Neighborhood Advisory Group members expressed concern about the growing number of social services centers – and the type of people they attract – within the Alkali Flat, Mansion Flats and Boulevard Park neighborhoods at the NAG meeting Monday night. A new Goodwill drop center is planned for the corner of 16th and G streets and none of the speakers at the meeting were in favor of the new development. Members said that these drop centers are often neglected and become a hub for vagrants. Martha Domjanovic, a Midtown resident and representative for the Washington Park Neighborhood Association, shared her concerns at the meeting with the lack of knowledge she had of the proposed Goodwill dro

After operating for nearly two decades, what may be the last meeting of the Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) will take place this Monday.   NAG started out as a meeting of concerned central city residents meeting in private homes.   Eventually a partnership with the city was formed through Neighborhood Services/Code Enforcement under Max Fernandes.   Neighborhood Services has continued to work with NAG publishing and distributing the NAG agenda that was created each month by the independent and volunteer NAG agenda committee.  Neighborhood Services also serves as a conduit between the agenda committed for city entities that wanted to present at NAG and city endities that the agenda commi

The city’s Neighborhood Services Division is on the chopping block again this year after it lost its status as a department in last year’s budget cuts. In June, the City Council is expected to make major cuts to close out the city’s $39 million budget gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. The Neighborhood Services Division, which links neighborhoods to city issues and events and works with residents on local concerns, could lose two full-time employee positions to budget cuts. While two positions may seem like a low number, the division has only seven employees, according to Vincene Jones, Neighborhood Services manager. In last year’s budget process, the Neighborhood Services Department be

Anyone in the city can use the city’s online tools to carve up the eight City Council districts and present their redistricting ideas to city leaders. The mapmaking tool for the 2011 redistricting process is free to use, and the city welcomes maps from residents. Maps developed and submitted by citizens will be shared with the City Council, the council’s redistricting advisory committee and the general public, said Maria MacGunigal, the city’s Geographic Information Systems manager. Every decade, the city rearranges its council districts by applying U.S. Census data.The reordered districts should all have the same population, according to city staff. “The primary objective of redistric

The Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) will meet this Monday 3/21/2011.  This month's meeting will focus on Second Saturday and Midtown Nightlife issues.  There are changes being made to Second Saturday as was reported by Suzanne Hurt on SacPress.  This is partially in response to the shooting death and injuries that occurred in the early morning hours of September 12, 2011.   This presentation is a followup to a meeting on September 25,2010 Second Saturday and Midtown Nightlife issue meetings tend to have a very high turnout.  If you want to sit up close, come early. The Agenda Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) March 2011 Agenda In Partnership with the City of Sacramento Neig

Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) November 2010 Agenda In Partnership with the City of Sacramento Neighborhood Services Division Monday, November 15, 2010, 6:15 to 8:30 p.m., Hart Senior Center, 915 27th Street Tonight’s facilitator: Gerald Celestine, Capitol Area R Street Association (caRsa) and Friends of Fremont Park 6:15 Complimentary pizza and soft drinks courtesy of Sacramento Deal Ticket 6:30 Welcome and Introductions 6:35 Area 1 Police Department Activity Report             Lt. Mike Bray, Police Department 6:45 East End Gateway Site 4  Tom Kigar, Development Director, Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA)  Learn about the three development proposals for the site

 Some Midtown residents are concerned that Sacramento’s urban forest will get the ax from budget cuts. Midtown resident Karen Jacques raised the issue at Monday night’s Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting by filing a request for a response from the city of Sacramento on the possible laying off of Sacramento’s experienced tree maintenance staff. Jacques said she has heard that maintenance staff is at risk of being laid off, and she said she fears the loss that will represent to the upkeep of the numerous trees in the city. “This issue is at least grid-wide, and it may be Central City-wide,” Jacques said. “What I’m asking of urban forest staff is that they look at their budget prio

The city’s development department will face a culture change, according to Sacramento Interim City Manager Gus Vina. Employees at the Community Development Department will go through a re-training process, Vina told residents Monday at a Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting in Midtown. The development department has been immersed in controversies in recent months. Employees will be informed about the results of a third-party audit when it is complete, Vina said. An outside firm is examining claims that the department let developers sidestep fee payments to the city. “All the employees need to be very aware of the audit findings” and the culture for the department that the city wants, Vi

Should the Neighborhood Advisory Group change its name to avoid the acronym “NAG”? That’s one of the questions neighborhood activists raised at Monday’s NAG meeting. Sacramento neighborhood leaders are mulling possible changes to the functions of their community group, as well as engaging in a more light-hearted discussion of their name. But it’s not like the neighbors didn’t realize the humor in the acronym. Margaret Buss of the Boulevard Park Neighborhood Association explained the name to other neighborhood leaders at the NAG meeting, which was held at the Hart Senior Center in Midtown. The group’s acronym was “definitely tongue-in-cheek,” she said, while its full name was formal. “

Sacramento city officials hope to release the draft city budget before 4 p.m. on Friday, said city spokeswoman Amy Williams. The city is facing a $40-$43 million budget gap, according to an estimate provided earlier this month from Interim City Manager Gus Vina. Williams said the city releases the draft budget on May 1 each year. This year the city will release it the day before May 1. She said the city’s charter dictates the timeline for the budget release. The charter calls for the city manager to issue budget recommendations at least 60 days ahead of July 1. City Councilman Steve Cohn said last month at a Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting that he expects major cuts to city parks. 

Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn is predicting deep budget cuts to local parks this year in light of the city’s $35 million-$40 million budget gap for the 2010/2011 fiscal year. Cohn’s worries about new cuts come after the city cut the Parks and Recreation Department by $8.3 million last year. “I fear that the cutbacks in parks will actually be more severe this year,” Cohn told a handful of neighborhood leaders gathered at Hart Senior Center Monday night. Cohn, who presented information about his district at the Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting, said the city may look for ways to work with neighborhoods and the business community to maintain the parks. “As we all know, most of

 Mayor Kevin Johnson talked to residents about local issues including homelessness Monday night. Johnson spoke at a Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting at the Hart Senior Center in Midtown. He told residents about remarks President Barack Obama made in Washington, D.C. last week. During a trip last week to attend the U.S. Conference of Mayors in D.C., Johnson heard Obama make comments on regional economies and sustainability, Johnson said. Obama also stressed the importance of communities in neighborhoods, according to Johnson. Johnson said he learned from Obama’s remarks that local economies need to have a regional focus and that environmental sustainability will be critical to infras

The staffers at the Sacramento Neighborhood Services Department are exactly the kind of people who will greet you with a root beer float. In a break between two shifts of hosting neighbors and providing root beer floats on Thursday, Neighborhood Services Department Director Vincene Jones talked with The Sacramento Press. The department, which works with residents to address issues in Sacramento communities, held an open house at its new digs at City Hall. Jones explained her priorities and also addressed the city’s recent budget cuts. In response to cuts, the department laid off an analyst and a neighborhood resources coordinator. The layoffs shrunk the size of the department to a staff

Does the neighborhood association that represents Midtown reflect the opinions of most Midtown residents? Shawn Eldredge doesn’t think so. Eldredge, a construction contractor and former candidate for mayor, brought 17 residents with him to a Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) meeting Monday to make the point that Midtown includes residents who support the events, festivals and entertainment being held in the neighborhood. Eldredge said that in the last 10 years, he’s been the “lone voice” at NAG meetings in favor of Midtown and downtown as locations for public events and businesses. He noted that he was not trying to be confrontational with NAG members, saying that he was not trying to l

Last Night's NAG proves to be informative and contentious. Last night's Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) meeting started off with a low key police report and not much news on issue updates. The general plan goes to City Council for review on March 3rd. There will be a session of the Preservation Roundtable on March 14th, The primary announcement was the merger of Marshall School Neighborhood Association and the adjoining New Era Park Neighborhood Association. A presentation by Doug Huston a Program Analyst with the Solid Waste Division on E-Waste removal was the first agenda item. The city has programs to collect batteries, cfls and other florescent lights that can not go into land fil

NAG stands for Neighborhood Advisory Group and is a group of concerned citizens who meets to talk about their concerns with Neighborhood Services Area 1 of the City of Sacramento. Each night starts out with a police update. This week's update was presented by Lt. Mike Bray of the Sacramento Police Department. The top three issues brought up were: Several instances of cat burgluary in the downtown region Graffiti, "KKK" spray painted on several buildings downtown Copper theft   Charles Ortner then presented about police coverage of several entertainment venues in Midtown. The police coverage is being paid for by the businesses themselves at $68/hr per officer. The presence of these