R.E. Graswich

Writer and Editorial Team

About This Author

R.E. Graswich is a journalist, author and media expert. His book “Vagrant Kings” is the definitive history of the Sacramento Kings basketball team. He was Special Assistant to Mayor Kevin Johnson, managed the Sacramento Voices program for the Maynard Institute of Journalism Education and worked for the Sacramento Bee, CBS 13 and KFBK.

Articles by this author

Bridge Out

There’s big trouble with the bike and railroad bridge that crosses Interstate 5 and Riverside Boulevard near Sutterville Road. Here’s how the city tried to hide the story.

Word spread this summer over concerns with concrete that holds the new bridge together. It’s hard to keep everyone quiet about potentially inferior concrete on a bridge above an interstate.

Call them desperate, duplicitous or naïve. But authorities at City Hall figured they could bury the facts and cover up the details.

City officials stonewalled my questions about the bridge, a high-profile structure that arches over the freeway and connects the new Del Rio Trail with the Sacramento River Parkway bike path.

Imposter Syndrome

Imposter Syndrome Steinberg’s curse was obvious: He replaced a sports star By R.E. Graswich...

Change Theory

Some business owners I know want Flojaune Cofer to win the mayor’s race. That’s crazy, I say, a vote against the city’s future.

Whatever qualities voters might attribute to Cofer, alignment with the business community is not among them.

As a neighborhood activist, Cofer made no secret of following a democratic socialist political agenda that treats businesspeople as a trope—greedy capitalists, agents of commerce who conspire against common folk.

About Time

A new public toilet in San Francisco made news with its first flush. The story wasn’t about plumbing. It was about adventures in bureaucracy.

Thanks to a bird’s nest of bids, permits, reviews and inspections, the toilet required two years and a budget of $1.7 million.

Authorities later said the price was closer to $200,000. But the point was made. Cities fumble simple, basic projects.
Sacramento has a simple, basic project that makes San Francisco look speedy—a bike path 108 years in the making.

Dogs Gone

A friend was telling me how much he enjoyed small, low-profile sporting events. He mentioned going to Sacramento State games. I know the feeling.

I prefer a summer night at the River Cats over the frenzied, obnoxious environments of NBA arenas and NFL stadiums. Sportswriters are supposed to get excited by big showdowns and great athletes.

They wore me out.