The author seems to fail note the city manager said the city could fund these positions IF the police would start contributing to their pensions. Any actuarial will tell you given the lavish pension the police and fire are scheduled to receive, they need to contribute at least 25% of their salary to adequately fund their pensions. If this sounds over the top, recognize the average citizen needs to contribute 22% of his or her income to max their 401k and pay into social security... for a pension far less lavish than the police and fire will enjoy.

and these guys are doing this on the taxpayer's dime??? They still don't get it...

This all might have some credibility if it was not being orchestrated by a lawyer who makes a living shaking down the city and county. The only person to have gained from any of this is the lawyer pocketing his settlements.

What are we paying these politicians for...it is to make decisions on our behalf!! I am so tired of NIMBY's wrapping themselves in the delusion that every decision they disagree with requires a vote by the general public. We just had a city council election. If any voter did not consider how their council person would vote on this issue in that election, then they weren't paying attention and I sincerely doubt their vote would be any better thought out now. Enough is Enough!!

Wonder if the festival is open to Palestinian vendors and exhibits?

I would posit to Ms. Cordell what Oak Park needs is not 'manufactured' street festivals, but market rate housing, which no developer is willing to do as long as the city requires the same level of subsidized housing as it would if the project were built in Land Park. The only thing holding Oak Park back is a lack of balanced housing at all price points. The last three projects built were 100% subsidized below market housing. No neighborhood is going to be healthy with residents of a single income level.

and one can see these same vendors where they have been accessible to all of midtown for years.... under the freeway, every Sunday, year round.

Here is hoping they have better/longer hours in the second location..

What is the California HIGHWAY Patrol doing routine traffic patrol in the city limits. If they want the job Sacramento should just shut down its own police department and let state taxpayers pay for law enforcement in the city. Just think of what the CHP will do when it gets it hands on some drones...

Mr Burg's no growth bias can be seen in his choice of words. it is NOT a basketball arena!!!!! Kings would be there less than a third of the year. The balance of the year would be booked by the concerts and events that now bypass Sacramento because we don't have an adequate facility. I would suggest Mr Burg check with the Convention Center as to the numbers of conventions we lose because no convention, even if free transportation is thrown will travel to Sleep Train. Those convention dollars are NEW dollars from outside the area that Sacramento and its businesses will capture. This is the reason to support the event center, not the Kings. Mr. Burg obviously has an agenda and if he can keep the conversation about billionaires and basket ball he can kill this project. I suspect Mr Burg gets his coffee at Starbucks rather than a local shop. If Seattle wins they will have folks like Mr. Burg to thank even more than the 'whales' they collected.

I wonder where Mr Burg gets his information... possibly local law firms trolling for an issue to bill? There is nothing in the term sheet that expands metered parking or raises rates. In fact as Steve Cohen noted on KXJZ this am.. the methods used to estimate parking revenue were low balled and very conservative. Given the fact the events center will give a reason for folks to want to park downtown after 4PM.. Mr. Cohen expects revenue to increase. Any minimally informed person can see the city is getting a far better bargain than the railyard project and the impact will be immediate. If Mr. Burg wants to editorialize he should have the integrity to state that is what he is doing. If this is part of an effort to make himself known to the general public for a run on the City Council... Mr Burg should recognize he is leaving a very detailed history of being a NIMBY and anti-growth. Looking at the last election, not sure that is the image I would want to project.

Bigots and similar types used to live on the margins..then Rush Limbaugh came along, made it okay The result are mega-churches in the suburbs who preach hating others who are different is okay as long as one mouths the proper platitudes. What is the difference with that attitude and a Muslim extremist who dreams about 21 virgins...none that I can see.

Cash only when the target customer group pays for coffee with a card...do the math.

Who are these people that would be disturbed.. the bar is on a commercial street. I guess these folks in the Marshall Neighborhood group must be able to hear crickets rubbing their back legs in Elk Grove. When are the residents of downtown and midtown ever going to realize they do not live in a subruban gated community. Would love to see these NIMBYs survive in New York City

It is not fear that is driving this conversation, but pandering and opportunism by certain city council members. Need to remember what drove the original argument to make it illegal was a fear by suburban parents their white children were mixing with inner city Puerto Ricans. Had nothing to do with any real harm.

I would love to know exactly what crimes Mr. Fong is aware of that can be directly sourced to one of the dispensaries. Quite frankly the police get more calls for service at a Safeway that they do these clinics. Would Mr. Fong propose that no grocer could locate within a 1000 ft of a school or church?

What Downtown needs is stop searching for a magic commercial bullet and focus on the real problem, lack of an organic, local customer base. The Council's policy which make it virtually impossible to pencil out market rate housing, is actually making what little market rate housing there is artificially expensive. The best thing the Council could do is rescind its pay to play policies and allow a glut of market rate housing. This would have the perverse outcome of making all housing in the central city more affordable, while at the same time providing the local customer base downtown and midtown merchants need to thrive.

This isn't the first artist of note Old Soul has hosted in Oak Park, but one of several which are both significant and interesting..

A state agency that is moving hundreds of jobs out of downtown to Elk Grove, noted that many of its employees already live in Elk Grove. The reason they live there, is this city council likes its predecessors, focuses only on subsidized housing. I suspect this is the first of a number of agencies who will relocate closer to their workers. This trend will result in the Sac Metro area becoming an economic doughnut. The surrounding communities will be thriving, while Sacramento an empty center, focusing on the homeless and subsidized housing. Sacramento has actually builds more subsidized housing than market rate...despite what politicians like William Burg say.

Here we go again...without a formal plan, neighborhood NIMBY's are criticizing the project. I wonder if these folks ever get the connection that a major factor in Sacramento's deteriorating, filthy air, is that only place any developer can build more than a single car garage is in the suburbs.. because city residents will complain and complain until either they bankrupt the developer or the developers just throw up their hands in disgust and walk away. Long-live Heather Fargo... she has mentored many acolytes and the city still is being held back for it..