Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "sacramento city hall"

City cuts not limited to police, fire, parks

2011-05-27T01:59:26Z

While proposed budget cuts to public safety departments have attracted a lot of public attention, the Sacramento City Council also discussed millions of dollars in proposed budget cuts to many other offices and departments earlier this week.

At a Tuesday afternoon meeting, council members examined cuts to departments and offices that include the mayor and City Council, Economic Development, Finance, Human Resources and Transportation. The city is in the throes of a budget crisis with a $39 million budget gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year.

The City Council members decided on Tuesday to give a large chunk of its budget to the city’s general fund.

Council members’ budgets include revenues from cell phone towers and billboards. They moved $417,567 of $665,067 of these revenues to the general fund.

Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell was visibly frustrated by the council’s choice to move that money to the general fund, even though she voted to do so at the end of a discussion.

She said she utilizes her funds from cell phone and billboards on programs that help children in South Sacramento.

“What’s going to happen to the kids?” she asked.

Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said the council members receive hundreds of funding requests from community groups each week. She said that community groups that support the arts, sports and festivals will need to understand that the council members will no longer be able to help fund them.

“We simply won’t have the money,” she said. “We won’t be able to do that.”

While they took $417,567 out of their collective budgets, each council member will still have a pot of $55,000 in discretionary account funds in the next fiscal year. The $247,500 remaining from the pot of $665,067 in cell phone and billboard revenues will be moved into the discretionary accounts to help each council member reach the $55,000 figure, according to Dawn Holm, a city staffer in the budget, policy and strategic planning division.

The $55,000 for each council member is not a new amount, Holm explained. Council members had that amount of discretionary funding in their budgets in the 2010/2011 fiscal year, Holm wrote in an email.

The discretionary accounts are available for the City Council to help fund community projects.

The council also listened to Finance Director Leyne Milstein explain proposed cuts to various departments. Interim City Manager Bill Edgar and Interim Deputy City Manager Betty Masuoka are proposing a $707,406 cut to the Economic Development department, including four full-time employee positions.

The Human Resources Department could lose two full-time employee positions as part of a proposed $240,000 cut.

A recommendation to chop $480,884 from Transportation’s budget is also included in the city manager’s proposed budget.

Breaking the trend of cuts, the proposed budget recommends two new hires to the Finance Department. The new employees would be hired as revenue collectors, Milstein said.

It’s unclear at this point how many people will actually be laid off as a result of the proposed cuts to positions.

Also on Tuesday, Councilman Darrell Fong said he wants to explore the idea of making more cuts to Finance, Human Resources and Information Technology. He did not explain at the meeting why he wanted to make those cuts. The council did not act on Fong’s idea Tuesday.

Read a report on proposed cuts to many city departments here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City Council aims to lessen police budget cuts

2011-05-18T15:46:54Z

The Sacramento City Council members made it clear Tuesday night that they do not want to make the $12 million in cuts to the Police Department recommended in the proposed budget. But it’s unclear at this point how the council will lessen the cuts to the department.

A crowd of police staffers and supporters, which swelled to about 400 at its high point early Tuesday evening, turned out for the City Council’s budget hearing.

The city is grappling with a $39 million budget gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. A total of 149 department staffers, including 80 sworn cops, would be laid off in the proposed budget, according to police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong.

The city currently has 701 sworn cops.

“Twelve million (dollars) in cuts is too much for public safety to share this burden,” Councilman Darrell Fong, a retired police captain, said.

At the end of the City Council meeting, which ran longer than four hours, six City Council members voted not to move forward with the current proposed budget of $12 million in cuts proposed by Interim City Manager Bill Edgar and Interim Deputy City Manager Betty Masuoka.

The city manager’s office is responsible for proposing the amounts of budget cuts, while Police Chief Rick Braziel is responsible for divvying up how to make the proposed cuts at the department.

The City Council makes final budget decisions.

Six of the nine council members rejected the proposed budget because three were absent.

Mayor Kevin Johnson was at the NBA draft lottery in New Jersey, representing the Sacramento Kings. Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell was mourning the recent death of her mother and Councilman Rob Fong was in Los Angeles on a business trip, according to Councilman Steve Cohn.

RE Graswich, the mayor’s special assistant, presented the following statement on behalf of Johnson:

“In Sacramento, we’re in the fourth year of a devastating budget crisis and we continue to face difficult challenges. When I ran for mayor in 2008, I said public safety would be my top priority.

“That continues to remain true today,” Graswich said. “Public safety is a core function of city government. It plays a critical role in how we operate as a full-service city.

“It’s critical that as we move forward, we continue to practice fiscal responsibility, eliminate wasteful practices, capitalize on efficiencies and make collective sacrifices to provide the service our residents expect and deserve. I look forward to continuing to work with my council colleagues and finding the best solutions to solving the budget crisis.”

Greg Galliano, a 25-year-old Sacramento police officer, was one of many department staffers who urged the council not to make the cuts. He said the department is currently dealing with “massive call volumes.”

“If we take these cuts,” Galliano said, “we’re going to experience something that we’re not going to be able to protect you from.”

Leong explained the breakdown of the proposed layoffs: Sworn cops, 80; Community Service Officers, 38; Crime Scene Investigators, 14; Supervising Dispatchers, 6; Records Supervisor, 1; Administrative and Clerical, 10.

At a press conference before the City Council meeting, police staffers held up numbers that signified they could be among the numbers of people laid off.

Read the schedule of budget hearings here. Learn about the debate over cuts to the Parks and Recreation Department here.

The City Council is scheduled to adopt the city’s budget for the 2011/2012 fiscal year on June 21.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Residents fight to keep community centers

2011-05-13T15:29:44Z

Sacramento residents packed into a Sacramento City Hall meeting room Thursday night to protest proposed budget cuts to community centers and other local parks programs.

About 45 citizens addressed the City Council, according to Mayor Kevin Johnson’s count. Citizens waited in lines for a seat in the the meeting room and to speak to the council.

The hearing on the Parks and Recreation Department was part of a series of meetings on how the City Council can resolve a $39 million budget gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year.

Proposed budget cuts would slash hours at the Hart Senior Center in Midtown by half.

Some of the speakers contrasted the proposed community center cuts with city leaders’ efforts to bring a new sports arena to the area.

“You just knocked out all the senior people, so you better get us some seats up at your new arena,” Helen Blatta, a supporter of the Hart Senior Center, told Johnson.

Recommendations from Interim City Manager Bill Edgar and Parks Department Director Jim Combs would shutter the following community centers and clubhouses: Oak Park, Sim, Hagginwood, Robertson, Clunie, East Portal, Belle Cooledge, Evelyn Moore, Southside, Woodlake and Slider Centers and Clubhouses.

Clunie’s library at McKinley Park would keep operating.

The South Natomas, Coloma and Pannell Meadowview centers would stay open, according to a report from the Parks Department.

Jamillah Kirk, an office manager at Bret Harte Elementary School, was one of many speakers who urged the City Council to save the Oak Park Community Center. The community center provides positive activities for young people, she said.

“If you think Sacramento Police Department is busy now, you wait,” said Kirk, 39. “We are asking for trouble.”

After hearing from the public about the community centers, the City Council asked staff to study ways to put $1 million back into the parks budget.

The Sacramento Press will continue to follow the debate over proposals to cut community centers.

Slashing community centers would help the city save a little more than $400,000, but it is only one piece of nearly $1.8 million in cuts proposed to the parks department.

Also on Thursday, about 80 local high school students who participate in a law-enforcement training program attended the City Council’s public comment period to oppose proposed cuts to the Criminal Justice Magnet Academy. Budget cuts would end the Sacramento Police Department’s role in the program, according to police spokesman Norm Leong.

“You have role models that you can look up to,” Timothy Chang, a 17-year-old Grant Union High School student, told the City Council. “This academy has changed my life. It’s another family away from home.”

Read information about upcoming budget hearings here.

Intense city budget talks begin

2011-05-04T06:09:21Z

Sacramento City Council members began discussions Tuesday on the city manager’s recommendation to cut as many as 366 jobs in the budget for the 2011/2012 fiscal year.

One city union protested the proposed layoffs at City Hall before the City Council meeting, and representatives from two other unions expressed their opposition to the cuts during the meeting.

City officials presented the budget recommendations from the city manager’s office at Tuesday’s meeting and summarized the budget document.

As part of the meeting, Interim Deputy City Manager Betty Masuoka explained a chart on the job cuts recommended by the city manager’s office.

The city would need to slice 250 full-time positions to gain the $39 million in savings. But Masuoka and Interim City Manager Bill Edgar are making recommendations for cuts on top of the $39 million in light of the city’s ongoing financial woes.

City officials project that the city will continue to face budget gaps until fiscal year 2015/2016.

The gap for fiscal year 2012/2013 is $11.7 million and is expected to rise to $22.9 million in fiscal year 2013/2014. In fiscal year 2014/2015, the city expects to be $18 million in the hole. The gap drops to a $13 million deficit predicted in fiscal year 2015/2016.

If the City Council decides to cut all the positions that Masuoka and Edgar have suggested, 366 positions would be lost, according to page 28 of the chart Masuoka referenced.

It’s unclear at this point how many actual layoffs would result if the City Council decided to cut the 366 jobs. The numbers may change during the budget process. Plus, the city uses a process of demoting some employees while laying off others that can change the numbers.

Regardless, the City Council could decide to make hundreds of layoffs in the next few weeks.

“This budget is very painful,” Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell said.

Councilwoman Angelique Ashby indicated she would make efforts to avoid layoffs to police and fire employees. As many as 80 sworn officers could be laid off in the proposed budget, according to the Sacramento Police Department.

Ashby said the citizens she represents are concerned about police and fire staffing and levee improvements.

“I’ve got to find ways to make those my top priority,” she said.

Councilman Kevin McCarty asked city staff to prepare an alternate budget that would show the city’s financial situation if the City Council made no public safety cuts.

Mayor Kevin Johnson said he was concerned about the layoffs.

Marcia Mooney, business representative for Local 39, said there could be about 150 layoffs of members of her union, who work in city services including parks maintenance, utilities and solid waste, she said. Local 39 is pressing the City Council to not put the brunt of layoffs on rank-and-file workers.

Representatives of the Sacramento Police Officers Association and Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 addressed the City Council during the meeting.

“You’re making life-and-death decisions,” said Detective Mark Tyndale, vice president of the police union.

The police department, he said, has already been “cut to the bone.”

Jaymes Butler of the firefighters’ union said Fire Department cuts could hurt communities. The proposed budget would ramp up the number of Fire Department “brownouts” from two to six.

The city fire department has two rolling brownouts in effect, which means that certain fire trucks and engines are out of service at various times, according to former Fire Department spokesman Jim Doucette.

The next public budget meeting will be held Thursday, May 12. The Sacramento Press will publish the time and place of the meeting as soon as it can obtain that information.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Petition campaign opposes city union effort

2011-04-02T00:31:59Z

A campaign opposing an effort to unionize city employees is under way and will continue through the end of next week, according to Cindy Bates, the city employee leading the opposition campaign.

Bates, a program analyst in the city’s transportation department, is circulating a petition against a current effort to unionize nearly 700 city employees, including top managers and administrative staff.

Former city Labor Relations Director Dee Contreras is leading efforts to form the union, which would be called the Sacramento City Exempt Employees Association.

Bates is one of the 677 employees who could be represented by the union if it forms.

“We don’t want to join,” Bates said in a recent interview.

She said Friday that she has so far gathered 45 signatures from employees opposing the union campaign. She is gathering the signatures at public areas, she said.

Bates acknowledged that her signature drive would not stop the unionizing effort. Rather, the petition clarifies that signers oppose the formation of the union.

Bates’ petition also would request a “decertification election” to verify if the union has an adequate number of employees supporting it. That election would only be possible if the union forms.

Bates contended it is unclear how union dues would be spent. Union supporters have provided “no road map on what they plan to do with that money,” she said.

She also said that supporters of the union effort have not provided a plan to address the city’s $35 million - 40 million budget shortfall.

In February, Contreras said city employees asked her to help them organize. “The city has not taken care of its unrepresented (non-union) employees,” Contreras said in February.

Contreras declined to comment on Bates’ petition drive Friday.

View the list of the jobs that would be represented by the union here. Read Bates’ petition here.

The Sacramento Press will continue to cover the unionizing effort when more information becomes available.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City outsources tree pruning work

2011-02-24T00:51:57Z

The Sacramento City Council voted Tuesday to hire an outside contractor for tree pruning and removal work despite opposition from a major city union, Stationary Engineers Local 39.

Council members voted 7-2 to pay up to $3.7 million to Roseville-based Jensen Tree Service, Inc., for a contract that could span five years. The contract has a one-year guarantee of work – after that, the city manager will decide each year over the following four years whether to continue the contract, according to Craig Lymus, the city’s acting procurement manager.

A representative for Local 39, which represents urban forestry workers, among many other groups of city employees, said the work that Jensen Tree Services will carry out is usually done by city employees.

“I find this to be an affront to the public employees and the residents of this city,” Linda Norman, business representative for Local 39, told the City Council. “These dollars will be lost to the city’s embattled economy.”

Each year, the city will pay the contractor $749,000, according to Transportation Director Jerry Way. The money will come from a lighting and landscaping fund, he said.

Way told council members that his department is trying to balance its tree pruning work between in-house workers and outside contractors to save money. The city’s Urban Forest Service is part of the Transportation Department.

“We’re growing our outsourcing a little bit, because, you know, we’ve been hemorrhaging general fund dollars,” Way said.

Councilwomen Sandy Sheedy and Bonnie Pannell voted against hiring the contractor. Pannell raised concerns about contracting with an outside firm when the unemployment rate is high. “My problem is: Unemployment is 12 percent,” she said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City to welcome electric cars

2011-02-21T18:46:28Z

Sacramento City Hall expects to add several new high-tech electric cars to its fleet in the coming months, thanks to a federal Department of Energy program.

Five Chevrolet Volts will make up the first batch of electric cars coming to the city government later this year. The city can expect five Dodge Ram PHEV pick-up trucks to be available after the Volts, according to the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District, which is organizing a local electric car program. Specific timelines for the arrival of the cars are not yet available.

While the city will have some maintenance costs, the cars themselves will be free. The federal government gave grants to General Motors and Chrysler to provide electric cars to various entities for demonstrations, according to a Feb. 15 city staff report. The automakers chose to provide some of their electric vehicles to the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District, the staff report says.

The city will use a few of the cars because it’s one of SMUD’s partners for the demonstration project.

“SMUD is leading a regional coalition of other government institutions in demonstrating these vehicles in the Sacramento area,” said Bill Boyce, a supervisor in SMUD’s electric transportation program.

While Boyce said he expected the city to obtain electric cars this year, he added that specific arrival dates have not yet been set.

Sacramento City Councilman Darrell Fong spoke enthusiastically about the cars. “We’re getting these cars for free,” he said. “You can’t complain about that.”

While the city won’t have to pay for the cars, it will pay for some costs associated with them. As part of its role in the demonstration project, the city will give a maximum of $100,000 of “in kind support, including equipment installation and data collection,” according to the city staff report. The money will come from the city’s fleet internal service and capital improvement project funds, the report says.

Other costs to the city will come from operations and maintenance work for electric vehicle charging stations.

“The city will be responsible for the operations and maintenance (O&M) costs which are currently unknown given the lack of data on new equipment,” according to the report. “It is anticipated that during the pilot implementation of these projects, the (operations and maintenance) costs will be forecast and budgeted annually in the parking enterprise and the fleet internal service funds.”

Learn more about the electric cars program here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Johnson presents agenda at State of the City

2011-01-21T02:24:41Z

In addition to breaking the news that former Washington, D.C., Schools Chancellor Michelle Rhee would base her education group in Sacramento at Thursday’s State of the City address, Mayor Kevin Johnson also laid out his agenda for the environment, education and downtown development.

Johnson’s speech was the key draw of the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s 19th annual event, held at the Sacramento Convention Center. The chamber’s communications director, Hal Silliman, said this year’s turnout of about 950 people set a record.

In remarks before Johnson’s speech, Metro Chamber Board Chair Gregory Eldridge commented on the poor economic environment in Sacramento, saying “many of our members continue to struggle.”

The economy was also central to Johnson’s comments on “Greenwise,” the regional environmental initiative he started last year. The initiative will focus on five objectives.

The first is a goal of bringing twice as many green jobs to the region by the year 2020, doubling the current 14,000 green jobs.

“Our signature projects, in my opinion, when it comes to the green sector, are game changers for our community,” Johnson said.

The mayor’s second goal is to remodel school buildings in an environmentally friendly manner in the next 10 years. Greenwise aims to refurbish 15 million square feet of existing school buildings in the region.

A third element of the plan is to encourage people to buy local food. The fourth priority is to advance energy innovations.

Johnson’s fifth environmental goal is for the region to launch a biofuels manufacturing sector.

“With all of the waste that we produce in our region, particularly around agriculture, we have a tremendous amount of raw material in which we can create biofuels,” he said.

“Everything we need is right here. So on the flip side of it, if every garbage truck, if every bus, if every vehicle, if every city, county and state fleet, runs on biofuel, we can create a market and satisfy it with just our purchasing power by us becoming consumers here in our community.”

On the education front, Johnson set a goal to bring all Sacramento third graders in the city up to grade level in reading.

“We are announcing an initiative today that we want to be the first city in the country that ensures that every child is reading on grade level by the third grade,” Johnson said.

The mayor also discussed his development agenda. He mentioned his desire to revitalize downtown and bring a new sports and entertainment arena there.

A task force studying four current proposals is likely to make an analysis public on Friday.

“I don’t want us to just limp through this (economic) crisis,” Johnson said. “I think if we look back to the history of our community, we know that we have a strong core in this community and we can do a lot of things to get our mojo back.”

Read the complete text of the Greenwise plan here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City Hall: The year in scandals

2010-12-22T02:45:51Z

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Grand Jury rips Utilities Department

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

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

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

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

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

Vina wants permanent city manager job

2010-12-15T06:29:27Z

Interim City Manager Gus Vina said Tuesday that he would like to serve as Sacramento’s next permanent city manager.

The City Council held a private meeting on Tuesday to discuss the council’s plans for hiring a city manager. The council did not discuss the details of the private meeting at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. It’s unclear at this point if the council will search for a city manager outside of City Hall. The timeline for the council’s hiring process also remains unclear.

Meanwhile, Vina is expressing his interest in the permanent job.

“When I took the position, I understood it was interim and that they can discuss the interim status and appointment at any time up to March of next year,” Vina said in an e-mailed statement. “Should mayor and council decide to launch a recruitment effort, there’s no question I’ll apply.”

If selected for the permanent job, Vina said he would like to focus on recovery in the city. “That means focusing on three things: achieving long-term budget sustainability, pursuing economic recovery and keeping the community safe,” he said.

Former City Manager Ray Kerridge resigned in February, and the City Council selected Vina for the interim post in March.

Photo by Kathleen Haley.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Local media: Dan Waters to be fired

2010-12-02T02:28:32Z

The Sacramento Bee is quoting anonymous sources to report that city officials are now taking steps to fire Dan Waters, a city employee who was embroiled in a scandal at the Community Development Department last year.

City officials have said that Waters approved 35 building permits for a Natomas flood zone last year.

When Waters granted the Natomas permits to K. Hovnanian Homes, he violated federal flood regulations, according to city officials. Waters’ action carried a high price tag: The city is paying up to $350,000 to correct its violations of federal flood rules and comply with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Bee reporter Ryan Lillis cites anonymous sources to report that the city gave Waters a dismissal letter last week.

The Bee did not report whether other employees face disciplinary action in relation to the scandal.

City spokeswoman Amy Williams would not confirm the Bee’s report. “We do not comment on personnel matters,” she wrote in an e-mail Wednesday.

The department is facing other upheavals in addition to the problems from the 35 Natomas permits. In another scandal, an audit said the department did not collect more than $2.3 million in fees from developers.

Interim City Manager Gus Vina did not return a phone call Wednesday afternoon. Phone messages left with Waters’ city phone number Wednesday afternoon were not returned.

City Councilman Rob Fong recently told The Sacramento Press that the city should take further action against Waters and others involved in the troubles at the Community Development Department.

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Fong, Schenirer sworn into office

2010-12-01T05:43:14Z

The Sacramento City Council underwent a makeover Tuesday night when two new council members were officially sworn into office. The swearing in of Jay Schenirer and Darrell Fong is the last step in the City Council’s changing of the guard.

Schenirer’s ceremony had an element of star quality because state Senate President Darrell Steinberg administered the oath of office for the new councilman.

Angelique Ashby, the other new council member, was sworn into office Nov. 23 to represent District 1.

Schenirer replaced Lauren Hammond as the District 5 council member, while Fong took the District 7 reins from Robbie Waters.

Also on Tuesday night, Steve Cohn was sworn in for a fifth term as the city councilman for District 3.

Schenirer thanked his family and his volunteers, among others, for their help with his campaign.

“I so appreciate all the work that you did. (And) all the sacrifices that you made, taking time away from your family to help me get here,” he said, addressing his volunteers. “And I promise not to let you down.”

After the swearing-in ceremony, Steinberg told The Sacramento Press why he read the oath of office to Schenirer.

“I’ve been a longtime friend and supporter of Jay,” Steinberg said. “He gave me the honor of swearing him in. I was just so thrilled for him; he’s going to be great.”

Steinberg mentioned that he served on the Sacramento City Council from 1992 to 1998. “I also came out (to the swearing in event) because, as a former city council member, this never gets old ... It’s a wonderful part of democracy and tradition. I just wanted to honor all the new members and returning members who are serving the city.”

Fong’s identical twin brother, Derrick Fong, swore in the new District 7 council member. Derrick Fong is the board chairman of the Mikuni Japanese Restaurant Group.

Darrell Fong thanked former City Councilman Robbie Waters after taking his new District 7 chair. Waters and Fong ran against each other in June, but Waters lost the race to a runoff between Fong and Ryan Chin. Waters supported Fong in the November runoff.

“I want to acknowledge Robbie Waters,” Fong said. “Without you, I wouldn’t be sitting here. So, thank you again for your public service.”

Fong peppered his speech with jokes, telling his aunt in the audience that she was not allowed to dance in front of the City Council members. She respected his request.

Derrick Fong said outside the meeting that he and his brother would have wanted their late father to be there. “He would have been so proud of my brother in terms of the service he’s going to render,” Derrick Fong said.

Cohn was sworn in for a fifth time by City Clerk Shirley Concolino. “I’m still very excited and very enthusiastic after all these years,” he said.

With Darrell Fong and Rob Fong in office, there are now two Fongs on the City Council. Darrell Fong recently said that people would be able to tell them apart because Rob Fong is “tall and better-looking.”

As he did last week with Ashby, Councilman Kevin McCarty required Schenirer and Fong to don propeller-head caps as a form of initiation.

All photos 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 to decide medical pot rules

2010-11-09T03:13:56Z

The Sacramento City Council will decide whether to approve proposed medical marijuana regulations at its Tuesday night meeting.

Under the proposed rules, the city’s 39 medical pot dispensaries could apply for city business permits. Medical pot shops would have to follow a long list of city rules applying to their employees and the location of their businesses.

Dispensaries must be located 600 feet away from parks, schools, day care centers, churches, substance abuse centers, theaters and tobacco retailers, according to the proposed rules. Exemptions from the location rules could apply to existing dispensaries that are registered and have not moved to a different site since Oct. 26, 2010, according to the city’s report on the proposed ordinance.

The regulations would also forbid a shop’s owners, employees and volunteers to have a felony conviction.

Dispensaries would also be required to pay fees to foot all of the city’s costs for regulating the local medical marijuana industry.

The City Council meeting will be held at City Hall, 951 I St., at 6 p.m. on Tuesday. Read the draft rules here.

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Q&A with Safe Ground's Tracie Rice-Bailey

2010-10-01T23:29:32Z

If you attend the weekly Sacramento City Council meetings, you’re likely to see an activist with colorful clothing address city leaders on homeless issues.

Tracie Rice-Bailey, 57, has appeared at Tuesday night council meetings so frequently in the last year that she has become a familiar face at City Hall.

For more than a year, Rice-Bailey and other advocates for the homeless have lobbied council members for a legal camping ground for the area’s homeless.

Rice-Bailey is a vocal member of the advocacy group that calls itself Safe Ground Sacramento. The group wants the city to reserve a space for homeless people where the city’s camping ban would not apply.

Rice-Bailey, who said she was homeless for 12 years and now lives downtown, often intersperses her short speeches at City Hall with quotations from the Bible. She also has a distinctive style: She is instantly recognizable because of her 1960s-era necklaces and beaded headband.

The Sacramento Press sat down with Rice-Bailey at Loaves & Fishes recently to talk to her about her role with the Safe Ground campaign. In her responses, she referred to “Tent City,” the homeless campground in Sacramento that attracted major media attention last year.

The Sacramento Press: How did you become involved with the Safe Ground issue?

Rice-Bailey: I was trying to get John Kraintz (current Safe Ground president) to work with me because I wanted someone else to roll with ... and he flipped me to work with the Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee. And out of SHOC, Safe Ground was born.

SP: So, SHOC was first, and then Safe Ground came after that.

TRB: Sacramento Homeless Organizing Committee has been here for years. And that is our mother. We were at a SHOC meeting actually trying to figure out what to do with the people from Tent City because everyone was being displaced.

John had to go to the bathroom, and everyone was jamming John up, (asking): “What are we going to call it? What are we going to do? Where are we going to go?”

And John’s going, “Man, I just need safe ground!”

Hence our name.

It became Safe Ground from that second on. That’s what we all need: We all need safe ground.

SP: Safe Ground has been around for —

TRB: July 1, 2009 was our maiden march and our maiden camp-out. We camped across from the water treatment plant. And from there we went by the mission on Bannon Street. From there, we went to what we call the “field of dreams.”

From there, we went to Mark Merin’s property on 13th Street — and everybody knows about that.

And now, we’re out in the woods hiding again.

SP: Field of dreams? What is that?

TRB: That’s the North 10th property. We call it the field of dreams because when you have nothing, it’s a dream to even have a field.

SP: That’s an empty property?

TRB: It’s an empty property with trees on it, which makes it a dream in itself. The tent city by campers was not called “Tent City.” It was called “The Wasteland” or “The Badlands” because there’s no trees. There’s no shelter. There’s nothing to shelter you from the sun.

SP: Safe Ground advocates have been lobbying the City Council for more than a year. How optimistic do you feel about a Safe Ground site being set up?

TRB: I think they really have no choice. There is no budget. Nobody has a budget ... If they would just give us a moratorium (on the camping ban). And I’m not saying (that we should) sleep on K Street or J Street, which people do right now anyway. But give us a place to be, and let us be self-governing. Let us take it from there.

SP: Are Safe Ground advocates taking their cause to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors?

TRB: We’ve made one visit there. We’ve been talking about that as something we’re going to have to start doing. The reason we’ve gone to the city so hard is that the city has the ordinance, and the city has the ability to change that ordinance. They can sign a paper and give us a moratorium ... The county does all the homeless services. But now they’re cutting all of them. So, we’ve got to go there.

SP: I’ve heard you quote the Bible in your comments at City Hall. I’ve heard you speak many times. How do your personal religious views relate to your advocacy for a Safe Ground site?

TRB: We are our brother’s keeper. How the hell are you going to say I’m my brother’s keeper and not try to find him a place to be? You can’t. It’s not acceptable behavior. We’re here to learn to love each other. If we can’t figure out how to get along here, there is nothing left for us later.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Johnson aims to link city services with schools

2010-09-03T01:38:02Z

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson said Thursday he is organizing an effort to link city services with Sacramento school districts.

At a press conference at American Lakes Elementary School in Natomas, Johnson laid out a plan for how local schools can benefit from a relationship with city government.

Sacramento schools and the city should explore methods to share city facilities and to boost public safety and after-school efforts for schoolchildren, he said.

“We’re talking about the need to create a partnership in a way that we have not done in the past,” Johnson said to an audience that included a group of third graders.

City Hall and the school system need to bolster their relationship because both entities are experiencing challenges from budget cuts, he said.

He said he plans for school district superintendents and a representative from the city manager’s office to meet regularly to analyze efforts involving the city and the school system.

Bobbie Plough, superintendent of the Natomas Unified School District, said Johnson recognizes how it is crucial to “work smarter through partnerships.”

The school system and City Hall are separate entities, Johnson said, but they should not be cut off from each other. “There’s no way Sacramento will be a great city without great schools,” he said.

Johnson made his announcement about a new effort between city schools and City Hall in the aftermath of recent budget cuts to the city’s Office of Youth Development. It is no longer an office, and has one remaining staffer.

Kathleen Haley 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.

Vina to be interim city manager for 9-to-12 months

2010-03-10T23:40:43Z

Gus Vina, already serving as acting city manager, has been selected to be the interim city manager for the following nine-to-12 months.

City Manager Ray Kerridge resigned last month and will leave his post Friday. Kerridge has said he’s taking a private sector position, but has not yet announced where that position will be.

Mayor Kevin Johnson and several council members held a press conference Wednesday to announce Vina’s new position.

“And I think it’s very clear to all of us that (Kerridge) has very big shoes that we need to fill,” Johnson said. “And we feel that we found the right person to fill his shoes in a very short timeframe.”

Johnson and the council members unanimously chose Vina. They also interviewed Assistant City Managers John Dangberg and Cassandra Jennings.

Johnson explained that the City Council will hold a private meeting Tuesday to formally complete Vina’s new contract. The City Council wanted Vina to serve as interim city manager for nine to 12 months, Johnson said.

Vina previously held one of three assistant city manager positions. He supervised the police, fire, finance, human resources and labor relations departments, among others. He is also a former budget manager for the city.

Vina earned his master’s degree in public administration from the University of San Francisco. He holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from California State University, Sacramento.

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said Vina “is motivated for the city.” She added that he works well with neighborhoods, business and labor.

“We have challenges,” Vina said at the press conference, “but those challenges are opportunities.”

Johnson said that he and the council members were looking for many attributes in an interim city manager including expertise in local government issues, budget matters and labor relations.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Mayor Johnson talks about Evans, RekeROY rally

2010-03-10T08:00:04Z

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson – a three-time NBA all-star point guard for the Phoenix Suns – shared his thoughts on Sacramento Kings Rookie of the Year candidate Tyreke Evans Tuesday morning at a press conference.

Johnson officially endorsed Evans last week, and came before tonight’s rally to support Evans.

"He's doing some amazing things," Johnson said about Evans' performance this season. "He's on pace to do something only three other (rookies) in the history of the NBA have done in the past – averaging 20 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists (per game)."

The three players who Johnson talked about are LeBron James and hall-of-famers Oscar Robertson and Michael Jordan. Currently, Evans is averaging 20.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game.

The RekeROY Rally to support Tyreke Evans for rookie of the year will take place tonight during the game against the Toronto Raptors at 7 p.m. During the rally, the introduction of the R-O-Y (rookie of the year) chant will be introduced to the fans to be used the rest of the season.

“A lot of people thought that we should have drafted other players," Johnson said about the controversy of drafting Evans with the fourth pick in last year's draft. "If you look at what he's doing, the team has won more games than last year. That's a very important indicator."

The Kings won only 17 games last season compared to 21 wins going into the final quarter of this season.

Evans isn't the only rookie turning heads. In Oakland, Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry has performed well as of late. Although Curry has had a recent outburst along with New Orleans Hornets point guard Darren Collison, Evans has performed well all season.

"Curry is doing a great job down in Golden State," Johnson said. "But I think we have the top rookie here in Sacramento."

Photos by Rob Small

City eyes state buildings for future tax revenue

2009-10-23T04:38:58Z

City officials are eyeing state buildings in Sacramento as a potential source of local property tax revenue. A public affairs official with the state’s Department of General Services confirmed with The Sacramento Press on Thursday that it is moving forward with plans to sell some state-owned buildings in the city.

Sacramento does not receive property tax from state-owned buildings. But if the crisis-ridden state government sells the buildings it owns to private entities, property tax monies would flow to the city as well as to other local governments, such as the county and school districts, according to Assistant City Manager John Dangberg.

Mayor Kevin Johnson and the city manager support the planned sale. Johnson noted in a phone interview that if the state sold some its buildings, it would help its “cash-flow problem.” There are advantages and disadvantages to being the state capital; one disadvantage is the state’s ownership of some of downtown’s prime real estate, Johnson said.

Dangberg said the state needs to make its own decisions about the economic viability of selling its property. If the state sells its properties, the city “would want to be sure it was done in a manner that would allow us to collect property taxes,” he added.

Dangberg said he has talked about the state’s possible sale of Sacramento properties with Zach Miller, an official in the Real Estate Services Division of the state’s Department of General Services.

The Capitol Area Development Authority’s (CADA) role as a recipient of local property tax revenues adds another dimension to the issue. The city is examining the implications of the state’s possible sale of the Capitol Area East End Complex, which consists of five buildings and a parking facility at Capitol Avenue and N Street. The complex is in CADA’s jurisdiction, Dangberg pointed out. If the state sells the complex, CADA would receive all property tax revenues, he said.

In light of this, the city is trying to figure out if it can receive property taxes in areas under CADA jurisdiction, Dangberg said. He noted that the city provides police and fire services to the CADA area.

The state, meanwhile, appears to be seriously pursuing the sale of 17 buildings. The state plans to lease back the buildings after selling them. “Starting in the new year, we’re planning to market them aggressively,” said Jeffrey Young, deputy public affairs director for the Department of General Services. Details about the state’s plans to sell buildings -- including those in the city and county of Sacramento -- are featured prominently on the department’s website.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

SacPress interviews city finance director

2009-07-11T03:26:03Z

Now that Sacramento’s 2009 / 2010 budget has been approved, what does the city’s financial picture look like for next year?

The Sacramento Press sat down with Leyne Milstein, the city’s finance director, to ask that question. Milstein outlined next year’s projected $30 million deficit and commented on the city’s “structural deficit.”

While Milstein grapples with severe city budget gaps that are tens of millions of dollars, she has a self-described “lighter side” that is evident in her choice of office decorations. An interview with Milstein would be incomplete without mention of her Magic 8 Ball collection.

Sacramento Press: What is the city’s financial outlook for the next year?

Leyne Milstein: For the fiscal year that started on July 1, we adopted a balanced budget in June. And one of the things we really need to be mindful of is this continuing impact of this economic crisis that has gripped the nation. (We need) to continually be mindful of how that’s going to impact our major tax revenues in the general fund -- and specifically property taxes and sales taxes. One of the things we’re now looking at: As the state continues to add furlough days, how is that going to affect...sales taxes?

SP: At a City Council meeting recently you mentioned a projection of a $30 million deficit for 2010/2011. Can you explain that a little bit?

LM: We still think (the $30 million projection) is fairly consistent with our estimate in June. We have some obligations that we need to be mindful of relative to our Sacramento City Employee Retirement System. So we know that costs for that will go up about $8 million.

We know that we are rolling over $8 million in one-time costs (from the 2009/2010 fiscal year). We believe that we’re going to still continue to see a decline in our property taxes.

We have some costs for some of our new facilities coming on-line...Some of our newer labor contracts -- even though we got concessions for 2010 -- include midyear raises. Small, but still 1 to 2 percent, of salary (increase) is...a cost.

SP: How can the public get involved in addressing the city’s financial obstacles?

LM: Folks can contact us, write us, e-mail, call their council members. They can call the budget office. We held community meetings all through March and April. Anybody is always welcome...We were talking about this in October, very publicly.

What we’ve really strived for, and what we tried to do when we did go out to community meetings, is to make sure that people understand the complexity of the budget. And the fact that there’s only discretion on how to spend certain portions of the budget. And that we have to respect, for legal reasons, that some dollars...can’t just be spent on anything, at any time, for any purpose.

SP: Mayor Kevin Johnson often refers to the city’s structural deficit. What is that, and how can it be addressed?

LM: Because of this ongoing decline in revenues -- and they’re continuing to decline -- we are structurally imbalanced between revenues and expenses.

When we built our 08/09 budget, we estimated a $58 million (deficit). We closed everything but $23 million. That was one-time money. So, there was a structural deficit that rolled into 09/10 of $23 million. Now, our 09/10 budget, we closed all but $8.3 million of that. So now we have, structurally, $8.3 (million) moving into 2010/2011, plus the other impacts of continued revenue decline and continued growth in expenses. So, that’s the structural problem between revenues and expenses.

SP: Looking around the office, it appears that you have a sense of fun -- even though the city is facing all of these hardships financially. I see a Gumby (doll), there’s art on the wall, some shiny fake flowers. Can you talk about how you’re balancing that sense of fun with the hard realities of working on the budget?

LM: I think life is a balance of your personal and professional. This is a really difficult job. And I do take my job very seriously. We are stewards for the residents of the city of Sacramento. But on a personal level, if I just took all the serious, and never had that lighter side, it wouldn’t be good and healthy for me.

And so, I have three Magic 8 Balls on my desk. And, you know, sometimes we play “best two-out-of-three.” Just to lighten the load. And that’s what it’s all about -- to have that balance. Honestly, I think I’m a better professional by achieving that balance. And laughing helps receive some of the stress. And so, we try and do that. And the flowers on my desk are actually things that my kids have made me over time that have become collections -- (they) are just to remind me of that other side about why I do my work.