Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "neighborhood associations"

Opinion: Parking Paranoia in Midtown Sacramento

2012-05-25T00:42:19Z

I moved to Midtown Sacramento in January 2007 from Washington DC. My neighborhood is a wonderful place to live – there is a vibrancy and energy unlike any other place in the Sacramento area. Theaters, restaurants, churches, bars, stores, clubs, and galleries provide a great deal of cultural capital and are one of the main reasons I love where I live. However, there is something that I find comically annoying: complaints about parking. Are there times when finding parking in Midtown can be difficult? Yes. Is this one of the major problems facing our city? No.

A recently announced pilot program will create changes to street parking during Second Saturday in Midtown. The three-month trial will cover 16th Street to 29th Street and the south side of G Street to the south side of I Street. Without a residential permit, on-street parking will be limited to a maximum of two hours. This proposal has caused me to think a little more about my frustration when discussing parking in and around Midtown.

My frustration tends to fall within two groups: those from outside the downtown/Midtown area who are afraid of visiting an area without parking lots and residents who feel that outsiders visiting Midtown should be viewed with extreme suspicion because they are likely groups of hooligans with cars waiting to riot at a moment’s notice.

To those people who are afraid to visit Midtown because you feel there will be nowhere to park; I have the perfect solution – stay at home. Okay, not really, I want you to expand your horizons and support the people doing incredible work in my neighborhood. In that spirit, I offer a few suggestions. First of all, there is street parking. It might require you to park 3, 4, or (gasp!) 5 blocks away from your intended location, but you will be OK! Contrary to public opinion, you will not have to fight off dragons or rabid unicorns on your walk to your desired location. If the idea of parallel parking still makes you a little queasy, there are parking garages available as far up as 17th street. Finally, if you are in the mood of a bit of an adventure, you can always put on your fanny-pack and jump on the light rail.

Do you know what really makes my neighborhood email discussion group explode? Conversations about closed pools? Under-performing schools? A new arena? Nope. Parking. The conversation gets especially heated when there is news of a new business, especially those that might serve alcohol, opening in the neighborhood. The reactions range from lack-of-parking hysteria to a belief that thousands of drunk frat dudes will be coming into the neighborhood flipping over cars and setting homes on fire in an alcohol-fueled rage. New businesses, especially in this economy, are something we should be celebrating, not squashing. I understand and empathize with long-term residents who have seen their neighborhood change. However, with few exceptions, neighborhoods change and evolve.

Midtown is an active, urban area. It is not quiet suburbia. In fact, the desire to be close to those businesses is why your property values are significantly higher than in other areas. We should be celebrating the fact that too many people want to be where we live! Now, does that mean that it should be a free-for-all? Absolutely not. But there are working solutions to effectively handling problems of urban life. Instead of complaining, how about we take a second and enjoy the delicious dilemma of having a growing, thriving neighborhood in our capital city.

Disclosure: The author of this piece lives in Midtown Sacramento and parks his car on the street.

Plan to restrict Second Saturday street parking causes stir in Midtown

2012-05-24T04:01:17Z

A city plan to extend parking restrictions during Second Saturday has split opinion between Midtown residents who see the plan as a solution to some of their parking problems – and those who believe it will only create more.

The proposal is to create a pilot program that extends the hours of “residential only” permit parking areas from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. on Second Saturdays, which have been a boon for Midtown businesses but an annoyance for some residents who have to share limited parking spaces with visitors.

The pilot program wuold cover 16th Street to 29th Street, and the south side of G Street to the south side of I Street.

If the response seems positive, the city would initiate a three-month trial period with restrictions in effect only on Second Saturdays, according to Parking Services Manager Howard Chan. After that, Chan would discuss results with neighborhood groups before moving to put the plan in place permanently.

According to Midtown Business Association Executive Director Liz Studebaker, visitors to the restricted areas will be able to park without a problem for two hours, but would be cited by parking enforcement if they park for longer amounts of time.

The upside of the program for residents is that Second Saturday visitors won’t be able to take advantage of free parking on some residential streets, keeping rowdy late-night revelers away from residences.

“Partiers return to their cars after 12:30 a.m. or 1 a.m and they are drunk,” said Midtown resident Dale Kooyman. “Vandalism, broken bottles, trash and debris, people urinating against the house – those things are not unusual.”

In addition to the bad behavior of some Second Saturday visitors, Kooyman said the inconvenience homeowners face when they leave their house and return to find no street parking is another problem he’d like to see resolved with the pilot program.

There is a downside for residents, however. The extended time limits would force homeowners to provide visitor passes for their guests staying longer than two hours and the city may not be able to hand out as many passes as residents would like.

“I think this is a horrible idea,” said Midtown resident Rob Sperling. “It limits your ability of how you can use your home.”

Sperling said that neighborhood events with lots of people attending would make the lack of multiple passes a problem.

“Folks that come to the event would either have to park a long distance away or they couldn’t park across from their homes when they need to,” Sperling said.

The idea for the program started as a request from the City Council District 4 office in response to phone calls and emails from residents asking for help with problems related to Second Saturday parking and traffic, according to Chan.

“People are feeling it the most in the zones where we see a fusion of homes and nightlife – bars, restaurants and so forth,” Chan said. “As the downtown and Midtown becomes more vibrant, we get more calls from folks who feel the impact.”

Chan met with Studebaker and members of the MBA transportation committee for “brainstorming sessions” in March and April to define the idea before going to the residents to get input and more fully develop a plan.

The proposal, which is still in the early stages, took some members of nearby neighborhood associations by surprise, according to Marshall School/New Era Park Neighborhood Association Co-Chair Julie Murphy, who first discovered the plan mentioned in a recent MBA meeting agenda packet.

“To my knowledge, the plan had not been disclosed to any neighborhood associations,” Murphy said. “We wanted a chance to speak up and say, ‘Hey! We need more time to review this idea.’ ”

But Chan said Wednesday that residents will get that opportunity before a pilot program gets off the ground.

“I think some people may feel like they are being railroaded, but that is not what we want to do at all,” Chan said. “There was never a danger of this pilot moving forward without sufficient outreach to find out if it’s what people really want.”

Chan said he will be meeting with each of the neighborhood associations for the area that would be impacted by the program to get feedback.

Editor's note: As a Sacramento Press readers pointed out in the coversation below, there are parking garages in Midtown and downtown. The East End Parking Garage on 17th Street between Capitol & L, for example, charges a flat $2 rate for Second Saturday visitors. The Sacramento Press is working on a follow-up article about the garages and the city's efforts to better promote them.

Editor's note: Changes have been made to the article to reflect that the proposed pilot program is an idea that is in the early stages of being vetted.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for the Sacramento Press. Follow her on twitter @MelissaCorker.

Neighbors, YMCA work on bold plan to reopen Southside Park Pool, but will it work?

2012-05-16T00:34:05Z

Southside Park swimmers should know in the next week whether a bold new plan to reopen the Southside Park Pool succeeds – if it does, it will make for a cool summer for thousands of central city swimmers.

The plan hinges on a new partnership between the city of Sacramento and the Sacramento YMCA where the YMCA will operate the pool and provide staff and maintenance all year.

“If we can accomplish this, the Southside (Park) Pool will be open for business seven days a week,” City Councilman Rob Fong said. “It would be an amazing asset for the community again.”

The new plan includes swim lessons, an aquatics program and open swim times at the pool for families and kids who are out of school on summer break.

Denise Wunibald, a resident of Southside Park since 2001, said she used the Southside Park Pool regularly for lap swimming when it was open, and she misses those opportunities.

“It’s not just for me, though,” Wunibald said. “When I first heard about the pool closing, I started thinking about the neighborhood kids and how much they use the pool.”

Jay Lowden, executive director of the Sacramento YMCA, said the nonprofit organization will operate the pool, staff all programs and maintain the pool systems and water. Major mechanical issues will be cared for by the city.

Although it will be operated as an extension of the local YMCA, Lowden said pool-goers will not have to be members of the YMCA to use the pool.

The costs for the aquatics programs and swim lessons will not change from current YMCA pricing, Lowden said, but there will be an increase in open swim fees from $1 to $2 per person.

If Southside Park Pool reopens, it will be open for more hours, more days of the week and for a longer season than any other pool in the city, according to Southside Park Neighborhood Association member Catherine O’Brien.

“If necessity is the mother of invention, we’ve come to the point where this invention works,” Fong said. “I’ve taken the plan to our city manager, and I’m optimistic that we may be able to go forward.”

The idea was spearheaded by SPNA members when they realized their neighborhood pool wasn’t on the list of pools to be saved by the SaveMart grocery chain’s recent “Save Our Pools” campaign.

O’Brien said Friday that the Southside Park Pool has historically been the fourth most-used pool in the city, but it was left off the list of pools to be kept open because other pools across the city took priority.

The SaveMart campaign raised $1 million to keep six local pools open – the same ones that were open last year, O’Brien noted.

Despite serving more than 15,000 people when it was last open in 2010, Southside Park Pool wasn’t on that list.

O’Brien said she and some of her neighbors banded together as the SaveMart effort was getting under way and started working to get the Southside Park Pool open for this summer.

“We knew that the year before the city talked to the YMCA, and they were interested in partnering, but that discussion didn’t pan out,” O’Brien said.

According to Lowden, the timing of that discussion was too late in the season to be productive, and the idea was scrapped.

O’Brien contacted city Department of Parks and Recreation personnel and contacts at the YMCA in late March to start a new conversation about partnering with the nonprofit organization.

O’Brien, Lowden and Maddy Hoe, head of the aquatics program at the YMCA, worked with Jim Combs, head of the Department of Parks and Recreation, to structure a detailed plan and then presented their idea to Fong and other city officials.

“Our vision for the pool is to have vendors there, and to have umbrellas available for parents watching swim lessons, and possibly solar panels for heating the pool,” O’Brien said. “First, we need to get it reopened.”

Keeping the pool open for the summer will cost approximately $75,000, and the majority of that will be sustained by aquatics program and swim lesson fees.

There is a $25,000 gap in the proposed pool budget, however, and O’Brien and other neighborhood association members said they are working to find ways to close that gap before the plan gets scrapped again.

They are also calling on Fong, the current council representative for the Southside Park area, to work with City Manager John Shirey to find city funding to buoy the project.

Once program details are finalized, the following weeks would be spent hiring and training staff and lifeguards in time to open the pool at the beginning of June, Lowden said.

If the plan is approved, the Southside Park Pool, in Southside Park at Sixth and U streets, would be open at least four hours per day, seven days a week throughout the ~~year~~ summer, O’Brien said.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

NOTE: A correction was made to this article after it was published. The incorrect information has been struck out and replaced with the correct information.

Traffic-calming plan creates anxiety in Alkali Flat

2012-02-11T01:55:03Z

A recent attempt to plan traffic-calming measures in Alkali Flat created a firestorm among neighbors, leaving them anything but calm.

When neighborhoods experience traffic issues, they often turn to the city for relief through the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program – a program designed to get the neighbors involved in finding solutions to problems of speeding, traffic volume and other road- and vehicle-related issues.

The traffic-calming program for Alkali Flat began last March, according to the city website. That process included studies of traffic patterns in the area, a variety of public notices and a public meeting on a proposed plan for measures to ease traffic.

The final plan was vetted at a Dec. 6 public meeting, and shortly thereafter, ballots were sent to residents on whether to accept the plan.

Some of the traffic measures in the proposed plan included installing high-visibility crosswalks, pedestrian safety signs and directional signs to indicate “one way,” “no access” or curve warnings.

The plan also included changing the parking along F Street between 10th and 11th streets from parallel parking to angled back-in parking.

This style of parking sparked the resistance of residents along that block of F Street and neighbors on surrounding blocks, such as Laura Lough, an Alkali Flat resident for 12 years.

Lough made her concerns known about the unwanted new parking in an email to Jennifer Caldwell, a member of the Alkali Flat Traffic Calming Committee.

“When I hear the description ‘traffic calming,’ back-in angled parking does not come to mind,” Lough said in the email.

In an email response to Lough, Caldwell said having angled back-in parking would increase safety for pedestrians and cyclists, and increase the number of available parking spaces in the area.

But Lough and other neighbors disagree.

Steve Little, a resident on D Street, said he is “not a big fan” of back-in angled parking.

The difficulty of seeing the parking space striping as the driver is backing in, as well as the dangers of being “pinned in” between two larger vehicles that impair visibility as the driver is trying to pull out of the space were concerns Little expressed in a Feb. 7 email to Caldwell and others on the Traffic Calming Committee.

“I would recommend that you all come try to park on my block,” Little said in his email.

Little said he didn’t think angled back-in parking was of much importance when it was first approved for his block – until he tried to use it.

“I avoid (that parking) as much as possible now,” Little said.

Falcon Lee, a resident of nearby Mansion Flats, agreed with Little.

“Many are not happy because the angle backing in becomes a safety hazard,” Lee said Thursday. “It’s just a nightmare – anyone who wants to come to my block to find out, feel free, because (parking) is a bear.”

Lee said he thinks parking issues and traffic-calming issues in the neighborhood should be dealt with separately.

Debb Newton, the city program manager for the Alkali Flat project, said Friday that she was surprised to hear that the issue had become so controversial – especially so late in the game.

“We sent out about 460 'program kick-off' notices (last) March,” Newton said Friday, “and (another 460) in additional mailings after that.”

Notices and reminders about the traffic-calming process were sent out in March, June and November, Newton said, and additional notices outlining the final proposed plan and “look for your ballot soon” reminders were sent in January.

Newton said the city used the same address list for all mailings, so anyone who received a ballot would have also received the prior notices.

“We could have tweaked the ballot before it went out if we had known it was so controversial,” Newton said. “But we still don’t know if it’s a majority of people (complaining) or a handful of people.”

Caldwell said in an email Friday that she was also surprised by the backlash from the proposed plan.

“I have never heard of neighbor's concerns until the past week – after all the (Traffic Calming Committee) notices and the public meeting on this plan,” she said in the email.

Lough said her biggest complaint against the city is the ballot system used to gather consensus on the issue.

“It was a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response to a myriad of proposals which left us no room for variance, leaving us with an ‘all-or-nothing’ response,” Lough said.

“In my opinion, this is not a fair and equitable voting technique,” she added.

Newton said all of the ballots received by the Feb. 17 deadline will be carefully reviewed and, if the majority are not in favor of angled back-in parking on that street, it will be revisited.

“Not only do (residents) have a yes or no vote (on the ballot), they also have opportunity to make a comment,” Newton said. “If the vote is yes and the comment is ‘except for back-in parking,’ that will be considered.”

“It’s not our intent to force the issue,” Newton said. “We are trying to address comments that came up previously for more parking.”

Lough said Friday that she and her neighbors will continue to resist the angled parking portion of the traffic-calming plan.

“This will not go unnoticed,” Lough said.

Melissa Corker is a staff reporter with The Sacramento Press. Follow her on Twitter @MelissaCorker.

Neighborhood Services could shrink to 5 staff

2011-05-11T00:57:10Z

The city’s Neighborhood Services Division is on the chopping block again this year after it lost its status as a department in last year’s budget cuts.

In June, the City Council is expected to make major cuts to close out the city’s $39 million budget gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year.

The Neighborhood Services Division, which links neighborhoods to city issues and events and works with residents on local concerns, could lose two full-time employee positions to budget cuts. While two positions may seem like a low number, the division has only seven employees, according to Vincene Jones, Neighborhood Services manager.

In last year’s budget process, the Neighborhood Services Department became a division of the Parks and Recreation Department, two staffers were laid off and Jones’ title changed from department director to division manager. In recent years, Neighborhood Services’ staff has been cut from 16 employees to seven, Jones said.

Cuts to the division are recommended by Interim City Manager Bill Edgar and Interim Deputy City Manager Betty Masuoka.

“We support every neighborhood association that comes to us and doesn’t come to us,” Jones said. “We support every department, including mayor and council. It will be a decrease in our level of service, and that’s unfortunate.”

Jones declined to identify the employees who may be laid off. She said she thinks the position cuts will result in at least one layoff. Jones said she was unsure of how the second position cut will play out.

“It hurts, and it is the hard part,” Jones said, referring to the potential layoffs.

The city would save $140,556 by making cuts to the division, the text of the proposed budget states.

The cuts would scale back the division’s services “to the City Council, city departments and community organizations on a variety of projects, events, initiatives and collaborations,” according to the budget’s text.

Michael Moore, 52, a UC Davis Medical Center employee and member of the Boulevard Park Neighborhood Association, asked whether the division could be effective with a staff of five.

“As a recent graduate of the '11 City Management Academy sponsored by the Neighborhood Services Division, I'm extremely aware of the already-diminished services several years of increasing budget, and staffing cuts have caused citywide,” Moore said in an email Tuesday.

“Certainly the loss of two more (full-time positions) would only add to the reduced impact of this vital city department, and might bring into question whether the city can efficiently and pragmatically continue to provide the range of services Sacramentans have come to expect (if not demand) of our tax-supported municipal government. When does a department become so small as to be functionally useless?”

Read a list of the budget hearings here.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

DISTRICT 3 NEIGHBORHOOD & BUSINESS ASSOCIATION UPDATES

2011-03-03T22:01:46Z

Alkali & Mansion Flats Historic Neighborhood Association. Meetings are generally held on the Second Thursday of each month, 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club, 1117 G Street. For more details contact Luis Sumpter at luis@luissumpter.com
Ben Ali Neighborhood Association - Board Meetings are held the First Wednesday of each month at 6:30 p.m. at the Higher Learning Academy campus (formerly Ben Ali Children’s Center). For more information, contact Sondra Betancourt at 837-3339.
Boulevard Park Neighborhood Association (BPNA) - For BPNA updates, see www.boulevardparkna.org. For more information, contact Asha Jennings at ashajennings@gmail.com or call 803-7409.
Capitol R Street Association – Meetings held the Fourth Tuesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. at Hot Italian, 16th & Q Streets. For more information, contact Lynne Freeman at lfreeman@acis.com
East Sacramento Chamber of Commerce: Second Wednesday of each month at various locations, 12:00 noon to 1:30 p.m. Cost $15. For more information on the Chamber, call Lisa Schmidt at 457-2721 or visit http://www.eastsacchamber.org/
East Sacramento Improvement Association (ESIA) - Board Meetings are held the First Monday of the month at 7:00 p.m. at the East Sacramento Room in Clunie Community Center. Next General Membership Meeting: Wednesday, March 30th, 7:00 p.m. at David Lubin Elementary School, 3535 M Street. For more information, contact Paul Noble at Noblep5@comcast.net
East Sacramento Preservation, Inc. (ESP, Inc.) – Board meetings held the second Wednesday of each month from 7:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. in the East Sacramento Room, Clunie Community Center, 601 Alhambra Boulevard. For more information, email Will Green at contact@eastsacpreservation.org.
Hagginwood Community Association: Next meeting – Wednesday, April 6th, 6:00 p.m. at the Kinney Police Station, 3550 Marysville Blvd. For more information, contact Jody Adcock, dale.a2@att.net or 922-8700.
Marshall School New Era Park Neighborhood Association – For information on upcoming meetings or events, contact mhefling@H2consultinggroup or julieamurphy28@gmail.com
McKinley East Sacramento Neighborhood Association (MENA): Board meeting open to the public held the First Wednesday of each month, 7:00 p.m. at Shepard Garden and Arts Center in McKinley Park. Contact: Nancy Cornelius at nancycornelius@sbcglobal.net
Midtown Business Association - Board Meetings open to the public and generally held the Third Wednesday of each month, 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. at 1400 29th Street. For more information or confirm meeting date, call 442-1500.
Midtown Neighborhood Association – Board meeting held the second Wednesday of the month at 6:00 PM at the Chateau on Capitol Ave - 2701 Capitol in the first floor lounge/ lobby just inside the front door. MNA provides complimentary pizza and soda for attendees. For more information and for updates visit http://www.sacmidtown.org/

Schenirer to focus on neighborhoods

2010-12-18T01:56:16Z

New Sacramento City Councilman Jay Schenirer said he wants to improve Sacramento’s neighborhoods. He’s approaching neighborhood groups because he believes local activism is essential for change.

Schenirer, who represents 19 neighborhoods including Oak Park, Curtis Park and Brentwood, hosted a driving tour for The Sacramento Press on a rainy Friday.

Neighborhood involvement was a topic that came up frequently as he talked about the troubles, successes and quirks of District 5.

“People have been here a long time,” he said, as he drove around the Hollywood Park neighborhood. “They take a lot of pride. They have a good neighborhood association.”

As Schenirer drove through South Oak Park, it was apparent that public safety concerns were connected with the neighborhood. Homes were surrounded by chain link fences. Two tough-looking dogs guarded a house in the front yard of one home.

Schenirer pointed out large industrial locks on chain fences that blocked visitors from entering homes. “You can’t get to a house here,” he said, commenting on the locks.

“This, right here, for the district (is) the greatest need,” he said. “There’s no neighborhood leadership. There’s nothing going on here that’s positive.”

Schenirer said he wants the Oak Park Neighborhood Association to expand its efforts southward. “I think the Oak Park Neighborhood Association is doing some great things. If you go to one of their meetings – 50, 60, 70 people show up – it’s great. It’s mostly North Oak Park people.”

He also said he wants to work with Habitat for Humanity on housing needs in his district.

Oak Park’s neighbor, Curtis Park, has an entirely different atmosphere. Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson lives in the well-kept neighborhood, a few doors away from California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. Curtis Park is also home to Schenirer, KFBK 1530 radio host Kitty O’Neal and Mike McKeever, executive director of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments.

“An incredibly political neighborhood,” Schenirer said, referring to Curtis Park. “They go to war over tot-lots and street closures.”

Schenirer also drove through the tiny neighborhood of Fuller Town, which borders the east side of Sacramento Executive Airport. The neighborhood, which has only two streets, has a quirky feature – Schenirer pointed out airport hangars that are attached to homes. Some of the neighbors are pilots who own planes, Schenirer said. They can take to the sky from their backyards.

Schenirer said he plans to hold a meeting with neighborhood associations in his district on Jan. 27 in Oak Park. At the meeting, he intends to talk to the neighborhood groups about what they need from his City Council office. He said he views neighborhood pride in the context of public safety.

“It’s all about getting people to take pride in their neighborhoods,” he said.

“At the end of the day, we’re not going to be able to put a whole lot more cops on the street for a long time. We just don’t have the money. When you think about public safety, you have to think about neighborhoods really taking ownership,” he said.

View a map of District 5 here.

Photos of Schenirer by David Watts Barton, editor in chief of The Sacramento Press.

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.

City to Eliminate Design Commission

2009-02-12T17:55:35Z

This article was forwarded to me by Panama Bartholomy, a neighborhood activist. If you have a chance, come to City Hall tonight (915 I Street, New City Hall council chambers, 5:30 PM) and tell the Planning Commission that you don't want the city to shut its citizens out of the planning and design process.

-----

On Thursday the Sacramento Planning Commission will have a public hearing on a proposal (http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/meetings/commissions/planning/2008/documents/DOC_letter.PDF) by the Development Oversight Commission (DOC), a City-appointed group comprised almost entirely of real estate developers, architects, and business consultants, to eliminate the City's Design Review Commission and change the development approval process in the City so that City staff will make most planning and design decisions administratively, leaving no opportunity for public input.

The reasons you and members of your association should come to the hearing at City Hall on Thursday February 12th at 5:30pm to testify against this proposal:

1. This attempt to reduce citizen and citizen-commission input and oversight of development in our community has undergone no public vetting from community groups that will be affected by such a fundamental shift in our City's development.

The proposal was developed and sent directly to the Mayor with no input from the Planning or Design Review Commissions. More importantly, the proposed ordinance was not brought to any neighborhood association or other community-based organization that normally comments on development in their communities.

This is not the kind of transparency and open government practices that should be an essential part of such a fundamental change in our community's development approval process.

2. The proposal will greatly reduce opportunities for Community input

The proposal will eliminate the City's Design Review Commission and fold its responsibilities into the Planning Commission and shift “…the majority of decisions to the staff level..”. The movement of “…the majority of decisions to staff level…” will likely reduce community involvement from the development review process. Communities have a right to be able to comment on projects that will be built in their neighborhood.

Even after moving most decisions to the staff level, by eliminating the Design Review Commission the public loses one of the two opportunities they have left to comment on development projects proposed in their neighborhood. The recommendation would squeeze all public input on a project into one meeting where every issue with design or planning will have to be settled. This will almost certainly create the types of extremely long meetings that discourage public involvement and will force complex decisions that have long-term impacts on communities into unreasonably short decision-making time frames.

Reducing opportunities for citizens to be involved in projects in their neighborhoods decreases transparency, will cause more projects to be appealed to the City Council and will increase the likelihood of lawsuits to block projects. This will decrease the effectiveness of the development review process.

Please come to the Planning Commission hearing and comment on this item and let the City know that you think the public should have a role in development decisions in our City. Please distribute this email to other residents who would come to testify in support of preserving the role of the citizen in our city's development.

The recommendation can be found here: (http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/meetings/commissions/planning/2008/documents/DOC_letter.PDF) and the meeting is at the New City Hall, 915 I Street, 1st Floor- Council Chambers, February 12, 2009 at 5:30 P.M.

Lessons from the fire at 1319 H Street

2009-01-26T18:53:25Z

On Friday January 23, 2009 Deputy Chief Lloyd Ogan of the Sacramento Fire Department greeted neighborhood leaders from Downtown and Midtown on the front porch of the building at 1319 H Street. The property had been damaged in a December 30, 2009 fire. The group had been invited by the Fire Department and District 3 Councilmember Steve Cohn to tour the building, ask questions and see what could be learned from the fire. The idea for the tour came from Battalion Chief Niko King. Chief King had experienced a similar tour while attending an advanced firefighting school in the East.

What did we experience? We saw how much damage a building sustains in an extremely short time. The fire started in an upstairs unit kitchen, but damage was extensive throughout the whole building. Chief King estimated that this happened in six to seven minutes! As reported in earlier stories, there was a rapid and extensive response by the Fire Department. Even with this response there were signs of damage on adjacent buildings. It was very sad to see the damage to what had been the well preserved original features of this beautiful property. Fortunately there was no injuries or loss of life of the occupants or firefighters.

What did we learn? A rapid and extensive response is necessary to prevent injury and loss of life. Occupants of a building should be cleared out immediately on detection of a fire. Fortunately this fire was in the afternoon. If this fire had occurred at night with most occupants asleep the outcome could have been much different. Maintain smoke detectors in good working order! This can be a problem with tenant occupied properties. An extensive response from the Fire Department is necessary to prevent the spread to adjacent buildings. This is especially true in the crowed neighborhoods of Downtown and Midtown. At one time the Fire Department would send one engine company to a fire call. They would assess the fire and call in more help as needed. Three vacant lots a few blocks from this property from a house fire several years ago is testimony to the problem with this approach.

We also learned that it is important to maintain electrical wiring in good order, especially in older, historic buildings. That the number one cause of home fires is unattended cooking. This is very preventable. Number two is intentionally set fires. This is very scary in that it is much more difficult to prevent. Lastly we learned that a loss of property is a loss of income to the community.

The Sacramento Fire Department hopes that tours like this will help instill the need for residents to be prepared and vigilant and that a rapid and extensive response to fires is needed to prevent injuries, loss of life and property.