Much has been written about Gus Vina in the press over the past 14 months. After becoming Sacramento’s interim city manager, Vina faced a multitude challenges on various fronts. Budgets shortfalls, permit controversies, and varying levels of support from the City Council were just some of the hurdles Vina had to bear. In the end, Vina tendered his resignation, effective today. I met with him late Wednesday afternoon as he finished cleaning out his office to talk about his time as interim city manager, his plans going forward and the possible future of Sacramento. Here’s what we spoke about: Isaac Gonzalez: You took the position of interim city manager after Ray Kerridge resigned in Febru

The Friday, January 21st hearing at which development firm Petrovich Development planned to request a permit from the City of Sacramento to remove Heritage Trees from his Curtis Park Village site has been cancelled until a future date. The postponement is the  result of a meeting arranged between Sacramento Councilmember Jay Schenirer and members of the Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association (SCNA) on the evening of January 19th. Representatives of SCNA’s Neighborhood Concerns Committee who attended the meeting are encouraged about what transpired, and feel that what was agreed upon and what is still being discussed amounts to good news for trees at the future site of the development proj

A Capitol NewsLink camera was outside Grocery Outlet at 1700 Capitol Ave early Thursday afternoon as a steady stream of potential customers waited outside the closed doors. One unsigned city permit apparently was holding up the well publicized opening scheduled for 7 a.m. Shortly after noon a crowd of about 50 to 70 had gathered while officials from the Berkley based Grocery Outlet were on hand to answer questions from the eclectic crowd ranging from seniors to state workers, local residents and a couple of vocal street people. As our camera left a promise of snacks and drinks was offered to quell a mild sense of unease in the crowd with negative comments being directly toward the City's B

I feel compelled to confess this simple truth: I love Target.  My Wife and I shop there all the time, not to say we shop excessively. We both think of ourselves as modest and frugal, and we rely on their affordable prices to get the products we need regularly: food, clothes, and household goods.   We loath Wal-Mart, and at the same time, I realize it is completely hypocritical to give Target a free pass,  since they too are a large faceless multinational corporation, easily vivified.  I also realize that this is not a perfect world, and we’ve all got to make our own way in it.  That being said since I heard that a new Target Store was going  to be built in walking distance from my front do

The City Council will discuss Tuesday a new version of a permitting program that became part of the recent debate over the Nestlé’s company’s move to Sacramento. The city shuttered its Facilities Permit Program Oct. 27 to investigate whether the program breaks laws. City Attorney Eileen Teichert declared recently that the FPP was being used illegally because the city was not directing builders to obtain formal building permits before starting construction work, according to David Kwong, the city’s acting planning division director. The previous version of the FPP offered businesses -- those that worked with the city on an ongoing basis -- a way to receive quick approval for tenant improv