City Services

Costly water treatment plant upgrades ahead

2011-04-22T04:47:06Z

When the City Council approved $7.4 million for design work to upgrade the city’s two water treatment plants on Thursday night, it inched forward on a long-term and costly project to overhaul the plants.

Remodeling the city’s aging water treatment plants will take years of work, may cost about $150 million and could involve significant utilities fee hikes for property owners and businesses in Sacramento, according to an April 21 report by city staff.

But the City Council and city staff agree that the treatment plants are so old that the remodel of the plants will be necessary. One of the city’s plants, located on the Sacramento River, was built in the 1920s. The other plant was built in the 1960s and is located on the American River.

“I think we’re living on borrowed time,” Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said at Thursday night’s City Council meeting.

The council unanimously approved the $7.4 million, which comes from the city’s water fund and is not part of the general fund, according to Utilities Department Director Marty Hanneman.

City staffers said in their report to the City Council that the plants cannot remain as they are.

“Much of the existing infrastructure at the city’s water treatment plants has exceeded its service life and is at risk of failing,” the report said.

The City Council did not make any decisions Thursday on how to fund the $150 million in upgrades for the plant.

Right now, city staff is examining the idea of selling revenue bonds to pay for the projects. In that scenario, city ratepayers – property owners and businesses – would be charged an estimated 11 percent rate hike to help cover the city’s debt accrued from selling bonds, according to the city staff report.

If the council wants to set rate hikes, it could phase them out over a series of years, Hanneman said.

Hanneman said the 11 percent figure was an estimate that could change. The Utilities Department will present a funding strategy to the City Council in August, Hanneman said.

At that time, the City Council may discuss numbers that are significantly higher than $150 million, according to city staff. The department noted that it had additional upcoming infrastructure costs, such as the city’s need to replace pipes that are 100 years old, Jamille Moens, the department’s business services manager said.

Read the city staff report here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Cars on K project drives forward

2011-04-21T01:07:23Z

City staffers are moving forward on the project to bring cars to K Street, saying Wednesday that the street will see its final days as a pedestrian mall in the fall.

Nader Kamal, a senior projects manager for the city, said the street may be ready for cars by November. People will be able to drive between Eighth and 12th streets once the project is complete.

Cars have been barred from K Street since the 1960s, when the city turned it into a pedestrian mall.

“It seemed to be the trend at that time,” city Transportation Department spokeswoman Linda Tucker said, referring to pedestrian malls.

Thursday, the Law and Legislation Committee — composed of four City Council members – will examine updates to an ordinance on pedestrian malls. The ordinance updates, which would allow cars on K Street, are technical changes. The updates will need to be approved later by the full City Council. The City Council decided last year to dedicate $2.7 million to prepare K Street for cars.

Kamal said construction on K is scheduled to begin in July. The construction work will include installing a new traffic signal at 11th and K streets, changing the existing traffic signals on the street and putting in stripes for two-way lanes.

City officials and the downtown business community have said that cars on K will help attract customers to shops on that street.

The increased traffic from cars “will create just a little more visibility on K Street,” said Denise Malvetti, a senior project manager for the city.

Vehicles will also make people feel safer on K Street because the cars will bring activity to the street, she said.

But Sacramento resident Linda Moss, 63, had a different view of cars on that street. “It’s pollution,” she said, while walking from K Street to a bus stop Wednesday.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City wants 65th Street bike lanes

2011-03-15T00:35:46Z

New bike lanes could be added to 65th Street if the city receives enough cash from the state.

The City Council is expected to approve the application for funding to install bicycle lanes on 65th Street between Fourth Avenue and Folsom Boulevard. The issue will be reviewed at Tuesday night’s council meeting.

The city’s transportation department estimates the new bike lanes will cost $337,000 to install. California would pay most of the project’s costs if it selects the city’s application for the state’s Bicycle Transportation Account grant program. The city would pay 10 percent of the cost from revenues from Measure A, a local half-cent sales tax applied to street projects, according to Ed Cox, the city’s bike and pedestrian coordinator.

“The city is seeking to put bike lanes at this location because there are few opportunities to cross Highway 50,” Cox said in an e-mail Monday.

Bike lanes at the 65th Street site would link bicyclists to several key spots, he said.

“This location happens to connect existing student housing at Fourth Avenue to the (Sacramento) State campus,” Cox said. “It also connects East Sacramento residents to the new Target store, and it connects residents south of Highway 50 to the 65th Street light rail station.”

Tricia Hedahl, executive director of the Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates organization, spoke positively about the city’s plans. She said bike lanes on 65th Street would link with the T Street bikeway, allowing bicyclists more access to points such as Sacramento State.

“This is a really important connection,” Hedahl said.

At the same time, she said she is concerned about the high traffic on 65th Street. If the city moves forward on the project, it should ensure that bike lanes are 6 feet wide and “very visible,” she said.

The city could create the bike lanes by October 2012 if the state decides to fund the project, according to Cox.

Read the report by city staff on the bike lanes proposal here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Green waste debate to resume

2011-02-26T02:04:51Z

A city staff proposal to eventually stop loose-in-the-street green waste pickup and move to container pickup will not work for all city residents, Interim City Manager Gus Vina said in an interview Thursday.

In tree-laden areas such as Midtown, a container is not adequate to hold all of the fallen leaves, Vina said, explaining why he pulled the green waste issue from the City Council’s agenda on Tuesday.

“I want to make sure I’ve challenged staff enough on creativity and the solutions that are possible,” Vina said.

The plan that Vina delayed would have encouraged moving away from loose-in-the street pickup and raised rates for residents who continue that method of pickup. Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said the green waste issue will be on the City Council agenda again within a couple weeks.

The city uses two systems for green waste pickup because of a law that was passed in 1977. Measure A states that the city cannot compel residents to put their green waste in containers. Therefore, the city must continue to provide loose-in-the-street pickup.

The proposal that was pulled from the council agenda Tuesday asked the City Council to take steps to eventually overturn Measure A. This would allow the city to enforce containerized pickup as the sole method.

Voters would have to approve a counter-measure that would abolish Measure A.

City staff had planned to ask the council on Tuesday to consider draft language for a counter-measure “for use if the City Council determines at a subsequent time to call such a measure to the ballot,” the Feb. 22 staff report said.

But Vina said Thursday that changing the measure doesn’t solve the green waste problem for people living “in heavy areas where a container doesn’t do it.”

“Land Park and Midtown are good examples,” he said Friday. “Basically, we have lots of trees, and in older areas, the trees are big.”

The proposal also included major rate increases for people who choose loose-in-the-street pickup over containers as long as Measure A is still in effect. A resident who chooses loose-in-the-street pickup now pays a fee of $13.71 per month. One of the ideas suggested in the proposal would raise the rate to about $40 per month.

City staff explained in the proposal that the number of loose-in-the-street customers has declined over time – the 103,787 container customers far surpass the 12,121 loose-in-the-street customers. The number of loose-in-the-street customers no longer pay enough in fees to pay for the cost of the service, the report said.

“The current loose-in-the-street rate of $13.71 was sufficient to recover the full cost when 57,000 customers were putting their green waste in the street,” according to the report. “With only 12,121 loose-in-the-street customers remaining paying the same rate, there is now insufficient funding to cover the cost of the service.”

Because there are no longer enough customers to keep the rate at $13.71 per month, city staff say the rate should be raised.

Green waste pickup is a recurring point of contention between the Utilities Department, which favors containers, and some residents, who want to keep their loose-in-the-street pickup.

The department’s position, which is included in the staff report, is that the containers are cheaper and better for the environment than loose-in-the-street pickup. It takes two vehicles to do loose-in-the-street pickup, while only one is needed for containers, according to the department. Reducing the number of vehicles helps prevent pollution, the department points out.

Read the Feb. 22 green waste proposal that Vina withdrew from the council’s agenda here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Q&A with 311's Gina Knepp

2010-10-10T17:22:45Z

Gina Knepp has worked in high-stress city government jobs for more than two decades. But even though she spent nearly 20 years at the city’s 911 call center and now heads the 311 call center, her sense of humor remains intact.

Knepp, 48, is the division manager of 311. She reflects her humor in certain activities – designating a day to wear tin foil hats – and in her office décor, which includes a sign that reads: “Dumb should hurt.”

The 311 center, which handles a wide variety of queries about city services, has lost about 65 percent of its budget to cuts in the last couple years, she said.

Though her division is understaffed and 311’s budget is tight, Knepp conveyed great enthusiasm about her work in a sit-down interview with The Sacramento Press on Friday.

SP: What are some of the key differences between 911 calls and 311 calls?

GK: Oh gosh, they’re huge. Although, from the customer’s perspective, whether they’ve just been in a car accident or their water pipe broke, it’s an emergency to them. We speak to a lot of the same kind of excited people.

At 911, you’re in a hurry. And you need to get the immediate facts as quickly as you can to get an officer started, or a paramedic started. So, it’s quick. It’s in, it’s out. There’s not a lot of time to have social amenities with your caller ... The average 911 call doesn’t last more than 60 seconds. People don’t realize that.

Here, our average talk time is 2.5 minutes. And we have some customers that require five minutes of our time. Here, we’re given the opportunity to spend a little more time with the customer, which is kinda cool – which they don’t get to do at 911.

The multitasking and (the) quick, prompt decision-making is much more challenging at 911 than it is here. We do have a dispatch position, but typically, no one is dying. So the sense of urgency is different.

SP: Why spend more time with the 311 callers?

GK: Your average customer/constituent really only calls the city once a year. Most people only call 911 once in their lifetime. So, we know that we’re going to talk to every single customer at least once a year. That should be a good interaction.

Because it’s not just about the stray dog; we’re representing the city of Sacramento. And we get an opportunity to show that customer what the city is about. And my goal is always that it be very professional and friendly.

They’re the ones that decide our fate. They approve ballot measures. They vote our elected officials in and out. And we work for them. We are public servants. So I just think it’s really important to give them that little bit of time.

SP: What are some of the things you really like about 311? What are some of the things you really liked about 911?

GK: 911: It’s exciting. You get to know everybody’s business firsthand. Most people read about it in the paper. The dispatcher is actually present, at least in an audio fashion. When someone calls and says – “I just shot my wife” – you can’t get much closer to the scene than that.

You’re the first person in the chain of evidence ... (In) most domestic violence cases, the audio tape is played in the courtroom in prosecution. I mean, how cool is that? To be part of that? You’re the link between the victim, or the criminals, and the responders. It’s just an amazing job.

Despite the sad, tragic things that I heard when I was there, it’s an amazing feeling, I think, to know that you ... improved someone’s life or you saved someone’s life.

311 was like starting all over for me. It was a whole new profession with a whole new set of people. Because unfortunately, at the police department, you’re kind of sequestered. And your world really involves the police department. And you forget that there are other people and other things going on in the city of Sacramento.

So, it was kind of a like a rebirth coming out – and getting to know and understanding all the different departments and what they do and how everybody’s really interconnected. I love the fact that I get to have conversations with practically every division manager in the city, and know what’s happening in their respective units, because we touch it. I think the citizens are fun – but I’ve always liked talking to people on the phone, even the mad ones.

It’s challenging. It’s never the same. At 911, you had one topic. Here, we’ve got cats and dogs and potholes and Fairytale Town and broken water mains and shoes on phone lines and craziness. People call about the craziest things.

SP: Are there any (crazy calls) that you can share?

GK: This lady called because she wanted to know if you could get rabies from eating the tongue of a dead raccoon. Because her son and his little friends did. They actually ate the tongue — I don’t know why. But she was panicked, obviously. They were like 10 (or) 12 – little kids. Yeah, that’s a weird one.

SP: Can you get rabies that way?

GK: Well, you have to test it for rabies...but most likely, you could, yes.

SP: What are some of the most common 311 calls that you receive?

GK: The No. 1 thing has to do with solid waste. And the No. 2 issue in the city of Sacramento, across all districts, is animal control. Primarily strays.

SP: You used to work for 911 and now you work for 311. What is it like to be the ultimate “go-to” person?

GK: Sometimes I feel like (the advice columnist) Ann Landers. I do. People will come to me with the wildest things that they haven’t been able to figure out, even in other departments ... I like it. For whatever reason, I kind of get stoked figuring things out. Being the one who can put the last puzzle piece together to solve something. It makes my job interesting. And everybody wants to be wanted, right? So, it’s cool.

Photos of Knepp by Brandon Darnell.

Photo: Knepp's office is short on space but big on zaniness.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Law prompts change to city program

2010-10-08T01:31:41Z

The city is changing the way it manages illegally dumped garbage after the city attorney’s office found that the city’s old program might have broken state law.

The City Council agreed on Tuesday to make the city’s code division responsible for the city’s illegal dumping program, meaning the Utilities Department will no longer handle it.

City Attorney Eileen Teichert’s office found that the city’s funding system for the program may have violated Proposition 218. That state law says that utilities fees from ratepayers must correspond to the costs of delivering the utilities services.

“The city attorney’s office has determined that under Prop. 218, garbage rate revenues may not be used to fund the citywide collection and disposal of illegal dumping, because this does not constitute a ‘cost of service’ for garbage customers,” according to the report from city staff.

The report said the Utilities Department has operated the illegal dumping program with money from garbage collection rates since 2001.

City spokeswoman Amy Williams could not confirm that the city has been violating Prop. 218 since 2001.

“There is no definitive answer to this question because there are no reported judicial opinions considering whether Prop. 218 allows the collection and disposal of illegal dumping to be funded from garbage collection rates,” said Williams said.

“The city’s decision to stop this practice was based on legal advice from the city attorney’s office that garbage rate revenues should not be used to fund the citywide collection and disposal of illegal dumping, because this does not constitute a ‘cost of service’ for garbage collection customers,” Williams said.

The Sacramento County Grand Jury published an investigative report in January of this year on how the city used utilities funds.

Meanwhile, Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy said that illegal dumping is a major problem in her North Sacramento district. Illegally dumped items, such as mattresses, furniture and refrigerators, are a blight and public safety issue, she said.

Piles of illegally dumped waste expand, she said. “Pretty soon, you don’t just have a little pile, you have a huge pile.”

Recent budget cuts to the city’s code division have slowed services, such as inspections of damaged buildings and pickup of abandoned cars, according to the city’s website.

Photo by Anthony Bento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

311 call center to scale back service two days each month

2010-09-17T00:56:46Z

New budget cuts will cause the city’s popular 311 call service to shut down for all requests except emergencies for two Fridays per month, according to city officials.

The budget cuts result from the new contract for union employees represented by Stationary Engineers Local 39. As part of the union’s deal with the city, each member of Local 39 must take 88 hours of furlough time in the 2010/2011 fiscal year, and 96 furlough hours in the following fiscal year. Some of the union’s members work for 311, and they will be on furlough the two Fridays each month, according to city spokeswoman Amy Williams.

The call center’s new schedule with furloughs starts Sept. 17.

“We are unfortunately asking our constituents to be patient with us,” said Gina Knepp, division manager of 311.

Tens of thousands of people use the service to find information about city services, according to Knepp. The center receives an average of 1,500 phone calls each weekday, she said.

On average, 300-400 phone calls come in on Saturdays, Knepp said, adding that the call volume on Sundays is slightly lower than the volume on Saturdays.

This means that 311 receives an average of 30,000-35,000 phone calls per month, Knepp said.

In the last fiscal year, 311 received about 17,000 e-mailed requests, she added.

The call center will have employees on furlough Friday and Sept. 24. Starting in October, the center’s furloughs will be in effect on the second and fourth Fridays of every month.

“On those days, only limited staff will be on duty, and only emergency calls can be handled,” according to a Sept. 13 e-mail that General Services Director Reina Schwartz sent to the City Council.

In the city’s definition, 311 emergency calls could involve “injured animals, water, sewer or drain emergencies, roadway hazards and traffic signal malfunctions.”

In the past, the city received many compliments from citizens about 311, City Councilman Ray Tretheway said. But the call center is putting people on hold for longer periods of time as well as experiencing furloughs, he added.

The 311 cutbacks show “reality setting in of the severity of our budget cuts,” Tretheway said.

Southside Park resident Joy Korstjens said she uses 311 every couple months, adding that she’s more likely to use the 311@cityofsacramento.org e-mail service.

She said she is disappointed about the cuts to the 311 service, but also expressed sympathy for furloughed 311 employees. Korstjens, an employee at the state Department of Consumer Affairs, must take three furlough Fridays each month.

“As someone who is also furloughed, I feel bad for the employees,” Korstjens said.

The furloughs for 311 employees will affect their salaries, as well as add to their workloads when they return to work on Monday, she said.

Meanwhile, Knepp provided the text of the message that citizens will hear Friday if they call 311:

“Hello. You have reached Sacramento City 311. All calls may be recorded for quality monitoring purposes.

“It is Friday, Sept. 17th. The 311 Call Center will only be available for emergency calls today. Please stay on the line if you are reporting an emergency such as: injured animals, water, sewer or drain emergencies, roadway hazards and traffic signal malfunctions. An agent will assist you shortly.

“For all other inquiries, please call again tomorrow when we are open for full service.

“If your request is non-urgent and you prefer, you may e-mail us by writing to 311@cityofsacramento.org. Thank you, and we do apologize for any inconvenience.”

Read the Sept. 13 e-mail that city staff sent to the City Council here.

Here is a list of the dates that 311 will be closed for calls that do not involve emergencies:

Sept. 17
Sept. 24
Oct. 8
Oct. 22
Nov. 12
Nov. 26
Dec. 10
Dec. 24
Jan. 14
Jan. 28
Feb. 11
Feb. 25
March 11
March 25
April 8
April 22
May 13
May 20
June 10
June 17

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City's youth development office gutted by cuts

2010-08-22T17:24:00Z

The city’s youth development programs are diminishing after a slew of budget cuts.

The Office of Youth Development was one of many city programs that suffered from cuts when the city resolved a $43 million budget gap in June.

The office, which launched in 2007, was gutted. It is no longer an office — its programs are now part of the Parks and Recreation Department.

An Aug. 8 document on the city’s website said the Office of Youth Development is not looking for new funding. And the position of director and two neighborhood youth resource coordinator jobs were chopped, leaving only one remaining staffer from the office.

“It’s not going to be the proactive group that it was,” Lori Harder, administrative manager for the Parks and Recreation Department, said. “And we did eliminate nearly the entire office.”

The city maintained the position of youth resource analyst. “With this multitude of grants, there’s a significant amount of accounting and fiscal work,” Harder said, explaining why the city held onto the analyst job.

Lyn Corbett, the former director of the office, resigned from the City of Sacramento, Harder said.

The office’s purpose was to address a range of youth issues including gang violence, positive adult role models, education, essential needs and positive family life, according to the city’s website.

Harder repeatedly praised the office’s work.

“It’s not to say we don’t think youth are important, it’s just general fund reductions are so severe,” she said.

If the Parks and Recreation Department decides to apply for any new funding for youth development programs, it would not make the effort that the Office of Youth Development did, Harder said. That’s because Parks and Recreation does not have the capacity to reapply for youth development funds and maintain all of the youth services.

While future fundraising efforts for youth development programs at the city look dim, Parks and Recreation is continuing to administer those that already have grant money, Harder said.

But when the grant funding ends, the city will talk to the outside agencies and groups it works with and ask them if they would like to take over the programs, Harder said.

Vincene Jones, head of the neighborhood services division of Parks and Recreation, said the Youth Commission will continue under her division.

David Schenirer, the chair of the Youth Commission last year, expressed disappointment over the cuts to the office.

Schenirer, who is now a first-year student at American University, said he was sad about the cuts because the city had taken a “major step forward” with its prior work with the Office of Youth Development.

Photo of the Youth Commission courtesy of the city of Sacramento.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Residents bring concerns to Mayor Johnson

2010-08-20T02:46:38Z

Rashad Baadqir was at George Sim Community Center Thursday evening to learn how Mayor Kevin Johnson uses community input. He was one of many citizens who waited patiently to meet with Johnson during the mayor’s “office hours” monthly event.

Short meetings were packed into the three-hour event. By roughly 5 p.m., 56 meetings between the mayor and residents had been scheduled.

Baadqir, a resident in the Pocket neighborhood, said he attended the event to ask Johnson how he uses the input he receives from the public and if community concerns are being addressed.

He said he wanted to learn about the process for handling citizens’ concerns so he “can be more engaged on some of the things that are happening.”

Baadqir also said he wanted to talk to Johnson about education issues, including local school closures.

Kazuyo Morishita of Carmichael also waited patiently for her time slot with the mayor. She arrived at the event with a large bag filled with 1,000 origami cranes. Morishita is on the board of the Florin branch of the Japanese American Citizens League. She planned to give the cranes to Johnson and take a photo of him.

She said she hopes to show the photo of Johnson to the mayor of Hiroshima, if she can schedule a meeting with him when she travels to Japan next month.

Her group met with schoolchildren in the Sacramento area to teach them about international peace and leadership, she said. The local kids made more than 20,000 cranes during the past school year, she said.

The cranes will be distributed in Hiroshima, Laos and Bethlehem to give children “an opportunity to discuss about global peace,” she said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City asks nonprofits to manage community centers

2010-08-17T02:23:55Z

Three community centers will close Nov. 1 if nonprofit groups are not interested in managing them, said Parks and Recreation Department Director Jim Combs.

City officials are looking for groups to run the Southside Clubhouse at Southside Community Park, Robertson Community Center in North Sacramento, and Elmo Allen Slider Clubhouse near Power Inn Road.

Without help from nonprofits, these centers will shut down in November, according to Combs. However, the centers would be open for rentals, he said.

The city also wants a nonprofit to operate two rooms at George Sim Community Center on Logan Street.

Summer programs were held at Robertson and George Sim centers, among other locations. For example, a “Teen Unity” program was offered at Robertson Community Center from June to early August. Robertson also recently held a children’s summer camp.

Sylvia Fort, a division manager for the Parks and Recreation Department, said a city partnership with nonprofits to manage the centers would be “outstanding.”

A city document lists several tasks that the nonprofit must carry out to operate a community center. These tasks include janitorial work; opening, closing and securing the center; reporting graffiti and theft; and reporting illegal or suspicious conduct.

City staffers will host a Tuesday meeting on the topic of working with nonprofits to run the centers. The “pre-proposal” meeting will be held at 10 a.m. in the Historic City Hall, 915 I St. second floor hearing room.

In a formal document on the city’s website, the city asks nonprofits to apply to run the centers. Read the document here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Neighbors pitch in to maintain swim hours at pools

2010-07-15T05:51:35Z

For a second consecutive summer, Sacramento residents are dealing with limited hours at local swimming pools. But the situation could get a lot worse next summer, when the city is planning to close seven pools.

Community groups are already brainstorming ways to keep their neighborhood swimming pools open in 2011. To counter a $43 million budget gap in June, city leaders made numerous cuts to city departments and services, including the rollback of pool services next summer.

Pools also received cuts last year. Residents must work around the city’s tight schedules for recreational swimming. At many pools, recreational swimming is only available for only two hours at a time, Mitchell said.

But there is hope for the pools. They could remain open if the city receives adequate financial contributions, according to Dave Mitchell, operations manager for the Parks and Recreation Department. Even though the city has planned to close pools, “we have a year now to try to find additional funding,” Mitchell said.

But the costs to keep them open are steep. The city needs $85,000 per pool from outside donors to keep them open next summer. With seven pools scheduled for closure, that means the city needs a total of $595,000, according to Mitchell.

In addition to contributing to keep the pools open next year, some neighbors are working to maintain swimming hours.

The River Park Neighborhood Association intends to spend about $15,000 this year to maintain hours of swim time at Glenn Hall Pool, said association member Jeff Harris. The association has raised large sums for Glenn Hall, Harris said.

The seven pools scheduled to close next summer are Glenn Hall Pool on Sandburg Drive; Natomas High School Pool on Fong Ranch Road; Cabrillo Pool & Wading Pool on 65th Avenue; Mangan Pool on 34th Avenue; Southside Pool & Wading Pool on 6th and U streets; Oki Pool & Wading Pool on Wisseman Drive; Tahoe Pool and Training Pool on 59th Street.

The city will keep six pools open: Pannell Meadowview Recreational Pool and Wading Pool on Meadowview Road; Clunie Pool and Wading Pool on Alhambra Blvd; Doyle Pool and Wading Pool in Northgate Park; McClatchy Park Pool and Wading Pool on 35th Street; Sim Pool and Wading Pool on Logan Street; and Johnston Pool and Wading Pool on Eleanor Avenue.

Here is information about hours and services for some of the city’s pools:

Clunie Pool:
Recreational swimming: 2-4 p.m. Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday/ Friday, and 1-5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Glenn Hall:
Recreational swimming: 3-5 p.m. Monday/Wednesday/Friday and 1-5pm Sundays
No recreational swimming Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays.

Natomas High School Pool:
No recreational swimming. The following services are available as scheduled: swim lessons, swim team and Jr. Lifeguard Academy

Southside Park Pool:
Recreational swimming: 2-4 p.m. Monday/Tuesday/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday
No recreational swimming on Thursdays.

Tahoe Pool:
Recreational swimming: 2-4 p.m. Monday/Wednesday/Thursday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday
No recreational swimming on Tuesdays.

Source: City of Sacramento

HOW TO DONATE

Parks and Recreation Operations Manager Dave Mitchell can make arrangements to help neighborhood associations and other groups donate to city pools. To learn how to donate to local pools, contact Mitchell at dmitchell@cityofsacramento.org

The photos show the recreational swim hours at Clunie Pool and a wading pool at Southside Park.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City to shrink Neighborhood Services, other departments

2010-06-02T05:03:34Z

The city’s $43 million budget gap means that the city’s Neighborhood Services Department won’t be a distinct department much longer.

Neighborhood Services, which works with citizens on their concerns with the city government, will be moved into the Parks and Recreation Department to save money, according to a report from Interim Assistant City Manager Patti Bisharat.

The Office of Youth Development will also join Parks and Recreation.

Interim City Manager Gus Vina has scheduled the changes to be made in July, according to Bisharat’s report.

But Neighborhood Services Director Vincene Jones isn’t leaving the city government. Jones will be the manager of Neighborhood Services under the Parks and Recreation Department.

“I’m still going to be here,” Jones said after Tuesday night’s City Council meeting.

She said Neighborhood Services could possibly lose two positions as part of the consolidation with the Parks Department.

The level of service from Jones’ department “will have to slow down,” she said. When the department becomes a unit of Parks and Recreation, staffers may have to lower the number of neighborhood functions they attend, Jones said.

The city manager’s office is making major changes with several other departments, too. Bisharat’s report said the Human Resources Department will envelop the Labor Relations Department.

The Code Enforcement and Community Development Departments will be joined, and communications staffers at various departments will work together in a new Office of Communications.

Read Bisharat’s report here.

Photo of Vincene Jones by Kathleen Haley.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

K Street Mall ready for bicyclists

2010-04-15T04:40:47Z

From now on, Doug Koleada will be a law-abiding citizen when he rides his bicycle on the K Street Mall.

The city of Sacramento has installed new signs on K Street that list rules for bike riding. Cycling can now commence legally on the Mall from Seventh to 13th Streets and in the tunnel between Second and Fourth Streets.

Koleada was riding his bike near the Westfield Downtown Plaza Wednesday afternoon. He readily admitted to biking on K Street in the evenings; his nighttime rides will now be perfectly legal.

The Pyramid Alehouse Brewery employee said he knew about the city’s former ban on bicycling on K Street Mall, so he didn’t bike there when police officers were in sight.

Koleada also didn’t bike when children were walking on the Mall. “If some idiot’s speeding on their bike, it could lead to an ugly accident (with a child),” he said.

The new signs were ready for the public Wednesday, according to Linda Tucker, spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Transportation.

Tucker noted that cyclists will still need to walk their bikes through the Westfield Downtown Plaza.

The City Council unanimously voted on Nov. 24 to let bicyclists ride on K Street Mall. Installing the signage was the last step in the city's process of legalizing bikes on the Mall.

The speed limit for bicyclists on the K Street Mall is 10 miles per hour.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

How to ask the city for green waste bins

2010-01-06T03:48:20Z

Choosing bins for green waste instead of on-the-street pickup saves each eligible resident $3 per month. But if residents want to put their green waste into bins instead of on the street for pickup, it’s not guaranteed they’ll receive bins from the city. That’s because the city is using two separate green-waste pickup systems and bins are not currently available to all residents.

However, residents can use the following information to encourage the city to bring bins to their neighborhood.

How do I tell the city I want to use bins?

Call 311 to inform the city that you want to put your green waste in containers, Utilities Department spokeswoman Jessica Hess said. You can also make a request for city employees to come to your neighborhood association meeting and explain the bin system, according to Hess. Make your request for a neighborhood presentation by calling the Utilities Department at 916-808-4931.

Another way to express your preference for bins is to fill out this online form.

How much does it cost to use bins?

The bin program is cheaper than on-the-street pickup. This means your bill would go down if you use bins. Bin pickup costs $9.37 monthly, while on-the-street pickup is $12.41 per month. Learn more about the differences in the costs here.

Why are bins not available to all residents?

The city must provide on-the-street pickup because Sacramento voters banned bins in 1977. Because residents passed an ordinance that said the city couldn’t set rules for bin use, the city’s bin program is voluntary, according to the Utilities Department.

A Nov. 24 Utilities Department report notes that about 85,000 people in the city have chosen to use bins.

Certain criteria is used by the city to decide if a neighborhood should be part of the bin pickup system, according to Hess. When making the decision to offer the service, the city considers the number of houses on a block that are interested in the program, she said. The city also examines the neighborhood’s proximity to an existing route that uses the bin system, she said.

The interest of neighborhood leaders and members of the City Council are among other factors that impact the city’s decision, according to Hess.

Councilman Steve Cohn and a staffer for Councilman Rob Fong recently said they support the idea of giving all residents the choice to use bins instead of on-the-street pickup.

This Jan. 4 story explains how to opt-out of the bin system if you want to maintain on-the-street pickup.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

How to opt-out of green waste bin system

2010-01-05T05:30:44Z

When the Utilities Department recently explored changes to Sacramento’s green waste pickup system, some residents expressed intense opposition to scrapping on-the-street pickup. They said they prefer that method to the use of bins.

The city's current methods of green waste pickup are on-the-street pickup and a voluntary bin system. Councilman Steve Cohn and a staffer for Councilman Rob Fong said recently that they support giving all residents the choice of bins over on-the-street pickup.

Residents can continue on-the-street pickup and the following information will help.

How to opt-out

A city employee may leave a green waste bin at your house if your neighborhood has been selected for bin pickup. To keep on-the-street pickup, you need to opt-out of the bin system.

You can opt-out by calling 311, Utilities Department spokeswoman Jessica Hess said, and telling the operator that you don't want the bin.

What will it cost me?

Hess pointed out that if you opt-out of the bin program, green waste pickup will cost more. The city now charges $9.37 for bin pickup, and $12.41 for on-the-street pickup monthly.

The difference in price is because when city workers gather lawn waste piles from the street, they use two vehicles — the “claw” and a loading vehicle.

By contrast, the city uses one vehicle to pick up bins.

In addition, the loading vehicle used for on-the-street pickup system fills up more quickly than the loading vehicle for the bin system, Hess said. This means that on-the-street pickup vehicles make more trips, adding cost.

Utilities Director Marty Hanneman said last week that city staffers do not know the current costs of the on-the-street system. A growing number of people are choosing bins, which is hiking on-the-street pickup costs, he said.

For now, the $12.41 monthly for on-the-street pickup will remain in force.

What are these city employees talking about?

The Utilities Department uses specific terms to refer to the city’s green waste system.

Officially, the city refers to on-the-street pickup as “loose-in-the-street collection.”

The city uses the phrase “containerized green waste collection” to refer to the system of using bins for green waste.

Coming Tuesday: A guide for residents who want the city to start bin service in their neighborhoods.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Green waste debate changes course

2009-12-29T04:49:27Z

The fiery public debate over possible changes to the city of Sacramento’s green waste pickup system has changed course.

The City Council was expected to decide in January whether to ask voters to use bins for their green waste. But it will not make a decision on the issue in the immediate future, according to Marty Hanneman, Utilities Department director.

The issue of scrapping the on-the-street pickup system has been “pushed back on the table, on the back burner,” he said.

For weeks, residents have been debating whether bins should be used instead of on-the-street green waste pickup. Recent reports from city staffers said a bin system would be cheaper and more environmentally responsible.

Residents who object to bins say they are impractical because the trees create too much lawn waste.

Lisa Nava, district director for Councilman Rob Fong, addressed the issue in a Dec. 22 e-mail to Paul Trudeau, president of the Southside Park Neighborhood Association. “There is no longer interest in bringing a ballot initiative to City Council to repeal Measure A (which would enable the Council to make containerized green waste mandatory),” Nava wrote.

“However, we have decided to provide the Voluntary Containerized Green Waste program city-wide. This seems like a good compromise at this time.”

City staff decided to postpone the green waste issue, Hanneman said, adding that he discussed the delay with City Manager Ray Kerridge. Councilman Robbie Waters, who asked staff to bring the idea to the City Council, accepts that the issue has been delayed, Hanneman said.

The current system is complex because the city uses two methods of green waste removal: an on-the-street pickup system and a voluntary bin system.

Workers remove piles of green waste from the street with the "claw" machine and a second vehicle.

However, residents in some sections of the city can choose bins instead of on-the-street pickup, according to a Nov. 24 Utilities Department report. About 85,000 residents have chosen bins, the report notes.

An opt-out system is in place for the bins now. After the city delivers bins to a neighborhood, residents must refuse them to maintain on-the-street pickup, Hanneman said.

Over the past several weeks, city staffers have worked on a plan to ask voters if they want to switch to a bin system and stop on-the-street pickup. City staffers had planned to bring the idea to the City Council. If councilmembers liked the idea, they would have had to ask voters to allow a bin system.

That’s because Sacramento voters passed an ordinance in 1977 saying the city could not establish the use of bins for green waste. A mandatory bin system can be set up only if voters overturn the 1977 ordinance, according to the report from the Utilities Department.

City staffers do not know the costs of the on-the-street pickup system, Hanneman said. That’s because a growing number of people are choosing bins, which hikes the price of on-the-street pickup, he said.

Nor have staffers decided how multifamily complexes would be incorporated into a bin system, Hanneman added.

“We have some issues we have to resolve.”

Photo by Geoff Samek.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Downtown neighbors seek quiet, protest loud trucks

2009-12-17T04:39:06Z

Several residents in the Alkali Flat and Mansion Flats neighborhoods downtown are tired of being awakened at odd hours.

They’re asking a local solid waste agency to tighten the rules for the operating hours of private garbage trucks.

About 20 people in the neighborhood want private trash haulers to start work later in the morning. The Sacramento Regional Solid Waste Authority, which oversees private waste haulers in both the city and county, allows trucks to travel through neighborhoods starting at 6 a.m.

Alkali Flat and Mansion Flats residents want to change the rules so that private waste trucks would not operate until “full daylight hours” or 7:30 a.m.

"[Noise from the trucks] wakes us up and also shakes our homes," said Jennifer Caldwell, who lives in the neighborhood.

Caldwell and her neighbors have written a letter to Sacramento County's Department of Waste Management and Recycling. “The 6 a.m. language is insufficient as the trucks are running when it is dark out (currently 6 a.m. and prior),” the letter states. “The objective is to make it clear that no trucks are to be in residential areas at night. Routes should not begin until after dawn.”

The neighbors contend that private waste trucks are operating earlier than city waste vehicles. “City waste collection crews do not begin until 7:30 or so in our area,” according to the letter.

The neighborhood is also concerned about early-morning noise from leaf blowers. The city’s noise ordinance bans leaf blowers before 9 a.m. Monday to Saturday, and prior to 10 a.m. on Sunday.

Sacramento Code Enforcement Operations Manager Ron O’Connor said enforcement staffers will respond to complaints about leaf blower use “if there’s a pattern” of noise ordinance violations.

The city's 311 service handles all of the complaints that are sent to the Code Enforcement Department, O’Connor said.

To complain about leaf blowers and private garbage trucks operating before their scheduled times, call 311 by phone. Residents can also e-mail 311 at 311@cityofsacramento.org

Photo by David Watts Barton

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Residents use new online tool in green waste debate

2009-12-12T05:08:12Z

Several residents recently used the city website’s new “eComment” tool to weigh in on the issue of green waste pickup. The City Council is expected to consider in January whether to ask voters to use bins for green waste.

Sacramento voters decided in 1977 that the city could not establish the use of bins for green waste. If the city wants to enact bin use rules, it must ask voters to overturn the 1977 law, according to a Nov. 24 report from the Utilities Department.

More bin opponents are using the eComment tool than proponents. Only one of six recent comments is from a bin supporter. Here are three eComments on the green waste issue. Bakken and Goldberg's comments have been shortened for clarity.

Stephen Bakken, supporter
“I also initiated a verbal comment today stating that I favor green waste bins over loose green waste picked up by the ‘Claw.’ This new e-comment option was mentioned so I thought I would try this out. I recommend that the City Council develop ballot language to repeal the ordinance enacted by voters in 1977 that [prevents] the City from requiring a switch to green waste bin collection.”

Brandie Humphreys, opponent
“If we are forced on containers? It will make sense to cut down our tree. Leaves are the only yard waste we have. We want to keep the claw in downtown.”

Jeremy Goldberg, opponent
“We are opposed to moving from pile pick up to mandatory bins. Our neighborhood features several large trees in excess of 20 ft tall. During the Fall we will simply not have enough space in a bin to fit all of our leaves.”

Photo by Geoff Samek.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Plan to combine some city/county services advances

2009-12-09T05:41:38Z

The Sacramento City Council is open to the idea of consolidating some of the services offered by the city and county governments.

Councilmembers unanimously decided Tuesday that city staff should analyze the issue over the next 90 days, and then bring their findings to the City Council. The discussion about consolidating services is moving forward as both the city and county struggle with severe budget problems.

Councilman Rob Fong strongly supported the idea. If the city and county can have “virtually identical” regulatory processes for businesses, then organizations like the Sacramento Area Commerce & Trade Organization and the city and county’s economic development departments could market Sacramento as a “dynamic region,” he said.

Uniform processes at the city and county governments could also lead to better land-use planning decisions, Fong said. He acknowledged that his ideas may be too expansive for the 90-day period, but said he hoped staff’s analysis would move beyond everyday issues such as “who picks up the leaves.”

“We would do ourselves a disservice if we didn’t start to have those kinds of conversations,” Fong said.

Staffers will now select services that could potentially be combined, according to Assistant City Manager Gus Vina’s report to councilmembers.

Vina said Monday that combining services could save money in the long term for local governments. In addition, joining services could eliminate redundancies, Vina said. The city and county provide several similar services, he said, such as animal control and code enforcement.

City Finance Director Leyne Milstein said her office is not ready yet to provide an estimate for the city’s budget situation next year. Staffers still need to analyze third quarter sales tax information, she said. However, she estimated in May that the city would face a $30-million deficit in the 2010/11 fiscal year.

She acknowledged Monday that the city’s budget for next year could be troubling, saying that “nothing has changed” since her May estimate of a $30-million deficit.

The county’s budget crisis is severe: Its $180-million gap last spring was followed by a $76-million shortfall in the summer.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City, County to consider consolidating some services

2009-12-08T05:34:22Z

Sacramento’s city and county governments are considering consolidating some of their services to save money as they wrestle with tough budgets. The City Council and Board of Supervisors will discuss the idea at their public meetings Tuesday.

Combining services could help local governments save money in the long term, said Gus Vina, assistant city manager. It also could cut redundancies, Vina said, noting that the city and county offer several similar services. For example, the county and city both provide animal control and code enforcement services, he said.

The city and county have not yet selected which services to combine. At this point, city and county officials are asking elected representatives if there is a “thumbs-up” for staff to pursue the idea, Vina said.

If the City Council supports it, city staff would choose services that could be combined, according to a report Vina is presenting to the City Council on Tuesday. Staffers would analyze the issue over the next 90 days, and then bring their findings to the City Council, the report notes.

“We’ll evaluate services on both sides: what’s the benefit, what’s the downside,” Vina said. “We’re looking for things that are not that difficult to do.”

City Finance Director Leyne Milstein said that city staffers are not ready to provide numbers for next year’s financial picture. They still need to analyze third-quarter sales tax information. Milstein estimated in May that the city would face a $30 million deficit in the 2010/2011 fiscal year.

While she did not release specific figures Monday, she acknowledged that the picture could continue to be grim.

“Nothing has changed for the better since that estimate was out there,” Milstein said.

The county has faced a wrenching budget crisis over the past several months. Its $180 million gap last spring was followed by a $76 million shortfall in the summer.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

To Bin or Not to Bin: The story of Sacramento's green waste battles

2009-11-29T17:41:23Z

The debate over the Sacramento Utilities Department's desire to use bins for green waste pickup has a familiar ring.

This isn’t the first time green waste has been a hot topic in Sacramento. Green waste disposal was controversial as far back as 1977, when a fierce fight took place between those who wanted bins and those who sought to maintain on-the-street pickup.

Utilities Department Director Marty Hanneman said that staff plan to bring the issue to the City Council on Jan. 21 or Jan. 28. Supporters of the bins argue that their method is cost-effective, while bin opponents say on-the-street pickup is the most convenient system.

The department's position is that bins would be a cheaper and more environmentally friendly method of green waste pickup, according to a Nov. 24 department report. Residents now pay $12.35 per month for on-the-street pickup, while bins would cost $9.37, Hanneman said.

Councilman Robbie Waters also favors bins, Hanneman noted. Waters, whose district includes the Pocket neighborhood, asked the Utilities Department to bring the issue to the City Council, Hanneman said.

If the City Council decides in January that it wants to exchange on-the-street pickup for a bin system, the issue will have to go on a ballot. And there's a historical reason for that.

Voters approved an ordinance in 1977 to ban the city from establishing the use of bins for pickup. When residents put their opposition to bins into law, they made it difficult for the city to change the rules.

Measure A, the 1977 ordinance, includes language requiring a majority of Sacramento voters to overturn or change the law.

A group called Citizens for City Service championed Measure A. The group argued that it is easier for citizens to manage their green waste if the city picks up leaf piles on the street rather than in bins. They also said that a $2 monthly service fee for green waste pickup was affordable.

In the text of a proposal for Measure A, Bolton Phillips of the Citizens for City Service characterized the opposing camp as being made up of residents and certain city councilmembers and staffers.

"[The opponents of Measure A] want us to put all those tons of yard and garden refuse in non-biodegradable plastic bags and other containers before collection," Phillips wrote in the proposal. “They say this will save us money. This is not true. Without the service fee and workers, we will buy expensive plastic bags each week, then spend our valuable time and energy filling them.”

Joseph Coomes, Jr., president of the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce in 1977, countered Phillips’ points in the text of the proposal for the measure. He objected to Phillips’ argument that residents would have to buy plastic bags.

“THIS IS NOT THE CASE!,” he wrote, using capital letters. “Any box, can or even paper bag of proper size and weight is acceptable. It can easily be drafted into law that plastic bags cannot be used!”

Opponents argued that a bin system would generate savings in taxes of more than $1 million per year.

The proposal notes that opponents of Measure A included Sacramento’s mayor at the time, Philip Isenberg, as well as representatives from the County Taxpayer’s League, Inc. of Sacramento County and the Sacramento Central Labor Council/AFL-CIO.

In 1988, there was an attempt to overturn Measure A through the ballot. But that effort, which was called Measure F, was unsuccessful, according to the Utilities Department's report.

Read the text of the 1977 proposal for Measure A here.

What's going on now with green waste?

Today, in many Sacramento neighborhoods, workers remove piles of green waste from the street with the "claw" machine and a second vehicle.

However, residents in some sections of the city can choose bins instead of on-the-street pickup, according to the Utilities Department's report. About 85,000 residents have chosen to use bins, the report notes.

Bins are now set up through an opt-out system. The city gives bins to certain neighborhoods, and residents must refuse them to maintain an on-the-street pickup method, according to Hanneman. “If you don’t want it, you’ve got to let us know you don’t want it,” Hanneman said.

This means that both systems — bins and on-the-street pickup — are used.

The department, which has twice postponed a presentation to the City Council this month, is calculating the costs of the bin and on-the-street pickup systems, according to Hanneman. Thousands of residents recently joined the bin system, which means that the department needs to update its figures for the City Council, he said.

The changing numbers still show that bins would be cheaper, Hanneman said. “It’s definitely more expensive to do loose-in-the-street than containerized,” he said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City Council to decide on green waste bins

2009-11-24T06:10:37Z

The Sacramento City Council will decide Tuesday night whether to ask voters to use bins for their green waste.

In a 1977 initiative, Sacramento voters said the city could not establish the use of bins for residents’ green waste. If the city wants to enact bin use rules, it must ask voters to overturn the 1977 law, according to a new report from the Utilities Department.

However, residents in some areas of the city can choose bins instead of on-the-street pickup, according to the department. About 85,000 residents have chosen to use bins, the report notes.

The City Council meeting will be at City Hall, 915 I St., at 6 p.m.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Decision on green waste bins expected Nov. 17

2009-11-10T05:13:45Z

The Sacramento Utilities Department has delayed for one week its presentation to the City Council on potential changes to green-waste pickup. At its Nov. 17 meeting, the council will decide whether to put a measure before voters to establish the use of bins for green waste.

Bin use would mark a change from the city’s current system of removing piles of green waste from the street with the ‘claw’ and a second vehicle. The City Council was scheduled to consider the department’s proposal Tuesday but staffers are adding more information to their report, said Support Services Manager David Levine.

He said changes to the report will include new information on the cost to the city of placing the measure on an upcoming ballot. Levine noted that green-waste pickup in Sacramento is a “very personal issue to many people.”

If the council decides to seek changes to its current system, it will need to ask citizens through the ballot if they want bins. Sacramento residents banned bins in a 1977 initiative. Voters would need to reverse the 1977 law to allow the city to set up a bin system, according to the department’s report.

The city can't set rules for bins, but it does allow residents in some parts of the city to use them. Over the past five years, more than 70,000 citizens have chosen to use bins, the report states.

The Utilities Department is in favor of bins, calling a container system cheaper and more environmentally friendly than street pickup.

Levine said he had no information on why voters passed the 1977 ordinance.

The text of the 1977 ordinance is on Page 6 of the report.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Change is in the wind for your lawn piles

2009-11-07T04:19:31Z

The practice of dumping green waste on the street may become a thing of the past.

The City Council will discuss a proposal Tuesday to ask voters if they want to place their piles of leaves in bins instead of in the street. The people of Sacramento banned bins in 1977.

“On September 27, 1977, city of Sacramento voters passed Measure A, an initiative ordinance that prohibited the city from requiring containerized collection of yard and garden refuse (green waste),” according to a Utilities Department report that will be presented to the City Council Nov. 10.

The department is asking the City Council if it wants to sponsor an initiative to overturn the ban on the bins. A city ordinance establishing a green-waste pickup system that uses containers can be enacted only if voters reverse the 1977 law, the report states.

While the city is forbidden from making rules for bin pickup, many citizens over the past five years have chosen to use bins. “To date, over 70,000 customers receive containerized green waste collection on this basis and another 45,000 customers will be offered the service by the end of FY 2009 / 10,” the report states.

The city is supporting mandatory container use. Bin use is cheaper, the Utilities Department states. “One of the major benefits of containerized green waste collection is that it is less expensive than loose-in-the-street collection, due to the fact that loose-in-the-street collection requires the operation of two vehicles, the ‘claw’ and the collection vehicle,” according to the report.

“Containerized green-waste program participants are presently charged $9.37 per month for a single-family home, which is 24 percent cheaper than the rate to those with loose-in-the-street collection service.”

The Utilities Department also says the container system is more environmentally friendly than street pickup. While two vehicles are used to pick up green waste from the street, only one would be needed if bins were used, the department states. A bin system also would enable the city to compost clean green waste, according to the report.

Read the report from the Utilities Department here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City clerk's office goes techie

2009-11-05T04:37:43Z

The Sacramento city clerk’s office has gone digital.

In one of the presentations at the city’s first eExpo Wednesday, the office provided a sneak peek into its upcoming electronic agenda system.

The office estimates it will save about 50,000 reams of paper each year by creating its agendas to digital form, according to Assistant City Clerk Dawn Bullwinkel. She emphasized that the figure of 50,000 reams was a conservative estimate.

Bullwinkel told about 20 city staffers at the technology expo that the city will launch a new system to create paperless agendas by February or March. The city currently offers electronic agendas on its website, but the new Automated Agenda Workflow system will cut the amount of paper used in the process of creating agendas.

“We’re going to be so committed to getting rid of our paper, we are not going to be printing resolutions, ordinances or minutes,” Bullwinkel said. “They are going to be signed digitally.”

Bullwinkel also explained the office’s philosophy on the digital world.

“And one of the things that we talk about in the city clerk’s office is that we are no longer an administrative office or a clerical office, we’re really a technology office,” said Bullwinkel, noting that the office depends on technology to deliver information.

The eExpo also featured presentations from other information technology professionals including Chris Preston, an executive at the EMC Corporation and Barclay Blair of Forensics Consulting Solutions.

Citizens can receive free e-mail alerts from the city on numerous local issues.

The public can also follow the city of Sacramento on Twitter:

http://twitter.com/saccityclerk

http://twitter.com/SacPolice

http://twitter.com/SacFirePIO

http://twitter.com/KJ_MayorJohnson

http://twitter.com/SpareSacWater

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Code enforcement: The drama, grime and social work

2009-09-22T04:08:36Z

Syringes on the ground. People emerging from boarded-up homes that don’t have water or gas. Vacant homes with human feces on the floor.

You probably don’t associate the term “code enforcement” with drama, grime and social work. Yet, a day in the life of a Sacramento code enforcement officer makes for a gripping tale.

The Sacramento Press observed Supervising Code Enforcement officer Bill Hutcheon, Ron O'Connor, department operations manager, and other officers during a three-hour ride-along on Sept. 14. The first stop on the list was a filthy vacant lot at 38th Street and 7th Avenue in Oak Park. Hutcheon scoped out the site, pointing out a syringe on the ground and a makeshift sleeping area with pillows and a comforter.

He had examined the site a few days earlier in response to a complaint from a Sacramento police officer. In response to the mess at the vacant lot, the department will hire a city contractor to clean the site, he said. A temporary fence will also be installed and stay up for 30 days, he added.

The three property owners of the vacant lot have been in trouble with code enforcement before, according to Hutcheon. The code enforcement department will bill them for the costs of the cleaning and the fence, plus an extra 20 percent to pay for the city’s administrative costs.

From there, Hutcheon and O’Connor drove to the next stop, an Oak Park home full of garbage and personal belongings. The dumpster that was placed in front of the home was about 60 cubic yards, Hutcheon and O’Connor said. It was the third time a dumpster had been used to remove garbage from the home.

Hutcheon explained that the trash-filled house was a fire hazard and could attract rats. He said a similar process will be followed: The woman who owns the home will pay for a contractor to come to her house and clean the house. After that, a building inspector will verify the house is safe, he said, adding that he was trying to avoid assessing penalties on the woman. “The emphasis right now is obviously to help her,” Hutcheon said.

The homeowner, who walks with a cane, made the sign of the cross when she heard that one of the people in her house was a news reporter. She asked that her name not be used, but wanted to talk about Hutcheon’s efforts to help her clean out her house. “Because of his graciousness, it has been a pleasure,” the woman said. “And I think it’s going to save my life.”

She said most of the belongings that filled the house were left by a man who had lived there.

After the code officers left the woman’s home, there was more drama. The windows and door of the house at 3408 21st Ave. were boarded up. But the owner was allowing two people to live there. It’s a fire hazard for people to live in a boarded-up house, O’Connor explained, because there is no way for them to escape. The house did not have running water or heat.

“It’s moving day,” building inspector Richard Leiker said to his fellow code officers. As the officers walked the perimeter of the house, they encountered one of the men who was living there and told him to leave.

A nearby house with putrid conditions was next on the code officers’ schedule. The home at 3630 21st Ave. was vacant, but one or more people had knocked down a piece of the house’s wall to create a back entrance. Two code officers climbed through the small makeshift entrance and began to cough loudly. They were exploring an unsanitary living space; there was feces on a carpet, Hutcheon said.

The Code Enforcement Department has issued an order for the owner to repair or destroy the house. The owner owes the department about $12,000.

The city’s budget problems meant that two employees in the department were recently laid off, O’Connor said. The department also has 18 vacant positions because of budget cuts but still is getting its work done and addresses all dangerous situations, he said.

However, the loss of positions means workers can’t engage with the work as deeply as they could before. Staff now spends more time “putting out fires,” O'Connor said.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City opens bathrooms in local parks

2009-08-25T02:55:25Z

The city’s Parks and Recreation Department has heard the public and reversed a budget cut that was particularly aggravating to many residents: The department has reopened the bathrooms in city parks.

However, the reopening of the bathrooms means the city will have less time for other tasks such as mowing and trash pick-up, department spokesman Hindolo Brima said.

The bathrooms in most city parks were shuttered earlier this summer as part of the $8.3 million in budget cuts that the City Council approved for the department in June. But in response to complaints from residents, the department opened the bathrooms Friday.

Jim Combs, director of Parks and Recreation, told the City Council in an Aug. 20 memo that the department was reopening the bathrooms. “The community made it clear that their top priority for park maintenance services is the re-opening and daily availability of our restrooms even if it means further reductions or slowdown in other park maintenance services,” Combs wrote.

Trash picks-up, mowing, blowing, edging and “general park cleanliness” are the tasks that will take a lower priority than maintaining the bathrooms, according to Combs’ memo. “While further reductions in these areas are unfortunate, we feel re-opening the restrooms is the right thing to do,” Combs wrote.

Brima said that maintaining the bathrooms means there will be less time for the above maintenance tasks. But while less time will be available for those tasks, they’ll still be carried out, he said, noting, “It’s not going to mean that the grass is not mowed.”

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Sac parking rates and fines rise

2009-08-13T03:46:10Z

$49.50.

That’s the price of a parking ticket in Sacramento for parking in a permit-only area.

Tickets have gone up locally because of state fees on parking tickets, among other reasons, according to the city’s Department of Transportation. Tickets are also being distributed more often in certain parts of town because the city is ramping up enforcement hours in residential areas designated for permit-holders, according to department spokeswoman Linda Tucker.

Tucker explained that city parking tickets have increased because of state fees. The state fees add $9.50 to every parking ticket distributed in Sacramento.

“The city of Sacramento raised selected parking fines ... effective July 1, 2008, by a modest $5, first time in at least three years,” Tucker said. “But this year, we had to increase penalties by $9.50 to pass through the fees already collected by Sacramento County and the state for the court system. We do not keep any of this portion of the fee.”

“I know to the citizens it means more money, and it’s out of the pocket,” Tucker said.

I had a recent personal experience with the city’s nighttime parking enforcement. I don't consider myself much of a scofflaw. But last Friday night, I parked on Dolores Way in East Sacramento at 10 p.m. in an area with a sign that banned parking at any time except with a permit. I parked long enough to purchase and eat a frozen yogurt at Big Spoon on J Street.

I didn’t think anyone would be enforcing parking violations at 10 p.m. on a Friday night. I was wrong. When I returned to my car, I was greeted with a $49.50 ticket.

I might have been caught earlier — the city was previously enforcing parking violations from 6 a.m. to midnight — but my hefty ticket proves that the city is working late nights in residential areas.

Residents asked the city for the beefed-up enforcement, Tucker said. In response, the city is now enforcing parking violations in residential areas from 6 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

“We are helping by enforcing near bar areas, restaurant areas and near the hospitals to increase turnover,” she said.

The city has also stepped-up daily and monthly parking rates at some locations for various reasons. Tucker points out that the raised rates are in effect at the Sacramento Valley Station, as well as City Hall Garage and Lot X adjacent to Crocker Art Museum. “Of the total 15 city-owned garages and seven parking lots, we’ve raised rates at two, in addition to the depot lots,” she said.

The new Citizen Hotel changed things at the downtown parking garage nearby. “City Hall Garage’s monthly rate went from $155 to $185 in January as a result of supply and demand after the new Citizen Hotel opened,” Tucker said.

Daily rates at Lot X climbed to $10 from $8. The rate increase intends to “open up more lots for short-term parkers,” Tucker said.

At the Sacramento Valley Station, daily rates at the central lot have risen. “We estimated when we took over the parking lot in December 2006, that in three years we would be at the point where we would need to raise rates,” Tucker said. “When garages and lots get to a certain level of occupancy, we need to consider raising the rates to promote turnover. The daily rate at the main, most convenient lot at the depot needed to be raised to $9 from $6.50 effective Aug. 1.”

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Sac parks to benefit from new program

2009-07-24T03:57:53Z

The cash-starved Sacramento Parks and Recreation Department received a boost this week with the start of a new volunteer program. Participants in a county job training program will learn skills for employment while volunteering at local parks, according to city officials.

The city is collaborating with the county’s Community Work Experience Program to bring volunteers to city parks. Parks and Recreation needs volunteers because it faced $8.3 million in recent budget cuts. The county program is a local branch of the state’s California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids Program, known as CalWORKs.

The first group of volunteers is starting off at Parks and Recreation, but volunteers may also work at other city departments in the future, Mayor Kevin Johnson told reporters Tuesday. “And this allows us, again, to stay true to being a full-service city,” he said.

The parks services division of the Parks and Recreation Department has the capacity to accept 20-25 volunteers from the county program, Parks and Recreation spokesman Hindolo Brima said. Three volunteers will start working at the parks Monday and will carry out duties including litter pick-up, landscaping and mowing, he said. Volunteers will join work crews with staffers, Brima also noted.

Brima said that volunteers do not have the same level of expertise as staffers. “These volunteers are not going to be displacing regular employees,” he said.

While the volunteers from the county program will help the department, it still needs additional volunteers. Even before the budget cuts, the department needed volunteers, Brima said. “There’s always a need,” Brima noted.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

How to volunteer at city parks

2009-07-08T03:49:22Z

Sacramento residents are asking city staffers how they can help maintain services at local parks in the wake of the city council’s major cuts to the Parks and Recreation Department.

The city council’s $8.3 million in cuts to the department last month has spurred residents to offer their help. The department laid off 57 employees last week.

Dave Mitchell, operations manager for the Parks and Recreation Department, said the department is seeing an increase in the number of inquiries it receives about the Adopt-a-Park program. Sacramento residents are learning about the department through recent media coverage, he said. Residents are contacting the department and asking, “How do I become involved?”

Here is the answer to that question: Individuals can volunteer with the Parks and Recreation department’s Adopt-a-Park program. Interested residents should contact Julie Mier, the department’s volunteer program coordinator, at (916) 808-2285 or at jmier@cityofsacramento.org.

Neighborhood associations can contact managers at the department. Parks and Recreation Director Jim Combs can be reached at jcombs@cityofsacramento.org. Mitchell’s e-mail address is dmitchell@cityofsacramento.org.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

Residents seek ways to maintain parks services

2009-07-01T04:18:42Z

For residents who care about their local parks, the city’s budget cuts to parks maintenance could mean that volunteering may become a necessity instead of an occasional activity. A few neighborhood groups are now talking to city staffers about how they can volunteer to maintain parks, according to Parks and Recreation Director Jim Combs.

In one of its many budget cuts, the city slashed the parks department by $8.3 million for the 2009/2010 fiscal year. Pink slips were sent to 65 workers in the department; they are scheduled to be laid off Thursday. The total number of parks workers to be laid off this week was unclear, but acting city spokeswoman Wendy Klock-Johnson said the layoff figures are “moving numbers” at this point.

The handful of groups interested in maintaining parks to address budget cuts are a small number of volunteers amid the thousands of volunteers the department sees each year. About 11-to 12,000 volunteers give their time to the department each year, according to Combs.

The Sacramento United Soccer Club is interested in enhancing field maintenance at parks they use for soccer games, Combs said.

A group of senior residents in North Natomas is also contacting the city because they want to be in charge of upkeep at their local Willow Park, Combs noted.

Parks and Recreation has posted on its website information about how budget cuts will limit services at summer camps and community centers, on park maintenance, pools and park restrooms.

In a related development, Mayor Kevin Johnson is promoting Volunteer Sacramento, his volunteering program. The HandsOn Sacramento group and Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento) are working with Johnson on the program.

“It’s incredibly important to remind everyone that we have down times in terms of our economy, [and] you need everyday citizens to play a role and help out,” Johnson told reporters Tuesday.

He said he wants to see Sacramento lead all cities in the state on the number of volunteer hours from citizens.

Information on how to volunteer with Johnson’s program is available here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City's development department consolidated, renamed

2009-05-02T20:45:28Z

The city’s Development Services Department has a new name. It’s now known as the Community Development Department (CDD).

City records manager and acting spokeswoman Wendy Klock-Johnson explained that the new department brings together long-range planning staff and development services staff. The administrative change is an efficiency, she said.

The city’s 2009/2010 proposed budget includes a plan to move Planning Department employees. Under the plan, the Planning Department would move 26 full-time positions and $2.4 million to the new CDD “as part of the consolidation of planning services,” the budget states. Of the 26 positions, one is not funded and the remaining 25 are funded.

The new CDD includes the following services: planning, administration, customer service, building, infill and new growth.

Sacramento's City Council will address the proposed budget at its May 19 meeting.

Read more of Sacramento Press' budget coverage here.

City Management Academy may be cut

2009-04-29T05:32:51Z

The City Management Academy, which educates residents and business owners about city processes, may be cut to save the city money.

The money needs to be saved to balance Sacramento’s $50 million budget deficit.

“That is one of the things that may be on the chopping block for this department,” said Vincene Jones, Neighborhood Services Department Director. She noted that the program, which began in 1995, always drew 25-30 participants each year.

The program consists of a 10-week class in which residents and business owners learn about the city’s management approaches and visit various city facilities.

Jones said the academy “empowers our community.”

More than 280 residents and business owners in Sacramento have completed the program.

It costs the city to staff the program, which is free to participants, according to Jones.

Jones did not provide information on the estimated cost of the program by press time.

The program has won two awards, according to the department. In both 1997 and 1998, the program was included on the list of the “Top 100 Innovative Ideas in the USA,” which is conducted by the Ford Foundation and Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.

The Sacramento branch of the American Society for Public Administration in 1998 gave the program an Outstanding Innovations in Government Award, the department’s website noted.

You, your lawn piles and 311

2009-04-18T23:40:28Z

Branden Bradley knows so much about Sacramento city services that he gets on his mother’s nerves. That’s because he informs his mother -- and his friends – about city rules for things like the acceptable size of lawn and garden piles, and the breakdown of items that should go in trash cans and recycling bins.

When he explains a city rule to his mother, she’ll say she doesn’t care. He responds: “But you will when you see the fine.”

Bradley is a customer service representative for Sacramento’s 311 phone line, which acts as a clearinghouse for city services. Residents can ask 311 for assistance with any city service. Employees at the service receive nearly 8,000 calls per month, according to Bradley.

Residents can call 311 at any time on any day of the week – city representatives take calls 24 hours per day, including on Saturdays and Sundays.

The Scoop on Appointment-Based Cleanups

Bradley says people often call 311 and ask him about appointment-based neighborhood cleanups. People are often confused about the status of the program. Bradley wants to clarify to residents: Yes, the program is ongoing. In these cleanups, city employees take away residents’ “bulky items,” he explains.

The city continues to offer the appointment-based cleanups. One free cleanup per calendar year is available to residents, Bradley notes. Residents should call 311 to schedule an appointment for the service.

Items the city will accept include: portable DVD players, mattresses, carpet, toys, tires without rims, wood, appliances, furniture, televisions and computers.

The city won’t take the following items: liquid waste, universal waste, dirt, rocks, brick, concrete, tires with rims, garden refuse, household hazardous waste, junk vehicles, bullets and shells, steel pipes, auto parts, and commercial or contractor waste.

You can learn all you need to know about your lawn piles, and ask for any city service, by calling 311. You can also reach Bradley and other representatives by completing the e-mail form at the following website:
http://www.cityofsacramento.org/generalservices/311/email/