Apr 28, 2023
We all should know there are no easy answers to California’s housing crisis. But here are a few things to keep in mind as we consider narratives circulating about where the blame belongs.
First, some encouraging news. As Gov. Gavin Newsom and Assemblymember Kevin McCarty announced, three state office buildings along Capitol Mall are being transitioned into housing.
The Employment Development Department at 800 Capitol Mall, Solar Building at 751 N St. and State Personnel Board building at 801 Capitol Mall are targeted for housing.
Apr 28, 2023
Imagine living in a state where every resident, child to elder, has access to farm-fresh, healing, life-sustaining produce.
For decades, access to nourishing produce has been associated with more privileged lifestyles. In poorer areas, adults suffer diet-related health conditions. Children are often malnourished. Ten percent of Californians have diabetes.
People with the least amount of money often travel long distances for healthy produce.
In recent months, I’ve learned about the California Office of Farm to Fork and its Farm to School Program. I began to see threads pulling together the farm-to-fork movement. Each link forms a chain of relationships.
Mar 28, 2023
It’s been a long time since I’ve cheered for a development with this much enthusiasm. But wait until you see what Kevin Dobson is doing at the long-shuttered Limn Furniture warehouse on Arden Way.
Frustrated from watching so many directionless kids fail to graduate when he was principal at Natomas Charter School, Dobson quit his job to chase a dream. He created a free career academy where motivated high school students can get hands-on experience, internships and college credits at the same time.
Now, with support from the local business community, an agreement with American River College and a $14 million tax-exempt bond to purchase the Limn property for $2.6 million and build the school, Dobson’s Capital College & Career Academy is on track to open in August.
Feb 28, 2023
Over the years, I spent lots of time in two buildings that have generated countless colorful stories—the state Capitol and county courthouse.
Both spawned captivating tales of intrigue and chicanery, but it was no contest when it came to which was the more inspiring structure. The original neoclassical Capitol is 149 years old and one of the most graceful statehouses in the nation.
The Gordon D. Schaber courthouse, named after the late, longtime dean of Sacramento’s McGeorge School of Law, is as far from graceful as you can get.
Jan 28, 2023
Katherine Bardis and her husband, Bay Miry, are a local development team that does quality work with a good reputation.
Born into the building business, they have fathers who ran successful development firms and continue to leave a positive mark on the community.
Working together as Bardis & Miry Development, the couple continues the family legacies with contributions of their own.
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.
