The Sacramento Press wants your neighborhood-related questions for Interim City Manager Gus Vina, the city’s highest-ranking official. What issues or concerns do you have about your neighborhood? What do you think the city government should do to improve your neighborhood? Write your questions in the comments section at the bottom of this article. Questions for Vina can also be e-mailed to kathleen@sacramentopress.com. The Sacramento Press will choose several questions from community members for Vina to answer. Vina was chosen as interim city manager by Mayor Kevin Johnson and the eight City Council members and will serve for nine to 12 months. He replaced Ray Kerridge, who resigned fr

In a win for Mayor Kevin Johnson and his arena task force, the City Council agreed to start talks with Sacramento developer Gerry Kamilos on a plan to build a new sports and entertainment center in the downtown railyards and develop two other sites. The City Council’s approval to begin talks with the Kamilos Group was unanimous. While an agreement between the city and Kamilos was not completed Tuesday, the council moved closer to a decision to work with Kamilos. In Kamilos’ multi-layered plan, the downtown railyards would be the location of a new sports and entertainment center. The plan also calls for the creation of a new state fairgrounds at Arco Arena and nearby property. Kamilos’ t

 The fate of the controversial Curtis Park Village development project will be reviewed by the Planning Commission Thursday. The project has been billed by developer Paul Petrovich as a way to blend nearby housing styles into a new community, but neighbors disagree, arguing that it's a design stuck in the past. “We hope everyone in this city is watching as the 72-acre parcel between Land Park, Sacramento City College and Curtis Park goes to the Planning Commission for review,” said Rosanna Herber, president of the Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association (SCNA). “Designed the right way, the development could meet the growing need for housing and retail space near the heart of the city and

On Tuesday February 9 the Sacramento City Council authorized the use of the Sacramento city seal for use on plaques to be fabricated through the Historic Properties Plaque Program, a project of Sacramento Heritage, Inc.   Sacramento Heritage Inc. is a nonprofit organization incorporated by the city of Sacramento to promote and preserve Sacramento's architectural heritage. The Historic Properties Plaque Program allows owners of properties that are either listed Sacramento landmarks, or contributing buildings to Sacramento historic districts, to purchase bronze plaques for display on their properties. The cost of the plaques will be paid by the property owner, should they choose to partici

Tuesday night's City Council meeting featured dancing, cheering and even crying. The excitement anticipated the City Council's unanimous vote for the area on Stockton Boulevard between between Riza Avenue and Fruitridge Road to be named Little Saigon. Councilman Kevin McCarty, whose district includes the one-and-a-half-mile stretch of Little Saigon, proposed the vote to the City Council in January after months of public input from South Sacramento business owners and community members. It's now the city's inaugural cultural district. Starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, hundreds of Vietnamese and supporters of the campaign for Little Saigon began filling the city council chamber for a pre-council

Let me clarify the newly coined term "greenwash". If whitewashing is to 'gloss over or cover up a crime or a scandal', then "greenwashing" would be the use of money in an attempt to gloss over or cover up a crime or scandal. One year ago today on January 12th 2009, my friend and reporter Leann Lopez hand delivered nine letters with a "hungry4justice" card to the receptionist desk at City Hall. Mayor Kevin Johnson and all off the other city council members should have personally received their copy. Maybe the City Council didn't think this issue was important enough or they didn't want to believe this story to be true because Leann did not get one response by phone call or email about the

Sacramento’s city and county governments are considering consolidating some of their services to save money as they wrestle with tough budgets. The City Council and Board of Supervisors will discuss the idea at their public meetings Tuesday. Combining services could help local governments save money in the long term, said Gus Vina, assistant city manager. It also could cut redundancies, Vina said, noting that the city and county offer several similar services. For example, the county and city both provide animal control and code enforcement services, he said. The city and county have not yet selected which services to combine. At this point, city and county officials are asking elected r

A revised proposal by USA Hospitality, Inc. and their equity partners Consus Asset Management and Industrial General has been submitted for building a Marriott Renaissance Hotel at the corner of 8th & K Street. The new proposal includes a decrease in the number of hotel rooms from 409 to 300, and a decrease in the number of parking spaces from 372 to 350 while adding 100 condominiums on top of the parking garage as a second phase of the project. The total cost to build the project went up from $137 million to $162 million along with the needed city subsidy to build from $31.5 million to $33 million. The developer has asked that the city give them the land which is city-owned for free, and

Mayor Kevin Johnson has been at the helm of the city for one full year.   Johnson made remarks to reporters Tuesday about his past year in office, saying that his volunteer program and a drop in crime are among his accomplishments, and that the city’s business climate and City Council disagreements are some of his shortfalls. His one-year anniversary as mayor was Dec. 2. “I’ve been in office 365 days,” Johnson said at his Tuesday meeting with reporters. “And I’m just as excited today as when I got elected.” Johnson cited the city’s falling homicide rate and federal stimulus funding for police as achievements. The city was awarded more than $12 million in federal stimulus funds for police

After reading an editorial in the Sacramento Bee this morning, Mayor Kevin Johnson posted a response on his blog. We haven't been able yet to get permission to reprint it on our site, but we think Sacramento Press readers will find it interesting. Here is the link to the blog post. Please feel free to continue the conversation here on The Sacramento Press. (Later this evening, our reporter Kathleen Haley received permission from Johnson's office to reprint Johnson's blog post from his private campaign website, which is not subject to the same open access as would be a post on a government blog. Here is his post in his entirety.) It’s all about accountabilityI love accountability. And

District One Candidates for City Council Do you know who is running for District One City Council? Join your neighbors and other community members 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 21 at the South Natomas Community Center to meet and greet the four candidates: •Angelique Ashby; Creekside Neighborhood Assoc. •John Dahilig; Navy Veteran, Corpsman •Lisa Kaplan; Natomas Unified School District Board Member •Ray Tretheway; Incumbent The community center is located at 2921 Truxel Road.

Forty-two concerned citizens met at Sierra 2 community center for the last City Charter Meeting Oct. 15 which degenerated into endless questions from a confused audience. Committee members Cecily Hastings and Alan Lafaso led the discussion about the strong mayor initiative. "There is a possibility that nothing may come out of this [series of meetings]," Hastings said. Hastings and Lafaso explained the details and flaws of the strong mayor initiative and their recommendations for an improved innitiative to the rather reluctant audience. Hastings explained that the executive mayor position would cause the mayor to have an unfair rule over the City Council, because of his role as the inte

Participants in a town hall meeting on Thursday held at Caleb Greenwood Elementary School expressed skepticism and suspicion about the "strong mayor" proposal endorsed by Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson. "I suspect that it [the strong mayor initiative] is a power grab, but I suspect that something will come out of [the town hall meeting] and I'll be able to make a rational decision," said resident Mike Montgomery. The town hall meeting, which attracted about 50 people, included a thorough presentation of the strong mayor proposal that has been placed on the June 2010 ballot.  The presentation was by members of the Charter Review Committee, a group created by the City Council to research a

The proposed Docks project nested between Interstate 5 and the Sacramento River, will be heard by the City Planning Commission on the 8th for a motion to pass the rezoning for future urban development consistent with the 2030 General Plan. City Staff will also recommend that Option B to be chosen in how the 29 acres are developed which including 1,000 residential units, 200,000 square feet of office space, and 43,300 square feet of retail space. A formal recommendation for Option B will be made the City Planning Commission next month and then the City Council for approval in December. Option B was determined to be the most cost effective plan to retain Pioneer Reservoir and build the park

 (This comment in response to Suzanne Hunt's "Pilot Alley Project To Get $100,000" is too long for a comment and too important to not bring to immediate attention. If the public is ever to have a voice in this matter and the expenditure of those funds, now is the time). Today ground was broken for Jeremy Drucker's Stitch model project in the 17th/18th/L/Capitol Alley.Today would have been the September Alley Activation meeting, which was inexplicably cancelled. At August's Alley Activation meeting, Steve Cohn announced the availability of the $100,000 CDBG funds. He said the money needed to be spent and projects completed within a year and "Let's have a plan together within the next thre

Last night the Sacramento City Council discussed the future of the proposed 23 story hotel and parking garage at 8th & K/L St. by developer Bob Leach/USA Hospitality. The last time Mr. Leach was to appear before the Council two weeks ago he asked for a delay because his proposal was going to be slammed over the financing for the proposal. This time they came back to the council offering 40% of cash flow instead of 10% over 10 years and asking for 50% of the Transient Occupancy Tax rebate over 14 years instead of 100% over 10 years. USA Hospitality’s now asking for $31.5 million subsidy from the city in an effort to make this project feasible. After a few council members made their opinions

This Tuesday the 28th, City Council will vote to authorize construction of the new Greyhound Terminal Building on Richards Blvd. The plan is to have Greyhound terminal moved by April 1, 2012 when the lease at its current location (703 L Street) expires. There is also the possibility that relocation may need to occur sooner if the landlord at 703 L Street exercises its right to an early termination of the current lease. The City Council also plans to suspend the traditional process of competitive bidding for building design because it could extend the project completion time beyond Greyhound's lease expiration date. Money to pay for this project will come from the cities General Fund (Fund

Although the medicinal use of cannabis has been legal in California since 1996, in Sacramento there's a growing concern over the uncertainty that surrounds local cannabis clubs — nonprofit clinics that sell cannabis in various forms to qualifying patients. On Tuesday night, the Sacramento City Council voted unanimously to adopt a 45-day moratorium on the development of medical cannabis dispensaries in the city. No new dispensaries can be created and existing dispensaries will be unable to physically expand their operation, though they can still take on new clients. The moratorium is intended to investigate the current status and number of medical cannabis clubs in the city to better info

Whether you've got drip-irrigated corn in the front yard or just some potted mint on top of the fridge, the Common Table agriculture festival has something for you. Slow Food Sacramento, the local chapter of the worldwide food community Slow Food, is offering city residents the chance to spend this Saturday getting green at their first AgFest workshop series, called the Common Table. Saturday's AgFest is taking place on the Sacramento's first Urban Ag Day. The Sacramento City Council recently adopted a resolution to make July 11 an annual citywide celebration of local gardening. Starting at 8:30 AM, AgFest activities include lectures on how to grow and manage food crops at home, tours o

The City Council has changed its original plan to lay off 168 workers Friday, and now layoffs are expected to take place in about two weeks, according to acting city spokeswoman Wendy Klock-Johnson. The number of layoffs is in flux and may soon change depending on negotiations with five city unions. On Tuesday, the city adopted its 2009/2010 fiscal year budget and closed out a gap of more than $43 million. The budget that was approved comes with major cuts to city services. Changes to the budget will be amendments because the budget has been adopted. City officials continued to say Tuesday that many cuts and layoffs could be averted if the unions make concessions. Negotiations between