Sacramento is joining nearly 60 other North American cities by hosting its first Jane's Walk focusing on livable cities on May 1. Jane's Walk began in 2007 in Canada as a community walk to get people talking about their neighborhoods and city planning that can increase quality of life. The series of walks quickly blossomed and spread to this country. In 2010, Sacramento is among at least 29 U.S. cities, nearly as many in Canada and a few international ones scheduled to hold the free walking tours the first weekend in May. The walks were created to honor the life and work of Jane Jacobs. An American author, activist and urban thinker, Jacobs promoted the idea of the urban village to main

As a Sacramento resident keenly interested in the history of K Street from the gold rush to the present, I have read many opinions regarding the best ways to fix the ongoing problems of K Street. Some have been proposed recently, ideas that I view with a mixture of amusement and horror. Most involve returning to the mistakes of the past while clearly avoiding its successes. In order to take the best from the past while avoiding some of its mistakes, I have selected some favorites. I can take credit for none of them, as they are all ideas that have been suggested at other times and places, but they seem like the best of the lot to me. This ten-point plan varies in scope from the very simple