Over 30 teams of bike scavengers took to the streets of downtown Sacramento Saturday in a race against time to interpret clues, hunt for items and complete challenges for the Bicycle Kitchen’s annual Hunt the Grid bike scavenger hunt. If cyclists didn’t know Sacramento before the hunt, they sure do now. The hunt, now in its third year, is an event where teams of four hit the pavement and try to solve clues based on well-known venues and random oddities of Sacramento. Bike Kitchen staff member and event organizer Ryan Sharpe, 32, planned the event with his staff non-stop for six weeks. “No one is going to look at the city in the same way,” he said. The city was broken up into quadrants,

Alkali-Mansion Flats Businesses May Participate in the City of Sacramento Public Bicycle Rack Program. Installing accessible bicycle racks nearby a business promotes increased bicycle ridership, an alternative to driving, and decreased demand for parking. The City’s Department of Transportation will install bicycle racks in the public right-of-way for businesses that have a need for bicycle parking. Businesses requesting a City bicycle rack are encouraged to submit an application to the Parking Services Division by visiting the Bicycle Rack Request Application website. Minimum requirements are: Businesses must be currently in operation and have customers, employees or visitors who

 Ashley Tully of Sacramento Habitat for Humanity attended the monthly membership meeting to introduce us to their program and to encourage participation by our membership. There is an immediate opportunity for families in need…with the ability to make small monthly mortgage payments, whose credit record can demonstrate responsibility, and who has the desire to help themselves and other families in need…to be able to own a home! Sacramento Habitat for Humanity (SHfH) is a non-profit housing ministry that works with selected, low-income partner families who want to learn what it takes to become responsible homeowners. Qualified families will partner with SHfH to build and purchase their ow

 Preparation for the Green Line to the River District (7th Street and Richards Boulevard) is moving along with early construction taking place along 7th Street between B Street and closer to downtown at 7th Street between F and H streets. Construction crews will spend the next two weeks relocating a large sewer main in preparation for laying track. It is not desirable to have “wet” utilities underneath light rail tracks and therefore, these utilities must be moved so they are easily accessible once light rail track is laid. During the construction, which will take place around the clock from Monday, May 17 through Wednesday, June 2, 7th Street will change from three lanes to one lane at F

 Neighbors need to be aware of the fact that it’s good to call and report ANY neighborhood disturbances to the Sac PD. This keeps patrols up in our area and could reduce crime activity. Call the Sacramento Police Department's non-emergency line at 264-5471 if ever you are bothered by unreasonable neighborhood noise, crime, or vagrants in our area. If the disturbance is of an urgent nature, dial 911 (or 916-264-5151 from your cell phone). This will help keep the Sac PD in-the-know about any inappropriate action in our area such as domestic noise, garbage or other scavenging, potential theft activity, vagrants on your property, etc. In order to keep police street patrols active, disturbanc

 In follow-up to the prior Newsletter article about noise disturbances: a written request to prohibit garbage truck hauling service prior to 7AM (daylight hours) has been met with voluntary compliance from area garbage haulers. Sacramento Regional Solid Waste Authority (SWA) General Manager/ Engineer, Paul Phillco, and City of Sacramento Integrated Waste General Manager, Edison Hicks, have stated that January 2011, an ordinance amendment could allow an exclusive service zone in the downtown area to improve implementation of the City’s general plan. Such a positive change would limit the number of haulers, noise, route frequency and wear and tear on our streets. I'm happy to share their res

 Back-in angled parking installation Schedule: We expect the installation to extend for approximately 3 weeks, from May 24th to June 11th of this year. Residents should be aware that during this period they may experience a few partial road/lane closures as a result of the pavement grinding and striping as well as a temporary loss of on-street parking and parking restrictions along the concerned street segments. A traffic control plan will be in place.

Many years from now, when I am telling my grand-children stories of my life; Thursday May 20, 2010, will be a story that I will recall with many fond memories. I will describe it as the perfect day; a day when an entire community came together with the common goal of building a new park and playground for the children. I will remember a day when the laughter of children echoed throughout the park, as they ran around in anticipation of the new playground being built that they helped design. I will tell them that during this day, children blew bubbles, got their face painted, and shouted out their balloon animal of choice to ‘Dilly-Dally The Clown’. I will recount stories of how a small grou

Sacramento’s Alchemist Community Development Corporation hosted a party and fundraiser to mark its fifth anniversary Thursday evening, and veggies never seemed so cool. At “Cinco de Alchemist,” about 150 guests enjoyed delightful offerings from local restaurants Mulvaney’s B&L, The Waterboy, Taylor’s Market, Magpie Caterers, Mikuni and more. Live music by Caribbean Jazz and Musical Charis complemented the celebratory mood. Alchemist CDC was founded in 2004 by Wendy Carter, Lisa Nelson and Chris Aguirre to promote equitable community development in Sacramento. The nonprofit group believes that the overall health of the region depends on the health of urban centers, and they are currently

Cathy Orange meets me at a very unusual spot. She tells me to meet her at Safeway, she has a story for me, plus she has to get her grocery shopping done. I follow Cathy Orange down the aisles, as she selects coffee, cheeses, variety of meats, bread, cucumbers, cereals and everything else that she can fit into her basket. She tells me that she was waiting for the light rail at 9pm on 12th Street between D and E Streets in Sacramento. This is known as Akalai Flats/La Valentina. While waiting, she was slapped in the face by an unknown force. She was startled from this experience. She tells me that this area of the light rail station is haunted. Now this is the 2nd time, I have heard a ligh

The monthly meeting of the Alkali Flats-Mansion Flats Neighborhood Association will be held this Thursday, February 12, at the Boys & Girls Club. The Club is at 1117 G Street, and the meeting will be held from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. Sacramento police and POP (Problem-Oriented Policing) officers will attend, with a deputy City Attorney. Together, they will address a long-awaited strategy to reduce crime in the neighborhood, particularly homelessness and drug dealing. The Downtown Partnership will also be making a presentation and will work with the association to help achieve some common goals to improve the neighborhoods, which are on the north side of the downtown Grid. Representatives of th