A Perspective: 2011 City Management Academy's Class #2: Mayor Johnson Presents with his Initiatives’ Pep Rally Squad The second session of the 2011 City Management Academy (CMA) 12-week classroom for neighborhood association and other community & business leaders began with a 4-minute, professionally-produced video presentation complete w/ pulsing background music and splashy visual edits which highlighted some of Mayor Johnson’s accomplishments while in office. As the video ended, Wednesday evening’s first speaker, the mayor (waiting in the wings -- poised in the doorway shadows of a 5th floor New City Hall conference room, standing very still & quiet, head bowed, anticipating the roo

Less than one month after launching the Sacramento Service Plan, Mayor Kevin Johnson was joined by pilot Captain Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger in kicking off “Sacramento Ready”, the plan’s public safety campaign aimed at engaging residents in emergency and disaster preparedness. “We saw what happened in New Orleans with (Hurricane) Katrina,” said Mayor Johnson to a capacity filled City Council Chamber. “In terms of a flood, Sacramento is the second most dangerous or at-risk community behind New Orleans.” The event belonged to Captain Sullenberger, the Air Force veteran pilot best known for landing US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River off Manhattan nearly two years ago on January 15

Mayor Kevin Johnson introduced a new member to his staff, Chief Service Officer Keith Hart. Hart is in charge of "working closely with the mayor's office to increase volunteer opportunities, encourage services and tailor volunteer efforts around city in most pressing challenging areas," Johnson said. The position is funded by a two-year grant that has only been issued to 10 cities in the nation. The Rockefeller Foundation grant is intended to assist the city with the upstart of the chief service officer position and volunteer efforts. Johnson's hope is that two years is enough time to prove the benefits of creating such a position and that the city will be able to sustain it without furth

The spring 2010 Mayoral Fellows Program will feature local students for the first time. In its inaugural session, Mayor Kevin Johnson worked closely with students from Harvard Business School for a five-week period. This time, however, the mayor hopes to foster local talent by teaming with California State University, Sacramento, and the University of California, Davis. Johnson talked about the importance of being creative in tough times and cultivating young talent. "To create opportunity and give practical field experience," Johnson said, "Get them involved with the public sector and retain them." Dean Steven Currall of the UC Davis Graduate School of Management spoke of his university