1) One of the many things we would like to see available in the Parkway are carriage rides and this long-term local carriage company, reported by the Bee, are just the folks to do it.
An excerpt.
“The Bee spoke with Rick Newborn, whose Top Hand Ranch offers everything from $10 loops around Old Sacramento to $1,000-plus horse-drawn hearse service…
"How's business lately?
"We've been surviving – just not as well as we did in the past. It's the economy, and there's also a lot of little things digging at us. The price of hay has tripled in the last five years. There used to be a lot more tour buses that parked in Old Sac. In the 1980s, there were six carriage companies (in Old Town) – now there are only two.
"What's your busiest time?
"Our best season is probably in the springtime, around spring break. Late fall is also good – Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas. It's slowest after New Year's. Summer is in-between. We shut down when it gets above 100 degrees, so we lose a lot of hours on hot days.
"What are your days like?
"I start getting the horses ready at about 8 a.m. (in Rescue, east of El Dorado Hills). We get into Sacramento by 10 a.m., and at 11 a.m. we're on the street. Right now, I'm spending most of the day reshoeing horses (while employees run the carriages). On a weekday, we'll pull out of town around 7:30 p.m. Old Sac is about half our business. The rest is contract work – weddings, funerals, parades. We try to take Mondays off.:"
2) The proposed park upgrade reported in the Sacramento Bee, is a wonderful addition to the Parkway area and if the zoo can relocate there also, a real destination point for the region, adding to the already regional draw of the Parkway.
This will eventually also raise the legitimate usage of that area of the Parkway, thus helping reduce the wide-spread illegitimate use.
An excerpt.
“The sign may say, "Welcome to Sutter's Landing Regional Park," but this spot near midtown doesn't exactly have its arms open to visitors.
"The first thing you see is all this asphalt," said Sacramento City Councilman Steve Cohn, whose district includes the midtown neighborhood.
“The city is launching an innovative plan to plant trees and native grasses on top of the blacktop-capped former landfill at the north end of 28th Street. The result will be new places for recreation and access to the American River.
“Last week, the Sacramento City Council approved $1.2 million in bond funds for the project's first phase, which will include a 4-acre landscaped dog park, basketball, handball and bocce ball courts, and improved river access points.
“Constructing a landscaped park atop a landfill is a complex proposition, and Sutter's Landing will be the first of its kind in the region, Cohn said.”
