City, County and Neighborhood News

Dennis Newhall knows about sound. He’s worked for decades as a radio and internet broadcaster, disc jockey, producer and voice talent. He understands the power of sound, how it motivates and transforms people.

This past year, he learned something else. How sound, reduced to sheer noise, can drive a neighborhood nuts.

That’s an exaggeration. Newhall doesn’t believe weeks of pounding by equipment to strengthen the Sacramento River levee literally drove his Pocket neighbors crazy.

The past 12 years were a lousy time to have your kids educated by the Sacramento City Unified School District.

Staff morale plummeted, teachers went on strike, enrollment declined, insolvency beckoned. As for the job of educating young people, don’t ask. Sac City Unified flunked.

Last year, only 22 percent of Sac City Unified students met or exceeded state standards in English. As for math, it might as well be Greek. Just 5 percent of the city’s students met or beat state math standards.

Four decades ago, when property owners along the Sacramento River levee realized they could build fences to keep the public away, they had two big weapons.

First was political influence. They had friends at City Hall. Those friends wouldn’t squawk about fences and gates that blocked public access to Sacramento’s greatest natural resource.

And they had secrecy. They could quietly seek permits from the state flood board to build fences and gates across the levee. There were no town halls or public hearings where residents could object to fence permits.