Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "la valentina"

Sacramento redevelopment future in jeopardy

2011-07-09T01:21:03Z

The future of development and affordable housing projects in Sacramento is starting to look pretty grim. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the state budget into law June 29, putting two new bills into effect that significantly impact redevelopment agencies: ABx26 and ABx27.

“There is no good news in any of this,” said La Shelle Dozier, executive director for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA). “It’s very detrimental, given the fact that we have an economy that’s struggling.”

The two bills go hand-in-hand. ABx26 says redevelopment agencies can opt to discontinue redevelopment activities and be dissolved.

ABx27 says that if redevelopment agencies pay a first-year lump sum payment and then commit to annual “continuation payments,” they will be allowed to continue their redevelopment activities – with additional limitations and without any tax increment funding from the state.

Tax increment funding through a redevelopment agency is one way cities and counties are able to finance redevelopment and affordable housing activities.

Over the last six years, tax-increment funding has resulted in the production of 7,329 housing units in the Sacramento area, including 3,189 units for very-low income and homeless families, Dozier said.

According to the provisions of the new legislation, redevelopment agencies have until Oct. 1 to either dissolve or make the first-year continuation payment to continue redevelopment activities.

“We are conducting an analysis of current projects to see how we would generate (our) estimated $22 million payment as well as an evaluation of projects if the agency must be dissolved,” Dozier said.

Each redevelopment agency is subject to a specific first-year and continuation payment schedule, calculated using a formula outlined in ABx26.

For SHRA, which is an authority of both the city and the county of Sacramento, the “year one” payment amount would be $22 million, Dozier said, and continuation payments are estimated to be approximately $5 million every year after that.

~~Once the SHRA governing boards have an opportunity to review the completed analysis, Dozier said, they will give the agency their recommendations on the options available.~~

Once the agency has an opportunity to review the completed analysis, Dozier said, she will give the SHRA governing boards recommendations on the options available.

“Right now, we’re in a state of limbo,” Dozier said.

At this point, several major redevelopment projects in Sacramento are currently stalled, Dozier said.

These include the 800 K Street project, a mixed-use development to help revitalize the center of downtown; the 65-acre Township 9 project, which is a $1.7 billion mixed-use urban fill development, and Veterans Village, a proposed new construction development in the Mather Redevelopment Area that would provide affordable housing for veterans.

Some projects that have already been approved, however, would not be affected by the new legislation, including the Seventh and H streets project, the La Valentina project on 12th Street, and the Hotel Berry renovation project, Dozier said.

These three projects are slated to provide, in total, nearly 250 affordable housing units and create more than 400 jobs, according to Dozier.

"(Redevelopment agencies) do great work – phenomenal work,” said Eric Rasmusson, a Sacramento lobbyist who works on local housing issues. “But we can't afford them the same way anymore. That's the message of this state budget."

By eliminating redevelopment agencies, Brown anticipates a $1.7 billion savings in cost offset to the state general fund.

“Right now, we’re prohibited from engaging in any new redevelopment activity,” Dozier said, “so we’re focusing on existing projects to keep them moving forward.

“We’re hoping for relief from the courts so that we can continue working on projects that were heading toward various stages of approval,” she added.

Kathy Fairbanks, a representative of the California Redevelopment Association (CRA), said the association plans to file a lawsuit in the next couple of weeks challenging the new legislation.

“It’s unconstitutional,” Fairbanks said. "Proposition 22 passed last November by an overwhelming majority, and it specifically prohibits the state from doing anything with local funds, including redevelopment funds.”

Fairbanks said that, if ABx26 and ABx27 are allowed to stand, it will mean redevelopment agencies that are not eliminated will be forced to abandon projects – and any resulting jobs and economic opportunity – in order to make the required continuation payments to the state.

In the lawsuit, the CRA will seek an immediate stay of the two bills. If the court grants a stay, some or all of the provisions of the bills would be suspended until the court makes a final decision. Until a stay is issued, however, the legislation will remain in force.

There are 397 active redevelopment agencies throughout California, according to the CRA website.

The elimination of redevelopment in Sacramento would have significant unintended consequences, according to the SHRA website, including “no way to monitor affordable housing developments, no funding to put more money into affordable housing projects in the future, as well as direct and indirect job losses.”

“With the economy in its current condition,” Dozier said, “this is not a time to be putting redevelopment agencies out of business.”

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Editorial Note: Corrections have been made to this article after it was published. The incorrect information has been struck out and the correct information has been added.

La Valentina affordable housing project kicks off

2010-12-10T01:21:47Z

Developers are promising to bring new life to a blighted section of Alkali Flat following the groundbreaking ceremony Thursday for 81 units of affordable housing adjacent to the Alkali Flat/La Valentina light rail station.

The site on the corner of 12th and D streets has been vacant for more than 20 years and previously housed an auto repair shop.

The new construction will include 63 apartments and 18 townhouses, the latter being the first “Net Zero” site designed for Sacramento, meaning all energy consumed on the site will be produced there.

“We’re here to bring, I think, the most contemporary, most cutting-edge design that we could bring to one of the oldest residential neighborhoods of Sacramento,” said Meea Kang, a principal at Domus Development, the San Francisco-based company in charge of the project. “We’re very pleased to be able to do that."

Kang said the $27 million project is being financed by a combination of private, state and local funding and will create and/or maintain about 400 jobs in the area. Construction is scheduled to be completed in summer 2012.

“We are tremendously excited about this project, because this is one of the first near-zero-energy projects in the Sacramento area,” said Paul Lau, assistant general manager of SMUD. “This meets all the requirements of a great project.”

SMUD contributed more than $400,000 in credits for the project’s energy conservation, Lau said.

Lau checked off a laundry list of energy-efficient features in the building, including solar roofing panels, sliding glass doors, energy-efficient windows, space heating, central air conditioning, compact fluorescent and LED lighting, and Energy Star appliances.

“The whole (City) Council is really excited about this project,” said City Councilman Steve Cohn, in whose district the project sits. “This project really hits all the sweet spots; this hits all the points that we are trying to do when we talk about Sacramento becoming the most livable city in America.”

Cohn applauded the fact that the site is “taking advantage of a 25-year investment” in the Alkali Flat/La Valentina light rail station and urged Sacramentans to rely more on walking, bicycles and public transit.

“These types of projects are going to do just that,” he said.

But it wasn’t just government officials and developers who saw the groundbreaking as a good thing Thursday.

“Affordable housing gets people off the street,” said Harvey Hayes, an area resident. “And the energy efficiency is big.”

Hayes said he believes people are speeding up the natural process of the Earth’s climate change, and in working to be more energy-efficient, that process can be slowed down.

“Anything and everything makes a difference,” he said.

Another local resident, Richard, who declined to give his last name, said the area has long been a haven for drug use and crime, but building new housing on what was formerly a derelict lot will help curtail that problem.

“This place is a slum,” he said. “(The new project) is going to help a lot with the drug situation.”

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Slapper: The Phantom of Akalai Flats/La Valentina

2009-06-19T04:19:58Z

Cathy Orange meets me at a very unusual spot. She tells me to meet her at Safeway, she has a story for me, plus she has to get her grocery shopping done.

I follow Cathy Orange down the aisles, as she selects coffee, cheeses, variety of meats, bread, cucumbers, cereals and everything else that she can fit into her basket.

She tells me that she was waiting for the light rail at 9pm on 12th Street between D and E Streets in Sacramento. This is known as Akalai Flats/La Valentina.

While waiting, she was slapped in the face by an unknown force. She was startled from this experience. She tells me that this area of the light rail station is haunted. Now this is the 2nd time, I have heard a light rail station is haunted. The first haunting is at the Meadowview Station, in which I mention in a previous article and now this particular stop for the light rail. Cathy tells me she will never again wait for the light rail at this station. She will not even go there and wait during the daytime. Her friend Michelle Banta claims she was once pushed at the same area.

Shannon 'Ms. Macabre' McCabe and I checked out the area a couple of nights ago and we may have gotten a muffled EVP of a man, but it is too hard to determine as there are many faraway voices in the night that we may have picked up on. So our EVP evidence is inconclusive.

I placed my top researcher on the case. David Mace with 18 years of law enforcement under his belt and one of my best lead investigators discovered the following information:

Suspect #1 Most Likely the Slapper:
Man shot dead in Alkali Flat.
A 39-year-old man was found shot and killed early Sunday near the Alkali Flat light-rail train station on 12th Street between D and E streets in downtown Sacramento. Fredrick Karl Johnson was found shot in the chest about 2:30 a.m. Witnesses heard gunshots in the area, but no one saw the shooting, according to Sacramento police.

Suspect #2:
In the area, it is claimed that the spirit of a 12-year old girl haunts Miriam Gray's home. People have experienced unsettling dreams, soothing amber lights. Missing household items, objects skittering off tables. For 115 years, the sighs of May Woolsey have possessed this E Street Victorian like a pastel shadow, or a scented draft.

Suspect #3:
May H. Woolsey of Akalai Flats: b. 1866. d. 1879. May H. Woolsey died of encephalitis. Tour visitors have confirmed that her presence can still be felt, literally by placing ones hand near her grave stone. May Woolsey was a 12 year old girl who lived in Sacramento during the 1870's in the district known as Alkali Flat. Found in 1979 when a new owner was remodeling the house and came across a hatch cut into the second floor stair landing. The trunk had been placed in a cavity from a false ceiling in a closet below. When opened the trunk contained a fascinating chronicle of life in early Sacramento as seen through the childhood mementos of May Woolsey. Packed in the trunk were trinkets and playthings typical of most 12-year-old girls of the late 1870's. Residents of Akalai Flats at times feel her presence in the neighborhood.

Suspect #4: Virgie Hicks, 56, was fun loving, but tough on bail jumping felons. She was a colorful Sacramento bail agent and member of Vietnam Veterans Memorial Watch Association who was reared in Alkali Flat. Friends said the cause was complications stemming from diabetes and cancer. She was 56. A fun-loving woman, she was as warm and compassionate with friends and family members as she was tough with felons who skipped out on bail.

Suspect #5: Tony Delgado, decorated veteran who helped many. Tony Delgado lived a quiet life as a chef at various Sacramento hotels, but that quiet life touched many. He was a native of Mexico, who moved to Sacramento when he was 5, was father of nine, foster father to 37, an always ready volunteer and a decorated veteran of World War II and the Korean conflict. He died Sunday after a long, excruciating battle with cancer, said his wife, Charlotte. He was 70. When he returned to the United States after being shot down over Korea and being held as a prisoner of war, Delgado lived in the Alkali Flat neighborhood not far from where he grew up.

Suspect #6: Jennie Rios Baca, tireless advocate for Latino rights, she died at the age of 71. She died at her midtown home after a yearlong fight with vulvae cancer, said her daughter, Veronica Baca. For more than three decades, Mrs. Baca was a beloved volunteer who reached out to children in Alkali Flat and other Sacramento barrios.

David Mace came up with some other suspects, but my hunch is that the Slapper is actually the ghost of Frederick Karl Johnson. Why would the ghost of Frederick Karl Johnson slap Cathy Orange and push Michelle Banta? Perhaps he is trying to warn them that the area where they are waiting for the light rail is a dangerous area. This is the area in which he was killed. This particular stop is somewhat dangerous late at night and if the Slapper slapped me as a wake up call that this area is dangerous, I think I may just get the message.

We are still working on this case, if anything more develops, you the reader will know. But, remember if you are a tourist here in Sacramento and you do want to use our light rail system, then go ahead and enjoy. But, beware; if the sun is down and you are waiting for the light rail at Akalai Flats/La Valentina...you may just get slapped!

Paul Dale Roberts, HPI General Manager, Paranormal Investigator &
Ghostwriter
Shannon McCabe's HPI
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www.HPIparanormal.net
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