A new streetlight repair and wire restoration project will allow streetlights to be fixed in 90 days instead of a year after having their copper wiring stolen, since the City Council gave the nod to spend $2 million on a wire restoration project Tuesday. The City Council voted unanimously to allow funding for the project, which will provide the resources needed to complete repairs already scheduled, as well as put future repairs on a 90-day wait list. The current backlog is a staggering 12-month wait for neighbors to have streetlights repaired, according to Department of Transportation spokeswoman Linda Tucker. “The city has had more than 325 reported locations of stolen wire since 2010

Picture yourself driving on a bustling, lit up street on a weekend evening in Midtown Sacramento. You’re out with friends, family, or on your way to meet a significant other. The reservations have been made, the movie time agreed on, and only one burning question remains: Where can I park? In recent years, Sacramento transformed from simply a capital city with a small-town vibe, to an up-and-coming cultural hub. This transformation is most evident in the thriving Midtown district, where the most prominent businesses are bars and restaurants. This rapid growth can be a cause for excitement, as well as a cause for dismay. The dismal and often frustrated, heated feelings seem to largely com

Abuse of disabled parking placards is no small problem in Sacramento, where a special task force is charged with tracking down offenders. To help reduce the misuse of disabled placards, the Sacramento Task Force On Placard Abuse was formed in 1996. According to Linda Tucker, spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation, the task force consists of specially trained parking enforcement officers who investigate complaints on disabled placard abuse and issue misdemeanor citations when necessary. The city employs 50 parking enforcement officers, and two of those are full-time officers who go undercover to investigate the use of disabled parking placards in the city. Tucker said the task

A project designed to help reconnect downtown Sacramento to the riverfront and Old Sacramento is well under way, and the public is invited to learn more about it at an open house Wednesday. The informational meeting will provide a project overview, details on key elements and the anticipated schedule and next steps, according to a recent press release from city’s Department of Transportation, which is co-sponsoring the open house with the project team. “It’s been about three years since we’ve had a public meeting on the project,” said Linda Tucker, spokeswoman for the Department of Transportation. “Since that time, the economy has changed and the project has been scaled back to a more re

New Sacramento Railyards Project Manager Fran Lee Halbakken said she became a civil engineer because she loves solving problems. Halbakken is now tackling challenges with one of the city's and country's largest redevelopment projects after starting in her new role June 27. At nearly 240 acres of combined private and city land, the railyards project is so big it will virtually double the size of the central business district. The key position was created at a critical stage of the massive undertaking. The private portion of the site has a new owner and the projects’ housing plan must be revised in light of the recession. Also, plans for a new regional transit center must be coordinated wi

The City Council authorized the transfer of $100,000 of the city’s transportation funds to help support the Robla Elementary Safe Schools Project at a City Council meeting Tuesday to ensure the safety of students using of pedestrian routes in the Robla Elementary District. The $100,000 is coming from the city’s transportation funding for the Major Streets Improvement project to complete the design phase of the project and cover staff costs. The Major Streets Improvement Project was implemented “to close gaps in the city’s circulation network, relieve congestion, improve safety and provide for the efficient movement of people, services, and goods,” according to a consent report from the c

Parking enforcement officers will now be taking pictures of parking infractions to answer the common question, “why did I get a ticket?” according to the city’s Department of Transportation spokeswoman Linda Tucker. “We get a lot of calls every day and inquiries in our office, as well as people coming down to City Hall asking about why they got a ticket and wondering how they can contest the ticket,” Tucker said. “We wanted to address those questions and concerns and be able to put that information online.” The handheld ticketing device that the 50 state-employed parking enforcement officers currently use are also capable of taking pictures. With the help of a third party vendor in char

City staffers are moving forward on the project to bring cars to K Street, saying Wednesday that the street will see its final days as a pedestrian mall in the fall. Nader Kamal, a senior projects manager for the city, said the street may be ready for cars by November. People will be able to drive between Eighth and 12th streets once the project is complete. Cars have been barred from K Street since the 1960s, when the city turned it into a pedestrian mall. “It seemed to be the trend at that time,” city Transportation Department spokeswoman Linda Tucker said, referring to pedestrian malls. Thursday, the Law and Legislation Committee — composed of four City Council members – will examin

Alkali Flat may get new streetlights, which city officials say will make the area more pedestrian-friendly. “The project will replace the masthead lights that are intended to illuminate the roadway with 220 historic-looking acorn-style streetlights you see around downtown that are intended to better illuminate the sidewalk,” Sacramento Department of Transportation spokeswoman Linda Tucker said in an e-mail. Lighting was something area residents have wanted for a long time, according to City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby, whose district includes the neighborhood. “Much longer than I have been here, the Alkali Flat community has advocated for lighting,” said Ashby, who took office last Nov

The Sacramento City Council will gather Tuesday afternoon to brainstorm ways City Hall can help the city’s financial recovery. Joann Cummins, district director for City Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy, said Interim City Manager Gus Vina has worked on the economic recovery plan that will be outlined at Tuesday’s workshop. “It’s basically a blueprint for getting Sacramento on the road to recovery,” Cummins said. Council members will gather for the economic recovery workshop at 2 p.m. at the Sacramento Library Galleria, located at 828 I St. The meeting is open to the public. City spokeswoman Linda Tucker said Vina’s economic recovery plan includes goals for economic recovery and prosperity; han

The two city-funded bridges under construction in the railyards are scheduled to be completed next month. The bridges will make Fifth and Sixth streets continuous where they are currently cut off by the railyards just east of the Amtrak station downtown. “The bridges will be for both vehicle traffic and pedestrians,” said Linda Tucker, spokeswoman for the Sacramento Department of Transportation. The transition of much of the railyards property from Thomas Enterprises to Inland American Real Estate Trust, Inc. following Thomas Enterprises’ defaulting on loans will not affect the bridge construction, since they are on city-owned land, according to Tucker. When it comes to the track reali

Marshall Park neighborhood resident Alfred Alvarez was notified by the city of Sacramento’s Department of Transportation that he would be required to make repairs to sidewalks bordering two of his lots on F and 28th streets. Since 2005, Alvarez and city inspectors have disagreed about what can be labelled as a defective or hazardous sidewalk. Alvarez’ sidewalks have been assessed as needing repairs costing nearly $10,000, which under Sacramento’s city code would require him, the owner, to pay for the cost of all repairs as well as administrative and inspection costs required by the city. In response to these estimates, Alvarez stated that repairs would be made “over my dead body.” This

The Sacramento City Council approved a two-year labor contract with city union Stationary Engineers Local 39 that saved about 80 positions. Since the city came up about $1.2 million short in its negotiations with Local 39, council members decided Tuesday night to move that amount from a parking fund to the general fund. The city’s transportation department spokeswoman, Linda Tucker, explained in an e-mail last week that the city’s parking fund is designed to pay for new parking garages. “Given the downturn in development and no urgent need to build new garages, we are using about $1.2 million one-time dollars from the fund to cover the gap between what the city expected to receive in wag

At least 80 city employee jobs were saved after the members of the city union Stationary Engineers Local 39 approved a contract with city officials. City employees passed the contract earlier this month, according to an Aug. 23 e-mail that Interim City Manager Gus Vina sent to city staff and the City Council. Local 39 leaders and city officials negotiated a deal Aug. 6, but the union’s members had not voted on the contract at that time. The union represents 1,600 full-time city workers, according to Joan Bryant, director of public employees for Local 39. These city employees hold jobs in several areas that include code enforcement, animal care and the solid waste division. The contract

A study to map out a streetcar route linking Sacramento to West Sacramento is expected to start this fall, according to city Transportation Department spokeswoman Linda Tucker. More than $400,000 in funding has been set aside for the study -- $310,000 from federal grant funds obtained earlier this year and $90,000 from local transportation funds, said Azadeh Doherty, a principal planner in the department. The current plan for the streetcar includes a path in West Sacramento, but does not lay out a route in Sacramento. Under the most recent plan, the streetcar would run from West Sacramento City Hall, across Tower Bridge and stop in Old Sacramento at the foot of the bridge. The city will

Plans to set up a streetcar to connect the cities of Sacramento and West Sacramento have hit a roadblock. At the same time, the streetcar project is still on the agenda of both cities. The federal transportation department bypassed the Sacramento/West Sacramento streetcar project last week when it chose projects for federal grant funding. Instead, the federal government decided to award funding to cities in Texas, Illinois, Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio, according to a press release from the U.S. Department of Transportation. West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon said on Monday that he would like the project to compete for federal funds again if President Barack Obama’s Adminis

The City of Sacramento's Parking Division and Revenue Division would like to share an update about expired residential parking permits. The City is in the process of renewing over 700 residential parking permits for the "K" parking area in Midtown. The current permits expired on May 31. Renewal permits are expected to be mailed out by Friday, June 4. Residents should continue to display their current permit until they receive the renewed permit. Specifically in the K residential parking area (designated by signage and located in Midtown), parking citations will not be issued for expired permits until after June 20, to allow enough time for permits to be received and displayed. If residen

From now on, Doug Koleada will be a law-abiding citizen when he rides his bicycle on the K Street Mall. The city of Sacramento has installed new signs on K Street that list rules for bike riding. Cycling can now commence legally on the Mall from Seventh to 13th Streets and in the tunnel between Second and Fourth Streets. Koleada was riding his bike near the Westfield Downtown Plaza Wednesday afternoon. He readily admitted to biking on K Street in the evenings; his nighttime rides will now be perfectly legal. The Pyramid Alehouse Brewery employee said he knew about the city’s former ban on bicycling on K Street Mall, so he didn’t bike there when police officers were in sight. Koleada al

Concerns about historic Southern Pacific railroad shops and other archaeological resources delayed the environmental review process for the future regional transportation center proposed for the Railyards. A complicated review process also caused delays as federal, state and city planners worked out plans to mitigate environmental and other impacts expected from the future depot, which will connect with the historic Sacramento Valley Station. Under the National Environmental Protection Act, the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) conducted a review of the city's proposal to prevent or offset impacts to wildlife, air and water quality, historic buildings, building occupants and train pa

Sacramento's future regional transportation center has gotten a green light to move on to its final design phase after clearing a federal environmental hurdle, months later than expected. The U.S. Department of Transportation's Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) on Friday confirmed the city's proposed "intermodal facility" has made it through the federal environmental review process required due to federal funding for the project. Approval was delayed due to the complicated review process and concerns about the impact on historic Southern Pacific railroad shops and other historic properties. Federal transportation officials, along with other federal and state agency staff, have determ