Did you know that 57 percent of California voters want a third party alternative?  While the idea may seem pie-in-the-sky, it's not.  Just like the dot-com and housing bubbles that suddenly popped without warning, it can be difficult to grasp where we are at our current point in history. I'm here to tell you that there's a revolution coming, but it's not going to be of the Arab Spring sort.  Instead, it's going to come from people like you who decide that even though they have a viewpoint, collaboration is better than competition.  Our political system - whether in Congress or the State Capitol - has simply lost the capacity to solve problems.  And it's no coincidence that it seems like t

Despite budget reductions and recent layoffs in the police department, serious crime in Sacramento has dropped 18 percent over the last three years – the second largest decline in California among cities of similar size – according to a report that Sacramento Police Chief Rick Braziel presented to City Council Tuesday. Braziel told council members that the core mission of the Sacramento Police Department hasn’t changed since 2008 when he took charge. The mission, he said, is still “reduce crime, engage the community and provide excellent service.” What has changed, however, is the number of police personnel – 81 sworn officers were laid off in July – and a department budget reduced by $1

Now that a new city manager has taken the helm, Interim City Manager Bill Edgar is ready for new things. But “greener pastures” is not necessarily where Edgar says he’s headed. “Plans for me aren’t really set,” Edgar said in an interview last week. “I have plenty to do, so retirement isn’t exactly in my future.” Edgar took over as interim city manager after the previous interim city manager, Gus Vina, resigned in April. When the City Council appointed Edgar to the position, he was joined by Betty Masuoka as assistant interim city manager. Together, Edgar and Masuoka took on the responsibilities of preparing a difficult city budget and navigating some tough union contracts. Edgar’s role

City staff members want to fix Sacramento’s budget problems by revamping the city’s current organizational structure – and they want to do it by February. Northern California still struggles to recover from one of the worst recessions in more than 75 years, and the city of Sacramento has been hit especially hard. Interim City Manager Bill Edgar reminded council members Tuesday of the reality of the city’s fiscal situation: A budget that is $39 million less than it was the prior year; 141 city employee layoffs, including 41 sworn police officers, and a $26 million structural imbalance expected to extend into 2016. “The impacts (of the current budget structure) have been noticeable and si

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

When City Council members approved the 2011-12 budget in June, they said that the city’s community centers would not be closed – but the centers won’t receive any city funding to keep them open, either. Now, a team of people at the city’s Neighborhood Services Department, along with the Department of Parks and Recreation, are trying to keep the 15 community centers in Sacramento open by partnering with nonprofit and community-based organizations. Late last year, Neighborhood Services had already begun looking for ways to make the idea work when it sent out “requests for proposals” seeking groups interested in overseeing the centers and providing the financial backing needed to operate th

As Steve Szalay prepares to leave behind the position of county executive for Sacramento County, current Riverside City Manager Brad Hudson is gearing up to step into his shoes. Hudson accepted a five-year contract with Sacramento County after spending nearly 35 years in county government in Kings and Riverside counties before becoming city manager for Riverside in 2005. Hudson talked to The Sacramento Press about his upcoming move in an interview Thursday. SP: You’ve been in city government for a while now, and prior to that you worked in county government. How will your experiences in the city of Riverside and the counties you administered translate to your work here in the north-stat

Friday marks the first day of the new fiscal year for the City of Sacramento – and the last day of work for more than 200 city employees, including 42 sworn police officers. The final city budget, which passed on June 21, included deep cuts to parks, libraries and public safety agencies and filled a $39 million budget gap. The budget did not pass without contention, however. Council members Angelique Ashby and Steve Cohn and Mayor Kevin Johnson each went against the budget, calling the cuts to public safety “drastic” and creating a 6-3 split vote. “These cuts to public safety are too big. They’re way too big,” Ashby said. “Why would we cut more than we have to?” During the proceedings

As Steve Szalay prepared to hand over the reins to the top spot in county government, he talked about his experiences as interim county executive and sent a message to his successor: “Don’t screw it up.” Szalay came on board with the county in December of 2009 when County Executive Terry Schutten retired. It was a temporary assignment that would bring Szalay out of retirement just long enough to put the county back on track while the Board of Supervisors recruited a permanent county executive. With more than 40 years’ experience in California government, including work in the administration of four counties and as executive director for the California State Association of Counties, Szala

Mayor Kevin Johnson spoke about the need for representatives of the Sacramento Police Officers Association (SPOA) to meet with the city to explore ways to save police officers from impending layoffs at a Tuesday press conference. “All of us on the council – the six that voted one way and the other three of us that didn’t – are reaching out to the SPOA asking for a meaningful dialogue,” Johnson said. The City Council passed a budget on a 6-3 vote on June 21 that included more than $12 million in cuts to the Police Department and paved the way for more than 40 sworn police officers to be laid off July 1. “We are at a difficult crossroad,” Johnson said. “(The City Council) said public safe

When the Sacramento City Council passed the budget last week, funding for the Sacramento Public Library system was cut by nearly $800,000, and that means the possibility of reduced branch hours and even branch closures. But deciding just what to cut is a challenge that library staff wants the community to help with. “We want to talk to the community to see what’s important to them,” said Brenda Haggard, Strategic Communications Officer for the Sacramento Public Library. “We want to make decisions based on what’s important to the people we serve.” Haggard said the desire is to keep public service intact as much as possible, despite the cuts to funding. Library staff members are inviting

More than 300 city positions will be eliminated in the coming year after the City Council passed a finalized city budget Tuesday night. Despite impassioned pleas from members of the Sacramento City Crime Scene Investigation unit and local union representatives, the 14-member CSI unit and 45 sworn police officers are on the chopping block. The budget passed on a 6-3 vote, with Council members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn and Mayor Kevin Johnson each voting against the measure. The new budget incorporates $4.6 million in one-time resources to close the gap for fiscal year 2011-12. It also funnels $3.36 million into the city’s economic uncertainty reserve fund. Betty Masuoka, assistant int

Approval of a final city budget that includes $39 million in ongoing cuts and the elimination of 320 city positions is expected at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, but Police Department personnel aren’t holding out hope for an 11th-hour save from potential layoffs. “The council is firm on its decision,” said Det. Mark Tyndale, Sacramento Police Officers Association (SPOA) vice president. “And we are firm in ours.” On June 7, City Council members urged SPOA representatives to consider contract concessions for its members in an effort to relieve the burden of deep budget cuts that will have a significant impact on the Police Department and public safety personnel. The SPOA has not made any

In an unparalleled move, the Sacramento City Council voted Tuesday night to move forward with cuts that will drastically change the scope of its public safety departments. Eighty sworn officers are on the chopping block, and there is a plan to brownout four fire stations on a rotating basis. “I said in January there would be a day of reckoning,” Councilmember Kevin McCarty told the packed council chambers. “Today is that day.” After the council meeting, I spoke briefly with McCarty to get his thoughts on the night’s historic events. Isaac Gonzalez: You didn’t agree with Councilmember Cohn’s idea to add ask for concessions from the Police and Fire Departments and to match those amounts w

Despite reports of the city’s proposals to lay off more than 350 jobs, including 80 sworn police officers, during Tuesday’s press conference, Mayor Kevin Johnson said that avoiding such layoffs will be a priority. Throughout the conference, Johnson said he wanted Sacramento to remain a full-service city and that he hopes to alleviate any distrust between police officers and the city by playing a more active role in addressing the interests of both parties. “We’re trying to preserve as many jobs as we can and keep public safety at the top of our priorities,” he added. “We’re about to pass and adopt a budget in about three weeks or so, and we do not want to be in a position where our comm

If the Sacramento Police Department headquarters moves from Freeport Boulevard to Richards Boulevard, it could save $500,000 per year, but with it comes an up-front moving cost of $1 million, according to a report released Wednesday afternoon. This would force other city departments – community development, parking services and code enforcement – to relocate from the building at 300 Richards Blvd. to City Hall, according to City Councilman Steve Cohn. The idea stems from the Police Department, which has been looking at moving its headquarters from the Public Safety Center on Freeport Boulevard for the past three years to save money, police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong said. Being closer to

The R Street improvements currently under construction from 10th to 13th streets are getting a few more amenities, as construction left extra funds in an approximately $1 million $1.5 million federal grant allocated to the project. The City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to approve 13 more pedestrian benches, 13 banners affixed to streetlights and a decorative arch that spans R Street at 10th Street and a pedestrian arch over the sidewalk on 12th Street and R Street, to be constructed by Teichert Construction, the main contractor for the project. “This will be the icing on the cake to R street and will make the area more pedestrian-friendly,” Sacramento Department of Transportation sp

Sacramento County’s budget situation for the 2011/2012 fiscal year could be described by the grammatically incorrect but accurate phrase “less bad.” In other words, the county’s budget gap of $90 million is less severe than the $181 million shortfall it faced last year. But the current gap, which is likely to result in a wave of layoffs, is still grim. County Interim Executive Officer Steven Szalay laid out budget details in a Friday morning press conference at the downtown county building on H Street. The county plans to cut 321 employee positions in its budget process, Szalay said. “I’m very sad to have to have these service-level reductions,” he said. “They’re definitely going to hur

Sacramento city officials have scheduled 10 public meetings on the city budget over the next seven weeks. The City Council is wrestling with a $39 million budget gap and is considering recommendations from the city manager’s office to lay off hundreds of municipal employees.  The public is welcome at the budget hearings, which will be led by the City Council. “It’s important that the public’s voice is heard,” city spokeswoman Amy Williams said. “These are hard decisions that lie ahead.” During the next few weeks, Williams said she aims to keep as much budget information as possible on the city’s website. A link to city budget documents is on the front page of the website.  All of the

Much has been written about Gus Vina in the press over the past 14 months. After becoming Sacramento’s interim city manager, Vina faced a multitude challenges on various fronts. Budgets shortfalls, permit controversies, and varying levels of support from the City Council were just some of the hurdles Vina had to bear. In the end, Vina tendered his resignation, effective today. I met with him late Wednesday afternoon as he finished cleaning out his office to talk about his time as interim city manager, his plans going forward and the possible future of Sacramento. Here’s what we spoke about: Isaac Gonzalez: You took the position of interim city manager after Ray Kerridge resigned in Febru