For Immediate Release Contact: Matt Kelly (916) 924-0424 May 14, 2012 Sacramento Building Trades Leader Calls on City Council Candidate Netto to Suspend Campaign Until he Pays his Unpaid Taxes “Recently I was invited to attend this fundraiser for City Council Candidate Mitch Netto. As a joke, I bet him $1,000 that he wouldn’t beat his opponent, Councilmember Kevin McCarty, but since Mr. Netto decided to forward my joke along to the media today I’m challenging Mr. Netto to suspend his campaign until he pays any and all unpaid taxes. Mr. Netto - It is no joke to refuse to pay the taxes you owe! According to the Sacramento Bee, Netto has at least two tax liens against him - a federal li

With the introduction of the city budget to the City Council Tuesday, the specter of layoffs and the city’s negotiations with unions over pension plans will take center stage for the next few months – but some important fiscal nuggets could get overlooked. For example, of the 286 city employees expected to be laid off with the proposed budget, 11 of those are in the Community Development Department – which is responsible for building permits and inspections, code compliance, and long-range planning for development projects. Additional layoffs are slated for the Public Works department (which includes transportation and parking services) and the Parks and Recreation department. What will

Local officials are currently in the nation’s capital to lobby for federal support – and funding – for regional projects, pushing the City Council meeting to Thursday. “For me, it’s all about our levees,” City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said. “I’m doing all I can to keep the conversation going (about funding) here in Washington.” Ashby represents an area of the city where levee work is needed to improve flood control, but projects have stalled due to lack of federal funding. City Council members Jay Schenirer, Steve Cohn, Bonnie Pannell and Ashby and City Manager John Shirey left Sacramento Friday with the Cap-to-Cap program, organized by the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce. Whi

There are more than 100 tobacco retailers located less than 1,000 feet from local K-12 schools in Sacramento, and City Council members say that’s too close for comfort – so they are proposing tighter restrictions for retailers to keep kids safe. “Tobacco sales so close to kids in school? It doesn’t seem like its a good match,” City Councilman Kevin McCarty said Tuesday. The new ordinance was initiated by McCarty and Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy in 2010, and it reached the full council for consideration after first being reviewed by both the Law and Legislation committee and the city Planning commission earlier this year. The City Council unanimously passed the ordinance for publication Tue

Don’t be surprised if it feels like everyone from Mayor Kevin Johnson to the head of the Parks Department is on Twitter or Facebook – it’s one of the reasons Sacramento was recently ranked one of the top 10 social media-savvy city governments in the nation. The University of Illinois study released March 22 ranked Sacramento ninth among 75 major U.S. cities based on the level of civic engagement the city government has to offer. Criteria for the study included how accessible city officials are to residents and how easily residents can get information about services and neighborhoods, the study states. “Huge growth in the use of social media has been seen in the past two years,” said Kim

Water and sewer rates will head skyward for Sacramento residents after July 1 – and will continue rising for three years – as the city tries to raise revenue needed to pay for infrastructure improvements. City Council members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn, Rob Fong, Jay Schenirer, Kevin McCarty and Darrell Fong voted in favor of the rate increases, which were recommended by the Utilities Rate Commission and the city Department of Utilities. City Councilwomen Sandy Sheedy and Bonnie Pannell were opposed. “Our current water rates are among the lowest in the region, in the state and in the nation,” City Manager John Shirey said Tuesday, “and they will remain that way with the proposed rate i

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

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

With a triumphant shout, Mayor Kevin Johnson cast the final vote in a 7-2 decision in favor of a financing plan to build a new entertainment and sports complex and keep the Sacramento Kings in town for another 30 years. Cheers, applause and chants of “SAC-RA-MEN-TO” broke out among the more than 250 people in council chambers Tuesday at the end of a four-hour-long City Council meeting that culminated in what Johnson called “a historic vote.” “Every one of you in the community did not give up,” Johnson said. “People far and wide all played a role and came together. I think we met every milestone along the way, and we made every minute count.” Johnson and City Council members Angelique As

It takes money to run a campaign, and every candidate will be on the hunt for contributions this season – but there are rules to follow for both candidates and donors, and limits to how much donors can give. For city elections, the city code specifies two types of campaign donors: “individual” and “large political committee.” There are two significant differences between the two categories, the first being that “individual” is more than what it sounds like – a single person. According to the city code, it can also be a labor union, company, committee, corporation, firm or partnership, among other things. A “large political committee” is defined by the city code as a political committee

The City Council approved a plan Tuesday for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the city and making planet-conscious choices in land use, transportation and waste reduction. The Climate Action Plan is designed to satisfy the requirements of AB 32, which the California Legislature adopted in 2008, calling for local governments to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions to at least 15 percent below then-current levels by the year 2020. According to the plan summary, in 2005 Sacramento emitted more than 4.1 million metric tons of greenhouse gases – an amount equal to the emissions produced by driving around the earth almost 412,000 times. The single largest source of emissions cam

The City Council unanimously voted to keep conversations going with bidders interested in taking over the city’s parking operations – and set the stage for a Feb. 28 vote finalizing plans for a new entertainment and sports complex. “Today is about narrowing 13 (bidders) down to 10, and it’s an intermediary step to a more significant vote,” Mayor Kevin Johnson said. Council chambers were full Tuesday night, and members of the public who signed up to speak included eight opposed to the prospect of a long-term lease of the city’s parking and 30 people in favor of it. Project Manager Fran Halbakken described the bidding for control of city parking operations as a competitive process, where

Community pools in Sacramento on the verge of closing this summer may get a reprieve – and nearly $1 million in operating funds – from a fundraising effort that kicks off Tuesday between the city and Save Mart Supermarkets. The city of Sacramento operates 12 pools to serve more than 467,000 city residents, but since 2008 the number of pools kept open each summer has dwindled due to budget cuts. By 2011, that number was reduced to six pools and five wading pools, with open hours limited to six days per week, four hours per day. Through a new fundraising campaign called “Help Save Mart Save Our Pools,” Save Mart will match dollar-for-dollar up to $500,000 in the donations made by individu

In the the wake of the City Council’s 5-4 vote Tuesday blocking the strong mayor initiative from going to the November ballot, police union leaders halted labor contract discussions with City Hall. Mark Tyndale, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association told City Manager John Shirey in an email just hours after the final council vote that he was “suspending all discussions between the city and the SPOA negotiations team.” After voting down the strong mayor initiative, council members approved a ballot measure to create an elected 15-member charter reform commission.  Calling the cost of a charter commission “fiscally irresponsible,” Tyndale said in the email that he “can’t

Charter reform will be an item on the November ballot, but not in the form of a strong mayor initiative. Instead, voters will be asked if they want to elect a 15-member commission to review the city charter. After more than 20 people spoke on the topic during public comment, the City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday to reject putting the Checks and Balances Act of 2012 – the strong mayor initiative – to a public vote in November. Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell were the majority votes. Council members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn, Jay Schenirer and Mayor Kevin Johnson each voted in favor of the measure  no . Two governance-related consider

When it comes to talking about how to run a city, local developer and City Council District 6 candidate Jon Bagatelos is all business. Bagatelos, co-owner of Bagatelos Architectural Glass Systems and Bagatelos Development, LLC, was recruited to join the City Council race by business, community and public safety groups who are “tired of the way things are going with the city,” Bagatelos, 44, said Wednesday. Bagatelos has not officially filed notice of his candidacy, but said he expects to select a campaign manager within the next couple of weeks. He will be running against incumbent Kevin McCarty for the City Council District 6 seat. One of the main reasons he decided to consider the cou

The city is spending more than it is bringing in, and even though that’s normal for this time of the year, officials need to make changes to keep spending under control and keep the budget on target. According to the mid-year budget report presented to the City Council Tuesday, expenditures are at 50 percent of projections, and revenues are at 36 percent – about 14 percent less than anticipated. This is typical for this point in the fiscal year, Finance Director Leyne Milstein told council members Tuesday – but adjustment is still necessary. “Without these recommendations, we will not be able to balance our budget,” Milstein said. It’s not all bad news, though. The 2010-11 fiscal year

As Sacramento gears up to face a $16.5 million budget gap in the next fiscal year, consultants from Colorado met with City Council members to outline a new approach to budgeting that focuses less on dollar amounts and more on top city priorities. The council budget workshop held Tuesday at the main branch of the Sacramento Public Library was designed to help council members refine fiscal priorities for the city and discuss ways to reshape the budget process. Significant cuts to resolve a $39 million budget gap last year resulted in layoffs from the police force and rolling brownouts at city fire stations – actions that brought weeks of public outcry at City Council meetings. The city ch

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

Sacramento City Council members had their hands full this year – from balancing the budget to redrawing district lines to a citizen uprising that found its way to the doors of City Hall. Here’s the city government year in review. CITY MANAGER DRAMA The year started off with interim city manager Gus Vina not being promoted to the open city manager spot. Vina replaced previous city manager Ray Kerrige when Kerrige resigned in February 2010. Vina resigned two months later – just a few weeks before the budget was due to the City Council. He later became the city manager of Encinitas. The City Council was criticized for making decisions about the city manager position in closed sessions bef