Newest articles and comments on The Sacramento Press written by Geoffrey Sakala

Geoffrey Sakala on "New gym/wellness facility at CSUS"

2010-07-09T00:08:57Z

Bravo, I remember the inception of this idea and worked on two failed campaigns to get a fee increase passed to build it. At the time called "A Train Wreck" by then President Gerth. I had to chuckle at that. A decade later it's coming to fruition. If you remember the BEER (Better Education Events and Recreation) campaign of 1998 then you'll have a little laugh to see how far the idea has come in ten years. Kudos to Leslie Davis and Alexander Gonzalez as well as the hundreds of students for seeing the vision and making it happen.

Geoffrey Sakala on "Mayor's office releases old strong mayor draft "

2010-07-08T23:55:00Z

If Sacramento wants to become a world class city we need a strong mayor to lead it. Period. If the State Legislature or US Congress have shown us anything about politicians it's that they would much rather debate and win political battles than get things done. Every successful organization whether it be a sports team, non-profit, company, or government needs a strong leader in charge with the capability to make tough decisions. Those which don't lose, run poorly, fail, or flounder in red tape. Isn't that why we elect a Mayor? Who cares about this draft or that draft and what was scribbled on a piece of paper. Let's elevate the discussion to one of the Big Picture need for the Sacramento Metro area to step up and become a World Class city with great Performing Arts, Theater, Sports Performances, Amazing Recreation, and a 21st Century economy which is creating jobs, wealth, and a higher quality of life.

Rancho Cordova Wins All-America City Award Honors for 2010

2010-06-19T01:45:46Z

The City of Rancho Cordova has been named All-America City by a panel of judges from the National Civic League. This honor was in recognition of the City’s unusual level of community participation and pride in joining forces to improve the quality of life for its citizens.

A contingent of representatives from the City, including residents, City and Community Council members and City staff gave a 10-minute presentation to the panel yesterday morning. The theme was “We Make the Magic” in a community where diverse groups pull together for the greater good of all residents and businesses.

Three programs were identified in the initial application:

* Project 680, a grassroots effort led by Cordova Towne neighborhood activist Ryan Lundquist, which collects everyday items such as socks, underwear and shoes for homeless children in the Folsom Cordova Unified School District. The project was named for the 680 children in the school district identified as homeless. Aiming to collect a pair of socks for each of the 680, the community responded by donating over 3,000 pairs of socks in its first effort.

* Rancho Cordova Cultural Heritage (Saturday) Schools, a collaborative effort of immigrant parents and the Folsom Cordova Unified School District to preserve and honor arts and culture of mother countries. The project builds bridges between non-English-speaking groups and the community at large, has improved academic performance among the students, and has provided cultural enrichment for the entire population of the city.

* The Rancho Cordova City Hall provides a “civic heart” for Rancho Cordova, incubating business and community engagement as well as serving as a home for municipal services. The City Hall project has fostered important civic links as the community matures as a city and is a symbol of change and progress in a city striving to change its image. It is the site of weddings, proms, church services and business meetings in addition to governance.

These projects drew the attention of the judges which selected Rancho Cordova to be among the 25 finalists. The finalist cities were selected based on their identifying and solving society’s challenges. The next step was the 10-minute presentation followed by a 10-minute question-and-answer period.

After Rancho Cordova’s presentation, one of the judges left her seat to shake the hand of and personally thank community activist Ryan Lundquist for the 680 Project. “It was an extremely touching moment, one we’ll never forget,” said Rancho Cordova City Council Member Linda Budge.

The highly coveted All-America City Award was established by the National Civic League of America in 1949 to honor the best role model cities in the country. Winning the All-America City designation is a distinction for a lifetime. The 10 winners were determined after each finalist made a presentation this week in Kansas City.

This is the second year in a row that Rancho Cordova has been a finalist for the prestigious All-America City award. Although it is one of the youngest cities in the competition, Rancho Cordova has excelled developing strong relationships with the many, diverse segments in its community.

Rancho Cordova, incorporated in 2003, will be celebrating its 7th anniversary on July 1, 2010. City Hall is located at 2729 Prospect Park Drive, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670. Website: www.cityofranchocordova.org; phone: 916-851-8700.

Geoffrey Sakala on "Sacramento Statewide Leader in Green Job Growth"

2010-04-14T15:02:30Z

There's a lot of great efforts underway to provide event more awareness and information about Clean Tech/Green Tech efforts in California. It's exciting to see.

Geoffrey Sakala on "Sacramento Asian Pacific Chamber of Commerce Awards Dinner"

2010-02-10T00:07:13Z

Congratulations Megan and all the other winners.

Geoffrey Sakala on "On the fly"

2010-01-13T16:58:37Z

Very cool Katie. I'm now going to visit the Sutter National Wildlife Refuge based on your recommendation. The Sacramento region has so many great natural resources like the Sutter National Wildlife Refuge and the American River Parkway we all should take some time to just visit and experience them. It can be very relaxing too.

Geoffrey Sakala on "Kings host the Magic"

2010-01-12T22:06:00Z

The Kings are definitely are in a rebuilding year, however there are some glimmers of a great young nucleus of talented players. If these guys can continue to work hard and develop their teamwork there's no reason they couldn't be very competitive. After a couple years of disappointment I've finally begun watching Kings games again. The Purple Pride is back. It's also intriguing that there doesn't seem to be one clear star player. The starters all seem fairly balanced. This team could be like so many great teams of the past with good chemistry and teamwork, they'll be tough to beat because there is not one player other teams can focus their attention on and shut down.

Geoffrey Sakala on "State of the Airports event today: Sacramento as bolder crossroads for commerce"

2009-11-13T15:05:17Z

Not true. Mather Commerce Center and the Mather Airport is the West coast shipping hub for UPS, DHL, and Fedex. There are planes flying in and out every day with thousands of packages. There is also a passenger commercial airport at Mather which sees a lot of commuter traffic especially for corporations like Intel.

Geoffrey Sakala on "Editorial: Transparency and scrutiny"

2009-10-02T00:40:13Z

Ben Ilfeld said, "However, the interesting thing is that our community actually uncovered these affiliations in the conversation, not us. If we give one person the job to screen then we take power away from our community and give it to someone in our office. That person is fallible and will undoubtedly make mistakes." I agree completely. Reporting the news is a process and part of the process is the community of readers needs to add their insights and additional information to complete the picture. It's exactly what happens between journalists at different publications so why not between contributors of the same publication. The community vets the information being presented. As far as how to alleviate the issues of false information begin spread by suspect sources. How about badges, individual ratings, and verified identity. The badges would reveal if this person is a Community Contributor, Staff Writer, Editor etc. The ratings would be based on the thumbs up/down on stories and comments compiled site-wide. Get bad comment or story ratings and your overall rating will be poor. At least would give readers a gauge to measure by. The identity verification could be a process requested by Community Contributors to add credibility. Simple enough, Community Contributor answers some additional questions to confirm their identity and a staff member verifies. Provide a verified identity badge to add trust to the source.

Geoffrey Sakala on "Our new navigation bar"

2009-10-02T00:11:59Z

Looks great. I like it.

Geoffrey Sakala on "Welcome to The Sacramento Press Journalism Open!"

2009-09-18T14:50:19Z

Sounds like a great contest. I'll be looking forward to the entries.

Geoffrey Sakala on "Clear Channel may work with city on digital billboards"

2009-08-27T12:51:02Z

Maybe we could sell the name of the city and become the City of Clear Channel. That should bring in about a million or more! One resident to an out of towner, "Oh, where are you from?" The resident, "I'm from Clear Channel. You know, the state capitol - Clear Channel, California."

Geoffrey Sakala on "Contributor agreement revision"

2009-04-13T16:11:22Z

Ben this is a win-win for Sacramento Press and its contributors. It's a much more open agreement aligning better with your intended mission IMHO.

Geoffrey Sakala on "The future of news, part 2, one week of The Bee"

2009-03-31T04:40:09Z

In my experience it's not feasible to provide local coverage for an area larger than a city. The differences between West Sacramento, Folsom, Elk Grove and Roseville for example are too great to provide blanket coverage. In order to compete locally the Bee needs to be local and not try and cover all of Superior California from 21st & Q.

Geoffrey Sakala on "Bee survey"

2009-03-31T04:14:15Z

So about 30 local stories in the Bee per day, a lot of AP and a smattering of other sources. I think what we'll begin to see is decentralization of news gathering and editing. On par with the revolution in community oriented policing 20 years ago, Big Newspapers will soon realize they have become too centralized and become more community oriented. Local again. Wait, where have I heard that before?

Geoffrey Sakala on "The future of news"

2009-03-31T03:59:09Z

A couple of points after reading the articles above and some others linked to them. The new paradigm: 1. Decentralized - Nobody but MSM cares about the demise of Newspapers, readers care about good journalism which is just storytelling. 2. Personalized - If the journalism produced by Big Newspapers is so good, why the explosion of blogs. 3. Portable - The media landscape is changing and people get their news and entertainment in new ways; blogs, podcasts, rss, twitter, FB, Myspace, sms, kindle etc. 4. Aggregated - The answer to the newspaper dilemma is already here see Digg, Topix, Examiner, Outside.in, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, etc. 5. Diverse - There is now more info created and shared in a day than most people consumed in a lifetime 100 years ago. 6. Distributed - New Media will take many forms; traditional newsprint, membership based non-profit investigative journalism, subscription based niche content, pay per podcasts, fee based live media events, ad supported web magazines, and more that have yet to be invented. 7. Individualistic - Credibility, trust, and Brand recognition have shifted from Corporations to People. This trend will accelerate. much like society in the US, the way we consume our news is changing

Geoffrey Sakala on "The future of news"

2009-03-31T03:31:00Z

If the smartest minds in journalism haven't figured out a way to save their newspapers, why would we trust a politician?

Geoffrey Sakala on "The future of news"

2009-03-31T03:26:20Z

Try Topix, Technorati, Examiner .....

Geoffrey Sakala on "The future of news"

2009-03-31T02:28:04Z

Nobody cares about saving newspapers, they care about journalism which is alive and thriving. Journalism is one form of storytelling which will always be the most important human characteristic, the medium by which this is accomplished matters less than the message. As long as we find new and better ways to connect, share, and story tell we'll escape doom. And thanks for being Geoff's editor. I agree he needs it. Wink!

Geoffrey Sakala on "My day in court: Some observations"

2009-02-02T20:29:27Z

"it is clear to me that, more than free commerce, the rule of law is still the core of our democracy" It really is because without the rule of law, elections would run amuck, commerce could not sustain with corruption and fraud, and many more tenants of society would cease to function or become chaos. It's amazing what you'll see and hear by just sitting in the Sac county courthouse for a day or two.

Geoffrey Sakala on "My day in court: Some observations"

2009-02-02T20:26:30Z

I've always been curious about the grand jury system. It's much different from the regular jury pool. That might make a good article, telling how you were selected, what your duties were etc...

Geoffrey Sakala on "Twitter milestone"

2009-02-02T20:22:42Z

Twitter is a great way to get short message out fast and start networked conversations. I like it a lot.

Geoffrey Sakala on "The Dire Circumstances of Dyer Lane: Urban Legend or Truth"

2009-01-23T03:46:00Z

I'm curious, are you paid to do this type of work?

Geoffrey Sakala on "Sacramento City Schools Facing Major Budget Crisis"

2009-01-13T21:32:36Z

The education system is funded primarily by property taxes and state tax revenue. Both are dramatically down due to declining property values and the state budget crisis. These factors will severely impact education funding for many years.

Sacramento City Schools Facing Major Budget Crisis

2009-01-13T02:02:08Z

SCUSD to Meet with Residents In Lincoln Village

Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD), which includes the schools of Abe Lincoln, AM Winn, Einstein, and Rosemont, has been facing serious budget problems this year. The district has already cut over $20 million from this year's budget and may be looking at mid-year cuts of up to $30 million more. The district is even looking at closing some school sites in an extreme effort to cut costs.

A special community meeting is being held by SCUSD officials on Tuesday, January 13th, at AM Winn Elementary School located at 3351 Explorer Drive. This meeting is being held to inform the public about options the district is considering and to seek community input. The meeting is scheduled to last from 6 pm to 8 pm. Although the district has scheduled meetings at other schools in other parts of the district, this will be the only meeting in the Lincoln Village, Countryside or Rosemont areas.

Even if you do not have children currently enrolled in SCUSD schools, this is an important meeting to attend. The quality of local schools are an important factor in the value of nearby homes and in the ability of the next generation of young people to gain the skills they will need to be productive members of our communities.

This article brought to you by the Rancho Cordova Post

Geoffrey Sakala on "Next New Year's Eve?"

2009-01-06T15:44:39Z

I gotta give credit to the organizers for doing something on New Year's Eve. It's cool to see the community come together around events like this. Rancho Cordova deserves some recognition because without us there wouldn't have been a ball to drop.

Geoffrey Sakala on "Sac Press navigation changes"

2009-01-03T19:38:25Z

Geoff - the navigation changes are a good move. I also like the featured photo and featured quote, they add to the overall look and feel nicely. I would suggest that the pages which are linked to from the top navigation have the same layout as the front page. The front page layout is much more interesting style wise than a simple list of stories.

Geoffrey Sakala on "Editing a new kind of newspaper"

2008-12-27T17:10:33Z

Traditional news organizations have many resources and tools at their disposal. These resources and tools are not usually available for citizen journalists. The Sacramento Bee for example has an Investigation Center page which provides access to many Sac Bee and government databases for research and statistical analysis. These types of tools are invaluable if you're writing a piece which requires hard facts to substantiate a given conclusion. Giving citizen journalists the tools and training to produce true and well researched stories would seem to be one way to provide added value in a new media model.

Geoffrey Sakala on "Breaking the Buck at The Bee"

2008-12-27T17:01:03Z

I found one interesting and cool feature of the new Sacbee.com. They have a page called Live where they will be live blogging events. The next event will be the Presidential Inauguration and readers will be able to participate in the live blog by contributing messages in real time. It's good to see McClatchy and the Sacramento Bee continue to innovate their method of delivering news and information in new and interesting ways.

Geoffrey Sakala on "Online marketing tool or distraction? Twitter about it! "

2008-12-27T16:44:45Z

Twitter is a great way to follow a lot of people or be followed in the case of a news organization. I have found it extremely helpful during times where major events or breaking news is happening now. Sometimes the early tweets are the best available information about an event when not much is known. Case in point was the recent natural gas leak explosion in Rancho Cordova. The best early info was on twitter minutes after it happened.

Geoffrey Sakala on "A CITY THAT WORKS FOR EVERYONE"

2008-12-24T15:30:34Z

Kevin, you're a breath a fresh air. I hope you'll continue to be accessible even when times are tough. It's the least we can expect of our elected officials, to be transparent and accountable to the people who elected them. I'd like to make you aware of one of the most significant issues in the Sacramento region. The American River Parkway is the greatest natural resource in Superior California. There has been a small but committed group trying to protect and preserve the parkway much the way the Central Park Conservancy has transformed Central Park in New York into a world class park. This is an issue which requires regional cooperation of the City of Sacramento, County of Sacramento, City of Rancho Cordova and other municipalities along the parkway. To learn more you can visit http://www.arpps.org.

Geoffrey Sakala on "How do we make money?"

2008-12-14T04:19:32Z

Some citizen journalism sites have moved in the direction of a funding model like public television where memberships are pledged at different levels. Have you guys given any thought to that type of model?

Geoffrey Sakala on "Suggestions from a Sacramento Press reader"

2008-12-14T04:10:10Z

I love the storyline feature. That is an awesome way to present additional content.

Geoffrey Sakala on "What we're all about"

2008-12-14T03:50:25Z

Just found you guys and I'm excited to see the concept develop more. I've been publishing local news in Rancho Cordova online for over a year now and have received a great response. I'd love to grab a coffee sometime to chat. Take Care.