parking violence

2013/02/28 Dan Allison1 Comment

On Monday evening, I observed an altercation over a parking spot in front of my apartment on O Street in Sacramento. There are several restaurants on 16th Street that are popular and generate a desire for parking, and there is already a lot of local resident parking, so spots are hard to find at times. I had noticed that cars were backed up on the street as people were waiting for others to leave, but was not paying close attention until I heard yelling. A driver of a car stopped in the middle of the street was yelling at two people who had parked and were walking towards 16th Street, claiming that they had “stolen” his parking spot and demanding that they move. He escalated into threats against their car (breaking out all the windows) and against their persons (“I’m going to take you down”). The angry driver pursued the other two, and ended up shoving and slapping the male of the couple. He also made threats against the female. He continued the confrontation even when the others were trying to end it, and he taunted the male with “I slapped you in front of your girlfriend and you were too much of a wussy to do anything about it.”

My point is not to document the assault and battery, and given that it did not show up on the SacPD daily activity log, I presume the police, when they eventually responded, did not think it important. My point, rather, is to talk about the sickness of someone threatening to harm another over a parking spot. Over a parking spot! The perpetrator was completely prepared to do harm to the other two just because he felt unjustly deprived of his parking spot. Whether he was unjustly deprived or not, I can’t say, because I didn’t observe the taking of the parking spot.

What kind of world view leads one to think that it is justified to harm others over a parking spot? Only an angry sociopath would view things that way.

As I have said before, driving causes brain damage. But let me be more specific now. Driving not only encourages and brings out sociopathic behavior, it IS sociopathic behavior. Driving is sociopathic behavior. There, I’ve said it.

News summary 2013-02-24

2013/02/242026/10/22 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

School Closure:

Troubled area loses its heart in closing (SacBee 2013-02-24)
After vote to close 7 Sacramento schools, parents ask: ‘Now what?’ (SacBee 2013-02-23)
Sac city school board votes to shut seven schools (Sacramento Press 2013-02-21)
Sacramento City district trustees vote to close seven schools (SacBee 2013-02-22)
Editorial: No more delay on right-sizing schools (SacBee 2013-02-21)
Sacramento City board appears split over tonight’s vote on closing 10 schools (SacBee 2012-02-21)
The Public Eye: Sac City Unified school closure criteria under scrutiny (SacBee 2013-02-17)

Other

Viewpoints: Cordova Hills will cost the entire region (SacBee 2013-02-24)
Teenagers injured in hit-and-run collision in Rio Linda (SacBee 2013-02-23)
Law enforcement to crack down on Sacramento’s distracted drivers (SacBee 2013-02-23)
Back-seat Driver: Should Sacramento stay suburban or go urban? (SacBee 2013-02-22)
Sacramento seeks new name for downtown train station (SacBee 2013-02-21)
City of promise (Sacramento News & Review 2013-02-21)
Sacramento, West Sac get serious about two new river bridges (SacBee 2013-02-18); Editorial: Broadway bridge will be an asset, not a liability (SacBee 2013-02-23)

Better Bicycling and Walking in District 4

2013/02/24 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

A new Facebook page named Better Bicycling and Walking in District 4 covers efforts to improve the livability of Sacramento’s Supervisor District 4, which is represented by Steve Hansen.

schools closed

2013/02/22 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

The Sacramento City USD Board voted to close seven schools, including Washington Elementary. This is a sad day for students and their communities. There is a good chance that the decision will be overturned in the courts, as the district proudly refused to consider the effects of the closure on low income and high minority communities, but nevertheless, this will take up yet more community energy and time, energy and time that could have been devoted to improving schools. What kind of feeling does this leave the communities with, when the district and the board work against the interests of the community?

School closure, nationally

2013/02/192013/02/19 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

The End of the Neighborhood School, from The Atlantic Cities, provides some national data and perspective on school closures. He article references two studies from The Pew Charitable Trusts that talk about the challenges of sale or reuse, and the small savings from closures.

News summary 2013-02-17

2013/02/192026/10/22 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

Back-seat Driver: 2 Sacramento streets to go on a diet (SacBee 2013-02-15)
Sacramento city school-closure vote set for next week (Sacramento News & Review 2013-02-14); What they don’t tell you (Sacramento News & Review 2013-02-14)
Construction finally begins on R Street mixed-use project catering to artists (SacBee 2013-02-14; increased livability through redevelopment and reuse is a transportation issue); Historical R Street warehouse to become artist lofts (Sacramento Press 2013-02-14)
New Davis complex brings more affordable housing for city (SacBee 2013-02-14; again, livability)
Sacramento City district may swap 2 elementary schools on closure list (SacBee 2013-02-14)
‘Our families walk their students to school’ (Sacramento Press 2013-02-13)
In Washington School meeting tonight, I referenced many previous articles about Sacramento City Unified School District’s school closure plans.
Back with a twist – ‘McKinley Village’ development being retooled (Sacramento Press 2013-02-08)
Dan Walters: Fresno joins the ranks of troubled California cities (SacBee 2013-02-11: Walters uses the term “high fixed costs”; what this translates too is primarily the deferred expenses of sprawl; see the quote from Fresno planning at the top of one of my Cordova Hills posts; Stockton and San Bernardino have the same cause, and perhaps others of the bankrupt and financially distressed cities)

Washington School meeting tonight

2013/02/132013/02/14 Dan Allison3 Comments

The meeting on the closure of Washington Elementary School in midtown Sacramento is this evening (Wednesday, February 13) from 6:00 to 9:00PM, at the school. Though all of the eleven schools proposed to be closed are important, I’m highlighting this one because it is my neighborhood school – I live in midtown. If this school closes, there will be no schools left in midtown.

The Sacramento Press had an article yesterday (Use your voice – input needed on Washington Elementary School closure, 2013-02-12).

I posted earlier on school closures.

The district’s website has information on closures. While I believe the district’s approach of basing closure solely on “economic criteria” – meaning excess capacity – is seriously flawed, nevertheless, here is the capacity report on Washington. If the portable classrooms (X, Y, Z) with a capacity of 132 were removed, the overall capacity would then be 574 rather than 706. The school would then be 39% of capacity rather than the district’s number of 31%. Still very low. I suspect that a similar analysis of the other schools to be closed would show a similar bias against schools where the district added portables and is now counting these against the school, no matter what condition or life expectancy they have.

The Sacramento Bee has also had a number of articles: Video: Kindergartener asks board not to close his school; Why sacrifice high-performing neighborhood schools?; Large crowd lobbies against planned Sacramento City school closures; True to their school; SCUSD’s Community Meeting at Mark Hopkins Elementary School; Sacramento school closings will hurt neighborhoods; Jonathan Raymond pads pay of his chief of staff, closes schools; Sacramento schools will hold meetings on closures; Education blog tracks school closures, more; Editorial: Time to match city schools with enrollment; Parents question Sacramento City district school closure plans at emotional meeting; Sacramento school closures meeting; Joseph Bonnheim Elementary serves English learners; Consider community fabric with school closures; Sacramento City Unified considers closing 11 elementary schools; Report Card: Sac City Unified identifies schools considered for closure; 11 elementary schools could be shuttered in Sacramento City Unified district; Under-enrolled Sacramento district may close multiple city schools; School closures, enrollment losses are top concerns in Sacramento City Unified Area 3 race

News summary 2013-02-10

2013/02/112026/10/22 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

Council’s fee cuts aim to fuel development (SacBee 2013-02-09); while there may be more to the story that I don’t know, I suspect this is another case of developer profits winning out over livability and sustainability, deferring city expenses onto future taxpayers
Sacramento crime rise ends era of annual declines (SacBee 2013-02-06; this in not specifically a transportation related article, but when I looked at the map associated with the article, I was struck by how the crime increase areas largely track transportation corridors (80, 50, 99). These are also, in part, light rail corridors. What does it mean? I don’t know, but it is intriguing.)
Two North Sacramento roadside memorials mark back-to-back deaths (SacBee 2013-02-06); Sacramento coroner IDs woman killed by SUV while attending vigil (SacBee 2013-02-05); UPDATE: Woman attending vigil dies after struck by vehicle (SacBee 2013-02-04)
Brothers struck by hit-and-run identified by Sacramento coroner (SacBee 2013-02-04)

Cordova Hills (an ongoing source of news items):

Another View: Cordova Hills a good match for region’s goals (SacBee 2013-02-10)
Editorial: Head-scratcher (Sacramento News & Review 2013-02-07)
Letter: Supervisors listened to developers’ money on Cordova Hills (SacBee 2013-02-06)
Wetlands could bog down development (SacBee 2013-02-04)
Letter: Was law enforcement service considered in Cordova Hills vote? (SacBee 2013-02-04)
Letter: Cordova Hills will mean more urban sprawl (SacBee 2013-03-04)
Letter: Sacramento supervisors make a bad business decision (SacBee 2013-02-04)
Editorial: Approval of Cordova Hills is a body blow for smart planning (SacBee 2013-02-03)

Jim Allison’s Spoke ‘N Word blog

2013/02/082016/03/18 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

I just ran across Jim Allison’s Spoke ‘N Word blog today, all about bikes on the Capitol Corridor trains as well as other trains. And especially folding bikes. Jim is the Planning Manager for the Capitol Corridor JPA, which operates the Sacramento to San Jose trains. Check it out.

News summary 2013-02-03

2013/02/042026/10/22 Dan AllisonLeave a comment

Several Sacramento-area localities seek 4-year colleges (SacBee 2013-02-03)
Hit-and-run driver kills two on Meadowview street (SacBee 2013-02-01)
Roseville building a ‘town square’ as downtown destination (Sacramento Business Journal 2013-01-31)
Sacramento-region counties will see strong population growth (Sacramento Business Journal 2013-01-31); California growth boom out of steam (SacBee 2013-01-31); it is interesting that both of these articles are based on the same data, but put a different spin on what it says; regardless, will growth be sprawl or density?
Pedestrian dies after hit by vehicle on Fair Oaks Boulevard (SacBee 2013-01-28)
Alert police officer arrests suspect in week-old crime [hit-and-run] (SacBee 2013-01-28)
Regional Transit is planning light rail to Sacramento airport (SacBee 2013-01-28)

Cordova Hills

Jack Ohman: Future Cordova Hills developer projects (SacBee 2013-02-02)
Cordova Hills, SB 375, and the Inertia of Sprawl (Climate Plan blog 2013-02-01)
Cordova Hills & Suburban Living (Sacramento Press 2013-01-30); I’m not sure what to even say about this article full of suburban nostalgia and privilege, but it is worth a read
Sacramento County supervisors approve Cordova Hills development (SacBee 2013-01-29)
Letter: Cordova Hills will cause more atrocious sprawl
Letter: Cordova Hills approval sets up another housing bubble
Letter: Phil Serna the only supervisor with good judgment on project
Letter: County supervisors put federal funding at risk with project
Letter: Supervisors ignore smart growth by endorsing Cordova Hills
Letter: Supervisors raise concerns, but approve Cordova Hills anyway
Letter: Former supervisor Smoley has ties to Cordova Hills developer

Getting Around Sacramento

by foot, bicycle, and public transit (car-free!)