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.
Sep 28, 2022
It sounds virtuous. Take 40 percent of the cash Sacramento collects on cannabis sales taxes and give the money to youth programs. Activities for kids would receive about $10 million a year.
But that’s not how Measure L on the city’s November ballot really works. Millions of tax dollars won’t go straight to support young people.
The cash will be laundered through a middleman: the youth services industry.
Yes, greedy adults stand at the heart of the comically titled “Children and Youth Health and Safety Act.” The proposal establishes a permanent transfer of city money to a special interest group.
It’s a cash geyser for the youth services industry.
Sep 28, 2022
In a sure sign the homeless disaster has moved from tragedy to farce, Mayor Darrell Steinberg and the City Council want to fix the mess with political games.
This is the story of Measure O on the November ballot. Known as the “Emergency Shelter and Enforcement Act,” it has no connection with emergencies or enforcement. Even the word “act” is a lie.
If, for some reason, voters approve Measure O, nothing will happen. Or maybe something might, one day. But that’s up to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors.
The act is a mirage, suspended unless the county rescues the city from the homeless abyss. Which is no way to run a city.
Sep 28, 2022
Four decades ago, when property owners along the Sacramento River levee realized they could build fences to keep the public away, they had two big weapons.
First was political influence. They had friends at City Hall. Those friends wouldn’t squawk about fences and gates that blocked public access to Sacramento’s greatest natural resource.
And they had secrecy. They could quietly seek permits from the state flood board to build fences and gates across the levee. There were no town halls or public hearings where residents could object to fence permits.
Sep 28, 2022
My two favorite sports clichés are “must-win game” and “rebuilding year.”
Back when I was a young Sacramento sportswriter, I avoided those phrases. They were trite. But I always smiled when local TV and radio pundits rolled out “must win” and “rebuilding.” Still do.
Aug 28, 2022
Soon after she was elected to City Council in 2020, Katie Valenzuela told me something remarkable. She said she would follow her instincts and didn’t care if voters tossed her out after one term.
Now she might not make it that far.
In September, the group “For a Better Sacramento” plans to submit petitions forcing Valenzuela into a recall election next March.
