With only one more opportunity remaining before the final vote on new district boundaries, more than 20 people spoke their mind Tuesday on an issue that has spurred conflict and concern with residents and community leaders across district lines – and an issue not on the City Council agenda. “Voter discontent is nothing to scoff at,” said Oak Park resident Kristina Smith. “Don’t ignore the voice of the voters.” Smith and about 100 others were in the council chambers for the City Council meeting Tuesday, and most wanted to talk about redistricting before the final vote is taken Sept. 6. At the Aug. 23 council meeting, members voted 6-3 in favor of a new district map that bisects the Med C

Community centers in Sacramento got a boost Tuesday when the City Council approved more than $459,000 in funding to close the gap between what the centers have and what they need to stay open until next year’s budget is passed. Council members voted unanimously to take $459,188 from the city’s Economic Uncertainty Reserve – money that initially came from cell phone tower profits in each district – to pay for labor, supplies and services necessary for the remainder of the fiscal year. The total funding necessary to maintain operation of the city’s 15 community centers was $917,000 in the 2010-11 fiscal year, according to Dave Mitchell, division manager for the Dept. of Parks and Recreatio

In a King Solomon-like compromise, Oak Park lost one of its key components Tuesday when City Council members voted to divvy up the 100-year old neighborhood between two council districts. District 5 gets to keep most of the Med Center neighborhood and Sacramento HIgh, but District 6 gets the coveted Med Center. In a 6-3 vote, council members approved a variation of the “Neighborhoods 2.0” base map, drawing the boundary between Districts 5 and 6 – right down the middle of Stockton Boulevard. “We have let you down as a council,” Mayor Kevin Johnson told the audience just before the vote. “We can say anything we want and make it all fancy, but you guys see right through it.” Tuesday’s Cit

At the outset of the City Council meeting Tuesday, Mayor Kevin Johnson promised a robust discussion on the subject of redistricting, and robust is what he got. It was another full house Tuesday with nearly 500 people crowding into City Hall, filling every seat in the council chambers and overflowing to makeshift seating areas on the second floor – everyone with the same agenda item on their minds: redistricting. Neighbors, schoolchildren and spokespeople for Latino and African American communities of interest lined up – more than 100-deep – to give their two minutes’ input on where new district boundary lines should be drawn. At the council meeting on Aug. 16, more than 200 people atten

The city of Sacramento will have new district boundaries by the end of the month, but the lines won’t be familiar to anyone who has followed the process so far. In a 6-3 vote, the City Council passed a motion Tuesday to use a new map submitted by Councilman Steve Cohn as the ‘base map’ for new district boundaries – much to the surprise of advisory committee members, meeting attendees and Mayor Kevin Johnson. “I am extremely disappointed and sad,” Johnson said. “This is the worst-case scenario. It’s the council putting self-interest above all else, and that is disappointing.” The map – which Cohn named “Neighborhoods Together 2.0” – was submitted just minutes before the council meeting w

When the Citizens’ Advisory Committee on Redistricting handed over its final recommendations to the City Council on Tuesday, the real work began on shaping the city for the next 10 years. Council members were given four maps to choose from, two of which potentially pit council members against each other for control of a single district. Whatever decision the council members make, they won’t have another opportunity to change district lines until the redistricting process begins again in 2021. In January, the advisory committee began reviewing 37 maps submitted by Sacramento residents for redrawing district lines. By the end of June, the committee members narrowed the field to the final

The Sacramento City Council’s tentative decision Tuesday night to make severe budget cuts to public safety is not final, but it made a big statement. Council members voted 6-3 to say they intend to make budget cuts later this month that include layoffs of 82 sworn cops and increases in brownouts or alternating closures for fire services. A big caveat to the tentative decision is the council’s statement that it is still open to further negotiations with the city’s public safety unions. Tuesday’s hearing drew intense public interest. Many people arrived more than an hour early to the 6 p.m. meeting. Shortly before 5 p.m., about 70 people waited in line for the doors at City Hall to open.

While proposed budget cuts to public safety departments have attracted a lot of public attention, the Sacramento City Council also discussed millions of dollars in proposed budget cuts to many other offices and departments earlier this week. At a Tuesday afternoon meeting, council members examined cuts to departments and offices that include the mayor and City Council, Economic Development, Finance, Human Resources and Transportation. The city is in the throes of a budget crisis with a $39 million budget gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. The City Council members decided on Tuesday to give a large chunk of its budget to the city’s general fund. Council members’ budgets include revenues

Sacramento City Council members began discussions Tuesday on the city manager’s recommendation to cut as many as 366 jobs in the budget for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. One city union protested the proposed layoffs at City Hall before the City Council meeting, and representatives from two other unions expressed their opposition to the cuts during the meeting. City officials presented the budget recommendations from the city manager’s office at Tuesday’s meeting and summarized the budget document. As part of the meeting, Interim Deputy City Manager Betty Masuoka explained a chart on the job cuts recommended by the city manager’s office. The city would need to slice 250 full-time positions

Anyone in the city can use the city’s online tools to carve up the eight City Council districts and present their redistricting ideas to city leaders. The mapmaking tool for the 2011 redistricting process is free to use, and the city welcomes maps from residents. Maps developed and submitted by citizens will be shared with the City Council, the council’s redistricting advisory committee and the general public, said Maria MacGunigal, the city’s Geographic Information Systems manager. Every decade, the city rearranges its council districts by applying U.S. Census data.The reordered districts should all have the same population, according to city staff. “The primary objective of redistric

A number of recent City Council meetings relating to Interim City Manager Gus Vina, including the council’s January vote against his promotion, have been closed to the public. An attorney and open government advocate commented on the Brown Act Friday, saying he opposes “closed session” meetings on hiring and firing matters affecting the city manager. Terry Francke, an attorney for the nonprofit open government group Californians Aware said city manager hiring and firing decisions should be made public. Central to the issue of closed meetings is the way city officials interpret the Brown Act, a state law intended to make government meetings open to the public at the local level. The City

The clock is ticking for the Sacramento City Council. Sacramento Interim City Manager Gus Vina’s resignation on Friday morning means that the City Council must take immediate actions that will impact the city budget and labor negotiations with municipal unions.  Council members must find a new top city official one month before the city’s proposed budget is due. Vina’s resignation also means that the city’s labor unions will take up budget negotiations with a new city leader. “We don’t have time to grieve,” City Councilman Steve Cohn said in an interview Friday. Cohn was one of four council members who supported Vina’s earlier effort to become Sacramento’s next permanent city manager.

Interim City Manager Gus Vina’s resignation comes just weeks before the city must propose a budget for the next fiscal year. In Sacramento’s city government, the city manager prepares a proposed budget and the City Council makes final budget decisions. Vina told the Sacramento Press on Friday afternoon that the proposed budget will be on time even though he is leaving April 8. “We are very close to finishing the proposed budget,” Vina said. “It will be ready to meet the May 1 deadline … I committed to council that I would get the budget done and I will.” He said he was leaving because he was not supported by the full City Council. “I need to move on and pursue other opportunities becaus

Close to 150 people braved the rain Saturday afternoon and came to the Hagginwood Community Center for the dedication of the Grantland Johnson Soccer Field. “It’s quite an honor, I must tell you,” said Grantland Johnson to the crowd crammed inside the lobby of the community center. A native resident of Sacramento’s Del Paso Heights neighborhood, Johnson graduated from Grant High School where he played for the Pacers football team. He received his B.A. Degree from Sacramento State in Government and later received honorary Doctorates of Humane Letters from both Sacramento State and Golden Gate University. “I would not be the person I am today, had I not grown up in this great community of

The Sacramento City Council voted Tuesday to hire an outside contractor for tree pruning and removal work despite opposition from a major city union, Stationary Engineers Local 39. Council members voted 7-2 to pay up to $3.7 million to Roseville-based Jensen Tree Service, Inc., for a contract that could span five years. The contract has a one-year guarantee of work – after that, the city manager will decide each year over the following four years whether to continue the contract, according to Craig Lymus, the city’s acting procurement manager. A representative for Local 39, which represents urban forestry workers, among many other groups of city employees, said the work that Jensen Tree

Sacramentans can soon apply to serve on the City Council’s redistricting advisory panel. Four of the 13 panel positions will be available to the general public. The eight council members and Mayor Kevin Johnson will each appoint a member of the panel. The remaining four spots are “at-large,” which means they will not be filled by appointees, said Scot Mende, the city’s new growth manager. Applications for the four positions will be screened by the City Council’s Personnel and Public Employees Committee, Mende said. Then, the City Council will vote to select the four members, Mende said. The city uses U.S. Census figures to restructure City Council districts every decade. Read a schedul

The city will conduct a national search for a new city manager in response to the City Council’s Jan. 25 decision against promoting Interim City Manager Gus Vina. Recruiting fees could cost the city as much as $35,400, according to Sacramento’s Human Resources Department. An executive recruiting firm will be hired to conduct the search. The range in fees is estimated between $27,650 and $35,400. One of two recruiting firms may be chosen by the City Council on Tuesday night. The two Sacramento-based recruiting firms are Wilcox Miller Nelson and CPS Human Resource Services. The Human Resources Department’s report on the city manager search, which will be presented at the Feb. 8 City Coun

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

The City Council voted 5-4 Tuesday night against promoting Interim City Manager Gus Vina to the permanent city manager position. Council members Sandy Sheedy, Rob Fong, Kevin McCarty, Darrell Fong and Bonnie Pannell voted to conduct a national search for a new city manager. Mayor Kevin Johnson briefed reporters after he and the members of the City Council held a private meeting about Vina’s job status. Johnson said the council feels that Vina did a “great job” as interim city manager. However, he said the City Council voted to conduct a national search for a city manager candidate. Johnson said he hopes that Vina will apply for the job as part of the national search. Vina was not imme

The City Council on Tuesday selected Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell to be its second-in-command after the mayor. Pannell will serve as the city’s vice mayor for 2011. She replaces former City Councilman Robbie Waters, who held the vice mayor position in 2010. The vice mayor fills in for the mayor in certain circumstances. Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno said the duties of the vice mayor are spelled out in the city’s charter. “During any absence of the mayor from the city or a meeting of the city council, the vice-mayor shall be the acting mayor until the mayor returns,” the charter states. “In addition, if the mayor becomes incapable of acting as mayor and incapable of delegating dut