Jun 28, 2023
Darrell Steinberg is a timid politician, and timid people should never be mayor. Timidity was the hallmark of his political career. It sustained him for three decades before it finally, inevitably ruined him.
The pattern began in 1992. He entered politics as a City Council candidate to replace Kim Mueller when she moved to the federal judiciary. Steinberg won easily. He secured valuable support months before Election Day. He campaigned against a weak field populated by unknowns and has-beens. The race was over before it started.
Jun 28, 2023
Temporary chain-link fences showed up overnight. Stretched across the Sacramento River levee, blocking the gravel path, disheveled and lurching like drunks after a party. One fence ran into the water, breaking federal and state laws.
Somehow, the fences were approved by state officials from the Central Valley Flood Protection Board.
In May, a staff member at Central Valley Flood issued temporary permits for two private, cross-levee fences and gates in Pocket. The new barricades went up fast.
They were erected by property owners near the river, the small, loud group that spent years fighting to keep the public away from the levee.
Jun 28, 2023
Ryan Nickel works with scientists who fight crime. He’s a crime-busting scientist himself, an expert in DNA analysis. But there’s a difference. Around the office, Nickel is known as the guy who runs marathons.
“We have a great team, but yeah, they don’t see me as a scientist,” he says. “They see me as a distance runner.”
The label carries an ironic touch. Nickel works for the Sacramento County district attorney’s crime lab, where the goal is to nail people after they go running.
May 28, 2023
Things look good on new sections of the Sacramento River levee. The roadbed gravel is neat and smooth, baking in the summer heat. But wait until winter. Things get ugly when rains come.
I have an idea how much money it costs to repair the levees and bolster them with slurry walls. It’s a big number. The project, which has taken about three years and isn’t finished, carries a price tag of $1.8 billion, paid by taxpayers. Who can bring context to that much money?
People visit the levee to inspect their investment. They walk along the new gravel roadbed and enjoy the views. Sometimes they see new damage, months after Army Corps of Engineers contractors finished another section of seepage walls and levee rehabilitation.
May 28, 2023
For years, I’ve tried to figure out why the local homeless population grew from 2,700 to roughly 10,000 since Darrell Steinberg became mayor.
I’ve finally figured it out. The answer is obvious. I just couldn’t see it.
Steinberg and the City Council promote homelessness. They encourage an unhoused culture. The city has authority to stop or at least slow the problem. Instead, the mayor and friends search for excuses to help homelessness thrive. They bring gasoline to the bonfire.
May 28, 2023
It’s been 10 years since I wrote a book about the Kings. Now I can finally write an update.
The fact that my book survived a decade without becoming stale and outdated makes me happy, but I know the truth. Literary brilliance aside, the book stayed fresh because the Kings did absolutely nothing worth writing about between 2013 and 2022.
They moved into a new arena, played a bunch of games that ended in defeat, traded countless players whose names I can’t remember and fired many coaches. They shut down for the pandemic and skipped their rent payments for a few months. They missed the playoffs.
