A city plan to extend parking restrictions during Second Saturday has split opinion between Midtown residents who see the plan as a solution to some of their parking problems – and those who believe it will only create more. The proposal is to create a pilot program that extends the hours of “residential only” permit parking areas from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Second Saturdays, which have been a boon for Midtown businesses but an annoyance for some residents who have to share limited parking spaces with visitors. The pilot program wuold cover 16th Street to 29th Street, and the south side of G Street to the south side of I Street. If the response seems positive, the city would initiate a th

Grab your swimsuits and your goggles kids because it’s official: Southside Park Pool will be open this summer from June 16 through Labor Day. The pool has been closed since August 2010 when city funding for local pools ran out. The recent “Save Our Pools” campaign raised $1 million to keep six city pools open for another summer, but the Southside Park Pool was not on that list. When the pool reopens in June, it will be operated by the local YMCA organization instead of the city through an operating agreement that was approved Friday. Neighborhood leaders Catherine O’Brien and Alice Levine of the Southside Park Neighborhood Association worked closely with the YMCA and the city Parks and

Through the efforts of City of Sacramento Councilmember Rob Fong, the YMCA of Superior California, the City of Sacramento Parks and Recreation Department and the Southside Park Neighborhood Association, the Southside Park Community Pool will be open for swimmers this summer from June 16 through Labor Day. “This is a great example of community partners working toward a common goal that benefits our most important citizens: our kids,” said Councilmember Rob Fong. “Opening Southside Park Community Pool would not have happened this summer without YMCA’s commitment to this community.” Last year, Councilmember Fong initiated discussions with the YMCA when it was apparent the City would have t

Southside Park swimmers should know in the next week whether a bold new plan to reopen the Southside Park Pool succeeds – if it does, it will make for a cool summer for thousands of central city swimmers. The plan hinges on a new partnership between the city of Sacramento and the Sacramento YMCA where the YMCA will operate the pool and provide staff and maintenance all year. “If we can accomplish this, the Southside (Park) Pool will be open for business seven days a week,” City Councilman Rob Fong said. “It would be an amazing asset for the community again.” The new plan includes swim lessons, an aquatics program and open swim times at the pool for families and kids who are out of schoo

The candidates in the race for mayor didn’t pull any punches at a candidate forum Saturday at the County Administration Building, despite Mayor Kevin Johnson’s notable absence. Leonard Padilla, Jonathan Rewers and write-in candidate Edgar Hilbert-Garcia took the stage Saturday to answer questions from a panel of political media experts, including Foon Rhee and Pia Lopez from The Sacramento Bee, and Cosmo Garvin from the Sacramento News & Review. Johnson’s campaign manager told media in numerous interviews leading up to the forum that Johnson would not attend because the mayor faces “no viable candidates” in the race. Padilla dismissed the comment as “ridiculous,” while Rewers suggested

The candidates from all of the City Council district races, the mayoral race and two Board of Supervisors races will face off Saturday at a forum hosted by the League of Women Voters. One notable exception: Mayor Kevin Johnson is not scheduled to appear. According to Johnson’s campaign manager, Steve Maviglio, Johnson has “no need” to attend. “Given the large number of events the mayor has attended over the past year, and since none of his opponents are waging a real campaign against him, he chose not to participate in this event,” Maviglio said Friday. The news of Johnson’s planned absence came as no surprise to mayoral candidate Jonathan Rewers. “He’s not even campaigning,” Rewers s

Six of the seven candidates for council District 4 discussed the role of business and the value of art to the central city at a forum hosted by four business organizations Monday. The candidates – Steve Hansen, Phyllis Newton, Joe Yee, Michael Rehm, Terry Schanz and Neil Davidson – took the stage at the Cosmopolitan Cabaret Theatre on K Street Monday to answer a slew of questions about issues facing Sacramento’s recently reshaped District 4. Wendy Hoyt, local businesswoman and former president of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, moderated the forum. Hoyt noted that the central city is made up of variety of businesses and asked how the candidates would handle potential conflicts betw

With the introduction of the city budget to the City Council Tuesday, the specter of layoffs and the city’s negotiations with unions over pension plans will take center stage for the next few months – but some important fiscal nuggets could get overlooked. For example, of the 286 city employees expected to be laid off with the proposed budget, 11 of those are in the Community Development Department – which is responsible for building permits and inspections, code compliance, and long-range planning for development projects. Additional layoffs are slated for the Public Works department (which includes transportation and parking services) and the Parks and Recreation department. What will

Local officials are currently in the nation’s capital to lobby for federal support – and funding – for regional projects, pushing the City Council meeting to Thursday. “For me, it’s all about our levees,” City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said. “I’m doing all I can to keep the conversation going (about funding) here in Washington.” Ashby represents an area of the city where levee work is needed to improve flood control, but projects have stalled due to lack of federal funding. City Council members Jay Schenirer, Steve Cohn, Bonnie Pannell and Ashby and City Manager John Shirey left Sacramento Friday with the Cap-to-Cap program, organized by the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce. Whi

With the arena deal off the table, the focus of the most recent District 4 candidate forum shifted to a variety of non-arena issues, including curbing urban sprawl and how to handle homelessness in the central city. Five of the seven candidates vying for Rob Fong’s District 4 City Council seat met at the Ethel Hart Senior Center in Midtown for Monday’s forum hosted by the Neighborhood Advisory Group. This was the third opportunity that candidates Phyllis Newton, Steve Hansen, Terry Schanz, Joe Yee and David Turturici have participated in since joining the race for the council seat. At the previous forums, discussion topics typically centered on the proposed entertainment and sports comp

City officials had the last word of the day Friday on the failed arena deal between the city and the owners of the Sacramento Kings – and that word was “disappointed.” “We are profoundly disappointed that the entertainment and sports complex project is not moving forward,” City Manager John Shirey said Friday. “We had great hopes, and there was great jubilation just a few weeks ago that a deal had been struck.” Assistant City Manager John Dangberg and City Councilmen Rob Fong and Steve Cohn joined Shirey for an impromptu press conference Friday in response to the sudden failure of a deal between the city, the Maloofs, arena operator AEG and the NBA to build a new arena in Sacramento. “T

David Turturici is one City Council candidate who said he refuses to drink the arena "Kool-Aid” because he thinks it’s a bad deal for the city. Instead, he wants to see Sacramento use its resources on shoring up basic services – especially public safety – to get the city headed toward being more livable. “The Kings are part of the city culture, but they’re not the only thing,” Turturici said Wednesday. “To gather up everything we can find to spend trying to keep them here is unconscionable.” Turturici, an estate planning attorney who moved to Sacramento from the Stockton area in 2000, is running for the City Council District 4 seat. He said he never considered running for a political of

Don’t be surprised if it feels like everyone from Mayor Kevin Johnson to the head of the Parks Department is on Twitter or Facebook – it’s one of the reasons Sacramento was recently ranked one of the top 10 social media-savvy city governments in the nation. The University of Illinois study released March 22 ranked Sacramento ninth among 75 major U.S. cities based on the level of civic engagement the city government has to offer. Criteria for the study included how accessible city officials are to residents and how easily residents can get information about services and neighborhoods, the study states. “Huge growth in the use of social media has been seen in the past two years,” said Kim

Neil Davidson said he starting wondering why so few people get involved in city government, so he’s leading the way by getting involved himself – by running for the City Council. Davidson, 35, joins a large field of candidates running for the City Council District 4 seat. A computer programmer by trade, Davidson said his penchant for wringing out answers from complex problems sets him apart from other candidates. “I really dig into information and data,” Davidson said Thursday. “I like to find ways to solve problems and make things work from the standpoint of number crunching.” Davidson said that, as a member of the City Council, he would want to focus on the financial aspects of city

As the overhaul of the McKinley Park Rose garden nears its May completion date, a neighborhood group is preparing to take control of the garden and events in the park – along with the profit and benefits that go with it. To date, the city has spent nearly $300,000 on refurbishing and upgrading the popular East Sacramento rose garden, including irrigation system improvements, new walkways and benches and a new entry sign. The City Council unanimously voted in favor of a five-year license agreement Tuesday between the city of Sacramento and local nonprofit organization Friends of East Sacramento for maintenance and control of the McKinley Park Rose Garden. The group will also assume respo

Water and sewer rates will head skyward for Sacramento residents after July 1 – and will continue rising for three years – as the city tries to raise revenue needed to pay for infrastructure improvements. City Council members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn, Rob Fong, Jay Schenirer, Kevin McCarty and Darrell Fong voted in favor of the rate increases, which were recommended by the Utilities Rate Commission and the city Department of Utilities. City Councilwomen Sandy Sheedy and Bonnie Pannell were opposed. “Our current water rates are among the lowest in the region, in the state and in the nation,” City Manager John Shirey said Tuesday, “and they will remain that way with the proposed rate i

Local attorney Michael Rehm said he is running for the District 4 City Council seat because he sees it as an opportunity to make a difference in the city that his family has called home for nearly 100 years. “I’ve worked extremely hard to get to this point, and I don’t take anything I’ve been blessed with for granted,” Rehm said Friday. “I think I can help a lot of people – not just in District 4, but in the whole city.” Rehm, 33, grew up in Land Park as a third-generation Sacramentan. He has been a practicing attorney in both California and New York since passing both state bar exams in 2006, and he now has a private legal practice in Land Park. Rehm said his courtroom experience has g

All seven official District 4 City Council candidates came together Wednesday to discuss issues that impact Sacramento its neighborhoods, including the arena, new bridges and bike lanes on Freeport Boulevard. Nearly 100 people attended the candidate forum hosted by the Land Park Community Association at California Middle School – including Sacramento City Unified School District Board Member Patrick Kennedy and former Sacramento Mayor Anne Rudin. One of the larger issues discussed was the proposed entertainment and sports complex. “We don’t know that it’s a bad deal yet. We don’t know that it’s a good deal yet – it’s uncertain,” candidate Phyllis Newton said. “I believe that a rising t

The City Council approved a $1.2 million loan from the city Housing Authority Tuesday for renovation of one of 10 residential hotels located in downtown Sacramento – a project that will result in 22 studio apartments for low- to very-low-income residents. The four-story, 58-unit Ridgeway Hotel, at 914 12th St., was built in 1921 and renovated in 1987, according to a report from the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. “It has been vacant and boarded up for the past several years,” Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency Executive Director La Shelle Dozier said Tuesday. “It was designed in an old style with small units that had to share bathrooms and kitchens. It’s really in n

The Sacramento City Clerk’s Office released the final ballot list of candidates for the June City Council elections Thursday, showing crowded fields for the District 2 and 4 races – and some expected candidates not appearing on the final ballot. Mayor Kevin Johnson will face three contenders in the race for his seat: bounty hunter Leonard Padilla, insurance broker Richard Jones, and Parks and Recreation Commission member Jonathan Rewers. Padilla has run for mayor four times before, most recently in the 2008 race against then-Mayor Heather Fargo and Johnson. Two candidates who filed for candidacy in the mayoral race – Edgar Hilbert-Garcia and Andrew Lewis – did not qualify for the ballot