City Council representative for District 4, Rob Fong, will not be running for re-election. With no incumbent running, the race has attracted four candidates who may be unfamiliar to Sacramentans. In the interest of learning about these candidates, a questionnaire was sent to them asking for a brief (less than 100 words) response to a list of topics. The list of topics included items which have been frequently discussed by the District 4 communities or at council meetings. Topics included river crossings, city budget, marijuana dispensaries, strong mayor, leaf piles, arena funding and other city policies. The goal is to give readers a brief introduction to candidate positions at this earl

Like any city, Sacramento develops a collection of codes to be enforced. To engage in certain activities, residents and businesses must contact departments, fill out forms, and apply for permits. It seems constantly, the City is conjuring new codes, guidelines, and permits... everything from medical marijuana moratoriums to taxi cab queues. You need a permit to install an alarm system. To sell produce. To put certain signs on your property. To sell secondhand goods. To hold a fundraiser. To offer massage. To open a miniature golf course. To sell hot dogs on the street. To offer valet parking. To figure model. You need a permit to prune a tree in front of your house, or to prevent it's roo

Today, December 15th, is Bill of Rights Day. These 10 amendments to the Constitution protect our most basic rights, including: freedom of speech, religion, the right to bear arms, and have a fair trial. Ironically, in this evening's Sacramento City Council meeting our representatives voted to support Chicago in a Supreme Court Case (McDonald v. Chicago) which would allow cities to ignore the 2nd Amendment. The 2nd Amendment reads: "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed." The City Council Proposal "Discuss and consider whether to authorize the City Attorney's Office to take the neces

As the capitol city, Sacramento has a dependent relationship on the state government. We've let the state government fill our core with monolithic government buildings. The incentive has been to keep jobs and development, but the cost has been the soul of the city. Contrary to the state employee work week, on any Saturday or Sunday you can ride your bicycle down the middle a street in downtown with hardly any cars to worry about. Many restaurants on K Street and around downtown are closed on weekends. This is not a new problem. A 1987 Sac Bee article wrote "It's 10 p.m. in downtown Sacramento, and light rail is making its last run along the K Street Mall, temporarily bathing the deserted

Sacramento is the "City of Trees". For better or worse that also means city of leaves. While suburban areas put their green waste in bins, the denser central neighborhoods have leaf piles picked off the street regularly and seasonally by the "leaf claw". This is how it's been done for years, and how many other cities do it. However, recently a few local bureaucrats have been pushing to move the entire central city to containerized bin pickup. In the suburbs, containerized green waste bins make sense. Big bins are wheeled into big backyards for weekend yard work year-round. It also makes pickup more efficient since suburban homes are sprawled out. However, in the city containerized bins ar

You've probably heard - but in case you haven't, there are reports that Kevin Johnson's previous alleged misuse of federal funds may jeopardize the City of Sacramento's receipt of federal stimulus money. If this happened, it would be a serious handicap for Sacramento because the city could be denied the expected tens of millions from the hundreds of billions of federal dollars.  According to Kevin Johnson, the city won't be denied funds. There doesn't seem to be much certainty at this point, so I won't speculate on what will happen. However, an important question to ask is what is the best thing for Sacramento if the mayor's predicament causes denial of funds? If Sacramento is denied ten

This past Tuesday, March 24th, the Sacramento Board of Supervisors adopted ordinance SCC-1419 "Ordinance Related to Physical Contact Dance", proposed by the Sheriff. The Supervisors, Don Nottoli, Susan Peters, Roger Dickinson, Jimmie Yee (Roberta MacGlashan was absent), voted "yes" unanimously. The new rules: No patron shall be permitted within six feet of the stage while the stage is occupied by entertainer(s). No entertainer shall perform within six feet of a patron or customer. No entertainer shall have physical contact with any patron or customer and no patron or customer shall have physical contact with any entertainer. If patrons wish to tip entertainers, tips shall be placed in re

While exiting Target or the supermarket recently, I've been approached by young folks with clipboards collecting signatures. The first of these petitions is to put proposal on the ballot to grant Sacramento's mayor more power (to propose budgets and appoint positions, currently the City Manager's role). The conversation went something like this: Petitioner: "Excuse me, are you a registered voter in Sacramento?" Me: "Yes. What is that?" Petitioner: "Would you mind signing this? It's to give the mayor the power to get things done." Me: "No thanks, I think the mayor has enough power." Petitinoer: "Well, this is just to get it on the ballot so voters can decide. Would you sign it?" Me: ... wa

There's nothing worse than a litter bug. It's a shame when there are people in your neighborhood that don't care about keeping the area up. The following incident took place Sept. 3, 2007. I saw two guys from the apartments near 6th & T dollyng some furniture into the alley to dump it. I happened to have my camera on me & caught them walking away. I called the police, but didn't get much response. That might be for the best because one of the guys saw me on the phone & kept a close eye on me suspecting I was ratting on them. Whether it be graffiti, illegal dumping, littering, or neglecting a property - Southside Park should do all we can to eradicate this type of acitivty from our neighb

Mayor Fargo was scheduled to drop by the park last week, but due to the rainstorm plans were cancelled. She was going to be at the Farmer's Market at 6th & X under highway 50 this last Sunday before election, Nov. 2nd. We announced it to the neighborhood association group, but due to the crowds at the Farmers Market there wasn't much opportunity for a lengthy discussion about neighborhood issues. The Mayor was being interviewed by News 10, and greeting locals who happened to be at the Farmers Market. Several of the Mayor's supporters were behind her holding up Fargo signs. It was interesting (if not awkward) that 5 feet to her right, an equally large entourage of Kevin Johnson supporters

Jamie's Bar & Grill is one of the hidden gems of the Southside Park neighborhood. The little assuming place sits alone on the west end of Broadway, with a few parking spots in front. It reportedly can get packed by the lunch crowd downtown, being known for great steak sandwiches and other satisfying meat dishes. It was not the ordinary quiet night there last night, Thursday Oct. 30th. A local group dubbed "Sacramento Dive Bar Connoisseurs" started piling in at 8pm. This group, established in August 2004, has been visiting a different local 'dive bar' every other Thursday night since they formed. Although Jamie's is primarily a restaurant, it met the group's criteria since it has a full ba

On a whim, I emailed both mayor campaigns & asked if they'd stop by our neighborhood to talk about some local issues. It was a pleasant surprise that both candidates were able to (especially so close to Election Day). Kevin Johnson was scheduled to stop by the Southside Park bandstand area today at 5:45pm. It was short notice, but I announced it on the neighborhood association newsgroup and there was a sign up at the park. Unfortunately not a lot of people showed up, but Kevin was still gracious enough to talk with us & ask about our concerns. Here is a video of the visit today. Apologies that the sound is hard to hear... but it should be audible if you turn your volume way up. http://v