Every time I see a homeless encampment, I feel disheartened. They are among the least healthy environments in our city, rife with crime, trash, unsanitary conditions, open drug use, discarded needles and despair.
Tent encampments are testaments to our failure as a community and society to deal with the scourge created by drug addiction, mental infirmity and the economic factors that compel people to live on the streets.
The name evokes innocence and generosity. Sacramento Children’s Fund Act of 2020. But the details quickly congeal into something more prosaic: money, about $12.5 million a year in city taxpayer dollars, destined for parts unknown.
In March, Sacramento voters may be asked to amend the City Charter and dedicate 2.5 percent of the general fund to a private revenue pool for youth-oriented nonprofit organizations.
Peacefully planted beyond the doors of the Capital Public Radio building at Sacramento State is an inviting space covered with vibrant, leafy green and yellow vegetables, blossoming apple trees and happily humming honeybee colonies.
The CapRadio Garden sprouted out of an idea from Craig McMurray, CapRadio director of foundation and corporate development, in 2014 to directly address some major environmental issues, such as water, land use, nutrition, conservation and wildlife.
