Newest articles on The Sacramento Press written by Dale Kooyman

A Challenge to Sacramento Artists

2010-11-04T19:55:01Z

I’m not an artist, but very appreciative of various kinds of art. As such, I have read that, in general, art is made with the intention of stimulating thoughts and emotions. In the arts, “media (plural of medium) are the materials and techniques used by an artist to produce a work.”

It is up to the creativity and imagination of the artist to select from a wide variety of media the material(s) and technique(s) to use when creating a work of art. There is an extremely wide variety of such materials and techniques that an artist is able to use when producing a work of art.

Kansas teenagers who created the art shown in the photos below tapped highly unusual materials available free in their rural community. The basic material was straw left over from harvesting wheat. They used various arrangements of that straw which included loose straw, straw compacted in round, large rectangular/and or smaller bales, some coloring products and discarded bits or pieces of probably “junk” or litter to bring each creation to life.

With that background, I challenge Sacramento artists to use their imaginations to gather whatever materials that they may find discarded, lying around at home or in the streets to use whatever techniques they may choose to mold such materials into a work of art. Perhaps, the finished works can be preserved and displayed at various locations in Midtown or Downtown on the Mall.

Hints: I have seen photos in other cities of discarded tires carved into animal figures, chicken wire molded into bird or animal forms with vines planted at the base and pruned as they grow to fill out the wire forms, bush or small tree topiary trees, litter arranged into figures, machines, etc.

While there are art galleries whose owners are very serious about promoting art, I believe that the Second Saturday “art walk” hoopla has morphed into just an excuse for partying and getting drunk in MIdtown. I doubt that any one of those self-proclaimed "artists" is able to top the Kansas high school kids' creations shown below. Further, I don’t think those that call themselves "artists" here have the creativity and skills to replicate or create new forms of anything unique related to art. Anyone willing to take the challenge to prove me wrong?

Straw Castles on the prairie

Straw Fort in the wheat field

Happy face

Straw Monster

Family Time

Straw Henge

Yikes! A raid! We give up!

You name it.

A bearded happy face

Little Miss Muffet's Spider

Papa Straw, Mama Straw and Baby Straw

To the Moon in a Straw Space Ship

A Straw Maze

Straw bale ferris wheel

Straw Boss

"Bringing in the Sheaves"

Straw Windmill

Straw hangover

Frosty, the straw man

Tree Vandalism

2010-05-25T22:46:09Z

Starting last year and continuing into this year, tree vandalism in Midtown has been rampant. The vandalism most often occurs on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights/early mornings. This fiscal year we have had 29 tree vandalized (26 in the central city).

Victim trees are located outside, near to or within a block of bars and nightclubs. The damage consists of twisting, cutting them in half or breaking off at any point newly planted trees of all species, ripping out the stakes and battering the trees and trying to break a tree by bending it over so far that it damaged the root system so much it could not stand straight without city arborists’ attention and help.

Imagine a vandal’s courage and feeling of power, drunk or sober, to attack and destroy a defenseless living thing such as newly planted tree, which gives us such environmental benefits.

Many were so badly damaged that the city Urban Forest Services had to remove the “remains” because there was no evidence of life to re-grow. Even those that can be saved will only be half the size of its neighbor which was not vandalized, delaying shade and leaf oxygen benefits for at least 10 years. Planting is only done in the rainy season, so all those damaged recently cannot be replaced until this fall, losing an entire summer of growth!

Urban Forest Services (UFS) states that the cost to the taxpayer is $251 per vandalized tree, which includes cost of the original tree, labor for planting, removal costs of the destroyed tree and the repeat cost of buying a new tree and labor for planting it.

This does not include city labor costs for watering the trees before they were vandalized if the trees were located in non-irrigated planter locations, which most are. Nor does it include the environmental costs to during the summer when there is no new tree and its belated growth for the next several years.

Trees vandalized on 19th Street were older established trees that were growing well. Most of those on 19th St were large diameter trees (1 1/2 inches). They would have a higher value than a newly planted tree. Between the 21st and J Street location and the others on 19th St, seven trees were vandalized UFS reports.

Whoever vandalized them had to really work at it says UFS staff, taking considerable time and effort. Vandalizing a tree is a crime. When someone sees that a tree has been vandalized, UFS asks them to call 311 and report the address and the kind of vandalism.

Graffiti vandals are also tagging tree trunks with spray paint, showing serious disrespect for nature. The city when notified of such tagging will photo and add to their inventory of various tagging elsewhere, enabling them to prosecute when monikers are identified. These are not gang tags but the usual graffiti vandals disrespecting nature.

When anyone observes someone either destroying a new tree or painting graffiti on a grown tree, they should take a photo of the criminal if the observer has a digital camera, or get a description and call 311. In the case of tree destruction if it takes the vandal considerable time to destroy the tree, individuals may also call the non-emergency police number.

I admit to a bias of a great fondness and respect for trees. As a fifth grader, I remember our English teacher giving us an assignment to read, Joyce Kilmer’s now nearly one hundred year-old poem “Trees.” We were asked to memorize it and then discuss it in class.

For those who may not have read the poem an abbreviated version goes like this:
“I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.
A tree that may in summer wear
a nest of robins in her hair.
Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

We then sang it in music class, which followed. I’m sure we must have murdered the song but for a real treat to hear it in its entirety google “song Joyce Kilmer Trees.” While the choral that comes up is beautiful, click on the Paul Robeson (of Showboat’s Ole Man River fame) arrangement. It is a scratchy old Victor recording but none of the richness of his bass voice or the strings accompaniment has been lost.

You will now see trees from a more appreciative perspective. Enjoy.

A New Life for ICELAND

2010-04-14T20:40:33Z

If the goal of the alleged arsonist(s) was to destroy the historic ICELAND ice-skating rink, it appears that it failed because the fire did not destroy the necessary mechanical ice-making device.

As many know by know, the Kerth family property owners plan to have skaters on the ice again by late November 2010. While the building itself will probably not be rebuilt by then, plans are to provide in the meantime an open-air venue to skaters.

Instead of an exterior protecting skaters from the elements, the new temporary facility will replicate an outdoor rink in snow country. All that will be needed to authenticate the scene is an overhead wind- blowing machine scattering a few white flakes intermittently onto skaters and spectators. The white flakes, of course, being left over from a Hollywood movie set depicting a winter scene here in the non-snowing city of Sacramento!

So much for fantasy. A far more serious reality is that the original 1940’s building with its magnificent ICELAND sign did not have fire insurance and the cost to rebuild to its original design will be extremely challenging if not impossible in these economic times.

Immediately subsequent to the fire there was much criticism, if not condemnation, heaped on Rob Kerth, a family member but non co-owner, for failing to carry fire insurance. One of the unkindest and silliest, in my opinion, alluded to the fact he had been a city councilman and “what could you expect” from a government official like that. While disbelief of lack of fire insurance was my first reaction, it did not sound like the man whom I’ve known for many years. I was sure that there was more to the story, and there is.

In subsequent conversations with him, I found out that the family did not carry fire insurance for the lack of wanting or trying to. In fact, it was a dilemma in which many owners of mortgage-free historic commercial property find themselves. The hidden “culprits,” if the blame game is to be carried to its conclusion, are the insurance companies and their prohibitive policy rates and exclusions when there is no existing sprinkler system.

Hearing the facts reminded me of the current controversial situation in which many people find themselves with their health insurance and why such individuals are forced to make the decision to take the risk of going without when insurance companies determine that there is a preexisting risk condition. That is the ultimate decision this family made.

Apparently, there are sources out there for insurance assistance for historic houses, but historic commercial property owners are not so fortunate.

Rob informed me that, “There was no way to get insurance on an old building like that which didn't have fire sprinklers. We asked brokers several times and were always turned down--at any price, including The California Fair insurance plan which is a last resort for both home and commercial property.”

He is asking the City to let him keep the four walls and the marquee, and he vowed he would “fix the neon myself if I have to.” He told me that all he could see now was to get the money to do it right by re-opening the rink—open air without replacing the roof or windows.

He also said that, “The brass ring here--the one we have to grab--is rebuilding ICELAND as she was and also building a second sheet of ice along Del Paso. The facility needs two complete rinks, and now is the time. Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency already owns the land next to the original rink. Too much of Sacramento’s uniqueness has just slipped away little by little and this must not follow.”

Apparently, the Mayor, City Council members Steve Cohn and Ray Tretheway, County Supervisor, Roger Dickinson and Senator Darrell Steinberg all called Rob to relate their regrets and offer whatever help they could, but the council member for the district in which ICELAND is located was noticeably silent about the loss of this treasure.

While I’ve never skated in ICELAND, it has long been a defining structure for North Sacramento. All around the country most of the prewar WWII ice and roller rinks as well as the majestic ballrooms (Tromar, Cemar, Aragon. Latin Quarter, Hollywood Palladium) and many Fox and Paramount movie palaces met the fate of fires or wrecking balls.

Therefore, I was very relieved to hear from Rob, that the family’s preference is to bring the rink back to its original architecture. BUT even that depends on getting lots of volunteer help and several indulgences from the City on not-very-important things, BUT things that are in the rulebooks.

It would be a spectacular accomplishment if the rebuilding could occur using an old fashioned “barn raising” concept. This cooperative effort originated in pioneer days before insurance when farmers’ barns, so important to their success, burned or were destroyed by tornados. At such times the entire community rallied around rebuilding the barn, with residents and businesses lending skills and materials and the wives bringing home baked “dinners” (noon meals as they were called in those days). The entire project often took anywhere from one to two weekends.

Former city manager Bill Edgar successfully employed a modified version of this concept to rally businesses and residents to work with the city to solve a city budget crisis during the 1990’s.

ICELAND’s obvious leaders would be the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, Del Paso Boulevard Business Association and Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency. They could form a task force to solicit contributions, materials, volunteers consisting of business and residential neighbors, contractor skills/services, preservationists, skaters and former skaters and provide lunches for daylong workers.

Rob reports that so far “200 volunteers moved 500 cubic yards of debris this last weekend with strictly human power—arms, shovels and wheelbarrows.” His “mother baked beans for everyone” and his “brother-in-law organized the bbq. It had the feeling of an old-fashioned American tradition.”

Upon completion, owners could designate a wall to inscribe the names of all involved and/or issue a complimentary month’s skating pass.

This is the challenge I propose to the community to rebuild this historical treasure.

Valentine's Day Love Stories

2010-02-14T21:04:50Z

The following true stories suggest that we do not give our animal friends sufficient credit as to their intelligence, loyalty and devotion. Some scoff at animals having or showing emotion. I believe that they do have feelings and often very deep, including love for each other and humans that are special to them.

Apparently they can connect with us in ways that are yet unknown. I felt these true stories were particularly appropriate for Valentine’s Day. A long time friend emailed the first story to me; the second is a personal story.

Freedom and Jeff
Freedom, a Bald Eagle and a man named Jeff have been together 11 years this past summer. Freedom came into the animal rescue center as a baby in 1998 with two broken wings. Her left wing didn’t open all the way even after surgery. It was broken in four places. She soon became his baby to care for.

When Freedom came in, she could not stand and both wings were broken. She was emaciated and covered in lice. Staff made the decision to give her a chance at life, so Jeff took her to the vet’s office. From then on, he was always around her. The center kept her in a huge dog carrier with the top off, and it was loaded up with shredded newspaper for her to lie in. Jeff used to sit and talk to her, urging her to live, to fight; and she would just lay there looking at him with those big brown eyes. They also had to tube-feed her for weeks.

This went on for four to six weeks. Still she couldn't stand. It progressed to the point where staff made the decision to euthanize her if she couldn't stand in a week. They didn’t want to cross that line between torture and rehab, and it looked like death was winning. She was going to be put down that Friday, and Jeff was supposed to come in that Thursday afternoon.

He didn't want to go to the center that fateful day, because he couldn't bear the thought of her being euthanized; but he went anyway. When he walked in, everyone was grinning from ear to ear. He immediately walked back to her cage; and there she was, standing on her own, a big beautiful eagle. She was ready to live! Seeing her standing, he “teared up.”

Staff knew she could never fly, so the director asked Jeff to glove train her. He got her used to the glove, and then to the jess, and they started doing educational programs for schools in Western Washington. The story wound up in the newspapers, radio (believe it or not) and some TV.

In the spring of 2000, Jeff was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. He had Stage Three, which is not good (one major organ plus everywhere), so he wound up doing eight months of chemo. He lost his hair—the whole bit. He missed a lot of work. When he felt good enough, he would go to the center and take Freedom out for walks. He said that Freedom would also come to him in his dreams and help him fight the cancer. This happened time and time again.

Fast forward to November 2000, the day after Thanksgiving. Jeff went in for his last checkup. He was told that if the cancer was not all gone after eight rounds of chemo, then his last option was a stem cell transplant. Anyway, they did the tests; and he had to come back Monday for the results. When he went in that day, the doctors told him that all the cancer was gone.

The first thing he did was go up to the center and take the big girl out for a walk. It was misty and cold. He went to her flight and jessed her up, and they went out front to the top of the hill. He hadn't said a word to Freedom about his great news, but somehow she knew.

She looked at him and wrapped both her wings around him to where he could feel them pressing in on his back. He was engulfed in eagle wings, and she touched his nose with her beak and stared into his eyes. They stood there like that for he couldn’t remember how long. It was a magic moment. He felt that they had become soul mates ever since she came into the center. He had to feel that this was one incredibly special bird.

On a side note Jeff wanted to add something else. He said that people who were sick came up to them while they were out walking, and Freedom seemed to have some kind of hold on them. Once a guy who was terminal come up to them, and Jeff let him hold Freedom. His knees just about buckled, and he swore he could feel her power rush through his body. He was told many stories like that.

Jeff ended his story with the realization that he would never forget the honor of being so close to such a magnificent spirit as Freedom.

Jim and “Patches”
This story is about my late nephew who years ago found an abandoned female kitten along a rural highway. Jim knew that she was too young to survive without his rescuing her, so took her home (much to his wife's disapproval). She did not like cats and told him he would have to feed the kitten—she would have no part of it!

He named his little adopted calico bundle of fur, Patches and from the first evening, she welcomed Jim home every night when he came through the front door. First he fed her. When she had finished eating, she would follow him most of the evening, purring and occasionally rubbing against his leg.

A few months later, he and his wife divorced, and she left the house. Jim and the fast-growing kitten were with each other more then. After feeding her, Jim would fix his own dinner followed by sitting in his recliner to watch TV. She jumped up in his lap to be closer to him. But Patches did not have her six-foot brown-eyed curly black-haired friend to herself for long. He remarried and soon the family grew to include two daughters.

Patches now gained a new status in the house, respected and loved by his second wife and young daughters. Jim was promoted to manager of his large employer’s computer department, and the new job entailed considerable travel. Feeding the cat each evening now became the task of the two girls until he returned home. But Patches moped when he was gone, picked at her food and seemed only content when snoozing in his chair, her favorite resting place.

Her keen sense of hearing enabled her to know ahead of the others that it was his car pulling into the drive and she instantly came alive from where ever she happened to be. She ran to the door to be first in line to greet him. Jim never failed to pick her up and ask, “How’s my Patches?” He would then hug her and brush her body of soft fur against his face and she would “talk” as if to tell him that she had missed him and glad he was back. For the next several years, she continued to welcome Jim home each night and watch TV with him, curled up on his lap.

One late cold November evening she jumped upon his lap but instead of laying down and curling up, she began to lick his left temple. He didn't have the heart to pull her away even though it was a bit annoying. Every night she gently licked the same spot. Her behavior soon became a joke to the extended family, neighbors and visitors with remarks like, “Look at that crazy cat—licking Jim’s face.” But the cat seemed to know what she was doing.

In January Jim began to have excruciating pain in the area of his left temple. After a few days he went to the doctor who diagnosed the pain as a brain tumor. Tests were taken and biopsies showed it was malignant. He declined chemotherapy and radiation. He had always been a healthy young man. He accepted the fact his condition was terminal and he wanted to be as comfortable as he could until the end.

Too soon he became bedridden, and Patches stayed with him in bed all day and night, never failing to lick his temple off and on. She left his sickbed only to eat half-heartedly and go outside briefly—she had been house-trained to go outdoors. Upon reentering, she would trot quickly—tail waving proudly-- to her self-appointed post.

The tumor progressed very fast, and Jim’s strength began to fade. But his friend remained with him, lying at his side day after day, night after night still licking his temple. His wife and visitors asked him if he would be more comfortable if the cat were removed from his bed. He emphatically declined the offers stating, “No, I want her there. I believe she is trying to heal the tumor.”

One night about eleven, the cat let out a very loud scream, jumped off the bed and ran to the front door meowing even louder, insisting on going outside. She was acting in a way that Jim’s wife and daughters had never heard or seen Patches do before. Jim’s wife responded to her urgent cries and opened the door to let her out into the dark night but sensing something was seriously wrong, rushed to his bedroom. There she found Jim had passed away.

Patches never returned to the house. No one ever saw her again.

PART I - Sacramento City “Green” Waste Proposal Selectively Punishes Central City Residents

2009-12-04T18:31:34Z

It is now expected that the Sacramento City Council will decide in mid or late January whether it wants to place on the ballot the repeal of 1977’s Measure A, which prohibited the city from requiring property owners to containerize waste.

If the repeal is placed on the ballot and citywide voters pass it, then council has the legal authority to force residential property owners to containerize “green” waste. Never mind that most of it in the central city (CC) is not green at all but brown from the city’s year-round falling tree leaves. Advocates of containerization, please note that important distinction as you drive or bike by because heretofore you muddied it—either by lack of observation, in ignorance or by deliberate obfuscation.

Of course, council could choose to ignore a passing vote and continue the voluntary program it now has, however, why would it spend thousands of dollars to put it on the ballot if it has no intention of mandating containerization?

The self-appointed “committee” and staff did a very poor job of analyzing the history and consequences of this monumental change in services to reach its quick-fix one-size-fits-all mandate. It ignored the seven-year effort and study that was done to eliminate the problem of dirty streets, which resulted in determining the need for claw services! In fact if this proposal is mandated in the central city, claw elimination will take us decades back to those previously determined unacceptable conditions.

Further, the proposed mandate citywide reflects the committee’s failure to recognize the diversity in housing, streets, tree plantings, design and age of our city’s residential neighborhoods as well as the great differences in contents of the leaf and rubbish piles. It fails to admit that the term “green” waste is a misnomer for many areas of the city.

Perhaps the most egregious omission was that the committee organizers failed to reach out to a mix of folks who will be affected by this major service change. For example, the committee chose not to invite any central city residents to join them, whose input would conflict mightily with their predetermined decision. They chose not to invite any low income, seniors, disabled, ailing, leaf allergy-sufferers who are homeowners and would be affected by this shallow proposal. In my opinion these omissions were deliberate because members feared that such individuals might interject some reality into their fantasy

Recent public comments on this site and homeowners discussions reveal that this proposal and its consequences have far more complicating and adverse effects than the narrowly formed committee ever envisioned.

Since I started this article, I called some friends in the suburbs about containerization and how they felt about a one-size-fits all mandate for their neighborhoods. I explained the reasons as to how it would punish many of us in the central city. I was surprised that they too said they would be punished because their low-income elderly, disabled, allergy sufferers, etc. would also be unable to lift their yard and tree waste into bins.

So it appears staff has forgotten these folks all over the city. On the other hand, maybe they haven’t because staff has said that they’ll just charge those folks more for claw services. Looks like these people need to file another ADA suit against the city like they did the handicap ramps.

Because the differences in neighborhoods heretofore was not taken into consideration by the committee and city staff seem unclear about those differences too, it is important at this time to describe Sacramento’s three major different kinds of neighborhoods and variations within each. There are:
1. recently developed neighborhoods with expansive green lawns soaking up much our water supply to keep them green and newly planted, if any, trees. Their lawn clippings are green waste from the property owner’s front, back and side yards. These single family “snout” houses are built with two and three garages with large areas in the driveways to park their cars and considerable water runoff from rains and sprinkler systems.
Apartment houses, if any, are multi-building complexes—largely two and three story. Few if any sidewalks exist since these neighborhoods were designed to discourage walking and facilitate driving. There is very little street parking because of the availability of space to park in wide driveways. The residential streets are narrow, the collectors wider and expressways the widest. There are no business properties in the residentially zoned areas. Drains are flat abutting the curved curbs and clog easily;

2. the first wave of suburban development was in two phases—the older neighborhoods immediately surrounding the central city and the newer ones just beyond. Both of these have narrow often-curved streets, cul-de-sacs, T intersections or dead end streets. Trees are mature but most grow in front yards next to the narrow sidewalks, which are immediately adjacent to the rolled curbs. These trees may be city or property owner owned depending on distance from the curbs. Building styles vary but include single-family “snout” houses. Many have garages attached to the sides of the house with driveways running from the street to the back of the lot. There are a few apartment houses and there is a mix of parking on the streets and in driveways. There may also be some small businesses here and there. Drains are usually flat abutting the curved curbs and clog easily.

3. the far different older and historic CC, the streets of which are lined with Park Strips in which the city’s trees are planted. Lots are small, often no more that 40x60 or 40x80 where single family homes, duplexes, triplexes and four-plexes cover as much as 90% of the lot. Most have tiny front or back yards with side yards as narrow as five feet. There is room for few if any trees, but some have shrubs. There are few garages, depending on the neighborhood, and most residents compete for parking on the street with residents of single or double lot “shot gun” apartments, sometimes several existing in a row on a given block. Most of these apartments were given parking variances and have carport or garage space for half the units—if that. Advocates also mistakenly believe all home owners are as young and physically able as they are.
There are many vacant lots, parking structures and lots, and businesses dotted throughout, including houses that were permitted for full time businesses with no living quarters whose employees often must park on the street. Some drains are flat and others are combinations of flat and hollowed out gutter spaces, the latter clogs the least.

Lacking knowledge and failing to consider these vast differences throughout the city, the self-appointed committee, including city staff members, decided that they should ask council to punish all property owners in the central city, including seniors, disabled and those with lung conditions by raising their rates if they do not containerize the “green” waste. Obviously, they mistakenly believed that central city “green” waste was the same as where they lived (River Park, Natomas, Greenhaven, etc.) where property owners have large expansive green lawns with privately owned trees and gardens.

As they raced in and out of the CC in their cars polluting our air, they drove on streets which are extensions to the commuter highways or off and on freeway ramps, and apparently did not see that year-round the CITY’S trees drop non-green leaves, twigs, various sized seed pods, tree blossoms, et al.

They didn’t notice either that irresponsible, careless and drunken humans litter gutters with paper, plastic bags, articles of clothing, candy/cigarette packages/wrappings, flyers, loose pages of the SN&R or BEE, plastic and paper coffee cups, hypodermic needles, partially consumed soft drinks in plastic or glass bottles, liquor and beer bottles/cans, half eaten discarded food in plastic or Styrofoam fast food or convenience market takeout containers—all of which attract, rats, flies, roaches and other vermin not to mention an assortment of broken glass, pieces of lumber, dead squirrels and birds, dog doodoo and human feces occasionally mixed in. Compost advocates apparently don’t know that this mix of contents does not compost; or if they do, expect homeowners to sort out these health hazardous discards.

Because none of those committee whizzes live here, they didn’t know either that many residents sweep this crap into a pile to keep the gutters relatively clean and drains unclogged so the claw can pick it up, making central city waste “polluted” and unfit for city composting sites unless sorted at the dump sites. Nor did they know that their suburban neighbors bring their non-green waste down to the CC to dump in the streets in front of vacant lots. So they decided to punish aforementioned CC property owner residents by forcing them to gather all these health hazards up by hand, dump them into their containers and store them on their property until pickup day arrives.

Please read Part II for even more bizarre inequities and punishment.

PART II - Sacramento City “Green” Waste Proposal Selectively Punishes Central City Residents

2009-12-04T18:24:11Z

Part I described differences in our city’s neighborhoods and how the self- appointed green waste committee ignored those differences, requesting council to punish some central city (CC) by forcing them to containerize city tree-dropped leaves 10 months out of the year. This second and final part details more differences:

Another pesky difference for part of the central city. Did any of you readers ever get one of those $49 dollar tickets for parking on a street where the sign reads, “No parking 8 to 12 on Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs - street cleaning”? If you have, just park south of R Street in Newtown, Booth, Richmond Grove or anywhere in South Side. Motorists—commuter or resident—-there don’t get parking tickets because those streets don’t have signs that restrict parking for street cleaning. They may have time zoned parking but not street cleaning illegal parking penalties.

The street sweeper just charges merrily down the center of those streets past the cars parked along the curb. There is little or nothing to sweep because the traffic does a credible job of blowing litter and leaves under the parked cars—just like J Street. But the city can justify its street sweeping charges to the property owners in those neighborhoods, so that “service” goes on.

If you happen to have the influence, you can get the street cleaning signs removed even in a district where everyone else has them. A neighbor who lives on I Street told me that UC Extension succeeded in getting the city to remove street cleaning signs for one block there because students got too many tickets. Perhaps they couldn’t read or didn't understand the signs because I often walk by there in the mornings and see plenty of spaces to park on 18th, both sides of the street, and north and south of the intersection.

Further, on garbage and recycling days residents on that block can’t place cans on the curb for pickup. They must roll them around the parked cars to place them in the unmarked or marked bike lanes—you know those lanes that bikers complain about the danger from leaves blocking their rides (except for very few cases, leaves do not block bike lanes in parking restricted areas)? Further, that block is far dirtier now because there is no street cleaning. Odd that I have not seen complaints about cans standing in bike lanes on streets where those conditions exist. If parking restrictions are removed, cans will stand in marked or unmarked bike lanes throughout the central city on Monday through Thursday! Maybe that’s okay because bikers can see cans better so they can swerve around faster than leaf piles. That is the way it used to be all over the central city before the claw.

Now if the street cleaning with the claw goes away, then street cleaning parking restrictions are no longer necessary either. So shouldn’t the street cleaning signs go too? Also gone would be the parking revenue from tickets due to motorists’ illegal parking during those restricted times. These are all logical steps that should follow for posting and parking restrictions to be fair and consistent.

Au contraire says staff! You see, the city likes those restricted parking signs north of R Street because their truck drivers can “pick up the bins easier.” So they want to penalize residents north of R Street more by asking council to change the signs from “no parking from __to __ street cleaning” to “no parking from __to __ garbage, recycling, green waste pickup.”

Really? Then what about south of R Street, i.e. Newton Booth, Poverty ridge, Richmond Grove and South Side? Those neighborhoods don’t have restricted parking now to enable drivers to more easily pick up garbage and recycling cans. So why would the city not post restricted parking signs in one neighborhood on certain days for garbage/recycling pickup BUT post them in another? Seems like penalization to me. Also sounds like a double standard too, if not discrimination, based on where a person owns property. Is that legal?

Another whole can of worms is the lack of clarity whether small business and residential property owners are subsidizing large property owners. The public and council need clarification of fees for various kinds and sizes of property owners. There appear to be inequities in collecting tree waste, garbage and recycling fees, which may be contributing to Solid Waste’s shortage of income. There also seems to be considerable confusion and inequities about business vs. residential fees and related options.

The same may exist between single-family home, duplex, triplex, four-plex property owners and larger apartment house owners. Options appear to be more limited for small property owners than large owners.

Questions:
1. Does council or even public work’s staff have specific and clear knowledge of the fee structure?
2. What guidelines or outline does the Revenue Division follow? When was it last updated?
3. From whom and how do they get updated information?
4. Is the use terminology consistent between and within the different departments? For example, PW staff at NAG used the term "commercial" for describing collection services for large apartment complexes. Those properties are not zoned commercial.
5. What about houses that have the same yards as lived-in homes but are businesses? Are their fees the same?
6. Why can one walk down a stretch of tree-canopied streets but one side of the block has restricted paring signs for street cleaning and the other side does not? Are those signs placed strategically for revenue purposes from residents but avoid placing in front of businesses?
7. What steps and guidelines does the city plan to take to resolve inequities and not penalize the elderly, disabled and those with health conditions that could be exacerbated by handling litter, debris and leaf allergies.
8. Does the city know how many of the 85,000 who “volunteered” to containerize their waste to take advantage of the reduced pickup rate still place their waste in the gutters because some weeks they have too much to place all of it in a bin?

A friend who lives in the south area and whose neighbors volunteered to containerize tells me that when those same neighbors have more than what their bid will hold, THEY PUT THEIR REFUSE INTO THE STREET!

Whatever future action is proposed and taken, it is clear that there are many unanswered questions, unanticipated inequities and serious health and safety consequences. These must be considered and resolved before moving forward.

Local production of “ATWATER Fixin’ to Die"

2009-10-12T19:58:45Z

If anyone wonders, as I have, why and how issues in local and other political campaign matter less now than digging up dirt about an opponent, they will find their answer when they see “ATWATER Fixin’ to Die, now playing in the Three Penny Theater—a California Stage at 1745 25th Street.

Author Robert Myers capsules the history of Southerner Harvey Leroy Atwater, the man who diverted the focus of political campaigns from discussing serious issues facing voters locally and nationally to uncovering, distorting and publicizing a candidate’s personal characteristics with no relevance to the qualifications for the job. Atwater’s unethical campaign management strategy vilified and twisted those characteristics subjectively into a fatal personality flaw to persuade gullible voters to rally behind the candidate for whom he was working.

He first practiced his unprincipled techniques successfully at the local level in a Southern state’s election rising to near perfection as the power behind the defeat of presidential candidate, Michael Dukakis. Under the direction of Vada Russell, Eric Baldwin, star of the one-man show, brings the late Atwater back to life for brief 90 minutes.

A director “note” in the play’s program sets theatre goers to thinking. She asks them a “What if . . . ? Ronald Wilson Reagan had never been elected President? George H.W. Bush had never been elected President? Karl Rove had never been inspired to be come a modern day Machiavelli?”

I would add a couple more. Would President Obama’s critics feel so comfortable and justified in engaging in their despicable tactics to oppose and discredit his every move while piously claiming no racial prejudice guilt as Atwater did? Would Dick Armey's orchestrated "Tea Party" participants who stood outside our capitol building here in Sacramento have carried signs displaying such distorted messages?

The Director goes on, “Would the outbreak of AIDS in the early 80’s have been allowed to spread unchecked? Would the Iron Curtain have fallen when it did? Would we have had the first Gulf War? The second? Would George W. Bush have become Governor of Texas let alone the 43rd President of the United States?”

“Ladies and Gentlemen, put your hands together for Harvey Leroy Atwater. Welcome to his particular brand of politics, where grown men behave like adolescence boys brimful of energy and testosterone, soaked with wet dreams of power locked and loaded with desire to win . . . no matter what the cost--sound familiar?"

I suggest seeing the play to judge for yourself how his tactics have affected us locally and nationally.

Petition drive against downtown K Street Project

2009-04-12T19:55:55Z

Why sign the petition against K Street revitalization efforts?

Here we go again. Pane and followers don't have the originality or creativity to put forward ideas and suggestions for businesses that would revitalize K Street, but they will spend their energy to be nay-sayers to SF entrepreneur's proposal to create entertainment venues.

Sure the project is risky. Sure it might fail. Sure it uses tax money. Have these self-appointed defenders of our tax dollars ever heard of "investment?" Taxpayer dollars are often used to invest in a community. What's wrong with that? Some have said it would be better if we had a “Downtown Market”—like Seattle’s Pike Place Market. Sounds like a great idea, but that is a risk too.

Look at the federal government's use of tax dollars to invest in the Tennessee Valley in 1933 when it created the Tennessee Valley Authority. Was it a risk? YES! Was there a guarantee that such an investment would pay off? NO! But it has paid the government back in millions more dollars than originally spent and enabled business to thrive, created millions of jobs and raised the standard of living for those millions of people living in that area. Without that initial spark of investment that area would still be impoverished.

Everyone who goes into business is taking a risk. What has happened to this city's investment mentality with or without tax dollars? The past local success of this kind of investment risk can be demonstrated by the $50 million dollars netted by the City with its original $8 million investment in the Sheraton, of which almost half has gone to shoring up our City’s current deficit allowing for fewer cuts to necessary services such as police and fire. Did anyone know that? Do the nay-sayers care?

The type of investment the city approved for K Street and the SF investor is offering to bring to Sacramento's downtown BELONGS downtown and not in Pane's, midtown's or anyone else's residential neighborhood. An investment strategy tries to predict who its customers will be to help make the investment a success.

The questions are, then, who are Downtown's customers? Do Pane and those signing the petition patronize downtown retail and service businesses, dinner houses, nightclubs and bars at night NOW? A first step would be for them to do so, and maybe there wouldn’t be a risk or a need for something else! Absent that, how about those twenty one thousand plus petition signers (10% required registered city voters to sign the petition to get it on the next regular ballot) commit to being regular customers of the proposed project? That could result in an early return on the city's investment! Further, what ideas do they have? They should suggest something unique and maybe they would get the tax dollars that they are opposing the SF entrepreneur will get. That is really how they could help. But of course, that would mean "putting their money where their mouth is"--hardly a realistic expectation from the experts on "no."

While many residents of Placerville, Roseville, Auburn, Lincoln, Rocklin or other regional suburban residents work downtown, is it a reasonable goal to expect them to stay downtown after work or count on them and their neighbors to drive back to downtown to be a customer pool to support downtown businesses? Other than a performance at the Community Center, Music Circus or occasional visit to a museum, I wouldn't place any bets on them.

Aren't downtown's customers primarily the conventioneers, the tourists, the Sacramento visitors who stay in the hotels downtown and residents (and their guests) who live a reasonable distance from downtown--all of whom are looking for something interesting and fun to do evenings? What is the present variety of those activities for them to walk a few blocks to participate in or see during the evenings in downtown Sacramento?

Why sign a petition that will go to city voters, the majority of whom care little to nothing about downtown or ever shop or visit downtown? Voting on this issue is reminiscent of the years-ago valiant efforts by preservationists to save the Alhambra Theater by placing its fate on a citywide ballot when most voters then cared little to nothing about that historic unique theater. Those uncaring voters killed the Alhambra. We elect our city council to act in our city's best interests. Sometimes they haven’t, but in this case they did.

If you want to see entertainment in vibrant "downtown where the lights are bright," you won’t get it by signing this petition or voting for it if there are enough valid signatures to place it on the ballot.

Neighborhood Summit 2009

2009-03-08T23:07:16Z

The Neighborhood Summit 2009

On Friday March 6 Sacramento City’s Neighborhood Services Department sponsored a Neighborhood Summit in the Convention Center. The slogan on the cover page was “Good Neighborhoods = A Great City. Neighborhood Services Director, Vincene Jones and staff did a highly commendable job of organizing and executing the event. Those attending the summit consisted of city staff, people from non-profit businesses, neighborhoods and neighborhood associations.

Senator Darrell Steinberg was the Guest Speaker and delivered a short but inspiring summary of his history as a young man who lived in Tahoe Park Neighborhood starting with his neighborhood involvement where residents met together to solve neighborhood quality of life issues, including safety and street crime as well as identifying city policy and procedures that had created some of their problems. He was then elected as President of Tahoe Neighborhood Park Association, the position that he said he wanted to be remembered most for.

He later won a seat on the City Council where one of the first issues that he said he faced was the controversy whether the Memorial Auditorium should have fixed seats or remain open space. He stated how irrelevant he thought that issue was in relation to the importance of neighborhoods being healthy and prosperous. After serving on the city council, he was then elected to the State Assembly where he termed out, subsequently won his Senatorial seat and recently named to his current position as Senator Pro Tem.

Even though I did not live in the city council district that Steinberg represented when a councilman, I found him very responsive to working with us and others when those matters had citywide implications. He always made time to hear about and support issues important to all neighborhoods’ quality of life. As a councilman I also found him most receptive to hearing about the plight of the mentally ill, and he worked tirelessly to secure funding for services for the mentally ill. His actions and words have always demonstrated his belief that great neighborhoods make for a great city.

Mayor Johnson was scheduled to speak but had to cancel his appearance because of an unexpected last-minute urgent matter that required his presence per Director Jones. The other main speaker was City Manager, Ray Kerridge, who basically repeated some rhetoric about neighborhoods and a reference to neighborhood participation as being “democratic.” Those who have been around since he arrived on the scene agreed that they’d heard all those words before but in the opinion of those same residents, his words rang hollow once again when comparing words to actions. Thankfully, he did make a strong commitment that the Department of Neighborhood Services would not be eliminated during the city’s budget crunch.

The plenary session ended with a series of still photos showing Neighborhood Services staff on site working with various individuals, including children and adults. The fast flashing photo progression gave an impression of a moving presentation. There were scenes of smiling children, some in native costume performing in a dance or song festival, people working to construct tot lots, several photo ops of council members and one of someone planting a tree ON PRIVATE property—not along a city street.

This photo was obviously a calculated attempt—along with the “tree” pins handed out at the end of the summit—to show that the city was supportive of trees. Long time neighborhood “activists” and tree supporters knew better of course. They discussed among themselves how the photo was misleading to the uninformed because the Department of Urban Forest Services under direction from higher management has been rapidly destroying healthy shade trees at the wishes of a developer.

There were eight workshops: 12 Ways to Improve Your Neighborhood; Building Effective Partnerships; Developing Strong Leadership Skills; Outreach and Recruitment Strategies; Preventing Community Burnout; Strategies for Effective Organizations; and Working With the Media. There was also a “Resource and Wellness Fair” which consisted of numerous displays of various government and private groups’ services and products.

The Fair was an incredible success—a mix of educational materials and handouts too numerous to list here. Representatives from state, county and city departments, as well as some private groups displayed and/or demonstrated their products or services. In addition to the fair, I attended three workshops.

1. Seann Rooney conducted the Strategies for Effective Organizations Workshop, drawing from his many years of experience organizing business organizations. He identified qualities leaders must exhibit to create an effective organization and the issues that can bog a group down. He shared lessons he had learned, listed the ideal qualities of an effective organization, stressed the importance of conducting surveys to determine member opinions and/or needs and identified communication tools and techniques for groups to use.

2. Scott Rose was the presenter for the workshop entitled “Working With the Media.” He stressed the importance for groups to understand the various media and how they approach news differently, reporter accessibility times can vary according to the type of media and the best ways for residents or groups to obtain media coverage of a specific event or issue. He gave advice on how to avoid being misquoted and how to stick to the message you want the public to understand when being interviewed. His outline that formatted a press release was extremely valuable too.

3. A very knowledgeable and articulate Ms. Kimberley Clark began the “burnout” workshop by listing the symptoms of burnout. When she launched into dealing with burnout, it became apparent to participants that her focus was geared more toward private business, educational and non-profit employees attendees rather than neighborhood association members or individual public members.

Several workshop participants had been around for some years, working to improve their neighborhoods on various issues and levels. After listening patiently to see how her advice could be of help to them, a couple people explained to her that such advice may be valuable for business and non-profit groups but asked how should they address a city culture that implements policy and procedures contrary to neighborhoods’ well being and contributes to destroying neighborhood quality of life. They added that this new city culture was not the government environment that she had heard Senator Steinberg describe in this speech.

Some participants described achieving very impressive examples of projects initiated and completed when working with some city staff, as the photos pointed out. But most gave examples of their association or they, themselves, being restricted to working with staff or working on their own at a “grunt” level.

Although attendees agreed that this level of work is extremely important, they also pointed out that it is essential these same folks be offered the opportunity to assist city staff and elected officials in crafting policy and procedures, which remove the causes of neighborhood blight in the first place.

In general, attendees expressed feelings ranging from frustration to anger when it came to the very neighborhood issues Senator Steinberg listed in his speech—the very same issues on which the slogan “Good Neighborhoods = Great City” was based and required public participation in policy and procedural matters because these were also the same people whose ideas and suggestions the city has made unwelcome or even opposed!

In discussions after the workshop, some voiced their opinions that they felt recent city management has created a two-tier class system of public involvement—distorting the democratic process. Garnering policy and procedure ideas is now limited to the affluent upper class, investors and businesses whose owners are often non-city residents. Their approach, with city agreement, is “get it done now ,and we’ll take care of the problems we cause later.”

Wary residents, based on past experience, again expressed fear that those interests, which say they will “take care of problems later” will never follow through once they have made their money. This then throws those problems into the laps of the affected residents, forcing on them the longer, harder and more menial cleanup tasks in order to defend their investment in their homes and families.

Some said that they had hope Mayor Johnson would understand the problems and make changes. However, upon learning the names and professions of his elite advisory panel after he was elected, people expressed a worry that he too could or would make a difference.

Neighborhood Services’ staff has demonstrated an outstanding ability to organize and implement neighborhood events around the city. In truth that was only one of the original reasons for the creation of Neighborhood Services Department. The equally important, and in some neighborhoods, more important function was to communicate resident concerns and suggested solutions to neighborhood problems to city management and elected officials. This gave those closest to the problems a voice in setting effective policy and procedures to make their neighborhoods great as Senator Steinberg described when he was councilman. Unfortunately staff has been stripped of that key function and the adverse effects on neighborhoods are beginning to show.

In summary, the summit served a valuable purpose and hopefully there will be another next year. But the focus next time should include staff learning from residents what the city needs to do to help residents keep their neighborhoods great and communicating that to management thereby returning Neighborhood Services its other original function.

Mayor Johnson speaks to the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce

2009-02-27T05:24:48Z

Mayor Kevin Johnson, in his speech to the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce reflected a sentiment with which many residents agree.

A partial near quote: “I’m tired of people asking me where is Sacramento? I’m tired of hearing that Sacramento is halfway between San Francisco and Tahoe.” Then the Chamber members laughed and clapped loudly in agreement. I laughed and agreed too. I used to be asked the same question but not for some years now. But that difference is probably because he and I travel in different circles.

Then he went on to imply that “slow process” was at fault and needed changing. That charge echoed ominously familiar from having heard city management and some influential Development Oversight Commission—DOC—members level this unfounded accusation against the democratic public participation “process.”

Again Chamber members clapped in agreement. I wanted to agree too but first expected to hear some examples. But I did not hear him identify where or which “slowed process” had been responsible for or even contributed to a situation that created the reason his friends had asked him where Sacramento is. The DOC had apparently failed to give him or did not know of examples either.

Woefully, “process” is such a pain in the butt! We run into it all of the time at the federal, state and local government levels! Congress allows the convoluted legislative process to get in the way of their actions. The president knows that we all want prosperity and happiness. So he should just weaken or skip that process and order his aides do it.

Same with the Governor. The state’s legislative process is too lengthy and cumbersome. Why doesn’t Arnold just issue Executive Orders that benefit businesses and people and hold his appointees responsible for making sure things get done the way they want them to?

The same could be done in the city with a strong mayor. Mayor Johnson knows who supported him. Bypass the lumbering, progress-blocking council members and public input process. Government is so inefficient and private industry can do it so much faster and better!

Speaking of private industry, wait a minute. I just realized that I also run into “process” impediments everyday when dealing with businesses. For example, I have to go through a bothersome process at Home Depot when I return a purchased item. Why do I have to go through this long line of people returning items that I bought there? The clerk does everything but a body search to make me prove that I bought it from them.   Why can’t he/she take my word that I bought and paid for it there? I’m honest.

At Costco I can use ONLY the credit card with which they contract. If I write them a check, the cashier must go through some lengthy “process” to verify that my check is valid. I know I’m honest and not going to give them a bad check. Why do I have to prove it to this clerk whom I don’t even know?

I run into an irritating “process” at the pharmacy. I’ve got to present a prescription from my doctor. I just want my blood pressure medicine. I know I need it because the doctor told me I do. It’s right there on the shelf—just hand it to me. Why do I have to prove my need to the pharmacist? I’ve got other things to do.

I could give examples of equally if not more inhibiting processes that one encounters at grocery stores, banks, doctor appointments, car dealers, house buying, hospital admission, restaurants, clothing stores, etc. etc. All such a bother!

But as I reflect back on these experiences, maybe there is a very good reason for the “processes” that rational people accept and follow in spite of their delays and frustrations—whether those be with government or private industry.

First, before there is a “process, there must be an idea, a concept, a need or a goal. So as someone who was raised in a small business environment, I ask the cheering Chamber of Commerce members, SACTO and other business groups what are your ideas, concepts, needs or goals to correct that Sacramento location image that the Mayor laid out so clearly? Are you asking our inefficient city government employees or our elected city officials to be the “leaders?” Surely not.

Actually Mayor Johnson has at other times put forth some new (and some used) ideas. I commend him highly for that. And I’ve been around long enough in Sacramento to hear prior mayors, current and prior council members articulate some good ideas, concepts and community needs too. I also remember well some of those ideas being fought and defeated by various private interests, who thought those ideas weren’t so good or conflicted with their interests. So I wish him luck.

As to who should lead, Chamber members can learn from what resident preservationists and environmentalists did when they moved to the central city years more than a quarter of a century ago and found buildings and quality of life in a state of serious decline. No one wanted to live here. The lenders didn’t want to loan buyers any money on such “risky” property. Developers avoided us like the plague. Consequently, those two groups joined forces to lead the central city out of its deteriorated state.

They knew from other cities in this country and around the world that our housing stock was worth saving. They knew that the central city offered a quality of life that could not be matched elsewhere in the already sprawling megalopolis. They knew that repair and restoration of historic structures created more jobs, supported business interests and enhanced tourist income for cities than new development did.

They sought to increase the central city’s economic potential in other ways too because they knew that better neighborhoods meant a better business environment. They put forth goals, concepts, needs and ideas about how to preserve our historic structures, which were slated to be torn down. They sponsored street fairs, parades, historic housing tours, holiday celebrations, multi-cultural events and art activities. They were willing to assess themselves for streetlights to promote, along with those activities, an “alive after five” environment. The then mayor and council majority voted it down.

They promoted issues to create a better quality of life such as more transit and less auto pollution. They researched the city’s history to find past people and events of importance to the city and of interest to residents and tourists. Among other things, they found that the concept of moving pictures was born right here in Boulevard Park where the state racetrack was located until 1905!

While watching the horse races, Governor Stanford placed a bet with a fellow sportsman to prove or disprove that all four legs left the ground when horses galloped around the track   The answer was proven later when a photographer took a series of photos, placed them in a revolving cylinder which moved the pictures forward from frame to frame—moving pictures.

The city has never taken advantage of that piece of history. In fact, then city management ignored and usually opposed all these efforts as new city management is doing now. Downtown businesses were of little help then too. In fact, a movie company wanted to shoot a film here because it had heard Sacramento had the largest preserved historical neighborhood in the state. When it phoned the convention bureau, staff didn’t know where that neighborhood was. Therefore she referred the caller to a local preservationist—too late to film here.

These determined preservation and environmentally minded folks persisted in spite of then repeated city management opposition and name-calling. If these folks moved, it was “white flight;” if they stayed, it was “gentrification.” But they did stay, and what people see today are the results of their staying.

The payoff began when visitors and businesses and residents outside the central city began to notice the difference and returned. That improvement sparked investors’ interests, which is why there are here now.   Where were DOC business members when they could have worked with us to be a positive influence too? We didn’t need a DOC then, and we don’t need it now.

Further, some DOC members speak a language that would eliminate “process” too. These elitist newcomers apparently believe that they know better than we. They don’t want us in the democratic “process.”

They are asking council and the public to trust them, to do the “right thing”—like financial institution leaders a couple of decades ago when they asked elected government officials and the public to trust them. “We are honest,” they told Reagan, “We don’t need these bothersome regulations which burden us with process that holds us back from creating a booming and lasting economy.”

Too late it is well known that they couldn’t be trusted which is why our country is in financial crisis now, and taxpayers are being forced to pick up the pieces.

Repeating similar rhetoric, city management, DOC and developers are asking the mayor, council and us to “trust” them as they promote eliminating the public process under the guise of creating efficiencies and speeding up the “process.”

I say show us your ideas, concepts, needs and your past accomplishments first. You’ve seen ours. That’s why you’re here.! You are here because of what those preservationists and environmentalists achieved. You want to cash in on that.

Now prove to us that you can do a better job without the democratic “process” of our input. Once you can do that, then we’ll see. Until then, don’t destroy the democratic “process” that revived the central city that has worked so well.

Graffiti and its cost to us

2008-12-07T22:17:31Z

Graffiti
On my morning walk today, I noted additional new graffiti in midtown. As readers may have noticed, there two distinct types of graffiti.

One type has some artistic merit. The other type is made by vandals, including gangs, who mark their territory--much like dogs and cats when they urinate on various surfaces. Animals do it because it is their nature. Vandals do it for complex psychological unnatural reasons.

Those who paint graffiti for art purposes, sometimes find a permanent spot for their work. I'm told that some photograph their work and sell it to interested magazines or for CD and DVD covers. If any of them read this article, respond in comments, and I'll refer him/her to at least one property owner who would like to discuss some walls for painting.

While I regret that vandals have psychological problems, my sympathy lies much more with the victims: Property owners and all of us consumers and what it costs us. For example, if you like hamburgers and fries at Nationwide Meats (20th & H) , you're paying for the taggers' vandalism--big time last night.

Peanuts, you say. Au contraire! Painting out vandal tagging is expensive! Some property owners say that paint contractors--small or large--charge a minimum ranging from $200 to $300 including matching paint.

So back to who really pays for it? The obvious answer is tenants who live in victim apartment buildings, shoppers who patronize victim stores, those who eat at victim restaurants, bar customers, students who attend victim schools and colleges such as USC extension, taxpayers for tags on government buildings.

Know any taggers? Hit 'em up for what they owe you.

City plans to attack our trees

2008-12-04T05:57:41Z

I've just learned that city management is planning to move the appeal process to cut down trees from the Parks and Recreation Commission to the Planning Commission on all development related issues!!! This would apply to ALL developer projects.

Why is this bad? This change will enable Development Services Manager and staff (who have no expertise in trees) to order removal of healthy shade trees any time a developer wants them removed. The public would have to appeal to the Planning Commission instead of the Parks and Recreation Commission. A tree would not have to be in the way of construction. It could be that the developer wants all new or fewer trees bordering the new building. Check out SW corner of 20th & Capitol. The big healthy shade Elm tree would have been cut down had it not been for people's opposition.

Please attend Urban Forest Sub Committee Agenda for December 8, 2008 5:30 PM. The meeting to discuss and decide this change of policy will be held in Conference Room 2121 - 2nd floor, DOT offices at City Hall.

Our Tree representative, George Raya, will be there on our behalf but he needs our heip. We need to call, email or mail our new Mayor, and councilmembers Loren Hammond , Seve Cohn, Ray Tretheway (former Tree Foundation) , Rob Fong also to let them know this is just a way to get a healthy tree cut down in a hurry to please a developer who does not even live in our city..

Points to cover a. Planning staff and commission have no expertise in or knowledge about trees like the Parks and Recreation Commission does. b. this is wanton destruction of HEALTHY trees' shade for all pedestrians (mention especially seniors, children, those in wheel chairs) who then have to move around in 100 degree weather. This flies in the face the city encouraging pedestrian activity.

We all agree that sick and dangerous trees should be removed but we must save our healthy shade trees from unnecessary destruction.

Sarus Vietnamese /Chinese Restaurant

2008-12-03T06:50:07Z

Sarus opened up in the former site of First Choice Chinese Restaurant. I have eaten there four times now--two lunches and two dinners. Like curry? The chicken curry is great--subtle flavor, generous portion and reasonably priced as are all menu items The plate of deluxe vegetables is varied and can be ordered with or without curry. The Mongolian beef is flavorful, tender and juicy. The huge bowl of noodles with chicken is tasty and the egg flower and sweet and sour soups are among the best I've had. I like my Asian foods HOT and they have three choices or all three if you want some hot oil, hot tomato chii or bottled hot sauce. I prefer the first two. Both bring out the flavor. The special Vietnamse lunch sandwich at $2.99 cannot be beat. Served on a large fresh French roll, your choice of sliced chicken, pork or beef is tender and seaoned. Instead of lettuce the greenery consists of cilantro and cucumbers. Deep fried banana with coconut sauce and crushed peanuts make for a "to die for" dessert. Tea, beer or wine are available upon request

Dawn the owner who also does much of her own cooking and the male cook whose name I'm sorry to say I cannot recall, do everything they can to make a customer happy. He is there at lunch an dinner and Dawn is there at dinner time because she holds down two other jobs.

The ambiance and attentive service is rare. Those who like loud music, drunk and shouting customers at nearby tables or blaring TVs will be disappointed. Those who welcome background music as pleasing as fine wine is to a dinner will enjoy a unique and varied mix of instrumentals, ranging from oldies, some with a Latin beat and movie favorites to classical--even a song or two from Carmen or La Boheme in the evenings--what you might hear if you were dining in a first class restaurant in Southeast Asia or Europe. TRY IT! YOU'LL LIKE IT>

A mayor's farewell

2008-11-22T19:52:37Z

It was 5:00 p.m. They walked through the north entrance, they streamed in the south entrance and all six elevators whizzed up and down carrying employees to the elevator lobby. Within minutes the spacious south lobby was full of people. The crowd then spilled over into the center security reception area and the north lobby.

The friends and supporters of Heather Fargo, the Honorable Mayor of California's capital city, Sacramento, had come to City Hall to celebrate and and give respect to her achievements while lamenting their loss very of very popular and effective leader. After 19 years of often thankless public service to our city she had been voted out of office!

The gathering was a tribute to her personally and professionally as one speaker after another recited her years of service and accomplishments. As one listened to her long list of impressive achievements, one could not help but ask why had she lost? How could the people of this city have turned their backs on such an effective and devoted public servant? A leader, who in spite of our city manager form of government which gives no management power to a mayor and the city's periodic troubled fiscal times, advanced through collaborative efforts the city to where it is today?

The answer to these questions will forever be speculated but never understood by those who worked with her and knew her best. However, the reality is that in today's media sound bite culture, the majority of the voters favored an inexperienced but famous photogenic sports celebrity.

I wish him well. He must do well for the sake our city. I, for one stand ready, if invited, to join in on making his "together we can" campaign pledge a reality.