The next time you go to a city park, bring your pruning shears and garden gloves: Park maintenance in the city is about to be dealt a $119,000 budget blow – leaving the department with one-man maintenance crews and increasing the burden on volunteers to pick up the slack. “I’m not happy to say this, but we have inadequate resources and inadequate staffing,” Director Jim Combs told the City Council Tuesday. Even with a department budget reduced by more than 60 percent and staffing reduced by 50 percent over the past five years, Combs said everyone in the department has done their best to keep city services afloat. But it’s a losing battle, Combs said. The city’s park services maintains

Southside Park swimmers should know in the next week whether a bold new plan to reopen the Southside Park Pool succeeds – if it does, it will make for a cool summer for thousands of central city swimmers. The plan hinges on a new partnership between the city of Sacramento and the Sacramento YMCA where the YMCA will operate the pool and provide staff and maintenance all year. “If we can accomplish this, the Southside (Park) Pool will be open for business seven days a week,” City Councilman Rob Fong said. “It would be an amazing asset for the community again.” The new plan includes swim lessons, an aquatics program and open swim times at the pool for families and kids who are out of schoo

The candidates in the race for mayor didn’t pull any punches at a candidate forum Saturday at the County Administration Building, despite Mayor Kevin Johnson’s notable absence. Leonard Padilla, Jonathan Rewers and write-in candidate Edgar Hilbert-Garcia took the stage Saturday to answer questions from a panel of political media experts, including Foon Rhee and Pia Lopez from The Sacramento Bee, and Cosmo Garvin from the Sacramento News & Review. Johnson’s campaign manager told media in numerous interviews leading up to the forum that Johnson would not attend because the mayor faces “no viable candidates” in the race. Padilla dismissed the comment as “ridiculous,” while Rewers suggested

City Council members are asking where more than $400,000 loaned to a nonprofit organization went after the organization defaulted on the loan. Now that organization faces an audit and accusations that they used some of the money in ways that violated the loan agreement. “We’re scraping together pennies to keep public safety and the most vital city services afloat,” City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said Tuesday. “To lose money on something like this absolutely requires that we look into it more.” The Sacramento Regional Sports Education Foundation borrowed the money to put on an outdoor track and field event that, according to preliminary budget documents, was expected to generate appro

Sports fans and arena enthusiasts will have to wait a little longer for word on any “plan B’ for an entertainment and sports complex in the railyards – at least until the new city budget is resolved. “I was shooting for sometime in May, but it’s going to take a little longer,” Mayor Kevin Johnson told the media Tuesday. The city spent nearly $690,000 in the past year on consultants and research in preparation for building a new arena in the downtown railyards. When negotiations with the Maloof family, the Kings’ owners, collapsed, Johnson quickly set off in search of a viable ‘plan B’ – with or without the Maloofs. Johnson continues to meet with Tim Lieweke, president of Anschutz Enter

When Brittany Willeford and more than 30 others appeared at City Hall last week to protest budget cuts to programs for disabled teens, they got the attention of Mayor Kevin Johnson and council members who hope the programs can be saved. “We have to find a way and be creative,” Johnson said at a press conference Tuesday. “If there’s a way we can resurrect it, that’d be awesome for everybody.” At stake are recreation and social programs that serve approximately 3,000 disabled teens and young adults each year through Access Leisure. The current program budget is $146,000, and that’s being cut from the 2012-13 budget, Program Director Annie Desalerno said Wednesday. “I didn’t know a whole l

If you could ask the candidates for City Council anything – what would you want to know? The race for City Council District 4 immediately caught fire when incumbent Rob Fong announced he wasn’t running for re-election, and now seven candidates are vying for the seat. Some of the questions the candidates will likely face include, who gets dibs on neighborhood parking – businesses or residents? Where should much-needed bridges go – at Broadway, or Richards Boulevard? And what about The Claw? Can our tree-lined streets survive only three months of city pickup service? In the mayoral race, three challengers stepped up to face incumbent Kevin Johnson, and all four will likely hear questions

Public Encouraged to complete online budget exercise The City of Sacramento released an online budget exercise that asks, “What should the role of City government be?” The brief budget exercise will provide the community an opportunity to share with the City what their priorities are in the following areas: - Economic Vitality - Healthy, Sustainable Environment - Leisure, Cultural and Social Opportunities - Reliable Infrastructure and Effective Mobility - Safe Community - Youth Opportunities and Education   The budget exercise results will be presented to the City Council during budget hearings in May and June. The budget exercise can be found on the front page of the City’s website at

With her dark brown hair bobbing at her shoulders as she walked, 22-year-old Brittnay Willeford stepped up to the podium at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, pushed her heavy-rimmed glasses up a bit, and began to read to the council a letter her grandmother needed to help her write. Despite a reading level that barely tops fourth grade, Willeford came to City Council to talk about some of the things she enjoys most: bowling, skiing and racing down the zipline at Camp Grizzly Beach – activities she will miss out on if the city follows through with plans to cut funding to Access Leisure, a program offered through the Parks and Recreation department that provides sports, camping, social and fi

Six of the seven candidates for council District 4 discussed the role of business and the value of art to the central city at a forum hosted by four business organizations Monday. The candidates – Steve Hansen, Phyllis Newton, Joe Yee, Michael Rehm, Terry Schanz and Neil Davidson – took the stage at the Cosmopolitan Cabaret Theatre on K Street Monday to answer a slew of questions about issues facing Sacramento’s recently reshaped District 4. Wendy Hoyt, local businesswoman and former president of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, moderated the forum. Hoyt noted that the central city is made up of variety of businesses and asked how the candidates would handle potential conflicts betw

Mayor Kevin Johnson and City Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell haven’t always seen eye to eye – one of the factors in his decision to support opponent Betty Williams in the race for Pannell’s District 8 council seat. “I want to work with people who are open to a vision and an agenda to move the city forward,” Johnson said at his weekly press conference Tuesday. “If somebody has an agenda that is clearly just to vote in a different way, or if the mayor comes up with an idea and people are just going to automatically say ‘no,’ I don’t feel that’s in the best interests of the city.” Johnson – who said he supports Williams because of her history of community activism – and Pannell have been on opp

The Sacramento Public Library Authority imposed furloughs on 241 library employees Friday after six months of intense negotiations with the employees’ union broke down. Calling it their “last, best and final offer” to International Union of Operating Engineers Local 39, Library Director Rivkah Sass said in a press release Monday that the SPLA will implement 12 furlough days per year for the next two fiscal years for the library workers. “Wage reductions, furloughs and layoffs are unfortunately more the rule rather than the exception in public employment these days,” Sass said. But the union sees it as "little more than a 4 percent pay cut" – and they consider the move to implement furlo

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

The District 2 City Council candidates gathered at the Sacramento Urban League over the weekend where they faced a new topic of discussion. And it wasn’t the death of the arena deal. Last Thursday, the City released its proposed 2012-2013 budget. The proposed budget eliminates 286 jobs, many of which are public safety positions. That didn’t sit well with the candidates. “No I don’t support those (cuts)” said candidate and former city councilmember Rob Kerth when asked about the cuts to public safety. “Those are fundamental city services.” “No, I do not support the budget cuts to cut police and fire services,” said Kim Mack. “One life is lost, one home is lost; they (the cuts) are not

It’s that time of year again when protesters line up outside City Hall, public comment gets intense – and sometimes colorful – and council meetings drag on into the night: City Hall released the 2012-13 city budget Thursday. The proposed budget includes the elimination of nearly 286 city positions and – unlike last year – does not include use of the general fund “economic uncertainty” reserves, according to a city press release Thursday. “This is not the budget I had hoped to recommend to address next year’s structural budget deficit,” City Manager John Shirey said in the release. The City Council will begin to address the budget in public hearings May 1. “Our big focus now is the budg

Misty Yaj said she is tired of District 2 being ignored by City Hall, so she joined the race to fill the City Council seat that incumbent Sandy Sheedy will be vacating after 12 years in office. “There are a lot of vandalized homes and vacant properties (in the district), and businesses here are few,” Yaj said. “I want to change that.” Yaj said the city has spent too much time on the proposed entertainment and sports complex project and not enough time finding ways to invest in the areas outside the downtown core. “When I talk to people (in the district), no one asks me about the arena. Not here – that’s for the downtown, not for (DIstrict 2),” Yaj said. Yaj, 42, owns a small business i

The Boys and Girls Club of Greater Sacramento will have to wait two weeks longer to launch key literacy and gang-prevention programs after a surprise move by City Council Tuesday halting the acceptance of a $250,000 grant to fund the programs. Sheedy asked for the agenda item on the grant to be pushed back until she could get more information from City Manager John Shirey about details of the grant. “I haven’t been briefed on it, and I have a lot of questions,” Sheedy said Tuesday. “I have questions about how it was done and the method of a private individual doing it instead of the city.” The item was initially on the City Council’s consent calendar, which typically contains non-contro

Despite the battle between the city and Sacramento Kings’ team owners over a new entertainment and sports complex, City Councilman Steve Cohn is adamant that plans for developing the railyards site for an intermodal transit facility will continue uninterrupted. “Yes, there is absolutely an intermodal without the arena,” Cohn said Thursday at a workshop on the project at City Hall. More than 100 people attended the workshop hosted by the city to discuss the site orientation of the proposed arena at the downtown railyards along with current and future transportation facilities at the site. Until the recent arena deal fell apart, the intermodal project at the downtown railyards was slated

Sacramento’s pools will be open this summer as the Save Our Pools campaign announced Thursday that it raised $1 million through individual donors, corporate donors and a $500,000 match by Save Mart Supermarkets. The campaign kicked off Feb. 14 with a goal of funding local pools so the same ones that were open last summer will be open this year. "It takes collaboration from all types and sizes to make a great city. Thanks to the efforts of Save Mart and its customers and vendors, plus our business community and residents from across the region, kids and families will have swimming pools available this summer in Sacramento. I couldn't think of a better way to kick off the summer," Mayor Ke

Nearly seven years after completing infrastructure work for housing developments in Natomas, developers are still receiving reimbursement payments from the city as part of an unusual “pay-as-you-go” arrangement between the city and the developer. “(This situation) is unique in that the city doesn’t pay for everything at once,” City Councilwoman Angelique Ashby said Tuesday. When the City Council agreed Tuesday to take $1.1 million from a Mello Roos special tax fund to reimburse a developer for public improvement projects, it was the eighth such payment in four years on an ongoing agreement that is usually handled a different way. Typically, the city issues bonds to pay builders immediat