Newest articles on The Sacramento Press written by David H. Lukenbill

Public Safety in the American River Parkway

2011-10-18T01:34:33Z

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 Discovery Park, a growing homeless population continues to pose challenges for the rangers and the army of bicycle commuters who pass through that stretch each weekday.
"We're starting to see a lot more violent crime down there, assaults, anything you can imagine that the transient population does," Lumsden said.”

While this is tragic news, it is certainly not new news, as witnessed by the story in the December 2, 2004 issue of the Sacramento News & Review, entitled, “Trail of fears: The American River Bike Trail is idyllic, as long as you don’t get maced, mugged or beaten with a rock”, wherein we read:

“Between May 10 and June 30 this year, there were six robberies, assaults or combinations of the two reported on the trail in the Northgate and Del Paso Heights areas. In one incident, the victim was stabbed before the assailant took money; in two, the assailants pointed a gun or what appeared to be a firearm; and in another, a victim was hit with a stick.
“According to reports filed by the Sacramento Police Department, in all cases, the suspect descriptions were different, as was the method of operation.
“In addition to those, since 2002, there have been 11 other reported cases of assault or battery on the trail, two robberies, one rape and one attempted rape. In one case, a bicyclist was seriously injured after riding into a head-high length of what may have been fishing line strung across the path.”

In another story from the Sacramento News & Review from November 6, 2008, “Hell’s half-acre, Sacramento’s homeless weigh in: Tent Town’s top 25 tips for surviving the economic downturn”, notes:

“14. Stay away from the river
“It’s a half-mile from Tent Town to the American River, where the hard-core, chronically homeless hole up in the dense foliage leading up to its banks. The level of depravity increases the nearer you get to the water, which is why the American River Parkway is heavily patrolled by park rangers from Discovery Park to Cal Expo. “We heard screams coming from there last night,” says Kim. She’d be pretty if all of her front teeth hadn’t been knocked out. “They hauled another body out of there the other day, some mummified dude,” Ace adds. Kim shivers.”

The residents of Woodlake and North Sacramento bear the major burdens of this long term influx of illegal camping and the subsequent problems of crime, aggressive panhandling, habitat degradation, vandalism, and corrosion of the level of public safety residents rightfully expect to receive.

The situation is one stemming from a familiar source, the historic lack of attention Sacramento—and many other river cities unfortunately—have devoted to cultivating their river banks for public use and public safety.

It is especially troublesome in our area due to the history attached to our two major rivers, just in their naming.

William Holden, in his wonderful book, Sacramento: Excursions into its History and Natural World, wrote:

“One October morning in 1808 when Spanish sea captain Gabriel Moraga, 39, trekking up the big river in a horseback expedition, was struck by the lovely scene. Canopies of oaks and cottonwoods, many festooned with grapevines, overhung both sides of the blue current… the Spaniards …drank in the beauty around them. ‘Es como el sagrado Sacramento!’ …This is like the Holy Sacrament! So the river got its name …” (p. 9)

The American river was given its permanent name in 1837, according to Peter Hayes in his book, The Lower American River: Prehistory to Parkway, “by Governor Alvarado who called it the “Rio do los Americanos” because the area was frequented by “trappers of revolutionary proclivities.” (p.17)

These are two wonderful rivers, which are dearly loved by residents and we, as a community, can do so much more to ensure safe and easy access to their beauty, history, and majesty.

As far as the public safety issue along the lower section of the American, it must be of equal concern to community leaders to helping the homeless. Crimes from major to minor occur regularly in the Woodlake/North Sacramento area of the Parkway, and many in those neighborhoods are justifiably fearful about venturing into it.

As a community, we can never give up on the vision that public compassion and public safety are compatible concepts.

Disclosure: The author is the founder of the Parkway advocacy nonprofit organization, American River Parkway Preservation Society

Funding Sacramento Parks

2011-05-16T00:39:19Z

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 nation.

The Board of Supervisors could spearhead the formation of a Joint Powers Authority (JPA) comprised of representatives from Parkway adjacent governments and a representative of local nonprofit organizations with Parkway concerns.

The JPA then creates a nonprofit organization to provide daily management and supplemental fundraising for the Parkway.

The most successful model of a JPA governed river park is the San Dieguito River Valley Regional Open Space Park JPA created in 1989 by San Diego County and five cities.

Once the JPA forms the new nonprofit and conducts a national search for the appropriate executive director, they will surely be able to discover someone with the experience and talent to take the American River Parkway into the future with secure and dedicated funding.

Providing this funding and management stability for the largest park in the regional parks department will eventually provide more available funding for the other parks in the department.

There are several reasons why raising taxes to support parks—especially during perilous economic times—is a bad idea, but just a couple should be mentioned.

Taxpayers are already paying for parks, have been for years, and will surely resist paying more.

Doug Ose made the point, as quoted in the Sacramento Bee story, "I don't believe there's a shortage of revenue. I believe there's a shortage of management creativity."

Government is very good at many things, but the ability to raise taxes, when hampered by the unwillingness of voters to approve the tax increase, is not one of them

Philanthropy is much more resilient, and as we have seen during this period of economic uncertainty, individual philanthropists continued to support those causes they found important.

For many Parkway users, generous financial support will come when it is clear the funding—and management—are dedicated solely to the Parkway.

Water, Auburn Dam, Floods & the Economy

2011-04-06T17:56:51Z

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 just washing out to sea."

What critics forget is that the primary need for the Auburn Dam—much more important than water storage—is protection from life and property threatening floods.

They should remember that Sacramento is the most flood prone major river city in the country.

The Sacramento Bee did a story January 14, 2011 reporting on the results of a recent US Geological Survey Report and wrote:

“In the study, researchers used computer models and a composite of three historical storms to estimate a worst-case event: a torrent of tropical rain for nine straight days. It amounts to a 500-year storm. In the lingo of disaster managers, that does not mean it happens only once every 500 years, but that it has two-tenths percent chance of occurring in any given year. The Central Valley and the Sacramento region are likely to suffer the worst effects because they lie within a funnel for the state's biggest rivers.”

In the same story, the Bee notes some of the impacts in Sacramento County include 527,885 evacuations, 200 days before waters recede from the Pocket area, and $29.1 billion property loss.

There is a graph on our blog site which says it all.

The print is small, but the cities listed, from the left are, Tacoma, St. Louis, Dallas, & Kansas City, who all have met the gold standard of a 500 year level of protection.

While New Orleans has, after their recent improvements, met a 250 year level of protection and Sacramento, in the red at a 100 year level, will have a 200 year level after the Folsom Dam improvements.

The numbers on the left representing the level of coverage, starting from the bottom, are 85, 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 & 600.

When a flood control system provides 100 year flood protection, it means there is a one in 100 chance that a storm will occur that is beyond the capacity of levees and reservoirs to contain. Therefore, 200 year flood protection means there is a 1 in 200 chance that a storm may occur which the system couldn’t handle, and 500 year protection means there is only a one in 500 chance that a storm will overwhelm a system.

Giving Sacramento a 500 year level of flood protection will more than compensate for the construction costs of the Auburn Dam, estimated at between 5 - 10 billion dollars.

The water storage, hydroelectric power, and the economic benefit that will arise from the recreational usage of the new lake created behind Auburn Dam, are supplemental benefits.

So, of course, during rich rain years, Auburn Dam advocates will remind the public of the water storage capability of the dam, but we know that the primary reason for building Auburn Dam is to save the lives and property of those who might lose both when a 500 year flood hits Sacramento.

The major concern of the American River Parkway Preservation Society about this issue, beyond being Sacramento residents and wanting adequate flood protection for our community, is that the Auburn Dam will provide enhanced protection for the land and habitat of the American River Parkway and provide greater control maintaining the optimal level of water flow and water temperature for the salmon in the Lower American River.

David H. Lukenbill, Senior Policy Director
American River Parkway Preservation Society

Homelessness & the American River Parkway

2011-01-21T18:08:09Z

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 has been a problem, and that is the issue that resonates with our organization, public safety in the Parkway.

As a consequence, of course, we have had to address the larger issue of homelessness in general, which we have done in articles and news releases posted to our website http://www.arpps.org/ and postings to our blogsite http://parkwayblog.blogspot.com/

Through prolonged examination of the issue, we have reached a couple of conclusions: one is our support for the Housing First concept for the chronic homeless.

The chronic homeless are those who have been homeless for some time and scarcely able to mount any sort of social renewal without, at the very least, a place to call home.

This concept was pioneered by the organization Pathways to Housing http://www.pathwaystohousing.org/ in New York and they have had success with it.

Sacramento has also embraced this concept, but in a way that we feel will have less success, which we wrote about in an article published in the Sacramento Bee on April 10, 2008 under the title of Scatter homeless housing; don't concentrate sites, and which is also posted to our website's news page on May 12, 2008.

The other is a call for a more vigorous policy of helping the homeless and providing for public safety in the Lower Reach of the Parkway—from Discovery Park to Cal-Expo—
which we outline in our 2005 research report: The American River Parkway Lower Reach Area: A Corroded Crown Jewel, Restoring the Luster at http://www.arpps.org/report.pdf

Over the past couple of years, the concept of providing a tent city for the homeless, has arisen, and as the area in and around the Lower Reach has been the tent city in fact if not in legality, for several years, it is also an issue we are concerned about.

Recently, a photo gallery has been posted to our blogsite http://parkwayblog.blogspot.com/2011/01/slobe-gallery-of-parkway-devastation.html
on January 18, 2011, of pictures taken January 17, 2011-showing a large tent city which has been erected-and others dating back to 2008, of the impact of illegal camping in and around the Parkway, and the Sacramento Press published a story yesterday with photographs from January 20, 2011, http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/44016/American_River_Parkway_advocate_Park_is_no_jewel

Sacramento can do better, for the homeless, for the Parkway adjacent neighborhoods and for Parkway users.

David H. Lukenbill, Senior Policy Director
American River Parkway Preservation Society

Versailles & Gibson Ranch

2011-01-14T21:17:30Z

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 taken out a 30-year lease on the property. The project is a rare transfer of control of a French public heritage site to the private sector.

“It’s a pioneer initiative,” Jean Jacques Aillagon, the chairman of the Versailles palace, said in a news conference in Paris. “The building was given to us in a dilapidated state; my concern was to save it.” (page TR. 2, highlighting added)

Saving shuttered Gibson Ranch from further dilapidation and whether the County should approve management by a forprofit entity led by former Congressman Doug Ose is the issue.

It is an issue which has been of interest to our organization as it addresses much of what we have also found lacking in local government management of the American River Parkway.

Our organization has long called for the use of innovative funding and management practices for the Parkway that are being used successfully with other parks and the concepts embedded in the Ose proposal are congruent with those practices.

When the board of supervisors agreed to study the privatization proposal in November of 2010, the opposition—County Parks and aligned nonprofits—appeared to build their case primarily from the damage it might do to their in-house regional park proposal, which would increase taxes, while the Ose proposal would save taxpayers money.

The proposal to open the Ranch to the public under a lease management agreement comes from a family with a long-established record of public service and philanthropy, is supported by many locally, and is aligned with standard lease management agreements involving some form of privatization.

Given that, the opposition—especially that voiced in the editorial pages of the Sacramento Bee —seemed overwrought.

We were very pleased when the county agreed to move forward in their consideration of the plan to turn over management of the park to a forprofit entity.

With final approval, which we wholeheartedly support, it will be refreshing to see innovation and creativity become part of the mix of local parks management which, if it is as successful as we anticipate, may also impact future decisions regarding the American River Parkway.

The Parkway is already witnessing success with one innovative management and lease agreement, that of Soil Born Farms—which began as a forprofit later becoming nonprofit—at the historic 40 acre American River Ranch in the Parkway.

Soil Born Farms sells the food it grows from its own farm stand and to many of the finer restaurants in the area.

Another project in the region that brings innovative park management under a lease agreement between the County and the Galt Area Historical Society is the McFarland Ranch in Galt.

This is the historic ranch of Scotland native John McFarland, who came to the Sacramento Valley in 1857, founding Galt. The work the Historical Society has been able to accomplish in renewing and restoring the ranch is phenomenal.

Our organization will continue to follow the Gibson Ranch project as it—hopefully—becomes a reality and as the public responds to the new forms of recreation available at Gibson Ranch generating income to the forprofit and profit to the County.

If it’s good enough for Versailles, it’s good enough for Gibson Ranch!

David H. Lukenbill, Senior Policy Director
American River Parkway Preservation Society