The Sacramento Food Bank was filled with about 50 people Thursday night as Mayor Kevin Johnson spoke at the Oak Park Neighborhood Association meeting. Johnson spoke about the green economy, downtown development, the state of Sacramento’s schools, volunteering in the city and homelessness. He emphasized the need for a strong and vibrant downtown and a growing green economy. “You kill two birds with one stone,” he said. “No. 1, you improve the environment, and No. 2, you can create jobs.” Johnson said he is a proponent for building the sports arena downtown. “Our community deserves a world-class facility, and I’d like to see that downtown because it creates jobs, and all the other busin

The civil rights movement of the 1960s is often viewed as centralized in the South, but blacks in Sacramento faced similar challenges, and a KVIE documentary tells those stories. “It was just a really horrific time in Sacramento,” said Bryan Shadden, a producer at KVIE who worked on the film, “African Americans in California’s Heartland: The Civil Rights Era.” The documentary first aired four years ago, but is being shown again Feb. 17 to coincide with Black History Month. Shadden worked on a story about busing African-American students out of Oak Park after Stanford Junior High School burned in 1963. Students were bused to almost all-white schools in an effort to integrate the races.

How do you remember your high school years? Some of us, myself included, would not go back even if our lives depended on it. I recently had the opportunity to sit down with a group of current high school students. I walked away feeling a mixture of exhilaration and inspiration. Despite the gloomy headlines, I felt a glimmer of hope for our nation’s future. The impetus for this little sit-down was a conversation I recently had with my seventeen year-old son and his girlfriend Ebony. I had been fishing for good ideas for an article. In response to my question they both immediately replied, “You need to come to Sac High.” When I asked why, Ebony responded “Because they’re always writing arti

The first organized group in Sacramento to march in Martin Luther King Jr.’s honor did so in January, 1981. At 9 a.m. Jan. 17, 30 years later, more than 10,000 are expected to gather at Grant High School, Sacramento City College and Oak Park Community Center to march for civil rights and social justice in the MLK365 March. “This march in a real sense is a way of dramatizing the needs of our generation, coming up with a whole set of values that meet the needs of people today,” said event spokesman Sam Starks. “We will march until we bring into existence those things.” The march is a celebration of King’s work and the work of all who participated in the civil rights movement, but it is als

The monthly Oak Park Neighborhood Association Meeting for January was packed with more than 50 citizens ready to debate the merits of a proposed McDonald's Restaurant to be built in their neighborhood. The meeting, which was moderated by Paul Towers, vice president of the OPNA, also had in attendance Kim Garrett, a representative for McDonald's, and Patrick Diffley, a member of the McDonald's construction team. Garrett and Diffley were stocked with data promoting potential benefits to the surrounding area should the proposed McDonald's be constructed. Some of those benefits included: * The development of a lot that has been vacant for years * The addition of approximately 128 jobs to the

Wooden boxes of chard, kale and collard greens on Charles Mason’s front yard in Oak Park are likely to be installed at dozens of spots in Sacramento next year and into 2012. Mason, the founder of environmental nonprofit group Ubuntu Green, is organizing a project to place up to 60 small gardens in an area that includes the neighborhoods of Oak Park, Tahoe Park, Lemon Hill and Fruitridge Manor. The home gardens project, funded by the California Endowment, is one of three programs Ubuntu Green will focus on in 2011. Ubuntu Green will work next year on a land-use environmental project with eight neighborhoods as well as host an annual event in September on environmentally friendly living.

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, i

Incoming Sacramento City Councilmen Jay Schenirer and Darrell Fong both said in interviews on Monday that they want to address concerns in the specific neighborhoods they will represent. They also said they are mindful of the city’s expected budget shortfall. Fong and Schenirer will be officially sworn into their new posts on Tuesday night. Schenirer pointed out that he will represent 19 neighborhoods as the councilman for District 5, including Oak Park, West Tahoe Park and Curtis Park. “I think the neighborhoods in my district have a significant amount of need,” Schenirer said. To respond to the neighborhoods’ needs, he said he wants to spend the next three to six months working with

Sacramento (Oak Park), CA | What do you get when mix great coffee, food and Rockabilly? Tess & Hip Trash at Old Soul 40 Acres. It was nearly standing room only, or dancing room only, when you entered Old Soul at 40 Acres Friday night. Now the new coffee house for the new international terminal at Sacramento International Airport, Old Soul hosted "Tess & Hip Trash" Friday night as customers and fans took in the Rockabilly tunes, fine coffee and great eats.  It wasn't long after the first set of music started that toes were tapp'en, heads were bobb'en and feet were danc'en to the tunes and elegant voice of Tessie Marie.  Per the band's web site, "Tessie Marie met her bandmates in prison.

On Thursday, Sacramento Food Bank and Family Services (SFBFS) broke new ground on its 22,000-square-foot space, which will be home to a new education center, urban farm and children’s recreational area. The building is expected to be completed in Fall 2011. “(It’s) all about compassion, kindness for people. That's it,” said Father Dan Madigan, Founder of SFBFS. The education center will include expanded adult education, a computer clubhouse, youth academy, “PlayCare” and mother-baby programs. It will be a resource for the unemployed and dislocated workers in the community to receive job skills training and computer education. The urban farm will be 5,000 square feet. “(It’s) less abou

On Thursday, October 21st, the Center for Sacramento History (CSH) and California State University, Sacramento (CSUS) will unveil a new self-guided walking tour of Central Oak Park. The brochure highlights the community’s architectural and historical significance. The evening will include an address by the brochure’s author, Dr. Robin Datel, a professor in CSUS’ Geography Department. The lecture will be held at the historic Guild Theater in Oak Park (2828 35th Street at Broadway); doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the presentation begins at 7:00 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. The 32-page walking tour brochure includes historic photographs of nearly forty selected locations with

The Salvation Army of Sacramento County hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for its new child development center in the Oak Park area on September 21. The new facility, located on the corner of Alhambra Blvd. and Broadway, will be two stories high and nearly 14,000 sq ft, which is nearly six times larger than the old education building. The child development center will be the home for The Salvation Army’s day care and after-school programs. “It’s a long time coming,” said Major Tedd Lowcock, Salvation Army Sacramento Corps officer. “We had been operating in an older building for years. So to have something new in which you don’t have to worry about and to have the extra space here is pretty

Participants in Thursday’s Community Conversations discussion expressed that a community’s success rests on the shoulders of its citizens. About nine people gathered around a table at Old Soul at 40 Acres to engage in a civic discussion centered around the question; “What should government do for you?” Facilitator Brian Fischer prefaced the meeting’s purpose by saying, “the most important thing is to listen and learn from each other.” Community Conversations organizers are hoping to create an open forum where citizens of all stripes can engage one another in a thoughtful discussion that would help improve the quality of life in Sacramento communities. Thursday’s meeting was Community C

The first foreclosed home purchased by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency is under renovation and will soon be for sale and occupancy at an affordable price under a partnership program that SHRA developed using the federal Neighborhood Stabilization Program. The home is located at 3525 34th Street in Oak Park. SHRA has partnered with NeighborWorks Homeownership Sacramento as a volume builder under the Property Recycling Program. The PRP works with governmental, non-profit and for-profit partners to provide access to properties and funding to remove the blight of foreclosures through redevelopment activities, acquisition and rental of affordable housing, and acquisition and re

The waiting game for the District 1 City Council race continues. The Sacramento County elections office released new vote tallies Friday afternoon, and has counted about 35,000 of the roughly 86,000 that remained after Election Day. However, the new ballots still don’t definitively show whether Natomas activist Angelique Ashby has won the District 1 seat, or if she will compete in a runoff in November with incumbent City Councilman Ray Tretheway. The county elections staff still needs to count more than 51,000 ballots. Voters cast ballots for many state and local candidates Tuesday, so it’s unknown how many of the 51,000 ballots include votes for the City Council races. With 5,405 votes

There will likely be a runoff between two District 5 candidates with backgrounds in the education field, according to Assistant City Clerk Stephanie Mizuno. With all precincts counted, education policy consultant Jay Schenirer was narrowly ahead of local school board member and attorney Patrick Kennedy. Schenirer had 47 percent of the vote to Kennedy’s 34 percent. Schenirer, with 2,267 votes, doesn’t have a majority of the votes that were cast, Mizuno said. Kennedy’s vote count is 1,654. District 5 includes the neighborhoods of Oak Park and Curtis Park. The election results have not yet been certified, Brad Buyse, the county’s campaign services manager said. More than 20,000 vote-by-m

  War Heroes and Gold Medalist Rally Behind P.E.E.C.E Keepers   Attendees at P.E.E.C.E. Keepers most recent event had a virtual reality encounter with the history channel, thanks to George Porter one of the original Tuskegee Airman, who came with a few members of his crew from the local Sacramento Tuskegee Airmen Chapter, along with some rare artifacts of the Tuskegee Airmen’s’ history.   “This event was personal to me, I wanted to bring together all of the people who are invested in the program.  The parents who invested time into putting their children into the program, the counselors that are interested in working in the program and the people in the community who are interested in

  The 34th Street Dance company put on another high energy performance last Saturday at the Guild Theater. The theme was Fiat Lux, which is Latin for "let there be light.  The show wrapped up with a tribute of dance routines to the late Michael Jackson, along with a heart felt and tearful ceremony to the seniors graduating from the company. “Our mission is to use dance as a tool to build community and develop each dancer as a creative thinker, dance technician, and a leader” said Sheila Coleman, the founder and director of the company.  The company trains in modern, hip-hop, and contemporary movement forms and for seven years, has shared its passion for dance with audiences all over Cali

This is not an easy piece for me to write as I have long been active in democratic and gay politics and am loathe to criticize my heritage; my affiliation with the Democratic Party started with my grandparents and parents. In the 90s, I was privileged to serve on the board and as chair of the River City Democratic Club (RCDC) which was the precursor to Stonewall. RCDC worked on a grass roots level to help elect officials who were supportive of LGBT issues as we didn’t have many opportunities to support LGBT candidates. Fortunately that has changed. Also, RCDC recognized our natural alliance with other minorities and formed relationships with many groups to fight for equality and represen

  The Sacramento Press will be live streaming video at the launch of the first Oak Park Farmers' Market Saturday, May 15. This new farmers' market will continue throughout the summer every Saturday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at 34th and Broadway across from Old Soul Coffeehouse . Join us for the ribbon cutting ceremony and live music as well as all the wonderful fresh produce of the season. The residents of the Oak Park community have been working for years to bring a farmers' market to this, at times, troubled neighborhood. The Oak Park Farmers' Market is a project of NeighborWorks Sacramento, in partnership with community residents, community garden advocates, backyard growers, and fresh