The former site of a gas station at Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and 12th Avenue has been transformed into the city’s ninth community garden. The garden’s grand opening on Saturday offered free seeds, magazines and workshop information to several dozen attendees. Bill Maynard, Sacramento’s director of community gardens, has been working on this project for four years. He said half of the garden plots have already been rented at a cost of $25 to $50 per year. WIC, a federally funded organization that focuses on nutrition and health for women, infants and children, rents space in the garden, which is near their office building. Andrea Kennedy, one of several people tending gardens at

Three community centers will close Nov. 1 if nonprofit groups are not interested in managing them, said Parks and Recreation Department Director Jim Combs. City officials are looking for groups to run the Southside Clubhouse at Southside Community Park, Robertson Community Center in North Sacramento, and Elmo Allen Slider Clubhouse near Power Inn Road. Without help from nonprofits, these centers will shut down in November, according to Combs. However, the centers would be open for rentals, he said. The city also wants a nonprofit to operate two rooms at George Sim Community Center on Logan Street. Summer programs were held at Robertson and George Sim centers, among other locations. For

Residents gathered Wednesday evening at the Hart Senior Center to find a new home for the Sacramento Zoo. After 83 years, the zoo is looking to ditch its current Land Park location in order to gain more space. The two most probable locations are Sutter’s Landing and the Natomas area. Merely 14 acres in size, the current zoo doesn’t allow for expansion. Many of the animals—including elephants, rhinos, polar bears and cheetahs—had to be relocated to different zoos because of the small size of the enclosures in Sacramento. In order to keep their accreditation with the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, the zoo has to keep up with the changing standards of the association by continuously upda

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

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department has heard the public and reversed a budget cut that was particularly aggravating to many residents: The department has reopened the bathrooms in city parks. However, the reopening of the bathrooms means the city will have less time for other tasks such as mowing and trash pick-up, department spokesman Hindolo Brima said. The bathrooms in most city parks were shuttered earlier this summer as part of the $8.3 million in budget cuts that the City Council approved for the department in June. But in response to complaints from residents, the department opened the bathrooms Friday. Jim Combs, director of Parks and Recreation, told the City Council in

For residents who care about their local parks, the city’s budget cuts to parks maintenance could mean that volunteering may become a necessity instead of an occasional activity. A few neighborhood groups are now talking to city staffers about how they can volunteer to maintain parks, according to Parks and Recreation Director Jim Combs. In one of its many budget cuts, the city slashed the parks department by $8.3 million for the 2009/2010 fiscal year. Pink slips were sent to 65 workers in the department; they are scheduled to be laid off Thursday. The total number of parks workers to be laid off this week was unclear, but acting city spokeswoman Wendy Klock-Johnson said the layoff figure

“Learn to Sing with the Plaids,” said the notice in the hallway of the Hart Senior Center. I considered myself to be a very young “senior”, I did attend the excellent Hatha Yoga class at the Hart Senior Center, so I qualified. I was curious, so I asked for an application at the front desk. There were four yes/no questions and five lines for a short essay. Have I sung before? No (not really). Can you read music? No. Do you attend musical theater? Yes (oh ya). Are you interested in acting? Yes (I think so). The essay: Why do I want to do this? It could be fun. It could change my life. I had only sung to the dog and cat before (The dog loved it, the cat was like, whatever). If I am ever goin