The District 2 City Council candidates gathered at the Sacramento Urban League over the weekend where they faced a new topic of discussion. And it wasn’t the death of the arena deal. Last Thursday, the City released its proposed 2012-2013 budget. The proposed budget eliminates 286 jobs, many of which are public safety positions. That didn’t sit well with the candidates. “No I don’t support those (cuts)” said candidate and former city councilmember Rob Kerth when asked about the cuts to public safety. “Those are fundamental city services.” “No, I do not support the budget cuts to cut police and fire services,” said Kim Mack. “One life is lost, one home is lost; they (the cuts) are not

What does a 12-year City Council veteran do when she decides it’s time to step away from the dais and not run for a fourth term? That was the question Sandy Sheedy asked herself in December – and the answer might come as a surprise to some. “I plan to retire,” Sheedy said Monday. “I’m going to enjoy doing things with my family and – if I feel like it – doing nothing at all.” During her years on the City Council, Sheedy has been involved in a number of projects that she is proud of – but faced some challenges, too. Sondra Betancourt, one of the candidates for the District 2 council seat, said Monday that Sheedy has worked on a number of public improvement projects – but, whether they hav

Sacramento's best storytellers will be entertaining at the very first Spring into Stories festival on Saturday, April 21. From 10am to 10pm, Carol's Books at 1913 Del Paso Boulevard will feature stories, music, poetry, dance, juggling, food and more. The all-day entertainment includes a Story Slam, a Liar's Contest, Kids' Place, Spoken Word, and cultural performances. A story concert begins at 7pm. All events are free, with a suggested donation of $5 during the reception and story concert. The program is “a must for the entire family” according to Angela James of Fenix Drum and Dance. The festival is sponsored by Carol’s Books and Fenix Drum and Dance Company, Sacramento's premier West A

Award-winning British children's book author Caroline Lawrence will be visiting the Del Paso Heights Library (920 Grand Avenue in North Sacramento) on Wednesday, April 25. She will be attending the Friends of the Library meeting and potluck beginning at noon, which is open to anyone interested in supporting the library. A book talk follows at 1:30pm. Later that day, she will be visiting the McClatchy Library (at 22nd & U Streets downtown) 6:30-7:30pm for another lively discussion. All events are free. Ms. Lawrence is the author of the juvenile historical fiction series Roman Mysteries, which has been made into a CBBC TV series in the UK. The thrilling book series has won several awards a

The Del Paso Boulevard Partnership is hosting its 3rd annual Spring Carnival on The Boulevard from Wednesday, April 4, to Sunday, April 8. It will be held in the Rite Aid/O'Reilly Auto Parts Lot at Del Paso Blvd. and El Camino Ave. in North Sacramento from 3pm to 10pm Wednesday-Friday and 10am to 11pm Saturday and Sunday. Carnival attendees can enjoy rides, games, corn dogs, cotton candy, and other fun. Proceeds of the event go to the Del Paso Boulevard Partnership Foundation. Their website (with information on the carnival and other events) is http://dpbpartnership.com.

The Neighborhood Services/Special Events Division of the City of Sacramento will hold their first in a series of quarterly Community Partnership Meetings on Monday, January 9, 2012 at the South Natomas Community Center at 6:30pm. The meetings are held to facilitate broad communication between the City and the community on issues, policies & priorities. Top discussion topics include a presentation by the Department of Utilities regarding proposed water and sewer rate changes. Utilities has provided their own outreach through Rate Workshops and the "Your Utilities, Your Voice" website. Another top discussion topic is the update to the Special Events Ordinance, particularly changes regardi

The North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce is co-sponsoring an evening of networking and fun with the Midtown Business Association on Thursday, May 19th at the new offices of the Sacramento News and Review, located at 1124 Del Paso Boulevard, in the heart of Uptown Sacramento.  SN&R dear leader Jeff Von Kaenel has promised tours of the entire facility every half hour, and added the enticement of having your picture taken and placed on a mock cover of the magazine!  Food and drinks will be provided, with assistance from the Del Paso Partnership.  Many local raffle prizes will be offered, including dinner at Entotria Cafe and Wine Bar, a publicity portrait session from Austin's Uptown Studio

Close to 150 people braved the rain Saturday afternoon and came to the Hagginwood Community Center for the dedication of the Grantland Johnson Soccer Field. “It’s quite an honor, I must tell you,” said Grantland Johnson to the crowd crammed inside the lobby of the community center. A native resident of Sacramento’s Del Paso Heights neighborhood, Johnson graduated from Grant High School where he played for the Pacers football team. He received his B.A. Degree from Sacramento State in Government and later received honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters from both Sacramento State and Golden Gate University. “I would not be the person I am today, had I not grown up in this great community of

City Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy, along with the Hagginwood community, will be gathering Saturday in honor of a new soccer field recently constructed in Hagginwood Park. The soccer field will be named after Grantland Johnson, a former city councilman and county supervisor representing all of North Sacramento. “We’re expecting about 60-100 people will show up,” said Jim Cones, director for Sacramento’s Parks and Recreation Department. “Recently we had a grand opening of a park in North Sacramento, and there were several hundred people.” Cones said the plan to implement the soccer field came from a survey that was conducted in 2008. “Some of the parks in the city were not as safe as they s

The Sacramento Planning Commission gave the green light to plans to re-zone parts of North Sacramento to attract future development. The commission made a recommendation, Thursday night, to the City Council to vote on plans that will allow for more commercial development near a Regional Transit line. City staff formally refer to the plans as the Northeast Line Implementation Plan. Areas near a light rail line that has stations at Globe Avenue and Del Paso Blvd, and at Arden Way and Del Paso Blvd, are the focus of the proposals. The city’s plans also cite areas around Royal Oaks Drive and Arden Way. The City Council is expected to vote on the plans next month. The commissioners approved

Trash, hypodermic needles and pornographic magazines litter a two-mile stretch of the American River Parkway in North Sacramento, and longtime advocate for the area Bob Slobe has seen enough. “If you saw the devastation in the park, you’d go, ‘I can’t believe someone would let this happen,’ ” Slobe said. He said the problem is due to illegal homeless camping in the area. Slobe’s family owned the portion of the park, which stretches from Del Paso Boulevard and Northgate to Cal Expo, through its company, the North Sacramento Land Company, from 1910 - 1989. As a park, he said it should be a place where families can go for recreation, but it’s no place he would envision taking kids.

Skating has returned to Del Paso Boulevard Iceland Ice Skating Rink re-opened today to skaters for the first time since burning down in March 2010. “Such a journey from March until now,” said Terrie Kerth, whose family built the rink in the late 1930s. “So many volunteers who have helped, so many people who care about skating and thanks to them, we’re open.” “Still lots of work to do, but we can skate.” Iceland has played host to ice-skating, ice hockey, and ice shows. Former President and California Governor Ronald Regan skated at the facility, as did former boxer Max Baer. The facility burned down last March following a private party, but the primary structure remained intact. Sinc

Iceland's outdoor skating rink is expected to open Saturday after more than two months of delays. The landmark North Sacramento ice rink was all but destroyed by an arsonist last spring. The Kerth family, now operating Iceland as a nonprofit, and volunteers worked to reopen the rink – without a roof and many other amenities – by the facility's 70th anniversary on Nov. 4. The opening was delayed after family members learned they needed a special permit from the city Planning Commission. The Kerths will open a temporary rink at 1430 Del Paso Blvd. this weekend if city building inspectors approve handicapped-accessible ramps Thursday, said Midtown Business Association Executive Director Rob

The first organized group in Sacramento to march in Martin Luther King Jr.’s honor did so in January, 1981. At 9 a.m. Jan. 17, 30 years later, more than 10,000 are expected to gather at Grant High School, Sacramento City College and Oak Park Community Center to march for civil rights and social justice in the MLK365 March. “This march in a real sense is a way of dramatizing the needs of our generation, coming up with a whole set of values that meet the needs of people today,” said event spokesman Sam Starks. “We will march until we bring into existence those things.” The march is a celebration of King’s work and the work of all who participated in the civil rights movement, but it is als

The opening of the remodeled Iceland skating rink in North Sacramento was approved unanimously by the City Council on Tuesday. The ice skating rink, which an arsonist burned down last spring, could reopen as early as Saturday, or on Christmas at the latest, according to Rob Kerth, the grandson of the couple who founded the rink. He commented on the city permit the City Council approved Tuesday night. “Iceland has the right to operate as an indoor facility at that location,” Kerth said after the council’s vote. “It doesn’t have the right to operate as an outdoor facility. What (the City Council) gave us was a three-year permit to operate as an outdoor facility. Within three years, we eit

The city is changing the way it manages illegally dumped garbage after the city attorney’s office found that the city’s old program might have broken state law. The City Council agreed on Tuesday to make the city’s code division responsible for the city’s illegal dumping program, meaning the Utilities Department will no longer handle it. City Attorney Eileen Teichert’s office found that the city’s funding system for the program may have violated Proposition 218. That state law says that utilities fees from ratepayers must correspond to the costs of delivering the utilities services. “The city attorney’s office has determined that under Prop. 218, garbage rate revenues may not be used to

The North Sacramento Land Company celebrated 100 years in business Thursday, reflecting on its humble roots in 1910 before North Sacramento was even incorporated. “We’ve survived the Wall Street crash and a few other recessions and a couple of wars, so that’s a feat in itself,” said Bob Slobe, the company’s president. “We’ve always been a reasonably small company, and some of that has to do with our involvement and giving back to the community.” That involvement was celebrated Thursday at the California State Railroad Museum when artifacts were presented to museum officials dating back to the very inception of the museum. Bob’s mother and then-president of the company, Carolyn Slobe, wa

A fascinating new book about North Sacramento will have it’s exclusive premier at a special event scheduled for Thursday evening, September 16th at 1616 Del Paso Blvd. from 5:30 until 7:30PM. This free event will feature a talk and visual presentation by the author, Veronica Ehrenreich-Risner, a librarian and professor at CSUS who has worked for the past 3 years to assemble this stirring volume of vintage imagery, and will allow time for questions and answers, as well as a book signing. This will be the first opportunity to purchase this latest title in the “Images of America” series from the county’s leading publisher of local and regional history books. Relive this exciting time when a

Three community centers will close Nov. 1 if nonprofit groups are not interested in managing them, said Parks and Recreation Department Director Jim Combs. City officials are looking for groups to run the Southside Clubhouse at Southside Community Park, Robertson Community Center in North Sacramento, and Elmo Allen Slider Clubhouse near Power Inn Road. Without help from nonprofits, these centers will shut down in November, according to Combs. However, the centers would be open for rentals, he said. The city also wants a nonprofit to operate two rooms at George Sim Community Center on Logan Street. Summer programs were held at Robertson and George Sim centers, among other locations. For

The Greens Hotel – an ecologically friendly boutique hotel in North Sacramento – was listed for sale on loopnet.com on the first week in May with an asking price of $1.4 million by owner Dan Friedlander. Friedlander said Monday he has received three "solid offers," but he's not sure if he will accept any of them, adding that he prefers to have the hotel managed by someone who will take it forward in the same vein. After about a decade in the works and a mere two years in operation, Friedlander – who is from Sacramento but lives in San Francisco – said being an absentee landowner visiting the site once every two or three weeks is just not working out. “I thought I could do it, but it jus