Loosen your belts. Sacramento's most famous burger place, The Squeeze Inn, held its grand reopening celebration Thursday morning. The celebration featured guest appearances by Mayor Kevin Johnson, City Councilman Kevin McCarty and County Supervisor Don Nottoli as well as music, speeches, a raffle and a burger-eating contest. Several hundred people shuffled into The Squeeze Inn throughout the lunch hour for special prices on the burger known for its famous "cheese skirt," which extends an inch beyond the bun. The burger is constructed by cooking a one-third-pound beef patty and putting "a giant handful of cheese" on top of, and around, the burger, said Squeeze Inn employee Keith Lenhart.

The annual Tet Festival was packed with more meaning than usual this year. This year's festival, which celebrates the Vietnamese new year with food, dance and carnival rides, among other festivities, also featured the official designation of Little Saigon. The two-mile stretch of Stockton Boulevard between Fruitridge and Florin roads is home to a large Vietnamese community. The official designation of the area came Saturday morning with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Stockton Boulevard and Fowler Avenue. The title is the result of a recently passed City Council resolution. More than 200 people attended the ceremony, including the Little Saigon Committee, City Councilman Kevin McCarty, and

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

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell said she plans to concentrate on key issues facing her South Sacramento district this year, including flood protection, a beautification effort on Meadowview Road and youth services. Pannell’s goals are explained as part of a series of articles on council members’ plans for 2010. Links to the articles are at the end of this story. The Sacramento Press made repeated request for interviews with two council members, Rob Fong and Ray Tretheway, but they were unavailable. Pannell represents District 8, which includes the Meadowview, North Laguna Creek and 63rd Street/Cromwell neighborhoods. Her primary focus this year is on 100-year flood protection for areas in h

Developments affecting Mayor Kevin Johnson’s strong mayor initiative have been highly controversial and complex. Several entities have weighed in on the initiative, including the Sacramento City Council, the Sacramento County Superior Court and the Sacramento Charter Review Committee. Government officials, attorneys and citizens have interpreted the initiative in a variety of ways. Here’s a road map to make sense of some of the key events in the strong mayor debate: Johnson’s Day One Plan: Before taking office, Johnson promotes a strong mayor form of government in his “Day One” plan. An executive mayor system would mean that one leader would be accountable, Johnson says. “Explore a cha

The Sacramento City Council likes the idea of an ethics commission. Councilmembers decided Tuesday to examine possibilities for a future ethics committee. The proposal to research ideas for an ethics commission came from the city’s Charter Review Committee. Councilman Kevin McCarty said in a message after the meeting that he had suggested that the Charter Review Committee analyze ideas for an ethics commission. Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy spoke in favor of the idea, saying that an ethics committee would be a way to ensure “sunshine and bright light.” *** Underground tours in Old Sacramento are likely on the horizon. The City Council unanimously decided Tuesday to loan the Historic Old

A proposed measure to fund jobs and other services for young people in Sacramento is being supported by a coalition of labor and religious groups and some local elected officials. A $29 annual tax on parcels of property in the city would be set up to pay for programs provided through Youth Jobs and Opportunity Act. Property owners would be charged the tax. The proposed initiative could appear on the November ballot. Supporters say they intend to collect 30,000 signatures from residents. Proponents say several kinds of programs could be funded through the program, including after-school programs, apprenticeships and street outreach services. Groups supporting the proposal include the Yes

Sacramento City Councilman Robbie Waters wants to advance public safety in his district by bolstering neighborhood associations and watch groups. Waters, a former Sacramento County sheriff, said that public safety is his top priority for the year. The Sacramento Press is publishing a series on the 2010 goals of members of the City Council. Links to stories on other councilmembers’ goals can be found at the end of this story. Waters represents District 7, which includes the Greenhaven, Pocket and Valley Hi neighborhoods. He is running for re-election in June. His opponents in the race are Darrell Fong, who had a longtime career as a Sacramento police officer, and Ryan Chin, the strategic

Councilman Kevin McCarty wants the city government to make it easier for residents to be environmentally conscious. Environmental programs — one program focused on energy efficiency measures and another on water conservation — are among his top three priorities for the year. At the same time, McCarty is emphasizing the importance of the city’s looming budget gap. He said the city budget will be his first priority for 2010. City leaders made major cuts to local services when they closed out last year’s $50 million budget deficit. “The budget is probably the single most important act that we do every year that affects ... the quality of life in our neighborhoods,” McCarty said. The city s

A proposal to crack down on hospitals if they leave homeless and unstable patients at various sites failed to advance to the City Council Thursday. City Councilman Kevin McCarty proposed an ordinance that would have required health care facilities to get written permission from patients before transporting them to sites other than their homes. If the proposal was passed into law by the City Council, health care facilities that did not comply with the ordinance would face a misdemeanor charge. But the city’s law and legislation committee, which studies proposed ordinances, decided not to move the proposal to the City Council. Councilmembers Sandy Sheedy, Steve Cohn, Lauren Hammond and Ro

Developer Bob Leach withdrew his proposal Tuesday to build a hotel on K Street Mall after financing — including public bond financing from the city — fell through. The city of Sacramento's Redevelopment Agency now must go back to the drawing board by requesting other proposals for the property at 8th and K streets, as well as adjacent property in the 800 block of L Street. "He pulled the plug," Sacramento City Councilmember Kevin McCarty said following Tuesday's City Council meeting. The developers were asking the city to contribute more than $18 million in land and nearly $15 million in tax rebates toward the project. "The city is not in a position to bond to provide permanent financi

Residents may be able to schedule a household energy efficiency makeover in the coming months. Sacramento officials are making headway on a voluntary program to provide residents and businesses a way to make energy efficiency upgrades to their properties. The program received a $740,000 infusion of federal stimulus dollars in November. It would allow property owners to choose from a variety of energy efficiency improvements. Participants would pay for their upgrades over five, 10 or 20 years, said Councilman Kevin McCarty, who directed city staff last year to create the program in Sacramento. “I just think the upside is tremendous in this [program],” he said. The charges for the upgrades

One of the best kept secrets of the South Sacramento area is a small, private school tucked away in the Lanai Shopping Center on Freeport Boulevard, neighboring the Sacramento Executive Airport, where it has existed in rented space for 21 years. Over the years, most of the shopping center tenants have moved away. Meanwhile, countless hours of parent, teacher and student work have gone into transforming a run-down property into a school with colorful classrooms and playgrounds. It has an understated entrance, but Camellia Waldorf School is an oasis for children. The kindergarten yard is home to Mr. Mountain, a big pile of dirt, and Ms. Sandy, a big pile of sand. There are climbing struct

A divided City Council decided Tuesday to approve a $21-million parts and services contract to an international auto parts corporation in the midst of opposition from local auto parts businesses.  Staff with the General Services Department said the new five-year contract with the National Auto Parts Association (NAPA) will yield $2 million in savings for the city. After hearing from representatives from several local auto parts companies, the City Council voted 6-3 to approve the contract. Mayor Kevin Johnson and Councilmembers Sandy Sheedy and Kevin McCarty voted against the deal.  “Small business is the backbone of our economy and we have to do everything we can to make sure that we s

Sacramento officials need to know a lot more about the Community Development Department's construction approval process and a suspended commercial building program before any action should be considered, Sacramento City Councilmember Kevin McCarty said Thursday. Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai, a law firm hired by the city to investigate the Community Development Department, must investigate how construction on a Nestlé water-bottling plant began in McCarty's district without building permits, how home-building permits were issued for a Natomas flood zone, when these practices began and how pervasive they are, he said. Two weeks ago, the department's Facilities Permit Program was suspended af

The Sacramento City Council soon may be asked to amend city code to legalize a longtime practice that helped bring about the suspension of the Facilities Permit Program. In the next few weeks, city staff want to ask the council to allow FPP construction projects to start before building permits are issued — as long as a business has a written start-work authorization from the building division, said David Kwong, the city's Planning Division director. Staff is working with the city attorney's office to learn if the practice and the building code amendment would be legal, Kwong said. "What I'd like to do is vet that form with the city attorney's office, make some tweaks and take that to t

Nestlé has a green light in Sacramento, according to the city attorney’s office. The Nestlé company’s work to set up a water bottling plant in Sacramento is allowed under the city’s existing laws, City Attorney Eileen Teichert’s office said Tuesday. It was clear at Tuesday’s City Council meeting that the City Council and city staff are on-board with the Nestlé company’s plans to bottle and sell tens of millions of gallons of Sacramento’s water. The city had placed a stop-work order on Friday at the plant on Nestlé intends to use for its operations. The city said it wanted to verify whether Nestlé had broken any of the city’s permitting and building laws. In turn, Nestle had said the cit

Mayor Kevin Johnson said the city’s order to halt construction work at the plant Nestlé plans to use for a water-bottling operation is bad for business in Sacramento. Johnson has praised the jobs that Nestlé will bring to Sacramento, while Councilman Kevin McCarty opposes the plant's plan to bottle and sell water from the American River. Councilwoman Lauren Hammond has also raised concerns about Nestlé's plans. The city’s Community Development Department placed a stop-work order on Friday on two phases of construction at 8670 Younger Creek Drive, the plant’s site. The city is checking to see whether Nestlé broke any of the city’s permitting and building laws. Nestlé said it has not viola

 A $14 million retrofit of a proposed Nestlé water-bottling plant has ground to a halt after the city of Sacramento issued a stop-work order while investigating whether the work began before the company had legal authorization from the city. Late Friday afternoon, the city's Community Development Department issued a stop-work order for Phases II and III shortly before an interim or "urgency" ordinance request was added to the City Council's agenda for Tuesday night. The council is being asked to consider amending the city's zoning code to immediately require special permits for beverage bottling plants. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. On Monday, City Councilman Kevin McCarty and officials f

By Kevin McCarty, Sacramento City Council, District 6 With California in its third year of drought, the City of Sacramento’s water conservation strategy includes busting people who flood sidewalks. Since June, we’ve been telling residents they can water landscaping on only three specific days per week and there is to be no watering between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. Last year, the City Council decided to ban bottled water at its meetings. We did so in recognition that plastic water bottles are littering the world and the precious water they once contained is often wasted. That’s why I was surprised to learn that the Nestle Waters North America Co. is moving forward with plans for a water bottl