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SOUTH LAND PARK TERRACE One of a kind 4 bedroom 2½ bath home with soaring ceilings in the living room and master bedroom. Master looks out to the treetops! Two ¿replaces, renovated kitchen, big game room, plus a remote of¿ce off the garage. Deep backyard too! Just minutes to William Land Park, Midtown, shopping and the bike trail. Your treasured memories start here! $650,000 SHEILA VAN NOY 916-505-5395

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POPULAR FLOORPLAN AT THE MILL Popular, sold-out Àoorplan in The Mill at Broadway is available! You will love the kitchen with quartz counters, stainless appliances, built-in wine fridge and bar area, high-end laminate Àooring, stylish light ¿xtures, downstairs den/3rd bedroom, upstairs loft, both bedrooms with en suite bathrooms. Newer construction with energy saving features! $467,000 ERIN STUMPF 916-342-1372

LAKE GREENHAVEN Beautiful brick exterior just hints of things to come. Step in and immediately enjoy the beautiful view of Lake Greenhaven thru the wall of windows in the living room. The spacious kitchen adjoins the pretty family room with contemporary ¿replace. The master suite features a wonderful desk area overlooking the lake. Pool! $895,000 PAULA SWAYNE 916-425-9715

CONVENIENT RUSH RIVER Perfect for busy lifestyle. Easy walking distance to Promenade Greenhaven shopping and restaurants. Close to Garcia Bend Park. Single story 3 bedroom 2 bath home, 1740 square feet. Roomy master and bath, large kitchen views atrium/patio, 2-car garage, central H AC, ¿replace. HOA covers front yard maintenance, gates and back road. $435,000 SUE LEE 916-833-5122

MARINA COVE AT RIVERLAKE Elegant and sophisticated best describes this home located in the prestigious gated Riverlake Community. Bountiful and beautiful moldings throughout, thermostat controlled ¿replaces, spacious downstairs master suite and upstairs media room are just a few of the wonderful features of this home. Pretty kitchen and soaring ceilings! $875,000 PAULA SWAYNE 916-425-9715

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MAGNIGICENT LOS LAGOS ESTATE Spectacular home and yard! Unsurpassed attention to detail. Yard features cascading pool, spa, outdoor kitchen and ¿replace, just breathtaking. Lime stone hardscape, tiered decks and dual curved staircases. 2 master suites, maid’s quarter with separate entrance, game/pool table room, huge family room, coffered ceilings, bar,wine storage, 5-car garage! $1,695,000 MONA GERGEN 916247-9555

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RENOVATED SLP TERRACE You’re going to Love, LOve, LOVE this handsome mid-century ranch home in South Land Park Terrace. 3 or 4 bedrooms 2 baths, beautifully renovated with style and quality. Bright, Light Cheery! New Kitchen, New Bathrooms, New Windows - and the list goes on! Walk to the zoo, library and Land Park. Minutes to sensational downtown! $579,000 SHEILA VAN NOY 916-505-5395

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LAGUNA NORTH ELK GROVE Wonderful single story 4 bedroom, 2 bath, 3-car garage. Formal dining room and formal living room. Great room concept for kitchen and family room with a ¿replace and bar. Great layout for families and entertaining. New carpet and new paint. Master shower is huge with two shower heads and a bench. Front yard courtyard area as well. $370,000 LISA McCAULEY 916-601-5474

for current home listings, please visit:

DUNNIGANREALTORS.COM 916.484.2030 916.454.5753 Dunnigan is a different kind of Realtor.

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LAND PARK GEM! This home has been in the family for decades. Original Land Park Spanish charm featuring a living room with ¿replace, large dining room, breakfast nook, galley kitchen, and central hall Àoor plan. You’ll love the beautiful hardwood Àoors with inlay and large backyard just waiting for your touches. Plenty of storage throughout. Great location! $425,000 KELLIE SWAYNE 916-206-1458

www.ReneeCatricala.com 916.203.9690

CalDRE# 01077144

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EAST SACRAMENTO McKINLEY PARK RIVER PARK ELMHURST TAHOE PARK CAMPUS COMMONS

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THE MOST INTERESTING PEOPLE, PLACES & CULTURE IN AMERICA'S FARM-TO-FORK CAPITAL

COVER PHOTOGRAPHER David Moreno, Mirror Point This image is part of the Sacramento After Dark exhibit at Viewpoint Photographic Art Center through April. Although David’s photographic pursuits have taken him around the world, he specializes in capturing the beautiful landscapes of California. The artistic signature of his photographs come from a keen eye for the many ways light plays with his natural surroundings. David’s passion shines brightly in his work and it has allowed him to attract a global audience. Instragram: @DavidMoreno.Photography Facebook: David Moreno Photography

3104 O St. #120, Sac. CA 95816 (Mail Only)

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EDITOR Marybeth Bizjak mbbizjak@aol.com PRODUCTION M.J. McFarland DESIGN Cindy Fuller PHOTOGRAPHY Linda Smolek, Aniko Kiezel AD COORDINATION Michele Mazzera, Julie Foster DISTRIBUTION Sue Pane Sue@insidepublications.com ACCOUNTING Daniel Nardinelli, Lauren Hastings, Jim Hastings

916-443-5087 EDITORIAL POLICY Commentary reflects the views of the writers and does not necessarily reflect those of Inside Publications. Inside Publications is delivered for free to more than 75,000 households in Sacramento. Printing and distribution costs are paid entirely by advertising revenue. We spotlight selected advertisers, but all other stories are determined solely by our editorial staff and are not influenced by advertising. No portion may be reproduced mechanically or electronically without written permission of the publisher. All ad designs & editorial—©

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com or send check with name & address of recipient and specify publication edition. PUBLISHER Cecily Hastings

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APRIL 18 VOL. 5 • ISSUE 3 7 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 30 32 34 38 42 44

Publisher's Desk Pocket Life Inside City Hall Pocket Beat Building Our Future Giving Back Sports Authority Shoptalk Garden Jabber Home Insight Getting There Inside Downtown Spirit Matters To Do Artist Spotlight Restaurant Insider

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New Park Opening Live Music & More

Candid Camera

pportunities for photography are as close as our smartphone for most of us. But as digital photography has exploded the volume of photos taken, quality is at an all-time low. I have a fairly close relationship with photography, as we feature thousands of photos in our publications each year. Most are the work of our wonderful professional photographers, Linda Smolek and Aniko Kiezel. “Inside Sacramento,” the book we published in 2016, features more than 1,000 photos, and I learned to expertly edit them while creating the book. Both of these publishing experiences have taught me one thing: Photography may look easy, but being a professional requires a great deal of knowledge, creativity and experience. More than a year ago, Roberta McClellan approached me about sponsoring Sacramento’s firstever photography festival, to be held this month. I offered our help with whatever was needed. The four-week event will feature exhibitions and educational opportunities throughout the region to encourage people to interact with the art form in a way they never have before. Photography Month Sacramento is led by McClellan through Viewpoint Photographic Art Center—a Midtown nonprofit—in collaboration with many partners. With approximately 30 events, activities and exhibits scheduled, the month will celebrate the visual arts while creating an accessible and visually exciting collective experience. Photography Month Sacramento offers new opportunities for galleries, museums, educational institutions, libraries, retail establishments,

Roberta McClellan

NEW FESTIVAL SHINES A LIGHT ON THE ART OF PHOTOGRAPHY

CH By Cecily Hastings Publisher’s Desk

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INSIDE PUBLICATIONS WILL HOST ITS OWN PHOTOGRAPHY EVENT, “INSIDE PHOTOGRAPHY: FOOD, INTERIORS AND PORTRAITS,” ON SATURDAY, APRIL 14, AT 3 P.M. AT CLUNIE COMMUNITY CENTER, LOCATED AT 601 ALHAMBRA BLVD. RSVP TO PUBLISHER@INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM.

photographers and patrons to share, celebrate and elevate the art of photography. There will be exhibits, lectures, receptions, workshops, demonstrations, temporary public-art displays, art walks and other special events. This month, for the first time ever, we are featuring the work of Sacramento photographers on our covers in place of our usual paintings, drawings, collages and sculptural images. McClellan curated a dozen images for me to select from. Inside Publications will host its own photography event, “Inside Photography: Food, Interiors and Portraits,” on Saturday, April 14. I will be joined by photographers Aniko Kiezel and Rachel Valley to talk about the food, interior and portrait photography featured in our book, “Inside Sacramento,” and our monthly publications. We’ll also discuss our experience self-publishing a book. Signed books will be available at a special reduced rate. Join us at 3 p.m. at Clunie Community Center, located at 601 Alhambra Blvd. RSVP to publisher@insidepublications.com. Please enjoy the following profile of McClellan written by Jessica Laskey. Cecily Hastings can be reached at publisher@insidepublications.com.

CANDID CAMERA When you read Roberta McClellan’s résumé, the first question that might

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come to mind is “What doesn’t this woman do?” The answer is, “Not much,” and McClellan wouldn’t have it any other way. “I like to be able to work on a couple things at a time and learn new skills,” says McClellan, who has run marketing firm McClellan Marketing Group for more than 30 years. “The big key for having an interesting career is to keep evolving.” McClellan has done just that. When she first came to Sacramento as a student at Sacramento State University, she studied broadcast journalism and went to work for KFBK as a talk-show producer. After leaving radio, she figured her producing skills would translate well to marketing and approached legendary local PR guru Jean Runyon about how to break into the business. With Runyon’s mentorship, McClellan founded MMG. But McClellan also wanted to help the arts. “Art has always kept me sane,” she says. “It meant so much to me growing up. I came from a family of four girls, and our mother let us do anything we wanted: sing, dance, draw, paint, play the harp.” Because so many nonprofit arts groups have very limited budgets, McClellan offers her services as an independent contractor. The organization pays her on a project-byproject basis instead of a salary, which most arts groups can’t afford. McClellan ended up working as a consultant for Camellia Symphony

Orchestra and for the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission. She then moved on to Stages-Folsom Dance Arts—a small nonprofit specializing in semiprofessional training for young dancers— and Music in the Mountains, a summertime concert series in Nevada City. In 2014, McClellan was recommended for the executive directorship at Viewpoint Photographic Art Center, a gallery that’s been around since the early 1980s. “The first time I went in, the entire board interviewed me,” McClellan says. “I thought, ‘Bring it on!’” She clearly impressed them; she’s the first executive director the group has had in seven years and one of only two in its history. “I love the whole vibe down here,” says McClellan, who regularly takes in the sights and sounds of Midtown after the gallery has closed before returning home to Auburn. “We have an amazing group of volunteers. We rotate exhibits monthly in two gallery spaces. We provide free field trips, lectures and workshops and we bring a lot of artists to the community.” In order to attract more visitors to Viewpoint, McClellan worked for more than a year organizing the launch of Photography Month Sacramento. “Cities like Denver, LA, Portland and even Belfast are doing photo month events,” McClellan says. “It’s really gaining momentum, which has

been exciting to see. We’re coming up with new ways to engage people in the art of photography with various facets so everyone can enjoy it, whether you take selfies or professional prints in a studio.” The plan is to make the event biannual and partner with local colleges and other arts groups, including Verge Center for the Arts, California Museum, Crocker Art Museum, Beatnik Studios and SMAC, for workshops, a Second Saturday reception, lectures, public-art displays and art walks. “Sacramento likes visual art and loves to take photos, so I think this is really going to work here,” McClellan says. Here’s a sampling of events for Photography Month Sacramento: Sacramento After Dark, an exhibit starting on Tuesday, April 10, at Viewpoint Photographic Art Center and featuring 80 Instagram images; Mammoth Wet-Plate Photo Lecture by Luther Gerlach on Thursday, April 12 and Friday, April 20, at American River College; Darkroom Bus and Camera Demo by Gerlach on Saturday, April 14, also at American River College; and Photo Fête, a celebratory evening event on Thursday, April 26, at Crocker Art Museum. For more information, go to photomonthsac.org. Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. n

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Goodbye to Dr. Yee CEO RETIRES FROM ACC SENIOR SERVICES

by Dr. Darrick Lam. “It’s easy for me to envision taking a different seat at the ACC table. I look forward to working with Darrick and helping the organization continue to evolve and expand.” The gala dinner will be held at the Sacramento Asian Sports Foundation in Elk Grove. Tickets are $100. For more information, go to accsv.org.

CITY SEEKS LEADS IN BEATING DEATH OF PUPPY

Donna Yee

n Saturday, April 14, the retiring CEO of ACC Senior Services will be honored with a gala dinner. Dr. Donna Yee has worked for the organization, which provides long-term support services for the elderly, for 17 years. “On my first day at ACC, our offices were in the back of the nursing home,” says Yee. “Accounting books were double-entry

CM By Corky Mau Pocket Life

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general ledger with data entered by pencil. The nursing home had three computers and six IBM electric typewriters for over 100 staff.” In 2000, ACC had an operating budget of almost $8 million; today, it’s close to $40.5 million. Support services have grown from one care center to several buildings that range from assisted living to independent living options. ACC also offers many wellness classes. Yee is grateful as she reflects back on her tenure with ACC. “The all-volunteer board of directors has a depth of leadership skills and a willingness to work together and explore different service approaches to meet the region’s unmet needs,” says Yee, who will be replaced as CEO

Front Street Animal Shelter and the city are offering a $16,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or persons responsible for killing a puppy in the Greenhaven neighborhood. On Jan. 19, the body of a Chihuahua-terrier puppy was found hanging from a tree near the intersection of Riverside Boulevard and 43rd Avenue. The dog had been beaten. The dog had a distinctive grayand-white print Grateful Dead leash. The city is looking for information about the crime. Tips can be anonymous. Contact chief animal control officer Jace Huggins at (916) 808-5855 or jhuggins@ cityofsacramento.org.

BOOK SALE AT ROBBIE WATERS LIBRARY Friends of the Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library will hold its annual book sale from April 14 to April 21. The sale will take place in the Community Room and the Friends’ Bookstore during library hours. On Saturday, April 14, Friends of the Library members can start shopping at 9 a.m.; members of the public can enter at 10 a.m. Gently used paperbacks, hardcover books, children’s books and videos will be sold. Proceeds from the sale will help sponsor special programs at the library. The library is at 7335 Gloria Drive.

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR LEVEE CLEANUP The Rotary Club of Pocket/ Greenhaven and City Councilmember Rick Jennings will sponsor a levee cleanup on Saturday, April 28, from 9 a.m. to noon at Garcia Bend Park. Volunteers should dress comfortably and wear closed-toe shoes, sneakers or boots. Supplies, breakfast treats and beverages will be provided. Garcia Bend Park is at 7654 Pocket Road.

AWARDS CEREMONY HONORS THE NEIGHBORHOOD’S BEST On Thursday, April 26, Pocket Greenhaven Community Association will host the first Pride of the Pocket awards ceremony. It will take place in the gymnasium at the School of Engineering & Sciences from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The ceremony will recognize the volunteers, civic organizations, retail establishments and other neighborhood entities that make the community a great place to live, work and play. A bake-off will be held at the event. The deadline to sign up for the bakeoff is Thursday, April 12. Tickets for the event are $15 for individuals ($10 for PGCA members), $30 for a family ($25 for PGCA members). SES is at 7345 Gloria Drive. For more information, go to pride. pocketgreenhaven.org.

STEAM FAMILY NIGHT SET FOR MLK SCHOOL The second annual STEAM Family Night will take place on Thursday, April 5, from 5 to 7 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. K-8 School. The free event will offer handson activities in the areas of science, technology, engineering, art and math. For more information, contact Denise Watts at (916) 395-4645. The school is at 480 Little River Way.

HOT RODS AND MORE ON DISPLAY Sac City Muscle Car Club will hold a car show on Saturday, April 7, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at John F. Kennedy High School. Hot rods, rat rods, sports cars, and rare and vintage cars will be on display. There will also be food trucks, children’s activities and a raffle. All proceeds will go to the John F. Kennedy High School Marching Band and Color Guard to help send students to the 2018 National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, D.C.

Entry to the show is free to the public. There is a $20 fee to show a car. The school is at 6715 Gloria Drive. For more information, call (916) 4761487.

FOOD TRUCKS IN THE PARK The first Food Truck Mania event of 2018 at Garcia Bend Park will take place on Friday, April 20, at 5 p.m. In addition to food trucks, there will be live music, bounce houses and other activities for children. Garcia Bend Park is at 7654 Pocket Road. For more information, go to sactomofo.com.

SUMMER CITY HALL PROGRAM FOR TEENS The deadline to apply for the 2018 Summer @ City Hall program is Friday, April 27, at 11:59 p.m. Applicants must be in their sophomore or junior year and either attend a high school in the Sacramento, Natomas or Twin Rivers school district or live within the Sacramento city limits. Participants will attend morning classes focused on civic engagement and youth development, and complete a 42-hour internship. At the end of the six-week program, they will receive five high school credits and a stipend. The program takes place from June 18 through July 27 at City Hall. For more information, contact Maria Vides-Medal at (916) 808-6162 or go to cityofsacramento.org/summerat-city-hall.

AUTHORS TO SPEAK ON WORLD WAR A Meet the Authors program will take place in the Community Room at Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library on Saturday, April 28, from 11 a.m. to noon. Authors James Scott and Amanda DeWilde will discuss their book, “World War I and the Sacramento Valley.” The library is at 7335 Gloria Drive.

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JENNINGS TO HOLD OFFICE HOURS City Councilmember Rick Jennings will hold office hours on Thursday, April 19, at 6 p.m. in the Community Room at Robbie Waters PocketGreenhaven Library. At the event, Jennings and his staff will focus on traffic safety. The library is at 7335 Gloria Drive. For more information, email rjennings@cityofsacrmento.org or call (916) 808-7007.

CAMELLIA STUDENTS PLANT A GARDEN Last month, Camellia Waldorf School students and their families planted a vegetable garden for the residents of ACC Greenhaven Terrace. Students took on the community service project when they heard that residents wanted an on-site summer “salad bar” garden. Under the guidance of teacher Carmen Gunn, the students also have their own school garden.

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ACC Greenhaven Terrace provides independent and assisted-living housing for seniors. Camellia Waldorf is at 7450 Pocket Road.

BUSINESS ROUNDTABLE DEBUTS On Feb. 27, Pocket Greenhaven Community Association held its first Business Roundtable. Residents heard about the successes and challenges of operating a business in the community. The group plans to meet on a quarterly basis and hold networking events. Future meeting topics include marketing to the Pocket-Greenhaven community and organizing “shop local” campaigns such as sidewalk sales and business-park open houses. For more information, email info@pocketgreenhaven.org or go to pocketgreenhaven.org. Corky Mau can be reached at corky. sue50@gmail.com. n

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Let the Sun Shine In

KEEPING OUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVANTS ACCOUNTABLE

n indispensable concept on which our system of limited constitutional government depends is that public officials, from the lowliest to the highest, are properly understood to be, and shall always remain, our servants. They serve us and our interests; we do not serve them and their interests. But keeping the public in the driver’s seat of an ever-expanding government requires more effective means of keeping public servants accountable. Traditional monitors of government are fading fast: Newspapers and most other print media are in a death spiral, taken

CP By Craig Powell Inside City Hall

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down by an internet that has shredded their business model. With fewer beat reporters assigned to local city halls, the job of monitoring local government officials is falling increasingly on nonprofit watchdogs like Eye on Sacramento (which I founded and head) and on “citizen journalists,” activists who use internet tools to uncover and disseminate information, principally through social media. To highlight the challenge, the American Society of News Editors last month sponsored Sunshine Week, as they have each year since 2005. It’s a nationwide recognition and celebration of the importance of free access to government information. As U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Louis Brandeis once put it, “Sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants.” Public access to local government involves two elements: the public’s ability to obtain government records and other information, and

the public’s ability to effectively participate in the decision making of local governments.

THE PROMISE OF THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT The public’s right to obtain, copy and examine records of state and local government in California is enshrined in both the state constitution and in state statute by the California Public Records Act. Fashioned after the federal Freedom of Information Act, the act establishes the rule that all public records must be promptly disclosed upon public request, subject to some categorical exemptions. A public agency must respond to each request within 10 days and, under unusual circumstances, may delay disclosure of requested records for up to 24 days from the date of request.

That’s the theory, anyway. In practice, things often work out quite differently. Some of our local governments are Johnny-on-the-spot responders to records requests, while others can seem like black holes: Once a request goes in, you may never see it again. Why aren’t the mandates of the records act uniformly obeyed by all local governments? It’s because the act lacks an effective enforcement mechanism. If a government flatout refuses to cough up requested documents without citing any legitimate justification, there is no consequence unless the requester goes to the considerable expense of hiring a lawyer to bring suit to compel release of the records. The prohibitive costs of such suits scare off just about every potential litigant. If a requester does file suit and wins, the court can award attorney’s fees. But it costs local government officials nothing to lose records-act

lawsuits. The fees of lawyers hired by local government to fend off suits are borne by taxpayers. And if the government loses, taxpayers get stuck paying the legal fees of the victorious requester as well. Since it costs local government officials absolutely nothing personally when they fail to follow the law, they can pretty much ignore the law with impunity. Last year, a bipartisan bill was introduced in the Assembly that would have authorized judges in records-act lawsuits to levy fines of up to $5,000 on government agencies (not officials) that improperly withhold public records. The bill passed in the Assembly on a nearly unanimous 71–1 vote. It was supported by every major newspaper and good-government group in the state. Then it was gutted in the Senate when the state’s all-powerful public employee unions came out against it.

EOS LAWSUITS UNDER THE CALIFORNIA PUBLIC RECORDS ACT Eye on Sacramento has brought two records-act lawsuits against the city of Sacramento to date. Our first suit, in 2012, sought to obtain emails circulating among members of the City Council and their staffers in the lead-up to the 2011 redrawing of council district lines, the product of what struck us as a fairly obvious backroom deal. The plan split the voting power of Hispanic voters but protected the political futures of the council incumbents who supported the plan. The contentious redistricting plan led to weeks of protests at City Hall. We lost most of the case as Judge Lloyd Connelly (himself a former councilmember) granted us access to only one of several emails we sought, ruling that the remainder of the emails were protected by a judicially created “deliberative process” privilege, which, in our admittedly biased view, can be used to cover all manner of political sins. Our second records-act suit was more successful and impactful. When the Sacramento city clerk announced

plans in 2015 to delete 55 million city emails dating back 15 years, we sought and won a court order halting the deletion of 20 million of the emails in what may be the largest single records-act “save” ever. When the city clerk complained about the cost to the city of storing so many emails, we bought and delivered to her a single-terabyte hard drive (cost: $200) that could easily store all of the emails at issue.

MY SEARCH FOR CITY CRIME DATA I had a recent personal experience in trying to track down basic crime stats in Sacramento that illustrates how difficult it can be to access public records. Three years ago, I was able to easily obtain from the Sacramento Police Department’s webpage information I needed on the number of reported crimes in each of the standard major-crime categories for the previous three years. The information was displayed in easy-to-understand charts. It took me less than three minutes on the department’s webpage to find the information I needed. But last year it was a very different—and extraordinarily frustrating—story. Since my previous effort to dig up city crime stats, the city had launched its Open Data Portal. All efforts to obtain crime stats would have to go through the portal. No more looking at the police webpage to get the crime stats I wanted. I found the portal to be the most unwieldy, unfriendly interface I’ve encountered in memory. Finding the correct data set to download was like being in a foreign land where the inhabitants spoke only advanced bureaucratese. And once I managed to open a data set, it was immediately apparent that only someone with training in database management stood a prayer of navigating the mass of undifferentiated data that came spewing forth. In frustration, I called one of the three public information officers assigned to the Sacramento Police Department and identified myself as a member of the media. I explained

that I was completely stumped by the city’s portal and asked for his help in securing the simple crime stats I wanted. The friendly PIO commiserated with me over how awful the portal was and how everyone missed the old webpage that had made finding crime stats a breeze. He promised to personally track down the crime stats for me and call me back. I never heard from him again. My follow-up phone calls to him went unanswered. A few weeks later, I received a system-generated email from the city saying that the records I sought with my public-records request could be obtained on the city’s Open Data Portal. I gave up. I ended up passing my request over to Debra Desrosiers, Eye on Sacramento’s vice president of government oversight and our public-records-request coordinator. Desrosiers is one of the most active filers of public-records requests in Sacramento County. She is computer savvy, very detail oriented (nearly 20 years as a title officer tends to instill that in a person) and persistent in following up on our records requests to local government. Now I’m a reasonably intelligent person. I’ve filed numerous records requests myself. I lead the organization that has as a core part of its mission acting as a watchdog of local government. I’ve led efforts to reform city laws to make city government more transparent and accessible (most of which were rejected). If I can’t navigate my way through the city’s portal, what chance does the typical citizen have of doing so? Plus, the typical citizen doesn’t have Desrosiers in their corner. Clearly, the city clerk needs to revamp and simplify navigation of the city’s Open Data Portal. Her office should offer training to the public on how to make robust use of the data sets the city is posting.

HOW DO LOCAL CITIES STACK UP? I asked Desrosiers to summarize her experience with how cities in Sacramento County are responding

to our records requests. Here’s her report: “The best-performing local jurisdictions are the cities of Citrus Heights, Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova. Their websites have specific contact and email information to submit requests. They rarely require extensions to provide information. They are super helpful and will pick up the phone and call you if they have questions. The city of Sacramento, by contrast, sends you notice on their website and says if you don’t reply within five days, you have to resubmit your request. “The county of Sacramento has a generic email address for submitting requests, which, if you send a request there, you may or may not get a response. It’s sporadically monitored and you have to wait 10 days to see if you’re lucky enough to get a response. Usually you don’t. They have a new online system which we haven’t used yet.” According to her logs, Eye on Sacramento has submitted 17 records requests to the city in the past 15 months. The average number of days from the date of our request to the date of the city’s fulfillment of our request is a shameful 54 days. Sacramento’s average response time is 30 days longer than the maximum time allowable under the California Public Records Act. Particularly galling was Sacramento’s response to our Feb. 22 request for a copy of the proposal that Sacramento submitted to Amazon in its unsuccessful bid to land Amazon’s second national headquarters, a proposal that received intense media attention. Sacramento’s farcical response was that it did not possess a copy of its own proposal. Last month, Desrosiers conducted a quick, unscientific test of how local cities respond to a common records request. On Friday, March 9, between 1:20 and 1:30 p.m., she transmitted identical records requests to the five major cities in Sacramento County: Sacramento, Folsom, Elk Grove, Citrus Heights and Rancho Cordova. Astonishingly, Folsom, Elk Grove and Citrus Heights provided all of TO page 15

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The Truth Squad LOCAL GROUP CORRECTS MISSTATEMENTS ABOUT THE LEVEE

or years, several folks whose homes back up against the Sacramento River levee have been able to play free and easy with certain facts. They could stretch the truth about their “ownership” of the levee. They could invent stories about criminals breaking into nearby garages or

RG By R.E. Graswich Pocket Beat

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assaulting residents. They could ignore realities that didn’t fit their narrative—especially facts about publicly owned easements that give state authorities complete control over so-called “private” sections of the levee. Homeowners could get away with those fibs, half-truths and fabrications. But no more. Thanks to social media and a smart, dedicated group of Pocket and Greenhaven residents, public misstatements about levee access are quickly pounced on and corrected. Facts are checked. Untruths are exposed. Meet the Levee Truth Squad.

The actual name of the Truth Squad’s Facebook page is the Sacramento River Parkway Coalition. The group is a tributary of the Friends of the Sacramento River Parkway, which was started by former Sacramento Mayor Anne Rudin and a handful of Greenhaven residents to promote public access along both sides of the Sacramento River. The coalition’s Facebook page is a lively platform—it never indulges fools. Anyone who steps up to the plate with a comment should be prepared to hear the facts and show courtesy.

The conversation is always civil. It’s frequently elevated to graduateschool levels, which makes the page a refreshing counterpoint to so many other neighborhood social-media platforms. But the Truth Squad has little patience for sloppy arguments and generalizations. A recent example involves a story in The Sacramento Bee that attempted to address the city’s decision to buy recreational easements from residents along the levee. The easement purchase is complicated by politics. The state of California already owns comprehensive levee accessibility, but the city figures it’s cheaper to pay off

a few dozen troublesome homeowners than invite legal challenges. And the state agrees. After all, it’s the city’s money that will go to the homeowners, not state funds. The Bee’s story was built around one homeowner who said he’s worried about the public having unrestricted access to the river. He’s concerned about property rights being undercut by people walking on the levee. Enter the Truth Squad. Responding on its Facebook page, the coalition blasted right back: “He bought the property with the gamble that he could stop the Parkway’s completion.” The Truth Squad noted the homeowner bought his property in 1999, while the levee parkway and public access have been on local planning books since 1975. The Truth Squad continued, saying the homeowner “seems to claim ownership to the river’s edge. In fact, the state owns the lower third to half of the levee under the ‘Public Trust Doctrine,’ which guarantees the public a right of access.” And there was this fact: “To the contrary, he and others who have docks or boathouses actually lease that land from the state and acknowledge the public’s right of access.” When a reader suggested the Truth Squad was “trying to justify the theft of private property,” the coalition’s Facebook response was swift and decisive: “Nobody wants to remove (the homeowner) from his land. The city wants only an easement even though the public most likely has an implied easement already ... Without eminent domain, we would have no freeways, no reservoirs, and countless other

public works projects that benefit the greater community.” The coalition’s Facebook page is largely the expert handiwork of Jim Houpt, a lawyer and longtime member of the Friends of the Sacramento River Parkway. Houpt and other Friends members are passionate in their encouragement of public access along the river. They are also passionate about courteous public dialogue. They love nothing more than intelligent debate. When a riverfront homeowner claimed public access to the levee would lead to an influx of homeless people, similar to the American River Parkway, the coalition’s Facebook page addressed the question with facts. “There are no services of any kind close to the Sacramento River Parkway in our neighborhood,” the response said, contrasting the presence of Loaves & Fishes and the Union Gospel Mission near the American River. “Furthermore, the Sacramento Police Department has insisted it will address homeless issues whenever they’re reported.” When another resident used the coalition’s Facebook page to make a snarky remark about “enjoying other people’s property,” the Truth Squad had this to say: “You’re just piling on silly irrelevancies and your own political biases that have nothing to do with a public debate about a multi-use trail in Sacramento ... you’re just wasting everyone’s time.” With that, the online discussion resumed at a civilized level. R.E. Graswich can be reached at reg@graswich.com. n

THANKS TO SOCIAL MEDIA AND A SMART, DEDICATED GROUP OF POCKET AND GREENHAVEN RESIDENTS, PUBLIC MISSTATEMENTS ABOUT LEVEE ACCESS ARE QUICKLY POUNCED ON AND CORRECTED. FACTS ARE CHECKED. UNTRUTHS ARE EXPOSED.

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FROM page 13 the requested records to us that very afternoon, less than four hours after our request. Rancho Cordova acknowledged our request that afternoon and promised to deliver the documents on a timely basis. As of the deadline for this column, we’ve received no response from Sacramento.

MOVING FORWARD Eye on Sacramento wants to help enable neighborhood associations, community groups and citizens to monitor and report on the actions of local government, including local school districts and special districts. We want to help everyday folks become citizen reporters, auditors and journalists to help fill the vacuum left by the fading print media. In the next few months, we’ll post to Eye on Sacramento’s website templates for records requests, an instructional brochure and a more detailed legal guide to the nuances

of the California Public Records Act. (You can sign up to receive regular updates at eyeonsacramento.org.) Eye on Sacramento representatives will also be available to speak to neighborhood, community and other groups to help demystify local government and to lay out the tools available to everyday folks to assert themselves as the legitimate supervisors of our public servants. We’ll invite local government officials to join us at these meetings. Our efforts will be led by Lisa Garcia, vice president for community outreach, and Nancy Kitz, who chairs the opengovernment committee, as well as the indefatigable Desrosiers. Craig Powell is a retired attorney, businessman, community activist and president of Eye on Sacramento, a civic watchdog and policy group. He can be reached at craig@ eyeonsacramento.org or (916) 7183030. n

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Taking Risks ‘UPSTAIRS AT THE B’ OFFERS ROOM FOR EXPERIMENTING

The Soﬁa was designed by Sacramento architect Ron Vrilakas with Vrilakas Groen Architects.

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t’s been only two short months since B Street Theatre moved into The Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts at 2700 Capitol Ave., but a string of sold-out shows suggests the theater company already feels right at home. On Feb. 4, The Sofia officially opened with a performance of “One Man, Two Guvnors,” which sold out every performance including a two-week extension. Follow-up shows, “Gandhi!” and “The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe,” both sold out before their opening nights. According to Lyndsay Burch, B Street’s artistic producer, ticket sales like those just didn’t happen at the old location. “It’s amazing, and really a credit to the community’s support of this project and interest in the arts,” says Burch, who managed the theater’s move to The Sofia from its old location at B and 28th streets. “Not only were we not completely selling out before, but now we’re selling more seats.” (The old location had an approximate capacity of 8,800, while The Sofia can seat more than 10,000.) While B Street’s boost in sales probably has something to do with interest in the new Sofia, Burch says similar-sized companies that relocated to larger spaces have maintained their success, suggesting the trend for B Street will continue. “We expect to maintain at least a certain percent of that increase for the foreseeable future,” she says. The new $30 million, 40,000-square-foot complex has two separate performing spaces: the 250-seat Mainstage and the 365seat Sutter Theatre for Children. The Sofia also allows B Street to diversify its productions to include both music and speakers. The center signed a yearlong contract with SBL Entertainment, the agency that books shows for Harlow’s and Crest Theatre. The Sofia’s management

JV By Jordan Venema Building Our Future

expects to book at least 80 shows this year alone. The center had about a dozen concerts in March, including performances by Jon Cleary, Karla Bonoff and Grammy winner Kalani Pe’a. In May, The Sofia will host a range of performers, from indierock band The Weepies to Camellia Symphony Orchestra. Oddly enough, says Burch, “people are coming in and they don’t even know that we do theater.” While theatergoers may not realize B Street hosts music, and concertgoers are discovering it also produces theater, The Sofia has a third element that could be news to both groups: Upstairs at the B, the brainchild of artistic director Buck Busfield, artistic producer Dave Pierini and Burch. “We are all artists, and we were just brainstorming and thinking about what we would love to see,” Burch explains. “What do we think would be fun and interesting for the community? So we started calling it our ‘kitchen sink space,’” she says. That kitchen sink space, officially called Upstairs at the B, began debuting a hodgepodge of shows in March but has yet really to promote itself. Regularly used as a rehearsal space, it doubles as a 75-seat, blackbox-type theater for experimental shows, readings, improv and stand-up comedy, as well as live podcasts and role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons. “It’s more of coffee shop type of venue for taking risks and trying new things,” explains Burch. “We want to say yes to as many things as we can up there and see what works.” That approach cuts to the heart of theater, which never needs more than an actor and audience anyway. Upstairs at the B creates a link between The Sofia’s large-scale productions and the original, more intimate B Street Theatre. Though B Street hasn’t yet promoted Upstairs at the B, Burch expects it to really kick off in June with its New Play Festival. The festival will feature four staged readings of original plays submitted by local, national and international writers. Audience members who see all four can vote on which one should

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be produced on the Mainstage next season. At the time of this interview, B Street had yet to schedule the readings, but Burch says they will probably happen in the course of a single week. Tickets will cost $12 for each individual reading, but there are likely to be discounts for those who attend all four. For more information about B Street Theatre, The Sofia Tsakopoulos Center for the Arts and

3001 P St. Sacramento, CA

Upstairs at the B, go to bstreettheatre. org. Jordan Venema can be reached at gmail.com.

REMEMBERING ALI YOUSSEFI We are very sad to report that Ali Youssefi—the dynamic young developer who was interviewed for this column last month—passed away on March 10 after a battle with cancer. He was 35. n

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She’s All In KELLIE RANDLE PUTS HER TIME WHERE HER HEART IS

or Kellie Randle, community service isn’t just a concept—it’s a way of life. In addition to serving on several local nonprofit boards (representing Randle Communications, the PR company she runs with her husband) and parent boards, the Sierra Oaks resident is also the president of the Sacramento chapter of National Charity League, which she’s been involved with for nearly nine years.

JL By Jessica Laskey Giving Back: Volunteer Proﬁle

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“I think everyone should be involved,” Randle says of her passion for volunteerism. Randle lends her high energy and organizational skills to boards like California Musical Theatre (she’s chairing its 2018 Broadway Gala on May 5) and Shriners Hospitals for Children. She’s also on the parent boards at Jesuit and Saint Francis high schools and the parent advisory council at Vanderbilt University, where her eldest daughter goes to school. “I’ve been chairing school auctions since the kids were in preschool,” Randle says proudly. In all of her charitable work, Randle makes it her mission to get others as fired up about helping as she is.

When she became president of NCL’s Sacramento chapter, she amped up the monthly meetings with speakers, hands-on activities and other enrichments to make members excited to attend. “I thought if I’m going to do this, I need to be all in,” says Randle, who has been active with the nation’s first mother-daughter charity since her eldest daughter was in sixth grade. (NCL is a six-year program—from sixth grade to senior year of high school—in which young women volunteer for local organizations alongside their mothers.) “It’s like Junior League with your mom,” Randle says with a laugh. The Sacramento chapter is made up of 250 mother-and-daughter members who serve 18 local philanthropies, including Foster Youth Education Fund, River City Food Bank, Food Literacy Center and Sacramento Children’s Home. On May 16, Sacramento Children’s Museum will honor Randle at its Inspire! event, which recognizes an inspirational woman each spring for the work she’s done to make a positive impact on the lives of young children. “I’m so blown away by the award,” Randle says. “My focus has always been to work really hard and inspire and empower others.” During her year at the helm of National Charity League, Randle instituted the All-Star Awards, which she presents each month to thank members for their service. “I want people to want to be part of this,” Randle says. “If you’re going to make the effort to leave your house and come to the meetings, I don’t want to waste your time. I want you to have fun.” May will be a busy month for Randle. In addition to the Broadway Gala on May 5 and the Inspire! award ceremony on May 16, she’ll attend NCL’s year-end event on May 6 at Haggin Oaks to send off the senior girls. Hectic though it may sound, Randle wouldn’t have it any other way. For more information about National Charity League, go to sacramento.nationalcharityleague.org.

Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail. com. n

INSIDE

OUT

CONTRIBUTED BY ANIKO KIEZEL

In early March, Sacramento Regional Transit District unveiled its inaugural Rolling Art Exhibit featuring light rail cars wrapped in art by four local artists. The endeavor was created by RT in partnership with the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission. Selected by a panel of community members, the participating artists are Ruby Chacon, Linda Nunes, Kerri Warner and Donine Wellman. Look for the delightfully imaged cars while driving, walking or riding.

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Glory Days

A LOCAL KINGS FAN CAN’T FORGET BOB DAVIES

Barry Martin

arry Martin is not the loudest or oldest Kings fan. He’s probably not even the most

loyal. But it’s a good bet Martin is the only Kings fan living in Sacramento who can describe what it was like to watch the team play at Edgerton Park Sports Arena. “It was nothing like Golden 1 Center,” he says with a laugh. Most Kings fans would have a hard time placing Edgerton Park. Such ignorance carries no shame. Only the most diehard NBA devotee, or someone of a certain age

RG By R.E. Graswich Sports Authority

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raised around the snowy streets of Rochester, N.Y., would know about Edgerton. The Kings were big winners when they called Edgerton and Rochester home. In those days, the team savored a level of success unimaginable for the Sacramento losers. The Kings were called the Royals. They won two championships at Edgerton: the 1946 National Basketball League title and their first and only victory in an NBA final in 1951. Despite a new name and evictions from Rochester, Cincinnati, Kansas City and Omaha before settling in Sacramento, they have been shooting blanks ever since. Martin was a youngster living in Webster, a farm community 10 miles east of Rochester. His father disliked basketball, but his mother enjoyed the game and occasionally bought tickets for herself and her son.

“Edgerton was very dark inside,” he says. “The slope of the seats was slight, not like today, where they go straight up. The court was smaller than regulation size, and there was probably 5 feet from the end line of the court to the back wall. Players would be unable to stop, and they would go through the doors and bump into somebody in the concession area drinking a Coke. At the other end, they’d crash through the doors and be standing outside in the snow.” Today, Martin is 80 and retired from his career as an attorney. He lives in Arden Park. Two years ago, he channeled his boyhood recollections and love of research into a book about one of the greatest players in Kings franchise history: Bob Davies. The book, which carries the straightforward title “Bob Davies: A Basketball Legend,” is an exhaustively reported homage to a

humble and heroic athlete forgotten in the modern menagerie of sports celebrities. “I ended up a lawyer, but my real interest was American history,” Martin says. In college at Seton Hall University in New Jersey, Davies was the most popular basketball player of his era. He invented the behind-the-back dribble, but he never hired an agent or made TV appearances, unlike Bob Cousy, who did all those things and won credit for the move created by Davies. Research on the book began decades ago, shortly after the Kings moved to Sacramento in 1985. Martin wangled an assignment to write about Davies for Hoop magazine. Davies, who died in 1990 at age 70, was unable to meet Martin for an interview, but he sent the author a friendly postcard.

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Martin tracked down members of Davies’ family, old players and coaches and people who knew the great athlete. He studied scrapbooks. His work is revelatory: By focusing on one man who helped create the game before television, Martin captures the evolution of basketball. “He was a role model, to use a term that’s almost irrelevant now,” Martin says. “He played on integrated teams and he served in World War II on a minesweeper.” Davies scored the winning points for the Royals in their 1951 Game 7 championship victory over the New York Knicks. Fouled by Dick McGuire with 44 seconds left, Davies sank both free throws to break a 75-75 tie. A layup by Jack Coleman made the Royals 79-75 winners. The game was the pinnacle not just for the franchise but for Edgerton Park. The 4,200-seat arena at Dewey Avenue and Backus Street in Rochester was pulled down after the Royals moved to Cincinnati in 1957.

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Like Sacramento’s abandoned arena in North Natomas, nobody missed Edgerton. The place had an awful past—it had been a drill hall when the site was a children’s prison—and was never designed for basketball. But as long as the Kings continue their failure and futility, measured now in generations, Edgerton will live on as the only place where the franchise won a championship. And Barry Martin, who can still remember watching games on frigid winter nights in Rochester, finds a special connection to the past when he visits Golden 1 Center. He glances toward the player numbers retired by the team and moves quickly past greats such as Mitch Richmond and Oscar Robertson. He settles on No. 11. That was Bob Davies.

THUR-SAT-SUN APRIL 19-21-22 Crest Theatre · 1013 K Street · Sacramento

crestsacramento.com THE JEWISH FEDERATION OF THE SACRAMENTO REGION & JEWISH COMMUNITY RELATIONS COUNCIL–A DIVISION OF THE JEWISH FEDERATION, present the 19th annual Jewish Film Festival, celebrating the 70th anniversary of Israel’s Independence. We look forward to seeing you at the movies!

Purchase Single Tickets, Reception Tickets and Festival Passes at Crest box ofﬁce or crestsacramento.com Information: jewishsac.org/sjff · 916.486.0906

R.E. Graswich can be reached at reg@graswich.com. n

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Getting It Off DR. IAN JOHNSON’S WEIGHT-LOSS CLINIC HELPS PATIENTS SHED POUNDS FOR GOOD

Dr. Ian Johnson

eight management is much more dynamic than calories in, calories out,” Dr. Ian Johnson explains. “Obesity is not about willpower. It’s not about not being able to push yourself away from the dinner table. It’s a disease.” As a family medicine and addiction medicine specialist, Johnson helps overweight patients change their lifestyle and address underlying genetic factors that predispose them to hang onto weight. “Working in the field of addiction medicine as long as I have, I find a similarity in the way we treat obesity and addiction,” says Johnson, whose career has seen him through Boston University, SUNY Upstate Medical University, and the U.S. Army, Air Force and Army Reserve. “We blame them for their illness when really they have a genetic predisposition that requires an overlay of one or more environmental factors to develop the disease. We need to stop blaming, marginalizing and stigmatizing innocent victims of disease.” Johnson founded Let’s Get It Off, a weight-loss clinic in the Rosemont area that’s due to open on May 1.

JL By Jessica Laskey Shoptalk

POC APR n 18

It addresses obesity with a 12-week program that combines medical assistance and education. “The emphasis is education, education, education,” says the Trinidad native, who immigrated with his family just before high school. “It’s not just a clinic; it’s a program. We teach patients how to shop for food, how to prepare meals, how to eat properly, how to exercise—lifestyle modifications they can take with them forward.” As medical director of the Health and Life Organization (also known as Sacramento Community Clinic), Johnson supervises four area clinics that serve the underserved population—those whose health “has been neglected by themselves and society,” as Johnson puts it. He began to notice that when obese patients asked for medically supervised weight loss, the clinics couldn’t handle their request. “I felt like my hands were tied in the clinic setting—very frustrating,” Johnson says. “In private practice, there’s time to counsel a patient and follow them more closely, which really requires a specialist.” He started Let’s Get It Off to help overweight patients lose excess pounds, then go back to their regular doctor for follow-up care. “Studies show that you don’t have to lose a ton of weight to get the cardiovascular benefits,” Johnson says. “If we can achieve a 5 to 10 percent loss of your base weight, then we would be medically doing very, very well to

reduce several cardiovascular risk factors that are attributable to obesity like diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, sleep apnea and even certain types of cancers.” Johnson says that patients can expect counseling in lifestyle modification alongside medication assistance to reach their goals. “Medication is not very sexy,” he says. “The cornerstones of weight loss are still diet to get the weight off and exercise to maintain. But there will almost invariably be a rebound. Your brain tries to bring you back to a set point, and that’s where one of

the four FDA-approved weight loss medications come in. The medications fool the brain into thinking there’s food in the gut—that you’re full—so it turns off the hunger signal. Now you can only fool the brain for so long before it sends all its horses and all its men to put you back together again, so you have to be extremely vigilant. That’s why we follow our patients so closely: to monitor their overall health and to keep them motivated.” Let’s Get It Off is at 8950 Cal Center Drive, Suite 112. For more information, visit letsgetitoffca.com. n

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Longing for AC By Anita Clevenger Garden Jabber

here have recently been photos of enticing peaches in grocery store ads. They are my favorite fruit. Just looking at them makes my mouth water and my heart yearn. In the stores, reality sets in. The peaches may look good, but they feel hard and have no discernible fragrance. These aren’t the luscious peaches that I am longing for. At one time, you could only purchase produce that was in season or would survive long-term cold storage. About 30 years ago, I could not find a single fresh strawberry in Sacramento in my quest to make my family’s traditional Easter strawberry shortcake. Strawberries were out of season, and that was that. Now, you can get virtually any produce you want at any time, grown in other climates and countries and frequently shipped thousands of miles. Gardeners have known all along what proponents of the farm-tofork movement have more recently discovered: Produce is tastiest and most nutritious when picked at its peak and eaten as soon after harvesting as possible. We say regretful goodbyes to some favorites but greet others with ecstatic hellos. I can no longer buy kabocha squash or satsuma mandarins at the farmers

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Peaches HOW TO PLANT SO YOU CAN EAT WELL ALL SEASON market, but now is the time for the best asparagus. Locally grown peaches are not far behind. When you are gardening, there are ways of extending the seasons that don’t require long-term storage and long-distance trucking. The secret is what you plant and how you grow it. The days between planting and harvesting are often marked on packages of vegetable seeds and plants. Some varieties ripen earlier than others. Corn, for example, can mature in as little as 58 days or as long as 92. Easter Egg eggplants bear little, egglike white fruit in 52 days. Long Asian eggplants are ready about 70 days from planting, while large, oval eggplants range from 60 to more than 80 days. The Early Girl tomato earns its name by ripening in 54 days, while main-crop varieties take at least 70 days, and some extra-large and heirloom varieties make you wait up to 90 days. Fruit trees may have early, midseason or late varieties. The early peaches that you find in the farmers market are often cling peaches with fruit that grips its stone (pit) tightly. If you prefer freestone, be sure to ask the vendor or look for a label. Peaches ripen between May and mid-September. Evocative names

such as Earlitreat, May (or June or August) Pride, Summerset and one of the latest of all, Fairtime, indicate when their fruit will be ready. Home gardeners can select varieties to harvest all summer long or graft different varieties onto the same tree. Apples can take from 100 to 200 days between flowering and harvest. Southern highbush blueberries can grow successfully in our area, although you must ensure that your soil is acidic and rich in organic matter, and it’s best to provide some afternoon shade. By planting several different varieties, you can harvest from very early to midseason and enjoy these attractive bushes throughout the year. Planting times also affect when you harvest. Generally, summer vegetables are best planted when the soil warms up. However, tomato growers are especially aggressive about planting early, devising techniques for warming the soil with protective red or black plastic mulches, protecting their plants and bragging about first harvest. Many of you may already be coddling tomato plants in your garden, but others wait until the soil warms up later this month or even in May. Indeterminate types of tomatoes, which continue

to grow and flower throughout the season, will bear fruit through the fall, but determinate ones grow to a limited size and bear fruit all at once. Some vegetables, such as snap beans, are routinely planted successively to extend their harvest time. Continually harvesting your vegetables will encourage them to keep on bearing. At the peak of summer, go out into the garden every morning to examine your plants and pick whatever is ready. We’ve all experienced the shock of finding a giant zucchini or overripe tomato in the middle of a plant, somehow hiding in plain sight until it is too late to enjoy. To everything, there is a season. We often forget that in our modern lives, but gardens and farmers markets remind us to enjoy harvest at its peak and to celebrate each season. There is a time for peaches, and it’s coming soon. Anita Clevenger is a Lifetime Sacramento County UC Master Gardener. For answers to gardening questions, call the UC Master Gardeners at (916) 876-5338 or go to sacmg.ucanr.edu. n

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Modern Meets Bohemian GET A GLIMPSE OF THIS CURTIS PARK HOME ON ANNUAL TOUR

hat happens when the clean lines of midcentury modern meet the unconventional style of bohemian chic? Step into Reuben Edelson and Kat Haro’s home in Curtis Park and

CR By Cathryn Rakich Home Insight

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find out. The corner house, built in 1936, will be one of five homes featured on this year’s Curtis Park Home & Garden Tour on April 28. “I tease Reuben that he would love anything that is wood and metal,” says Haro. “That sort of pseudoindustrial look. I’m a little quirky, but ultimately it ends up balancing out.” Decorative touches subtly scattered throughout the home include ethnic masks and ceramics, wood and metal shelving, framed photos and original artwork. Edelson and Haro also have timeless treasures from various

family members, including Haro’s grandparents, who used to have a booth at a local antique mall. “I grew up going to garage sales and flea markets,” she notes. “I tend to find things here and there—anywhere from HomeGoods to the Antique Faire. When it all came together, his stuff and my stuff, I think it actually worked out pretty well.” Edelson purchased the 2,032-square-foot-home home in 2017. At the time, he was renting in Curtis Park, not far from where he grew up. Haro, whose family is from Land Park, owns another house in the area.

“We lived about 10 blocks away from each other when we met,” she points out. Edelson, who works in finance at Intel in Folsom, began his homebuying quest while working toward his MBA at UC Davis. “He wanted to buy a house as soon as he graduated,” says Haro, who works in advertising at MeringCarson in Midtown. “But every house he looked at, he found something wrong. He was really picky.” Then Edelson came across the three-bedroom, two-bath Craftsman home, remodeled in 2012, and he

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knew it was the one. The house was owned by Patrick and Kate Van Buren, who purchased it for Patrick’s mother to live in as she grew older. (The couple live two houses down from Edelson and Haro.) “His mother was very particular and had a certain standard of what she wanted,” comments Haro. “So he poured his heart and soul into this house and did everything up to his mother’s standards.” The kitchen upgrades include soapstone countertops, a farm sink, stainless steel appliances and a variation of white subway tiles for a backsplash. Original to the

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Sacramento’s senior homes. “I’ve told many friends that I will always have an older, smaller house than anyone else I know because I am paying for the area and the charm of the older

“

home, and that’s 100 percent worth it to me.” The Curtis Park Home & Garden Tour will take place on Saturday,

I WILL ALWAYS HAVE AN OLDER, SMALLER HOUSE THAN ANYONE

“

home are the hardwood floors in the living room and two bedrooms, as well as the china hutch in the breakfast nook. Light fixtures from the 1920s and ’30s were installed to maintain the charm of the older home. The spacious master bedroom, which was added prior to Edelson and Haro, also received a full upgrade. Patrick Van Buren built scaffolding so he could hand-chip the paint off the ceiling’s exposed beams to reveal the true wood. A marble countertop and tiled shower modernize the master bathroom. A freestanding soaking tub is a nice addition to the remodeled guest bath. Haro, who sits on the board of Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association, loves the charm of

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April 28, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. It will feature five Tudor- and Craftsmanstyle homes and gardens in a two-mile loop. There will be live music, food and informational displays at Curtis Park. The event, presented by Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association, benefits Sierra 2 Community Center and neighborhood activities. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit sierra2.org or Sierra 2 Community Center at 2791 24th St. Advance tickets are $25 ($20 for SCNA members). Day-of-tour tickets are $30 ($25 for SCNA members). If you know of a home you think should be featured in Inside Publications, contact Cathryn Rakich at crakich@surewest.net. n

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Walking With My Baby IT SHOULD BE SAFE TO CROSS THE STREET

aking a walk in the neighborhood is a pleasure. It can be a walk with your romantic baby, your infant baby or just yourself. Granted, some neighborhoods are nicer for a stroll than others. Leafy East Sacramento, Curtis Park and Land Park are special because of their mature trees, attractive homes and scarcity of wide streets with fast traffic. It’s bliss to be outside on a beautiful spring day. It’s stimulating to be outside even on a nasty winter day. Walking is great exercise and totally free. Sadly, except for Midtown and Downtown and some disadvantaged neighborhoods where people may walk out of economic necessity, it’s hard to spot a pedestrian. Typically, there is only a handful of regular dog walkers and a few other souls walking in more affluent areas. National statistics indicate that walking to work may be increasing very slightly, but still it’s rare to see someone going to a store

WS By Walt SeLfert Getting There

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or making another purposeful trip by foot in many places. Even though people recognize the desirability of living in walkable neighborhoods, we seem to have lost the knack for creating them (or the desire for using them where they do exist). My view is that the essential ingredients for making trips by foot are safety, convenience and nearby destinations. In the suburbs and most new developments, street designs and how land is used often discourage walking by making it less safe and convenient. There are big roads with bigger intersections—built to move cars rapidly, not to create idyllic neighborhoods. Sacramento County in particular has intersections on the scale of the pyramids, such as at Greenback and Sunrise, where pedestrians are forced to cross eight or more intimidating lanes of traffic. There are big stores concentrated in malls surrounded by enormous moats of parking instead of small shops just down the street. There are big schools that serve an area too large to reach by foot instead of small schools nestled close by. Some county areas lack sidewalks entirely. Whether you are age 8 or 80 or anywhere in between, hiking across a giant intersection is no piece of cake. Who can blame a parent for not wanting to have their child walk to school if the poor, bewildered kid

has to cross a wide and dangerous street? Who wants to walk on a street with fast traffic and no sidewalks? As I write this, The Sacramento Bee reports that a woman walking with her boyfriend in a bike lane on Garden Highway, which is mostly devoid of sidewalks, was killed by a hit-and-run driver. Walking with your baby should be joyful, never a cause for grief. Pedestrians seem to be an endangered species. The Governors Highway Safety Association recently examined pedestrian fatality data. The numbers are grim. Pedestrian fatalities have been rising for years— up 27 percent between 2007 and 2016. It’s estimated that there were about 6,000 pedestrian fatalities in the United States in 2017, the same as in 2016. Pedestrians now account for 16 percent of traffic fatalities, up from 11 percent in 2007, representing their largest proportion of traffic deaths in 33 years. While car safety has improved for occupants, fleshand-blood pedestrians remain as vulnerable as ever. The Governors study authors suggest, without claiming a causal link, that the increase in pedestrian fatalities may be tied to increased smartphone use and the legalization of recreational marijuana. The use of smartphones increased 236 percent between 2010 and 2016, and

the number of messages more than tripled. In the seven states (Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington) that legalized recreational marijuana before 2017, pedestrian fatalities increased 16.4 percent in the first six months of 2017 versus the first half of 2016. In other states, pedestrian fatalities decreased 5.8 percent. (It should be noted that Maine and Massachusetts, while permitting marijuana cultivation and possession in 2017, still don’t allow marijuana sales, and Nevada didn’t allow sales until July 2017, after the period of increased deaths.) California leads the nation in pedestrian deaths with 352 in the first six months of 2017. That sad leadership position is not unanticipated since California has the largest state population. But California also ranks high in the rate of pedestrian fatalities, 10th among states. That’s something that must change. Cities and states are focusing more attention on making streets safer for pedestrians. “Complete streets” policies, designed to make streets safer and more accessible for all users, have been adopted by California and other jurisdictions. Sacramento, additional California cities and cities across the country have begun Vision Zero programs aimed at eliminating

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traffic fatalities. San Francisco and New York have had success in reducing deaths. The Governors Highway Safety Association study says, “Higher vehicle speeds are strongly associated with both a greater likelihood of pedestrian crashes and more serious and fatal pedestrian injuries. For this reason, efforts to reduce speeding on streets with pedestrian activity are a major focus of many municipal traffic safety programs, including Vision Zero programs.” Crossing a street should be easy, not difficult, and certainly not dangerous. Pedestrians deserve convenience and safety everyplace, not just some places. Walking is

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Walt Seifert is executive director of Sacramento Trailnet, an organization devoted to promoting greenways with paved trails. He can be reached at bikeguy@surewest.net. n

CALIFORNIA LEADS THE NATION IN PEDESTRIAN DEATHS WITH 352 IN THE FIRST SIX MONTHS OF 2017.

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Taking Aim at Gun Crime PROGRAM LEADS YOUNG MEN TO NONVIOLENT LIFESTYLE

an Sacramento change the equation for solving gun violence? That’s the thinking behind Advance Peace, a controversial program approved by the Sacramento City Council in December that offers a unique transformational opportunity to suspected gang members prone to gun violence. Under Advance Peace, as many as 50 young men will become “fellows,” a term often associated with advanced or college-level programs. These fellows will go through an 18-month program to break the cycle of gun violence by providing them with activities that could lead to a nonviolent lifestyle. The concept, originally called the Peacemaker Fellowship, started in Richmond, Calif. The organization’s founders say their efforts resulted in a 60 percent reduction in firearm assaults causing injury or death between 2010 and 2016. (They acknowledge that improved policing practices and other anti-violence programs also contributed to the drop.) Eighty-four fellows were enrolled in the program from 2010 to 2015. Of those, 94 percent are still alive, 83 percent have had no gun-related injuries and 77 percent have not been

SC South Sacramento Christian Center assistant pastor Les Simmons, Khaalid Muttaqi, the city's director of Gang Prevention Intervention Task Force, and Ryan McClinton of Sacramento ACT discuss strategies for Advance Peace.

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By Scot Crocker Inside Downtown

suspected in any firearms activity, according to the program founders. Sacramento is the second city to experiment with the concept. Mayor Darrell Steinberg and City Councilmember Rick Jennings advocated for it, and the City Council unanimously voted for the program and authorized $1.5 million. (Advance Peace will match that money.) Stockton has also signed on to Advance Peace. “Our strategy is to engage the most potentially lethal gang members most likely to be using firearms,” says Khaalid Muttaqi, director of Sacramento’s Gang Prevention and Intervention Task Force. “Through collaboration with law enforcement and other agencies, we conclude that most of the gun and lethal violence is being carried out by a small number of gang members.” The problem, according to Muttaqi, is that many people involved in shootings and homicides aren’t caught and convicted. Since they think they can get away with it, they are likely to do it again. The Advance Peace program focuses on young men who have been identified likely to be involved in gun violence but who have never been caught or prosecuted. “In Sacramento, we think that more than half of the homicides have characteristics of gang involvement, but we aren’t always sure,” Muttaqi explains. “Gangs have evolved. The younger-generation gangs are small cliques and not necessarily associated with the big, traditional gangs of the past. They may not even outwardly look like gangs, but they are committing a variety of crimes and using firearms.” Sacramento’s 50 fellows must follow the program’s protocols to stay in. That includes mentorled intervention to stabilize their lives, along with incentives to stop shooting and move toward productive citizenship. Interventions occur multiple times each day. Fellows also need to develop a life plan to work toward educational, professional and other personal goals. The fellows will have opportunities for domestic and international travel to show them a life beyond the gang.

The hope is that travel will reduce tensions by connecting young men who may have considered themselves enemies on the street. Probably the most controversial and misunderstood part of the program is the opportunity for fellows to receive a stipend of up to $9,000. This payment is made available after a fellow has spent six months in the program. To get the money, a fellow must have participated in 60 percent of the activities offered and have achieved no fewer than three goals associated with the individualized plan. The more work a fellow does, the more he can earn. Those who don’t perform don’t earn anything. Opponents, including people in law enforcement, feel this is simply paying likely criminals for not committing crimes. In a statement, Sacramento County District Attorney Anne Marie Schubert said she has serious concerns about the program. “I support the gang prevention task force and the many evidence-based youth mentoring and intervention programs already in existence in the city of Sacramento,” she says. “I have serious concerns with a program that is apparently based upon the payment of money to high-risk individuals in exchange for a promise not to engage in violent criminal conduct. There is insufficient evidence-based data to show this approach is effective in preventing gun violence.” Muttaqi disagrees. “How many families provide some sort of incentive or reward to their children to get good grades?” he asks. “There are a variety of times in regular life that incentives are used for good behavior. But at the end of the day, we know this is an experimental program. It’s a pilot.” The travel program has also been questioned. Muttaqi says he has seen positive results. “Many of these young men have not been exposed to anything outside their neighborhoods,” he says. “We can open up a whole new world to them. It’s transformational.” Travel may include excursions to Atlanta, Washington, D.C., or Disneyland. A gang member who

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went to Disneyland called it “the best day of his life,” Muttaqi says. Daniel Hahn, Sacramento’s police chief, is open to programs that help solve the problem of gun violence. He doesn’t think a single program will do it. “We have gang problems like any other city,” says Hahn. “Sometimes it gets worse; sometimes it’s better. There are a lot of issues at play related to this problem. The community is in the middle of it all, and it will take community solutions to solve it.” He hopes Advance Peace is successful and says it’s worth a try. “We have to be willing to try new things,” he says. “We need to measure it accurately, and if it doesn’t produce results, we’ll know.” Hahn stresses that police are part of the solution but not the only solution. He says Sacramento needs to stop the stream of young people entering gangs and engaging in gun violence. “It’s going to take social services and community groups working

together,” he notes. “Advance Peace won’t stop all gun violence in Sacramento. That’s not its intent. We don’t want to set this up for failure. It’s going to play a role.” According to Muttaqi, one homicide can cost as much as $1.5 million when considering its impacts on people, law enforcement, first responders, hospitals and the DA’s office. “If we can save one life, it would be worth it,” he says. But Muttaqi knows that Sacramento is different from Richmond. What worked there might not work here. “Yes, I’m cautiously optimistic,” he says. “But I also think we’ll give these young men a chance for a better life and a belief they can have a future.” For more information about Advance Peace, go to advancepeace. org. Scot Crocker can be reached at scot@crockercrocker.com. n

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Mission Statement JESUS SAVES, BUT EDUCATION HELPS, TOO

s your daughter’s nonprofit Christcentered?” asks an American missionary here in the Honduran capital of Tegucigalpa. The man is among hundreds of missionaries headquartered within the comforting amenities of a big city. They represent various faiths but most, like the one asking the question, are evangelical. Most do great work. They bring clean water into villages, build schools, care for orphans and staff clinics with surgeons and dentists. Most understand that while Jesus saves, education and medical care add much to their cause. This missionary’s question is likely innocent, but my Southern Baptist roots hear judgment. My daughter’s nonprofit is called Chispa Project. It creates small libraries

NB By Norris Burkes Spirit Matters

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in underserved schools, but it’s not about evangelizing at the schools. It feels like my inquisitor wants me to say, “You bet it is! We stock our libraries with boatloads of Bibles, Jesus stories and salvation pamphlets.” I strive to formulate an answer for my examiner but draw a blank. My mind drifts to the school we visited the day before. Prior to my daughter Sara’s arrival, the school library consisted of a dozen books from the teachers’ personal collections. Few books were in Spanish, and most weren’t suitable for the children’s reading levels. The school principal escorted us to each classroom. Most bulged with 42 students seated three to a desk at desks designed only for two. A student was excused to go to the restroom, and I watched him head for the wooden outhouse, where there was no running water. Despite the bleak design, the school walls sprouted spirit posters boasting of the school’s dedication to reading. The principal led a student cheer with snapping fingers to illustrate

the name Chispa, which means spark in Spanish. During the cheer, the principal told the children that Chispa Project books will spark their education. Later in the morning, children poured onto the playground. They had no sports equipment, but they squealed delightfully as they played their imaginary games. Kids climbed on and dangled from the small soccer goal posts on each side of the playground, while a few stared down the tall, white chaplain watching them from a bench. Returning to the missionary’s question, I repeat it to myself. Is our work here Christ-centered? I think I must say “yes” because this is the place Jesus would be. This is the mission Christ put in our hearts. An educational organization doesn’t become Christ-centered just because it incorporates theology into its written mission statement. After all, reading is reading whether you’re reading the Bible or a science textbook. Math is math because 2+2 has the same result when added by a Christian, Jew or atheist.

The Christian part, or the “Christcenteredness,” comes not from the organization but from the heart of the one serving. A nonprofit needn’t be parochial to be Christ centered. Jesus taught that whenever we help “someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.” “Yes, sir,” I say, regaining my confidence. “Chispa Project is definitely Christ-centered.” I make that declaration because I’ve been here for 12 weeks and can testify that the mission of Chispa Project beats with the heart of Jesus, who said, “Let the little children come to me … for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” The missionary returns a reserved smile, so I dare ask for a donation. He chuckles at my chutzpah, but so far, no cash. Maybe he’s waiting to read our mission statement. To read Chispa Project’s mission statement or make a donation, go to chispaproject.org. Norris Burkes can be reached at comment@thechaplain. net. n

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Boston Pops on Tour Lights, Camera, Music! Six Decades of John Williams THU, APR 19 The orchestra makes its Mondavi Center debut with this tour devoted to the music of John Williams. Williams served as the ensemble’s conductor from 1980 to 1993 and is now its conductor laureate. Led by music director Keith Lockhart, the Pops will honor Williams’ body of work which includes the music scores for Jaws, Superman, E.T., Schindler’s List, Jurassic Park, some of the Harry Potter films and more.

Mark O’Connor featuring the O’Connor Band FRI, APR 13 This versatile family band is led by fiddle legend Mark O’Connor, whose career has been defined by eclecticism. The New York Times dubbed his career “one of the most spectacular journeys in recent American music.” Teaming up with his sons, daughter and daughter-in-law, O’Connor effortlessly mixes progressive bluegrass, country and indie folk.

Terence Blanchard featuring the E-Collective FRI, APR 20 Socially conscious music rooted in the Black Lives Matter movement, the ensemble’s debut album is dedicated to Eric Garner. In Blanchard’s words, Breathless captures how “music and art have the power to change hearts and souls.”

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Art Preview GALLERY ART SHOWS IN APRIL

Artistic Edge Gallery features works by Diana Ormanzhi, Jonathan Lowe, Carolyn Junge and Cynthia Hayes through April 30. Shown above: “Angels & Dreams” by Jonathan Lowe. 1880 Fulton Ave.; artisticedgeframing.com

Tim Collom Gallery presents a group exhibition titled “Land, Sea, Sky: The Scapes Show” from April 10 to May 3. Shown above: “Backlighted Oaks Float” by Chester Smith. 915 20th St.; timcollomgallery.com

Watercolor artist Elaine Bowers is shown at Elliott Fouts Gallery through April 30. Shown above: “Rice Ribbon.” 1831 P St.; efgallery.com

Watercolor Artists of Sacramento Horizons presents its annual membership watercolor exhibition. The show, which includes more than 100 original works of art, runs through April 22 at Sacramento Fine Arts Center. Shown left: “Hand Picked” by Maura Madden Donovan. 5330 Gibbons Drive; sacﬁnearts.org

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INSIDE Photography:

SATURDAY, APRIL 14 3 to 4 p.m.

Food, Interiors, Portraits & More Inside photographers Aniko Kiezel and Rachel Valley will join publisher Cecily Hastings for a look at local book and newsmagazine publishing opportunities. Also information on self-publishing our book will be shared. Signed books will be available at a reduced special event pricing.

Clunie Community Center RSVP to publisher@insidepublications.com Event is FREE to the public

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April is Photography Month Sacramento. Don't miss all the great shows

TO DO THIS MONTH'S CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT HIGHLIGHTS

Photography Month Sacramento Viewpoint Photographic Art Center Month of April

jL By Jessica Laskey

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Various locations • photomonthsac.org The region’s first-ever Photography Month Sacramento will feature more than 30 events, activities and exhibits at area galleries, museums, educational institutions, libraries, retail establishments, bars and restaurants to celebrate and elevate the art of photography.

“Julius Caesar & Macbeth” Theater Galatea April 5–7 William J. Geery Theater, 2130 L St. • theatergalatea.com Four actresses. Two tragedies. One show. Theater Galatea’s groundbreaking new production of William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” and “Macbeth” will be performed in only two 45-minute acts with an all-female cast. Use code “INSIDE” for $5 off your ticket.

“Real Abstracts: Photography by Diana Coleman and Anne Miller” Ella K. McClatchy Public Library April 7–May 18 Reception Saturday, April 7, 2–4 p.m. Artists’ Talk Saturday, April 14, 3–4:30 p.m. 2112 22nd St. • saclibrary.org This show presents two distinct but related approaches to our interpretation of what we regard as “real” through photographs of commonplace, decayed or disintegrating objects. This exhibit is part of Photography Month Sacramento.

“Dinner With Queens” Suzette Veneti’s LoLGBT Sunday, April 22, 7 p.m. Punch Line Sacramento, 2100 Arden Way • punchlinesac.com Following a sold-out first show, host Suzette Veneti is back for a night of comedy and drag.

Theatre in The Heights will present "Belles."

“Lifted” Sacramento Contemporary Dance Theatre Sunday, April 22, 4:30 p.m. Cordova High Performing Arts Center, 2239 Chase Drive • scdtheatre.org Led by founding artistic director Jacob Gutierrez-Montoya, this groundbreaking dance company will present a performance to benefit nonprofits Agape International Missions, 3Strands Global and Saint John’s Program for Real Change to combat human trafficking locally and globally.

Spring Eggstravaganza Fairytale Town March 31–April 1, 11 a.m.–4 p.m. 3901 Land Park Drive • fairytaletown.org This fun-filled family weekend features egg hunts, prizes, hands-on activities and visits with Peter Cottontail.

“European Masterworks” Sacramento Choral Society & Orchestra Saturday, April 7, 8 p.m. Sacramento Community Center Theater, 1301 L St. • sacramentochoral.com This talented group led by Donald Kendrick will present Mozart’s “Exsultate, jubilate,” “Requiem” and more.

Sacramento Beer & Chili Festival Saturday, April 21, 1–5 p.m. Roosevelt Park, 1615 9th St. • facebook.com/SacBeerandChiliFestival This annual event features chili cook-off competitions in categories like industry, individual, vegetarian and people’s choice; and beer tastings from local breweries. It’s a fundraiser for 4 R Friends, which finds homeless pets forever homes.

38th Annual ZooZoom Sacramento Zoo Sunday, April 15, 6:45 a.m. (registration begins)

Suzette Veneti will host "Dinner With Queens."

3930 W. Land Park Drive • sacramentozoozoom.com Run like a zebra at this family-friendly annual event with course options for everyone—from a 5k run/walk to a 10k run—through beautiful Land Park. Proceeds will go to animal care and enrichment for the zoo’s more than 450 inhabitants.

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Artwork by Kathy Dana and Donald Satterlee will be on display at Tim Collom Gallery.

Sacramento Civic Ballet brings back "Giselle."

“Belles” Theatre in the Heights Through April 8 8215 Auburn Blvd. • theatreintheheights.com This play by Mark Dunn tells the tale of six Southern sisters as they seek to bridge physical and emotional distance via telephone.

41st Annual Bonsai Show American Bonsai Association Sacramento March 31–April 1, 10 a.m.–4 p.m. Buddhist Church of Sacramento, 2401 Riverside Blvd. • abasbonsai.org This annual show will feature demonstrations, a benefit raffle, trees and bonsai materials for sale and the food vendor Haole Pig BBQ. Admission and parking are free.

Premier Orchestra Concert

19th Annual Sacramento Jewish Film Festival Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region and Jewish Community Relations Council April 19, 21 and 22 Crest Theatre, 1013 K St. • jewishsac.org/sjff Coinciding with the 70th anniversary of Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day), the festival will showcase six feature films and special events including a hummus-and-pita reception with The KlezMeerkats and a post-film discussion with filmmaker Alexandra Dean.

Easter Egg Hunt Faith Legacy Church Sunday, April 1 Sierra Oaks Elementary School, 171 Mills Road • faithlegacychurch.com Enjoy an Easter Sunday service at Faith Legacy’s brand-new Sierra Oaks campus with Pastor Brennan McCurdy at 10 a.m., followed by a giant egg hunt at 11:30 a.m. featuring costumed characters (including Disney princesses), coffee and a full children’s program.

Sacramento Youth Symphony Sunday, April 22, 3 p.m.

“Giselle”

C.K. McClatchy Performing Arts Center, 3066 Freeport Blvd. • sacramentoyouthsymphony.org Under the direction of Michael Neumann, the Premier Orchestra will perform classical selections from Symphony No. 9 by Dvorak, Waltz from “Eugene Onegin” by Tchaikovsky and Mambo from “West Side Story” by Bernstein.

Sacramento Civic Ballet April 26–29

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Hiram Johnson High School Theater, 6879 14th Ave. • deanedancecenter.com Sacramento Civic Ballet (formerly Crockett-Deane Ballet Company) is reviving its 2006 production of love and redemption. Gabriela Smith and Katherine Wolfenden share the role of Giselle in this production, with additional choreography by Don Schwennesen.

Paintings by Guy Rose will be on exhibit at Crocker Art Museum.

“Nature’s Gifts: Early California Paintings From the Wendy Willrich Collection” Crocker Art Museum Opens April 22 216 O St. • crockerart.org Bay Area art collector Wendy Willrich recently gifted the Crocker her collection of 41 early California paintings from the 1870s through the 1940s. The collection will be on view through 2020.

4th Annual Sacramento Flute Club’s Flute Festival Sacramento Flute Club April 6–7 American River College, College of Fine Arts, 4700 College Oak Drive • sacramentoﬂuteclub.org On Friday, April 6, flutist and Sacramento native Gary Woodward returns to town for a recital with Bay Area pianist Miles Graber. Woodward has been principal flutist of the LA Opera Orchestra for 25 years and records for motion pictures and television.

"Real Abstracts" will feature photography by Diana Coleman.

“The Library at Night” All Saints Episcopal Church Sunday, April 29, 4 p.m. 2076 Sutterville Road • allsaintssacramento.org “The Library at Night: A Musical, Literary and Historical Journey Through Time and Place” features acclaimed solo classical guitarist Colin McAllister in an evocative program that explores the intersection of music and history, classics and theology.

“Dorothea Lange: Grab a Hunk of Lightning”

“Land, Sea, Sky: The Scapes Show”

Crocker Art Museum Thursday, April 5, 6:30 p.m.

Tim Collom Gallery April 10–May 3

216 O St. • crockerart.org Presented in honor of Photography Month Sacramento, the film “Grab a Hunk of Lightning” tells the story of the passion, vision and drive that made Dorothea Lange one of the most important photographers of the 20th century.

915 20th St. • timcollomgallery.com This third annual group landscape exhibition features work by more than 20 Sacramento artists, including Leslie Toms, Jill Estroff, Kathy Dana, Donald Satterlee and Tim Collom.

Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. n

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Art by Instinct MULTITALENTED KELLIE RAINES LOVES THE ART OF THE CHALLENGE

JL By Jessica Laskey Artist Spotlight

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ellie Raines likes a challenge. In fact, she prefers tackling projects she doesn’t know how to do. “Half of the process—the fun of the process—is learning,” the Arden-area resident says. “The joy is the work.” Raines has always been artistic. Ever since she took dance class at age 5, she knew she wanted to tell stories. And she does just that as an actress, director, writer and visual artist. Raines first got involved in theater in high school, directing and acting in school projects as well as performing at the Lenaea High School Theatre Festival hosted by Sacramento State University. In a full-circle moment that tickles Raines to no end, she now finds herself involved with Lenaea again, only this time on the other side of the table as a respondent (the festival’s term for judge). “It’s amazing revisiting my training through the students’ eyes,” says Raines, who went back to school midcareer to earn her bachelor’s degree in dramatic art from UC Davis after a change of heart. “I woke up at age 32 and I was miserable,” recalls Raines, who was living in San Francisco and working as a communications consultant for Franklin Templeton Investments. “I hadn’t done theater in seven years and I decided, ‘That’s it. I’m going back to school.’” For the past 16 years, Raines has served as the executive assistant to the general manager for KVIE Public Television (our local PBS station), doing everything from voiceovers and online interviews to on-air hosting for the KVIE Art Auction and pledge drives. “I feel so lucky that I have a job that uses my training,” Raines says. She also puts those skills to good use outside of work in local productions for Big Idea Theatre, KOLT Run Creations, Resurrection

To see Kellie Raines’ work, go to kellierainesart.com. “Julius Caesar & Macbeth” runs through April 7 at Theater Galatea. For more information, go to theatergalatea. com. “Birds of a Feather” runs June 6-30 at Archival Gallery. Visit archivalgallery.com for more information. Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. n

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“I started by saying, ‘Let’s see if I can draw that,’” Raines says. “I’m self-taught, so I find that I get more creative by not knowing how certain things are going to work together and just trying it.” Raines’ experimentation with pastels, pencil, watercolor, ink and 3D objects has led to some stunning pieces that explore themes like gender, body positivity and creation versus destruction. Raines’s arresting pastel “The Arch of Triumph” was the first piece of hers accepted into the juried KVIE Art Auction in 2016. The next year, her psychedelically colored portrait of a snow leopard sparked an on-air

VISIT

Theatre and Theater Galatea. (She’s currently performing in Theater Galatea’s production of “Julius Caesar & Macbeth,” in which all of Shakespeare’s iconic roles are played by the same four women. Raines plays five characters, including one of her “bucket-list” roles, Lady Macbeth.) When she’s not performing, directing or writing plays, Raines expresses herself in visual forms as well. “I took a watercolor class 24 years ago and loved it, even though I had no idea what I was doing,” Raines says. She turned to visual art two years ago when she took a break from theater to deal with family issues.

bidding war. Impressed by Raines’ talent, KVIE art curator D. Oldham Neath offered her an exhibition at Neath’s Archival Gallery in June. “I somehow started painting fat birds,” says Raines, whose show “Birds of a Feather” will feature avianinspired work by her and sculptor Don Yost. “I decided I wanted to try to paint an owl. I had no idea how to paint one, so I just started doing it. Figuring it out is the best part of the process.”

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A selection of dishes from LowBrau. Photos courtesy of Rachel Valley.

Meat Lovers’ Paradise LOWBRAU AND BLOCK BUTCHER BAR CONTINUE TO PUT MEATS ON A PEDESTAL

t the intersection of 20th and K streets in Midtown, there are more bars than there are corners. You can’t walk, or in some cases stumble, in any direction and not run smack into a convivial watering hole. In some ways, this boisterous corner is the hub of the new

GS By Greg Sabin Restaurant Insider

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Midtown. It’s the site of the weekly Saturday Midtown Farmers Market, of Second Saturday dance parties all summer long and of the biggest gay clubs in the city. There’s standup, sketch and improv comedy at Sacramento Comedy Spot and live cabaret at Mango’s. Every weekend, you can watch a mass of humanity party like there’s no tomorrow. All that partying, drinking, dancing and cavorting doesn’t happen on an empty stomach. Which is why LowBrau and Block Butcher Bar, two of the city’s finest meateries, continue to thrive years after moving in. LowBrau opened its doors more than five years ago and still manages

Block Butcher Bar.

to be a popular Midtown spot. Its bright interior, friendly staff and simple menu make anyone feel welcome at any time of day. The vibe is updated-German-pub with long wooden tables, large beer steins and cuckoo clocks on the reclaimed-woodpaneled walls. It’s old-world village meets industrial. The menu has expanded over the years. At first opening, LowBrau served mostly sausages supplied by Morant’s Old Fashioned Sausage Kitchen on Franklin Boulevard. That was about it, other than a few salads. Now, the menu is filled with sandwiches, clever appetizers and house-made sausages that do not disappoint. The hot fried chicken sandwich is a nice example: buttermilk fried chicken thigh, hot sauce, slaw and pickles on a sweet bun. For an appetizer, deviled egg

toast is a scrumptious, indulgent treat. But it’s the sausages that bring you here—bratwurst, Polish, spicy andouille—and the sausages that keep you coming back. There are a few special sausages, like the Action Bronson, made with chicken, feta and herbs, and the merguez, a lamb/ harissa/cumin offering that packs a punch. Of course, what’s sausage without beer? LowBrau has a fine collection of taps and bottles spanning the globe and especially focused on California brews. At Block Butcher Bar, LowBrau’s next-door neighbor and sister restaurant, the food is simple yet feels complex and sophisticated. When friends come to visit from Los Angeles, the Bay Area or New York, I take them to Block because the

place has exceptional food, doesn’t try too hard and is relaxed enough that anyone can feel comfortable there. I don’t tell my friends this, but the low lighting is great for hiding the bags under the eyes of the tired traveler. Block specializes in meats, cheeses and whiskey. It’s a simple expression of mostly American culinary sensibilities with touches of Spanish meats and French cheeses, and maybe a Japanese whisky or two. The standard meal at Block may consist of an expertly made cocktail (try a Guy on a Buffalo, made with Buffalo Trace bourbon, ginger, lemon, apricot-cardamom preserves and bitters) and a charcuterie board featuring a trio of cheeses and three meats. (Many of the meats are cured or smoked in-house.) The butcher bar in the back of the restaurant is on display behind glass. The butchers

don’t do any dismembering while you’re dining, but the glass room allows you to see, literally, where the sausage is made. If the party scene isn’t your scene, check out LowBrau for brunch on the weekend or lunch any day of the week. Similarly, a quiet dinner at Block on a Tuesday or Wednesday night will make you feel like you’ve found a special little hall of culinary delights designed for you alone. If, however, you want to join the party, bring a meaty appetite. LowBrau and Block Butcher Bar are at 1050 20th St.; lowbrausacramento.com; blockbutcherbar.com. Greg Sabin can be reached at gregsabin@hotmail.com. n

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READERS NEAR & FAR

1. Val Toppenberg, Howard Fong, Albert Balingit, Jacquie Duerr, and Bob Thompson in the ďŹ&#x201A;oating markets of the Mekong River in Vietnam 2. Dennis & Barbara Luther on safari in Kenya, Africa 3. Kathy Clay & Mary Harger at the the new Museum of the American Revolution in Philadelphia, PA 4. Carl & June Williams and Aileen Nishio in Bruyeres, France in October 2017 to unveil a new monument to augment one established in 1947, that honors the 100th/442nd Regimental Combat Team (made up of all Japanese-Americans), who liberated this town from the Nazis during World War II 5. R.paul Villaluz Weubbe, Pat and Dawn Deason, Renee LeFevbre, Paul T Villaluz Weubbe celebrate a 60th birthday in Morro Bay 6. Donna Ouchida on Ganges River in Varanasi, India 7. Cecily Hastings in Marrakech, Morocco

Take a picture with Inside Publications and e-mail a high-resolution copy to travel@insidepublications.com. Due to volume of submissions, we cannot guarantee all photos will be printed or posted. Find more photos on Instagram: InsidePublications

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