I'm utterly speechless. That playground provided untold hours of fun for me and my children over the years. To see this senseless destruction for destruction sake is painful. I just want to cry.

I would like to see this addition to light rail, too.

Ron Mellon at T9 answers, "That could not be further from the truth." (See above reply for more).

The short answer: 2 years until the first building is completed, 5 years +/- for the entire first phase The long answer: According to Ron Mellon, one of the three principal owner/developers of Township 9, the infrastructure portion of the first phase – roads, curbs, lighting, etc – is nearly complete, and they will break ground on the first "vertical building out of the ground" around November. That will be a 180-unit apartment complex and will take approximately 18 months to complete, Mellon said. The entire first phase of T9 is approx.1,300 units of an expected 2,500 total homes in the T9 master plan. Mellon said they have a 5 year build out plan for the first phase... but it is "market driven," so as there is demand, more will be built.

Pundit- thank you for the comment. The $2.3 million loss was the discovered in a full-department audit, which included the Waters situation. I have rephrased the reference above to clarify that Waters fiasco was not solely responsible for the entire loss.

Thank you for your comment, Doug. According to the City Clerk's office, the position of charter commissioner is unpaid.

Neil, thank you for your comments. Please see my reply above.

Tom, thank you for your comment. To clarify, there is no charge/fee to run for the charter commission. A candidate statement is optional - it is different than the "ballot designation" where a candidate states how he/she wants his/her name and occupation to appear on the ballot.

Thank you for the comments, Tom. I'll look into your question and follow-up.

Patrick, according to the RT map of the Green Line route, the segment extends from the H and Eighth streets station to the Township 9 station. I have corrected both articles to reflect this. My apologies for the confusion.

Actually, Squinter, it was intended to be a very simple recap. A larger discussion of "history, sponsors, POV, occurances, etc." might have been better suited to a pre-event article to entice people to attend and enjoy the event first-hand, or it might have been a great article from a Community Contributor assigned to the cover the event. I hope that next year you will take on that assignment – I'll bet you'd do a great job!

HelloBubba, By your description, you are right on the border of D4 and D5.... If your actual address puts you in D5, you would not have had any City Council candidates on your ballot.

The author thoroughly enjoyed the "hour or so" of discussion with the historian, and regrets having had to edit so much. She forsees a follow-up article in the future to take a closer look at Sacramento's gay community and it's contributions and achievements in the city. (Many thanks, William for your insight.)

'zactly. (To the moderator's credit, she did correct herself from that moment on.) :-D

Ah, man. Even when I fix it, I'm all thumbs on the keyboard! Just call me Mellisa Korcer from now on. :-)

My stars!! I'll correct immediately, Issac.

We hired the Busy Bus (video game version) for my son's 15th birthday – he and his friends LOVED it. Dave was incredible! He set everything up, kept nearby to make sure all went smoothly, and the kids had a great time. Great re-use of a city bus.

Thank you, Squinter. A forum preview article is available here: http://sacramentopress.com/headline/67673/Candidates_prepare_to_face_off_in_forum_Saturday But, to summarize: All questions are selected in advance. There will not be opportunity for audience-driven questions at the forum. The panel of moderators will be members of the media, however, other than myself, I do not know who else is scheduled to be on the panels. The event will be at the County Administration Building, 700 I St. It begins at 9 a.m. The public – voters, residents and interested persons alike – are invited to attend, however there is limited seating in the Board of Supervisors Chamber where the candidates will be speaking. The event will be televised on Metro Cable Channel 14, and replayed after the event on Metro Cable. Check their listings for additional showings. I'm sorry I do not know the exact format – timing, rebuttals, opening/closing statement allotments, etc. I hope you are able to attend or watch on Channel 14, though!

Mr. Hilbert-Garcia failed to qualify for the ballot initially, so he he is taking steps to be a write-in candidate. Read about it here: http://sacramentopress.com/headline/66955/Edgar_Garcia_returns_as_writein_candidate_for_mayor

Rhonda, there are definitely many crime-related/law enforcement-related questions for the candidates to address. Can you give me the one "top" question you'd like to have asked on the subject?