Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "sacramento housing and redevelopment agency"

Redevelopment winds down, city must decide next step

2012-01-26T01:49:24Z

Mere days before the Feb. 1 deadline to end redevelopment, the City Council is faced with two important decisions: what role the city will take in the aftermath, and what will happen to agency staff when redevelopment ends.

Although the City Council did not take any action at the meeting Tuesday, City Manager John Shirey outlined the next steps for council members as the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency winds down.

Shirey is the former executive director ~~president~~ of the California Redevelopment Association.

SHRA is the agency responsible for redevelopment in Sacramento County and the city.

An important factor in the process is figuring out what responsibilities the city will take on, and which ones will be taken over by other agencies, Shirey said.

In August, the City Council agreed to take over the non-housing functions of SHRA.

The city is responsible for managing current construction projects and making required payments on bond debt and other financial obligations.

With redevelopment being disbanded altogether, though, the housing assets and activities of SHRA have to be disposed of as well.

The city could assume that responsibility – or it could allow the city’s Housing Authority to take it over, which is what Shirey encouraged the City Council to have the city do.

If the city Housing Authority assumes those responsibilities and they continue to be managed by the SHRA, Shirey said, Housing Authority staff would have the benefit of the expertise of SHRA staff to administer the ongoing housing activities and assets.

Another problem the city is faced with is how it will handle staffing.

Currently, SHRA provides staff for all redevelopment programs in the city and the county.

Once the redevelopment agency is disbanded Feb. 1, staffing duties will have to be transitioned from SHRA to whatever entity takes over.

There are nearly 100 employees working on various projects at this point, Shirey said, and not all of those people will be needed in the transition.

That means layoffs for a majority of those employees.

Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said Tuesday that she is concerned about potential layoffs.

“I hope that if any layoffs occur, that management is included and it’s not just the workers who take the hit,” she said. “I’ve seen that happen too many times.”

Bernadette Austin, a housing finance analyst with SHRA, spoke to the council on behalf of staff members who have worked behind the scenes on redevelopment projects such as the La Valentina housing project.

“I couldn’t do my job without (those staff members),” Austin said. “They helped create projects that really mean something to the community.”

Austin urged the council to keep as many current staff members in place as possible throughout the transition.

Shirey said attempts are being made in the Capitol to extend the dissolution deadline from Feb. 1 to April 15, but it’s not certain that legislation will make it to the governor’s desk in time to make a difference.

Redevelopment dissolution will be on the agenda at the Jan. 31 meeting, and the City Council is expected to take action then.

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

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

Redevelopment agencies lose in the courts

2012-01-05T03:54:12Z

In what has been called a David versus Goliath victory, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday in favor of Gov. Jerry Brown’s plan to disband redevelopment agencies in California, and opponents of redevelopment in Sacramento wasted no time to celebrate the success.

“After years of opposition to redevelopment activities, the abuse of government power and confiscation of property for private use, our day finally came,” Moe Mohanna, a local real estate developer, said Tuesday.

The California Supreme Court ruled Thursday to uphold the redevelopment “elimination” bill, but struck down the bill that would have allowed agencies to make “continuation payments” to stay in business.

The two bills were passed as part of the 2011 state budget and caused a flurry of activity for redevelopment agencies across the state.

The California Redevelopment Association and the League of California Cities quickly challenged the new laws in court.

Meanwhile, redevelopment agencies got to work coming to terms with the possibility that they would have to either “opt in” to a new program – which would require annual payments in the millions of dollars – or submit to having their agencies phased out permanently.

In Sacramento, the City Council and the county Board of Supervisors chose to keep the Sacramento Housing and Revelopment Agency active by agreeing to the required “continuation payments” outlined in the legislation.

If the court had upheld both bills, the SHRA would be preparing to make the first of those payments due in 2012 – an estimated $22 million total – to keep the SHRA going.

The ruling to uphold the elimination bill, however, is more than a game-changer for redevelopment agencies – it’s a game-ender.

“We’re shocked,” La Shelle Dozier, executive director for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency said Wednesday. “Obviously this is not the outcome that the agency was hoping for.”

Dozier said the SHRA sees the court ruling as one of the “worst possible scenarios” – and one the legislature never intended.

“There was never any anticipation that over 400 agencies would have to unwind over night,” Dozier said. “It was anticipated that some (agencies) would opt to dissolve, but some would opt to continue activities – which is what we had opted to do.

“I think the severing of the two bills in the court was a huge blow to redevelopment agencies,” Dozier said.

Sacramento projects stalled by the legislation while the courts were sorting things out now come to a screeching halt – including the affordable housing portion of the 65-acre Township 9 project and the remaining phases of the Paso Del Nuevo housing project.

“The issue is that, even if the deadline (to dissolve) is extended (by the legislature), there will be a stay on redevelopment activities,” Dozier said. “I don’t anticipate that they will allow us to move forward on any projects while they are figuring out a new redevelopment plan for the state.”

Now that the decision has been handed down, redevelopment agencies will start the process of dissolving – but leaders at the the California Redevelopment Association (CRA) and League of California Cities said Thursday they aren’t finished fighting yet.

The (California Redevelopment Association) and the league vowed to work with state legislators immediately to develop legislation to revive redevelopment, Kathy Fairbanks, California Redevelopment Association representative, said in a press release Thursday.

Opponents of redevelopment agencies see the court ruling as a step in the right direction for the state and for Sacramento, Mohanna said.

“Our neighborhoods, our schools, our police department and many other governmental agencies will now have more funds to provide essential services for our community,” Mohanna said, “rather than a few select private developers that play the game with redevelopment money.”

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

SHRA prepares obligation payment schedule

2011-08-30T04:40:34Z

At first glance, it seems that the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency may be writing some big checks over the next few months – an estimated $111 million – but the payment schedule going before City Council Tuesday is not as simple as it appears.

In a recent case challenging new state redevelopment laws, the California Supreme court directed all redevelopment agencies to compile a list of their financial obligations along with a schedule for making payments and submit them to the state.

The payment schedules, called Enforceable Obligation Payment Schedules (EOPS), totals up the “relative obligations” of redevelopment projects and outlines a payment schedule through the end of the year, Don Cavier, SHRA director of finance, said Monday.

Relative obligations, Cavier said, includes not only loans and bonds on all projects, but also any lease payments, third-party contracts and administrative costs associated with the projects.

“All of the costs, large or small, are factored in,” Cavier said.

For SHRA, the total amount of obligations to be paid over the next five months is “conservatively estimated” to be about $111 million, according to Cavier.

This isn’t new debt, however. It’s a “snapshot” of what the agency is already obligated to pay for redevelopment projects that are either completed or well under way, Cavier said.

Cavier and his staff arrived at the numbers after weeks of combing through the general ledger, invoices, service contracts, loan information and contracts with third parties to compile the detailed information.

“It was a tedious process,” said La Shelle Dozier, SHRA executive director. “Staff from all departments were involved because we wanted to make sure we were being as accurate as we could.”

On Aug. 9, the Sacramento City Council opted in to the Voluntary Alternative Redevelopment Program, making SHRA liable for “continuation” payments to the state to stay in business.

SHRA is not obligated, though, to any of the elimination bill (AB1x26) requirements – or so they thought.

The EOPS requirement was only found in AB1X26, and was intended to make it easier for the entities that would eventually take over eliminated agencies to know how much money still had to be paid for agency projects.

“The EOPS shows what would have to be paid (and when), if we were dissolving the agency,” Dozier said, “but, we aren’t doing that.”

According to the SHRA, If all of the outstanding redevelopment obligations had to be paid at once, the total would be approximately $923 million.

It doesn’t have to be paid all at once, though, Cavier said.

“Some capital projects are paid when they are competed, other projects have bonds associated with them (which) go on for many years,” Cavier said. “Not all of it is on a set payment schedule.”

Attorneys disagreed about whether the court’s direction applied to agencies that opted in to VARP before the stay was issued by the court, said Lillian Henegar, director of policy and outreach for the California Redevelopment Association.

Until the court says one way or the other though, Dozier said, the SHRA is going to “err on the side of caution” by following the court’s direction.

“We’d rather have it completed and find out we didn’t need to do it,” Dozier said.

According to the provisions of the state legislation, SHRA is obligated to an initial continuation payment to the state of $18.3 million, with the first half due Jan. 15 – the day the court is expected to hand down its decision on the legal challenge.

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

State budget brings good news and bad news for Sacramento

2011-07-14T01:39:44Z

The new California state budget reduced spending by $15 billion and potentially includes an additional $2.5 billion in cuts – but it’s not all bad news for Sacramento.

Some of the impacts of the state budget on Sacramento were outlined at the City Council meeting Tuesday, most notably problems stemming from changes to redevelopment, realignment and motor vehicle license fees.

“The best thing I can say is that it was an on-time budget,” said David Jones, lobbyist for the city of Sacramento.

The budget was balanced using $4 billion in projected revenue increases, Jones said, and about 40 percent of that is “just hopeful thinking and subject to litigation or challenges.”

That’s good news for the city, Jones said, because some increases in the budget would result in significant revenue loss for the city if they remain in place.

One aspect of the state budget that will have a deep impact on the city is the restructuring of redevelopment agencies.

According to Jones and Leyne Milstein, city finance director, redevelopment funds from tax increment funding through the state bring approximately $3.5 million to the city and county each year.

Under the state’s new Voluntary Alternative Redevelopment Program, the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) will have to come up with an initial $22 million “continuation payment” to continue its operations, or it will be dissolved.

If that happens, said La Shelle Dozier, executive director of SHRA, numerous Sacramento redevelopment projects in the works will be stalled unless alternate financing is identified, and some projects would never come to fruition.

Jones said the California Redevelopment Association is filing a lawsuit to stop the new redevelopment agency legislation but, until that litigation is resolved, redevelopment agency activities in Sacramento are on “uncertain ground.”

Another item in the state budget that will impact the city comes from the realignment of public safety programs from the state to local governments.

Senate Bill 89 (SB89) diverts 100 percent of motor vehicle license fee revenues from cities to counties, using it to fund public safety activities that have been realigned from the state to the counties.

Until last year, Sacramento received approximately $1.7 million from vehicle license fee revenues annually.

“Realignment is one of the major features of the governor’s budget,” Jones said. “There will definitely be an impact (to local government) down the line.”

The governor’s realignment strategy involves shifting low-level offenders from state institutions to county institutions and local government programs.

“We’re going to see offenders crowded out of from our county jail and possibly onto the streets,” Jones said.

Other realigned programs, according to the governor’s budget summary, include local public safety programs, mental health, substance abuse, foster care, child welfare services and adult protective services.

“The measure passed in the very last hours of budget talks,” Milstein said. “If this legislation stays on the books, it will be a real hit to the city.”

The state budget isn’t all bad news, though, said Jones.

The Community Oriented Policing Services public safety grant has been approved, Jones said, and that means $763,000 in funding to the city.

Assembly Bill 678 (AB678), which provides reimbursement to local fire departments for emergency medical transport, is progressing through the Legislature and may be out of committee and onto the governor’s desk by the end of August, Jones said.

Additionally, transit agency funding has reached a higher funding level this year – the second-highest in its history.

“We’ve seen better-than-anticipated sales tax from the first quarter,” Milstein said, “So we’re keeping an eye on it, and it looks like a positive trend. Then we can adjust for it later in the year.”

Read the governor’s budget summary here.
Read the text of SB89 here.
Read the text of AB678 here.

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

Sacramento redevelopment future in jeopardy

2011-07-09T01:21:03Z

The future of development and affordable housing projects in Sacramento is starting to look pretty grim. Gov. Jerry Brown signed the state budget into law June 29, putting two new bills into effect that significantly impact redevelopment agencies: ABx26 and ABx27.

“There is no good news in any of this,” said La Shelle Dozier, executive director for the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA). “It’s very detrimental, given the fact that we have an economy that’s struggling.”

The two bills go hand-in-hand. ABx26 says redevelopment agencies can opt to discontinue redevelopment activities and be dissolved.

ABx27 says that if redevelopment agencies pay a first-year lump sum payment and then commit to annual “continuation payments,” they will be allowed to continue their redevelopment activities – with additional limitations and without any tax increment funding from the state.

Tax increment funding through a redevelopment agency is one way cities and counties are able to finance redevelopment and affordable housing activities.

Over the last six years, tax-increment funding has resulted in the production of 7,329 housing units in the Sacramento area, including 3,189 units for very-low income and homeless families, Dozier said.

According to the provisions of the new legislation, redevelopment agencies have until Oct. 1 to either dissolve or make the first-year continuation payment to continue redevelopment activities.

“We are conducting an analysis of current projects to see how we would generate (our) estimated $22 million payment as well as an evaluation of projects if the agency must be dissolved,” Dozier said.

Each redevelopment agency is subject to a specific first-year and continuation payment schedule, calculated using a formula outlined in ABx26.

For SHRA, which is an authority of both the city and the county of Sacramento, the “year one” payment amount would be $22 million, Dozier said, and continuation payments are estimated to be approximately $5 million every year after that.

~~Once the SHRA governing boards have an opportunity to review the completed analysis, Dozier said, they will give the agency their recommendations on the options available.~~

Once the agency has an opportunity to review the completed analysis, Dozier said, she will give the SHRA governing boards recommendations on the options available.

“Right now, we’re in a state of limbo,” Dozier said.

At this point, several major redevelopment projects in Sacramento are currently stalled, Dozier said.

These include the 800 K Street project, a mixed-use development to help revitalize the center of downtown; the 65-acre Township 9 project, which is a $1.7 billion mixed-use urban fill development, and Veterans Village, a proposed new construction development in the Mather Redevelopment Area that would provide affordable housing for veterans.

Some projects that have already been approved, however, would not be affected by the new legislation, including the Seventh and H streets project, the La Valentina project on 12th Street, and the Hotel Berry renovation project, Dozier said.

These three projects are slated to provide, in total, nearly 250 affordable housing units and create more than 400 jobs, according to Dozier.

"(Redevelopment agencies) do great work – phenomenal work,” said Eric Rasmusson, a Sacramento lobbyist who works on local housing issues. “But we can't afford them the same way anymore. That's the message of this state budget."

By eliminating redevelopment agencies, Brown anticipates a $1.7 billion savings in cost offset to the state general fund.

“Right now, we’re prohibited from engaging in any new redevelopment activity,” Dozier said, “so we’re focusing on existing projects to keep them moving forward.

“We’re hoping for relief from the courts so that we can continue working on projects that were heading toward various stages of approval,” she added.

Kathy Fairbanks, a representative of the California Redevelopment Association (CRA), said the association plans to file a lawsuit in the next couple of weeks challenging the new legislation.

“It’s unconstitutional,” Fairbanks said. "Proposition 22 passed last November by an overwhelming majority, and it specifically prohibits the state from doing anything with local funds, including redevelopment funds.”

Fairbanks said that, if ABx26 and ABx27 are allowed to stand, it will mean redevelopment agencies that are not eliminated will be forced to abandon projects – and any resulting jobs and economic opportunity – in order to make the required continuation payments to the state.

In the lawsuit, the CRA will seek an immediate stay of the two bills. If the court grants a stay, some or all of the provisions of the bills would be suspended until the court makes a final decision. Until a stay is issued, however, the legislation will remain in force.

There are 397 active redevelopment agencies throughout California, according to the CRA website.

The elimination of redevelopment in Sacramento would have significant unintended consequences, according to the SHRA website, including “no way to monitor affordable housing developments, no funding to put more money into affordable housing projects in the future, as well as direct and indirect job losses.”

“With the economy in its current condition,” Dozier said, “this is not a time to be putting redevelopment agencies out of business.”

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

Editorial Note: Corrections have been made to this article after it was published. The incorrect information has been struck out and the correct information has been added.

Ground broken on downtown SRO

2011-03-29T02:36:30Z

Construction has begun on Sacramento's newest single-resident occupancy building downtown.

On Monday, a backhoe operator and other construction workers continued demolishing an old foundation at Seventh and H streets. The eight-story, 150-unit mid-rise being built there by Mercy Housing is the first new structure going up in the railyards redevelopment project area.

Once completed, the $47.4 million affordable housing project, known simply as “Seventh & H,” will be one of the city's largest permanent supportive housing projects. Half of the units will be reserved for homeless or recently homeless people, and the rest is aimed at downtown workers making $20,000 to $25,000 a year.

"Seventh and H is a very important part of the larger solution of affordable housing," said Rich Ciraulo, project manager for Mercy Housing in West Sacramento.

Work began March 17 to remove remnants of a building that once housed the Sacramento Police Department's patrol station and police academy. The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, a project partner, bought the land from the city in 2008. The agency then donated the land, worth $3.1 million, and tore down the old building to allow for new construction.

Demolition crews from contractor J.R. Roberts/Deacon of Citrus Heights were still pulling foundation debris out of the ground Monday. The soil will be recompacted, then new foundation construction will begin.

The concrete-frame building will use concrete and steel-reinforced piles that are 65 to 70 feet deep to avoid pile driving in land next to an electric substation that powers the Capitol and a large part of downtown, Ciraulo said.

"SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District) has been warning us all along to be very careful," he added.

Architects Mogavero Notestine Associates of Sacramento and SERA Architects of Portland designed the building. The exterior will be covered with tan brick and metal panels. Second-floor roof gardens are included in the design. The cost increased from $41 million to include a full solar panel array on the roof, a solar water-heating system, a larger health clinic and other features.

Support services will include programs on health, education, community integration and finances. The Effort, a Sacramento nonprofit health services provider, will offer primary health and behavioral health services in a 5,200-square-foot clinic located in the building on H Street.

Construction is expected to be complete in October 2012. Six months prior, Mercy will start interviewing prospective tenants with help from local nonprofits and agencies that work with the homeless. Mercy Housing also will enlist real estate brokers to find restaurant tenants for two other ground-floor spaces on Seventh Street.

Mercy Housing and SHRA cobbled together $21.7 million in federal low-income housing tax credits through the California Tax Credit Allocation Committee, about $20 million in redevelopment funding – which includes tax increment affordable housing set-aside funds – plus other funding from the Federal Home Loan Banks and the California Housing Finance Agency.

"When you put it in the context of what's going on with the larger economy and what's going on with affordable housing right now, it's very exciting to have it be a reality," Ciraulo said.

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

City protests Brown's redevelopment plan

2011-01-22T01:58:59Z

Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to slash redevelopment agencies spurred a protest and press conference at the Convention Center Friday, bringing together Sacramento leaders and about 100 officials from cities throughout the state.

Chris McKenzie, executive director of the League of California Cities, said that cities may consider suing the state if it disbands redevelopment agencies.

Brown’s office contends that local services, such as schools and public safety, could receive the funding currently used by redevelopment agencies if the agencies shut down. But city leaders in Sacramento and throughout the state argue that ending redevelopment agencies would seriously harm jobs and local development projects.

McKenzie said the governor’s proposal was ”seriously flawed” from a legal perspective.

“We would hate to have to take the state to court in order to uphold the will of the voters,” he said. “But we will do it, if we are forced to do it.”

Sacramento City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby presented figures on how Sacramento city and county would be affected if the two local governments no longer had redevelopment funds.

The city and county would lose 19,000 jobs, and $170 million in redevelopment project funds, according to Ashby and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency.

A loss of $1.3 billion in economic activity would also be incurred, Ashby said. Affordable housing projects would lose millions of dollars, she said, and the city and county would lose $129 million in state funds that were leveraged with redevelopment funds.

Ashby pointed out that the Boys and Girls Club in Alkali Flat and the McClellan Business Park in Sacramento County are redevelopment projects.

Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn, who also appeared at the press conference, said, “I understand what a tough job the governor and the Legislature have in balancing the state budget, but it is bad policy to cut the very programs that generate revenues for local and state government.”

In an effort to short circuit a possible state decision to cut redevelopment agencies, many California cities have acted to safeguard their redevelopment funds over the past several days, according to multiple media outlets.

The city of Sacramento has not taken any action to bypass possible state action on redevelopment, but Mayor Kevin Johnson said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday that the city should consider doing so.

Brown’s administration continues to voice its support of the proposal to throw out redevelopment agencies. It is time “for everyone to act as Californians first to address the state budget deficit,” said H.D. Palmer, a spokesman for the California Department of Finance.

He asserted that the governor’s proposal is “legally sound.”

In the first year of Brown’s proposal, $1.7 billion would help repair the state’s general fund, and the remaining $200 million would go toward local governments, according to Palmer and the text of Brown’s proposal.

In the second year of the plan, $1.9 billion would go to local entities, Palmer said.

Meanwhile, local players in Sacramento, such as the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, are worried that the proposal could stymie development close to home.

Michael Ault, the partnership’s executive director, said at the press conference that redevelopment funding has benefited Central City projects, such as the IMAX Theatre and the Citizen Hotel.

“We know first-hand the impacts that redevelopment has played in the progress in the Central City,” Ault said.

Mark Hedlund, a spokesman for California Senate President Darrell Steinberg, told The Sacramento Press that Steinberg doesn’t want to act on the governor’s proposal immediately, but the idea of stopping redevelopment funding is not off the table.

“He’s not going to pursue an immediate freeze on redevelopment activities,” Hedlund said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City leaders back redevelopment agency

2011-01-19T06:28:47Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson and Sacramento City Council members on Tuesday discussed their opposition to Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to de-fund local redevelopment agencies.

Johnson said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday morning that Brown’s proposal could interfere with $108 million in local redevelopment funds that have not yet been spent on projects. He said he wanted to examine the option of fast-tracking redevelopment projects in light of Brown’s proposal.

“At the end of the day, we’re going to fight like crazy to try to prevent redevelopment agencies from being cut,” Johnson said. “We’ve got to salvage and preserve the dollars that we do have by almost any means necessary.”

Council members and Johnson discussed the issue at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

“I think we should do all that we can from a City Council perspective to protect the redevelopment dollars,” Ashby said.

The council members discussed the issue after hearing a presentation on state issues from the city’s lobbyist, David Jones.

“We don’t have any details on the (redevelopment) proposal,” Jones said outside the City Council meeting. “But we know ... that to entirely eliminate redevelopment would be devastating to this community and others.”

Meanwhile, Brown spokeswoman Elizabeth Ashford said redevelopment funds could be used for other purposes. “We hope that the redevelopment agencies rushing through billions in taxpayer dollars are going to use these funds to create jobs now,” according to an e-mailed statement from Ashford. “These scarce dollars, which could be used to protect police, firefighters and teachers, should not be banked away for special projects.”

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Homeless shelter program seeks $50K

2010-12-21T02:31:19Z

A local group that combats homelessness is asking the public for $50,000 to shelter the poor during the winter season. Sacramento Steps Forward needs the funding to continue its new Winter Sanctuary program, which allows homeless people to sleep overnight at certain churches, according to the group’s director, Tim Brown.

Volunteers of America is partnering with Sacramento Steps Forward on the program, which started Dec. 1, Brown said. The two groups have raised about $40,000, which will allow the program to run until the end of January, he said. Another $50,000 is needed to continue the program through the end of March, which is the goal.

“The churches have really stepped up to open their doors,” he said.

Eight churches are currently participating in the program, and another nine have pledged to participate later this winter, according to Sacramento Steps Forward. Not all of the religious centers are churches – one of the nine religious centers that has pledged to help is SALAM, a Sacramento mosque.

About 90 homeless people have used the overnight program since Dec. 1, according to Sacramento Steps Forward.

The bulk of the $50,000 would pay for bus expenses and staff, Brown said. The program buses the homeless from Loaves and Fishes to the churches at night, and back to Loaves and Fishes in the morning, he said. Volunteers of America staffers assist the churches with the overnight guests, he said, explaining the staffing costs.

Sacramento County runs a homeless program, but it did not have adequate funding this year to provide winter shelter for homeless individuals, he said. The county and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency received funding to house 100 homeless families, Brown said.

Tracie Rice-Bailey, an advocate who was formerly homeless, said the cold winter weather makes the Winter Sanctuary program necessary. “The river’s rising, the ground’s getting wet,” she said.

Sacramento Steps Forward is accepting donations for Winter Sanctuary through its website.

Religious centers that have participated in Winter Sanctuary:
St. John’s Lutheran Church
St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in partnership with Atonement Lutheran
St. Paul’s Baptist Church
Capital Christian Center
Trinity Cathedral
Lutheran Church of the Master
First Covenant Church

Religious centers that have pledged to participate:
St. Mark’s United Methodist
Trinity Life Center
SALAM
Seventh Day Adventist
Arcade Church
Sun River Church
Living Stones Christian Reformed Church in partnership with City Life Church
Mars Hill Church

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

MLK Blvd. Streetscape Improvement Project

2010-12-10T22:49:56Z

How many public works of art are there in Sacramento? How many can you think of? Which one stands out in your mind or is your favorite and why? These are some of the questions that can be raised and thought about as Sacramento continues to expose its population to those works of art that are available for all to see. Many of these works of art are unique to the community that houses them. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, in the next couple of years, will be renovated and input is being sought from the community and artists.

(Art Sculpture at Oak Park Community Center)

The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission (SMAC) and Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) held a Public Art Workshop on Wednesday December 8. Oak Park Community Center hosted the event and about 20 community residents and art enthusiasts attended the workshop.

The event was set up to help develop a conceptual framework for public art that will be placed along Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Boulevard as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard Streetscape Improvement Project. This was actually a very interesting and exciting workshop where the community was invited and encouraged to share their views and input.

Shelly Willis, Art in Public Places Program Director and Suzanne M. Vose, Art in Public Places Project Manager from SMAC and Matt Hertel, Redevelopment Planner of Housing and Community Development from SHRA were present to go over the initiative. They talked about what has been done in other cities to promote community pride and what can be done for the MLK Boulevard project.

Shelly, Suzanne, and Matt were able to provide not only the art community but the community as a whole with specific information about the MLK Boulevard Streetscape Improvement Project. It also gave those who attended the workshop the opportunity to give feedback and suggestions regarding expectations for the public art that may be used to cleanup and beautify MLK Blvd. This plan has been in the works for at least a couple of years now and it is ready to move forward by soliciting more input from community members and artists.

Matt Hertel gave the audience some background information on the MLK Boulevard Streetscape Project, where the project stands now and where it will go. He started by saying “Oak Park is in a redevelopment area and as such they are eligible for resources. These resources have to be spent or captured in this area.” This will allow for two major items to be implemented, one is Streetscape and the other is Placemaking Art.

Streetscape development will help improve pedestrian and bicycle safety and walkability around MLK Boulevard. Areas around schools and community facilities will be specially targeted for these improvements. The workshop sought input from those who attended and as such, Matt indicated that “We looked at the neighborhood as a whole and also looked to the residents to try to come up with a strategy. We also explored the assets that MLK has and examined ways to improve it.” As Matt spoke it appears that there are many ideas to improve MLK Boulevard including roadway surfacing, sidewalk improvements, Americans with Disabilities Act curb ramps, new crosswalks, bike racks, tree plantings, pedestrian level street lighting and other safety and beautification works.

Placemaking Art is expected to cover the areas of MLK Boulevard from Broadway to Fruitridge. Art along this stretch will feature art that can be experienced from cars, as they drive down the road, by bicycle and by foot. Art gateways at Broadway, Fruitridge Road and 21st Avenue/Hwy 99 have been identified as well as several other art focused nodes. These include the Oak Park Community Center Plaza, a Community Garden (already in progress with approximately 36 plots), a South Oak Park Alley Abatement Project (also already in progress), and continuous art maintenance and enhancements. Matt indicated that this strategy will be “ambitious and aggressive”.

Shelly Willis followed Matt’s orientation by showing a multimedia presentation entitled Public Art as Gateways and Streetscapes. The presentation was meant to show some examples of vivid public works of art around the United States. Some represented what the community, where the art is situated, is all about; it also showed interactive, educational and inspirational public art. Major gateways from St. Louis and Chicago were shown as well as other ideas to help illustrate and ignite the imagination of those who attended the workshop and showed examples of what the MLK renovation project can be.

The MLK Boulevard renovation project has already gone through the planning stages and the foundation for the work was discussed at the workshop. Shelly talked about one of the larger projects the Arts Commission has been working on. If you’ve been to the Sacramento Metropolitan Airport lately you can see some of their commissioned work. Shelly went on to relate “So for example at the airport, which is the largest project we’re working on, we developed a plan many months before we actually started selecting artists for that project because we need to understand what the parameters are for that project before we began selecting artists. So today I just want to go through some of the elements of the Public Art plan and then break into groups and have you help us with 3 or 4 areas of the plan before we leave tonight. We will then have enough information to start putting things together.” After having said that those who attended the workshop broke up into two groups and discussed the project.

The groups worked to help create an Art Plan for the MLK Boulevard Streetscape Improvement Project. Within the groups many interesting ideas and examples were discussed. The vision, support and encouragement given by community members were fresh and exiting to listen to. Several community members showed pride in their neighborhood as it is now and voiced their support of this beautification improvement project. They discussed ideas that supported Martin Luther King Jr. and his ideas and how they may be incorporated in this plan. Education, improvements and beautification were also discussed as well as the history of the area and what works of art can represent the neighborhood.

(Community members and artists discussing MLK art project)

Artists that were there gave examples of other public works of art and focused on Sacramento and the MLK Boulevard project. This was an exciting and invigorating aspect of the workshop and at the end many suggestions were given.

The artist selection process has not been initiated yet and this process selection was also discussed within the groups. The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission will be posting information about the project in its website. Artists and community members interested in the project can follow the progress, become involved and see what inspiring works of art result in the next couple of years. This project is expected to be completed by the end of 2012.

Photos: 1 - Oak Park Community Center Mural, 2 through 4 - Workshop Discussion

David Alvarez Photography

SHRA EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HONORED AS NCBW BUSINESS WOMAN OF THE YEAR

2010-11-25T00:16:58Z

La Shelle Dozier, Executive Director of the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency has been named Business Woman of the Year by the Sacramento chapter of the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.

“I am truly humbled to be chosen for this wonderful award,” said Ms. Dozier. “I feel privileged to be in a position that allows me to make a positive difference for people who are most in need of help to better their lives. I could not have achieved this honor without the support of my wonderful family and the dedication of those with whom I am fortunate to work with SHRA.”

Ms. Dozier oversees redevelopment and community development strategies in the City and County of Sacramento, and the provision of housing for more than 50,000 low income residents. She administers a $269 million budget and a workforce of 291 employees.

According to the NCBW, the awards luncheon has been the philanthropic arm of the Sacramento Chapter since the event debuted in 2001. The event supports educational programs, public service campaigns and scholarships.

More than 100 nominees were considered for Women of Excellence awards in two special categories: Business/Business Woman of the Year and a Lifetime Achievement Award. The luncheon brings together business and community leaders who gather to celebrate the accomplishments of their colleagues and was attended by nearly 600 participants.

State to take millions from SHRA

2010-11-18T02:34:12Z

The city of Sacramento and advocates for local governments are cheering the passage of a state ballot measure that bans the state from taking or borrowing local funds.

However, the new measure does not eliminate the $4 million the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency owes the state in May 2011, according to the California Redevelopment Association.

California voters’ approval of Proposition 22 on Nov. 2 helps the city while the state continues to face budget troubles, said Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson.

The state is now looking at a $6 billion budget shortfall during the current fiscal year, said H.D. Palmer, deputy director of external affairs for the California Department of Finance. In the next fiscal year, the state’s projected deficit is at least $19 billion, he said.

“When I hear the projections of the state deficit going up a little higher than people anticipated, that’s not good for anybody,” Johnson said at his weekly press conference on Tuesday. “But (Prop. 22) allows us to have a little more comfort and security, knowing that they no longer are allowed to take our dollars to balance their budget.”

Palmer noted that Prop 22 will cost California $1 billion in the current fiscal year, according to the state Legislative Analyst’s Office.

“The total annual fiscal effect from these changes is not possible to determine, but could range from about $1 billion (in most years) to several billion dollars (in some years),” according to the Legislative Analyst’s report on Prop. 22.

Voters passed Prop. 22 with 60 percent of the vote.

Under the measure’s rules, the state can no longer take redevelopment property tax funds. It also bans the state from funding schools with property taxes from local governments. The state also won’t be able to use fuel tax revenues that go to local governments.

In one local government example, the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency was required to give $19.6 million to the state in May, said John Shirey, executive director of the California Redevelopment Association. In May 2011, SHRA will have to pay another $4 million to the state, he said. Even though Prop. 22 is now in effect, it has retroactive language requiring the payments to be made in May, 2011.

The California Redevelopment Association is fighting the state in a lawsuit that’s currently at the Third District Court of Appeal in Sacramento, he said. The lawsuit aims to reverse 2009 state budget legislation that allowed the state to fund schools with $2 billion in local redevelopment funds from most of the state’s redevelopment agencies, according to Shirey. The $19.6 million that SHRA paid last year and the $4 million it owes in May made up SHRA’s share of the $2 billion.

Shirey had harsh words for the state: “There’s no borrowing here; it’s straight theft.”

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

HUD response on SHRA fund use coming

2010-10-09T01:01:01Z

A regional dispute over $6.4 million in federal neighborhood redevelopment funds has been kicked up to the national level, where a resolution may be found early next month.

Regional officials with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development disagree on the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency's use of Neighborhood Stabilization Program funds. The money was provided under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 to help states and communities buy, rehab and sell foreclosed or abandoned homes.

HUD awarded $4 billion of those funds in the program’s first phase. The goal was to stabilize or revitalize neighborhoods and prevent home prices from falling. More than $18.6 million was earmarked for Sacramento County in January 2009.

HUD's regional Office of the Inspector General in June released an audit recommending SHRA repay $1.1 million used to rehab five small apartment buildings at Norcade Circle and Lerwick Road.

The inspector general, an independent watchdog, deemed the buildings ineligible because the developer already owned them. The amount of money used to rehab those and three other properties was too high, according to a copy of the audit.

The inspector general's office also recommended SHRA make changes to ensure that construction costs aren't "overinflated" and no unnecessary work is funded. Such changes could enable SHRA to redirect $5.3 million to other projects, according to the audit.

The audit was turned over to HUD's regional Office of Community Planning and Development in San Francisco for review and a response by early October. That office didn't agree with the audit, so the matter was bumped up to the Office of Community Planning and Development in Washington, D.C.

A response from the federal level is expected within 30 days, according to Brian Sullivan, public affairs supervisor for HUD in Washington, D.C.

Photo by Brandon Darnell.

Mayor's group, other agencies house 1,168 families

2010-08-25T02:23:26Z

A group he formed to address homelessness surpassed its target to work with agencies and provide housing for 800 families this year, Mayor Kevin Johnson told the media Tuesday morning.

The group, Sacramento Steps Forward, formed last November and worked with other agencies to set up housing for 1,168 families this year.

“We’re making a difference in people’s lives,” Johnson said.

By 2012, Sacramento Steps Forward hopes to work with its partnering agencies to house 2,400 families.

Sacramento Steps Forward works with Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing of Sacramento County (HPRP). The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency administers HPRP, which is a federal stimulus program.

Additional groups affiliated with Sacramento Steps Forward include the Sacramento County Department of Human Assistance, the Sacramento Region Community Foundation and the Sierra Health Foundation.

Kyomi Jones told the media that the HPRP helped her when she nearly became homeless.

“They helped me find a job,” Jones said. “I was able to keep my home, able to keep my kids. And I just thank God for them and everyone that helped me.”

Private citizens and religious groups gave $400,000 during a “One Day to End Homelessness” effort held in March. The effort successfully brought $1.6 million in federal funding to Sacramento County’s HPRP.

A press release from the mayor’s office noted that $4 from the federal government were matched to each local dollar, totaling $1.6 million.

Johnson praised religious groups for their involvement in the fundraising effort. “You have to give the faith community a round of applause,” he said.

In response to a question after the press conference, Tim Brown, director of Sacramento Steps Forward, said there are still waiting lists at local shelters, but the lists “have gone down somewhat” because of the HPRP program.

Sacramento County has 2,800 homeless people, according to the most recent statistics, which were calculated in January 2009, Brown said.

Of the 2,800 homeless people, 1,200 people are living on the streets, he said. The remaining people are living in shelters or transitional housing, he said.

The next count of the county’s homeless will be in January 2011, he said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Housing and Redevelopment Agency partnership renovates foreclosed home with NSP funds

2010-07-08T21:31:43Z

The first foreclosed home purchased by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency is under renovation and will soon be for sale and occupancy at an affordable price under a partnership program that SHRA developed using the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The home is located at 3525 34th Street in Oak Park.

SHRA has partnered with NeighborWorks Homeownership Sacramento as a volume builder under the Property Recycling Program. The PRP works with governmental, non-profit and for-profit partners to provide access to properties and funding to remove the blight of foreclosures through redevelopment activities, acquisition and rental of affordable housing, and acquisition and rehabilitation of single family homes for sale throughout Sacramento. The PRP is complimentary to the other programs funded under the NSP, all of which seek to reduce the impacts of foreclosures.

“This partnership program is a huge a win-win effort for Sacramento’s neighborhoods ravaged by foreclosure, vacant properties and parcels, and investors who have no connection to the community,” said SHRA Executive Director La Shelle Dozier. “We’re working with organizations whose mission mirrors our own which is to invest in areas where the market alone cannot ensure change and to provide affordable housing opportunities that help hard-working, deserving families realize the American dream.”

SHRA officials say that over the next year, the Agency will be collaborating with NeighborWorks Sacramento to renovate and resell approximately 30 homes like this first home which the Agency purchased from Wells Fargo through the National Stabilization Community Trust. The NCST is designed to facilitate the transfer of foreclosed and abandoned properties
from financial institutions nationwide to local governments to promote productive property reuse and neighborhood stability.

“Under the NCST, Wells Fargo also provided an investment of $750,000 to NeighborWorks which leveraged other funds to buy the property,” said Chris Pahule, Assistant Director of Housing and Community Development. “With this partnership strategy, modest income families will have great opportunities to buy quality, energy efficient homes.”

SHRA is administering $3 million in NSP funds allocated to the PRP. To date, 59 properties have been acquired and six are under construction. The Agency estimates the program will address 100 properties over the next five years.

Affordable housing defined

2010-05-04T04:05:34Z

Everyone wants "affordable" housing. But few people know what that is.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has defined affordable housing as no more than 30 percent of a household's income.

That means you shouldn't be paying more than 30 percent of your income for housing — whether mortgage payments or rent — plus utilities each month.

"People think affordable housing means just one thing. But it doesn't," said Sandra Hamameh, program director for the Sacramento Housing Alliance. "It means being able to afford a place to live, at whatever stage you're in in your life."

Levels of affordability are also based on an area's median incomes. The median incomes for Sacramento County, based on 2009 figures, are $50,950 for a single person, $58,250 for a two-person household and $72,800 for a family of four.

For housing to be affordable, that single person should pay no more than $1,274 per month; the couple, or parent and child, household shouldn't pay more than $1,456; and the family of four should pay $1,820 or less, according to the California Department of Housing and Community Development.

Income levels that fall below the median include low income, very low income and extremely low income.

Low incomes are those at 80 percent of the median:
• $40,800 for a single person, making affordable housing no more than $1,020 a month;
• $46,600 for two people, and $1,165 a month for affordable housing;
• $58,250 for four people, and $1,456 a month for housing.

Very low incomes are those at 50 percent of the median:
• $25,500 for a single person, and $637 a month for affordable housing;
• $29,100 for two, and $727 a month for housing;
• $36,400 for four, and $910 a month for housing.

Extremely low incomes are those at 30 percent of the median:
• $15,300 for a single person, and $382 a month for housing;
• $17,500 for two, and $437 a month for housing;
• $21,850 for four, and $546 a month for housing.

Affordable housing may include subsidized housing projects such as multi-family apartments or single-family homes built or leased through public-private programs.

Single-resident occupancy units, or SROs, boarding houses and other arrangements offer housing for extremely low-income residents, but little of such housing exists, said Hamameh.

HUD has a housing choice voucher program known as Section 8 for elderly and disabled people, very low-income families, and homeless or otherwise-eligible veterans. Recipients use the vouchers to rent or buy housing.

Extremely low-income housing may also be occupied by people whose only income comes from monthly supplemental security income (SSI), Social Security or disability checks. A person getting $474 monthly SSI checks can afford rent of no more $142. A widow who now gets $718 a month in Social Security and $240 from her husband's retirement fund can afford rent of $287, Hamameh said.

In 2010, fair market rent for a one-bedroom apartment in Sacramento County is $852, according to HUD. Some people who can't find safe, quality affordable housing end up renting from private owners who still charge "fair market rate" for substandard housing, said Hamameh, whose organization has been advocating for affordable housing since 1989.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Read the story about the proposal for the biggest SRO in Sacramento here .

A life-changing home for homeless, working poor

2010-05-04T04:05:00Z

A proposal is in the works to create one of the largest permanent supportive housing projects in the city.

The $41 million building at Seventh and H streets also is poised to become the city's newest single-resident occupancy, or SRO, structure. The infill project would feature sustainable design and materials, so the developers and architects will ask the U.S. Green Building Council to certify it as a sustainable building.

But perhaps most unique about the public-private project being developed by Mercy Housing and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency is that it would offer support services to formerly homeless people in innovative and mixed-population permanent housing. Its architects are Mogavero Notestine Associates of Sacramento and SERA Architects of Portland.

Half of the mid-rise's 150 units will be set aside as for homeless people. The other half will become home to the working poor: low-income workers who earn 40 percent to 50 percent of the median income, or $20,000 to $25,000 a year.

The 7th and H Mixed-Use Affordable Housing project differs from transitional housing, such as Mercy Housing's Quinn Cottages, which provide up to two years of transitional housing close to downtown.

"We (represent) that next step, to what is now permanent supportive housing. You don't have to leave," said Rich Ciraulo, project manager for Mercy Housing in West Sacramento. "Instead, you are put in an environment where there are a lot of supportive services and community building, and an attempt to really support your reconnection to the rest of society."

Supportive programs will focus on health, education, community integration and finances.

An on-site 3,800-square-foot, federally qualified health clinic will serve residents and the public. The Effort, a Sacramento nonprofit health services provider, will operate primary health and behavioral health services.

Doctors, nurses and physician assistants will provide health screenings, immunizations, lab work and other medical care. At least one licensed clinical social worker will provide therapeutic counseling and recovery support groups will have a space to meet.

Mercy Services Corporation will handle property management. Three on-site resident service coordinators, working as case managers, will connect tenants with community resources and on-site services.

By working with other service organizations, the service coordinators will identify people who qualify as homeless. They would come directly from transitional housing, including emergency shelters, or off the street. Tenants for other units would have to qualify based on income, Ciraulo said.

Two property managers will also work on site. The building's entrance will be secure, with tenants and guests checking in with 24-hour front desk clerks.

Residents will have access to tutoring, computer classes and leadership training, as well as career counseling and financial literacy and planning. They also will have opportunities to work within the broader community via volunteering, community watch groups and other programs. An on-site job-training program is being explored, Ciraulo said.

Public spaces are vital for building a sense of community and encouraging people to get out of their units and interact with neighbors, he said.

Inside, the project's public-space centerpiece will be a community room with an adjacent communal kitchen — a large gathering place where residents can hang out and bond at events like Thanksgiving dinner. Three smaller lounges will be on alternating floors of the eight-story building.

"You really want to feel like you're invested in where you live and who your neighbors are, and like this is a very special place to live," Ciraulo said.

Outside public spaces also will improve residents' quality of life and give them access to fresh air in private settings, he said. Two second-floor roof gardens will be for residents' exclusive use. Each lounge will have a balcony facing Seventh Street.

The building also will have a computer room. While some money has been budgeted for equipment, Mercy Housing is trying to get computers donated.

Mercy is proposing ground-floor retail such as a cafe or bakery, that would be an amenity to the neighborhood, Ciraulo said.

The project is being designed to fill a gap in care for homeless people who were getting help with health, mental health and substance abuse issues while on the street. Tenants will be able to receive those services onsite instead or be connected with new services.

"It's really critical that services are matched if you're trying to house homeless or formerly homeless people," said Tim Brown, director of Sacramento Steps Forward, a nonprofit formerly known as the Ending Chronic Homelessness Initiative.

The project also is designed to help people working at low-wage jobs downtown by providing housing close to their jobs, Ciraulo said.

Sacramento has some mixed-population, supportive-housing developments, such as one near Arden Fair Mall. This one is being modeled after Portland's Richard L. Harris Building at 8 NW 8th St., which has won awards for affordable housing innovations and integrating housing and social services. SERA Architects designed that project.

The building is intended to create 122 of the 200 SRO units the city must replace by 2011, under its own ordinance, said Christine Weichert, assistant director of housing and community development for SHRA.

Sitting behind the Sacramento County Jail, the project at Seventh and H streets would include 122 studios measuring 325 square feet that rent for $206 to $581, and 28 one-bedroom units for $207 to $619. Both would have full kitchens and bathrooms, unlike standard SROs, which usually have kitchenettes and communal bathrooms, Ciraulo said.

Rent will be income-based. Mercy Housing will target people on Social Security or disability for most units. Whether tenants are formerly homeless or low-wage workers, they will pay 30 percent of their income, he said.

In the 1970s, Sacramento had about 3,000 SRO units. A 2006 city ordinance called for no net loss of the remaining 712 SRO units.

"Preservation of the SROs is vital to including a much-needed piece in the housing continuum," said Sandra Hamameh, program director for the Sacramento Housing Alliance.

Proposals call for the project to be largely publicly funded. Mercy, which is quite possibly the largest provider of service-enriched housing in the area, and SHRA are going after local, state and federal funding, including highly competitive federal tax credits, Weichert said.

Several sources will pay for services, including public funding and fund raising. Community services will be used as much as possible, and some services — such as those for resident service coordinators — will be integrated into the building's operating budget. About 15 percent of the operating costs would be set aside for services, Ciraulo said.

The city's Planning Commission is set to give final approval to the project May 6. The Sacramento City Council is expected to be asked to provide some funding at a June meeting, said Weichert, adding that the amount will be determined within two weeks.

Developers hope to have financing in place by September. If so, construction could begin by February. The building would be expected to open by October 2013.

With its mix of housing and support services, the project would keep a wider range of people with different income levels downtown, said Robert Tobin, president and chief executive officer of Cottage Housing, which operates the Quinn Cottages at 16th and North A streets.

"This is a population that is vulnerable," he said. "It really helps if you can have some support on site."

Graphic provided by Mercy Housing. Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter covering business and development for The Sacramento Press.

Read more about what defines affordable housing here

A New Life for ICELAND

2010-04-14T20:40:33Z

If the goal of the alleged arsonist(s) was to destroy the historic ICELAND ice-skating rink, it appears that it failed because the fire did not destroy the necessary mechanical ice-making device.

As many know by know, the Kerth family property owners plan to have skaters on the ice again by late November 2010. While the building itself will probably not be rebuilt by then, plans are to provide in the meantime an open-air venue to skaters.

Instead of an exterior protecting skaters from the elements, the new temporary facility will replicate an outdoor rink in snow country. All that will be needed to authenticate the scene is an overhead wind- blowing machine scattering a few white flakes intermittently onto skaters and spectators. The white flakes, of course, being left over from a Hollywood movie set depicting a winter scene here in the non-snowing city of Sacramento!

So much for fantasy. A far more serious reality is that the original 1940’s building with its magnificent ICELAND sign did not have fire insurance and the cost to rebuild to its original design will be extremely challenging if not impossible in these economic times.

Immediately subsequent to the fire there was much criticism, if not condemnation, heaped on Rob Kerth, a family member but non co-owner, for failing to carry fire insurance. One of the unkindest and silliest, in my opinion, alluded to the fact he had been a city councilman and “what could you expect” from a government official like that. While disbelief of lack of fire insurance was my first reaction, it did not sound like the man whom I’ve known for many years. I was sure that there was more to the story, and there is.

In subsequent conversations with him, I found out that the family did not carry fire insurance for the lack of wanting or trying to. In fact, it was a dilemma in which many owners of mortgage-free historic commercial property find themselves. The hidden “culprits,” if the blame game is to be carried to its conclusion, are the insurance companies and their prohibitive policy rates and exclusions when there is no existing sprinkler system.

Hearing the facts reminded me of the current controversial situation in which many people find themselves with their health insurance and why such individuals are forced to make the decision to take the risk of going without when insurance companies determine that there is a preexisting risk condition. That is the ultimate decision this family made.

Apparently, there are sources out there for insurance assistance for historic houses, but historic commercial property owners are not so fortunate.

Rob informed me that, “There was no way to get insurance on an old building like that which didn't have fire sprinklers. We asked brokers several times and were always turned down--at any price, including The California Fair insurance plan which is a last resort for both home and commercial property.”

He is asking the City to let him keep the four walls and the marquee, and he vowed he would “fix the neon myself if I have to.” He told me that all he could see now was to get the money to do it right by re-opening the rink—open air without replacing the roof or windows.

He also said that, “The brass ring here--the one we have to grab--is rebuilding ICELAND as she was and also building a second sheet of ice along Del Paso. The facility needs two complete rinks, and now is the time. Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency already owns the land next to the original rink. Too much of Sacramento’s uniqueness has just slipped away little by little and this must not follow.”

Apparently, the Mayor, City Council members Steve Cohn and Ray Tretheway, County Supervisor, Roger Dickinson and Senator Darrell Steinberg all called Rob to relate their regrets and offer whatever help they could, but the council member for the district in which ICELAND is located was noticeably silent about the loss of this treasure.

While I’ve never skated in ICELAND, it has long been a defining structure for North Sacramento. All around the country most of the prewar WWII ice and roller rinks as well as the majestic ballrooms (Tromar, Cemar, Aragon. Latin Quarter, Hollywood Palladium) and many Fox and Paramount movie palaces met the fate of fires or wrecking balls.

Therefore, I was very relieved to hear from Rob, that the family’s preference is to bring the rink back to its original architecture. BUT even that depends on getting lots of volunteer help and several indulgences from the City on not-very-important things, BUT things that are in the rulebooks.

It would be a spectacular accomplishment if the rebuilding could occur using an old fashioned “barn raising” concept. This cooperative effort originated in pioneer days before insurance when farmers’ barns, so important to their success, burned or were destroyed by tornados. At such times the entire community rallied around rebuilding the barn, with residents and businesses lending skills and materials and the wives bringing home baked “dinners” (noon meals as they were called in those days). The entire project often took anywhere from one to two weekends.

Former city manager Bill Edgar successfully employed a modified version of this concept to rally businesses and residents to work with the city to solve a city budget crisis during the 1990’s.

ICELAND’s obvious leaders would be the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, Del Paso Boulevard Business Association and Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. They could form a task force to solicit contributions, materials, volunteers consisting of business and residential neighbors, contractor skills/services, preservationists, skaters and former skaters and provide lunches for daylong workers.

Rob reports that so far “200 volunteers moved 500 cubic yards of debris this last weekend with strictly human power—arms, shovels and wheelbarrows.” His “mother baked beans for everyone” and his “brother-in-law organized the bbq. It had the feeling of an old-fashioned American tradition.”

Upon completion, owners could designate a wall to inscribe the names of all involved and/or issue a complimentary month’s skating pass.

This is the challenge I propose to the community to rebuild this historical treasure.

Local agency backs developer's plan to build in Alkali Flat

2010-03-03T05:48:41Z

A San Francisco development firm hopes to start work this year on a $28 million housing and commercial project at a downtown Sacramento location. The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency has struggled with the proposed project's site for years.

Domus Development wants to build commercial buildings, parking and affordable housing in the space between D and E Streets bordered by 12th Street. More affordable housing would be built at the other site of the project, between the C Street Alley and D Street at 12th Street.

Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency staffers are strongly supporting the project.

SHRA officials note in a March 2 report that the agency and three separate development groups have tried and failed to improve the site for more than 18 years. “As a result, the site remains vacant and unimproved,” the report states.

The site of the project is contaminated and will be cleaned, said Meea Kang, the president of Domus Development who is also affiliated with the 12th Street Partners L.P. partnership.

“These sites have been vacant for about 20 years,” Kang said, adding that the project will bring “new life to the area.”

At this point, Domus Development is working to pull together financing for the project, Kang said.

None of the funding for the project would come from the city’s general fund, said Christine Weichert, SHRA's assistant director of housing and community development.

The SHRA report says the project between D and E Streets would incorporate 63 affordable apartments, 5,000 square feet for commercial use, a property management office, a 1,300-square-foot cafe, a 2,000-square-foot community room and parking for cars and bicycles.

That part of the project will be near the Alkali Flat/La Valentina Light Rail Station.

Domus Development also wants to build 18 affordable town homes between the C Street Alley and D Street.

There would be environmentally friendly elements in the project, including energy-efficient operations, rooftop photovoltaic solar panels and solar water heaters, according to the SHRA report.

Read SHRA’s report on the proposed project here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Officials, company careful with demolition

2009-12-22T05:12:13Z

The final demolition of a former Sacramento police building has been halted again while concerns over an adjacent power station are worked out.

Advantage Demolition was preparing to demonstrate Monday how the last two exterior walls could be pulled down safely next to transformers at a historic power station, now known as SMUD Station A, at Sixth and H streets. The station, whose origins date to 1895, supplies power to up to 40 percent of downtown Sacramento, said Sacramento Municipal Utility District spokesperson Dace Udris.

Demolition of the building at Seventh and H streets began several months ago to make way for a 160-unit affordable housing project being built by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, Mercy Housing California and Mogavero Notestine Associates. Demolition was suspended until Monday, when officials from SHRA, SMUD and the city visited the site to watch a demolition demonstration. The work was halted for further discussion of the process that will be used.

"SMUD is uncomfortable, and I understand why," said Robert Scott of Advantage Demolition, a family-run company based in Eldorado Hills.

The company's most technical demolition jobs are handled by Scott and his uncle Peter Scott, who owns the business. For this building, Robert Scott will put 13 years of experience to work running the excavator, which will pull the concrete block walls into the interior of what's left of the building, he said. The exterior was built to resemble brick.

After Christmas, the Scotts will meet with officials to address concerns and to demonstrate the technique on a roughly 26-foot section of wall facing H Street. The most concern arose over the possibility concrete chunks could fly out from the other wall, which runs along one side of the substation, and hit electrical equipment. The company will install tarps between the substation and the wall to control debris, Robert Scott said.

"I've been in this situation many times," he said. "I have yet to have an accident."

The demolition could be completed within days once the go-ahead is given. Demolishing the rest of the walls should take a few hours. Prepping — installing tarps and making the site safe — will take a day, while cleanup will take two to three days, Scott said.

For years, the building under demolition was the city's patrol station. Patrol officers were based there, while patrol cars were housed in a garage where the federal courthouse now sits. Police administration headquarters were located at the site of the present Sacramento County Public Law Library, said Sacramento Police Department spokesperson Norm Leong.

In 1994, the building was converted into the city's first non-live-in police academy. Forensics also was based there. The building had so much history for Sacramento police that some officers grabbed concrete "bricks" as mementos once it started coming down, Leong said.

"There's history there," he said.

SHRA is overseeing the nine-story project to build one-bedroom and studio apartments, along with ground-floor retail and a clinic, to replace low-income, single-residency occupancy units on K Street Mall or elsewhere downtown and to help develop permanent supportive housing for chronically homeless people. The tenants would be primarily single people with low-wage jobs. Mercy Housing California hopes to establish one-third to half of the units for "special needs" tenants who have been homeless or at-risk in other ways, according to an SHRA staff report.

SHRA temporarily closes, moves

2009-12-18T06:14:29Z

Most Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency departments will be closed and most employees will be off for the rest of the holidays, beginning Friday, while the agency moves to a new downtown location.

The two-week closure is needed partly because cash-strapped California is requiring the agency to pay $25 million to state schools in 2010 and 2011, said La Shelle Dozier, SHRA executive director.

In July, the state passed a budget directing city and county redevelopment agencies to pay $2.05 billion in redevelopment funds to the Supplemental Education Reimbursement Augmentation Fund to help address state budget shortfalls.

The agency's Public Housing operations — the Housing Choice Voucher and Conventional Housing programs — will remain open. The rest of its departments will be closed from Friday until Jan. 5. At that time, about 130 employees currently working at five different locations will begin working in the agency's new headquarters, 801 12th St., said agency spokesperson Angela Jones.

"The movers are in our offices right now," she said Thursday afternoon.

SHRA is a city/county joint powers authority created to develop affordable housing, serve as the local housing authority and oversee commercial and residential redevelopment.

Most of the agency's staff and departments, including executive and administrative offices, have been located on three floors of a mixed-use building at 630 I St. since at least the early 1980s, she said. The building also contains senior housing in Riverview Plaza apartments. Other SHRA departments will be consolidated from locations at 1013 7th St., 320 Commerce Circle and elsewhere in the 600 block of I Street.

Housing authority staff and the Housing Choice Voucher program will remain at 701 12th St., Jones said.

In June 2008, the agency bought a $9 million, six-story building at 12th and H streets that had housed multiple tenants in about 61,000 square feet. The move was timed to take advantage of the traditional holiday slow-down.

"That kind of makes it convenient for us to get all these departments moved," said Jones.

The agency did not provide information about whether employees would be on paid leave or required to take unpaid leave, in addition to paid holidays, during this time.

Redevelopment group to sue state over budget

2009-07-28T03:42:07Z

The Sacramento-based California Redevelopment Association is preparing to sue the state over a "devastating" $2.05 billion in redevelopment funds that state leaders want to be redirected to schools.

On Friday, the California State Legislature passed a budget that includes a provision ordering city and county redevelopment agencies to transfer $1.7 billion in property tax revenues in fiscal year 2009/10 and $350 million in 2010/11, said state Legislative Analyst Mac Taylor. The budget was crafted to close a $24 billion to $26 billion hole in the state's finances.

The order would siphon at least $20 million away from the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency, a joint powers authority that manages community redevelopment and affordable housing for the city and county. The money is set aside for investments in housing, infrastructure and other redevelopment.

Major redevelopment projects such as The Railyards, Township 9, Curtis Park Village -- as well as smaller projects -- could lose funding under the plan, sources said.

"I don't think it's an exaggeration to say this is devastating," said California Redevelopment Association (CRA) Executive Director John Shirey. "Most agencies will be shutting down for the year. They will not be taking on any new projects."

However, the provision won't become legally binding until 90 days after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signs the budget into law, which is expected Tuesday. The budget was passed by a simple majority, rather than a two-thirds majority required to approve tax increases. Vetoes are still possible in the meantime.

CRA has submitted a formal request that the order be vetoed. But Shirey said he doesn't expect the governor to veto the provision after Schwarzenegger made a similar proposal last year.

Last fall, CRA successfully sued the state to stop it from taking $700 million in redevelopment funds. Taking those funds was found to be unconstitutional. The California Constitution outlines that property tax increment must be used by redevelopment agencies to finance redevelopment projects.

Under the budget plan, the city of Sacramento is expected to lose $16.9 million and the county $2.8 million, totaling $19.7 million for both, according to the CRA, which broke down the figures to estimate what each redevelopment agency's responsibility would be.

Sacramento County officials estimate the county would lose $17 million in low- and moderate-income housing funds, plus $8 million in investment funds.

Some major local projects could lose Proposition 1C funding if redevelopment money is redirected, said city spokeswoman Wendy Klock-Johnson. In 2006, voters passed Prop. 1C to help finance infrastructure for infill redevelopment that contains affordable housing.

Last month, the city won $55.8 million in Prop. 1C funds from the California Department of Housing and Community Development. That money was earmarked for four projects: the Railyards, Township 9, Curtis Park Village and Capitol Lofts.

However, Sacramento must provide matching funds to get the Prop. 1C grant money. The city was using its redevelopment funds as the matching funds, she said.

If the state takes city redevelopment funds, the city may not have the money to provide matching funds. So projects could lose the Prop. 1C grant money funding, Klock-Johnson said.

The state’s move to take redevelopment funds from Sacramento “jeopardizes our ability to stay in that [Prop. 1C] program,” she said.

In addition, the local economy would be hurt by the loss of jobs. Based on the number of construction sector jobs lost in California last year, CRA believes the entire state would lose 164,000 jobs the first year and 34,000 the second year if redevelopment agencies lose these funds. The Sacramento region has been hit especially hard by the loss of such jobs.

"It's as if the Legislature had set out to pass legislation to slow down California's economy," Shirey said. "If they had done that, this is the bill they would have come up with."

The budget provision orders the money to be sent to schools in redevelopment areas because the funding must be linked to redevelopment, Taylor said.

CRA legal advisers don't believe that link can withstand the legal challenge they expect to file within 45 to 60 says, Shirey said.

"The people who told the Legislature last year it was legal to take redevelopment money, which was later found to be unconstitutional, are the same people saying it is legal this time," Shirey said.

The Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency could not be reached for comment.

Staff reporter Kathleen Haley contributed to this report.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. She can be reached at 916-804-2856 or suzanne@sacramentopress.com.