Visiting the Sacramento County animal shelter used to be so depressing. Dogs were in small, dirty kennels with a chain-link fence on every side, and concrete above and below. The cats fared no better, in crates that resembled cat carriers. It was hard to find a happy feline among the bunch. Horses were in small holding stables and had to be covered with blankets in the winter to protect them from the cold. With the opening of the shelter’s new facility in October 2009, things improved greatly for furry guests. The main building takes up five acres, so the facility has a lot more to offer. “It has habitat rooms in the front area; you can see cats in what we call their natural habitat, lou

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson has released a new chart on his “strong mayor” proposal, which includes plans for changes to the city budget and the veto powers of the mayor’s office. But local labor leader Bill Camp is saying the chart should not be considered a draft of Johnson's proposal. Johnson is referring to the new chart as a draft proposal, while Camp said it contains "ideas that we ought to talk about." In the lawsuit over the first strong mayor proposal, Camp was the plaintiff.  The City Council will weigh in on Johnson’s new plan June 15. Johnson’s office hopes the City Council will vote in mid-July to place the new proposal on the November ballot. Read Johnson’s new chart on

Fluoride in Sacramento’s water was a hot topic during a Sacramento City Council budget discussion Tuesday night. Several members of the public, including dentists, a school nurse and local public health officer urged the City Council to keep fluoride in the city’s drinking water supply. Management Partners, a consulting group hired by the city, suggests that the city stop fluoridating its water supply. The firm states that if the city cuts water fluoridation from its budget, it could retain $836,000 each year. The city has a $43 million budget gap. Glennah Trochet, a health officer with Sacramento County’s Public Health Division, told the City Council that water fluoridation is “one of

 The Sacramento County Animal Shelter needs your help! Some of you may have been familiar with the old county shelter... built in the 1960's. You may have adopted an animal there or had to take an animal there, either way, you probably remember it as an old, dirty shelter. I myself, having volunteered there, remember it, and all animals who crossed my path there fondly. This year, the new and vastly improved county shelter opened up right near Safetyville off of Bradshaw Road. The new shelter is quite innovative and green! If you have not been there, it is definitely worth the visit. Due to County budgets though, it might be facing problems. The county has come up with a licensing amnesty

The six years of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s administration have not treated California well. We have lost our jobs, lost our houses and lost the services that were supposed to protect us and build a stronger state. While Governor Schwarzenegger has read a well-written script about post partisanship and teamwork, he has consistently failed to deliver on these promises – siding time and again with conservative interest groups that do not represent California’s values and proposing quick fix paper solutions instead of doing the hard work and showing the real leadership that is necessary to achieve real progress. While it is laudable that after years of cutting education budgets and increasing p

Downtown's Crest Theater will screen A Christmas Story, the retro comedy classic based on Jean Shepherd's novel, in the third annual Christmas Story at the Crest event Saturday, December 19.  Beginning at noon, guests will enjoy several tables of home-baked sweets and hot chocolate in the lobby of the gorgeous art deco theater, while awaiting their turn to meet a real-bearded Santa, available to take gift requests and photos with hopeful children and adults.  The film begins at 1 p.m.  Ten dollar tickets will benefit Jesuit High School. For the uniquely uninitiated, A Christmas Story is the campy cult classic about 1940's school kid, Ralphie Parker, who wants nothing more than for Santa t

I am upset and I am tired. I am upset that my generation is complacent. I am upset that me and my fellow students so easily accept things going on in the world that are not right.  Well I do not want to be complacent anymore. I am tired of it. Alex Gonzalez Jr., son of Alexander Gonzalez Sr., President of Sac State, received a marketing position at Sac State making $83,000 annually. The marketing position would require Alex Jr. to promote "Destination 2010," a campaign to turn Sac State into a traditional campus rather than a commuter school.  Now, to be fair to the Gonzalez, Alex Jr. may be very qualified for the position. The problem is that no other candidate was interviewed and the po

The California State University system faces a $1.27 billion dollar cut in its 2009-10 General Fund Budget from one year ago.  While total enrollment is up 4,000 students across the CSU system, budget outlays are 55 percent less than they were in 2008-09. To balance the CSU budget, the CA Board of Trustees has enacted a three prong approach. Teachers will be furloughed twice a month in order to save jobs, classes are being cancelled to save cash, and students will see a 32 percent increase in their student fees.  This is the seventh time in eight years that student fees have gone up, and students are finding it very difficult to graduate because the classes they need have either been canc

Members of The Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Drug Policy Alliance, ACLU of Northern California and Families to Amend California's Three Strikes gathered on the south steps of the Capitol on Tuesday, August 17, to speak in opposition of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's proposed cuts to the state prison budget. Zachary Norris, director of the Books Not Bars campaign, hosted the rally and introduced the members of the coalition. "We must address this elephant in the budget," Norris said before leading the crowd in chants of "books not bars" and "schools not jails." Norris and his fellow speakers urged legislators to rethink their policies on incarcerating petty criminals. California's 75

The Sacramento Parks and Recreation department has responded to local calls for more community gardens by slating two new sites to be publicly cultivated , bringing the total number of city community gardens to seven. One of the fresh gardening plots is on the downtown grid - E and 8th in Zapata Park - and is planned to be opened to the public by the end of the year. The other is in North Oak Park and will be sprouting next spring. Locally grown produce is a burgeoning attraction for Sacramentans and Community Garden Coordinator Bill Maynard has taken note. "We've seen a dramatic increase in interest recently," he said. "In a 2008 Master Plan Development survey, more than 10 percent of su

INCLUDED IN THIS E-NEWSLETTER: • City 2009/2010 Budget Adopted • Sidney Pope Memorial Orchid and Onion Awards Presented at Pops in the Park • Screen on the Green – August • McKinley Rose Garden Proposed Enhancements Update • Free Hours of Bike Rentals • SHPS/ Mercy Construction Update • Sacramento Fire Department Open Houses UPCOMING EVENTS • Neighborhood Services Department Community Hours • July 4th Fun and Run in River Park • Friends of the River Event- July 11th • Taste of East Sacramento – July 12th • Friends of McKinley Park Tennis Tournament – August 1st and 2nd • National Night Out – August 4th • Blood Drive in River Park, August 9th • St. Mary’s 78th Annual Festival – August 16

On Wednesday at 11:30 a.m., approximately 2,000 members of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) gathered on the west steps of the Capitol in a powerful end to Tuesday's outcry rally over the state’s budget decisions, which would cut the salaries of state workers by 15 percent. A giant screen was set up to project the image of the speakers. Tents were scattered providing first aid, food and information on how to contact the governor. Participants sat on the grass and milled around, but once Local 1000 President Yvonne Walker took the stage, most remained standing to listen intently to her words. Walker addressed SEIU's grievances with the state legislature's handling of the bu

The Sacramento City Council is about 99 percent sure that no firefighters will be laid off this week. The local firefighters’ union and city officials reached a breakthrough in negotiations Wednesday and have made a tentative agreement to not lay off 68 firefighters. The last step will be for Sacramento Area Firefighters Local 522 members to vote on the agreement this week. It is likely that Local 522 members will vote in favor of the agreement because they proposed it to city officials. While dozens of firefighter jobs are likely to be saved, about 180 city workers in other departments still face layoffs on Thursday, according to Assistant City Manager Gus Vina. Several councilmembers

On Tuesday evening, hundreds of workers with the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) congregated at the steps of the Capitol to voice their frustrations with how the state legislature is handling the budget. Yvonne Walker, President of the SEIU, opened the rally with a fiery speech about how state workers “are on the tipping point,” with the continued proposals to cut state workers’ pay and adding a third furlough day. Walker described the two-day furlough already in place for state workers as “the equivalent of one month’s pay.” She explained an additional day of unpaid leave would increase the financial burden on state workers, causing some to lose their homes. Workers were w

The members of Facilities Re-use/7-11 Committee left their three-hour meeting having reached enough consensuses to fill a PowerPoint presentation for the Sacramento City Unified School District’s Board of Education. On Wednesday, June 17, 11 community members met for the third time at the Serna Center to discuss potential re-uses for six school sites within the Sacramento City District that have been closed due to dilapidated enrollment and budget shortfalls. The meeting was facilitated by Sacramento Mediation Center Director Ellen Taylor and UC Davis Mediator and Facilitator Mary Madison. The committee was founded with the intent of advising the Board of Education’s decision based on a

Sasha Abramsky, an accomplished author, teacher, and senior fellow at Demos think tank in New York City, posed a tough question yesterday at his book launch party for Breadline USA: The Hidden Scandal of American Hunger and How to Fix It, hosted by the UC Center of Sacramento. "How do you feed people who are hungry in a country with an abundance of food?" The question is one he explores in Breadline USA. Abramsky's book documents the stories of several American families and their struggle with finances and food. During the late years of the Bush administration, Abramsky described an increase in attendance at breadlines, lines of people waiting to receive food from a charitable organizati

The City Council has changed its original plan to lay off 168 workers Friday, and now layoffs are expected to take place in about two weeks, according to acting city spokeswoman Wendy Klock-Johnson. The number of layoffs is in flux and may soon change depending on negotiations with five city unions. On Tuesday, the city adopted its 2009/2010 fiscal year budget and closed out a gap of more than $43 million. The budget that was approved comes with major cuts to city services. Changes to the budget will be amendments because the budget has been adopted. City officials continued to say Tuesday that many cuts and layoffs could be averted if the unions make concessions. Negotiations between

The SCUSD Board of Education voted 5 – 1, with 1 abstention, to drastically reduce summer school programs for the next two years - effective immediately. The decision eliminates all programs for elementary and middle school students, and reduces summer school for high school students. In addition, special education programs will be reduced and adult school programs will either be reduced or converted to a fee based system. The decision will also impact almost 300 district employees, some of whom planned to report to work as early as today. In her opening statements, Interim Superintendent Susan Miller stressed that the budget for this and next fiscal year was balanced as of May 14th, but

As their peers celebrate the last day of school, many Sacramento students will head home facing an uncertain summer. With only a one-day notice, SCUSD called a special Board of Education Meeting to be held on Thursday – the last day of school. The Board will consider a staff suggestion to eliminate summer school programs district wide. Due to budget constraints, enrichment programs have already been stripped from the district’s summer school agenda. Kara Broderick, a first and second grade teacher at David Lubin Elementary, said that teachers were asked “only to recommend students that were below basic or far below basic” grade levels. The Board will decide Thursday whether or not to elim

Second Saturday has grown in popularity during the past few years, to the point where Sacramento police have asked for citizens' help. Because of declining budgets  and the growing crowds at Second Saturday, there are not enough police available to perform crossing guard duty. To that end, Midtown Business Association Executive Director Rob Kerth sent out the following email: "Hi Folks, Our Sac PD Captain, Dana Matthes, is looking for a few good people to do crossing guard duty on 2nd Saturday. If you've got the urge to help out, or know someone who might, please give her a call at 808-4511. They have a training program to get you all ready. Thanks!"