Feb 27, 2022
For years, people in Pocket, Little Pocket and Land Park asked me when the Big Fix—the massive repair job on the Sacramento River levees—would start. Now many of us can’t wait for the work to hurry up and finish.
Sorry, but it’s going to be awhile. This year will see major progress when Army Corps of Engineers contractors move forward with something called “Contract 3” levee repairs.
Levee upgrades under “Contract 3” will cost $40.9 million and ensnare much of Pocket and Greenhaven. Residents are getting accustomed to significant disruptions. Zacharias Park is closed for another year. Parts of Garcia Bend Park are fenced off again.
Feb 27, 2022
As a guy who enjoys change, I love the Sacramento City Council. This council is all about change.
Two members, Angelique Ashby and Jay Schenirer, are leaving this year because they want new challenges, the state Senate for Ashby, retirement for Schenirer. Jeff Harris doesn’t want to go, but he’s leaving because a reapportionment committee stole his council district out from under him.
Feb 27, 2022
As an old sportswriter whose tastes favor unfashionable games such as boxing, horseracing and indoor track meets, I was suspicious when I heard people talk about pickleball.
What’s that? I figured pickleball involved cucumbers and suburban backyard parties and lazy summer afternoons. A silly fad.
Then I began to get emails from pickleball devotees inviting me to play. The emails bubbled with enthusiasm and fellowship. The authors insisted I’d love their little game. I normally respond right away to emails. These I deleted.
Jan 28, 2022
Next time, let’s leave the politics to the professionals. Amateur interference just creates a mess. At least with pros, outcomes are transparently based on self-preservation, greed and vengeance.
The latest example of mud pies created by amateurs at City Hall involves the redesign of City Council districts. This exercise commences around the turn of every decade, in alignment with census upheavals.
Officially, the process is called “redistricting,” but that’s a word I’ve sworn never to write or speak. It’s deadly for anyone trying to hold an audience.
Jan 28, 2022
The most incredible thing about people who live along the Sacramento River is not that they think they can stop public access to the new levee parkway. Of course they think they can stop access. They blocked the parkway for almost 50 years.
The incredible part is how they plan to prevent future access. Desperate and isolated, having lost the political support they exploited for five decades, they are down to their final play. It’s a Hail Mary.
Jan 28, 2022
There are many reasons why the Kings are arguably the worst team in professional sports. Coaches always get blamed, but they’re just part of the problem.
Thirty men have coached the Kings since 1948. Only two can be considered heroic—Les Harrison, who founded the team and won its only championship, and Rick Adelman, the best skipper in the Sacramento era.
Other Kings coaches have floated between mediocre, pretty awful and just bad. Only a few fit the definition of totally horrible. But if a scientific connection between coaching and victory existed in the NBA, surely the Kings would have stumbled across it by now. They would have something better to show than seven decades of failure.
