Johnson camp says Fargo “playing politics” with city manager Ray Kerridge, but who’s REALLY playing political poker?
By Joe • Aug 19th, 2008 |
So apparently there was a surprise agenda item for a closed door city council meeting this evening. Evidently Queen Fargo decided a review of city Manager Ray Kerridge’s performance was in order. A “performance appraisal” they call it. Eeeyoo don’t you HATE performance appraisals–especially when they don’t come with raises?
The Bee ran something about it today and in the article councilman and KJ supporter Robbie Waters grumbled, “I’m not aware of any problems with the city manager….I think he’s done an outstanding job.”
I can’t help but ask: Really? By what measure(s)? Isn’t the city budget a direct measure of the city manager’s performance? Read the rest of this article»
The Great American Yard Sale will not be televised.. at least not on my TV
By Joe • Aug 18th, 2008 |
I read a somewhat somber article in Time Magazine today about the great sell-off of American companies to foreign interests. It really got me thinking about the most important things in life.
The impetus for the article was the sale of Anheuser-Busch (read: Budweiser) to a Belgian-based, Brazillian-controlled company called InBev. Price tag? $52 BILLION dollars. Anheuser-Busch isn’t alone according to the article. The weak dollar coupled with a weak economy is leading to what Time has dubbed “The Great American Yard Sale.” Bottom line: America is for sale. And foreign interests are buying it up at alarming rates.
Get this: According to Time, last year there were over 2,000 foreign-led acquisitions of U.S. companies in deals worth some $405.4 billion, twice the value of Read the rest of this article»
The California State Fair isn’t the only place offering a haven for amusement lovers this summer
By Joe • Aug 14th, 2008 |
Forget the State Fair; if the Sacramento City Hall starts selling deep fried zucchini and Texas style bbq rib sandwiches, I just may take my family THERE this summer to see the circus.
Who could resist? With Heather Fargo, Ray Tretheway, Lauren Hammond and others in our illustrious city council shamefully attempting to portray their dissenting colleagues as election season puppets, RATHER than fiscally responsible budget stewards attempting to curb spending n the face of a staggering $58 million dollar budget deficit, this year’s I Street carnival is shaping up to be a dandy.
Make sure to print out these great attractions so you can compare Read the rest of this article»
Things in the news I wish we didn’t have to hear about (Pat Wiggins wig out edition)
By Joe • Aug 12th, 2008 |
I spend a lot of time writing about stuff I care about. I thought I’d change it up and share a list of things and people in the news I wish I didn’t have to hear about..
The Corti Brothers move
I hope they put a Long’s Drugs in that lot–Natomas style, baby. Welcome to “NEW Sacramento” y’all!
Urban forests
People and public safety first, THEN trees!
Sac Tree Foundation
When are we going to see a Sac Teen Foundation, Ray?
Southern Californian commercial developer Joe Zeiden
With today’s city council approval to purchase $2.4 million worth of downtown properties, the City of Sacramento has now spent a total about $26 MILLION acquiring properties on Zeiden’s behalf, so he can turn K Street into retail row. This while the city is trying to wrestle multiple Read the rest of this article»
56 Gun Salute for Sacramento City Council to “trumpet success” of dicey ammo ordinance
By Joe • Aug 12th, 2008 |
A year ago the City of Sacramento passed two gun ordinances: One ordinance made it mandatory to report gun thefts within 48 hours; the other mandated logging and fingerprinting of anyone buying ammo in Sacramento city limits.Today the city is holding a ceremony at the police warehouse to–according to their press release–”trumpet the success” of the program.
Sacramento city councilman Kevin McCarty sponsored both “bills,” so it’s likely he will be playing lead trumpet this morning at the ceremony. I picture McCarty and other local luminaries standing at a podium next to cache of confiscated weapons, Read the rest of this article»
Fargo and Treetheway in attendance at Mayor’s Conference in Miami to pick up tree award
By Joe • Aug 11th, 2008 |
WARNING: TURN DOWN YOUR COMPUTER SPEAKER VOLUME BEFORE YOU CLICK THE “READ THE REST OF THIS ARTICLE” LINK BELOW — YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
I run a bit behind on this stuff (yes, I do have a family and a job!), so apologies if it’s old news. But Mayor Fargo and puppet Ray ‘TreeTheWay’ Tretheway recently grabbed another tree award at the 76th Annual Mayor’s conference. The award pulled in another $75,000 for the Sac Tree Foundation (Treetheway is its Director). I have included a video from the Tree Foundation’s web site below. You must watch it.
In the very well produced–but highly distorted–video, Treetheway gushes about his boss’s knowledge of trees, and his boss Fargo then goes on to proudly recite trees by their LATIN names (I wonder if she knows any street names in North Natomas Read the rest of this article»
Isaac Hayes 1942-2008
By Joe • Aug 10th, 2008 |
CNN is reporting soul legend Mr. Isaac Hayes has died. He was 65.
Isaac was a rare breed like Luther Vandross. Both are dear favorites of mine. Both were soul virtuosos, and both had an affifinity for taking pop standards (from the likes of geniuses like Burt Bacarach) and transforming them into rich, bluesy, gospel tinted R&B masterpieces.
I have played piano, keys and recorded/performed R&B and Rock for many years, and Isaac’s extended jams Read the rest of this article»
Sacramento Police seeking to bridge trust gap with residents find new opportunities in racial profiling report
By Joe • Aug 9th, 2008 |
Heads are spinning, nodding, shaking, and probably rolling tonight after local officials released a commissioned report stating blacks (and Hispanics to a lesser degree), are two times more likely to be pulled over than Whites and Asians in SOME AREAS in the city of Sacramento.
I read through the report last night (not recommended). Looks like Lamberth Consulting–who executed the study and penned the report–definitely earned their money. The reports offers a lot of conclusions, but the only ones I am absolutely certain of after reading it are these: I am glad I am not a racial profiling analyst.. or a cop.. or a driver being pulled over because of my skin color.
Seems to me the central theme and purpose of the study is centered around this statement in the intro “..in many communities, especially minority communities, a lack of trust remains Read the rest of this article»
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? Sacramento City Council spending money like it’s growing on.. trees
By Joe • Aug 7th, 2008 |
Another day, another ‘kick in the teeth’ of Sacramento taxpayers. At this rate, we’re all going to need dentures pretty soon. Couple of things to cover here. Let’s start with Mayor Fargo’s number one priority: Trees.
Today the Sacramento City Council approved a $650,000 expenditure for “Urban Forest” rangers to COUNT TREES in the city (see the end of this article for a brochureware email from Sac Tree guru Ray Treetheway).
Countin’ trees ay? Hope they count them trees better than they counted them water meters.
Read the rest of this article»
Roger Dickinson and friends take a notably sour turn after anti-gang tax concoction fails
By Joe • Aug 6th, 2008 |
If your kid ever asks you, “Mom/Dad, what does it mean when someone says you have ’sour grapes’?” you may want to show them a picture of Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson.
In fact, in light of his statements in a recent radio interview, Dickinson may have enough sour grapes to start his own winery–or is that “whinery”?
Shortly after the Sacramento City Council joined other cities in REJECTING a permutation of Dickinson’s anti-gang tax shenanigan, he appeared on Ben Adler’s Capital Public Radio program [love you, NPR!], and ominously prophesied, “.. We will have kids and families and neighborhoods pay the price for the minority of the council being unwilling to proceed [with approving the anti-gang tax].”
How you like them sour grapes? Mm mm BITTER!
So we’re going to “pay the price” for not checking out through the Dickinson/Fargo express lane, huh? Nice consensus-oriented approach to leadership there, Roger. “Pay the price.” Interesting choice of words. UNLIKE the proposed sales tax increase in the midst of Read the rest of this article»
Sacramento City Councilperson Ray “Rainman” Tretheway puts his savant-like smarts to the test
By Joe • Aug 5th, 2008 |
Note: Please see the end of this article for Joe Sac’s first contest! Yes, there are prizes! Seriously!
From the City of Sacramento web site of Ray Tretheway:
“Welcome to my web page! It is an honor to serve as your Sacramento City Council representative for Alkali Flat, Downtown, Richards Boulevard, South Natomas, North Gate, and North Natomas. Ed note: Ironic that North Natomas is LAST? “..and North Natomas.” How utterly revealing.
“While serving on the Sacramento City Council I am concentrating on smart growth for our city, revitalizing our downtown area, and ensuring that Sacramento is the most livable city in the United States. Ed note: No mention of getting all residents the city services they are paying for. No mention of public safety. No mention of one our country’s most dangerous catastrophic flood risks. No mention of helping small businesses grow. No mention of EDUCATION. Wow. Apparently “smart growth” means saddling North Natomas with 15% low income housing, but sending it the fewest number of police per resident in the entire city. Now THAT is what I call SMART.
“I hope that this web site will assist you in learning about upcoming events and projects that I am working on. I would like to hear your thoughts on how Read the rest of this article»
Is there a relationship between low income housing and crime in Natomas? Speak for yourself!
By Joe • Aug 2nd, 2008 |
Low income housing in North Natomas is finally the talk of the town — at least for a few minutes. Guess it pays to be a squeaky wheel after all.
Mary Lynne Velinga (I got it!) recently wrote a superb article that explored this hot potato in the Bee. In it were some dubious “official” quotes, followed by some outrageous reader comments. More dubious quotes recently showed up on independent blogs long after the article was published. I’d like to make a few observations about all this–err dubicity..
Mary Lynne’s recent article questioning the city’s decision to pour a kazilliontrilion tons of “inclusionary” stucco and concrete into its mixed use, mixed income, MIXED UP social experiment called North Natomas seems to have fleshed out two distinct schools of Read the rest of this article»
Walking on sunshine with Sacramento District 1 Councilman Sunny Ray Treetheway & the Sandheads
By Joe • Aug 1st, 2008 |
Time to stop and smell the flowers with Sunshine Ray Tretheway and his staff! Here we have included a few of our favorite quotes from two Tretheway letters that appeared on the Natomas Buzz (http://www.natomasbuzz.com) web site recently.
The first set of bites are from Tretheway himself in response to a resident’s status update on the North Natomas Financial Plan, in which the resident pleads with community members to come to city council meetings to convince the regal council that North Natomas deserves a FRACTION of the money originally promised to them.
The second set is from a Tretheway handler (ok, not really, but I have always wanted to use the word “handler” in a sentence) in response to Mary-Anne V’s recent Sacramento Bee article that exposed the staggering amount Read the rest of this article»
Take back our STREETS!? FIRST we need to take back our CITY HALL!!
By Joe • Jul 29th, 2008 |
FARGO DEMANDS A SALES TAX INCREASE IN THE MIDST OF A RECESSION, DURING THE WORST REAL ESTATE CRISIS IN HISTORY, AT A TIME WHEN GAS IS NEARLY $5 PER GALLON AND HAS A CAMPAIGN THEME CALLED ********PROGRESS******???
Heather Fargo did not even know there was a crime problem in Sacramento until last month when her mayoral opponent Kevin Johnson told her there was. Even then she scoffed at the idea, and said the only problem residents had made her aware of were related to traffic. Who is HEATHER FARGO to tell US we need an anti-gang tax?
Four months ago in her 2008 State of the Downtown address, Heather Fargo pleaded with Sacramento to make GLOBAL WARMING *THE* agenda item for Sacramento. The theme of her address was her new “Mayor’s Go Green Challenge.” Crime was not even an agenda item. Who is HEATHER FARGO to tell US we need an anti-gang tax?
Heather Fargo has been in office for 8 years. During that time, while the mayor was traveling Read the rest of this article»
Help them help US! Ten Sacramento community organizations that need all hands on deck
By Tracy • Jul 28th, 2008 |
Instead of entertaining new taxes, entertain this idea: Much of the crime in Sacramento is being committed by juvenile delinquents who are not being nurtured and guided through the maturation process. What’s missing from the lives of most of these young people is simply an adult who will hold them accountable.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news, but Fargo’s new tax, and the purported fifty new police officers it will bring to Sacramento, aren’t going to magically produce those adults, any more than us spending our spare time surfing the sports scores, shopping online, and watching the Dow crash are going to make our communities more safer.
You care about our community, right? Get off your duff people! I can hear Read the rest of this article»
When the bullet hits the bone: 2008 summer in Natomas turning out to be a bloody one
By Joe • Jul 28th, 2008 |
You scream, I scream, we ALL scream: “GUN!!!!”
Wonder if Fargo, Dickinson, and Marcos Breton’s super duper new anti-gang tax would have prevented any of these crimes?
I’m pretty sure all these new crimes reported by the PD all occurred in Natomas–or at least in that general vicinity. I have not included a slew of other crimes in Natomas like when the 20- something guy with the two year old toddler with him walked up and Read the rest of this article»
Marcos Breton’s Sunday column typifies myopia epidemic strangling true progress in Sacramento
By Joe • Jul 27th, 2008 |
The good news is that Sacramento has a new public safety watchdog in Lt Marcos Breton. The bad news is that he’s barking up the wrong political tree and doing the same thing all the other business-as-usual dinosaurs in this town do: Gang up on and condemn those who oppose their ideas.
In what must be one of the most disjointed, bass-ackwards opinion columns in the history of the Bee, the oft-maligned Breton has leveraged his Sunday column space to urge Bee readers to “gang up” on Sacramentans who oppose the simpleton “anti-gang” tax, on the grounds they are “cynics suffocating community consensus on a good idea….like a blanket of winter fog..”
The irony here is thicker than the “winter fog.” First, Breton, the Sacramento Strangler of free speech (as he proved early in the election season when he Read the rest of this article»
Putting the rack before the bike just another day in the life of “Go Green” Mayor Fargo
By Joe • Jul 27th, 2008 |
Updated! “Go Green” rules added! Mayor Fargo is in the news again, this time with a pioneering innovation even James Dyson would be proud of. We can only hope her big idea was harvested from one of the many green conferences she attended around the globe on our dime. Brace yourself for this one. Are you ready? You sure? OK..
The mayor has declared more bike racks are needed downtown, and apparently she wants to make it easier for Sacramento businesses to implement them.
“Easier?” you ask. “What’s so difficult about installing a friggin’ bike rack?”
Well, turns out installing a rack is the easy part; the hard part is Read the rest of this article»
