In the the wake of the City Council’s 5-4 vote Tuesday blocking the strong mayor initiative from going to the November ballot, police union leaders halted labor contract discussions with City Hall. Mark Tyndale, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association told City Manager John Shirey in an email just hours after the final council vote that he was “suspending all discussions between the city and the SPOA negotiations team.” After voting down the strong mayor initiative, council members approved a ballot measure to create an elected 15-member charter reform commission.  Calling the cost of a charter commission “fiscally irresponsible,” Tyndale said in the email that he “can’t

Charter reform will be an item on the November ballot, but not in the form of a strong mayor initiative. Instead, voters will be asked if they want to elect a 15-member commission to review the city charter. After more than 20 people spoke on the topic during public comment, the City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday to reject putting the Checks and Balances Act of 2012 – the strong mayor initiative – to a public vote in November. Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell were the majority votes. Council members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn, Jay Schenirer and Mayor Kevin Johnson each voted in favor of the measure  no . Two governance-related consider

The city is spending more than it is bringing in, and even though that’s normal for this time of the year, officials need to make changes to keep spending under control and keep the budget on target. According to the mid-year budget report presented to the City Council Tuesday, expenditures are at 50 percent of projections, and revenues are at 36 percent – about 14 percent less than anticipated. This is typical for this point in the fiscal year, Finance Director Leyne Milstein told council members Tuesday – but adjustment is still necessary. “Without these recommendations, we will not be able to balance our budget,” Milstein said. It’s not all bad news, though. The 2010-11 fiscal year

As Sacramento gears up to face a $16.5 million budget gap in the next fiscal year, consultants from Colorado met with City Council members to outline a new approach to budgeting that focuses less on dollar amounts and more on top city priorities. The council budget workshop held Tuesday at the main branch of the Sacramento Public Library was designed to help council members refine fiscal priorities for the city and discuss ways to reshape the budget process. Significant cuts to resolve a $39 million budget gap last year resulted in layoffs from the police force and rolling brownouts at city fire stations – actions that brought weeks of public outcry at City Council meetings. The city ch

The upcoming City Council elections will see a new candidate in the June primary – the first challenger in the race to unseat incumbent Bonnie Pannell from the District 8 council seat she has held for 14 years. Betty Williams, a recruitment executive at a local staffing firm and the current president of the local NAACP chapter, filed intent to run papers without any fanfare last month and has been quietly building support for her campaign. Williams, 55, does not come from a political background, rather from a small business and community activism background – something her campaign consultant, Sam Walton, said he believes will be a strength for Williams in the upcoming race. “Betty alre

As one of the first steps of preparing for the June primary elections, the City Council will adopt requirements for candidate statements Tuesday that spell out what candidates can say – in 200 words or less – what they must avoid and how much it will cost them. Candidates vying for the offices of mayor and City Council Districts 2, 4, 6 and 8 in the June 5 primary will have the option of preparing a candidate statement to be included with the sample ballots voters receive prior to an election. There is a fee for including the statements in the voter pamphlet. According to the staff report, the cost is an estimated prorated “share” of the total amount to cover the costs of translation, pr

The plan to construct a new I-5 interchange at Cosumnes River Boulevard – a key component to the 75,000-acre Delta Shores development project – got a financial jumpstart Tuesday. The City Council voted unanimously to swap funds between two long-term construction programs to get the new interchange started – a project that the city has had in the works for more than a decade. “I’ve been bugging people about getting this project started for 13 years,” City Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell said Tuesday. “I’m just so happy it’s going to happen.” The Cosumnes River Boulevard project will extend Cosumnes River Boulevard from Franklin Boulevard to an intersection with Freeport Boulevard – essential

The City Council selected a new vice mayor Thursday: City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby will be running the show this year when the mayor is unavailable. City Councilman Steve Cohn nominated Ashby for vice mayor, saying it has been the council’s tradition to have the most senior council member who has not already served as vice mayor hold the position. Ashby was elected to the District 1 council seat in 2010. She has just one week seniority over Councilman Jay Schenirer. “There are more good reasons to nominate her than just tradition,” Cohn added. “She always smiles, and she’ll do a good job of running the meetings.” Ashby said she’s honored to hold the vice mayor’s seat, regardless of

Sacramento City Council members had their hands full this year – from balancing the budget to redrawing district lines to a citizen uprising that found its way to the doors of City Hall. Here’s the city government year in review. CITY MANAGER DRAMA The year started off with interim city manager Gus Vina not being promoted to the open city manager spot. Vina replaced previous city manager Ray Kerrige when Kerrige resigned in February 2010. Vina resigned two months later – just a few weeks before the budget was due to the City Council. He later became the city manager of Encinitas. The City Council was criticized for making decisions about the city manager position in closed sessions bef

This has been a big year for Sacramento and especially for South Sacramento, where development projects flourished and neighborhoods saw improvements on nearly every corner. “No one hears about South Sacramento unless there’s been a murder or a shooting,” said City Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell, who represents south area neighborhoods in District 8. “We have so much more going on, though.” Pannell has represented one of the two southern-most districts of the city since 1998, and in those 12 years she has been behind projects ranging from neighborhood beautification to housing to commercial development. “There was nothing at Freeport and Meadowview when I came on (to council),” Pannell sai

As the song goes, Santa’s making his list, checking it twice and deciding who gets cool goodies and who gets lumps of coal. Between the budget, redistricting and facing dissatisfied citizens who took over a city park in protest, the City Council has been busy this year, so The Sacramento Press made its own “naughty or nice” list. If you were Santa, how would City Council fare? Here’s our list for 2011. Mayor Kevin Johnson: NAUGHTY Sure, he led the way to advancing green technology in the city and supported a citizens advisory committee’s effort to redistrict the city. But being absent for 10 City Council meetings in a single year? Tsk, tsk, Mr. Mayor. (And we’re not bitter about not b

It’s Thanksgiving again – a day filled with food and family and, for some, football. Everyone has their own traditions and routines for Thanksgiving, even members of the City Council. The Sacramento Press checked in with some council members to find out what their holiday will look like this year. Here’s what they had to say: “I’m starting the day off by leading the Run to Feed the Hungry,” said Mayor Kevin Johnson at his press conference Tuesday. Johnson said the race, which typically hosts more than 30,000 runners and walkers, is a “cool way to get families together.” After the race, Johnson said he plans to spend the day at home with his family. “I’m always here in Sacramento for T

In an effort to create greater efficiency and cut costs by more than $25,000 per year, the city will soon consolidate its Planning Commission and Design Commission into one planning/design oversight board. Members of the Planning Commission heard the latest update Thursday on progress toward consolidating the two commissions. Members did not take any action on the report. The City Council started looking at the city’s organizational structure in April 2010 after consultants from Management Partners Inc. suggested that city operations could be more efficient – and general fund money could be saved – if some boards and commissions were either eliminated or consolidated. Two of the bodies

The City Council unanimously approved a program that allows the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency the ability to grant developers a “first look” at foreclosed properties for rehab and resale in Sacramento's low- and moderate-income neighborhoods – before the properties are put on the open market. Through the new program – called the Pilot Foreclosed Property Access and Rehabilitation Program – developers can purchase vacant, foreclosed properties at discounted prices and then rehabilitate and resell those properties. The benefit to developers is the early access to foreclosed homes provided through SHRA, allowing developers to purchase at a price lower than the developer could

District 8 City Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell hosted a bus tour Thursday highlighting recent redevelopment efforts and future growth opportunities throughout the district with a group of developers, real estate brokers and city employees – along with a few district residents and neighborhood association representatives. “This is going to be a tour of opportunities,” said City Manager John Shirey at the start of the tour. “We’ve got a good future for this district.” The Meadowview and south city areas have seen the second-greatest rate of growth in all of Sacramento, second only to North Natomas in District 1, Pannell said. “We have had a lot of growth (in District 8),” Pannell said, “and

Occupy Sacramento protesters told City Council members Tuesday in no uncertain terms – “Tyranny.” “Unconstitutional.” “Treason.” – that their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly are being violated by an ordinance that prohibits overnight camping in city parks.) “We should not be here to teach you about the Constitution,” said Sacramento resident David Witkin, 28. “We are here to tell you what your constituents want.” Protesters who have taken over Cesar Chavez Plaza for nearly two weeks showed up in force at City Hall Tuesday to ask council members – again – to consider an exception to the law allowing them 24-hour access to the park. “The Constitution wasn’t drafte

After 35 arrests in six days for violating a city camping ordinance, a group of Occupy Sacramento protesters marched to City Hall Tuesday to ask City Council members for an exception to the law so they can have 24-hour access to Cesar Chavez Plaza for peaceable demonstration. “This is a fundamental constitutional issue,” said Sacramento resident David Whitfield, speaking on behalf of Occupy Sacramento. “Individuals are exercising their First Amendment rights, and no legislative body can abridge those rights.” Demonstrators representing a wide range of ages and walks of life have gathered for more than six days in Cesar Chavez Plaza at Ninth and L streets to participate in the Occupy Sacr

In an unusual move, the Sacramento Central Labor Council, AFL-CIO began its endorsement process for upcoming Sacramento City Council races four months earlier than in previous election cycles – this time, eight months ahead of the June 2012 elections. “The redistricting process stirred up a lot of interest in people, especially about who is running the city,” said Bill Camp, labor council executive secretary. “If people are interested, that makes this the best time to endorse (candidates).” As part of the labor group’s stated goal of “promoting a voice for workers through active participation in the political process,” the labor council endorses candidates for office in every election ye

The City Council unanimously approved a recommendation Tuesday to develop a vending machine nutrition policy that requires at least 50 percent of products sold in machines in city-owned facilities to meet an approved healthy requirement. “I think it’s something that’s necessary,” Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said Tuesday. “It would be nice to have better choices at community centers where our kids are. I think this is something our communities need.” The new vending machine nutrition policy will set parameters for sodium, sugar and calorie content of food and beverages available in all vending machines. It would also require beverage choices to include ample variety of water, low-fat milk a

Sacramento, CA | Area Pastors promissed to remain on watch, holding current city council members and hopefuls accountable. Area pastors remain on task as promissed, holding both current council members and June 2012 City Council hopefuls accountable. Today, Allen Warren (running for the district 2 seat), and Betty Williams (running for the district 8 seat) were interviewed by a large constituency of area pastors. Both hopefuls shared their backgrounds, qualifications, goals and priorities and then were asked tough and challenging questions and quizzed by the pastors. Warren and Williams were interviewed and "put on the hot seat" seperately by the group of pastors. Sharing his background