Two stories today, one about the passing of the man who ensured the greatest movie about fishing and rivers, in my humble opinion, was true to its roots, and the other about our local festival celebrating the legendary salmon.
Legendary angler who taught 'Rivers Runs Through It' actors dies
By Vince Devlin of the Missoulian
It was, his son-in-law says, a ridiculous-looking thing. George Croonenberghs called it the Santa Claus fly, and he swore by it.
It had a bright red body wrapped in golden tinsel, with polar bear hair for wings, and it wound perfectly around Croonenberghs' preferred fly-fishing technique.
"When he fished, he liked to put the fly between the sun and the fish so it was more radiant," says Karlheinz Eisinger, who is married to Croonenberghs' only child, Sandra. "He liked to cast into the sun so the fly would light up. It seemed to excite the fish." Croonenberghs, who died last week in his native Missoula at the age of 87, was best known for his work as the fishing and period adviser on Robert Redford's 1992 film, "A River Runs Through It."
This is the man who taught Brad Pitt how to fish.
Croonenberghs wasn't just hired for the movie - based on Norman Maclean's famed novella about his family, fly fishing and the murder of his brother Paul - but because he knew fly fishing inside and out.
No, Croonenberghs knew the Macleans inside and out, too. It was the Rev. John Maclean himself who taught Croonenberghs to tie flies at the young age of 6, and the two families built two of the first cabins on Seeley Lake back in the 1920s, sharing the same beach, ice house and water tower.
"He tied for Paul and Norman, and if they didn't like the flies, they'd give him the old one-two-three off the dock," Sandra says. "He learned the hard way early."
Norman Maclean, mostly ambivalent about whether "River" was ever made into a movie, was adamant that, if it was, it be accurate.
Croonenberghs, a retired railroad engineer, was the key to helping Redford keep his promise that it would be. Croonenberghs didn't only tie the same flies for the movie the Macleans had once used in real life.
For the rest of the story: http://www.billingsgazette.com/index.php?id=2&display=rednews/2005/09/29/build/outdoors/70-croonenberghs.inc
And the story of the legendary fish, whose continued health and presence in our river is so vital to our mission, is about the annual Salmon Festival.
At salmon festival, all hail the king
Bee Staff Thursday October 6 2005
With all due respect to other fish, you have to like the wild salmon's style.
Locally, the species found in the American and Sacramento rivers is the chinook (a.k.a. king) salmon. Big and powerful, the king has been known to reach 50 pounds in California - the size of a small child. Catching even a 10-to 30-pounder is a seasonal thrill for anglers; observing the salmon's upstream tenacity and surging movements is just as satisfying for others.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/story/13674348p-14516939c.html
Thursday, October 06, 2005
Wednesday, October 05, 2005
Concentrating Services for the Destitute
An article from today’s Los Angeles Times points out the devastation caused to surrounding neighborhoods by the concentration of social services in one area, something we addressed in our report on the Lower Reach of the American River Parkway, currently suffering under a huge illegal camping problem.
Our report can be found on the News page on our website at http://www.arpps.org
As the article from the Times points out, the centralizing of services attracts more of those needing services, which is good for them and the service providers, but can be disastrous for the surrounding community.
Why Skid Row Has Become L.A.'s 'Dumping' Ground
Agencies there don't, or can't, turn away the addicts, the destitute and the homeless.
By Cara Mia DiMassa and Richard Winton,Times Staff Writers October 5, 2005
To understand how the streets of downtown Los Angeles have become a depository for drug addicts, parolees and homeless people, just look through the logs of the skid row detox center run by the Volunteers of America.
In the last month alone, dozens of police cruisers from as far away as Carson and Venice have pulled up to the center's doors on Crocker Street near 5th Street, bringing with them more than 150 intoxicated homeless people. The drop-offs have come from nine law enforcement agencies besides the Los Angeles Police Department, according to the records reviewed by The Times, but also from various LAPD divisions, including Hollywood, Pacific and West L.A.
A block away at the Union Rescue Mission, social workers say ambulances and taxis regularly drop people at their doorstep from hospitals, healthcare centers and even retirement homes.
Although critics might denounce such actions as dumping problems in downtown Los Angeles, the reality, according to police, social workers and community activists, is more complicated.
Skid row has the county's largest concentration of services for homeless people and those with drug and alcohol addictions. This makes it a place of last resort for agencies dealing with people who have been released from jail, hospitals or other institutions and have nowhere else to go.
For decades, few questioned the arrangement — largely because that section of downtown had long been home to single-room-occupancy hotels and charity groups that attracted transients.
But in recent years, the neighborhoods around skid row have been at the center of a major revitalization, as long-abandoned office buildings have been converted into luxury lofts and condos. Now, with units in the shadow of skid row going for as much as $700,000, some residents and city officials say they are tired of the area being a dumping ground for the region's problems.
For the rest of the story: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dumping5oct05,0,3581498.story?coll=la-home-local
Our report can be found on the News page on our website at http://www.arpps.org
As the article from the Times points out, the centralizing of services attracts more of those needing services, which is good for them and the service providers, but can be disastrous for the surrounding community.
Why Skid Row Has Become L.A.'s 'Dumping' Ground
Agencies there don't, or can't, turn away the addicts, the destitute and the homeless.
By Cara Mia DiMassa and Richard Winton,Times Staff Writers October 5, 2005
To understand how the streets of downtown Los Angeles have become a depository for drug addicts, parolees and homeless people, just look through the logs of the skid row detox center run by the Volunteers of America.
In the last month alone, dozens of police cruisers from as far away as Carson and Venice have pulled up to the center's doors on Crocker Street near 5th Street, bringing with them more than 150 intoxicated homeless people. The drop-offs have come from nine law enforcement agencies besides the Los Angeles Police Department, according to the records reviewed by The Times, but also from various LAPD divisions, including Hollywood, Pacific and West L.A.
A block away at the Union Rescue Mission, social workers say ambulances and taxis regularly drop people at their doorstep from hospitals, healthcare centers and even retirement homes.
Although critics might denounce such actions as dumping problems in downtown Los Angeles, the reality, according to police, social workers and community activists, is more complicated.
Skid row has the county's largest concentration of services for homeless people and those with drug and alcohol addictions. This makes it a place of last resort for agencies dealing with people who have been released from jail, hospitals or other institutions and have nowhere else to go.
For decades, few questioned the arrangement — largely because that section of downtown had long been home to single-room-occupancy hotels and charity groups that attracted transients.
But in recent years, the neighborhoods around skid row have been at the center of a major revitalization, as long-abandoned office buildings have been converted into luxury lofts and condos. Now, with units in the shadow of skid row going for as much as $700,000, some residents and city officials say they are tired of the area being a dumping ground for the region's problems.
For the rest of the story: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-dumping5oct05,0,3581498.story?coll=la-home-local
Monday, October 03, 2005
Sacramento Flood Protection, the Best or Less ?
There were two important articles in the Bee yesterday about flood protection.
One reminds us of what we need to do, which is seek the best flood protection possible, and the other reminds us of why we haven’t already done that, because some public leaders are willing to settle for less than the best, even in the context of the horror we witnessed from New Orleans.
The first article, Louisiana has some advice for us, notes: “Joe Suhayda, a Baton Rouge resident and former director of the Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute…urged that communities ... set their bar high, for 500-year flood protection or more, and insist on a commitment to reach that level.
The Netherlands and Japan aim to provide coastal residents with 10,000-year flood protection, some point out, but costs are steep. Massive upgrades to the Dutch system of dams, dikes and seawalls after a 1953 flood cost an estimated $8 billion to build and $500 million annually to maintain, according to news reports.”
The full article is at: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13657285p-14500103c.html
The Dutch and the Japanese have chosen the best protection possible and don’t buy into a settling-for-less-than-the-best approach the next article promotes, the type of thinking which doomed New Orleans.
The second article is entitled Flood reality [Folsom] dam is the key, where the writer says: “Some well-meaning people have argued that we need 500-year protection. Maybe we do. But, that's irrelevant now since there is no authorized project nor funding on the horizon to provide the 500-year level of protection. On the other hand, 200-year protection is within our grasp."
The full article is at:
One reminds us of what we need to do, which is seek the best flood protection possible, and the other reminds us of why we haven’t already done that, because some public leaders are willing to settle for less than the best, even in the context of the horror we witnessed from New Orleans.
The first article, Louisiana has some advice for us, notes: “Joe Suhayda, a Baton Rouge resident and former director of the Louisiana Water Resources Research Institute…urged that communities ... set their bar high, for 500-year flood protection or more, and insist on a commitment to reach that level.
The Netherlands and Japan aim to provide coastal residents with 10,000-year flood protection, some point out, but costs are steep. Massive upgrades to the Dutch system of dams, dikes and seawalls after a 1953 flood cost an estimated $8 billion to build and $500 million annually to maintain, according to news reports.”
The full article is at: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13657285p-14500103c.html
The Dutch and the Japanese have chosen the best protection possible and don’t buy into a settling-for-less-than-the-best approach the next article promotes, the type of thinking which doomed New Orleans.
The second article is entitled Flood reality [Folsom] dam is the key, where the writer says: “Some well-meaning people have argued that we need 500-year protection. Maybe we do. But, that's irrelevant now since there is no authorized project nor funding on the horizon to provide the 500-year level of protection. On the other hand, 200-year protection is within our grasp."
The full article is at:
Friday, September 30, 2005
Caring For Creation
“We cannot interfere in one area of the ecosystem without paying due attention both to the consequences of such interference in other areas and to the well-being of future generations … delicate ecological balances are upset by the uncontrolled destruction of animal and plant life or by a reckless exploitation of natural resources. It should be pointed out that all of this, even if carried out in the name of progress and well-being, is ultimately to humankind's disadvantage.... An education in ecological responsibility is urgent: responsibility for oneself, for others, and for the earth.”
--Pope John Paul II, The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility, 1990
This wonderful quote opens one of the most beautiful expressions of caring for a watershed I have read, entitled:
The Columbia River Watershed:
Caring for Creation and the Common Good
An International Pastoral Letter by the Catholic Bishops of the Region
The pastoral letter expresses, with a deep connection to Northwest Native American spirituality, why it is important to care for river watersheds.
It is part the strategy of the American River Parkway Preservation Society (ARPPS) to create an ecumenical expression embracing that perspective for the American River Watershed. See our website: http://www.arpps.org
You can read the Columbia River Pastoral Letter at: http://www.columbiariver.org/main_pages/Watershed/PDF/english.pdf
--Pope John Paul II, The Ecological Crisis: A Common Responsibility, 1990
This wonderful quote opens one of the most beautiful expressions of caring for a watershed I have read, entitled:
The Columbia River Watershed:
Caring for Creation and the Common Good
An International Pastoral Letter by the Catholic Bishops of the Region
The pastoral letter expresses, with a deep connection to Northwest Native American spirituality, why it is important to care for river watersheds.
It is part the strategy of the American River Parkway Preservation Society (ARPPS) to create an ecumenical expression embracing that perspective for the American River Watershed. See our website: http://www.arpps.org
You can read the Columbia River Pastoral Letter at: http://www.columbiariver.org/main_pages/Watershed/PDF/english.pdf
Thursday, September 29, 2005
Homlessness Solutions, Pathways to Housing
In our report on the Lower Reach of the American River Parkway, which can be accessed on our website, http://www.arpps.org we address the issue of the chronic homeless illegal campers who are destroying the ability of the adjacent community to enjoy their Parkway in safety by profiling the most successful program in the country with that population, Pathways to Housing.
Here is an excellent news article from last year about Pathways, and San Francisco’s attempt to transplant the concept.
San Francisco Chronicle
Success in the Big Apple New York City finds path for mentally ill Housing homeless before treatment bucks conventional wisdom
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, June 14, 2004
New York - -- Shopping for telephones is what finally drove it home to Tony Bartol that he was re-entering that almost-forgotten world where the sidewalk was not his bed. He stood in front of a wall lined with 200 of them in plastic packaging -- white phones with speakers, black ones with six lines, red ones with voice mail -- and scratched his head, confused.
"I have no idea what to pick here," he said. His hand trembled as he touched one, then another. "The last time I owned a phone was 1977."
A few weeks before, Bartol was sleeping in Manhattan subway stations, so mentally ill he could barely pluck reality from the visions of God in his head. He'd been that way for 19 years. On this day in mid-May, the 54-year-old, bushy-bearded string bean of a man was in a department store with two social workers shopping for a few essentials before moving into his own apartment.
He was still delusional, still without a job, and still not on the medication he needed to address his psychosis. But now, he had one angel over his street-tough shoulder that other mentally ill homeless people still foraging in alleyways didn't -- a program called Pathways to Housing, a New York-minted twist on the "supportive housing" model of tackling chronic homelessness in urban America.
Unlike other cutting-edge supportive housing techniques in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago -- and being embraced in San Francisco -- in which the hard-core homeless are moved en masse into residential hotels with on-site social services, Pathways to Housing snatches them straight off the street and gives them their own, individual apartments apart from other homeless people, alongside average New Yorkers. And unlike virtually any other program in the country, it does this with the hardest core population of them all: the mentally ill.
For the rest of the story posted on Pathways website: http://www.pathwaystohousing.org/news/SFC_6-14-04.html
Here is an excellent news article from last year about Pathways, and San Francisco’s attempt to transplant the concept.
San Francisco Chronicle
Success in the Big Apple New York City finds path for mentally ill Housing homeless before treatment bucks conventional wisdom
Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writer Monday, June 14, 2004
New York - -- Shopping for telephones is what finally drove it home to Tony Bartol that he was re-entering that almost-forgotten world where the sidewalk was not his bed. He stood in front of a wall lined with 200 of them in plastic packaging -- white phones with speakers, black ones with six lines, red ones with voice mail -- and scratched his head, confused.
"I have no idea what to pick here," he said. His hand trembled as he touched one, then another. "The last time I owned a phone was 1977."
A few weeks before, Bartol was sleeping in Manhattan subway stations, so mentally ill he could barely pluck reality from the visions of God in his head. He'd been that way for 19 years. On this day in mid-May, the 54-year-old, bushy-bearded string bean of a man was in a department store with two social workers shopping for a few essentials before moving into his own apartment.
He was still delusional, still without a job, and still not on the medication he needed to address his psychosis. But now, he had one angel over his street-tough shoulder that other mentally ill homeless people still foraging in alleyways didn't -- a program called Pathways to Housing, a New York-minted twist on the "supportive housing" model of tackling chronic homelessness in urban America.
Unlike other cutting-edge supportive housing techniques in New York, Philadelphia, Chicago -- and being embraced in San Francisco -- in which the hard-core homeless are moved en masse into residential hotels with on-site social services, Pathways to Housing snatches them straight off the street and gives them their own, individual apartments apart from other homeless people, alongside average New Yorkers. And unlike virtually any other program in the country, it does this with the hardest core population of them all: the mentally ill.
For the rest of the story posted on Pathways website: http://www.pathwaystohousing.org/news/SFC_6-14-04.html
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Sacramento needs a great, big urban park
There is an excellent article by that name in the September 23, 2005 issue of the Sacramento Business Journal, by Dr. Robert Fountain, director of the Applied Research Center at CSUS, where he talks about the great benefit attached to the proposed Gold Rush Park, (GRP) near the confluence of the Sacramento and American rivers.
Dr. Fountain makes several good points:
1) "Sacramento is rising to its potential as the economic and cultural center of a large world-class urban region."
2) "The Gold Rush Park would combine cultural, entertainment, commercial and natural areas within an underutilized area north of the Union Pacific right of way to the American and Sacramento rivers."
3) "Urban parks are not just humanistic frills. A recent study of 20 urban parks by the Sacramento Regional Research Institute shows that they are also powerful economic engines, attracting thousands of visitors who spend millions of dolalrs."
4) "The study found that the greatest economic contribution comes from parks that combine the conservation and cultural focuses."
GRP does this admirably and if you would like to learn more about it, here is their website:
http://www.goldrushpark.org/.
Dr. Fountain makes several good points:
1) "Sacramento is rising to its potential as the economic and cultural center of a large world-class urban region."
2) "The Gold Rush Park would combine cultural, entertainment, commercial and natural areas within an underutilized area north of the Union Pacific right of way to the American and Sacramento rivers."
3) "Urban parks are not just humanistic frills. A recent study of 20 urban parks by the Sacramento Regional Research Institute shows that they are also powerful economic engines, attracting thousands of visitors who spend millions of dolalrs."
4) "The study found that the greatest economic contribution comes from parks that combine the conservation and cultural focuses."
GRP does this admirably and if you would like to learn more about it, here is their website:
http://www.goldrushpark.org/.
Book Review: Public Parks, Private Partners
One of the most important books recently published about nonprofit management of a public park, the core of our strategy for the Parkway (see our strategy at our website: http://www.arpps.org ) , is Public Parks, Private Partners: How Partnerships Are Revitalizing Urban Parks by Project for Public Spaces, Inc. (PPS) whose website is http://www.pps.org/ .
This is an important book.
It highlights 16 Partnership organizations, from our favorite model the Central Park Conservancy to the Yakima Greenway Foundation, that clearly show the great benefit of having a nonprofit conservancy manage public parks.
The book lists the reasons for having nonprofits manage public parks.
Among them are:
Efficiency and Flexibility: “A private group can act fast and save money. It also has the ability to be more flexible with staff and budget lines…and private groups are more open to experimenting with new or innovative park programs in an effort to be more responsive to park users.” (p. 9)
Advocacy: “A nonprofit may have the freedom and political will to speak out for budget increases, for increased security, or in favor of acquiring new parkland, while a parks department is constrained by and allied to the city’s priorities.” (p. 9)
Fundraising and Accepting Donations: “Private donors often don’t like to give to the public sector because they can’t control how their money will be spent.” (p. 9)
And the additional benefit of the donor receiving a tax write-off for donations to a 501 c (3) nonprofit organizations can be substantial.
Focus: “A nonprofit group that focuses specifically on one park may view that park, greenway, or other open space amenity more holistically than a parks department that has a responsibility to provide basic service to all the parks in a city or metropolitan area….Additionally, public agencies often can’t or don’t want to manage small discrete projects, …whereas private groups can devote the necessary attention to detail.” (p. 10)
Community Ties: “ A private group often has better credibility with residents and local institutions than the local government does, allowing the nonprofit to facilitate meetings better, and tap key leaders for support and active engagement in the park.” (p. 10)
Consistent Leadership: “ A mature nonprofit conservancy…sometimes can provide more continuous leadership in a park of open space amenity that public officials can, as they are subject to politics and elections.” (p. 10)
If all of this rings crystal-clear and true in relation to our situation with our Parkway needs; to resolve the ineffective management, inattention to public safety, failure to plan strategically, and the lack of a consistent and dedicated funding stream, culminating in the tragic and continuing deterioration of our Parkway, it is because it is.
I urge those of you who care about our Parkway and want to learn how it can be preserved, protected, and strengthened for future generations, to order this book and join with us in seeing a viable and practical strategy, built around management by a nonprofit American River Parkway Conservancy, be implemented.
As this book makes clear, the partnership organization concept is the managment concept that works, and the communities still waiting for their local parks agencies to take better care of their parks, probably have a long wait.
The book can be ordered from PPS at: http://www.pps.org/info/products/Books_Videos/public_parks
This is an important book.
It highlights 16 Partnership organizations, from our favorite model the Central Park Conservancy to the Yakima Greenway Foundation, that clearly show the great benefit of having a nonprofit conservancy manage public parks.
The book lists the reasons for having nonprofits manage public parks.
Among them are:
Efficiency and Flexibility: “A private group can act fast and save money. It also has the ability to be more flexible with staff and budget lines…and private groups are more open to experimenting with new or innovative park programs in an effort to be more responsive to park users.” (p. 9)
Advocacy: “A nonprofit may have the freedom and political will to speak out for budget increases, for increased security, or in favor of acquiring new parkland, while a parks department is constrained by and allied to the city’s priorities.” (p. 9)
Fundraising and Accepting Donations: “Private donors often don’t like to give to the public sector because they can’t control how their money will be spent.” (p. 9)
And the additional benefit of the donor receiving a tax write-off for donations to a 501 c (3) nonprofit organizations can be substantial.
Focus: “A nonprofit group that focuses specifically on one park may view that park, greenway, or other open space amenity more holistically than a parks department that has a responsibility to provide basic service to all the parks in a city or metropolitan area….Additionally, public agencies often can’t or don’t want to manage small discrete projects, …whereas private groups can devote the necessary attention to detail.” (p. 10)
Community Ties: “ A private group often has better credibility with residents and local institutions than the local government does, allowing the nonprofit to facilitate meetings better, and tap key leaders for support and active engagement in the park.” (p. 10)
Consistent Leadership: “ A mature nonprofit conservancy…sometimes can provide more continuous leadership in a park of open space amenity that public officials can, as they are subject to politics and elections.” (p. 10)
If all of this rings crystal-clear and true in relation to our situation with our Parkway needs; to resolve the ineffective management, inattention to public safety, failure to plan strategically, and the lack of a consistent and dedicated funding stream, culminating in the tragic and continuing deterioration of our Parkway, it is because it is.
I urge those of you who care about our Parkway and want to learn how it can be preserved, protected, and strengthened for future generations, to order this book and join with us in seeing a viable and practical strategy, built around management by a nonprofit American River Parkway Conservancy, be implemented.
As this book makes clear, the partnership organization concept is the managment concept that works, and the communities still waiting for their local parks agencies to take better care of their parks, probably have a long wait.
The book can be ordered from PPS at: http://www.pps.org/info/products/Books_Videos/public_parks
Monday, September 26, 2005
American River Parkway, Lower Reach Report
The Lower Reach of the American River Parkway is crime-ridden, trash-strewn, and virtually unusable by the adjacent communities with any degree of safety and pleasure in the natural sanctuary of the Parkway so familiar to upriver communities.
The Parkway can lay no claim to being the crown jewel as long as the conditions in the Lower Reach are allowed to continue.
It is our hope that our report will stimulate policy and program discussions that will soon restore the luster to the deeply tarnished jewel that is our Parkway.
The Executive Summary is posted here and for the full report, go to our website, http://www.arpps.org on the News page.
I would also direct you to the other two links on the website News page, both of which offer additional news and information about conditions in the Lower Reach.
_________________________
Executive Summary
_________________________
Background
The adjacent communities of the Lower Reach of the American River Parkway have been asking the Department of Regional Parks, Recreation and Open Space, County of Sacramento (County Parks) and Parkway advocacy organizations for help with the problems associated with illegal camping by the homeless for years, with virtually no response.
Planning for the formation of the American River Parkway Preservation Society (ARPPS) began in 2002 by a group aware of the growing problems facing the Parkway and in September of 2003 ARPPS was incorporated as a 501 c (3) nonprofit corporation.
ARPPS, understanding that the degradation of the Lower Reach affects the entire Parkway, addressed the issue in its founding guiding principles.
The Problem
The American River Parkway has long suffered from:
· ineffective management,
· lack of dedicated funding,
· degradation of natural resources, and,
· erosion of public safety.
The Strategy
The Lower Reach, representing the most visible evidence of these problems on the Parkway, is the focus of our report.
Our first guiding principle is: “Preserving the Parkway is not an option, it’s a necessity.”
Will Rogers, the President of the Trust for Public Lands said:
“The emergence of America as an urban nation was anticipated by Fredrick Law Olmstead and other 19th century park visionaries, who gave us New York’s Central Park, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, and similar grand parks in cities across the nation. They were gardeners and designers—but also preachers for the power of parks, fired from within by the understanding that they were shaping the quality of American Lives for generations to come.
In the view of these park visionaries, parks were not “amenities.” They were necessities, providing recreation, inspiration, and essential respite from the city’s blare and bustle. And the visionaries were particularly concerned that parks be available to all of a city’s residents—especially those who did not have the resources to escape to the countryside.”
Why America Needs More City Parks and Open Space: Parks for People (2003)
Will Rogers, President, Trust for Public Lands.
The optimal strategy for our Parkway to be managed in this spirit is:
The Solution
Management by a nonprofit 501 c (3) organization, the American River Parkway Conservancy, whose sole mission would be preserving, protecting, and strengthening the Parkway.
This will create management of singular purpose and the dedication public necessity demands, with the primary responsibility being public safety.
Public Safety Strategy
Though homelessness is presented as the issue underlying illegal camping and that perception will be addressed, the primary issue for the community suffering the effects of illegal camping is public safety.
Greatly enlarge ranger patrols, use horse mounted patrols, and establish a public crime reporting website.
Institute a safety with compassion program to address the chronic homeless and service resistant illegal campers in the Lower Reach.
______________________________
The Parkway can lay no claim to being the crown jewel as long as the conditions in the Lower Reach are allowed to continue.
It is our hope that our report will stimulate policy and program discussions that will soon restore the luster to the deeply tarnished jewel that is our Parkway.
The Executive Summary is posted here and for the full report, go to our website, http://www.arpps.org on the News page.
I would also direct you to the other two links on the website News page, both of which offer additional news and information about conditions in the Lower Reach.
_________________________
Executive Summary
_________________________
Background
The adjacent communities of the Lower Reach of the American River Parkway have been asking the Department of Regional Parks, Recreation and Open Space, County of Sacramento (County Parks) and Parkway advocacy organizations for help with the problems associated with illegal camping by the homeless for years, with virtually no response.
Planning for the formation of the American River Parkway Preservation Society (ARPPS) began in 2002 by a group aware of the growing problems facing the Parkway and in September of 2003 ARPPS was incorporated as a 501 c (3) nonprofit corporation.
ARPPS, understanding that the degradation of the Lower Reach affects the entire Parkway, addressed the issue in its founding guiding principles.
The Problem
The American River Parkway has long suffered from:
· ineffective management,
· lack of dedicated funding,
· degradation of natural resources, and,
· erosion of public safety.
The Strategy
The Lower Reach, representing the most visible evidence of these problems on the Parkway, is the focus of our report.
Our first guiding principle is: “Preserving the Parkway is not an option, it’s a necessity.”
Will Rogers, the President of the Trust for Public Lands said:
“The emergence of America as an urban nation was anticipated by Fredrick Law Olmstead and other 19th century park visionaries, who gave us New York’s Central Park, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, and similar grand parks in cities across the nation. They were gardeners and designers—but also preachers for the power of parks, fired from within by the understanding that they were shaping the quality of American Lives for generations to come.
In the view of these park visionaries, parks were not “amenities.” They were necessities, providing recreation, inspiration, and essential respite from the city’s blare and bustle. And the visionaries were particularly concerned that parks be available to all of a city’s residents—especially those who did not have the resources to escape to the countryside.”
Why America Needs More City Parks and Open Space: Parks for People (2003)
Will Rogers, President, Trust for Public Lands.
The optimal strategy for our Parkway to be managed in this spirit is:
The Solution
Management by a nonprofit 501 c (3) organization, the American River Parkway Conservancy, whose sole mission would be preserving, protecting, and strengthening the Parkway.
This will create management of singular purpose and the dedication public necessity demands, with the primary responsibility being public safety.
Public Safety Strategy
Though homelessness is presented as the issue underlying illegal camping and that perception will be addressed, the primary issue for the community suffering the effects of illegal camping is public safety.
Greatly enlarge ranger patrols, use horse mounted patrols, and establish a public crime reporting website.
Institute a safety with compassion program to address the chronic homeless and service resistant illegal campers in the Lower Reach.
______________________________
Friday, September 23, 2005
Chronic Homelessness & IIlegal Camping in the Parkway
An editorial in today's Bee about chronic homelessness notes a new program to address it is soon going to be released by local officials.
What is chronic homelessness:
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines chronic homelessness as a single adult with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years. (A "disabling condition" can be a substance-use disorder, a mental illness, or a physical illness or disability.)
One of the most successful programs helping the chronic homeless has been Pathways to Housing in New York.
Pathways to Housing, since 1992, has had an 85% success rate.
Next week ARPPS will be releasing our Lower Reach Report, focusing on the Lower Reach Area of the Parkway and the illegal camping that has seriously degraded the area for safe public use.
In the report we will address chronic homelessness and profile two programs, including Pathways to Housing, that work.
The report will be available on our website, http://www.arpps.org , on Monday, September 26, 2005.
________________
Editorial: Chronic homelessness
A perpetual challenge for any community
Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, September 23, 2005
Are the homeless, like the poor, destined to be among us forever?
It certainly seems so.
In the last fiscal year, Sacramento County spent $5 million in local funds and another $30 million in state and federal funds on homeless programs. The city of Sacramento spends $2.7 million a year. Nonetheless, a recent count found that some 700 people camp out illegally all over the city every night. Some burrow deep in the underbrush that covers the American River Parkway, while others take cover on the stoops of downtown business, or stretch out on porches or on the sidewalks in front of churches.
Periodically the city cracks down, ticketing illegal campers, arresting some and, occasionally but not often, prosecuting them. The homeless complain they are being harassed. Business owners who clean urine and feces from their businesses every morning and the public, forced to avoid certain parks, insist that the law be enforced. Police gravitate between being hard, being reasonable and being compassionate. The result is an endless shuffle that satisfies no one.
For the rest of the editorial: http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/13611562p-14453459c.html
What is chronic homelessness:
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines chronic homelessness as a single adult with a disabling condition who has either been continuously homeless for a year or more or has had at least four episodes of homelessness in the past three years. (A "disabling condition" can be a substance-use disorder, a mental illness, or a physical illness or disability.)
One of the most successful programs helping the chronic homeless has been Pathways to Housing in New York.
Pathways to Housing, since 1992, has had an 85% success rate.
Next week ARPPS will be releasing our Lower Reach Report, focusing on the Lower Reach Area of the Parkway and the illegal camping that has seriously degraded the area for safe public use.
In the report we will address chronic homelessness and profile two programs, including Pathways to Housing, that work.
The report will be available on our website, http://www.arpps.org , on Monday, September 26, 2005.
________________
Editorial: Chronic homelessness
A perpetual challenge for any community
Published 2:15 am PDT Friday, September 23, 2005
Are the homeless, like the poor, destined to be among us forever?
It certainly seems so.
In the last fiscal year, Sacramento County spent $5 million in local funds and another $30 million in state and federal funds on homeless programs. The city of Sacramento spends $2.7 million a year. Nonetheless, a recent count found that some 700 people camp out illegally all over the city every night. Some burrow deep in the underbrush that covers the American River Parkway, while others take cover on the stoops of downtown business, or stretch out on porches or on the sidewalks in front of churches.
Periodically the city cracks down, ticketing illegal campers, arresting some and, occasionally but not often, prosecuting them. The homeless complain they are being harassed. Business owners who clean urine and feces from their businesses every morning and the public, forced to avoid certain parks, insist that the law be enforced. Police gravitate between being hard, being reasonable and being compassionate. The result is an endless shuffle that satisfies no one.
For the rest of the editorial: http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/13611562p-14453459c.html
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Rio Americano High School Stadium and the Parkway
The concern about building an athletic stadium at Rio American High School, close to the American River Parkway, has generated some discussion, which this morning’s Bee noted.
___________
The Rio Americano stadium debate: Two factions scrimmage over 'home' football games
By Bill Lindelof -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 22, 2005
The San Juan Unified School District board of trustees is expected to decide in late October whether to allow a nonprofit group to improve the football field and other sports facilities at Rio Americano High School.
While most proposed improvements have met with no opposition, the question of whether to expand the school's football field for home games at Rio Americano has drawn opposition.
____________
While the one side wanted to build right away, the other side said wait a minute, you need to study the impact on the Parkway and ARPPS agrees completely.
The idea of twenty foot high scoreboards, announcer's stands with loudspeakers, and several thousand passionate fans, while joy to the souls of those of us who are parents of high school athletes, might not be the best idea next to the Parkway.
It requires more study.
___________
More study needed: Protect the parkway
By Ginni Jeglie, Darrel Lewis, Don Reisner and Warren Sax
The members of Friends and Neighbors of Rio Americano High School support high school sports and the renovation of facilities at the school.
Many of us have expressed a willingness to help fund these improvements with financial contributions. We are concerned, however, about plans to construct a new on-campus football stadium and the resulting environmental impacts to neighborhoods and the American River Parkway.
For the rest of the story:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/arden_carmichael/story/13598200p-14439037c.html
___________
The Rio Americano stadium debate: Two factions scrimmage over 'home' football games
By Bill Lindelof -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 22, 2005
The San Juan Unified School District board of trustees is expected to decide in late October whether to allow a nonprofit group to improve the football field and other sports facilities at Rio Americano High School.
While most proposed improvements have met with no opposition, the question of whether to expand the school's football field for home games at Rio Americano has drawn opposition.
____________
While the one side wanted to build right away, the other side said wait a minute, you need to study the impact on the Parkway and ARPPS agrees completely.
The idea of twenty foot high scoreboards, announcer's stands with loudspeakers, and several thousand passionate fans, while joy to the souls of those of us who are parents of high school athletes, might not be the best idea next to the Parkway.
It requires more study.
___________
More study needed: Protect the parkway
By Ginni Jeglie, Darrel Lewis, Don Reisner and Warren Sax
The members of Friends and Neighbors of Rio Americano High School support high school sports and the renovation of facilities at the school.
Many of us have expressed a willingness to help fund these improvements with financial contributions. We are concerned, however, about plans to construct a new on-campus football stadium and the resulting environmental impacts to neighborhoods and the American River Parkway.
For the rest of the story:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/arden_carmichael/story/13598200p-14439037c.html
Wednesday, September 21, 2005
What Nonprofits do for parks
The cornerstone of our work is to see the Parkway managed by a nonprofit conservancy, and the ways that a nonprofit can benefit parks is well outlined, with case studies, in this excellent article from the Project for public Spaces, excerpted from the book Public Places, Private Partners.
The nine areas examined where help can be provided are; 1) fundraising, 2) organizing volunteers, 3) design, planning and construction of capital improvements, 4) marketing and outreach, 5) programming, 6) advocacy, 7) remedial maintenance, 8) routine maintenance, and 9) security.
What Nonprofits Do For Parks: Activities
While every nonprofit provides its own unique type of support for a park, almost all nonprofit activities fall into the nine categories listed in the right column, each of which is a link to a section on that topic.
A nonprofit's activities are closely tied to its role in the park. For example, nearly all nonprofit organizations raise money. Most also organize volunteers and outreach efforts. Larger organizations may be involved in the design and execution of capital projects as well as regular maintenance of the park, and design professionals, as well as horticulturists and landscape historians, are key members of their staffs and boards.
However, the more involved an organization becomes in the actual management of the park, the less likely it is to engage in outright advocacy. Therefore, many organizations stay out of more management oriented activities, such as routine maintenance, capital improvements, and security, not only because these options are more expensive and involved, but because they may compromise their ability to advocate.
For example, if such groups are oriented to advocate for more public sector commitment to parks, they may feel strongly that the private sector has no place taking over management duties that the city should provide as a basic service. Of course, these groups may also engage in other activities such as marketing, outreach, and programming, or there may be another group in the city that performs some or all of those activities, along with advocacy.
For the rest of the article: http://www.pps.org/topics/pubpriv/activities/PPPP-chapter3
The nine areas examined where help can be provided are; 1) fundraising, 2) organizing volunteers, 3) design, planning and construction of capital improvements, 4) marketing and outreach, 5) programming, 6) advocacy, 7) remedial maintenance, 8) routine maintenance, and 9) security.
What Nonprofits Do For Parks: Activities
While every nonprofit provides its own unique type of support for a park, almost all nonprofit activities fall into the nine categories listed in the right column, each of which is a link to a section on that topic.
A nonprofit's activities are closely tied to its role in the park. For example, nearly all nonprofit organizations raise money. Most also organize volunteers and outreach efforts. Larger organizations may be involved in the design and execution of capital projects as well as regular maintenance of the park, and design professionals, as well as horticulturists and landscape historians, are key members of their staffs and boards.
However, the more involved an organization becomes in the actual management of the park, the less likely it is to engage in outright advocacy. Therefore, many organizations stay out of more management oriented activities, such as routine maintenance, capital improvements, and security, not only because these options are more expensive and involved, but because they may compromise their ability to advocate.
For example, if such groups are oriented to advocate for more public sector commitment to parks, they may feel strongly that the private sector has no place taking over management duties that the city should provide as a basic service. Of course, these groups may also engage in other activities such as marketing, outreach, and programming, or there may be another group in the city that performs some or all of those activities, along with advocacy.
For the rest of the article: http://www.pps.org/topics/pubpriv/activities/PPPP-chapter3
Tuesday, September 20, 2005
Strategic Planning and the Parkway
One of the most important aspects of properly governing a public resource is being prepared for what-ifs. This is the rationale of strategic planning, to be prepared for the what-ifs.
The Parkway, after implementation of the 1985 Parkway Plan, was prepared for the what-ifs.
The planners, and the enabling state legislation, wisely included in the plan a five-year review and update process to account for the dynamics of an unknown future, a crucial element to good planning.
However, Parkway management ignored the review and update process.
They ignored it in 1990, in 1995, and in 2000.
Finally, after several serious problems have emerged and grown into full-blown catastrophes, including public safety and illegal camping on the Lower Reach, visually encroaching building on Parkway perimeters upriver, and steadily eroding maintenance funding, and the final insult of the threatened closure of the Parkway in 2004, an update process is well underway.
Add to this dismal set of circumstances a complete inability, due to not being able to even meet basic needs, to strengthen the Parkway with additional acquisitions or enhancements; and you have the basic reasoning why our organization was formed in 2003.
Here is an excellent article about strategic planning.
What is Strategic Planning?
Summary:
Strategic planning can be used to determine mission, vision, values, goals, objectives, roles and responsibilities, timelines, etc.
Overview:
Strategic planning is a management tool, period. As with any management tool, it is used for one purpose only: to help an organization do a better job - to focus its energy, to ensure that members of the organization are working toward the same goals, to assess and adjust the organization's direction in response to a changing environment. In short, strategic planning is a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. (Adapted from Bryson's Strategic Planning in Public and Nonprofit Organizations)
A word by word dissection of this definition provides the key elements that underlie the meaning and success of a strategic planning process: The process is strategic because it involves preparing the best way to respond to the circumstances of the organization's environment, whether or not its circumstances are known in advance; nonprofits often must respond to dynamic and even hostile environments. Being strategic, then, means being clear about the organization's objectives, being aware of the organization's resources, and incorporating both into being consciously responsive to a dynamic environment.
For the rest of the article: http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/03/22.html
The Parkway, after implementation of the 1985 Parkway Plan, was prepared for the what-ifs.
The planners, and the enabling state legislation, wisely included in the plan a five-year review and update process to account for the dynamics of an unknown future, a crucial element to good planning.
However, Parkway management ignored the review and update process.
They ignored it in 1990, in 1995, and in 2000.
Finally, after several serious problems have emerged and grown into full-blown catastrophes, including public safety and illegal camping on the Lower Reach, visually encroaching building on Parkway perimeters upriver, and steadily eroding maintenance funding, and the final insult of the threatened closure of the Parkway in 2004, an update process is well underway.
Add to this dismal set of circumstances a complete inability, due to not being able to even meet basic needs, to strengthen the Parkway with additional acquisitions or enhancements; and you have the basic reasoning why our organization was formed in 2003.
Here is an excellent article about strategic planning.
What is Strategic Planning?
Summary:
Strategic planning can be used to determine mission, vision, values, goals, objectives, roles and responsibilities, timelines, etc.
Overview:
Strategic planning is a management tool, period. As with any management tool, it is used for one purpose only: to help an organization do a better job - to focus its energy, to ensure that members of the organization are working toward the same goals, to assess and adjust the organization's direction in response to a changing environment. In short, strategic planning is a disciplined effort to produce fundamental decisions and actions that shape and guide what an organization is, what it does, and why it does it, with a focus on the future. (Adapted from Bryson's Strategic Planning in Public and Nonprofit Organizations)
A word by word dissection of this definition provides the key elements that underlie the meaning and success of a strategic planning process: The process is strategic because it involves preparing the best way to respond to the circumstances of the organization's environment, whether or not its circumstances are known in advance; nonprofits often must respond to dynamic and even hostile environments. Being strategic, then, means being clear about the organization's objectives, being aware of the organization's resources, and incorporating both into being consciously responsive to a dynamic environment.
For the rest of the article: http://www.nonprofits.org/npofaq/03/22.html
Monday, September 19, 2005
Bikeway to the Parkway
As this recent story from the Bee notes, it is truly wonderful to see the bike access to the American River Parkway expand, and the dream of eventually riding around the county without leaving a bikeway, comes closer to reality.
However, during this period of under-funding for basic maintenance and public safety on the existing Parkway, one does wonder about priorities; and further would ask how many grants have been written lately, for instance, to increase ranger patrols in the high-crime Lower Reach area of the Parkway.
Rio Linda bike trail to head north
The $2.4 million extension may encourage commuting on 2 wheels, officials say.
By Dirk Werkman -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 15, 2005
Sacramento County officials are spending $2.4 million to extend a Rio Linda bicycle trail that Supervisor Roger Dickinson hopes will someday go "all the way to Chico."
When the current project is completed later this year, the Sacramento Northern Bikeway will extend north to Elverta Road from its current terminus at M Street near Front Street in Rio Linda. It will be paved and landscaped with 750 new trees.
Bicyclists, walkers and horseback riders are expected to use the new 1.8-mile trail segment as they have long used a 10-mile section of the existing paved route between Rio Linda and Discovery Park in Sacramento.
According to Gerry Bestpitch, a member of the volunteer Equestrian Patrol, riders can get on the existing trail adjacent to Rio Linda's replica of the Front Street train depot that once served the community, can join the American River Parkway trail system at Discovery Park, and from there can connect with trails reaching into El Dorado County and eventually to Lake Tahoe.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/antelope_north_sacramento/story/13562896p-14403385c.html
However, during this period of under-funding for basic maintenance and public safety on the existing Parkway, one does wonder about priorities; and further would ask how many grants have been written lately, for instance, to increase ranger patrols in the high-crime Lower Reach area of the Parkway.
Rio Linda bike trail to head north
The $2.4 million extension may encourage commuting on 2 wheels, officials say.
By Dirk Werkman -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 15, 2005
Sacramento County officials are spending $2.4 million to extend a Rio Linda bicycle trail that Supervisor Roger Dickinson hopes will someday go "all the way to Chico."
When the current project is completed later this year, the Sacramento Northern Bikeway will extend north to Elverta Road from its current terminus at M Street near Front Street in Rio Linda. It will be paved and landscaped with 750 new trees.
Bicyclists, walkers and horseback riders are expected to use the new 1.8-mile trail segment as they have long used a 10-mile section of the existing paved route between Rio Linda and Discovery Park in Sacramento.
According to Gerry Bestpitch, a member of the volunteer Equestrian Patrol, riders can get on the existing trail adjacent to Rio Linda's replica of the Front Street train depot that once served the community, can join the American River Parkway trail system at Discovery Park, and from there can connect with trails reaching into El Dorado County and eventually to Lake Tahoe.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/antelope_north_sacramento/story/13562896p-14403385c.html
Golf and the Parkway
There was probably a time several years ago when the idea of county run golf courses actually made sense, but with the tremendous surge in popularity and innumerable new courses, to the point many say the market is now oversaturated, that time has probably passed.
We agree with the idea to contract them out, and place those extra workers thereby freed up into the Parkway, whose time we can’t afford to see pass.
Read this story in today’s Bee for further information:
County golf links in the rough
With courses spending more money than they're bringing in, officials are considering contracting out some work.
By Phillip Reese -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, September 19, 2005
Another bad year or two, and the county's golf course budget will be deep in the hole.
Attendance is down. Fees aren't covering costs. Debt payments are due.
"If the numbers are dependable," Supervisor Don Notolli said at a Board of Supervisors meeting this week, "we are headed for a train wreck."
To maintain solvency, county parks Director Ron Suter has come forward with a controversial proposal - hire contractors at two of the county's courses. Current county employees would be shifted into other vacant parks positions.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/sacramento/story/13589067p-14429973c.html
We agree with the idea to contract them out, and place those extra workers thereby freed up into the Parkway, whose time we can’t afford to see pass.
Read this story in today’s Bee for further information:
County golf links in the rough
With courses spending more money than they're bringing in, officials are considering contracting out some work.
By Phillip Reese -- Bee Staff Writer Published 2:15 am PDT Monday, September 19, 2005
Another bad year or two, and the county's golf course budget will be deep in the hole.
Attendance is down. Fees aren't covering costs. Debt payments are due.
"If the numbers are dependable," Supervisor Don Notolli said at a Board of Supervisors meeting this week, "we are headed for a train wreck."
To maintain solvency, county parks Director Ron Suter has come forward with a controversial proposal - hire contractors at two of the county's courses. Current county employees would be shifted into other vacant parks positions.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/sacramento/story/13589067p-14429973c.html
Sunday, September 18, 2005
Parkway Camping Citations
As the tone of this front page story in the Bee today about illegal camping in the Parkway makes clear, it is the adjacent community who wants to reclaim their Parkway who is in the wrong, not the people whose illegal camping, related crime, and habitat destruction has essentially taken the adjacent community's part of the Parkway from being an option for public use to one of avoidance.
The tone begins with the title byline, Citations...stir controversy; but to the larger community it is not the citations issued for illegal camping stirring the controversy, it is allowing the camping in the first place, and the resulting degradation of a large part of the Parkway, effectively removing it from safe and enjoyable use by the adjacent community.
The article highlights several very sad stories, which should stir the compassion in all of us, and one hopes the mentioned plan soon to be put forth, doesn't continue to forget the adjacent community wanting to see their Parkway usable again.
They also deserve our compassion.
Ticket to nowhere
Citations for homeless stir controversy
By Jocelyn Wiener -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Sunday, September 18, 2005
Tina Marie Krisanda sat in the back of the paddy wagon and cried. She'd never been arrested before. She was terrified.
The police had arrived earlier than normal that hazy morning in late July. They woke up Krisanda and the other homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks and weedy fields in front of the Union Gospel Mission. They issued 23 tickets. They made 10 arrests.
In the pale yellow light of dawn, Krisanda and those huddled around her were breaking city law.
Some of Sacramento's homeless spend entire nights walking in order to avoid illegal camping citations that turn into warrants, then arrests. But most risk curling up in front of the mission, in the shadowy doorways of downtown shops or along the tree-lined banks of the American River.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13584503p-14425342c.html
The tone begins with the title byline, Citations...stir controversy; but to the larger community it is not the citations issued for illegal camping stirring the controversy, it is allowing the camping in the first place, and the resulting degradation of a large part of the Parkway, effectively removing it from safe and enjoyable use by the adjacent community.
The article highlights several very sad stories, which should stir the compassion in all of us, and one hopes the mentioned plan soon to be put forth, doesn't continue to forget the adjacent community wanting to see their Parkway usable again.
They also deserve our compassion.
Ticket to nowhere
Citations for homeless stir controversy
By Jocelyn Wiener -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Sunday, September 18, 2005
Tina Marie Krisanda sat in the back of the paddy wagon and cried. She'd never been arrested before. She was terrified.
The police had arrived earlier than normal that hazy morning in late July. They woke up Krisanda and the other homeless people sleeping on the sidewalks and weedy fields in front of the Union Gospel Mission. They issued 23 tickets. They made 10 arrests.
In the pale yellow light of dawn, Krisanda and those huddled around her were breaking city law.
Some of Sacramento's homeless spend entire nights walking in order to avoid illegal camping citations that turn into warrants, then arrests. But most risk curling up in front of the mission, in the shadowy doorways of downtown shops or along the tree-lined banks of the American River.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13584503p-14425342c.html
Sacramento Flooding
An article in this morning’s Bee reveals that since the harsh reminder of flood damage caused by inadequate flood protection which Katrina has provided us, the local optimal solution appears brighter, with Representative Doris Matsui and river advocate Ronald Stork agreeing with John Doolittle on the importance of the issue, the folly of making the wrong decisions, and agreeing it is time for moral outrage from Sacramento, lest we wind up twenty feet under water.
What Sacramento must learn from New Orleans
By John T. Doolittle -- Special to The BeePublished 2:15 am PDT Sunday, September 18, 2005
As I have joined with the rest of America in viewing the terrible scenes of devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding, my heart has gone out to our many countrymen who have been displaced from their homes and livelihoods.
I have felt a particularly deep empathy for the people of New Orleans - a city protected by a system of levees that is now submerged in floodwaters mixed with sewage and chemicals of every kind.
Beyond the general lessons about emergency preparedness that we should all learn from this catastrophe, one point is especially important for Sacramento: Preventing a disaster is better than recovering from one. As such, I have a feeling of foreboding knowing that Sacramento, also protected by a system of levees, could face a similar fate if we don't provide it with the highest level of flood protection possible - the Auburn dam.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/13578718p-14419241c.html
What Sacramento must learn from New Orleans
By John T. Doolittle -- Special to The BeePublished 2:15 am PDT Sunday, September 18, 2005
As I have joined with the rest of America in viewing the terrible scenes of devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent flooding, my heart has gone out to our many countrymen who have been displaced from their homes and livelihoods.
I have felt a particularly deep empathy for the people of New Orleans - a city protected by a system of levees that is now submerged in floodwaters mixed with sewage and chemicals of every kind.
Beyond the general lessons about emergency preparedness that we should all learn from this catastrophe, one point is especially important for Sacramento: Preventing a disaster is better than recovering from one. As such, I have a feeling of foreboding knowing that Sacramento, also protected by a system of levees, could face a similar fate if we don't provide it with the highest level of flood protection possible - the Auburn dam.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/13578718p-14419241c.html
Friday, September 16, 2005
Parks Funding Increase
As this story from this morning’s Bee notes, the County is still having serious funding problems, but has been able to increase the parks budget by $450,000.00, which they say will be headed for increased ranger patrols, which is certainly a major need.
We will wait to see how the rangers, if added, are deployed, and hopefully it will be in the Parkway…. and a final note, Sacramento County was rated a C+ (a failing grade in a graduate degree program at most colleges) for government performance by Governing Magazine in 2002, see article here; http://www.governing.com/gpp/2002/gp2sacr.htm . Other counties receiving a C+ grade were Alameda and Riverside County.
County is socking it away for future
With big deficits on the horizon, supervisors dash most hopes of department heads for more money
By Phillip Reese -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Friday, September 16, 2005
Anticipating tough years ahead, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved a final budget Thursday night that puts most of roughly $50 million in undesignated funds into reserve.
On top of about $10 million in new spending that the county executive recommended, the board added additional programs with a net cost of slightly more than $1 million.
That leaves about $40 million for savings, not counting $7 million that supervisors added to the reserve a few months ago. And it leaves a lot of county department heads - who had hoped for a bigger slice of the pie - disappointed.
"There is a huge temptation not to build up that revenue, to not look forward," said Supervisor Illa Collin. "To have everyone pull together and understand we have tough times coming, I'm feeling very optimistic."
The money the county put into savings Thursday probably won't stay there long. The county faces a number of challenges next fiscal year.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13572846p-14413247c.html
We will wait to see how the rangers, if added, are deployed, and hopefully it will be in the Parkway…. and a final note, Sacramento County was rated a C+ (a failing grade in a graduate degree program at most colleges) for government performance by Governing Magazine in 2002, see article here; http://www.governing.com/gpp/2002/gp2sacr.htm . Other counties receiving a C+ grade were Alameda and Riverside County.
County is socking it away for future
With big deficits on the horizon, supervisors dash most hopes of department heads for more money
By Phillip Reese -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Friday, September 16, 2005
Anticipating tough years ahead, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors approved a final budget Thursday night that puts most of roughly $50 million in undesignated funds into reserve.
On top of about $10 million in new spending that the county executive recommended, the board added additional programs with a net cost of slightly more than $1 million.
That leaves about $40 million for savings, not counting $7 million that supervisors added to the reserve a few months ago. And it leaves a lot of county department heads - who had hoped for a bigger slice of the pie - disappointed.
"There is a huge temptation not to build up that revenue, to not look forward," said Supervisor Illa Collin. "To have everyone pull together and understand we have tough times coming, I'm feeling very optimistic."
The money the county put into savings Thursday probably won't stay there long. The county faces a number of challenges next fiscal year.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13572846p-14413247c.html
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Parkway clean up is nice, but expanding Parkway is better
The story in the Bee today about the annual Parkway clean-up is a sad reminder of the original mission of the American River Parkway Foundation, the organization managing the annual clean-up.
Their founding mission was to raise funds to acquire additional land, as it became available, to increase the Parkway.
This was a visionary and vital mission, particularly in this era of large house-building along the Parkway creating a sharp visual intrusion to our sanctuary.
Their founding mission is even more vitally necessary today.
But, unfortunately, at some point during the past several years they dropped that mission and became a clean-up organization.
Clean-up is certainly needed, particularly in the Parkway's Lower Reach area, where the clean-up crew will be encountering syringes, human waste, and illegal campgrounds inhabited by very territorial and often hostile campers, (so be careful out there); but once-a-year clean-up is not at all as important as strengthening the Parkway through targeted land acquisition, which could benefit the Parkway forever.
Here is the story and a link.
Greenbelt cleanup volunteers are talking trash
They'll turn out in force on Saturday to keep parkway pristine.
By Bill Lindelof -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 15, 2005
The slap of a beaver's tail breaking the stillness of a morning, the swoop of a hawk through cottonwood trees colored yellow by autumn.
That's the picture of the 23-mile American River Parkway that emerges for many.
After a summer of use, the urban parkway also is home to discarded car batteries, cigarette butts flattened next to picnic tables and beer cans on beaches.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/arden_carmichael/story/13562842p-14403354c.html
Their founding mission was to raise funds to acquire additional land, as it became available, to increase the Parkway.
This was a visionary and vital mission, particularly in this era of large house-building along the Parkway creating a sharp visual intrusion to our sanctuary.
Their founding mission is even more vitally necessary today.
But, unfortunately, at some point during the past several years they dropped that mission and became a clean-up organization.
Clean-up is certainly needed, particularly in the Parkway's Lower Reach area, where the clean-up crew will be encountering syringes, human waste, and illegal campgrounds inhabited by very territorial and often hostile campers, (so be careful out there); but once-a-year clean-up is not at all as important as strengthening the Parkway through targeted land acquisition, which could benefit the Parkway forever.
Here is the story and a link.
Greenbelt cleanup volunteers are talking trash
They'll turn out in force on Saturday to keep parkway pristine.
By Bill Lindelof -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 15, 2005
The slap of a beaver's tail breaking the stillness of a morning, the swoop of a hawk through cottonwood trees colored yellow by autumn.
That's the picture of the 23-mile American River Parkway that emerges for many.
After a summer of use, the urban parkway also is home to discarded car batteries, cigarette butts flattened next to picnic tables and beer cans on beaches.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/arden_carmichael/story/13562842p-14403354c.html
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
American River Flow Deal
As this article from today's Sacramento Bee notes, a good deal has been made for the river, for the salmon, and for the Parkway, but many details remain.
ARPPS's focus next year will be on water supply, and the details that need resolving to make the implementation of this new agreement on river flows a good one.
Deal goes with the flow to boost American River
By Matt Weiser -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Stranded fish and stuck boats could become a summertime memory on the lower American River, thanks to a long-awaited agreement to boost water flows.
The deal, endorsed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, increases minimum flows in the American River below Folsom Dam year round.
Proponents call it good for fish, anglers and others who enjoy the American River Parkway.
The agreement, especially important in late summer and fall when natural runoff declines and water demand soars, probably won't be implemented until 2007 at the earliest.
Some operational details still need to be worked out, but agreement on the flow numbers is being hailed as a landmark in Sacramento water policy.
For the rest of the story:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13557983p-14398661c.html
ARPPS's focus next year will be on water supply, and the details that need resolving to make the implementation of this new agreement on river flows a good one.
Deal goes with the flow to boost American River
By Matt Weiser -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Stranded fish and stuck boats could become a summertime memory on the lower American River, thanks to a long-awaited agreement to boost water flows.
The deal, endorsed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, increases minimum flows in the American River below Folsom Dam year round.
Proponents call it good for fish, anglers and others who enjoy the American River Parkway.
The agreement, especially important in late summer and fall when natural runoff declines and water demand soars, probably won't be implemented until 2007 at the earliest.
Some operational details still need to be worked out, but agreement on the flow numbers is being hailed as a landmark in Sacramento water policy.
For the rest of the story:
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13557983p-14398661c.html
Dealing with Natural Disasters, The California Way
In thinking about what can be done to recover from Katrina, the methods used to recover from one of California’s major disasters, the 6.7 earthquake in Los Angeles in 1994, are instructive. I remember with pride how local contractor C.C. Meyers rebuilt the freeway in Southern California in record time, and this article by former Governor Pete Wilson, from today’s Wall Street Journal, shows how that method can work in New Orleans.
I also appreciate his final suggestion about using a nonprofit corporation, working in concert with local government (which is what we propose for the management of the Parkway) as a strategy to administer the public’s trust effectively.
The Californian Way:
Lessons for New Orleans from the post-1994 earthquake rebuilding.
BY PETE WILSON Tuesday, September 13, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT
LOS ANGELES--Natural disasters, like wars, test human mettle and bring out the best in many people--courage and selflessness, acts of heroism, and great generosity to afflicted neighbors and total strangers. Sadly, but very predictably, they also generate political opportunism and partisan finger-pointing that is worse than counterproductive. Practitioners of the "blame game" typically do far more to exploit than to assuage the pain of the victims with whom they so gaudily sympathize. Katrina has certainly been no exception, providing an especially absurd and contemptible example of charging the president with racist neglect.
Rather than point fingers, I presume to offer a few practical pointers that I hope will be useful to those who are, or may in the future be, challenged to lead their constituents on the hard road back to recovery from a natural disaster.
In early 1994, a major earthquake (measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale) jolted the residents of greater Los Angeles from their slumbers and knocked houses off their foundations. Within seconds, the Northridge earthquake reduced to rubble the overpass bridges of Interstate 10, Los Angeles's major east-west artery, and thereby instantly shut down the most heavily trafficked freeway in the world. I was advised that it would require some two years and two months to repair the bridges and restore the I-10 to use. For as long as it remained unavailable, it would mean not only driver inconvenience on a dramatic scale, but delays that would translate into economic dislocation conservatively estimated to cost $600,000 per day. The interruption to the life of the nation's second largest city would be of a plainly intolerable magnitude and duration.
Instead, we completed the repairs and reopened the freeway to its normal heavy traffic in just 66 days. How? We did two things.
For the rest of the story: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007252
I also appreciate his final suggestion about using a nonprofit corporation, working in concert with local government (which is what we propose for the management of the Parkway) as a strategy to administer the public’s trust effectively.
The Californian Way:
Lessons for New Orleans from the post-1994 earthquake rebuilding.
BY PETE WILSON Tuesday, September 13, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT
LOS ANGELES--Natural disasters, like wars, test human mettle and bring out the best in many people--courage and selflessness, acts of heroism, and great generosity to afflicted neighbors and total strangers. Sadly, but very predictably, they also generate political opportunism and partisan finger-pointing that is worse than counterproductive. Practitioners of the "blame game" typically do far more to exploit than to assuage the pain of the victims with whom they so gaudily sympathize. Katrina has certainly been no exception, providing an especially absurd and contemptible example of charging the president with racist neglect.
Rather than point fingers, I presume to offer a few practical pointers that I hope will be useful to those who are, or may in the future be, challenged to lead their constituents on the hard road back to recovery from a natural disaster.
In early 1994, a major earthquake (measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale) jolted the residents of greater Los Angeles from their slumbers and knocked houses off their foundations. Within seconds, the Northridge earthquake reduced to rubble the overpass bridges of Interstate 10, Los Angeles's major east-west artery, and thereby instantly shut down the most heavily trafficked freeway in the world. I was advised that it would require some two years and two months to repair the bridges and restore the I-10 to use. For as long as it remained unavailable, it would mean not only driver inconvenience on a dramatic scale, but delays that would translate into economic dislocation conservatively estimated to cost $600,000 per day. The interruption to the life of the nation's second largest city would be of a plainly intolerable magnitude and duration.
Instead, we completed the repairs and reopened the freeway to its normal heavy traffic in just 66 days. How? We did two things.
For the rest of the story: http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=110007252
Friday, September 09, 2005
Who calls the cavalry when Sacramento floods?
Ever since Katrina destroyed the Gulf Coast, it has become imperative that Sacramento, and other cities protected from massive flooding only by relatively weak and very old levees, be prepared to conduct some serious planning and foresight to prevent it.
The option to preventing it is to try to deal with it, when what surely will eventually happen, as all of the experts tell us will happen, a major flood devastates our city, and then who calls the cavalry, which is what this very provocative and insightful article is about.
Who Calls the Cavalry?
The Pentagon was prepared for Hurricane Katrina.
BY DANIEL HENNINGER Friday, September 9, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT
"When you fly over the Gulf, it looks like a WMD exploded," Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul McHale told me this week. "Katrina very nearly approached the operational requirements of a WMD event; this was the first test of the high-end capability envisioned by the strategy."
The "strategy" is a three-month-old document called "Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support." It describes the Defense Department's plans to defend the U.S. from a WMD attack or deal with the rubble and mass casualties of such an attack. Traditionally DoD has always helped civil authorities contend with the ruin of natural disasters. That Katrina's massive scale mirrored a WMD attack, obliterating a city, is a coincidence. But it raises the question of whether the states, or relatively vulnerable states like Louisiana, are up to the job of being "first responders" to a WMD attack or its natural equivalent. If they are not, we need to change some laws.
For the rest of the story: http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/dhenninger/?id=110007230
The option to preventing it is to try to deal with it, when what surely will eventually happen, as all of the experts tell us will happen, a major flood devastates our city, and then who calls the cavalry, which is what this very provocative and insightful article is about.
Who Calls the Cavalry?
The Pentagon was prepared for Hurricane Katrina.
BY DANIEL HENNINGER Friday, September 9, 2005 12:01 a.m. EDT
"When you fly over the Gulf, it looks like a WMD exploded," Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul McHale told me this week. "Katrina very nearly approached the operational requirements of a WMD event; this was the first test of the high-end capability envisioned by the strategy."
The "strategy" is a three-month-old document called "Strategy for Homeland Defense and Civil Support." It describes the Defense Department's plans to defend the U.S. from a WMD attack or deal with the rubble and mass casualties of such an attack. Traditionally DoD has always helped civil authorities contend with the ruin of natural disasters. That Katrina's massive scale mirrored a WMD attack, obliterating a city, is a coincidence. But it raises the question of whether the states, or relatively vulnerable states like Louisiana, are up to the job of being "first responders" to a WMD attack or its natural equivalent. If they are not, we need to change some laws.
For the rest of the story: http://www.opinionjournal.com/columnists/dhenninger/?id=110007230
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Parkway Usage Survey
In the Bee today it was noted that a survey is in the works of who uses the Parkway. Good idea.
Who uses the parkway, and how do they use it?
To explore funding needs, a telephone survey attempts to answer those queries.
By Bill Lindelof -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 8, 2005
A new telephone survey about the American River Parkway attempts to pin down a moving target: how many people use the 23-mile greenbelt.
There are no turnstiles to count joggers, bicyclists, walkers, an-glers and others.
"The permeability of parkway access makes an accurate estimate of usage nearly impossible," reads a "purpose statement" for the parkway survey.
Alan Wade, president of Save the American River Association, said accurate information is very important when asking for more parkway funding.
"I've wanted it for a long time," he said. "I'm weary of going before the Sacramento (County) Board of Supervisors and trying to convince them of parkway importance.
"But the only data we have goes back a number of years. We are fixed on the general statement - which we still believe is correct - that the parkway has 5 million visitors a year."
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/arden_carmichael/story/13533759p-14374323c.html
Who uses the parkway, and how do they use it?
To explore funding needs, a telephone survey attempts to answer those queries.
By Bill Lindelof -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 8, 2005
A new telephone survey about the American River Parkway attempts to pin down a moving target: how many people use the 23-mile greenbelt.
There are no turnstiles to count joggers, bicyclists, walkers, an-glers and others.
"The permeability of parkway access makes an accurate estimate of usage nearly impossible," reads a "purpose statement" for the parkway survey.
Alan Wade, president of Save the American River Association, said accurate information is very important when asking for more parkway funding.
"I've wanted it for a long time," he said. "I'm weary of going before the Sacramento (County) Board of Supervisors and trying to convince them of parkway importance.
"But the only data we have goes back a number of years. We are fixed on the general statement - which we still believe is correct - that the parkway has 5 million visitors a year."
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/arden_carmichael/story/13533759p-14374323c.html
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Bee Editorial
As the editorial in this morning’s Bee notes, Sacramento County, the current Parkway management and funding source, have not done a very good job of husbanding their [our] resources, financial and natural.
Let’s hope they begin doing better this year…
Let’s hope they begin doing better this year…
Editorial: Still sinking
County's brief windfall is a budget illusion
Published 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, September 7, 2005
For the rest of the editorial
http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/13529418p-14370197c.html
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Parkway Flooding
In the chaos of the moment a week ago, this story in the Bee from last Wednesday kind of slipped by, but it is important to realize that our Parkway, let alone our homes, businesses and much of Sacramento is less protected from flooding than New Orleans was...
New Orleans flooding 'wake-up call' for capital
The levee failures are reminders of the vulnerability faced by Sacramento.
By Matt Weiser -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Hurricane Katrina seems far removed from Sacramento, but levee failures in New Orleans, one day after the storm, are a chilling reminder that the two cities have a lot in common.
At least two levees protecting historic New Orleans failed Tuesday morning, weakened by Katrina's storm surge. The city flooded up to 20 feet deep in places, submerging the fabled French Quarter, forcing evacuation of hospitals, and creating a nightmare of water contamination and broken utilities.
The consequences, in economic and human terms, are impossible to measure.
But one fact bears mentioning: New Orleans had better flood protection than Sacramento, and still it was overwhelmed.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13498322p-14338923c.html
New Orleans flooding 'wake-up call' for capital
The levee failures are reminders of the vulnerability faced by Sacramento.
By Matt Weiser -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Hurricane Katrina seems far removed from Sacramento, but levee failures in New Orleans, one day after the storm, are a chilling reminder that the two cities have a lot in common.
At least two levees protecting historic New Orleans failed Tuesday morning, weakened by Katrina's storm surge. The city flooded up to 20 feet deep in places, submerging the fabled French Quarter, forcing evacuation of hospitals, and creating a nightmare of water contamination and broken utilities.
The consequences, in economic and human terms, are impossible to measure.
But one fact bears mentioning: New Orleans had better flood protection than Sacramento, and still it was overwhelmed.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13498322p-14338923c.html
Quiet Labor Day on the River
This Bee article from today noted, as is generally traditional on this last, rather cool day of summer, the beer was flowing but rowdiness was down, everyone had a good time, and the increased law enforcement helped...
River of revelers
Rafters soak up sun and beer but mostly behave themselves on traditional end-of-summer holiday
By Alison Roberts -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Water guns and beer were flowing, but Labor Day rafting on the American River was a gentle ride. In other words, it was no Fourth of July.
Just two months ago, the Fourth turned inglorious quickly when a muddy melee broke out at a place called Gilligan's Island. The spot - at Rancho Cordova's Hagan Community Park - turned into a brawling party of 500 people hooting, hollering, drinking and fighting. Some women were topless and some men used paddles as well as fists as they squared off.
Sacramento County sheriff's officials fired pepper-powder balls to break it up, and about 50 people were arrested. The next day tons of trash - lingering like a bad hangover - had to be picked up.
Officials started talking of tighter controls or a ban on alcohol on the river. For now, they're still just talking.
There also was talk of how to stanch the lawlessness on Labor Day, another traditionally big rafting day.
Between a smaller crowd and a heightened law enforcement presence, things seemed to flow smoothly.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13525520p-14366331c.html
River of revelers
Rafters soak up sun and beer but mostly behave themselves on traditional end-of-summer holiday
By Alison Roberts -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, September 6, 2005
Water guns and beer were flowing, but Labor Day rafting on the American River was a gentle ride. In other words, it was no Fourth of July.
Just two months ago, the Fourth turned inglorious quickly when a muddy melee broke out at a place called Gilligan's Island. The spot - at Rancho Cordova's Hagan Community Park - turned into a brawling party of 500 people hooting, hollering, drinking and fighting. Some women were topless and some men used paddles as well as fists as they squared off.
Sacramento County sheriff's officials fired pepper-powder balls to break it up, and about 50 people were arrested. The next day tons of trash - lingering like a bad hangover - had to be picked up.
Officials started talking of tighter controls or a ban on alcohol on the river. For now, they're still just talking.
There also was talk of how to stanch the lawlessness on Labor Day, another traditionally big rafting day.
Between a smaller crowd and a heightened law enforcement presence, things seemed to flow smoothly.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13525520p-14366331c.html
Friday, September 02, 2005
Walt Wiley Retires
Walt Wiley retired yesterday. His insightful writing about the Parkway will be missed. I particularly appreciated the mixture of straightforwardness and indignation he brought to his stories about the illegal camping in the North Sacramento Area of the Parkway.
Goodbye Walt, you’ve given us many great words, sharing your insight and passion with us for many years. Thank you.
Here is his last column:
Walt Wiley: A long, rich career ends with chance to have fun, search for tidbits
By Walt Wiley -- Bee ColumnistPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 1, 2005
The wheel turns: Right about this time three years ago, this column began in this very spot on this same page every Thursday.
It offered readers work of the highest literary - no, wait, that was someone else's column. This column was meant to pass along a bit of gossip here and there and perhaps entertain upon occasion.
That first column started off with a little essay on what life looked like that week along the American River Parkway: hot days, cool nights, black walnut trees ripening, crows and squirrels scurrying and scolding. The salmon run hadn't quite begun.
The river was low that year. This year, it's high; no salmon yet, of course. And this year the birds aren't nearly so abundant, perhaps because of West Nile infections. However, there were a few magpies and doves, some turkeys, a coyote and a deer very much in evidence the other day.
So it's a circle, not perfect, but pretty good. And I'm going to put my pencil behind my ear and knock off, call it a day. Call it a career.
I'm retiring after being in this business for more than 40 years, 36 at The Bee. The three years of doing this column have been icing on a pretty rich cake.
For the rest of the story:http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/columns/wiley/story/13498492p-14339055c.html
Goodbye Walt, you’ve given us many great words, sharing your insight and passion with us for many years. Thank you.
Here is his last column:
Walt Wiley: A long, rich career ends with chance to have fun, search for tidbits
By Walt Wiley -- Bee ColumnistPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 1, 2005
The wheel turns: Right about this time three years ago, this column began in this very spot on this same page every Thursday.
It offered readers work of the highest literary - no, wait, that was someone else's column. This column was meant to pass along a bit of gossip here and there and perhaps entertain upon occasion.
That first column started off with a little essay on what life looked like that week along the American River Parkway: hot days, cool nights, black walnut trees ripening, crows and squirrels scurrying and scolding. The salmon run hadn't quite begun.
The river was low that year. This year, it's high; no salmon yet, of course. And this year the birds aren't nearly so abundant, perhaps because of West Nile infections. However, there were a few magpies and doves, some turkeys, a coyote and a deer very much in evidence the other day.
So it's a circle, not perfect, but pretty good. And I'm going to put my pencil behind my ear and knock off, call it a day. Call it a career.
I'm retiring after being in this business for more than 40 years, 36 at The Bee. The three years of doing this column have been icing on a pretty rich cake.
For the rest of the story:http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/columns/wiley/story/13498492p-14339055c.html
Thursday, September 01, 2005
The Bad and the Good
Two related stories today about government and Parkway advocacy and work; one really bad, one really good. Let’s do the bad one first:
Advocates, who often spend their time trying to get government to do their job, and we have folks in North Sacramento that have been doing that for years regarding the illegal camping and the crime and degradation of habitat resulting from it, are usually and sadly, thought of as irritants by government.
We know better, and our past two Parkway Advocate Award winners (see our website http://www.arpps.org
are people government should be embracing for helping them do their job, which brings us to this story, the bad one:
Daniel Weintraub: Gadfly is an irritant to big donors, watchdog
By Daniel Weintraub -- Bee ColumnistPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 1, 2005
When it comes to regulating money in politics, disclosure is pretty much the only tool that's ever worked. Sunlight, as someone once said, is the best disinfectant.
As long as the Constitution guarantees free speech and the right of people to spend money to communicate their views to fellow citizens, attempts to limit the flow of campaign cash are so much wheel-spinning. Like water moving downhill, the money will always find a way to reach its goal. The best we can do is track it, expose it and give voters a chance to evaluate its impact before they make their decisions.
That's why it is so odd that California's official political watchdog might soon be trying to alter a law meant to encourage more complete disclosure of campaign contributions by big-time donors.
Today the FPPC, the Fair Political Practices Commission, is scheduled to consider asking the Legislature to rein in private citizens helping to smoke out major contributors who have failed to comply with the law.
The commission's staff is ticked at a quirky Long Beach financial consultant who is suing more than 200 donors he accuses of failing to follow a law requiring anyone who contributes more than $10,000 to a political campaign to report their contributions to the secretary of state.
Norm Ryan is a bit of a pest. Who else would spend weeks of his own time culling through thousands of records to find the alleged scofflaws? But he is just the kind of person the framers of the California Political Reform Act must have envisioned when they gave citizens the power to file private civil actions in cases where the authorities declined to prosecute.
A great advocate and for the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/13502982p-14343472c.html
And here is the good story, government working to help the Parkway:
Parkway to branch out with plants: The greening near Estates Drive will help control flooding
By Bill Lindelof -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 1, 2005
By planting native trees, bushes and grasses, officials hope future generations will enjoy a more leafy setting along the American River Parkway in Arden Arcade.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state and Sacramento County are partnering to plant 10 acres near Estates Drive to bolster flood protection.
Levee work was done in 2004, while the revegetation work began this year. The federal project is part of an upgrade of the levee system to reduce flooding.
The dozen or so planting spots along about a mile of the parkway drew some curious looks this summer from bike trail enthusiasts as plastic pipes were installed in the ground.
"When you see all the (sprinkler head) risers, it can make you wonder if there is a soccer field going in," said Trevor A. Burwell, senior natural resource specialist for the county.
That won't happen.
For the rest of this good story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/arden_carmichael/story/13498469p-14339069c.html
Advocates, who often spend their time trying to get government to do their job, and we have folks in North Sacramento that have been doing that for years regarding the illegal camping and the crime and degradation of habitat resulting from it, are usually and sadly, thought of as irritants by government.
We know better, and our past two Parkway Advocate Award winners (see our website http://www.arpps.org
are people government should be embracing for helping them do their job, which brings us to this story, the bad one:
Daniel Weintraub: Gadfly is an irritant to big donors, watchdog
By Daniel Weintraub -- Bee ColumnistPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 1, 2005
When it comes to regulating money in politics, disclosure is pretty much the only tool that's ever worked. Sunlight, as someone once said, is the best disinfectant.
As long as the Constitution guarantees free speech and the right of people to spend money to communicate their views to fellow citizens, attempts to limit the flow of campaign cash are so much wheel-spinning. Like water moving downhill, the money will always find a way to reach its goal. The best we can do is track it, expose it and give voters a chance to evaluate its impact before they make their decisions.
That's why it is so odd that California's official political watchdog might soon be trying to alter a law meant to encourage more complete disclosure of campaign contributions by big-time donors.
Today the FPPC, the Fair Political Practices Commission, is scheduled to consider asking the Legislature to rein in private citizens helping to smoke out major contributors who have failed to comply with the law.
The commission's staff is ticked at a quirky Long Beach financial consultant who is suing more than 200 donors he accuses of failing to follow a law requiring anyone who contributes more than $10,000 to a political campaign to report their contributions to the secretary of state.
Norm Ryan is a bit of a pest. Who else would spend weeks of his own time culling through thousands of records to find the alleged scofflaws? But he is just the kind of person the framers of the California Political Reform Act must have envisioned when they gave citizens the power to file private civil actions in cases where the authorities declined to prosecute.
A great advocate and for the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/13502982p-14343472c.html
And here is the good story, government working to help the Parkway:
Parkway to branch out with plants: The greening near Estates Drive will help control flooding
By Bill Lindelof -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, September 1, 2005
By planting native trees, bushes and grasses, officials hope future generations will enjoy a more leafy setting along the American River Parkway in Arden Arcade.
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the state and Sacramento County are partnering to plant 10 acres near Estates Drive to bolster flood protection.
Levee work was done in 2004, while the revegetation work began this year. The federal project is part of an upgrade of the levee system to reduce flooding.
The dozen or so planting spots along about a mile of the parkway drew some curious looks this summer from bike trail enthusiasts as plastic pipes were installed in the ground.
"When you see all the (sprinkler head) risers, it can make you wonder if there is a soccer field going in," said Trevor A. Burwell, senior natural resource specialist for the county.
That won't happen.
For the rest of this good story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/arden_carmichael/story/13498469p-14339069c.html
Wednesday, August 31, 2005
Levee Breaks in New Orleans
Watching the devastating and heartbreaking news from the levees breaking in New Orleans, as a result of Hurricane Katrina, is a sober reminder that we also rely on levees to protect us from nature's fury.
As I write this the national mobilization of effort grows to help the people in the hurricane's path, and we wish them well as they struggle with what appears to be one of the largest disasters ever to hit the United States in an urban area.
As I write this the national mobilization of effort grows to help the people in the hurricane's path, and we wish them well as they struggle with what appears to be one of the largest disasters ever to hit the United States in an urban area.
Goathead Puncturevine
I don’t ride a bicycle anymore, but these thorns, from an article in the Sacrament Bee yesterday, sounds like a real disaster for those who do, whether on the Sacramento River trails or the Parkway.
A thorn in the ride: Weed sticks it to bicyclists' tires
By Blair Anthony Robertson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, August 30, 2005
A weed known as the goathead puncturevine has put down roots in Sacramento. It's giving cyclists fits - and flats. Dogs and barefoot people may be its next victims.
The low-growing, nondescript - and nonnative - weed, with its scores of thorny burrs, seems perfectly designed by nature to let the air out of any bike ride.
A milelong stretch of new bike trail along the Sacramento River near Old Sacramento is so overwhelmed by puncturevine lining the otherwise pristine pavement that it's a safe bet you'll get a flat tire.
The goathead phenomenon is a new source of frustration for Ed Cox, the city's bike and pedestrian coordinator.
"This is the first year I've ever had this called to my attention," Cox said. "People are calling me and saying, 'Is there something you can do about all the thorns on the bike trail?' "
Plenty can be done, but experts say the city must adopt a long-term weed eradication strategy. Sacramento's reputation as a bike-friendly town could be overshadowed by sidelined cyclists fuming and fumbling with their pumps and patch kits.
Worse, city maintenance crews recently tried to cut back the weeds with string trimmers only to realize they were spreading the thorns on the trail by the thousands.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13493757p-14334438c.html
A thorn in the ride: Weed sticks it to bicyclists' tires
By Blair Anthony Robertson -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Tuesday, August 30, 2005
A weed known as the goathead puncturevine has put down roots in Sacramento. It's giving cyclists fits - and flats. Dogs and barefoot people may be its next victims.
The low-growing, nondescript - and nonnative - weed, with its scores of thorny burrs, seems perfectly designed by nature to let the air out of any bike ride.
A milelong stretch of new bike trail along the Sacramento River near Old Sacramento is so overwhelmed by puncturevine lining the otherwise pristine pavement that it's a safe bet you'll get a flat tire.
The goathead phenomenon is a new source of frustration for Ed Cox, the city's bike and pedestrian coordinator.
"This is the first year I've ever had this called to my attention," Cox said. "People are calling me and saying, 'Is there something you can do about all the thorns on the bike trail?' "
Plenty can be done, but experts say the city must adopt a long-term weed eradication strategy. Sacramento's reputation as a bike-friendly town could be overshadowed by sidelined cyclists fuming and fumbling with their pumps and patch kits.
Worse, city maintenance crews recently tried to cut back the weeds with string trimmers only to realize they were spreading the thorns on the trail by the thousands.
For the rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13493757p-14334438c.html
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
National Heritage Areas
Part of our strategy is to see the Parkway become a National Heritage Area; here’s a related article.
NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS
By Matthew White
LOCAL CULTURE OR FEDERAL PRESSURE?
Concerned about the creeping uniformity of modern suburban life, many people are seeking a renewed “sense of place” in their communities. The popularity of historical societies and preservation projects is a sign of this trend. Some people have discovered that adding the words “nationally significant” to their area or region can result in millions of federal dollars funneled through National Heritage Areas (NHAs). What was once a regional or local project with community involvement can be partly underwritten by the government and overseen by the National Park Service.
Thanks to NHAs, money from the federal government has been spent on projects such as waterwheel reconstruction in Philadelphia, folk music collection in North Carolina, building a coal mining archive inside a church in West Virginia, agricultural field trips for schoolchildren in Iowa, celebrating Creole culture in Louisiana, and interpreting water management in Colorado. NHAs range in size from small waterways such as the nine-mile Augusta Canal in Georgia to land corridors such as Rivers of Steel, a heritage area covering seven counties along the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers in Pennsylvania. Heritage areas include cities—Detroit, Lansing, and Flint are all part of the MotorCities Heritage area—and even an entire state, Tennessee.
Heritage areas are of special interest now because of a controversial bill, the National Heritage Partnership Act, introduced by Senator Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) and Representative Joel Heffey (R. CO.). The sponsors hope to create an official program within the National Park Service and to formalize criteria for designating heritage areas. Right now, each heritage area is created by an individual law enacted by Congress.
The rest of the story:http://www.perc.org/publications/percreports/june2005/ntl_heritage_areas.php
NATIONAL HERITAGE AREAS
By Matthew White
LOCAL CULTURE OR FEDERAL PRESSURE?
Concerned about the creeping uniformity of modern suburban life, many people are seeking a renewed “sense of place” in their communities. The popularity of historical societies and preservation projects is a sign of this trend. Some people have discovered that adding the words “nationally significant” to their area or region can result in millions of federal dollars funneled through National Heritage Areas (NHAs). What was once a regional or local project with community involvement can be partly underwritten by the government and overseen by the National Park Service.
Thanks to NHAs, money from the federal government has been spent on projects such as waterwheel reconstruction in Philadelphia, folk music collection in North Carolina, building a coal mining archive inside a church in West Virginia, agricultural field trips for schoolchildren in Iowa, celebrating Creole culture in Louisiana, and interpreting water management in Colorado. NHAs range in size from small waterways such as the nine-mile Augusta Canal in Georgia to land corridors such as Rivers of Steel, a heritage area covering seven counties along the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers in Pennsylvania. Heritage areas include cities—Detroit, Lansing, and Flint are all part of the MotorCities Heritage area—and even an entire state, Tennessee.
Heritage areas are of special interest now because of a controversial bill, the National Heritage Partnership Act, introduced by Senator Craig Thomas (R-Wyo.) and Representative Joel Heffey (R. CO.). The sponsors hope to create an official program within the National Park Service and to formalize criteria for designating heritage areas. Right now, each heritage area is created by an individual law enacted by Congress.
The rest of the story:http://www.perc.org/publications/percreports/june2005/ntl_heritage_areas.php
Monday, August 29, 2005
San Joaquin River Parkway & The River Center
The San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation Trust in Fresno was established in 1992 and has done a lot of work creating and conserving the San Joaquin River Parkway.
You can visit their site at http://www.riverparkway.org/ and click on River Center to see photos of the center described below, and why don't we have something grand like this here??
A good project for the future.
COKE HALLOWELL CENTER FOR RIVER STUDIES AT RIVERVIEW RANCH
The River Center: A Center of Activity for people who care about the River
11605 Old Friant Road, Fresno, CA 93720
Just 10 minutes East from the Highway 41 Friant Road exitA facility of the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation TrustDeeded to the community by Vulcan Materials Company April 2001.
Historic Ranch House open Friday-Sunday, 11am-3pm, or by appointment.Grounds open for trail users and picnics every day 8am-5pm.Admission to grounds: free.Admission to Historic Ranch House: suggested donation $3 per person.
Special group tours available by appointment.Call (559) 433-3190 for information.
At the River Center you can connect with the culture and natural history of the San Joaquin River through art and educational exhibits, programs and activities, gardens and links to pedestrian and bike trails.
There is something for everyone at the River Center. Programs like storytelling, river-inspired art workshops, readings by local authors, gardening classes and kids' crafts keep the place bustling with activity year-round.
The River Center has a restored 1890's ranch house, rose garden, orchard, vineyard and picnic area. The grounds and historic ranch house are available to rent for business meetings.
Visit the River Store in the Leon and Pete Peters Welcome Pavilion to purchase unique gifts. A portion of all sales benefits the work of the River Parkway Trust.
You can visit their site at http://www.riverparkway.org/ and click on River Center to see photos of the center described below, and why don't we have something grand like this here??
A good project for the future.
COKE HALLOWELL CENTER FOR RIVER STUDIES AT RIVERVIEW RANCH
The River Center: A Center of Activity for people who care about the River
11605 Old Friant Road, Fresno, CA 93720
Just 10 minutes East from the Highway 41 Friant Road exitA facility of the San Joaquin River Parkway and Conservation TrustDeeded to the community by Vulcan Materials Company April 2001.
Historic Ranch House open Friday-Sunday, 11am-3pm, or by appointment.Grounds open for trail users and picnics every day 8am-5pm.Admission to grounds: free.Admission to Historic Ranch House: suggested donation $3 per person.
Special group tours available by appointment.Call (559) 433-3190 for information.
At the River Center you can connect with the culture and natural history of the San Joaquin River through art and educational exhibits, programs and activities, gardens and links to pedestrian and bike trails.
There is something for everyone at the River Center. Programs like storytelling, river-inspired art workshops, readings by local authors, gardening classes and kids' crafts keep the place bustling with activity year-round.
The River Center has a restored 1890's ranch house, rose garden, orchard, vineyard and picnic area. The grounds and historic ranch house are available to rent for business meetings.
Visit the River Store in the Leon and Pete Peters Welcome Pavilion to purchase unique gifts. A portion of all sales benefits the work of the River Parkway Trust.
Friday, August 26, 2005
Alcohol Ban on Parkway
Following excessive drinking on the American River during the traditional July 4th rafting, there were calls from public leaders for the banning of alcohol in the Parkway and on the river.
Our organization feels this would be an over-reaction to an event more reasonably handled by an increased law enforcement presence on the river during those times when this might occur.
River rafting with a six-pack and Parkway picnics with wine, are a local tradition, and the abuse of that tradition should be dealt with in the traditional way, by increasing law enforcement.
That is why our organization is calling for management of the Parkway by a nonprofit conservancy, to replace the current, ineffective management.
A conservancy could also raise funds to supplement public funding, one result of which would be more money for law enforcement.
This is a model being used effectively in other regions, the Central Park Conservancy in New York as just one example.
In our search for responsible methods of preserving our Parkway, and local tradition, we don’t want to throw out the beer with the river water.
So, we were happy to read this article in the Bee today, and learn that both will continue flowing.
Here is the referenced article:
Booze to flow on river - for now
Supervisors don't have the authority to impose alcohol ban.
By Phillip Reese -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Friday, August 26, 2005
Makeshift water cannons, public nudity, mass brawls and dozens of arrests - officials are hoping this Labor Day on the American River isn't a repeat of Fourth of July shenanigans.
But the main ingredient for past rowdiness - large quantities of alcohol - will still be around.
On July Fourth, as more than 10,000 people, many of them drunk, floated down the American River, festivities erupted into a melee. Sacramento County sheriff's officials had to fire pepper-powder balls on revelers in a mass fight. They arrested about 50 people on offenses ranging from public intoxication to beating another person with an oar.
The next day, tons of trash sat in the party's wake, littering the banks of one of the county's jewels.
Motivated by the increased problems, parks officials started talking about prohibiting alcohol on the river.
Read the rest of the story here: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13473642p-14314415c.html
Our organization feels this would be an over-reaction to an event more reasonably handled by an increased law enforcement presence on the river during those times when this might occur.
River rafting with a six-pack and Parkway picnics with wine, are a local tradition, and the abuse of that tradition should be dealt with in the traditional way, by increasing law enforcement.
That is why our organization is calling for management of the Parkway by a nonprofit conservancy, to replace the current, ineffective management.
A conservancy could also raise funds to supplement public funding, one result of which would be more money for law enforcement.
This is a model being used effectively in other regions, the Central Park Conservancy in New York as just one example.
In our search for responsible methods of preserving our Parkway, and local tradition, we don’t want to throw out the beer with the river water.
So, we were happy to read this article in the Bee today, and learn that both will continue flowing.
Here is the referenced article:
Booze to flow on river - for now
Supervisors don't have the authority to impose alcohol ban.
By Phillip Reese -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Friday, August 26, 2005
Makeshift water cannons, public nudity, mass brawls and dozens of arrests - officials are hoping this Labor Day on the American River isn't a repeat of Fourth of July shenanigans.
But the main ingredient for past rowdiness - large quantities of alcohol - will still be around.
On July Fourth, as more than 10,000 people, many of them drunk, floated down the American River, festivities erupted into a melee. Sacramento County sheriff's officials had to fire pepper-powder balls on revelers in a mass fight. They arrested about 50 people on offenses ranging from public intoxication to beating another person with an oar.
The next day, tons of trash sat in the party's wake, littering the banks of one of the county's jewels.
Motivated by the increased problems, parks officials started talking about prohibiting alcohol on the river.
Read the rest of the story here: http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13473642p-14314415c.html
Attempted Rape on Parkway
This story, (scroll down) unfortunately, confirms what we have been saying for some time, it’s not safe out there and public safety needs a much more serious focus, one the current Parkway management has been unable to deliver.
However, rangers take a much more proactive approach just up the American River near Auburn, as another article in Thursday’s Bee notes: “The rangers have a strong presence within the park and seem easy to find.”
For full article go here: http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/story/13469316p-14310180c.html
That “strong presence”, unfortunately, is not the situation on the Parkway, and that needs to change.
Here is the article about the attempted rape on the Parkway and one man's effort to help:
Helping to keep parkway safe
Safety steward offers to jog with women runners in the wake of attack on the trail.
By Edgar Sanchez -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, August 25, 2005
Doug Thurston, an avid jogger, is a volunteer safety steward for the American River Parkway.
When he sees "shady" men on the parkway trail, the friendly Sacramentan warns solo women runners to beware and offers to run beside them.
"Half the time, the women will say, 'Don't worry about it; I'll be OK,' " Thurston, 45, said. "The rest of the time, they'll say, 'Sure, thank you.' "
Running in pairs is always a good idea, park rangers said, advice that was reinforced recently after a 63-year-old woman became the target of an attempted sexual attack as she jogged on a foot path off the main trail, near Sailor Bar in Fair Oaks.
On Aug. 11, a man approached the female jogger from behind and pushed her to the ground, Sacramento County sheriff's deputies said.
The assailant then lay on top of her, covering her mouth as he reached down to unzip his pants.
After a brief struggle, the woman escaped. The assailant ran away. As of Friday, no arrests have been made.
For the Rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/arden_carmichael/story/13465573p-14306529c.html
However, rangers take a much more proactive approach just up the American River near Auburn, as another article in Thursday’s Bee notes: “The rangers have a strong presence within the park and seem easy to find.”
For full article go here: http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/story/13469316p-14310180c.html
That “strong presence”, unfortunately, is not the situation on the Parkway, and that needs to change.
Here is the article about the attempted rape on the Parkway and one man's effort to help:
Helping to keep parkway safe
Safety steward offers to jog with women runners in the wake of attack on the trail.
By Edgar Sanchez -- Bee Staff WriterPublished 2:15 am PDT Thursday, August 25, 2005
Doug Thurston, an avid jogger, is a volunteer safety steward for the American River Parkway.
When he sees "shady" men on the parkway trail, the friendly Sacramentan warns solo women runners to beware and offers to run beside them.
"Half the time, the women will say, 'Don't worry about it; I'll be OK,' " Thurston, 45, said. "The rest of the time, they'll say, 'Sure, thank you.' "
Running in pairs is always a good idea, park rangers said, advice that was reinforced recently after a 63-year-old woman became the target of an attempted sexual attack as she jogged on a foot path off the main trail, near Sailor Bar in Fair Oaks.
On Aug. 11, a man approached the female jogger from behind and pushed her to the ground, Sacramento County sheriff's deputies said.
The assailant then lay on top of her, covering her mouth as he reached down to unzip his pants.
After a brief struggle, the woman escaped. The assailant ran away. As of Friday, no arrests have been made.
For the Rest of the story: http://www.sacbee.com/content/community_news/arden_carmichael/story/13465573p-14306529c.html
Thursday, August 25, 2005
Democracy in Action in Davis
As we see from this meeting in Davis reported on by the Bee yesterday-- scroll down, (and a follow up report today http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13469216p-14310132c.html ) it is often difficult to get public involvement on a contentious issue if public officials, and the consultants they hire, create a format too strict to allow free public discourse.
This has been the complaint offered about the current Parkway Planning Update process where public input is so strictly limited it has driven away members of the public wanting to become involved.
While a ‘strict format’ may serve the stated needs of the public administrators and the meeting facilitators they hire, it is not very good for the public, who the meeting’s purpose are ultimately meant to serve.
Democracy is often a little messy, but it works.
Spraying critics seize meeting
Davis officials leave after being shouted down by protesters.
By Hudson Sangree and Deb Kollars -- Bee Staff WritersPublished 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, August 24, 2005
A meeting intended to calm fears in Davis about possible pesticide spraying to combat West Nile virus erupted in chaos Tuesday, as opponents shouted objections to the meeting's strict format, drove off government leaders and then took over the session.
The ground rules of the meeting called for written questions from audience members to be read by Davis Mayor Ruth Asmundson and Yolo County Supervisor Helen Thomson to a panel of officials and handpicked experts.
About 30 minutes into the meeting, however, several opponents began loudly interrupting with questions and objections.
"This is a democratic meeting," said resident David Bayer. "People have a right to stand up and articulate their concerns."
Asmundson abruptly halted the session and directed the panel to leave the City Hall dais. For the rest of the story; http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13465294p-14306324c.html
This has been the complaint offered about the current Parkway Planning Update process where public input is so strictly limited it has driven away members of the public wanting to become involved.
While a ‘strict format’ may serve the stated needs of the public administrators and the meeting facilitators they hire, it is not very good for the public, who the meeting’s purpose are ultimately meant to serve.
Democracy is often a little messy, but it works.
Spraying critics seize meeting
Davis officials leave after being shouted down by protesters.
By Hudson Sangree and Deb Kollars -- Bee Staff WritersPublished 2:15 am PDT Wednesday, August 24, 2005
A meeting intended to calm fears in Davis about possible pesticide spraying to combat West Nile virus erupted in chaos Tuesday, as opponents shouted objections to the meeting's strict format, drove off government leaders and then took over the session.
The ground rules of the meeting called for written questions from audience members to be read by Davis Mayor Ruth Asmundson and Yolo County Supervisor Helen Thomson to a panel of officials and handpicked experts.
About 30 minutes into the meeting, however, several opponents began loudly interrupting with questions and objections.
"This is a democratic meeting," said resident David Bayer. "People have a right to stand up and articulate their concerns."
Asmundson abruptly halted the session and directed the panel to leave the City Hall dais. For the rest of the story; http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/13465294p-14306324c.html
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Indian Heritage Center & Museum
There was a letter to the editor, A proper Indian museum, in the Bee on Monday August 22, 2005, accessed here,
http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/letters/story/13458417p-14299454c.html questioning the decision of the California Indian Heritage Center Task Force to site the center in the American River Parkway.
The letter writer asks, “Why would anyone put an Indian Museum in Sacramento?”
The short answer is that the site chosen is in the area of at least three historic Nisenan villages, Pujune (the largest), Momol and Yamanepu.
According to W. C. Dillinger, the editor of the 1991 book, A History of the Lower American River, published by the American River Natural History Association and can be purhased from their website, www.arnha.org , “Pujune was known as the dominant village for the Nisenan on the east side of the Sacramento River from a few miles south of the American to above the mouth of the Feather River.” (p.19)
The California Indian Heritage Center Task Force is composed of ten members, of which six are Indian and five of the six voted for the site.
So, to wrap up, the site chosen was once the site of a major Indian village, and it was chosen by 5 out of 6 of the Indians on the Task Force.
A quick visit to the website of the Task Force members, accessed here:
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=22629 will clearly show the Indian members of the Task Force to be individuals with substantial standing in their community and eminently qualified to make the decision they did.
I submit we can rest assured their decision was a clear and definitive response to the question, “Why would anyone put an Indian Museum in Sacramento?”
http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/letters/story/13458417p-14299454c.html questioning the decision of the California Indian Heritage Center Task Force to site the center in the American River Parkway.
The letter writer asks, “Why would anyone put an Indian Museum in Sacramento?”
The short answer is that the site chosen is in the area of at least three historic Nisenan villages, Pujune (the largest), Momol and Yamanepu.
According to W. C. Dillinger, the editor of the 1991 book, A History of the Lower American River, published by the American River Natural History Association and can be purhased from their website, www.arnha.org , “Pujune was known as the dominant village for the Nisenan on the east side of the Sacramento River from a few miles south of the American to above the mouth of the Feather River.” (p.19)
The California Indian Heritage Center Task Force is composed of ten members, of which six are Indian and five of the six voted for the site.
So, to wrap up, the site chosen was once the site of a major Indian village, and it was chosen by 5 out of 6 of the Indians on the Task Force.
A quick visit to the website of the Task Force members, accessed here:
http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=22629 will clearly show the Indian members of the Task Force to be individuals with substantial standing in their community and eminently qualified to make the decision they did.
I submit we can rest assured their decision was a clear and definitive response to the question, “Why would anyone put an Indian Museum in Sacramento?”
Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Central Park Conservancy
Perhaps the most successful nonprofit conservancy managing a major park is the Central Park Conservancy, which is why we refer to it frequently.
Their history, posted on their website is illustrative;
"Over the past twenty years, the history of Central Park has been greatly affected by the history of the Central Park Conservancy, the private, not-for-profit organization that manages Central Park under a contract with the City of New York/Department of Parks and Recreation.
Perhaps the single most important ingredient in the modern restoration of Central Park is the successful public/private partnership between the City of New York/Department of Parks and Recreation and the Central Park Conservancy."
To read more go to http://www.centralparknyc.org/thenandnow
Their history, posted on their website is illustrative;
"Over the past twenty years, the history of Central Park has been greatly affected by the history of the Central Park Conservancy, the private, not-for-profit organization that manages Central Park under a contract with the City of New York/Department of Parks and Recreation.
Perhaps the single most important ingredient in the modern restoration of Central Park is the successful public/private partnership between the City of New York/Department of Parks and Recreation and the Central Park Conservancy."
To read more go to http://www.centralparknyc.org/thenandnow
Monday, August 22, 2005
San Dieguito River Parkway
One of the cornerstones of our work is to see the Parkway managed by a nonprofit conservancy, able to focus exclusively on the Parkway and providing the type of oversight, activity coordination, and fund raising that is typical of nonprofit management of important public natural resources.
A great example of that here in California is the San Dieguito River Park in San Diego, which you can access at: http://www.sdrp.org/
Just perusing the coordinated activity planned for this summer, and the ongoing updating done by the staff of the nonprofit, (the columns by executive director Dick Bobertz are excellent) gives you a sense of what we could, and should, eventually see happening here.
A great example of that here in California is the San Dieguito River Park in San Diego, which you can access at: http://www.sdrp.org/
Just perusing the coordinated activity planned for this summer, and the ongoing updating done by the staff of the nonprofit, (the columns by executive director Dick Bobertz are excellent) gives you a sense of what we could, and should, eventually see happening here.
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Indian Heritage Center
Several members of the board of ARPPS attended a presentation by Walter Gray, Chief of the Cultural Services Division of California State Parks about the siting of the Center in the North Sacramento Area of the Parkway.
ARPPS was the only Parkway organization publicly supporting this siting and our letter to the Bee was published in October and is reposted below.
The presentation was part of the North Sacramento Chamber’s Leadership Series, of which ARPPS was one of the co-sponsors, for the event on Thursday, August 18th.
It was very informative, and given that Walter Gray was the person largely responsible for the success of the Sacramento Railroad Museum, he brings a lot of experience to the project.
It was also revealed that the new incoming chair of the Heritage Center Task Force will be current task force member Larry Myers, who as the long-time Executive Secretary of the State of California Native American Heritage Commission, will provide substantial leadership to this important project.
LETTER TO BEE
October 2, 2004
Opinion page editors
P.O. Box 15779
Sacramento, CA 95852
Re: Article, 10/2/04: Indian museum panel chooses parkway. PUBLISHED
Dear Editors:
The choice of the Parkway site by the California Indian Cultural Center and Museum Task Force (CICCM), as the location for the California Indian Heritage Center and Museum, is a wise and wonderful choice, and one all knowledgeable Parkway stakeholders should applaud and support wholeheartedly.
This is the area of at least three historic Nisenan villages, Pujune (the largest), Momol and Yamanepu, and is also a glorious, and long overdue, physical return of the Indian people to the Parkway, from which they have never been separated spiritually.
It will have a tremendous economic and cultural benefit to the entire region and particularly the North Sacramento area of the Parkway, traditionally forgotten about when resources are distributed, and currently suffering great deterioration.
It cannot be seen as a ‘development’, as some have said, in the sense that the Parkway Plan envisions, but is more appropriately compared to the Effie Yeaw Nature Center in Carmichael, only much larger.
If the national Indian Museum just opened in Washington D.C. is any guide, we are in for a truly beautiful Museum that will bring admiration and attention to our community and embody the founding spirit of the Parkway.
Sincerely,
signed
David H. Lukenbill, President
American River Parkway Preservation Society
Cc: ARPPS Board & Membership
Larry Myers, CICCM
ARPPS was the only Parkway organization publicly supporting this siting and our letter to the Bee was published in October and is reposted below.
The presentation was part of the North Sacramento Chamber’s Leadership Series, of which ARPPS was one of the co-sponsors, for the event on Thursday, August 18th.
It was very informative, and given that Walter Gray was the person largely responsible for the success of the Sacramento Railroad Museum, he brings a lot of experience to the project.
It was also revealed that the new incoming chair of the Heritage Center Task Force will be current task force member Larry Myers, who as the long-time Executive Secretary of the State of California Native American Heritage Commission, will provide substantial leadership to this important project.
LETTER TO BEE
October 2, 2004
Opinion page editors
P.O. Box 15779
Sacramento, CA 95852
Re: Article, 10/2/04: Indian museum panel chooses parkway. PUBLISHED
Dear Editors:
The choice of the Parkway site by the California Indian Cultural Center and Museum Task Force (CICCM), as the location for the California Indian Heritage Center and Museum, is a wise and wonderful choice, and one all knowledgeable Parkway stakeholders should applaud and support wholeheartedly.
This is the area of at least three historic Nisenan villages, Pujune (the largest), Momol and Yamanepu, and is also a glorious, and long overdue, physical return of the Indian people to the Parkway, from which they have never been separated spiritually.
It will have a tremendous economic and cultural benefit to the entire region and particularly the North Sacramento area of the Parkway, traditionally forgotten about when resources are distributed, and currently suffering great deterioration.
It cannot be seen as a ‘development’, as some have said, in the sense that the Parkway Plan envisions, but is more appropriately compared to the Effie Yeaw Nature Center in Carmichael, only much larger.
If the national Indian Museum just opened in Washington D.C. is any guide, we are in for a truly beautiful Museum that will bring admiration and attention to our community and embody the founding spirit of the Parkway.
Sincerely,
signed
David H. Lukenbill, President
American River Parkway Preservation Society
Cc: ARPPS Board & Membership
Larry Myers, CICCM
Water Supply
A good column about water supply in this morning's Bee, and though I don't agree with his assumption that any option to increase supply can be taken off the table, it is an issue that will have great impact upon the Parkway in the future....
Dan Walters: As population, water demand grow, the supply is less certain
By Dan Walters -- Bee ColumnistPublished 2:15 am PDT Sunday, August 21, 2005
Mark Twain may or may not have actually said that "whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over," depending on which historic authority one believes, but it was an accurate description of 19th-century California - a time and a place with which he was intimately familiar.
Southern California ranchers and Northern California gold miners battled over water rights constantly because of the state's peculiar hydrology - and while the identities and motives of contestants have evolved, their legal, political and economic struggles are shaping 21st-century California as well.
We know that California has 37 million people now and will continue to add population at roughly 5 million to 6 million per decade. That growth, water authorities say, will increase urban demand by 3 million to 4 million acre-feet (an acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons) a year by 2030, depending on how successful voluntary and mandatory conservation programs may be in curbing per capita use, now more than 200 gallons each day.
----read more http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/columns/walters/story/13453269p-14294306c.html
Dan Walters: As population, water demand grow, the supply is less certain
By Dan Walters -- Bee ColumnistPublished 2:15 am PDT Sunday, August 21, 2005
Mark Twain may or may not have actually said that "whiskey is for drinking and water is for fighting over," depending on which historic authority one believes, but it was an accurate description of 19th-century California - a time and a place with which he was intimately familiar.
Southern California ranchers and Northern California gold miners battled over water rights constantly because of the state's peculiar hydrology - and while the identities and motives of contestants have evolved, their legal, political and economic struggles are shaping 21st-century California as well.
We know that California has 37 million people now and will continue to add population at roughly 5 million to 6 million per decade. That growth, water authorities say, will increase urban demand by 3 million to 4 million acre-feet (an acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons) a year by 2030, depending on how successful voluntary and mandatory conservation programs may be in curbing per capita use, now more than 200 gallons each day.
----read more http://www.sacbee.com/content/politics/columns/walters/story/13453269p-14294306c.html
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Sacramento Bee Series: River Stories
The Sacramento Bee is publishing a very nice series of river stories, and here is the most recent:
River stories: Ever-changing view refreshes artist-teacher
By Gina Kim -- Bee Staff Writer; Published August 19, 2005
Story appeared in Scene section, Page J1
The Sacramento and American rivers are synonymous with River City. Every Friday this summer, we introduce you to someone who lives, works or plays along our rivers.
It's the water that brings artist Susan Sarback back to the American River over and over again. And the challenge of depicting its fluid motion on canvas.
"It is my favorite thing to paint, to paint water," said Sarback, 50. "You're trying to capture its distance, reflection, surface and depth."
Sarback, an oil painter who specializes in light and color, usually can be found basking in the morning light with her easel along the American River around Fair Oaks three days a week.
[You can read the rest of the story at]
http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/story/13434023p-14275134c.html
River stories: Ever-changing view refreshes artist-teacher
By Gina Kim -- Bee Staff Writer; Published August 19, 2005
Story appeared in Scene section, Page J1
The Sacramento and American rivers are synonymous with River City. Every Friday this summer, we introduce you to someone who lives, works or plays along our rivers.
It's the water that brings artist Susan Sarback back to the American River over and over again. And the challenge of depicting its fluid motion on canvas.
"It is my favorite thing to paint, to paint water," said Sarback, 50. "You're trying to capture its distance, reflection, surface and depth."
Sarback, an oil painter who specializes in light and color, usually can be found basking in the morning light with her easel along the American River around Fair Oaks three days a week.
[You can read the rest of the story at]
http://www.sacbee.com/content/lifestyle/story/13434023p-14275134c.html
Indian Heritage Center Parkway Site Chosen
I recently attended a presentation on the Indian Heritage Center site being chosen for the Parkway, and while many issues remain to be worked out, it is a great decision for the Parkway and the Heritage Center.
The Sacramento Bee wrote about it last month...
Indian center site is chosen
State task force votes to build heritage project on parkway; many hurdles lie ahead.
By Doug Rutsch -- Bee Staff Writer - (Published July 27, 2005)
In a 7-1 vote Tuesday, a state task force gave the go-ahead to building a California Indian Heritage Center on 201 acres along the American River Parkway near Northgate Boulevard.
Cindy La Marr, chairwoman of the California Indian Heritage Center Task Force and lone dissenter, resigned after the vote. She had favored an alternate location in Folsom near Lake Natoma, and warned that various environmental and social issues associated with the parkway site would tie up the project indefinitely.
Plans for the center are intended to attract American Indian groups as well as visitors interested California Indian history. The proposed heritage center would have areas for tribal gatherings, a museum, a theater and gardens of native plants.
[here is a link to the rest of the story, might require registration]
http://www.sacticket.com/art_galleries/story/13304921p-14147170c.html
The Sacramento Bee wrote about it last month...
Indian center site is chosen
State task force votes to build heritage project on parkway; many hurdles lie ahead.
By Doug Rutsch -- Bee Staff Writer - (Published July 27, 2005)
In a 7-1 vote Tuesday, a state task force gave the go-ahead to building a California Indian Heritage Center on 201 acres along the American River Parkway near Northgate Boulevard.
Cindy La Marr, chairwoman of the California Indian Heritage Center Task Force and lone dissenter, resigned after the vote. She had favored an alternate location in Folsom near Lake Natoma, and warned that various environmental and social issues associated with the parkway site would tie up the project indefinitely.
Plans for the center are intended to attract American Indian groups as well as visitors interested California Indian history. The proposed heritage center would have areas for tribal gatherings, a museum, a theater and gardens of native plants.
[here is a link to the rest of the story, might require registration]
http://www.sacticket.com/art_galleries/story/13304921p-14147170c.html
Saturday, August 06, 2005
Sacramento Zoological Society, Nonprofit Governance
As the issue of nonprofit governance of the Parkway is a key component of our strategy, it is worthwhile to examine similar arrangements. One that is curently working out quite well is the nonprofit governance of the Sacramento Zoo, which used to be governed by the city.
Established in 1927, the Sacramento Zoo is one of the region's top attractions, with an annual attendance of 450,000, including approximately 80,000 school children visiting the zoo each year on organized field trips. The Zoo's collection consists of more than 400 animals, diverse botanical life and several specialized gardens.
The Zoo is the largest accredited zoological park in the Central Valley. Set on 15-acres in William Land Park, the Zoo opened in 1927. Accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association since 1975, the Zoo collection exhibits more than 400 animals including 32 endangered or threatened species in a lush park environment.
The non-profit Sacramento Zoological Society operates the Zoo.
The Zoo property, buildings and animal collection remain assets of the city of Sacramento.
The Society, formed in 1957, assumed daily financial management of the Zoo, from the city, in July 1997. Since its inception, the society has served as the fund-raising organization for the Zoo, providing funds for habitat improvement, education and conservation programs.
Established in 1927, the Sacramento Zoo is one of the region's top attractions, with an annual attendance of 450,000, including approximately 80,000 school children visiting the zoo each year on organized field trips. The Zoo's collection consists of more than 400 animals, diverse botanical life and several specialized gardens.
The Zoo is the largest accredited zoological park in the Central Valley. Set on 15-acres in William Land Park, the Zoo opened in 1927. Accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association since 1975, the Zoo collection exhibits more than 400 animals including 32 endangered or threatened species in a lush park environment.
The non-profit Sacramento Zoological Society operates the Zoo.
The Zoo property, buildings and animal collection remain assets of the city of Sacramento.
The Society, formed in 1957, assumed daily financial management of the Zoo, from the city, in July 1997. Since its inception, the society has served as the fund-raising organization for the Zoo, providing funds for habitat improvement, education and conservation programs.
Friday, May 06, 2005
Parkway Plan Update
My involvement with the Parkway Plan Update Process came through my service as the co-chair of the American River Parkway Committee of the North Sacramento Chamber of Commerce.
It was in that capacity that I served on the Adjacent Neighborhoods Focus Group of the American River Parkway Plan Update Assessment, presenting neighborhood perspectives to the ‘public’ process that would go into the Update Plan.
At the first meeting, representatives from three poor neighborhoods, North Sacramento, Alkali Flats and Dos Rios, asked a pointed question of the consultant from the group facilitating the update process for Sacramento County. “How can we guarantee that there will be ‘integrity of the process’. How can we be assured that all of our work, and the issues important to us, will be heard and not just filtered out by subsequent meetings of other people, when we are not present.”
The answer they received was perhaps what they expected, “that others would make the final decision.”
They did not return to any further meetings.
How do we deal with this?
How do we ensure that the poorest communities are able to have safe access to the Parkway and the issues important to them addressed?
That is now, and will remain, a priority for our organization, and I don't think it will happen by being part of a process that filters out the concerns of poor neighborhoods the final decision makers don't want to address.
It was in that capacity that I served on the Adjacent Neighborhoods Focus Group of the American River Parkway Plan Update Assessment, presenting neighborhood perspectives to the ‘public’ process that would go into the Update Plan.
At the first meeting, representatives from three poor neighborhoods, North Sacramento, Alkali Flats and Dos Rios, asked a pointed question of the consultant from the group facilitating the update process for Sacramento County. “How can we guarantee that there will be ‘integrity of the process’. How can we be assured that all of our work, and the issues important to us, will be heard and not just filtered out by subsequent meetings of other people, when we are not present.”
The answer they received was perhaps what they expected, “that others would make the final decision.”
They did not return to any further meetings.
How do we deal with this?
How do we ensure that the poorest communities are able to have safe access to the Parkway and the issues important to them addressed?
That is now, and will remain, a priority for our organization, and I don't think it will happen by being part of a process that filters out the concerns of poor neighborhoods the final decision makers don't want to address.
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