May 28, 2022
And the award for most absurd move by a California city to circumvent state law allowing multiple residential units in neighborhoods previously zoned for single-family homes goes to the snooty Silicon Valley suburb of Woodside.
Rather than allow a few duplexes, city officials released a memo this year declaring the entire town a safe haven for mountain lions. So, of course, Woodside claimed it could not permit any duplexes, lest valuable mountain lion habitat be compromised.
The town would rather have mountain lions roaming around than people who might want to live in a duplex. And we wonder why California has a shortage of affordable housing.
Mar 28, 2022
What a difference a pandemic makes. In spring 2019, a buoyant Mayor Darrell Steinberg, doing his best Daniel Burnham imitation to “make no little plans,” unveiled his big vision for Old Sacramento and Downtown.
Sacramento would leverage more than $40 million in hotel taxes left from the Convention Center and Community Center Theatre renovation and jazz up the waterfront. New attractions would include an outdoor concert venue, rooftop bars and a barge docked so people could swim safely near the Tower Bridge in our namesake river.
The central city had arrived. Downtown would finally get its must-see family attraction. Construction cranes were everywhere. The future looked bright. Steinberg would have a legacy other than heartache over the growing homeless and housing crises.
Feb 27, 2022
For the first time in several years, some business owners in Old Sacramento—battered by COVID-19, civil unrest and crime—feel hopeful.
The historic district has long suffered an image problem. It had attractions and history, but never the critical mass and appeal to become a must-see attraction.
Excitement was high before the pandemic. An inviting embarcadero was installed. More family-friendly events were planned. The future looked bright in April 2019, after the City Council agreed to invest $47 million to upgrade the Old Sac waterfront, with money leveraged to lure private investment.
Jan 28, 2022
Just when scientific literacy seems more needed than ever, there’s good news in a tidy space along the riverfront near Old Sacramento.
Adults will love the recently opened SMUD Museum of Science and Curiosity, MOSAC for short, at 400 Jibboom St. But this place is really about kids and teaching them that science matters—it’s formidable and we ignore or scorn it at our peril.
Here’s the most important fact if you are a kid: The museum aims to show youngsters that science is cool because, well, it is.
Dec 28, 2021
It’s a refrain I hear a lot these days, especially when I’m cycling along the American River or through the center of our troubled city.
“Steinberg ran on a promise to fix the homeless problem and it’s only gotten worse. He’s wasted time, money and energy, and there’s more garbage and encampments everywhere. What a failure.”
Now Mayor Darrell Steinberg has put forward his latest plan to attack our chronic homelessness problem—his “Housing Right and Obligation Act.” It’s generating even more heat.
