Curmudgeon comment-83927 2013-06-19T22:45:41Z 2013-06-19T22:45:41Z If defending private property rights makes me a "Phil Apologist", I already have. Then again, it is hard to defend a Demunist crapweasel like Phil Angelides on this, as he all too often trampled on those rights when he was building a political career. Curmudgeon 2013-06-19T22:45:41Z Curmudgeon comment-83926 2013-06-19T22:42:59Z 2013-06-19T22:42:59Z It's easy to decrease suburban sprawl. Shrink the state government. The military and aerospace already left, and other private sector employers are already leaving. You might still get a few hardy super-commuters to Bay Area jobs (where no-growth policies made housing unaffordable) but that will be it. Curmudgeon 2013-06-19T22:42:59Z Curmudgeon comment-83921 2013-06-19T20:05:19Z 2013-06-19T20:05:19Z ECOS- Economic Castration Of Sacramento ECOS- Ensure Congestion Over Safety ECOS- Enjoy Communism Or Suffer ECOS - Elite Cadre Of Socialists ECOS - Efficiency Can't Operate in Sacramento ECOS - Enacting Court-Ordered Stupidity ECOS - Extremists Can Outdo Sensibility ECOS - Even Clowns Overdefine Sprawl ECOS - Engineer Congestion, Outright and Socially. ECOS - Environmentalists Can Overstep Sensibilities. ECOS - Elitists Can Operate SUVs. ECOS - Ending Consitutional Operation of the System. ECOS - Elitist Condescending Of Suburbia. ECOS - Ensure Commutes....Old Style ECOS - Enjoy Congestion Or Suffer ECOS - End Car-Oriented Self-sufficiency ECOS - Ensure Cabrini Green Operates in Sacramento. ECOS - Expensive Condos and Overpriced Studio efficiencies ECOS - Ending Comprehensive Operation of Streets ECOS - Enjoy Commuting On a LRT Strap. ECOS - Endless Condemning Of Suburbia ECOS - Enternal Cancellation of Sacramento freeways. Curmudgeon 2013-06-19T20:05:19Z Curmudgeon comment-83875 2013-06-18T19:45:47Z 2013-06-18T19:45:47Z It is amusing that many people who decry "sprawl" just can't admit the reality that if development can't happen closer in, it will happen further out. You want less driving or not? Shorter car trips vs. longer ones. All that said, again, it's their neighborhood, they can oppose it. But they should be honest about what they are actually opposing, and why. They want a less dense neighborhood and more "open space". But that means more development further out. Curmudgeon 2013-06-18T19:45:47Z Curmudgeon comment-83854 2013-06-18T15:34:53Z 2013-06-18T15:34:53Z Before the city grew and more people moved in, that's when. Nor was it "ugly", but that is a matter of opinion, I suppose. The fact is, the proposed site is infill today. If the houses don't go up here, they go up further out. Think about it. On the other hand, if Ellen Cochrane and the existing NIMBYs like their lower density, cul-de-sac neighborhoods, more power to them. Perhaps it is time to debunk the eco-fiend hysteria and myths about growth for the nonsense that they are. Curmudgeon 2013-06-18T15:34:53Z Curmudgeon comment-83857 2013-06-18T15:32:56Z 2013-06-18T15:32:56Z If the streets are not connected, and abruptly end, then yes, they are Cul-de-sac. Deal with it. Curmudgeon 2013-06-18T15:32:56Z Curmudgeon comment-83689 2013-06-11T19:57:14Z 2013-06-11T19:57:14Z And most of the time they were wives too. It's not a taboo word, you know. Curmudgeon 2013-06-11T19:57:14Z Curmudgeon comment-83565 2013-06-09T00:55:12Z 2013-06-09T00:55:12Z The jury is still out on "Township 9". Right now it is mostly vacant. Curmudgeon 2013-06-09T00:55:12Z Curmudgeon comment-83512 2013-06-07T20:41:01Z 2013-06-07T20:41:01Z A billionaire is not required. Just a few millions. Remember, we are just buying the land, not any buildings on it. And the developers would find it advantageous to take the money and run, rather than fight legal battles for years. Curmudgeon 2013-06-07T20:41:01Z Curmudgeon comment-83455 2013-06-07T18:45:27Z 2013-06-07T18:45:27Z Well Gee, William, they didn't want Centrage either, now did they? Frankly, they don't want anything. And if they buy up the parcel, that is their right. So East Sac dwellers, pony up enough money, Angelides will take it and run, and you can have a new park. Easy. Curmudgeon 2013-06-07T18:45:27Z Curmudgeon comment-83457 2013-06-07T16:09:41Z 2013-06-07T16:09:41Z Perhaps this is because "smart growth" is a farce. Curmudgeon 2013-06-07T16:09:41Z Curmudgeon comment-83404 2013-06-07T15:58:28Z 2013-06-07T15:58:28Z And there is the problem. For a market to have a good enough selection, exotic veggies as well as snacks, it needs to be a supermarket. And that requires a parking lot to be profitable. Even a stacked parking garage lot will take up adjacent space, and will be more costly as well. If the real estate value gets high enough, a stacked garage lot might happen in some cities (e.g., San Francisco), but in Sacramento, probably not. For all the lip service paid to "walkable neighborhoods", the realities of life from the mid 20th century forward are not in their favor. People want--nay, need--to only make biweekly, or at most weekly, grocery trips, by car, not daily ones, on foot. Curmudgeon 2013-06-07T15:58:28Z Curmudgeon comment-83459 2013-06-07T15:14:01Z 2013-06-07T15:14:01Z Oh come on. I remember Centrage. Really, It's OK to oppose anything that will disrupt your neighborhood! Just admit that anything will. Curmudgeon 2013-06-07T15:14:01Z Curmudgeon comment-83410 2013-06-07T15:10:12Z 2013-06-07T15:10:12Z Actually, if they want the convenience of being close to where they work, people probably *will* buy into the neighborhood, adjacent freeway and railroad notwithstanding. It beats living out in Lincoln. I can't blame the East Sac people for not wanting more traffic on their streets and not wanting their cul-de-sac dead end streets punched through. So, they should pony up and buy the lot, and then they can turn it into a park. If they pay enough, the developers will take the quick money and run rather than face a costly legal fight to build. Still, it is amusing that many people who decry "sprawl" just can't admit the reality that if development can't happen closer in, it will happen further out. Curmudgeon 2013-06-07T15:10:12Z Curmudgeon comment-83456 2013-06-07T15:05:47Z 2013-06-07T15:05:47Z Now this is amusing. On the one hand, we are told that "The proposed McKinley Village project is all single-family homes, no apartments, no mixed-use, no mixed-income", and *in the same comment section*, we are told it will be Section 8 rentals! As for "higher density mixed use", Centrage comes to mind...... Let's just face facts: The East Sac activists don't want *anything* there. And that's OK! So buy the land and make it a park! Curmudgeon 2013-06-07T15:05:47Z Curmudgeon comment-83416 2013-06-07T14:57:46Z 2013-06-07T14:57:46Z "done right"? Or done, period? Or should I say not done, period? Again, I have no qualms with your opposition to a project that disrupts your neighborhood. But let's be honest--ANY project will do that. Just say you like your lower density neighborhood and cul-de sac streets as they are. There is *nothing* wrong with that, contrary to the eco-fiend propaganda you have been force-fed. Curmudgeon 2013-06-07T14:57:46Z Curmudgeon comment-83412 2013-06-06T17:35:36Z 2013-06-06T17:35:36Z Who is going to want to live there? People who want the convenience of being close to where they work. It *still* beats living out in Lincoln. Twin Rivers school district sucks? So they save the commute costs and use the savings to send the kids to private school. I'm not saying you should like this development, but it does make a dreadful sense. Curmudgeon 2013-06-06T17:35:36Z Curmudgeon comment-83391 2013-06-06T16:43:24Z 2013-06-06T16:43:24Z Gee, he's not selling enough veggies. Food Desert! Food Desert! Waah! More seriously, I wish Mr. Gorgis luck, and if this beer selling technique brings in more business, more power to him. Curmudgeon 2013-06-06T16:43:24Z Curmudgeon comment-83196 2013-05-30T04:03:52Z 2013-05-30T04:03:52Z And those pooper scoopers would get coated with doggy doo, which you had to carry around. Curmudgeon 2013-05-30T04:03:52Z Curmudgeon comment-83166 2013-05-29T18:54:58Z 2013-05-29T18:54:58Z Pesticide use is actually down from its peak in the 1950s-1960s, and such use has been going on for many decades, and neonicotinoids were introduced in the last 20 years as a much less toxic alternative to the organophosphate pesticides, yet the bee population is apparently only declining in the last few years? Might varroa mites, which have been on the rise, have something to do with that? Meanwhile the demonization of agribusiness, who are the *last* people who want to see honeybees harmed, especially those growing fruits and nuts like California, is dismaying. Curmudgeon 2013-05-29T18:54:58Z Curmudgeon comment-83041 2013-05-27T16:44:42Z 2013-05-27T16:44:42Z I'll make a neo-conservative out of you yet. The reality mugging continues! :-) Curmudgeon 2013-05-27T16:44:42Z Curmudgeon comment-82983 2013-05-23T18:49:51Z 2013-05-23T18:49:51Z Can you name even one small Midtown business that would be adversely impacted by a Wal-Mart? Swanky (or "janky") boutiques wouldn't. Artisan shops wouldn't. Bars and nightclubs wouldn't. Tattoo and piercing places wouldn't. Ethnic eateries and specialized ethnic shops wouldn't be either. And Safeway and Target aren't small. Curmudgeon 2013-05-23T18:49:51Z Curmudgeon comment-82979 2013-05-23T18:20:24Z 2013-05-23T18:20:24Z And then they still locate out of the city, and Sacramento city proper becomes even more business improverished. And how are wages improved by *that*? Meanwhile, the City of Sacramento has committed to a big stadium trinket, and that is going to take revenue. Lots of it. Curmudgeon 2013-05-23T18:20:24Z Curmudgeon comment-82948 2013-05-23T18:15:28Z 2013-05-23T18:15:28Z Wrong. In 2005 Walmart DID want to put one Downtown: http://www.sausalitogroup.com/PDF/Sealey%20Quote%20in%20Sacramento%20Bee.pdf Curmudgeon 2013-05-23T18:15:28Z Curmudgeon comment-82901 2013-05-23T18:08:35Z 2013-05-23T18:08:35Z And we will need that revenue to pay for this new arena at that. That's right, sports fans and civic boosters, your stadium won't be cheap. You had better stop opposing any industry and commerce that wants to be in the City of Sacramento, from the little McDonald's in Oak Park to the Wal-Mart downtown, or wherever they want to go now that the downtown stadium is going to be there. And no more Mickey Mouse plastic bag bans either. You want a big city toy, you need big city revenue, without Left-topian expenditures. Curmudgeon 2013-05-23T18:08:35Z Curmudgeon comment-82980 2013-05-23T17:46:18Z 2013-05-23T17:46:18Z Perhaps the "findings against them" are bogus anti-competitive measures? And gee, don't "food deserts" count, if the proposed hypermart retailer sells groceries and produce? Curmudgeon 2013-05-23T17:46:18Z Curmudgeon comment-82976 2013-05-23T17:36:59Z 2013-05-23T17:36:59Z I admire your spirit, but be careful. If you do that, the bums (or more of them) might end up camping in your Midtown / Winn Park area. Best to respect the railroad tracks as a border. Curmudgeon 2013-05-23T17:36:59Z Curmudgeon comment-82972 2013-05-23T17:09:12Z 2013-05-23T17:09:12Z Well, they are banning promotional bags.... Curmudgeon 2013-05-23T17:09:12Z Curmudgeon comment-82958 2013-05-23T15:59:28Z 2013-05-23T15:59:28Z That's right. Look up "Curb your dog". Curmudgeon 2013-05-23T15:59:28Z Curmudgeon comment-82957 2013-05-23T15:58:36Z 2013-05-23T15:58:36Z But heaven forbid a big box supermarket want to locate a store there! Curmudgeon 2013-05-23T15:58:36Z Curmudgeon comment-82951 2013-05-23T14:34:22Z 2013-05-23T14:34:22Z The “comprehensive immigration” deal is backed by Mexico, that the people from its impoverished areas enter the U.S. illegally, scrimp while abroad, get subsidized by the U.S. for housing, health care, and education, and send back billions of dollars in remittances to provide the sort of support that the Mexican government apparently will not. Big businesses are supposedly flush with cash, but funny how they are not so flush as to pay competitive wages to attract U.S. workers, even during high unemployment. In the pre-illegal-immigration days, the upper class of the American Southwest did not consider itself an entitled aristocracy which assumed that its cooking, child care, and landscaping were to provided by low-paid and off-the-books foreign nationals, who are largely subsidized by taxpayers who are on average poorer than the elites. Most of the current elites who talk grandly of "comprehensive immigration reform" have the capital and influence to insulate themselves from the direct consequences of massive illegal immigration. They don't put their children in central or southern California public schools, and don't need to use the same overcrowded clinics and public hospitals. Curmudgeon 2013-05-23T14:34:22Z Curmudgeon comment-82950 2013-05-23T13:12:19Z 2013-05-23T13:12:19Z Adversely. Curmudgeon 2013-05-23T13:12:19Z Curmudgeon comment-82949 2013-05-23T13:11:08Z 2013-05-23T13:11:08Z Tony Sheppard has it. The bizarre mixture of elitism and Ludditism in Sacramento proper is self defeating. Curmudgeon 2013-05-23T13:11:08Z Curmudgeon comment-82776 2013-05-16T22:19:45Z 2013-05-16T22:19:45Z To paraphrase Thomas Dodson: "What crime? You mean you left your art on the front window of your gallery and someone stole it? Holy shit. Alert the ATF. That’s called a crime of opportunity, Junior. Show me one violent crime report that shows downtown is a dangerous place. One." Being cavalier about crime has consequences. Curmudgeon 2013-05-16T22:19:45Z Curmudgeon comment-82769 2013-05-16T19:23:12Z 2013-05-16T19:23:12Z It is amusing actually. The dishonest and purposeful misuse of terms by the developers in order to market their product, versus the dishonest and purposeful misuse of terms by the neighborhood opposition who just can't admit exactly why they oppose the project. Frankly, I wouldn't blame the East Sac Neighborhood associations for opposing the project, as they were there first. But it does reveal an appalling inability of some people to practice what they preach. If they like their lower density, cul de sac neighborhood and any development of the vacant parcel will upset that, they should just say so. I'm not a fan of Phil Angelides, politically or otherwise, but he is honestly damned if he does and damned if he doesn't here. Let's just be honest here: there are a good many people who don't want *anything* built there. If so, let them buy up the land and make it a park. If they offer the developers a reasonable price, the developers will take the money and run, rather than fight legal battles that will go on for years. Curmudgeon 2013-05-16T19:23:12Z Curmudgeon comment-82661 2013-05-13T22:44:54Z 2013-05-13T22:44:54Z Yes, you fools trying to "bring" us a choo-choo which we won't ride and make us pay for the privilege. You dupes who want to disarm us while you mollycoddle every criminal if they look right to you. You tyrants who want to force us to pay for your killing of the innocent while you let the guilty off scot-free. Curmudgeon 2013-05-13T22:44:54Z Curmudgeon comment-82364 2013-05-07T22:20:00Z 2013-05-07T22:20:00Z Cool. There's nothing wrong with opposing a development in your neighborhood, so long as you are honest about what you are doing. I guess it is just a pet peeve of mine to see those who preach "infill development", and "walkable neighborhoods" reveal that what they really mean is "for thee, but not for me...." Curmudgeon 2013-05-07T22:20:00Z Curmudgeon comment-82351 2013-05-07T19:08:02Z 2013-05-07T19:08:02Z If this project actually gets built (and for the school district boundary reason you describe I am betting it won't), students in the housing area would have to go to Twin Rivers Unified schools several miles away, unless the district lines get redrawn. Those who get the Mello-Roos property tax money have to take the kids. Curmudgeon 2013-05-07T19:08:02Z Curmudgeon comment-82336 2013-05-07T18:53:24Z 2013-05-07T18:53:24Z The problem is, if road access at Alhambra Boulevard, and everywhere else it was needed, was connected, then another group of NIMBYs at that end of Alhambra, Elvas and other connector streets, who like the streets closed off and cul-de-sac, would then add *their* opposition to any proposed development in the area. The East Sacramento Neighborhood Association has blocked a practical Richards Blvd to Elvas Avenue connector street for decades. And as the article notes, previous proposed developments like Centrex were denser and highly commercial, and guess what? They were opposed too! So now a development is proposed that is less dense and all residential, and do the NIMBYs back off? No, of course not. People pay lip service to "walkable" and "mixed use" developments, but such realistic developments require two things: 1. Connecting surface streets. (Not freeways, mind you, in fact, you can see areas of the W/X and 29/30 freeways that blocked off more than a few connecting surface streets). But this means no cul-de-sac developments. 2. Much denser developments, with people packed and stacked in. Frankly, I wouldn't blame the East Sac Neighborhood associations for opposing that, as they were there first. But again, it does reveal an appalling inability of some people to practice what they preach. Glass houses, stones, and all that. If they like their lower density, cul de sac neighborhood and any development of the vacant parcel will upset that, they should just say so. I'm not a fan of Phil Angelides, politically or otherwise, but he is honestly damned if he does and damned if he doesn't here. Let's just be honest here: there are a good many people who don't want *anything* built there, save for a romantic notion of a "Farm-to-fork" operation. And the very same people would complain and raise objections at any practical and real measures to make that farm-to-fork a profitable concern, like tractors or trucks with day labor pickers or dumptruck loads of smelly organic fertilizer going down their streets. Curmudgeon 2013-05-07T18:53:24Z Curmudgeon comment-82329 2013-05-07T14:42:00Z 2013-05-07T14:42:00Z Gee, I wonder if this will be called a "hate crime". No, of course not. Curmudgeon 2013-05-07T14:42:00Z Curmudgeon comment-82286 2013-05-06T15:19:55Z 2013-05-06T15:19:55Z Once again, this illustrates the need for a "Safe Ground". If this was just north of the railroad tracks, it would work. How about that vacant triangle plot between 12th Street, 16th Street, and Basler Street? Or that spot beside the Salvation Army? There are facilities, like auto parts and scrap metal recycling yards, that are necessary for a healthy community, but that no one wants to have immediately next door to them. Loaves and Fishes is another such facility. Put the Safe Ground in the "River District", north of the railroad tracks. Curmudgeon 2013-05-06T15:19:55Z Curmudgeon comment-82290 2013-05-06T15:14:08Z 2013-05-06T15:14:08Z Get real, Bruce. They WANT a permanent encampment. And I think they should have one--in what is called "The River District" north of the Union Pacific Tracks, by Loaves and Fishes, away from Midtown. Curmudgeon 2013-05-06T15:14:08Z Curmudgeon comment-82288 2013-05-06T14:55:45Z 2013-05-06T14:55:45Z Speaking of people who need to be run out of town..... Curmudgeon 2013-05-06T14:55:45Z Curmudgeon comment-82287 2013-05-06T14:53:59Z 2013-05-06T14:53:59Z Because Galt would run those people out on a rail, and because there are no facilities for them in Galt. Yes, there is a near 100% correlation between those two factors. Curmudgeon 2013-05-06T14:53:59Z Curmudgeon comment-81983 2013-04-25T17:19:16Z 2013-04-25T17:19:16Z Ah, but the undercutters ARE "progressive". Just ask them.... Curmudgeon 2013-04-25T17:19:16Z Curmudgeon comment-81958 2013-04-25T15:33:01Z 2013-04-25T15:33:01Z Sophistry. The McKinley Village site is surrounded by development for miles. Developers who go out to El Dorado and Placer Counties, or Rancho Cordova and Citrus Heights, for that matter, don't have to put up with troublemakers. When they need connecting roads to improve traffic capacity within an *already* built-up area, they get them *built*, not "studied". They don't have to deal with troublemakers, like you. And you know it. Curmudgeon 2013-04-25T15:33:01Z Curmudgeon comment-81956 2013-04-25T15:25:34Z 2013-04-25T15:25:34Z "they also focused on a better mass transit system to limit the need for more freeways, and a somewhat higher population density in areas that were developed in order to limit the need for more horizontal expansion." What color is the sky in your world? They did nothing of the kind. They just exported their burbs out our way, turning Vacaville, Fairfield, Tracy, and Modesto into litte metropolises full of people who make 50-mile or more commutes. And wave after wave of "downzonings" gave the cities of SF, Oakland and Berkeley *fewer* residents than each city had in 1950. Curmudgeon 2013-04-25T15:25:34Z Curmudgeon comment-81930 2013-04-24T21:53:01Z 2013-04-24T21:53:01Z "And, while you're at it, Curmudgeon, can you tell us how state government generates suburban growth?" Put on your thinking cap now--more employment means more people living here. And those people will tend to want homes with yards for their families, whether you like it or not..... "And, finally, are you claiming that Napa doesn't have suburbs all over its hillsides solely because of market forces--nobody wants to live there, real estate developers aren't interested in putting suburbs there?" No, but nice try. Although the people who declared filling adjacent Bay Area swamps verboten in the 1960's, followed by people who declared terracing adjacent Bay Area hillsides verboten in the 1980's, did push commuter developments further and further out--as far as Fairfield and Stockton. Napa and Sonoma counties got more development pressure as soon as Marin County decided not to grow anymore. And Solano County got more development pressure as soon as Napa County decided not to grow anymore. When the Bay Area presure groups said "no more Foster Cities" and "no more Pacificas", it was only a matter of time before the people who would otherwise afforded a home on filled-in Bay swamp or on terraced Bay hillside started moving out as far as Stockton to find that affordable home. Curmudgeon 2013-04-24T21:53:01Z Curmudgeon comment-81928 2013-04-24T21:43:14Z 2013-04-24T21:43:14Z "Curmudgeon: Can you please provide some examples of infill developers who were stymied and stifled by people who profess to be in favor of more infill development?" Gee, Will, how about here: http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/80684/Opinion_Neighbors_not_happy_with_developers_lack_of_response_on_McKinley_Village and here: http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/79384/Back_with_a_twist_McKinley_Village_development_being_retooled and here: http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/43938/Curtis_Park_neighbors_fear_clearcutting_of_Heritage_Trees_in_Union_Pacific_Railyard_site and here: http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/58905/Council_gives_go_ahead_for_study_of_neighborhood_friendly_river_crossings and here: http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/47625/Before_R_Street_Market_Plaza_development_Photo_Essay and here: http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/35281/Grocery_Outlet_Then_and_Now and here: http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/44966/City_Council_tells_builder_to_redesign_alley_house Curmudgeon 2013-04-24T21:43:14Z Curmudgeon comment-81916 2013-04-24T18:41:53Z 2013-04-24T18:41:53Z And again and again on these Sacramento Press webpages, we find examples of would - be "infill developers" who were stymied and stifled, more often than not by the very people who profess to be in favor of more infill development. Curmudgeon 2013-04-24T18:41:53Z Curmudgeon comment-81907 2013-04-24T14:38:54Z 2013-04-24T14:38:54Z Napa doesn't have the growth generator known as the state government. If you want to keep Sacramento from growing so much, you will have to curtail the size of that. Aerospace and Defense have already left, and electronics and food canneries are leaving. Curmudgeon 2013-04-24T14:38:54Z Curmudgeon comment-81836 2013-04-23T16:07:29Z 2013-04-23T16:07:29Z "I can not think of a mayor who's been more inattentive to the needs of the city than he has been." Gee, where were you when Mayors Fargo, Serna, Rudin, and certain city councilmembers were allowing the problems of the city to metastasize? You can fault K.J. for his Captain-Ahab like pursuit of the Kings, but it's not like this city hadn't already come undone before his watch. Curmudgeon 2013-04-23T16:07:29Z Curmudgeon comment-81622 2013-04-12T21:02:20Z 2013-04-12T21:02:20Z Indeed. Caesar Chavez was the original "Minuteman". But somewhere, "La Causa" of better wages and working conditions, mutated into "La Raza", importing a larger underclass to exploit. Curmudgeon 2013-04-12T21:02:20Z Curmudgeon comment-81486 2013-04-09T15:20:53Z 2013-04-09T15:20:53Z "commitment to the best Education in our public schools instead of the push to charter schools" Because bureaucrats know better than involved parents. :-P Curmudgeon 2013-04-09T15:20:53Z Curmudgeon comment-81341 2013-04-04T18:27:23Z 2013-04-04T18:27:23Z accomodate criminals? I think we are trying to fight them with better lighting.... Curmudgeon 2013-04-04T18:27:23Z Curmudgeon comment-81279 2013-04-02T14:41:29Z 2013-04-02T14:41:29Z The naughty man's knot was not good for him, and he came to naught. Curmudgeon 2013-04-02T14:41:29Z Curmudgeon comment-81277 2013-04-02T14:38:39Z 2013-04-02T14:38:39Z Darwin awards. Curmudgeon 2013-04-02T14:38:39Z Curmudgeon comment-81176 2013-03-29T22:42:07Z 2013-03-29T22:42:07Z "Streetcars are often called "development-oriented transit" because they promote growth of transit-oriented neighborhoods along their right-of-way." Really? How will building a streetcar between West Sacramento and Downtown succeed where building streetcars between Downtown and "Uptown" Del Paso (and later North Highlands) and Downtown and East Sacramento (and later Rancho Cordova, and later Folsom) failed? And please don't tell me that it is because the RT streetcars are not historical enough. :-) Adding housing for new downtown residents is laudable, but how about getting out of the developer's way when they want to do just that? Curmudgeon 2013-03-29T22:42:07Z Curmudgeon comment-81183 2013-03-29T21:40:50Z 2013-03-29T21:40:50Z Semantics. Where "light rail" goes through the Grid, it plods along at a streetcar pace. Moreover, the shining example given of Portland *is* a light rail system, one with a better right of way grade separation., and hence more speed, than Sacramento at that. This suggests that something else is at work in Sacramento. I suspect it is our perpetually squabbling city council. Curmudgeon 2013-03-29T21:40:50Z Curmudgeon comment-81179 2013-03-29T21:21:05Z 2013-03-29T21:21:05Z "A functioning mixed-use neighborhood has entertainment venues within its boundaries mixed in with other uses, so the neighborhood is useful 24 hours a day--not an 8-hour shift and 16 hours when it's underutilized." The problem with this is that the neighbors will complain about the entertainment venue noise, unless (1) the neighbors remain perpetually single childless 20 something hipsters, (2) the entertainment venue is spaced out more, which defeats the packed-in downtown plan, or (3) the entertainment venue is built costly and thick walled, like a Cold-War era missile silo. Curmudgeon 2013-03-29T21:21:05Z Curmudgeon comment-81177 2013-03-29T21:10:57Z 2013-03-29T21:10:57Z Sadly, a new Toyota or BMW factory cannot happen in today's business-bashing, enviro-fanatical, left-leaning, non-right-to-work California. The NUMMI plant in Fremont only worked because Toyota got to pick up GM's slack, and even that is gone now. Curmudgeon 2013-03-29T21:10:57Z Curmudgeon comment-81055 2013-03-27T15:09:40Z 2013-03-27T15:09:40Z I had to edit for incomplete grammar. I didn't mean to give the impression that new parking should not be subject to the surcharge, quite the opposite. Sorry about that. Curmudgeon 2013-03-27T15:09:40Z Curmudgeon comment-80999 2013-03-26T22:31:42Z 2013-03-26T22:31:42Z If the ESC investors use properties given by the city for new parking lots, but those new parking lots are also required to pay the parking surcharge to the city, is that such a problem? There may be no "Skyscraper Magic Fairy" to make downtown property owners and investors rich, but if this arena goes through, there most certainly will be a "Stacked Parking Garage Fairy". (Yes, the parking will have to be stacked). Curmudgeon 2013-03-26T22:31:42Z Curmudgeon comment-80674 2013-03-26T22:01:27Z 2013-03-26T22:01:27Z They claim to want "infill development", but woe be it to anyone who actually tries to build any. Once again, this illustrates the need for better road connectivity within the City of Sacramento. An extension of Richards Boulevard along the south bank of the American river, past the former CIty Dump now park and around Midtown and connecting to Lanatt Street and Elvas Avenue, would take the traffic between downtown / Natomas and the Cannery Industrial Park / Cal State University out of Midtown entirely, and make bus service and development much more feasible for this vacant spot. This plan has been on the books since the 1950s. The road had been planned as the "Elvas-Richards Connector." As its name states, it was intended to connect Elvas Avenue to Richards Boulevard, creating a bypass of Central Sacramento. The route has since been re-named "Sutter's Landing Parkway," but the proposed route has been truncated to end at Business 80 to appease the NIMBYs in East Sacramento. If you ever travel down Elvas Avenue northwest of Sac State, you'll notice that the street is wide enough to carry four to six lanes of traffic in certain spots, but only has two through lanes, because the "East Sacramento Improvement Association" (sic) doesn't want this to happen. See: http://eastsacimprovement.org/sample-page/ "Stopped the Elvas/Richards Connector which would have added 25,000 cars per day on Elvas Avenue". And conveniently blocks anything from ever being built on this parcel, as these same obstructionists will complain about lack of transit access. Without a major road, that is not surprising. So the parcel will remain vacant until the end of time. Curmudgeon 2013-03-26T22:01:27Z Curmudgeon comment-80990 2013-03-26T21:15:16Z 2013-03-26T21:15:16Z Indeed. Even altering the Railyards plans, with all the faults one can find with that, makes more sense than taking apart Downtown Plaza. Curmudgeon 2013-03-26T21:15:16Z Curmudgeon comment-80847 2013-03-21T15:26:42Z 2013-03-21T15:26:42Z Unfortunately, cogmeyer, I suspect too many people here think targeting "the elderly, children, women, and landscapers, realtors and bankers" is just fine, as long as the thugs are targeting "class enemies", justified by whatever other Marxist/ "Occupy" ideology they believe in. :( And they probably will construct elaborate rationales about how the thugs are misbegotten victim minorities in those cases. When the thugs start targeting their favorite victim groups is when it gets interesting. Will the gays wise up in time? Or will the gays be disposed of once they are no longer useful tools for the statist Left agenda? I am sorry to hear about your attack. I wish you could have shot the scum. But then again, the same statist Left would put you on trial for defending yourself. Curmudgeon 2013-03-21T15:26:42Z Curmudgeon comment-80802 2013-03-20T15:16:48Z 2013-03-20T15:16:48Z William Burg's sophistry denies geography. That this parcel, by a twist of fate (or more likely, for lack of an access road) escaped development in the 1950's, is irrelevant. This parcel is surrounded by development for miles, and is almost a stone's throw from downtown. It is still infill. Curmudgeon 2013-03-20T15:16:48Z Curmudgeon comment-80799 2013-03-20T14:54:14Z 2013-03-20T14:54:14Z Actually, no, that isn't asking too much. Fair enough. And perhaps the people of East Sacramento are correct in not wanting a high density development in their area. But it does reveal an appalling inability of some people to practice what they preach. People pay lip service to "walkable" and "mixed use" developments, but such realistic developments require two things: 1. Connecting surface streets. (Not freeways, mind you, in fact, you can see areas of the W/X and 29/30 freeways that blocked off more than a few connecting surface streets). But this means no cul-de-sac developments. 2. Much denser developments, with people packed and stacked in. Frankly, I wouldn't blame the East Sac Neighborhood associations for opposing that, as they were there first. But again, it does reveal an appalling inability of some people to practice what they preach. Glass houses, stones, and all that. If Sutter's Landing Park has improved since the days of "Camp Homeless", all the better. A connecting road would bisect what is now the park, true. But it would also make it easier for people in East Sacramento to bicycle or hike there. As it is, Business 80 is a barrier. Curmudgeon 2013-03-20T14:54:14Z Curmudgeon comment-80795 2013-03-20T14:37:53Z 2013-03-20T14:37:53Z Oh puhleeze Jared. The propaganda that anyone who thinks that no, a gay relationship isn't quite the same as a marriage, whatever legal status it may merit, will ipso facto go out and bash gay people, is its *own* disgusting bigotry. Curmudgeon 2013-03-20T14:37:53Z Curmudgeon comment-80704 2013-03-18T22:35:13Z 2013-03-18T22:35:13Z Yah, because there is a thriving park there now, fool? :-P A connecting road would improve access to the American River and the Sutter Landing Park, but you can't admit that, can you? "Neighborhood Advocacy Groups" are just liars. If you want a lower density, cul de sac neighborhood and no development of the infill parcel, just say so. Or would that expose your phony "green" hypocrisy? The secondary levee is a joke if the primary levee fails, and has been so for years. To suggest that this parcel "has more in common with Elk Grove than midtown", is to deny geographic reality. A much shorter commute vs. a much longer one and all that. That you liken connecting Sacramento surface streets in a logical fashion to the former Embarcadero Freeway way out in SF says more about you and your Luddite mentality than anything else. Curmudgeon 2013-03-18T22:35:13Z Curmudgeon comment-69582 2013-03-15T14:47:17Z 2013-03-15T14:47:17Z One clear cut case of government abuse stopped by gun rights was among the Korean Americans of Los Angeles during the 1992 riots. Or perhaps that was government neglect. Curmudgeon 2013-03-15T14:47:17Z Curmudgeon comment-80194 2013-03-11T14:34:06Z 2013-03-11T14:34:06Z Which illustrates a problem with mixed use cities. The hipsters claim to like them, until they settle in, and then they really don't. Hmmm. Perhaps it is time for another Modest Proposal. Just as the vicinity of Loaves and Fishes, the Salvation Army and the Union Gospel Mission needs a "Safe Ground", or a "Homeless Zone", perhaps K street / Downtown Sacramento needs a "Bro Containment Zone". To everything there is a place. Curmudgeon 2013-03-11T14:34:06Z Curmudgeon comment-80212 2013-03-07T19:15:15Z 2013-03-07T19:15:15Z Heh. Curmudgeon 2013-03-07T19:15:15Z Curmudgeon comment-80191 2013-03-07T15:24:37Z 2013-03-07T15:24:37Z Is there enough room for BarWest where the Pyramid used to be? It seems K Street wouldn't mind the night noise. Curmudgeon 2013-03-07T15:24:37Z Curmudgeon comment-79992 2013-03-01T16:23:21Z 2013-03-01T16:23:21Z Oh spare me. Fuel taxes were raided for spending utterly unrelated to roads, or transit for that matter. Red-lining has been dead for about 50 years now, and how dare the veterans be rewarded. Meanwhile, civil rights for nutties makes it impossible to commit many of the street people. Or do you really think the investors in those new downtown commercial developments wanted to leave homeless around "to scare off any suburban residents tempted to linger around downtown long after office hours"? What--to spoil their own property value? Is this where Marxist pathology thinking leads? Curmudgeon 2013-03-01T16:23:21Z Curmudgeon comment-79970 2013-02-28T15:55:48Z 2013-02-28T15:55:48Z Sigh. The free market solution was destroyed by statist "urban renewal" projects. Curmudgeon 2013-02-28T15:55:48Z Curmudgeon comment-79932 2013-02-27T15:34:18Z 2013-02-27T15:34:18Z Actually, Generation X'ers are now in their forties. Boomers are now in their sixties. Curmudgeon 2013-02-27T15:34:18Z Curmudgeon comment-79814 2013-02-25T15:22:33Z 2013-02-25T15:22:33Z True. A map, or at least a "most likely" list, would be helpful. "To accommodate the influx of students, schools on the receiving end will likely have to add portable classrooms, which includes William Land and Theodore Judah schools." Wait--doesn't this cost something? How much money is actually saved by this consolidation? Curmudgeon 2013-02-25T15:22:33Z Curmudgeon comment-79788 2013-02-21T20:46:55Z 2013-02-21T20:46:55Z Yah, normal people wash their (burlap, leather, canvas) tote bags (purses, backpacks) all the time! Oh wait..... Curmudgeon 2013-02-21T20:46:55Z Curmudgeon comment-79775 2013-02-20T16:55:09Z 2013-02-20T16:55:09Z When the food bourne illnesses start mounting, as thsas pointed out, we shall see who is laughing last, or coughing first. Plastic bags aren't just cheap and convenient, they are also sanitary. Curmudgeon 2013-02-20T16:55:09Z Curmudgeon comment-79768 2013-02-20T15:29:27Z 2013-02-20T15:29:27Z Prepare yourselves for thawing frozen goods ripping through the paper bags and falling to the pavement, like in days of yore. The eco-fiend nanny state at its finest. Yet another reason to avoid the city proper. Curmudgeon 2013-02-20T15:29:27Z Curmudgeon comment-79714 2013-02-19T20:50:00Z 2013-02-19T20:50:00Z By bashing and hassling developers, bashing and hassling businesses, and voting for representatives that do the same. That's how. Curmudgeon 2013-02-19T20:50:00Z Curmudgeon comment-79639 2013-02-16T22:51:40Z 2013-02-16T22:51:40Z Hey, it is better than leaving it run down! Any development in this bad economy should be celebrated. That said, the grid would really be something to behold if certain troublemakers just got out of the way and let the developers there do what they need to do. Curmudgeon 2013-02-16T22:51:40Z Curmudgeon comment-79662 2013-02-16T22:51:06Z 2013-02-16T22:51:06Z YOU drove them out of the central city. The reason their further out stucco boxes are relatively cheap is because YOU made it too expensive to build closer in. Curmudgeon 2013-02-16T22:51:06Z Curmudgeon comment-79573 2013-02-13T18:28:47Z 2013-02-13T18:28:47Z Prepare yourselves for thawing frozen goods ripping through the paper bags and falling to the pavement, like in days of yore. The eco-fiend nanny state at its finest. Curmudgeon 2013-02-13T18:28:47Z Curmudgeon comment-79541 2013-02-12T18:12:24Z 2013-02-12T18:12:24Z Make that the "community leaders" rather than the developers. The developers didn't oppose a connector between Richards Blvd and Elvas Avenue. Curmudgeon 2013-02-12T18:12:24Z Curmudgeon comment-79523 2013-02-12T04:07:30Z 2013-02-12T04:07:30Z "Everyone who came to the meeting mentioned in this article were central city residents, not East Sacramento residents, so accusing them of living in the "forties" is geographically off base." OK--exactly what side of the freeway is this proposed development on again? Who does it most impact? Meanwhile, the developer submits a proposal with fewer units per acre than the last one, because of one set of NIMBYs in the Fab Forties complaining about *too much* density, and then your set comes along and complains there isn't enough density! Whip-Saw! Whip-Saw! Whip-Saw! And you wonder why infill development tends not to happen.....Again, they claim to want "infill development", but woe be it to anyone who actually tries to do any. How about letting the developer build what he wants to build, which will be what he can sell? If it is denser and mixed use, more power to him (and you). "Instead of salacious fantasies about hearing one's neighbors "shtupp."" Sorry, I used to rent an apartment around 25th and I before getting a single family home (and at 1450 square feet, it is hardly a McMansion) out toward Antelope. I lived it. Curmudgeon 2013-02-12T04:07:30Z Curmudgeon comment-79462 2013-02-12T03:48:37Z 2013-02-12T03:48:37Z "Apparently the new proposal consists entirely of detached single-family homes, with fewer units per acre than the previous proposal, a very suburban 6-8 units per acre, and thus less dense than adjacent McKinley Park and much less dense than Marshall School/New Era Park. Calling this "urban," "smart growth," or "green" in any but the most token sense of the term is downright deceptive--it's basically a little slice of Elk Grove, a neighborhood that will be utterly car-dependent from its first day." This is not surprising--The most vocal pro-transit folks tend to live in single-family homes and advocate high-density homes for the rest of the populace--but not anywhere near where they live! No more high-density condos or apartments in or near their Fabulous Forties! I would sure hope they can tell the rest of us about the advantages of living in vibrant, high density environments....... And I can't really blame them. Speaking of Condos or Apartments, if you chose to live in a "Transit Oriented Development", would it be a dwelling you would choose to RENT as an apartment? Or would it be someplace you would choose to BUY as a condominium? Can you provide an example of a nice high-density, owner-based development locally? Is it located within a quarter mile of an LRT station? Or a bus route for that matter? Personally, I'd buy a condominium in a heartbeat, and not have to deal with the lawn, if I was unable to hear my neighbor's crying children, extremely poor taste in music, sex habits, rutting / grumbling / sweaty / domestic dealings, smoking tendencies or poor tastes in music. Likewise, I'm sure my neighbors would say the same things about me. Exactly how does "high density" development benefit me as an individual? Am I supposed to feel good about "being green" as I hear my neighbor shtupp his wife and talk nasty to her, while she moans and screams...... "Aiyyhh Papi!!!! Aye!!!" Curmudgeon 2013-02-12T03:48:37Z Curmudgeon comment-79461 2013-02-11T19:36:06Z 2013-02-11T19:36:06Z "The residents will have to get in their cars to take their children to school, go to Starbucks, do grocery shopping, etc." News flash--that happens anyway, particularly among River Park dwellers. Not every store can be right where you want it to be. "On the schools issue, if the developer really wanted this to work, he would at least check and see if the Sac Board of Education would change the boundary to the river for the area." It is not the developer's fault if Twin Rivers won't give up Mello-Roos for this development (assuming it even happens, and because of issues like this, I am betting it won't). Curmudgeon 2013-02-11T19:36:06Z Curmudgeon comment-79458 2013-02-11T18:22:38Z 2013-02-11T18:22:38Z Once again, this illustrates the need for better road connectivity within the City of Sacramento. An extension of Richards Boulevard along the south bank of the American river, past the former CIty Dump now park and around Midtown and connecting to Lanatt Street and Elvas Avenue, would take the traffic between downtown / Natomas and the Cannery Industrial Park / Cal State University out of Midtown entirely, and make bus service and development much more feasible for this vacant spot. This plan has been on the books since the 1950s. The parkway has been planned as the "Elvas-Richards Connector." As its name states, it was intended to connect Elvas Avenue to Richards Boulevard, creating a bypass of Central Sacramento. The route has since been re-named "Sutter's Landing Parkway," but the proposed route has been truncated to end at Business 80 to appease the NIMBYs in East Sacramento. If you ever travel down Elvas Avenue northwest of Sac State, you'll notice that the street is wide enough to carry four to six lanes of traffic in certain spots, but only has two through lanes. There is no timetable to build this road, and I doubt it will be built. Funding and NIMBYs come to mind, here. Curmudgeon 2013-02-11T18:22:38Z Curmudgeon comment-79452 2013-02-11T16:37:37Z 2013-02-11T16:37:37Z Indeed. They claim to want "infill development", but woe be it to anyone who actually tries to do any. Curmudgeon 2013-02-11T16:37:37Z Curmudgeon comment-66252 2013-02-06T20:02:08Z 2013-02-06T20:02:08Z To paraphrase C.S. Lewis: "And all the time—such is the tragi-comedy of our situation—we in Sacramento continue to clamour for those very qualities we are rendering impossible. You can hardly open a periodical without coming across the statement that what our city needs is more commerce, or sales tax revenue, or business, or jobs. Yet in a sort of ghastly simplicity we remove the organs of these yet demand the function. We make teens without entry level jobs and we are shocked to find them lacking in work ethic and enterprise. We mock fast-food enterprises and are shocked to find vacant lots and slums in our midst. We castrate commerce and bid the geldings be fruitful." Curmudgeon 2013-02-06T20:02:08Z Curmudgeon comment-79220 2013-02-04T16:40:04Z 2013-02-04T16:40:04Z That would be the "beauty" of the NON-commuter community. Those people aren't working, at least not a normal commuter job. Those of us who actually do commute with the trolley are fortunate to avoid that in the morning, but the afternoon and evening are something else. On my rail commute home (or back to where I park) the other day, there was a woman who appeared fairly attractive behind the seat I wanted to sit in. However, the seat in front of her was filled with trash, so I chose another seat. Later, some guy who looked like Manson Family member Steve "Clem" Grogan got on and sat in that seat and began talking to that "attractive" woman who began to talk about methadone and her love of alcohol. I actually looked over at her for a second and was quite impressed by her "picket fence" teeth and sexy coal-miner drawl. As for poverty, virtually everyone who got on the train had a "smart" cell phone, nicer than mine. Most of the riders were using them, and speaking at loud volume, dropping f-bombs all the way. My favorite person was a female passenger who sat in front of me and asked the person on the other end of her call if she would pick her up at the Church's Chicken, because she was her "favorite bitC#. She also began singing Pop and Gospel songs into her cellphone. When her scalp itched, she initially began to scratch, but switched to pounding her skull with her fist as the itching persisted. I pay a monthly pass for this experience. It can be more fun than the movies, except when it is like a horror movie. This particular ride was a combination of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Dolemite." Seeing the homeless sleeping on concrete benches at the LRT stations and the gangbangers around the Arden/Del Paso station only enforces my vision of what LRT represents, as well as what many of our elected leaders appear to want for our country's future. Curmudgeon 2013-02-04T16:40:04Z Curmudgeon comment-79178 2013-02-04T15:39:05Z 2013-02-04T15:39:05Z If anyone has caused the decline in US infrastructure, it is the likes of you, blocking badly needed roads, power plants, and industry in order to try to recreate late 19th and early 20th century cities that simply do not work. And the likes of you have caused economic decline as well. Small wonder business goes elsewhere. Curmudgeon 2013-02-04T15:39:05Z Curmudgeon comment-79179 2013-02-04T15:38:26Z 2013-02-04T15:38:26Z It has been nearly 5 decades since the Civil Rights Act and associated fair housing acts. It is amusing to see people who don't like suburbs, but seeing that most people do, have to concoct great conspiracies as to how the masses were "tricked" into living there. Curmudgeon 2013-02-04T15:38:26Z Curmudgeon comment-79123 2013-02-01T17:55:18Z 2013-02-01T17:55:18Z Experience in my family is that the older ones want to stay in their homes, whether in the suburbs or otherwise, until they reach the stage of wanting or needing "assisted living" at which point they liquidate the suburban place and go to the senior facility, or move in the spare bedroom or "Granny cottage" with their adult children. And the assisted living places all have shuttle buses to help people get around even if located in the burbs. This is not to say I disagree with the underlying analysis. It makes sense for seniors to want to live in smaller apts/condos without big yards and be closer to the cultural amenities that appeal to them. Which would bode well for inner cities if they were well run. However, (1) a good many inner cities are still unsafe and unpleasant. (2) those prime of lifers raising kids will still flock to the burbs in droves. The successor prime of life generations will want to move into suburbia as it is, for the very reasons their predecessors did--family space, privacy, etc. It would be pleasing if elder gentrification of the ghettoes occurred, and in a few cities it has, but I am not sure if that will happen for most of them. I hope it will, however. If the elders have the clout, all I can say is let "Gray Power!" drive out the ghettoes. However, will quiet elders want the same kind of inner city that childless young hipsters do? Probably not. Perhaps they can split midtown down the middle between them? This thread did get me to thinking--what if the City of Sacramento deliberately encouraged the elderly to move in to some of its neighborhoods? Two candidate areas: 1. The north end of Oak Park. Ghetto, but close to the "Fabulous 30's-40's". Older homes that while they are single family, are rather dinky and cramped by suburban standards, but probably great for empty nesters. Also close proximity to Sutter Memorial, Sutter General, Mercy and UC Davis hospitals and associated clinics. Close to cultural amenities of downtown. Perhaps Business 80 could be the divide between the rowdy "rainbow" youngsters of Midtown and the quieter elders. This neighborhood could be "Walker--able", so to speak. 2. Del Paso Heights/North Sac. As I ride the trolley along this route, I notice all the vacant lots and storefronts. What if senior care centers, dialysis clinics, "Urgent Care" mini hosptials and the like were encouraged to go there? It would fill up the vacant buildings. What if Eskaton-like centers were encoouraged on the many vacant lots around Swanston? Haggin Oaks Golf Course could become "the poor man's Sun City". Relative infrastructure demands: 1. Police. Initially, lots of cops might be needed to protect the elders, but the new inhabitants themselves are not likely to commit crimes, nor need crowd control. 2. Schools. Demands by elders would be minimal, save an adult education class or two. Crappy school districts would not be a problem. 3. Medical. Here, demands would be noticeably higher. 4. Tax base. Elderly on pensions are not lucrative, but they are preferable to slums. Curmudgeon 2013-02-01T17:55:18Z Curmudgeon comment-79121 2013-02-01T16:30:48Z 2013-02-01T16:30:48Z I used to live in same inner city. Your point? The worst neighborhoods remain in Sacramento CIty proper, and Midtown has its disproportionate share of the crime, although less than Oak Park or Del Paso Heights. Curmudgeon 2013-02-01T16:30:48Z Curmudgeon comment-79063 2013-02-01T16:28:43Z 2013-02-01T16:28:43Z Sigh. Until recent initiatives to put a stop to fund-raiding, the gasoline and other motor vehicle taxes had long paid for things utterly unrelated to roads, or transit for that matter. What useful infill development projects there are end up squelched by petty politics. Small wonder developers go elsewhere. Curmudgeon 2013-02-01T16:28:43Z Curmudgeon comment-79120 2013-02-01T16:27:43Z 2013-02-01T16:27:43Z How is a tragic road accident like a criminally violent death? Curmudgeon 2013-02-01T16:27:43Z Curmudgeon comment-79066 2013-01-31T17:13:26Z 2013-01-31T17:13:26Z Inner cities not crime ridden? Built to last? Detached from reality, indeed. Curmudgeon 2013-01-31T17:13:26Z