With the arena deal off the table, the focus of the most recent District 4 candidate forum shifted to a variety of non-arena issues, including curbing urban sprawl and how to handle homelessness in the central city. Five of the seven candidates vying for Rob Fong’s District 4 City Council seat met at the Ethel Hart Senior Center in Midtown for Monday’s forum hosted by the Neighborhood Advisory Group. This was the third opportunity that candidates Phyllis Newton, Steve Hansen, Terry Schanz, Joe Yee and David Turturici have participated in since joining the race for the council seat. At the previous forums, discussion topics typically centered on the proposed entertainment and sports comp

Midtown residents asked Sacramento city staff for a solution to the lack of parking spaces available to renters and owners at Monday’s Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) meeting. They complained that business patrons are using their residential spaces. “As someone who lives down here and can’t park, I have concerns about residential parking,” said Karen Jacques, a member of the Midtown neighborhood association. “We’ve got to have some way (the potential solution) really keeps the business customers out of residential parking.” Greg Sandlund, associate planner for the Community Development Department told NAG members that his department is actively working toward a plan that will balance t

Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group members cautiously welcomed the new leader of the Midtown Business Association Monday evening at their monthly meeting and took the opportunity to express their frustrations with the organization. About 40 residents, business leaders and presenters attended the meeting – a high turnout, according to Bill Burgua, attendee. Elizabeth Studebaker, the new executive director of the Midtown Business Association, said her first focus is on trash removal, and that aggressive changes will be made. She also addressed concerns about the growing number of bars and restaurants in Midtown. “There’s a very strong perception that the neighborhood has been taken over

Neighborhood Advisory Group members expressed concern about the growing number of social services centers – and the type of people they attract – within the Alkali Flat, Mansion Flats and Boulevard Park neighborhoods at the NAG meeting Monday night. A new Goodwill drop center is planned for the corner of 16th and G streets and none of the speakers at the meeting were in favor of the new development. Members said that these drop centers are often neglected and become a hub for vagrants. Martha Domjanovic, a Midtown resident and representative for the Washington Park Neighborhood Association, shared her concerns at the meeting with the lack of knowledge she had of the proposed Goodwill dro

Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) isn’t going anywhere, just moving to a new location. The Hart Senior Center, where NAG has been meeting regularly, began charging an hourly fee of $50 to rent rooms after 5 p.m. which caused some NAG members to wonder if this would be their last meeting altogether. “NAG is not a city group, they enjoy their independence. They do, however, like the city to work with them,” said Derrick Lim, manager of the city’s Neighborhood Services Department and special events. “The items and agenda is all decided by NAG, they take their own positions.” Monday’s meeting was held at the Hart Senior Center, 915 27th St., and the Aug. 15 meeting will be held there, too,

After operating for nearly two decades, what may be the last meeting of the Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) will take place this Monday.   NAG started out as a meeting of concerned central city residents meeting in private homes.   Eventually a partnership with the city was formed through Neighborhood Services/Code Enforcement under Max Fernandes.   Neighborhood Services has continued to work with NAG publishing and distributing the NAG agenda that was created each month by the independent and volunteer NAG agenda committee.  Neighborhood Services also serves as a conduit between the agenda committed for city entities that wanted to present at NAG and city endities that the agenda commi

The Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) will meet this Monday 3/21/2011.  This month's meeting will focus on Second Saturday and Midtown Nightlife issues.  There are changes being made to Second Saturday as was reported by Suzanne Hurt on SacPress.  This is partially in response to the shooting death and injuries that occurred in the early morning hours of September 12, 2011.   This presentation is a followup to a meeting on September 25,2010 Second Saturday and Midtown Nightlife issue meetings tend to have a very high turnout.  If you want to sit up close, come early. The Agenda Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) March 2011 Agenda In Partnership with the City of Sacramento Neig

Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) November 2010 Agenda In Partnership with the City of Sacramento Neighborhood Services Division Monday, November 15, 2010, 6:15 to 8:30 p.m., Hart Senior Center, 915 27th Street Tonight’s facilitator: Gerald Celestine, Capitol Area R Street Association (caRsa) and Friends of Fremont Park 6:15 Complimentary pizza and soft drinks courtesy of Sacramento Deal Ticket 6:30 Welcome and Introductions 6:35 Area 1 Police Department Activity Report             Lt. Mike Bray, Police Department 6:45 East End Gateway Site 4  Tom Kigar, Development Director, Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA)  Learn about the three development proposals for the site

The agenda for September's meeting of the Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) follows. Lt. Mike Bray hopes to have some updates from the police department on the Second Saturday shootings. Food banks have become a survival resource in todays economic climate. Many city park swiming pools have closed or are slated for closing.  Some Area 1 neighborhoods have managed to keep their pools open. We will hear what their stragities were to achieve this.  Measure B is a controversial ballot measure that could have longterm consequences on how the city utilities department operates and the delivery of services to city residents. Each month's NAG agenda is put together by residents of the

 Some Midtown residents are concerned that Sacramento’s urban forest will get the ax from budget cuts. Midtown resident Karen Jacques raised the issue at Monday night’s Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting by filing a request for a response from the city of Sacramento on the possible laying off of Sacramento’s experienced tree maintenance staff. Jacques said she has heard that maintenance staff is at risk of being laid off, and she said she fears the loss that will represent to the upkeep of the numerous trees in the city. “This issue is at least grid-wide, and it may be Central City-wide,” Jacques said. “What I’m asking of urban forest staff is that they look at their budget prio

The city’s development department will face a culture change, according to Sacramento Interim City Manager Gus Vina. Employees at the Community Development Department will go through a re-training process, Vina told residents Monday at a Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting in Midtown. The development department has been immersed in controversies in recent months. Employees will be informed about the results of a third-party audit when it is complete, Vina said. An outside firm is examining claims that the department let developers sidestep fee payments to the city. “All the employees need to be very aware of the audit findings” and the culture for the department that the city wants, Vi

Should the Neighborhood Advisory Group change its name to avoid the acronym “NAG”? That’s one of the questions neighborhood activists raised at Monday’s NAG meeting. Sacramento neighborhood leaders are mulling possible changes to the functions of their community group, as well as engaging in a more light-hearted discussion of their name. But it’s not like the neighbors didn’t realize the humor in the acronym. Margaret Buss of the Boulevard Park Neighborhood Association explained the name to other neighborhood leaders at the NAG meeting, which was held at the Hart Senior Center in Midtown. The group’s acronym was “definitely tongue-in-cheek,” she said, while its full name was formal. “

Sacramento seniors facing economic hardship will have one less place to relax and meet friends. Catholic Charities of Sacramento, Inc., has closed down its Cathedral Neighborhood Senior Center downtown because of a funding shortage, said Beth White, associate director of the nonprofit organization. The center, which is located at 711 J St., had provided a social atmosphere for seniors since 1975, according to White. It shut down March 1. Elderly residents of single-resident-occupancy motels as well as homeless seniors would gather at the center, White said. They would watch television or enjoy a coffee, she said. For example, a group of seniors would come to the center in the morning b

On Monday night, the city’s budget crisis came close to altering the date and location of the monthly meeting of the Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG). The NAG meets in the evening, 6:15 – 8:30 p.m., on the third Monday of each month at the Ethel MacLeod Hart Center, a community center administered by the city’s Parks and Recreation Department. The attendees are representatives from neighborhood associations, businesses, and citizen-activists. They all assemble in the Center’s Redwood Room to hear city officials speak on issues relating to city policies and services, developers present building plans, and other issues of interest. Due to the city's budget crisis, the Neighborhood

Gerald Celestine knows Sacramento residents have a stake in how the city and county will spend federal stimulus dollars that are intended to counter homelessness. Celestine, an active member of Sacramento’s Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG), planned a discussion for the April 20 NAG meeting so residents can brainstorm how they want their local governments to use about $4.8 million in federal monies for homelessness. The pot of money will be distributed almost evenly between the county and city: The city is expected to receive $2.375 million, and the county expects $2.397 million. Sacramento neighbors would like to express “some of our hopes and desires for this money,” Celestine

  Monday evening, a group of business owners, politicians and concerned citizens gathered at the Hart Senior Center for the March meeting of the Sacramento Neighborhood Advisory Group. The Neighborhood Advisory Group is a monthly meeting for residents of Sacramento's Area 1 to discuss issues pertinent to residents and business owners in the area. It is a partnership between neighborhood leaders and the city's Neighborhood Services Department. Monday’s meeting began with a brief speech from Mayor Kevin Johnson, followed by a question-and-answer period. Light on specifics, Johnson's speech focused on the idea of Sacramento as a city of neighborhoods, Johnson's commitment to making Sacrame

Last Night's NAG proves to be informative and contentious. Last night's Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) meeting started off with a low key police report and not much news on issue updates. The general plan goes to City Council for review on March 3rd. There will be a session of the Preservation Roundtable on March 14th, The primary announcement was the merger of Marshall School Neighborhood Association and the adjoining New Era Park Neighborhood Association. A presentation by Doug Huston a Program Analyst with the Solid Waste Division on E-Waste removal was the first agenda item. The city has programs to collect batteries, cfls and other florescent lights that can not go into land fil

Each night, two dozen diesel trucks are loaded up with Sacramento's trash and sent on a journey to the Lockwood Landfill located in the Nevada desert. The trek is a whopping 282 miles round-trip, which is a huge expense for vehicles that only get five to seven miles per gallon. Wondering if there will ever be an alternative to dumping endless piles of waste in landfills? Recently, Sacramento has been debating whether to jump on the bandwagon. In August 2007, the idea was proposed to create a "waste-to-energy" facility. This got the gears moving, and in February 2008, Sacramento granted exclusive negotiation rights to U.S. Science and Technology. The technology is called Plasma Gasificat

NAG stands for Neighborhood Advisory Group and is a group of concerned citizens who meets to talk about their concerns with Neighborhood Services Area 1 of the City of Sacramento. Each night starts out with a police update. This week's update was presented by Lt. Mike Bray of the Sacramento Police Department. The top three issues brought up were: Several instances of cat burgluary in the downtown region Graffiti, "KKK" spray painted on several buildings downtown Copper theft   Charles Ortner then presented about police coverage of several entertainment venues in Midtown. The police coverage is being paid for by the businesses themselves at $68/hr per officer. The presence of these

If you haven't thought about the rising cost of housing, take a look at the foreclosure signs that are most likely scattered around your neighborhood. Especially for low-income families, housing is becoming a frustrating situation. What can be done? If you've never heard the term "Inclusionary Housing Ordinance," here is what you need to know. Governments are responding to the issue of rising housing costs by allocating a certain percentage of development for mixed-income neighborhoods. The idea is to create communities consisting of diverse incomes and backgrounds. These housing programs were first developed in the 1970's, and the hope is that they will make housing affordable to a grea