The candidates from all of the City Council district races, the mayoral race and two Board of Supervisors races will face off Saturday at a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters. One notable exception: Mayor Kevin Johnson is not scheduled to appear. According to Johnson’s campaign manager, Steve Maviglio, Johnson has “no need” to attend. “Given the large number of events the mayor has attended over the past year, and since none of his opponents are waging a real campaign against him, he chose not to participate in this event,” Maviglio said Friday. The news of Johnson’s planned absence came as no surprise to mayoral candidate Jonathan Rewers. “He’s not even campaigning,” Rewers s

What started as an artist-centered event to draw attention to the work of local artists has evolved into something much different, but District 4 candidates still want to make sure the Second Saturday Art Walk reaches its full potential as a destination event. “It’s become segmented,” candidate Phyllis Newton said Monday. “There are essentially two Second Saturdays – a family-oriented one in the early evening, and then, toward the later hours, it draws a different crowd.” On the second Saturday of every month, local art galleries, restaurants and other small businesses open their doors to thousands of visitors who come for art exhibits, music, food and wine for the Second Saturday Art Wa

City Council District 4 candidates will discuss business, neighborhood issues and the value of the arts at a forum hosted by four central city organizations on Monday. Moderator Wendy Hoyt, former president of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, will moderate the forum on behalf of the DSP and the other co-hosting organizations: the Greater Broadway Partnership, Old Sacramento Business Association and Midtown Business Association. “There will be no arena questions, I can tell you that,” Kevin Greene, policy manager for DSP, said Monday. “This forum will be different than the others. ” District 4 candidates participated in two previous forums where the proposed entertainment and sports

Misty Yaj said she is tired of District 2 being ignored by City Hall, so she joined the race to fill the City Council seat that incumbent Sandy Sheedy will be vacating after 12 years in office. “There are a lot of vandalized homes and vacant properties (in the district), and businesses here are few,” Yaj said. “I want to change that.” Yaj said the city has spent too much time on the proposed entertainment and sports complex project and not enough time finding ways to invest in the areas outside the downtown core. “When I talk to people (in the district), no one asks me about the arena. Not here – that’s for the downtown, not for (DIstrict 2),” Yaj said. Yaj, 42, owns a small business i

David Turturici is one City Council candidate who said he refuses to drink the arena "Kool-Aid” because he thinks it’s a bad deal for the city. Instead, he wants to see Sacramento use its resources on shoring up basic services – especially public safety – to get the city headed toward being more livable. “The Kings are part of the city culture, but they’re not the only thing,” Turturici said Wednesday. “To gather up everything we can find to spend trying to keep them here is unconscionable.” Turturici, an estate planning attorney who moved to Sacramento from the Stockton area in 2000, is running for the City Council District 4 seat. He said he never considered running for a political of

Neil Davidson said he starting wondering why so few people get involved in city government, so he’s leading the way by getting involved himself – by running for the City Council. Davidson, 35, joins a large field of candidates running for the City Council District 4 seat. A computer programmer by trade, Davidson said his penchant for wringing out answers from complex problems sets him apart from other candidates. “I really dig into information and data,” Davidson said Thursday. “I like to find ways to solve problems and make things work from the standpoint of number crunching.” Davidson said that, as a member of the City Council, he would want to focus on the financial aspects of city

Local attorney Michael Rehm said he is running for the District 4 City Council seat because he sees it as an opportunity to make a difference in the city that his family has called home for nearly 100 years. “I’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point, and I don’t take anything I’ve been blessed with for granted,” Rehm said Friday. “I think I can help a lot of people – not just in District 4, but in the whole city.” Rehm, 33, grew up in Land Park as a third-generation Sacramentan. He has been a practicing attorney in both California and New York since passing both state bar exams in 2006, and he now has a private legal practice in Land Park. Rehm said his courtroom experience has g

Incumbent City Councilman Kevin McCarty ran unopposed in the 2008 election, but in June he will face business technology manager Mitch Netto in the race for City Council District 6 – a seat McCarty has held for eight years. “I’m not a career politician,” Netto said Friday. “I’m a pro-business fiscal conservative who thinks the fiefdoms at City Hall need to end.” Netto, 44, has lived in the Elmhurst neighborhood of District 6 since 1995, and he said his deep respect for the community made him want to run for the office. “I think someone from the community should always have enough interest in where they live to compete for the office with an opposing view,” Netto said. He said he consid

All seven official District 4 City Council candidates came together Wednesday to discuss issues that impact Sacramento its neighborhoods, including the arena, new bridges and bike lanes on Freeport Boulevard. Nearly 100 people attended the candidate forum hosted by the Land Park Community Association at California Middle School – including Sacramento City Unified School District Board Member Patrick Kennedy and former Sacramento Mayor Anne Rudin. One of the larger issues discussed was the proposed entertainment and sports complex. “We don’t know that it’s a bad deal yet. We don’t know that it’s a good deal yet – it’s uncertain,” candidate Phyllis Newton said. “I believe that a rising t

Municipal finance manager Jonathan Rewers said he has what it takes to be an effective mayor for the city of Sacramento – and he’s running in the June race for the seat to prove it. “I believe I am the most qualified to be the mayor,” Rewers said Friday. “My 13 years in city government, experience working with all neighborhoods, education and background make me the best person for the job.” Rewers, 33, said his qualifications for the position include working with the city Parks and Recreation department, experience in resource management and delivering projects that stay within scope, schedule and budget. “It’s all about maximizing our resources in the best ways we can,” Rewers said. A

The Sacramento City Clerk’s Office released the final ballot list of candidates for the June City Council elections Thursday, showing crowded fields for the District 2 and 4 races – and some expected candidates not appearing on the final ballot. Mayor Kevin Johnson will face three contenders in the race for his seat: bounty hunter Leonard Padilla, insurance broker Richard Jones, and Parks and Recreation Commission member Jonathan Rewers. Padilla has run for mayor four times before, most recently in the 2008 race against then-Mayor Heather Fargo and Johnson. Two candidates who filed for candidacy in the mayoral race – Edgar Hilbert-Garcia and Andrew Lewis – did not qualify for the ballot

Kai Ellsworth said he is tired of the status quo at City Hall, so he’s running for a seat on the City Council to bring what he considers to be a much-needed new perspective to decision-making in Sacramento. Ellsworth, a full-time film student at Cosumnes River College, moved to Sacramento in 2009 to be closer to his parents after a two-year stint in the Air Force. He said he decided that – after living in such far-flung locales as England, the Middle East and Mississippi – Sacramento is the one place he would choose to stay put because of all it has to offer. As much as Ellsworth likes the city, however, he said he doesn’t like the way the city is currently being managed by its elected

Five City Council candidates faced off Saturday at a roundtable meeting to field questions about topics including preserving historic neighborhoods, the strong mayor initiative and the proposed entertainment and sports complex. The forum, hosted by the Sacramento Old City Association, featured District 4 candidates Joseph Yee, Terry Schanz, Phyllis Newton, Steve Hansen and Kai Ellsworth. Candidate Michael Rehm did not attend. The questions came primarily from the more than 50 members of the audience, and a few were prepared by moderators Kathleen Green and Rick Bettis. When asked about preserving the historic nature of Sacramento, Hansen referred to preservation as a core component of a

Part of gearing up for elections is knowing what to expect – and when. Here is a quick overview of important dates and details leading up to the Sacramento City Council elections in June. Who’s running? For 2012, the races are for council districts 2, 4, 6 and 8 and mayor. All people interested in running for office in districts 6 and 8 have until Thursday Friday to turn in their candidacy forms to the city clerk’s office. The city clerk's business hours are Monday-Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and closed Fridays. Candidates for districts 2 and 4 have until March 14 to turn in their forms because the incumbents for those districts – Sandy Sheedy for District 2 and Rob Fong for Distr

Community activist and local pastor Jason Sample announced his candidacy Feb. 24 for the City Council District 2 seat, and he received the endorsement of incumbent Sandy Sheedy at his announcement event. "I take my endorsement very seriously, and what better person to give it to than Jason Sample who cares and has done so much for our community?” Sheedy said in a press release. Sheedy announced in January that she will not seek re-election to the council seat she has held for 12 years Sample, 35, is a senior pastor of True Life Ministries Worship Center in Del Paso Heights, and his wife, Yanette, is a social worker. “We have a lot of interesting conversations at home about the conditio

The June election is more than three months away, but one City Council candidate is already being accused of breaking election rules. According to the city elections code, campaign signs cannot be put up until 90 days before the election – which for the upcoming June election would be March 9. City Council District 2 candidate Allen Wayne Warren’s signs were on display in the windows of a building on the 2300 block of Del Paso Boulevard Friday afternoon. Sources say the campaign signs have been in the windows of the building since at least Jan. 20 – shortly after he officially announced his candidacy. The building is home to his campaign headquarters office. According to city spokesma

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

The Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op held a community forum Tuesday night to hear from the five candidates running for the Board of Directors. After the meeting, The Sacramento Press asked attendees for their thoughts on the candidates and the future of the co-op. To read the full recap of the meeting, click here. The responses of the four candidates interviewed are below.   Co-op Candidate Forum Interview with John Boisa from Dora Bromme on Vimeo. John Boisa, director of Jewish Community Relations Council   Co-op Candidate Forum Interview with Curtis Payton from Dora Bromme on Vimeo. Curtis Payton, geologist for US Army Corps of Engineers   Co-op Candidate Forum Interv

Sacramento City Council District 7 candidates Darrell Fong and Ryan Chin were leading their campaigns’ election day efforts Tuesday to get voters to the polls. Fong voted at Greenhaven Neighborhood Church Tuesday morning. Exiting the polling place, he vowed not to take a salary if elected until the city budget improves. The retired Sacramento police captain said his top priorities are public safety, building and figuring out how to provide city services when revenue is down. "The only agenda I have is seeing the city move forward," he said. "We will come out of this. We'll just have to be more efficient with how we deliver services." Fong then headed to his campaign headquarters in a s

     Greetings to all of the candidates:    My name is Lourdes Jimenez-Price, and I am the President of the District Advisory Council (DAC) for the Sacramento City Unified School District.  Please accept this e-mail as an invitation to join us this coming Tuesday, September 14, 2010, for the DAC General Meeting at the Serna Center.  I have attached a copy of our agenda. For those of you unfamiliar with the DAC, the purpose of the DAC is to advise the SCUSD Board of Education, Administration and the School Site Councils (SSC) on issues affecting the education of the students in SCUSD including, but not limited to, all matters pertaining to parental involvement in the review, planning a