Watt @ 50 Open House

There will be an open house tomorrow evening at Sierra Oaks School regarding the proposed Watt @ 50 construction project. Please click on the image for complete details.

New Look Sacramento PD Website

The Sacramento Police Department has a new website. Check it out here.

Save The Date: Annual SONA Picnic

The annual SONA picnic will be held the afternoon of Sunday, June 7th at Oak Meadow Park. Please mark your calendars now. More details to come...

Office Burglary Bust

Deputies busted two burglars at the John Waddell & Co. office at 3416 American River Dr. early Sunday morning. The criminals triggered the silent alarm. One of the bad guys tried to hide in the attic. It didn't work.

Suspicious Activity

This comes from a SONA member on Royce Way.

On March 14, 2009 at about 6:30 AM, I observed a white male late 20’s early 30’s sleeping in his car at the American River access on Kadema at Moffat. The vehicle was a white Chevy Cavalier with California license plates of 5SSR 561 and had an oval RB sticker (Redondo Beach) in the rear window.

This morning, March 15th at approximately 6:25AM, while leaving my home on Royce Way I noticed a man leaving the front porch of the home across the street at ____ Royce. He was wearing a black hooded long jacket and was approx 6’ to 6’ 3” 185 to 210 pounds and had a light complexion. When I walked out to the street he walked away from me toward Latham Dr . I followed about 25 yards behind him – he nervously turned to look at me a couple of times. When he got to Hobart Ct. off of Latham Dr. he turned and walked into the court. I could see a vehicle parked in the court - a dark colored early to mid 80’s Camaro or Firebird convertible. I kept walking but stopped on Latham beyond where he could see me. I heard the car door shut and he waited a minute or so before starting it and drove off turning right onto Sierra Oaks Drive then left (east) on American River Drive toward Watt Ave. I was unable to get a plate as the plate light was out. I returned to my house and reported this very suspicious activity to the Sac. Co. Sheriff non emergency number.

Fire Prevention Summit

The Sacramento County Department of Regional Parks, the Sacramento City Fire Department and the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District will be hosting a fire prevention summit on March 28 at the Coloma Community Center, 4623 T Street. Click on the image for more details.

Communication and Media Office, Municipal Services Agency

Office: 916-875-1257
Fax: 916-875-4771

www.msa.saccounty.net

Car Break-In

Good morning, I wanted to let you know that someone broke into my car last night. I live at ___ Gifford Way and my car was parked in the driveway. Someone broke the drivers side door but it does not look like they went any further then that, nothing was taken from the vehicle.

County DA Taking Sign-Ups For Citizen's Academy

The Sacramento County District Attorney's Office is now taking applications for its ninth annual Citizens Academy, a 10-week course designed to promote a better understanding of the local criminal justice system.
The Sacramento County Sheriff's Department and the Sacramento Police Department also participate in the program formed in 2002 by District Attorney Jan Scully and sponsored by her office.
Applications will be taken through March 27 for the course that begins April 14. The classes begin at 6 p.m. and run through 8:30 p.m. Sheriff John McGinness and Police Chief Rick Braziel will join Scully on the opening night of the course.
Defense attorneys and community groups also participate in the program.
To enroll, call Kelley Wilson at the DA's office at (916) 874-6722. For more information go to http://www.sacda.org/citizensacademy.

Popular American River Parkway parking area will require residential permit

By Robert Lewis rlewis@sacbee.com
Published: Tuesday, Mar. 10, 2009 - 11:26 am

A popular parking spot for visitors to the American River Parkway will be restricted to residential permits.
The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved making Bannister Road south of Fair Oaks Boulevard a residential permit parking area, the first such area in an unincorporated neighborhood. That area is popular for people who visit the north side of the San Juan rapids, said Steve Flannery, park ranger manager.
"It has that combination of being a beautiful spot and (having) free parking available," Flannery said.
The problem is the high traffic brings with it not just congestion but also fistfights, public drunkenness and other nuisances, Flannery said.
The county has had a residential parking permit program in place since October 2006 and four neighborhoods had initially applied for the program but there wasn't enough support from residents so the county never implemented the program, said Lu Li, a senior transportation engineer.
The Bannister Road area will be the first such zone in unincorporated Sacramento County.
"The residents and the school need some relief here," Supervisor Roberta MacGlashan said.

Maveric Is Home

It seems Maveric ended up at the animal shelter. He is getting sprung this morning and will be home shortly. The Haynes family thanks everyone for their time.

MISSING DOG ALERT!

We live on Latham. Our yellow lab got out on Sunday, March 8 around 1pm and several people said a man took him home. His name is Maveic. He is a 3-year-old yellow lab. He is about 100lbs and is very gentle. If anyone has any information please call 530-524-2977 or email me at e.haynes@hotmail.com. My wife and I greatly appreciate any assistance you can offer as he is our world!
-Eric and Lisa Haynes

Watt @ 50 Improvement Plan

Sacramento County DOT is proposing a 4-year, $40 million improvement project for Watt Avenue at Highway 50. The attached documents illustrate some of the work. You can also click here to read more.

Please note: there will be an open house the evening of March 31 at Sierra Oaks School to discuss the plan. More details to come...

Annexation Options

This comes from a November document produced by the City. The talk is heating up again. We are tracking this as it relates to Sierra Oaks. I have the complete document if anyone wants to see it.

The unincorporated Arden Arcade area is located northeast of the City of Sacramento at the convergence of several major freeways and thoroughfares. The area encompasses over 10,000 acres (15.6 square miles) and is bounded on the north by Auburn Boulevard and Winding Way, on the south by the American River and the Sacramento city limits, on the east by Walnut Avenue and the southeasterly extension of Arden Way, and on the west by the Sacramento city limits.

According to the 2000 Census there were 96,025 residents, 42,987 households, and 23,427 families residing in Arden Arcade in 2000. Total employment in Arden Arcade was estimated at 52,407.

Arden-Arcade is shown in the City’s draft 2030 General Plan as a "Special Study Area", as directed by Council. Council has expressed interest in considering whether annexation of such areas might be in the City's interest and whether the communities themselves would support annexation.

On February 27, 2007, the Arden-Arcade Incorporation Committee filed an application at the Sacramento Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCo) requesting incorporation. The proposed City boundary (excluding the area south of Fair Oaks Boulevard) encompasses an area of about 13 square miles and a population of about 90,000 people. LAFCo is responsible for determining whether incorporation is a viable option and whether the question of incorporation should proceed to ballot.

LAFCo has entered into a new contract with MuniFinancial to complete the required Comprehensive Fiscal Analysis (CFA). The CFA includes an alternative of annexation to the City of Sacramento. In support of that analysis, there are several policy issues to resolve if the City of Sacramento were to pursue annexation of the Arden-Arcade community.

These include:
• County revenue neutrality;
• Differing local tax structure and rates;
• Conveyance of Deficient Infrastructure
• Special districts;
• Employees and unions; and
• Elected officials /

Governance Prior to initiating an annexation, the City’s Sphere of Influence would need to be amended to include the Arden-Arcade area. The City of Sacramento would need to file an application to LAFCo for a Sphere Amendment. As part of this application, the City would need to prepare a Municipal Services Review, which LAFCo would analyze for infrastructure, service delivery, and cost issues.

If the Sphere of Influence amendment is amended to include Arden-Arcade, then the City of Sacramento could file an application with LAFCo for initiation of the annexation process. The City would be required to prepare a Plan for Services and reach accord with the County of Sacramento regarding a tax sharing agreement.

Following public hearings, if LAFCo approves the annexation, then the residents of Arden-Arcade could file a protest and LAFCo could order an election by all registered voters within Arden- Arcade area proposed for annexation. To date, Council has neither initiated a Sphere of Influence Amendment nor annexation of Arden Arcade, nor has the Council discussed the key policy issues. As discussed above, the City of Sacramento is only at a very early step in this complex process.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, Mayor Johnson launch 'Volunteer Sacramento'

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, one of America's leading civil rights icons, today helped Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson launch "Volunteer Sacramento" - a campaign to recruit 350,000 to 500,000 volunteers to each give at least 10 hours of their time this year.
Jackson - a two-time candidate for president - captivated several hundred people at the downtown Boys & Girls Club with his trade-mark maxims and rhymes :
He got the crowd to "Repeat after me: Children remember more where you took them than what you bought them"
"The best of us who help the rest of us are the most blessed of us," Jackson declared. "We can't all be well-known but we can all be great because we can serve..,you never know when the seeds you plant are going to germinate."
Jackson, a community organizer in Chicago for 40 years who was at the Rev. Martin Luther King's side when he was assassinated in Memphis, called volunteering "the divine rule of reciprocity... you cannot give without receiving, you cannot take without losing."
Volunteerism can take many forms, Jackson said, mentoring, organizing, rebuilding, teaching and giving hope to those coming out of prison, those struggling with gangs and drugs, those who can't read and write.
One of those was Jackson's own grandmother, who was not going to vote for him for president "because she could neither read nor write. To go mark an X was embarrassing to her. She had so much wisdom and advice and she was not going to give it. And somebody volunteered to help mark that X."
Jackson noted that Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez were both volunteers, along with the freedom riders who helped desegregate voting in the American south.
Johnson said he learned volunteerism from his grandfather, who would always stop to help drivers whose cars had flat tires or ran out of gas.
Two days before Christmas one year, Johnson remembers his grandather dragging him out of bed in the middle of the night, drving from Oak Park to the projects on Broadway and 5th Street, and telling him to ring a particular doorbell and give them $20, "which seemed like to $200" back then.
"A lady opened the door and I handed her the $20 and she starts crying," he said.
It wasn't until a few days later that Johnson's grandfather told him that the mother of eight had had all their Christmas presents stolen, Johnson said. "It's not a bout what you say, it's about what you do."
Joining Jackson and Johnson was state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg of Sacramento who remembered there were always coaches, drama teachers, parents and other adults helping out in his San Francisco neighborhood.
"In these difficult times we must make sure that everything that's good in our communities continues," Steinberg said. "The greatest joy in life is volunteering, doing something, anything to help others. The beauty of volunteerism is that nobody tells you what you have to do - you choose what to do. "
Volunteers can sign up at www.handsonsacramento.org, or by calling 916/447-7063.