City Councilman Darrell Fong was recognized by District 7 residents Thursday for his part in establishing an event that brought more than 500 neighbors together for a common cause: the safety of their children. Valley-Hi residents James Shabazz, Donald Johnson and Joseph Sillands surprised Fong at the City Council meeting with a scrapbook of photos and letters from event attendees commemorating the Valley-Hi Safety Day fair organized by Fong and his staff in July. “It was important for us to find time to thank (Councilman) Fong for the work he did to put on the safety fair,” Shabazz, an apartment manager at Ridgestone Apartments in Valley-Hi said after the presentation. “We appreciate h

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 counc

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 redistric

New Sacramento City Councilman Darrell Fong said his district consists of one neighborhood that does not get involved with local issues, and another neighborhood that intensely participates in civic decision-making. Fong said one of his goals as city councilman for District 7 will be to connect with residents in the politically passive Valley Hi neighborhood in South Sacramento. The councilman and his district director, Noah Painter, gave a driving tour of the Pocket/Greenhaven and Valley Hi neighborhoods for The Sacramento Press on Tuesday. The residential Valley Hi neighborhood faces major problems with foreclosures, Fong and Painter said. While Valley Hi residents are affected by poli

The Sacramento City Council underwent a makeover Tuesday night when two new council members were officially sworn into office. The swearing in of Jay Schenirer and Darrell Fong is the last step in the City Council’s changing of the guard. Schenirer’s ceremony had an element of star quality because state Senate President Darrell Steinberg administered the oath of office for the new councilman. Angelique Ashby, the other new council member, was sworn into office Nov. 23 to represent District 1.  Schenirer replaced Lauren Hammond as the District 5 council member, while Fong took the District 7 reins from Robbie Waters. Also on Tuesday night, Steve Cohn was sworn in for a fifth term as t

District 7 City Council As election results continue to trickle in, District 7 City Council candidate Ryan Chin is feeling less confident about his prospects for a win. “It’s obviously not going in my direction,” Chin said. In the District 7 race, Fong was leading with 52 percent of the vote Thursday night. Chin followed with 47 percent. In the Nov. 3 results release, Fong had 51 percent to Chin’s 48 percent. Chin said he might “reach out” to opponent Darrell Fong. But it was unclear Friday if or when Chin will concede the race. “We’re happy that our numbers held and that our numbers went up,” Fong said Friday. Sacramento County Sheriff’s Race Both Sheriff Capt. Scott Jones and Capt

After counting everything except absentee ballots turned in on election day, Darrell Fong is leading by 373 votes. As of 11:20 p.m., District 7 City Council candidate Darrell Fong said he was hopeful. “We’ll see how the race ends up,” he said. “We’re ahead and our numbers are going up, but until the precincts are counted, we’re hopeful. We’ve had a great time, and there’s a lot of support, a lot of volunteers,” Fong said. “In the primaries we were 800 votes down, so we’ve closed the gap. But the fight is not over.” The most recent update Fong had seen showed he was 270 votes ahead of Chin. “We’ve run the race, and we’ve both run a strong campaign,” he said. “I just want to thank eve

Just five months ago The Sacramento Press covered its first primary election. We covered Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7 for the City Council race, sending someone to each of the 13 campaign parties and posting hourly updates on a live blog. And we did it with eight people: an editorial staff of five, two interns and a community contributor. This election won’t be much different in terms of staff. We’ll have our editorial team of five, four interns, two community contributors and a social media component. There are quite a few ballot choices that won't be on our live blog, but we will provide you with comprehensive coverage of the issues we do report on: Measure B, Measure C, Measure D, City Cou

Mayor Kevin Johnson released his endorsements for several Nov. 2 political races on Friday. He named his candidates in local, state and federal elections in a post on his blog.  In the Sacramento City Council runoff in District 5, Johnson endorsed education policy consultant Jay Schenirer. He had endorsed Schenirer for the first time in May, when the City Council candidate was running against four other candidates. Schenirer is competing against attorney Patrick Kennedy in the November runoff. The winning candidate will replace current City Councilwoman Lauren Hammond. Johnson decided not to endorse a candidate in the District 7 runoff. Ryan Chin, a communications director at Sacramento

Outgoing Sacramento City Councilman Robbie Waters is backing candidate Darrell Fong in the runoff election for the District 7 seat that covers the Pocket/Greenhaven and Valley Hi neighborhoods. Waters, who has served as the District 7 council member since 1994, lost the race in June to opponents Darrell Fong and Ryan Chin. Waters came in third place out of four candidates, with 27 percent of the vote. Chin led the group in the June election with 37 percent of the vote. He is now competing in a runoff campaign against Fong, who garnered 32 percent of votes cast. The two candidates must face off again because the city’s rules say that a council candidate needs at least 50 percent of the vo

The final Sacramento City Council election results did not yield any last-minute statistical miracles. Furthermore, a Sacramento city clerk’s predictions about City Council runoffs proved true: The leading two candidates in Districts 5 and 7 will compete in a Nov. 2 runoff election. The county elections office finished counting ballots from the June 8 election on Wednesday. Candidates Jay Schenirer and Patrick Kennedy will run for the District 5 seat, while candidates Darrell Fong and Ryan Chin will square off in District 7. Incumbent District 1 City Councilman Ray Tretheway lost his battle against challenger Angelique Ashby — just barely. A City Council candidate needs at least 50 per

A runoff election for District 7 of the City Council is nearly inevitable between Ryan Chin and Darrell Fong. Neither of the candidates has enough votes to be declared the winner, and with only 4,000 provisional ballots left to process, not much is expected to change. “With 4,000 ballots left, I would suspect that the race is close to final,” Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said. “Other than final, this is about as final as it’s going to get.” A candidate needs at least 50 percent of the vote plus one to win. Chin has 37.57 percent and Fong has 32.6 percent, as of 3:22 p.m. today. You can view the updated election results here. You can view a map of the geographical distribution

The primary election night results showed no clear winner in the heated District 7 City Council race, and now county officials are saying there will "likely be a runoff" between Chin and Fong. The two candidates will now face another four and a half months of campaigning to win the coveted council seat.   Chin and Fong both have strong ties to the community. Fong, a retired law enforcement officer, and Chin, the former county planning commissioner, feel it’s those ties that will show a diverse support network to fuel them both toward November.   “That’s what I’m most proud of," Chin said. "I got all types of different people, different communities.”     He said he is aware of naysa

The waiting game for the District 1 City Council race continues. The Sacramento County elections office released new vote tallies Friday afternoon, and has counted about 35,000 of the roughly 86,000 that remained after Election Day. However, the new ballots still don’t definitively show whether Natomas activist Angelique Ashby has won the District 1 seat, or if she will compete in a runoff in November with incumbent City Councilman Ray Tretheway. The county elections staff still needs to count more than 51,000 ballots. Voters cast ballots for many state and local candidates Tuesday, so it’s unknown how many of the 51,000 ballots include votes for the City Council races. With 5,405 votes

Sacramento City Councilman Robbie Waters has lost the District 7 seat he has held since 1994. Sacramento County’s election website showed that Waters, with 1,935 votes, follows two challengers in the polls. District 7 candidates Ryan Chin and Darrell Fong are expected to compete in a runoff, Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said Wednesday morning. District 7 includes the neighborhoods of Greenhaven / Pocket and Valley-Hi. With all precincts reporting, Chin has 38 percent of the vote. Fong is chasing Chin with 31 percent of the vote. The two candidates are separated by a few hundred votes: Chin has 2,712, while Fong has 2,215. While Mizuno cautioned that the results are semi-offici

11:21 p.m. UPDATE Angelique Ashby's supporters gather around the wide screen television to anxiously watch the results of tonight's election. With a lead of more than 10% on her closest competitor, incumbent Tretheway, Ashby supporters are anticipating the coming numbers. "We think we know the answer," volunteer Celia Hernandez said. "We just need it official!" Cheers, laughter and applause resonate throughout the police stationassociation, and tensions build as the night wears on, the final count looming closer and closer. "We're all excited," canvas coordinator Greg Pruden said. "Really looking forward to getting the final returns in and seeing what the final result is. We're reall

The District 7 City Council race heated up early this morning when Ryan Chin and Darrell Fong claimed that their signage was removed from supporters' lawns and constituents from each campaign were harassed outside of polling places in the Pocket/Greenhaven areas. Darrell Fong said he received an e-mail from a concerned voter that she was harassed by Chin’s campaign volunteers outside of her polling place, and that she was grateful that he had not used the same tactics. One of Fong’s volunteers, Harold Fong, said that he felt it was just a “tacky method to run a campaign." Both candidates steadfastly state that each has run a clean campaign. A campaign spokesperson for incumbent Robbie W

Ryan Chin said he would weigh neighborhood and business concerns if elected to the City Council. The Sacramento Press is interviewing City Council candidates in advance of the June 8 election. Chin is one of four candidates competing for the District 7 seat, which represents neighborhoods including Pocket/Greenhaven and Valley Hi. His competitors are incumbent Robbie Waters, Darrell Fong and Diedre Hobart. Chin said he has experience working on neighborhood and business issues. “I understand business,” he said, “but I’ll always be connected and committed to the community, and making sure they’re represented.” Chin, who works as a strategic communications director at California State U

Darrell Fong, a retired Sacramento Police Department captain who is running for City Council, said he could provide a better perspective to the city and his district because he does not intend to make politics his career. The Sacramento Press is interviewing City Council candidates in advance of the June 8 election. Fong, a third-generation Sacramento resident, is running for the District 7 seat on the City Council. His opponents are incumbent Robbie Waters, and Ryan Chin and Diedre Hobart. “My goal is just to focus on the city alone and the district,” Fong said. District 7 neighborhoods include Greenhaven, Pocket and Valley Hi. Fong, 53, noted that he has lived in the Pocket neighborh

The Sacramento Press is a hybrid site of professional and community-contributed journalism. One recent event that we could not cover in-house is a perfect example of how citizen journalism works best: One of our reporters, Kathleen Haley, was unable to attend a debate scheduled for Thursday night. Our editorial department e-mailed a resident Haley had met at another event who had shown interest in the debate. This resident suggested that a friend of hers, Chris Shannon, who had already planned to go to the debate, write about it for The Sacramento Press. We asked our interns to see who was available, but none of them were to attend either. Chris Shannon e-mailed us and called to confir