Mayor Kevin Johnson toured the downtown railyards with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Thursday, showing off the site of the future intermodal facility and – if all goes well for Johnson and the Think Big Committee – the site of a new entertainment and sports complex. LaHood stopped in Sacramento on a tour of California to discuss investments being made in job-creating infrastructure projects in Sacramento and around the country, according to a press release Tuesday. LaHood spoke to a crowd of more than 50, discussing the importance of high-speed rail in California, as well as job potential from the future intermodal facility. “This facility is what I believe is a national mode

The push to put a city parking lease to a vote fell flat Tuesday as the City Council rejected a motion to put the question on the June ballot. It was City Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy who first suggested in November that the voters should have a say in whether the city leases its parking inventory to an outside company. She conducted a city-wide poll on her website in October, which indicated that 70 percent of respondents favored a public vote on a potential 50-year lease, according to Sheedy. “The (arena) plan hinges on leasing the city’s parking for 50 years,” Sheedy said Tuesday. “I think such a massive public investment warrants a public vote.” Still, after almost an hour of public d

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 possible human rights violations of the local homeless was a main topic of Mayor Kevin Johnson’s press conference Tuesday. The conference was held to announce the expansion of Bank on Sacramento, a collaboration between local nonprofit organizations, banks and credit unions, to help people receive low-cost accounts and financial advice. Despite the announcement, the topic of homeless rights were heavily discussed. Catarina De Albuquerque, a member of the United Nations Human Rights Council, recently sent a four-page memo to warn Johnson about the possible violation. The current policy of removing the homeless from tent cities denies the homeless safe drinking water and sanitation, wh

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

In the Mayor’s “State of the City” address he focused on two important and interconnected areas: jobs and education. The Mayor also spoke about making the impossible possible, a message that resonates with many citizens today. With unemployment at record highs (8.5% in the U.S., 11.3% in California and 11.1% in Sacramento) and prevalent low academic performance in the U.S. (compared internationally) and in California (compared to other states), the impossibility of the “American dream” is all too real for far too many people today. Still, all hope is not lost. There is a sense of urgency sweeping the nation and jobs and education are two very hot topics swirling in the media. There is a fe

Mayor Kevin Johnson said 13 companies have expressed interest in leasing the city’s parking system for the next 50 years – a move he described as “promising” as the city looks to bring in $240 million to finance an arena through the process. “(The responses) show a lot of interest. That is consistent with what we expected,” Mayor Kevin Johnson said Tuesday at his weekly press conference. “It is really encouraging.” The 13 “letters of intent” arrived after the city sent more than 100 letters to parking operators across the nation in early January. The deadline for interested parties to respond was Monday. The names of the interested companies will be released Thursday, Johnson said. Alt

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

The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday against putting a strong mayor initiative on the June ballot – but they opened the door for some form of charter reform to appear on the November ballot. Council members directed the city attorney to return to council in three weeks with a “matrix layout” detailing two options for the council to consider. One, the creation of an elected charter commission initiative, and, two, a revision of the Checks and Balances Act based on comments heard at Tuesday’s council meeting. The City Council will have the opportunity to vote for either action at the Feb. 7 council meeting – “or to do nothing at all,” said City Councilman Kevin McCarty when the meet

Tuesday on Capitol Public Radio’s “Insight” program, I sat down with host David Watts Barton and Sacramento Bee editorial board member Foon Rhee to discuss the Checks and Balances Act of 2012 – more commonly known as the “executive mayor” or “strong mayor” initiative. The mayor’s office rolled out the latest version of the strong mayor initiative Dec. 21 by a coalition of supporters led by Mayor Kevin Johnson’s chief of staff, Kunal Merchant. The issue was scheduled to be on the agenda for City Council discussion Tuesday, and Johnson said he is hopeful that council members will put the initiative on the June ballot. Rhee pointed out that Tuesday’s meeting was the 16th time the issue has

As one of the first steps of preparing for the June primary elections, the City Council will adopt requirements for candidate statements Tuesday that spell out what candidates can say – in 200 words or less – what they must avoid and how much it will cost them. Candidates vying for the offices of mayor and City Council Districts 2, 4, 6 and 8 in the June 5 primary will have the option of preparing a candidate statement to be included with the sample ballots voters receive prior to an election. There is a fee for including the statements in the voter pamphlet. According to the staff report, the cost is an estimated prorated “share” of the total amount to cover the costs of translation, pr

The City Council will be discussing the latest version of an executive mayor initiative Tuesday, opening the door to putting charter reform on the June ballot. A strong mayor initiative has been an on-and-off topic of discussion in Sacramento political circles since it was first brought up by Mayor Kevin Johnson shortly after his election in 2008. The executive mayor version was introduced at a press conference Dec. 21 by the mayor’s chief of staff and a group of supporters ranging from faith community leaders to the head of the local police union. How is an “executive mayor” different from a “strong mayor”? Strong Mayor Initially – in a 2008/09 version of the strong mayor initiative

Mayor Kevin Johnson opened Monday night’s town hall meeting with a speech on his upbringing in Oak Park. The attendants quickly shifted the mood of the meeting with a flood of questions on issues in Sacramento, and many ethnic communities showed concern for lack of support and communication in the past. Johnson said that early on in his term he made the mistake of thinking that there was only one Asian/Pacific Islanders community (API) in Sacramento, when there are in fact more than 40 communities. Because of this, he said he didn’t attend many of the API meetings held last year. He told attendees that this is something he wants to change. “When I was talking to the API community, I said

Sacramento City Council members had their hands full this year – from balancing the budget to redrawing district lines to a citizen uprising that found its way to the doors of City Hall. Here’s the city government year in review. CITY MANAGER DRAMA The year started off with interim city manager Gus Vina not being promoted to the open city manager spot. Vina replaced previous city manager Ray Kerrige when Kerrige resigned in February 2010. Vina resigned two months later – just a few weeks before the budget was due to the City Council. He later became the city manager of Encinitas. The City Council was criticized for making decisions about the city manager position in closed sessions bef

Mayor Kevin Johnson spoke confidently Tuesday about the possibility of a new entertainment and sports complex becoming a reality for Sacramento – despite the challenges ahead. “We are at a critical juncture in this process,” Johnson said. “On the court, our team needs to play well. Off the court, I feel good about the progress we’re making on the new entertainment sports complex and the financing.” Johnson said that – on the public side of the equation – the city is moving forward with its “due diligence” on a plan to lease out the city parking system as part of the financial plan for a new arena. “On the private side,” Johnson added, “AEG and ICON and all those folks are doing their pa

The potential West Campus/Sacramento High School “swap” is off the table, but the budget and facility use problems that spurred the proposal still exist – leaving open the question, is this really the end of the conversation? “We have serious issues as far as our budget goes,” Sacramento City Unified School District trustee Patrick Kennedy said Monday. “We’ll have to look at all of our facilities. I won’t say there won’t be discussions of (school) closures in the future.” In an effort to save money and make more efficient use of district facilities, the SCUSD board recently considered swapping two school programs – the charter school program at the Sac High campus and the program at the

Mayor Kevin Johnson was flanked by high-ranking law enforcement officials, community leaders, students and others as he officially launched his Gang Prevention Initiative at the Teichert Branch Boys and Girls Club of South Sacramento. The plan was announced Tuesday morning after a year of gathering input from the community from neighborhood meetings throughout the Sacramento area and combining the results with the efforts of the mayor’s Gang Prevention Task Force. The community came together in the aftermath of the murder of innocent bystander Monique Nelson following a gang-related gun battle at the Fly Cuts and Styles barbershop in the 6900 block of Stockton Boulevard on Dec. 14, 2010.

An executive mayor, an independent redistricting commission and new ethics and transparency guidelines were the highlights of a new plan to reform city government introduced by representatives from the mayor’s office Wednesday. “This (proposal) represents how to fundamentally restructure how City Hall works,” Kunal Merchant, chief of staff to Mayor Kevin Johnson said Wednesday. Merchant said the new charter reform proposal is based on previous reform ideas and represents three years of discussion with members of the public and city and community leaders throughout Sacramento. The proposed legal language was prepared by Nielsen Merksamer Parrinello Gross & Leoni – a local law firm that sp

The City Council voted 7-2 Tuesday to pursue an agreement that could potentially bring in $250 million for a new arena by leasing the city’s parking system to a private operator. “This is just one piece – a very important piece – in our ability to build an entertainment sports complex,” City Manager John Shirey said Tuesday. Council members Darrell Fong and Sandy Sheedy were the only “no” votes. A recent analysis of the city’s parking system concluded that the city could lease the parking system to a private operator for 50 years – releasing all revenue and control of the system for the life of the lease – and receive an up-front lump payment of nearly $250 million. With an ongoing cit