Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "rob fong"

Police union halts labor talks with City Hall

2012-02-08T15:27:42Z

In the the wake of the City Council’s 5-4 vote Tuesday blocking the strong mayor initiative from going to the November ballot, police union leaders halted labor contract discussions with City Hall.

Mark Tyndale, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association told City Manager John Shirey in an email just hours after the final council vote that he was “suspending all discussions between the city and the SPOA negotiations team.”

After voting down the strong mayor initiative, council members approved a ballot measure to create an elected 15-member charter reform commission.

Calling the cost of a charter commission “fiscally irresponsible,” Tyndale said in the email that he “can’t help but feel this was nothing but a tactic by some of them to once again publically (sic) display their contempt for the Mayor.”

Although the SPOA had engaged with city labor representatives in a series of “off the record” discussions, Tyndale said in the email, the council’s decision to create a charter commission caused him to reevaluate his position.

“I refuse to consider further concessions that will only be used to fund the Commission,” Tyndale said.

The cost of a charter commission is largely unknown, according to the City Clerk’s office. In a staff report to council Tuesday, a portion of the cost – the cost of putting the question to the voters of rather to create a commission – was estimated at more than $127,000.

Assistant City Attorney Matt Ruyak said Tuesday that the additional costs of staffing and maintaining a commission – beyond the cost of the election alone – were unknown at this early stage.

Tyndale asked Shirey and City Finance Director Leyne Milstein for a written estimate of the costs to the city for an elected charter review commission.

Neither Tyndale nor Shirey were available for comment at press time for this story. The Sacramento Press will give updates on the situation as they become available.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter with The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Charter reform goes to November ballot – but not as 'strong mayor'

2012-02-08T07:03:40Z

Charter reform will be an item on the November ballot, but not in the form of a strong mayor initiative. Instead, voters will be asked if they want to elect a 15-member commission to review the city charter.

After more than 20 people spoke on the topic during public comment, the City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday to reject putting the Checks and Balances Act of 2012 – the strong mayor initiative – to a public vote in November.

Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell were the majority votes.

Council members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn, Jay Schenirer and Mayor Kevin Johnson each voted in favor of the measure no .

Two governance-related considerations were on the agenda Tuesday night: a charter reform commission and the Checks and Balances Act, which had been revised from the last council discussion.

After the motion to put the strong mayor initiative on the ballot failed, the council voted in favor of a ballot measure to elect a 15-member charter commission.

McCarty suggested the charter reform commission as an option to the strong mayor initiative at the Jan. 17. council meeting.

The measure would be twofold: first asking voters if they want an elected charter commission, and second, asking voters to select whom they want to serve on that commission.

“I don’t like a charter commission because I don’t like how much it will cost,” Ashby said. “Between staffing and meetings and the elections – It’s too expensive.”

According to the City Clerk’s office, the county is currently unable to give a cost estimate for the “candidate” portion of the issue – the cost would depend largely on how many candidates were on the ballot.

The “question” portion of the issue, however, is estimated at $127,100 according to the City Clerk’s office.

Supporters of an elected charter commission told council members that it would be worth the time and expense.

“Democracy is messy, and a commission can be time-consuming,” Sacramento resident and former City Council candidate Henry Harry said, “but it will allow us to get it right.”

Many who opposed an elected commission, however, expressed concern that opening the city charter for review is akin to opening Pandora’s Box.

“(A charter commission) opens up doors to other issues that we’d rather not see open up,” said Mark Tyndale, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association.

Roger Niello, current CEO of the Sacramento Metro Chamber and former State Assemblyman, said he believes an elected charter commission would pit competing city interests against each if the city charter is reviewed in its entirety.

“You would be creating the political equivalent of a food fight,” Niello said.

After the final vote, Johnson voiced his disappointment, saying simply, “I think a charter commission is a bad idea.”

Ashby said of the charter commission, “This seems like déjà vu. It looks like redistricting, and we all know how that turned out. I promise you that a year from now we will get hammered on this.”

If a charter commission is elected in November, the members will have two years to submit any proposal for charter reform to voters.

The City Council also considered creating a ballot measure Tuesday asking voters to weigh in on a potential lease of the city's parking assets to help finance a new sports and entertainment complex. The Sacramento Press will have the update on that story Wednesday.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Editorial Note: A correction was made to this article after it was published. The incorrect information was struck out and the correction information added.

Mid-year city budget update

2012-02-01T06:12:16Z

The city is spending more than it is bringing in, and even though that’s normal for this time of the year, officials need to make changes to keep spending under control and keep the budget on target.

According to the mid-year budget report presented to the City Council Tuesday, expenditures are at 50 percent of projections, and revenues are at 36 percent – about 14 percent less than anticipated.

This is typical for this point in the fiscal year, Finance Director Leyne Milstein told council members Tuesday – but adjustment is still necessary.

“Without these recommendations, we will not be able to balance our budget,” Milstein said.

It’s not all bad news, though.

The 2010-11 fiscal year ended with an unexpected $5.1 million surplus – largely due to savings from cutting back on expenses in a variety of city departments during the year, according to a city staff report.

That $5.1 million will be used to address a variety of budget needs including:

* $1.2 million to backfill General Fund revenue shortfalls;
* $1 million to the Police Department to cover a holiday pay budget shortfall
* $715,000 for unbudgeted utilities in the Department of Parks & Recreation
* $285,000 for payouts related to contracting out golf maintenance operations
* $750,000 for deferred maintenance projects at city-owned facilities

Another $3 million – left over from capital improvement projects that have been funded and completed ahead of schedule – will go into the General Fund Economic Uncertainty Reserve, bringing that “rainy day fund” balance to $20.7 million.

“Putting money into the reserve is wise, I think,” City Councilman Jay Schenirer said.

Staff also recommended adjustments – both up and down – to citywide revenues to keep the city budget balanced through the end of the fiscal year, including:

* $3.6 million reduction in property tax revenues, due to a greater-than-expected decline in property tax values
* $2.8 million increase in sales and use tax budget, due to a fourth consecutive quarter of sales tax growth

One adjustment to projected revenues comes from the closure of medical marijuana dispensaries in the city.

With eight of 33 dispensaries in the city now closed, business operating tax revenue from the dispensaries – initially estimated in the city budget as $1 million – will be reduced by $250,000 to $750,000.

The actual reduction amount will depend on how many more dispensaries close before the end of the fiscal year, June 30.

The City Council began the budget process for the 2012/13 fiscal year with a workshop Jan. 24. The city manager will present his proposed budget for the coming fiscal year on May 1.

The Sacramento Press discussed the first quarter budget report HERE.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Editorial Note: A spelling correction was made to this story after it was published.

‘Hometown boy’ sets his sights on District 4 Council seat

2012-01-07T01:44:42Z

The ever-widening field of candidates for District 4 opened up once again as Land Park resident Terry Schanz joined the 2012 City Council race.

Schanz (pronounced “Shawnz”), 33, said Friday that his background in public policy – extending from a degree in political science from UC San Diego, to community-building work in Cape Town, South Africa, to eight years with the State Legislature – is one reason he is the best candidate for the job.

“My experience is in public service,” Schanz said. “I live it every day. I understand it, and I understand what it takes to make good policy. City Council is, first and foremost, a policymaking body.”

For a self-described “hometown boy” who spent his younger years in the same Land Park house his grandmother grew up in, Schanz said he knows Sacramento and the fourth district intimately.

It’s that personal relationship with the town he loves, Schanz said, that gives him the drive to make it a city to be proud of.

“We are always saying, ‘if we have this one thing, then we’ll be a real city,’ or ‘if we only had this other thing, we’d be a real city,’ ” Schanz said. “Well, we are a real city already. Now let’s build up our city and make it a place to really be proud of.”

To do that, Schanz said, Sacramento needs efficient basic services above all else.

“When things are challenging fiscally, you have to pay attention to the basics,” Schanz said. “Public safety, police, fire, garbage service, parks, water service – we need to make sure we can maintain those basic functions,” Schanz said.

As a City Council member, Schanz said he would like to see the budget process emphasize basic services first before looking to less critical areas – such as how to pay for a sports and entertainment complex.

“Would I love to see a stadium anchor all the new development that will happen in the railyards? Yes,” Schanz said. “Do I want a vibrant and alive downtown? Absolutely.

“But, we are talking about closing public pools, and parks that are not being maintained and not knowing if police or fire trucks will show up in an emergency. Am I willing to sacrifice public safety or public services? No, I’m not ready to go there,” Schanz said.

U.S. Army Sgt. Aaron Crouch, 33, said he has known Schanz since the first day of senior year at C.K. McClatchy High School. Crouch said Friday that Schanz has always been a man of passion for helping people – even in his younger days.

“(Terry) has a huge heart, and he is unrelenting,” Crouch said. “He has this desire to lift all ships, starting from the bottom and working his way up. He’s all about making life better for everyone.”

Crouch said that when Schanz traveled to South Africa, he went to see what life was like somewhere completely different that what he knew, to get a sense of reality and contrast.

“That’s just one example of how he goes the extra mile to get a new perspective,” Crouch said.

Although Schanz said he has always had an interest in public service, Crouch said Schanz never set his sights on a higher office.

“People kept telling him he should run for office – president, even,” Crouch said, “but he has always wanted to stay local and help the people around him. He has no visions of grandeur.”

Listening to the people he would represent is the backbone of his campaign, and Schanz said all of his fundraising will happen from a “boots on the ground” effort: small-dollar fundraising events and plenty of knocking on doors and meet-and-greets at small businesses in the district.

“When people make even small donations to a campaign, they take ownership, in a way, of the candidate and of the issues,” Schanz said. “Come meet me. Meet my dogs. If you want to make a donation to my effort, that’s great – but I want you to know who I am, too.”

Schanz will face at least three other candidates in the District 4 City Council race, including attorney Phyllis Newton, architect Joe Yee, and local policy advocate Steve Hansen.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Editorial Note: A correction was made to this story after it was published: Schanz grew up the same house that his grandmother lived in.

2011: The year at City Hall

2011-12-30T06:20:29Z

Sacramento City Council members had their hands full this year – from balancing the budget to redrawing district lines to a citizen uprising that found its way to the doors of City Hall.

Here’s the city government year in review.

CITY MANAGER DRAMA
The year started off with interim city manager Gus Vina not being promoted to the open city manager spot. Vina replaced previous city manager Ray Kerrige when Kerrige resigned in February 2010.

Vina resigned two months later – just a few weeks before the budget was due to the City Council. He later became the city manager of Encinitas.

The City Council was criticized for making decisions about the city manager position in closed sessions before voting not to promote Vina and instead open a national search.

City Council members stalled the search for City Manager saying they wanted to define the qualities they were looking for in the next person to fill the job. Two weeks later, they announced the qualities and the search continued.

The door was open for a new city manager, and while the nationwide search was ongoing, what Sacramento ended up with was not one but two interim city managers: Bill Edgar and Betty Masuoka.

Edgar and Masuoka followed through with the budget plan and presented it to the City Council on time.

As the city got closer to finding its next city manager, Mayor Kevin Johnson expressed disappointment about the search process, saying he felt “the pool of candidates wasn’t as deep” as he would have liked.

By August, Sacramento had a new city manager – John Shirey, former head of the California Redevelopment Association.

Shirey’s three-year contract included a $258,000 base salary – a 16 percent increase in salary over the previous city manager – making him the highest-paid in city history and the first to receive a labor contract.

BUDGET BLOWUPS
The budget process was complete by the time Shirey took his seat at the dais alongside City Council members.

The 2011 budget brought more challenges to face, including a $39 million budget gap.

After months of discussions and negotiations with unions, advocacy groups, public comment and hours-long council meetings, a budget was finally passed.

The new budget included severe cuts to fire and police personnel and city employees – as well as the closure of community centers and public pools.

REDISTRICTING: MAPS AND MAYHEM
As if there wasn’t enough going on in City Hall with the annual budget process, 2011 brought redistricting – a redrawing of council districts that happens every 10 years.

This time, the mayor and City Council appointed a Citizens Advisory Redistricting Committee to do the heavy lifting of vetting a variety of proposed district maps.

After months of review and discussion, the committee presented a group of four maps for the council to consider. From there, the discussions and map revisions really took off.

One unexpected twist to the redistricting drama came when one map was revealed to have been anonymously submitted by advisory committee member Steve Hansen.

Discussions heated up further when two council members – Steve Cohn and Sandy Sheedy – submitted their own map for the council to consider.

A week later, Cohn submitted yet another map, a hybrid version of Cohn and Sheedy’s previous submissions, this time called “Neighborhoods 2.0.”

A boundary dispute between council districts 5 and 6 over which district would contain the UC Davis Medical Center and Sacramento High School created a huge outcry from residents.

In the end, after six months and a grand total of 45 map versions, a final map was selected and approved by City Council, and new district lines went into effect on Oct. 6.

REDEVELOPMENT
With the passing of the state budget in July came big changes for the way redevelopment agencies are allowed to work in California.

Cities throughout the state are given an option to “buy in” to a new redevelopment plan – which would require large annual payments to the state from local agencies. Sacramento decided to go along with the plan and keep the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency alive.

Other cities wouldn’t go down without a fight, and a lawsuit was filed against the state by the California Redevelopment Association. While the case was pending, the court issued a temporary reprieve so cities did not have to make the required “opt-in” payments until a decision was made.

Some redevelopment projects that were moved ahead in 2011 in Sacramento included a revamp of K Street, the La Valentina project and housing projects in the south area of the city.

OCCUPY SACRAMENTO: CITIZENS TAKE A STAND
What started on Wall Street in New York as a citizens’ uprising against corporate greed in America became a nationwide statement of discontent from coast to coast.

When the first Occupy Sacramento protesters stepped into Cesar Chavez Plaza on Oct. 6, it was unclear how long they would stay – or what their message was going to be.

Quickly, the calm protest of Sacramentans showing solidarity with other Occupy movements was stunted by a city park curfew ordinance that prevented protesters from remaining in the park overnight.

Protesters were arrested – more than 100 in October alone – and the uprising was strengthened by a common goal: get the city to make an exception to the rule.

Over the next 10 weeks, large numbers of Occupy protesters spoke at the public forum of City Council meetings to ask the city manager and City Council to allow the group to remain in the park to continue to exercise its First Amendment rights.

Protesters who had been arrested – including war veteran mom Cindy Sheehan – had their day in court, and charges were dropped against many.

Meanwhile, attorneys for the Occupy group filed suit in federal court against the city claiming First Amendment violations, and some Occupiers moved the protest to the lawns at City Hall.

As the year came to a close, the number of Occupiers dwindled at Cesar Chavez Plaza, but the movement was not disbanded completely. A lawsuit is still pending in federal court, according to attorney Mark Merin, one of the representing attorneys.

Despite the ups and downs at City Hall this year, more change and drama is expected in 2012. Between elections and yet another budget – and the ever-present discontent bubbling just under the surface from events in 2011 – the new year is bound to be worth watching.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Naughty or Nice: If you were Santa, how would City Council fare?

2011-12-15T07:24:48Z

As the song goes, Santa’s making his list, checking it twice and deciding who gets cool goodies and who gets lumps of coal.

Between the budget, redistricting and facing dissatisfied citizens who took over a city park in protest, the City Council has been busy this year, so The Sacramento Press made its own “naughty or nice” list.

If you were Santa, how would City Council fare? Here’s our list for 2011.

Mayor Kevin Johnson: NAUGHTY
Sure, he led the way to advancing green technology in the city and supported a citizens advisory committee’s effort to redistrict the city.

But being absent for 10 City Council meetings in a single year? Tsk, tsk, Mr. Mayor.

(And we’re not bitter about not being invited to the wedding – we just really love wedding cake.)

District 1 Councilwoman Angelique Ashby: NICE
Between town hall meetings to discuss arena options and pulling neighborhoods together to search for a lost teen, Ashby found time to save a local parks program from being cut – and take on Congress for funding approval of levee improvements.

Of course, bringing Santa to Natomas on a fire truck for the first time in city history didn’t hurt her “nice” standing, either.

District 2 Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy: NAUGHTY
Two words: Arena poll. Oh, and two more: Sheedy map. It’s commendable to put voters first, but Sheedy lacks consistency. Telling voters they know what’s best for an arena, but not how to draw their own district boundaries sends mixed messages.

Kudos for keeping a popular teen center going for a third year, though – Santa wants kids to have a safe place to gather and play – and for taking over the Del Paso certified farmers market in the district to keep people eating their veggies.

Still, Sheedy gets coal in her stocking this year.

District 3 Councilman Steve Cohn: NAUGHTY
His work to develop a plan for Sacramento’s rail and transit future is bringing the city closer to becoming a true “intermodal hub” of the north state and if Cohn had his way, sleighs would be allowed on K Street – which Santa would think was very nice, indeed.

But, weeks into heated debate on redistricting, Cohn surprised the city with a compromise map that both galvanized citizens’ opinions on a sensitive topic, and left a bad taste in their mouths. With that Grinch-like move, Cohn earns a spot on the "naughty" list.

District 4 Councilman Rob Fong: NICE
As the council member voted most likely to play a practical joke by his fellow council members, Rob Fong gets points for best one-liners during a council meeting.

Standing up for the LGBT community as a community of interest during the redistricting process weighed in Fong’s favor this year, as well as his support of charitable organizations like Jumpstart 21.

We think Santa would agree that a guy who isn’t afraid of a little three-on-three basketball against local civic leaders falls squarely on the “nice” side of the page.

District 5 Councilman Jay Schenirer: NICE
Although Schenirer found himself in the middle of some battles in 2011, including redistricting struggles and unpopular budget decisions, he bucked up and trudged on in his first year on the City Council.

Schenirer helped bring a new community garden to area residents and offered to subsidize the first year of rent on garden plots for people who couldn’t afford their share. He also spearheaded the five-part “Way Up” initiative that is primed to be a model for building communities throughout the city.

For all that Santa-like generosity, Schenirer gets his name on the “nice” list – and a big mug of eggnog.

District 6 Councilman Kevin McCarty: NAUGHTY
When does Oak Park stop being Oak Park and start being Elmhurst? Somewhere along Stockton Boulevard, McCarty said during the tumultuous redistricting debacle this summer.

Santa would give a cheer for McCarty’s efforts to keep city pools open during the summer despite huge budget cuts to the parks department, and being a proponent of solar energy and “greening” city buildings gets a big ho, ho ho!

But when a whole community spends five weeks protesting a four city-block line adjustment, all the candy canes in Colonial Heights won’t make a sour move any sweeter.

District 7 Councilman Darrell Fong: NICE
The budget cycle was tough this year, and when it came down to brass tacks, Darrell Fong risked the wrath of his police brethren and voted to make cuts to the Police Department – including the layoffs of nearly 80 sworn officers – in favor of balancing the city budget.

Call him Scrooge if you will, but Fong declined his City Council salary and recently voted against pursing a lessee for the city’s parking system because it doesn’t seem fiscally responsible.

For his concern for taxpayers’ pocketbooks, Fong’s name goes on the “nice” list (but parking enforcement may still ticket his sleigh.)

District 8 Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell: NAUGHTY
Budget debates and the quest for the perfect redistricting map is enough to fray anyone’s nerves, but Pannell’s, ahem, “spirited” debate with audience members – and at times, the mayor – at City Council meetings this year earns her a bit of coal.

Yes, Pannell helped her district get much-needed development – including a new pet hospital and long-awaited grocery store – and valuable infrastructure improvements are on the horizon for the area.

Still, Pannell will need a little sugar to go with her “spice” if she wants to make the “nice” list in 2012.

City Manager John Shirey: NAUGHTY
Shirey has been in the big chair for four months now, and the city still doesn’t have a tidy budget, a full police force or flying cars. We expected more from a man who took the state to task for shredding redevelopment agencies.

On the other hand, Shirey did start restructuring his office to streamline operations, and he led the way in city pension reform by being first in line for administrators to pay a portion of their own retirement.

Still, we think Shirey can do more for our fair city. We hope you pull that Superman cape out of the closet and get down to business in 2012 – but for this Christmas? Coal.

Tell us what you think: Have City Council members been naughty or nice this year?

Planning Commission chair Yee joins District 4 council race

2011-11-18T02:55:43Z

Local architect and Planning Commission chairman Joe Yee announced his run for the District 4 City Council seat Monday, bringing the number of candidates vying for current City Councilman Rob Fong’s seat to three.

Yee, 61, said he decided to run for City Council because he feels he can help the city move forward.

“I want to continue the investment of my time in public service,” Yee said Wednesday. “I have the skills and the interests and, frankly, the emotional investment in the city.”

His “emotional investment” in the city, Yee said, comes from being a lifelong resident of Sacramento, and having attended local schools from elementary through high school before attending college at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.

Yee, principal architect with the Anova Nexus Architects firm, and his wife, Daphne, have lived in Land Park since 1976. Their 25-year-old son lives with them, and their 30-year-old daughter lives nearby.

In addition to more than 30 years as an architect – he counts among his accomplishments the West Sacramento Library and numerous educational facilities in the Sacramento region – Yee also served for a year on the City Council as an interim city councilman in 2000.

After the late Mayor Joe Serna’s untimely death, Joe Yee was appointed to fill Vice-Mayor Jimmy Yee’s District 4 council seat when Jimmy Yee was selected by the City Council to become mayor (Jimmy Yee and Joe Yee are not related.)

Joe Yee completed Jimmy Yee’s District 4 term and chose not to run for the seat himself at the next election.

“(Joe Yee) is a very thoughtful person,” Charlie Downs, his partner at Anova Nexus, said Thursday. “He does his research, makes informed decisions and has an incredible work ethic.

Downs, senior principal architect and vice president at Anova Nexus, said he and Yee joined forces in 2007 after working on a number of projects together.

Yee said that if he is elected to the District 4 council seat, he wants to focus on business in the city and community engagement.

“We need to see every opportunity to develop business here,” Yee said. “The city evolves – it’s organic in nature – and we need to balance the needs of the community with the needs of businesses.”

By committing time to meet with community groups and organize meetings with interested citizens in the district, Yee said, he will be able to identify “lingering issues” and work with neighborhoods to resolve those issues.

“We have a strong amount of neighborhood involvement in Sacramento – it’s one of our strengths,” Yee said. “There needs to be a sense of inclusion in decision-making and hearing what others have to say.”

As far as the budget is concerned, Yee said there is definitely work to be done – and he’s ready for it.

“As a businessperson, I balance income and expenses and invest in the future,” Yee said. “The city should do that too.”

Yee said input from the community is valuable to validate priorities in the city budget, while making sure to get value from every expenditure.

“Just like any family would in good or bad times,” Yee said, “we have to be careful with the funds that we have. It’s the public trust and public money that we are dealing with.”

County Supervisor Jimmy Yee said Thursday that he fully supports Joe Yee in his run for City Council, and he sees Joe Yee as both well-qualified and competent.

“Judging from my own background in (the) private sector,” Jimmy Yee said Thursday, “I know (Joe Yee) understands the private sector. His background is in planning, and he (previously) served on the City Council – that has given him a broad background of experience for the job.”

Jimmy Yee said that a lot of the decisions Joe Yee had to make while on the Planning Commission were not easy, but Joe Yee handled those decisions well.

“He takes politics out of the decision,” Jimmy Yee said. “I think he’ll handle things on (the City) Council the same way. He’ll have to make decisions that impact one group or another in different ways – there aren’t always win-win decisions and he knows this.”

Jimmy Yee noted that Joe Yee is a very independent person who won’t be beholden to anyone.

“That will be the best qualification for him on the council as a person acting for the city,” Jimmy Yee said. “He won’t favor one party over another.”

One quality that friends and associates agree defines Joe Yee is his thoughtfulness and the amount of deliberation that he gives before making a decision.

“He doesn’t shoot from the hip, and that’s definitely a strength,” Downs said. “(In elected office), you don’t need someone reactive, or who won’t listen to all aspects of a discussion.”

Yee will face at least two other candidates in the race – biotech company regional manager Steve Hansen and local attorney Phyllis Newton.

Hansen said Thursday that he thinks highly of Yee and believes he has served the city admirably.

“I look forward to competing with him for the trust and support of the voters,” Hansen said, “but I’m confident I will prevail.”

The Stonewall Democrats, a local political activist group, recently announced its endorsement of Hansen in the District 4 race.

Newton said in an email statement Thursday that District 4 voters will have “quality candidates” to choose from in this election, and she looks forward bringing her experience in progressive politics, business and “fighting for a good quality of life” to the debate.

“I do not have any illusions about the challenge of this race,” Yee said. “It is going to be work. In order for democracy of the election process to work, you need good people, willing to step up and offer to serve. I believe everyone in this race are good people.”

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Phyllis Newton: Candidate for District 4 City Council seat

2011-11-11T23:32:05Z

Land Park attorney and city Design Commission Vice Chair Phyllis Newton is running for the District 4 seat on the City Council – so far a much-coveted seat since Rob Fong declared in October that he would not be running for re-election.

Newton, 55, said she decided to run for the City Council because she feels passionately about the city and has been civically engaged for almost a decade.

“I have watched the City Council very closely and have been concerned about factionalism and the lack of collaboration that I think impedes progress,” Newton said Wednesday.

Newton said she believes she will bring maturity and judgement to the City Council and the ability to work collaboratively with her colleagues.

“I have no interest in higher office,” Newton said. “That’s a very important distinction between me and current council members and possibly other candidates.”

Although Newton has never held an elected position, she said she has served in appointed positions with the city, including four years on the General Plan Advisory Committee – a position she was appointed to by former Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo.

Newton currently serves as the vice chair of the Design Commission, and she is a member of the Green Development Code Users Advisory Group for the city. Both positions are unpaid.

“The push in the city is toward sustainability,” Newton said, “so (the advisory group) looks at ways the city can encourage greener development.”

In addition to owning her own law firm – Law Offices of Phyllis A. Newton – she is the executive director of Miyamoto Global Disaster Relief, a nonprofit organization that provides disaster response and reconstruction services following natural disasters across the globe.

“I am honored to be part of (the Miyamoto) organization,” Newton said. “I refused to take a salary (at Miyamoto) because it’s a brand-new nonprofit in its infancy. It’s very satisfying to work on this project.”

Newton said she will be traveling for Miyamoto to Haiti in February. It will be her first trip in relation to her work with the disaster relief organization.

As the former executive director at American Institute of Architects Central Valley chapter, a professional association of architects, Newton said she gained valuable experience with the unique needs of nonprofit organizations.

Newton grew up in the Bay Area and attended law school in San Francisco, where she met her husband, Michael Carpenter, a contract lobbyist in Sacramento. The family moved to Sacramento 18 years ago, and they have lived in Land Park since 1995.

Some hot-button local government issues for Newton include the budget, job creation and public safety.

“The budget is decimated,” Newton said. “As a council member, you have limited options on the revenue side, so unfortunately you have to spend time making very difficult decisions.”

Newton said it is most important for council members to work collaboratively and strive to reach fair and equitable decisions when working on the budget.

“Cuts may have to be made,” Newton said, “but you have to be able to balance the closure of swimming pools and laying off police officers.”

Every candidate will talk about job creation, Newton said, but her focus is on creating the right environment and culture to bring jobs to the region.

“When someone doesn’t have a job and their house is being foreclosed on,” Newton said, “the ripple effect is wide and deep.”

Newton said the best thing the City Council can do is work to build up an environment where businesses want to locate in the city and stay here.

“Economic revitalization is crucial,” Newton said. “I think the arena would do more to revitalize downtown Sacramento and to revitalize our region than anything else at this point.”

Because the entertainment and sports complex proposal is still incomplete, Newton said it has to be considered conceptually right now. Still, the potential for jobs is significant to Newton.

“The economic engine that the arena represents is so significant that we have to see if we can make it work,” Newton said. “It may never pencil out, but I support the idea.”

Her number one priority for the city is public safety. “We’re talking about impacts to personal safety, property values and more,” Newton said. “Public safety goes well beyond that. It’s the No. 1 issue citizens really care about.”

Newton said there are always difficult decisions that have to be made concerning the police force and fire department and keeping safety a priority, even in a tough economy.

“I have seen many examples of politics before progress,” Newton said. “That needs to stop.”

Kim Anderson, executive director for American Institute of Architects Central Valley chapter, declined to comment on Newton’s bid for City Council. Anderson became executive director of AIA after Newton’s departure in 2007.

“The chapter doesn’t have a policy for endorsement,” Anderson said Thursday. “But we are in the process of evaluating candidates.”

Anderson said the chapter held a candidates forum Thursday that included all of the candidates for District 4 – including a newcomer to the race, local architect Joe Yee.

Calls to Newton’s campaign managers for comment were not returned by press time.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Dispensary permit process gets a 'time out' from City Council

2011-11-09T06:07:57Z

The permit process for medical marijuana dispensaries came to a screeching halt Tuesday after the City Council adopted an interim city marijuana ordinance that puts applications on hold for nine months.

The unanimous vote to approve the ordinance came as a reaction to recent changes in the federal government’s position on enforcing marijuana regulations.

Greg Bitter, principal planner with the city’s Community Development Department, told council members Tuesday that the city attorney became concerned with the current Sacramento medical marijuana ordinance after learning about two legal situations – a court case in Long Beach and a press release from the four state attorneys general.

The Second District Court of Appeals ruled Oct. 1 that an ordinance in Long Beach – very similar to the one in Sacramento – was preempted by federal law, Bitter said.

“As long as this court case is the published decision, it effectively puts our ordinance at risk,” Bitter said.

The public announcement by the attorneys general stating that they were increasing enforcement efforts in California against for-profit dispensaries also “put cities on notice,” Bitter said.

“We’re not on solid legal ground at this point,” Bitter added.

At the end of the Oct. 11 City Council meeting, Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy requested city staff to draft amendments to the city ordinance in an effort to “buy everyone some time” while the city took stock of the discrepancies between federal and local government enforcement of medical marijuana laws.

City staff took immediate action to freeze the processing of applications for medical marijuana dispensary permits, according to a city staff report, and the interim ordinance is the initial result.

Max Del Real, a lobbyist with California Capitol Solutions, which represents several dispensaries in the city, said Tuesday that all of his clients are committed to working with the city.

“We support the decision to create a time-out as the dust settles on the issue of where the federal government stands on the issue,” Del Real said Tuesday. “Sacramento is not retreating form medical cannabis, nor is it turning its back on a successful (city) ordinance.”

The interim ordinance required a two-thirds vote and was approved in a 9–0 vote.

The City Council also passed formal amendments to the city ordinance to address timing conflicts with permits created by the freeze.

The city zoning code requires applicants for a special permit to be in operation within 90 days from the date the permit is issued. Because of the freeze, however, special permits are not being issued – putting dispensary operators in jeopardy of having their permit applications revoked when the 90 days runs out.

The newly amended ordinance resolves these timing conflicts by extending the previous Oct. 11 deadline to apply for Phase 2 dispensary permits to May 14, 2012, and extending the final permit completion date from Jan. 9, 2012 to Aug. 13, 2012.

The amended ordinance states that any dispensary operator who has already filed a proper permit application – and the application has not been denied – may continue to operate that dispensary without a permit until Aug. 13, 2012 while the application approval or denial is pending.

The amended ordinance doesn’t mean that dispensaries are not subject to the law in the meantime, however.

The ordinance clarifies that continuing to operate a dispensary during the “time-out” period does not automatically entitle the operator to an approved permit or grant the dispensary “legal nonconforming use.”

“Law-abiding collectives and their dispensaries welcome regulation and welcome fee structures,” Del Real said, “because, at the end of the day, they are following the law.”

City Councilman Steve Cohn voted in support of the council’s action Tuesday.

“We could see this going back to the back alleys, and I’d hate to see that,” Cohn said. “Cannabis patients don’t deserve to be treated that way.”

Tuesday’s vote did not come without opposition. Sixteen public speakers commented on the proposed changes, and some asked council members to reconsider the action.

“I know that you see green in all the green of medical marijuana, but I’m asking you to put a stop allowing the dispensaries,” said Greg Foster, 52, a criminal defense attorney.

“I am the parent of a son who started smoking marijuana because of the dispensaries,” Foster said. “I believe the notion of medical marijuana and not-for-profit are a fraud.”

Councilman Darrell Fong said he took issue with how medical marijuana dispensaries are being handled in the city.

“I’m not saying medical marijuana doesn’t have its place,” Fong said, “but federal law does preempt state law, whether I like it or not, and that is my issue.”

Fong said he has received complaints from constituents in his district about the ease of getting marijuana, especially with dispensaries located close to schools and parks.

The current city ordinance sets a distance requirement for dispensary locations of 600 feet from schools and public parks. Federal drug violation guidelines specify a minimum distance of 1,000 feet.

According to Bitter, a majority – 18 out of 28 – registered dispensaries in Sacramento are located within that 1,000-foot boundary.

Del Real said that, despite opposition, the City Council’s decision to temporarily freeze the application process is the right thing to do.

“No one knows what the feds are trying to accomplish,” Del Real said. “The politics – and the practicality – of it is that the city has to extend the deadline to allow for all the permits to continue while they assess where things stand.”

“The city is not pushing the eject button,” Del Real added. “They’re just pushing pause.”

The interim ordinance takes effect immediately. The formal revised ordinance will be adopted by the City Council Nov. 15.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Council gives go ahead for study of 'neighborhood friendly' river crossings

2011-10-20T00:58:26Z

The City Council unanimously gave the go-ahead for a feasibility study of seven potential river crossing locations Tuesday and accepted a definition for “neighborhood-friendly bridge” that will set the parameters for design of those bridges.

“This has been a long time coming for both communities,” West Sacramento Mayor Chris Cabaldon said at the Sacramento City Council meeting. “We obsess about the boundaries between the two cities, but the economic vitality, cultural vitality and the urban agenda for both of our communities will be enhanced by being better connected.”

Location details of potential river crossings can be found here.

There are currently three major bridges crossing the river between Sacramento and West Sacramento: Pioneer Bridge, Tower Bridge and I Street Bridge.

That’s not nearly enough to efficiently handle the amount of current traffic, say project planners – let alone any increases in traffic flow that may be the result of building a new entertainment and sports complex in the future.

“Sacramento is underserved by its current connections,” said Ryan Moore, senior engineer with the Sacramento Department of Transportation.

Moore said the limited connectivity across the river creates over-abundant traffic on all of the existing bridges. Also, the three current bridges don’t fully comply with current design standards making non-vehicle uses more difficult – and making the bridges vulnerable during natural disasters or earthquake.

Moore asked council members to allow staff to seek funding for a feasibility study of seven potential river crossing locations. Moore said a feasibility study would allow city staff to find the “greatest amount of benefit” for both Sacramento and West Sacramento.

“It doesn’t commit us to any particular location,” Moore said. “It’s just an evaluation of all the possible locations.”

According to a city of Sacramento staff report, the cities of Sacramento and West Sacramento shared the cost of an initial “need and purpose” study for river crossings, and it is expected that the two cities will continue to work together on future aspects of the project.

The majority of costs involved in a feasibility study are fixed, regardless of the number of crossing locations evaluated, according to the staff report.

Jerry Way, Sacramento’s transportation director, said that “for the cities of Sacramento and West Sacramento to do their due diligence,” the total cost for an evaluation of seven crossing locations is estimated to be between $600,000 and $850,000.

Funds have not been committed for future phases of work, Way said.

Sacramento City Councilman Rob Fong, who represents District 4, where all of the potential river crossings are located, said Tuesday that he is exciting about the possibility of opening more connections with the city of West Sacramento.

“We can’t overstate the importance of connectivity,” Fong said. “It creates economic development opportunities.”

At the July 19 Sacramento City Council meeting, city staff presented council members with a “Need and Purpose Study” for potential river crossings to connect Sacramento to West Sacramento.

One point of contention with council members at that meeting was the term “neighborhood-friendly” bridge.

All of the council members agreed that this was the type of bridge everyone would want, but they disagreed on how to define that term in a way that satisfied each council member’s ideal.

The definition that city staff brought back to council Tuesday – and which was accepted by council members in their final vote – outlined a “neighborhood-friendly” bridge as:

* Primarily serving short local trips.
* Serves all users – including motorists, bicyclists, pedestrians, low-energy vehicles and public transit riders.
* Architecturally pleasing and contextually appropriate aesthetics and dimensions for adjacent neighborhoods.
* Does not require widening of the approaching roadways just to accommodate bridge flows.
* Designed with a target traffic speed equal to or less than the roadways approaching the bridge.
* Does not connect directly to streets that are primarily residential.

Fong told council members that he was satisfied with the new definition and felt it would work well with both cities.

“One thing I was worried about (with a potential new bridge) was the scaling,” Fong said. “We don’t want a massive, overwhelming bridge. The good citizens of West Sacramento also want neighborhood-friendly bridges.”

Councilwoman Angelique Ashby, who – until the recent redrawing of district lines – represented one area where a new crossing is being considered, said that she also supports the idea of moving forward with a feasibility study.

“We need to get it right, and we need to get it done,” Ashby said. “This is a great time for us to study all of our options. (New river crossings) will help us with jobs, with public safety and with routes in and out of our communities.”

Some members of the public who commented at Tuesday’s council meeting were critical of the crossing locations selected for study. One speaker approached the podium with “an offer I hope (the council) cannot refuse.”

“You have before you a proposal to study seven bridges at a cost of almost $800,000,” said Jim Randlett of the Sacramento River Crossings Association.

“I propose that you limit the study to just three possible locations – the downtown section to connect Sacramento to West Sacramento – thereby cutting the cost in half and saving $400,000 for the two cities.”

Randlett said that the downtown locations make the most sense because they are in “a central place between the two cities” – an area that is the proposed site for a new entertainment and sports complex and a major transportation hub for Sacramento.

The other four locations, Randlett said, either already have a crossing or are not sufficient for “pushing thousands of (commuting) cars through.”

Calling Randlett’s offer “fetching,” Fong said the cost of a complete study on all seven potential locations would be money well-spent because it would allow the City Council to “make a well-informed decision” about any future river crossings.

“This literally is a go-ahead to spend the money and do the study,” Fong added.

To fund the feasibility study, Moore said he and his staff will look for opportunities for federal grants, Sacramento Area Council of Governments grants, funds from the Sacramento Transportation Authority and possibly Measure A tax revenues.

Measure A (2004) created a quarter-cent sales tax for transportation projects in Sacramento county.

Moore said the feasibility study may take between 12 and 18 months, including finding a consultant, competing traffic analyses, coordinating with regulating agencies – Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Game and others – as well as public outreach to residents and business owners in the areas that would be affected most by the construction of a new river crossing.

Meilssa Corker is a Staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

'Occupy' protesters bring their message to City Hall once again

2011-10-19T06:04:15Z

Occupy Sacramento protesters told City Council members Tuesday in no uncertain terms – “Tyranny.” “Unconstitutional.” “Treason.” – that their First Amendment rights to freedom of speech and assembly are being violated by an ordinance that prohibits overnight camping in city parks.)

“We should not be here to teach you about the Constitution,” said Sacramento resident David Witkin, 28. “We are here to tell you what your constituents want.”

Protesters who have taken over Cesar Chavez Plaza for nearly two weeks showed up in force at City Hall Tuesday to ask council members – again – to consider an exception to the law allowing them 24-hour access to the park.

“The Constitution wasn’t drafted only during business hours,” said Sacramento resident Christina Kay Plumb, 25. “We need to occupy this park day and night to get officials to think about the issues day and night.”

Eileen Teichert, city attorney, told council members that the rights to freedom of speech and assembly are protected by law and honored by the city – but it’s not an “unfettered right.”

Teichert said there is longstanding precedent allowing government to exercise its police power to set “reasonable time, place and manner restrictions” on the use of its parks and other public facilities.

Vacaville resident and mother of a soldier killed in Afganistan Cindy Sheehan urged council members to consider the protesters’ requests for action.

“This movement is growing, and it’s not going to go away – no matter how much it is suppressed,” Sheehan said, “so you might as well start supporting it.”

The current camping ordinance states that Cesar Chavez Plaza – like all parks in the city – is closed from “dusk to dawn.”

Mayor Kevin Johnson said at a press conference Tuesday that he “wholeheartedly” supports the efforts of the Occupy Sacramento movement, but he feels the limits in the city ordinance are appropriate.

“I don’t think it is in our best interests to remove the existing ordinance,” Johnson said. “That’s my perspective, but I’m just one vote out of nine on the council.”

Johnson said the time limitations of the camping ordinance provide “ample time” for protesters to be speak and be heard.

According to a city staff report, an extension of park hours – or a temporary “exception” to the ordinance – would open the possibility of setting a precedent for exceptions to the rule.

Sacramento resident and Occupy Sacramento participant Anthony Gallardo, 27, said Tuesday that the group isn’t trying to “take over the park” to have a place to go camping.

“We are just trying to occupy it – to just be there, 24/7 and say our message,” Gallardo said.

Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel told council members that, despite the posted “dusk to dawn” park closure, the police department has allowed protesters to remain in the park until 11 p.m. Sunday through Thursday, and until midnight on Friday and Saturday.

But that’s not 24-hour access – and therein lies the problem for Occupy Sacramento organizers and protesters.

“It’s not about the five hours or six hours (that the park is closed). It’s much bigger than that,” Gallardo said. “The Constitution gives us the right to peaceably assemble. It doesn’t specify a time or a place. This is about our freedom of speech and freedom to assemble.”

Braziel said there has been average of 40 to 250 protesters each day at Cesar Chavez Plaza.

Between Oct. 6 and Monday, the police made 58 arrests for unlawful assembly while participating in the Occupy Sacramento protests. Thirteen people have been arrested more than once.

According to Braziel, all of those arrests were peaceful, and none of them resulted in injury.

Organizers of Occupy Sacramento initially said local protests would come to an end on Oct. 15. Three days later, protesters remain at Cesar Chavez Plaza, with no new target ending date in sight.

“This event is set for an indefinite period of time,” said Sara Beth Brooks, 26, one of the Occupy Sacramento organizers. “We believe that limiting the time we can protest is an affront to our First Amendment rights.”

The occupation of Cesar Chavez Plaza has so far been peaceful, and Gallardo and Brooks said that is how it will stay.

“No violence, no threats of violence, no drinking, no drugs and no sexual harassment – those are the core values of this group,” Gallardo said. “If we all lived by those rules, it’d be a perfect world.”

More than an hour into public comment, the City Council had not yet taken any action on the item.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Hansen throws his hat into the ring for District 4 Council seat

2011-10-14T00:59:26Z

Local community activist Steve Hansen announced Thursday that he will run for City Council in 2012, seeking the District 4 council seat currently held by Councilman Rob Fong, who announced Wednesday that he will not seek another term.

At the moment, he is the only horse on the track for District 4, but Hansen said he knows others may join the race.

The lack of – or potential for – other candidates wasn’t part of his decision to run, however.

“I decided to run regardless of other potential candidates,” Hansen said. “I think competition is a good thing, and I hope for a constructive conversation during the race.”

Hansen, 32, is a senior regional manager at Genentech, a biotech company, and a community activist. Hansen has been associated with the Downtown Sacramento Partnership since 2009, and was involved in the redistricting effort as a member of the Citizens Redistricting Advisory Committee for Sacramento.

Hansen said he wants the election to be an opportunity to talk about things important to the community – starting with jobs and homelessness in the downtown corridor.

“We have a shrinking tax base, so our economy is in trouble,” Hansen said, “and homelessness in the city isn’t just a social problem, it’s an economic problem. These are hard issues, and we have a responsibility to deal with the hard stuff.”

The goals that he wants to achieve are nothing new to the city, Hansen said, but he wants to pick up where others have left off and build some momentum for positive changes.

“I hope people have high expectations of me, because I want to live up to high expectations,” Hansen said. “We could set the bar low, but that doesn’t help anyone.”

Rosanna Herber, president of the Sacramento Rainbow Chamber of Commerce, has known Hansen for nearly 10 years through his activism in the LGBT community.

“Steve (Hansen) is one of the brightest people that I know,” Herber said Thursday after learning of his candidacy announcement.

“He is very passionate about whatever he gets involved in, and I can say with certainty that he will take this campaign very seriously,” Herber added.

Herber worked with Hansen on developing a redistricting map during the summer and said that Hansen’s commitment to the process was unwavering throughout.

“He really did help us with the linkages to Equality California and the redistricting partners that put data together to show where supporters of the LGBT community live,” Herber said.

Equality California is a nonprofit civil rights organization that advocates for the rights of LGBT people.

Hansen has the support of Herber and many from the LGBT community, Herber said, because of his active involvement in community issues.

“With (Hansen), you have a seasoned community activist who knows the political game and knows the politics of running for a seat,” Herber said. “There is no question that he will have a strong chance of getting elected.”

Although Hansen has been active in the Sacramento LGBT community by working with the Rainbow Chamber to develop a new district map during the recent redistricting process, he said he is not running as “the gay candidate,” nor does he have a “gay agenda.”

“There’s nothing gay about jobs,” Hansen said. “There’s nothing gay about homelessness – we have challenges (in Sacramento) that are unrelated to my being gay.”

Hansen said he feels Sacramento is “a very thoughtful city” and its citizens are committed to equality.

“There is no such thing as the ‘gay ticket’ in any race,” Hansen said. “It just isn’t relevant.”

Luis Sumpter, president of the Alkali Flat Neighborhood Association, said Thursday that he’s excited about Hansen’s candidacy.

“(Hansen) lives in the neighborhood, and he’s actively involved as a resident,” Sumpter said. “I think he’ll be a really good candidate.”

Sumpter noted Hansen’s involvement in efforts to unify downtown and Midtown into a single district during the redistricting process and said he’ll be interested to hear Hansen’s election platform.

Not everyone is following the Steve Hansen bandwagon right out of the gate, however. Some business leaders acquainted with Hansen declined to comment on Hansen’s announcement, saying it’s too soon to endorse any candidate.

Hansen said this doesn’t surprise him.

“Everyone should make (his or her) own decision,” Hansen said. “I think there is no one that should be taken for granted, and no support that I shouldn’t earn.”

Hansen is putting together the infrastructure of his campaign – starting with a campaign committee (“Steve Hansen for Council 2012”), a website and new Twitter account – and he expects to start fundraising in the weeks to come.

“It’s easy to be against things, especially in hard economic times,” Hansen said. “I want us to start talking about what we’re for and how we’re going to support what we really believe is good for the city.”

In every election, there is political drama, and Hansen said he is prepared for anyone looking for skeletons in his closet.

“There really are none,” Hansen said.

Hansen said he has a few things in mind for the future of District 4, but said the current council member has done good work that Hansen won’t minimize.

“(Rob) Fong has worked hard to do some really good work over the years,” Hansen said. “He really put a lot of energy into the arts, and our arts are in a fragile place. His kind of day-in and day-out work doesn’t get headlines, but it’s so important. I want to keep that going.”

The official candidate filing date is Feb. 1. Until then, Hansen said he is going to be working on organizing his campaign and building support for his candidacy.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento press. Followher on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

City vending machines to have healthier choices soon

2011-09-28T06:38:33Z

The City Council unanimously approved a recommendation Tuesday to develop a vending machine nutrition policy that requires at least 50 percent of products sold in machines in city-owned facilities to meet an approved healthy requirement.

“I think it’s something that’s necessary,” Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said Tuesday. “It would be nice to have better choices at community centers where our kids are. I think this is something our communities need.”

The new vending machine nutrition policy will set parameters for sodium, sugar and calorie content of food and beverages available in all vending machines. It would also require beverage choices to include ample variety of water, low-fat milk and soy milk, or other similar dairy or non-dairy milk.

The policy will allow soda, sports drinks and diet sodas to be sold from vending machines, but still “ensures the public and employees have access to healthy vending alternatives,” said Mark Prestwich, special projects manager for the city manager's office.

Approximately 50 city operated vending machines are located in city community centers, corporate yards/office facilities, the city marina and city parking lots or garages, according to the staff report.

Prestwich said that two-thirds of vending machines are in city-owned facilities that are not accessible to the public. Parking garages and community centers take up the remaining third.

In July, the City Council joined the California League of Cities in a Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) cities campaign. One of the goals of the HEAL campaign is to support employees in evaluating food choices by providing healthy food alternatives in vending machines located in city-owned or leased facilities.

Prestwich told council members that developing a nutritional policy for vending machines would be a step toward reaching that goal.

“Cities and residents are facing increased health care costs and diminished quality of life due to the epidemic of obesity and being overweight,” Prestwich said. “A healthier nutritional policy (for vending machines) will help promote public health.”

City staff outlined out vending machine nutrition policy alternatives ranging from “no policy” to a “100 percent healthy content” policy for council members to consider.

A 100 percent policy would require that all products in vending machines meet the set healthy requirement. No soda or sports drinks could be included in the selection, however zero-calorie diet soda and diet sports drinks could be included.

“I think we’ll be moving in the direction of making sure our vending machines have healthier options, even if we aren’t going cold turkey and going with a 100 percent healthy policy,” Councilman Kevin McCarty said.

Council woman Bonnie Pannell said she supported a 50 percent policy because it is “a fair compromise” between “doing nothing and going all out.”

Councilman Steve Cohn said a 50 percent policy would “create real choices” where he feels none currently exist with vending machines.

“I don’t see ‘choices’ in those machines,” Cohn said. “Cookies and soda and sugar drinks – it’s a choice between a lot of sugar and way too much sugar. That’s not a choice.”

One opponent of the measure told council members that making food choices a policy issue would inhibit consumers’ freedom to make their own decisions.

“People should be able to choose whatever they want to drink or whatever fits their needs,” Sacramento resident John Swain said.

Another opponent said creating a nutritional policy for vending machines would limit the flexibility for vending operators to offer products of their choice.

“We believe that the ability to choose should rest with our consumers, not be mandated by policy,” said Gary Watson, a Coca-Cola Bottling Company representative.

Councilwoman Angelique Ashby agreed.

“I think these things should be consumer-driven,” Ashby said. “It’s really about access. The decision lies with the person who is putting their money into the machine.”

Ashby said that Sacramento is “leading the way” to making sure people have healthy options, but she didn’t want to create a policy that would tell people what they could or coulnd’t spend their money on.

“We are looking for balance here,” Ashby said.

Prestwich said that pursuing a new vending agreement for city-operated facilities would also allow the city to reduce energy usage and incorporate technological advances such as the ability to pay with debit and credit cards.

The city pays the energy costs of machines placed in city-operated facilities, Prestwich said, and this would be an opportunity to reduce energy usage by implementing a requirement that any new machines have an Energy Star certification.

New vending machines with Energy Star certification are up to 50 percent more energy efficient than standard machines, according to the staff report.

State legislation passed in 2005 (SB12 and SB965) that raised food standards and mandated compliance to higher-standard nutritional policies for schools throughout the state.

Although only vending machines placed at schools fall under the mandate of those laws, many cities that have adopted nutrition policies for their vending machines voluntarily set SB12 and SB965 as the standard to meet in their policies – regardless of the machine location.

Sacramento’s new nutritional policy for vending machines in city-owned facilities will fully satisfy the requirements of SB12 and – because it allows sodas and sports drinks along with other healthier choices – will partially fulfill the requirements of SB965.

The City Council directed staff to write a nutritional policy as a standard for all vending machines at city-owned facilities and to issue a request for proposals for new city vending service contracts.

Staff will review proposals they receive and bring a recommendation to the City Council for approval.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacrameto Press. Follow her on twitter @MelissaCorker.

Crime rate down 18 percent in Sacramento

2011-09-22T00:50:50Z

Despite budget reductions and recent layoffs in the police department, serious crime in Sacramento has dropped 18 percent over the last three years – the second largest decline in California among cities of similar size – according to a report that Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel presented to City Council Tuesday.

Braziel told council members that the core mission of the Sacramento Police Department hasn’t changed since 2008 when he took charge. The mission, he said, is still “reduce crime, engage the community and provide excellent service.”

What has changed, however, is the number of police personnel – 81 sworn officers were laid off in July – and a department budget reduced by $12.2 million this year.

Over the past four years, police department budget reductions have resulted in $35 million in cuts and a loss of 372 positions, according city staff reports.

Still, Sacramento crime rates have been on a downward trend since 2007, Braziel said Tuesday.

Braziel’s report to the City Council included crime rate information compiled from department records and annual crime statistics from the FBI.

Braziel attributes the numbers to a “more focused effort” to achieve department goals, and an emphasis on working as efficiently as possible with the resources available.

“We have really focused on our 911 (call) center and operations in the field,” Braziel said. “We actually have more people answering the 911 line than (we had) three years ago.”

Braziel said staffing for field resources – patrol officers, traffic officers and officers on the streets responding to calls for service – has gone down 15 percent since July.

The investigations staff has been reduced by 35 percent, Braziel added.

“Those reductions are what necessitated a change in our dispatch protocols,” Braziel said.

In his last report to City Council in June, Braziel told council members that, with such a reduction in staffing, the department would no longer respond to some types of service calls, such as “cold” burglaries, where the suspect was no longer on the scene and the victims weren’t in danger.

“However, if we find a pattern or a series (of incidents) or something unique about an incident,” Braziel said, “we dispatch reports out to officers in the field and a patrol will go out to the scene to follow up.”

By prioritizing responses to nonviolent crime calls, Braziel said he is able to streamline operations and focus personnel where they are needed most at any given time.

Councilman Jay Schenirer told Braziel he was pleasantly surprised by the report.

“With budget cuts and an economy that is bad as it’s been in 40 or 50 years,” Schenirer said, “to see crime (in Sacramento) go down, that’s great.”

Schenirer said he would chalk it up to how well Braziel is running the department, and the continuous development of new ideas to reduce crime that are coming from the department.

Braziel told council members that violent crime is down 20 percent, and property crime is down 17 percent over the last year. All crimes together – excluding homicides – year-to-date crime rates are down 12.5 percent from last year.

“We are definitely continuing to trend down,” Braziel said.

The police department was able to bring back 35 laid off officers due to a grant waiver the department received in July.

One more grant request is pending, Braziel said, and he expects to have a result by the end of September or early October. If the city receives the second grant, it will restore another 35 officers to the police department.

“It’s a credit to the (police) department, and to the men and women on the front lines, so to speak, working every day and doing more with less,” Councilman Rob Fong told Braziel after hearing the report. “We obviously have very good people working on the force.”

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

City Council receives, reviews arena reports

2011-09-14T05:58:28Z

City staff and Think Big Sacramento representatives presented the City Council with technical and financial option reports on the proposed entertainment and sports complex Tuesday, and asked council to direct them where to go next.

“We have a lot of work to do in the next six months,” said City Manager John Shirey, “and we need both internal and external resources to do it.”

To keep things moving forward, though, Shirey told council members that he plans to deliver three things: “a game plan with a timeline, a list of the consultant work we need and a list of how we’ll pay for those things.”

Although the technical report presented Tuesday included more detail than previous reports, Shirey said it will take some time to “dig deeper and determine if the project is really feasible.”

Shirey said he and his staff will need “special help” from outside resources to do that digging. That means turning to consultants, investment bankers and outside council for the “due diligence” necessary to thoroughly review the entertainment sports complex proposal, Shirey said.

One of the aspects of the ESC project discussed Tuesday was the potential for re-use of the current Power Balance Pavillion site in Natomas.

“Natomas re-use possibilities present tremendous opportunity,” said Rachel Hazlewood, Economic Development Department senior project manager. “We need to develop a plan of action to bring (the space) to its highest and best use.”

Hazlewood said that, because the building moratorium in Natomas will be lifted in 2013, the large site may allow for multiple users and will require rezoning – aspects of the “total arena plan” that need to be considered.

“We will need to identify potential business prospects and get the site shovel-ready for development,” Hazlewood said, “before we can re-use the Natomas site for something other than the arena that is already there.”

Arena finance expert Dan Barrett outlined the recently released Nexus report of finance “menu” options.

Barrett told council members that a public-private partnership is essential to the success of the project.

“When you structure a deal like this, it has to work for all parties,” Barrett said. “It’s clear that the public cannot fund this facility on its own, and the team cannot fund it on its own.”

Barrett said that parking income potential discussed in the Nexus report is “not a standalone financing solution,” and the Kings’ loan has to be part of the solution.

“The $387 million cost (in the initial feasibility report) may change,” said John Dangberg, assistant city manager.

Dangberg noted that infrastructure costs are not included in the estimated $387 million cost of the facility.

Dangberg urged council members to direct staff to look at financial, legal and practical aspects of the project.

“As we come up with a definitive financing plan,” Dangberg said, “we want to include enough resources to cover the real cost of the project as it becomes clearer.”

Barrett said it will be important for council members to explore parking opportunities “aggressively,” and to “critically evaluate” other public funding options.

“We’ll work together with you and staff to prepare a definitive financing plan by the end of December,” Barrett said.

Although Mayor Kevin Johnson acknowledged that the reports presented to council were preliminary reports and not a “final proposal” for a new complex, he said they were a good place to start.

“We did our best to protect taxpayers with this plan,” Johnson said. “This is about jobs – 4,100 jobs – for our region.”

Johnson said the project is in “a very critical stage,” and he hopes City Council and the Think Big committee can finalize as much as possible by January so the city can be in the best position possible by the March deadline.

Councilman Rob Fong said he supports the arena project and that there needs to be “a closer look” taken at all of the financing options suggested in the Nexus report.

“It’s really important that we thoroughly vet what we are hearing,” Fong said. “We have to make sure the general fund is held harmless, and figure out if there’s a way for us to go forward with the project”

For Think Big, the challenge remains to keep going “until we reach a point where we know for sure that we can do this – or that we can’t,” Fong said.

The City Council asked staff to take the reports back for more review. Council will discuss arena options further at its next meeting, on Sept. 20.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

As the dust settles, City Council adjusts to new districts

2011-09-07T23:59:16Z

With one last vote Tuesday, the Sacramento City Council approved a map that seals council district boundaries for the next 10 years, but the work of redistricting isn’t finished just yet.

“The new map goes into effect Oct. 6, which is only 30 days after the final council vote,” said Scott Mende, principal planner with the Community Development Department. “After that, each council member has a different group of constituents.”

New district lines for the city and new constituents for council members will have a ripple effect throughout city administration, and Mende said city staff has a lot of work to do to be prepared for it.

The first step, Mende said, is a “massive outreach” to council members and all affected departments – such as the budget office, planning department and parks department – to help department staff know what impacts will come from the map changes.

“Council members usually take a strong interest in what goes on in their district,” Mende said. “They’ll want to know what they are going to be seeing, as far as projects that have been started or are still in planning stages (in each district).”

Staff from the city’s Neighborhood Services department will meet with neighborhood associations and community activists to discuss the new district maps, and the new map information will be posted in the newspaper and on the city website.

Although each of the city’s eight council districts will change in one way or another, the council member who will see the most dramatic changes to his district is Steve Cohn.

“I’m losing half of my (current) district and gaining a different half,” Cohn said Tuesday. “I clearly have the most significant changes happening to my District, so I’m starting (my transition) right away.”

With the new map boundaries, Cohn’s District 3 will now include a portion of what was Councilwoman Angelique Ashby’s District 1, including the railyards and the River District.

Cohn said he is planning to do a community event with Ashby sometime in the next 30 days and a district tour to meet new constituents and become more familiar with the projects under way in the areas new to his district.

“I’ll be doing something similar with (Councilwoman) Sandy Sheedy,” Cohn said, “but in reverse. Instead of gaining something from her district, I am giving up a portion of my district to her.”

Sheedy is already familiar with the Ben Ali and Hagginwood neighborhoods, which the new map puts in her district, Cohn said, however “Swanston Estates will be new to her,” so he’s planning to “show her around” and introduce her to the residents in that neighborhood.

Cohn is also organizing town hall-style meetings with Councilmen Kevin McCarty and Rob Fong to discuss district changes that affect them.

Ashby has the biggest changes to her district in terms of population adjustments – her district loses nearly 45,000 people – but the boundary line movement is not as drastic as Cohn’s or Rob Fong’s districts.

“The question for me,” Ashby said Tuesday, “is, ‘How do I let people in the new District 1 know they are still in District 1, and how do I let the people that were in District 1 know that they are now in District 3 or District 4?”

Ashby said she plans to use her strong social media presence – including platforms such as Facebook, Yahoo Groups, email lists and her personal website – to reach out to constituents.

Still, Ashby said, “there is no substitute“ for her and her staff to go out into the community, take the new council members around, make introductions, and get in touch with people who are in leadership roles in the community.

“We’ve done a lot of work in the last year,” Ashby said. “I want to very carefully hand that off.”

Ashby said she has “no doubt that my colleagues will see things through,” but she plans to stay engaged with all communities during the transition period because, “I would never just turn around and walk away.”

Mende said he and his staff are ready to assist council members during the transition period.

“If (council members) want us to send out information for them, we’ll do that. Or, if they ask for tools or access to tools to help them get the word out, we’ll do that,” Mende said. “We’re available to help them in whatever ways they deem appropriate.”

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Solomon-esque compromise moves Med Center into District 6

2011-08-24T18:26:14Z

In a King Solomon-like compromise, Oak Park lost one of its key components Tuesday when City Council members voted to divvy up the 100-year old neighborhood between two council districts.

District 5 gets to keep most of the Med Center neighborhood and Sacramento HIgh, but District 6 gets the coveted Med Center.

In a 6-3 vote, council members approved a variation of the “Neighborhoods 2.0” base map, drawing the boundary between Districts 5 and 6 – right down the middle of Stockton Boulevard.

“We have let you down as a council,” Mayor Kevin Johnson told the audience just before the vote. “We can say anything we want and make it all fancy, but you guys see right through it.”

Tuesday’s City Council meeting had more than 500 people in attendance and a record 103 speakers took to the podium to address the council before the final vote of the evening.

During the five-hour long discussion, members of the public spoke emotionally and emphatically about what their neighborhoods mean to them, asking council members to “put the people first.”

Quoting English poet William Wordsworth, Oak Park Pastor Darrell Roberts said, “ ‘It takes less time to do something right than to explain why you did it wrong. Wisdom is knowing what to do next. Virtue is doing it.’

“You’ve heard from the people,” Roberts said.

Councilman Steve Cohn defended the map he presented on July 26 and the merged map he and Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy developed and presented on Aug.4., saying it kept more neighborhoods intact than other versions, and resolved more problems than it created.

“In the end,” Cohn said, “I think everyone can agree there’s no perfect solution.”

The controversy that boiled over at the Aug. 16 council meeting – and continued at Tuesday’s meeting – was fueled by the shifting of the Med Center neighborhood out of District 5 and into District 6 with the Neighborhoods 2.0 base map, which the council approved on Aug. 9.

Oak Park residents and community leaders quickly mobilized opposition to the proposed new district boundaries and more than 60 people commented publicly at the Aug. 16 meeting.

Redistricting was not an item on the agenda at that meeting, so council members could not discuss the issue – they could only listen to the public comments, though there was some discussion at the meeting.
At Tuesday’s meeting, redistricting was the final item on the agenda and council chambers remained full to capacity throughout the entire discussion.

Many times, as speakers were addressing the council, the applause of the audience was loud and lingering and Johnson banged the gavel to restore order.

Speakers young and old approached the podium, sometimes giving a simple plea for keeping a neighborhood unified, and other times chastising council members for being “self-serving” and not “respecting the process” of redistricting.

At one point, Councilman Kevin McCarty addressed audience’s questions about ”Why the change” to the boundaries affecting Oak Park, the Med Center, and Sacramento High School.

“I think, Neighborhoods 2.0 is the right map and it is the least flawed,” McCarty said. “District 6 has been growing toward District 5 for years. (Toward District 5) is the only direction it can grow.”

While acknowledging that the Med Center in an “economic engine” for the city, he said “it is also a neighbor” that directly impacts the immediate vicinity more than anything else.

McCarty concluded that Med Center – and the area immediately surrounding it – should be part of District 6.

Tim Jordan, a business owner in Oak Park, said there wasn’t a “compelling reason” for the shift of the Med Center neighborhood out of Oak Park.

“North Oak Park is a positive example of investments made in the area over the years,” Jordan said. “The population is a small percentage of District 5, but they are the heartbeat. There’s no reason to move us.”

When public comment concluded, council members gave the audience their take on the process, the maps and the public outcry they witnessed both at council meetings and from people in their districts.

Cyril Shah, a local businessman and a former member of the Citizens Advisory Committee on redistricting, told council members there were three tenets he followed while working with the committee: listen to the citizens, focus on fairness and equity in every district, and focus on providing government services to those who need them.

“Listen to all of the citizens before you make a decision,” Shaw said. “It is my hope and, quite frankly, my expectation as a citizen that you will come to a conclusion than not only a few but all of the citizens can be proud of.”

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy told audience members that the process has been “very challenging,” but the public had been “heard.”

“Don’t think we haven’t listened to you,” Sheedy said. “We have. We really have heard you.”

Council members Darrell Fong, Rob Fong and Bonnie Pannell made similar comments, pointing out the difficulties of balancing a requirement to equalize population with all of the community’s needs.

When Johnson called roll for the vote, Sheedy, Cohn, Rob Fong, McCarty, Darrell Fong and Pannell were all “aye” votes.

Angelique Ashby, Jay Schenirer and Johnson opposed the motion.

“When you think of assets that represent Oak Park, you think of Sac High and you think of the Med Center,” Schenirer said. “I think it would be criminal to take that away.”

The law requires the redistricting ordinance that the City Council approved Tuesday to be published for the public for one week before the final vote is taken Sept. 6.

The final ordinance will go into effect 30 days after it is adopted by the City Council, and then the current district boundaries no longer exist. Council members will still represent the district number they were elected to, but with the new boundaries in place.

Record number of residents speak out at City Council meeting

2011-08-24T07:08:00Z

At the outset of the City Council meeting Tuesday, Mayor Kevin Johnson promised a robust discussion on the subject of redistricting, and robust is what he got.

It was another full house Tuesday with nearly 500 people crowding into City Hall, filling every seat in the council chambers and overflowing to makeshift seating areas on the second floor – everyone with the same agenda item on their minds: redistricting.

Neighbors, schoolchildren and spokespeople for Latino and African American communities of interest lined up – more than 100-deep – to give their two minutes’ input on where new district boundary lines should be drawn.

At the council meeting on Aug. 16, more than 200 people attended and nearly 70 people spoke during public comment expressing outrage about the proposed redistricting map, even though the item was not on the agenda.

Representatives from the Oak Park and Med Center neighborhoods – which are the focal point of contention for the council at the moment – took center stage once again this week as speaker after speaker took council members to task on a decision that may change the way their community is represented for the next 10 years.

“We are speaking with one voice,” said Mike Boyd, president of the Oak Park Neighborhood Association. “We’re speaking about how it feels to a community like Oak Park to have the heart of our community cleaved from our neighborhood body.”

In a letter sent to Oak Park residents on Friday, Boyd encouraged people to “organize and mobilize” to keep the community “whole.”

“We will not allow our assets to be looted,” the letter stated. “Keep the pressure on!”

The Neighborhoods Together 2.0 map changes the district boundaries around Oak Park, placing the Med Center neighborhood – which includes Sacramento High School and the UC Davis Medical Center – from District 5 into District 6.

Strictly speaking, they’re talking about 1,053 residents, with all but six people living west of Stockton Boulevard.

Practically speaking, however, the discussion is about more than population – it’s about history, community, and the will of the people.

“You wouldn’t take the Statue of Liberty out of New York; or the White House out of Washington, D.C.; or the zoo out of South Land Park” said Junea Montoya, a senior at Sacramento High School, “so why would you take Sac High and the Med Center out of Oak Park?”

In response to public comment at last week’s council meeting, Councilman Jay Schenirer asked city staff to provide a map variation that places the Med Center neighborhood in District 5 rather than District 6, as it’s drawn in the current 2.0 map.

Schenirer said that he hopes the council will give serious consideration to his revision, “if we’re really about neighborhoods and keeping neighborhoods together.”

With the legal deadline looming to finalize a new district map for the city, council members are under the gun to make a final decision – and it’s a decision that has, so far, spurred an outpouring of emotion from people in every camp.

“Redistricting is not about moving assets from district to district,” said Andie Corso, an Oak Park resident and a member of Johnson’s Stand Up education initiative.

“It’s about evening out population,” Corso said. “We’re talking about two community assets being moved (because of) the 2.0 map, and it’s completely unnecessary.”

Councilmen Steve Cohn and Kevin McCarty each addressed the crowd to explain the rationale for the makeup of the 2.0 map, but their words were met with groans and head-shaking from the audience.

“We’ve collected more than 500 signatures in just 13 days,” said Oak Park resident Kristina Smith. “Fifty-four of these signatures are from your neighbors on your block, Mr. McCarty. Will you ignore the voices of your own neighbors?”

Before starting public comment, Johnson told the audience that a record 103 speakers had signed in – 24 supportive of the Neighborhoods Together 2.0 map, and 79 opposed to it.

“It’s clear by the showing here today – nearly three to one – how you feel about it,” Johnson said, referring to the number of people who asked to speak Tuesday.

One of the speakers in opposition to the 2.0 map was Sacramento County Supervisor and former Sacramento Mayor Jimmy Yee, who returned to council a second time in two weeks to reiterate his feelings about the division of his neighborhood, South Land Park.

Holding up a sign that read “Keep Oak Park whole,” Yee said, “I want to change this sign a little and have it read ‘Keep Oak Park and South Land Park whole.”

At a press conference earlier in the day, Johnson said he hoped Tuesday’s meeting would have at least one “happy surprise” for Sacramento – that of coming to a consensus about what the new map will look like.

“It’s about doing what’s right tonight,” Johnson said.

The council was set to vote on an ordinance finalizing the 2.0 map, unless someone on the council made a motion to amend the map in some way.

The ordinance stated that preserving existing neighborhoods was “a major focal point” during the deliberations by the City Council.

“The concern over existing neighborhoods made for difficult policy decisions,” the ordinance states, making it “impossible to satisfy” the wishes of all of the residents who voiced their concerns at public meetings.

More than three hours into the meeting – and after more than an hour of public comment – a final vote was yet to be taken at the dais.

The Sacramento Press will post an update in the morning on the result of Tuesday’s council meeting.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter with The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Public comment at Council meeting results in one more map

2011-08-17T08:14:06Z

City Council chambers were overflowing Tuesday night with residents lined up to voice their concerns about which redistricting map will – finally – be the final map, but the meeting didn’t end until one council member asked for one more map to be brought to the table.

With audience members behind them holding signs that read, “Just tell us why?” and “Keep Oak Park whole,” more than 70 speakers chastised, questioned and – at times – shouted at council members as they expressed outrage over the most recent development in the redistricting saga.

The outpouring of emotion from meeting attendees stemmed from a City Council vote last week on a proposed map to redraw city district boundaries – the eighth map to be discussed by council members since the citizens advisory committee sent its final recommendations to the council on July 12.

The map, designated “Neighborhoods Together 2.0,” was introduced by Councilman Steve Cohn at the Aug. 9 council meeting – after public comment had concluded and before some council members had an opportunity to review it. That map was ultimately passed on a 6-3 vote as the ‘base map’ to be considered for final approval later this month.

During two hours of public comment Tuesday, council members heard testimony from lifelong residents of Oak Park, Sacramento High School students and community leaders.

Some speakers accused council members of “back room dealings,” while others questioned council members’ intentions by “creating a charade that was the advisory committee” on redistricting.

“You’re going to sit there and rip off the economic arm of Med Center off of Oak Park with no regard for the community?” asked Betty Williams, president of the Sacramento NAACP. “Really? No!”

Williams chastised council members for the “political theft of Oak Park,” and – with no subtle implication about the future of council seats – she added, “You are not the only ones who will take something away.”

All who spoke Tuesday opposed the boundaries in one district area or another, but the majority specifically opposed the shift of the neighborhood that includes Med Center and Sacramento High School from District 5 into Councilman Kevin McCarty’s District 6.

“My mother told me never to call folks ‘stupid,’ “ said Oak Park resident Joe Debbs, “so I’ll just say you are ‘unwise’ to break up Oak Park.

“It’s not too late to fix your mistake,” he added.

The impact of the outpouring of public comment seemed to sink in with council members right before the council adjourned.

District 5 Councilman Jay Schenirer asked city staff to re-analyze the most recent map and bring it back to council for consideration at the Aug. 23 meeting – this time redrawing district lines to return the contested area surrounding the Med Center to District 5.

“We’ll see if this (map) changes anybody’s mind (on the council),” Schenirer said after the meeting.

Although redistricting was not an item on the meeting agenda, the opportunity for public comment is a regular part of every council meeting. Speakers are limited to two minutes to address council members, and council members do not usually respond from the dais to public comments.

Tuesday’s meeting was anything but “usual,” however.

As the council chamber filled with people and stacks of speaker requests were handed to the city clerk, the first to step up to the podium was County Supervisor and former Sacramento mayor Jimmy Yee.

Yee told council members that he was speaking to them for one reason only – to plead for the South Land Park neighborhood to be kept together.

“I know how hard this (redistricting) process is and, as a county supervisor, I’m going through it now,” Yee said. “But what you simply have to do is try.”

Yee encouraged council members to consider the history of South Land Park and try to keep the neighborhood together.

Councilman Rob Fong, who represents the South Land Park neighborhood where Yee lives, thanked Yee for addressing the council but said there might not be any solution to dividing that neighborhood.

Yee suggested drawing the district boundary line at Sutterville Road instead of at Fruitridge, where the latest map shows it.

“So, you don’t care what district it’s in,” Fong asked, “you just want all of South Land Park together?”

“I love having you as my councilman, Rob,” Yee responded, “but I’ll love Jay Schenirer, too, if he’s my new representative. I’m not here for politics – I’m here for my neighborhood. Don’t split South Land Park.”

Michael Boyd, president of Oak Park Neighborhood Association, referred council members to an email sent to Elmhurst residents from McCarty that asked for support of the newest map and called Oak Park a “treasure.”

“Of course you see (it) as a treasure,” Boyd said to McCarty. “One that belongs in District 5.

“It smacks of elitism that cannot be ignored,” Boyd said of the new map boundaries.

At the end of the meeting, after the chambers had emptied, Schenirer said he asked for the new map revision so there would “at least be something on the table” when the council returns next week and takes up redistricting as a discussion item on the agenda.

“If we’re really about neighborhoods and keeping neighborhoods together,” Schenirer said, “and there’s no detrimental effects or musical chairs with other districts around (the changes), then I would hope the council takes it into consideration.”

Schenirer’s map revision will be brought before the City Council at its next meeting Aug. 23. A vote for final approval of a redistricting map is expected before the Sept. 6 deadline for submission to the state.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker

City Council approves salary contract for new city manager

2011-08-10T08:25:58Z

Sacramento’s new city manager will get a 16 percent increase in salary over the previous city manager, making him the highest-paid in city history and the first to receive a labor contract.

John Shirey’s three-year contract, which includes a $258,000 base salary was approved by the City Council with a 7-2 vote Tuesday.

According to the staff report on the contract, Shirey’s annual salary is within the city’s current salary pay range of $187,357-$281,035 for the position.

The staff report also notes that Shirey’s benefit package is essentially the same as for city charter officers such as city attorney and city clerk, with two exceptions: Shirey will pay his own 7 percent contribution to PERS and, instead of the typical 4 percent contribution to a 401(a) plan, the city will contribute $15,000 to a deferred compensation plan.

These changes give the city a net savings of nearly $13,000 – approximately $10,000 for the PERS contribution and approximately $18,000 for the 4 percent contribution to a 401(a) plan.

The new contract includes a severance clause that provides for payment of six months’ salary and medical benefits if Shirey or the council terminates his employment before the contract expires.

A recent press release from Eye on Sacramento, a local political watchdog group, criticized the contract as “fundamentally wrong” for the 16 percent pay hike the contract includes.

“The (pay increase) for its city manager is immensely insensitive to city taxpayers and city employees who have seen their pay cut or jobs eliminated in the current recession,” the release states. “The council's extravagance with its top manager's pay cannot help but make future relations and negotiations with (the) city's unions more difficult and probably more costly to city taxpayers.”

Earlier this week, Local 522, the union representing 550 city firefighters, voted to defer a five percent payraise until 2013 and give six percent to their pensions, according to a labor leaders.

Jaymes Butler, municipal vice president for Local 522 and a captain in the department, told council members Tuesday that, when asked to “do their part” despite being the lowest paid in the region, “our (union members) stepped up to do it.”

Had they known what the city manager’s salary package would look like, Butler said, his union membership would likely not have voted for labor concessions as they did.

“The last time I checked,” Butler said, “none of these (city managers) save lives.”

Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said she’s looking forward to working with Shirey, though she is disappointed with the compensation package.

“It’s unfathomable to grant the largest compensation package in the history of Sacramento during one of the worst economic times in the history of Sacramento,” Ashby said. “It’s counterintuitive.”

Ashby said she could not support the contract “in the same week that firefighters step forward and help us initiate true pension reform for the first time” in the city of Sacramento.

“I just feel like there is no reason to make an exception to the standard of everyone working for the city to pull their weight and do more with less,” Ashby said.

Councilman Rob Fong supported the contract and welcomed Shirey to the position.

“The salary is within the range for the position,” Fong said, “so, yeah, he’s going to get more than we gave (the previous city manager). (Shirey) has an impressive wealth of experience. We are fortunate to have him.”

Mayor Kevin Johnson said he assumed the contract was supported by the majority of the council, but he reiterated concerns about the recruitment process that he expressed in a recent press conference.

Johnson said that the process could have been “more comprehensive,” and he was disappointed that there wasn’t any public input.

The recruitment process wasn't as transparent as it should have been, Johnson said, and he objected to granting a contract that makes Shirey the highest-paid city manager in the city’s history.

“This defies logic, in my opinion.” Johnson said.

With the new contract in place, Shirey will begin work as city manager Sept. 1.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelisaCorker.

City Council chooses surprise new redistricting map

2011-08-10T07:35:37Z

The city of Sacramento will have new district boundaries by the end of the month, but the lines won’t be familiar to anyone who has followed the process so far.

In a 6-3 vote, the City Council passed a motion Tuesday to use a new map submitted by Councilman Steve Cohn as the ‘base map’ for new district boundaries – much to the surprise of advisory committee members, meeting attendees and Mayor Kevin Johnson.

“I am extremely disappointed and sad,” Johnson said. “This is the worst-case scenario. It’s the council putting self-interest above all else, and that is disappointing.”

The map – which Cohn named “Neighborhoods Together 2.0” – was submitted just minutes before the council meeting was set to begin Tuesday.

Cohn said he felt the new map was necessary because it addressed concerns that the previous maps did not, including keeping districts more compact and cohesive and allowing for better representation of communities of interest.

Although the agenda item on redistricting included opportunity for public comment, the new map wasn’t introduced until after public comment had concluded.

The goal of the new map, as described by Cohn, is to “keep neighborhoods together,” and it is intended to address concerns expressed about the previous maps submitted by he and Sheedy at the July 26 council meeting.

One of those concerns was that the population deviation in the merged Cohn/Sheedy map released Friday was 11.9 percent, exceeding the city-mandated maximum of 10 percent. The total population deviation of the new map is 9.92 percent.

Another concern expressed to the council was the division of Latino communities across multiple districts thereby “diluting their voting power,” according to Eric Guerra, a representative of the Latino Redistricting Working Group and the president of the Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association.

“What this map does that no other map does,” Cohn said, “is provide Latino representation greater than 30 percent in four council districts.”

“I think it’d be undershooting (for the Latino community) to look at only one (council) seat when you could be looking at four seats,” Cohn added.

Discussion of the merits of the new map became heated as council members argued about what district the UC Davis Medical Center and the surrounding neighborhood, including Sacramento High School, belongs in.

Councilman Jay Schenirer noted that, although the Med Center neighborhood has historically been part of District 5, the 2.0 map assigns it to District 6.

“For the past 40 years they’ve been in District 5,” Schenirer said. “I’d like to know what is the rationale for moving it?”

Cohn said the primary effort of the new map is to keep neighborhoods together, but added that moving the neighborhood into District 6 compensates for the addition of the railyards to District 3.

“District 3, with the railyards in it, has potential for growth,” Cohn said, “but District 6 doesn’t have that same potential.”

Schenirer stood his ground, saying “we could argue how long that growth would take,” and told Cohn that the council should “put the Med Center neighborhood back with Oak Park, where it’s been for 40 years.”

The council passed a motion to accept the new map without the adjustment of shifting the Med Center neighborhood back to Oak Park and District 5.

Although Councilwoman Angelique Ashby ultimately voted against it, she initially expressed her support of the new base map, saying that a new map being added by the council – even at this late date – does not contradict the work of the advisory committee.

“I’m offended by the notion that if we don’t take one of the four maps submitted by the advisory committee, that we are somehow being less than transparent,” Ashby said. “This is a process: the community submitted maps, the committee vetted them, and now (the council) looks at them.”

Ashby said it has always been the prerogative of the council to make refinements to any map as part of the redistricting process and in addition to the work of the advisory committee.

Councilman Rob Fong agreed, saying, “I don’t think there’s any disrespect to the advisory committee here.”

Fong said everything the council has done is a “derivative” of the advisory committee’s work, and having refinements done by the council was something the council had always considered.

“I don’t know that there are any perfect solutions for any district,” Fong said. “This process is like having a lot of Jell-O in a big sack. Wherever you push or pull, it’s going to affect all the other districts.”

Johnson was visibly upset by the submission of yet another new map.

“It’s clear that politics took over the process,” Johnson said. “I do not think elected officials should choose their voters. We throw the word transparency around a lot, but I don’t think anything we’ve done here has been transparent. There’s no way the public is fooled by it.”

“We get a map at 5:55 p.m. today, and we’re supposed to vote on it today without the public weighing in on it at all?”Johnson said. “I think it’s ridiculous, and I think our priorities are upside-down.”

Johnson and Schenirer voted against the proposed new map, along with councilwoman Ashby who disagreed with the way the new map shifted large portions of neighborhoods from her district into a new district.

City staff will prepare an ordinance based on the new map for the council to adopt at the earliest opportunity, according to city clerk, Shirley Concolino.

The new map is expected to be passed for publication on Aug. 23 and adopted by the end of the month.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Editorial Note: A correction has been made to this article after it was published.

LGBT community weighs in on redistricting

2011-07-21T01:46:49Z

When is comes to redistricting, the LGBT community has a lot to say about being recognized as a legitimate community of interest and working toward getting the central city united into one council district.

“Unless you see yourself represented, it’s hard to see yourself in the world,” said Steve Hansen, a community activist and a member of the former Citizens Advisory Committee on Redistricting.

Hansen and Rosanna Herber, chairperson of the LGBT Redistricting Committee, said members of the LGBT community worked tirelessly over the last several months to be recognized as a community of interest and be given a stake in the process. Their goal has been to finally see the central city united.

“We are a very diverse city,” Hansen said, “and our strength comes from that diversity.”

The LGBT Redistricting Committee was made up of representatives of the Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center, the Rainbow Chamber of Commerce, the Stonewall Democratic Club and other LGBT community leaders.

Herber said the group attended advisory committee meetings and testified before the committee at every opportunity.

“The common theme (of our testimony) was that a majority of our community live in the urban core and we don’t want to have it split any longer,” Herber said.

There are approximately 31,000 people in the grid which is shared by three council districts, Hansen said, and “(the people in the grid) have have a lot more in common with each other than the people in Natomas (who share a district) have with them.”

The standard of “one person, one vote” includes the notion of not diluting the electoral power of groups of people that have historically been subject to discrimination. By splitting the central city, Hansen said, that’s exactly what happens.

“The neighborhoods in the central city have been sliced and diced so much,” Hansen said. “The people there have no real electoral power.”

People in the grid share a common geography, a common cultural landscape – and common issues, Hansen said. People in other areas ignore those issues because they aren’t as affected by them.

Homelessness is one issue that Hansen said has been allowed to persist in the grid for so long because the majority of voters in each of the three districts that contain part of the core live outside that central area.

“Ultimately, none of the people who vote have any skin in the game,” Hansen said. “As long as the problem stays out of North Natomas, East Sacramento, Land Park or Curtis Park, people are perfectly fine with that.”

Hansen said that, although he feels the elected representatives do try, “ultimately their concerns are going to be concerns from where the majority of the (voters) are.”

“It’s political economy,” Hansen said.

From the LGBT point of view, it is important to have the ability to elect the candidate of their choice, Herber said.

Historically, there has never been an openly LGBT person elected to the City Council and Herber said, if there is ever going to be one, “we have to have our support united.”

“It’s one thing to have someone relay your concerns, but it’s better when they share your concerns,” Hansen said.

The advisory committee recommended four maps to City Council for redrawing district lines. Three of the maps unite the central city into one district.

“In the past, it doesn’t seem anyone was held responsible for redistricting, so we got lines that weren’t necessarily fair, they reflected the whims of the council,” Hansen said.

During the process, Hansen said his role on the advisory committee was as “a person who cares about the city,” and not as a representative of any community or organization.

“I was primarily concerned about the legitimacy of the process,” Hansen said. “I challenged the committee to remember that the public is watching us and they would hold us accountable.”

Hansen said that, after hearing all the public testimony, the advisory committee understood that there wasn’t a good justification for the central city to be broken up.

“We had to keep asking, ‘What’s best for the city? How do we do right by our communities?’ “ Hansen said.

Sara Freid, Interim Executive Director for the Sacramento Gay & Lesbian Center, said the response from the advisory committee to their testimony throughout the redistricting process was “positive and encouraging.”

“I feel like they listened to us,” she added. “It’s nice to be heard as a community.”

The LGBT Redistricting Committee will go to City Council Tuesday and participate in the public discussion on redistricting again, Herber said.

“We are going to ask the council to do what the advisory committee did,” Herber said. “Respect the LGBT community as a community of interest and see where our community lives, and keep the central core together.”

Hansen agreed.

“It’s the fair and just thing to do to make sure that the LGBT community – as a legitimate community of interest – is not just recognized by the process, but respected by it,” Hansen said.

The City Council has until about Aug. 26 to decide where the new district lines will be drawn.

Melissa Corker is a Staff Reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Report: Arena could bring $7 billion

2011-07-01T00:43:32Z

A new downtown arena could draw 3.1 million visitors to the central city each year and bring the region more than $7 billion over 30 years, according to a report released Thursday by an arena campaign committee.

The 37-page report on an arena’s expected impact to the region was released to reporters at a press conference at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel.

"In downtown Sacramento, there's a considerable economic boost, just by the fact that there really isn't a facility like that," said Cathleen Dominico, author of "The Economic Engine Report: An Economic Analysis on the Regional Impact of an Entertainment and Sports Complex," during the press conference.

"If you can create a downtown core that is a destination, it boosts not only the downtown itself but trickles out to the outlying regions," she added.

Dominico, managing partner at Capitol Public Finance Group, was joined at the press conference by arena committee Chairman Chris Lehane, who also chaired the mayor's arena task force; committee members who included City Councilman Rob Fong, City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby, state assemblymen Roger Dickinson and Richard Pan, Downtown Sacramento Partnership Executive Director Michael Ault; and past DSP Chairman Kipp Blewett of Rubicon Partners.

The press conference was held after a report summary was first presented to members of Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson's arena campaign committee in a closed-door meeting at the hotel. The meeting was announced two weeks ago as one of seven public meetings set this summer for the committee.

The number of visitors was estimated with an average 17,300 people attending 45 Sacramento Kings events and an average 15,000 people at more than 155 other events annually.

Visitors would be expected to spend an average of $20 each, before and after events, on food, drinks, travel and other retail. About 10 percent of them could spend another $102 to stay overnight.

Total spending outside the sports facility, before and after games and other events, was estimated at $93.6 million annually, according to the economic impact report called for by Johnson.

However, after subtracting spending by existing residents and annual spending at the Kings' current arena, net annual spending in the six-county Sacramento region is expected to total only about $24.6 million, according to Dominico and the report.

The arena's operating costs would be covered by revenue generated inside the arena, according to the report, which did not look at arena revenue.

ICON Venue Group President Tim Romani and Sacramento developer David Taylor estimate an arena facility would cost $241 million, with a total project cost of $387 million.

The cost of arena construction will be financed by a combination of public and private investment, which is expected to include Sacramento Kings annual tenant fees.

The ICON-Taylor group is developing an arena financing plan with input from Johnson's 70-member regional arena campaign committe e. The group was introduced a month ago as the Here We Build coalition. The committee's name was changed this week to Think BIG Sacramento.

The ICON-Taylor group was given a late-May deadline to present an arena financing plan to the Sacramento City Council. But that didn’t happen after the Kings’ owners didn’t provide revenue information in time.

The arena campaign committee was then given until Sept. 8 to provide the council with a plan.

The Maloof family, which owns a majority share of the Kings, agreed on May 2 not to move the team if the region would undertake a serious effort to replace Power Balance Pavilion, which was constructed in outlying Natomas in 1988. The National Basketball Association and the Maloofs gave the region until March 1, 2012, to do so.

The drive to build a new arena also creates an opportunity to redevelop the existing arena, Ault said.

"We feel very strongly that this is not about a downtown versus Natomas issue," Ault said. "This is about an opportunity to activate and engage the central city. It's an opportunity to make sure that we're doing everything we can to develop something that is a replacement in Natomas that keeps them whole.

"This is something I think the region will look back on as we finally are having the right discussions and the right opportunity to really engage in a facility that's going to make a difference in this region," he said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Arts Commission shaping new funding strategy

2011-06-30T00:27:13Z

The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission is developing a new fundraising strategy to help offset continued cuts in public funding that have slashed the agency's primary financial sources by 70 percent in the last four years.

The strategy includes an expanded arts public service campaign, a donors' "Walk of Fame" on K Street Mall and new types of fundraisers, such as one involving City Council members and a celebrated local restaurateur.

As of Friday, public funding for the joint city-county agency will be just under $900,000 for fiscal year 2011/2012 – down from $2.6 million each year in July 2008 and 2007. Last year's public funding totaled $1.04 million. That doesn't include money for public art, separately funded through public construction dollars. The agency's total budget is higher due to that and secondary funding sources, the commission's executive director, Rhyena Halpern, said.

The city has allocated about $700,000, cutting funding to the commission by $120,000 in the new city budget approved June 21. The county is providing $175,000, which is the same as last year but a large decrease from $873,471 provided in 2008.

"You're seeing a huge decline in public funding for the commission and the arts groups and the artists. Construction is down, so our public arts funding is also down," she said. "We have some exciting ideas that I hope will pan out to help them."

The commission also gets about $22,000 in grant money from the California Arts Council each year.

Halpern, Friends of the Arts Commission Chairwoman Jan Geiger, SMAC Chairwoman Carlin Naify and other commissioners and Friends board members are working on a strategy development project. The goal is to fill the hole that's been created in funding for SMAC and the other arts groups the organization supports with grants, Halpern said.

Naify also launched an email petition drive that sent 600 emails asking the city and county not to make planned funding cuts to the commission. County supervisors agreed to eliminate a planned $24,000 cut in funding to SMAC for the next year.

Through its grants programs, SMAC previously granted more than $700,000 annually to local artists and arts groups. In calendar year 2011, that amount was down by nearly 50 percent to $375,000. In 2012, SMAC is currently budgeted to provide $310,000 in public dollars to groups and individuals, Halpern said.

In the last four years, the commission has also lost half of its general-fund staff, down from 10 people to five, and its public construction-funded public arts staff, down from four to two people. The commission isn't able to deliver the same level of programming because of the staff cuts and loss in funding, she said.

The fundraising strategy is being developed to increase funding through several mechanisms, including new types of fundraisers, product development, fees for services and grants. Some elements are still being worked out.

Former Sacramento County Supervisor Muriel Johnson, until recently director of the California Arts Council, helped raise more than $35,000 for SMAC by hosting the organization's first fundraiser in a private home last week. More than 200 people gathered at Johnson's home for the event.

Halpern, City Councilman Darrell Fong and chef Randall Selland, who co-owns The Kitchen Restaurant, Ella and Selland's Market Café with his family, are also working on a new fundraiser idea that could involve city council members serving dinner to arts supporters at one of Selland's restaurants, Fong's district director, Noah Painter, said.

Councilman Rob Fong is already on board to help serve dinner and, following Darrell Fong's lead, has started approaching potential donors about contributing, according to their staffs.

Fong is an arts patron and is really into food. He's now talking with other council members to see if they will take part, Painter said.

"It's one of the only organizations that we have that pushes arts in Sacramento," Painter said. "We can probably raise a good amount of money for them, especially since the budget has been so tragic."

In addition, SMAC staff members are looking at charging more fees for services, such as the arts education program provided to schools.

Halpern and her staff are also working on a new product that would package the agency's arts marketing campaign, "Arts. Open Daily," for other California cities. The campaign promotes cultural tourism and aims to expand exposure and access to the arts.

Another idea is to create a “Walk of Fame,” akin to the Hollywood Walk of Fame, on K Street Mall, where two blocks are being redeveloped. Donors would buy art tiles that would be embedded in the sidewalks, Halpern said.

SMAC and Friends of the Arts Commission have already brought in $600,000 since 2007. But because much of that money was brought in through grants or fees for service – mostly for arts education or exhibitions delivered by SMAC – the funds must be used for projects or programs, rather than staff at the commission or arts groups.

Nonprofit arts groups, whose programs and arts projects add to the community's vibrancy, have been hit hard because they, too, have lost staff, Halpern said.

"What they really need is dollars. They know how to run their businesses. They're just really low on staff, like we are," she added. "We're working on doing everything we can."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

K Street redevelopment project a 'great investment for the city'

2011-06-25T03:02:16Z

The approval of the redevelopment project for the 700 block of K Street brings more than just the prospect of a revitalized block of the J-K-L corridor, it also includes financial incentives that supporters say will spur the local economy and bolster revenues for the city.

Originally, developers Bay Miry, D & S Development, and Ali Youssefi, CFY Development, proposed that the city put in $16 million of funding assistance – one half of that amount in the form of a grant, and the other half in repayable loans from a variety of redevelopment agency sources.

Since the initial proposal, however, Miry and Youssefi were able to tap into new funding sources for the project, including a federal program called New Market Tax Credits (NMTC).

With more outside funding, the amount of private investment increased and the level of public investment decreased.

The approved project now includes only $14.7 million in public funds – nearly $2 million less than originally proposed.

“From a financing standpoint, we’re pleased that the developers have made such an effort to increase their equity input,” Councilman Rob Fong said Friday. “It’s a great investment for the city.”

In addition to a decreased level of public funding for the project, the city will profit from the redevelopment project at 40 percent of whatever the cash-flow is.

This translates to a return for the city of approximately $17.4 million on a $14.7 million investment.

“That is unheard of in a private-public partnership project,” Miry said. “It’s a really good thing for the city.”

That’s not all, though, according to Miry.

The financing terms of the project include yet another added incentive to the city.

In the event the development is ever sold to new investors, the city will receive 20 percent of the profit from the sale, over and above full repayment of all loans on the original project.

“Neither of those two aspects (a high return on reduced investment and profit on future sale) were part of the initial proposal,” Miry said.

City Council members gave the green light to the K Street project on Tuesday, saying the project would be “transformative” and “invigorating” for the downtown sector.

“This long awaited project will certainly change the face of K Street,” said Maurice Chaney, communications specialist for the city’s Economic Development Department. “It will generate millions in tax revenue and support 500 permanent jobs once operational.”

“This is a win, win, win situation,” said Councilman Kevin McCarty Friday.

“It’s a win for revitalizing K Street. It’s a win for housing downtown. It’s a win for development and jobs,” McCarty said.

Read more about the 700 block project here.

Council intends to make major public safety cuts

2011-06-08T07:44:49Z

The Sacramento City Council’s tentative decision Tuesday night to make severe budget cuts to public safety is not final, but it made a big statement.

Council members voted 6-3 to say they intend to make budget cuts later this month that include layoffs of 82 sworn cops and increases in brownouts or alternating closures for fire services.

A big caveat to the tentative decision is the council’s statement that it is still open to further negotiations with the city’s public safety unions.

Tuesday’s hearing drew intense public interest. Many people arrived more than an hour early to the 6 p.m. meeting. Shortly before 5 p.m., about 70 people waited in line for the doors at City Hall to open.

About 340 people were at City Hall around 6:15 p.m. The 230 seats inside the City Council’s chambers were filled, and another 110 people were outside, in the lobby and in a second-floor overflow area.

A City Hall police security officer estimated at 7 p.m. there were 400-450 people at City Hall.

City leaders are facing a $39 million deficit for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. The City Council is expected to approve a budget June 21.

Council members Jay Schenirer, Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell voted to say they intend to make public safety cuts, among other reductions, though they may still negotiate with unions for changes to the cuts.

Council members Angelique Ashby and Steve Cohn and Mayor Kevin Johnson voted against the tentative decision.

Schenirer proposed the tentative decision, stating that cuts to public safety were necessary in order for the city to get on a fiscally responsible track.

“The right thing happens to be the more difficult thing this year, unfortunately,” he said.

The proposal includes $12.2 million in cuts to the Police Department and $9 million in cuts to the Fire Department.

The suggested cuts include layoffs of 82 sworn cops in the Police Department and 68 civilian personnel, according to updated statistics provided Tuesday night by Sgt. Norm Leong, police department spokesman.

The department could restore 35 staff if it obtains a waiver on a federal grant, according to city officials.

“I just can’t, in good conscience, support a budget where we’re going to cut $12 million from police,” Johnson said.

In addition to its tentative decision, the council made a final decision Tuesday night to approve a federal grant for the Sacramento Fire Department. The funding from the federal government comes from the federal Staffing for Adequate Fire and Emergency Response Grant Program.

The six council members also said they intend to make fire cuts that would raise the number of alternating closures, or “brownouts,” of fire services from two to four. Without the grant, the city would be weighing whether to make six brownouts.

The city manager’s office is not proposing layoffs for the Fire Department.

As part of the 6-3 vote, the council also said it intends to keep 11 community centers open without setting aside any money for them through the Department of Parks and Recreation. It’s unclear how that can be accomplished. Schenirer suggested that neighborhoods could help keep the centers open.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Council explores long-term budget issues

2011-06-03T05:19:26Z

The Sacramento City Council discussed Thursday how to make major changes to city operations in the next few years to resolve the city’s long-term imbalance where costs outpace revenues.

The city’s $39 million gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year is part of an ongoing trend of budget shortfalls. Multi-million budget gaps will remain until fiscal year 2015/2016 as a result of the city’s imbalanced finances, according to predictions by city officials.

“We need to set the expectation of what the City Council wants to provide for the residents and the businesses of this city,” Interim Deputy City Manager Betty Masuoka said.

Seven council members were at the budget meeting – Mayor Kevin Johnson and Councilman Kevin McCarty were absent. Some of the council members said they wanted to explore the long-term budget problems on a regular basis after the budget is approved June 21.

The topic of city services was discussed during the meeting.

“We don’t even really have to be a full-service city,” Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said, “but we have to maintain core services.”

Councilman Rob Fong said the City Council should examine the ways the city administers services.

“We need to look at how we deliver the services that our citizens have come to expect,” Fong said. “So, what I would ask is that we take a strong look with our best thinkers ... and say, ‘Shake the Etch A Sketch up ... erase the white board.’ ”

Councilman Steve Cohn said that discussions about how to change the city and its budget should involve the rank-and-file workers. He questioned the format of Thursday’s meeting, saying that the council should consider meeting with workers in a format that is less formal than a City Council meeting in which council members sit on a dais or stage.

Councilman Jay Schenirer asked Masuoka to draft a schedule for council members to work on the long-term budget problems.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Mark Merin's battle with City Hall

2011-05-30T23:20:15Z

Sacramento civil rights attorney Mark Merin is once again in the spotlight.

This time, he’s being quoted by the local media for his role in a federal class-action case about homeless people’s constitutional rights and personal property. And, in the March issue of Harper’s Magazine, Merin’s work with Safe Ground is mentioned. The article, titled “Homeless in Sacramento: Welcome to the New Tent Cities,” focuses on Sacramento’s homeless and the city’s ordinance against camping.

These are only two of many examples of Merin’s highly visible and controversial advocacy work for Sacramento’s homeless.

Earlier this week, a federal jury released its verdict in Lehr v. City of Sacramento, finding that the city has mismanaged homeless people’s belongings.

Merin is representing a group of homeless people in the lawsuit. When police officers enforce the city’s ordinance against camping outside, they seize homeless people’s belongings, Merin claimed in an April 1 court document.

“We, who live in our comfortable homes, surrounded by all the clutter that we’ve accumulated, may not realize how devastating it is when someone comes in and just grabs the few things that you do have,” Merin said in an interview with The Sacramento Press earlier this month.

Meanwhile, Senior Deputy City Attorney Chance Trimm noted this week that the jury did not fault the city on four or six claims. The city may appeal the ruling to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, Trimm said.

Merin is requesting compensation for his clients as well as attorney’s fees. He explained earlier this month how the payment process for his fees works.

“If we are successful and we win, in many cases, we’re entitled to get fees awarded by the court,” Merin said. “There’s a procedure by which we show how much time we put into it. The court evaluates the work and assigns an amount of money, and then we get that.”

In addition to criticizing the city’s interactions with the homeless in his lawsuit, Merin has appeared before the City Council to argue for Safe Ground.

“The minimum demand that is being made with Safe Ground is (to) designate some place (for the homeless). Don’t even give it to us, but allow us to take a space and say, ‘homeless people can be here, can leave their stuff here, can use this as a staging area to do something else,’ ” Merin said earlier this month in an interview.

“But if they’re constantly having to guard their stuff ... then they can’t even go anywhere. They can’t even go to the doctor’s appointment for fear of losing it.”

In September 2009, Merin provided his property as place for the homeless to stay.

Councilman Rob Fong said he has observed Merin’s comments to the City Council. Fong said he has also attended board meetings on homelessness at which Merin was present.

“My impression of Mark is I think he’s a very strident advocate,” Fong said. “I think he’s a thoughtful guy, too.”

Fong has worked on the issue of homelessness through the local Faith and Homeless Families program, in which religious groups assist homeless families with housing.

“I think, given where I am, I’ve tried to work within the system and to improve the system,” Fong said. “I think Mark has a different vantage point. I just think we’re probably both working in different ways for the same thing.”

Merin has also taken on Sacramento County in the past. His lawsuit over homeless people’s belongings included Sacramento County, along with the city, when he filed it in 2007. But court documents show the county settled the case last year.

Meanwhile, John Kraintz, president of Safe Ground, praised Merin’s work with the group, composed mostly of homeless people. Merin helps the group communicate its views to the City Council, Kraintz said.

“His input is always very valuable,” Kraintz said.

While the next step in the lawsuit over homeless people’s property is unclear, it’s apparent that Merin will play a big role in it.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Kings owners, NBA await arena next steps

2011-05-27T02:03:57Z

The Sacramento Kings' majority owners reacted positively to a new plan for a proposed $387 million arena project unveiled Thursday, but admitted they're anxious to see whether the plan can be turned into reality.

Developers told the Sacramento City Council a $241 million arena, with a total project cost of $387 million, could be built by early 2015 if a mix of public and private funding can be pulled together.

During a two-and-a-half-hour presentation, ICON Venue Group President Tim Romani, Sacramento developer David Taylor and others on an arena development team provided the public with many details of the plan.

Afterward, team co-owners Gavin and Joe Maloof told reporters they have a "very positive reaction" to the current prospects for building a new home for the Sacramento Kings.

"We have a lot better feeling now than we have in the past," Joe Maloof said in a press conference in the lobby of City Hall.

Acknowledging the plan as "a great first step," Gavin Maloof said the family is "anxiously looking forward to the next steps." He called on the region to help see the project get financed and built, rather than leaving an arena-building campaign to the city and Sacramento County as in earlier efforts.

"Hopefully we can get it done," Maloof said. "We need everyone's help. We need every single county to come forward to help in this effort. We need every city in this region to help out and come forward for this effort. It can't be done by one city and one county alone.

A 675,000-square-foot arena with 18,594 seats, 74 luxury suites, 2,080 premium and club seats and other amenities could be constructed, Romani said when the arena team presented an arena feasibility report at a special council meeting Thursday afternoon.

"We designed a building that we believe is right-sized for the market," Taylor told the City Council.

Power Balance Pavilion in Natomas, the current home of the Sacramento Kings, can seat up to 17,317 and has 30 luxury suites and 712 club seats.

The team also recommends that the public own the facility, Taylor said.

“We've got to make sure we protect our interests as a community,” he said.

The arena's construction is estimated to cost $241 million. Total project costs are estimated at nearly $387 million to include start-up expenses, sales and marketing, land acquisition and site development, design and other professional services, project administration, and more than $16 million in fees and permits applied by the city and other entities, Romani said.

Most arena projects around the country see permit costs of 1 percent, said Romani, adding the team was surprised to discover that.

The cost per square foot in 2013 would be $358, compared to an average of $362 per square foot for 12 other NBA arenas built recently, said Dale Koger, vice president and general manager of Turner Construction Sports.

“This building is exciting, it's efficient and it's very cost-effective," he said.

The developers couldn't provide the council with a list of financing options developed specifically for the Sacramento region Thursday after the Maloofs didn't turn over financial information until recently.

A location on city land in the downtown railyards is preferred. But city land in Natomas could also hold a new entertainment and sports complex where the National Basketball Association team would be the anchor tenant. About $3.4 million in site work costs could be saved if the facility is built in Natomas, Romani said.

Only three out of 30 NBA teams play in arenas that aren't located in downtowns.

"Every other team in the NBA does, in fact, play in a downtown-located facility. Clearly, the trend is there," Romani said.

The NBA-compliant arena has been designed to be compact and intimate and to comply with National Hockey League guidelines. The facility would also be integrated with plans for a regional transit center the city plans to build on adjacent railyards land, according to the team.

The arena's size, amenities and on-site practice facilities could change following dialogue with the Kings' owners, the Maloof family, and other stakeholders.

The owner of the arena would be a public entity, most likely a joint powers authority. Officials, developers and the Maloofs still need to discuss whether the Maloofs, the city or someone else would be the arena developer and/or operator. By including a third-party developer or operator, the possible sources of private funding would be bigger, according to the report.

Developers proposed Power Balance Pavilion be turned into an office complex. An appraiser hired by the team determined the 185 acres of city land there is worth between $8.5 million to $11.6 million today, but may double in value within three years, Taylor said.

Council members also reacted positively to the plan. Councilman Rob Fong noted he and others on the council have worked "long and hard" to get a new facility built.

"This is a great day for the city of Sacramento," Fong said. "We have never been (nearly) this far down the road."

The developers have put together a list of possible financing sources. They used information from five similar NBA markets to create the arena's design and programming.

In order for the arena to be completed by early 2015, the environmental review of the project must begin this summer and be completed by the summer of 2012, design must begin in September and construction must begin by January 2013.

The focus will now shift to how the facility will be paid for, Mayor Kevin Johnson said.

Under a 100-day plan, developers and government officials must come up with the financing model and funding options by August. Funding must be secured by the March 2012 deadline set by the NBA and the Maloofs, who agreed to keep the Kings in Sacramento until then to give the city time to work on the arena effort.

Several people applauded Johnson, the city and developers for their work on the feasibility study during the public hearing portion of the meeting. Downtown Sacramento Partnership Executive Director Michael Ault, Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau President Steve Hammond and Sacramento Metro Chamber President Matt Mahood were among a handful of people who made comments.

The NBA also reacted positively to the feasibility report. League officials are "encouraged" by the process that's been undertaken and the support for a new arena that's come from Johnson, business leaders and fans, NBA Commissioner David Stern later said.

"The focus now is moving forward in developing a public-private partnership financing model that will bring a new arena to fruition," Stern said in a prepared statement. "That is priority No. 1 in Sacramento for all of us.”

The facility could be finished in time for the 2014 NBA season if enough funding becomes available to speed up the process, Romani said.

"I'm here to tell you that all the key ingredients are here in Sacramento," Romani said. "Power Balance Pavilion has served the city well for the last 26 years. But clearly, its best days have come and gone."

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter at The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

Sacramento Kings to stay another year

2011-05-03T01:03:12Z

The owners of the Sacramento Kings announced Monday the team will stay put for at least one more season – giving the region and the National Basketball Association time for one final push to build a new arena.

NBA officials quickly announced a commitment to make one last effort over the next 10 months to pave the way to replace Power Balance Pavilion. The league is sending nine people to Sacramento Tuesday to provide expert support in the regional effort to construct a new arena and to help the Kings' owners, the Maloofs, lead the team to a successful next season, NBA Commissioner David Stern said in a teleconference Monday afternoon.

Kings fans, elected officials and business leaders reveled in the news after such an outcome seemed impossible roughly two weeks earlier, when Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson appeared before National Basketball Association team owners to argue the case for keeping the Kings here. At that time, the team's move to Anaheim seemed certain.

On Monday morning, more than 125 people turned out for a celebratory press conference outside City Hall.

"This is one of the proudest moments in my life because the community believed when no one else did," Johnson said. "This was our playoffs. And Anaheim: We won!"

Video by Brandon Darnell.

An outpouring of support for the team from Johnson, state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, regional elected officials, the business community and Kings fans convinced the NBA and the Maloofs to give the region until March 1, 2012, to make a substantial effort to provide a new home for the Kings, Stern said.

"We came away with a strong sense that this was worth the additional year because it seemed to us to be so important that the leaders of Sacramento ... would not allow the opportunity to pass without getting it done," said Stern, who had talked personally with Johnson and Steinberg about the current level of support for a new arena. "We are feeling pretty good about the prospects here."

Sacramento officials will need to present solid information about design, funding and timelines by then. However, if regional support for arena construction can't be galvanized and a plan isn't finalized by next spring, that will be the league's last effort to get an arena built here.

NBA officials, including members of the league's Relocation Committee, told the Maloofs the league would then support their decision to move "wherever they choose to go" in 2012/13, he said.

The Maloofs had a deadline to file a request to move the team by 5 p.m. Eastern time Monday.

In an announcement emailed shortly after 9 a.m. Monday, the Maloofs said fan support and Johnson's push to get a new arena built were instrumental in their decision not to ask the league for permission to move.

"The fans’ spirit and energy, specifically our season ticket holders, has been remarkable and we are truly thankful for their loyalty," they said in the prepared statement. "We also are greatly appreciative of the support from our corporate sponsors as well as other local businesses that have come forward in recent weeks."

The Maloofs weren't available to respond to questions following the announcement, a Kings spokesman said.

Local business leaders committed more than $10.2 million in financial support for the Kings if the team stayed another year.

The NBA didn't have to do any "arm-twisting" to get the Maloofs to stay one more year. Relocation Committee members suggested to the Maloofs that they'd support a move in a year if they agreed to stay but the effort proved unsuccessful, Stern said.

The decision to keep the team in the state capital came after an NBA fact-finding visit here in the last two weeks. Billionaire Henry Samueli, whose company Anaheim Arena Management manages Anaheim's Honda Center, upped the ante in his bid to lure the team to Anaheim.

He offered to provide a personal loan of at least $75 million to the Maloofs and personally invest more than $70 million for improvements at the Honda Center.

Officials with the city of Anaheim and Anaheim Arena Management, owned by Samueli, are disappointed by the decision. But they will continue their effort to bring the NBA there soon, they said in emailed statements.

“The bottom line is this: The final chapter has not been written," Anaheim Mayor Tom Tait said. "Anaheim will continue to move forward and we remain optimistic to one day welcoming professional basketball to Anaheim.”

Anaheim Arena Management Chairman Michael Schulman added, "We are continuing our pursuit of an NBA team for our venue.... We look forward to securing a franchise for area fans in the very near future.”

Billionaire Ron Burkle's interest in buying the Kings to keep the team in Sacramento – or buying another team if they left – helped keep the region in the game in the eyes of the NBA, Johnson said.

Burkle and the Burkle Group are still interested in being part owners of the Kings. No discussion has been set up with the Maloofs since the decision to remain in Sacramento was announced, but the family knows how to get in touch with the group, San Francisco investor Darius Anderson said following the press conference.

"We would love to be here as part of the ownership group," said Anderson, who took part in the press conference.

In one year, the Maloofs will want to see a "critical path" laid to build a new arena. But ground doesn't need to be broken by then, Johnson said.

Building a new arena for Kings games, big concerts and other events would be catalytic for development downtown, especially in the railyards, Westfield Downtown Plaza and K Street Mall, said Johnson, describing the issue as “bigger than basketball."

"If we go forward and build a sports and entertainment complex, it's going to prove to all of us that we can find a way to make big things happen," he said. "We always felt like this could be a turning point for our community and our region working together.”

Johnson wasn’t the only person who appeared to be all smiles at the press conference. Developer David Taylor, who is working on an arena feasibility study for the city, Assistant City Manager John Dangberg and Sacramento Metro Chamber President Matt Mahood also beamed.

Johnson described Steinberg, also at the press conference, as a “scrappy fighter” who worked “in the trenches with us all along the way.” The two leaders communicated constantly throughout the weekend.

Sacramento City Council members are ready to start meeting to determine how to build an arena, Councilman Rob Fong said at the press conference.

The Maloofs called Johnson early Monday morning to tell him about their decision and say they’re committed to working with the city for the next year. The mayor will meet with the Maloofs this week to talk about how to move forward.

The arena feasibility study is expected to be completed by the end of May. Officials will then present options for public/private financing of the arena to the community so an arena can be built and the Kings never leave, Johnson said.

Chris Granger, executive vice president of the NBA's Team Marketing and Business Operations, senior NBA communications advisor Brian McIntyre and seven others from the NBA will arrive in Sacramento by Tuesday. No meetings have been finalized with the mayor’s office, Johnson’s staff said.

They will provide all the support they can to the Maloofs. They will work in “all aspects” of team operations, including marketing, finance, ticket sales and corporate sponsorship. They’ll also work with politicians, planners and others during a campaign to build a new arena, Stern said.

Stern said he considers it a failure for the NBA to lose any market, especially one as supportive as Sacramento.

It would be fair if the Maloofs and anyone else who’s watched the team’s efforts to build a new arena over the last 10 years are skeptical that it can get done this time. Still, NBA officials and staff will provide all the support they can to see if this “shared vision” can become reality, he said.

"If not, then it will be our shared failure,” Stern said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @SuzanneHurt.

City Council weighs in on safe ground

2011-04-27T05:49:46Z

Should a group of homeless people be allowed to camp together in Sacramento without outside monitoring?

Safe Ground Sacramento, a group of mostly homeless people, says it should have the right to be “self-governing” and to operate an overnight camp independently.

But a few Sacramento City Council members said they disagreed with that idea Tuesday.

The City Council held a workshop on the safe ground issue as part of its weekly meeting. Over the past two years, Safe Ground Sacramento has asked the city to dedicate land for a site where the homeless could camp legally overnight. The city has an ordinance that bans overnight camping.

One of the group’s key principles is that its members are “self-governing” and that operations are led by elected members, according to a presentation by Safe Ground Sacramento Executive Director Stephen Watters.

The group is a community of people with “common needs,” Watters said.

“People watch out for each other and provide mutual support,” he told the City Council. “The community spirit that develops has turned people’s lives around.”

The Safe Ground Sacramento group asks its members to be drug- and alcohol-free and to not engage in violence. Members of the group camp overnight together, despite the camping ban.

But Councilman Rob Fong disagreed with the self-governance principle.

“I am not comfortable with a self-governing population,” Fong said. “I know that everyone I’ve talked to suggests that there needs to be a programmatic aspect to transitioning people out of homelessness.”

Homeless people need to be matched up with social services to help them find permanent housing, Fong said.

Mayor Kevin Johnson said he supported the safe ground idea but wanted the group to link to a social services program.

Councilman Kevin McCarty mentioned the model at Quinn Cottages, which combines housing with social services.

While Safe Ground Sacramento regularly lobbies the City Council to set aside land for homeless people to stay overnight, a spot has still not been selected.

Watters discussed the thorny issue of finding a location in an April 12 statement sent to City Council members.

“Members of the Safe Ground Sacramento Site Development Team, after concluding a series of meetings, have been unable to select an appropriate location that could be developed as a long-term housing site from the list of more than 1,900 city-owned properties provided by city staff,” Watters wrote.

“Parcels deemed appropriate based on size, proximity to public transit (i.e. Regional Transit bus and light rail stops), and other locational factors were found unacceptable due to various ecological, political and existing city planning factors when investigated in depth by the joint city / Safe Ground team.”

The group is now searching for two kinds of locations – an 18-month site as well as a permanent spot – and working on building relationships with the city and county governments and local business sector, Watters wrote.

No specific date for deciding a location was set Tuesday.

Read Watters’ statement here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Easter Events Extravaganza

2011-04-20T05:02:44Z

Spring is nearly a month in, and as April turns into May, the forecast promises warmer weather and plenty of outdoor activities, especially this weekend, as Easter is Sunday.

There are plenty of ways to celebrate Easter, whether you’re looking for a traditional egg hunt or a nice place to eat Sunday Brunch.

What: Southside Park Spring Egg Hunt

When: Saturday, 11 a.m. - noon

Where: Southside Park, 2107 Sixth St.

Cost: Free

With help from the Southside Park Neighborhood Association and St. John’s Baptist Church, Vineyard Church, the city of Sacramento will host the Southside Park Spring Egg Hunt, which will have a plethora of activities for the kids, including an egg hunt, face painting, carnival games, pictures with the Easter Bunny, various bunny-related crafts and Easter-related worksheets. Mounted police and the K-9 unit have also been invited to join the festivities.

Orange juice and coffee will be served, and there will be a raffle for two $250 Safeway gift cards.

The egg hunt will begin at 11:30 a.m. with 15,000 eggs for the hunting. There will be a total of four hunts, divided by age group. While most of the eggs are easily accessible, there will also be 10 golden eggs that will be a little more difficult to find. The golden egg discoverers can exchange their find for an Easter gift basket filled with various stuffed animals, games and toys.

Jessica Equihua, event coordinator and executive assistant for council member Rob Fong, said they are preparing for 500 participants on Saturday.

“The event is free, and there are plenty of fun takeaways, and one of the major highlights is that families are also provided with resource bags filled with information about services and events, such as this Easter event, in Sacramento,” she said.

For more information, call 808-7004 or go the the city events website.

What: Easter Egg Hunt and Pancake Breakfast

When: Saturday, 8 - 11 a.m.

Where: Clunie Clubhouse at McKinley Park, 601 Alhambra Blvd.

Cost: $5 for adults and $3 for children. Tickets are available at the door.

“The Kiwanis community, along with local Key Club and Circle K volunteers, has been putting on this event for hundreds of parents and children for about 24 years,” said Michael Flynn, coordinator of the event.

Traditionally, thousands of eggs are filled with goodies and hidden each year. The hunt will be done in age groups, beginning at 9:30 a.m. starting with the youngest and adding the next age group every 15 minutes up to the age of 9, according to Flynn. The breakfast is all-you-can-eat and includes pancakes, orange juice, fruit, coffee or tea and bacon or sausage.

There will also be face painting, carnival games and of course the playground itself for the children to roam free.

President Leslie Merker said, ”The Kiwanis’ mission statement is to serve the children, one child and one community at a time. It will be a fun event for the children, very family-orientated.” In fact, Flynn noted that the proceeds of the event will be for improvement and maintenance of the play structure in the park.

For more information, call 484-1314 or go the the Kiwanis’ website.

What: Spring Egg’stravaganza

When: Saturday, 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.

Where: The Pavilion, Elk Grove Regional Park, 9950 Elk Grove-Florin Road

Cost: Prices vary, $0.50/ticket

Kristyn Staby, recreation supervisor in special events, said that while the name has changed over time, the Spring Egg’stravaganza has been going on since the Cosumnes Community Services District (CCSD) came into place in 1985.

This year, the event will boast several carnival games, an egg drop competition and even a petting zoo by a local nonprofit 4-H Club. Last year, they welcomed about 1,800 guests and are expecting a similar number this year.

From 8 - 10:45 a.m., the Pride of Laguna Creek Lion’s Club will be offering a pancake breakfast for $5, children under 2 can eat free with a paying adult.

Outside of pancakes, they will also be serving ham, fruit and orange juice or hot chocolate. This Breakfast with the Bunny event usually draws about 600 people, according to Staby.

Carnival games and the Egg Scramble, the CCSD’s egg hunt, will occur all day.

The egg drop competition is done in partnership with the CSD Fire Department and takes place at 11:30 a.m. Children construct a simple holder for their egg in hopes that it will not break when dropped from the fire department’s ladder truck. Undamaged eggs are awarded a prize.

For more information, call 405-5300 or go the the CSD’s main website.

There will also be two other Easter hunting events in the area.

Westminster Presbyterian Church will be holding its very first Easter egg hunt in Capitol Park on Saturday from 11 a.m. to noon. The event is free and hunting will begin at 11:30 a.m.

For more details, call 747-9592.

Fairytale Town will be hosting its annual Spring Eggstravaganza on both Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Both days will be filled with egg hunts, prizes, pictures with Peter Cottontail, puppet shows and spring-themed hands-on activities.

For more information call 808-7462 or check out Fairytale Town’s event list.

BYOB: Bring your own basket to all egg hunting events.

For those of you who want to head straight to the meal and skip the hunting altogether, there are a couple of local places offering an Easter feast or just a few special eats.

What: Easter is Easy at Ten22

When: Sunday, 11 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Where: 1022 Second St.

Cost: $12 per special; prices vary on regular menu items

Ten22 will be adding three brunch specials to its regular menu this Sunday: Walnut Levain French toast, a Dungeness crab omelet and roasted apple crêpes.

Jay Veregge, the executive chef, said, “We want to provide our customers with the regular menu and have additions for holidays.”

Veregge also mentioned that the restaurant really tries to stay organic and farm-driven.

While the restaurant has only been in Sacramento for a little over a year, it was voted “Best New Restaurant” in 2010 by subscribers of Sacramento Magazine.

Specials will be available from 11 a.m. - 4 p.m. Reservations are recommended.

For further details, call 441-2211 or log onto their website.

What: Celebrate Easter at the Firehouse

When: Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Where: 1112 Second St.

Cost: $39.95 for adults, $14.95 for children 12 and under

The Firehouse is the sister restaurant to Ten22 and they have been hosting Easter Day Brunches since 2001, said Christi Stevens, marketing specialist.

The Easter brunch was specially created by Chef Deneb Williams and diners will enjoy a three-course menu beginning with a buffet of freshly baked pastries by Pastry Chef Jill Berger, seasonal fruit and assorted meats and cheese. Guests are provided with five entree options of pork chop and eggs, Newport eggs Benedict, Santa Fe tenderloin scramble, vegetarian polenta and prawns and scallops and either chocolate-peanut butter gâteau or lemon cheesecake for dessert.

A three-course children’s menu is also available. This menu also includes the starter buffet and a choice of Triple Berry Pancakes, chicken Alfredo or the Rise & Shine dish, which consists of scrambled eggs, crisp bacon and potatoes. For dessert, an oatmeal raisin cookie sundae is served.

Both The Firehouse and Ten22 have outdoor seating for you to enjoy that great spring weather.

More for information, call 442-4772 or check out the website.

Those in search of some Easter entertainment can check out either of the following two events.

A local church is changing up its regular routine this Sunday, with a performance in place of the normal service.

What: Easter Sunday Performance: Bow at the Knee

When: Sunday, 10:30 a.m. to 11:45a.m.

Where: 2805 El Camino Ave.

Cost: Free

This will actually be the second year that El Camino Baptist Church will be putting on this specific production. Last done in 2004, Pastor of Worship David Burckhardt said it was very well-received and looks forward to watching the production again.

April Schrokosch, the ministry arts director, said “Bow at the Knee” is a very relatable play.

“It’s a great production about a man who struggles with looking at two different worlds. He is confronted with a different way of thinking and this applies to many people.”

With a cast of over 50, both Burckhardt and Schrokosch said, it was a true and full-on musical Broadway-style production about the story leading up to Jesus’ death and Crucifixion through the eyes of a Roman Centurion.

More further details, call 488-1522.

If daytime outings aren’t really your thing and you’re interested in something different, you might want to check out Easter Sunday School at Movies on a Big Screen.

What: Easter Sunday School

When: Sunday, 7:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

Where: The Guild, 2828 35th St.

Cost: $5.00, advance ticket sales on site, cash only at door

This Sunday night, Movies on a Big Screen (MOBS) is showing a collection of vintage Christian material including but not limited to Christian scare films, kids’ shows and other religious video strangeness.

Robert McKeown, co-founder of MOBS, said, “We always try to play with special times of years or holidays. For example, around August, when school usually starts back up, we do a Back-to-School-Night with old educational films from the 50s and 70s. This year’s Easter viewing will be pretty similar.”

MOBS had always done Easter-related films before, such as a showing a Peeps documentary, shot in Sacramento, two years ago, but McKeown said that last year was the first year they had to deal with a movie viewing actually on Easter. So, they wanted to do something different and decided to show the video, “Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter.”

For this event, McKeown scoured through hours of obscure videos for the night’s line-up, which remains a secret until the big night. But after some prodding, McKeown hinted that film clips may include material from an old Christian children’s show with a real life amputee dressed up as a pirate doing autopsies on sinners.

Themed snacks and drinks will be available for purchase, and you are also allowed to bring your own food.

For advance tickets or further details, check out the event page.

If you know of any events not mentioned above, please feel free to put the suggestions in the comment box below.

Create an online redistricting map

2011-04-09T01:21:09Z

Anyone in the city can use the city’s online tools to carve up the eight City Council districts and present their redistricting ideas to city leaders.

The mapmaking tool for the 2011 redistricting process is free to use, and the city welcomes maps from residents.

Maps developed and submitted by citizens will be shared with the City Council, the council’s redistricting advisory committee and the general public, said Maria MacGunigal, the city’s Geographic Information Systems manager.

Every decade, the city rearranges its council districts by applying U.S. Census data.The reordered districts should all have the same population, according to city staff.

“The primary objective of redistricting is to balance population,” MacGunigal said.

Another concern is the makeup of the districts: The balanced districts must not disenfranchise various groups of people, MacGunigal said. Issues related to disenfranchisement of racial groups were discussed at a Feb. 28 Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting.

The deadline to turn in maps to the city is May 16. All maps must be designed using the online tools – the city is not using paper maps, MacGunigal said. The City Council will make final decisions on redistricting in September.

The city worked with a consultant, Environmental Systems Research Institute, to set up the redistricting tool. ESRI created redistricting software, MacGunigal said, and city staff helped set up its design, function and delivery to citizens.

The online tools are sophisticated and give users the ability to share their maps with others.

“You can share your plan, you can create a group and invite users of the tool to participate with you,” MacGunigal said.

Users can work on the maps in sessions by saving their online work and returning to it – they do not have to create the map in one sitting.

The Census data shows that the city’s population rose from 407,018 in 2000 to 466,488 in 2010. With the city’s population at 466,488, each district must have 58,311 people.

District 1 is the largest, with 106,729 people. Districts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are relatively close in size, ranging in population from about 46,000 people to about 53,000 people. District 4, represented by Councilman Rob Fong, has 45,703 people, making it the least-populated district in the city.

The Sacramento Press tried out the online tools Friday for illustration purposes and to help citizens understand the process of making your own map.

First, a free account must be created.

Next, read the city’s instructions on how to use the online tools to cut up the districts.

The “create” tab is where the redistricting action takes place. Using the tools here, you can move pieces of one district to another district. Remember, the districts will need to each have 58,311 people.

Divvying up the population in the city is like playing with a Rubik’s Cube. It’s not quick or easy to bring all the districts to the same population numbers. When a user moves a piece of one district into another, the population may bring one district to the 58,311 goal but make another district much larger than 58,000.

Here is the existing map of District 1 before The Sacramento Press took a stab at it.

And here is the map of District 1 after The Sacramento Press brought it down to 58,313 people. (It was too tricky to bring it down to 58,311 on a journalism deadline.)

The Sacramento Press test map shows that it is a time-consuming process. Once a user lowers or raises a population to 58,311, the other districts may fall out of balance. While Ashby’s district was reduced to 58,313, District 2 now has too many people, with 80,119 people.

In addition, The Sacramento Press did not account for any of the crucial demographic data and how the map would affect neighborhoods. The online tool allows users to see the racial breakdown of how their maps affect communities.

City staff will hold training sessions next week that will demonstrate how to use the redistricting software. Three one-hour training sessions will be held at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., Monday, April 11, at La Familia Center Computer Lab, 5523 34th St.

Training sessions will also be held at 5 p.m., 6 p.m. and 7 p.m., Wednesday, April 13, at North Natomas Library Computer Lab, 4660 Via Ingoglia.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Photos: Here We Build rally at Cesar Chavez Plaza

2011-04-06T07:00:44Z

A huge crowd turned out at Cesar Chavez Plaza Tuesday at 5 p.m. to support the Here We Build effort organized by the man known on Twitter as @CarmichaelDave.

Read Janna Hayne's story on Here We Build here. Read Mark Needham's story here.

According to the Here We Build website, the rally was sponsored by Jiffy Lube and City Councilman Rob Fong and Sacramento County Supervisor Phil Serna were in attendance.

Below are photos taken at the rally.

For more information or to get involved, click here or visit the Facebook page or Twitter page.

All photos by Ben Ilfeld.

Community gardens to be discussed

2011-04-05T01:42:17Z

Four Sacramento council members will discuss ideas for growing the number of community gardens in the city on Tuesday afternoon.

City Council members Jay Schenirer, Sandy Sheedy, Darrell Fong and Steve Cohn sit on the Law and Legislation Committee, which analyzes ideas for local ordinances. The committee will examine ways to regulate community gardens and increase their presence.

Councilman Rob Fong spurred the committee’s discussion, according to a city staff report. The city should do everything it can to encourage community gardening and to explore urban farming, Fong said Monday.

“I just think we need to utilize our spaces well,” Fong said.

Committee members will evaluate a proposed ordinance that would lay out how residents could create community gardens on their private properties, according to Joy Patterson, principal planner for the city.

“The city already has a community garden program,” Patterson said, explaining that the proposed ordinance will relate to private citizens and private property.

The ordinance would set rules for community gardens on vacant, private land, Patterson said.

The proposed rules for community gardens would vary depending on a garden’s size. If a proposed garden is less than 16,600 square feet, citizens who want to maintain the garden could easily register their garden with their city and pay a small processing fee, according to the report.

The city’s zoning administrator would need to approve gardens for spaces that are larger than 16,600 feet because these gardens may have a bigger impact on nearby areas, according to the report.

The Planning Commission would be in charge of issuing permits for community gardens on private lands that are one acre or larger, the report said.

The proposed ordinance being discussed by the Law and Legislation Committee Tuesday would also need to be addressed by the city’s Planning Commission and the City Council, according to the staff report.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department oversees eight community gardens. Bill Maynard, the city’s community gardening director, said community gardens produce oxygen and beautify communities.

The committee will meet Tuesday, 3 p.m., Sacramento City Hall, 915 I St.

Read the staff report on the community gardens discussion here.

View Community gardens overseen by the city in a larger map

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Council's closed meetings on Vina examined

2011-03-29T00:43:59Z

A number of recent City Council meetings relating to Interim City Manager Gus Vina, including the council’s January vote against his promotion, have been closed to the public. An attorney and open government advocate commented on the Brown Act Friday, saying he opposes “closed session” meetings on hiring and firing matters affecting the city manager.

Terry Francke, an attorney for the nonprofit open government group Californians Aware said city manager hiring and firing decisions should be made public.

Central to the issue of closed meetings is the way city officials interpret the Brown Act, a state law intended to make government meetings open to the public at the local level.

The City Council met in a closed session on Jan. 25, when it decided in a 5-4 vote not to promote Vina to the permanent city manager position. City Attorney Eileen Teichert said the closed session complied with the Brown Act.

“The closed session was duly noticed for the purpose of considering appointment or employment of the city manager, consistent with the Brown Act,” Teichert wrote in a Feb. 3 email. “The council’s decision in that closed session to proceed with a nationwide search was a byproduct of their discussions whether or not to appoint Mr. Vina as city manager.”

But Francke noted that the City Council made a choice to hold the meeting in closed session, saying that the Brown Act allows city councils to hold personnel discussions in closed sessions, but does not require it. In Francke’s view, the public should be welcome at discussions on city manager hiring and firing.

"People have a right to know about his or her qualifications and performance for two reasons,” he said.

“First of all, because they have a great interest in knowing the job is being done well, or, if not, what needs to be improved. Secondly, since this person is the most influential individual in the city structure, the council itself needs to be held accountable for choosing the right person and providing direction in a way that's appropriate to their responsibilities,” he added.

The council’s vote and decision to hold a national search for city manager was announced in the public City Council meeting held later in the evening on Jan. 25. But the discussion leading to the vote was held behind closed doors.

As a result, the public has no on-the-record information for why five of the members of the City Council voted against promoting Vina.

Vina told the City Council Friday that he was resigning with two weeks notice. His last day on the job will be April 8.

Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell were the five who voted against promoting Vina in January. They are not speaking publicly about why they voted for a national search and did not promote Vina.

They did not return phone calls from The Sacramento Press Friday.

In early February, McCarty said he declined to comment on his vote because it was a “personnel” and “closed session” matter.

Teichert said in her Feb. 3 email that the council members cannot talk about the closed session meeting.

“The Brown Act, the privacy rights of the candidate, and the City Council’s confidentiality policy preclude disclosure of any confidential discussions during closed session,” she wrote.

But Francke said closed sessions on city manager hiring and firing signal that city officials are hiding from the public.

“If their decision, on this person, is shrouded from public accountability, their single most important decision is also shrouded,” he said. “And, if that's the case, then they're ducking accountability and public scrutiny, as well.”

Read the full text of the Brown Act here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Vina transfers pressures with budget, unions to council

2011-03-28T02:09:57Z

The clock is ticking for the Sacramento City Council.

Sacramento Interim City Manager Gus Vina’s resignation on Friday morning means that the City Council must take immediate actions that will impact the city budget and labor negotiations with municipal unions.

Council members must find a new top city official one month before the city’s proposed budget is due. Vina’s resignation also means that the city’s labor unions will take up budget negotiations with a new city leader.

“We don’t have time to grieve,” City Councilman Steve Cohn said in an interview Friday.

Cohn was one of four council members who supported Vina’s earlier effort to become Sacramento’s next permanent city manager. In a split 5-4 vote on Jan. 25, the City Council decided not to promote Vina to the permanent city manager position. The five council members who voted to hold a national search for a new city manager were Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell.

Though the council did not promote him on Jan. 25, Vina said in February that he planned to compete in the national search.

But that plan came to a halt Friday, when Vina gave his resignation letter to the City Council and Mayor Kevin Johnson. He gave two weeks’ notice and will leave his post April 8.

“I need to move on and pursue other opportunities because I feel that for a city manager to be effective, you really have to have the confidence of the entire council,” Vina told The Sacramento Press on Friday. “I don’t feel that’s the case right now.”

Like Cohn, Councilwoman Angelique Ashby also commented on the need for the City Council to move rapidly.

“For me, he was the front-runner to be the next city manager for the city of Sacramento,” Ashby said. “Now, I think we have a pretty big challenge on our hands. We need to make some quick decisions. We need to come together as a council and really look at the future of our city.”

“And (we need to) find ways to be successful coming out of this situation,” she added.

Johnson’s office had not released a statement on Vina’s resignation by press time, even though spokesman Joaquin McPeek said a statement would be issued on Friday. Johnson supported Vina’s bid to become permanent city manager, saying in January that he hoped Vina would apply for the job in the national search.

The five council members who voted against promoting Vina in January did not return phone calls seeking comment on Friday. The Sacramento Press left phone messages with McCarty, Darrell Fong, Rob Fong, Sheedy’s office, Sheedy’s District Director Joann Cummins and Pannell’s office.

Turnover for the city manager position has been high lately. The City Council selected Vina for the interim post one year ago. Former City Manager Ray Kerridge resigned in February 2010.

New leader must grapple with city budget, union negotiations

The city’s government structure empowers the city manager to develop the city budget. While the City Council makes all final decisions on the budget, the city manager is responsible for preparing the proposed budget document.

Budget preparation at Sacramento City Hall is a weighty responsibility, especially in light of the city’s $35-40 million budget gap.

While the city is in the midst of a major budget shortfall, Cohn and Vina both expressed confidence that Vina’s departure would not delay the budget.

Cohn said Vina told him that the draft budget is on track and should be available to the public by the May 1 deadline. Cohn also said the city has experienced staffers working on the budget.

Vina said Friday that he is carrying out his budget responsibilities.

“We are very close to finishing the proposed budget,” Vina said. “It will be ready to meet the May 1 deadline.... I committed to council that I would get the budget done, and I will.”

But Councilman Jay Schenirer indicated that Vina’s departure will make the budget process more challenging.

“I think it’s a difficult time for the city right now,” Schenirer said. The budget process “was certainly a place where Gus was very strong,” he added.

While Cohn said he was confident that the budget work will get done on time, he expressed concern about labor negotiations, which are often a key part of balancing the budget.

The city manager’s responsibility as leader of labor negotiations for the city is critical, he said, especially when the city is asking the unions to make concessions.

“The bigger problem I see down the line is labor negotiations,” Cohn said.

Mark Tyndale, vice president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association, said his union was already talking to Vina about issues that would affect the city’s budget. Vina’s resignation interrupts that process, Tyndale said.

“These relationships are really important for us,” Tyndale said, noting that SPOA was able to communicate well with Vina, even when the union disagreed with him.

“With Gus departing ... it takes us back to square one,” Tyndale said.

However, another major city union may prefer Vina’s replacement over Vina.

Joan Bryant, director of public employees for Stationary Engineers Local 39, said on Friday that she strongly opposed Vina’s recent decision to award raises to Finance Director Leyne Milstein, Human Resources Director Geri Hamby, Community Development Director Max Fernandez and Police Chief Rick Braziel.

Local 39 represents city workers in the areas of solid waste, code enforcement and animal care, Bryant said. The union represented 1,600 full-time city employees, according to statistics provided by Bryant last September.

“I think he was rewarding his loyalists,” Bryant said.

The amount of money in raises that went to top officials could have paid the salary of a parks worker, she said.

Vina raised Hamby’s salary from $151,402 to $162,000. Fernandez’ salary jumped from $164,445 to $172,667. Milstein’s salary rose from $131,270 to $150,304.

Braziel received an 8 percent raise in June, four days before he told the public he would not leave the city of Sacramento for a potential police chief position in Seattle.

Maurice Chaney, acting city spokesman for the city, responded to questions about the raises on Vina’s behalf in February.

“Two of the three salary changes (Community Development director and the HR director) were envisioned as the next planned step of last fiscal year's consolidation process, which occurred last July and resulted in a cost savings of more than $4 million,” Chaney wrote in an e-mail to The Sacramento Press. “Salary adjustments specific to these positions were considered because of the associated increases in departmental duties that resulted with these mergers.”

Chaney also commented on the raise for Milstein.

“The finance director has played a crucial role during the last four years in assisting with a budget deficit that has affected all city employees,” he wrote.

On the topic of Braziel’s raise, city spokeswoman Amy Williams said in September that he deserved the money because he had voluntarily taken a pay cut in 2008 with the understanding that it would be restored later.

Is Sacramento an unstable city?

In the view of city employee Cindy Bates, Vina’s resignation will not destabilize the city government.

“He’s left competent leaders behind to take care of the ship,” said Bates, a program analyst in the transportation department.

But Sacramento Metro Chamber President Matt Mahood said Vina’s resignation is bad for business.

The business community must work with the city government, he said, giving the example of the requirement for businesses to receive city permits. An unstable city government discourages businesses within the region and those looking to bring business to the city, he said.

“There’s a lot of instability in the city of Sacramento, and that does not help foster a positive business environment,” he said Friday.

Mahood said the council members should change the way they interact if the city manager feels like he has to resign because he doesn’t have their support.

The council members need to align more with each other, he said, “and figure out a way to work together.”

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Vina resigns weeks before budget due date

2011-03-26T00:45:09Z

Interim City Manager Gus Vina’s resignation comes just weeks before the city must propose a budget for the next fiscal year.

In Sacramento’s city government, the city manager prepares a proposed budget and the City Council makes final budget decisions. Vina told the Sacramento Press on Friday afternoon that the proposed budget will be on time even though he is leaving April 8.

“We are very close to finishing the proposed budget,” Vina said. “It will be ready to meet the May 1 deadline … I committed to council that I would get the budget done and I will.”

He said he was leaving because he was not supported by the full City Council. “I need to move on and pursue other opportunities because I feel that for a city manager to be effective, you really have to have the confidence of the entire council,” he said. “I don’t feel that’s the case right now.”

The City Council voted 5-4 on Jan. 25 against promoting Vina to the permanent city manager position.

Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell voted to conduct a national search for a new city manager.

Mayor Kevin Johnson said then that the council felt that Vina did a “great job” as interim city manager.

Vina said in February that he planned to compete in the national search.

It’s unclear at this point who will replace Vina as interim city manager, said city spokesoman Maurice Chaney. The City Council will decide the next steps, Chaney said.

“In terms of identifying who will fill that void, (that) has yet to be determined,” Chaney said.

The City Council selected Vina for the interim post one year ago. Former City Manager Ray Kerridge resigned in February 2010.

Read in-depth coverage of the impact of Vina’s resignation Sunday.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Editorial Note: This is an updated version of an earlier story.

Census: Ashby's District 1 grew 123 percent

2011-03-10T02:34:34Z

Sacramento City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby’s district has grown 123 percent since 2000, skyrocketing from a population of 47,670 in 2000 to a population of 106,729 in 2010. But it won’t stay that way for much longer – the city intends to chop it up in this year’s redistricting process.

The 2010 U.S. Census numbers relating to the city’s redistricting process came in Tuesday, three weeks earlier than the city had expected, said Scot Mende, the city’s new growth manager. And Ashby’s District 1, which includes North and South Natomas and part of downtown, is much larger now than any other district.

Maria MacGunigal, the city’s Geographic Information System manager, attributes the changes in District 1 to “unprecedented growth” in Natomas over the last 10 years.

The Census data shows that the city’s population rose from 407,018 in 2000 to 466,488 in 2010. With the city’s population at 466,488, each district must have 58,311 people.

The city must divvy up the districts so residents can be represented equally under the federal Voting Rights Act of 1965, MacGunigal explained.

“We need to draw the boundaries to as near as equal a population as possible,” MacGunigal said.

While city staff had expected Ashby’s district would have the largest population, they had predicted the city’s overall population to be more than 480,000. The city had estimated the population using information sources that included the U.S. Postal service, building permits and commercial databases, MacGunigal said.

“I was surprised that the population was a little lower than we had anticipated,” MacGunigal said.

Districts 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 are relatively close in size, ranging in population from about 46,000 people to about 53,000 people. District 4, represented by Councilman Rob Fong, has 45,703 people, making it the least-populated district in the city.

District 8, which covers South Sacramento, is a little larger. It now has 61,458 people, up 13 percent from 2000, according to the Census figures.

The city applies U.S. Census figures to its redistricting process, which occurs every 10 years. The city’s charter says the city has six months to reassemble its district boundaries after the Census data is released.

The city’s deadline for completing the redistricting process is Sept. 6.

View the city’s map of the new Census data here.

View a chart of the population changes in each district below.

Chart by Kathleen Haley and Brandon Darnell

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Police chief plans to reopen top positions

2011-03-09T06:06:54Z

Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel received support from the City Council Tuesday on a plan to bring back three or four job openings that have been eliminated in the department as part of budget cuts.

Braziel told the council and Interim City Manager Gus Vina that he must reopen some key positions because nine of the department’s top 11 officials, ranked captain and higher, will be eligible to retire within three years.

The city is facing a $35 million - 40 million budget gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. Braziel said he would be able to open the positions without asking the city for additional money.

“It’s not the right time, but we have to do it,” Braziel said. “We don’t have a choice.”

Braziel said he would pay for the top positions by moving over money currently saved for refilling other positions in the department. By moving the funding in this manner, he would be able to open the positions within his existing budget and not lay off anyone, he said.

The department could promote from within if it opens up top management positions, he said. The newly promoted staffers would gain executive experience, which is necessary because many executives serving in the department could soon retire, he said.

“I am shocked that nine of the command staff are basically aging out in the next three years,” Councilman Rob Fong said in response to Braziel’s comments.

Braziel asked the council and Vina for the authority to revive three or four executive openings during a presentation on succession planning at the department. The City Council did not make a formal decision on Braziel’s request, but voiced support for his plan.

“On behalf of all of us, I think we are very excited about you being proactive so we are aware of what’s going on,” Mayor Kevin Johnson said. “We do not want to be caught flat-footed.”

Vina also indicated that he supported Braziel’s plan.

“We can certainly work with the chief on that,” Vina said.

The Police Department has sliced its executive positions in recent years in response to budget cuts. Braziel said that before he became police chief in 2008, the department had 19 executive positions. The number has since dropped to 11, he said.

Vina said Braziel's plan should be part of the city budget, indicating that the positions could be reopened before the next fiscal year begins on July 1.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Chief Braziel to discuss succession plans

2011-03-08T01:46:58Z

Within the next three years, nearly 75 percent of the Sacramento Police Department’s staff, ranked captain and higher, will be eligible for retirement, according to police department spokeswoman Laura Peck.

Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel will address the department’s succession plans and other concerns regarding top staff at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

City Councilman Rob Fong requested Braziel make a presentation, saying he was concerned over former Sacramento Police Capt. Daniel Hahn’s move earlier this month to become Roseville’s police chief.

“Whenever there are openings in the region, people tend to look at our folks,” Fong said, adding that the city should ensure it’s not “grooming” chiefs for other cities.

In addition to Hahn’s recent move, Braziel seriously considered leaving last year to become Seattle’s police chief. Braziel ultimately decided to stay with Sacramento and stopped the interviewing process in Seattle.

At Tuesday’s City Council meeting, Braziel will discuss “the future of the organization,” Peck said.

The department will need to start preparing for possible retirements of its leaders, she said. Sworn officers are eligible for retirement contributions at age 50, she noted.

Braziel, 51, said last June that he planned to retire in three to four years. Peck said Braziel was unavailable to be interviewed Monday afternoon.

The City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 915 I St.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Zoo to stay put for the time being

2011-02-23T01:39:54Z

Sutter’s Landing will not be the future site for the Sacramento Zoo.

That determination was made during a City Council workshop Tuesday afternoon. The workshop was called so the council members could be brought up to date on the current status of the zoo – currently located on 14 acres in Land Park – and where it will be in the next 40 years.

The workshop was called by Councilman Rob Fong following a feasibility study released last July.

For now, the council has decided to keep the zoo in Land Park.

“I think it’s pretty obvious that we’re not going to be looking at putting the zoo anywhere else in the short term,” Fong said, adding that the “short term” means anywhere in the next 20 years.

Zoo officials addressed the council, saying that the zoo will only remain sustainable for the next 20 years unless the zoo is relocated or changes the scope of its programs.

That change could be anything from a new site to an expansion into William Land Park or a different scope of programs at the current site.

A previous idea of moving the zoo to Sutter’s Landing – atop a former landfill – by the Sacramento Zoological Society Long Range Planning Committee is too costly to be feasible, according to staff.

The Sacramento Zoo has been known for its large animals, said Mary Healy, executive director of the Zoological Society. She added that some of the most popular larger animals – including elephants, bears and a hippopotamus – are no longer at the zoo.

Some of the animals were moved to make space for giraffes, and the hippopotamus died.

“With 14 acres, we’ll never be getting some of those animals back,” she said, adding that a 14-acre zoo would need to feature smaller animals, but with better, more involved experiences for visitors.

By contrast, Oakland’s zoo is about 45 acres.

One example of a more involved experience is the zoo’s current program that allows supervised feeding of Giraffes, which Healy said is very popular.

Council members agreed that keeping the zoo in Sacramento is important to the city, as it is a regional attraction that draws approximately 500,000 visitors each year from more than 20 countries.

“I would hate to see the zoo leave this area,” said Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy. “It is a quaint urban zoo, and we want to make it bigger, and we want to make it better.”

Any plan to make the zoo bigger or better still needs to be determined, and numerous concerns and problems will crop up in any proposal.

Building an all-new zoo at another site would be costly, keeping the zoo in its current location might not be big enough going into the future, and expanding the current site might strain traffic and parking in Land Park, a spot resident and Land Park Volunteer Corps President Craig Powell said is already maxed-out for dealing with traffic.

“Broad popularity comes with its own set of impacts: heavy traffic and congestion, particularly on weekends and holidays, severely limited parking and major competition for space among park users,” Powell wrote in a letter to City Council.

Parking is one of the Zoological Society’s top concerns after visitor safety, and ensuring there is enough public access to the zoo is a priority as well.

After the two-hour meeting, the City Council directed city staff and zoo officials to come up with a plan for what is required for the next 20 years in the current Land Park site.

“If that doesn’t work, or if there’s controversy, it might accelerate looking at other options in the longer term,” said Councilman Steve Cohn.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Sacramentans can apply for redistricting panel

2011-02-09T07:12:31Z

Sacramentans can soon apply to serve on the City Council’s redistricting advisory panel. Four of the 13 panel positions will be available to the general public.

The eight council members and Mayor Kevin Johnson will each appoint a member of the panel. The remaining four spots are “at-large,” which means they will not be filled by appointees, said Scot Mende, the city’s new growth manager.

Applications for the four positions will be screened by the City Council’s Personnel and Public Employees Committee, Mende said. Then, the City Council will vote to select the four members, Mende said.

The city uses U.S. Census figures to restructure City Council districts every decade.

Read a schedule of February neighborhood meetings on redistricting here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City manager search could cost $35,000

2011-02-05T00:45:53Z

The city will conduct a national search for a new city manager in response to the City Council’s Jan. 25 decision against promoting Interim City Manager Gus Vina.

Recruiting fees could cost the city as much as $35,400, according to Sacramento’s Human Resources Department. An executive recruiting firm will be hired to conduct the search. The range in fees is estimated between $27,650 and $35,400.

One of two recruiting firms may be chosen by the City Council on Tuesday night. The two Sacramento-based recruiting firms are Wilcox Miller Nelson and CPS Human Resource Services.

The Human Resources Department’s report on the city manager search, which will be presented at the Feb. 8 City Council meeting, is now available online.

Mayor Kevin Johnson said Jan. 25 that he hopes Vina will apply for the city manager job during the national search. Asked earlier this week if he would apply for the job, Vina said, “I don’t know. I’m keeping all my options open.”

City Councilman Steve Cohn said Friday that the national search is likely to take a few months. He said a new city manager will likely not start work before July 1.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Citizens' group will study redistricting plans

2011-02-02T06:58:50Z

The Sacramento City Council decided Tuesday night that it will create a citizens' group to assist with this year’s redistricting process.

Council members voted 8-1 to form a citizens' advisory committee that would scrutinize redistricting plans suggested by the public. Councilwoman Angelique Ashby opposed the idea of a citizens' group, saying that the public should bring its redistricting plans directly to the council, instead of to a committee.

“I think the citizens should have direct access to us on this issue,” Ashby said.

But some of her colleagues on the City Council said that forming a citizens' committee would make the process more inclusive to the public. “Erring on the side of more citizen participation is what we should be doing,” Councilman Jay Schenirer said.

The council members decided the committee should have 13 members. Each council member and the mayor will appoint one person to the committee. The other four members will be at-large members.

Every 10 years, the city uses U.S. Census data to redesign its districts. City officials expect the relevant 2010 Census data to be released in April.

The city’s charter says the redistricting process should be completed six months after the Census data is released. To comply with the charter’s rule, the city’s deadline for the 2011 redistricting process will be Sept. 27, according to city staff.

City staffers wrote in a Jan. 18 report that city leaders will weigh the following elements in the redistricting process: topography, geography, cohesiveness, continuity, “integrity and compactness of territory,” community of interests, existing neighborhoods and community boundaries.

The city will also aim for each district to have the same number of people, according to city staff.

A series of neighborhood meetings on the redistricting process will be held this month. More information about the meetings can be found here.

Read the city’s redistricting website here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Council to consider arena team qualifications

2011-01-26T06:48:01Z

The Sacramento City Council decided Tuesday to move forward with all four teams vying to develop a new arena for the Sacramento Kings – for at least a little longer.

Following a motion by City Councilman Steve Cohn, all nine members of the council voted unanimously to schedule a hearing in two weeks for the teams to provide their qualifications and financing approaches directly to the council.

In doing so, they decided not to follow a recommendation made Friday by Mayor Kevin Johnson's arena task force that the city start working with just one team, led by Sacramento developer David Taylor and ICON Venue Group, a prominent Colorado sports facility developer.

Several council members said they had more questions that have to be addressed before they could make such a decision. Some initially expressed an interest in giving city staff a 90-day period to evaluate all four teams.

Assistant City Manager John Dangberg suggested a two-week time frame as an alternative and Cohn made the motion. They did so after the ICON-Taylor team and the CORE team indicated they wouldn't continue with the process if all four teams were kept in the game three more months. The Natomas Entertainment Sports Center Partners and the Convergence Team said they would.

"At some point, we really want to have our staff that we hired to work for us" evaluate the teams, City Councilman Kevin McCarty said.

City Councilman Rob Fong urged city staff to engage the Maloofs, who own the Kings, soon to determine what approach they'd support for building a sports and entertainment facility to replace Arco Arena, the Kings' current home.

Johnson led the meeting but remained silent during a public hearing and council discussion lasting more than two hours. He brought the ICON-Taylor team together after the Convergence Team, which then included Taylor, failed to produce a viable project on schedule last year.

ICON President and CEO Tim Romani asked the council to give his team 90 days to study the project's feasibility and to develop a proposal and financing plan.

Romani warned that the Kings are not "locked into" Sacramento, and representing team owners who decide to relocate is "a messy ordeal." He said he'd rather help find a solution so the Kings can stay in Sacramento. Right now, the team is playing in an arena that "pales in comparison to every other arena in the NBA," Romani said.

"It's a critical time for Sacramento if (you) want to keep the Kings," he said. "I can tell you this: I think the time for process is behind you. I think the time for results is right now."

In the second half of March, the Maloofs will have an option to get out of their lease at Arco, task force co-chair Chris Lehane said.

The task force gave the ICON-Taylor team a first-place ranking based on its experience. ICON has built more than 50 sports complexes throughout the world and is especially experienced in building NBA arenas, task force member Tom Friery told the council.

Natomas Chamber of Commerce President Ed Koop and several others from Natomas asked Johnson and the Council to reject the recommendation of the ICON-Taylor team.

About 400 people signed petitions in support of keeping the arena in Natomas. Koop countered comments that no economic development had sprung up around the arena. At least two dozen restaurants, hotels and other businesses have been opened near the arena, Koop said.

"We want the arena. We deserve the arena. And we've got a good plan," he said. "We're pretty confident you're going to (see) that Natomas makes the most sense."

Councilwoman Angelique Ashby, who represents Natomas and downtown, said the Arco site must be redeveloped in a way that would be as beneficial as having a new arena if the project is built downtown. The area's 80,000 residents can't just lose a facility that benefits the local economy so heavily, she said.

In 2006, Sacramento County residents voted against funding a new Kings arena in the downtown railyards. Three of the teams have proposed that site as a possible location.

Fong asked if the city and development teams will consider a new model to finance a new arena, given the state of economy. In most if not all current cases, an entity other than NBA teams build new arenas, however, the teams become the tenants and then benefit from all the revenue that comes in from operating the facility. That income could be used by developers to offset the cost of building the arena, he said later.

Sacramento will have to look at something other than a "classic" funding plan – and the task force recommended the ICON-Taylor team because its members were confident the team would "look outside the box," Lehane said.

The task force and all four teams have acknowledged there must be some public funding for a new arena, but what form that might take isn't agreed on or clear. The task force believes building a new arena downtown makes "the most sense," he said.

"This is ultimately a decision for this body," Lehane said.

Council does not promote Vina

2011-01-26T02:40:50Z

The City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday night against promoting Interim City Manager Gus Vina to the permanent city manager position.

Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell voted to conduct a national search for a new city manager.

Mayor Kevin Johnson briefed reporters after he and the members of the City Council held a private meeting about Vina’s job status.

Johnson said the council feels that Vina did a “great job” as interim city manager. However, he said the City Council voted to conduct a national search for a city manager candidate.

Johnson said he hopes that Vina will apply for the job as part of the national search.

Vina was not immediately available for comment.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City Council talks priorities, budget

2011-01-07T03:03:11Z

As part of a Thursday workshop led by Mayor Kevin Johnson, the Sacramento City Council discussed its current priorities as well as ideas for the upcoming “State of the City” address.

Johnson described the workshop as a “mini-retreat” for the City Council. The city leaders kept the budget in mind when discussing their priorities, but exact budget numbers were not discussed.

City Finance Director Leyne Milstein said after the meeting that she was still working on the budget figures and would present concrete budget information at a Jan. 25 public meeting.

Johnson will speak at the State of the City event, which will be held Jan. 20 at the Sacramento Convention Center. His City Council colleagues gave him advice on points to include in the speech.

Councilman Rob Fong suggested that Johnson mention some of the positive developments in the city, such as the city’s work on streetscape improvements.

“I think there are lots of little things that are happening that we don’t necessarily focus on that make a big difference to a lot of people.”

Councilman Jay Schenirer said that gangs and public safety should be addressed in the speech.

The council members also discussed their priorities. Councilman Kevin McCarty said he wanted the council to consider city services. “How do we maintain a full-service city?” he asked.

Council members Steve Cohn and Bonnie Pannell mentioned the importance of jobs. “To me, everything has to be focused right now on jobs, jobs, jobs and our budget,” Cohn said.

The soundness of the city’s budget should be a priority, said Councilman Rob Fong. “I think we have to start focusing on sustainable budgets.”

Mayor Kevin Johnson responded to Rob Fong’s comment. “I couldn’t agree with you more,” he said.

Councilman Darrell Fong mentioned water rights and flooding as key issues. Meanwhile, both Johnson and Schenirer talked about focusing on youth. Johnson also said education is a priority.

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy noted that the city’s budget should be presented in a transparent way “so that people out there understand it.”

Councilwoman Angelique Ashby urged the council members to tour each other’s districts to learn about the districts’ various issues.

Interim City Manager Gus Vina said after the meeting that he would revisit the council’s ideas during a discussion of economic recovery in the city. “My goal is to tie this conversation with the Jan. 25 date, where we’re going to do a workshop on our recovery plan,” he said.

File photo of a Sacramento City Council meeting held last July. Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Recycling center raises concerns

2011-01-06T02:20:11Z

A Buddhist church located at Broadway and Riverside Boulevard has recently raised concerns about a nearby recycling center, saying it has attracted problems such as trespassing at the church’s property and human urination.

The center, MS Recycling, is located at a Valero gas station next to the Buddhist Church of Sacramento. The center leases from the property owner of the gas station, Vince Lera, according to city documents.

“We've got community programs running from 9 a.m. - 9 p.m., seven days a week, that serve the very young and very old. And they deserve a safe and clean environment,” Kelvin Mark, president of the Buddhist church, said in an e-mail.

Lisa Nava, district director for Councilman Rob Fong, wrote in Dec. 23 e-mail to the Greater Broadway Partnership that the center will be closed down. Nava said the recycling center would be closed down because the Valero gas station intends to install a biofuels station to next to its gas offerings and will no longer have space to lease to MS Recycling. However, Nava said she did not have a timeline for the closure.

Mark claimed that a litany of problems are occurring because of the center, including littering, narcotics peddling and indecent exposure. He said he has called the police for drunk and disorderly behavior.

The Greater Broadway Partnership, an alliance of businesses on Broadway, has also become concerned about activities at the center. “We felt the operation of the recycling center was not being done in a responsible manner,” said Teresa Rocha, the partnership’s executive director.

Attempts to talk to employees and managers of the recycling center were unsuccessful. One of the recycling center’s workers declined to be quoted.

Mark said he was unsure about the status of the recycling center, saying “the words from Lisa Nava are (that) we don’t have any details on when the closure will happen or how it will happen.”

Photo by Kathleen Haley.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Council members discuss Central City

2010-12-16T02:42:44Z

Sacramento’s Central City has received a lot of media attention for shootings and muggings in recent months. However, the area is also frequently in the spotlight because of large-scale development projects, such as the downtown Railyards or George Karpaty’s trio of businesses on K Street.

The Sacramento Press recently interviewed three City Council members to learn about their plans for the Central City. Councilwoman Angelique Ashby and Councilmen Steve Cohn and Rob Fong shared their priorities for the different parts of the Central City they represent.

Ashby’s portion of the area includes the downtown Railyards, K Street, Old Sacramento, Alkali Flat and the River District. Ashby mentioned the Railyards and K Street Mall as examples of key development sites in her district.

“Some of the best opportunities in the city lie in the downtown portion of District 1,” she said.

As an elected official, she said she wants to help avoid hurdles in the development process. “In my position, I can help make sure they get those projects done in a timely manner,” she said.

Ashby also said she wants to be a behind-the-scenes facilitator for the various groups involved with projects in the area. Stakeholder groups involved with Central City development projects, such as community members, government agencies and environmental organizations, need a “point person” at City Hall, she said, adding that she wants to take on that role.

Public safety in her district, and throughout the city, is a key priority, Ashby said.

Cohn, too, emphasized public safety when asked about his work in District 3. His section of the Central City includes Midtown and part of downtown. His district’s stretch of K Street starts at 16th Street and heads east.

He pointed out the shooting death of a 24-year-old that occurred after a Second Saturday Art Walk event in September. Cohn also mentioned that the neighborhood has bar and nightlife issues. He said he wants neighborhoods and businesses to work together to solve public safety and public nuisance issues in Midtown. In his view, Midtown’s development has been a success, he said.

“I want to make sure it can continue to succeed and not be a victim of its own success,” he said.

On a different topic, he said work is under way to enhance Sutter’s Landing Park on the northeast edge of Midtown.

Meanwhile, Fong said he was excited about the R Street streetscape project in his district. Fong’s piece of the Central City includes part of Midtown and downtown. The street improvements will make the street more pedestrian-friendly and inviting, he said.

A groundbreaking ceremony for the effort to revamp the street with new lighting and parking enhancements was held in September. The street will be remodeled from 10th to 13th streets.

Click on the following links to view maps of City Council Districts 1, 3 and 4.

Learn more about some of Ashby’s priorities for North and South Natomas here.

Photos of Cohn and Fong by Brandon Darnell. Photo of Ashby by David Watts Barton.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Treasurer: City must borrow cash

2010-12-08T05:54:18Z

City Treasurer Russ Fehr explained the city’s cash flow problems to the City Council Tuesday night, noting that the city’s general fund will need to continue to borrow cash.

The city has a $90 million cash flow gap, Fehr said. To address its cash flow troubles, the city recently borrowed $40 million, he said.

The city’s cash situation changes throughout the year, according to a report by Fehr. That’s because the city receives property tax revenues during the second half of the fiscal year, which begins Jan. 1, Fehr said.

The heart of the problem is the cash situation with the general fund, he said.

“I want to emphasize that the cash flow issue in first half of the year is not new,” he told the City Council. “Nearly all cities, counties, districts (and) school districts that receive property taxes face this problem. It’s sort of generically known as ‘the dry period.’

“Why it’s become a new issue for us in recent years, is that the general fund is now having to borrow for cash flow purposes,” he said.

The general fund has had cash flow troubles since Fiscal Year 2008-2009, according to Fehr’s report. “It’s certain that the general fund is going to have to borrow cash for the foreseeable future,” he told the council members.

Fehr urged the City Council to minimize and then stop using unsustainable solutions to balance the budget.

City Councilman Rob Fong was the only council member who commented after Fehr’s presentation. “It is a critical situation,” he said. The City Council and city staff must work on the cash flow problem together during budget season, Fong added.

Mayor Kevin Johnson commented on the situation at his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “When times were good in the Sacramento economy, we spent more than we should,” Johnson said.

Fehr said last week that the city is not at risk of bankruptcy.

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Tasting 16 turkeys for charity

2010-11-23T06:01:51Z

I will remember Nov. 22, 2010, as a big blur of turkey – from spicy and delicious to bland and dry.

As one of five judges in City Councilman Rob Fong’s 4th Annual Turkey Cook Off on Monday, I nibbled on slices of 16 cooked birds. Sixteen! In all my 31 years, I have never had so many consecutive tastes of separate turkeys.

The event was a benefit for Loaves & Fishes’ Thanksgiving meal, which will be held Tuesday. While 16 restaurants entered turkeys in Monday’s cookoff, the restaurants prepared many other turkeys to add up to about 40. The event was held at Beatnik Studios near 17th Street and Broadway.

Sister Libby Fernandez said community participation is key to Loaves and Fishes’ annual Thanksgiving event. “Every year, we serve about 1,000 homeless and poor men, women and children on this particular day,” she said before the start of the cookoff event.

“And what’s special about it is that we ask for the community to provide everything: cooked turkeys, dressing, pies, mashed potatoes, and bring it to us.”

About 200 people will receive a meal from the 40 turkeys donated through the cookoff, Fernandez said. The remaining turkeys – to feed about 1,000 people – will come from other donors.

Fernandez noted that it takes three to five hours to cook a turkey. “So, we don’t have the capacity to cook a hot meal like that,” she said. “The community actually does the cooking for us.”

In his remarks at the cookoff, Fong pointed out that Loaves and Fishes provides dinners to the homeless every night of the year. “And we’re just hoping to make one day easier for you,” he said.

The five-judge panel scored the turkeys on the following criteria: juiciness, flavor, texture, tenderness and overall taste. Our taste test was blind – I had no idea which turkey was cooked by whom. The judges wrote down scores of 1 to 10 for the turkey dishes, which were assigned numbers.

I remember liking Turkey No. 1, which coincidentally won first place. Turkey No. 1 was the juicy creation of Jamie’s Bar and Grill, located at Fifth and Broadway. Bunnell is a two-time turkey gold medalist – he also won the contest in 2007.

“That’s awesome, man,” said Chef/Owner Jamie Bunnell, when his name was announced as the winner. “Thank you so much.”

Shady Lady Saloon’s Chef Kevin Ritchie took second place, while The Kitchen and Selland’s Market-Cafe won the bronze for their shared entry.

The judges were served small slices of turkey in rapid succession. Since turkey is inherently bland and dry, juicy birds with a distinct flavor impressed me. A few of the turkeys were tender treats. Sadly, a few of the turkeys were dry. In my notes, I wrote: “Spiciness is good! Anything to camouflage the natural turkey blandness.”

The restaurants that competed in the competition were: The Kitchen and Sellands Market-Cafe as one entry, Shady Lady Saloon, River City Brewing Company, Plaza Hof Brau, Vallejo’s Restaurant, Old Soul Co., Fox & Goose, Hangar 17 Bar & Grill, Ink Eats and Drinks, Jamie’s Bar & Grill, Cyprus Grille, Cafeteria 15L, Buckhorn Grill, Buca Di Beppo, Brew It Up! and Aioli Bodega Espanola. Mulvaney’s B&L also contributed turkeys for the homeless even though it did not participate in the competition.

I applaud all the restaurants that competed in the charity event – even the ones that served dry turkeys. It must be challenging to suffuse a turkey with juiciness it was not born with.

Photos 1 and 2 by Kathleen Haley. Photo of Kathleen Haley by Sister Libby Hernandez.

Kathleen Haley 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.

Fixing FEMA violations costs city $350K

2010-11-17T06:07:05Z

The Sacramento City Council agreed on Tuesday night to shell out as much as $350,000 in general fund dollars to correct past violations of federal flood management laws.

City officials have acknowledged that Dan Waters, a Community Development Department staffer and the son of outgoing City Councilman Robbie Waters, broke Federal Emergency Management Agency rules when he provided 35 building permits to a developer in a Natomas flood zone last year.

Councilman Waters recused himself from the vote on the “corrective action plan” Tuesday night, while the eight other members approved it.

Fong said that it was important to support the action plan to send a message to FEMA to ensure that the city is in compliance with federal rules. However, he noted that the $350,000 is a significant amount of money to pay.

“It’s a really hard thing at this time in our budget life,” he said.

Nancy Ward, a regional administrator for FEMA, complimented city staffers for working with the federal agency. “I, certainly, from a federal agency perspective, have gotten the true meaning of the word ‘partnership‘ from this city in terms of their hard work and their tenacity ... in humoring FEMA through its challenging program requirements.”

The plan includes several steps the city must take. In Natomas, four partially built homes, one completely built home and a multi-car garage must be torn down, according to a city staff report. Two fire-damaged homes will receive private flood insurance paid by the city, said Department of Utilities spokeswoman Jessica Hess. The Community Development Department must also have a certified floodplain manager on staff, according to the report.

“We clearly made a very, very serious mistake,” Tretheway said.

Read the report and all the steps the city must take here.

Photo by Kathleen Haley.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Council: Homeless need shelter for winter

2010-10-27T01:00:33Z

Finding a way to shelter the homeless during the winter months is job one for city staff tasked with addressing the homeless following a City Council workshop Tuesday.

“Winter waits for no one,” said Councilman Rob Fong. “We need to collectively figure out what we can do to make sure no one is exposed to the elements.”

The council uniformly applauded the faith community in its work to shelter the homeless over the winter, but all agreed more has to be done both in terms of a more permanent solution to emergency winter shelters and eventual year-round permanent housing options.

But not everyone agrees that opening the churches to the homeless is a solution.

“It is not shelter. There are no beds,” said Tamie Dramer, executive director of Safe Ground Sacramento. She added that people in the churches will sleep on concrete and hardwood floors, and suggested the term “sanctuary” is a more accurate description.

“It doesn’t look as though there’s a complete solution around the corner,” she said.

Safe Ground’s goal is to get the city to designate a spot for the homeless to camp and has been working toward that for more than a year.

“I’m really tired of just talking about this thing in concept,” said Councilman Steve Cohn. “If people are serious about this, come back with a concrete proposal.”

Cohn said he has heard a lot over the past few months about Safe Ground, but that that can’t be the focus right now.

“Our top priority at the moment has to be what we’re doing with winter shelters,” he said, reiterating Fong’s point.

“Sanctioning camping out there is just not a policy that’s right for the city,” said Councilman Kevin McCarty.

Councilwomen Sandy Sheedy and Bonnie Pannell agreed, arguing against revoking the no-camping ordinance.

“I just don’t see a safe ground opportunity here,” Sheedy said. “We need to start thinking outside the box on where to put people.”

Mayor Kevin Johnson said that any form of a proposal by Safe Ground would only be one piece of a larger solution of transitional housing as the region’s governments work toward the ultimate goal of finding permanent housing for the area’s 2,800 homeless.

“There’s a long-term strategy,” Johnson said. “And that long-term strategy is what we’ve been working toward, which is permanent housing.”

Johnson said the city is able, with the help of the county and nonprofit, private and faith-based groups, to shelter the same amount of homeless this year as last year despite reduced funding.

According to Johnson, progress has been made with helping the homeless over the past year, and one person who exemplifies that progress spoke during public comment.

“I am one of the statistics you are talking about,” said Robert Harris, a plumber. “This time last year, I was homeless.”

Harris said he had received a hotel voucher from the city in addition to clothing, food and medical attention from Loaves & Fishes.

“I am now employed,” Harris said, adding that it is just part-time, but he is hoping to be employed full-time soon.

“I want you to know your tax dollars did go to work for me.”

For others who remain homeless, however, the approach of winter highlights the council’s urgency to find a quick solution.

“Winter is on us, and we don’t have any money,” said John Krantz, a homeless man. “We need to find a solution and we need to find a solution quick.”

Krantz said the churches opening their doors helps, but he advocated for decriminalizing homelessness and allowing camping.

“This is not our last discussion,” Fong said. “It’s a big issue, and it really deserves a lot of attention.”

Johnson characterized the two-hour workshop as having covered a lot of complex issues. He said Sacramento Steps Forward – established about a year ago – is key to helping the city develop a system of using transitional housing options – possibly including something like Safe Ground – into permanent housing.

“Sacramento Steps Forward will strengthen our ability to go forward,” he said. “That’s the future. We have an opportunity here to really be cutting-edge.”

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Homeless Forum tackles community concerns about homelessness

2010-10-14T02:16:13Z

Community leaders gathered to speak with local government to find out what is being done about the homelessness problem in Sacramento. It was a chance for the community to discuss the progress made toward more permanent housing and the setbacks that have hindered them. There was resolve that if the community efforts remain strong, the problem could be solved within the next few years.

Mayor Kevin Johnson and Councilman Rob Fong were among 13 community leaders who spoke at the Homeless Forum held Tuesday in the Redwood Room at Sacramento State.

“This is a chance to bring the activists to the policymakers,” said moderator and event organizer Steve Watters.

Fong was the first of many to reiterate that “housing is the biggest challenge.” He mentioned methods of handling the homeless concerns in other cities like Denver and Boise that were serving as models of how Sacramento approaches the issue.

“We’re not going to have another winter with people in the streets,” Fong said. He urged the audience to continue donating and aiding the shelters.

Costa Mantis played a clip from his documentary “Live from Tent City” that was sent to the United Nations to speak out about homelessness.

Author Jason MacCannell spoke about the history of the homeless epidemic and the preconceptions about being homeless that have carried over from the past. He explained how what was once a contained lower-class population in the skid row neighborhoods of cities gradually became homeless with the elimination of funding for affordable housing.

The first panel consisted of Sister Libby Fernandez, executive director of Loaves & Fishes, Donald Miller, Barbara Baker, Jim Gibson, Lola Wiley and Trimmie Sanders, the four of whom shared their tales of homelessness and recovery.

Fernandez started by discussing the rise of tent cities on the outskirts of the Sacramento area and how local homeless advocacy groups reached out to help them.

“We came there to help them, but what we saw was community,” she said. “But it wasn’t a safe place because it wasn’t legal, and it’s still not legal.”

The forum was sponsored by many groups who are dedicated to helping the homeless find safe ground to live, including Francis House, Loaves & Fishes and the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee.

Each of the panel speakers explained his or her connection to Safe Ground, the organization of community leaders who campaign for the city to sanction areas for the homeless to stay without risk of arrest or harassment. The stories were heartbreaking, but with happy endings that expressed the value of Safe Ground for the homeless.

When the question-and-answer portion began, the panel was asked, “How else can we help?”

Wiley said, “Don’t stop. Take every little bit and go forward with it, and get your neighbor to go forward with you, and that neighbor get a friend…and we can beat it.”

Johnson stepped to the podium with encouraging words about plans to cure homelessness in Sacramento.

There are more than 3,000 homeless people in this city, Johnson said. “We have a broken system in the terms of the way we deal with our homeless population.”

His main point involved a five-pillar program to help support the homeless and aim them toward permanent housing. There have already been 1,350 families put into permanent housing, with a goal for 3,000 families total in three years.

The five pillars are housing, social services, funding, advocacy, and accountability. He explained how each pillar supports the pillar above it, so that it will take funding to get homes and services, but it will take advocacy from locals to raise awareness, and it will be accountability that keeps the plan working for the future.

“We need to prove that what we’re doing works,” he said, “and that it makes sense to the taxpayers.”

He then explained a 12- to 18-month plan for creating a new safe ground for the homeless population that can support about 100 people. It will be privately funded and be placed near access to services, but “we’re not sure where yet.”

The hope is to have safe ground “up and ready to go by November 2011.”

The next panel consisted of a variety of community leaders who began by discussing the legality of homelessness and what can be done about the “camping ordinance” that makes it illegal for the homeless to sleep outdoors.

“We cannot police ourselves out of homelessness,” said Bob Erlenbusch, on the board of the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee

The panel was divided between putting a moratorium on the camping ordinance or leaving the law alone.

Sacramento Police Department Lt. Michael Bray said, “It’s tough to balance. The camping ordinance is a tool, and it’s an effective tool. We’d like to never have to use it.”

Next, the panel discussed the idea of government funding and how to supply services to the homeless. Sacramento Steps Forward Director Tim Brown explained how housing the chronically homeless costs the taxpayers less than paying for the prison and health services that the homeless are often dragged through repeatedly.

“It’s not enough for government to do it,” he said, “but we need the whole community to be involved.”

It was agreed that it will take government and private funding to move forward, as well as holding the mayor and the council accountable to create policy changes.

“We need affordable housing. That is the carrot at the end of the tunnel,” said John Kraintz, Safe Ground leader. “But till we get to the end of that tunnel, we’re gonna have to pitch a few tents along the way.”

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.

Development department audit raises questions

2010-10-07T00:26:55Z

An audit report stating that the city’s development department failed to collect more than $2.3 million in fees from developers raises a host of questions. The audit’s finding that city employees broke state and city laws makes the situation even more complex.

The audit, prepared by Sacramento firm Sjoberg Evashenk Consulting, Inc., investigated the department’s work from fiscal years 2007 through 2010.

“In summary, the weak system of internal controls allowed employees to disregard state and city building laws, codes, and regulations aimed at protecting the public’s health, safety, and general welfare,” the audit states.

Read the full audit report here.

The City Council is expected to discuss the audit’s findings on Oct. 12.

City Councilman Rob Fong said Wednesday that he will focus on obtaining the lost revenue to the city. The report’s findings are “outrageous and shocking and incredibly disappointing,” he said. “My priority is getting the money back.”

Interim City Manager Gus Vina on Wednesday answered a series of questions from reporters on issues relating to the $2.3 million in uncollected funds, violations of laws, the culture of the department and possible disciplinary actions.

Journalists from The Sacramento Press, Fox 40, KCRA, News 10, CBS 13 and Capital Public Radio posed the following questions to Vina at the Wednesday press conference.

Q: Do you find that these lapses were well-intentioned? Or, is there indication that there’s perhaps corruption involved?

Gus Vina: It’s difficult to answer that. Part of my job now is to look at some of the specific issues that the audit report has highlighted. I will need to dig a little further into that very question. We know at a minimum that because of the lack of rules and policies and the fact that the decision-making was being made at an extremely low level in the organization, we need to explore that very question.

Q: What is the likelihood that you’re going to get any of this $2.3 million back?

GV: We’re working with the city attorney’s office to answer that question. This is as fresh to us, really, as it is to you. So we need a little time to dissect it. But we are going to work with the attorney’s office on what can we do to go after some of the revenue that was not collected.

Q: As city manager, is it your hope that we might get some revenue as the result of this investigation?

GV: We will be as aggressive on that as the law allows.

Q: If the city had this $2 million, could any layoffs have been prevented in Fiscal year 09 or in FY 10/11?

GV: I suspect that we could have probably minimized some of the layoffs with the revenue having been collected. I think that what’s important to note is that when we look at staffing in Community Development, it’s not just the revenue that you look at ... it’s workload. The report spent some considerable amount of time looking at that workload. We’ve had over 70 percent decrease in some of our workload in Community Development. Obviously, this recession has had a profound impact on our business. And, so, we would have been in a declining mode in terms of our workforce two, three, four years, anyway.

Q: These lower level (employees) — why were they allowed to make these big decisions?

GV: Let’s talk about culture change for a minute. If you go back, say, three (or) four years, we brought in folks to Community Development to in fact look at the bureaucracy, and how difficult was it to work with the city on development projects. There was a lot of excitement created around a “Get the Customer to Success” theme, and looking at how we might streamline some of the processes. What this report is now pointing to, is that that probably went a little too far. The technology that was put in place ended up being too open to decision-making without policy in place. That’s the bridge now. We still want to provide good service to our developers. And we don’t need unnecessary red tape and bureaucracy. It needs to be streamlined. But the bridge to success here now is policy, training, and decisions that are consistent.

Q: Does this at all, in your mind, tarnish the legacy of Ray Kerridge? His big thing was “bring the customer to success” and make it easier to build and develop here.

GV: I respectfully am not going to comment on that. I’m not going to speculate on Ray Kerridge’s legacy, and I wish him well in Roseville.

Q: Will there be any disciplinary actions taken? And, if so, when...will the public learn about that?

GV: If, as I review the report, there’s a need to go down the disciplinary road, then I will certainly do that.

Q: Will that information be made public?

GV: Most of the time, personnel matters are not.

Q: The report though says flat-out that laws were broken.

GV: What you need to look at, is why were laws broken? And what I’ve read so far in the report is that it speaks to lack of policy that led to decisions that were inconsistent with the law. So, motivation is important. And that’s what we need to find out next — what was the motivation?

Q: Is it your opinion that the city attorney should look at these findings to see if any criminal charges should be brought?

GV: I will be working closely with the city attorney’s office and Labor Relations office as necessary.

Q: What does that mean?

GV: That means I don’t know enough to tell you whether there’s criminal charges or not. I would be speculating and I’m not going to speculate.

Q: When a low-level employee doesn’t comply with the law, how do you figure out if it’s their fault, or it’s the culture of the department and the fault of someone higher up? Or both?

GV: That’s exactly my next step: What was violated, what were the reasons and at what level? And the report has been pretty clear that decisions were being made at a low level due to lack of policy and procedures in place.

Photo: Vina and Councilwoman Lauren Hammond at the July 13 City Council meeting.

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

R Street improvement kicks off

2010-09-09T02:22:03Z

The R Street improvement project officially started today at a groundbreaking ceremony in front of the Fox and Goose Public House at 10th and R streets.

“This is absolutely wonderful,” said Congresswoman Doris Matsui. “We have a history here – a thriving commercial history.”

R Street is getting numerous upgrades from 10th Street to 13th Street as part of the more than $6 million project, including sidewalks, pedestrian-oriented traffic lights, designated parking spots and drainage, according to Sacramento Department of Transportation Director Jerry Way.

In a nod to the R Street corridor’s history, rail lines will be preserved in the streetscape.

“This project has been long and anxiously awaited,” Way said.

Part of the funding – about $1.5 million – came from a federal earmark.

“That has some bad connotations, but when it actually works, it leverages a lot of money,” Matsui said. “The federal government needs to be involved in urban planning, and it is. I’m looking forward to a continued partnership with the state and with the city.”

Mayor Kevin Johnson applauded the project and said the 170 jobs it will create are a boon to the local economy.

“The R Street corridor is going to be an amazing opportunity for us,” he said. “This is a microcosm, I believe, of everything that is happening in our city.”

The project lies in City Council District 4, and Councilman Rob Fong said the $6.1 million to address infrastructure in his district is key to preserving the history and helping bring in new development in the mixed-use corridor.

While the groundbreaking was today, dirt won’t actually be moved for about two weeks, according to Todd Leon, R Street development manager for the Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA), which partially funded the project.

Leon said the work from 11th Street to 13th Street will, depending on weather, be done sometime in late November or December.

Work from 10th Street to 11th Street will start after St. Patrick’s Day and be completed in June, he added.

“The businesses are going to be open the whole time, and we wanted to work around their busy times,” he said.

Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Fashion by Fong

2010-08-27T00:59:00Z

A green tie with white polka dots atop a pink dress shirt. White nubuck leather shoes, green pants and an orange leather belt. A purple tie with orange stripes paired with a mint-green shirt.

These combinations represent three wardrobe choices in three days for Rob Fong.

The Sacramento city councilman and legislative consultant doesn’t get dressed in the dark — the bright colors and jazzy details are all intentional.

Fong, 51, shared his fashion philosophy with The Sacramento Press this week.

“The way I started to express my sort of ‘Inner Rob,’ was I decided that my shirts and my ties can be my signature,” he said.

He said his 16-year-old daughter, Rebecca, has noticed that he tends to favor greens and oranges.

His style has not gone unnoticed at City Hall.

“He’s a very fashionable gentleman,” Councilwoman Lauren Hammond said.

Councilman Kevin McCarty said one of Fong’s coats reminds him of Ron Burgundy, the 1970s television newscaster character played by Will Ferrell in the 2004 movie “Anchorman.”

McCarty observed that Fong has “calmed down a lot” in his fashion. But, like Hammond, McCarty had kind words for his council colleague. Even though his wardrobe is constantly changing, “he never really looks bad,” McCarty said.

Councilman Steve Cohn was less tolerant. “He looks like he’s always ready to be out on the golf course,” Cohn said. And his style is more in line with “country club” golf courses, not the municipal ones, Cohn added.

That may be the last time Cohn burns Fong. In response to Cohn’s criticism, Fong alleged that Cohn wears bike pants and owns a mesh tank top.

The Sacramento Press asked Fong if he’s actually seen Cohn wear the bike pants. “Oh, everyone has,” Fong said. “Unfortunately, yeah, I still have a vivid memory of that.”

R.E. Graswich, the former Sacramento Bee journalist who is now Mayor Kevin Johnson’s special assistant, said Fong needs to go all-out with his style. “He’s like a guy who’s trying to get somewhere, but he just can’t quite break through,” Graswich said. “I think he should just give it up with the pink and the green, and just go ‘the full Cleveland,’ as we call it.”

Graswich defined “the full Cleveland” as a style consisting of white shoes, white belt, white pants and Hawaiian shirt.

Now that he’s working for the mayor, Graswich wears a suit to work. But the suit is not “Graswich’s style.”

“I’m the man with 243 Hawaiian shirts, give or take,” Graswich said.

Fong hates Hawaiian shirts.

“I think Hawaiian shirts are like a sign that says: I know I’m way past middle age, and I give up,” Fong said. “I think that Hawaiian shirts are this millennium's leisure suit.”

Fong does, however, give kudos to R.E. for creating a style. “On the other hand, I have nothing but love and respect for any man who has some idea about what he’s doing. Even if I don’t like the idea.”

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

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.

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.

Editorial: Mayor Johnson's star-spangled double standard reaches fever pitch in his latest blog

2010-07-03T23:28:44Z

I'm not a political analyst by trade [shocker, I know], but given the orotund "we shall overcome" flavor of Mayor Johnson's latest blog on his collaboratively-named TEAMKJ.ORG web site, his opposition will be glad to know he has officially abandoned his fiery "Pot Roast of Public Anger" and retreated to the less flammable (and more familiar) "Passive Aggressive Soup." Only now, papa Johnson got a brand new bag : defender of voter rights.

Hypocritically titled "your voice still matters," Mayor J's latest blog (which has attracted a whopping 66 views to date) attempts to paint the city council as a change-resistant band of oppressors, the voters as victims of some great miscarriage of justice, and Johnson as their fearless liberator leading the oppressed in "Oh Freedom." It makes for fodder worthy of the Comedy Channel, but doesn't offer much in the way of leadership integrity.

From Johnson's blog: "All of you, from all walks of life, have asked the same question: 'Why won’t they let us vote?' I understand and share your disappointment. Last week’s council meeting could have made history. Instead, politics won the day.'

Dear Mayor,

Your sudden opposition to voter disenfranchisement, let alone "politics-as-usual" obstructionism, is laughable considering your shameless disrespect of the people's "voice" when YOU voted to level ECONOMIC SANCTIONS against the diverse people and businesses of the state of Arizona--despite the boisterous and plentiful number of "voices" that begged you not to.

Sorry Mayor Johnson, but I can't bring myself to download your new protest song "They Don't Want You To Be Heard" when your actions have proven you don't respect the process any more than the political hacks you claim are "obstructing" it.

Granted, there was a time when I thought you represented a true threat to "status quo" thinking at city hall. When you were stumping you talked a really good game about how your lack of political experience was an asset because yours represented a "fresh" new perspective, and you had no political loyalties to appease. But it turns you were all hot air. With your AZ Boycott vote you proved you are cut from the same cloth as council deadwood Rob "I-support-any-cause-that-gets-me-applause" Fong and Kevin "I-brake-for-special-interest" McCarty.

Sorry Mayor, but your AZ vote proved--at least to me--that you're just another lemming who doesn't have the spine to stand up to political pressure. So despite your incessant special pleading to the contrary, your actions have proven you would not bring any badly needed leadership skills to city council chambers if you were promoted to CEO. You have been interviewing for the job for almost two years now and you have proven (with your actions and statements) that making you strong mayor would not signal an end to status quo; it would only signal its formal ratification.

DON'T GET ME WRONG. I disagree with AZ's law. In fact I abhor any legislation that give "authorities" more power than they already have (including all Bush's privacy-bashing legislation). But there were other ways to go about protesting the AZ law. Enacting boycott legislation was the least creative, and least honorable of all the options, yet you offered ZERO alternatives and just caved to political pressure. Where was all that great leadership you have been promising? Where were all those creative solutions? Where was all that "public discussion" you have been waxing about ad nauseam? Where was your spine? I'm not attacking you here. Far from it. I'm just saying maybe you should get a spine before you accuse others of not having one? Just a thought.

From Johnson's blog: "Yes, the issues are challenging, particularly for those who see our fight for reform in simplistic terms. A “power grab” by an “ego-driven” Mayor. A “classic battle” between business and labor. But while those catch phrases make good headlines, they ignore the truth.."

I'll give you this: you're efficient. That's a very convenient way to spin the story to achieve your desired outcome. Reminds me of a movie my family and I watched last night called "Dear John." A beleaguered soldier comes back from Afghanistan to find the love of his life has married someone else. Much to his surprise though, she is still in love with him (the soldier). This presents a hefty challenge for the writer... how to deal with that quandary so the soldier can still get the girl and the audience can still have their happy ending.

Hmmm.......... oh I know---give the new husband cancer! With the new husband out of the way, the soldier gets the girl and they live happily ever after. Problem solved. That's an efficient solution, but it cheapens the story and makes it a little less believable.. just like you have done by summarily dismissing all your critics (and all of their many legit beefs with your SMI) as mere gadfly labelmaking.

I won't mince my words mayor; your careless dismissal of legit criticism doesn't inspire confidence that you can be an objective, well-rounded executive who LISTENS more than he talks. You used to say you don't take anything personally. I think you do. Your blogs and public tantrum certainly tend to indicate you do. Again, actions speak louder than words. Were you ever taught that? Do you think all that old wisdom is mythical? Doesn't apply to you? What? Do tell.

OK listen [I know it's hard, but try, ok?], forget about all the politicial posturing, inappropriate profane attacks on you, and grandstanding for a moment. What about the big, neon, Vegas-like sign in the room blinking: "Johnson is not qualified to be the executive mayor of Sacramento" ? Myself and many others have stated we don't approve of you in an executive mayor capacity because we simply don't think you are qualified for that job. No labels. No vendettas. No union influence. No politics. What is your response to that criticism? I'd love to know because you have never addressed this criticism to my knowledge.

[On a side note Mayor, I have to say again: It's actually quite remarkable that you continue to shoot yourself in the foot with every errant statement you make. Do you not have PR advisers? Perhaps you do but you simply don't listen to them--which would be yet another reason to vote against promoting you to CEO].

Despite all your dismisiveness, I do agree with you on a few points, Mayor.

1. I agree it should NOT be about politics.

2. I also agree that the city council should not be obstructing the people's right to vote---albeit for a COMPLETELY different reason than you maintain (and let's not forget you are on shaky ground with that one, considering you went above your pay grade and supported economic sanctions against Arizona, thus doing the same exact thing you accuse the council of doing: Supressing the people's "voice").

Thanks for listening Mayor Johnson.

Regardless of the court's position that SMI need pass muster with the council first, I believe the council should do the right thing and pass SMI on to their constituents to decide. But not because I want to see Johnson promoted to CEO of Sacramento. I happen to agree with those who also believe in the democratic process and think the people should be allowed to decide this issue for themselves.

Some Johnson detractors opine voters are "too stupid" or "uninformed" to vote on SMI so therefore it should not go to the ballot (which begs the question: do the city council members--save for Waters--feel the same way??). They say people don't read. Don't understand. Gosh. Shall we disqualify the gubernatorial vote for the same reason? How about the presidency? Yikes. How is that way of thinking any different than the old south Jim Crow culture that disenfranchised voters simply because of their skin color?

One could apply that same logic to ANY lousy politician whom ever charmed or manipulated his or her way into office only to be despised (or recalled) by the masses later. God knows we have a long and storied history of electing terrible politicians in this country.. yet the vote goes on... thankfully. Protecting status quo by denying the democratic process in the name of "patriotism" is so nonsensical it's hard to process.

Anyway, even if it is true that people are not informed enough about SMI, that's hardly good enough reason to skirt the voting process, matter of fact it's an even better reason to put it up for vote! If people need to be informed, then SMI opponents can use the process to inform them (and how about doing it with a little more class this time? It's safe to say the character assasination approach has been a dismal failure twice now. Don't make it a 3-PEAT!).

As we celebrate another Independence Day, let's not forget what being independent is all about. Isn't it about thinking for yourself? Forming your own opinions? Taking a stand for what you believe in? Punching a ballot to be a part of the decision making process? Politicial loyalties are great, and I love the debate as much as anyone, but I don't think we should ever get so passionate and obssesed with them that we feel compelled to deny each other the very right that has made our country so great.. and independent.

Happy INDEPENDENCE day, everyone.

Stay INDEPENDENT! :)

Mark Johnston
Www.JoeSacramento.Com

Strong mayor: Mayor doesn't have council votes to draft language

2010-06-23T06:19:50Z

The Sacramento City Council has rejected Mayor Kevin Johnson’s effort to ask the city attorney to write official language for his new strong mayor measure.

Shortly after 11 p.m. at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, five council members said they would vote against the drafting of the measure. With five council members in opposition, Johnson’s request to the attorney to draft the language did not have the required number of votes.

The five council members saying they opposed the drafting of the language around 11 p.m. were Kevin McCarty, Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Ray Tretheway and Bonnie Pannell.

The council meeting was still in session at 11:15 p.m.

Check The Sacramento Press for further coverage of this issue.

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.

Budget cuts prompt neighbors to help maintain Land Park

2010-05-04T03:22:16Z

A group of 90 residents who are afraid of further budget cuts to city parks gathered Saturday at Land Park to take maintenance chores into their own hands.

Neighborhood activists recently formed the Land Park Volunteer Corps, which met at the park to trim bushes and beautify the grounds, according to Craig Powell, coordinator of the group.

“We’re doing our part in the community,” Powell said. “We’re responding with what we can do.”

The city is struggling with a $43 million budget gap for its 2010/2011 fiscal year. Powell said he is concerned that city parks may face a third consecutive year of extensive budget cuts.

Parks were hit with $8.3 million in cuts during the 2009/2010 budget process.

The group plans to meet and carry out maintenance tasks at Land Park monthly during nine of 12 months each year, Powell said.

Councilman Rob Fong has dedicated about $2,800 from his discretionary fund to the Land Park Volunteer Corps, Powell noted, adding that the group has received about $3,600 in private donations.

City officials released a draft budget Friday that does not contain breakdowns of the budget cuts to departments. Information on department cuts will be released near the beginning of June, according to city spokeswoman Amy Williams.

For information on how to participate with the Land Park Volunteer Corps, contact Craig Powell by e-mail at ckpinsacto@aol.com or by phone at 916-718-3030.

Photo of Craig Powell by Kathleen Haley.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City Council to Vote on New Taco Bell Drive-Through That Neighbors Strongly Oppose

2010-04-27T07:04:44Z

After many delays and an appeal, the issue of a redesigned Taco Bell with a new drive-through will finally be decided at Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

The Taco Bell, located at 5641 Freeport Blvd. near Fruitridge Road, was built in 1977 without a drive-through and has not seen a major change since. Taco Bell applied for a permit to rebuild the facility and add a drive-through, and the city's Planning Commission voted 6-4 to allow the building during a Feb. 11 meeting. However, the property is adjacent to a residential neighborhood, and many residents in that neighborhood are worried that this new drive-through will lead to increased noise, pollution and trash in their backyards.

Some of the residents have taken an active role in fighting the installation of a drive-through, including Kathleen Barber, a resident whose backyard is separated from the Taco Bell property by a 6-foot masonry wall that runs along the eastern border of the Taco Bell property. Barber paid $300 to appeal the Planning Commission's decision to the City Council. Barber's husband, Joe Verderber, said that the addition of this drive-through will violate certain city guidelines.

"Flat out, the proposed Taco Bell doesn't meet the city's own guidelines and regulations for drive-throughs," he said, citing a regulation in the city's zoning ordinance. The regulation says that, with regard to drive-throughs, "The design and location of the facility will not create a nuisance for adjacent properties." The neighborhood's residents say that having a drive-through so close to their homes will create a nuisance by adding noise and pollution to an area right next to their backyards.

One issue that resident Ted Soria is worried about is an increase in trash being thrown over the masonry wall due to the extra traffic.

"People throw stuff into my yard," he said. "I've found syringes, sexual devices, drug bags and garbage like that in my own backyard."

A major concern residents had was a substantial increase in noise. Even though the current plan for the new Taco Bell includes adding trees to the property, two feet to the height of the masonry wall and a smaller wall around the ordering talk-box, Barber is worried that all the traffic noise will be unbearable.

"They're telling us, through their testing, that we're not going to hear anything from a drive-through," she said. "We can hear the traffic from Freeport Blvd. already."

"That wall does nothing. All it does is make sure no one drives into your backyard," added neighbor Robert Messing.

Verderber said that in addition to creating a nuisance, the proposed Taco Bell does not meet spacing guidelines. According to those guidelines, the property has to be a half-acre or more, but the proposed Taco Bell is 238 square feet short of a half-acre. Verderber added that, in addition to all these violations, the proposed Taco Bell would lower the value of his home by $20,000, according to a real estate agent's estimate.

"The size of the lot doesn't meet their own guidelines, and neither does the parking," he said. "It is a nuisance to the neighborhood, and it devalues the property."

This isn't the first time the neighbors have had to fight against a Taco Bell drive-through. In 2006, the same Taco Bell applied for a similar rebuilding, but was denied a permit by the city's Planning Commission due to the neighbors' concerns.

"We went through this in 2006. Back then, they said that it was bad planning and clearly violated the nuisance to residential neighborhoods guidelines." said Barber, adding that she thinks some of the newer members on the Planning Commission don't get it. Barber said that at the Feb. 11 meeting, despite voicing their concerns and presenting the commission with a 200-name petition, their voice was ignored.

"At that meeting, we felt like our neighborhood didn't matter," she said.

Despite their concerns, the people with Taco Bell claim that that the proposed project meets most city regulations, and the ones that it doesn't meet where granted a special exemption from the Planning Commission. While Taco Bell franchise owner Dave Smith of D.G. Smith Enterprises declined to comment, Planning Facilitator Linda Budge said that Taco Bell management is doing what it could to make sure any impact on the neighborhood will be minimal.

Budge said that the operating hours for Taco Bell will end at 10 p.m. to mitigate late-night noise, and there will be a sign asking customers to turn down their music with a security guard to enforce that policy, in addition to the other modifications.

Budge said that the light posts will have limits on their height and have a shoebox covering that points the light directly down, not out. Also, she said that evergreen trees will be planted to contain the bleeding over of light and sound.

"Our goal is that the neighbors will not be able to see or hear the project," she said, adding that just over the weekend the plans were modified to allow for a greater distance between the eastern masonry wall and the drive-through lane. The extra distance will be full of bushes and shrubs, which are intended to help with the trash problem so patrons won't be able to drive right next to the wall like they can now.

According to Budge, the rebuilding of the Taco Bell is required for the franchise to continue its contract with the Taco Bell Corporation.

"This Taco Bell is under franchise agreement. Without the drive-through lane, the franchise will expire at the end of 2010, and the site could be lost," she said, adding that the building is old and needs to be updated to meet new building codes and regulations anyway.

Budge also said the new Taco Bell will have a positive effect on the local economy with 15 extra jobs being added at that location and extra taxes going to the city.

"We don't want to add to the retail vacancy that everyone is suffering right now," she added.

While both sides will be arguing their positions at the City Council meeting, Councilman Rob Fong, whose district the Taco Bell and neighborhood are in, said he hasn't yet come to a decision on how he will vote. Fong added that he has an open mind and will hold his decision until he hears everything both sides have to say.

"I hope we'll get to a place where we can come to some sort of agreement tomorrow night," he said.

Verderber, however, is hoping the council will understand the concerns of the neighbors and side with them.

"The point is," he said, "would you want a drive-through in your backyard?"

Jonathan Mendick and Kathleen Haley contributed to this story

Photo captions (Photos 1 - 5 taken by Jonathan Mendick; 6 - 7 by Stephen Gillis)

1. Joe Verderber stands in front of the Taco Bell at Fruitridge and Freeport

2. The view of Taco Bell from Kathleen Barber's backyard

3. Ted Soria standing next to the current 6 foot masonry wall separating his property from the Taco Bell parking lot

4. Trash found on the resident's side of the wall

5. More trash

6. The new style of Taco Bell that would be built. This particular restaurant is on Bradshaw Road

7. A side view of the new Taco Bell style

Fong Gives State of District Report

2010-04-20T04:56:10Z

City Councilman Rob Fong said there will be continued development on Broadway during his 2010 State of the District Report Monday evening.

Fong, who represents District 4, gave his report at the Area One Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting.

"I'm not up for reelection this year," he said. "So you will have the truth tonight."

Fong said that west Broadway Street will see some development in the next few years, and the focus will be on housing and retail. Fong also said he is trying to get a community center to be built in that neighborhood. Most of the plans for District 4 are centered around the Broadway corridor, according to Fong.

"We're trying to re-imagine what Broadway can be," Fong said, adding that the goal is to add more retail and make Broadway more walkable and consumer-friendly.

Bicycle commuting routes from Land Park and South Land Park are also in the planning stages, he said. Fong noted that many residents in Land Park and South Land Park love to ride their bikes to get downtown.

Fong said that another issue in District 4 this year is the possible expansion of the zoo. Fong said that residents who live near the zoo do not prefer the zoo to expand, but that the future viability of the zoo's current size is challenging.

After Fong finished, he took questions from the audience of about 20, including one regarding the possibility of a new river crossing over the Sacramento River. Fong applauded the current discussion over the needs for a bridge, saying that the initial plan for a four-lane bridge going to Broadway was not the best idea.

"A bridge has to work for both sides," he said. "I'm not for a four-lane auto bridge. Ir doesn't do anything good for us."

Fong finished by answering a question about the city's budget deficit by admitting that services will be cut.

"The whole city is going to have a reduced level of services," he said, before adding that despite the poor economy crime was down in his district.

"It's always sunny in District 4."

Cohn tells neighbors: Parks could face new round of budget cuts

2010-03-16T05:33:38Z

Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn is predicting deep budget cuts to local parks this year in light of the city’s $35 million-$40 million budget gap for the 2010/2011 fiscal year.

Cohn’s worries about new cuts come after the city cut the Parks and Recreation Department by $8.3 million last year.

“I fear that the cutbacks in parks will actually be more severe this year,” Cohn told a handful of neighborhood leaders gathered at Hart Senior Center Monday night.

Cohn, who presented information about his district at the Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting, said the city may look for ways to work with neighborhoods and the business community to maintain the parks.

“As we all know, most of our neighborhoods in Midtown and East Sacramento are really designed around parks,” Cohn said.

Cohn represents District 3, which includes the neighborhoods of Mansion Flats, Marshall School Midtown and Boulevard Park.

Councilman Ray Tretheway, from District 1, also made remarks to the neighborhood group. His district includes the neighborhoods of Alkali Flat, Old Sacramento and China Town Mall.

Among other things, Tretheway said that a new community garden will open at Zapata Park in Alkali Flat this summer.

Councilman Rob Fong, whose district includes Newton Booth and Poverty Ridge, among other neighborhoods, could not attend the NAG meeting due to illness, said Gerald Celestine, the facilitator of Monday night’s meeting. Fong represents District 4.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Councilmembers, NBA upset over arena task force comments

2010-02-04T05:53:04Z

Sacramento City Council members and the National Basketball Association are angry or unhappy with comments made Tuesday by the mayor's arena team leader.

Several council members are upset after Sacramento First Task Force co-chair Chris Lehane seemed to be speaking on behalf of the city when he called the NBA's previous attempts to get an arena built here "air balls" and made other comments on the organization's website blog Tuesday morning.

Council members Ray Tretheway and Rob Fong responded to Lehane's comments at the end of Tuesday night's City Council meeting.

"I was terribly embarrassed by the disrespectful message that publicly humiliated the commissioner of basketball that came out of Sacramento First," said Tretheway, whose district includes Downtown, proposed as one potential location for a new arena. "The NBA officially has been a great partner with the city — a longtime partner."

At least two other council members privately said they were upset over the comments, he added Wednesday.

NBA Commissioner David Stern and consultant John Moag, who owns the sports investment banking firm Moag & Co., spent two years working on a plan to build the new arena at Cal Expo. Three weeks ago, Moag and Stern, together with the Maloofs and local developers, pitched a new plan to build the arena in the Downtown railyards.

Mayor Kevin Johnson, once an NBA star, formed the volunteer task force three months ago to expedite development of a new arena to spur the city's economic growth — which he has identified as top priorities. Johnson has said he'd like the arena built Downtown and that the railyards would be one possible site. While playing for the Phoenix Suns, he saw Phoenix get revitalized after he helped bring an arena to that city's downtown.

Johnson recruited task force co-chair Lehane, a San Francisco political and public relations strategist who was dubbed one of the "masters of disaster" for his work controlling damage during President Bill Clinton's administration. Lehane is volunteering on the task force, as are 11 others, who work in business, finance, politics, development and labor.

Tuesday night, Fong said the task force's efforts should not be disregarded. However, he, Tretheway and other council members don't like the way Lehane's comments seemed to be representing the official city position.

“I do think lines get crossed when they pretend to speak for the city of Sacramento because it is a volunteer effort," Fong said. “If at some point, if the city of Sacramento is to be the lead agency, so to speak, on arena efforts, then it really should be the city of Sacramento that’s speaking on its own behalf.”

Lehane is expected to discuss the start of the task force's four-week proposal-review process at a press conference at 11 a.m. Thursday at the Citizen Hotel, 926 J St.

His comments that upset council members were made Tuesday in a blog post, where he explained the NBA's support for one of seven Sacramento arena proposals doesn't guarantee that plan will be adopted by the task force or the city.

The NBA and other development teams have been "lobbying public officials" and "putting out their spin." But the sports and entertainment center task force is just starting to evaluate the proposals and doesn't want to "give the public the bum's rush," Lehane blogged.

“Since 2006, the NBA has ‘endorsed’ two other proposals that never came to fruition. Just because a deal may sound like a lay-up to the NBA doesn't mean it is a finger roll for Sacramento," he wrote. “Despite well-meaning work over the years, the NBA has shot two air balls in its past efforts — the city needs to make sure that this process results in a slam dunk for the public.”

Lehane's comments were later released to reporters. On Tuesday, Tretheway and Fong spoke to NBA representatives, including someone working for Moag. Those representatives "confirmed how upset the NBA was," Tretheway said.

The NBA and Moag did not wish to respond publicly to Lehane's comments.

"We're not going to comment," said Karen Skelton of the Boston-based public relations firm Dewey Square Group, which represents Moag and the NBA.

Johnson didn't respond to Tretheway's and Fong's concerns at the council meeting. Earlier that day, neither he nor his staff would discuss Lehane's comments or any lobbying that has been going on.

But Jeremiah Jackson, a task force project coordinator, said lobbying on behalf of certain proposals won't change the arena team's mission as the task force begins weighing all the proposals.

"We know the NBA will support a deal that works for them," he said. "But we want to make sure Sacramento gets behind a deal that works for us."

The NBA is a partner in a plan spearheaded by developer Gerry Kamilos. The NBA and Moag are negotiating on behalf of the Maloofs, who own the Sacramento Kings franchise and its current home, Arco Arena.

The plan proposes building a 19,000-seat sports and entertainment arena at the Downtown railyards on land donated by the city. That project would be financed in part by the group's ability to buy Cal Expo and developing a mixed-use, master-planned neighborhood there, Moag said. The group also proposes the city and the Maloofs turn Arco Arena and the adjacent land over to the state for the new fairgrounds, and that the city forgive a $68.5 million loan to the Maloofs.

Tuesday night, council members directed the city manager's office to draft a letter for the council "to reaffirm how much we value the partnership and long-time support of the NBA to have an NBA team in Sacramento," Tretheway said Wednesday.

Development teams will make half-hour presentations to the task force in two weeks. The task force is expected to make recommendations to the mayor on March 11.

Vote for your preferred location for a sports and entertainment arena at sacramentofirst.org.

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

Stockton Boulevard: A Little Saigon in Sacramento

2010-02-04T02:57:20Z

Tuesday night's City Council meeting featured dancing, cheering and even crying. The excitement anticipated the City Council's unanimous vote for the area on Stockton Boulevard between between Riza Avenue and Fruitridge Road to be named Little Saigon.

Councilman Kevin McCarty, whose district includes the one-and-a-half-mile stretch of Little Saigon, proposed the vote to the City Council in January after months of public input from South Sacramento business owners and community members. It's now the city's inaugural cultural district.

Starting at 5 p.m. Tuesday, hundreds of Vietnamese and supporters of the campaign for Little Saigon began filling the city council chamber for a pre-council-meeting reception. The group included, among others, a Korean pastor, Vietnam War veterans, monks, several busloads of Vietnamese from South Sacramento, a nine-member Little Saigon committee, councilmen McCarty and Rob Fong as well as Mayor Kevin Johnson.

Many were holding American flags, waving South Vietnamese flags and wearing pins which read "I ♥ Little Saigon."

"This is an important recognition that is long overdue," McCarty said in a conversation before the council meeting. "In the last decade you've seen this stream of revitalization and it's a large part because of these Vietnamese businesses, so calling it Little Saigon is an important thing to do. Having a certain spotlight on this one ethnic group helps bring positive attention."

He also explained that 100 years ago, Stockton Boulevard was a thriving transportation corridor and the main connecting road between Sacramento and Stockton — hence the name.

Rob Fong joined McCarty to speak at the reception. He said before addressing the crowd that this is a completely different deal than an unofficial designation like the "historic Chinatown" between Third and Fifth and along I and J streets.

"Little Saigon is heavily populated with Southeast Asian businesses," he said. "A lot of our Southeast Asian community lives out in that area, and it's a natural positive move for the city of Sacramento."

California State Assemblyman Van Tran from Orange County — the site of the oldest and largest Little Saigon in the U.S. — and SMUD board director Nancy Bui were among the Vietnamese community leaders who spoke to the gatherers in Vietnamese.

Bryan Ngo, a 39-year-old office worker, said he often travels to Stockton Boulevard to get a bite to eat or go shopping, and feels the recognition of Little Saigon is long overdue.

"It's very good for the people around there, and it's time for us to be united," he said. "As soon as I heard about (the campaign) a couple months ago, I volunteered a few hours to help."

Nhon "Neo" Trinh, who has owned Design Copy Print Center on Stockton Boulevard for the last nine years, has seen the growth of the area firsthand.

"It changed a lot," he said. "New buildings and businesses have helped the area grow. Years ago, there was a lot of prostitution, but it's been better since the Vietnamese dominated the area."

But will new signage and the name Little Saigon continue to improve business in the area?

"Yes, it helps and everybody needs it," said Trinh, who is also the fundraising and sponsorship chair on the Little Saigon Committee. "It's branding, so when people think to get Vietnamese or Chinese food, they'll go there. People love the name, and tourists on the highway can see signs for it, too."

Before the City Council's unanimous decision, teary-eyed councilman and Vietnam Veteran Ray Tretheway described what the name meant to him.

"Tonight, you've truly empowered me, and now I know why I was there," he said. "You really captured for me that you're willing to build a legacy with us in America. Thank you."

His statements drew applause from the audience.

An adjacent half mile of Stockton Boulevard is expected to be approved as part of Little Saigon Feb. 9 by Sacramento County supervisors. A Feb. 13 ribbon-cutting ceremony is tentatively scheduled for 10 a.m. on the corner of Stockton Boulevard and Riza Avenue to coincide with the Vietnamese New Year (Tết) celebration, said a representative from McCarty's office.

Kathleen Haley contributed to this article.

News Analysis: Council members display anger, confront city staff

2010-01-28T03:13:50Z

News Analysis

It’s a fact: Certain Sacramento city council members are angry with high-level city staffers about their role in current city scandals. The council members’ tense relationship with city staffers was apparent in several harsh remarks made at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.

Councilwoman Lauren Hammond directed critical comments toward Utilities Director Marty Hanneman during a debate over issues outlined in a grand jury report. The Jan. 6 report claims the city may not be adhering to Proposition 218, a state law that mandates how city funds are to be used.

“I have to tell you: I have no confidence in your cost allocations,” Hammond told Hanneman. “It’s not personal — I just don’t believe you.”

Hammond expressed the view that annual increases in utilities rates have been higher than the costs of delivering the service. She said she has been raising concerns “for years” that the rate increases have been improper.

Prop. 218 requires utilities fee increases and service delivery costs to be proportional. Fee increases have a single use: to cover the costs of delivering the service, according to the law.

Sacramento residents have been “tricked,” she said.

“I don’t usually get personal with staff because I know everybody’s trying to do their job,” Hammond said. “But something is seriously wrong here and we have not fixed it. And management has not fixed it.”

Hanneman did not make any statements in response to Hammond’s criticism.

He explained Wednesday in an interview that the city’s protocol is for staffers not to debate with council members at City Council meetings. To debate with council members is disrespectful, Hanneman said.

“I just listen and take it in,” Hanneman said.

He pointed out that elected officials sometimes vent their frustrations.

“That’s part of doing business at the city,” Hanneman said. “I don’t take it personally. I take everything they say seriously and move on.”

Councilman Rob Fong faulted both the City Council and city staffers for the Prop. 218 situation. He said council members learned about Prop. 218 concerns during summer 2008 but did not address them.

“We need to do better; it’s just unacceptable,” Fong said.

Council members need to acknowledge that they are part of the problem, he said. However, he added that each council member has a small two-member staff. Plus, several council members have other jobs outside of their City Council position.

“We rely so heavily upon you all to collectively give us the information we need to make the decisions that we need to make at a policy level,” Fong said, addressing city staffers.

Fong said that the City Council finds out after the fact that legal memos from the city attorney’s office have been sent to top city staffers but not to council members.

He suggested that the City Council adopt a rule to require that all legal opinions being shown to top staff officials also be sent to council members.

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said staff did not inform council members about the possible Prop. 218 violations.

“We say we didn’t know about it,” Sheedy said. “We really truly didn’t know about it. And it makes us look like fools.”

Sheedy echoed Fong’s idea, saying the council should receive all legal findings that come out of the city attorney’s office.

“I have a real problem with being left out in the dark and then getting all the blame,” she said.

Read the grand jury report here.

Hanneman’s report can be read here.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

A road map to the strong mayor debate

2010-01-22T05:38:44Z

Developments affecting Mayor Kevin Johnson’s strong mayor initiative have been highly controversial and complex.

Several entities have weighed in on the initiative, including the Sacramento City Council, the Sacramento County Superior Court and the Sacramento Charter Review Committee. Government officials, attorneys and citizens have interpreted the initiative in a variety of ways.

Here’s a road map to make sense of some of the key events in the strong mayor debate:

Johnson’s Day One Plan: Before taking office, Johnson promotes a strong mayor form of government in his “Day One” plan. An executive mayor system would mean that one leader would be accountable, Johnson says.

“Explore a change to the city charter moving to a strong mayor structure,” the plan states. “We need a single point of accountability in our city and to know where the buck stops. We should engage in a dialogue to determine if we can improve our city government through a different governance structure.”

February 2009: The City Council unanimously forms the charter review committee. Johnson votes in favor of the committee. Council members direct the committee to examine the strong mayor format.

May 18, 2009: The Charter Review Committee talks to academics about strong mayor government systems.

June 26, 2009: Sacramentans for Accountable Government (SAG), the group running the strong mayor campaign, brings to City Hall signatures from residents who favor the initiative. Acting city spokeswoman Wendy Klock-Johnson says the papers with the signatures filled 13 boxes.

Aug. 6, 2009: The City Council decides in a 5-4 vote to put the strong mayor initiative on the June 2010 ballot. Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty and Bonnie Pannell vote against placing it on the June 8 ballot. Before the City Council made this decision, the Sacramento County Registrar of Voters had declared that SAG received the required number of signatures (32,433) to place the initiative on the ballot.

Sept. 3, 2009: The Charter Review Committee favors the idea to allow the Sacramento mayor to appoint the city manager.

Oct. 19, 2009: The Charter Review Committee recommends that the City Council maintain its existing council/manager system. The committee opposes the idea of a strong mayor government for Sacramento. However, the committee recommends altering the current system to give the mayor the power to appoint the city manager. In the city’s council/manager system, the city manager is appointed by the City Council.

Dec. 1, 2009: Bill Camp files a lawsuit in Sacramento County Superior Court challenging the strong mayor initiative. Defendants in the case are the city of Sacramento, the Sacramento City Council and Thomas Hiltachk, the attorney who wrote the strong mayor initiative. Camp contends in his lawsuit that the initiative breaks state law because it would create major changes to the city’s charter. He argues that that an initiative can amend, but not change, a city charter.

Jan. 14, 2010: Mayor Kevin Johnson reacts to Sacramento Superior Court Judge Loren McMaster’s initial decision that the initiative should not go on the June ballot. “Voters deserve and have a right to vote on this initiative,” Johnson says.

Jan. 21, 2010: McMaster issues a final ruling saying the initiative should not be placed on the June ballot. He writes that the initiative would not align with state law. He determines that the initiative is a revision of the city charter, not an amendment.

Jan. 21, 2010: Thomas Hiltachk says SAG will appeal McMaster’s ruling to the 3rd District Court of Appeal.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

How to ask the city for green waste bins

2010-01-06T03:48:20Z

Choosing bins for green waste instead of on-the-street pickup saves each eligible resident $3 per month. But if residents want to put their green waste into bins instead of on the street for pickup, it’s not guaranteed they’ll receive bins from the city. That’s because the city is using two separate green-waste pickup systems and bins are not currently available to all residents.

However, residents can use the following information to encourage the city to bring bins to their neighborhood.

How do I tell the city I want to use bins?

Call 311 to inform the city that you want to put your green waste in containers, Utilities Department spokeswoman Jessica Hess said. You can also make a request for city employees to come to your neighborhood association meeting and explain the bin system, according to Hess. Make your request for a neighborhood presentation by calling the Utilities Department at 916-808-4931.

Another way to express your preference for bins is to fill out this online form.

How much does it cost to use bins?

The bin program is cheaper than on-the-street pickup. This means your bill would go down if you use bins. Bin pickup costs $9.37 monthly, while on-the-street pickup is $12.41 per month. Learn more about the differences in the costs here.

Why are bins not available to all residents?

The city must provide on-the-street pickup because Sacramento voters banned bins in 1977. Because residents passed an ordinance that said the city couldn’t set rules for bin use, the city’s bin program is voluntary, according to the Utilities Department.

A Nov. 24 Utilities Department report notes that about 85,000 people in the city have chosen to use bins.

Certain criteria is used by the city to decide if a neighborhood should be part of the bin pickup system, according to Hess. When making the decision to offer the service, the city considers the number of houses on a block that are interested in the program, she said. The city also examines the neighborhood’s proximity to an existing route that uses the bin system, she said.

The interest of neighborhood leaders and members of the City Council are among other factors that impact the city’s decision, according to Hess.

Councilman Steve Cohn and a staffer for Councilman Rob Fong recently said they support the idea of giving all residents the choice to use bins instead of on-the-street pickup.

This Jan. 4 story explains how to opt-out of the bin system if you want to maintain on-the-street pickup.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

How to opt-out of green waste bin system

2010-01-05T05:30:44Z

When the Utilities Department recently explored changes to Sacramento’s green waste pickup system, some residents expressed intense opposition to scrapping on-the-street pickup. They said they prefer that method to the use of bins.

The city's current methods of green waste pickup are on-the-street pickup and a voluntary bin system. Councilman Steve Cohn and a staffer for Councilman Rob Fong said recently that they support giving all residents the choice of bins over on-the-street pickup.

Residents can continue on-the-street pickup and the following information will help.

How to opt-out

A city employee may leave a green waste bin at your house if your neighborhood has been selected for bin pickup. To keep on-the-street pickup, you need to opt-out of the bin system.

You can opt-out by calling 311, Utilities Department spokeswoman Jessica Hess said, and telling the operator that you don't want the bin.

What will it cost me?

Hess pointed out that if you opt-out of the bin program, green waste pickup will cost more. The city now charges $9.37 for bin pickup, and $12.41 for on-the-street pickup monthly.

The difference in price is because when city workers gather lawn waste piles from the street, they use two vehicles — the “claw” and a loading vehicle.

By contrast, the city uses one vehicle to pick up bins.

In addition, the loading vehicle used for on-the-street pickup system fills up more quickly than the loading vehicle for the bin system, Hess said. This means that on-the-street pickup vehicles make more trips, adding cost.

Utilities Director Marty Hanneman said last week that city staffers do not know the current costs of the on-the-street system. A growing number of people are choosing bins, which is hiking on-the-street pickup costs, he said.

For now, the $12.41 monthly for on-the-street pickup will remain in force.

What are these city employees talking about?

The Utilities Department uses specific terms to refer to the city’s green waste system.

Officially, the city refers to on-the-street pickup as “loose-in-the-street collection.”

The city uses the phrase “containerized green waste collection” to refer to the system of using bins for green waste.

Coming Tuesday: A guide for residents who want the city to start bin service in their neighborhoods.

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.

Plan to combine some city/county services advances

2009-12-09T05:41:38Z

The Sacramento City Council is open to the idea of consolidating some of the services offered by the city and county governments.

Councilmembers unanimously decided Tuesday that city staff should analyze the issue over the next 90 days, and then bring their findings to the City Council. The discussion about consolidating services is moving forward as both the city and county struggle with severe budget problems.

Councilman Rob Fong strongly supported the idea. If the city and county can have “virtually identical” regulatory processes for businesses, then organizations like the Sacramento Area Commerce & Trade Organization and the city and county’s economic development departments could market Sacramento as a “dynamic region,” he said.

Uniform processes at the city and county governments could also lead to better land-use planning decisions, Fong said. He acknowledged that his ideas may be too expansive for the 90-day period, but said he hoped staff’s analysis would move beyond everyday issues such as “who picks up the leaves.”

“We would do ourselves a disservice if we didn’t start to have those kinds of conversations,” Fong said.

Staffers will now select services that could potentially be combined, according to Assistant City Manager Gus Vina’s report to councilmembers.

Vina said Monday that combining services could save money in the long term for local governments. In addition, joining services could eliminate redundancies, Vina said. The city and county provide several similar services, he said, such as animal control and code enforcement.

City Finance Director Leyne Milstein said her office is not ready yet to provide an estimate for the city’s budget situation next year. Staffers still need to analyze third quarter sales tax information, she said. However, she estimated in May that the city would face a $30-million deficit in the 2010/11 fiscal year.

She acknowledged Monday that the city’s budget for next year could be troubling, saying that “nothing has changed” since her May estimate of a $30-million deficit.

The county’s budget crisis is severe: Its $180-million gap last spring was followed by a $76-million shortfall in the summer.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Unique elementary school in South Sacramento to celebrate the winter season

2009-12-01T11:55:48Z

One of the best kept secrets of the South Sacramento area is a small, private school tucked away in the Lanai Shopping Center on Freeport Boulevard, neighboring the Sacramento Executive Airport, where it has existed in rented space for 21 years.

Over the years, most of the shopping center tenants have moved away. Meanwhile, countless hours of parent, teacher and student work have gone into transforming a run-down property into a school with colorful classrooms and playgrounds.

It has an understated entrance, but Camellia Waldorf School is an oasis for children.

The kindergarten yard is home to Mr. Mountain, a big pile of dirt, and Ms. Sandy, a big pile of sand. There are climbing structures in trees, hay bales, a water pump, chickens and a garden of oak and fruit trees, flowers and vegetables.

Young children run, jump, play and are close to the elements. Walking down the central corridor, a visitor may hear music, singing or poetry being recited. Watercolor paintings line office windows.

The community at Camellia Waldorf School is a diverse group, including families from Sacramento, West Sacramento, Elk Grove, Carmichael and Rancho Cordova. Parents are engineers, pastors, attorneys, health practitioners and public school teachers.

Many parents work for the government (federal, state and local), and in a variety of occupations. Families are from a wide range of social, economic, cultural and spiritual backgrounds.

With regard to racial/ethnic diversity, 8 percent of students are African American, 8 percent are Asian American, 17 percent are Hispanic American, 10 percent are from other racial/minority groups and 57 percent are Caucasian.

Families are Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim. Camellia is one of the most diverse Waldorf schools in Northern California. Diversity is important, but what bring families together are deeply shared values regarding how children should be raised and educated.

The school and its values, in many ways, resist the tide of mainstream society. Public schools emphasize academics at younger ages; preschool children are being taught phonics. Camellia remains steadfast to its protection of childhood – encouraging preschool children to play outside, rain or shine.

Rooted in the tenet that a child learns through movement in his or her first seven years, the early child curriculum encourages movement through creative free play and in structured activities. Woodworking and finger knitting, learned in kindergarten, develop fine motor skills for writing in later years.

Storytelling and song stimulate creativity and nonlinear thought, vital to the development of critical thinking skills and problem-solving. Gardening teaches children about the life cycle and our environment, while keeping in tune with the seasons and harvesting healthy foods to be eaten at snack time.

In this digital age, media and technology are central to our lives. Camellia encourages keeping both from young children until they are developmentally able to handle the intense sensory input.

The interdisciplinary curriculum for the grades balances the sciences, humanities, and the arts. Subjects include math, science and history, as well as music, art and woodworking.

According to a standardized test used at Camellia, 8th graders' average scores over the past 3 years were higher than the expected Grade Equivalent for all 9 academic subjects tested. Scores for 8 of 9 such subjects were at 10th grade level and higher.

Some Camellia graduates continue their education at the Sacramento Waldorf School in Fair Oaks, while others transition to public schools or private schools such as Christian Brothers and St. Francis High School.

According to a study of Waldorf graduates in North America, 94 percent attend college and nearly 80 percent intend to attend graduate school.

The same study reported that 47 percent of undergraduates majored in arts and humanities, 43 percent in math and science, and the remaining 10 percent in a variety of other fields.

Camellia Waldorf School’s annual tuition is $8,675. Considered low for a Waldorf school, it is expensive for the average family.

What most people do not know is that, perhaps unlike other local private schools, Camellia provides more than $170,000 in tuition assistance to an unprecedented 42 percent of its student population.

Contrary to public perception, 10 percent of Camellia students would qualify for free or reduced lunch in a public school. This Waldorf School is committed to providing its integrated curriculum to a socio-economically diverse population. Parents of all backgrounds make sacrifices to send their children to this school.

The school's mission is to educate by “honoring childhood, appreciating the individuality of each student and nurturing a sense of moral and ethical responsibility while building capacities for learning and encouraging clear and creative thinking.”

Camellia Waldorf School is more than a school. It is an educational community of committed staff, faculty and parents that strives to achieve and live a shared mission.

On Dec. 12, the school will host its 21st Annual Winter Faire, open to the public. This event offers a variety of activities for children such as puppet shows, storytelling, craft activities, and a store just for children to select gifts for family and friends.

Over 40 local artisans and craft vendors will be selling handcrafted items and unique gifts for holiday shopping.

This year the Faire will offer free demonstrations on beekeeping, hand-blown glass ornaments, and blacksmithing.

Festive and culturally diverse music and dance performances will also be free and include Kalpulli Xihuacoatl - Danza Azteka, the Southern Brothers Drum Group, Val Shadowhawk, the Nada Brahma Music Ensemble, Agua de Beber Capoeira, The Benny’s and the Ntshiab Li Nag Hmong dancers.

A “Gingerbread Creations” exhibit will feature the "work" of local architects and housing developers. The public, too, will be invited to build gingerbread structures.

The “Golden Ladle Soup Competition” will serve gourmet soups from local restaurants including Ella Dining Room and Bar and Magpie Café to be judged by local celebrities, such as Mai Pham from Lemongrass Restaurant, Sonney Chong from CAPITAL, Paulette Bruce of The Dining Divas, and Councilmembers Rob Fong and Kevin McCarty.

This event is open to the public and free. Some activities require nominal fees. Celebrate the winter season at this exciting event! CWS, 5701 Freeport Blvd., Sacramento, (916) 427-5022. See www.camelliawaldorf.org for more information.

This article was submitted by Marisa Cheung, Camellia Waldorf School Parent, and Meredith Johanson, Camellia Waldorf School Administrator.

Full time City Council? Members weigh in on idea

2009-11-20T06:22:27Z

Two members like the idea. Two are opposed. A fifth thinks it’s not a high priority.

These five members of the Sacramento City Council gave their views Thursday on a recommendation from an advisory group to make the council positions full time. The City Council has nine members because it includes the mayor. Currently, eight City Council positions are part time, while the mayor serves full time.

Councilmembers earn $52,000 per year.

The full-time recommendation comes from the city’s Charter Review Committee. Councilwoman Lauren Hammond asked the committee to study the topic.

Council positions are “full-time work,” Hammond said. Sacramento has become a big city and councilmembers should be able to concentrate full-time on their their jobs, she noted.

And it’s difficult “to go back and forth from one job to the other,” she said.

Hammond’s sole job now is councilmember. She worked for more than two decades as a telecommunications contract administrator for the state Senate.

Hammond said she doesn’t think the idea should be put into effect now because a salary adjustment would be involved.

“I think when the economy gets better -- I think that would be a better time to discuss it,” Hammond said.

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell also favors the idea, echoing Hammond’s comments that Sacramento’s growth makes being a councilmember a more difficult job. “Several of us already work more than forty hours a week,” she said. Pannell’s sole employment is with the City Council.

Councilmembers Rob Fong and Steve Cohn are opposed to the full-time councilmember idea. “I think for someone like myself, it’s certainly important to be able to have another career,” Fong said. “It’s tough to raise a family on a councilman’s salary.”

He noted, though, that the committee recommends that full-time councilmembers could have outside incomes.

Fong works as a consultant for clients that include the California Democratic Party.

Cohn said he thought it was unnecessary to make the post a full-time job. He said he doesn’t see why there would be a need to “preclude people from having outside interests.” Cohn is an attorney for the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District. In response to a question he said he is SMUD’s “No. 2” attorney.

Councilman Ray Tretheway said the committee’s idea of a full-time City Council is a second-tier issue following other pressing key issues such as the city’s governance structure. He is the executive director of the Sacramento Tree Foundation.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

High school students welcomed to Newton Booth neighborhood

2009-11-20T04:39:54Z

Wednesday night's Newton Booth Neighborhoods Association meeting saw an increase in teenage members.

Held at Temple Coffee's 28th and S streets location, the meeting was attended by Country Day high school students and several faculty members, including headmaster Steve Repsher. Though a long permit process lies ahead, the school is closer to the goal of moving into the vacant Newton Booth School, 2600 V St., by August.

The neighborhood group consisted of residents from three areas: Poverty Ridge, Newton Booth and Alhambra Triangle. Richard "Bud" Halliday, Newton Booth Neighborhoods Association president, welcomed the school's representatives and invited them to attend future meetings.

Last month, Repsher identified two major hurdles the school needs to clear before moving the private high school students into the building: being granted a Special Use Permit by the city and raising $1.8 million to complete the first phase of reconstruction, which will renovate the first floor for classroom use.

The pre-K to 12th grade school, now in the suburban Sierra Oaks neighborhood east of the central city, has 520 pre-K and elementary students and 152 high school students that Repsher said he hopes to move into the first floor of the Newton Booth campus by August. It will fulfill a dual campus vision first imagined by Dan White, the school's headmaster 20 years ago.

Repsher said that a planning committee likely will convene in January to plan for the move. Repsher said he hopes the school can accommodate at least 100 more high school students, and expand beyond the first floor over the next several decades.

Since hearing about the possible move last spring, the neighborhood has welcomed the school. Last month, Halliday told The Sacramento Press that the situation is a "win-win," and that he has heard no opposition to the move.

"It's a good fit for the neighborhood," said Dairl Helmer, a Newton Booth Neighborhoods Association board member. "So far, we haven't heard anyone objecting to it." Helmer said that he was looking forward to seeing what kind of culture the school would bring, and that he would like to attend school plays and concerts.

Repsher added that Councilman Rob Fong and Mayor Kevin Johnson approve of the move.

"Welcoming us is the biggest thing," Repsher said. "When I first looked at the facility, the first thing I did was check with the neighborhood leadership to see what they thought."

Country Day students aren't as uniformly supportive of the move.

"Some students are nostalgic about moving from the old campus," said sophomore Richard Whitney. "They've been there their whole lives."

However, Whitney and his friend Cabot Jackman, also a sophomore, support the move and are excited about the prospects of a larger school. Jackman said that once students visit the campus and get to know the neighborhood, they will lose their preconceptions and "forget about" the old school.

"It seems to be a great community," Jackman said. "At the old campus we are limited to what we can do in the community."

He pointed out that the Newton Booth area is closer to a larger concentration of businesses, museums and historic buildings.

Friday from noon to 1 p.m., students and Newton Booth community members will get their first taste of the Newton Booth campus. Middle and high school students will be transported to the site for a tour and they and members of the neighborhood will be served free hamburgers. Neighbors who wish to attend should e-mail office@saccds.org.

Cohn, Hammond, Fong say they didn't know about permit program

2009-11-12T04:53:10Z

Some members of the City Council said Wednesday they were unaware of the permitting program that played a key role in the recent controversy over the Nestlé company’s efforts to set up a water bottling plant in Sacramento.

The city closed down its Facilities Permit Program Oct. 27 during the public debate over Nestlé’s plans. Nestlé’s project was greenlighted through the FPP.

With the FPP, businesses that work with the city on an ongoing basis can receive quick approval for tenant improvements or remodeling of commercial and industrial buildings, said David Kwong, the city’s planning division director.

In the case of Nestlé, the company and its contractors received verbal approval from the city to start construction work. But the company and its contractors did not have a city building permit or “start-work authorization.”

Nestlé has said it followed city laws.

The city attorney’s office recently declared that it is illegal for the city to approve the start of construction for projects that do not have building permits, Kwong said.

Now, Kwong plans to ask the City Council to weigh in on the FPP program. Kwong said city staff will ask the council to let businesses begin work on their FPP construction projects before they receive building permits. However, businesses would need to obtain a written start-work order from the city before they begin work, he said.

He expects to bring the issue to the council in a few weeks.

When city staffers approach the City Council, they will be addressing at least three members who told The Sacramento Press they did not know about the FPP before the Nestlé controversy.

“I definitely am looking forward to this coming back to council,” Councilman Rob Fong said Wednesday. “We’ve not been briefed on this. We didn’t know there was such a program.”

Councilwoman Lauren Hammond had a similar comment. “I knew nothing about it,” she said.

Councilman Steve Cohn said that while he didn’t know about the FPP specifically, he knew the city was taking actions to streamline the building permit process.

While Hammond said she “wasn’t happy” that she was not informed about the FPP, she said she does not believe the mayor and City Council need to know about “every single thing” the city does. She suggested that it would be impossible for the city’s elected officials to know about every item in the municipal government, asking: “How could we possibly [know everything the city government does]?”

She noted that the city has monetary thresholds. If a program exceeds $100,000, it needs to come before the City Council, she said.

Mayor Kevin Johnson said earlier this week that the results of the audit of the Community Development Department will be key to his views of the FPP. Johnson, who said the FPP program has been effective, has talked about resuming it, with possible changes.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

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

Sacramento Steps Forward initiative announced

2009-11-06T04:36:58Z

Thursday morning, journalist Lisa Ling, members of the City Council and the homeless and formerly-homeless community joined Mayor Kevin Johnson in launching the "Sacramento Steps Forward" initiative. A crowd of several hundred waved blue initiative flags and cheered as Johnson announced his goal "to end homelessness and focus on permanent housing."

He applauded permanent housing shelters such as Mercy Housing, Turning Point and Martin Luther King Jr. Village, 3900 47th Avenue, where the launch was held.

Johnson said the goal of Sacramento Steps Forward is to provide 2,400 "decent and affordable" permanent housing units over the next three years. That would nearly quadruple the amount of permanent housing units created in the city over the last two years.

The mayor asked the Sacramento residents to advocate for the homeless, educate others about services needed to end homelessness, and to help find public, corporate and nonprofit funding.

"The homeless do not need a handout, they need a hand up," Johnson said. "They want to be empowered."

Johnson is chairman of a multiagency task force, part of the Policy Board to End Homelessness, that found funding for 269 winter shelter beds last month. This came despite an 84 percent cut in county funding for homelessness and the elimination of funding for winter shelters in September.

Tim Brown, director of the Sacramento Ending Chronic Homelessness Initiative, said last week that federal stimulus money will house 150 people who are now in shelters, freeing up 150 shelter beds over the next few months.

With an expected 419 beds, the city and county intend to provide 151 more beds this year than last year's 268 beds. According to the 2009 Homeless Count Summary Report, there are about 2,800 homeless people in Sacramento, including 711 in emergency shelters, 895 in transitional housing and 1,194 who have no shelter.

After Johnson thanked Brown, Sister Libby Fernandez and Joan Burke, both of of Loaves and Fishes, he introduced Sacramento-native Ling, the host of National Geographic Explorer. Earlier this year, as a special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show, she reported on Sacramento's "tent city," which brought other media outlets to the site.

"Your mayor, so many members of the homeless advocacy community, members of the city and county rose to the occasion and decided to tackle (homelessness) head on," Ling said. "I'm so proud of the way so many members of this community have come together (and) if Sacramento is successful (housing the homeless), it could be a model for the rest of the country."

County Supervisor Roger Dickinson, St. John's Shelter director, Michelle Steeb, and City Council member Rob Fong also spoke. Fong explained the Faith and Families initiative that he helped create.

"We're asking the faith communities to see if they would be willing through their congregation to make a commitment for one year to help house a homeless family," he said. "In the last year we've housed 10 homeless families (and) we're hoping to get a dozen more housed before the holidays."

Three formerly homeless people spoke about their experiences. They credited programs such as Serna Village, St. John's Shelter and Lutheran Social Services with changing their lives and giving them hope.

"It was absolutely marvelous," Fernandez of Loaves and Fishes said about the city's effort. "In one year, this mayor has talked more about the issue of homelessness than any mayor ever has. He spends time with the homeless, policymakers and advocates."

Although she applauded the push for transitional and permanent housing, she noted the nine-month waiting period to get into Quinn Cottages, a transitional housing shelter. This means that homeless need somewhere to go in the meantime, Fernandez said.

"It takes too long for the next step. (Creating a) 'safe ground' is just an added piece to get to the final goal, which is permanent housing."

City Council approves proposal for an outside audit

2009-09-02T05:10:30Z

In the coming months, the city may have three sets of eyes monitoring its books. In addition to the Sacramento City Council’s plans to fill the city’s vacant internal auditor position early next year, the council may bring in two more parties to review the city’s finances, according to members of the Sacramento City Council.

The City Council decided at its Tuesday meeting to start the process of hiring an independent company to audit the city’s finances. The city also plans to fill its currently vacant position for an internal auditor. And, there may be a third set of eyes monitoring the city’s books: Councilman Rob Fong noted that the City Council is likely to approve a proposal from the Sacramentans for Accountable Government group to create an independent budget analyst position.

At the meeting, the City Council asked city staff to request proposals from independent companies that could conduct the audit. Mayor Kevin Johnson has made many public comments calling for an independent audit from an outside company.

The City Council decided against an idea from staff to task the outside auditor with reviewing the city’s labor agreements. “To me, that’s policy,” Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said. The city decides whether labor negotiations are correct or incorrect, she said, and that task should not go to an outside firm.

Meanwhile, the city is saving money by keeping the internal auditor position vacant. The city’s internal auditor position has been vacant since May 20, when former auditor Marty Kolkin left the post for a new job in Santa Monica. Patti Bisharat, the city’s director of governmental affairs, told the City Council Tuesday that the internal auditor position may not be filled until January 2010 or later.

The city will have saved $100,000 by delaying the hiring of the internal auditor until December, according to Bisharat. The city still plans to hire an internal auditor.

When the city fills the internal auditor position, the auditor will report to the City Council instead of the city manager. Councilmembers in April said the internal auditor’s office could work in a more transparent way if it was supervised by the City Council. Because the city is changing the way the internal auditor’s office is supervised, the city needs to set up new ordinances, according to the city manager’s office.

Apart from thanking city staffers, city officials and councilmembers, Johnson did not make any comments about the outside auditor topic at Tuesday’s meeting.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Fremont Park to become greener, harder to maintain

2009-08-05T02:36:13Z

Fremont Park will become greener, but its upkeep will also be more difficult. That’s the trade-off that volunteers and local anti-pesticide activists are accepting in order to turn the Midtown park, at 16th and Q streets, into the city’s first pesticide-free park.

City Councilman Rob Fong, the Pesticide-Free Sacramento group and the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation organized the new 2-year pilot program at Fremont Park to use green techniques, instead of pesticides, to destroy weeds. The organizers promoted the program at a press conference Tuesday. If the pesticide-free program is successful, the city hopes to expand it to other parks, Fong said.

The Fremont Park program shows “the city’s commitment to trying to be sustainable in all its practices,” Fong said.

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department, which was hurt by $8.3 million in recent budget cuts, will rely on volunteers to maintain the park using green practices, according to Parks and Recreation Director Jim Combs.

“We’re not going to be using pesticides here,” Combs said at a Tuesday press conference at Fremont Park. “We’re going to be doing a lot of extra hand-work.”

The additional work it will take to maintain the park without pesticides could not be conducted by city Parks and Recreation staffers because of budget cuts, according to Combs. Because volunteers will carry out maintenance tasks at the park and Pesticide-Free Sacramento will provide expertise, the program will not bring any new costs to the Parks and Recreation Department, he noted.

The program will be assessed qualitatively and quantitatively, Combs said.

The city uses a minimal amount of pesticides because “we know that it’s not healthy for our environment,” Combs said. Pesticides leach through the soil and end up in water systems, he said.

Amy Barden, coordinator of Pesticide-Free Sacramento, said that Fremont Park has been maintained without the use of synthetic pesticides since early spring of this year. The group aims to lower, and work toward ending, the use of pesticides in local parks, neighborhoods, schools and workplaces, Barden said.

“The successful maintenance of Fremont will demonstrate that organically maintained landscape can be not only safer for ourselves and our children, but also beautiful and environmentally healthy,” she said.

Lizz Lagomarsino, a representative of Friends of Fremont Park, noted that the group’s members volunteer a lot of their time to cleaning up the park.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City/police e-mails describe planned surveillance system

2009-08-04T18:05:26Z

The Sacramento Press is publishing a series of documents and e-mails about the city’s planned surveillance system. In May and June e-mails, city officials and staffers were preparing to defend the city’s planned surveillance system against criticism from the local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The city plans to buy a $615,000 surveillance system with 32 security cameras, four mobile surveillance trailers and other related equipment. Sacramento officials announced in April that the city had been chosen to receive Federal Homeland Security grant funds to pay for the surveillance package. However, the city is still waiting for the California Emergency Management Agency to provide the federal funds.

The Sacramento Police Department and the Sacramento County chapter of the ACLU have sparred over the cameras: The ACLU argues that they do not counter crime, while police department spokesman Norm Leong contends that they are a helpful tool.

Police department managers and staffers at the offices of Mayor Kevin Johnson and City Councilman Rob Fong discussed the ACLU’s criticism of the cameras in May 19 and June 1 e-mail messages.

Documents that provide details on the planned surveillance system are available here.

Read about the formal procedures that Sacramento police personnel will follow when working with surveillance cameras.

The California Public Records Act request submitted by the Sacramento County chapter of the ACLU to City Manager Ray Kerridge can be read here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City Council debates audit proposal

2009-07-15T05:29:23Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson’s proposal to hire an independent company to audit city departments was hotly debated but not resolved by the City Council Tuesday. Johnson has repeatedly said that the City Council in January should have hired an independent firm to audit city departments.

The dispute that emerged Tuesday between Mayor Kevin Johnson and Councilman Rob Fong over a new independent audit comes as the city projects future deficits. When the city balanced its budget last month, it closed out a $50 million deficit. However, Finance Director Leyne Milstein estimates that the city will need to address a $30 million deficit in the 2010/2011 fiscal year.

Fong and Johnson sparred over the issue of hiring an independent audit. Johnson expressed frustration with the City Council, saying it was not addressing the city’s need for an independent audit in light of the city’s budget problems, Johnson said. “This represents more of the same, business as usual,” he said.

Fong criticized the proposal for an independent audit, saying the proposal from city staff was generic. He said it was still unclear what the City Council was looking for in an independent audit.

The city has an internal auditor position, but the position is currently unfilled. The city’s former auditor, Marty Kolkin, accepted a job in Santa Monica in May.

Last month, the City Council voted to place the auditor’s office under the council’s supervision. This means that the auditor will no longer report to the city manager’s office.

A report by city staffers further points out that the city’s financial statements are audited by an independent certified public accounting firm each year.

*Photo by Cheya Cary

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

What's happening at the Capitol: June 17, 18, 19

2009-06-17T01:58:20Z

Wednesday, June 17

11 a.m.-4 p.m. Comcast will be holding a high school recognition ceremony on the north steps of the Capitol. Last year the company gave out an average of $1,000 to over 150 12th grade students for higher education.

Noon-2 p.m. Ten people from the California Department of Public Health will be manning a public safety booth on the west steps of the Capitol. They will be passing out informational handouts.

Thursday, June 18

11 a.m-2 p.m. California Department of Social Services' Multicultural Commission will be holding a World Fair event in the Department of Social Services' quad area. 150 participants are expected to attend.

Friday, June 19

10:30 a.m.- Noon Hands in Peace, a children's peace festival, will be held on the west steps of the Capitol. "The event will celebrate diversity in Sacramento's children ages 10-20," said Inge Ring, a board member and organizer of Hands in Peace. "Kids of all ethnic and religious groups will be participating in a pentathalon over a four-day period from June 18 to June 21 as a vehicle for peace promotion." Senator Darrel Steinberg, Councilmember Rob Fong and the president of Hands in Peace will all speak at the Capitol in a press conference for the event. Around 200 children are expected to attend the press conference.

Noon-4 p.m. Fathers 4 Justice will be holding a rally and press conference on the north steps of the Capitol. The group uses direct action "done with humor" to spread their message according to their mission statement on their website. 25 people will gather for the event.

5:30-8 p.m. Three districts of the United Methodist Church will be eating dinner at different locations around the Capitol. 325 people will gather for the meal.