The 2012 election cycle is ramping up in Sacramento, and one topic that is sure to be on the table is a strong mayor initiative. Mayor Kevin Johnson brought the topic to the fore during his 2008 campaign for mayor shortly after his 2008 election win in his race against then-mayor Heather Fargo, but the idea didn’t fly with members of the City Council, and the initiative never got off the ground. With another mayoral race coming up in 2012, Johnson said he believes the idea of a strong mayor initiative is ripe for ballot consideration once again. “This is a topic that people are ready to take on,” Johnson said at a press conference Tuesday. “There are many people involved and interested

Fiesta en la Calle’s summer concert series began on the first Thursday of June and ended this past week. The nine free concerts at Cesar Chavez Plaza came to an end with Gustavo Galindo, Cambio De Piel and Orixa closing out the successful first year concert series. Vince Vicari served as emcee for the event. As he came to the stage he thanked the event sponsors including Corona, D’Chaleco Magazine and radio station Latino 97.9. Ricardo “El Niño” Rayas once again served as DJ for the show. Vicari took the stage to introduce the evening’s performances saying, “We have three great bands out here tonight. We are very excited to close our summer concert series this way. We also have great f

Mayor Kevin Johnson unveiled the future leaders of Sacramento at Tuesday's press conference, introducing 13 of the nation's brightest young people, who will spend the summer working on city issues like homelessness, childhood literacy, downtown revitalization and green development as part of the Mayor's Fellowship and Internship Program. Johnson said that the program, which builds upon the Volunteer Sacramento Initiative, has been the “brainchild” of his chief of staff, Kunal Merchant. The mayor's office has partnered with "the best universities in the country and the region," recruiting students from schools like Harvard, Stanford, UC Davis and Sacramento State, Merchant said. Stressin

A Perspective: 2011 City Management Academy's Class #2: Mayor Johnson Presents with his Initiatives’ Pep Rally Squad The second session of the 2011 City Management Academy (CMA) 12-week classroom for neighborhood association and other community & business leaders began with a 4-minute, professionally-produced video presentation complete w/ pulsing background music and splashy visual edits which highlighted some of Mayor Johnson’s accomplishments while in office. As the video ended, Wednesday evening’s first speaker, the mayor (waiting in the wings -- poised in the doorway shadows of a 5th floor New City Hall conference room, standing very still & quiet, head bowed, anticipating the roo

Sacramento Film & Music Festival New dates and “Pitch Sacramento” filmmaking competition for 2011 For the past 11 years, the Sacramento Film & Music Festival has screened the best indie films from around the country and the world. And for the past 7 years, it has established a reputation for local filmmaking competitions, with approx. 150 music videos made for the Sac Music Seen program and 100 short films made for the 10x10 Filmmaker Challenge. For 2011, the Festival is making two major changes: A split into two separate seasonal events and a new competition for local filmmakers. Rather than continue as a 10-day Summer Festival, the 12th year for the Sacramento Film & Music Festival wil

(Please see Part 1) In front of me, the officer continued to make my son feel like crap, like less than a human being. And my anger grew. The officer told me he will talk to me but not my son, not in the presence of my son and for my son to stand back and he and I could walk away and speak. I should have turned and walked away at that moment. But instead I wanted to give the officer the benefit of the doubt. I walked away from my son to hear the officers explanation. The look in my sons eyes haunt me as I write this, I could see his pain was compounded. I believe the officer could not justify his actions and somewhere in that uniform he couldn't face my son telling me the truth in front

A rock band steps onto a portable stage set up in the old Sacramento News and Review parking lot at 20th and J streets. They tune up and begin to play. This promotion marked beginning of the end of the traditional Second Saturday. Second Saturday was no longer going to be an art walk and about visiting art galleries. Second Saturday was going to be about bringing large numbers of young people to Midtown to stay after the event and continue partying and drinking in the Midtown bars and nightclubs. City officials and the Midtown Business Association (MBA) immediately tried to distance the Midtown Second Saturday Art Walk event and themselves from the unfortunate and preventable death of Vi

I am concerned about a proposed change regarding City Council meetings. Currently, people wishing to address the Council on items not on the agenda may address the council (for 2 minutes each) at the 6 PM start of the evening’s agenda. The Council has voted to move the open comment period back to the very end of the agenda-which is sometimes very late at night, and discourages people from bringing their issues before the elected body that is supposed to represent them. This action is directly targeted against Safe Ground’s homeless activists who have been speaking before the Council every week about the need for Safe Ground and yet another attempt to disenfranchise Safe Ground’s homeless a

Councilmember Pannell I received a phone voice message from Open Sacramento. I don't know how they received my phone number nor do I know how they received my email address. I never signed any attendance sheets for an event held by Open Sacramento that would contain my personal contact information. When I sign in to speak at city council sessions I provide both my email and phone number. I hope that information is not shared with others.  I do not like feeling strong armed into a Strong Mayor plan which I believe still has minimum community input. The voice message states, " Hi, This message is for Rhonda. My name is Eli and I'm calling on behalf of Open Sacramento. If you're in support

The first Concerts in the Park venue for July included four bands for the evening. The Sea of Bees, Chelsea Wolfe, Sister Crayon and the New Humans made up the line up for the evening. This was the first time I’ve seen or heard the Sea of Bees and I don’t remember seeing their name in the line-up for Friday’s show. The four member group played a very impressive set. Some members of the audience took to the dance floor and this continued through all sets. Chelsea Wolfe is another band I had not heard and their presence on stage was quite dramatic. Chelsea was dressed in mourning including a black veil that prevented the audience, or at least me, from getting a glimpse of her face. Their mu

 With the city budget and Mayor Kevin Johnson’s updated strong mayor proposal on the City Council’s agenda, the public is likely to see political fireworks at two meetings Tuesday. During the first meeting, at 915 I St. at 2 p.m. the City Council will discuss key issues related to the city’s budget for the 2010-2011 fiscal year. The city must settle a $43 million budget gap. Council members will consider whether to scale back proposed cuts to the city’s fire, parks and police departments. Read the report on some of the planned budget cuts here.  Another issue on the council’s afternoon agenda is the Utilities Department budget. Find information on that budget here.  The City Council wi

Saturday’s Sacramento Pride Festival kicked off with the 2010 Pride Parade starting from Southside Park (its previous destination). The parade moved from the park up 7th Street and ended up at 7th and Capitol. Attendance was estimated at 10,000 for the day. As with most other festivals food, merchandise, informational, and services booths were set up all around Capitol Mall from 3rd to 7th street. A children’s play area was set up in front of the Wells Fargo Offices. There were several stages set up for entertainment and announcements. Sacramento Mayor Johnson and other elected officials gave opening statements and the festival officially started after 11:00 a.m. The event seemed well org

Trying to Find Comic Relief in a somber City Council Budget Session During the June 10, 2010 City Council Session the atmosphere was bleak. Many of us were concerned of various different proposed cuts. City hall was filled to capacity. Across the board the lives of many are affected by the impact of an overwhelming city deficit. Employees are facing layoffs. City department budgets are cut. City residents are also feeling the impact, of the 43 million dollar budget deficit, as we lose many valued services. Youth and Senior services, which are already minimal, were struck with a blow. Parks and Community centers are closing. In fact out of 10 centers only 3 are scheduled to remain open.

Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel announced Wednesday he has withdrawn his candidacy for the chief of police job in Seattle. The 30-year veteran of the Sacramento force will get an 8 percent pay raise city officials said had been promised to him when he was hired. But Braziel said the extra $15,000 was not the deciding factor for him. Instead, he decided that living and working in Seattle would not make him and his family happier. He was able to make the decision only after getting far enough along in the process to get to know the city of Seattle and its leaders, including Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn, Braziel said. "I'm staying here. I love the (police) organization and I love this ci

Tuesday, I thought a discussion for the budget was scheduled. I rushed to cook dinner for my son and hurried off to city hall. When I arrived at city hall, to my surprise, there was a very long line. I patiently stood in the back of the line speaking with people around me to learn why they were at city hall. I was surrounded by lots of nice and interesting people. An officer would continuously come to the line and tell us we could fill out a speaker request and go to the overflow room whereas we could sit and not have to stand and wait. I chose to stay, stand and wait. I was enjoying hearing the people around me discuss their concerns. I wanted to go into the chambers to see more than t

 Thursday evening at the City Hall town meeting Mayor Kevin Johnson and the rest of the council members started off their agenda honoring the Sacramento Kings basketball player Omri Caspi. Caspi is the first Israeli born athlete to play in the NBA. There was a short but sweet video played showing some highlights of Caspi's first season as a professional. Then District 3 Councilman Steve Cohn presented Caspi with a recognition award. Well over two-thirds of the audience was there to witness Capsi being recognized not only for his basketball skills but for him being a big part of the jewish community here in Sacramento.  After a standing ovation for Capsi he said a few words of gratitude as

  Mayor Kevin Johnson announced STAND UP; a new initiative launched on Monday. A $500,000 grant will kick-start the first phase of the new nonprofit's development. It will focus on raising academic achievement and college completion rates by advocating, supporting, and developing excellent public schools. The seed money comes from a national philanthropy group, the Eli and Edythe Broad Foundation.  Mayor Johnson said he's looking for a new education liaison; someone who will work with STAND UP. Rumors and speculation has Michelle Rhee, lightening rod Chancellor of Washington DC Public Schools as a leading candidate. Rhee a nimble leader, has played a major role in the Education Reform mo

Letter in regards to Sacramento Steps Forward Initiative article: With all my heart I wanted to read the article and only see the good. With all my heart I wanted to not write anything negative towards such a positive step for this city. But in all honesty the article raised deep concerns and to avoid writing a long post I'm writing my concerns here. Is this a Step forward? When will a community begin to Take Steps Towards Healing??? I feel as though sometimes we takes steps and then we step on a treadmill and no longer move forward. I've addressed youth violence for many years. I've seen many "steps forward" which ended in people walking in reverse or walking on a treadmill. I've watche

Give a man a fish, and he can eat for a day; teach him how to fish, and he can eat for a lifetime. Words to live by and appearing to be the motto of Sacramento Press.. Recently I read the article "Is the Sacramento Press Fostering Civil Debate -- Or Encouraging Hate Speech?", written by Steven Maviglio.. Maviglio writes, "There's some good back-and-forth, and we agree to disagree without name-calling or insults or questions about our motivation. It's free speech -- the kind of debate that is good for this website and good for our city." I agree. The "back-and-forth" without insults or questions about our motivation is good. It is dialogue -- if we plan to only eat for a day, but many of

Sacramento-raised painter David Garibaldi delivered a poignant speech at Wednesday's "For Art's Sake" meeting. The 26-year-old thanked Mayor Kevin Johnson and the city for its support and guidance when he was growing up in Sacramento. While Garibaldi was a high school student interested in the arts, the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission recognized his potential and sent him to California State Summer School for the Arts on a full scholarship, he said. Garibaldi credited this and his high school art program with helping him redirect a creative fire that led him to graffiti the streets of Sacramento, inspiring him instead to become a performance artist. The "For Art's Sake" initiativ