On January 7, 2012, Sacramento city staff held a public meeting about the newest proposal to change the city charter, the “Checks and Balances Act of 2012.” However, this public meeting was not announced to the general public—instead it was directed at a small group of neighborhood leaders. I found out about the meeting via the chair of the Midtown Neighborhood Association, who received an email on December 27: From: Raihane Dalvi Date: December 27, 2011 2:19:11 PM PST To: Raihane Dalvi Subject: Checks and Balances Act of 2012 Dear Neighborhood Leader, I'm writing to request your participation in an important discussion before the city of Sacramento. As you may know, a broad coaliti

The two opposing camps on the "strong mayor" initiative are remaining consistent in their views as they react to the Sacramento Charter Review Committee's draft recommendations.  The panel recommended Wednesday that the city maintain its existing City Council/city manager system of government rather than adopt a "strong mayor" system.  The initiative would expand the mayor's job to include the responsibilities of the city manager. The strong mayor initiative will go before voters in June 2010. Sacramentans for Accountable Government, the group that created the strong mayor initiative, opposes the 11-member committee’s draft recommendations. "Not surprisingly, the do-nothing Charter Commi