The Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association in Sacramento focuses its efforts on three main objectives; connecting with the community which it serves and addressing their concerns, participating in and organizing fun and healthy events within the neighborhood, and providing college scholarships for students at Hiram Johnson High School. In order to pass out those scholarships, the TPNA has to raise funds, while at the same time being creative and providing the donors with something that’s a direct benefit to them as well. The upcoming Tahoe Park Annual Bowling Tournament is expected to raise a large share of revenue for this year’s scholarships, and you can help the TPNA make a high school st

Over the past few years, the City of Sacramento has had to cut the budgets of nearly every one of its departments to deal with the fiscal woes associated with the ongoing global economic contraction. The parks department is hardly immune to these cuts, as their staffing levels have shrunk considerably due to layoffs and retirements. But the citizens of Sacramento don’t want to see their parks fall into disrepair, and several groups have formed just to ensure that they continue to be clean and safe places for families to get together and enjoy nature’s bounty. The Land Park Volunteer Corps is coming back this weekend, March 3rd, to tackle the huge task of keeping the city’s largest park lo

Some people say a neighborhood is better defined by the residents who live, work and play there than by physical boundaries, lines on a map or the number of inhabitants. Just ask the people who live in Oak Park – or Elmhurst, or Med Center or Tahoe Park. Glenn Corngold, an Elmhurst resident who spoke at the Aug. 23 City Council meeting, told council members, “Med Center’s dirt is in our yard. It’s our neighborhood.” As the once-a-decade redistricting process for Sacramento comes to a close, there has been a lot of emotion, protest – and, yes, drama – focused on the redrawing of district lines that would shift the UC Davis Medical Center from District 5, where it has been since it was bu

Last night, the Sacramento City Council spent nearly two and a half hours taking public comments regarding the proposed council district map that it approved last week. More than 50 residents of at least four city districts rose to voice their concerns, yet not one of them spoke in favor of the proposed baseline map, ironically but officially referred to as "Neighborhoods Together 2.0". Most public comments came from two groups, referred to as "communities of interest" in the redistricting process. Oak Park advocates objected to the proposal to draw their neighborhood in a separate district from Sacramento Charter High School, the UC Davis Medical Center campus, and the northeast corner o

The number of potential redistricting maps in the running for City Council consideration dwindles to five as the city of Sacramento gets closer to finalizing a new redistricting plan. Maria MacGunigal, staff member for the Citizens Advisory Committee on Redistricting, said Tuesday that when the committee met on Monday, each member brought a list of “top five” and “bottom five” lists for discussion. At the conclusion of the meeting, committee members had decided on the “top four contenders,” MacGunigal said, plus one more map that is still under consideration, but may be eliminated at the next advisory committee meeting. City Council members will be on summer recess for two weeks startin

The Truck 10 crew of Sacramento City Fire in South Sacramento donated and installed an American flag at Tahoe Park Saturday morning. The flag was affixed to a long-forgotten pole in the northwest corner of the park which had been recently rehabilitated by the Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association. The pole, according to an old plaque at its base, was donated by Pacific Bell in 1989 and had been previously obstructed from view by neglected shrubbery. In an earlier TPNA park clean-up event, the offending foliage was removed, and the association decided to take steps to bring the pole back to its former glory. One of the main hindering obstacles preventing the use of the flagpole was reaching

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

In front of a tiny house, southeast of Highway 50 and 59th Street, we spotted the rare “Yard Giraffe” in it’s natural form: imitating a solid iron statue. Rumor has it that this Yard Giraffe’s name is Daisy and that she’s originally from Mexico. She’s lived in the northern section of Tahoe Park for at least the past 7 years. It is not uncommon to see Daisy decorated on some holidays. On Christmas she’s known to wear colorful lights and once even dressed up as a ghost for Halloween. If you know something you’d like to see on “Found In Sac”, send an email to me at sacramentoisaac@gmail.com  

Nearly 50 volunteers descended on Tahoe Park this past Saturday morning for the first “Clean-Up Day” of the year. The stormy weather and gray clouds were no deterrent to the men, women, and children who participated in the Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association’s event. Friends and family members broke up into about a dozen teams and were given a wide berth to attend to whatever section of the park they wanted. Some teams patched the worn-out sections in the jogging path. Other teams weeded the tree trunks and spread fresh mulch around their bases. Even more teams cut suckers and low lying branches on the pine trees. Eleven year resident Ray Duke found the event to be well organized and als

Spring is in the air and volunteers in the Tahoe Park neighborhood are eagerly preparing for their first "Park Clean-Up Day" of the year. After organizing two successful clean-up events in the area last fall, event organizers hope to attract a large enough group of volunteers this Saturday to have yet another triumphant event at their local park. Late last year, the Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association was awarded a $1000 dollar grant by "Gift-To-Share, Inc." with the purpose of purchasing tools and equipment for clean-up events. Recently, board members of TPNA obtained these tools and will be making them available for the first time during this volunteer effort. Tahoe Park is used by hun

New bike lanes could be added to 65th Street if the city receives enough cash from the state. The City Council is expected to approve the application for funding to install bicycle lanes on 65th Street between Fourth Avenue and Folsom Boulevard. The issue will be reviewed at Tuesday night’s council meeting. The city’s transportation department estimates the new bike lanes will cost $337,000 to install. California would pay most of the project’s costs if it selects the city’s application for the state’s Bicycle Transportation Account grant program. The city would pay 10 percent of the cost from revenues from Measure A, a local half-cent sales tax applied to street projects, according to E

The cool January morning was no deterrent to several dozen volunteers who came out for a tree planting event at Tahoe Park Sunday. Representatives from several local civic organizations, along with friends and neighbors from the community, came out to plant several Northern Red Oak, Valley Oak and Willow Oak trees. Jacobe Caditz from the Sacramento Tree Foundation gave a crash course in Tree Planting 101 before teams were divided and sent off to prearranged locations throughout the park. “We have a campaign going on right now where we want to plant 5 million more trees in Sacramento in the next 25 years,” Caditz said. “Today’s event is just another of many that’s going to help us reach o

Wooden boxes of chard, kale and collard greens on Charles Mason’s front yard in Oak Park are likely to be installed at dozens of spots in Sacramento next year and into 2012. Mason, the founder of environmental nonprofit group Ubuntu Green, is organizing a project to place up to 60 small gardens in an area that includes the neighborhoods of Oak Park, Tahoe Park, Lemon Hill and Fruitridge Manor. The home gardens project, funded by the California Endowment, is one of three programs Ubuntu Green will focus on in 2011. Ubuntu Green will work next year on a land-use environmental project with eight neighborhoods as well as host an annual event in September on environmentally friendly living.

Citizens in the Tahoe Park Neighborhood came out this last Saturday morning to clean their streets and common areas. Over 25 citizens braved the crisp, cool November morning and empowered themselves with tools on loan from the City of Sacramento, trash bags donated by Cal Trans, and coffee, juice and snacks provided by donations from private citizens. In under two hours, the volunteer team conquered over 800 feet of long-neglected roadside. They trimmed low and dead branches in the trees. They collected litter and road waste. A few eager teammates were even able to fix a forgotten and badly clogged storm drain. The leader of the volunteer corps, Isaac Gonzalez, was humbled by the turnout

PRESS RELEASE Tahoe Park Volunteers Prepare For Their Second Monthly Neighborhood “Clean-up” Event NOVEMBER 4TH 2010 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA The Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association is eagerly anticipating their second Neighborhood “Clean-Up” event this Saturday, November 6th in the Tahoe Park area of Sacramento, California. The leaders of the Neighorhood Association's "Volunteer Corps" are hoping for an even bigger turnout than last month. Isaac Gonzalez Jr., the Corps founder and Board Chair thinks that the efforts of his fellow neighbors are already having a positive effect. “People are excited. They’re hearing about a opportunity to help out in their own neighborhood. Many were jus

(Authors Note: Isaac Gonzalez is a founding member of TPVC) The TPVC (Tahoe Park Volunteer Corps) celebrated their first successful clean-up event earlier this month when members of the community got together on a Saturday morning to collectively implement the change they want to see in their neighborhood. Only six weeks after its inception, the co-founders of TPVC were able to coordinate their efforts and make contact with other liked-minded individuals in their area, work with City Services to obtain loaned tools, and execute a fun and productive beautification event that reaped real results. Looking forward, TPVC plans on staying busy with new monthly projects, making new contacts in

Members of the Tahoe Park Volunteer Corps (TPVC) are looking forward to their first beautification project event this Saturday, October 2nd near the KROY pathway. Over the past six weeks, members of the community have been meeting and planning with one another in preparation for this first event.   Emulating and expanding on the efforts of the Land Park Volunteer Corps, the TPVCs goal is to supplement City Services during the fiscally difficult time. In an age where municipalities are being told to do “more with less” and are seeing their budgets slashed, a few neighbors have taken it upon themselves to ensure the quality of their common areas does not fall into disrepair.   It is the ho

For the past three weeks those who live and work in the Tahoe Park neighborhood have enjoyed Cafe Lumiere, an American-French family-owned croissant bakery and cafe. Co-owner Geoffrey Matsuyama, 28, has spent 13 hour days - seven days a week - at the cafe since the grand opening baking croissants, training employees, and making sure customers are happy. "I always wanted to open up my own restaurant," Matsuyama said. "I saw it as something I wanted to do when I retired, but it's actually good that I did it young. It's really a lot of work, and it puts a lot of stress on the body." The opportunity to open the cafe came through his connection to Peter Kuo, owner of Le Croissant Factory in

I feel compelled to confess this simple truth: I love Target.  My Wife and I shop there all the time, not to say we shop excessively. We both think of ourselves as modest and frugal, and we rely on their affordable prices to get the products we need regularly: food, clothes, and household goods.   We loath Wal-Mart, and at the same time, I realize it is completely hypocritical to give Target a free pass,  since they too are a large faceless multinational corporation, easily vivified.  I also realize that this is not a perfect world, and we’ve all got to make our own way in it.  That being said since I heard that a new Target Store was going  to be built in walking distance from my front do

Tahoe Park residents braved wind and cloudy skies Saturday to attend the grand opening of the Tahoe Park Community Garden. Wielding golden scissors, a team including Congresswoman Doris Matsui and Sacramento City Councilmember Kevin McCarty cut the ceremonial red ribbon. "This will only enhance your neighborhood," Matsui said, "this gives you a gathering place." She went on to say that community gardens reduce crime and vandalism "because everyone now has a stake in the community." The garden, which is on the campus of Tahoe Park Elementary, was created as a means to fight obesity and promote healthy lifestyle choices and eating habits. "Young people sometimes think food comes from McDon