School superintendents from across the state convened on the west steps of the Capitol on Monday to urge lawmakers to get tax extensions on the ballot in a June special election, which they said is necessary to avoid a $4.6 billion reduction in public school funding. Sacramento City Unified Superintendent Johnathan Raymond  said time has run out and that legislators need to get the tax extensions put on the ballot this week, since county clerks need 88 days to prepare for an election. “We are here because we represent children in California, and that, I think, is a point getting missed in our message,” said Raymond. “I look right in front of me and I see two yellow school buses. We all

Local residents seeking information about forming their own neighborhood volunteer groups convened at the Clunie Clubhouse at McKinley Park this past Saturday Morning. The informational event, held by coordinators from the Land Park Volunteer Corps, drew over 30 individuals ranging from concerned citizens, past and present city employees, and representatives of various community organizations. Craig Powell, lead coordinator for LPVC, passed out an detailed guide outlining the “nuts and bolts” involved in forming a successful city park volunteer group. Staff from the cities park department summarized the resources available to groups interested in volunteering, and how to coordinate with v

Student involvement at a commuter school like Sacramento State has given the Associated Students, Inc. president, Terry Martin, an added task of making the student government organization visible. ASI members have gone to residence halls to promote their organization. They have gone to local businesses to offer discounts to students who have their student identification, known to students as the OneCard. And they have helped raise funds to keep the Hornet bus line going. From fees, class sizes and campus life, to the future direction of ASI, Martin addressed student concerns Tuesday in the University Union lobby and suggested that students get involved if they want to see a change. He sa

Sacramento’s controversial “crash tax” might come off the books as early as next week. Councilman Jay Schenirer, who initially voted for the fire cost recovery ordinance that would bill non-resident drivers for emergency responses to accidents in which they are at fault, called for the ordinance’s repeal Tuesday night. He took advantage of a scheduled vote to approve a contract with outside billing company Fire Recovery USA and said he wanted to change his vote. “I do think at this point it’s the wrong ordinance for the city,” he said, adding that he has taken time to reflect on his previous decision, and said the recent awarding of $5.6 million in federal grants puts the Fire Departmen

Paul Connett PhD will be in Sacramento Febuary 23~24th to discuss his new book The Case Against Fluoride: How Hazardous Waste Ended Up in Our Drinking Water and the Bad Science and Powerful Politics That Keep It There. Learn how this relates to Sacramento, as new found dangers of water fluoridation continue coming to light. There will be two events in Sacramento: ARCADE LIBRARY  - Wednesday Feb 23rd 7:00-9:00pm  2443 Marconi Ave Sacramento. It is a free event. For more info go to  FluorideFreeSsacramento.org WHOLE FOODS - Thurs. Feb. 24th 7:00-9:00pm  4315 Arden Way (Eastern and Arden Way) Seating is limited at this event. For reservations at Whole Food call (916) 483-1155 For more info

Assemblyman Richard Pan (D-Sacramento) led a town hall meeting for the Natomas Unified School District community at Inderkum High School on Thursday night where he and Superintendent Bobbie Plough laid out a plan to help the district prevent a state takeover, or “receivership.” The town hall meeting came on the heels of a prediction made by County Superintendent David Gordon that NUSD would end up with a negative fund balance in the coming years. If that projection comes true, then the district would lose local control with a state-appointed receiver in place and a disempowered school board. As the state legislator for the governing district, Pan said he is required to ask the Legislatu

Major changes are in store for the city’s River District, as the Sacramento City Council approved a set of future development plans Tuesday night. The planning documents set a path for development of the area over the next 25 years, according to a report from city staff. The city’s plans for the River District, a 773-acre swath between the Sacramento Railyards and the American River, focus on ramping up residential, commercial, office and hotel development and moving away from industrial development. Council members approved the plans in a 8-0 vote. Mayor Kevin Johnson did not attend the City Council meeting because he was out of town, said Johnson spokesman Joaquin McPeek. The city wan

We keep hearing about our greenness. Here in Sacramento we have a tree program, various recycling programs, and other earth friendly initiatives. But can one policy trump all this? Can a city be truly green when it knowingly adds toxic chemicals imported from China to its drinking water? And to top it all, 99.99% of it is wasted. Lets look at the facts as the Sacramento Department of Utilities has presented them. Questions came up at a June 22, 2010 Sacramento City Council budget hearing. This resulted in a request for additional information regarding the city's water fluoridation program. On July 1st Marty Hanneman, Director of Utilities sent the Mayor & City Council members a memorandum

My name is Melissa Mendoza, and my family and I live in a lovely neighborhood called Woodlake in Sacramento. We are your typical family of four, married for eight years with two beautiful children, a daughter and a son. Our lives seemed typical and ordinary until two years ago when our son was diagnosed with autism at the age of 2 ½. We were thrown into a world of psychologists, neurologists, speech therapists, occupational therapists and so many unanswered questions. My husband and I had just started our own web and database design business and were now spending countless hours in doctors’ waiting rooms and searching for answers to why our son was still not talking at the age of 2. Why w

Sacramento is facing a $35 million - $40 million budget gap next year, according to city officials who gave an update to the City Council Tuesday night. The city must reduce expenses by 20 percent to close the gap for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, according to city staff. Interim City Manager Gus Vina, who held a financial recovery workshop for the council recently, characterized the budget gap as “ugly and persistent.” City Council members were in agreement about the desperate budget situation. They emphasized how hard it will be to cut more than they already have in the last several years. “We’ve been squeezing and squeezing and squeezing,” said Councilman Kevin McCarty. Mayor Kevin Jo

Addressing an estimated $35 million-$40 million budget gap for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, Interim City Manager Gus Vina hosted a special workshop on economic recovery for the City Council. He presented a variety of plans to bring in more revenue, including enhancing the city’s parks with tourist attractions, providing incentives to businesses and creating a mix of opportunities in the city’s job market. Vina urged City Council members to move quickly on the economic recovery plan so the city can begin to see results. “I don’t expect the benefits in 2012 and 2013 to be huge, but it will be a good beginning,” he said. He told council members that unemployment in 2011 is expected to remai

The Sacramento County Probation Department held an open house event at their juvenile hall Saturday afternoon. The facility, originally built in 1964, recently underwent an impressive renovation and 210-bed expansion to bring it up to current standards. The new state-of-the-art design allows officials to use an “Evidence-Based Curriculum,” which focuses on improving the quality of life not only for the inmates but hopefully for the surrounding communities as well. On an average day the probation department says there are over 200 inmates in the facility, with an average length of stay of 24 days. Of that population, about three quarters are boys and the rest are girls. The typical juvenil

Interim City Manager Gus Vina said Tuesday that he would like to serve as Sacramento’s next permanent city manager. The City Council held a private meeting on Tuesday to discuss the council’s plans for hiring a city manager. The council did not discuss the details of the private meeting at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. It’s unclear at this point if the council will search for a city manager outside of City Hall. The timeline for the council’s hiring process also remains unclear. Meanwhile, Vina is expressing his interest in the permanent job. “When I took the position, I understood it was interim and that they can discuss the interim status and appointment at any time up to Marc

City Treasurer Russ Fehr explained the city’s cash flow problems to the City Council Tuesday night, noting that the city’s general fund will need to continue to borrow cash. The city has a $90 million cash flow gap, Fehr said. To address its cash flow troubles, the city recently borrowed $40 million, he said. The city’s cash situation changes throughout the year, according to a report by Fehr. That’s because the city receives property tax revenues during the second half of the fiscal year, which begins Jan. 1, Fehr said. The heart of the problem is the cash situation with the general fund, he said. “I want to emphasize that the cash flow issue in first half of the year is not new,” he

The city is in serious trouble because it is nearly out of cash. City Treasurer Russ Fehr made that dire prediction in a report released Thursday afternoon. He wrote that the city faces a major problem with its cash flow. “Due to the differences in timing in General Fund expenditures and revenues, there is a cash flow gap of approximately $90 million in the first half of the fiscal year,” Fehr wrote. The City Council is expected to discuss Fehr’s report at its Dec. 7 meeting. “If the City's discretionary cash holdings fall below the needs of the General Fund in the first half of a fiscal year, then the City will assume an appalling new risk level,” the report said. “If the City cannot

Despite nationally known speakers Sarah Palin and Howard Dean headlining the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s Perspectives 2010 forum, it was the lesser-known speakers who had a greater effect on the audience. Terrence McNamara, a Sacramentan in the construction industry, said he found management consultant and author Marcus Buckingham to be the most interesting. “I’ve been coming to this for seven years, and it’s always the speaker you’re not interested in seeing who has the biggest impact,” he said. Buckingham offered his views on dealing with strengths and weaknesses. Traditionally, Buckingham said, people tend to think that weaknesses need to be worked on. According to Buckingham, howeve

Sacramento County has made about 340 fewer layoffs than it had predicted it would make as a result of June budget cuts. County officials in June estimated that at least 725 employees could be laid off. The county resolved a $181 million budget gap in June when it passed a first draft of its budget. But County Budget Officer Tom Burkart said in an interview Wednesday that the county ended up laying off about 380 people, instead of 725. “The 725 actually was an estimate,” Burkart said. “And we did cut 700-plus positions, but they weren’t laid off.” Retirements, demotions and vacant positions kept the number of out-the-door layoffs down, according to Burkart. The county’s layoff process

If the state issues IOUs again, Sacramento plans to cash in. The City Council gave the nod Tuesday night to the treasurer’s office to use $20 million to purchase IOUs – officially known as “registered warrants” – as an investment opportunity for the city. If the state does issue IOUs, Sacramento Chief Investment Officer John Colville said recipients can take them to the treasurer’s office along with identification and a voided check, and the city will wire the money directly into the recipient’s bank account, with a $2 processing fee. Last year, the city set aside $10 million, of which $6.92 million was used to buy IOUs, and the city cashed in for $29,650, Colville said. “It was succes

Sacramento residents meeting at the second session of Community Conversations Tuesday night gave their suggestions for dealing with the current Sacramento budget crisis, with ideas ranging from eliminating parks and recreation programs to more spending on prisons and education. “Budget Cuts: What are we willing to do without and what are we willing to do about the rest?” was the question posed for the second of eight Community Conversations - one in each City Council district - sponsored by The Sacramento Bee, Sacramento Region Community Foundation and Capital Public Radio. It was a striking question that produced several different thoughts from members of the Sacramento community. Ten S

The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission banded together Wednesday afternoon, bringing nearly a dozen arts supporters to a public County Board of Supervisors budget meeting that discussed funding cuts from the county's Transit Occupancy Tax, a hotel tax. It was the last day of public hearings on the county budget before deliberations. Rob Leonard, the director of the county's Department of Economic Development gave a report on the cuts. Among organizations facing cuts from the TOT budget were the Sacramento Tree Foundation, the Sacramento Sports Commission and Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission. Despite their efforts to oppose the cuts, which included public service announcements