The push to put a city parking lease to a vote fell flat Tuesday as the City Council rejected a motion to put the question on the June ballot. It was City Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy who first suggested in November that the voters should have a say in whether the city leases its parking inventory to an outside company. She conducted a city-wide poll on her website in October, which indicated that 70 percent of respondents favored a public vote on a potential 50-year lease, according to Sheedy. “The (arena) plan hinges on leasing the city’s parking for 50 years,” Sheedy said Tuesday. “I think such a massive public investment warrants a public vote.” Still, after almost an hour of public d

In the the wake of the City Council’s 5-4 vote Tuesday blocking the strong mayor initiative from going to the November ballot, police union leaders halted labor contract discussions with City Hall. Mark Tyndale, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association told City Manager John Shirey in an email just hours after the final council vote that he was “suspending all discussions between the city and the SPOA negotiations team.” After voting down the strong mayor initiative, council members approved a ballot measure to create an elected 15-member charter reform commission.  Calling the cost of a charter commission “fiscally irresponsible,” Tyndale said in the email that he “can’t

Charter reform will be an item on the November ballot, but not in the form of a strong mayor initiative. Instead, voters will be asked if they want to elect a 15-member commission to review the city charter. After more than 20 people spoke on the topic during public comment, the City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday to reject putting the Checks and Balances Act of 2012 – the strong mayor initiative – to a public vote in November. Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell were the majority votes. Council members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn, Jay Schenirer and Mayor Kevin Johnson each voted in favor of the measure  no . Two governance-related consider

On Sunday morning at the University of California, Davis Mondavi Center, Kevin O’Connor, Slater Penney, Christine Germain and Emily Leap led two free workshops on rope climbing, juggling, building human pyramids and using the trapeze. Each 90-minute workshop accommodated 60 very lucky participants ranging from age 4 to adult. More than 300 people could not be accommodated. Kevin O’Connor, an MFA choreography candidate and graduate of the National Circus School of Montreal, was the event’s organizer. O’Connor invited three other trained professionals to lead the four simultaneous workshops sponsored by the new UC Davis Institute for Exploration in Theatre, Dance and Performance. The morn

The possible human rights violations of the local homeless was a main topic of Mayor Kevin Johnson’s press conference Tuesday. The conference was held to announce the expansion of Bank on Sacramento, a collaboration between local nonprofit organizations, banks and credit unions, to help people receive low-cost accounts and financial advice. Despite the announcement, the topic of homeless rights were heavily discussed. Catarina De Albuquerque, a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, recently sent a four-page memo to warn Johnson about the possible violation. The current policy of removing the homeless from tent cities denies the homeless safe drinking water and sanitation, wh

Photographs are an important part of storytelling and can often tell a story on their own. After a brief workshop hiatus, our first Sacramento Press workshop for 2012 will be on photojournalism. (The Journalism Open workshop wasn't a typical workshop for us.) John Hernandez will teach an introductory photojournalism workshop from 6:30 - 8 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21 at the Sacramento Press office called "Introduction to Photojournalism." Hernandez is a Sacramento-based photographer. He has professional experience in wedding, portrait and social documentary photography as well as various multimedia platforms, including audio slideshows. He has freelanced for ABS-CBN, a Filipino American news ch

Q. What’s going on at the Law Library? There is yellow caution tape across the stairs to the second floor, which is closed to the public, and there’s a whole lot of banging and clanging going on up there! Ted D. A. Sorry about the noise and disruption, Ted! We’re doing our best to keep it quiet, but the sound you hear coming from the second floor is the result of having workers dismantle our rather large shelving units--we’re preparing for our move to a new facility about two blocks on the other side of the courthouse. The Law Library and Civil Self-Help Center will be closed starting at noon on Friday February 10. We expect to open in our new location at 609 9th Street (corner of 9th &

The Del Paso Boulevard corridor between Globe and Baxter avenues will be getting a makeover this summer in a $1.5 million dollar streetscape project set to begin in May. The project will include safety improvements at intersections and new on-street parking to the 1000-block of Del Paso Boulevard, according to city Department of Transportation Assistant Engineer Matthew Johns. The city received federal community development grant funds in 2009 to construct streetscape improvements between Arden Way and State Route 160. Before construction could begin, the project had to go through various stages of planning, design and environmental review. The project got the final go-ahead from the Ci

Big Miracle Directed by Ken Kwapis One film this week has noteworthy political content and the most surprising thing is which film it is. From a casual distance, “Big Miracle” looks like a very generic animal rescue story, essentially “Free Willy” x2.5, as assorted people try to help two adults and one juvenile whale escape from behind an ice barrier in the Beaufort Sea. It’s based on a true story of an event that captured national attention in 1988, and the film makes use of news footage from that period, with every major network anchor commenting on the situation as it unfolds. It also embellishes the story with various formulaic characters and circumstances, including a love story, a

When it comes to talking about how to run a city, local developer and City Council District 6 candidate Jon Bagatelos is all business. Bagatelos, co-owner of Bagatelos Architectural Glass Systems and Bagatelos Development, LLC, was recruited to join the City Council race by business, community and public safety groups who are “tired of the way things are going with the city,” Bagatelos, 44, said Wednesday. Bagatelos has not officially filed notice of his candidacy, but said he expects to select a campaign manager within the next couple of weeks. He will be running against incumbent Kevin McCarty for the City Council District 6 seat. One of the main reasons he decided to consider the cou