Dec 28, 2022
I don’t want to shock anyone, but the new year brings the chance that City Hall will stumble into a way to control and even reduce homelessness. This revelation follows the embrace of a tool other cities have deployed for years.
It’s called a Homeless Management Information System, or HMIS. The idea is obvious: coordinate services, outcomes and data involving homeless people. That’s about it.
There’s nothing new about coordinating housing and mental health services for people who live on the streets or in shelters. Integrated management systems have been around for years. Semi-annual homeless counts are one example of coordination.
Nov 28, 2022
After 37 years, I’ve finally figured out the curse of the Kings. It’s all about real estate.
I’m not talking about a real estate curse that involves ancient Native American burial grounds.
For some Kings fans, the fictional image of bones beneath old Arco Arena explained why the team was so lousy.
The burial grounds theory collapsed when the team moved Downtown. If anything, the Kings got worse on K Street.
Nov 28, 2022
Holiday season makes me think about my friend Randy Paragary. Randy, who died from pancreatic cancer in August 2021, loved the holidays. He decked out his restaurants in classy Christmas motifs and smiled as reservations filled up with parties.
Sometimes holiday celebrations took over every seat, with one exception. Randy always saved a table for our weekly lunch. That lunch is what I miss most.
Our lunch was more than two friends getting together for drinks and food. It was an event that grew into something like a local institution.
Nov 28, 2022
Dennis Newhall knows about sound. He’s worked for decades as a radio and internet broadcaster, disc jockey, producer and voice talent. He understands the power of sound, how it motivates and transforms people.
This past year, he learned something else. How sound, reduced to sheer noise, can drive a neighborhood nuts.
That’s an exaggeration. Newhall doesn’t believe weeks of pounding by equipment to strengthen the Sacramento River levee literally drove his Pocket neighbors crazy.
Oct 28, 2022
Some of us remember when beating UC Davis meant everything to Sacramento State’s football team. But with success defined by one game, victory was impossible. Between 1970 and 1987, the Aggies defeated the Hornets 18 consecutive times.
The annual mismatch made UC Davis coach Jim Sochor smile when he heard the word “rivalry.” He would say, “It’s not a rivalry until they beat us.”
Sochor died in 2015 at age 77. He lived long enough to see some improvements in Sac State’s football program, but not many. Since 2000, Davis has won the Causeway Classic 15 times.
Oct 28, 2022
The past 12 years were a lousy time to have your kids educated by the Sacramento City Unified School District.
Staff morale plummeted, teachers went on strike, enrollment declined, insolvency beckoned. As for the job of educating young people, don’t ask. Sac City Unified flunked.
Last year, only 22 percent of Sac City Unified students met or exceeded state standards in English. As for math, it might as well be Greek. Just 5 percent of the city’s students met or beat state math standards.
