Free wi-fi plans are back!

After several delays and major negotiations, free wi-fi in Sacramento will launch downtown in February! The goal of covering a 48 square mile radius should take nearly two years to complete but initial areas downtown will be covered very quickly.

Freebie wi-fi will get you pop up ads but you can buy faster and ad-free service for $15 to $50 a month depending on the package. It may not work inside some buildings or homes without an additional repeater but for relatively cheaply, you will be able to take advantage of the new service.

And this my friends, is why we pay for private school

Natomas Unified has made some bad decisions under Dr. Farrar. We know about the land deals, the mediocre ratings on Great Schools, the below average spending per pupil (Current expense of education per ADA- $6304, state average $7,127) and the overall mismanagement and unhappiness of many parents in the district. The one thing they've done right is to let the charter schools do their own thing. In a mess of the district, the charters are doing well.

Dr. Farrar's response to the proposed governor's budget is perhaps the most appalling of mistakes. Per his letter, he has issued an immediate hiring and spending freeze as a precautionary measure. Interesting... especially since Natomas Unified still has jobs posted on edjoin.org listed as open and available. Is this a lie or an oversight?

While driving to the local library yesterday, I noticed that the Inderkum football field is all torn up and inquired inside. They are replacing it with artificial turf, that will apparently be state of the art. Yeah... we need a state of the art football field when you're already spending less per pupil than the rest of the state.

He even threatens to turn Kindergarten and 1st grade classes into 30 kids a piece next year, eliminate busing for students and even *gasp* potentially file for bankruptcy in 2009.

Now really, I know this is a fluff piece. It's designed to enrage parents in the assumption that they'll turn that around and push it on the governor. Right. The state problem is the same as the district problem... a simple mismanagement of funds. You can't spend what you don't have and you can always do more with less. I'm willing to bet, as a former teacher, everyone would forgo a football season to have a few permanent teachers in the classroom and a few less subs. Maybe leaving off the synthetic turf soccer field at the new Hight middle school would have bought a few more class sets of textbooks. I'm for sports and sports programs... but not when they sacrifice learning for athletics.

Perhaps that few million extra misspent for the land in North Natomas would be useful now?

Whatever they're on, I wish I had some.

Seriously, the city council must have a really good supplier of some amazing drugs. Does it make any logical sense to anyone else that they annexed the Greenbriar area last night to allow more building in Natomas?

They must have missed the memo from FEMA about the state of the flood protection in Natomas. No wait, we know they got it because Fargo promised to go head to head with Matsui, who said safety is the primary concern. From Breton's Bee article dated 1/20/2008 "On Friday, Rep. Doris Matsui, D-Sacramento, easily rebuffed Fargo's argument. "If I thought that was the right way to go, I would. But this is a different time," Matsui said. "We need to move forward on flood protection."

At least she's reading the FEMA memos.

What the heck is the city council thinking? We're in a serious housing crunch. Pardee Homes all but abandoned a huge chunk of land and left me with an ugly wall to look at. Yet somehow, despite the major flood risk, the economy and ongoing debate about the safety of building more homes in Natomas, the city council thought this was a good plan?

Kevin Johnson for mayor, anyone? At least he has his own money and won't be beholden to AKT and their shady land deals. Natomas has seen this before. We're done.

Museum Day is coming, plan your attack!

Saturday, February 2nd is Museum Day. If you're new to town or have been here forever, now's your chance to check out some of the lesser-known museums in town for free. The event runs from 10am to 4pm and if you're organized you may be able to get in two or three museums in that time.

My advice for enjoying Museum Day? Skip the biggies. This is not a good day to go to the Zoo or Fairytale Town. The lines will be long, parking will be terrible and you'll be very cranky. It's the perfect day to visit The Aerospace Museum of California or the Towe Auto Museum. Perhaps take a stroll through the historic city cemetery and visit the Governor's Mansion.

For more information and a map of museums, visit the Museum Day website. Go green and use the free shuttle buses for an even more festive experience! RT will run 5 free shuttle loops around town to get you where you need to go without the hassle and traffic.

KJ for mayor?

Marcos Breton's article in the Bee this morning covers the possibility of Kevin Johnson for mayor. As you know, I am not a fan of Heather Fargo and just about any name being on the table is exciting to me. It's time for Mayor Fargo to face some stiff competition and actually have to fight for her spot for once.

Kevin Johnson has a long history in Sacramento, though as of late much has been controversial. Most around town know the former-NBA player as the guy who is cleaning up Oak Park or the guy who started St. Hope and took over Sac High. There's a lot more to this story with complex weaves of he said, they said. But it ends up in a pleasant place of "Local star makes good".

We'll be researching Johnson's history and politics carefully and keeping you up to date on whether or not he'll be our guy. Right now, we're happy to just have another name to consider.

New excitement for Natomas and North Sacramento areas

Why do Roseville and Elk Grove always get to have the fun? They get the best kid stuff, the new restaurants and all the buzz for families. Well it's about time we had something fun of our own!

Funtastic Play Center has opened in Natomas! On Gateway Park Blvd right near KidsPark, you'll find a new indoor play center with soft foam for climbing, slides and more. It's designed for kids under 8 but the pictures look more like kids under 6 will enjoy it the most.

What's in it for you? A chance to hang out while the kids play and you can catch up with your friends while they run around. The Elk Grove location has wi-fi and espresso but I can't tell if Natomas does. I'll let you know after we visit.

Upcoming Natomas Park HOA election (apologies to readers outside Natomas Park!)

A major hoodwink is about to happen in Natomas Park and I feel it necessary to share this information. My apologies to readers outside Natomas Park. However, you should still be concerned about the property rights violations and discrimination about to take place in Natomas Park- it could be your HOA next.

Why you should VOTE NO on the upcoming Natomas Park HOA ballot

You should expect an HOA ballot to be arriving in the mail towards the end of the month. There are significant changes being made to the CC&Rs as well as some changes that should have been made that are being left off purposefully by the Board of Directors. It is important that no matter how you vote, you return the ballot so that this decision can be made by homeowners NOT the delegates.

• The Board of Directors has packaged this vote as one yes or no vote, without breaking down the individual items specifically. They are holding your vote hostage.
  

There are numerous changes in this vote that are required by law. The city, state and county laws have changed and our CC&Rs are not in compliance. Rob Thompson said at the meeting on Tuesday, January 8th that "Breaking out the individual issues is too complicated" so the Board decided to go with a single yes or no vote. There are two reasons to do this- either the Board doesn't think you're smart enough to figure out the changes, or they are trying to hide things all in one package on the pretext of saving money. If this vote does not pass, we will still be required by law to vote again. Because of the way they chose to word the ballot, you have no option to agree or disagree on individual issues.

• The Board of Directors has elected to change some problems with Delegate voting, but only those in their own best interests.

One major issue on this ballot is how Delegates vote for Director. You may not know this but currently, it doesn't matter how you vote individually on HOA issues. If 51% of the ballots in a district are not returned, the Delegate can vote however he or she want. Even if 49% of the residents are against an issue and the other 51% don't vote, the delegate could vote in support of an issue. The Board knows this is a problem but are refusing to address it in this vote because it serves their own interests. They have already met with the delgates and given them instruction on the importance of their issues BEFORE the vote. The Board has chosen to address this issue on this ballot BUT ONLY for how it affects their vote for Directors. Because of notoriously low turnout in the HOA elections, the Board is counting on the delegates to do as they are told to push this ballot through.

• Delegates vote by secret ballot so you have no right to know how your specific Delegate voted. The Board has chosen not to address this problem.

It is your responsibility as a property owner to vote in elections for the HOA. However, because of secret ballot, your Delegate has no accountability to the neighborhood. He/She can choose to vote however he/she chooses. All public officials have to share their voting records and are accountable for them, why do we not require the same openness in our HOA elections?

• The Board of Directors is encouraging discrimination based on income within the community.

At a meeting on Tuesday, January 8th, an audience member addressing the issue of tenants using the Club said "Most of us in the neighborhood just don't like renters and don't want them here." This comment was met with nodding heads of the present Board members. The Board has chosen to discriminate against tenants, assuming that renters are all undesirable instead of taking the legal and appropriate actions they already have available. The Board has not enforced policies requiring owners to notify them about tenants. They are using the excuse of too much time to manage who lives where. If they enforced the currently existing laws instead of creating new, discriminatory policies, this would not be a problem. Do you want to live in a neighborhood that creates classes of people? Do you want to encourage your children to believe that renters are bad? How would you feel if you suddenly had to sell your house and rent due to a family crisis? We are talking about telling your friend, neighbor or child's teacher that he/she is bad and can't be trusted with Club access.

• The Board of Directors is encouraging you to give up your property rights.
  

Even if you agree that only owners should have access to the Club, this was not the system you bought into. As it currently stands, if you have to move to another town and rent your house because it won't sell, you can assign your Club privledges to a tenant as an extra "perk" for choosing your house. You assumed moving into the neighborhood that your HOA dues paid for a certain level of service. This measure reduces your level of service, decreasing your right to rent your property as you bought it, to others. A yes vote tells the Board that you are willing to sacrifice your property rights.

• Property owners who rent their homes in Natomas Park are already organizing for a class-action lawsuit if this measure passes.
  

The lawsuit against Lennar has not even been resolved yet and the Board is interested in baiting the community into another lawsuit. This lawsuit will cost you money to defend. Do you really want to pay more dues to fund a lawsuit defense?

Now that you understand the issues, what can you do?

Encourage your neighbors to understand the issues and ask questions

Meet your neighbors and talk to them, get to know the renters and homeowners in your area.

Report renters and homeowners that do not follow the CC&Rs using the existing legal methods

Most importantly, VOTE NO and demand the Board give you a fair ballot that allows you to pick and choose issues, like a state or city election.

Predictions for Sacramento and the surrounding area for 2008

It's that time of year where everyone comes out with their list of predictions. Who would have guessed that 2007 would see The Towers and Aura projects fall apart? It seemed like in January 2007, these were the hottest things going on the west coast. Or that the housing market would crumble in Sacramento? Here goes my best attempts as a long-time Sacramento resident at predictions for the new year. We'll see in 11 more months how I did.

Prediction #1- The major I-5 construction project will not be finished in 2008 and there will be major traffic consequences, leading to the funding of the DNA lightrail line. That's right you read it here first! Using the Sac Bee's article about more downtown congestion being purposefully initiated by the city to generate interest in alternative transportation, we predict that when Caltrans starts making a hole in the Q street/I-5 sunken road, a messy disaster will strike. Followed by a renewed interest and funding for the DNA airport line. Not that it will get built any faster.

Prediction #2- Absolutely nothing will happen with the arena. Nothing. As in the Kings will still play at Arco and no progress will be made with Cal Expo talks.

Prediction #3- Absolutely nothing will happen with K Street. Mo Mohanna will tie up the redevelopment of K Street in court. We will have more of the same for another year.

Prediction #4- Arden Arcade will be successful in their Nov 2008 bid to become a city.

Prediction #5- Natomas will not flood this year. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. This is more of a hope than a prediction but one that's worth making. If I'm right, I get to keep my house. If I'm wrong, I'll be in a white FEMA trailer next year this time and I won't be blogging to tell you about it anyway.