A longtime friend of the homeless and down-and-out, the late Greg Bunker will be officially recognized for his service to the Sacramento area at a benefit concert Friday. A city resolution honoring Bunker for his 21 years with Francis House will be delivered Friday night. “Greg was a generous man who left a lasting impact on our community,” Mayor Kevin Johnson said Wednesday. “He was a tireless advocate for the homeless and (worked) hard to serve those less fortunate.” Bunker died from a heart attack last December. “His contributions to Sacramento will surely be missed,” Johnson said. The resolution, which denotes Friday as “Greg Bunker Day,” comes as Francis House doubles its operati

Tuesday night could be the last chance for the public to give input on the city’s redistricting maps, even though another map was added to the mix on Friday. The newest map is a merging of the two maps brought to the table July 26 by Councilmembers Sandy Sheedy and Steve Cohn. Cohn said he and Sheedy decided to merge their maps, since they were so similar. Redistricting will likely be the biggest topic of discussion at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, which will be held at 6 p.m. at 915 I St. “This is the best opportunity for people to provide public testimony,” said Scot Mende, the city’s new growth and infill manager. Currently, the council is looking at the four maps submitted by th

The owners of a contested bar with a mixed martial arts fighting concept withdrew their application earlier this month, but neighboring residents are still concerned that new plans for the Midtown space will be the same operation by another name. The MMA Fight Bar concept was planned by the owners of Luck’s BBQ, which at 2502 J St. is next door to the vacant space the fight bar would have taken. The application for an alcohol license for Fight Bar was withdrawn by owners in mid-July, and the Alcoholic Beverage Control office confirmed Friday that no new application has been filed yet. “They’ve decided to change their format there,” said Midtown Business Association Executive Director Ro

When is comes to redistricting, the LGBT community has a lot to say about being recognized as a legitimate community of interest and working toward getting the central city united into one council district. “Unless you see yourself represented, it’s hard to see yourself in the world,” said Steve Hansen, a community activist and a member of the former Citizens Advisory Committee on Redistricting. Hansen and Rosanna Herber, chairperson of the LGBT Redistricting Committee, said members of the LGBT community worked tirelessly over the last several months to be recognized as a community of interest and be given a stake in the process. Their goal has been to finally see the central city united

Neighborhood Advisory Group (NAG) isn’t going anywhere, just moving to a new location. The Hart Senior Center, where NAG has been meeting regularly, began charging an hourly fee of $50 to rent rooms after 5 p.m. which caused some NAG members to wonder if this would be their last meeting altogether. “NAG is not a city group, they enjoy their independence. They do, however, like the city to work with them,” said Derrick Lim, manager of the city’s Neighborhood Services Department and special events. “The items and agenda is all decided by NAG, they take their own positions.” Monday’s meeting was held at the Hart Senior Center, 915 27th St., and the Aug. 15 meeting will be held there, too,

With help from neighborhood volunteers and a group of rose-lovers, the rose garden at McKinley Park will be getting a facelift this fall. The 1.5-acre rose garden, which was originally planted in 1928, will be closed from September to mid-February for renovations, including a new irrigation system, accessible walkways, planter curbs, new signs and accessible parking spaces near the garden entrance. According to a recent historical assessment, the 83-year-old garden has not been upgraded or improved for several decades except for the rose arbors, which were replaced five years ago. “This may be the first time (the rose garden) has ever been given this much attention,” said Claudia Bordin

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

On Tuesday evening, the City Council will consider revising a local ordinance that will bring the city one step closer to seeing cars on K Street for the first time in more than 45 years. The revised ordinance will change a city code that has been in place since the early 1960s that defined the five blocks of K Street between Eighth to 12th streets as a “pedestrian mall,” closing it to vehicular traffic. “It was something that was happening in a lot of places back then,” said Denise Malvetti, department manager at the city’s Economic Development Department. “Cities were trying to replicate the suburban experience, and they created a lot of these pedestrian malls. It was a failed experime

Friday marks the first day of the new fiscal year for the City of Sacramento – and the last day of work for more than 200 city employees, including 42 sworn police officers. The final city budget, which passed on June 21, included deep cuts to parks, libraries and public safety agencies and filled a $39 million budget gap. The budget did not pass without contention, however. Council members Angelique Ashby and Steve Cohn and Mayor Kevin Johnson each went against the budget, calling the cuts to public safety “drastic” and creating a 6-3 split vote. “These cuts to public safety are too big. They’re way too big,” Ashby said. “Why would we cut more than we have to?” During the proceedings

More than 300 city positions will be eliminated in the coming year after the City Council passed a finalized city budget Tuesday night. Despite impassioned pleas from members of the Sacramento City Crime Scene Investigation unit and local union representatives, the 14-member CSI unit and 45 sworn police officers are on the chopping block. The budget passed on a 6-3 vote, with Council members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn and Mayor Kevin Johnson each voting against the measure. The new budget incorporates $4.6 million in one-time resources to close the gap for fiscal year 2011-12. It also funnels $3.36 million into the city’s economic uncertainty reserve fund. Betty Masuoka, assistant int

Approval of a final city budget that includes $39 million in ongoing cuts and the elimination of 320 city positions is expected at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, but Police Department personnel aren’t holding out hope for an 11th-hour save from potential layoffs. “The council is firm on its decision,” said Det. Mark Tyndale, Sacramento Police Officers Association (SPOA) vice president. “And we are firm in ours.” On June 7, City Council members urged SPOA representatives to consider contract concessions for its members in an effort to relieve the burden of deep budget cuts that will have a significant impact on the Police Department and public safety personnel. The SPOA has not made any

The Sacramento region will have to get creative to come up with a public-private financing plan that might work to build a new arena – possibly coming up with funding sources never tried in other cities before, a prominent sports financing expert said Thursday. Sacramento will need a unique financing model, partly due to the community's "limitations" in size and past efforts to gain voter support for public arena funding, Barrett Sports Group owner Dan Barrett told a crowd gathered for a town hall meeting at the Central Library. The media market is relatively small, which makes it less lucrative, and there aren't a lot of potential corporate sponsors here. Other challenges come from diff

The future of mobile food trucks in Sacramento was discussed Monday night at the first in what will likely be many meetings between mobile food vendors, “brick-and-mortar” restaurateurs, city leaders and advocacy groups. The meeting, held at The Kitchen restaurant, 2225 Hurley Way, was not open to the public, City Councilman Steve Cohn said Monday morning. An ordinance limiting food trucks to operating within the city to 30-minute stops has been contested more vehemently lately. The SactoMoFo mobile food festival April 30 drew an estimated 10,000 people, prompting a closer look at the ordinance. Several gourmet food trucks, including Mini Burger Truck and Wicked ’Wich, have recently beg

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.

The Sacramento City Council discussed Thursday how to make major changes to city operations in the next few years to resolve the city’s long-term imbalance where costs outpace revenues. The city’s $39 million gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year is part of an ongoing trend of budget shortfalls. Multi-million budget gaps will remain until fiscal year 2015/2016 as a result of the city’s imbalanced finances, according to predictions by city officials. “We need to set the expectation of what the City Council wants to provide for the residents and the businesses of this city,” Interim Deputy City Manager Betty Masuoka said. Seven council members were at the budget meeting – Mayor Kevin Johnson

The Sacramento City Council members made it clear Tuesday night that they do not want to make the $12 million in cuts to the Police Department recommended in the proposed budget. But it’s unclear at this point how the council will lessen the cuts to the department. A crowd of police staffers and supporters, which swelled to about 400 at its high point early Tuesday evening, turned out for the City Council’s budget hearing. The city is grappling with a $39 million budget gap for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. A total of 149 department staffers, including 80 sworn cops, would be laid off in the proposed budget, according to police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong. The city currently has 701 sworn co

The Sacramento City Council is expected to consider cost-cutting changes to employee benefits and how they are managed in the next few weeks after an internal audit report moved forward Tuesday. Recommendations for ways to save money are being made as the city grapples with an expected budget deficit of $35 million - $40 million for fiscal year 2011/2012. The four members of the City Council Audit Committee voted unanimously to forward a report on the completed Audit of Employee Health and Pension Benefits to the full council in as soon as two or three weeks. City Auditor Jorge Oseguera gave a brief presentation on the report's five findings and some of its 28 recommendations to help sol

Sacramento officials anticipate that if the Kings move, the $77 million in bonds issued by the city will be paid off, but City Councilman Kevin McCarty said he is concerned about when. He said they could do one of three things: “They could move and pay back their loan, or they could move and make minimum payments for the next 15 years, or, No. 3, they could move and default” He added that he is pushing for a single lump sum payoff if the Kings do move. He said his reading of the 1997 contract for the loan with former Kings owner Jim Thomas is that the loan must be paid in full if the Kings move, but he has his doubts. “How are they going to pay off the city’s (loan) if they don’t have t

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

Mary Beth Schwehr was already well-informed about car sharing when she stopped by the Zipcar tent at Cesar Chavez Plaza on Thursday. Zipcar, a company that provides cars for people to use for short periods of time, has been operating in Sacramento for a little over a week. Company representatives were in Sacramento on Thursday to sign up customers. Schwehr, a Sacramento County resident, said she has an older car but uses public transit to commute to work. “I’ve been anxious for this to come to Sacramento for a long time,” Schwehr said. “Rather than having to drive my car on a day when I have some other errands that I have to do where transit doesn’t go, I’ll use the Zipcar at lunchtime