If you attend the weekly Sacramento City Council meetings, you’re likely to see an activist with colorful clothing address city leaders on homeless issues. Tracie Rice-Bailey, 57, has appeared at Tuesday night council meetings so frequently in the last year that she has become a familiar face at City Hall. For more than a year, Rice-Bailey and other advocates for the homeless have lobbied council members for a legal camping ground for the area’s homeless.  Rice-Bailey is a vocal member of the advocacy group that calls itself Safe Ground Sacramento. The group wants the city to reserve a space for homeless people where the city’s camping ban would not apply. Rice-Bailey, who said she was

A groundbreaking ceremony will be held for the new, temporary Greyhound bus terminal next week. At Tuesday’s Sacramento City Council meeting, the council is expected to transfer $4 million in profits from the Sheraton Hotel sale and other funding to finance the project and to cap construction costs for the bus station itself at $5.4 million. The item is part of the consent calender, so no discussion is scheduled. The total project — including a street extension, parking lot and utility improvements, fencing and other items — is budgeted at nearly $7.6 million, according to a city staff report. The project will also be paid for with $2 million in high-priority general fund revenues, $900

Though homelessness is not a new problem, the number of homeless people in Sacramento has increased over the last few years because of the state's budget crisis and cuts to federal programs. On June 30, hundreds of county shelter beds became unavailable, forcing more homeless onto Sacramento streets. In answer to the shortfall, Safe Ground Sacramento was inaugurated on July 1. Organized by community members, nonprofits and businesses, Safe Ground seeks to provide the homeless with a safe place to be. Hundreds gathered that day for a rally and march to kick off the movement. Among them was Jacoby Shaddix, the formerly homeless lead singer of local band Papa Roach. The city of Sacramento e