May 28, 2025
Thanks to sports, Sacramento State University has become an institution of higher incoherence.
The school is on a mission to Jupiter without a guidance system. If there’s a realistic destination, it’s not on Google Maps.
Sac State’s foolishness became obvious several weeks ago when the athletics department circulated an email titled, “Future Hornet Stadium Survey.”
As an alumnus (graduation pending from 1978, nine units short), I couldn’t pass up the survey.
There are questions about how often I visit campus (about once a year), why I visit (to look at the buildings) and how often I attend Hornet football games (maybe once every three years).
May 28, 2025
The city’s condemned bicycle bridge over Interstate 5 and Riverside Boulevard insults a local icon. Recently poured substandard concrete embarrasses a 52-year-old monument.
I’m talking about the railroad bridge next to the doomed bike span.
These days, the old rail bridge is defaced by graffiti and brutalized by construction framework related to the new span next door. But there’s nothing wrong with the old freeway overpass.
Apr 30, 2025
As Golden 1 Center nears its 10th birthday, I’ve been thinking about the people who brought the sports arena into existence.
There was NBA Commissioner David Stern, who orchestrated the eviction of the Maloof family as Kings owners and welcomed managing partner Vivek Ranadive.
There was Mayor Kevin Johnson, who followed Stern’s playbook and convinced the City Council to help finance Golden 1 Center.
Apr 28, 2025
Last summer, a Laguna Beach woman decided to kick people off the sand near her oceanfront home.
“I’m not joking around,” she screamed. “It’s not harassment on the beach, it’s harassment in my whole property. Get out of here! Now!”
She dragged a rope across the beach, marked an imaginary boundary and continued to shout. Beachgoers packed up and trudged away.
Mar 28, 2025
There is no band of brothers when it comes to bridge building. In the world of concrete and rebar, it’s every man for himself.
That’s my takeaway from discussions with Caltrans about the city’s doomed bicycle bridge over Interstate 5 and Riverside Boulevard. The state transportation agency’s attitude is, whatever happens with that bridge is the city’s problem.
“The City of Sacramento is responsible for the day-to-day administration of the construction contract of the bridge,” a Caltrans spokesman tells me.
