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 w

Piped, paved and delivered. Well, almost. Underground work for what proponents call "Alley Activation" is complete. The Urban Design Alliance's Fourth Wednesday dialogue topic was “Delivery of the Midtown Pilot Alley.”  Guest speakers were Julie Young, co-chair of the Alley Activation Committee and Disctrict 3 City Council Member Steve Cohn. Greg Taylor of UDA and Dustin Litrell hosted the free event at the downtown office of the American Institute of Architects. The Alley Activation private/public works project has excavated the alley between 17th, 18th and L streets and Capitol Avenue. City water pipes and sewer lines have been replaced. The next step is application of permeable paver

Midtown residents have been dealing for years with the impacts of a City led campaign to "Bring People Downtown" that ignored the fact that people are already here. Media and Midtown Business Association boosters have contributed by consistently disparaging the existing mixed-use neighborhoods as a desolate, disgusting and scary wasteland; a "dead zone" with invisible/irrelevant residents. Yet, Midtown's now-attractive and lucrative historic neighborhoods ONLY exist, due to the diligent, hard work and determination of residents, preservationists and neighborhoods associations, over the past few decades. Residents met with the MBA and other stakeholders in 2009 as part of MBA's Regional