Bill Russell, philosopher and basketball legend, told me what he thought of Sacramento when he moved to town in 1987 to coach the Kings.
He said Sacramento was Fresno with a capitol.
I exaggerate when I say Russell moved here. He disliked Sacramento so much that he lived in Rancho Murieta, a golf community on Amador County’s doorstep.
Walk the dirt trail along the lower American River. Underfoot is cobble, buried in soil and held in place by decades-old tree roots.
Added in the 1950s, the smooth stones have protected the riverbank from erosion for more than seven decades. Cobble is a far cry from riprap, large angular rock and rubble used to protect shorelines.
“Cobble is very effective and still holding in place,” says Bill Avery, a biologist and Sacramento State professor. “Roots plus cobble are almost invincible. You’ve got extremely powerful erosion protection.
“It does not need to be covered with angular riprap exploded out of a quarry.”
The city’s Front Street Animal Shelter has a problem. Unwanted pets keep coming.
In three years, stray dogs and cats entering Front Street increased by 2,148—from 6,309 in 2022 to 8,457 in 2024.
More animals mean more killing. In 2022, Front Street euthanized 747. In 2024, the shelter killed 1,462—nearly double.
To address the statewide animal overpopulation crisis, Gov. Gavin Newsom included $50 million in the 2020-21 state budget to help California animal shelters stop killing adoptable dogs and cats.
Four years later the killing continues.
There are many ways to work around the law. Let’s start with the nearly 600 dogs and cats in “foster to adopt” at the city’s Front Street Animal Shelter, headed by Manager Phillip Zimmerman.
The concept is simple. California law requires shelters to spay or neuter animals prior to adoption. Under “foster to adopt,” animals are released to “adopters” as “foster pets.”
As foster pets, they don’t need to be altered before leaving the shelter.
Sunset along the lower American River. Hundreds of double-crested cormorants perch high among cottonwood and black locust trees. The birds fly in nightly during winter to roost in a grove between Howe and Watt avenues.
The roost supports as many as 225 cormorants, likely the entire population on the lower American River, says Dan Airola, conservation chair with Central Valley Bird Club.
When Airola began observing the cormorants in 2019, there were 25 to 30 birds.
Without hesitation, Jennifer Brent says spay and neuter is the most important service the Sacramento SPCA offers the community.
“I think it’s the most powerful tool we have to limit pet overpopulation,” says Brent, who was recruited last year to head the SSPCA after CEO Kenn Altine retired.
Brent says the SSPCA is a national leader in spay/neuter, calling its 10,000-square-foot Zoe K. McCrea Animal Health Center “phenomenal.” The center performed more than 18,000 low- and no-cost spay/neuter surgeries in 2024.
