With the introduction of the city budget to the City Council Tuesday, the specter of layoffs and the city’s negotiations with unions over pension plans will take center stage for the next few months – but some important fiscal nuggets could get overlooked. For example, of the 286 city employees expected to be laid off with the proposed budget, 11 of those are in the Community Development Department – which is responsible for building permits and inspections, code compliance, and long-range planning for development projects. Additional layoffs are slated for the Public Works department (which includes transportation and parking services) and the Parks and Recreation department. What will

Local officials are currently in the nation’s capital to lobby for federal support – and funding – for regional projects, pushing the City Council meeting to Thursday. “For me, it’s all about our levees,” City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said. “I’m doing all I can to keep the conversation going (about funding) here in Washington.” Ashby represents an area of the city where levee work is needed to improve flood control, but projects have stalled due to lack of federal funding. City Council members Jay Schenirer, Steve Cohn, Bonnie Pannell and Ashby and City Manager John Shirey left Sacramento Friday with the Cap-to-Cap program, organized by the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce. Whi

City officials had the last word of the day Friday on the failed arena deal between the city and the owners of the Sacramento Kings – and that word was “disappointed.” “We are profoundly disappointed that the entertainment and sports complex project is not moving forward,” City Manager John Shirey said Friday. “We had great hopes, and there was great jubilation just a few weeks ago that a deal had been struck.” Assistant City Manager John Dangberg and City Councilmen Rob Fong and Steve Cohn joined Shirey for an impromptu press conference Friday in response to the sudden failure of a deal between the city, the Maloofs, arena operator AEG and the NBA to build a new arena in Sacramento. “T

A new streetlight repair and wire restoration project will allow streetlights to be fixed in 90 days instead of a year after having their copper wiring stolen, since the City Council gave the nod to spend $2 million on a wire restoration project Tuesday. The City Council voted unanimously to allow funding for the project, which will provide the resources needed to complete repairs already scheduled, as well as put future repairs on a 90-day wait list. The current backlog is a staggering 12-month wait for neighbors to have streetlights repaired, according to Department of Transportation spokeswoman Linda Tucker. “The city has had more than 325 reported locations of stolen wire since 2010

Don’t be surprised if it feels like everyone from Mayor Kevin Johnson to the head of the Parks Department is on Twitter or Facebook – it’s one of the reasons Sacramento was recently ranked one of the top 10 social media-savvy city governments in the nation. The University of Illinois study released March 22 ranked Sacramento ninth among 75 major U.S. cities based on the level of civic engagement the city government has to offer. Criteria for the study included how accessible city officials are to residents and how easily residents can get information about services and neighborhoods, the study states. “Huge growth in the use of social media has been seen in the past two years,” said Kim

As the overhaul of the McKinley Park Rose garden nears its May completion date, a neighborhood group is preparing to take control of the garden and events in the park – along with the profit and benefits that go with it. To date, the city has spent nearly $300,000 on refurbishing and upgrading the popular East Sacramento rose garden, including irrigation system improvements, new walkways and benches and a new entry sign. The City Council unanimously voted in favor of a five-year license agreement Tuesday between the city of Sacramento and local nonprofit organization Friends of East Sacramento for maintenance and control of the McKinley Park Rose Garden. The group will also assume respo

Water and sewer rates will head skyward for Sacramento residents after July 1 – and will continue rising for three years – as the city tries to raise revenue needed to pay for infrastructure improvements. City Council members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn, Rob Fong, Jay Schenirer, Kevin McCarty and Darrell Fong voted in favor of the rate increases, which were recommended by the Utilities Rate Commission and the city Department of Utilities. City Councilwomen Sandy Sheedy and Bonnie Pannell were opposed. “Our current water rates are among the lowest in the region, in the state and in the nation,” City Manager John Shirey said Tuesday, “and they will remain that way with the proposed rate i

The City Council approved a $1.2 million loan from the city Housing Authority Tuesday for renovation of one of 10 residential hotels located in downtown Sacramento – a project that will result in 22 studio apartments for low- to very-low-income residents. The four-story, 58-unit Ridgeway Hotel, at 914 12th St., was built in 1921 and renovated in 1987, according to a report from the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. “It has been vacant and boarded up for the past several years,” Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency Executive Director La Shelle Dozier said Tuesday. “It was designed in an old style with small units that had to share bathrooms and kitchens. It’s really in n

With a triumphant shout, Mayor Kevin Johnson cast the final vote in a 7-2 decision in favor of a financing plan to build a new entertainment and sports complex and keep the Sacramento Kings in town for another 30 years. Cheers, applause and chants of “SAC-RA-MEN-TO” broke out among the more than 250 people in council chambers Tuesday at the end of a four-hour-long City Council meeting that culminated in what Johnson called “a historic vote.” “Every one of you in the community did not give up,” Johnson said. “People far and wide all played a role and came together. I think we met every milestone along the way, and we made every minute count.” Johnson and City Council members Angelique As

City officials released two new conceptual images of the proposed entertainment and sports complex at the downtown railyards Friday. Populous, the architectural firm that is part of the ICON-Taylor development team for the arena, completed the renderings, according to a press release. “These images show just how much potential the (arena) and railyards have to revitalize downtown,” City Councilman Steve Cohn said in the press release. ”We’re a long way toward making final design decisions, but I love how these images preview the kind of smart design and transit-oriented development we are striving for at the railyards.” Cohn opposed previous arena deals but supported the current plan at

Mayor Kevin Johnson’s late-night triumphal return from Orlando was followed by a 5 p.m. press conference Tuesday in which scant new details were released, but local business, labor and political leaders confirmed their backing of the arena deal announced Monday. “We have a handshake agreement – we have the framework of a deal,” Johnson said. “There’s still a lot of work to be done ... (City) Council has to ask the tough questions.” He said the plan to build the entertainment and sports complex will be made available on March 1 to the public, and a crucial City Council vote March 6 will determine whether the arena will become a reality. “We’ll have a very robust and energetic conversatio

The City Council approved a plan Tuesday for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the city and making planet-conscious choices in land use, transportation and waste reduction. The Climate Action Plan is designed to satisfy the requirements of AB 32, which the California Legislature adopted in 2008, calling for local governments to reduce community-wide greenhouse gas emissions to at least 15 percent below then-current levels by the year 2020. According to the plan summary, in 2005 Sacramento emitted more than 4.1 million metric tons of greenhouse gases – an amount equal to the emissions produced by driving around the earth almost 412,000 times. The single largest source of emissions cam

The City Council unanimously voted to keep conversations going with bidders interested in taking over the city’s parking operations – and set the stage for a Feb. 28 vote finalizing plans for a new entertainment and sports complex. “Today is about narrowing 13 (bidders) down to 10, and it’s an intermediary step to a more significant vote,” Mayor Kevin Johnson said. Council chambers were full Tuesday night, and members of the public who signed up to speak included eight opposed to the prospect of a long-term lease of the city’s parking and 30 people in favor of it. Project Manager Fran Halbakken described the bidding for control of city parking operations as a competitive process, where

Community pools in Sacramento on the verge of closing this summer may get a reprieve – and nearly $1 million in operating funds – from a fundraising effort that kicks off Tuesday between the city and Save Mart Supermarkets. The city of Sacramento operates 12 pools to serve more than 467,000 city residents, but since 2008 the number of pools kept open each summer has dwindled due to budget cuts. By 2011, that number was reduced to six pools and five wading pools, with open hours limited to six days per week, four hours per day. Through a new fundraising campaign called “Help Save Mart Save Our Pools,” Save Mart will match dollar-for-dollar up to $500,000 in the donations made by individu

In the the wake of the City Council’s 5-4 vote Tuesday blocking the strong mayor initiative from going to the November ballot, police union leaders halted labor contract discussions with City Hall. Mark Tyndale, president of the Sacramento Police Officers Association told City Manager John Shirey in an email just hours after the final council vote that he was “suspending all discussions between the city and the SPOA negotiations team.” After voting down the strong mayor initiative, council members approved a ballot measure to create an elected 15-member charter reform commission.  Calling the cost of a charter commission “fiscally irresponsible,” Tyndale said in the email that he “can’t

Charter reform will be an item on the November ballot, but not in the form of a strong mayor initiative. Instead, voters will be asked if they want to elect a 15-member commission to review the city charter. After more than 20 people spoke on the topic during public comment, the City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday to reject putting the Checks and Balances Act of 2012 – the strong mayor initiative – to a public vote in November. Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell were the majority votes. Council members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn, Jay Schenirer and Mayor Kevin Johnson each voted in favor of the measure  no . Two governance-related consider

The long-awaited renovations at the McKinley Park Rose Garden are nearing completion, and the garden is expected to be open by April – just in time for spring weddings in the park. “The process feels like it’s taken forever,” University of California Master Gardner Ellie Longanecker said Wednesday. The rose garden was scheduled to be closed from September to mid-February for renovations, including a new irrigation system, accessible walkways, planter curbs, new signs and handicap-accessible parking spaces near the garden entrance. The work has been extended until the end of March or early April, Longanecker said, because of problems with the new irrigation system that created delays in

The city is spending more than it is bringing in, and even though that’s normal for this time of the year, officials need to make changes to keep spending under control and keep the budget on target. According to the mid-year budget report presented to the City Council Tuesday, expenditures are at 50 percent of projections, and revenues are at 36 percent – about 14 percent less than anticipated. This is typical for this point in the fiscal year, Finance Director Leyne Milstein told council members Tuesday – but adjustment is still necessary. “Without these recommendations, we will not be able to balance our budget,” Milstein said. It’s not all bad news, though. The 2010-11 fiscal year

A new program to raise $10 million for arena financing and turning Sacramento into an “Emerald Valley” were two key points in Mayor Kevin Johnson’s State of the City address Monday. Johnson’s speech focused on boosting the local economy in three areas: building an entertainment and sports complex, green-sector jobs and reforming public schools to create a more competitive workforce. “The economy is bad everywhere, but it’s worse here,” Johnson told the nearly 1,000 people in the audience. “We have to take bold actions,” Johnson said. “We have to make the impossible possible.” The mayor delivered the 20th annual speech at the Sacramento Convention Center in an event hosted by the Sacram

As Sacramento gears up to face a $16.5 million budget gap in the next fiscal year, consultants from Colorado met with City Council members to outline a new approach to budgeting that focuses less on dollar amounts and more on top city priorities. The council budget workshop held Tuesday at the main branch of the Sacramento Public Library was designed to help council members refine fiscal priorities for the city and discuss ways to reshape the budget process. Significant cuts to resolve a $39 million budget gap last year resulted in layoffs from the police force and rolling brownouts at city fire stations – actions that brought weeks of public outcry at City Council meetings. The city ch