Eleven years ago, a cardiologist told me to walk. He said this while I was in bed at Mercy General Hospital counting staples in my chest that closed a surgical incision from a four-way heart bypass.
The doctor told me not to drive for three months. If I got into a crash and the airbag went off, about $250,000 worth of medical artistry would be wasted. Every day since, I’ve walked.
A favorite place to walk is the Sacramento River levee in Pocket and Greenhaven. I climb the levee at Garcia Bend Park or Zacharias Park. The river is beautiful.
Sometimes I walk to temporary gates installed by homeowners who live near the levee. I walk around the gates. Or step through them. Such gates are often open or wrecked. Gates can’t stop anyone who loves the river.
I’ve heard stories about people getting yelled at or worse for walking on the levee. In the “or worse” category are stories about people being soaked by motion-detection water sprinklers or chased by dogs.
A few years ago, I heard about a teenage boy who was assaulted by a homeowner along the levee. The homeowner wielded a pesticide spraying device. He screamed at the boy, chased him and called him a trespasser.
I spoke to the cops about this. A police lieutenant told me they knew of the incident but didn’t think it was serious enough to prosecute. He said it wasn’t clear if pesticides were sprayed on the boy. It wasn’t known if the device held pesticides.
I asked the lieutenant to think big picture. I said anyone who chases a kid with a pesticide device, loaded or not, deserves to be jailed or pressed into community service and anger management classes. And publicly humiliated.
The lieutenant said his people would keep an eye on things.
In all the years I’ve walked the levee—three decades—I’ve never been sprayed with pesticides or water or chased by dogs. Never been yelled at.
This makes me feel ignored, like I’ve missed out on a ripe, juicy conflict. For an old reporter, conflict is as irresistible as free beer and hot dogs.
I don’t know how I’ll respond if someone yells at me or sprays water or pesticide or sends dogs to chase me on the levee. But I bet I can describe whatever happens in 650 words.
My attraction to conflict helps explain why I’ve banged away on levee access in these pages for 13 years. Column after column. Month after month. Levee access and its accompanying conflicts are a crusade.
The grand, existential levee access conflict is an unbeatable story. A handful of homeowners blocked access to a beautiful public resource. Nobody fought back. A half-century passed.
Now I can’t stop banging away until the levee bike trail opens.
Here’s how it all started. Fifty-one years ago, the city promised to build a bike path on the Sacramento River levee.
A group of homeowners near the levee complained about privacy. City and state officials rolled over.
Authorities rubber-stamped requests to block the levee with private gates and fences. Squeaky wheels got greased.
The homeowners claimed they owned the levee. They got away with this nonsense thanks to City Hall connections and state officials asleep on the job.
Now the city is moving ahead with the bike path’s completion. Funds are in the bank. Loose ends of the nuisance kind—an environmental lawsuit, subterfuge about easements—are being handled by the city. State officials are on board. They just need the final paperwork.
Within the next year, fenced-off levee sections in Pocket will be paved and open. The city will work on opening a mile-long levee trail stretch in Little Pocket.
I’ll need to find another conflict. A peaceful walk on the levee should inspire something.
R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram: @insdesacramento.
