Jul 26, 2025
I can’t say for sure when the experiment failed, but it was early in the baseball season. Around the time San Diego Padres fans outnumbered A’s supporters at Sutter Health Park.
Now the goal is to reduce the embarrassment, limit the damage and decide how the community endures another a year or two of A’s baseball without looking ridiculous.
This is what happens when a couple of rich guys pump their egos and advance their business plans by introducing a mediocre product nobody needs.
Jul 26, 2025
Talking to a politician recently, I mentioned the need for elected officials to support public access along the Sacramento River Parkway.
This politician understands the problem: private fences blocking public access, a few homeowners trying to delay completion of the levee bike trail.
“I agree with you,” the politician tells me. “The city needs to finish the bike trail. The public needs access. But we have to respect those homeowners. They need compensation.”
Now I get frustrated. The politician, whom I’ve known for years and consider smart and informed, sounds oblivious to the biggest obstacle slowing the bike trail through Pocket and Little Pocket.
Jun 28, 2025
One joy of being city manager is having everyone crawl through your pay package.
A city manager’s salary and benefits are posted in public. The manager makes good money but far less than the worst Kings player.
The shelf life of city managers and basketball scrubs can run about the same. As for responsibilities and consequences, there’s no contest.
Ambiguities over city manager pay vs. value make residents jealous, frustrated or both. Especially in Sacramento, where $420,684 flows to the city manager each year.
Is the city manager worth all that dough when homeless tents crowd sidewalks? Is anyone worth that much?
Jun 28, 2025
Communication should be easy. Just open your mouth and talk. Which makes me wonder why the city gets tongue-tied about a bicycle bridge.
I’ve found a half-dozen experts eager to talk about the city’s doomed bike bridge over Interstate 5 at Riverside Boulevard—engineers, lawyers, even a guy who investigated construction fiascos for insurance companies.
They are knowledgeable and informative. One word at a time, they helped me understand what probably went wrong when the city accepted a low-bid contract for a $12 million bridge connecting the Del Rio Trail to the Sacramento River Parkway bike path.
Jun 28, 2025
Forget funnel cake. For me, the State Fair means horse racing. After losing my bets, I visit the barns where kids in white uniforms pamper hogs, sheep and goats. Then home.
Now there’s no horse racing. And apologies, but once you’ve seen 1,000 hogs tended by intense, apple-cheeked teenagers, there’s no need for 1,001.
Which leaves zero reasons to attend the State Fair.
Don’t blame the State Fair. Cal Expo is collateral damage, trapped in a mess of economic pressure, incompetence and indifference.
