The City Attorney’s office released a statement Wednesday saying charges against some of the people arrested for violating park curfew hours at Cesar Chavez Plaza will be dropped and the cases dismissed “in the interest of justice.” City Attorney Eileen Teichet said in a press release that a limited number of cases against people charged with only one violation of the city code would be dismissed. “After evaluating the facts of each case and criminal history of each defendant,” Teichert said in the press release, “the City Attorney’s office has determined that the arrest and jail time that each dismissed defendant served achieved the People of the State of California’s demand for substan

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

On the same day that activists and supporters rallied together for homeless rights at the Safe Ground Jubilee, attorneys for the city of Sacramento were busy filing a motion to appeal a Federal Court decision in a contentious homeless class action lawsuit. “Our rationale for appeal is based primarily on procedural and evidentiary rulings that came up in the trial,” Brett Witter, supervising deputy city attorney for Sacramento said Thursday. The motion for appeal was filed Sept. 14 in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals by attorney Chance Trimm, on behalf of the city. According to court documents, the city is appealing a May 24 Federal Court decision that found the city liable on two of s

When buildings become slums and havens for gangs, prostitution and drug use, a little-known city program can force landowners to clean them up or – in extreme cases – be evicted. The Justice for Neighbors program began in 2006 and allows multiple departments – including police, code enforcement, the city attorney’s office and park rangers – to focus their efforts on some of the worst slumlords and dangerous properties in the city, resolving an average of 17 cases per year. “Essentially, it’s a public and social nuisance (enforcement) team,” said Gustavo Martinez, supervising deputy city attorney. “We meet every month and evaluate the worst security issues.” Property owners are required

Mayor Kevin Johnson’s strong mayor campaign has released a draft of Johnson's proposal and plans to pitch it to the City Council in July. The release of the new report marks a change in tactics for Johnson’s campaign because third-party attorneys — not the city attorney — wrote the draft. For weeks, Johnson’s strong mayor campaign has said that City Attorney Eileen Teichert should write the formal language for the proposal. But the City Council prevented Teichert from writing the draft in a 7-2 vote last month. The first strong mayor initiative was written by Thomas Hiltachk, a third-party attorney. That initiative was struck down by a Sacramento County Superior Court judge in January.

The city of Sacramento and Railyards developer Thomas Enterprises expect to move forward Monday on attempts to put a price tag on key land needed for a future regional transportation center. The city exercised its right to request an independent arbitrator after both sides failed to agree on the price of 33 acres needed to build the transportation center, an expansion of the historic Sacramento Valley Station into the 244-acre Railyards development. A public hearing has been set for 9 a.m. Monday at Sacramento County Superior Court to help narrow down the list of potential arbitrators qualified to set a value and price for the land, which will also contain relocated railroad tracks and o