By David H. Lukenbill, senior policy director, American River Parkway Preservation Society   Recently there has been some attention from local media about public safety in the American River Parkway. In the October 16, 2011 Sacramento Bee story “Ranger cutbacks prompt concerns about bike trail safety”, we read:   "Most of the stuff we deal with is quality of life stuff," said Chief Ranger Stan Lumsden, who took over the job last month just as an arsonist was setting 15 fires in two separate sprees near River Bend Park. “Car break-ins, vandalism or dogs running off leash are the norm, he said, "unless you get down to the last six miles of the parkway." “There, in the area starting near Di

According to a May 4th Sacramento Bee story, Sacramento County Supervisors are considering asking voters to raise the sales tax to pay for a regional park district. This is a terrible idea, especially during such trying economic times. A better idea would be to drop the proposal for the regional parks sales tax increase and consider bringing the largest regional park, the American River Parkway, under new management, with supplemental funding to be raised philanthropically. The American River Parkway is a signature park, the most important recreational area in our region, the most valuable natural resource in our community, and potentially one of the nicest urban/suburban parks in the n

There has been a lot of criticism in the media lately, in response to the supporters of building the Auburn Dam to store the vast amounts of water that are now, instead, flowing out to sea.   The critics say, as today’s Sacramento Bee editorial did,   “It never fails that, during wet years or dry ones, the water buffaloes resume their stampede for more taxpayer-subsidized water projects. During a single year of drought, they purchase billboards warning of "dust bowls" if someone else doesn't help them build a new reservoir. And now that California has been blessed with a prodigious snowpack and plentiful rainfall, the same crowd is bemoaning all the water in the Sacramento River that "is

Sacramento is a compassionate city, and virtually all of us care about and want to help, those struggling with the behavioral issues that often lead to homelessness-drug and alcohol addiction, financial duress, mental health, criminality and others-but generally not to the extent that our personal, familial, or neighborhood safety is seriously threatened. For our organization, the issue isn't homelessness, but the impact of illegal camping in and around the Parkway, largely by the homeless, on the adjacent neighborhoods and users of the Parkway. The impact on the adjacent neighborhoods is that they have not been able to safely access their part of the Parkway for the several years this h

The Board of Directors of the American River Parkway Preservation Society voted to approve the Ose proposal for Gibson Ranch at our meeting of 1/3/11. In the Sunday, December 26, 2010 issue of the New York Times, we are informed that: “Versailles, one of the most visited monuments in the world, will soon be able to offer tourists a place to rest for the night… “The Hotel du Grand Controle, an annex building on the edge of the Versailles estate, will be transformed into a 23-room hotel, administrators of the publicly owned palace announced recently. “The restoration and modernization of the 17th-century building will be overseen by a Belgian company called Ivy International, which has t