Being a sports fan in Sacramento isn’t completely awful.
True, the Kings have exploited the community’s one-horse status for decades. The basketball team sells far more tickets, suites and sponsorships than failure warrants.
A season or two of home games with 10,000 empty seats would embarrass the Kings, if that’s possible, and provide visual and financial motivation to fix the mess.
A parade of big rigs hauling dirt through the neighborhood has a nasty effect on people. Patience runs out. Residents want their streets back.
Yes, heroic efforts by the Army Corps of Engineers to strengthen the Sacramento River levee in Pocket, Greenhaven and Little Pocket have taken a toll. The public was warned the Big Fix would be large, loud, long and dirty.
Warnings are fine. Then reality hits.
The town’s favorite sports bookies didn’t wear mouse ears. They chewed toothpicks and smoked cigars. They hung out at the Bar of Music on 11th Street and Georgian’s on J Street. When those joints disappeared, they moved to Joe Marty’s on Broadway and Simon’s on 16th Street.
What would our legendary gamblers—a hall of fame led by Jackie King and Sid Tenner—think about Mickey Mouse muscling in on the action?
At some point the city will hold meetings in Pocket and tell residents what’s going on with the Sacramento River Parkway and levee bike trail. I’ve heard city authorities talk about these meetings, but only in a tentative way. Nobody knows when they will happen.
But I have a good idea how they will unfold. Something like this:
City Council member Rick Jennings will acknowledge the promise made in 1975 to build the levee parkway. He will offer excuses for the half-century delay and explain the need to respect concerns of people who bought homes along the levee.
More than 300 strong, they knock on doors and talk about the trouble with Katie Valenzuela.
They describe Valenzuela’s support of squatters in a vacant Land Park home. They dissect her refusal to help clear homeless camps near Sutter Middle School.
They want Valenzuela gone from the City Council.
On Railroad Drive, a security guard blocks a public street with his patrol car. He moves when people ask nicely. Unless they want to build an illegal homeless camp.
At police headquarters, cops hear the words “use of force policy” and get confused. The policy changes often, a politicized moving target. Cops grow frustrated.
In Washington, business executives and city officials meet with local members of Congress and remind them about matters of community importance. One City Council member, Katie Valenzuela, skips the trip. She goes to Cuba and celebrates May Day with comrades.
