A city program that serves 3,000 teens and young adults with disabilities that was slated for elimination due to budget cuts may be saved if the City Council approves the latest amended budget during its meeting on Tuesday. The original budget proposal included more than $350,000 in cuts to the Department of Parks and Recreation that would have eliminated three full-time positions and eliminated the Access Leisure program, which provides social and fitness programs, special events and outings for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. The amended budget restores $125,000 in city funding to the program. Additionally, Access Leisure collects approximately $25,000 from pro

Occupy Sacramento protesters and attorney Mark Merin are considering legal action against the city of Sacramento for violations of their First Amendment rights if arrests of protesters for ignoring the park curfew are not stopped. “It’s not a question of whether we will pursue legal action – that decision has been made,” Merin, a Sacramento civil rights attorney, said Thursday. “It’s just a matter of when.” There have been close to 100 arrests made since the Occupy Sacramento movement first appeared in Cesar Chavez Plaza Oct. 6, and protesters say all of those are in violation of First Amendment protections of speech and assembly. The nature of the Occupy movement, according to Merin, i

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of 9/11, local Life Scout Alexander Aprea will erect a sculpture memorial representing one one-hundredth the size of the Twin Towers including a steel piece from the wreckage. Alexander Aprea, 14, is a life scout from Boy Scout Troop 802 who is working toward achieving the Eagle Scout rank by organizing and building a sculpture representing the Twin Towers as a way to honor the victims and survivors of 9/11. “Eagle Scout is something that I have always wanted to obtain since I joined scouting, and this is kind of a way for me to really feel like the project that I am doing to earn my eagle scout is a worthy project,” Alexander said. Alexander explaine

The City of Sacramento Department of Parks and Recreation presented an oral report regarding their progress on community centers to the Parks and Recreation Commission. During the report, Parks and Recreation Director Jim Combs provided an overview of the proceedings for next Tuesday’s Council Meeting. The highlight of the meeting will be the report back on the budgets of the city’s parks, police, and fire departments. “We hear maybe 1000 to 1500 folks there attending this meeting just from the police department,” said Combs. “Then the fire department’s going to have a big crew. We know that the centers and all those communities; we’re going to have more people down there than we had las

Sacramento residents packed into a Sacramento City Hall meeting room Thursday night to protest proposed budget cuts to community centers and other local parks programs. About 45 citizens addressed the City Council, according to Mayor Kevin Johnson’s count. Citizens waited in lines for a seat in the the meeting room and to speak to the council. The hearing on the Parks and Recreation Department was part of a series of meetings on how the City Council can resolve a $39 million budget gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. Proposed budget cuts would slash hours at the Hart Senior Center in Midtown by half. Some of the speakers contrasted the proposed community center cuts with city leaders’ e

Addressing an estimated $35 million-$40 million budget gap for the 2011-2012 fiscal year, Interim City Manager Gus Vina hosted a special workshop on economic recovery for the City Council. He presented a variety of plans to bring in more revenue, including enhancing the city’s parks with tourist attractions, providing incentives to businesses and creating a mix of opportunities in the city’s job market. Vina urged City Council members to move quickly on the economic recovery plan so the city can begin to see results. “I don’t expect the benefits in 2012 and 2013 to be huge, but it will be a good beginning,” he said. He told council members that unemployment in 2011 is expected to remai

Two Sacramento Parks and Recreation Commission members urged the City Council on Tuesday to consider asking property owners to pay for the maintenance costs of city parks. The City Council decided it would weigh the issue next week because Councilman Darrell Fong wanted more information on the idea. Council members still heard the appeals of the Parks and Recreation Commission members at the meeting. Commissioner Cynthia Cooke said that if the public pays an assessment, general fund money for public safety and fire protection could be freed up. “We want to help you get parks operations and maintenance off the general fund,” Cooke said. Setting an assessment would involve several steps.

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

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

Fremont Park will become greener, but its upkeep will also be more difficult. That’s the trade-off that volunteers and local anti-pesticide activists are accepting in order to turn the Midtown park, at 16th and Q streets, into the city’s first pesticide-free park. City Councilman Rob Fong, the Pesticide-Free Sacramento group and the city’s Department of Parks and Recreation organized the new 2-year pilot program at Fremont Park to use green techniques, instead of pesticides, to destroy weeds. The organizers promoted the program at a press conference Tuesday. If the pesticide-free program is successful, the city hopes to expand it to other parks, Fong said. The Fremont Park program shows

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 in

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 figure