Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "bonnie pannell"

Police union halts labor talks with City Hall

2012-02-08T15:27:42Z

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 help but feel this was nothing but a tactic by some of them to once again publically (sic) display their contempt for the Mayor.”

Although the SPOA had engaged with city labor representatives in a series of “off the record” discussions, Tyndale said in the email, the council’s decision to create a charter commission caused him to reevaluate his position.

“I refuse to consider further concessions that will only be used to fund the Commission,” Tyndale said.

The cost of a charter commission is largely unknown, according to the City Clerk’s office. In a staff report to council Tuesday, a portion of the cost – the cost of putting the question to the voters of rather to create a commission – was estimated at more than $127,000.

Assistant City Attorney Matt Ruyak said Tuesday that the additional costs of staffing and maintaining a commission – beyond the cost of the election alone – were unknown at this early stage.

Tyndale asked Shirey and City Finance Director Leyne Milstein for a written estimate of the costs to the city for an elected charter review commission.

Neither Tyndale nor Shirey were available for comment at press time for this story. The Sacramento Press will give updates on the situation as they become available.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter with The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Charter reform goes to November ballot – but not as 'strong mayor'

2012-02-08T07:03:40Z

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 considerations were on the agenda Tuesday night: a charter reform commission and the Checks and Balances Act, which had been revised from the last council discussion.

After the motion to put the strong mayor initiative on the ballot failed, the council voted in favor of a ballot measure to elect a 15-member charter commission.

McCarty suggested the charter reform commission as an option to the strong mayor initiative at the Jan. 17. council meeting.

The measure would be twofold: first asking voters if they want an elected charter commission, and second, asking voters to select whom they want to serve on that commission.

“I don’t like a charter commission because I don’t like how much it will cost,” Ashby said. “Between staffing and meetings and the elections – It’s too expensive.”

According to the City Clerk’s office, the county is currently unable to give a cost estimate for the “candidate” portion of the issue – the cost would depend largely on how many candidates were on the ballot.

The “question” portion of the issue, however, is estimated at $127,100 according to the City Clerk’s office.

Supporters of an elected charter commission told council members that it would be worth the time and expense.

“Democracy is messy, and a commission can be time-consuming,” Sacramento resident and former City Council candidate Henry Harry said, “but it will allow us to get it right.”

Many who opposed an elected commission, however, expressed concern that opening the city charter for review is akin to opening Pandora’s Box.

“(A charter commission) opens up doors to other issues that we’d rather not see open up,” said Mark Tyndale, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association.

Roger Niello, current CEO of the Sacramento Metro Chamber and former State Assemblyman, said he believes an elected charter commission would pit competing city interests against each if the city charter is reviewed in its entirety.

“You would be creating the political equivalent of a food fight,” Niello said.

After the final vote, Johnson voiced his disappointment, saying simply, “I think a charter commission is a bad idea.”

Ashby said of the charter commission, “This seems like déjà vu. It looks like redistricting, and we all know how that turned out. I promise you that a year from now we will get hammered on this.”

If a charter commission is elected in November, the members will have two years to submit any proposal for charter reform to voters.

The City Council also considered creating a ballot measure Tuesday asking voters to weigh in on a potential lease of the city's parking assets to help finance a new sports and entertainment complex. The Sacramento Press will have the update on that story Wednesday.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Editorial Note: A correction was made to this article after it was published. The incorrect information was struck out and the correction information added.

Mid-year city budget update

2012-02-01T06:12:16Z

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 ended with an unexpected $5.1 million surplus – largely due to savings from cutting back on expenses in a variety of city departments during the year, according to a city staff report.

That $5.1 million will be used to address a variety of budget needs including:

* $1.2 million to backfill General Fund revenue shortfalls;
* $1 million to the Police Department to cover a holiday pay budget shortfall
* $715,000 for unbudgeted utilities in the Department of Parks & Recreation
* $285,000 for payouts related to contracting out golf maintenance operations
* $750,000 for deferred maintenance projects at city-owned facilities

Another $3 million – left over from capital improvement projects that have been funded and completed ahead of schedule – will go into the General Fund Economic Uncertainty Reserve, bringing that “rainy day fund” balance to $20.7 million.

“Putting money into the reserve is wise, I think,” City Councilman Jay Schenirer said.

Staff also recommended adjustments – both up and down – to citywide revenues to keep the city budget balanced through the end of the fiscal year, including:

* $3.6 million reduction in property tax revenues, due to a greater-than-expected decline in property tax values
* $2.8 million increase in sales and use tax budget, due to a fourth consecutive quarter of sales tax growth

One adjustment to projected revenues comes from the closure of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

With eight of 33 dispensaries in the city now closed, business operating tax revenue from the dispensaries – initially estimated in the city budget as $1 million – will be reduced by $250,000 to $750,000.

The actual reduction amount will depend on how many more dispensaries close before the end of the fiscal year, June 30.

The City Council began the budget process for the 2012/13 fiscal year with a workshop Jan. 24. The city manager will present his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year on May 1.

The Sacramento Press discussed the first quarter budget report HERE.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Editorial Note: A spelling correction was made to this story after it was published.

City Council begins 2012-13 budget process with workshop

2012-01-25T05:13:57Z

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 charter requires the city manager to present a proposed budget to the City Council by May 1 for the upcoming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The deadline for a finalized budget is June 30.

Budget consultants Jon Johnson and Chris Fabian were brought in by the city’s Finance Department to introduce details of “priority-based budgeting” – a method that focuses on matching funding decisions to predetermined city priorities, instead of on prior years’ spending patterns.

City Manager John Shirey said Sacramento, like many local governments throughout the nation, typically rely on such “spending-based budgeting” – that is, making spending and cutting decisions based on how much was spent last year with last year’s revenue levels.

The result, Shirey said, is recurring budget gaps and employee layoffs.

Fabian said the key to priority-based budgeting is having clearly defined priorities.

“Across the board reductions is egalitarian – there is a sense of fairness about it,” Fabian told council members, “but it doesn’t reflect priorities.”

In one budget exercise at the workshop, council members ranked providing a safe community, economic vitality and youth and education as top priorities.

In a detailed staff report presented to council members, 16 city departments – including Community Development, Parks and Recreation, Transportation, Utilities and others – were reviewed to sort programs and services into “mandated,” “essential” and “existing” categories.

As council moves through the budget process, Shirey said, the reviews will be part of the criteria to determine how city resources should be distributed across city programs.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Shirey told council members. “You’ve given us some direction on the focus areas that are important to you. Now we need to go back and apply it.”

The workshop was designed as a starting point for discussion for City Council members as they approach the 2012/13 budget year.

“We definitely need more time to dig into this information,” City Councilman Darrell Fong said Tuesday. “I get it – now I want to look at it closer.”

City spokeswoman Amy Williams said the City Council generally holds one workshop prior to developing the budget, but more could be scheduled if the council feels it’s needed.

Although the council does not make final budget decisions at workshops, the meetings are an opportunity for council members to work with and give direction to staff and the city manager as he begins to prepare the annual budget.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter with The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Betty Williams: Newest candidate for Council District 8

2012-01-20T01:33:48Z

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 already reaches out to the community, asks for input and brings in other leaders to answer (residents’) questions,” Walton said Wednesday. “If you want to solve problems, you have to take the time to get out in the community and be active.”

Walton is acting as a volunteer assistant in Williams’ campaign, just as he did for former City Councilman Sam Pannell in the 1990s – and Pannell’s wife, Bonnie, who stepped into the District 8 council seat after Sam died in 1998.

This time, however, he decided to get behind Williams in the upcoming race.

“I think 14 years (in a council seat) is a lot,” Walton said. “I didn’t anticipate Bonnie would want to hold the office that long.”

Walton said Williams, whose community involvement spans almost 30 years as a south area resident, is not part of “the establishment,” – that is, the political world – and she doesn’t “rub shoulders with big money.”

“I’d been planning to run for a while,” Williams said Wednesday. “I ended up being drafted by a band of community members who were ready to hit the ground running.”

Unemployment, high crime rates and underperforming schools are a few of the problems in the district that Williams said she wants to face head-on.

“There are 15 schools in my district, and only five are operating at the minimum state level,” Williams said. “I hope to work with corporations, the schools and the school district to somehow make the schools more viable.”

Williams said she is also preparing to host a series of job fairs in the district starting in February.

“I want to partner with businesses and churches to open doors for people to find work,” Williams said. “There are so many people who want a chance to get an interview.”

Williams has been the president of the local NAACP chapter for the last eight years. She is also a member of the California High Speed Rail Authority Business Advisory Committee, and she’s on Mayor Kevin Johnson’s Business Advisory Council as well as the mayor’s Crime Prevention Task Force.

Williams’ campaign is a grassroots effort, Walton said, and more than 200 people have emailed asking to be added to Williams’ “walk list” to walk the district and knock on doors with Williams in support of her effort to win the council seat.

According to Walton, Williams’ fundraising has already started, and she has raised roughly $15,000 so far – a relatively small amount for a candidate facing a longtime incumbent.

Walton said he expects Pannell will out-fundraise Williams by 4-1.

But for Williams’ campaign, Walton said, it’s not as important how much money the candidate raises – it’s much more important how the candidates reaches the community.

“If you have a weak message, or you are not really in touch with the people then you rely on a slick marketing campaign,” Walton said. “That costs money.”

In Williams’ case, Walton said, she is all about the community, and she has a very strong message. Walton said this will make it easier for Williams to connect with the community without having to raise lots of money.

“I’ve watched how she’s led in the NAACP,” local pastor Darrell Heath said Wednesday. “She has a way of speaking to people so they know she’s listening. I admire that.”

Heath has been a close associate of Williams for four years, he said.

“She’s been an advocate for the African-American community, an advocate for underprivileged people and the young people in our community,” he said. “She’s been a real blessing in reaching out to our young people.”

Heath said that, when he looks at the district, he appreciates all of the building that has been going on but feels the district needs someone with a better understanding of core issues.

“In our area, we have the highest crime rate and the highest poverty rate,” he said, “and Williams understands that. She has a heart for the people.”

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Candidate statements must meet strict guidelines

2012-01-17T01:36:35Z

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, printing, handling and mailing the pamphlets.

Mayoral candidates’ cost for the statement will be $2,650. Each of the district candidates will pay between $350 and $500, depending largely on how many registered voters are in the district, according to the report.

The fees are deposited into the general fund and used to offset the overall costs incurred.

According to the requirements set by the City Council, here’s what the statements can include:
– candidate's name
– age
– occupation
– a brief description of the candidate's education and qualifications, expressed in his or her own words
– must be printed in type that is of uniform size and darkness, and with uniform spacing

And, the entire statement must be less than 200 words.

Any more than that and the statement will automatically be shortened by the registrar, the report stated, by removing words starting at the end of the statement until the word limit is reached. (For reference, the first six paragraphs of this article come to about 200 words.)

The City Council also outlines what cannot be in a candidate statement:
– party affiliation, or mention of membership or activity in partisan political organizations.
– no underlining
– no using ALL CAPITAL letters
– no italics
– no bold print
– no dashes (–); bullets, stars or other forms of emphasis
– no single-sentence paragraphs
– no multiple punctuation such as “....” or “------”, etc.

Those 200 words can mean a lot to a candidate, especially since no other materials can be included in the sample ballot package.

Once the statement is filed, it can be withdrawn – but not changed – any time during the nomination filing period up to one business day after the filing period closes.

Each candidate who chooses to file a statement must pay in advance his or her estimated prorated share cost as a condition of having his or her statement included in the voter pamphlet.

If the actual cost of translating, printing and mailing exceeds the estimated amount, the registrar of voters will bill the candidates who underpaid. If the estimate was too high, the registrar will reimburse candidates the difference.

The Federal Voting Rights Act requires the county to translate candidates’ statements into Spanish and Chinese as well as English, and voter pamphlets will include all three languages.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Funding 'swap' jumpstarts long-awaited south area project

2012-01-11T06:31:05Z

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 – essentially creating a “punch-through,” according to Pannell – and will add a new interchange for I-5.

The project is located within District 7, but the nearest neighborhood that would benefit is Meadowview, which is in Pannell’s District 8.

The interchange will be a gateway to the long-awaited Delta Shores project, a development project with a combination of retail, commercial and housing, planned for the Meadowview area in South Sacramento.

The punch-through project, including the I-5 interchange, is estimated to cost $95 million. According to the Delta Shores financing plan approved by the city in 2009, the developer is committed to $52 million of that cost, and the city’s portion is about $43 million.

The city has a combination of state, federal and local transportation funds allocated to the project, according to a city staff report, but the funds are not immediately available – and the current economy prevents the city from getting the usual bond financing for up-front cash needed to begin construction.

The solution? Swap funds between two construction projects – one that has more funding than it needs right now, for the promise of future funding that is slated for the other.

The Richards Boulevard/I-5 project currently has a set-aside budget of $13,363,000 – but only $4,265,000 is needed between now and 2015 to complete the environmental, planning, design and approval processes for that project.

“We recommend moving the remaining $9,098,000 to the Cosumnes River Boulevard project to allow the project to advance to construction,” Sheri Smith, project manager for the Economic Development Department, told council members Tuesday.

The move would allow the Cosumnes River Boulevard project to move forward, Smith said, and a construction contract could be awarded as early as summer.

The other side of the funding swap includes moving the remaining amount currently allocated for the Cosumnes River Boulevard project – an estimated $20 million in future State Transportation Authority funds – to the Richards Boulevard/I-5 project.

That move will reduce the construction funding gap for the Richards Boulevard/I-5 project from a $50 million gap to a $30 million gap, Smith said.

“I want to make sure people know this is a two-win situation,” City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said Tuesday. “It’s good for the Cosumnes River project area, but it is also good for the River District project. They both win here.”

Ashby was the council representative for the River District – formerly in District 1, where the Richards Boulevard/I-5 project is located – until redistricting moved the project boundaries into District 5.

According to the city staff report, the funding swap “jump-starts” the Delta Shores project, which is estimated to generate $3.8 million in sales tax and $5.3 million in property tax annually when completed.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Ashby selected as new vice mayor

2012-01-06T04:43:32Z

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 the reason.

“It’s a real honor to serve Sacramento any way that I can,” Ashby said. “I’ll be honored to hold the vice mayor’s seat for always smiling or having good shoes or seniority or whatever reason you choose. Thank you for this.”

The title of vice mayor does not come with an increase in pay, according to Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno, but it does bring the responsibility of presiding over council meetings in the mayor’s absence.

City Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell held the vice mayor position in 2011 and – looking back at Mayor Kevin Johnson’s attendance record – out of 48 scheduled council meetings, she sat in for the mayor nine times last year.

Vice Mayor Pannell was also acting mayor when Johnson traveled out of town for city or personal business – once or twice a month on average, according to Joaquin McPeek, the mayor’s press secretary.

Mizuno said the selection of a vice mayor happens like anything else at a city council meeting – a motion, a second and a majority vote – however, the Council Rules and Procedures prohibit the mayor from participating.

The vice mayor serves for a one-year term, and there have been 30 vice mayors on the City Council in the past 40 years. Eight times in that span a single person held the spot multiple times.

Mizuno said there are no restrictions against consecutive terms. Since 1970, however, it has only happened once: Michael Sands held the post for five years running, 1971 to 1975.

In addition to Pannell, current council members who have served as vice mayor include Cohn (1998, 2008), Sandy Sheedy (2004), Rob Fong (2006) and Kevin McCarty (2007).

Read the Council Rules and Procedures (adopted September 2010) HERE.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

2011: The year at City Hall

2011-12-30T06:20:29Z

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 before voting not to promote Vina and instead open a national search.

City Council members stalled the search for City Manager saying they wanted to define the qualities they were looking for in the next person to fill the job. Two weeks later, they announced the qualities and the search continued.

The door was open for a new city manager, and while the nationwide search was ongoing, what Sacramento ended up with was not one but two interim city managers: Bill Edgar and Betty Masuoka.

Edgar and Masuoka followed through with the budget plan and presented it to the City Council on time.

As the city got closer to finding its next city manager, Mayor Kevin Johnson expressed disappointment about the search process, saying he felt “the pool of candidates wasn’t as deep” as he would have liked.

By August, Sacramento had a new city manager – John Shirey, former head of the California Redevelopment Association.

Shirey’s three-year contract included a $258,000 base salary – a 16 percent increase in salary over the previous city manager – making him the highest-paid in city history and the first to receive a labor contract.

BUDGET BLOWUPS
The budget process was complete by the time Shirey took his seat at the dais alongside City Council members.

The 2011 budget brought more challenges to face, including a $39 million budget gap.

After months of discussions and negotiations with unions, advocacy groups, public comment and hours-long council meetings, a budget was finally passed.

The new budget included severe cuts to fire and police personnel and city employees – as well as the closure of community centers and public pools.

REDISTRICTING: MAPS AND MAYHEM
As if there wasn’t enough going on in City Hall with the annual budget process, 2011 brought redistricting – a redrawing of council districts that happens every 10 years.

This time, the mayor and City Council appointed a Citizens Advisory Redistricting Committee to do the heavy lifting of vetting a variety of proposed district maps.

After months of review and discussion, the committee presented a group of four maps for the council to consider. From there, the discussions and map revisions really took off.

One unexpected twist to the redistricting drama came when one map was revealed to have been anonymously submitted by advisory committee member Steve Hansen.

Discussions heated up further when two council members – Steve Cohn and Sandy Sheedy – submitted their own map for the council to consider.

A week later, Cohn submitted yet another map, a hybrid version of Cohn and Sheedy’s previous submissions, this time called “Neighborhoods 2.0.”

A boundary dispute between council districts 5 and 6 over which district would contain the UC Davis Medical Center and Sacramento High School created a huge outcry from residents.

In the end, after six months and a grand total of 45 map versions, a final map was selected and approved by City Council, and new district lines went into effect on Oct. 6.

REDEVELOPMENT
With the passing of the state budget in July came big changes for the way redevelopment agencies are allowed to work in California.

Cities throughout the state are given an option to “buy in” to a new redevelopment plan – which would require large annual payments to the state from local agencies. Sacramento decided to go along with the plan and keep the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency alive.

Other cities wouldn’t go down without a fight, and a lawsuit was filed against the state by the California Redevelopment Association. While the case was pending, the court issued a temporary reprieve so cities did not have to make the required “opt-in” payments until a decision was made.

Some redevelopment projects that were moved ahead in 2011 in Sacramento included a revamp of K Street, the La Valentina project and housing projects in the south area of the city.

OCCUPY SACRAMENTO: CITIZENS TAKE A STAND
What started on Wall Street in New York as a citizens’ uprising against corporate greed in America became a nationwide statement of discontent from coast to coast.

When the first Occupy Sacramento protesters stepped into Cesar Chavez Plaza on Oct. 6, it was unclear how long they would stay – or what their message was going to be.

Quickly, the calm protest of Sacramentans showing solidarity with other Occupy movements was stunted by a city park curfew ordinance that prevented protesters from remaining in the park overnight.

Protesters were arrested – more than 100 in October alone – and the uprising was strengthened by a common goal: get the city to make an exception to the rule.

Over the next 10 weeks, large numbers of Occupy protesters spoke at the public forum of City Council meetings to ask the city manager and City Council to allow the group to remain in the park to continue to exercise its First Amendment rights.

Protesters who had been arrested – including war veteran mom Cindy Sheehan – had their day in court, and charges were dropped against many.

Meanwhile, attorneys for the Occupy group filed suit in federal court against the city claiming First Amendment violations, and some Occupiers moved the protest to the lawns at City Hall.

As the year came to a close, the number of Occupiers dwindled at Cesar Chavez Plaza, but the movement was not disbanded completely. A lawsuit is still pending in federal court, according to attorney Mark Merin, one of the representing attorneys.

Despite the ups and downs at City Hall this year, more change and drama is expected in 2012. Between elections and yet another budget – and the ever-present discontent bubbling just under the surface from events in 2011 – the new year is bound to be worth watching.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Key development and growth in the south area in 2011

2011-12-17T01:37:40Z

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 said. “Now there’s the Home Depot, IHOP, Wendy’s and the new Walgreens right there.”

There will soon be a new veterinary hospital, too, Pannell said, and more new retail to come in the next year.

At the beginning of 2011, Pannell’s goals for her district included installing decorative fencing along Mack Road at Center Parkway to increase pedestrian safety, developing a regional sports complex at Luther Burbank High School and work with the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency to build or refurbish housing in the area.

All of that has been accomplished, Pannell said – and always with strong community involvement.

“My communities are excited about all of the work,” Pannell said. “They are involved in all projects, from beginning to end.”

Jesse Reese, president of the Meadowview Neighborhood Association, said Friday that Pannell and her staff have been receptive to the association’s input over the years.

“We try to get things built around the types of design that we want to see,” he said. “If we need a restaurant or a grocery story, we put it out there (to Pannell).”

In addition to regular contact with Pannell, Reese said his and other associations in the district meet once a year with Pannell and developers and show them land and areas for potential development.

“We are looking for anything that will enhance the area,” Reese said.

Two things that the area needs are coming very soon: a grocery store and light rail.

A new Fresh & Easy grocery store will soon be under construction at the corner of Mack Road and Franklin Boulevard, Reese said. The South Line extension of light rail is almost completely funded, and ground has been broken for the garage that will mark the end of the line at Cosumnes River College.

Having light rail access to the south area will be an important improvement for the community, Reese said.

“(Light rail) will allow a way (for people) to get to some of the places that are being developed,” Reese said. “If you want to talk about minimizing your carbon footprint, it helps to get people out of cars.”

For a district that has seen the second-highest growth in the city over the last decade in terms of population – Natomas takes first place – the changes in the area haven’t seen much fanfare outside the district, Pannell said.

But that is going to change in 2012, Pannell said – especially when the 960-acre Delta Shores development gets under way.

This housing, retail and commercial center has been in the works for a few years, and the key to getting the first brick laid, Pannell said, is getting the Cosumnes River Boulevard-to-Interstate 5 interchange approved.

The item is expected to be on the City Council agenda in early January and, once approved, it will be a tremendous step in the right direction for a very large project in the south area, Pannell said.

“If we can get the interchange started,” Pannell said, “the developer will start the construction of 1.4 million square feet of commercial property.”

“And when it’s open for business, that means jobs, jobs, jobs,” Pannell said.

Delta Shores could break ground as early as March, and the South Line RT project is expected to be started early in 2012 as well, Pannell said.

“We’ve gotten things done and we’ve involved the community,” Pannell said, “But there’s always more work to do so we’re just going to keep plugging along.”

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Naughty or Nice: If you were Santa, how would City Council fare?

2011-12-15T07:24:48Z

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 being invited to the wedding – we just really love wedding cake.)

District 1 Councilwoman Angelique Ashby: NICE
Between town hall meetings to discuss arena options and pulling neighborhoods together to search for a lost teen, Ashby found time to save a local parks program from being cut – and take on Congress for funding approval of levee improvements.

Of course, bringing Santa to Natomas on a fire truck for the first time in city history didn’t hurt her “nice” standing, either.

District 2 Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy: NAUGHTY
Two words: Arena poll. Oh, and two more: Sheedy map. It’s commendable to put voters first, but Sheedy lacks consistency. Telling voters they know what’s best for an arena, but not how to draw their own district boundaries sends mixed messages.

Kudos for keeping a popular teen center going for a third year, though – Santa wants kids to have a safe place to gather and play – and for taking over the Del Paso certified farmers market in the district to keep people eating their veggies.

Still, Sheedy gets coal in her stocking this year.

District 3 Councilman Steve Cohn: NAUGHTY
His work to develop a plan for Sacramento’s rail and transit future is bringing the city closer to becoming a true “intermodal hub” of the north state and if Cohn had his way, sleighs would be allowed on K Street – which Santa would think was very nice, indeed.

But, weeks into heated debate on redistricting, Cohn surprised the city with a compromise map that both galvanized citizens’ opinions on a sensitive topic, and left a bad taste in their mouths. With that Grinch-like move, Cohn earns a spot on the "naughty" list.

District 4 Councilman Rob Fong: NICE
As the council member voted most likely to play a practical joke by his fellow council members, Rob Fong gets points for best one-liners during a council meeting.

Standing up for the LGBT community as a community of interest during the redistricting process weighed in Fong’s favor this year, as well as his support of charitable organizations like Jumpstart 21.

We think Santa would agree that a guy who isn’t afraid of a little three-on-three basketball against local civic leaders falls squarely on the “nice” side of the page.

District 5 Councilman Jay Schenirer: NICE
Although Schenirer found himself in the middle of some battles in 2011, including redistricting struggles and unpopular budget decisions, he bucked up and trudged on in his first year on the City Council.

Schenirer helped bring a new community garden to area residents and offered to subsidize the first year of rent on garden plots for people who couldn’t afford their share. He also spearheaded the five-part “Way Up” initiative that is primed to be a model for building communities throughout the city.

For all that Santa-like generosity, Schenirer gets his name on the “nice” list – and a big mug of eggnog.

District 6 Councilman Kevin McCarty: NAUGHTY
When does Oak Park stop being Oak Park and start being Elmhurst? Somewhere along Stockton Boulevard, McCarty said during the tumultuous redistricting debacle this summer.

Santa would give a cheer for McCarty’s efforts to keep city pools open during the summer despite huge budget cuts to the parks department, and being a proponent of solar energy and “greening” city buildings gets a big ho, ho ho!

But when a whole community spends five weeks protesting a four city-block line adjustment, all the candy canes in Colonial Heights won’t make a sour move any sweeter.

District 7 Councilman Darrell Fong: NICE
The budget cycle was tough this year, and when it came down to brass tacks, Darrell Fong risked the wrath of his police brethren and voted to make cuts to the Police Department – including the layoffs of nearly 80 sworn officers – in favor of balancing the city budget.

Call him Scrooge if you will, but Fong declined his City Council salary and recently voted against pursing a lessee for the city’s parking system because it doesn’t seem fiscally responsible.

For his concern for taxpayers’ pocketbooks, Fong’s name goes on the “nice” list (but parking enforcement may still ticket his sleigh.)

District 8 Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell: NAUGHTY
Budget debates and the quest for the perfect redistricting map is enough to fray anyone’s nerves, but Pannell’s, ahem, “spirited” debate with audience members – and at times, the mayor – at City Council meetings this year earns her a bit of coal.

Yes, Pannell helped her district get much-needed development – including a new pet hospital and long-awaited grocery store – and valuable infrastructure improvements are on the horizon for the area.

Still, Pannell will need a little sugar to go with her “spice” if she wants to make the “nice” list in 2012.

City Manager John Shirey: NAUGHTY
Shirey has been in the big chair for four months now, and the city still doesn’t have a tidy budget, a full police force or flying cars. We expected more from a man who took the state to task for shredding redevelopment agencies.

On the other hand, Shirey did start restructuring his office to streamline operations, and he led the way in city pension reform by being first in line for administrators to pay a portion of their own retirement.

Still, we think Shirey can do more for our fair city. We hope you pull that Superman cape out of the closet and get down to business in 2012 – but for this Christmas? Coal.

Tell us what you think: Have City Council members been naughty or nice this year?

Council members share their Thanksgiving traditions

2011-11-24T01:57:55Z

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 Thanksgiving day and through the weekend,” Johnson said. “I have to watch all the football, you know?”

City Councilman Jay Schenirer and his wife, Bina, will be enjoying the day at their house in South Lake Tahoe with one of their sons.

“This year will be very quiet, just immediate family,” Schenirer said. “It will be turkey for three – and lots of soup afterward, I suppose.”

Schenirer said he wants to take the next few days to “just recharge a little bit” and reflect on the past year.

“We’re incredibly lucky for our health first and foremost,” Schenirer said when asked what he was most thankful for this year.

“We are at the age where we have so many friends that are dealing with health issues,” Shenirer said. “It’s the basics in life that people sometimes take for granted that I think we need to be most thankful for.”

Schenirer said he’s not a big football fan, so it won’t matter that there isn’t a television in the Tahoe house.

“I’m just a sad basketball fan now, instead,” Schenirer said.

City Councilman Kevin McCarty said he and his wife, Leticia, and their twin toddlers will be participating in the Run to Feed the Hungry along with the mayor and many other Sacramentans.

“Our usual Thanksgiving routine has been participating in (the race),” McCarty said in a text Wednesday. “Thanksgiving dinner at our Elmhurst neighborhood home is a tradition, too.”

McCarty said that when it comes to Thanksgiving dinner, he is responsible for the turkey – and “Leticia is for everything else.”

Football will definitely be on the agenda Thanksgiving Day at the McCarty house, especially since the 49rs are playing.

“I’m very jazzed with this exciting team and the ‘Har-Bowl,’ ” McCarty said.

According to the Sporting News website, Thursday’s game between the 49rs and the Baltimore Ravens will be the first time brothers John and Jim Harbaugh face each other as NFL head coaches – hence, the name "Har-Bowl."

City Councilman Steve Cohn and his wife, Catherine, will be in Truckee with members of their extended family for this holiday weekend, Cohn said Wednesday.

“We spend the day traditionally with my wife’s side of the family,” Cohn said. “Most are from the Bay Area. The past few years we have Thanksgiving at our cabin in Truckee because we have more room there for everyone to stay than we do in Sacramento.”

The food at the Cohn table has a lot of variety, Cohn said, because his wife, who is half French, is always coming up with good recipes.

“We have a lot of the traditional foods – turkey and so on,” Cohn said, “but this year we are trying turkey breast instead of the whole turkey. We are always trying new things, though.”

Cohn said it has been his and his wife’s tradition for the past 13 years to join the Run to Feed the Hungry Thanksgiving morning, but travel plans made it impossible for the Cohns to attend this year’s race.

As for football – the television will definitely be on, Cohn said.

“Most of the male members of the family watch lots of football,” Cohn said. “My wife knows the 49rs are playing Thursday night, so she’s ready for it.”

City Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Darrell Fong, Angelique Ashby and Bonnie Pannell could not be reached before press time.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

City considers consolidating Planning, Design Commissions

2011-11-19T03:39:41Z

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 that appeared to be ripe for consolidation were the Planning and Design commissions, according to Greg Bitter, principal planner for the city.

While the Planning Commission is in place to review the zoning, parking, site location and other planning-related aspects of proposed projects in the city, the Design Commission reviews the more technical structural, design and aesthetic aspects.

Some members of the commissions have said that consolidating the two bodies would dilute the individual strengths of each commission and valuable facets of review would be lost – but staff feels that can be avoided if the consolidation is handled right.

“The cost savings is expected to be at least $25,000 per year,” Bitter said Thursday, “just from the savings of setup, administration and staff time that two regular meetings require as opposed to one.”

Beyond that, Bitter said there are cost savings from staff time associated with a variety of projects that each commission undertakes each year.

Because the costs vary from project to project, Bitter said he could not give an estimate of the potential savings, other than to say it would be “above and beyond the meetings savings.”

City staff evaluated the workload, staffing and function of both commissions for the period of January 2007 – when the Design Commission became a standalone body – through September 2011.

According to a staff report, the Design Commission workload has dropped since 2007 with only three projects heard in 2010 and only five heard so far in 2011.

Compared to an average of 15 per year between 2007 and 2009 – that’s a 66 percent drop in workload.

Also, because items are often heard at both the Design and Planning commissions, Bitter said there is an overlap that can be reduced by merging both commissions.

Michael Notestine, a member of the Planning Commission since 1987, said Thursday that he supports the idea of bringing the two commissions together, but he sees potential for unintended consequences.

“Right now it makes sense (to consolidate) because business is so slow,” Notestine said, “but what happens when the economy turns? There may be enough activity to warrant separating again. How much trouble will that be?”

Planning Commissioner William Wong said Thursday he is concerned that the functional integrity of each commission might be affected by a combination.

“The work of each commission is different, and the philosophy of each is a little different,” Wong said. “If they were to combine it, you’d have to figure out how to make sure (the new commission) retained the technical expertise of the design aspect and still have the community emphasis of the planning aspect.”

According to Notestine, the ultimate success of a newly formed Planning/Design Commission will depend largely on its composition.

“If there is a formula for a certain number of technical positions on the new commission, then that diminishes the number of public positions,” Notestine said. “As it stands now, planning is oriented toward community needs. We listen to the public, and we learn from the public.”

The current Planning Commission consists of 11 members: eight appointed by City Council members, one appointed by the mayor and two appointed by the Personnel and Public Employees Committee.

The new commission is proposed to have a total of 13 members, which includes nine members selected by council members and four members with specific expertise selected by the Personnel and Public Employees committee.

City staff stated in their report that they felt concerns regarding consolidation could be resolved in the way the ordinance is drafted.

Planning Commission chairman Joe Yee said Wednesday he has complete confidence in city staff’s ability to prepare an adequate ordinance to resolve any issues.

“When you get down to the details (of the city code),” Yee said, “it’s good to have people who have been working with the system and see the pluses and minuses in all of it.”

Once the new commission is formed, it will take on the combined workload of both previous commissions already in progress, along with any new projects.

After the City Attorney’s Office writes the necessary amendments to the city code, a draft ordinance will go to the Law and Legislation Committee for approval and then to the City Council.

Bitter said an ordinance could be at the City Council in January or February.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

SHRA to expand program to buy, rehab and resell foreclosed properties

2011-10-26T07:00:43Z

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 buy the property on their own.

The benefit to SHRA is the ability to take greater advantage of a resource that allows SHRA to continue revitalizing neighborhoods and providing affordable homeownership opportunities to Sacramento families.

The program will facilitate the rehabilitation of foreclosed, vacant properties for resale to qualifying homebuyers, according to a SHRA staff report.

“It’s designed to let SHRA and developers get a first look at foreclosed homes and buy them at a good price,” said Bill Watson, owner of The Money Brokers in Sacramento.

Watson is also a developer who participated in a similar housing improvement program in conjunction with SHRA that started in 2009 in Sacramento.

“We took houses that were blighted, boarded-up and otherwise not going anywhere,” Watson said, “and we got them fixed up and put homeowners in them.”

Between 2008 and 2010, Congress passed the Housing and Economic Recovery Act (HERA) and allocated a total of $5 billion for housing programs throughout the nation.

The city and county of Sacramento received a portion of those funds – nearly $40 million, according to the SHRA report to the City Council.

SHRA implemented the Neighborhood Stabilization Program in June 2009 to use those funds for the purchase, rehabilitation and resale of foreclosed properties in targeted areas of the city and county.

The NSP program had limited funding, however. At the end of 2010 – after successfully funding the rehab and resale of more than 250 properties – funding began to run out, and the program slowed.

With the City Council’s approval Tuesday, SHRA can implement a new version of the program that does not require the level of funding that the previous programs required.

According to information from the SHRA website, the program focuses on areas most severely impacted by foreclosures and subprime lending. In weak housing markets, those areas don’t easily recover without some assistance.

The majority of these targeted areas are located in council districts 2 and 8, including the Del Paso Heights and Meadowview neighborhoods.

"I fully support SHRA programs that encourage homeownership," said Coucil member Bonnie Pannell. "It's always a good thing."

Pannell represents counci district 8 which includes a portion of the program's targeted areas.

Under the initial NSP, developers and investors purchased foreclosed properties and SHRA loaned funds for rehabilitation of the properties.

The loans were essentially reimbursements for capital invested by developers, and the program specified that the purchase, rehab and resale of the foreclosed properties could not result in a profit for the developers.

“You couldn’t make a profit, but they paid a developer fee of $30,000.” Watson said. “If (the developer) would have made more (on the resale) in the normal market, too bad. If they would have made less, then $30,000 looked good.”

Under the new program, SHRA will contract with developers to give them access to foreclosed property listings and then facilitate the transfer and sale process between the developers, lenders – but without lending rehab funds.

Developers who are approved for participation in the program will pay an annual fee of $1,000, plus a nominal transaction fee for each purchase. No direct financial assistance will be provided to developers participating in the program.

Watson said the program has “real value” because, not only does it “enhance neighborhoods,” it also requires hiring people at prevailing wage, and giving hiring priority to minority business enterprises – providing much-needed jobs in a down economy.

Watson said a significant restriction to the program is that properties have to be sold to owner-occupants.

“That enhances the curb appeal up and down the block because the owner is out there on Saturday mowing the lawn,” Watson said. “That is a good thing.”

~~Watson said homebuyers don’t have to be low-income, but they can’t exceed a certain level of income.~~

~~“(Buyers) would essentially be working-class folks,” Watson said.~~

The pilot program will go before the county Board of Supervisorsfor approval Nov. 8. If the Board of Supervisors does not approve the
program, SHRA would not implement it in the county.*

After the first year the program is in operation, the SHRA will return to City Council to report on success of the program and to make any recommendations for continuing the program or modifications for improvement.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Editorial Note: Corrections have been made to this story after it was published. Incorrect information has been struck out and new information has been added to the story, indicated by an asterisk.

Bus tour shows off south area development

2011-10-21T02:12:03Z

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 we still have more land to be developed. We’re going to be looking for new projects – so developers on the tour, pay attention.”

Some of the economic development successes highlighted on the tour included a $350 million expansion of Kaiser Permanente, a new 20,000-square-foot Valley Hi/North Laguna public library, new recreational amenities with three new parks and the Phoenix Park development – a project completed in conjunction with the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.

“One way we can get through our financial difficulties in the city is to grow our way out,” Shirey said. “I see the positives all around now. We’ve got something good started, and we can build on that.”

David Kwong, city planning director, pointed out on the tour more development activity at Meadowview Road and Freeport Boulevard, including a new Walgreens and a 20,000-square-foot veterinary hospital.

Kwong also noted the future site of a Fresh and Easy grocery store – something residents in the south area want and need but have very few of, according to Pannell.

“Meadowview really needs a grocery store,” Pannell said. “They’ve been talking about a grocery store for 13 years, and (the future Fresh and Easy) is the closest we’ve come.”

Pannell said residents often have to drive nearly two miles to the nearest store, and that creates a real challenge for people.

Nehla Buchanan, 46, a caregiver with the state of California, has lived in Pannell’s district for about a year. Buchanan said she moved to the Meadowview area because housing was affordable and there was a good opportunity for home ownership.

Buchanan’s neighborhood is adjacent to the future site of the planned Delta Shores development – an 800-acre mixed-use project that will include retail shops, single-family and multi-family housing, and office and commercial uses.

The project will also include at least one grocery store, according to Jain Wager, a developer with MerloneGeier Partners, the developer of Delta Shores.

“I love the Delta Shores development,” Buchanan said. “I can’t wait until they start building over there.”

Buchanan is part of the Meadowview Neighborhood Association, and the group has held numerous meetings with Pannell and city staff to give input into the many changes happening in the district.

“We’ve worked with Ms. Pannell specifically on improvements in our neighborhood, and it’s been so helpful,” Buchanan said. “We will continue to give our input to new things that are happening here.”

Jesse Reese, president of the Meadowview Neighborhood Association, has been a community activist for more than 35 years in the south city area.

“It’s good to see us grow,” Reese said. “It’s inspiring to see things that we’ve worked toward for a very long time finally happening.”

Reese said that, when the idea for Delta Shores was first discussed nearly 30 years ago, the developers at the time wanted to open “another Mack Road” with nothing but apartment complexes, Reese said.

“We wanted more of a development than that,” Reese said. “We now see (developers) MerloneGeier doing something better and hearing what (neighborhood associations) have been wanting.”

Reese said that, as the area develops more, he and the MNA will continue to reach out to City Council to make sure the issues that concerned neighbors want addressed don’t get lost in the shuffle.

City Economic Development Director Jim Reinhart said that, over the past five years, south area neighborhoods have experienced a real growth spurt – but it’s gone “unnoticed” for the most part.

Pannell said south area development has been largely ignored because downtown and North Natomas have been getting the lion’s share of attention at City Hall.

“We have a ton of land that needs to be developed,” Pannell said. “So, we’ve been quietly developing small plots, plugging along and hoping that one day someone would notice.”

The bus tour was the second one in four years that Pannell has hosted. The next one won’t be planned for another two or three years, she said, to allow time for “even more growth and development to show off later on.”

“Even though we still have a lot of vacant land, we have done a lot,” Pannell said. “And we’ll do even more before the next tour.”

Pannell said she hopes to see a new, 200-plus-unit senior center that is in the planning stages get approval in time to break ground next summer.

“I want the light rail South Line to start next year,” Pannell said, “and the Cosumnes River Boulevard connection (between Interstate 5 and Highway 99) to happen next year, too.”

Gwendolyn Feathers, 67, a resident of the district since 1988, said she has seen a lot of the growth and development projects going up in the district, but this was the first bus tour of the area that she has been on.

“I’ve learned so much today,” Feathers said. “We have really been building up in the area – it’s exciting.”

Although City Council approval is in place, the Delta Shores development does not yet have a planned construction start date, according to Wager.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

'Occupy' protesters bring their message to City Hall once again

2011-10-19T06:04:15Z

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 drafted only during business hours,” said Sacramento resident Christina Kay Plumb, 25. “We need to occupy this park day and night to get officials to think about the issues day and night.”

Eileen Teichert, city attorney, told council members that the rights to freedom of speech and assembly are protected by law and honored by the city – but it’s not an “unfettered right.”

Teichert said there is longstanding precedent allowing government to exercise its police power to set “reasonable time, place and manner restrictions” on the use of its parks and other public facilities.

Vacaville resident and mother of a soldier killed in Afganistan Cindy Sheehan urged council members to consider the protesters’ requests for action.

“This movement is growing, and it’s not going to go away – no matter how much it is suppressed,” Sheehan said, “so you might as well start supporting it.”

The current camping ordinance states that Cesar Chavez Plaza – like all parks in the city – is closed from “dusk to dawn.”

Mayor Kevin Johnson said at a press conference Tuesday that he “wholeheartedly” supports the efforts of the Occupy Sacramento movement, but he feels the limits in the city ordinance are appropriate.

“I don’t think it is in our best interests to remove the existing ordinance,” Johnson said. “That’s my perspective, but I’m just one vote out of nine on the council.”

Johnson said the time limitations of the camping ordinance provide “ample time” for protesters to be speak and be heard.

According to a city staff report, an extension of park hours – or a temporary “exception” to the ordinance – would open the possibility of setting a precedent for exceptions to the rule.

Sacramento resident and Occupy Sacramento participant Anthony Gallardo, 27, said Tuesday that the group isn’t trying to “take over the park” to have a place to go camping.

“We are just trying to occupy it – to just be there, 24/7 and say our message,” Gallardo said.

Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel told council members that, despite the posted “dusk to dawn” park closure, the police department has allowed protesters to remain in the park until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and until midnight on Friday and Saturday.

But that’s not 24-hour access – and therein lies the problem for Occupy Sacramento organizers and protesters.

“It’s not about the five hours or six hours (that the park is closed). It’s much bigger than that,” Gallardo said. “The Constitution gives us the right to peaceably assemble. It doesn’t specify a time or a place. This is about our freedom of speech and freedom to assemble.”

Braziel said there has been average of 40 to 250 protesters each day at Cesar Chavez Plaza.

Between Oct. 6 and Monday, the police made 58 arrests for unlawful assembly while participating in the Occupy Sacramento protests. Thirteen people have been arrested more than once.

According to Braziel, all of those arrests were peaceful, and none of them resulted in injury.

Organizers of Occupy Sacramento initially said local protests would come to an end on Oct. 15. Three days later, protesters remain at Cesar Chavez Plaza, with no new target ending date in sight.

“This event is set for an indefinite period of time,” said Sara Beth Brooks, 26, one of the Occupy Sacramento organizers. “We believe that limiting the time we can protest is an affront to our First Amendment rights.”

The occupation of Cesar Chavez Plaza has so far been peaceful, and Gallardo and Brooks said that is how it will stay.

“No violence, no threats of violence, no drinking, no drugs and no sexual harassment – those are the core values of this group,” Gallardo said. “If we all lived by those rules, it’d be a perfect world.”

More than an hour into public comment, the City Council had not yet taken any action on the item.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Occupy Sacramento protesters want exception to city camping law

2011-10-12T05:42:42Z

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 Sacramento movement.

The movement, which includes public protests, marches and organized demonstrations, began as a “show of solidarity” with similar protest movements that have cropped up across the nation in recent weeks, said Sara Beth Brooks, one of Occupy Sacramento’s coordinators

The effort calls for demonstrators to “occupy” a public space continuously during the protests – but, by doing that, Sacramento demonstrators have run afoul of a city ordinance prohibiting overnight camping in public parks.

The ordinance was enacted to keep public streets and parks “clean, sanitary and accessible” to residents and the public at large, according to the city code.

Brooks said that participants in Occupy Sacramento are not camping, however – they are exercising their First Amendment right to “peaceably assemble.”

And they will continue to exercise their right, Brooks said, “indefinitely.”

“There is no set end to the statement we are making,” Brooks said. “We are committed to seeing this through and having our voices heard.”

More than 300 people attended the council meeting Tuesday. Fifteen people spoke during public comment at the meeting to describe the nature of the occupation demonstration and to ask for an exception to the law.

According to the city code, the city manager may issue a temporary permit to allow camping on public property in connection with a special event. The code does not specify a maximum length of time for the exception to be valid.

According to police spokesman Andrew Pettit, interactions between police officers and the demonstrators over the past week have been “peaceful,” and the demonstrators have been “very cooperative.”

“The purpose of this (occupation) has been educational awareness,” said Ari Rashid, one of the coordinators of the Occupy Sacramento movement. “We want to discuss the issues that plague our society and our nation.”

Rashid and other speakers told council members that the extended demonstration has been carried out peacefully and largely without incident.

“We are not a public nuisance,” Rashid said, “and we are nothing less than peaceable. We want to keep the occupation going in Cesar Chavez park.”

Brooks said in an email Tuesday that 20 protesters were arrested Thursday, one on Friday and 14 Saturday.

All were arrested for unlawful assembly, Brooks said.

“This is the first time in my 24 years of life that I’ve experienced direct democracy,” Rashid told council members. “These (protests) are happening because people feel like they aren’t being heard. I’m here tonight to be heard.”

Councilman Steve Cohn told audience members that he had visited with demonstrators at Cesar Chavez Plaza on Monday evening, and he noted that the group was “definitely peaceful.”

The City Council could not take action on the request for an ordinance exemption at Tuesday’s meeting because it was not an item on the agenda. If the council took any action without proper public notice, it would be a violation of the Brown Act.

Eileen Teichert, Sacramento’s city attorney, confirmed that the city manager has authority to grant an exception to the camping ordinance, however, it would still be an action requiring public notice.

The Brown Act requires that the public is notified at least 72 hours in advance of council meetings which matters will be on the agenda for that meeting.

Cohn asked city staff to add an item to the next council meeting agenda to discuss changing the current policy on camping as an exception for this demonstration.

“Demonstrations are happening in Seattle, Portland, San Diego and Washington, D.C.,” Cohn said. “I feel like this city ought to be able to figure out how to make this work, too.”

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Labor council starts 2012 campaign endorsement process early

2011-10-07T01:12:41Z

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 year, according to labor council office manager Georgie de la Huerta.

The labor council represents 107,000 union members from 90 unions, de la Huerta said.

The labor council’s decision to start the process early is not common in Sacramento politics – particularly since the filing period for candidacy doesn’t open until Feb. 1.

Rich Schmiedt, president of Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522, said his organization has not yet started its campaign endorsement process.

“We don’t see any benefit to starting as early as October,” Schmiedt said. “It’s too early for us – we don’t even know who all the candidates are at this point.”

Schmiedt said that Local 522 will begin discussing a timeline for considering candidates in late November.

For Camp and the labor council, however, people who are “serious” about running for a city council seat will not wait until the filing period to make their intentions known, Camp said.

“If you’re taking a lot of time fooling around about making a decision to run, then you’re not serious,” Camp said. “If you’re not serious, then (we) don’t want to interview you. We only want to talk to (candidates) who need and want support.”

The endorsement process begins with a 13-page candidate questionnaire sent to all incumbents and potential candidates that the labor council becomes aware of, according to Camp.

“We make it as public as possible,” Camp said. “We’ve done the best we can to reach out to everyone who has surfaced, but we can’t find people that hide.”

Labor council staff confirmed Thursday that, so far, invitations to participate in the endorsement interview process were sent out to City Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty and Bonnie Pannell – the incumbents for Districts 2, 4, 6 and 8, which are the four council seats open in 2012.

Questionnaires have also been sent to Kim Mack, a candidate for District 2, and Allen Warren, a potential candidate for District 2 who has not yet made a formal announcement of candidacy.

Once candidates submit a completed questionnaire, the labor council schedules an interview between the potential candidate and the labor council’s committee on political education.

The 20-member committee sits as a panel to interview one candidate at a time. With four City Council seats open in the 2012 election, Camp said interviewing potential candidates for four seats will be an all-day event for the reviewing committee.

After all interviews are finished, the committee sends recommendations for endorsements to labor council union delegates for consideration.

The number of delegates each union sends to Sacramento is determined by the size of the union membership. De la Huerta said the delegate group averages between 60 and 80 members.

For any candidate to receive labor council endorsement, a favorable vote of two thirds of the delegates at the meeting is required, de la Huerta said.

McCarty confirmed Thursday that he is running for re-election in 2012, and he will be participating in the labor council interview and endorsement process.

McCarty received labor council endorsement in previous races, however, there’s no guarantee that the group will support him again this year.

“In past elections, I have received their endorsement,” McCarty Said. “But also in a past election, I did not receive their endorsement.”

McCarty said that, although it’s still early in the game, he has several campaign endorsements – including State Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, several District 6 neighborhood association presidents and several current City Council members.

Pannell, the current District 8 representative, said Thursday that she has received the labor council questionnaire and she also plans to participate in the endorsement interviews.

Pannell said she already has other endorsements for her 2012 re-election campaign, but will wait to announce them at a fundraiser she’s hosting in November.

Calls for comment from other incumbents and potential candidates were not returned by press time.

De la Heurta said that none of the candidate questionnaires the labor council sent out have been returned yet.

The labor council will conduct candidate interviews Oct. 17 in Sacramento. Union delegates will meet Oct. 18 to make their endorsement selections.

Endorsements will be announced at the labor council’s Annual Salute to Labor dinner Oct. 27. Camp said approximately 600 to 700 people are expected to attend the private event.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

City vending machines to have healthier choices soon

2011-09-28T06:38:33Z

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 and soy milk, or other similar dairy or non-dairy milk.

The policy will allow soda, sports drinks and diet sodas to be sold from vending machines, but still “ensures the public and employees have access to healthy vending alternatives,” said Mark Prestwich, special projects manager for the city manager's office.

Approximately 50 city operated vending machines are located in city community centers, corporate yards/office facilities, the city marina and city parking lots or garages, according to the staff report.

Prestwich said that two-thirds of vending machines are in city-owned facilities that are not accessible to the public. Parking garages and community centers take up the remaining third.

In July, the City Council joined the California League of Cities in a Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) cities campaign. One of the goals of the HEAL campaign is to support employees in evaluating food choices by providing healthy food alternatives in vending machines located in city-owned or leased facilities.

Prestwich told council members that developing a nutritional policy for vending machines would be a step toward reaching that goal.

“Cities and residents are facing increased health care costs and diminished quality of life due to the epidemic of obesity and being overweight,” Prestwich said. “A healthier nutritional policy (for vending machines) will help promote public health.”

City staff outlined out vending machine nutrition policy alternatives ranging from “no policy” to a “100 percent healthy content” policy for council members to consider.

A 100 percent policy would require that all products in vending machines meet the set healthy requirement. No soda or sports drinks could be included in the selection, however zero-calorie diet soda and diet sports drinks could be included.

“I think we’ll be moving in the direction of making sure our vending machines have healthier options, even if we aren’t going cold turkey and going with a 100 percent healthy policy,” Councilman Kevin McCarty said.

Council woman Bonnie Pannell said she supported a 50 percent policy because it is “a fair compromise” between “doing nothing and going all out.”

Councilman Steve Cohn said a 50 percent policy would “create real choices” where he feels none currently exist with vending machines.

“I don’t see ‘choices’ in those machines,” Cohn said. “Cookies and soda and sugar drinks – it’s a choice between a lot of sugar and way too much sugar. That’s not a choice.”

One opponent of the measure told council members that making food choices a policy issue would inhibit consumers’ freedom to make their own decisions.

“People should be able to choose whatever they want to drink or whatever fits their needs,” Sacramento resident John Swain said.

Another opponent said creating a nutritional policy for vending machines would limit the flexibility for vending operators to offer products of their choice.

“We believe that the ability to choose should rest with our consumers, not be mandated by policy,” said Gary Watson, a Coca-Cola Bottling Company representative.

Councilwoman Angelique Ashby agreed.

“I think these things should be consumer-driven,” Ashby said. “It’s really about access. The decision lies with the person who is putting their money into the machine.”

Ashby said that Sacramento is “leading the way” to making sure people have healthy options, but she didn’t want to create a policy that would tell people what they could or coulnd’t spend their money on.

“We are looking for balance here,” Ashby said.

Prestwich said that pursuing a new vending agreement for city-operated facilities would also allow the city to reduce energy usage and incorporate technological advances such as the ability to pay with debit and credit cards.

The city pays the energy costs of machines placed in city-operated facilities, Prestwich said, and this would be an opportunity to reduce energy usage by implementing a requirement that any new machines have an Energy Star certification.

New vending machines with Energy Star certification are up to 50 percent more energy efficient than standard machines, according to the staff report.

State legislation passed in 2005 (SB12 and SB965) that raised food standards and mandated compliance to higher-standard nutritional policies for schools throughout the state.

Although only vending machines placed at schools fall under the mandate of those laws, many cities that have adopted nutrition policies for their vending machines voluntarily set SB12 and SB965 as the standard to meet in their policies – regardless of the machine location.

Sacramento’s new nutritional policy for vending machines in city-owned facilities will fully satisfy the requirements of SB12 and – because it allows sodas and sports drinks along with other healthier choices – will partially fulfill the requirements of SB965.

The City Council directed staff to write a nutritional policy as a standard for all vending machines at city-owned facilities and to issue a request for proposals for new city vending service contracts.

Staff will review proposals they receive and bring a recommendation to the City Council for approval.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacrameto Press. Follow her on twitter @MelissaCorker.

Pastors remain on task, city council hopefuls interviewed

2011-09-23T05:33:02Z

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 and qualifications with area pastors, Allen Warren, who intends to run for the district 2 seat, shared how his life was set for pro baseball with the New York Yankees when his carrer path took a drastic change. He found himself on Wall Street being trained and groomed with a large financial agency and then further into business. Warren stated that job creation is a top priority on his agenda.

Warren stated that he had not inteded politics to become a carrer choice for himself, but with the currentl lack of leadership he feels he had to step up. He promissed pastors that he is prepared to "stay the course".

Betty Williams, with a long diverse tenure in many upper level positons with the NAACP and long time community advocate, stated that crime and education top her list of priorties. Under incumbant, Bonnie Pannell's watch, Sacramento Police Chief, Rick Braziel, has indicated publicly that district eight's Meadowview area has become the worst crime ridden area in the city, Williams stated. Already on advisory counciles with the Sherrif and Police Chief, the Meadowview area is high on Williams radar for crime reduction.

Williams also advised the pastors that she has hired Sam Walton, the late Sam Pannell's campaign manger to manage her campaign. When asked what defines the difference between Pannell and herself, Williams emphatically stated, "My leadership is stronger than Bonnie Pannell's." Williams stated that she has already received endorsements from Mayor Kevin Johnson, Jay Schenirer and Willie Brown among others.

Moderator, Pastor Darryl Heath, made it very clear to both contenders that "there is no quid pro quo here". He was careful to state that the pastors are not promissing their vote and are not expecting anything in exchange. He stated to both that "the only thing we want from you is for you to do your job with integrity and honesty."

The pastors have promissed current and future council membes to have at least one represenative present at every council meeting and to remain on watch for the city as a whole.

Disclosure: I am an area pastor and affiliated with the pastor's newly formed watch group, CYHU- Can You Hear Us Now

City Council rejects possibility of a fifth cardroom license

2011-09-21T06:22:38Z

The City Council voted 5-3 against allowing a fifth cardroom license within city limits Tuesday.

“The question is simply: Do we want 15 more tables of gaming somewhere in the city?” asked Councilman Rob Fong before the vote. “For me, the answer is no.”

Sacramento city code currently allows a maximum of four licenses – all four of which are held by open cardrooms in the city.

Bill Hamilton, owner of the Old Tavern Bar and Grill in Midtown, used to have a cardroom license in the late 1990’s but let it lapse.

The Gambling Control Commission recently adopted a regulation to allow some expired and inactive cardroom licenses to be reactivated under certain conditions.

Gambling licenses in the state expire if they are not renewed every two years, or they can become inactive if a license holder fails to make required quarterly “table operation” fees.

One of the conditions to reactivate an expired license is proving to the commission that the cardroom would be legal under local law. As it stands in Sacramento, the legal limit has been reached for number of allowable cardrooms.

Of all the expired or inactive licences in the state, the commission found only nine licenses in California that met the criteria for reactivation – and just one of those is in Sacramento.

It belongs to Hamilton.

Even though Hamilton is eligible to reactivate the license, he can’t do it unless the city code is changed to increase the maximum number of cardrooms in the city.

The Law and Legislation committee reviewed the current cardroom ordinance Aug. 16 and referred the question of increasing the limit to the full City Council for a decision.

Clark Rosa, owner of Capitol Casino on 16th Street, said Tuesday that when he and Hamilton heard of the new state regulation, they decided to collaborate on opening a new cardroom downtown if the city license ordinance was changed in Hamilton’s favor.

“I will operate, fund it and run it,” Rosa said, “and Bill (Hamilton) will have a portion of it.”

Initially, Rosa said, he and Hamilton were considering locating the new cardroom in a space at 15th and L Streets, near de Vere’s Pub across from the Capitol.

That idea changed, Rosa said, after taking a closer look at opportunities near the 700 and 800 blocks of K Street.

“We’re looking at downtown and only downtown now,” Rosa said. “We don’t want to be anywhere else.”

Specifically, Rosa and Hamilton had their eyes on a corner space at the Westfield Downtown Plaza that used to house the Hard Rock Cafe.

“They’re putting in bars, restaurants, housing and businesses,” Rosa said about redevelopment efforts underway along those city blocks.

“What you’re looking at is an entertainment center for Sacramento,” Rosa said. “What better than a cardroom and sports bar combination right there?”

Seven people made pubic comment on the proposed ordinance change at the council meeting Tuesday – and not all of them were as enthusiastic as Rosa about having a cardroom downtown.

“I want to be clear that I am against (a fifth cardroom),” Sacramento homeowner Clint Trocchio, told council members.

“It is not synonymous with any urban renewal program that I can recall,” Trocchio said. “It’s not a business activity that I would attach to Sacramento’s excellent urban reputation, and it’s not a storefront that I would show to my guests.”

Shelby Moranville, a representative of the Residence Inn at 15th and L streets – near Rosa and Hamilton’s initial location choice – warned council members about the potential for increased crime if another cardroom is opened in the city.

“(Cardrooms) attract a certain element of crime and that can’t be avoided,” Moranville said. “For every dollar the city makes from another cardroom, 95 cents will be spent policing the venue.”

Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel, who appeared at Tuesday’s meeting to give council an update on police department activities, was called on by council members to respond to concerns about cardroom-related crime.

Braziel told council members that local grocery stores have a greater number of police service calls than all four of the current cardrooms combined – nearly 10 times as many.

“The crime volume (associated with cardrooms) is very very low,” Braziel said. “In the past nine months, there was 19-34 calls between the four cardrooms. Grocery stores go from 42-400 in a single year.”

Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said she thinks the fifth license and a new cardroom would be a great opportunity for jobs downtown.

“We have so much coming in to create a unique entertainment center downtown,” Ashby said. “For me, this is about jobs. (Rosa and Hamilton) are not asking us for one red penny – they are asking us to give them the opportunity to continue to do a good job (running a cardroom).”

As the discussion continued, council members expressed the greatest concern about the potential location of a new cardroom.

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said she had “serious heartburn” about the proposed Westfield Downtown Plaza location.

“I think of malls as a family-oriented place,” Sheedy said. “I don’t think a cardroom fits there.”

Council members Rob Fong, Sheedy, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell voted against the proposed ordnance change, leaving the current license limit in place.

Council members Ashby, Steve Cohn, and Jay Schenirer were in favor of changing the ordinance. Mayor Kevin Johnson was absent from the meeting Tuesday.

Without the possibility of a fifth cardroom license in the city, Hamilton cannot pursue reactivation of the expired license he previously held.

After the meeting, Rosa said he was disappointed with the council’s decision.

“That’s the end of it,” Rosa said. “Before (Hamilton and I) could work on getting the (cardroom) license, we first had to get past this hurdle.”

Rosa said they will not be pursuing an appeal to council to change the decision.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

DWB: Redistricting and election 2012

2011-09-13T04:09:39Z

The long, sorry tale of redistricting 2011 is over. But certain local incumbents may find that the saga has legs well into next year. Say, into election season.

Councilmembers Bonnie Pannell, Sandy Sheedy and Kevin McCarty may find that citizens of Sacramento, especially the relative few who vote, have long memories when the incumbents run for reelection next year.

The people of Oak Park – and not just them, but their sympathizers – will long remember the removal of the UC Davis Medical Center complex out of Jay Schenirer’s District 5 into McCarty’s District 6.

The redistricting process was not just long, it was fraught with conflicts of interest, surreptitious power plays, raw politics and a citizen’s committee that ended up seeming little more than a fig leaf to cover up all the rest. It was quite a show.

It culminated with Pannell, thinking her mic was off, calling a 61-year-old female citizen of another district an “asshole.” The recording, part of the public record, is on the city’s website. (link) Go to minute 4:33:13 if you want to hear it.

As you can see by that time stamp, it was a long, impassioned meeting. Which is, I suppose, an excuse for Pannell’s behavior. And the citizen in question, Margo Rose-Bunson, shouted at Pannell from the audience during a fairly contentious debate. Gloves were off.

But in any case, Pannell’s undignified schoolyard expletive wasn’t the insult most people who were offended by this process are focused on. Instead, they are focused on this: The council didn’t listen to the citizens of Sacramento. They heard hundreds of people protest, nodded politely, and then did what they wanted – in a way that would best serve themselves.

The council members in question don’t remember it that way. But a lot of citizens do.

McCarty’s dismissive off-the-cuff remark about “gutter discussions” rubbed a lot of residents of Oak Park the wrong way, and some even heard it as racist. I think that’s highly unlikely. Ditto Councilman Steve Cohn’s equally flip and even more ill-considered “separate but equal” crack, which surely wasn’t meant in the way it was heard.

But all of those comments are quickly becoming emblematic of the widespread public view of the council as mean-spirited, self-serving and arrogant.

And Pannell’s “apology,” issued late last week, didn’t help. Instead of apologizing directly to Rose-Bunson, whom she insulted, Pannell’s written apology was given “to my community.” Good work as far as it went – her behavior was unprofessional and beneath her office, and the community deserved the apology – but what would it have hurt her to apologize to Rose-Bunson? Her pride?

Of course, all of that is a sideshow. This is ultimately not even about the Med Center or what district it is in. According to those we have spoken to, it’s about something more crucial: It’s about this: Do our elected representatives care about their constituents, and about other people in the city, or is this all about their own political careers and perks?

That is the question for many of the pastors from across the city and beyond – including from such far-flung suburban megachurches as Capital Christian Center in Rancho Cordova and Bayside Church in Granite Bay – who showed up at the council meetings in support of Oak Park citizens attempting to keep the Med Center.

And that is the question for a multiracial group of pastors from different districts who quietly gathered last week to see what they can do to run a fresher face against Pannell, or against Sheedy, whom they see as arrogant, uninterested in their districts and their constituents, and as merely the puppets of large special interests who help them perpetuate their power.

When those pastors say that they plan to raise money, find candidates and run them against the incumbents, that matters.

Talk is cheap: Whether anything comes of this, or even should come of it, is another matter. But talk is also powerful: Enough citizens, tired of the same old cliques running things in their own best interests, can talk a lot. And talk creates energy around a subject.

So despite the fiasco of redistricting – and I have my own beefs, including that the council reduced the central city from its power position of being represented by a third of the counsel to being represented by only one representative – its legacy may be other than intended by incumbents.

It may be that the citizens of Sacramento, especially those who got burned by the politically motivated move of the Med Center from the district that also contains Oak Park, have longer memories than they are generally credited with having. In fact, those citizens may be tired of being taken for granted.

They are meeting already. And they are talking about specific political careers they’d like to see end.

Next June looms. This may have blown over by then. Or it may be that council members’ efforts to save their seats will have had exactly the opposite effect.

As the dust settles, City Council adjusts to new districts

2011-09-07T23:59:16Z

With one last vote Tuesday, the Sacramento City Council approved a map that seals council district boundaries for the next 10 years, but the work of redistricting isn’t finished just yet.

“The new map goes into effect Oct. 6, which is only 30 days after the final council vote,” said Scott Mende, principal planner with the Community Development Department. “After that, each council member has a different group of constituents.”

New district lines for the city and new constituents for council members will have a ripple effect throughout city administration, and Mende said city staff has a lot of work to do to be prepared for it.

The first step, Mende said, is a “massive outreach” to council members and all affected departments – such as the budget office, planning department and parks department – to help department staff know what impacts will come from the map changes.

“Council members usually take a strong interest in what goes on in their district,” Mende said. “They’ll want to know what they are going to be seeing, as far as projects that have been started or are still in planning stages (in each district).”

Staff from the city’s Neighborhood Services department will meet with neighborhood associations and community activists to discuss the new district maps, and the new map information will be posted in the newspaper and on the city website.

Although each of the city’s eight council districts will change in one way or another, the council member who will see the most dramatic changes to his district is Steve Cohn.

“I’m losing half of my (current) district and gaining a different half,” Cohn said Tuesday. “I clearly have the most significant changes happening to my District, so I’m starting (my transition) right away.”

With the new map boundaries, Cohn’s District 3 will now include a portion of what was Councilwoman Angelique Ashby’s District 1, including the railyards and the River District.

Cohn said he is planning to do a community event with Ashby sometime in the next 30 days and a district tour to meet new constituents and become more familiar with the projects under way in the areas new to his district.

“I’ll be doing something similar with (Councilwoman) Sandy Sheedy,” Cohn said, “but in reverse. Instead of gaining something from her district, I am giving up a portion of my district to her.”

Sheedy is already familiar with the Ben Ali and Hagginwood neighborhoods, which the new map puts in her district, Cohn said, however “Swanston Estates will be new to her,” so he’s planning to “show her around” and introduce her to the residents in that neighborhood.

Cohn is also organizing town hall-style meetings with Councilmen Kevin McCarty and Rob Fong to discuss district changes that affect them.

Ashby has the biggest changes to her district in terms of population adjustments – her district loses nearly 45,000 people – but the boundary line movement is not as drastic as Cohn’s or Rob Fong’s districts.

“The question for me,” Ashby said Tuesday, “is, ‘How do I let people in the new District 1 know they are still in District 1, and how do I let the people that were in District 1 know that they are now in District 3 or District 4?”

Ashby said she plans to use her strong social media presence – including platforms such as Facebook, Yahoo Groups, email lists and her personal website – to reach out to constituents.

Still, Ashby said, “there is no substitute“ for her and her staff to go out into the community, take the new council members around, make introductions, and get in touch with people who are in leadership roles in the community.

“We’ve done a lot of work in the last year,” Ashby said. “I want to very carefully hand that off.”

Ashby said she has “no doubt that my colleagues will see things through,” but she plans to stay engaged with all communities during the transition period because, “I would never just turn around and walk away.”

Mende said he and his staff are ready to assist council members during the transition period.

“If (council members) want us to send out information for them, we’ll do that. Or, if they ask for tools or access to tools to help them get the word out, we’ll do that,” Mende said. “We’re available to help them in whatever ways they deem appropriate.”

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

It's official: New map changes district boundaries until 2021

2011-09-07T09:13:23Z

The City Council voted 6-3 Tuesday night in its final redistricting vote, keeping a map that has been hotly protested over the past weeks, leaving hundreds of people sad and angry – and ready to cast ballots in June to prove it.

With a vote identical to the one on Aug. 23, the City Council approved a final redistricting map – a revised version of a map called “NeighborhoodsTogether 2.0”– that puts the the downtown railyards in the same district as East Sacramento, divides South Land Park at Fruitridge Road and makes the Central City one district.

And – against the vehement opposition of residents, business people, students and community leaders – it is a map that takes the UC Davis Medical Center out of Oak Park.

At each of three prior council meetings, members of the public showed up in force to loudly oppose proposed new district boundaries. The Aug. 23 meeting in particular saw a record 103 people signed up to comment on the subject.

Just before public comment began Tuesday, Mayor Kevin Johnson set the tone for the discussion, saying, “I hope we will let civility rule the day.”

Audience members held their applause between speakers and raised brightly colored signs to show their approval of some comments.

“All of the political deals have already been made,” said Oak Park resident Julie Mumma. “Set aside your politics. If you were judging this as unbiased jurors in a court of law, you’d look at the evidence, and you’d do the right thing.”

The 375 people in attendance was less than the 600 to 1,000 that City Hall staff and security had anticipated.

Although a few commenters spoke about the downtown railyards or South Land Park or Del Paso Heights during the five-hour council meeting, an overwhelming majority of speakers Tuesday voiced their opposition to the proposed shift of the Med Center out of Oak Park.

By the time public comment concluded, 76 people had spoken, all in opposition to the proposed map.

Things got heated between council members as they began deliberating on the map and responding to public comments and to each other.

“We can’t deny the economic impact on the region and the city as a whole, but (the Med Center) sits on 140 acres, embedded in my district,” Councilman Kevin McCarty said, in defense of the map. “It’s our neighbor first and foremost.”

Johnson focused on equalizing population as the “primary goal” of redistricting, and asked McCarty what putting the Med Center in McCarty’s district would do for balancing population.

“There are other things to consider besides equalizing population,” McCarty responded.

When Johnson pressed further, it was Councilman Steve Cohn who spoke up to say the district location of the Med Center might not affect population “much,” but other criteria for drawing district maps – such as communities of interest and natural, geographic boundaries – was “also very important” to the process and shouldn’t be ignored.

Although the most pronounced issue of the evening surrounded Oak Park and the Med Center, each council member took a few minutes to address the audience to talk about impacts of redistricting to their own districts.

“I honestly believe that everyone up here is doing what they truly think is the right thing to do,” Councilwoman Angelique Ashby told the audience.

Throughout public comment, council members were reminded that they are elected officials and there were many suggestions of recall or failure at the next election.

“I believe there will be a petition going around after this is all done,” Meadowview resident Ray Park told Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell, “and you’re not going to like it.”

In one brief exchange with audience members, Pannell quickly addressed any concerns about her political future.

“(Former City Councilman) Sam Pannell died in 1997,” Pannell said. “ I am Bonnie Pannell and I’ve made my own way with my district. If anyone doesn’t like how I’ve done things, I’ll be on the ballot in 2012.”

One audience member called out, “We’ll see you there!” to which Pannell responded, “I’ll see YOU there. Thank you.”

By the time all council members had an opportunity to express their opinions on the proposed map, it was clear that each was standing firm in his or her previous vote on Aug. 23.

“I think you can already read the tea leaves for how this vote is going to go,” Johnson said before the vote was taken Tuesday.

“To the faith community, I want to thank you for showing up,” Johnson said. “For the business people, the students and the community at large – this was a powerful act of democracy in action. You did your part.”

Johnson said the council couldn’t justify its vote and the result would be “a real loss” to communities.

As each council member answered to the roll call vote, audience members reacted with sighs and heads shaking in disappointment.

New district boundaries become official on Oct. 6, according to city staff.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Residents speak out once more on redistricting

2011-08-31T05:22:25Z

With only one more opportunity remaining before the final vote on new district boundaries, more than 20 people spoke their mind Tuesday on an issue that has spurred conflict and concern with residents and community leaders across district lines – and an issue not on the City Council agenda.

“Voter discontent is nothing to scoff at,” said Oak Park resident Kristina Smith. “Don’t ignore the voice of the voters.”

Smith and about 100 others were in the council chambers for the City Council meeting Tuesday, and most wanted to talk about redistricting before the final vote is taken Sept. 6.

At the Aug. 23 council meeting, members voted 6-3 in favor of a new district map that bisects the Med Center neighborhood right down the middle of Stockton Boulevard, separating the UC Med Center from Oak Park in District 5 and shifting it into District 6.

The vote created an uproar among the 500 people in the audience that night.

By 6 p.m. the next evening, a “unity march” was being organized for Sept. 1 to “send a message” to City Council, according to Oak Park Neighborhood Association President Mike Boyd.

“You’ve heard the dragon roar and you didn’t listen,” Boyd said Tuesday. “Let’s talk about how we can get ourselves out of this situation and still walk away looking good. Don’t make us come to your next elections and stop you there.”

Boyd suggested changing the most recent map configuration to keep the Med Center in District 5, and then “piggyback on the already-existing committee” from the Med Center that hears neighborhood issues.

Community leaders – including pastors from Oak Park churches and Betty Williams, president of the Sacramento chapter of NAACP – addressed council members to express their disappointment with the previous vote and to ask them to change their minds.

Reading a resolution from the Northern District Baptist Association, Pastor Darryl Heath said, “As a membership of upwards of 15,000 members, we stand united in firm opposition to the proposed dismembering of District 5 in Sacramento by removing UCD Medical Center and placing it into District 6.”

The resolution demanded investigation of the six council members who voted in favor of the map and asked for “formal indictments” against the council members if “any unethical actions that violate the role of council members" is found to have occurred.

Katie Roberts, an Oak Park resident for almost 20 years, echoed other speakers’ sentiments when she told council, “It’s not too late.”

“Please pull away from the pettiness,” Roberts said. “Be visionaries and have a little class. Don’t turn to back-room politics.”

Not every commenter was opposed to the new map, however.

Robert Waste, assistant director of government and community relations for UC Davis Medical Center, told council members that the Med Center organization “remains neutral on the issue of redistricting,” despite being in the eye of the storm.

Waste thanked Councilmen Jay Schenirer and Kevin McCarty for their individual “contributions and cooperation” on local projects in association with the Med Center and said the Med Center organization is pleased to be “a positive part” of Sacramento, and the region as a whole.

Council members who voted in favor of the most recent map – Sandy Sheedy, Steve Cohn, Rob Fong, McCarty and Bonnie Pannell – appeared unmoved by public comment Tuesday, until speakers directed some sharp words to individual members.

“I’m going to be here again and again to make your life miserable,” said one resident to Sheedy.

When Oak Park resident Chris Neilson asked Pannell if she “seriously” came to the same decision as the “other sneaky six,” Mayor Kevin Johnson intervened.

“I want to remind speakers making public comment to be mindful of the two-minute time limit on comments,” Johnson said, “and to please be respectful of council members.”

Redistricting was not an item on the agenda Tuesday, so council members could not respond to questions or discuss the issue.

At the close of public comment, Johnson told the audience that redistricting is an item on the Sept. 6 agenda and council members will be “prepared for discussion” on the topic at that meeting.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Editorial Note: A correction has been made to this story after it was published.

Community centers get $459K to keep their doors open

2011-08-27T01:32:30Z

Community centers in Sacramento got a boost Tuesday when the City Council approved more than $459,000 in funding to close the gap between what the centers have and what they need to stay open until next year’s budget is passed.

Council members voted unanimously to take $459,188 from the city’s Economic Uncertainty Reserve – money that initially came from cell phone tower profits in each district – to pay for labor, supplies and services necessary for the remainder of the fiscal year.

The total funding necessary to maintain operation of the city’s 15 community centers was $917,000 in the 2010-11 fiscal year, according to Dave Mitchell, division manager for the Dept. of Parks and Recreation.

When the City Council passed the 2011-12 budget, there were more than $39 million in cuts, reducing or eliminating services throughout the city, including the funding needed to keep community centers open.

When department staff made their presentation to City Council in May, Mitchell said, they told council members that, by partnering with community organizations and re-assigning staff, they could come up with $457,812 of the $917,000 needed to keep the centers open.

“But we still needed $459,188 to keep the lights on,” Mitchell said.

Throughout the budget process, members of the public came to City Council meetings to express their concern for the fate of the community centers and public pools and to ask council members to minimize budget cuts that would affect those facilities.

“Our kids need safe havens, centers of collaboration and meccas of education,” said Mark Howard at the June 7 City Council meeting. Howard is the director of Target Resources, a youth and parent-focused nonprofit organization.

“If we close the centers, what is their alternative?” Howard said. “Closure is not an option.

Rick Jennings, a South Sacramento resident, told council members at a June council meeting that kids see the centers as “a place to play,” seniors see them as “places to socialize” and parents see them as “safe places” for their children after school.

“We’ve invested millions of dollars in these centers,” Jennings said. “As a community, we will find a way to keep the doors open.”

After much debate about center funding, the City Council ultimately directed Interim City Manager Bill Edgar to work with Jim Combs, director of the Department of Parks and Recreation, which oversees the city’s community centers, to find some way to keep all of the centers open – without the $459,000 of funding needed to fill the gap.

Edgar and Combs were faced with a dilemma.

“We were told to keep (the centers) open,” Edgar told council members Tuesday, “but you didn’t give us any money to do it.”

So, they had to get creative, Edgar said.

Combs and city staff from the Neighborhood Services Department began reaching out to private and nonprofit groups to create partnerships with the community that would keep the centers open.

Community partners such as charter schools, local charity organizations or nonprofits would pay rent on the facilities and provide services to the community such as classes and recreational activities, Combs said, and the city would pay the costs of operational needs such as electricity, maintenance and other basic services at each facility.

“It’s not reasonable to expect the nonprofits to pay for (that),” Combs told council members Tuesday. “So we’re going to need some money.”

Edgar and Combs recommended that the city augment the new community partner agreements with enough funds to pay for basic utilities and larger maintenance projects.

“We know you don’t like to spend money,” Edgar said, “but in order to comply with (your) request, we felt this was important at this time.”

Councilman Steve Cohn said the entire council is committed to keeping both pools and community centers open “as much as we can.”

Cohn said city staff is working on ideas to do that, so volunteers and community members who support and use the centers should “definitely not give up.”

The Parks Department is in negotiation on four leases and partnership agreements, Combs said, and with additional community outreach, staff will be able to find more businesses and groups interested in working with the city to keep the centers open.

“The Parks Department director has done a remarkable job in scrambling to line up lessees,” said Craig Powell, president of the local political watchdog agency Eye on Sacramento, at the council meeting Tuesday, “and several other (partnerships) that are in the incubation stage.”

As part of its mission to “look out for the public interest,” Eye on Sacramento monitors how City Council handles both revenue and spending, Powell said.

Powell congratulated council members for taking cell phone tower revenue out of council members’ discretionary funds and putting it into emergency fund for “just this sort of thing.”

The approved funding, along with the community partner support, will meet the minimum costs of keeping community centers operating for the remainder of the year – but not beyond that.

“It sets a baseline of operation until next year,” Councilman Kevin McCarty said.

Further funding will have to be approved in next year’s budget for the centers to continue operating beyond 2012.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follw her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Solomon-esque compromise moves Med Center into District 6

2011-08-24T18:26:14Z

In a King Solomon-like compromise, Oak Park lost one of its key components Tuesday when City Council members voted to divvy up the 100-year old neighborhood between two council districts.

District 5 gets to keep most of the Med Center neighborhood and Sacramento HIgh, but District 6 gets the coveted Med Center.

In a 6-3 vote, council members approved a variation of the “Neighborhoods 2.0” base map, drawing the boundary between Districts 5 and 6 – right down the middle of Stockton Boulevard.

“We have let you down as a council,” Mayor Kevin Johnson told the audience just before the vote. “We can say anything we want and make it all fancy, but you guys see right through it.”

Tuesday’s City Council meeting had more than 500 people in attendance and a record 103 speakers took to the podium to address the council before the final vote of the evening.

During the five-hour long discussion, members of the public spoke emotionally and emphatically about what their neighborhoods mean to them, asking council members to “put the people first.”

Quoting English poet William Wordsworth, Oak Park Pastor Darrell Roberts said, “ ‘It takes less time to do something right than to explain why you did it wrong. Wisdom is knowing what to do next. Virtue is doing it.’

“You’ve heard from the people,” Roberts said.

Councilman Steve Cohn defended the map he presented on July 26 and the merged map he and Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy developed and presented on Aug.4., saying it kept more neighborhoods intact than other versions, and resolved more problems than it created.

“In the end,” Cohn said, “I think everyone can agree there’s no perfect solution.”

The controversy that boiled over at the Aug. 16 council meeting – and continued at Tuesday’s meeting – was fueled by the shifting of the Med Center neighborhood out of District 5 and into District 6 with the Neighborhoods 2.0 base map, which the council approved on Aug. 9.

Oak Park residents and community leaders quickly mobilized opposition to the proposed new district boundaries and more than 60 people commented publicly at the Aug. 16 meeting.

Redistricting was not an item on the agenda at that meeting, so council members could not discuss the issue – they could only listen to the public comments, though there was some discussion at the meeting.
At Tuesday’s meeting, redistricting was the final item on the agenda and council chambers remained full to capacity throughout the entire discussion.

Many times, as speakers were addressing the council, the applause of the audience was loud and lingering and Johnson banged the gavel to restore order.

Speakers young and old approached the podium, sometimes giving a simple plea for keeping a neighborhood unified, and other times chastising council members for being “self-serving” and not “respecting the process” of redistricting.

At one point, Councilman Kevin McCarty addressed audience’s questions about ”Why the change” to the boundaries affecting Oak Park, the Med Center, and Sacramento High School.

“I think, Neighborhoods 2.0 is the right map and it is the least flawed,” McCarty said. “District 6 has been growing toward District 5 for years. (Toward District 5) is the only direction it can grow.”

While acknowledging that the Med Center in an “economic engine” for the city, he said “it is also a neighbor” that directly impacts the immediate vicinity more than anything else.

McCarty concluded that Med Center – and the area immediately surrounding it – should be part of District 6.

Tim Jordan, a business owner in Oak Park, said there wasn’t a “compelling reason” for the shift of the Med Center neighborhood out of Oak Park.

“North Oak Park is a positive example of investments made in the area over the years,” Jordan said. “The population is a small percentage of District 5, but they are the heartbeat. There’s no reason to move us.”

When public comment concluded, council members gave the audience their take on the process, the maps and the public outcry they witnessed both at council meetings and from people in their districts.

Cyril Shah, a local businessman and a former member of the Citizens Advisory Committee on redistricting, told council members there were three tenets he followed while working with the committee: listen to the citizens, focus on fairness and equity in every district, and focus on providing government services to those who need them.

“Listen to all of the citizens before you make a decision,” Shaw said. “It is my hope and, quite frankly, my expectation as a citizen that you will come to a conclusion than not only a few but all of the citizens can be proud of.”

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy told audience members that the process has been “very challenging,” but the public had been “heard.”

“Don’t think we haven’t listened to you,” Sheedy said. “We have. We really have heard you.”

Council members Darrell Fong, Rob Fong and Bonnie Pannell made similar comments, pointing out the difficulties of balancing a requirement to equalize population with all of the community’s needs.

When Johnson called roll for the vote, Sheedy, Cohn, Rob Fong, McCarty, Darrell Fong and Pannell were all “aye” votes.

Angelique Ashby, Jay Schenirer and Johnson opposed the motion.

“When you think of assets that represent Oak Park, you think of Sac High and you think of the Med Center,” Schenirer said. “I think it would be criminal to take that away.”

The law requires the redistricting ordinance that the City Council approved Tuesday to be published for the public for one week before the final vote is taken Sept. 6.

The final ordinance will go into effect 30 days after it is adopted by the City Council, and then the current district boundaries no longer exist. Council members will still represent the district number they were elected to, but with the new boundaries in place.

Record number of residents speak out at City Council meeting

2011-08-24T07:08:00Z

At the outset of the City Council meeting Tuesday, Mayor Kevin Johnson promised a robust discussion on the subject of redistricting, and robust is what he got.

It was another full house Tuesday with nearly 500 people crowding into City Hall, filling every seat in the council chambers and overflowing to makeshift seating areas on the second floor – everyone with the same agenda item on their minds: redistricting.

Neighbors, schoolchildren and spokespeople for Latino and African American communities of interest lined up – more than 100-deep – to give their two minutes’ input on where new district boundary lines should be drawn.

At the council meeting on Aug. 16, more than 200 people attended and nearly 70 people spoke during public comment expressing outrage about the proposed redistricting map, even though the item was not on the agenda.

Representatives from the Oak Park and Med Center neighborhoods – which are the focal point of contention for the council at the moment – took center stage once again this week as speaker after speaker took council members to task on a decision that may change the way their community is represented for the next 10 years.

“We are speaking with one voice,” said Mike Boyd, president of the Oak Park Neighborhood Association. “We’re speaking about how it feels to a community like Oak Park to have the heart of our community cleaved from our neighborhood body.”

In a letter sent to Oak Park residents on Friday, Boyd encouraged people to “organize and mobilize” to keep the community “whole.”

“We will not allow our assets to be looted,” the letter stated. “Keep the pressure on!”

The Neighborhoods Together 2.0 map changes the district boundaries around Oak Park, placing the Med Center neighborhood – which includes Sacramento High School and the UC Davis Medical Center – from District 5 into District 6.

Strictly speaking, they’re talking about 1,053 residents, with all but six people living west of Stockton Boulevard.

Practically speaking, however, the discussion is about more than population – it’s about history, community, and the will of the people.

“You wouldn’t take the Statue of Liberty out of New York; or the White House out of Washington, D.C.; or the zoo out of South Land Park” said Junea Montoya, a senior at Sacramento High School, “so why would you take Sac High and the Med Center out of Oak Park?”

In response to public comment at last week’s council meeting, Councilman Jay Schenirer asked city staff to provide a map variation that places the Med Center neighborhood in District 5 rather than District 6, as it’s drawn in the current 2.0 map.

Schenirer said that he hopes the council will give serious consideration to his revision, “if we’re really about neighborhoods and keeping neighborhoods together.”

With the legal deadline looming to finalize a new district map for the city, council members are under the gun to make a final decision – and it’s a decision that has, so far, spurred an outpouring of emotion from people in every camp.

“Redistricting is not about moving assets from district to district,” said Andie Corso, an Oak Park resident and a member of Johnson’s Stand Up education initiative.

“It’s about evening out population,” Corso said. “We’re talking about two community assets being moved (because of) the 2.0 map, and it’s completely unnecessary.”

Councilmen Steve Cohn and Kevin McCarty each addressed the crowd to explain the rationale for the makeup of the 2.0 map, but their words were met with groans and head-shaking from the audience.

“We’ve collected more than 500 signatures in just 13 days,” said Oak Park resident Kristina Smith. “Fifty-four of these signatures are from your neighbors on your block, Mr. McCarty. Will you ignore the voices of your own neighbors?”

Before starting public comment, Johnson told the audience that a record 103 speakers had signed in – 24 supportive of the Neighborhoods Together 2.0 map, and 79 opposed to it.

“It’s clear by the showing here today – nearly three to one – how you feel about it,” Johnson said, referring to the number of people who asked to speak Tuesday.

One of the speakers in opposition to the 2.0 map was Sacramento County Supervisor and former Sacramento Mayor Jimmy Yee, who returned to council a second time in two weeks to reiterate his feelings about the division of his neighborhood, South Land Park.

Holding up a sign that read “Keep Oak Park whole,” Yee said, “I want to change this sign a little and have it read ‘Keep Oak Park and South Land Park whole.”

At a press conference earlier in the day, Johnson said he hoped Tuesday’s meeting would have at least one “happy surprise” for Sacramento – that of coming to a consensus about what the new map will look like.

“It’s about doing what’s right tonight,” Johnson said.

The council was set to vote on an ordinance finalizing the 2.0 map, unless someone on the council made a motion to amend the map in some way.

The ordinance stated that preserving existing neighborhoods was “a major focal point” during the deliberations by the City Council.

“The concern over existing neighborhoods made for difficult policy decisions,” the ordinance states, making it “impossible to satisfy” the wishes of all of the residents who voiced their concerns at public meetings.

More than three hours into the meeting – and after more than an hour of public comment – a final vote was yet to be taken at the dais.

The Sacramento Press will post an update in the morning on the result of Tuesday’s council meeting.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter with The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

City Council chooses surprise new redistricting map

2011-08-10T07:35:37Z

The city of Sacramento will have new district boundaries by the end of the month, but the lines won’t be familiar to anyone who has followed the process so far.

In a 6-3 vote, the City Council passed a motion Tuesday to use a new map submitted by Councilman Steve Cohn as the ‘base map’ for new district boundaries – much to the surprise of advisory committee members, meeting attendees and Mayor Kevin Johnson.

“I am extremely disappointed and sad,” Johnson said. “This is the worst-case scenario. It’s the council putting self-interest above all else, and that is disappointing.”

The map – which Cohn named “Neighborhoods Together 2.0” – was submitted just minutes before the council meeting was set to begin Tuesday.

Cohn said he felt the new map was necessary because it addressed concerns that the previous maps did not, including keeping districts more compact and cohesive and allowing for better representation of communities of interest.

Although the agenda item on redistricting included opportunity for public comment, the new map wasn’t introduced until after public comment had concluded.

The goal of the new map, as described by Cohn, is to “keep neighborhoods together,” and it is intended to address concerns expressed about the previous maps submitted by he and Sheedy at the July 26 council meeting.

One of those concerns was that the population deviation in the merged Cohn/Sheedy map released Friday was 11.9 percent, exceeding the city-mandated maximum of 10 percent. The total population deviation of the new map is 9.92 percent.

Another concern expressed to the council was the division of Latino communities across multiple districts thereby “diluting their voting power,” according to Eric Guerra, a representative of the Latino Redistricting Working Group and the president of the Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association.

“What this map does that no other map does,” Cohn said, “is provide Latino representation greater than 30 percent in four council districts.”

“I think it’d be undershooting (for the Latino community) to look at only one (council) seat when you could be looking at four seats,” Cohn added.

Discussion of the merits of the new map became heated as council members argued about what district the UC Davis Medical Center and the surrounding neighborhood, including Sacramento High School, belongs in.

Councilman Jay Schenirer noted that, although the Med Center neighborhood has historically been part of District 5, the 2.0 map assigns it to District 6.

“For the past 40 years they’ve been in District 5,” Schenirer said. “I’d like to know what is the rationale for moving it?”

Cohn said the primary effort of the new map is to keep neighborhoods together, but added that moving the neighborhood into District 6 compensates for the addition of the railyards to District 3.

“District 3, with the railyards in it, has potential for growth,” Cohn said, “but District 6 doesn’t have that same potential.”

Schenirer stood his ground, saying “we could argue how long that growth would take,” and told Cohn that the council should “put the Med Center neighborhood back with Oak Park, where it’s been for 40 years.”

The council passed a motion to accept the new map without the adjustment of shifting the Med Center neighborhood back to Oak Park and District 5.

Although Councilwoman Angelique Ashby ultimately voted against it, she initially expressed her support of the new base map, saying that a new map being added by the council – even at this late date – does not contradict the work of the advisory committee.

“I’m offended by the notion that if we don’t take one of the four maps submitted by the advisory committee, that we are somehow being less than transparent,” Ashby said. “This is a process: the community submitted maps, the committee vetted them, and now (the council) looks at them.”

Ashby said it has always been the prerogative of the council to make refinements to any map as part of the redistricting process and in addition to the work of the advisory committee.

Councilman Rob Fong agreed, saying, “I don’t think there’s any disrespect to the advisory committee here.”

Fong said everything the council has done is a “derivative” of the advisory committee’s work, and having refinements done by the council was something the council had always considered.

“I don’t know that there are any perfect solutions for any district,” Fong said. “This process is like having a lot of Jell-O in a big sack. Wherever you push or pull, it’s going to affect all the other districts.”

Johnson was visibly upset by the submission of yet another new map.

“It’s clear that politics took over the process,” Johnson said. “I do not think elected officials should choose their voters. We throw the word transparency around a lot, but I don’t think anything we’ve done here has been transparent. There’s no way the public is fooled by it.”

“We get a map at 5:55 p.m. today, and we’re supposed to vote on it today without the public weighing in on it at all?”Johnson said. “I think it’s ridiculous, and I think our priorities are upside-down.”

Johnson and Schenirer voted against the proposed new map, along with councilwoman Ashby who disagreed with the way the new map shifted large portions of neighborhoods from her district into a new district.

City staff will prepare an ordinance based on the new map for the council to adopt at the earliest opportunity, according to city clerk, Shirley Concolino.

The new map is expected to be passed for publication on Aug. 23 and adopted by the end of the month.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Editorial Note: A correction has been made to this article after it was published.

Taking the politics out of redistricting

2011-07-13T06:36:18Z

When the Citizens’ Advisory Committee on Redistricting handed over its final recommendations to the City Council on Tuesday, the real work began on shaping the city for the next 10 years.

Council members were given four maps to choose from, two of which potentially pit council members against each other for control of a single district.

Whatever decision the council members make, they won’t have another opportunity to change district lines until the redistricting process begins again in 2021.

In January, the advisory committee began reviewing 37 maps submitted by Sacramento residents for redrawing district lines. By the end of June, the committee members narrowed the field to the final group of four.

“We’re going to have some tough conversations,” said Councilman Steve Cohn in an interview Monday. “It isn’t going to be easy, but it will get done, and it will get done right.”

Cohn, who represents District 3, is one council member who faces the possibility of a district line shift that would combine his district with that of another council member, Sandy Sheedy.

“It’s not about what I want for me,” Cohn said. “It’s about what’s best for the people I represent. Do I want to stay on the council? Yes, I do. We all want to keep representing the people in our districts. But we have to look at all of the options and see what’s best.”

In the other potentially contentious scenario, Districts 4 and 5 would be redrawn, putting either Rob Fong or Jay Schenirer out of a council seat.

“I think that we actually have a very collegial group,” said Fong, “and I can’t imagine that we’d be looking to adopt any map that would ‘redistrict out’ any of our current colleagues, but we haven’t really had any discussions about it.”

Fong said the biggest challenge will be honoring redistricting laws as well as the neighborhoods and the communities of interest to see if they can make everyone happy.

“I don’t know if we can,” Fong said. “It’s a bit of a Rubik’s cube, but that’s the challenge in front of us.”

Mayor Kevin Johnson praised the work of the advisory committee at his press conference Tuesday and said that having a citizens’ advisory committee “removed the politics” of redistricting from council members and let the citizens do what they think is in the best interests of the community.

“That’s good government,” Johnson said. “That’s transparency.”

Johnson said at the council meeting that the final recommendations from the advisory committee show an attempt to keep neighborhoods “whole,” or as close as possible without a lot of deviation.

“(The advisory council) did it with a blind eye,” Johnson said. “They didn’t care who was incumbent, and they didn’t care about (district) lines. It was only about neighborhoods and communities of interest.”

Maya Wallace, 33, is an auditor for the Bureau of State Audits who served as an at-large appointee on the Citizens’ Advisory Committee.

“It was fairly challenging,” Wallace said. “I felt that we needed to ensure that the process was open and transparent, and we wanted to do this in a way that was objective.”

Wallace said she wasn’t prepared, however, for the lack of knowledge she had about the politics behind the process.

“We really needed to be sensitive to the community’s concerns, especially their concerns about the process,” Wallace said.

Bill Magavern, 51, an advocate from the Southside Park neighborhood, asked the council Tuesday to choose the final map from the among the four maps the committee recommended.

“If you were to throw out (the committee’s) maps and cobble together one of your own,” Magavern said, “I think you would lose a lot of credibility with the public.”

Johnson said he hasn’t yet formed an opinion for his preference of any of the maps, but he said that he is “all in favor” of choosing one of the maps from the advisory council.

“It will validate all of the time and effort that we asked (the advisory committee) to put forward.

“If we start tampering with it,” Johnson added, “then that dilutes the process, and it’s not as authentic as citizen involvement should be.”

The questions is: Will the final decision reflect the community’s best interests – or the council’s?

“Hopefully we’ll do what’s true and respectful to the work that (the advisory committee) has done,” Johnson said.

The City Council has until Aug. 26 to make a final decision on how the new city district lines will be drawn.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follwer her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Council intends to make major public safety cuts

2011-06-08T07:44:49Z

The Sacramento City Council’s tentative decision Tuesday night to make severe budget cuts to public safety is not final, but it made a big statement.

Council members voted 6-3 to say they intend to make budget cuts later this month that include layoffs of 82 sworn cops and increases in brownouts or alternating closures for fire services.

A big caveat to the tentative decision is the council’s statement that it is still open to further negotiations with the city’s public safety unions.

Tuesday’s hearing drew intense public interest. Many people arrived more than an hour early to the 6 p.m. meeting. Shortly before 5 p.m., about 70 people waited in line for the doors at City Hall to open.

About 340 people were at City Hall around 6:15 p.m. The 230 seats inside the City Council’s chambers were filled, and another 110 people were outside, in the lobby and in a second-floor overflow area.

A City Hall police security officer estimated at 7 p.m. there were 400-450 people at City Hall.

City leaders are facing a $39 million deficit for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. The City Council is expected to approve a budget June 21.

Council members Jay Schenirer, Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell voted to say they intend to make public safety cuts, among other reductions, though they may still negotiate with unions for changes to the cuts.

Council members Angelique Ashby and Steve Cohn and Mayor Kevin Johnson voted against the tentative decision.

Schenirer proposed the tentative decision, stating that cuts to public safety were necessary in order for the city to get on a fiscally responsible track.

“The right thing happens to be the more difficult thing this year, unfortunately,” he said.

The proposal includes $12.2 million in cuts to the Police Department and $9 million in cuts to the Fire Department.

The suggested cuts include layoffs of 82 sworn cops in the Police Department and 68 civilian personnel, according to updated statistics provided Tuesday night by Sgt. Norm Leong, police department spokesman.

The department could restore 35 staff if it obtains a waiver on a federal grant, according to city officials.

“I just can’t, in good conscience, support a budget where we’re going to cut $12 million from police,” Johnson said.

In addition to its tentative decision, the council made a final decision Tuesday night to approve a federal grant for the Sacramento Fire Department. The funding from the federal government comes from the federal Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant Program.

The six council members also said they intend to make fire cuts that would raise the number of alternating closures, or “brownouts,” of fire services from two to four. Without the grant, the city would be weighing whether to make six brownouts.

The city manager’s office is not proposing layoffs for the Fire Department.

As part of the 6-3 vote, the council also said it intends to keep 11 community centers open without setting aside any money for them through the Department of Parks and Recreation. It’s unclear how that can be accomplished. Schenirer suggested that neighborhoods could help keep the centers open.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City cuts not limited to police, fire, parks

2011-05-27T01:59:26Z

While proposed budget cuts to public safety departments have attracted a lot of public attention, the Sacramento City Council also discussed millions of dollars in proposed budget cuts to many other offices and departments earlier this week.

At a Tuesday afternoon meeting, council members examined cuts to departments and offices that include the mayor and City Council, Economic Development, Finance, Human Resources and Transportation. The city is in the throes of a budget crisis with a $39 million budget gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year.

The City Council members decided on Tuesday to give a large chunk of its budget to the city’s general fund.

Council members’ budgets include revenues from cell phone towers and billboards. They moved $417,567 of $665,067 of these revenues to the general fund.

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell was visibly frustrated by the council’s choice to move that money to the general fund, even though she voted to do so at the end of a discussion.

She said she utilizes her funds from cell phone and billboards on programs that help children in South Sacramento.

“What’s going to happen to the kids?” she asked.

Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said the council members receive hundreds of funding requests from community groups each week. She said that community groups that support the arts, sports and festivals will need to understand that the council members will no longer be able to help fund them.

“We simply won’t have the money,” she said. “We won’t be able to do that.”

While they took $417,567 out of their collective budgets, each council member will still have a pot of $55,000 in discretionary account funds in the next fiscal year. The $247,500 remaining from the pot of $665,067 in cell phone and billboard revenues will be moved into the discretionary accounts to help each council member reach the $55,000 figure, according to Dawn Holm, a city staffer in the budget, policy and strategic planning division.

The $55,000 for each council member is not a new amount, Holm explained. Council members had that amount of discretionary funding in their budgets in the 2010/2011 fiscal year, Holm wrote in an email.

The discretionary accounts are available for the City Council to help fund community projects.

The council also listened to Finance Director Leyne Milstein explain proposed cuts to various departments. Interim City Manager Bill Edgar and Interim Deputy City Manager Betty Masuoka are proposing a $707,406 cut to the Economic Development department, including four full-time employee positions.

The Human Resources Department could lose two full-time employee positions as part of a proposed $240,000 cut.

A recommendation to chop $480,884 from Transportation’s budget is also included in the city manager’s proposed budget.

Breaking the trend of cuts, the proposed budget recommends two new hires to the Finance Department. The new employees would be hired as revenue collectors, Milstein said.

It’s unclear at this point how many people will actually be laid off as a result of the proposed cuts to positions.

Also on Tuesday, Councilman Darrell Fong said he wants to explore the idea of making more cuts to Finance, Human Resources and Information Technology. He did not explain at the meeting why he wanted to make those cuts. The council did not act on Fong’s idea Tuesday.

Read a report on proposed cuts to many city departments here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Intense city budget talks begin

2011-05-04T06:09:21Z

Sacramento City Council members began discussions Tuesday on the city manager’s recommendation to cut as many as 366 jobs in the budget for the 2011/2012 fiscal year.

One city union protested the proposed layoffs at City Hall before the City Council meeting, and representatives from two other unions expressed their opposition to the cuts during the meeting.

City officials presented the budget recommendations from the city manager’s office at Tuesday’s meeting and summarized the budget document.

As part of the meeting, Interim Deputy City Manager Betty Masuoka explained a chart on the job cuts recommended by the city manager’s office.

The city would need to slice 250 full-time positions to gain the $39 million in savings. But Masuoka and Interim City Manager Bill Edgar are making recommendations for cuts on top of the $39 million in light of the city’s ongoing financial woes.

City officials project that the city will continue to face budget gaps until fiscal year 2015/2016.

The gap for fiscal year 2012/2013 is $11.7 million and is expected to rise to $22.9 million in fiscal year 2013/2014. In fiscal year 2014/2015, the city expects to be $18 million in the hole. The gap drops to a $13 million deficit predicted in fiscal year 2015/2016.

If the City Council decides to cut all the positions that Masuoka and Edgar have suggested, 366 positions would be lost, according to page 28 of the chart Masuoka referenced.

It’s unclear at this point how many actual layoffs would result if the City Council decided to cut the 366 jobs. The numbers may change during the budget process. Plus, the city uses a process of demoting some employees while laying off others that can change the numbers.

Regardless, the City Council could decide to make hundreds of layoffs in the next few weeks.

“This budget is very painful,” Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell said.

Councilwoman Angelique Ashby indicated she would make efforts to avoid layoffs to police and fire employees. As many as 80 sworn officers could be laid off in the proposed budget, according to the Sacramento Police Department.

Ashby said the citizens she represents are concerned about police and fire staffing and levee improvements.

“I’ve got to find ways to make those my top priority,” she said.

Councilman Kevin McCarty asked city staff to prepare an alternate budget that would show the city’s financial situation if the City Council made no public safety cuts.

Mayor Kevin Johnson said he was concerned about the layoffs.

Marcia Mooney, business representative for Local 39, said there could be about 150 layoffs of members of her union, who work in city services including parks maintenance, utilities and solid waste, she said. Local 39 is pressing the City Council to not put the brunt of layoffs on rank-and-file workers.

Representatives of the Sacramento Police Officers Association and Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 addressed the City Council during the meeting.

“You’re making life-and-death decisions,” said Detective Mark Tyndale, vice president of the police union.

The police department, he said, has already been “cut to the bone.”

Jaymes Butler of the firefighters’ union said Fire Department cuts could hurt communities. The proposed budget would ramp up the number of Fire Department “brownouts” from two to six.

The city fire department has two rolling brownouts in effect, which means that certain fire trucks and engines are out of service at various times, according to former Fire Department spokesman Jim Doucette.

The next public budget meeting will be held Thursday, May 12. The Sacramento Press will publish the time and place of the meeting as soon as it can obtain that information.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Create an online redistricting map

2011-04-09T01:21:09Z

Anyone in the city can use the city’s online tools to carve up the eight City Council districts and present their redistricting ideas to city leaders.

The mapmaking tool for the 2011 redistricting process is free to use, and the city welcomes maps from residents.

Maps developed and submitted by citizens will be shared with the City Council, the council’s redistricting advisory committee and the general public, said Maria MacGunigal, the city’s Geographic Information Systems manager.

Every decade, the city rearranges its council districts by applying U.S. Census data.The reordered districts should all have the same population, according to city staff.

“The primary objective of redistricting is to balance population,” MacGunigal said.

Another concern is the makeup of the districts: The balanced districts must not disenfranchise various groups of people, MacGunigal said. Issues related to disenfranchisement of racial groups were discussed at a Feb. 28 Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting.

The deadline to turn in maps to the city is May 16. All maps must be designed using the online tools – the city is not using paper maps, MacGunigal said. The City Council will make final decisions on redistricting in September.

The city worked with a consultant, Environmental Systems Research Institute, to set up the redistricting tool. ESRI created redistricting software, MacGunigal said, and city staff helped set up its design, function and delivery to citizens.

The online tools are sophisticated and give users the ability to share their maps with others.

“You can share your plan, you can create a group and invite users of the tool to participate with you,” MacGunigal said.

Users can work on the maps in sessions by saving their online work and returning to it – they do not have to create the map in one sitting.

The Census data shows that the city’s population rose from 407,018 in 2000 to 466,488 in 2010. With the city’s population at 466,488, each district must have 58,311 people.

District 1 is the largest, with 106,729 people. Districts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are relatively close in size, ranging in population from about 46,000 people to about 53,000 people. District 4, represented by Councilman Rob Fong, has 45,703 people, making it the least-populated district in the city.

The Sacramento Press tried out the online tools Friday for illustration purposes and to help citizens understand the process of making your own map.

First, a free account must be created.

Next, read the city’s instructions on how to use the online tools to cut up the districts.

The “create” tab is where the redistricting action takes place. Using the tools here, you can move pieces of one district to another district. Remember, the districts will need to each have 58,311 people.

Divvying up the population in the city is like playing with a Rubik’s Cube. It’s not quick or easy to bring all the districts to the same population numbers. When a user moves a piece of one district into another, the population may bring one district to the 58,311 goal but make another district much larger than 58,000.

Here is the existing map of District 1 before The Sacramento Press took a stab at it.

And here is the map of District 1 after The Sacramento Press brought it down to 58,313 people. (It was too tricky to bring it down to 58,311 on a journalism deadline.)

The Sacramento Press test map shows that it is a time-consuming process. Once a user lowers or raises a population to 58,311, the other districts may fall out of balance. While Ashby’s district was reduced to 58,313, District 2 now has too many people, with 80,119 people.

In addition, The Sacramento Press did not account for any of the crucial demographic data and how the map would affect neighborhoods. The online tool allows users to see the racial breakdown of how their maps affect communities.

City staff will hold training sessions next week that will demonstrate how to use the redistricting software. Three one-hour training sessions will be held at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., Monday, April 11, at La Familia Center Computer Lab, 5523 34th St.

Training sessions will also be held at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 13, at North Natomas Library Computer Lab, 4660 Via Ingoglia.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Council's closed meetings on Vina examined

2011-03-29T00:43:59Z

A number of recent City Council meetings relating to Interim City Manager Gus Vina, including the council’s January vote against his promotion, have been closed to the public. An attorney and open government advocate commented on the Brown Act Friday, saying he opposes “closed session” meetings on hiring and firing matters affecting the city manager.

Terry Francke, an attorney for the nonprofit open government group Californians Aware said city manager hiring and firing decisions should be made public.

Central to the issue of closed meetings is the way city officials interpret the Brown Act, a state law intended to make government meetings open to the public at the local level.

The City Council met in a closed session on Jan. 25, when it decided in a 5-4 vote not to promote Vina to the permanent city manager position. City Attorney Eileen Teichert said the closed session complied with the Brown Act.

“The closed session was duly noticed for the purpose of considering appointment or employment of the city manager, consistent with the Brown Act,” Teichert wrote in a Feb. 3 email. “The council’s decision in that closed session to proceed with a nationwide search was a byproduct of their discussions whether or not to appoint Mr. Vina as city manager.”

But Francke noted that the City Council made a choice to hold the meeting in closed session, saying that the Brown Act allows city councils to hold personnel discussions in closed sessions, but does not require it. In Francke’s view, the public should be welcome at discussions on city manager hiring and firing.

"People have a right to know about his or her qualifications and performance for two reasons,” he said.

“First of all, because they have a great interest in knowing the job is being done well, or, if not, what needs to be improved. Secondly, since this person is the most influential individual in the city structure, the council itself needs to be held accountable for choosing the right person and providing direction in a way that's appropriate to their responsibilities,” he added.

The council’s vote and decision to hold a national search for city manager was announced in the public City Council meeting held later in the evening on Jan. 25. But the discussion leading to the vote was held behind closed doors.

As a result, the public has no on-the-record information for why five of the members of the City Council voted against promoting Vina.

Vina told the City Council Friday that he was resigning with two weeks notice. His last day on the job will be April 8.

Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell were the five who voted against promoting Vina in January. They are not speaking publicly about why they voted for a national search and did not promote Vina.

They did not return phone calls from The Sacramento Press Friday.

In early February, McCarty said he declined to comment on his vote because it was a “personnel” and “closed session” matter.

Teichert said in her Feb. 3 email that the council members cannot talk about the closed session meeting.

“The Brown Act, the privacy rights of the candidate, and the City Council’s confidentiality policy preclude disclosure of any confidential discussions during closed session,” she wrote.

But Francke said closed sessions on city manager hiring and firing signal that city officials are hiding from the public.

“If their decision, on this person, is shrouded from public accountability, their single most important decision is also shrouded,” he said. “And, if that's the case, then they're ducking accountability and public scrutiny, as well.”

Read the full text of the Brown Act here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Vina transfers pressures with budget, unions to council

2011-03-28T02:09:57Z

The clock is ticking for the Sacramento City Council.

Sacramento Interim City Manager Gus Vina’s resignation on Friday morning means that the City Council must take immediate actions that will impact the city budget and labor negotiations with municipal unions.

Council members must find a new top city official one month before the city’s proposed budget is due. Vina’s resignation also means that the city’s labor unions will take up budget negotiations with a new city leader.

“We don’t have time to grieve,” City Councilman Steve Cohn said in an interview Friday.

Cohn was one of four council members who supported Vina’s earlier effort to become Sacramento’s next permanent city manager. In a split 5-4 vote on Jan. 25, the City Council decided not to promote Vina to the permanent city manager position. The five council members who voted to hold a national search for a new city manager were Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell.

Though the council did not promote him on Jan. 25, Vina said in February that he planned to compete in the national search.

But that plan came to a halt Friday, when Vina gave his resignation letter to the City Council and Mayor Kevin Johnson. He gave two weeks’ notice and will leave his post April 8.

“I need to move on and pursue other opportunities because I feel that for a city manager to be effective, you really have to have the confidence of the entire council,” Vina told The Sacramento Press on Friday. “I don’t feel that’s the case right now.”

Like Cohn, Councilwoman Angelique Ashby also commented on the need for the City Council to move rapidly.

“For me, he was the front-runner to be the next city manager for the city of Sacramento,” Ashby said. “Now, I think we have a pretty big challenge on our hands. We need to make some quick decisions. We need to come together as a council and really look at the future of our city.”

“And (we need to) find ways to be successful coming out of this situation,” she added.

Johnson’s office had not released a statement on Vina’s resignation by press time, even though spokesman Joaquin McPeek said a statement would be issued on Friday. Johnson supported Vina’s bid to become permanent city manager, saying in January that he hoped Vina would apply for the job in the national search.

The five council members who voted against promoting Vina in January did not return phone calls seeking comment on Friday. The Sacramento Press left phone messages with McCarty, Darrell Fong, Rob Fong, Sheedy’s office, Sheedy’s District Director Joann Cummins and Pannell’s office.

Turnover for the city manager position has been high lately. The City Council selected Vina for the interim post one year ago. Former City Manager Ray Kerridge resigned in February 2010.

New leader must grapple with city budget, union negotiations

The city’s government structure empowers the city manager to develop the city budget. While the City Council makes all final decisions on the budget, the city manager is responsible for preparing the proposed budget document.

Budget preparation at Sacramento City Hall is a weighty responsibility, especially in light of the city’s $35-40 million budget gap.

While the city is in the midst of a major budget shortfall, Cohn and Vina both expressed confidence that Vina’s departure would not delay the budget.

Cohn said Vina told him that the draft budget is on track and should be available to the public by the May 1 deadline. Cohn also said the city has experienced staffers working on the budget.

Vina said Friday that he is carrying out his budget responsibilities.

“We are very close to finishing the proposed budget,” Vina said. “It will be ready to meet the May 1 deadline.... I committed to council that I would get the budget done, and I will.”

But Councilman Jay Schenirer indicated that Vina’s departure will make the budget process more challenging.

“I think it’s a difficult time for the city right now,” Schenirer said. The budget process “was certainly a place where Gus was very strong,” he added.

While Cohn said he was confident that the budget work will get done on time, he expressed concern about labor negotiations, which are often a key part of balancing the budget.

The city manager’s responsibility as leader of labor negotiations for the city is critical, he said, especially when the city is asking the unions to make concessions.

“The bigger problem I see down the line is labor negotiations,” Cohn said.

Mark Tyndale, vice president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association, said his union was already talking to Vina about issues that would affect the city’s budget. Vina’s resignation interrupts that process, Tyndale said.

“These relationships are really important for us,” Tyndale said, noting that SPOA was able to communicate well with Vina, even when the union disagreed with him.

“With Gus departing ... it takes us back to square one,” Tyndale said.

However, another major city union may prefer Vina’s replacement over Vina.

Joan Bryant, director of public employees for Stationary Engineers Local 39, said on Friday that she strongly opposed Vina’s recent decision to award raises to Finance Director Leyne Milstein, Human Resources Director Geri Hamby, Community Development Director Max Fernandez and Police Chief Rick Braziel.

Local 39 represents city workers in the areas of solid waste, code enforcement and animal care, Bryant said. The union represented 1,600 full-time city employees, according to statistics provided by Bryant last September.

“I think he was rewarding his loyalists,” Bryant said.

The amount of money in raises that went to top officials could have paid the salary of a parks worker, she said.

Vina raised Hamby’s salary from $151,402 to $162,000. Fernandez’ salary jumped from $164,445 to $172,667. Milstein’s salary rose from $131,270 to $150,304.

Braziel received an 8 percent raise in June, four days before he told the public he would not leave the city of Sacramento for a potential police chief position in Seattle.

Maurice Chaney, acting city spokesman for the city, responded to questions about the raises on Vina’s behalf in February.

“Two of the three salary changes (Community Development director and the HR director) were envisioned as the next planned step of last fiscal year's consolidation process, which occurred last July and resulted in a cost savings of more than $4 million,” Chaney wrote in an e-mail to The Sacramento Press. “Salary adjustments specific to these positions were considered because of the associated increases in departmental duties that resulted with these mergers.”

Chaney also commented on the raise for Milstein.

“The finance director has played a crucial role during the last four years in assisting with a budget deficit that has affected all city employees,” he wrote.

On the topic of Braziel’s raise, city spokeswoman Amy Williams said in September that he deserved the money because he had voluntarily taken a pay cut in 2008 with the understanding that it would be restored later.

Is Sacramento an unstable city?

In the view of city employee Cindy Bates, Vina’s resignation will not destabilize the city government.

“He’s left competent leaders behind to take care of the ship,” said Bates, a program analyst in the transportation department.

But Sacramento Metro Chamber President Matt Mahood said Vina’s resignation is bad for business.

The business community must work with the city government, he said, giving the example of the requirement for businesses to receive city permits. An unstable city government discourages businesses within the region and those looking to bring business to the city, he said.

“There’s a lot of instability in the city of Sacramento, and that does not help foster a positive business environment,” he said Friday.

Mahood said the council members should change the way they interact if the city manager feels like he has to resign because he doesn’t have their support.

The council members need to align more with each other, he said, “and figure out a way to work together.”

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Vina resigns weeks before budget due date

2011-03-26T00:45:09Z

Interim City Manager Gus Vina’s resignation comes just weeks before the city must propose a budget for the next fiscal year.

In Sacramento’s city government, the city manager prepares a proposed budget and the City Council makes final budget decisions. Vina told the Sacramento Press on Friday afternoon that the proposed budget will be on time even though he is leaving April 8.

“We are very close to finishing the proposed budget,” Vina said. “It will be ready to meet the May 1 deadline … I committed to council that I would get the budget done and I will.”

He said he was leaving because he was not supported by the full City Council. “I need to move on and pursue other opportunities because I feel that for a city manager to be effective, you really have to have the confidence of the entire council,” he said. “I don’t feel that’s the case right now.”

The City Council voted 5-4 on Jan. 25 against promoting Vina to the permanent city manager position.

Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell voted to conduct a national search for a new city manager.

Mayor Kevin Johnson said then that the council felt that Vina did a “great job” as interim city manager.

Vina said in February that he planned to compete in the national search.

It’s unclear at this point who will replace Vina as interim city manager, said city spokesoman Maurice Chaney. The City Council will decide the next steps, Chaney said.

“In terms of identifying who will fill that void, (that) has yet to be determined,” Chaney said.

The City Council selected Vina for the interim post one year ago. Former City Manager Ray Kerridge resigned in February 2010.

Read in-depth coverage of the impact of Vina’s resignation Sunday.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Editorial Note: This is an updated version of an earlier story.

Community honors Grantland Johnson

2011-03-21T02:10:42Z

Close to 150 people braved the rain Saturday afternoon and came to the Hagginwood Community Center for the dedication of the Grantland Johnson Soccer Field.

“It’s quite an honor, I must tell you,” said Grantland Johnson to the crowd crammed inside the lobby of the community center.

A native resident of Sacramento’s Del Paso Heights neighborhood, Johnson graduated from Grant High School where he played for the Pacers football team. He received his B.A. Degree from Sacramento State in Government and later received honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters from both Sacramento State and Golden Gate University.

“I would not be the person I am today, had I not grown up in this great community of Del Paso Heights. I am so blessed and fortunate to have grown up in Del Paso Heights,” said Johnson.

Hagginwood Park was brought into the City of Sacramento when it merged with North Sacramento in 1964. It is where Johnson played baseball as a youth.

“A lot of folks I met, literally for the first time, out on the baseball field,” said Johnson.

Johnson went on to serve in offices at the city, county, state, and federal levels. He served as a member of the Sacramento City Council representing District 2 from 1983 to 1986. He then served as a member of the Sacramento Count Board of Supervisors representing District 1 from 1987 to 1993, when he was appointed by the Clinton administration as Director for the U.S Department of Health & Human Services overseeing Region IX from 1993 to 1998.

Johnson served as the Cabinet Secretary for the California Health & Human Services Agency during the Administration of former Governor Gray Davis from 1999 to 2003.

“It was a pleasure to work with Grantland,” said former Sacramento Mayor Anne Rudin. “I was so impressed with his understanding of policy issues, his ability to work with other people, his willingness to give and take a little.”

“His priorities were always right.”

When it was his turn to speak, Johnson returned the favor.

“She really reached out to me and worked with me to be an effective member of the council,” said Johnson. “Mayor Rudin is a person of supreme principle.”

“I learned from her the importance of building relationships to get things done. I want to say, Mayor Rudin, how much you mean to me, how much I respect you and honor you, but I think you’re much too modest in terms of the impact you’ve had on this community.”

“I can tell you personally the impact you’ve had over me, and I’m deeply grateful and I cherish your friendship.”

Johnson’s time serving the public allowed him to cross paths and influence several of today’s high-profile public officials.

“We take for granted that Sacramento has this great neighborhood-movement”, said State Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, who began serving as a Sacramento City Councilmember while Grantland served on the Board of Supervisors.

“We take for granted that the City and the school districts work together in the joint uses is the way we work together. We think the fact that we now connect economic development and job creation and the neighborhood movement. Back in 1992, none of that was really a reality, and wasn’t even the way of thinking, and the person who was really on the forefront of all of that was Grantland Johnson.”

“This recognition is not only very appropriate, but it’s necessary to recognize how far we’ve come as a community in 20 years and who was on the front-end and front-line when that happened.”

Assemblymember Roger Dickinson, who was Johnson’s successor as County Supervisor, reminisced about their work to bring light rail to Sacramento.

“I was privileged to join Grantland for a period of time on the Regional Transit Board in those early days of the 1980s when we were working to bring light rail transit, what was a new idea to Sacramento, which was really an old concept brought back to life,” said Dickinson.

“How far ahead of so many of us Grantland was with regard to making sure that we on the leading edge in transportation for those who most needed it and relied on it in our community.”

The soccer field is just one part of a planned makeover of Hagginwood Park to include a new play areas, an arbor structure, a skate park, a dog park, new basketball courts, and an outdoor theatre.

“Hagginwood was one of the focuses of a study that was done about two years ago about public safety in our parks and making parks like Hagginwood centers of our neighborhoods,” said City Parks and Recreation Commissioner Jonathan Rewers.

“The soccer field is another part to make this park a jewel within the city’s park system.”

Said Councilmember Sandy Sheedy: “It’s a professional soccer field, the first in this area. It’s already rented through the first of the year. It’s always going to be busy, and it’s always going to know the name ‘Grantland Johnson’ on it.”

City outsources tree pruning work

2011-02-24T00:51:57Z

The Sacramento City Council voted Tuesday to hire an outside contractor for tree pruning and removal work despite opposition from a major city union, Stationary Engineers Local 39.

Council members voted 7-2 to pay up to $3.7 million to Roseville-based Jensen Tree Service, Inc., for a contract that could span five years. The contract has a one-year guarantee of work – after that, the city manager will decide each year over the following four years whether to continue the contract, according to Craig Lymus, the city’s acting procurement manager.

A representative for Local 39, which represents urban forestry workers, among many other groups of city employees, said the work that Jensen Tree Services will carry out is usually done by city employees.

“I find this to be an affront to the public employees and the residents of this city,” Linda Norman, business representative for Local 39, told the City Council. “These dollars will be lost to the city’s embattled economy.”

Each year, the city will pay the contractor $749,000, according to Transportation Director Jerry Way. The money will come from a lighting and landscaping fund, he said.

Way told council members that his department is trying to balance its tree pruning work between in-house workers and outside contractors to save money. The city’s Urban Forest Service is part of the Transportation Department.

“We’re growing our outsourcing a little bit, because, you know, we’ve been hemorrhaging general fund dollars,” Way said.

Councilwomen Sandy Sheedy and Bonnie Pannell voted against hiring the contractor. Pannell raised concerns about contracting with an outside firm when the unemployment rate is high. “My problem is: Unemployment is 12 percent,” she said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Sacramentans can apply for redistricting panel

2011-02-09T07:12:31Z

Sacramentans can soon apply to serve on the City Council’s redistricting advisory panel. Four of the 13 panel positions will be available to the general public.

The eight council members and Mayor Kevin Johnson will each appoint a member of the panel. The remaining four spots are “at-large,” which means they will not be filled by appointees, said Scot Mende, the city’s new growth manager.

Applications for the four positions will be screened by the City Council’s Personnel and Public Employees Committee, Mende said. Then, the City Council will vote to select the four members, Mende said.

The city uses U.S. Census figures to restructure City Council districts every decade.

Read a schedule of February neighborhood meetings on redistricting here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City manager search could cost $35,000

2011-02-05T00:45:53Z

The city will conduct a national search for a new city manager in response to the City Council’s Jan. 25 decision against promoting Interim City Manager Gus Vina.

Recruiting fees could cost the city as much as $35,400, according to Sacramento’s Human Resources Department. An executive recruiting firm will be hired to conduct the search. The range in fees is estimated between $27,650 and $35,400.

One of two recruiting firms may be chosen by the City Council on Tuesday night. The two Sacramento-based recruiting firms are Wilcox Miller Nelson and CPS Human Resource Services.

The Human Resources Department’s report on the city manager search, which will be presented at the Feb. 8 City Council meeting, is now available online.

Mayor Kevin Johnson said Jan. 25 that he hopes Vina will apply for the city manager job during the national search. Asked earlier this week if he would apply for the job, Vina said, “I don’t know. I’m keeping all my options open.”

City Councilman Steve Cohn said Friday that the national search is likely to take a few months. He said a new city manager will likely not start work before July 1.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Vina details financial recovery plans

2011-01-26T03:18:49Z

Addressing an estimated $35 million-$40 million budget gap for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, Interim City Manager Gus Vina hosted a special workshop on economic recovery for the City Council.

He presented a variety of plans to bring in more revenue, including enhancing the city’s parks with tourist attractions, providing incentives to businesses and creating a mix of opportunities in the city’s job market.

Vina urged City Council members to move quickly on the economic recovery plan so the city can begin to see results.

“I don’t expect the benefits in 2012 and 2013 to be huge, but it will be a good beginning,” he said.

He told council members that unemployment in 2011 is expected to remain between 11.5 and 13.5 percent. Vina said he wants to apply incentives toward small and medium-sized businesses, which make up 96 percent of the employers in the Sacramento region.

“We need to focus on small, medium businesses (and) what we can do for them,” Vina said. These businesses have 500 or fewer employees, he added.

Vina also said the city needs to broaden its employment market, a point that Mayor Kevin Johnson often makes at his press conferences. The city can’t rely overly on its government workers to keep the local economy working, Vina said.

He said he wants to focus on the sectors of green and clean technology, heath and medicine, higher education and agriculture.

“You need to diversify to avoid risk,” Vina said.

Another idea discussed at the workshop is to upgrade regional parks so they draw more visitors. To beckon tourists, the city could explore adding attractions such as museums, aquariums and centers for competitive sports, said Jim Combs, the city’s Parks and Recreation director.

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell said the city could create skate tournaments as an attraction.

Combs also presented the idea of hiring youth part-time and paying them minimum wage to help maintain city parks.

Combs acknowledged that the department will likely face layoffs as part of budget cuts. “We probably will lose some of our workforce,” he said.

Public hearings on the city budget will begin on Feb. 1.

Vina has taken the lead on the economic recovery plan. The City Council voted Tuesday night in a private meeting not to promote Vina to the permanent city manager position. In a 5-4 vote, council members decided to hold a national search for a new city manager. The council members who voted to conduct the search and not promote Vina were Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Bonnie Pannell, Darrell Fong and Kevin McCarty.

It’s unclear at this point how the City Council’s decision not to promote Vina will affect the economic recovery plan.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Council does not promote Vina

2011-01-26T02:40:50Z

The City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday night against promoting Interim City Manager Gus Vina to the permanent city manager position.

Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell voted to conduct a national search for a new city manager.

Mayor Kevin Johnson briefed reporters after he and the members of the City Council held a private meeting about Vina’s job status.

Johnson said the council feels that Vina did a “great job” as interim city manager. However, he said the City Council voted to conduct a national search for a city manager candidate.

Johnson said he hopes that Vina will apply for the job as part of the national search.

Vina was not immediately available for comment.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Bonnie Pannell named vice mayor

2011-01-05T04:19:01Z

The City Council on Tuesday selected Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell to be its second-in-command after the mayor.

Pannell will serve as the city’s vice mayor for 2011. She replaces former City Councilman Robbie Waters, who held the vice mayor position in 2010. The vice mayor fills in for the mayor in certain circumstances.

Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said the duties of the vice mayor are spelled out in the city’s charter.

“During any absence of the mayor from the city or a meeting of the city council, the vice-mayor shall be the acting mayor until the mayor returns,” the charter states. “In addition, if the mayor becomes incapable of acting as mayor and incapable of delegating duties, or if a vacancy exists in the office of mayor, the vice-mayor shall become the acting mayor.”

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Parks maintenance plan sparks debate

2010-12-09T01:31:46Z

Two Sacramento Parks and Recreation Commission members urged the City Council on Tuesday to consider asking property owners to pay for the maintenance costs of city parks.

The City Council decided it would weigh the issue next week because Councilman Darrell Fong wanted more information on the idea. Council members still heard the appeals of the Parks and Recreation Commission members at the meeting.

Commissioner Cynthia Cooke said that if the public pays an assessment, general fund money for public safety and fire protection could be freed up.

“We want to help you get parks operations and maintenance off the general fund,” Cooke said.

Setting an assessment would involve several steps. The City Council is in the early stages of examining the idea.

The City Council may decide next week whether it should hire an engineer to prepare a report “about the feasibility and timing of a new assessment district for park and recreation facility maintenance,” according to a Dec. 7 report written by city staff. The cost to hire the engineer would be $83,000.

Even if the City Council decides it wants to pursue the idea of a parks maintenance assessment, city property owners would need to vote on it.

Commissioner Jonathan Rewers pointed out that the city is in difficult budget times.

“We’re at a point where, at least in my opinion, it’s time for the residents of the city of Sacramento and our property owners to decide what services they want to support and what things they want to pay for,” Rewers said.

Parks and Recreation Director Jim Combs said in an interview Wednesday that parks maintenance has been slashed in the past three years. Over that period of time, more than 50 percent of parks maintenance staff has been cut, and more than half of the general fund budget for park maintenance has been cut, he said.

The idea of a new assessment on property owners is already controversial among certain City Council members. Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell expressed concern about the voters being asked to pay for various needs, and she said she would not support a parks maintenance assessment.

“How many times are we going to go to the public and ask for money?” Pannell said at the council meeting.

The Sacramento County Taxpayers League is already joining the debate, saying in a Dec. 7 statement that the assessment would be an unwelcome tax.

The plan “fails to to account for (or prioritize) the cumulative impact of recently approved and future proposed local government rate, fee and tax hikes on Sacramento's struggling residents and businesses,” the letter said.

Combs countered in an interview Wednesday that the assessment is not a tax because it involves asking property owners if they’re willing to pay the assessment.

Read the Dec. 7 report from city staff on the proposed parks maintenance assessment here.

Photo by Kathleen Haley.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Council: Homeless need shelter for winter

2010-10-27T01:00:33Z

Finding a way to shelter the homeless during the winter months is job one for city staff tasked with addressing the homeless following a City Council workshop Tuesday.

“Winter waits for no one,” said Councilman Rob Fong. “We need to collectively figure out what we can do to make sure no one is exposed to the elements.”

The council uniformly applauded the faith community in its work to shelter the homeless over the winter, but all agreed more has to be done both in terms of a more permanent solution to emergency winter shelters and eventual year-round permanent housing options.

But not everyone agrees that opening the churches to the homeless is a solution.

“It is not shelter. There are no beds,” said Tamie Dramer, executive director of Safe Ground Sacramento. She added that people in the churches will sleep on concrete and hardwood floors, and suggested the term “sanctuary” is a more accurate description.

“It doesn’t look as though there’s a complete solution around the corner,” she said.

Safe Ground’s goal is to get the city to designate a spot for the homeless to camp and has been working toward that for more than a year.

“I’m really tired of just talking about this thing in concept,” said Councilman Steve Cohn. “If people are serious about this, come back with a concrete proposal.”

Cohn said he has heard a lot over the past few months about Safe Ground, but that that can’t be the focus right now.

“Our top priority at the moment has to be what we’re doing with winter shelters,” he said, reiterating Fong’s point.

“Sanctioning camping out there is just not a policy that’s right for the city,” said Councilman Kevin McCarty.

Councilwomen Sandy Sheedy and Bonnie Pannell agreed, arguing against revoking the no-camping ordinance.

“I just don’t see a safe ground opportunity here,” Sheedy said. “We need to start thinking outside the box on where to put people.”

Mayor Kevin Johnson said that any form of a proposal by Safe Ground would only be one piece of a larger solution of transitional housing as the region’s governments work toward the ultimate goal of finding permanent housing for the area’s 2,800 homeless.

“There’s a long-term strategy,” Johnson said. “And that long-term strategy is what we’ve been working toward, which is permanent housing.”

Johnson said the city is able, with the help of the county and nonprofit, private and faith-based groups, to shelter the same amount of homeless this year as last year despite reduced funding.

According to Johnson, progress has been made with helping the homeless over the past year, and one person who exemplifies that progress spoke during public comment.

“I am one of the statistics you are talking about,” said Robert Harris, a plumber. “This time last year, I was homeless.”

Harris said he had received a hotel voucher from the city in addition to clothing, food and medical attention from Loaves & Fishes.

“I am now employed,” Harris said, adding that it is just part-time, but he is hoping to be employed full-time soon.

“I want you to know your tax dollars did go to work for me.”

For others who remain homeless, however, the approach of winter highlights the council’s urgency to find a quick solution.

“Winter is on us, and we don’t have any money,” said John Krantz, a homeless man. “We need to find a solution and we need to find a solution quick.”

Krantz said the churches opening their doors helps, but he advocated for decriminalizing homelessness and allowing camping.

“This is not our last discussion,” Fong said. “It’s a big issue, and it really deserves a lot of attention.”

Johnson characterized the two-hour workshop as having covered a lot of complex issues. He said Sacramento Steps Forward – established about a year ago – is key to helping the city develop a system of using transitional housing options – possibly including something like Safe Ground – into permanent housing.

“Sacramento Steps Forward will strengthen our ability to go forward,” he said. “That’s the future. We have an opportunity here to really be cutting-edge.”

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Development department investigations continue

2010-10-13T05:53:37Z

The Sacramento City Council’s Tuesday-night discussion made it clear that the investigations of the city’s development department are not over.

Seven council members spoke at length about the Oct. 6 audit, which found that the Community Development Department broke city and state laws. Council members also indicated that they want to claim the money that the department failed to charge developers – a sum of more than $2.3 million, according to the audit.

Councilman Steve Cohn was absent from the meeting, and Councilman Robbie Waters recused himself from the discussion of the audit’s findings. Waters’ son, Dan, is a former employee of the department who was involved in an earlier investigation of the department.

The subject of the audit was the department’s work from fiscal years 2007 through 2010. Sacramento firm Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting, Inc. conducted the audit.

“I’m most concerned with making sure this won’t happen again,” Mayor Kevin Johnson said.

The City Council’s auditor, Jorge Oseguera, told the council members that the city attorney’s office will explore whether some of the $2.3 million can be collected. He said he would follow up with the council on that issue.

Councilman Rob Fong said collecting the money is “my No. 1 priority.”

Councilwoman Lauren Hammond said city rules need to apply to all developers equally. The department should not have a culture that allows a “good ol’ boy network,” she also said.

Interim City Manager Gus Vina indicated that disciplinary measures for department employees may be on the table. “As I look at the audit in great detail, I will take whatever disciplinary actions are necessary,” he told the council.

The City Council and city staff also discussed investigations of the department that are still under way.

Sandra Talbott, an attorney with City Attorney Eileen Teichert’s office, said the investigation into allegations of quid pro quo in the department is ongoing. The quid pro quo investigation is distinct from the audit, Talbott said. “It has not been concluded at this point.”

In response to a question from Councilman Ray Tretheway about continuing investigations, Vina said that the California Fair Political Practices Commission has concerns about the department.

In addition, Fong said the City Council should lead its own investigation into the department. He said he considered the audit to be “an important piece” of a City Council investigation.

Fong also said he wanted to explore the role of top managers in the past problems at the department. He did not specify names of current or former city officials in his comment.

“I’d certainly like to know what recourse we have against them, if any,” he said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Arena team gets more time

2010-09-29T04:00:07Z

The developers behind a proposed downtown arena will get another month to present an alternative plan after state fair officials pulled out of the deal, the Sacramento City Council decided Tuesday.

Cal Expo board members on Friday voted against being part of a three-way land swap to move the state fairgrounds to Natomas and allow private developers to sell the fair's current site in a deal to build an arena downtown.

The Sacramento Convergence team, led by Gerry Kamilos and David Taylor, is now scheduled to present a new proposal at the Oct. 26 council meeting — a day after an already-extended exclusive negotiating period between the team and the city technically ends.

"The only way we get things to happen is we stay at the table and make things happen," said Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell.

In a nearly two-hour workshop, the council had options to terminate the exclusive negotiating agreement Tuesday or at council meetings on Oct. 12 or 19.

Mayor Kevin Johnson argued for an earlier decision. Johnson said he was reluctant to let another month pass without reopening the process to other developers who submitted ideas in January and without discussing Arco Arena’s possible renovation with the Sacramento Kings’ owners and the NBA. A new proposal shouldn't be considered in the period set aside for their first plan, he said.

Arguing for a motion to reconsider the agreement in two to three weeks, Johnson said he thought it would weaken the city's position on any possible deal to "keep all our eggs in one basket." Johnson was also concerned Kamilos and his team won't deliver a full proposal in a month, after being unable to make their original proposal work in the agreed-upon time frame.

"What I'm saying is we have to acknowledge this team did not accomplish what they committed to earlier," Johnson said. "This is not what we originally voted on."

That motion failed 5-4. Councilman Steve Cohn, who will be visiting sister cities in China on those dates, made the original motion to hear the Kamilos team's new proposal and determine whether to end or extend the exclusive negotiating agreement on Oct. 26.

"I would ask we consider having us come back (in a month) to give staff a chance to get reports and options laid out and the Convergence team to flesh out the proposal," he said.

That motion was supported 8-1, with only Johnson voting against it.

Four weeks isn't likely enough time for the Kamilos team to submit an updated plan based on only two sites — Arco Arena, which the city owns, and 15 acres in the downtown railyards the city also owns, said Betty Masuoka, a former assistant city manager now working as project consultant for the city.

At the workshop, the developers laid out their most recent proposal to Cal Expo. Dan Martinez, president of VisionMaker Worldwide, discussed his company's existing plan for a 211-acre Arco Arena site under the three-way land swap.

The vision includes an event center in a park-like setting with retail and restaurants, similar to the Grove in Los Angeles, with a permanent midway and kids' amusement park. Arco Arena would be torn down. The site would not need exhibition space or as much livestock space as it would have if the fairgrounds were involved, and it would not include a theme park, said Martinez, one of the former Disney executives who started VisionMaker.

The team will bring back a new proposal "making it very clear" what they're asking the city for, Taylor said.

Local entrepreneur Ali Mackani, another developer who proposed an arena project early this year, said after the vote that he and the CORE group will resubmit their idea involving Westfield Downtown Plaza with more details in two or three weeks. The Convergence group hasn’t delivered on schedule, he said.

"Now you're allowing a plan to keep changing," he said. "It loses the authenticity of the original plan."

Safe Ground opposes City Council vote on public comments

2010-08-25T05:39:44Z

A group that presses for a designated camping space for homeless people in Sacramento opposed on Tuesday the City Council’s decision to move the open public comment section of council meetings to the end of the meeting.

About 18 supporters of Safe Ground Sacramento stayed until the end of Tuesday’s City Council meeting to oppose the controversial decision the body made last week.

Before last week’s decision, open public comment was heard by the City Council at the beginning of weekly council meetings.

During the open public comment part of council meetings, Safe Ground Sacramento supporters regularly urge the city to reserve a space in which homeless residents can camp. The city enforces its anti-camping ban.

“You guys feel like our comments don’t mean nothing,” Safe Ground supporter Shane Eck told the City Council Tuesday.

Councilwoman Lauren Hammond said last week that she hoped moving the public comment session to the end of meetings would quicken the meetings. She also said that “special interests” dominate the open public comment time period.

Judging from comments from council members Tuesday night, it appears that the City Council may take another look its decision.

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell said Tuesday that she now likes the idea of holding it at the beginning of the meeting as long as there is a half-hour time limit on the public comment session.

Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Bonnie Pannell, Robbie Waters and Lauren Hammond last week voted in favor of moving the open public comment session to the end of council meetings.

Mayor Kevin Johnson and council members Kevin McCarty and Ray Tretheway voted against the move and wanted to keep the session at the beginning of meetings.

Councilman Steve Cohn was absent from last week’s meeting. He said Tuesday that he missed last week’s vote because he was attending a family reunion. Cohn expressed support for moving open public comment back to the beginning of meetings, and putting a time limit on that segment of the meeting.

Photo: Safe Ground leader John Kraintz speaks at a July rally in Sacramento.

Photo by Dunia Hamza.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Arizona: Groups continue to protest Sac City Council

2010-08-03T03:05:01Z

Two local groups continue to protest the Sacramento City Council more than one month after the council decided to boycott Arizona companies.

One of the groups, Boycott Sacramento, is intentionally avoiding local businesses in response to the council’s sanctions on Arizona businesses.

Another group, Recall Sacramento, is saying it will attempt to remove certain council members from office. However, Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said the group has not yet officially started the recall process.

The groups formed after the City Council decided June 15 to dispute Arizona’s new immigration laws by boycotting that state’s companies. The council passed the boycott in a 6-1 vote, with council members Steve Cohn and Lauren Hammond absent, and Robbie Waters voting in opposition.

The City Council stepped outside the court system when it decided to boycott Arizona, said Gerald Klaas, organizer of Boycott Sacramento.

“It’s a step toward mob rule,” Klaas said.

Arizona’s new law states that police officers must investigate a person’s immigration status if they think he or she is an undocumented immigrant. Officers must examine immigration status during “enforcement of any law or ordinance of a county, city or town” in Arizona, the law also states.

But a new federal court ruling on Arizona’s law could complicate the Sacramento City Council’s protest. Parts of Arizona’s law were stalled last week by a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton, who deemed them to be unconstitutional, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The implications of the ruling on Sacramento’s boycott of Arizona are unclear at this point. Matt Ruyak, a supervising deputy city attorney in Sacramento, said the city attorney’s office is now analyzing Bolton’s ruling.

At the same time, city staff is still assessing the dollar amount of the business it does with Arizona companies, said city spokeswoman Amy Williams.

Meanwhile, Klaas, a Sacramento County resident, said he estimates that Boycott Sacramento has resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost business to companies within the city limits. He said he based his estimate on e-mails from people who said they did not buy large-ticket items in Sacramento because of the city’s boycott of Arizona.

The Boycott Sacramento Facebook page has 3,474 fans, but groups of three and four people showed up at July protests at City Hall, according to the Meetup.com website.

Klaas said he and his wife estimate they are not spending about $400 per month at Sacramento businesses.

Boycott Sacramento is not related to Recall Sacramento, a group organized by Republican congressional candidate Paul Smith.

The Sacramento City Council is not “pro-business, pro-jobs in any stretch of the imagination,” Smith said. “When they elected to sanction another state, it was none of their business to do that considering the mess the city’s in.”

Asked if his effort was a self-serving move for his congressional campaign, Smith said it is “imperative” that he show the community in his district that he is concerned about Sacramento businesses.

“I don’t want to take over a district in December that’s all boarded-up downtown because all the business was driven out,” he said.

Smith said the group aims to recall council members Rob Fong and Steve Cohn first, but that his group may also try to kick out Mayor Kevin Johnson and council members Bonnie Pannell, Sandy Sheedy and Kevin McCarty. Supporters of an effort to recall the Sacramento City Council are upset with Fong and Cohn more than the other members, Smith said. Fong is ignoring voters, Smith claimed, and Cohn did not vote on the Arizona issue.

The group will not try to recall council members Ray Tretheway, Lauren Hammond or Robbie Waters because they are leaving office, he said.

Mark Williams, the Tea Party Express’ former controversial spokesman, made remarks at a recent Recall Sacramento protest, Smith said, but Williams has “baggage,” and the group does not consider him to be a member. Williams’ statements on a July blog drew widespread media attention.

Smith said about 2,000 people have signed up on the Recall Sacramento website.

Cohn said Smith’s Recall Sacramento group was a publicity campaign. “In my case, he can’t do it legally until next June,” Cohn said. “It’s a waste of time to even talk about it.”

RE Graswich, Johnson’s spokesman, said there is nothing to comment on until the group provides documentation of its recall.

Councilman Rob Fong did not return phone calls Monday afternoon.

Mizuno said Recall Sacramento’s campaign has not begun the recall process. “Right now, there’s a lot of talk, but no one seems to be doing anything,” Mizuno said.

The Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce opposed the boycott of Arizona companies. In a June 1 letter to Mayor Kevin Johnson, Chamber President Matt Mahood raised concerns that a boycott on Sacramento businesses could take place if the City Council boycotts Arizona. Read the Chamber’s letter here.

Photo of Paul Smith by Kathleen Haley. Photos of Sacramento City Council members by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Mayor confronts council members during long speech

2010-06-23T14:17:46Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson said he thought it would be a 9-0 vote.

He said he thought the Sacramento City Council would unanimously support his effort to ask City Attorney Eileen Teichert to draft official language for his updated strong mayor plan. When seven of his City Council colleagues voiced opposition to his effort at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, he let them know exactly what he was thinking.

In a 7-2 vote, the City Council prevented Teichert from drafting the language of Johnson’s new plan. Johnson and Waters voted in favor of asking Teichert to write the proposed measure. Under the city’s current government structure, the mayor votes on City Council issues.

After it was clear that he didn’t have the votes late Tuesday night, Johnson launched into a lengthy monologue and made comments to each council member.

Johnson indicated he felt slighted by Councilman Steve Cohn’s vote. “You were somebody that I went to bat for while you were running ... I watched you before I got to be an elected official, and I felt like you were one of the people that I was going to learn from,” Johnson said.

The mayor then called out Cohn for not voting earlier this month on whether the City Council should boycott Arizona companies.
It was “very disappointing” that Cohn did not participate in that vote, Johnson said.

“I’m sure you had your reasons; I certainly respect that,” Johnson said. “But I guess it makes me question ... the backbone, the ethos that you represent.”

Johnson told Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell he was disappointed with her vote.

“I remember before before I ran for office, I met you at Starbucks,” Johnson told Pannell. Johnson said Pannell told him that if he was elected, she would back him on his efforts.

Johnson’s exchanges with Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy were particularly tense. To express how she felt about Johnson’s new strong mayor plan, Sheedy used a quote from former U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin: “You can put lipstick on a pig, but at the end of the day, it’s still a pig.”

She referred to the strong mayor plan as “the pig” that was being remodeled with lipstick.

Toward the end of the meeting, Johnson accused Sheedy of making comments under her breath and being disrespectful. Sheedy then told the public what she had muttered: “That’s why we don’t have a strong mayor.”

When Sheedy made her remark, she received boos from some audience members.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Strong mayor: Mayor doesn't have council votes to draft language

2010-06-23T06:19:50Z

The Sacramento City Council has rejected Mayor Kevin Johnson’s effort to ask the city attorney to write official language for his new strong mayor measure.

Shortly after 11 p.m. at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, five council members said they would vote against the drafting of the measure. With five council members in opposition, Johnson’s request to the attorney to draft the language did not have the required number of votes.

The five council members saying they opposed the drafting of the language around 11 p.m. were Kevin McCarty, Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Ray Tretheway and Bonnie Pannell.

The council meeting was still in session at 11:15 p.m.

Check The Sacramento Press for further coverage of this issue.

City leaders approve Arizona boycott

2010-06-16T04:55:10Z

Sacramento’s elected leaders agreed to boycott Arizona companies in protest of the state’s new immigration laws.

The City Council passed the boycott Tuesday with a 6-1 vote. Mayor Kevin Johnson and council members Rob Fong, Bonnie Pannell, Ray Tretheway, Sandy Sheedy and Kevin McCarty voted to approve the boycott.

Councilman Robbie Waters opposed the move.

Council members Steve Cohn and Lauren Hammond were absent.

Hammond was absent from the entire City Council meeting, but Cohn appeared at City Hall to discuss a separate issue after the hearing on the Arizona law.

Arizona’s new law says that an individual’s immigration status should be addressed by police officers in certain circumstances. If police officers think an individual is an illegal immigrant, then they must review the individual’s immigration status, the law states. The police must account for immigration status during “enforcement of any law or ordinance of a county, city or town” in Arizona, the law also states.

Read the details of the resolution approved by the City Council here.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City Council wrestling with rules for medical pot clubs

2010-06-03T04:56:52Z

The city’s elected officials are still sorting out how to regulate medical marijuana dispensaries nearly a year after they set a rule blocking new pot clubs.

At Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, council members added another year to the existing ban on new medical pot dispensaries.

However, Michelle Heppner, the city staffer who is working on ideas for regulation, said Wednesday that she would like to have an ordinance ready before the end of the year. Heppner, a special projects manager, said the time frame for setting up a medical pot ordinance would depend on the City Council’s decision-making process.

The city currently has 39 medical pot clubs, Heppner said.

Speakers in support of medical marijuana establishments said they liked the idea of lengthening the moratorium.

Jeanne Larsson, who represents the Sacramento Alliance of Collectives, told the City Council that the clubs in her group are responsible business owners. She said her group consists of 15 Sacramento dispensaries.

The lengthened moratorium gives representatives from medical pot dispensaries more time to work with the city on an ordinance, she said.

“This shows that the city is willing to explore the issue of dispensary regulation in greater depth and we would like to be part of a working group modeled to create our ordinance,” she said.

Meanwhile, Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell said she was concerned about a medical pot club that had moved from a previous location to a site on Center Parkway located across the street from North Laguna Creek Park. The dispensary is near a park, a movie theater and houses, she said, adding that she has heard complaints about it.

“If I’d have known, I would have said no (to the club's move)” Pannell said. “Too close to the park, theater and residential.”

Heppner said she would bring options for regulation to the City Council in late July. A final decision will not be made at that meeting, Heppner said, noting that the city will take additional steps in the process of creating a final ordinance.

One of the ideas for potential regulation is to cut the number of dispensaries from 39 to 12.

“There are issues about whether the arbitrary number of 12 is the number of dispensaries we need to have, when we know that there are 39 operating right now,” Councilwoman Lauren Hammond said.

All of the council members voted on Tuesday to lengthen the timeline except Councilman Rob Fong, who was absent from the meeting.

Photos by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City Draft Budget Receives Criticism

2010-05-12T04:54:46Z

City Council members had a variety of reactions to the draft budget presented by Interim City Manager Gus Vina Tuesday night.

The draft was first released April 30, when Vina proposed layoffs of as many as 200 city employees in an effort to balance the city budget and reduce the $43 million gap. Among other things, the draft budget aims to make $14.6 million through cuts to programs and services and $19.6 million by removing all vacant city positions and possible labor union concessions. The draft also proposes to apply $8.8 million in other funds to the budget.

While Vina said layoffs were unlikely at Tuesday’s meeting, council members found issues with other aspects of the draft.

Lauren Hammond, for one, was curious as to why the city needs the Sacramento Regional Solid Waste Authority after it refused to make a bid for commercial waste collection in Sacramento.

Hammond also raised a complaint about a proposal to reduce the city service hours to four days a week. She claimed that city services like loose-in-the-street green waste pickup are already struggling to operate within a five-day workweek. Reducing the hours could become even more problematic. “We need to be cognitive that there are things that should be done in a certain order,” Hammond said.

Sandy Sheedy found issues with the draft itself. Sheedy felt that neither the council nor the public was given enough information about the budget. “I want this to be as transparent as possible,” she said. “I’m a little disappointed in what I see.”

Mayor Kevin Johnson stressed the importance of protecting the police force from budget cuts. “All of us are eager to dive a little bit deeper a little bit quicker,” Johnson said. “I want to reiterate our commitment to public safety. We want to be a full-service city.”

Yet another opinion offered on the draft budget came from Bonnie Pannell. “I’m disappointed in at least one of the recommendations,” Pannell said, who found issue with the fact that one of the programs proposed to be cut was the city's racial profiling committee.

Betty Williams, president of the Sacramento chapter of NAACP , also objected to cutting that committee. “It’s imperative that we maintain investment in our city,” Williams said. “I would like NAACP to be a part of the partnership in the discussion of cutting programs.” Fearing that similar programs will be put on the chopping block, she expressed interest in seeing the list of services that were not considered mandatory by the city manager and budgeting staff.

The next budget hearing is scheduled for May 25 in the City Council Chambers located at 915 I Street.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Broad ideas for mayor's "green initiative" presented

2010-04-23T05:46:42Z

The broad ideas for Mayor Kevin Johnson’s burgeoning environmental initiative were presented by city staffers at Thursday’s City Council meeting.

Johnson said the “green initiative” will have the following elements: the intersection of the environment and the regional economy, green jobs, environmental policies and education.

“The whole purpose of this initiative is really to convene, coordinate, align and leverage leaders across the region,” the mayor said. “You’ll hear a lot of talk about the environment, the economy and education.”

Yvette Rincon, the city’s sustainability program manager, said Johnson’s “green initiative” will include policies on energy; waste and recycling; water and nature; urban design and building; and green and clean technology.

Councilman Steve Cohn noted that he and Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell had transportation experience and suggested that transportation be added to the initiative’s policy agenda.

“I try to tell people: We’re trying to turn green into gold,” Cohn said of green jobs.

More information about the initiative will be ready in May or June, according to Lauren Altdoerffer, the project manager for the initiative.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Council certifies Curtis Park Village report

2010-04-02T06:33:49Z

An overflow crowd packed Sacramento City Hall Thursday night for a public hearing on the environmental impact report for the proposed Curtis Park Village development.

With a unanimous vote, the City Council certified the report following four hours of testimony, staff reports and council discussion on the expected impact of developer Paul Petrovich's $211 million plan to construct housing and businesses on an old Western Pacific railyard near Sacramento City College.

More than 400 people filled the council chamber and an upstairs overflow room. Saying they don't oppose the infill project, some nearby residents sought to postpone a decision by asking for an environmental impact report (EIR) they consider to be inadequate to be recirculated and revised.

"We've been accused of being emotional about this issue. And we are," said Gary Weinberg, a Sixth Avenue resident. "We are because we live in a neighborhood that we adore, and we want it to stay that way."

Petrovich has proposed turning 72 acres of vacant, toxic land into a development containing 527 homes and apartments, 259,000 square feet of retail and office space, and a 6.8-acre park between the college, Curtis Park and Land Park. On Friday, the California Department of Toxic Substances Control halted Petrovich's remediation efforts at the site until the council's vote.

In an 11th-hour surprise just before the vote, City Council member Lauren Hammond unveiled a five-point compromise she helped hammer out in recent days to address issues raised by neighbors.

"The plan before us tonight reflects a lot of hard work on the part of the residents, as well as the developer," said Hammond, whose district includes the site. "In the end, it will be worth it."

Petrovich said he has spent $25 million cleaning up 150,000 tons of contaminants at the site. He asked the council to certify the EIR so he can take the next step — working with DTSC to determine how to handle the remaining 350,000 tons that has since been discovered. At the meeting, he said he hopes to fit all remaining toxins under a mixed-use commercial area. But some may need to go under hardscape or a containment cell in the park, he added.

Residents who belong to the Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association remain opposed to the latter. Hammond identified that as the only sticking point.

"We strongly believe there should be no toxins under the park," said Rosanna Herber, the group's president. Other concerns were submitted to the council in a 28-page letter. She challenged Mayor Kevin Johnson to ask federal and state agencies for funds to remove toxins that would otherwise be encapsulated in the park.

Hammond said the decision about whether the park can be used to contain the contaminants is out of the council's hands.

"That decision rests with the Department of Toxic Substance Control. That is state law," she said.

However, Council Member Bonnie Pannell said she will not support a containment cell in the park. Following applause from residents, Pannell led a discussion with staff until she was assured the council would consider that issue at a later date.

The site is being cleaned to commercial and mixed-use standards in some areas, and residential in others, said Jennifer Hageman, a senior planner.

A majority in the crowd identified themselves as Curtis Park residents. Early in the hearing, about half the people in council chambers stood in support Petrovich. He identified them as people who live or work or want jobs in the neighborhood. Some wore "YIMBY" or "Yes In My Backyard" buttons.

Petrovich also asked the council to consider the project's economic impact via impact and building permit fees, public improvements, property taxes and jobs.

"This will provide $1 billion in stimulus funds to this local economy," he said.

Members of the neighborhood group say the plan is too suburban for the area. They've said they would prefer commercial space being decreased to 150,000 square feet in the hope that would reduce traffic and the possibility of a strip mall being built there.

Petrovich said he now plans to use 10 building styles found in the original Curtis Park blueprint from the 1930s and 1940s, as well as traditional duplexes and four-plexes, to "knit this together" with existing neighborhoods.

The project fits nearby uses and the neighborhood, as well as the city's General Plan for 2030, said Heather Forest, an associate planner with the city's Community Development Department. In a report to the council, staff also said the project is "pedestrian-friendly" and was designed to decrease use of cars through its walkability and its location near public transit.

"We've got a great project before us," said Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Petrovich asked the council to consider adopting CEQA findings and other matters at another meeting. City staff asked the council to postpone a decision on zoning changes.

Despite all the compromises, Hammond said she feared a lawsuit may be filed in the future.

"Somebody is going to sue us: Either the neighbors, or Paul," she said. "But I think this is as close as we're gonna go."

Post-Kerridge: Will development department change?

2010-03-14T22:11:39Z

Sacramento’s business community has said repeatedly that former City Manager Ray Kerridge established a customer-service culture in the city’s development department. At the same time, the department is wracked with investigations into possible breaches of laws. Now that Kerridge has left the city — March 11 12 was his last day of work — how will the culture of the Community Development Department change?

New leadership and the findings from an audit are two upcoming developments that may change the department. The recent resignations of Kerridge and department director Bill Thomas have created job openings.

At this point, both positions are being held by interim officials. Gus Vina is interim city manager; David Kwong is acting director of the Community Development Department.

A third-party audit of the department is on the horizon. An outside auditor will follow up on issues from an earlier joint investigation by City Attorney Eileen Teichert’s office and the law firm Renee Sloan Holtzman Sakai.

The auditor will analyze several issues identified by the Teichert/Renee investigation. They include possible violations of the city’s planning rules and possible decisions to bypass, delay or lower fees.

A Jan. 21 report from the offices of the city attorney and the city manager on the Teichert/Renee investigation also listed “potential quid quo” in the department as an issue that should be studied in more depth.

The Teichert/Renee investigation centered on another highly controversial issue: the 35 permits that the department approved last year for construction in a Natomas flood zone. The Jan. 21 report said a department employee broke federal rules by distributing the permits.

The city placed former department director Thomas on paid leave in October. He resigned March 1.

A Customer-Friendly Culture

The department had a poor reputation among developers before Kerridge’s arrival in 2005, according to a March 28, 2008 Sacramento Business Journal article. In 2003, members of the local building industry said in a Business Journal survey Sacramento's building department was the most problematic of all similar city and county departments in the area. Five years later, the industry said in the survey that Sacramento's building department was the area's best.

Kerridge served as assistant city manager for development before being promoted in 2006 to city manager.

Despite the department’s crises, Sacramento developers have praised Kerridge for his work to establish a customer-focused culture.

Developer Mark Friedman was one of the members of the business community who invited Kerridge to leave his job with the city of Portland and come to work for Sacramento.

“I think (Kerridge) did a great job,” said Friedman, whose company, Fulcrum Property, owns Arden Fair Mall. “He streamlined the building department processes and made the organization more customer-friendly than it had been.”

Richard Rich, development director for Thomas Enterprises, Inc., expressed a similar sentiment in a Jan. 25 comment on The Sacramento Press. Thomas Enterprises is developing the downtown Railyards.

“This department isn’t perfect but its people, including Bill Thomas, deserve credit for creating a culture of public service,” Rich said.

Elected Leaders Praise Customer-Service Attitude Toward Development

Mayor Kevin Johnson and several City Council members also applauded Kerridge for his customer-service framework at a March 9 council meeting. Their comments indicate that there is political support to maintain the customer-service environment at the Community Development Department.

“And this whole notion of ‘getting the customer to success’ is something I think we’re all proud of,” Johnson told Kerridge at the March 9 meeting. “And that’s going to be with us, Ray, for many years to come.”

Some council members, though, are running for re-election. Depending on the results of their races, they may not have much time to make decisions affecting the department. The City Council incumbents running for re-election are Ray Tretheway, Steve Cohn and Robbie Waters.

Councilwoman Lauren Hammond is running for Assemblyman Dave Jones’ seat against fellow council member Kevin McCarty. Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson also is running for the seat. Hammond will leave the City Council.

McCarty’s seat is not up for re-election.

Hammond and Waters praised Kerridge for his work revamping the culture of the department. Waters said Kerridge “turned (the department) around” in a short period of time.

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell commented that developers were Kerridge fans. “It’s obvious by the developers — who really want to keep you here — that you changed the way Sacramento does business.”

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy spoke of Kerridge’s view of city growth. “You taught us how to look at this city as something that could grow and be something bigger,” she said. “And it can be, and it will be.”

Cohn said Kerridge led the customer-service culture change in city government, which is a forward-looking approach.

The errors that people may point out in Sacramento’s government “have been errors of trying to be proactive,” he added.

In his speech to the City Council, Kerridge said the business community has been “a great source of strength” for him.

Like Johnson, Kerridge thinks greatness is in store for Sacramento.

“Sacramento has a destiny,” Kerridge said. “Its destiny is to become a great American city.”

How Do Top City Staffers View the Department?

Interim City Manager Gus Vina will run the department for nine months to a year, at which time a city manager will be named.

Vina told The Sacramento Press last week that he is interested in the permanent city manager position.

He said his priority will be on “best practices and a culture that gets the job done.”

Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said in a March 12 interview that the department can simultaneously help builders and abide by laws.

“Our level of customer service for people who want to invest in our city is of paramount importance,” Dangberg said.

The city wants to ensure that it’s adhering to laws and that buildings are safe, he said.

Meanwhile, Vina said in a March 9 interview that the upcoming audit of the department will be key to the next steps for the department. “We definitely need to regroup,” he said. “We don’t want to go to a bureaucracy that ... doesn’t deliver for the customer. But if the audit says, by the way, you got a little too loose on policy ... we’ve got to bring that back to the middle.”

He said the city needs to examine the audit’s findings, then ask: “Do we need to change rules? Are they too loose? Are they too tight?"

Photo of Mayor Kevin Johnson and city council members by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell explains 2010 goals

2010-01-30T21:46:40Z

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell said she plans to concentrate on key issues facing her South Sacramento district this year, including flood protection, a beautification effort on Meadowview Road and youth services.

Pannell’s goals are explained as part of a series of articles on council members’ plans for 2010. Links to the articles are at the end of this story.

The Sacramento Press made repeated request for interviews with two council members, Rob Fong and Ray Tretheway, but they were unavailable.

Pannell represents District 8, which includes the Meadowview, North Laguna Creek and 63rd Street/Cromwell neighborhoods.
Her primary focus this year is on 100-year flood protection for areas in her district affected by South Sacramento streams. Pannell said Rep. Doris Matsui, (D-Sacramento), “has been working hard to get federal funds not only for North Natomas, but for South Sacramento stream levees."

Progress on the South Sacramento stream levees will depend on Matsui obtaining federal dollars, she said. Funding for the project also would come from local taxes, Pannell added.

Her second goal for the year is to complete a beautification effort involving a fence on Meadowview Road. Pannell said she expects a new fence along that road to be set up by mid- to late spring. The project, which costs about $670,000, involves removing the existing wooden fence and installing a fence made of masonry wall.

“I think it will change the look, the appearance of the community,” Pannell said.

The councilwoman’s third priority will be to work with youth. She noted that she is backs an initiative to fund jobs and other services for young people in Sacramento. Programs offered through the initiative, the Youth Jobs and Opportunity Act, would be paid for by a $29 annual tax on parcels of property.

Pannell also wants new services for youth who live in apartment complexes on Mack Road, citing problems with some young people in the area. She said she wants youth in the the apartment complexes to be involved in sports and after-school programs. Youth programs keep kids in school, off the streets and away from trouble, Pannell said.

The services would be funded by property fees from homes financed through the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.

Pannell has set many other goals for the period of 2010 to 2012. The goals are listed on her website under the heading of "council district information." Read about them here.

Learn about Councilman Steve Cohn's goals here. Councilwoman Lauren Hammond's priorities are outlined here. Read about Councilman Kevin McCarty's plans here. Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy's objectives are explained here. Read about Councilman Robbie Waters' goals here. Mayor Kevin Johnson's announces his goal for a green initiative here. Johnson discusses a goal relating to the building moratorium in Natomas.

Photos by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. 

A road map to the strong mayor debate

2010-01-22T05:38:44Z

Developments affecting Mayor Kevin Johnson’s strong mayor initiative have been highly controversial and complex.

Several entities have weighed in on the initiative, including the Sacramento City Council, the Sacramento County Superior Court and the Sacramento Charter Review Committee. Government officials, attorneys and citizens have interpreted the initiative in a variety of ways.

Here’s a road map to make sense of some of the key events in the strong mayor debate:

Johnson’s Day One Plan: Before taking office, Johnson promotes a strong mayor form of government in his “Day One” plan. An executive mayor system would mean that one leader would be accountable, Johnson says.

“Explore a change to the city charter moving to a strong mayor structure,” the plan states. “We need a single point of accountability in our city and to know where the buck stops. We should engage in a dialogue to determine if we can improve our city government through a different governance structure.”

February 2009: The City Council unanimously forms the charter review committee. Johnson votes in favor of the committee. Council members direct the committee to examine the strong mayor format.

May 18, 2009: The Charter Review Committee talks to academics about strong mayor government systems.

June 26, 2009: Sacramentans for Accountable Government (SAG), the group running the strong mayor campaign, brings to City Hall signatures from residents who favor the initiative. Acting city spokeswoman Wendy Klock-Johnson says the papers with the signatures filled 13 boxes.

Aug. 6, 2009: The City Council decides in a 5-4 vote to put the strong mayor initiative on the June 2010 ballot. Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty and Bonnie Pannell vote against placing it on the June 8 ballot. Before the City Council made this decision, the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters had declared that SAG received the required number of signatures (32,433) to place the initiative on the ballot.

Sept. 3, 2009: The Charter Review Committee favors the idea to allow the Sacramento mayor to appoint the city manager.

Oct. 19, 2009: The Charter Review Committee recommends that the City Council maintain its existing council/manager system. The committee opposes the idea of a strong mayor government for Sacramento. However, the committee recommends altering the current system to give the mayor the power to appoint the city manager. In the city’s council/manager system, the city manager is appointed by the City Council.

Dec. 1, 2009: Bill Camp files a lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court challenging the strong mayor initiative. Defendants in the case are the city of Sacramento, the Sacramento City Council and Thomas Hiltachk, the attorney who wrote the strong mayor initiative. Camp contends in his lawsuit that the initiative breaks state law because it would create major changes to the city’s charter. He argues that that an initiative can amend, but not change, a city charter.

Jan. 14, 2010: Mayor Kevin Johnson reacts to Sacramento Superior Court Judge Loren McMaster’s initial decision that the initiative should not go on the June ballot. “Voters deserve and have a right to vote on this initiative,” Johnson says.

Jan. 21, 2010: McMaster issues a final ruling saying the initiative should not be placed on the June ballot. He writes that the initiative would not align with state law. He determines that the initiative is a revision of the city charter, not an amendment.

Jan. 21, 2010: Thomas Hiltachk says SAG will appeal McMaster’s ruling to the 3rd District Court of Appeal.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City officials back measure to fight state

2010-01-13T05:38:46Z

City officials are supporting a proposed ballot initiative that aims to ban the state from taking or borrowing local government monies. Mayor Kevin Johnson stood with three city councilmembers and local public safety officials outside City Hall to publicize the initiative in a press conference Tuesday morning.

California is in the process of borrowing $12 million of the city’s tax funds as part of last year’s state budget crisis, according to city finance director Leyne Milstein. By the end of the month, the city will have given that total amount to the state, she said.

Don Cavier, finance director for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, said that the state plans to take $19.6 million from the agency in May and another $4 million next year. SHRA did not give funds to the state last year, Cavier said.

“We’re here basically to say very resoundingly to the state, enough is enough,” Johnson said.

Councilmembers Lauren Hammond, Bonnie Pannell and Steve Cohn appeared with Johnson at the press conference.

Cohn expressed concern that the state might take gas tax funds from the city. State politicians have been saying they may use local gas taxes for non-transportation uses, Cohn said.

“It’s just plain common sense that the gas taxes we pay at the pump should be used to improve road safety by fixing potholes and crumbling roads to relieve traffic congestion and to fund mass transit, such as buses and commuter rail," he said.

Brent Meyer, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association, urged residents to sign the petition to place the proposal on the November ballot.

“It’s critical for the services that you see every day,” he said. 

Brandon Castillo, a campaign consultant for the group Californians to Protect Local Taxpayers and Vital Services, noted that the proposed initiative would be an amendment to the California Constitution. A constitutional amendment is “the strongest protection” voters can make, he said.

Aaron McLear, a spokesman for Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, did not respond to a message seeking comment on the proposed initiative by press time.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

McCarty: Questions must be answered

2009-11-13T05:15:33Z

Sacramento officials need to know a lot more about the Community Development Department's construction approval process and a suspended commercial building program before any action should be considered, Sacramento City Councilmember Kevin McCarty said Thursday.

Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai, a law firm hired by the city to investigate the Community Development Department, must investigate how construction on a Nestlé water-bottling plant began in McCarty's district without building permits, how home-building permits were issued for a Natomas flood zone, when these practices began and how pervasive they are, he said.

Two weeks ago, the department's Facilities Permit Program was suspended after questions about the approval process for the plant revealed that Nestlé and contractors began construction work with verbal approval only. McCarty called the problems with the FPP and the practice of allowing construction without building permits the "second strike" against the department.

"We're investigating the department for wrongdoing in the Natomas Permit Program. We've asked that they look at this FPP process as well to see what was going on there as far as any wrongdoing," McCarty said. "By looking at Nestlé, we were able to bring to light some illegal activity that's been done maybe for a very long time."

The FPP is intended to speed approval for tenant improvements or renovation of commercial and industrial buildings involving businesses that do a lot of business in Sacramento and have established relationships with the city. The program may have "improved the city's relationships with developers," McCarty said, "but at what cost? At what expense to taxpayers? To residents?"

David Kwong, acting head of the Community Development Department, said last week that staff will ask the council to amend city code to allow FPP construction projects to start before building permits are issued — as long as a business has a written start-work authorization from the building division. The longtime practice, which predates the program, helped bring about the suspension of the FPP two weeks ago.

Any proposal involving the FPP is premature before the conclusion of the investigation, McCarty said.

"We owe it to our residents to make sure that our development department follows the law," he said. "We need to evaluate what's been going on with this FPP process and how long it's been going on. Then, and only then, should we talk about Mr. Kwong's proposal going forward."

Department staff want to "pull the program back, take a temporary pause" and bring to the City Council a "retooled FPP," department spokesperson Maurice Chaney said Thursday.

Retooling would happen "in concert with council just to make sure that the program is vetted thoroughly through the City Council and that they understand what the program is about," he said. "So, not only getting the appropriate info out to them, but just making sure that we’re transparent and open during that whole thing.”

The main question is whether the program is legal, said McCarty, who is proposing to change city code to require Planning Commission and City Council oversight of proposals for new water-bottling plants or any industrial facilities that use water for resale purposes.

Other cities allow construction with a start-work authorization only and the practice was incorporated into the FPP when that program was brought here from Portland several years ago, Kwong said. Sacramento City Manager Ray Kerridge developed the FPP for Portland 10 years ago when he managed that city's commercial inspections. Phoenix was the only other city in the country known to have a similar program at that time.

Meanwhile, Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said the FPP's role has expanded over time. When the program started, it provided businesses a way to make tenant improvements quickly, she said. Now, it’s not being used in the way it was designed, she added.

“It morphed into something else that was completely different,” Sheedy said.

The city doesn’t want to be “unfriendly” to businesses, she said, but needs to be “cognizant” of how it works with them. Sheedy noted that she hopes the program can be made workable.

McCarty said he would like water-bottling facilities to require conditional use permits. Environmental reviews and public hearings are required for proposed development projects only if there's a request for a land-use change or a conditional use permit, he said. Neither were required for the renovation of the warehouse Nestlé is leasing.

The council was supposed to consider McCarty's proposal as an urgency ordinance on Oct. 27. But City Attorney Eileen Teichert said Nestlé hadn't done anything illegal. However, she determined that the department's practice of allowing construction to start without a building permit violates city and state codes.

"We screwed up so bad handing out building permits through this crazy FPP program, no court of law would find they (Nestle) did anything illegal," McCarty said.

Plenty of million-dollar projects never go before the council if there are no requests for zoning changes or conditional uses. Developer John Saca's failed 53-story Towers at Capitol Mall project never went before the council, he said.

McCarty and other councilmembers have said they knew nothing about the plant until a grassroots organization, Save Our Water Sacramento, contacted them in September. Councilmembers Rob Fong, Steve Cohn and Lauren Hammond said Wednesday they did not know about the program until after a stop-work order was posted on the door of the Nestlé plant Oct. 23.

On Thursday, Sheedy said she was unaware of the program until it was debated during the Nestlé controversy. Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell also said she had been in the dark.

“I knew nothing about the Facilities Permit Program before the Nestlé company’s move to Sacramento,” she said in an e-mail Thursday. “I’m looking forward to learning about how the program works. I will keep an open mind.”

There's much more the council needs to learn about the program, McCarty said, adding, "I'm proud that by bringing this Nestlé issue forward, we uncovered this very inappropriate activity in the city of Sacramento."

Staff reporter Kathleen Haley contributed to this report. Photo by Anthony Bento. Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Council unlikely to address "strong mayor" issues raised by city attorney

2009-09-16T05:30:55Z

Several legal issues in the “strong mayor” initiative that were raised by Sacramento’s city attorney will likely not be addressed by the City Council. After listening to a Tuesday night presentation by City Attorney Eileen Teichert, councilmembers did not suggest taking any future actions to resolve the issues.

Instead of taking action on the legal issues that were raised by Teichert, some councilmembers said they look forward to analyzing the Charter Review Committee’s upcoming recommendations on the strong mayor system of city government. The committee’s ideas may be placed on a future ballot for citizens to decide.

The City Council had asked Teichert to prepare a report on the legal issues in the strong mayor initiative that will go before voters in June 2010. The initiative was the project of the Sacramentans for Accountable Government group, which Mayor Kevin Johnson backs. Johnson and Teichert have been clashing lately over their respective views of the legal soundness of the initiative, which would provide the mayor with more power.

The city’s 11-member Charter Review Committee is examining the strong mayor form of government and the city’s current council/manager system. The committee plans to deliver a report on governance and other related issues to the City Council Nov. 3.

Teichert’s report to the City Council Tuesday argued that the strong mayor initiative is legally flawed in several ways. In one of her key points, she asserted that the California Constitution does not allow voters to make “revisions” of city charters in a ballot initiative. She said the strong mayor initiative is asking voters to make “revisions” to the city’s charter, which is similar to a constitution.

While the state constitution allows voters to use initiatives to make “amendments” of city charters, the changes being suggested in the strong mayor initiative are actually “revisions,” Teichert argued. A revision would be a fundamental change to the charter, while an amendment would consist of changing details in the charter, she said.

Mayor Kevin Johnson did not make any public comments at the City Council meeting Tuesday. However, he told reporters earlier in the day that he wanted citizens to vote on the initiative, adding: “Let’s not play political games.”

Tom Hiltchak, the attorney who wrote the strong mayor proposal, disagreed with Teichert's analysis in comments to the City Council.

Following Teichert’s presentation, Councilmembers Steve Cohn and Lauren Hammond both said they look forward to hearing the recommendations from the city’s charter committee on the strong mayor form of government.

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell blasted the strong mayor initiative in comments Tuesday, claiming that she thought the initiative was drafted in a “back-room” deal. “We really need to take a look at the initiative that was done in the back room,” Pannell charged. “I bet there were no people of color in that back room -- no women.”

Photo by Anthony Bento.
Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.