This is awesome!

Stop fighting effects, and start fighting causes. Demand parent accountability.Blaming teachers for dropouts is like blaming firefighters for forest fires. Rhee's teachercide is deplorable and anyone who gets behind it doesn't understand the challenges teachers face. By the way, a study was just released showing "incentivizing" (one of KJ's favorite words) teachers who perform well is not effective.

Very, very sad. Lost a friend to suicide in high school. It was a morbid affair that stunned our school and city. Indescribable pain for the family. They never fully recovered. That said, I firmly believe we should be looking at teen suicide as a whole, not in parts. I don't think we should single out only LGBT teens to help. I think we should be helping All TEENS who are suffering from ANY form of abuse or depression that could lead to suicide. Thanks for this article

I truly hope the city does not discriminate when staffing the new fire station in Natomas. I hope the BEST people are hired for those jobs. It would be tragic (not to mention repugnant) to deprive the community of an awesome fire fighter simply because of his skin color.

Great article, great momentum on Ashby's part. On a related note, might want to downplay that "North Natomas is #1 neighborhood" award by Sac Magazine. Wouldn't want the people holding the purse strings to think Natomas residents are all giddy and everything is copacetic. All in all North Natomas is not merely suffering from growing pains; it is the land the city of Sac forgot. Anytime you have to have an "adopt a park" program you know you have severe neglect on the part of the city. Making residents responsible for upkeep of their own parks is shameful. If you're going to do that at least stop making them pay mello-roos tax supplements. Seems like it would be criminal to assess taxes for services you can't even provide..!?? Class action lawsuit seems appropriate. Abandoned buildings, major anchor retail clients closing their doors, crime, blight, poor performing schools, graffiti, a disproportionate amount of low income housing, excessive loitering on the part of bored teens, unchecked curfew, unfulfilled amenity promises, neglected parks, totally unchecked street racing on Del Paso Road.... Those are just a FEW of the things that make North Natomas an undesirable place to live and will keep property values lower than they should be. Personally I think there is a LOT of work to do be done in Natomas (in all of D1 and Sheedy's district as well, for that matter), and Sac Magazine's award was not appropriate at all. That would be my position if I was D1 council person. I'd say "thanks but no thanks." After all, if what Sac Mag says about North Natomas is correct, then why the $#@% isn't Ray Tretheway still in office.. ?