in Sacramento?"
Me: "Yes. What is that?"
Petitioner: "Would you mind signing this? It's to give the mayor the power to get things done."
Me: "No thanks, I think the mayor has enough power."
Petitinoer: "Well, this is just to get it on the ballot so voters can decide. Would you sign it?"
Me: ... walking away.

So, I wasn't surprised when I read in the Bee that they already have enough signatures to put this on the ballot. With pushy kids getting paid-per-signature like that, no surprise. The question is - should we grant our newly elected mayor these additional powers? On one hand, I don't disagree with having the City Manager's responsibilities put in the hands of an elected official (the Mayor). I can't really think of a problem with the Mayor proposing the budget either, so long as the city council remains part of the input and approval process.

The only thing that bothers me about this proposal is that it's being pushed by a mayor who hasn't yet proven himself or his agenda. Concentrating power and decision making won't necessarily lead to better decisions. I'm not convinced that Kevin Johnson can't work towards his mission within the existing system. If he can't, how would he know? He hasn't been in office long enough to even try. When I think of cities with "powerful" mayors, I think of cities with corruption. I, for one, would like to learn more about the new mayor's plans and approach before seeing a change to the city charter.

Our new mayor vs. federal money: What if we have to choose?

2009-03-31T02:09:55Z

You've probably heard - but in case you haven't, there are reports that Kevin Johnson's previous alleged misuse of federal funds may jeopardize the City of Sacramento's receipt of federal stimulus money. If this happened, it would be a serious handicap for Sacramento because the city could be denied the expected tens of millions from the hundreds of billions of federal dollars. According to Kevin Johnson, the city won't be denied funds. There doesn't seem to be much certainty at this point, so I won't speculate on what will happen.

However, an important question to ask is what is the best thing for Sacramento if the mayor's predicament causes denial of funds?

If Sacramento is denied tens of millions of dollars, I believe any honorable leader who wants the best for the city (which I believe the mayor is) would resign. In reading about this, I saw a link to an online petition seeking the mayor's resignation. Hopefully, we won't be denied funds and the mayor can keep on doing a good job. If we are denied funds, I don't think any mayor is worth sacrificing the large amount of federal stimulus money. I don't think a "recall the mayor" would be necessary. However, I think it would be appropriate and responsible for the mayor to issue a statement about what would happen if the city is denied federal funds.