Aug 29, 2021
There’s something about living along the Sacramento River Parkway that makes a few people hate their neighbors. This is no exaggeration. Maybe it’s the arrogance that comes from living in a house that backs up to something timeless and beautiful. Maybe it’s the fog of exclusivity created by fences that blocked levee access and pushed neighbors away.
No matter the explanation, it’s tangible and unhealthy and dishonorable. Let’s examine this sorry situation and find a way to stop it.
Evidence of anti-social behavior by some levee-side tenants is plentiful. They install fake warning signs about trespassing. Over the summer, a resident on Benham Way rigged two sprinklers with motion detectors and embedded the contraptions on the levee. The goal was to blast water at neighbors who walked there.
Aug 29, 2021
Sacramento is preoccupied with whales. It’s an unhealthy obsession for a city without an ocean.
Ten years ago, Chris Lehane, adviser to Mayor Kevin Johnson, introduced the concept of whales to Sacramento. Lehane wasn’t speaking about waterborne mammals, which on rare occasions have detoured from migratory routes and toured the Sacramento River. He was talking about wealthy sports investors who swim in dollars—gamblers willing to bet on Sacramento.
Aug 29, 2021
The last Sacramento mayor who moved onto bigger and better things was Dr. Henry L. Nichols. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, that’s because Mayor Nichols served only one year. It was 1858.
Nine years after he left City Hall, Dr. Nichols became California secretary of state. He was on the job when the Capitol building was finished, and climbed to the top of the new dome and stuck the golden ball in place. It’s still there.
Jul 28, 2021
Sacramento is getting good at building bike paths. This news may surprise cynics who think the city’s recreational talents range between mediocre and none, but it’s true.
The proof is the Del Rio Trail project. Running nearly 5 miles between Sutterville Road and Bill Conlin Sports Complex on Freeport Boulevard, Del Rio shapes up as a positive jolt to the city’s quality of life. Cyclists and runners will love it.
The trail follows an abandoned Sacramento Southern Railroad route through some surprisingly lush suburban landscapes. In the fine railroad tradition, it passes along the backside of South Land Park neighborhoods and offers vistas impossible to see from city streets. Del Rio rediscovers a forgotten, hidden page of the community. It’s a treat for urban explorers.
Jul 28, 2021
A burst of optimism shot across the local sports scene this spring when the Oakland Athletics received a hunting license from Major League Baseball. The license means the A’s can “explore other markets,” team president Dave Kaval says.
First priority for Kaval is to build a $1 billion ballpark in Oakland near Jack London Square. Failing that, the A’s might follow their football cousins to Las Vegas. If Nevada taxpayers grow tired of financing temples for billionaire sports cartels, there’s always Portland, Nashville, Charlotte or Vancouver.
Jul 28, 2021
Summer brought an unwelcome spectacle to City Hall when an unknown who became somebody let an even bigger nobody crash her political career.
The first nobody is City Councilmember Katie Valenzuela, who rose from obscurity last year to bounce incumbent Steve Hansen into retirement. Valenzuela is a tireless campaigner who benefited from personality traits absent in Hansen—humility, sincerity and the willingness to listen and learn. Voters liked her passion for community issues. They also liked the fact that she wasn’t Steve Hansen.
