Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "robbie waters"

City officials here today, gone tomorrow

2010-12-23T22:18:39Z

The past year was a big one for resignations, promotions and elections of Sacramento city officials. Twelve personnel changes took place at City Hall involving elected and appointed leaders and city staffers in 2010.

A major change was in the city manager position, which was replete with drama and press conferences.

When former City Manager Ray Kerridge resigned in March, the city was wrestling with a host of issues. The Sacramento County Grand Jury had released a report in January saying the city may have broken state law Proposition 218. Utilities fees from ratepayers must correspond to the costs of delivering the utilities services, the law states.

At the same time, the city was dealing with a sticky situation over building permits that a staffer in the Community Development Department gave to a housing developer. The feds had barred the city from giving out permits in that area.

On top of that headache, more concerns with the development department had cropped up, such as claims that the department didn’t collect developer fees and even accusations of “potential quid pro quo,” according to a Jan. 26 report from the offices of the city manager and city attorney.

There were controversies surrounding Kerridge’s decision to resign. Mayor Kevin Johnson said a negative attitude among other council members in part caused Kerridge to pack his bags. Johnson held a press conference in which he described Kerridge as a “great talent.” Councilman Robbie Waters voiced support for Kerridge at Johnson’s press conference. Kerridge was also popular among businesspeople, who said he created a customer-service environment at the development department.

When Kerridge left Sacramento City Hall, he said he intended to take a job in the private sector. But he was picked up by Roseville in May to be its next city manager.

Shortly before Kerridge resigned, former development department director Bill Thomas resigned. Thomas and Kerridge had worked together in both the cities of Portland and Sacramento.

Responding to Kerridge’s resignation, the City Council promoted Gus Vina, who was an assistant city manager, to be interim city manager in March.

Max Fernandez, the former head of code enforcement for the city, was promoted to be the director of the development department in early July. With Vina and Fernandez in charge, the development department is undergoing a remodel to tighten its procedures.

The city auditor’s office faced a year of changes, as well. The City Council hired Jorge Oseguera to be the new city auditor in March, after that spot had been vacant for almost one year.

Oseguera hired deputy auditor Gerald Silva in March, but Silva resigned in July. Silva resigned after The Sacramento Press asked him to comment on a sexual harassment dispute that involved him when he served as the city auditor of San Jose.

It wasn’t just the city manager and development director positions that were in upheaval in 2010 – a big shake-up also occurred on the City Council.

Council incumbents Ray Tretheway and Robbie Waters both lost to newcomers in June, while Councilwoman Lauren Hammond didn’t run for reelection.

New councilwoman Angelique Ashby took Ray Tretheway’s District 1 seat in June, but two runoffs were required for the District 5 and District 7 seats. The runoffs featured newbies in both cases – the incumbents had already lost in June.

Darrell Fong won his District 7 runoff battle against candidate Ryan Chin, while Jay Schenirer beat opponent Patrick Kennedy in the November runoff for District 5.

Photos of Tretheway, Vina and Fernandez by Kathleen Haley. Photo of Kerridge by Anthony Bento. Photo of Ashby by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City Hall: The year in scandals

2010-12-22T02:45:51Z

Scandals shook Sacramento City Hall throughout 2010. A review of the past year in local politics shows city leaders in turmoil over debacles at the Community Development and Utilities departments.

The troubles in the development department prompted City Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy to declare in January that council members should find out what has “gone wrong” at City Hall. Before we ring in a new year, let’s take a look at the scandals that shaped city politics over the past 12 months.

Troubles with the feds
A scandal that began in 2009 involving the city’s development department and a Natomas flood zone continued full-throttle until the end of 2010. City employee Dan Waters, son of recently-retired Councilman Robbie Waters, gave permits to K. Hovnanian Homes to develop an area of Natomas that the federal government had defined as a flood zone, according to city officials.

City officials said Waters broke Federal Emergency Management Agency rules by giving the permits to the builder in 2009.

The crisis made waves all through 2010 as FEMA and the city wrestled with how to resolve the breach of federal rules. The City Council approved an expensive solution to the problem just weeks ago, at a Nov. 16 meeting. It will cost $350,000 in general fund dollars to correct the blunder and take several actions to follow FEMA rules.

Following the scandal, Waters was not fired, but was moved to a code enforcement job from a community development department position. Community development and code enforcement were separate departments at the time Waters was transferred in 2009. The departments have since consolidated.

A Dec. 1 Sacramento Bee story quoted anonymous sources to report that the city’s management was preparing to fire Waters. City spokeswoman Amy Williams would not confirm the Bee’s report, saying that the city does not comment on personnel matters.

What happened to $2 million?
The development department faced a second scandal this year that involved more than $2 million in fees. City Attorney Eileen Teichert and independent firm Renne Sloan Holtzman Sakai encountered a number of issues relating to fees at the department when they investigated the problems with FEMA and the building permits for the flood zone.

Teichert received the information about the fees, but did not investigate the claims. Instead, Teichert handed over the information on fees to a third-party auditor, Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting, Inc., which conducted an audit of the department. The audit, released in October, said the department did not collect more than $2.3 million in fees from developers. The amount is a significant sum in light of the city’s ongoing budget woes.

The issue is likely to rage on at City Hall in 2011. Councilman Rob Fong has been pushing for the City Council to do a separate investigation of the problems at the department. He also has said he wants to find out if the City Council can get the money back.

Grand Jury rips Utilities Department

The Sacramento County Grand Jury claimed in a January report that the Utilities Department may have broken state law Proposition 218. The law says that utilities fees from ratepayers must correspond to the costs of delivering the utilities services.

Partly in response to the Prop. 218 issue, a citizens’ group placed a measure on the November ballot to roll back city utilities rates. But Measure B failed at the polls.

Mayor Kevin Johnson and Councilman Kevin McCarty both said on Oct. 13 that the Utilities Department should be audited. McCarty and Councilman Steve Cohn actively campaigned against Measure B.

Look for the next installment of our year-end review in the coming days. We’ll refresh you on the resignations and promotions of city officials in 2010.

Photos of Natomas homes by Kathleen Haley. Photos of council members by Brandon Darnell. Photo of Measure B sign by Suzanne Hurt.
Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Robbie Waters gives library $150,000

2010-11-24T05:59:47Z

Outgoing Sacramento City Councilman Robbie Waters is giving the Sacramento Public Library Authority up to $150,000.

Waters specified at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting that he wants his donation to go toward materials at the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library.

He announced at the council meeting that he scrapped his earlier terms for the donation. Last week, Waters had planned to give the money to the Library Authority only if the City Council retains the name of the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library.

If the City Council changed the name of the library, Waters had planned to give the money to the Sacramento Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Waters said that he talked to City Attorney Eileen Teichert’s office about his original plan and then decided against it. “I’m withdrawing that proposed resolution agreement that was published last week because there was a conflict of interest involved with that,” he said.

The $150,000 comes from City Council discretionary funds. Each council member is allotted $55,000 annually for his or her discretionary account, said city spokeswoman Amy Williams.

Leyne Milstein, the city’s finance director, explained that Waters’ $150,000 consists of a combination of discretionary account funds and funds that go to council members from cell phone tower agreements.

The city allows council members to carry over unspent money from previous years in their discretionary account, Milstein said.

“It’s an accumulation of unspent money,” Milstein said, referring to the $150,000.

City attorney Eileen Teichert explained that the city enters into agreements with cell phone companies that want to place towers on city property. A portion of the city’s revenues from these agreements are credited to council members’ discretionary funds when the towers are located in their districts, she said.

Photo by Kathleen Haley.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City to fine adults who provide alcohol to youths at parties

2010-11-24T05:46:46Z

Sacramento police will now have “another tool to address criminal behavior” as it relates to underage drinking, according to City Councilman Robbie Waters.

The City Council unanimously passed an ordinance Tuesday that will fine adults who host parties with underage drinking within the city anywhere from $250 to $25,000. They will also be charged with a misdemeanor.

The “social host liability ordinance” will hold people accountable for sanctioning underage drinking, said Derrick Lim, manager of Neighborhood Services/Special Events within the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation.

Lim said a civil penalty can also be administered for those in violation of the ordinance.

Similar ordinances have been successful in other areas, including unincorporated portions of Sacramento County and the city of Elk Grove, Lim said.

“The Sacramento Youth Commission fully supports these measures,” said Olivia Godby, the commission’s vice chair.

According to the staff report, the UC Davis regional trauma center showed an increase in the number of intoxicated youth being treated as well as an increase in the average blood alcohol level among those youths between 2004 and 2008.

The report also notes that 414 people were injured and 18 killed in Sacramento County between 2006 and 2007 by underage drivers who had been drinking.

Waters said the new ordinance will “punish the parents, if you will, and give law enforcement officers the chance to do something about these people who have parties for the under-21 youth where alcohol is served.”

Steve Wirtz of the Sacramento Youth and Alcohol Coalition – an affiliate of the UC Davis Trauma Prevention and Outreach Program – spoke at the meeting, saying his group is behind the ordinance.

Wirtz said the issue is a nonpartisan one, and that the goal is simply to protect the youth in the city.

“We’re very pleased to see this go forward,” he said.

One Christian Brothers High School senior who spoke at the meeting recalled the “Every 15 Minutes” drunken driving prevention program being at his school when he was a sophomore.

“What I learned from this is underage drinking is not the casual thing that other people think,” he said.

The report noted that 90 percent of 11th graders acknowledge that drinking is a problem, but 62 percent still do it.

Mayor Kevin Johnson then voiced his stance on the issue: “How can we say no to our youth? Holy moly.”

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Fong: Clean out development department

2010-11-19T03:03:50Z

Sacramento City Councilman Rob Fong said in an interview Thursday that further actions should be taken against city employees, including code division employee Dan Waters, who were involved in the recent scandals at the city’s Community Development Department.

Waters approved 35 building permits in a Natomas flood zone last year. Officials with the city and the Federal Emergency Management Agency say that Waters’ action to give the permits to K. Hovnanian Homes broke federal regulations. The City Council agreed earlier this week to pay up to $350,000 to correct its violations and comply with FEMA. The violations related to 38 permits – Waters approved 35 of them, according to city spokeswoman Amy Williams.

Waters, the son of outgoing City Councilman Robbie Waters, is still employed by the city. He is a customer service supervisor at the city’s code division with a base salary of roughly $62,278, according to Williams. Specifically, he works in the neighborhood code compliance section, she said.

In an interview, Fong commented on the FEMA violations and the department’s other major scandal: an audit that says the department failed to collect more than $2.3 million in fees from developers.

“If I were running that department, they wouldn’t be working for the city of Sacramento anymore,” Fong said.

He noted the City Council cannot fire city employees. Under the city’s charter, firing is conducted by the city manager’s office.

Fong said the department’s troubles need further investigation beyond the audit. The audit calculated the fee problems, but it did not name names.

Fong also said he thinks there are other people responsible for the department’s messes in addition to Waters.

“My strong suspicion is there was some other folks involved in the chain of command,” Fong said. “And I think we need to figure out how far that went.”

He declined to name any names himself, saying that the city does not have evidence to show who was responsible and how they were involved in the department’s problems. He said he recently directed city officials and the city attorney’s office to provide a framework for how the City Council can investigate the people who were involved in the incidents at the department.

In response to questions about Waters, city spokeswoman Williams said: “We cannot share details about personnel matters. The City Manager’s Office is aggressively reviewing the audit report with the Community Development Department and Labor Relations, and we are investigating to determine if disciplinary action or further investigation of any employee is warranted.

“All disciplinary action necessary will be taken when appropriate,” she said. “Disciplinary actions are the responsibility of the city manager.”

Williams noted that the city transferred Waters to a different position last year. “Under the previous administration, Dan Waters was reassigned to Code Enforcement last calendar year,” she said. “As part of the consolidation efforts to save money, Code and Community Development Departments merged, and code became a division where he now resides.”

The local media has reported that Waters was temporarily suspended last year.

Meanwhile, Waters’ work at the development department is also being investigated by the state Fair Political Practices Commission, according to reports in The Sacramento Bee.

Vina said at an Oct. 12 City Council meeting that the FPPC had concerns about the city’s development department, although he did not mention Waters’ name.

FPPC Executive Director Roman Porter was unavailable for comment Thursday.

Waters did not return three phone messages left by The Sacramento Press Thursday afternoon.

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Hammond, Tretheway and Waters say goodbye

2010-11-17T04:02:56Z

The three outgoing Sacramento City Council members were swarmed by a crowd of city staffers and well-wishers Tuesday night.

The City Hall lobby was abuzz with chatter as roughly 100 people turned out to say goodbye to Council members Ray Tretheway, Lauren Hammond and Robbie Waters, who are all leaving their seats later this month.

Waters and Tretheway lost their re-election bids in June, while Hammond did not run for re-election.

Angelique Ashby, who won the District 1 City Council race, will replace Tretheway starting next Tuesday, according to Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno. Waters’ District 7 seat will likely be transferred later this month to Darrell Fong, the frontrunner in a November runoff election.

Jay Schenirer will take Hammond’s seat at City Hall. November runoffs for both the District 5 and 7 elections extended the city’s swearing-in schedule, so Fong and Schenirer are expected to be sworn into office on Nov. 30, one week after Ashby.

Tretheway, a nine-year City Councilman, will continue to work as the executive director of the Sacramento Tree Foundation once he leaves City Hall. While he was on the City Council, Tretheway served as a part-time executive director of the foundation. He will now work full-time for the group, he said.

“Honestly, we have a great city that continues to get better and improve,” Tretheway said.

In an interview last week, Tretheway said he was proud of his work to help develop the North Natomas neighborhood, including a library, nearly 50 new parks, an off-street walking path and two fire stations.

“We built the community from scratch,” Tretheway said.

The staffers for each of the outgoing council members will need to find new jobs, too. Dan Roth, Tretheway’s district director since 2005, said last week that he is a finalist for a couple of jobs, but added that it would be inappropriate right now to comment on them.

He said he took pride in numerous projects that he worked on with others, including the opening of a teen center in the Garden/Northgate area last year and the creation of a rose garden at the South Natomas Community Center.

Roth may be known to some residents because he was covered extensively by the local media last April, during Tretheway’s campaign against Ashby. The local media reported on a YouTube video that showed Roth watching Tretheway campaign manager Corin Choppin remove Ashby signs.

“Never has standing on a sidewalk with my hands in my pocket caused me so much drama,” Roth said.

Meanwhile, Councilwoman Lauren Hammond intends to make a big life change after she leaves the City Council: retirement. She served 13 years on the City Council and spent more than two decades working as an telecommunications contract administrator for the California Senate.

“That’s enough to retire,” she said at the reception on Tuesday.

However, she did not rule out the possibility of remaining in politics in some way. “I want to leave all my options open,” she said, in response to a KFBK reporter’s question about her political plans.

She said she was proud of her efforts on youth programs and her work to help bring a grocery store to Oak Park.

“This is a great city and a great region,” Hammond said. “We all just need to take a breath and learn how to work together.”

Helen Hewitt, who worked as Hammond’s district director for 13 years, is also retiring. She said she made efforts to “build a bridge between the community, the constituents and the city.”

Over in District 7, Waters said he is in interested in working part time in a position “without a boss.” Waters, 74, served 16 years on the City Council. “It’s been a long time, and I’ve really enjoyed every minute of it,” he said.

Waters is a former Sacramento County sheriff and had a long career at the Sacramento Police Department. He said he is most proud of the opening of the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library, a project he said he worked on since 1994. Waters said it was “very humbling” to have the library named after him.

Pat Clark, Waters’ district director, sent out a statement to say goodbye to Waters’ constituents. “I thank Councilman Robbie Waters for entrusting this responsibility to me for 16 years,” Clark wrote. “After founding Pocket News in 1992 and watching and writing about local government, I was fortunate to have a chance to put my own stamp on trying to make local government work well – and for that chance I was grateful every day.”

Tuesday night marked the end of the official goodbyes for the outgoing council members. The changing of the guard officially begins next Tuesday, when Ashby is sworn in to the City Council.

Photo of Hammond by Anthony Bento. Roth provided the photo of himself. Photos of Tretheway, Waters and Clark by Kathleen Haley.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Development department investigations continue

2010-10-13T05:53:37Z

The Sacramento City Council’s Tuesday-night discussion made it clear that the investigations of the city’s development department are not over.

Seven council members spoke at length about the Oct. 6 audit, which found that the Community Development Department broke city and state laws. Council members also indicated that they want to claim the money that the department failed to charge developers – a sum of more than $2.3 million, according to the audit.

Councilman Steve Cohn was absent from the meeting, and Councilman Robbie Waters recused himself from the discussion of the audit’s findings. Waters’ son, Dan, is a former employee of the department who was involved in an earlier investigation of the department.

The subject of the audit was the department’s work from fiscal years 2007 through 2010. Sacramento firm Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting, Inc. conducted the audit.

“I’m most concerned with making sure this won’t happen again,” Mayor Kevin Johnson said.

The City Council’s auditor, Jorge Oseguera, told the council members that the city attorney’s office will explore whether some of the $2.3 million can be collected. He said he would follow up with the council on that issue.

Councilman Rob Fong said collecting the money is “my No. 1 priority.”

Councilwoman Lauren Hammond said city rules need to apply to all developers equally. The department should not have a culture that allows a “good ol’ boy network,” she also said.

Interim City Manager Gus Vina indicated that disciplinary measures for department employees may be on the table. “As I look at the audit in great detail, I will take whatever disciplinary actions are necessary,” he told the council.

The City Council and city staff also discussed investigations of the department that are still under way.

Sandra Talbott, an attorney with City Attorney Eileen Teichert’s office, said the investigation into allegations of quid pro quo in the department is ongoing. The quid pro quo investigation is distinct from the audit, Talbott said. “It has not been concluded at this point.”

In response to a question from Councilman Ray Tretheway about continuing investigations, Vina said that the California Fair Political Practices Commission has concerns about the department.

In addition, Fong said the City Council should lead its own investigation into the department. He said he considered the audit to be “an important piece” of a City Council investigation.

Fong also said he wanted to explore the role of top managers in the past problems at the department. He did not specify names of current or former city officials in his comment.

“I’d certainly like to know what recourse we have against them, if any,” he said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Mayor releases Nov. 2 endorsements

2010-10-12T00:56:32Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson released his endorsements for several Nov. 2 political races on Friday. He named his candidates in local, state and federal elections in a post on his blog.

In the Sacramento City Council runoff in District 5, Johnson endorsed education policy consultant Jay Schenirer. He had endorsed Schenirer for the first time in May, when the City Council candidate was running against four other candidates. Schenirer is competing against attorney Patrick Kennedy in the November runoff.

The winning candidate will replace current City Councilwoman Lauren Hammond.

Johnson decided not to endorse a candidate in the District 7 runoff. Ryan Chin, a communications director at Sacramento State is running against retired Sacramento police captain Darrell Fong for the seat. Outgoing City Councilman Robbie Waters lost the seat in the June election.

“Either candidate will serve the best interests of Greenhaven, the Pocket and Valley Hi,” Johnson wrote about the District 7 race.

By contrast, the mayor did not take a position on Measure B, one of the most controversial measures on the ballot. Measure B would halt a 9.2 percent utilities rate increase and restructure how the Utilities Department manages utilities rates.

“I voted against the last rate hike, have concerns about utilities operations, and am still gathering information,” Johnson wrote on his blog.

Johnson did not respond to a request for further comment Monday.

Councilman Kevin McCarty, a leader in the No on Measure B campaign, said the good news is that Johnson is still studying the issues relating to the measure. The position of the No on B campaign is that it would harm the city’s budget.

McCarty noted that every other member of the City Council opposes the measure.

Craig Powell, chairman of the campaign supporting Measure B, said he respects Johnson for “taking the time” to learn about the facts. The text of Measure B claims that utilities rates in Sacramento are unaffordable.

While Johnson has released endorsements for many races, he wrote that he will endorse education races in a separate announcement. Here is the list of endorsements Johnson released Friday:

U.S. Senate: Barbara Boxer
U.S. House of Representatives: Doris Matsui

Governor: Jerry Brown
Lt. Governor: Gavin Newsom
Attorney General: Kamala Harris
Secretary of State: Debra Bowen
Controller: John Chiang
Treasurer: Bill Lockyer

State Senate District 1: Roger Niello
State Senate District 6: Darrell Steinberg
Assembly District 5: Dr. Richard Pan

Sacramento County

Sheriff: Jim Cooper

City of Sacramento

District 5: Jay Schenirer
District 7: No preference.

Roseville City Council

Dr. Tim Herman

State Propositions

Prop. 22: Yes
Prop. 23: No
Prop. 25: Yes

City Measures

Measure B: “Still gathering information.”

Measure C: “Yes, but only if statewide initiative Prop. 19 passes.”

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Should city set up a whistle-blower hotline?

2010-09-16T00:56:03Z

Sacramento’s city auditor is exploring the idea of creating a whistle-blower hotline for City Hall.

City Auditor Jorge Oseguera told the city’s audit committee on Tuesday that he was talking to City Attorney Eileen Teichert’s office about the idea. The audit committee is composed of City Council members Lauren Hammond, Robbie Waters, Ray Tretheway and Steve Cohn.

Whistle-blower hotlines are “a common topic right now in the auditing community,” Oseguera said on Wednesday.

The plan is in its early stages, Oseguera said, and no details have been established yet on how the hotline would work or when it would start operating.

In a Tuesday e-mail, Teichert said she could say only that the plan is “in the early discussion stage.”

Oseguera is not the first to suggest a whistle-blower hotline for the city of Sacramento: Councilman Kevin McCarty mentioned the idea on Jan. 26, when the City Council was discussing an investigation that involved the city’s Community Development Department.

However, Oseguera said his work on a whistle-blower hotline was not directed by McCarty.

Other California cities that use whistle-blower hotlines include San Diego, San Jose and Oakland, according to their websites.

Photo of Oseguera by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

New library opens in Pocket-Greenhaven

2010-08-29T07:10:12Z

Since 1958, Robbie Waters has served Sacramento as an officer with the Sacramento Police Department, as Sacramento Sheriff, and as Councilmember for District 7 for the last 15 years.

A uplifting seal of closure was given to his years of service at Saturday morning’s opening of the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library.

“The library is an accomplishment for the entire community,” said Waters to a crowd of approximately 500 people. “I have no doubt it will be well used.”

The $15-million library consists of 45 public access computers, a 72-seat capacity community meeting room, a teen room, a quiet room, two study rooms, and a Ready to Read room for kids. The library is designed for 67,000 books and materials.

Waters was very humble when referring to the name of the library.

“Other than the birth of three children and a marriage of 50 years, this is the most humbling thing that has happened to me,” said Waters. “It’s unbelievable.”

The Pocket-Greenhaven Friends of the Library group formed in 2005 to begin fundraising for the project and worked at getting the books for the library.

“Dolores (Nuse) and I have been members of the Pocket-Greenhaven Friends of the Library since 2005 and we were the only group to start without a building,” said board member Kathi Windheim. “Our group had the growing support of you, the community, and 20 blue portfolio folders containing letters of support from Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Assemblymember Dave Jones, (former) Mayor Heather Fargo, and Councilman Robbie Waters.”

“Today, we only have one of those blue folders left.”

Community groups such as the neighborhood Elks Lodge and Curves Fitness Center hosted book sales, and business such as the Pocket Rotary Club, Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream, Subway, and Hey Dude! Where’s My Yogurt also provided support.

“Thank you for showing what is possible,” said State Senate Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg regarding the Friends of the Library and those who worked toward the construction of the facility.

“Thank you for never having the word ‘no’ in your lexicon,” said Steinberg. “This is a very happy day for Sacramento, but it is a happy day for the state as well because it shows what we can do.”

The Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library is the third library to open up in the Sacramento Public Library system over the past year. A new library opened in Valley Hi-North Laguna one year ago, and the Belle Cooledge library recently refurbished.

“This is an opportunity for us to just be thankful,” said Mayor Kevin Johnson. “We opened three libraries this year. That is a big deal.”

Various dignitaries attended the event including former Mayor Heather Fargo, former Mayor and current County Supervisor Jimmy Yee, County Supervisors Roberta MacGlashan and Don Nottoli, City Councilmembers Bonnie Pannell, Lauren Hammond, Sandy Sheedy, and Kevin McCarty, Interim City Manager Gus Vina, and City Attorney Eileen Teichert.

For Waters, it was about giving thanks to the community.

“I just want to thank you for the naming of the library and for letting me represent you for 16 year,” said Waters. “I’ve really enjoyed it.”

Safe Ground opposes City Council vote on public comments

2010-08-25T05:39:44Z

A group that presses for a designated camping space for homeless people in Sacramento opposed on Tuesday the City Council’s decision to move the open public comment section of council meetings to the end of the meeting.

About 18 supporters of Safe Ground Sacramento stayed until the end of Tuesday’s City Council meeting to oppose the controversial decision the body made last week.

Before last week’s decision, open public comment was heard by the City Council at the beginning of weekly council meetings.

During the open public comment part of council meetings, Safe Ground Sacramento supporters regularly urge the city to reserve a space in which homeless residents can camp. The city enforces its anti-camping ban.

“You guys feel like our comments don’t mean nothing,” Safe Ground supporter Shane Eck told the City Council Tuesday.

Councilwoman Lauren Hammond said last week that she hoped moving the public comment session to the end of meetings would quicken the meetings. She also said that “special interests” dominate the open public comment time period.

Judging from comments from council members Tuesday night, it appears that the City Council may take another look its decision.

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell said Tuesday that she now likes the idea of holding it at the beginning of the meeting as long as there is a half-hour time limit on the public comment session.

Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Bonnie Pannell, Robbie Waters and Lauren Hammond last week voted in favor of moving the open public comment session to the end of council meetings.

Mayor Kevin Johnson and council members Kevin McCarty and Ray Tretheway voted against the move and wanted to keep the session at the beginning of meetings.

Councilman Steve Cohn was absent from last week’s meeting. He said Tuesday that he missed last week’s vote because he was attending a family reunion. Cohn expressed support for moving open public comment back to the beginning of meetings, and putting a time limit on that segment of the meeting.

Photo: Safe Ground leader John Kraintz speaks at a July rally in Sacramento.

Photo by Dunia Hamza.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

District 7: Robbie Waters backs Darrell Fong

2010-08-12T01:09:22Z

Outgoing Sacramento City Councilman Robbie Waters is backing candidate Darrell Fong in the runoff election for the District 7 seat that covers the Pocket/Greenhaven and Valley Hi neighborhoods.

Waters, who has served as the District 7 council member since 1994, lost the race in June to opponents Darrell Fong and Ryan Chin. Waters came in third place out of four candidates, with 27 percent of the vote.

Chin led the group in the June election with 37 percent of the vote. He is now competing in a runoff campaign against Fong, who garnered 32 percent of votes cast. The two candidates must face off again because the city’s rules say that a council candidate needs at least 50 percent of the vote plus one vote to win.

The runoff election will be held Nov. 2.

“I think it will help a lot,” Fong said, commenting on Waters’ endorsement.

Both Waters and Fong had long law enforcement careers with the Sacramento Police Department. In addition to his career at the police department, Waters served as Sacramento County’s sheriff from 1982 to 1987.

Fong said he and Waters understand the importance of law enforcement to residents and businesses. He also said they are public servants who grew up in Sacramento.

Fong emphasized that District 7 should change its City Council representative when he was running against Waters. In a phone interview Wednesday, Fong repeated that residents want a change in leadership. However, Fong has not criticized Waters’ work as a city councilman.

In an Aug. 3 letter to voters, Waters explained that he endorsed Fong because of his law enforcement background.

“Over his 30-year career in Sacramento’s Police Department, Captain Fong has demonstrated integrity, bravery, and leadership,” Waters wrote. “Darrell put his life on the line as the leader of our city’s Gang Task Force.”

Meanwhile, Chin said the city could benefit from his “strong business background,” experience with education and community service. Currently, Chin is a strategic communications director at California State University, Sacramento. He holds a master’s degree in business administration from the University of California, Davis, and formerly worked for Hewlett-Packard.

Chin pointed out that Fong referred to himself as an “outsider” on the city of Sacramento’s website, but is endorsed by council members Waters, Rob Fong and Sandy Sheedy.

In response to Chin, Fong said he has never been involved with politics and is not seeking political office beyond the City Council.

Waters was unavailable for comment Wednesday afternoon.

Photos of Fong and Chin by Kathleen Haley. Photo of Waters by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City considers large water user permits

2010-08-06T05:17:36Z

Sacramento officials should consider requiring special use permits for large water users, including water and beverage bottling companies such as Nestlé, a City Council committee decided Thursday.

The council's Law & Legislation Committee passed a recommendation that the City Council approve a working group to explore whether the city's biggest water users should be subject to conditional use permits that would help give the city more ability to monitor and regulate their water use.

The recommendation was approved unanimously Thursday afternoon by the committee's three present members, Chair Sandy Sheedy and councilmen Steve Cohn and Robbie Waters.

"We have a scarce resource that we don't seem to have any regulation on, other than you pay for the amount you use," Cohn said. "It almost sounds like we need to think about if you use above a certain amount of water...there ought to be a permit. The city ought to have some way to review that, rather than just be forced to sell it at whatever our rate is."

The committee also heard about the city's plans to consider creating tiered water rates that could take effect in 2012 or sooner. The city "may actually be subsidizing" water consumption by the biggest users, Cohn said, adding that water use should also be regulated to encourage conservation and sustainability.

The committee's decision was made despite a recommendation by the city's Community Development Department against requiring special use permits for water and beverage bottling companies. Bottling plants are permitted industrial land uses in zones approved for light industrial, heavy commercial and heavy industrial businesses in Sacramento.

However, the committee's proposal would not be limited to such companies.

The fourth committee member, Lauren Hammond, was absent. Last fall, Councilman Kevin McCarty, who is not a committee member, proposed an emergency ordinance to amend the city's zoning code to immediately require a special permit, and thus, environmental review and City Council oversight, for bottling companies to operate in the city. He made the proposal after city staff approved Nestlé Waters North America opening a water-bottling plant in his South Sacramento district.

Nestlé bottles and sells the most bottled water in this country. Globally, the Swiss multinational company used 10.82 billion gallons of water in 2006 and sold $10 billion of water under different brand names in 2007, according to a report from Food and Water Watch in Washington, D.C.

Nestlé told the city about 250 acre feet — or nearly 82 million gallons — of city-treated American River water would be bottled each year. Nestlé Project Manager Chris Kemp also said the company expected to bottle 30 million gallons of Sacramento tap water in 2010, while future use would be determined by sales. Existing water pipes could bring 250 acre feet of water to the warehouse if operations were run 24 hours a day all year, but that was only expected during peak months, he said.

The city did not seek public input or perform an environmental analysis of the plant's expected impact before it began operation last winter after a failed, six-year battle to bottle spring water in McCloud near Mt. Shasta.

The city does not regulate how much water industrial water customers use except to impose drought restrictions at times. There are no current drought restrictions on industrial users, although there are drought restrictions for outdoor irrigation use by residential users.

On Thursday, Sheedy agreed with Cohn's proposal, including the need to look at all of the biggest water consumers, regardless of whether the water is bottled and sold, used to make soup or to crush cement. Nestlé shouldn't be "singled out," she said.

"I think we have to look at what else is coming here," Sheedy said. "We are going to be losing that commodity if we don't start looking at it."

No more than 20 people turned out for the meeting. Some said they only found out about the meeting this week.

Representatives from Nestlé, Sacramento Coca-Cola Bottling Co. and the Sacramento Metro Chamber spoke out against requiring a special permit for bottling companies. After the meeting, Dave Palais, Nestlé Water's natural resource manager for Northern California and the Pacific Northwest, said the company wouldn't oppose an "overall evaluation" of water use by all users.

Sacramento Coca-Cola, which has been operating since 1927, "would be very disappointed if there would be new hurdles that were put in our way" for opening a big, new plant in North Natomas, the company's executive vice president, Bob Brown, said.

Several people spoke out in support of a special permit, including members of grassroots group Save Our Water Sacramento, which brought Nestlé's plans to open a Sacramento plant to light.

"I'm wondering what our children will do for water — and our grandchildren — once it's all contractually committed to others?" said Maxine Clark, a member of the Save the American River Association. "The word is out now: Nestlé got their way. When will we say no? Will we say no, ever?"

Bill Allayud, California Director of Government Affairs for the Environmental Working Group, said other cities held public forums so people could weigh in before water bottling plants were opened. Large water consumption by such plants can have "multiple impacts," he said.

"Water is not scarce in the city right now," he said. "But in the future, it could well become scarce."

McCarty later applauded the committee's decision.

"This is an important step toward going where we're trying to go," he said. "This issue isn't going away."

Photo by Suzanne Hurt, a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Arizona: Groups continue to protest Sac City Council

2010-08-03T03:05:01Z

Two local groups continue to protest the Sacramento City Council more than one month after the council decided to boycott Arizona companies.

One of the groups, Boycott Sacramento, is intentionally avoiding local businesses in response to the council’s sanctions on Arizona businesses.

Another group, Recall Sacramento, is saying it will attempt to remove certain council members from office. However, Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said the group has not yet officially started the recall process.

The groups formed after the City Council decided June 15 to dispute Arizona’s new immigration laws by boycotting that state’s companies. The council passed the boycott in a 6-1 vote, with council members Steve Cohn and Lauren Hammond absent, and Robbie Waters voting in opposition.

The City Council stepped outside the court system when it decided to boycott Arizona, said Gerald Klaas, organizer of Boycott Sacramento.

“It’s a step toward mob rule,” Klaas said.

Arizona’s new law states that police officers must investigate a person’s immigration status if they think he or she is an undocumented immigrant. Officers must examine immigration status during “enforcement of any law or ordinance of a county, city or town” in Arizona, the law also states.

But a new federal court ruling on Arizona’s law could complicate the Sacramento City Council’s protest. Parts of Arizona’s law were stalled last week by a ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Susan Bolton, who deemed them to be unconstitutional, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The implications of the ruling on Sacramento’s boycott of Arizona are unclear at this point. Matt Ruyak, a supervising deputy city attorney in Sacramento, said the city attorney’s office is now analyzing Bolton’s ruling.

At the same time, city staff is still assessing the dollar amount of the business it does with Arizona companies, said city spokeswoman Amy Williams.

Meanwhile, Klaas, a Sacramento County resident, said he estimates that Boycott Sacramento has resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost business to companies within the city limits. He said he based his estimate on e-mails from people who said they did not buy large-ticket items in Sacramento because of the city’s boycott of Arizona.

The Boycott Sacramento Facebook page has 3,474 fans, but groups of three and four people showed up at July protests at City Hall, according to the Meetup.com website.

Klaas said he and his wife estimate they are not spending about $400 per month at Sacramento businesses.

Boycott Sacramento is not related to Recall Sacramento, a group organized by Republican congressional candidate Paul Smith.

The Sacramento City Council is not “pro-business, pro-jobs in any stretch of the imagination,” Smith said. “When they elected to sanction another state, it was none of their business to do that considering the mess the city’s in.”

Asked if his effort was a self-serving move for his congressional campaign, Smith said it is “imperative” that he show the community in his district that he is concerned about Sacramento businesses.

“I don’t want to take over a district in December that’s all boarded-up downtown because all the business was driven out,” he said.

Smith said the group aims to recall council members Rob Fong and Steve Cohn first, but that his group may also try to kick out Mayor Kevin Johnson and council members Bonnie Pannell, Sandy Sheedy and Kevin McCarty. Supporters of an effort to recall the Sacramento City Council are upset with Fong and Cohn more than the other members, Smith said. Fong is ignoring voters, Smith claimed, and Cohn did not vote on the Arizona issue.

The group will not try to recall council members Ray Tretheway, Lauren Hammond or Robbie Waters because they are leaving office, he said.

Mark Williams, the Tea Party Express’ former controversial spokesman, made remarks at a recent Recall Sacramento protest, Smith said, but Williams has “baggage,” and the group does not consider him to be a member. Williams’ statements on a July blog drew widespread media attention.

Smith said about 2,000 people have signed up on the Recall Sacramento website.

Cohn said Smith’s Recall Sacramento group was a publicity campaign. “In my case, he can’t do it legally until next June,” Cohn said. “It’s a waste of time to even talk about it.”

RE Graswich, Johnson’s spokesman, said there is nothing to comment on until the group provides documentation of its recall.

Councilman Rob Fong did not return phone calls Monday afternoon.

Mizuno said Recall Sacramento’s campaign has not begun the recall process. “Right now, there’s a lot of talk, but no one seems to be doing anything,” Mizuno said.

The Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce opposed the boycott of Arizona companies. In a June 1 letter to Mayor Kevin Johnson, Chamber President Matt Mahood raised concerns that a boycott on Sacramento businesses could take place if the City Council boycotts Arizona. Read the Chamber’s letter here.

Photo of Paul Smith by Kathleen Haley. Photos of Sacramento City Council members by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Council: All 39 medical pot dispensaries can stay in town

2010-07-28T05:15:45Z

The 39 medical marijuana shops in Sacramento are on their way to becoming legal.

The Sacramento City Council voted 8-0 to draft regulations for current pot dispensaries to legally operate with city permits.

Councilman Ray Tretheway was absent from the meeting. Notably, Councilman Robbie Waters, who formerly served as a Sacramento County sheriff and city police officer, voted in favor of a path toward legal and regulated medical marijuana shops. Waters noted that he had originally approached the issue from a “cop view.”

Michelle Heppner, a special projects manager for the city, explained after the meeting that the City Council intends to allow 39 medical marijuana dispensaries in Sacramento to apply for city permits.

However, the notion of cap on the number of dispensaries is still hazy.

Heppner said the council agreed that the number of dispensaries is not capped at 39. However, the council is not saying that there should be an unlimited number of dispensaries in Sacramento, she said.

Heppner told the City Council she plans to present draft language for a medical marijuana ordinance in late September.

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Election results final, runoffs in two City Council races

2010-07-01T04:37:36Z

The final Sacramento City Council election results did not yield any last-minute statistical miracles.

Furthermore, a Sacramento city clerk’s predictions about City Council runoffs proved true: The leading two candidates in Districts 5 and 7 will compete in a Nov. 2 runoff election.

The county elections office finished counting ballots from the June 8 election on Wednesday. Candidates Jay Schenirer and Patrick Kennedy will run for the District 5 seat, while candidates Darrell Fong and Ryan Chin will square off in District 7.

Incumbent District 1 City Councilman Ray Tretheway lost his battle against challenger Angelique Ashby — just barely.

A City Council candidate needs at least 50 percent of the vote plus one vote to win. The final count shows Ashby with 50.99 percent of the vote. Tretheway trailed with 41 percent.

Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno noted that the county elections office will need to invalidate the 25 write-in votes cast in the District 1 race. (There were no official write-in candidates in any of the City Council races, Mizuno said. However, some people wrote in names anyway.) Once those write-in votes are removed from the record, Ashby’s win will be more secure, according to Mizuno.

Incumbent Councilman Robbie Waters lost the District 7 race, while incumbent Councilman Steve Cohn won the District 3 competition.

Brad Buyse, Sacramento County’s campaign services manager, said it usually takes the county three weeks to certify election results. This year’s count was conducted in “a normal amount of time,” he said. He pointed out that state law gives the county 28 consecutive days after Election Day to certify election results.

The county should have data Thursday on how many ballots total it counted for the June 8 election, according to Buyse.

Now that the ballots are counted, Sacramento County Registrar of Voters Jill Lavine will officially certify the election results and send the data to the California Secretary of State’s office, Buyse said.

In response to questions, Mizuno checked voter turnout rates in 2006 and this year for City Council Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7. She said the turnout rate was about the same in both election years.

Voter turnout in District 1 was about 30 percent this year, compared to about 32 percent in 2006, according to Mizuno. In the 2006 District 1 election, Tretheway ran unopposed and the number of registered voters was lower, she said.

In District 3, about 40 percent of registered voters cast ballots in both 2006 and 2010, Mizuno said.

Roughly 32 percent of registered voters turned out for the June election in District 5. In 2006, about 35 percent of voters went to the polls.

About 42 percent of voters cast ballots in District 7 in June, while 41 percent voted in 2006, according to Mizuno.

Photo by Suzanne Hurt.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Sacramento Fourth of July roundup

2010-06-30T03:23:02Z

Looking for an explosive way to spend your Fourth of July? Well, look no further. We’ve compiled a list of some of the best Fourth of July events in the Sacramento area.

Sacramento

Cal Expo will once again host an Independence Day Celebration sponsored by Coca-Cola and Miller Lite at the Miller Lite Grandstand near the East Gate entrance. The festivities will begin at 6:30 p.m. with a performance from Mick Martin and the Blues Rockers. State Fair mascot Poppy will also be there to entertain the crowds. Cal Expo’s media partner, radio station 107.9 The End, will provide music to the spectacular fireworks show, starting at 9:30 p.m. Parking for the event is $10, and general admission to the show is free. You can also buy reserved seating for $10 at tickets.com, or at the East Gate box office beginning at 3 p.m. Sunday. Cal Expo is located on 1600 Exposition Blvd.

The Sacramento River Cats will be having their own celebration at Raley Field on Friday and Saturday as they host the Fresno Grizzlies. On Friday, the team will honor Sacramento firefighters with a firefighters' night. Fire engine displays will be set up, and firefighters in attendance will be recognized on the field. Stick around after the game for the fireworks, a kick-off to their weekend celebrations. And as the Cats close out their three-game series with the Grizzlies on Saturday, the U.S. Army will present the Sutter Health Fireworks Extravaganza and start the Fourth of July with a bang. Tickets to the games can be purchased online at rivercats.com, or at the Raley Field box office. Raley Field is located at 400 Ballpark Drive in West Sacramento.

If you want to watch the Raley Field fireworks in a classier setting, you can climb aboard the Hornblower yacht in Old Sacramento. Departing from Front Street, the cruise will begin at 7 p.m. and will include the fireworks show, dinner, and dancing. Tickets for the Hornblower are $109 and can be reserved at the Hornblower website.

Old Sacramento’s newest street theater program, “Time Travel Weekends," will put an Independence Day twist on its historical re-enactments for the Fourth of July weekend. Guests can take part in square dancing, croquet, pie-eating contests and picnics while enjoying military parades and cannon firings. The weekend will also feature a reading of the Declaration of Independence.

The Grange Restaurant and Bar on 926 J Street will host its inaugural All American barbecue. The three-course menu will include all the barbecue fixings you love on the Fourth of July. The meal starts with a salad with ranch dressing. The second course provides a slow-cooked Riverdog Farm hog with Carolina barbecue sauce, corn on the cob and potato salad. For dessert, the restaurant offers a berry cobbler with vanilla ice cream. The all-American meal is $35 per person.

The Sacramento Firecracker 5K/10K will be held at McKinley Park at 8 a.m. Saturday. Participants will be given a free short-sleeve T-shirt at the event. Adults and children can take part in a 5K or a 10K run or walk. Registration is $35 until Wednesday for adults, and $40 on race day. Children 15 and under can participate for $20. Proceeds will benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, a group that aims to help injured men and women in the service.

If you prefer to run for free, the Buffalo Chips Running Club will host its 35th annual Fourth of July five mile run, starting at Glen Hall Park on the corner of Sandburg and Carlson Drives in River Park at 8 a.m. Arrive by 7:45 a.m. to sign in. The kid’s half-mile race begins at 7:45 for ages 10 and younger, and the five mile race begins at 8 a.m.

On Saturday, the Sacramento Pocket area will host its annual Spirit of the Pocket Parade. The parade, featuring about 60 floats, will start at 10 a.m. at Lisbon Elementary School, located at 7775 S. Land Park Drive, and will end at Garcia Bend Park on 7654 Pocket Road. The Grand Marshall of this year’s parade will be Bandit, the German shepherd police dog that was recently shot in the line of duty. Other notables at the parade will be Senate President Pro-Tem Darrell Steinberg and Councilman Robbie Waters. At the end of the parade, a community fair will be held at Garcia Bend Park, where different area businesses will show off some of their wares.

Carmichael

Enjoy a pancake breakfast on the Fourth of July at the Carmichael Park Elks Club Lodge, located at 5631 Cypress Ave. After breakfast, the Carmichael Elks will hold their 52nd annual Fourth of July parade, beginning at 11 a.m. on Marconi and Fair Oaks and ending at the Elks Club Lodge. A celebration will follow at the La Sierra Community Center on 5325 Engle Rd., which will include an outdoor barbecue, live music and dancing, free swimming and games for the kids. The fireworks show will begin at 9:30 p.m. at the La Sierra Community Center.

Citrus Heights

In Citrus Heights, Sunrise Mall, located at 6196 Sunrise Mall, will host a free celebration from noon to 9 p.m. Thursday through July 6. The festivities will include live music beginning at 7:30 p.m., a kid’s carnival and a 3D fireworks show. On Independence Day, the mall will present a fireworks show in the parking lot at 9:30 p.m. Special 3D glasses will be distributed for the show, and radio station 98 Rock will provide synchronized music for the festivities.

Rancho Cordova

Rancho Cordova will begin its two-day celebration of Independence Day at 10 a.m. Saturday with a parade on Coloma Road and Cordova Lane. Activities for the children will be provided from 1-6 p.m. at Hagan Park, located on 2197 Chase Drive, including a carnival, water show, tae kwon do, train rides, petting zoo, pony rides and pedal boats. A beer garden will be open from noon until 11 p.m. At 8:30 p.m., former Bad Company singer Brian Howe will perform live. A fireworks show will begin at 9:45 p.m., and on July 4th, Carmichael will provide more food, music and fun. Along with the kids' zone and beer garden, party band Busta-Groove will perform at 8:30 p.m., followed by the grand finale fireworks at 9:45 p.m. Parking is $10 at the park.

Folsom

Presented by the Folsom Chamber of Commerce, the Folsom Pro Rodeo is offering a new laser light show for fans along with nightly fireworks displays. The rodeo begins at 6:30 p.m. Thursday with a Bullipede, where brightly-dressed teams of five runners gallop in a western-style race. Also at 6:30 is the cattle drive. Cowboys will parade steers down Sutter Street in the true fashion of the Old West. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the rodeo gates will open at 6 p.m., with roping events starting at 7 p.m. and riding events at 8:15 p.m. After dusk, enjoy the laser and fireworks show while enjoying live music from the Dave Russell Band and a drink in Mike's Golden Spike Saloon. The rodeo is held at the Dan Russell arena, located at 401 Stafford St. in Folsom. Reserved tickets are $22.50 in advance. General admission is $19 for adults, $15 for children 12 and under, and $15 for seniors. Visitors can park at the nearby Wal-Mart on 1018 Riley St. and ride a free shuttle to the arena.

Mayor confronts council members during long speech

2010-06-23T14:17:46Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson said he thought it would be a 9-0 vote.

He said he thought the Sacramento City Council would unanimously support his effort to ask City Attorney Eileen Teichert to draft official language for his updated strong mayor plan. When seven of his City Council colleagues voiced opposition to his effort at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, he let them know exactly what he was thinking.

In a 7-2 vote, the City Council prevented Teichert from drafting the language of Johnson’s new plan. Johnson and Waters voted in favor of asking Teichert to write the proposed measure. Under the city’s current government structure, the mayor votes on City Council issues.

After it was clear that he didn’t have the votes late Tuesday night, Johnson launched into a lengthy monologue and made comments to each council member.

Johnson indicated he felt slighted by Councilman Steve Cohn’s vote. “You were somebody that I went to bat for while you were running ... I watched you before I got to be an elected official, and I felt like you were one of the people that I was going to learn from,” Johnson said.

The mayor then called out Cohn for not voting earlier this month on whether the City Council should boycott Arizona companies.
It was “very disappointing” that Cohn did not participate in that vote, Johnson said.

“I’m sure you had your reasons; I certainly respect that,” Johnson said. “But I guess it makes me question ... the backbone, the ethos that you represent.”

Johnson told Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell he was disappointed with her vote.

“I remember before before I ran for office, I met you at Starbucks,” Johnson told Pannell. Johnson said Pannell told him that if he was elected, she would back him on his efforts.

Johnson’s exchanges with Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy were particularly tense. To express how she felt about Johnson’s new strong mayor plan, Sheedy used a quote from former U.S. vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin: “You can put lipstick on a pig, but at the end of the day, it’s still a pig.”

She referred to the strong mayor plan as “the pig” that was being remodeled with lipstick.

Toward the end of the meeting, Johnson accused Sheedy of making comments under her breath and being disrespectful. Sheedy then told the public what she had muttered: “That’s why we don’t have a strong mayor.”

When Sheedy made her remark, she received boos from some audience members.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City leaders approve Arizona boycott

2010-06-16T04:55:10Z

Sacramento’s elected leaders agreed to boycott Arizona companies in protest of the state’s new immigration laws.

The City Council passed the boycott Tuesday with a 6-1 vote. Mayor Kevin Johnson and council members Rob Fong, Bonnie Pannell, Ray Tretheway, Sandy Sheedy and Kevin McCarty voted to approve the boycott.

Councilman Robbie Waters opposed the move.

Council members Steve Cohn and Lauren Hammond were absent.

Hammond was absent from the entire City Council meeting, but Cohn appeared at City Hall to discuss a separate issue after the hearing on the Arizona law.

Arizona’s new law says that an individual’s immigration status should be addressed by police officers in certain circumstances. If police officers think an individual is an illegal immigrant, then they must review the individual’s immigration status, the law states. The police must account for immigration status during “enforcement of any law or ordinance of a county, city or town” in Arizona, the law also states.

Read the details of the resolution approved by the City Council here.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Waters loses District 7 seat

2010-06-09T16:20:56Z

Sacramento City Councilman Robbie Waters has lost the District 7 seat he has held since 1994.

Sacramento County’s election website showed that Waters, with 1,935 votes, follows two challengers in the polls. District 7 candidates Ryan Chin and Darrell Fong are expected to compete in a runoff, Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said Wednesday morning.

District 7 includes the neighborhoods of Greenhaven / Pocket and Valley-Hi.

With all precincts reporting, Chin has 38 percent of the vote. Fong is chasing Chin with 31 percent of the vote. The two candidates are separated by a few hundred votes: Chin has 2,712, while Fong has 2,215.

While Mizuno cautioned that the results are semi-official, she said the percentages showed a runoff for Fong and Chin.

Brad Buyse, the county’s campaign services manager, said Wednesday morning that more than 20,000 vote-by-mail ballots came in Tuesday.

It’s unclear how many, if any, of those 20,000 ballots affect the District 7 seat. Buyse said the vote-by-mail ballots are still in envelopes, Buyse said.

Buyse said the county has 28 days to certify election results, according to state law.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Chin takes the lead in District 7 race

2010-06-09T08:48:02Z

As polling began Tuesday morning, accusations flew between District 7 candidates.

Darrell Fong claimed that volunteers from Ryan Chin's campaign were removing his signs and harassing voters at polling places. Chin made the same claims about volunteers from Fong's campaign.

A campaign spokesperson reported that Robbie Waters' headquarters received complaints by phone about Chin's supporters trying to swayvoters. Chin responded in part by saying his volunteers had nothing to do with the "negative tactics" reported by Waters and Fong.

By late afternoon, David Plag, who works for Waters' campaign, said that the early results were leaning Republican. Fong sent a text to community contributor Erin Haight saying he was doing well and had no complaints.

Giovanni's Pizza in South Land Park hosted Waters' election party. After the polls closed, votes tallied showed Waters in third placewith 757 votes. The party began breaking before 10 p.m. and Waters was visibly tired and said he was "nervous."

A large crowd began celebrating at Happy Corner restaurant on Freeport Boulevard, where Ryan Chin held his party.

The latest numbers before Sacramento County's election website went down showed Chin with 1,122 votes, Fong with 1,012 votes, Waters with 757 and Diedre Hobart with 91.

Chin's campaign manager Devin Lavelle said, "Our name is at the top of the list, that makes us happy."

With only 22 of the 42 precincts reported, Wednesday morning will tell who will fill the District 7 City Council seat.

Erin Haight did reporting for this article.

Photos by Erin Haight.

City Council 2010: Election night updates

2010-06-09T05:32:16Z

11:21 p.m. UPDATE

Angelique Ashby's supporters gather around the wide screen television to anxiously watch the results of tonight's election.

With a lead of more than 10% on her closest competitor, incumbent Tretheway, Ashby supporters are anticipating the coming numbers.

"We think we know the answer," volunteer Celia Hernandez said. "We just need it official!"

Cheers, laughter and applause resonate throughout the police stationassociation, and tensions build as the night wears on, the final count looming closer and closer.

"We're all excited," canvas coordinator Greg Pruden said. "Really looking forward to getting the final returns in and seeing what the final result is. We're really pleased with our efforts so far."

--Maxwell McKee

11:15 p.m. UPDATE

Earlier in the evening, an overwhelming atmosphere of food, screaming kids, and bright lights pervaded El Michoacano 2, a Mexican restaurant serving as Leticia Hilbert's election party venue. A bittersweet vibe was apparent on Hilbert's face as she discovered early on she was behind in votes.

Hilbert said the day was exhausting. She spent the day handing out fliers and speaking with voters. Nevertheless, she was supported by dozens of family and friends in the restaurant.

"Family - it's the nucleus of society," said Hilbert, sitting next to her brother. "If it is broken, our society is dysfunctional."

She also commented on her opponents in the election. "They were all polite and I have nothing but nice things to say about them," she said.

-Jonathan Mendick

10:58 p.m. UPDATE

Sacramento County’s election website appears to be malfunctioning.

At times, the website reports that 36 precincts in the District 1 race have been counted. But at other times, it reports that 70 of 70 precincts have been counted.

The confusion also affected the District 3 race. Shortly before 11 p.m., City Councilman Steve Cohn said he was just as confused as anyone about what was going on with election returns Tuesday night.

"We really have not been able to get any information," he said. "They still haven't changed the overall total from two hours ago. So it's very strange.

"It seems the entire voter registrar is on furlough tonight," he said.

-- Suzanne Hurt and Kathleen Haley

10:40 p.m. UPDATE

A large crowd is already celebrating at candidate Ryan Chin's party at the Happy Corner Restaurant on Freeport Boulevard. The underdog candidate appears poised to take incumbent Robbie Waters' City Council seat in District 7.

Even in early returns, Waters was in a distant third place behind Chin and Darrell Fong. His party at Giovanni's Pizza in the South Land Park area was breaking up before 10 p.m. in what was a melancholy scene, with friends visibly upset.

Chin's campaign manager Devin Lavelle says, "Our name is at the top of the list, that makes us happy." Chin says he feels good, excited and ready for his potential future with the city council.

--Erin Haight

10:23 p.m. UPDATE

The projection screen glowed in Coffee Garden on Franklin Boulevard as District 5 candidate Patrick Kennedy looked on with deep concentration. The City Council poll results were starting to trickle in Tuesday night.

“Right now, we have zero percent of precincts. It’s just way too early.”

Kennedy did not seem to mind having four candidates to run against.

“I ran my campaign as I would running against one other person or 16,” he said.

-Agnus Farrant

9:44 p.m. UPDATE

The crowd was somber at Sofia Restaurant in downtown Sacramento, where City Councilman Ray Tretheway was watching election returns.

About 40 Tretheway supporters turned out for the event.

Tretheway appeared positive about the outcome of the race, despite the fact that early returns show challenger Angelique Ashby leading in the polls.

“I’m doing great,” he smiled. “It’s totally early — but we did a heck of a campaign. We think we have the votes out there.”

Tretheway said that there’s still a long way to go before all the regular and absentee ballots would be counted.

--Suzanne Hurt

9:30 p.m. UPDATE

Food is set out on tables - chips and salsa, sandwich wraps, pretzels and beer. Pangaea Cafe on Franklin Boulevard is bustling, with more than 30 people.

Schenirer got to the party after 8 p.m. because he was attending his son's Senior Award Ceremony at McClatchy High School. A group of his son's high school friends are in attendance, as is Schenirer's mother-in-law. Schenirer is the life of the party, moving from table to table, receiving congratulations for the current election results.

"So far, so good," he says.

He adds that he plans to stay at the cafe until 10:30 p.m.

--Jonathan Mendick

9:14 p.m. UPDATE

Sacramento County Supervisor Candidate Phil Serna is the frontrunner in the District 1 race with 6,088 votes. Keith Weber follows Serna with 2,853 votes.

District 1 includes Sacramento central city.

--Kathleen Haley

9:03 p.m. UPDATE

Over at Clubhouse 56 in East Sacramento, Cohn’s major challenger, realtor Chris Little, watched as county election results were first projected on a wall-sized screen. Little was the second highest vote-getter with 1,295 votes with nearly 40 percent of the vote.

With only 3,271 ballots counted in the race, it is still too early to know how the race will turn out, he said.

“It’s a good showing,” he said.

--Suzanne Hurt

8:59 p.m. UPDATE

Education policy consultant Jay Schenirer is leading the District 5 City Council race with 36 precincts reporting.

Schenirer has 822 votes, while attorney Patrick Kennedy has 571 votes.

Schenirer was endorsed by Mayor Kevin Johnson.

--Kathleen Haley

8:48 p.m. UPDATE

Angelique Ashby’s supporters came together tonight at the police stationSacramento Police Officers Association on Bercut Drive to support the District 1 candidate.

Volunteers spent today working on last-minute campaigning, including making phone calls and visiting polling spots and local businesses.

A new tactic used by the 35-year-old to get the word out was her use of Facebook. She asked her supporters to change their profile pictures to those of Ashby paraphernalia, and has that manner of support from more than 100 people.

“I made a decision at the beginning of the campaign to use social media,” Ashby said. “I think it’s powerful.”

Many volunteers and friends of the campaign put in extra hours today.

“I blew up a hell of a lot of balloons!“ family friend of Ashby’s Pat Mangan said. “I’ve still got the blue on my fingers!”

Unfortunately, voter turnout doesn’t seem to be very good this year.

“It’s looking pretty skinny,“ volunteer Jesus Arredondo said. “Low voter turnout is holding pretty true. Votes were coming in very, very slow this morning. We’ll see if there’s a mad rush here before the end of the polls.”

As the polls inch toward closing, Ashby says she’s more excited than nervous.

“There’s no reason to be nervous,” she said. “We’ve done everything we can. We’ve left no stone unturned. Looking back at a year’s worth of campaigning I can honestly say I feel very good about the effort of my team and my community to give us the best possible chance tonight.”

--Maxwell McKee

8:25 p.m. UPDATE

Incumbent City Councilman Robbie Waters is trailing two challengers in the District 7 City Council race. Ryan Chin is leading with 1,088 votes and 41 precincts reporting.

Darrell Fong follows Chin with 987 votes.

Waters has 728 votes.

--Kathleen Haley

8:20 p.m. UPDATE

Neighborhood activist Angelique Ashby is ahead in the contentious District 1 City Council race. At this point, Ashby has 1,862 votes, while incumbent City Councilman Ray Tretheway has 1,493 votes.

Ashby was endorsed by Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Guttierrez trails with 246 votes.

--Kathleen Haley

8:05 p.m. UPDATE

District 3 candidate Jeff Rainforth said his campaign for City Council went "a lot better" than his previous runs for the U.S. Congress and California governor — because the race was local.

That meant much less ground to cover and a simpler, less expensive way of campaigning, he said.

"We learned a lot about the process of local politics," he said. "Face time with neighbors is important. This is a lot of signs and getting the vote out."

Rainforth said he slept in Tuesday after staying out until 3 a.m. putting out lawn signs before the election.

"It's a lot of work," said Rainforth, who drove up in his campaign Jeep to vote at Washington Elementary School at 7 p.m. "And it was mostly just me."

--Suzanne Hurt

7:49 p.m. UPDATE

Early Tuesday evening, District 3 candidate Shawn Eldredge welcomed family and friends to his Midtown home, where they will watch election results once polls close at 8 p.m.

Wearing a T-shirt that said, "Say no to business as usual," Eldredge said he wanted to throw an appreciation party for everyone who supported him. But he thought his chances of winning weren't high.

"I'm not going to win," he said. "Steve's (Cohn) most likely going to win. Or if not, I'm likely going to be beaten by a sign campaign."

One of his opponents, East Sacramento realtor Chris Little, distributed at least 700 lawn signs, said Eldredge, who added that he put out a little more than 200 — but only "for people who asked."

His mother, Marsha Tipton, was one of the first to arrive in support. She said she reminded coworkers to vote, but saw few voting when she cast her ballot.

"I'm very proud of him," she said.

Eldredge's 20-year-old daughter, Falina, graduated from college in Germany Friday. She made it home Monday night — just in time to show her support for her dad and vote Tuesday evening.

--Suzanne Hurt

7:36 p.m. UPDATE

Sacramento Press Staff Reporter Jonathan Mendick talked with District 5 City Council candidate Jay Schenirer.

Mendick: What do you think about getting the mayor's endorsement, along with Ashby, Cohn and Waters?

Schenirer: My feeling is he cares deeply about Sacramento and he's very committed to being successful. I want him to be successful; if he is, the city is going to be successful. If I'm lucky enough to be elected, I'm looking forward to working with him and others on the council. While people might disagree on the strategy of how to do it, we ultimately want the same thing. Our bosses are the people in the city of Sacramento, and what they're telling us is we need to do a better job working together.

Mendick: What is significant about this year's City Council election and why?

Schenirer: I think what we're going to need to do is get a council that can work together, because for a long time people haven't trusted federal or state government. I (also) haven't seen a lot of trust in city government. We really have to figure out how to work together and regain the trust of the neighborhoods and the city.

--Jonathan Mendick

7:01 p.m. UPDATE

Sacramento Press community contributor Erin Haight scoped out the District 7 scene this afternoon.

David Plag, from incumbent Councilman Robbie Waters' campaign, said early statistics are showing a large Republican turnout.

Darrell Fong said in a text message that he was doing well and had no complaints this afternoon.

--Erin Haight

6:18 p.m. UPDATE

Sacramento Press staff reporter Jonathan Mendick talked to District 5 City Council candidate Henry Harry around 5 p.m.

Harry said some of his campaign signs were stolen. “We’ve made a pretty good effort, our only issue is that we had some campaign signs stolen,” Harry said. “Last night they went to some of our key locations and took some of our signs down.”

Mendick also asked Harry what it was like to run against four other candidates.

“Running against those guys and the lady was interesting and an eye opener,” Harry said. “Two things: Everyone of those is running a good campaign. No one took any cheap shots as far as I saw. You have 20 neighborhoods here, with a diversity of people. Whoever takes that seat is going to have to do a lot of work.”

5:50 p.m. UPDATE

Signs for polling places, such as this one on McKinley Boulevard, sprang up all over the city Tuesday.

Voters began streaming into the McKinley Library polling place after 3 p.m. — the start of the busiest time of day for in-person voting, which builds as people get off work. By 4:45 p.m., 116 people had voted and another six were in the process of voting.

This primary is proving to be more difficult for polling place workers, who must determine which ballot out of nine possible ballots each voter needs. There are nine ways people can vote in the 2010 primary election, said a worker named Dorothy, who's volunteered in elections for at least eight years.

Sacramento Police officers paid a visit to the polling place at McKinley Library after a transient caused a disturbance there, according to the officers.

--Suzanne Hurt

5:40 p.m. UPDATE

Sacramento Press intern Agnus Farrant chatted with District 5 City Council candidate Terrence Johnson Tuesday afternoon.

Farrant asked Johnson: What are the biggest issues in the campaign?

"In the campaign, I felt a little underfunded,” Johnson said. “But that was replaced with increased activity and increased volunteerism. So the limits of some of the campaign resources, we doubled down on our actual feet on the ground, we did person-to-person type campaigning. We walked and walked, hit every single precinct. Funding was the biggest issue.”

Johnson also commented on community issues. “The budget, safety, security and education resonated throughout districts as issues,” he said. “Different priorities for each neighborhood, but the same issues."

5:20 p.m. UPDATE

Staff reporter Suzanne Hurt caught up with City Councilman Steve Cohn today.

Cohn, who's being challenged for the District 3 council seat, cycled through his precincts late Tuesday afternoon.

"Today, we're working to get out the vote," said Cohn, who rode a red single-speed cruiser to knock on doors and pass out literature at the homes of people who hadn't yet voted.

About 5 campaign workers volunteering for Cohn visited polling places Tuesday to find out who's already voted and who might need a reminder call. Another four or five hit the phones to let people know there was still time to vote.

3:46 p.m. UPDATE

City Council District 5 candidates Jay Schenirer and Patrick Kennedy are working the phones today.

District 5 neighborhoods include Colonial Heights, Curtis Park and Oak Park.

Sacramento Press reporter Jonathan Mendick talked to sources with the candidates' campaigns earlier today.

“Today I’m phoning,” Schenirer said. “I have walked the district already twice, in some places three or four times.”

Patrick Kennedy was making phone calls and checking precincts earlier Tuesday, said Judy Kennedy, Patrick Kennedy’s wife.

Chin, Fong accuse each other's campaign of foul play

2010-06-08T19:59:57Z

The District 7 City Council race heated up early this morning when
Ryan Chin and Darrell Fong claimed that their signage was removed from
supporters' lawns and constituents from each campaign were harassed
outside of polling places in the Pocket/Greenhaven areas.

Darrell Fong said he received an e-mail from a concerned voter that
she was harassed by Chin’s campaign volunteers outside of her polling
place, and that she was grateful that he had not used the same
tactics. One of Fong’s volunteers, Harold Fong, said that he felt it
was just a “tacky method to run a campaign."

Both candidates steadfastly state that each has run a clean campaign.

A campaign spokesperson for incumbent Robbie Waters said he received
complaints about Chin's volunteers.

“While we were out this morning checking in at some polling places, we
saw various volunteers from Ryan Chin’s campaign, and we received
several phone calls complaining of the tactics being used to
potentially influence or sway voters,” he said.

Robbie Waters said that he was disappointed with Chin. “(Chin's
people) have remained exactly one inch outside of the 100-yard marker
at polling places... They are trying to intimidate people into voting
for Chin.

"I received several calls to my headquarters this morning from people
who hadn’t quite made up their minds yet, and were being harassed by
Chin volunteers, so they ended up voting for me instead... I am a firm
believer in what goes around usually comes around.”

Ryan Chin said that Darrell Fong's supporters also removed signage
supporting Chin and also harassed voters, but denied the allegations
against his volunteers.

“I have had amazing support from my volunteers who came out early this
morning to thank voters and remind them of our platforms and issues.
We respect the other campaigns' signage, and I would expect the same
from others in this race," Chin said. "I can confidently say our
volunteers had nothing to do with sign removal or any other negative
tactics that may have occurred this morning. We are proud of our
volunteers and staffers who are nothing but respectful and polite.”

SacPress to deliver late-night election coverage

2010-06-08T01:10:53Z

The Sacramento Press election team is pulling an all-nighter Tuesday to bring our readers City Council election results.

We will continuously update our election coverage starting at 4 p.m. Tuesday until the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters stops releasing results late that night.

In addition to reporting the results from the polls, our staffers will be on-the-scene at election parties to cover the perspectives of candidates and their supporters.

In Sacramento, polls will open at 7 a.m. and close at 8 p.m. Election results will start coming in after 8 p.m.

"I'm out campaigning," City Councilman Steve Cohn said late Monday afternoon. "Tonight's the last time I'll be walking door-to-door."

East Sacramento realtor Chris Little, who is challenging incumbent Cohn for the District 3 seat, plans to vote and then spend election day campaigning.

"I'm going to be at the polls bright and early tomorrow morning," Little said. "I want to be first in line."

The public can learn about state races in the June 8 election at smartvoter.org, which is produced by the League of Women Voters of California Education Fund. The League does not take positions on candidates. However, the group’s advocacy arm takes positions on state propositions.

Photo provided by staff reporter Suzanne Hurt.

Hurt contributed to this report. Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Mayor fundraises for Ashby, Waters

2010-06-04T04:31:31Z

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has gone from endorsing City Council candidates to asking the public to help fund their campaigns.

In his May 18 blog, Johnson endorsed Angelique Ashby, Robbie Waters, Jay Schenirer and Steve Cohn.

Now, he's asking the public to contribute to Ashby and Waters’ campaigns.

The mayor said in his May 25 blog entry that “the opportunity to support reform candidate Angelique Ashby must not be missed.”

Ashby is in a tense competition with incumbent Ray Tretheway. Efren Guttierrez also is running for the District 1 City Council seat.

Tretheway did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment Thursday.

Johnson reached out to people outside of Ashby’s Natomas and Alkali Flats district, writing: “If you live elsewhere, you can still make your voice heard. Give money, time or both to support Ashby.”

In a message sent Wednesday to people on his e-mail list, Johnson asked the public to back Waters. He wrote that contributions could be made through the candidate's campaign website.

Read the mayor’s blog entry on Ashby here.

Photos of Johnson and Waters by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Former Sacramento Police Department captain challenges Waters

2010-05-23T18:59:53Z

Darrell Fong, a retired Sacramento Police Department captain who is running for City Council, said he could provide a better perspective to the city and his district because he does not intend to make politics his career.

The Sacramento Press is interviewing City Council candidates in advance of the June 8 election.

Fong, a third-generation Sacramento resident, is running for the District 7 seat on the City Council. His opponents are incumbent Robbie Waters, and Ryan Chin and Diedre Hobart.

“My goal is just to focus on the city alone and the district,” Fong said.

District 7 neighborhoods include Greenhaven, Pocket and Valley Hi. Fong, 53, noted that he has lived in the Pocket neighborhood for 28 years, and one year in Valley Hi.

Fong retired nearly a year ago from the Police Department after almost 30 years. During that time, he held several positions, including captain, lieutenant, watch commander and detective.

He said his focus would be on public safety, which includes quality-of-life issues.

“As a patrol officer, I patrolled every area of this city,” he said. “So I understand the dynamics of different areas ... I understand the dynamics of the whole city.”

Improving the city’s economy is another top priority, Fong said. If elected, he said he would decline a salary until the city’s budget improves.

He noted that “small businesses drive the economy,” and said he has experience working with businesses from his years on the police force.

The Pocket/Greenhaven neighborhoods have a unique business environment, he said. Residents of these bedroom communities are content to drive to downtown and Midtown businesses, he said.

“You’ve got to find the right mix for something to survive in this area,” he said. “It’s not like Midtown — it’s not like downtown. (There are) different dynamics.”

He pointed out that he worked on city budget matters during his police career, and that he understands how the budget works.

He also said government should be more accessible to the public and transparent.

If elected, Fong said, he would work on City Council duties full time.

“My job is to try to bring consensus to the City Council,” he said. “I have no agenda. I’m not running for future office.”

Fong holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University, Sacramento.

He has raised $73,968 for his campaign, according to election statements released in March.

By mid-March, Waters had raised $170,697 in campaign contributions. Chin has garnered $108,925 for his campaign. Hobart’s campaign information on the city’s website does not show any contributions.

Read about other City Council candidates here:

District 1: 
Information about Angelique Ashby’s campaign can be read here. 
Read about Efren Guttierrez’ campaign here.

District 3: 
Shawn Eldredge’s goals are explained here.
Chris Little’s plans are outlined here.
Jeff Rainforth is profiled here.

District 5: 
Read about Henry Harry’s campaign here.
Leticia Hilbert is profiled here.
A story on Terrence Johnson’s campaign can be read here. 
Learn about Patrick Kennedy’s plans here. 
Jay Schenirer’s goals are explored here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Mayor backs candidates Ashby, Cohn, Schenirer and Waters

2010-05-19T03:43:09Z

In a statement Tuesday on his blog, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson made his endorsements for candidates competing in the June 8 primary election.

A KCRA reporter asked Johnson at a Monday press conference if Johnson would endorse candidates who oppose a “strong mayor” form of government. Johnson is leading an effort to bring more authority to the mayor’s office.

In response to the reporter’s question, Johnson said: “I think that’s not really the issue before people. I don’t think that people have had to make a decision on that. So, there’s not a litmus, in general, for that right now.”

Johnson said the candidates he is supporting are not content with the status quo. He explained that he backed candidates with energy, problem-solving skills, “a sense of urgency to get things done,” and a vision for the “new Sacramento.”

However, the Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday that Councilman Ray Tretheway claimed he was pressured by unnamed Johnson supporters to back a strong mayor plan. Johnson is endorsing the following candidates:

Sacramento City Council

City Council District 1: Angelique Ashby

City Council District 3: Steve Cohn

City Council District 5: Jay Schenirer

City Council District 7: Robbie Waters

Sacramento County Board of Supervisors:

Board of Supervisors 1: Phil Serna

Board of Supervisors 2: Jimmie Yee

Board of Supervisors 5: Don Nottoli

Other County Races

Sacramento County Sheriff: Jim Cooper

Sacramento District Attorney: Jan Scully

Assessor: Kathleen Kelleher

State Legislature

Assembly District 9: Lauren Hammond

Assembly District 5: Richard Pan

State Senate District 6: Darrell Steinberg

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Roseville mayor on city's decision to hire Ray Kerridge

2010-05-07T01:55:33Z

After resigning from the city of Sacramento in March, controversial former City Manager Ray Kerridge did not travel far for his next major assignment: He’s now the city manager of Roseville.

The Roseville City Council chose Kerridge for the position Thursday in a 4-1 vote. Kerridge was the choice out of 63 candidates for the job.

Roseville Mayor Gina Garbolino said in an interview Thursday that Kerridge is the “right person for Roseville at this time.”

Various Sacramento officials offered differing reasons in February for why Kerridge decided to leave the city. Sacramento city spokeswoman Amy Williams said Kerridge resigned from his post because he had dedicated more than 35 years to public service and felt it was a good time to transition to a private sector position.

Meanwhile, Mayor Kevin Johnson said Kerridge’s resignation was in part due to a negative atmosphere at City Hall. At a Feb. 18 press conference, Johnson and City Councilman Robbie Waters blamed other council members for creating a hostile work environment and complimented Kerridge on his work for the city of Sacramento.

Johnson admitted to being partly to blame for the negative atmosphere among City Council members.

The city was also facing significant controversies with its Community Development and Utilities departments at the time of Kerridge’s resignation. When Kerridge was leading the city, Sacramento was in trouble with both the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Sacramento County Grand Jury. The city acknowledged it broke FEMA rules by allowing building permits in a flood zone in Natomas.

The Grand Jury has claimed that actions by the city’s Utilities Department violated state law Proposition 218.

And, the Sacramento City Council recently hired a third-party auditing firm to examine whether the city has been allowing developers to bypass fee payments in recent years.

Attempts to contact Kerridge through the city of Roseville Thursday afternoon were unsuccessful.

Reacting to Kerridge’s new move, Mayor Kevin Johnson said in an e-mail through his spokesman that the city of Sacramento is operating in a “broken system.” While Johnson did not specifically mention a “strong mayor” form of government would be the cure, he is leading an effort to give the mayor more power in Sacramento.

"Unfortunately, this news is the latest example of why we need to reform City Hall,” Johnson said. “Ray's resignation was a major loss to Sacramento, and I remain troubled by the atmosphere at City Hall that likely played a role in his decision. We can't afford to keep losing our best people because of a broken system.

“Our loss is Roseville's gain. Ray will further the city's already impressive work to create jobs and foster a positive business climate. I congratulate Ray on his new role and wish him well," Johnson said.

Roseville’s Garbolino acknowledged that Kerridge had faced controversies in Sacramento.

“We knew what was in the paper,” Garbolino said, noting that there are “other sides of stories.”

Garbolino said the Roseville City Council conducted an extensive search that included input from 150 city employees. City employees and community members said they wanted their new city manager to have vision, leadership skills and an attitude of quality customer service, Garbolino said.

Kerridge was the best candidate, Garbolino said. “Obviously, he has a reputation for customer service.”

Garbolino noted that her city adheres to laws. “Roseville has always followed the book,” she said. “We don’t veer from that. That’s non-negotiable.”

Councilman Waters said in an interview Thursday that Kerridge made major improvements to the city of Sacramento’s development department when he oversaw it. Kerridge’s move to Roseville is “a great loss to the city of Sacramento,” Waters said.

At its May 19 meeting, the Roseville City Council will decide Kerridge’s salary and determine his first day of work, according to Roseville's website. Kerridge earned $215,000 as Sacramento's city manager.

Photo courtesy of the city of Roseville.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

District 7 Candidates discuss SMI, council cooperation, and the arena

2010-03-19T18:39:20Z

They walked out onto the stage at the gym at Genevieve Didion Elementary, each wearing suits and ties. They weren’t clammed up, having talked to various people in the crowd prior to taking the stage. Each of them was familiar with the neighborhood, and had a desire to represent it.

Current City Councilmember Robbie Watters, retired Sacramento Police Captain Darrell Fong, and Sacramento State professor Ryan Chin all participated in Thursday night’s Sacramento City Council 7th District Candidate Forum, organized by the Didion-Lewis Park Recreation Center Committee. And once they took their seats, none of them could escape responding to questions about the Strong Mayor Initiative, acrimony amongst city leaders, and the arena project.

“I did not endorse or support a strong mayor in the city” said Waters, who voted in favor of placing the Strong Mayor Initiative on the June 2010 ballot. “I did vote to put it on 2010, but I did not endorse it.”

Chin opposed the initiative, saying a strong mayor doesn’t need a “strong mayor’s initiative”, but an ability to bring people together to get issues done. Fong also opposed the initiative, calling it Chicago style politics.

Responding to how he could foster cooperation as potentially one of eight members on the city council, Chin emphasized his experience in business and community service.

“You don’t focus on the person, you focus on the problem,” said Chin. “It’s about the issue and solving it.

Fong answered by saying he understands the dynamics of City Hall, and has developed relationships at the city, county, and state levels.

Waters elaborated on the loss of Ray Kerridge, but then discussed his feelings regarding relationships on the City Council.

“This is the worst City Council I’ve ever worked with,” said Waters, pointing out that he and former Mayor Heather Fargo, who was in attendance, may not have always agreed but would usually talk and settle their issues.

“Now when the Mayor says something, two or three people disagree with him no matter what it is,” said Waters, “I’ve learned over 15 years how to get along with other councilmembers.”

When asked if he felt it was the right time to build an arena given the current economic times of the City, Waters felt this plan is the closest we’ve been and that it would create needed jobs.

Chin felt this is not the time to spend public funds, but did feel it was likely that city land would be used.

Fong said the arena should be an entertainment center and more than just an arena, but was concerned about the involvement of public subsidies.

“Public subsidy is the land,” said Fong, “We have land that’s swapped between Natomas or Downtown that’s worth money. So I think the people should have a choice whether they want to use that land for the arena or entertainment center.”

At the end of the arena discussion, Waters took a moment to emphasize that the City’s loan to the Sacramento Kings is set in stone and must be paid back. He estimated the loan currently stands at $69 million.

Jorge Oseguera becomes the new city auditor

2010-03-10T05:58:17Z

The city auditor’s office — vacant for nearly a year — has been brought back to life.

Mayor Kevin Johnson and three council members announced at a Tuesday morning press conference that Jorge Oseguera is the city's new internal auditor.

Most recently, Oseguera was a senior program performance auditor for the city of San Jose. He began work at the city of Sacramento Monday.

“I think the audit function is an essential element of the public’s accountability, and I look forward to meeting my objectives in meeting the public’s accountability,” Oseguera said.

He also said he would participate in preparations for an upcoming audit of the Community Development Department. The investigation will be conducted by an outside auditing firm.

The three council members — Robbie Waters, Lauren Hammond and Steve Cohn — joined Johnson to praise Oseguera.

Waters explained that the city received applications from about 12 people for the auditor position. After an interview process, the committee selected three candidates for in-depth consideration. At that point, the committee asked the entire City Council to weigh in on the three candidates, according to Waters.

Oseguera was "hands above all the candidates," Waters said.

Cohn, chair of the City Council’s audit committee, pointed out that Oseguera will be the first auditor for the city of Sacramento to be supervised by the City Council. The former auditor, Marty Kolkin, reported to the city manager.

Kolkin resigned from his position in May to accept a new job in Santa Monica.

Council members decided last year that the City Council — not the city manager — should supervise the city auditor. During a meeting in April, council members said that it would be a more transparent process for an auditor to report to the City Council, rather than the city manager.

“We look forward to working with Jorge to make sure we have the most efficient operations possible and that our citizens -- our taxpayers -- can have confidence that we are running a tight ship,” Cohn said.

At San Jose, Oseguera investigated building security, grant oversight and debt management, among other areas, according to that city’s website.

Oseguera earned his master’s degree in public administration at Syracuse University and his bachelor’s degree from California State University, Stanislaus.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Council Election: Money from outside the county

2010-02-22T03:29:49Z

All but four of 13 candidates running for a City Council seat in June received campaign contributions from sources outside Sacramento County from July to December 2009. It also should be noted that many of the candidates have received numerous contributions from individuals and groups in Sacramento.

To provide information about contributions to candidates from sources outside the county, The Sacramento Press has prepared the following guide. The following contributions were made to candidates between July 1 and Dec. 31.

DISTRICT 1

Angelique Ashby, City Council candidate

Top outside contributions:

Lewis Investment Company, Upland: $500
James Milliken, retired Superior Court judge, San Diego: $200
Ernest Aglipay, faculty member, California State University, at East Bay, San Jose: $150

Efren Guttierrez, City Council candidate

Guttierrez did not receive any contributions from sources outside the county.

Ray Tretheway, City Council incumbent

Top outside contributions:

Plumbers & Steamfitters Local No. 467, Burlingame: $5,000
AT&T California Employee Political Action Committee, San Francisco: $2,500
United Association Journeyman Plumbers and Steamfitters Local No. 343, Vallejo: $2,500
California Real Estate Political Action Committee, Los Angeles: $2,500

DISTRICT 3

Steve Cohn, City Council incumbent

Top outside contributions:

California Real Estate Political Action Committee / Board of Realtors Political Action Committee, Los Angeles: $2,500
James Bright, partner at Bright & Brown, La Canada: $1,500
Maureen Bright, partner at Bright & Brown, La Canada: $1,500
Fourth Quarter Properties 100, L1, Newnan, GA: $1,500

Shawn Eldredge, City Council candidate

Eldredge did not receive any contributions from sources outside the county.

Chris Little, City Council candidate

Top outside contributions:

Joe Reeves, chief executive officer of Smile Business Products, Roseville: $500
Stan Huser, executive at Karis Corp., El Dorado: $250
Kenneth Hammill, Jr., contractor, Woodland: $100
Scott Yuill, insurance agent, Rocklin: $100
John Appelbaum, attorney, Roseville: $100

DISTRICT 5

Henry Harry, City Council candidate

Harry did not receive any contributions from sources outside the county.

Terrence Johnson, City Council candidate

Johnson did not receive any contributions from sources outside the county.

Patrick Kennedy, City Council candidate

Top outside contributions:

Pipe Trades District Council #36 Political Action Committee, Fresno: $5,000
Plumbers & Steamfitters Local No. 467 Political Action Fund, Burlingame: $5,000
Southern California Pipe Trades District Council #16 Political Action Committee, Los Angeles: $5,000
U.A. Local #246 Plumbers & Fitters COPE Committee, Fresno: $5,000
United Association Journeyman Plumbers & Steamfitters Local No. 343 Political Action Committee, Vallejo: $5,000

Jay Schenirer, City Council candidate

Top outside contributions:

AT&T California Employee Political Action Committee, San Francisco: $3,000
Eli Broad, founder of The Broad Foundation, Los Angeles: $1,500
Genentech, South San Francisco: $1,000

DISTRICT 7

Ryan Chin, City Council candidate

Top outside contributions:

Chin received $1,500 contributors from several individuals and organizations outside of the county. Here are three:

Janet Louie, administration assistant, San Bruno
Phillip Lee, unemployed, Cupertino
Jone Lau, Realtor, San Francisco

Darrell Fong, City Council candidate

Top outside contributions:

VOICE, San Francisco: $2,000
Barry Azarcon, insurance broker, Auburn: $1,000
Ronald Vanderbeek, auto dealer, Granite Bay: $750

Robbie Waters, City Council incumbent

Top outside contributions:

AT&T California, San Francisco: $3,000
California Real Estate Political Action Committee, Los Angeles: $2,500

Waters received several contributions of $1,500 from organizations and individuals outside of Sacramento County. Here are three:

Chevron Corp., Concord
USA Hospitality Inc., El Dorado Hills
Kern Schumacher, owner of A&K Railroad Materials Inc., Incline Village, NV

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City Council campaign contributions for Districts 5, 7

2010-02-17T04:06:37Z

The Sacramento Press is reviewing campaign contributions for the candidates in June's City Council race. Here is a breakdown of the main contributions to the candidates in Districts 5 and 7 from July to December 2009. Read our guide to campaign contributions for Districts 1 and 3 here.

The June 8 election covers four City Council seats for Districts 1, 3, 5 and 7. The July to December figures provide the most recent information on campaign contributions for City Council candidates. The next deadline for candidates to submit statements listing their contributions is March 17, according to Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno. Those statements will list contributions from Jan. 1 to March 12.

Campaign contribution statements are published at the city’s online campaign finance system.

DISTRICT 5

Henry Harry, City Council candidate

Total monetary contributions for 2009: $508.92

Top contributors, July to December 2009:

Felix Luna, law enforcement occupation: $100
Tony Brown, self-employed: $200

Terrence Johnson, City Council Candidate

Total monetary contributions for 2009: $8,830

Top contributors, July to December 2009:

Mulleian Investments, LLC: $500
Ronald Emslie, retired: $200
King Smith, restaurant owner: $200

Patrick Kennedy, City Council candidate

Total monetary contributions for 2009: $96,339.26

Top Contributors from July to December 2009

Kennedy received eight contributions of $5,000 each during the July to December 2009 timeframe:

California State Pipe Trades Council Political Action Fund
Pipe Trades District Council #36 Political Action Committee
Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 447 Federal Political Action Fund
Plumbers & Steamfitters Local No. 467 Political Action Fund
Sacramento Builders Exchange Political Action Committee
Southern California Pipe Trades District Council #16 Political Action Committee
U.A. Local #246 Plumbers & Fitters COPE Committee
United Association Journeyman Plumbers & Steamfitters Local No. 343 Political Action Committee

Jay Schenirer, City Council candidate

Total monetary contributions for 2009: $69,512

Top contributor, July to December 2009:

AT&T California Employee Political Action Committee: $3,000

Schenirer received $1,500 each from the following contributors from July to December 2009:

John Adkisson, attorney
Eli Broad, founder of The Broad Foundation
Marcine Friedman, retired
O’Connell 2006
Dale Shimasaki, president of Capitol Impact

DISTRICT 7

Ryan Chin, City Council candidate

Total monetary contributions for 2009: $76,525

Chin received $1,500 each from the following contributors during the July to December 2009 timeframe:

Garret Chong, not employed
Kristen Chong, not employed
Richard Ikeda, program director
Jone Lau, Realtor
Phillip Lee, not employed
Janet Louie, administration assistant
Leanne Lui, tutor
Anthony Wong, engineer
Irene Wong, legal assistant

Darrell Fong, City Council candidate

Total monetary contributions for 2009: $57,241

Top contributor from July to December 2009:

VOICE: $2,000

Fong received $1,500 each from the following contributors during the July to December 2009 timeframe:

Derrick Fong, CEO of restaurant group
Frances Fong, retired
Karen Fong, analyst
Mark Friedman, president of Fulcrum Properties
Friends of Fong 2008
Edward Lee, health administration occupations
Jeffery Owensby, attorney
Plaza Hof Brau, Inc.
Sylvia Tang, staff director
William K. Wong, consultant

Robbie Waters, City Council incumbent

Total monetary contributions for 2009: $159,300

Waters’ campaign committee also took out $11,000 in loans. His campaign had a total of $170,300 on Dec. 31, 2009.

Top contributors from July to December 2009:

Western Electrical Contractors Association: $3,500
Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs Association: $3,000
Sacramento Police Officers Association: $2,500

Waters received $1,500 each from dozens of contributors from July to December 2009. Here are 15 of them:

Second Opinion, Inc.
Kern Schumacher, developer
Lewis Investment Company
Gregory Thatch
Alleghany Properties, Inc.
Capitol Casino
Frank Ramos, business owner
Frank & Patti Stathos, real estate developers
Townsend, Raimundo, Besler and Usher, Inc.
Yellow Cab Company of Sacramento
Steven Moore, business owner
Peter Bollinger Investment Company
Sacramento Natural Gas Storage, LLC
Paul Snider, car dealership owner
Angelo Tsakopoulos, developer

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City Hall leaks: What is 'confidential' information?

2010-02-04T06:41:00Z

The Sacramento City Council is eyeing a proposed rule stating that city employees could be fired for leaking confidential information. What are city officials considering 'confidential' information? And what do the definitions mean?

City Attorney Eileen Teichert has drafted language for the proposed rule. The City Council postponed a decision on the proposed rule Tuesday but is expected to take up the issue again at an upcoming meeting.

Leaked information from City Hall has become big news lately. In October, the Sacramento Bee used a leaked memo to report that the Community Development Department's approval of 35 building permits in Natomas may have broken federal rules. The offices of the city attorney and city manager note in a recent report that the department broke rules set by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Teichert’s proposal on leaks responds to a request from Councilman Robbie Waters. He had asked Teichert at the Jan. 25 City Council meeting to provide a legal definition for the term “confidentiality.” He said he wanted to see definitions for confidentiality that cover the term on moral and “punitive” level

Teichert defined “confidential information” in two ways in a Feb. 2 report. She wrote that information from closed sessions, in which legal matters are often discussed, are confidential. Information from Teichert is also confidential, the report states. Confidential information includes “oral or written communications by or from the city attorney, containing the city attorney’s legal opinions, advice, thoughts, mental impressions or conclusions that are given on behalf of the city,” the report states.

She noted there are types of information that don't fall under “confidential information.” This applies to information that is “required by law to be reported out of closed session; authorized by the City Council to be disclosed; or otherwise authorized to be disclosed under the law.”

Teichert's proposal states that an “employee disclosing or causing to be disclosed confidential information to any unauthorized person may be subject to appropriate disciplinary action up to and including termination.”

Holly Heyser, a journalist and the faculty advisor of Sacramento State University’s student newspaper, said that when laws are in place to define specific types of information as “confidential,” the argument for the public’s right to learn about the information falls flat.

“If the law authorizes the city to keep certain kinds of information confidential in the first place, then the battle for the public’s right to know has already been lost with respect to that information,” Heyser said in an e-mail Wednesday. “For the city to say there are consequences for employees who leak such information is just an extension of current law.”

However, Heyser noted that people can clash in their views of which kinds of information should be public.

“Where you have the potential for problems is in cases of disagreement over whether certain pieces of information actually can be (or should be) withheld from the public – and that is, of course, what usually impels some employees to leak information,” she wrote.

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy has opposed the idea of a rule stating that an employee could be fired for leaking information. She said it would have a “chilling effect” on whistleblowers.

Read the Feb. 2 report on the proposed rule here.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Sheedy opposes crackdown on information leaks

2010-02-03T06:52:26Z

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy is opposing a proposed rule stating that city employees could be fired for leaking confidential information.

She said at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting the proposed rule would have a “chilling effect” on whistleblowers.

The City Council delayed a decision on the proposal.

The proposal Sheedy is opposing was drafted by City Attorney Eileen Teichert. It states that an “employee disclosing or causing to be disclosed confidential information to any unauthorized person may be subject to appropriate disciplinary action up to and including termination.”

Councilman Robbie Waters wanted Teichert to address confidentiality in a rule. His views on the current proposed language were unclear Tuesday night.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell explains 2010 goals

2010-01-30T21:46:40Z

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell said she plans to concentrate on key issues facing her South Sacramento district this year, including flood protection, a beautification effort on Meadowview Road and youth services.

Pannell’s goals are explained as part of a series of articles on council members’ plans for 2010. Links to the articles are at the end of this story.

The Sacramento Press made repeated request for interviews with two council members, Rob Fong and Ray Tretheway, but they were unavailable.

Pannell represents District 8, which includes the Meadowview, North Laguna Creek and 63rd Street/Cromwell neighborhoods.
Her primary focus this year is on 100-year flood protection for areas in her district affected by South Sacramento streams. Pannell said Rep. Doris Matsui, (D-Sacramento), “has been working hard to get federal funds not only for North Natomas, but for South Sacramento stream levees."

Progress on the South Sacramento stream levees will depend on Matsui obtaining federal dollars, she said. Funding for the project also would come from local taxes, Pannell added.

Her second goal for the year is to complete a beautification effort involving a fence on Meadowview Road. Pannell said she expects a new fence along that road to be set up by mid- to late spring. The project, which costs about $670,000, involves removing the existing wooden fence and installing a fence made of masonry wall.

“I think it will change the look, the appearance of the community,” Pannell said.

The councilwoman’s third priority will be to work with youth. She noted that she is backs an initiative to fund jobs and other services for young people in Sacramento. Programs offered through the initiative, the Youth Jobs and Opportunity Act, would be paid for by a $29 annual tax on parcels of property.

Pannell also wants new services for youth who live in apartment complexes on Mack Road, citing problems with some young people in the area. She said she wants youth in the the apartment complexes to be involved in sports and after-school programs. Youth programs keep kids in school, off the streets and away from trouble, Pannell said.

The services would be funded by property fees from homes financed through the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.

Pannell has set many other goals for the period of 2010 to 2012. The goals are listed on her website under the heading of "council district information." Read about them here.

Learn about Councilman Steve Cohn's goals here. Councilwoman Lauren Hammond's priorities are outlined here. Read about Councilman Kevin McCarty's plans here. Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy's objectives are explained here. Read about Councilman Robbie Waters' goals here. Mayor Kevin Johnson's announces his goal for a green initiative here. Johnson discusses a goal relating to the building moratorium in Natomas.

Photos by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. 

Councilman Robbie Waters' plans for 2010

2010-01-14T04:36:27Z

Sacramento City Councilman Robbie Waters wants to advance public safety in his district by bolstering neighborhood associations and watch groups. Waters, a former Sacramento County sheriff, said that public safety is his top priority for the year.

The Sacramento Press is publishing a series on the 2010 goals of members of the City Council. Links to stories on other councilmembers’ goals can be found at the end of this story.

Waters represents District 7, which includes the Greenhaven, Pocket and Valley Hi neighborhoods. He is running for re-election in June. His opponents in the race are Darrell Fong, who had a longtime career as a Sacramento police officer, and Ryan Chin, the strategic communications director at California State University, Sacramento.

Patricia Clark, Waters’ district director, spoke on behalf of the councilman in a phone interview Wednesday. Clark said Waters has been working hard to build up neighborhood associations and watch groups. He wants to help make the groups stronger and expand their numbers, she said.

While the district already has many neighborhood groups, there are still parts of the district that are not covered by an association and do not have a neighborhood watch, she said.

Building up neighborhood associations and watch groups “can contribute to making our district a strong community so that criminals will know they will not succeed in our neighborhoods,” according to Clark, who said she was quoting Waters.

Waters’ second highest priority will be the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library, Clark said. The councilman’s office plans to open the library’s doors in September, according to Clark. The 15,000-square-foot library will be part of the Sacramento Public Library system.

Pocket-Greenhaven Library will be located at Sacramento City Unified School District’s School of Engineering and Sciences. It will serve the school as well as the community, Clark said.

She added that efforts are underway to pursue “silver certification” for the library under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

Waters’ third focus of the year will be communicating with residents about programs, resources and events, according to Clark. The councilman’s office frequently updates Waters’ website and communicates with residents through an e-mail list, Clark said. Waters wants to continue those efforts and increase the level of communication with residents, she added.

“We really want all residents to be well-informed of all the resources that are available to them,” Clark said.

Read Councilman Kevin McCarty’s priorities here. Learn about Councilwoman Lauren Hammond’s plans for the year here. Councilman Steve Cohn’s plans for 2010 can be read here.

Photo of Waters by Anthony Bento.
Drawing of the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library courtesy of the city of Sacramento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Green waste debate changes course

2009-12-29T04:49:27Z

The fiery public debate over possible changes to the city of Sacramento’s green waste pickup system has changed course.

The City Council was expected to decide in January whether to ask voters to use bins for their green waste. But it will not make a decision on the issue in the immediate future, according to Marty Hanneman, Utilities Department director.

The issue of scrapping the on-the-street pickup system has been “pushed back on the table, on the back burner,” he said.

For weeks, residents have been debating whether bins should be used instead of on-the-street green waste pickup. Recent reports from city staffers said a bin system would be cheaper and more environmentally responsible.

Residents who object to bins say they are impractical because the trees create too much lawn waste.

Lisa Nava, district director for Councilman Rob Fong, addressed the issue in a Dec. 22 e-mail to Paul Trudeau, president of the Southside Park Neighborhood Association. “There is no longer interest in bringing a ballot initiative to City Council to repeal Measure A (which would enable the Council to make containerized green waste mandatory),” Nava wrote.

“However, we have decided to provide the Voluntary Containerized Green Waste program city-wide. This seems like a good compromise at this time.”

City staff decided to postpone the green waste issue, Hanneman said, adding that he discussed the delay with City Manager Ray Kerridge. Councilman Robbie Waters, who asked staff to bring the idea to the City Council, accepts that the issue has been delayed, Hanneman said.

The current system is complex because the city uses two methods of green waste removal: an on-the-street pickup system and a voluntary bin system.

Workers remove piles of green waste from the street with the "claw" machine and a second vehicle.

However, residents in some sections of the city can choose bins instead of on-the-street pickup, according to a Nov. 24 Utilities Department report. About 85,000 residents have chosen bins, the report notes.

An opt-out system is in place for the bins now. After the city delivers bins to a neighborhood, residents must refuse them to maintain on-the-street pickup, Hanneman said.

Over the past several weeks, city staffers have worked on a plan to ask voters if they want to switch to a bin system and stop on-the-street pickup. City staffers had planned to bring the idea to the City Council. If councilmembers liked the idea, they would have had to ask voters to allow a bin system.

That’s because Sacramento voters passed an ordinance in 1977 saying the city could not establish the use of bins for green waste. A mandatory bin system can be set up only if voters overturn the 1977 ordinance, according to the report from the Utilities Department.

City staffers do not know the costs of the on-the-street pickup system, Hanneman said. That’s because a growing number of people are choosing bins, which hikes the price of on-the-street pickup, he said.

Nor have staffers decided how multifamily complexes would be incorporated into a bin system, Hanneman added.

“We have some issues we have to resolve.”

Photo by Geoff Samek.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City staff seek building code changes

2009-11-10T05:27:54Z

The Sacramento City Council soon may be asked to amend city code to legalize a longtime practice that helped bring about the suspension of the Facilities Permit Program.

In the next few weeks, city staff want to ask the council to allow FPP construction projects to start before building permits are issued — as long as a business has a written start-work authorization from the building division, said David Kwong, the city's Planning Division director.

Staff is working with the city attorney's office to learn if the practice and the building code amendment would be legal, Kwong said.

"What I'd like to do is vet that form with the city attorney's office, make some tweaks and take that to the council," said Kwong, who is also serving as head of the Community Development Department, which oversees the planning and building permits divisions.

The department's director, Bill Thomas, and department supervisor Dan Waters, son of Councilman Robbie Waters, are on paid leave while the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the city and an outside law firm hired by the city look into the department and home building permits approved for the Natomas flood zone despite a ban.

The FPP is intended to speed approval for tenant improvements or renovation of commercial and industrial buildings involving businesses that already have established relationships with the city, Kwong said. If the change were approved, the FPP could resume within about two months, he added.

The city suspended the FPP on Oct. 27 after questions about the program arose in relation to the Nestlé Waters North America water-bottling plant. A stop-work order had been posted on the plant's door Oct. 23 while Councilman Kevin McCarty and other city officials inquired into plant construction.

That's when city officials learned that Nestlé and contractors had begun the first phase of construction work without a formal building permit or start-work authorization. A building inspector who coordinates the FPP had given verbal approval only.

A Nestlé official said at the time that the company had complied with the city's building laws.

The city attorney's office, led by Eileen Teichert, determined the practice was not legal, and that allowing construction to start without a building permit violates city and state codes, Kwong said.

Teichert was out of town and not available to comment.

The use of start-work authorizations rather than building permits for some commercial construction predates the FPP in Sacramento.

"We found there was a common practice dating back to 1992 or 1995," Kwong said. "It seemed like an acceptable practice for 14 years, and they went forward with that."

The practice is used in other cities and was incorporated into the FPP when that program was brought to Sacramento from Portland about four years ago, said Kwong. "It's not something we invented," he said.

As planning division director for four and a half years, Kwong was not involved in building services until three weeks ago.

Sacramento City Manager Ray Kerridge, hired in 2004 as an assistant city manager in charge of development, brought Thomas with him from Portland after developers criticized Sacramento's development application and building permit processes as laborious and confusing.

The two have developed programs to speed the application process and encourage development in Sacramento.

Kerridge began his career in Portland as a building inspector in 1979. After becoming manager of commercial inspections, he developed Portland's Facilities Permit Program and the Commercial Combination Inspection Program.

Portland's FPP was designed to match one building inspection team with a building or group of buildings. That team would do all plan review, permitting and inspections of interior tenant improvements to speed improvements or renovations. Phoenix was the only other city in the country known to have a similar program when Portland's began in 1998.

In Sacramento, an inspection team may be replaced by one building inspector certified in several areas, Kwong said.

According to the city of Sacramento's website, "The FPP facilitates a rapid approval process for tenant alterations and improvements of commercial and industrial facilities, (including) minor tenant improvements, including maintenance, repair and minor alterations; and major interior tenant improvements and remodels. This includes tenant improvements to new and existing structures.

"The FPP is available to owners of commercial and industrial buildings, building management companies, and/or their tenants. The program best serves customers who have on-going interior tenant improvements and where facility maintenance, upgrade and renovation is frequent. A good example is a large shopping center with multiple tenants."

As a newcomer to Sacramento, Nestlé would not fit the program. However, Buzz Oates Real Estate Co., which is leasing the warehouse to Nestlé, or Panattoni Construction, which is overseeing the work, would fit the program as established customers, Kwong said.

Nestlé is the building permit applicant. Panattoni received a start-work authorization for the plant renovation's second phase on Oct. 7.

This is the first time the City Council has been asked to weigh in on the FPP.

State building codes must be reviewed to see if FPP practices would be in violation, or to align new city code with the state. City staff also will look for precedents in other cities and counties that use the start-work authorization form, Kwong said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City Council 2010: How to follow the money

2009-11-06T04:53:29Z

It’s election season in Sacramento — do you know how to follow the money in the 2010 City Council campaigns? You can get the scoop on campaign contributions through the city of Sacramento’s Online Campaign Statement System.

The system, which is free and open to the public, provides information on contributions to City Council candidates.

Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno gave tips Thursday on navigating the online system.

In the past, Mizuno said, the public would have to appear in person to request campaign information. “In this case, you can do it at home, at your computer.”

There is a link to the online system at the city clerk’s website under the heading “Elections & Campaigns.” Click on the link titled “Online Campaign Statement System.”

That goes to a page with the following heading: “Welcome to the City of Sacramento Electronic Filing System.” Here, is the “Public Access Portal.”

Click on the “Get Started Now” link at the Public Access Portal.

This will take you to a page with a heading that reads: “Welcome to the City of Sacramento Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure.”At the bottom of this page is a heading titled “Browse Candidates & Measures by Election.”

To learn about campaign contributions for the June 8, 2010 election, click on the plus sign for the heading titled “06/08/2010 Primary Election.” Then, click on the plus sign next to the heading titled “Candidates.” You can now click on plus signs for the four City Council districts.

You’ll see the following candidates for City Council District 1: Angelique Ashby, Lisa Kaplan and Ray Tretheway. The candidates under the “City Council D3” heading are Steve Cohn and Shawn Eldredge.

City Council District District 5 shows seven candidates: Kasey Cotulla, Lauren Hammond, Henry Harry, Terrence Johnson, Patrick Kennedy, Jameel Pugh and Jay Schenirer.

The four candidates listed under the heading for City Council District 7 are Ryan Chin, Darrell Fong, John Puente and Robbie Waters.

You can click on the names of each candidate to learn about their campaign contributions.

For example, if you click on "Angelique Ashby," you’ll arrive at a page that shows the forms Ashby has filed. Ashby is a partner in a consulting firm that contracts with government agencies and businesses.

Click on the word “View” for Ashby’s Form 460. You’ll be taken to a 10-page PDF document that lists her contributors and the amounts they gave. For example, you can read that retired Davis resident Patricia Grafton contributed $1,500 to Ashby’s campaign.

The 460 forms “are the ones you want to watch for,” Mizuno said. “Those are the ones that have detail in them.”

Other critical information on Form 460 includes the candidate’s contributions, expenditures, current cash statement, cash equivalents and debts. For example, Ashby received $10,274 in contributions from Jan. 1 to June 30. Her ending cash balance for that period was $9,220.26.

Five of the candidates don’t have 460 forms in the online system. Mizuno explained that those candidates opened their campaign committee after July 1, which means their deadline for the 460 forms is Jan. 31. Look for 460 forms in January from Darrell Fong, Jameel Pugh, Steve Cohn, Shawn Eldredge and Henry Harry.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

R.E. Graswich on why he left journalism for City Hall

2009-08-21T02:48:28Z

Sacramento journalist R.E. Graswich is not sad to leave his 37-year journalism career for a new job as special assistant to Mayor Kevin Johnson.

“I figure I got one last shot in life here to do something worthwhile as opposed to what you guys do,” he joked while addressing reporters Tuesday.

Graswich, 54, left a 35-year career at The Sacramento Bee in 2007. In the two years following his departure from the Bee, he took up “wonderful chances” to work as a co-anchor at KFBK and commentator at KOVR CBS 13, he said. Now, though, he wants to work in the political arena. This is his first week working as a staffer at City Hall in the special assistant position with a salary of $80,000.

At Johnson’s office, Graswich will hold several roles. He will be a point-man in negotiations and discussions between the City Council and Johnson. While he won’t be the mayor’s contact for the media, he said he will provide assistance on communications issues and strategies. Graswich will work on policy issues relating to both K Street development and public safety in the city. In addition, he will work with community members on behalf of Johnson’s office.

Graswich told The Sacramento Press in an interview in downtown Sacramento on Wednesday that he achieved his goals as a Bee columnist covering city issues. “I ended up writing what I think was the top column in town. It was the most popular, the most widely-read column.” Additionally, he spent several years writing a sports column.

He also wanted to leave the Bee because he felt it had changed for the worse. “When you look at the decline of the traditional media -- and the Bee in particular -- I just didn’t want to stay around and watch that,” he said.

“I was there during the glory years,” he added. “I was there when it was a wonderful, viable, vital place to work. I thought it was a job for life, frankly...And here we are at this situation where it’s just not the same anymore. And there are a million reasons for it. But I just thought, it’s time to step away.”

Graswich noted that some people have told him that his move to Johnson’s office from journalism is like going to “the dark side.” But he argues that private sector media outlets are “the dark side” because they’re working for the sake of profits rather than for the public.

“The dark side?” he asked rhetorically. “I’m getting paid by the people. I’m working for the people.”

“You’re on the dark side,” he said, laying out his response to journalists critical of his career move. “Your boss is trying to make a dollar... Clear Channel and McClatchy — those are the two people I’ve worked for. They’re in it for the money. There’s nothing wrong with that. I’m working for the people now. And they’re paying my salary. And by God, they’re going to get their money’s worth.”

He also said that he is taking a pay cut to work for Johnson's office.

Graswich freely acknowledged he has a hankering for politics. Though he’s considered running for local political office, he said he’s not able to run in the 2010 elections.

“In the back of my head, I always thought — if I could get into government,” he said. “I love the city issues; I love policy issues. There was some thought about me running for office.”

He said he would have needed three things to run for a City Council seat in 2010. One of those things was the backing of Councilman Robbie Waters. Graswich, who lives in Waters’ district, would have considered running for office if Waters decided not to run.

Graswich also said he would have needed the support of his wife, as well the backing of Mayor Kevin Johnson.

But Waters is running for office again in 2010, and Graswich’s spouse, Elizabeth, put her foot down. “Honest to God, I think it was that she didn’t want to be married to a politician,” Graswich said. “There was also a period of fund-raising -- the rubber chicken circuit, the stuff that you got to go through as a politician to get yourself elected...There’s a significant loss of income because I couldn’t work while I was campaigning.”

While Graswich denies plans to run for office in the 2014 local elections, he indicated that the issue could be raised again in a couple years. “It’s too far out there,” he said. “Talk to me in 2012.”

He also said he made an eight-to-10 year commitment to work with Johnson as a staffer. “In many ways, it’s better than being a politician,” he said. “You don’t have to run for office -- you’re already in there. You get to deal with all the same issues...I think it could potentially be more fun, though. All of that’s conjecture at this point because it’s only three days into it.”

Read The Sacramento Press Friday to learn more about what Graswich will do in his special assistant position and how he accounts for his changing views of Johnson’s performance as mayor.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.