Feb 26, 2021
Midtown is a special place. Ask anyone who’s lived, visited or worked there. It’s a fun, funky, homey, bustling village. It’s got abundant history and a bright future. But ask a handful of long-time Sacramentans what that history is, or what the future looks like, and you’re likely to get several different answers.
Local historian William Burg can talk about colorful characters, crime and architecture. Brian Crall, founder of Sacramento Comedy Spot, has run a successful arts organization in the heart of Midtown for a decade. He can describe the joys and challenges of trying to succeed in the part of town that many outsiders treat as a “party house.”
Feb 26, 2021
It started with quiche.
The year was 2015 and Arden-Arcade resident Sarah Thompson suffered from post-partum depression after giving birth to her daughter. An avid cook, she was chopping and baking her sorrows out when she decided to see if her kitchen skills might help someone else.
She put out a call on Facebook, offering to make a quiche for anyone who needed “an extra measure of kindness.” A connection came from a woman recently diagnosed with cancer.
Feb 26, 2021
We humans tend to resist change, especially when we fear it may lower our property values.
For those fortunate enough to own a home in a state rapidly making it too expensive for our children to buy one, change is coming whether we like it or not. California’s economy cannot sustain itself with a residential real estate market off limits to whole generations. We have to think differently about housing.
Feb 26, 2021
For better or worse, the coronavirus inoculation process has been an opportunity for California’s county health departments to show their strengths and efficiencies. Unfortunately, it’s also been a time when counties may come up short.
With more COVID-19 vaccine doses becoming available, the California Department of Public Health placed individual counties in charge of their own vaccination rollouts. The state advised residents to look to their local county health departments for information. That put pressure on Sacramento County Public Health to ramp up to speed.
Jan 28, 2021
I grew up in a small Michigan town with a lovely Main Street. Local merchants owned the shops and cafes. My mom and dad were friendly with many of these small business owners. We knew their children and they knew us.
A large part of what attracted my husband and me to East Sacramento was the small-town attitude that supported local merchants. When we bought our vintage 1925 home in 1989, one of the first neighborhood shops we discovered was East Sac Hardware at 48th Street and Folsom Boulevard.
Jan 28, 2021
A unique alliance between the police chief and his boss is changing how Sacramento Police operate. For Chief Daniel Hahn and City Manager Howard Chan, the partnership is essential to systemic, progressive improvements in the city’s law enforcement.
Chan and Hahn say police reforms, which include reimagining the way officers are recruited and trained and respond to everything from gun violence to traffic stops, are made possible by the relationship. Reforms won’t succeed without it.
