Dec 28, 2022
As crime surges in our neighborhoods, we look to Mayor Darrell Steinberg, our City Council and police department to respond. We want local authorities to make our streets safe again.
But are safe streets even possible when we have councilmembers such as Katie Valenzuela, who advocates to defund police and refuses to hold people accountable in the homeless community who break the law? This is where governments fail.
Our problems don’t stop at the city limits. The surge in crime is directly linked to state law, primarily Proposition 57.
Dec 28, 2022
Sacramento County’s jail system is in trouble with the federal court. The Board of Supervisors is trying to figure out what to do.
In 2020, the county settled a lawsuit obligating it to remedy unconstitutional jail conditions. Among the required improvements are better mental health services and medical care, suicide prevention, out-of-cell time and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The court monitors progress with inspections every six months. Each report has found the county not in compliance due to staffing challenges and physical facility limitations.
Dec 28, 2022
Here’s my entry for the most ridiculous local political takeover of 2022.
Several months ago, a group of homeowners along the Sacramento River levee seized control of the Pocket Greenhaven Community Association. They figured by co-opting the association, they could influence, delay or even prevent the city from finishing the river parkway and bike trail.
They were wrong. The takeover merely squandered the association’s good work and reputation.
Dec 28, 2022
If you’re a cynic convinced government rarely gets anything right, walk to Seventh and P streets and check out the new headquarters for the California Natural Resources Agency. Then let me know how you feel.
You enter a different kind of state building when you step into the light-drenched lobby, see a quote from poet Gary Snyder emblazoned over the outline of a grizzly bear—“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home”—and learn part of the wall is covered in wood salvaged from the deadly Paradise Camp Fire.
