4 beds, 3½ baths, 2 balconies, a loft and a Study. Gourmet chef kitchen. Outdoor kitchen. Added garage storage HILARY BUCHANAN 916-397-7502 DRE-01359213
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NICELY REMODELED LAWRENCE PARK HOME. 2 beds, 1 bath with new kitchen, bathroom, floors, electrical. Granite countertops in kitchen. Close to Colonial Heights Library JOSEPH OLSON 916-835-2968 DRE-02083344
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RIVER PARK HOME JUST BLOCKS FROM CLAVARELLA FIELD
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Kifumi Keppler’s artistic passions have grown through the years. She is well versed in traditional Japanese tea ceremonies, koto, Japanese calligraphy, kokedama and bonsai. While assisting the owner of a local plant business, Keppler became fascinated with the spiritual aspect of plants and how they respond to their caregivers and those around them. Her latest venture into moss art exemplifies the ingenuity and beauty of her creations. Shown: “Bonsai,” moss art, 36 inches by 48 inches. This piece is available at $2,200. Keppler’s work is on display in “The Forest Floor” at The Gallery at 48 Natoma through Aug. 29. Visit exoticplantsltd. com/moss-art-gallery.
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High and Dry
II met
for decades.
By Cecily Hastings Publisher’s Desk
CITY FAILURES HURT OLD SAC, SOUTHSIDE AND MORE
Rio City has the best river views in town, just north of Tower Bridge.
“The deck location has been the site of so many community memories, from parties to wedding proposals,” Stephanie says.
The Millers are smart, hardworking, hands-on owners. Now they face a challenge that seems insurmountable.
Rio City has a landlord problem. The landlord is the city. The Millers pay $250,000 a year in rent. They paid during lockdowns, unlike most Old Sac tenants on city property.
The Millers have approximately 4,000 square feet of indoor dining space. The outdoor deck adds 3,200 feet. The deck was built in the 1990s, when the city was eager to revitalize Old Sac. Trouble began this year. The city shut Rio City for six weeks to repair main sewer lines in front of the restaurant. Actual work required just one week, but Rio City lost its Mother’s Day bookings. “That closed us from April 13 to May 24,” Stephanie says. “But gratefully, we managed to survive.”
In early June, the city declared the deck unsafe. There are no plans for repairs. Or money.
“Given the gorgeous views and the cool breeze over the water, the deck represents up to 70% of our food revenue,” Mark says.
The city is contractually required to maintain the deck. In 2022, the City Council directed staff to bid the project and finish repairs this year.
The city spent two years and $1 million planning a new deck.
Construction costs added another $4 million. But this summer, the City Council approved a five-year capitalimprovement program with zero dollars for Rio City deck repairs.
The deck is part of $1.4 billion in unfunded deferred maintenance projects. Unfunded employee pension and retiree obligations add another $1.6 billion. The city’s annual budget is $1.6 billion.
As former City Council Member Jeff Harris has written in our pages, the city’s budget deficits extend beyond the horizon.
Mark Miller submitted an engineering and construction proposal to strengthen the deck with steel beams. The city found the proposal workable but wouldn’t approve the $800,000 cost as an interim fix.
The Millers think the city cut the legs out from under their business. Closing the restaurant would cost hundreds of jobs. And leave another empty shell in Old Sac.
“For years the city has told us that they were serious about revitalizing Old Sac. But now that promise certainly rings hollow,” Stephanie says.
A few miles away sits another municipal failure. For the second year, Southside Pool is padlocked, thanks to resurfacing delays. After last year’s closure, the city promised the pool would reopen in 2024.
Last summer, mayoral candidate and Assemblymember Kevin McCarty delivered a giant replica check for $500,000 in state funds for Southside Pool repairs. Residents were thrilled. Despite McCarty’s state money, the city hasn’t delivered.
’ve met hundreds of small business owners in almost three decades as publisher of Inside Sacramento. Mark and Stephanie Miller, coowners of Rio City Café, are among my all-time favorites.
Stephanie in 2015, when the Millers arrived from Denver to run Rio City. Mark’s father owned the restaurant
Mark and Stephanie Miller
Photos by Aniko Kiezel
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“The search for a qualified pool designer with the availability to promptly complete the design took longer than expected,” says Gabby Miller, parks department spokesperson. “High demand made commercial pool designers difficult to secure. This delayed the overall timeline for the project.”
Documents tell another story: needless delays caused by bureaucratic process. Records show a gap of more than 90 days between when the city received design drawings and opened bids. More than another month passed before the City Council approved the contract. One contractor said the city failed to act with efficiency or urgency.
City officials say they might open Southside Pool this fall. They promise to extend the season. Meantime, a neighborhood suffers sweltering heat without a pool.
Which brings me to Measure L, approved by voters in 2022. Mayor Darrell Steinberg sold Measure L as a permanent $10 million diversion from the general fund to help children.
Why can’t Measure L funds cover transportation for Southside kids and families to other pools?
City Council Member Katie Valenzuela, who represents Southside, was tossed out by voters in March. She insists real estate developers deserve blame for not paying development fees. She also voted—repeatedly— to raise municipal salaries, even as the city sped toward a fiscal cliff.
Rio City Café and Southside Pool are just two examples of civic failure. There are many others. Cities fail slowly, then all at once. In Sacramento, I’m sad to say, the decline is precipitous.
Readers ask how they can contribute to Inside Sacramento. Here’s how:
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Cecily Hastings can be reached at publisher@insidepublications. com. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento. com. Follow us on Facebook and on Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
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BREAK A SWEAT TO SUPPORT YOUR FAVORITE ARTS GROUPS
Get a workout while supporting local nonprofit arts organizations at the 25th Race for the Arts. The 5K Run/Walk and Kids Fun Runs are Saturday, Aug. 24, at William Land Park.
Participants will enjoy entertainment throughout the day—on the racecourse and stage—plus an arts festival with food, hands-on activities and more.
Collect pledges for any California literary, performing, cultural, visual or culinary arts organization or school program, then enjoy a day of free festivities with fellow fundraisers. Arts
JBy Jessica Laskey Out & About
groups and school programs receive 100% of pledges.
Pledges are not required to race, but they’re a great way to support your local arts groups.
Registration is $25–$40 (depending on age and date of entry). Teams of 10 or more receive a 20% discount.
Registration includes an event T-shirt, refreshments and a commemorative finisher medal. For information and to register, visit raceforthearts.com.
CHALK IT UP!
The annual Chalk It Up! art and music festival is back Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 at Fremont Park.
Enjoy three days of live music, vendors, food trucks, kids’ activities and hundreds of volunteer artists creating stunning works of art on sidewalks around the park.
“We are so excited to bring the festival back for our 33rd year,” says Chalk It Up! Executive Director Christy Jourdan. “We are one of the last free, family friendly festivals in
the region and we are grateful to our community—volunteer artists, volunteer musicians, and especially our generous sponsors and donors— who are key to keeping this tradition alive since we started back in 1991.”
Since 2012, Chalk It Up! has awarded more than $70,000 to local schools and nonprofits, such as River City Theatre Company, Leading Edge Academy Expressive Arts and San Juan Unified School District Foster Youth Services. For information, visit chalkitup.org.
RIVER CITY SINGERS
Calling all singers! River City Chorale invites singers to an open rehearsal 7–8:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 19, where they can practice with the entire choir before auditions.
Auditions are 6–9 p.m. (by appointment) Monday, Aug. 26, at Northminster Presbyterian Church. Auditions include singing from measures 1–21 of the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s “The Messiah”
(with sheet music and provided accompanist), the singer’s short memorized selection and a voice assessment.
For sheet music, recordings, information and to schedule an audition appointment, visit rivercitychorale.org.
JAPANTOWN MURAL
A mural honoring Sacramento’s historic Japantown neighborhood has been unveiled at 301 Capitol Mall.
The “Sakuramento Mural” honors the country’s fourth largest Japantown, destroyed when residents were sent to internment camps in the 1940s. After World War II, citizens returned and tried to rebuild the area, but were again displaced in the name of redevelopment.
The mural depicts Japantown’s history, celebrations and businesses through painted panels that resemble Hanafuda cards. Roseville artist Karen Tsugawa created the mural with help from volunteers.
Race for the Arts is Saturday, Aug. 24, at William Land Park. Photo courtesy of Race for the Arts
Reclaim Sacramento Japantown, which chronicles the history of the area on its website, organized the mural. For information, visit rust-sunfish-7ntg. squarespace.com.
GUITAR EXHIBIT
“America at the Crossroads: The Guitar and a Changing Nation,” a traveling exhibit from the National Guitar Museum, is on view through Sept. 1 at the California Museum.
The traveling exhibit showcases 40 instruments, from the vihuela of the 1500s to a modern steampunk guitar, and examines historical events such
as European colonialism, westward expansion, introduction of electricity, the Great Migration, Cold War, teenage rebellion and the rise of video games.
The Sacramento stop features the role of California guitar makers and musicians in popularizing the instrument in the 20th century. View guitars played by Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix, John Lee Hooker, Eddie Van Halen and Los Tigres del Norte.
The California Museum is at 1020 O St. and open Tuesday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m. Admission is $8–$10. For information, visit californiamuseum.org.
AMERICA’S MONSTERS
The Sacramento History Museum’s new exhibit “America’s Monsters, Superheroes and Villains: Our Culture at Play” is on display Aug. 9 to Jan. 7.
The exhibit features more than 400 vintage and original toys, comic books, games, posters, packaging and more from SuperMonster市City! co-founder David Barnhill’s private collection.
Visit iconic monsters, superheroes and villains such as Frankenstein, Dracula, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Black Panther, Joker, Storm, Green Goblin and Captain Marvel. The exhibit profiles creators, designers and artists including Stan Lee, Bob Kane and Todd McFarlane.
Sacramento History Museum is at 101 I St. at the Old Sacramento Waterfront and is open daily 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For information, visit sachistorymuseum.org.
5 OVER 50 AWARD
Sacramento County’s Adult and Aging Commission has honored five volunteers with the 5 Over 50 Award. The commission selects winners based on nominations from county
residents. Nominees must be more than 50 years old, volunteer each week and demonstrate how getting involved impacts the community.
District 1 winner Ana Marcelo volunteered at South Natomas Library for more than 15 years.
District 2 winner Margarita Chavez participated in more than 300 trash cleanups with River City Waterway Alliance.
District 3 winner Adele Kruger, at nearly 90 years old, is volunteer coordinator for American River Parkway Foundation.
District 4 winner Wayne Watts spent more than 40 years volunteering and is a member of River City Waterway Alliance.
District 5 winner Faye Gaines feeds thousands of people each month as CEO and director of Sunshine Food Pantry & Resource Center in Galt.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Submissions are due six weeks prior to the publication month. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
“America at the Crossroads: The Guitar and a Changing Nation” is on view at the California Museum.
Photo courtesy of the California Museum
“Rat Fink Pin” is on display at “America’s Monsters, Superheroes and Villains: Our Culture at Play” at the Sacramento History Museum.
Photo by Steven Zerby
Split Personality
CITY NEVER BETTER, NEVER WORSE, STILL INSECURE
Iknow a guy who knows more about Sacramento than anyone. Spent his life here. Sees things, talks to people, thinks deeply about what he observes.
That’s why I thought it was significant when he told me the town was never better than right now.
I knew what he meant. He wasn’t talking about new pavement on Interstate 5 that replaced shattered chunks of concrete between Meadowview and Sutterville on-ramps. Or a casino in Elk Grove.
RGBy R.E. Graswich City Beat
He meant the evolution of city life, delights that come from extraordinary meals in unexpected places, butternut squash at Canon on 34th Street, cannellini beans and roasted branzino at Hook & Ladder on S Street.
He meant the Midtown Farmers Market and new apartments and condos in former warehouses along R Street. He meant a city where people savor life and thrive.
My friend made his comments while we drank beer at Ice Blocks. Earlier that day, I walked from the train station to Downtown Commons. I wandered south to Q Street, then north to the Capitol. The journey left me more depressed than weary.
It was a sunny weekday morning. Streets were deserted. I saw security guards and homeless people. Nobody else.
At the base of the Sacramento Valley Station sign at Fifth and I streets, I watched a man sit amid trash and use a plastic spoon to scoop something from a paper cup.
This must be what social scientists talk about when they discuss doom loops. Sacramento has never been better. Downtown feels like it’s never been worse.
The pandemic sent 70,000 local public employees home. Don’t count on them all coming back.
Eight years of incompetent management by Mayor Darrell Steinberg and City Council let the homeless population explode from 2,700 to 10,000. Don’t count on homeless camps disappearing.
A mayoral election is a good time to consider the contradictions. It makes no sense that a perceptive observer finds the city better than ever while Downtown streets are abandoned on nice weekday mornings.
But it makes sense when you realize why some cities rejuvenate and others languish. Sacramento always struggled, long before COVID-19 and the scourge of homelessness.
One reason is insecurity.
Photo by Aniko Kiezel
Neighborhoods thrive when an equilibrium exists between residents, jobs and services. People are happy and content when they live near their workplace and commute on foot or bicycle or brief, convenient public transit rides.
Insecurities fade when residents gain economic power and find good places to spend money and time. They don’t worry about how provincial they might appear to friends in San Francisco or Los Angeles or San Diego. Secure people don’t compete.
Sacramento always had an inferiority complex. Government town. Boring. Nice place to raise kids. Near top destinations. Dull, but better than Fresno.
The city is relatively small. Its legacies and entrepreneurial wealth swirl around a hundred or so families. State workers don’t build creative communities. Talented youngsters— Joan Didion to Greta Gerwig—grab the first plane out.
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Sacramento spent decades trying to distinguish itself. But nobody cares about steam engines. Old Sac evolved as a middle-class tourist stop. Ag history devolved into a marketing slogan. Farm to fork was adopted and monetized by other cities.
The pandemic changed everything. People realized San Francisco and Los Angeles were messy, crowded and overpriced. Sacramento had charm. Easy to love. The town’s moment arrived, especially Midtown. Developers created smart new living spaces. Terrific restaurants opened.
When my friend was a teenager, the hottest place in town was Zorba’s at 12th and K. The owner was Nick Galaxidas. He drew crowds by dancing with a table in his mouth. Drove a Ben Hur chariot pulled by Arabian horses.
Confident cities savor cannellini beans and roasted branzino. They don’t chase a Ben Hur chariot down K Street.
R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Page T ur ners
BOOK DEN VOLUNTEERS KEEP COMMUNITY READING
If you want to be overwhelmed—in a good way—visit the Book Den warehouse.
The unassuming building on Belvedere Avenue is a booklover’s paradise, where thousands of donated books organized into genres await readers.
“It just hooks you,” says Diane Sabo, Book Den’s volunteer coordinator. “And if you like books, it’ll hook you even more.”
Book Den is volunteer-run and operated by Friends of the Sacramento Public Library. Sales of used books, magazines, CDs, DVDs, audiobooks and computer games support the library and many community groups.
“We have over 100 active volunteers spread out through the week,” says Sabo, who started volunteering at Book Den after retiring in 2013. “The biggest number—about 75%—are sorters.
“When donations come in, they’re put in the sorting room with long tables. The first sorters put everything into categories. This is where a lot of (volunteers) start because it’s a great way to get an idea of the whole process.
Second sorters are volunteers who’ve been there for awhile and they take over a category and decide what should go into the warehouse and the store.”
Sabo is a second sorter for literature. Her colleague, Pam Whiteley, is a second sorter for drama and manages Book Den.
a.m. to noon. Others maintain the warehouse—85,000 volumes shelved by subject. Some work as cashiers in the store, open Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Others oversee Book Den’s internet storefronts.
“Amazon sells individual items, eBay sells sets,” Sabo says. “They have to package and ship everything, too. They work hard.”
Book Den offers opportunities for young people looking to fulfill community service hours and disabled adults seeking work experience. And it’s perfect for retired people.
“When you retire, the most important thing you can do is volunteer,” Whiteley says. She gives time to the Friends committee to advocate for Proposition E, renewal of the parcel tax that covers 24% of the library budget, on the November ballot.
“It keeps you out among other people and it keeps your mind sharp. It gives you something to look forward to and a way to know you’re making a difference, no matter what you’re doing as a volunteer. It gives your life a lot more meaning.”
JL JL
By Jessica Laskey Giving Back: Volunteer Profile
“This is a labor of love and something I thoroughly enjoy,” says Whiteley, who joined the team after retiring around the same time as Sabo. “We have the best customers, and the other volunteers are amazing. They’re here because they enjoy it.”
Book Den volunteers do multiple tasks. Some take in donations on Wednesdays and Saturdays, 9
Book Den hosts a twice-yearly antiquarian sale for serious collectors, seeded almost entirely by Dr. Joanne Murphy, a former ER doctor who collects ephemera, such as a vintage dissecting kit—complete with dead frog—a Playboy magazine in Braille and rare books, like a copy of Dante’s “Paradise” that sold for $800 last fall. The sale helped the store reach $300,000 gross in 2023.
Successful sales mean Book Den can donate to dozens of local schools, organizations and outreach programs, including the library’s summer reading program and Book First, which provides high-need first graders with their first book.
Book Den is at 8250 Belvedere Ave., Suite E. For information, visit saclibfriends.org/book-den.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Previous profiles can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Diane Sabo and Pam Whiteley
Photo by Linda Smolek
Homeless residents endure triple-digit heat in Sacramento several days after Supreme Court decision.
Photos by Aniko Kiezel
Big Decisions
MAYORAL VOTE WILL DETERMINE HOMELESS POLICIES
No more excuses. No more hiding behind legal interpretations. No more ignoring crime-ridden, third-world conditions in homeless camps around town.
And no more pretending unhoused people are a special class immune from laws.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg and friends at City Hall finally ran out of excuses this summer when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned two cases involving homelessness in Boise, Idaho, and Grants Pass, Oregon.
The court’s majority rejected arguments that homeless people could build camps wherever they wished on
RG
By R.E. Graswich
public land if cities lacked sufficient shelter space to accommodate everyone.
The decision ended a social experiment across nine western states that allowed indigents to camp on city streets, exempt from local ordinances and personal responsibilities.
In Sacramento, mayhem and suffering were acute. Homeless counts swelled from 2,700 to almost 10,000 during eight years of Steinberg’s administration. The city earned global media recognition for all the wrong reasons.
What happens next? It’s up to voters. A new mayor will replace Steinberg after the November election.
The outcome will help establish whether Sacramento begins a new era of cleaner streets and new treatment opportunities or continues to welcome homeless camps and the chaos that comes with them.
Inside asked the two mayoral candidates, Kevin McCarty and Flojuane Cofer, about their thoughts on the Supreme Court decision. Their responses revealed a gulf.
McCarty worked on homeless remedies as a state assemblymember, including efforts to open Cal Expo as a services site.
He knows nine justices in Washington can’t magically solve Sacramento’s problems. But the city can finally enforce its ordinances while working toward long-term housing and rehabilitation solutions.
“I support the Supreme Court decision to allow cities to enforce prohibitions on homeless encampments,” McCarty says. “We need to use every tool to tackle the problem of homelessness, and this decision gives us another tool.”
Cofer reached the opposite conclusion. As policy director for a public health advocacy group, she believes camps are acceptable if shelters fall short. She also thinks homeless people should reject services they find restrictive or inadequate.
Blaming “the Trump-stacked Supreme Court,” she says the justices “just poured fuel on the fire of our homelessness crisis. Arresting people who have nowhere to go and cycling
them in and out of our jails every few days is a costly endless exercise. Our tax dollars would be much better spent on permanent solutions to keep our communities safe.”
But nobody’s talking about jail. I’m not aware of anyone involved with homeless policies who thinks cities can arrest their way out of the problem.
At the same time, every member of the community, regardless of housing status, must consider themselves as citizens subject to laws and ordinances. Or face legal consequences.
No city can function if special groups live by their own rules in parks, on sidewalks, under freeways and along the river. Aside from the health traumas caused by street living, the presence of tent communities means other residents lose access to civic amenities.
To borrow McCarty’s words, now the community has more tools to keep its streets safe while seeking solutions.
For example, San Diego passed an ordinance banning street and sidewalk camping if there are shelter beds
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Path of Destruction
ARMY CORPS PROJECT PUTS WESTERN POND TURTLE AT RISK
The slightest noise—heavy footstep, rustling branch, loud whisper—will send the northwestern pond turtle off a sunlit log and into his safe place, the cool waters of the American River.
He’s a shy creature. The booming sounds of heavy machinery tearing up his riparian habitat will not bode well for him.
Next summer, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers will begin another phase of its erosion-control project along the lower American River from the Howe Avenue bridge to east of Watt Avenue.
Trucks, tractors and excavators will bulldoze through the wild and scenic parkway landscape.
Just in time for northwestern pond turtle nesting season.
The turtles mate throughout spring and summer. Females lay eggs on land, sometimes as far as 500 feet from water. They pack soil and vegetation over the eggs, making nests almost impossible to detect.
“If construction begins, the turtles’ dirt-covered nests will be in the path of destruction,” says Dr. Michelle Stevens, professor of environmental studies at Sacramento State University.
The hatchlings remain in their terrestrial nests over winter. When they emerge in spring, they are the size of a quarter. Their shell is soft. “Those hatchlings are trying to make their way to the water. So that’s also a risky time for them,” says Sac State grad student and senior research assistant Lexi von Ehrenkrook.
Stevens and von Ehrenkrook’s comment letter to the Army Corps notes hatchlings are sensitive to disturbances. They are at risk of falling into construction excavations and being crushed by equipment.
The Army Corps reports, “Unfortunately, wildlife is often displaced as a result of vegetation removal in advance of construction activities.” The Corps says those activities are timed for fall and early winter, “typically the non-breeding season, when the level of impact/ displacement to wildlife would be minimal.”
a restoration project at Bushy Lake, habitat to hundreds of turtles on the American River near Cal Expo. “If the turtles are in a state of dormancy, any in the riverbanks or river’s edge would be squashed.”
To avoid conflicts with heavy equipment, the comment letter recommends an on-site monitor during construction, and stopping work during turtle brumation and nesting.
Steven’s team recommends fencing around the construction area for a year to keep turtles out and prevent nesting.
Does the Army Corps have plans for fencing? “Oh, heck no,” Stevens says.
Last month, Stevens and her team began nest surveys to determine how many northwestern pond turtles will be affected by the erosion-control work.
“You need to know the site and know how different species are using the area,” von Ehrenkrook says. “If there is an important site they return to and that’s suddenly gone, what are they going to do? Having information and surveying is critical.”
footprint.” It says the displacement will be temporary.
“We have such a truncated, fragmented corridor for wildlife habitat anyway,” Stevens says. “It’s been disturbed and destroyed by wildfire, homeless encampments. We have so little left.
“Where do they think they’ll go?”
To mitigate the impact, the Army Corps reports “two to three times the amount of habitat will be replaced and protected.”
“How can they possibly say that?”
Stevens asks. “Are they going to use a magic wand and take out all the houses? The animals are just going to move up and down the river? I think not.”
For now, the turtles’ fate is in the hands of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Last September, the federal agency proposed listing the northwestern pond turtle and southwestern pond turtle as threatened species under the Endangered Species Act.
By Cathryn Rakich Animals & Their Allies
Fall through winter is when the adult turtle metabolism slows (called brumation). They burrow in mud, close to water’s edge, making the reptile difficult to detect.
“Turtles are cold-blooded animals,” says Professor Stevens, who heads up
Stevens calls the Army Corps’ Environmental Impact Report convoluted, confusing and difficult to analyze. “It was remiss in its investigation and consideration of the impact on wildlife, and in particular the turtles.”
The Army Corps says wildlife will “move to adjacent habitats upstream and downstream of the construction
The Fish and Wildlife Service cites habitat loss and fragmentation, drought and predation by invasive species. The turtles have an “increased risk of extinction.”
An endangered listing would provide immediate protection for the turtles. Conservation efforts include enhancing, protecting and restoring pond turtle
Northwestern pond turtle on the American River Parkway.
Photo by George Nyberg
JUNE 30 – OCTOB ER 20, 2024
habitat—the opposite of the Army Corps’ erosion-control plan.
Under the ESA, actions by federal agencies—such as the Army Corps of Engineers—cannot impair essential behavior patterns, including breeding, feeding and sheltering.
Status of listing the western pond turtle as threatened is pending. “It’s a lengthy process. But if they do get listed, it’s going to be a game changer,” Stevens says.
“Food, water and shelter for northwestern pond turtles and southwestern pond turtles are becoming scarce across the western United States,” says Paul Souza, director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Pacific Southwest Region.
Souza says, “We need everyone’s support to help them thrive in the wild.”
Did Fish and Wildlife forget to tell the Army Corps?
Cathryn Rakich can be reached at crakich@surewest.net. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
CON'T FROM PG 18
available. City officials removed unsafe camps. Shelter capacity expanded.
A similar ordinance was planned for Sacramento City Council’s law and legislation committee—first step for new rules.
But Steinberg removed Councilmember Lisa Kaplan from the committee. Kaplan supported the proposal. The ordinance was shelved. Kaplan was replaced by Caity Maple. Let’s hope the plan resurfaces.
What are homeless rights? Same as housed individuals. Should we carelessly cycle homeless people through jail? No. Does expecting responsibility and lawful compliance by the unhoused equate to criminalizing homelessness? No.
Sacramento must create alternatives for people who lack shelter. The city needs pathways to housing, programs for mental infirmities, and mandated treatment for drug addiction.
Most of all, we need citizens who follow laws.
R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Raúl Gonzo (American, born 1979), Pan Am, Part 1, 2018. Digital print on archival paper, 26 x 20 in. Crocker Art Museum, gift of the Artist, 2021.23.2
River Rebound
HOPE MEETS HURDLES AT PROPOSED WATERFRONT TOWERS
Renderings courtesy of LPA Design Studios
Sacramento needs new housing in all varieties, locations and price ranges. This reality is part of what makes the American River One high-rise apartment proposal on the American River near Downtown so intriguing.
The 3-acre site at Bercut Drive off Richards Boulevard was home to the Hungry Hunter and Rusty Duck restaurants, torn down years ago.
Now, property owner Steve Ayers, who also owns the Elks Tower, has city approval to build four residential apartment towers ranging from 11 to 18 stories in a city that hasn’t exactly embraced high-rise apartment living.
The area known as the River District became desirable for developers in recent years with a new state office complex and Kaiser Permanente’s planned hospital. But much of the
G D GD
By Gary Delsohn Building
neighborhood remains industrial and rundown.
The area around Ayer’s project is a magnet for homeless people, thanks to its isolation along the river.
Not long after he bought the property, Ayers sued to block a proposed city project for homeless residents across from his land. The plan never came to fruition.
Recently, the 825-unit development proposed by Ayers became the target of a lawsuit filed by the Save the American River Association.
The suit claims the city improperly exempted American River One from the comprehensive environmental review required by the California Environmental Quality Act, primarily because of its proximity to light rail and location within a transit corridor.
The attractive mixed-use project, about a half mile from light rail, has merit. American River One is designed by the respected architectural firm LPA Design Studios. The proposal includes four residential towers with a variety of public spaces, two stories of indoor parking, retail, restaurant, gardens and decks at multiple levels with views of Downtown and the rivers.
If developers and their partners want to invest in a much needed and ambitious project in a challenging
neighborhood, why not give them a shot?
Ayers calls his site “one of the best blank canvases in the entire city of Sacramento,” but declined my request for an interview.
He was in the news several years ago when the California Gaming Control Commission rejected his application for a card room at the Elks Tower after a state background check concluded he lacked “good character.” Ayers appealed and sued, but never got his gambling license.
His troubles seemed to stem from two past convictions for driving under the influence and a 2017 domestic dispute concerning a public confrontation with his wife. In his
appeal of the gaming commission’s ruling, Ayers, a successful local businessman, testified he often socialized with clients and “sometimes I drink in excess of what I should.”
Others testified for Ayers and said he completed an alcohol recovery program and made generous donations to Loaves & Fishes and other charities. News reports highlighted contributions he made to the community.
Anthony Scotch, longtime local real estate broker and development coordinator for American River One, tells me in an email Ayers is “not interested” in talking publicly. Scotch insists the project pencils out nicely.
“We had a marketing report done several years ago that indicated there
would be a rental interest in a project like this,” Scotch says. “With the recent completion of the state office complex and the future plans of the Kaiser facility in the River District, the need for living units in this area is real.”
As for the neighborhood’s current state, Scotch says: “As is typical of older blighted neighborhoods, new projects tend to bring new life, population and other monies to improve the area.” I like what I’ve seen and heard about American River One and the positive impact it can make on its surroundings. Being a builder in California requires patience and persistence. This proposal
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has been in the works for years. Like Ayers, it continues to encounter and overcome obstacles.
A vacant, sketchy 3-acre parcel leaves the River District worse off. Settlement of the lawsuit must recognize that reality. If the suit resolves without scuttling American River One, we’ll see if Ayers is committed enough to pull this off.
Gary Delsohn can be reached at gdelsohn@gmail.com. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Cecily Hastings Publisher
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READERS NEAR & FAR
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Cindy Colinge at the Jatiluwih Rice Terraces in Bali, Indonesia.
Christine Fitzpatrick and Camille Horton in Havana, Cuba.
Beatrice, Hanspeter and Henning Walter-Pickens at The Ledge on the 104th floor of the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower) in Chicago.
4. Maya and Anne Kitt at the Christmas Market in the Riverside District of Savannah, Georgia.
5. Lauri Massey, Diane Thomas and Lynn Liptak in Oklahoma City for the Senior Marathon. The sisters are in their 70s.
6. Lily, Zach, Mari and Gigi Turpen at the azulejos-tiled train station dating back to 1864 in Aveiro, Portugal.
LYON REAL ESTATE MARKET LEADERS.
2731 P Street Wonderful Midtown 4-plex with huge 1 bed Units. Hardwood oors, inside laundry, Updated kitchen & baths $1,299,000 Annette Black LIC# 01956019 916-826-6902
2529 Capitol Avenue Classic Craftsman home. Grand living room, huge front porch, serene yard. Prime Midtown Location. $965,000 Andy Thielen LIC#01227077 916-230-3778
271 Munroe Street Welcome to this beautiful, well-maintained 2 bed, 2 bath one-story home in Campus Commons East Ranch. $549,000 Caroline Carolan LIC#01903135 916-508-0063
COMINGSOON
3154 53rd Street Grand Victorian on .35 acres. Main house 3 bd 2 ba plus parlor. 2 new rental units 1 bd 1 ba each $1,200,000 Annette Black LIC# 01956019 916-826-6902
3078 Birmingham Way Single story living in gated community. Solar is paid o . Private 1/3 acre. Tons of fruit trees $854,000 Pettit Gilwee LIC#01956019 916-330-0490
4865 10th Avenue Tahoe Park Elevated! Rare 3 bedroom, 1 bath@MoveInSacramento $555,000 Jennifer Hayes LIC#01343344 916-798-1786
917 G Street Victorian o ce building just steps to courthouse. 1620 sq. ft. with 3 o ces & reception area $749,900 Annette Black LIC# 01956019 916-826-6902
3547 10th Avenue Historic Oak Park bungalow Large lot, zoned for duplex. New roof, sewer, HVAC and water line $339,000 Pettit Gilwee LIC#01956019 916-330-0490
In Sync
THEY WANTED TO CREATE TOGETHER, AND THEY DID
Like many couples who meet, marry and combine households in middle age, Elaine Lintecum and Anthony Herrera wanted a new home unique to them.
Lintecum, retired CFO of McClatchy Corporation, and Herrera, a retired state manager, took the challenge and made decisions together.
As a single woman, Lintecum purchased and remodeled a McKinley Park Tudor. Herrera lived in South Natomas. Together, they decided they wanted a one-story house for Herrera’s two dachshunds. Stairs are not a good
idea for the sleek low-to-the-ground breed.
They also wanted a home where they could age in place.
The couple toured properties and, in 2006, discovered something unique, a home at 46th and M streets different from other stately homes in the Fab Forties. It was a mid-century modern from 1959, set among large Tudors and Spanish-style designs.
While modern outside, the home’s former owner decorated in a traditional style with ornate brass chandeliers and decorative touches not consistent with the design roots. To the couple, it presented a design disconnect.
By Cecily Hastings
Aniko Kiezel
“The home once had a room and bath for a nanny near the garage, but we used that space to expand the kitchen and create a small home office,” Lintecum says. “We followed this game plan of reconfiguring spaces as we worked over the years on a series of remodeling projects.”
Photography by
Open House
Anthony Herrera and Elaine Lintecum
They worked within the original 3,200-square-foot size with three bedrooms and baths. The house is U-shaped around a pool and covered patio. Situated on a corner, an attached garage opens onto the street.
“Anthony has a huge family and grandchildren, and we wanted to be able to have them visit and be comfortable,” Lintecum says. “Plus, we are often the family’s home for the holidays.
“From a design viewpoint, we both agreed to take the home back to its mid-century roots. But we also appreciate artisan touches and a more eclectic design approach.”
They took their time to remodel. The 2007 recession affected both careers. By 2010, they started a series of home projects, keeping in mind their design direction.
First, they added the pool, patio and new landscaping for the backyard. “It improved the view from every room as they all open up to the backyard with glass doors,” Herrera says.
The kitchen features mahogany custom cabinets, stainless-steel appliances and a sandstone pattern tile backsplash. A huge island defines the room and the entire end of the living area. Leather counter stools provide
LOCAL SCULPTOR MARC FOSTER CREATED CUSTOM DESIGN DETAILS.
island seating. Contemporary glass pendants light the island’s quartzite counter.
Local sculptor Marc Foster created custom design details. “We hired him to create a custom TV cabinet,” Lintecum says. “But we liked it so much we hired him to create custom cabinets for the bathroom renovations and other projects.”
In 2016, they renovated the exterior, adding a lovely front patio surrounded by an open wood fence with horizontal slats. New landscaping by Change of Seasons complements the mid-century design.
“My favorite room is the master bath, one of our last projects,” Lintecum says. “We positioned the soaking tub inside corner windows overlooking the pool, fountain and backyard. It’s makes for a wonderfully serene bathing experience.”
For Herrera, the home’s generous size is important. “When the pandemic forced us to work at home, I really appreciated that we had enough room
to be comfortable and were not on top of each other’s business.”
Together, Lintecum and Herrera are proud to accomplish their mission: create a home that perfectly reflects them as a couple.
To recommend a home or garden, contact cecily@insidepublications. com. More photography and previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
CARROTS
This root vegetable is packed with beta carotene. Classically orange in color, it also comes in white, red, yellow and purple varieties. Look for tender baby carrots at the market.
To eat: For a cooling summer soup, make carrot vichyssoise.
PLUMS
This delicious stone fruit is a relative of the peach, nectarine and (surprise) almond. When dried, it’s a prune.
To eat: Eat out of hand, or slice and bake for a cobbler, pie or upside-down cake.
OKRA
This vegetable gets a bad rap for its sometimes-slimy texture. It’s a staple in Southern cuisine, particular gumbo. It’s low in calories— as long as you don’t fry it!
To eat: Grill, roast or pickle.
FIGS
Monthly Market
A LOOK AT WHAT’S IN SEASON AT LOCAL FARMERS MARKETS IN AUGUST
CANTALOUPE
This melon has antioxidant and antiinflammatory properties. It belongs to the cucurbit family of plants, which includes cucumbers, pumpkins and squashes.
To eat: Using cantaloupe, Food Network’s Giada De Laurentiis makes an unusual and tasty dish called Spaghetti al Melone.
This Mediterranean fruit is sweet and chewy, with tiny, crunchy seeds and a smooth skin. It’s a great source of dietary fiber and potassium.
To eat: Sacramento’s now-defunct Fat Face restaurant used to serve poached figs inside a grilled brie sandwich.
GRAPEFRUIT
Pucker up: This citrus fruit is tart and tangy. It’s rich in vitamin C and the antioxidant lycopene. It comes in white, pink and red varieties.
To eat: Broil grapefruit slices until warm for a quick, healthful dessert.
NEVER LET RIPE LOCAL PRODUCE GO TO WASTE
BGetting Fresh Fresh
asil summons memories of Biba Caggiano, the late Sacramento restaurateur, author and TV personality.
Once my basil plants demand a leaf harvest, I revisit Biba’s pesto recipe.
On page 159 of her cookbook “Northern Italian Cooking” is Biba’s pesto sauce recipe. My book page is yellowing and stained with extra virgin olive oil drippings from decades of use.
The recipe barely fills a third of the page, but always exceeds my pesto needs throughout the summer and all winter in my freezer.
Just heed Biba’s wisdom, “If you plan to freeze the sauce, add the cheese after the sauce has thawed.”
Pesto (basically basil, garlic, cheese, olive oil and pine nuts), is merely one of many delicious treats from local summer gardens. A cantaloupe right off the vine, an ear of grilled sweet corn,
a bite of ripe peach and our incredible tomatoes are reasons enough to live, garden and eat here.
I enjoy fresh produce every summer. Those who don’t grow their own can support local farmers markets. We’re a farm-to-fork city, but often you don’t need a fork. Farm-to-fingers works fine. Pick it. Eat it. Repeat.
My burden is feeling fresh produce must not go to waste. It’s valuable and delicious and must never be allowed to expire like a quart of milk. Vacations and lapses in harvest and maintenance are a challenge, especially for prolific edibles such as zucchini.
My garden’s first zucchini was diced, sauteed and used with other vegetables in a 12-egg breakfast bake. I enjoy cooking and am always searching for new ways to use summer produce.
Zucchini can quickly fill a vegetable bin. Zucchini boats will empty the bin and fill your stomach.
Slice zucchini lengthwise, scrape out the middle to create a cavity, fill with any variety of tasty ingredients (cheeses, veggies, eggs, sausage, etc.), and bake or grill. Before cooking, brush zucchini with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
By Dan Vierria Garden Jabber
Zoodles, or noodles made from zucchini, are another option. For dessert there is the classic zucchini
bread or even better—chocolate zucchini bread. My friend Kathy Morrison makes a world-class version of chocolate zucchini bread. The recipe is on her Sacramento Digs Gardening blog site (sacdigsgardening. californialocal.com).
The season’s first garden tomato is a celebratory moment, screaming success and hinting at a bountiful harvest in coming days. Mine appeared just shy of Memorial Day, an Early Girl hybrid tomato about the size of a golf ball.
I surgically carved four slices and arranged them atop a hamburger patty. If you are a Tomato Head, you are nodding approval.
That first tomato of the year is a holiday for gardeners. It also marks tomato sandwich season.
In the South, the traditional tomato sandwich is simply cheap white bread, mayonnaise and slices of ripe tomato seasoned with salt and pepper. The bread is soon soaked through and soggy from juicy tomatoes. Best enjoyed leaning over the sink.
On the West Coast and inland regions like Sacramento, the tomato sandwich can be many variations. I have used toasted garlic nan, sourdough and whole grain bread. Toasted bread limits the soggy mess, but ripe tomatoes are going to drip.
Instead of mayo on both sides, some of Biba’s pesto adds a flavor bomb.
Stack slabs of tomato as high as you can handle for a tomato sandwich. A triple layer of tomatoes just adds more nutritious goodness to the diet.
Garden tomatoes are not just for sandwiches. Gazpacho, bruschetta, salads, soups, salsas, sauces, tasty BLTs are among dishes that come from summer produce.
Send me your favorites!
Attend Harvest Day 2024, Saturday, Aug. 3, at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center (behind Fair Oaks Park). The annual event offers vendors, speakers, demonstration gardens, educational tables, food trucks and other attractions for Sacramento gardeners. Starts at 8 a.m. and wraps at 2 p.m.
Dan Vierria is a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener for Sacramento County. He can be reached at masterg29@gmail.com. For answers to gardening questions, contact UCCE Master Gardeners at (916) 876-5338, email mgsacramento@ucanr.edu or visit sacmg.ucanr.edu. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Mitch Weathers saw his multi-language students struggle in school and asked himself one question: What helps students be successful?
Thus began a quest to identify the most significant impacts on academic achievement and success.
The result is Organized Binder, a program that helps teachers create predictability as they help students develop executive function skills.
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By Jessica Laskey
Meet Your Neighbor
“If you go class to class and each has wildly different procedures and you’re a multi-language student, that’s a huge cognitive load and mental calories you’re expending just getting through the school day,” Weathers says.
“The short-term memory is finite. The more you tax it, the less available it is to focus on learning. But if you adopt a routine, you can free up mental calories.”
Appropriately, Organized Binder uses a binder as the central tool.
“I firmly believe students need to see (organization) modeled. Time and task management, how to keep a calendar, how to keep yourself organized, set goals,” Weather says. “The binder brings clarity to executive functioning within the context of what they’re trying to learn.
“There’s something about that physical color-coded binder,” he continues. “If you hold students
Get
Organized
EDUCATOR OUTLINES KEYS TO ACADEMIC SUCCESS
accountable organizationally and they can participate in the routine, then you’re laying the foundation for success. It all comes back to that binder as a way to make it far more likely you’ll develop the skills and habits for academic success and the empowerment that comes with that over time.”
Weathers admits school was never a strong point for him, which is why he finds empathy with struggling students.
He graduated from Del Campo High School and studied geology in college, assuming he would become a high school science teacher. After getting married and running a nonprofit for at-risk kids, he realized he needed time to figure out his path. He and his wife traveled Europe by rail until they ran out of money.
The time away allowed Weathers to figure out he wanted to work in classrooms. He earned his teaching credential and master’s degree in cross-cultural pedagogy while working as a long-term substitute teacher.
He and his wife spent 15 years in the Bay Area until family called them back to East Sacramento 10 years ago. By then, Organized Binder was taking shape. Weathers tested different binder configurations on students to see what worked best.
“It started to coalesce around routine,” he says. “There can be gray areas of undefined time in lesson plans. Some students can ride through that, but for others, they feel lost
with too much ambiguity. Classroom management issues breed there.
“I needed to figure out how to paint these gray areas black and white to reduce ambiguity and bring about clarity. Then engagement goes up and management issues go down.”
Organized Binder has spread across the globe. There’s a Spanish program for the U.S. and Guatemala. The company is launching a French pilot in Ontario, Canada.
In March, Weathers published a companion book, “Executive Functions for Every Classroom.” His timing was impeccable. Parents and educators saw students struggle with self-regulation and motivation coming out of the pandemic. The book addresses these issues in a relevant, practical way. The book hit No. 1 on Amazon its second week.
“Regardless of what continent you were on, the pandemic paused life and interrupted learning,” Weathers says. “It was a reminder that what we do as teachers matters. We were collectively seeing that we needed to focus on executive function skills, and the book answers how to do that. Schools in China are contacting me to say, ‘We’re all reading your book!’ It’s a weird little vehicle for this universal message.”
For information, visit organizedbinder.com.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Previous profiles can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Mitch Weathers
Photo by Aniko Kiezel
NO Dope
CHEATERS TRY EVERYTHING, BUT THE DOCTOR KNEW BEST
There was a time when writing about sports meant more than watching games on TV and holding up iPhones at press conferences. Old sportswriters like me sometimes got to hang around with people they wrote about.
My top three hang outs were Jesse Owens, Bill Russell, Willie Mays and Mario Andretti. No introductions needed.
But there was another sports figure who made a big impression. His name was Dr. Donald H. Catlin. The doctor taught me lots about sports and the drive to win at any cost.
Catlin was a plainspoken physician who understood the terrible choices athletes make to win. Many are prepared to destroy themselves. Catlin spent his career trying to prevent these suicidal motivations.
Catlin died this year with dementia at 85. The arrival of the Paris Olympics
made me think about his work. I wish he were around to help the Summer Games advance with fair play and sanity. Without him, the Olympics are in trouble.
Today we have the World Anti-Doping Agency, the global authority in testing.
The agency’s negligence helped Chinese swimmers cheat at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. Eleven of those swimmers are in Paris.
I got to know Catlin in the 1980s, when his UCLA lab became the world’s barrier against performance-enhancement drugs.
The lab tested athletes at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics.
Records are imprecise, but Catlin disqualified between nine and 18 Olympians. The Soviet Union boycotted L.A., no doubt lowering the numbers.
Catlin’s main targets were anabolic steroids. Eventually, the cheater’s pharmacy included compounds harder to detect and sophisticated in their impact.
I met Catlin several times. There was a brief interview at an NCAA convention in San Diego. Next came an invitation to his UCLA testing lab. He journeyed to Sacramento for several speeches.
By R.E. Graswich Sports Authority
One evening found the doctor at The Ram restaurant on Watt Avenue, where he addressed the Sacramento Section of the American Chemical Society.
At his UCLA lab, Catlin described the eternal nature of his pursuit. He said, “They’re always coming up with ways to mask performance-enhancing substances to fool the test. But we stay one step ahead.”
Before meeting Catlin, I didn’t think much about the problem of athletes using chemicals to improve strength, speed and endurance. Drugs and sports were best friends.
Baseball players went to work drunk in the early 20th century. Football players in the 1960s swallowed handfuls of painkillers. Visit many pro locker rooms in the 1970s and find cigarette butts and empty beer cans.
Catlin explained the distinction between old-school narcotics, booze and steroids. Playing drunk is dangerous. Steroids and various performance enhancements destroy athletic integrity. They force everybody to cheat.
He told me, “If the person you compete against takes enhancement drugs, you’ve got a choice to make. Either you start taking similar drugs, or you lose your job. You can’t compete against it.”
He was talking about high school kids but could have meant athletes in Paris going against Chinese swimmers. Beyond disrupting fair play, drugs impose serious
health consequences. Catlin’s tests helped guarantee clean, honest games.
Then and now, coaches were a problem. Coaches play dumb, but they know when athletes use performance enhancements. Muscles, speed and attitude change in telltale ways. Catlin exposed what coaches try to hide.
Around the time I met Catlin, my newspaper published a series of stories on the scourge of drugs in local sports.
We talked to Dave Hotell, football coach at Sacramento High School. Like many coaches who began careers in the 1950s, Hotell was more worried about whiskey and cannabis than steroids.
When he confronted suspected teenage drug users, Hotell struggled to believe his athletes needed any more stimulation than pure competition.
He said, “If they admit to being on something, I thank them for being man enough to admit it and then clean out their locker. I just don’t understand it. I get 30-feet high when they’re playing the national anthem.”
R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Dr. Donald H. Catlin is pictured in 2001. Photo by Damian Dovarganes/AP
Disney theme parks introduced a new ride this year to replace the old Splash Mountain. The attraction—Tiana’s Bayou Adventure— opened in Florida and debuts in Anaheim this winter.
For me, the updated ride can never match the magic I felt on my first visit to Disneyland decades ago. I arrived with my church youth group, led by our volunteer leader, James Newman, known as JE.
As we waited for opening gates, JE suggested we voice a prayer of thanks. His prayer went something like this:
“Dear God, thank you for safe travel today and our wonderful youth group. But most of all thank you for putting Disneyland here just for us! Amen.”
Riding High
DISNEYLAND ADVENTURE LEAVES A DEEP IMPRESSION
By Norris Burkes Spirit Matters
Before any of us had time to blink, the other youth sponsor, Mrs. Obenshain, blurted her astonishment.
“JE! Why would you say that? God didn’t make Disneyland. Mr. Disney did.”
Knowing JE, we knew to expect a well-thought answer. JE was a Ford auto mechanic who had some practical ideas about God. He didn’t claim to know how this universe worked, but he could explain other realities.
“Sure he did!” JE insisted. “God created Mr. Disney’s mind, right?”
“Well, yes, but JE, honestly,” declared Mrs. O. “You can’t really conclude that ...”
JE was undeterred. “If God made Mr. Disney’s mind, then God must have created the picture of Disneyland in his mind long before Mr. Disney could draw it, right?”
“But JE…” Mrs. O was wavering.
“Look,” JE said in his Oklahoma twang. “Don’t the Bible say, ‘All good things come from God?’”
Mrs. O was slack-jawed. JE continued, “And ain’t Disneyland a good thing?”
Deterred by logic too simple to be wrong, Mrs. O simply muttered something like, “Well, I guess so.” I remember JE’s theology because I’ve heard it from many patients over the years. They spoke with assurance that God made a certain hospital just for them. Or they believed God placed a certain doctor or medicine to specifically help them.
A father told me how a surgeon was going to reach into the center of his 2-year-old daughter’s brain and pull out a tumor.
The dad’s theology: “God put this surgeon here for my daughter.”
His declaration, like JE’s, sounded more self-centered than God-centered. Or maybe not.
What I found astounding about both men was how they relied on an innate understanding of the works of God. Neither had graduated from a theological or philosophical school. Yet they identified “goodness” as one of the most important attributes of God.
The dad didn’t need to be a philosopher to acknowledge his good fortune at finding a talented surgeon. JE didn’t have to be a Bible professor
to recognize that Disneyland might provide one of many tools he could use to mentor and instruct our youth group in God’s ways.
We often search far and wide to understand God. We read so much and attend every sort of lecture. Yet I believe most of the time God manifests his goodness in those people and things he puts directly in our paths.
In the end, Mrs. O couldn’t refute JE’s theology.
Finally, she mumbled, “Do you have our tickets, JE?”
Her request signaled the end of the theological debate, and we rushed to get in line. Like JE, we all knew goodness when we saw it.
Norris Burkes can be reached at comment@thechaplain.net. Previous columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. Burkes is available for public speaking at civic organizations, places of worship, veterans groups and more. For details and fees, visit thechaplain.net. n
Neighborhood Real Estate Sales
95815
1948 65TH AVE $420,000 5942 MCLAREN AVE $420,000 7405 TROON WAY $425,000 1041 DARNEL WAY $430,000 6530 HOGAN DR $430,000 1400 WACKER WAY $440,000 7381 TILDEN WAY $450,000
3920 LORETO WAY $495,000 3501 ARDMORE RD $515,000 4416 ELIZABETH AVE $520,000 2810 WALTON WAY $550,000 2641 MARYAL DR $585,000
4510 PASADENA AVE $649,000
3953 MILMAR WAY $725,000 4601 VANDER WAY $735,000
95822
2000 KIRK WAY $285,000
5881 GLORIA DR #8
2237 WOODSIDE LN #5 $278,000 3279 VIA GRANDE $295,000 3221 VIA GRANDE $303,050 2371 ALTA GARDEN LN $329,000 3255 VIA GRANDE $335,000 2298 SIERRA BLVD #E $350,000 3247 VIA GRANDE $350,000 2105 CORTEZ LN $405,000 1604 CLINTON RD $430,000 857 COMMONS DR $442,388
KINCAID WAY $455,000
COMMONS DR $467,305
DUNBARTON CIR
95831
Cider Rules
TWO RIVERS PUTS LOCAL HARVEST INTO ITS DRINKS
The local climate produces visionary farm-to-table approaches. You can find a fine example at Two Rivers Cider Co., where the region’s apples, pomegranates, mandarins, yuzus, kumquats, cherries, melons and huckleberries create diverse cider offerings.
Founded in 1996 by Vincent Sterne, Two Rivers in Hollywood Park helped pioneer the cider revolution. As people became more aware of food allergies, cider—gluten-free and with a real fruit base—became the alcoholic beverage of choice for many.
Sterne developed Two Rivers after working at Rubicon Brewing Company. He wanted to start a business in the fermentation industry but wasn’t sure which approach worked best.
After studying winemaking, he recognized the connections with cider making. Sterne decided to focus on cider. He introduced several original and exciting fruit pairings under the Two Rivers brand.
He traveled to England, Spain and France, and studied cider production. With his knowledge of cider, Sterne became a founding member of the American Cider Association, now 6,000 strong.
He marketed and sold Two Rivers ciders to local breweries around Sacramento and the Bay Area. Most sales came from brew pub taps.
The pandemic closed 90% of these accounts. Two Rivers shifted strategies and started selling cider in cans.
Today many supermarkets and beverage stores around Norther California carry Two Rivers cans.
With easy access to orchards around Apple Hill, along with abundant local fruits, Two Rivers has one of the widest selections of cider varieties.
When asked about his favorite Two Rivers ciders, Sterne says he’s “fond of the single varietals, especially the Black Twig and Macintosh apple varieties when I can get them. Another one of my favorites is our Bone Dry. Just apples, fermented.”
My Two Rivers favorites are pomegranate, huckleberry and yuzu.
By Gabrielle Myers
Kiezel
Photography by Aniko
Farm To Fork
Vincent Sterne
All feature healthy local fruit juices in a dry cider, never too sweet.
From my perspective, poor cider is oversaturated with artificial sugars. Compared to mass-produced commercial brands, artisanal cider is dry, not too sweet and made from real fruit juice.
Two Rivers doesn’t add extra sugar. Nor does Sterne add artificial flavors. There are no chemicals in the brewing process. Steam sanitizes and cleans the production area.
Sterne often rides his bike to sales calls, tries to recycle as much as possible and uses biodiesel in his delivery trucks when the fuel is available. Apple pumice, a byproduct from apple pressing, is fed to animals by Sterne’s apple suppliers.
What’s next for this pioneer in the orchard-to-can (or tap) movement?
Sterne is developing a local sake product.
He says, “We will be doing the same thing with sake that we do with our cider. Sake is exciting, and we will use local rice in the sake. The only byproduct is something called sake kasu, which can be used to make drinks and to marinate fish or food. Kasu can be resold to the Asian market.”
Highlighting the region’s abundant rice production, Sterne’s sake label will celebrate his approach of capturing the local bounty.
Ever the inventor and curator of good times, most nights the Two Rivers taproom presents acoustic jazz, ukulele lessons, line and samba dancing, and open mike events.
For information, visit tworiverscider. com. Visit the taproom at 4311 Attawa Ave.
Gabrielle Myers can be reached at gabriellemyers11@gmail.com. Her latest book of poetry, “Break Self: Feed,” is available for $20.99 from fishinglinepress.com. Previous
columns can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
By Greg Sabin Restaurant Insider
Surf’s Up
MIDTOWN RESTAURANT FEELS LIKE A VACATION
This tastes like vacation,” my wife says as she takes the first bite. It does. Everything about Octopus Baja, the new Mexican fusion restaurant in Midtown, feels like a step away from the ordinary, a mile from the everyday.
Octopus Baja is the latest from restaurateur Ernesto Delgado. Other sites include Tequila Museo Mayahuel, Mesa Mercado in Carmichael and Sal’s Tacos in West Sacramento.
Having eaten at most of these establishments, I can say Delgado’s businesses share the same DNA: mix familiar with creative, traditional with modern, and do it with exceptional service.
Octopus Baja is a happy place. Music is happy, servers are happy, even the decor is happy. The brightness of the drinks, brightness of the dishes and brightness of the setting sun over Sutter’s Fort provides a joyous, lighthearted atmosphere.
Yes, it’s like being on vacation. Even for people not familiar with the food and culture of Baja California, Octopus Baja transports the sensibilities of our state’s southern neighbor. The food and vibe feel far removed from the streets of Midtown.
Not long ago, this small concrete block building at 28th and K streets was a Blimpie sandwich shop. (It was the only Blimpie I ever saw.) When the sandwich shop shuttered, various businesses were proposed but none took hold.
The busy corner stood idle and forlorn until March, when Delgado and crew opened Octopus Baja.
Today the corner is alive with vivid blue walls and striped umbrellas. Inside, the bar is backed by fish-scale tile in a dozen shades of blue. Murals of sea creatures, each the size of an economy car, decorate the walls.
Soft lights surrounded by Mobius strips of wicker hang over every table.
Photos by Linda Smolek
Seafood dominates the menu. The mahi-mahi aguachile is the bite to begin with and get your bearings. A punchy mix of mahi-mahi, seaweed, avocado and serrano chilies create an intense introduction to the meal.
Next, try the octopus. My rule is if the dish features in the restaurant’s name, order it. You can’t lose. This dish just reinforces the rule. Braised octopus served next to crumbled chorizo, mango and avocado purée is a winner. It’s as tender and flavorful a bite of octopus as I’ve ever enjoyed.
Dessert is no afterthought. The butter cake especially impresses. A crumbed brown butter cake features raspberry purée and mango gel topped with a dollop of pistachio ice cream. You’ll crave it.
For many travelers, nothing tastes like vacation more than an idealized cocktail. The bar focus is tropical and
indulgent. With a concentration on mezcal, tequila and rum, the bar puts out sophisticated yet fun party drinks that taste like lounging near the ocean under an umbrella with your feet in the sand. The coconut-pineapple smash is my favorite.
Octopus Baja’s sister restaurant, Octopus Peru, opened in April across from Cesar Chavez Plaza and another Delgado establishment, La Cosecha. It focuses more on Peruvian preparations with an eye toward fusion cooking. With reasonable prices (cheaper than a flight to Cabo) and a winning feel, Octopus Baja is a one-night vacation to check out.
Octopus Baja is at 2731 K St.;
(916) 754-2172.
Greg Sabin can be reached at saceats@gmail.com. Previous reviews can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
Even oafish writers knocking their heads on the hanging lamps can’t diminish the cheerfulness.
Who Loves Their Garage Door Guy?
We got back from a trip around 5pm on Monday and discovered the coils on the rail had broken and we could not open our garage door. We called and spoke to Russ. He was able to come over and do an after hours service call. He xed the coils and completed all repairs in less than an hour. We found their prices reasonable and they provided excellent customer service. He was very thorough and helpful. I had a great experience. - Ana K. on
Door Center Sacramento is owned and operated by local expert Russ Fuller. Why go to a big box store when you can receive superior service from someone with decades of experience? Russ will not only walk you through your options, he is also the one that puts on the tool belt to get the job done right. He treats his customers like family.
Fully Engaged
ARTIST AND CURATOR BRIDGES COMMUNITIES THROUGH ART
Jessica Wimbley is “busy in the best of ways—the way you dream you could be as an artist.”
As an interdisciplinary
artist and curator, Wimbley works on multiple projects, from billboards and video installations to collages and portraits.
JL JL
By Jessica Laskey Open Studio
“I don’t see an artist as solely fixed to working in a specific medium and producing fine art objects,” says Wimbley, who lives in Midtown and holds degrees in painting, visual arts and arts management.
“Being a contemporary artist, I’m constantly learning and finding ways art can bridge different discussions, communities, people and ways of thinking,” she says.
Wimbley was exposed to art early. Her parents owned one of the nation’s top-10 Black-owned ad agencies. She
credits conversations around the dinner table in Illinois as a big influence on her artistic development. Plus, she had “access to art education consistently throughout childhood.”
Her first job after graduate school landed her in Southern California working for a commercial gallery. The experience opened her eyes to the less savory realities of the art world.
She decided to study arts management, saying, “I wanted to know, why are things functioning this way? Is it systemic? What interventions can be made to make spaces more equitable and a place where people feel they can belong?”
She worked at Pomona College Museum of Art in community outreach and program development. The job was enjoyable, but Wimbley saw room for improvement.
“I was the first Black person to work (at the museum),” she says. “People don’t realize we’re still dealing with firsts. These institutions are still very entrenched in the apartheid model. They have a super diverse student population and a homogeneous, allwhite faculty. It’s a real problem in California in many institutions that we need to address.”
She encountered inequities as an adjunct teacher at community colleges and decided to leave academia and find
Jessica Wimbley
Photos by Aubrey Johnsson
collaboration and belonging elsewhere. She moved to Sacramento in 2018.
When the pandemic hit, Wimbley created a video titled “Masking” that she projected on her neighbor’s house as public art.
The video was shared on social media and caught the attention of the Social Justice Billboard Project. The group commissioned her to create a billboard in collaboration with the NE (Northeast) Sculpture Gallery Factory in Minneapolis at the site of George Floyd’s murder.
Next came Sacramento’s “Your Actions Save Lives,” a COVID-19 awareness art campaign. Wimbley’s large-scale video “Masking 2021” was displayed at Arden Fair Mall, on an Oak Park billboard and in media around California.
Since then, Wimbley has been busy. She’s working on several video series and an ongoing curatorial project series with her husband, Chris Christion,
called “Biomythography,” a term borrowed from poet Audre Lorde to describe the exploration of identity, history and representation.
Wimbley was one of five local artists selected last November to do community engagement through the city’s Capital Creative Corps program. She teaches writing to seniors at Hart Senior Center and helps the Sacramento Public Library archive the work.
As a separate gig, she works on arts engagement with Twin Rivers Unified School District seventh graders, many of whom have never visited an art museum.
“Working with Twin Rivers and the city has been so complementary,” she says. “I’m proud of our city and the people who work here. I love being fully engaged in all the ways you can work in the arts. I enjoy being able to move between different spaces. There
are so many opportunities here for arts integration.”
For information, visit jessicawimbley. com.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Previous profiles can be found and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
ART
TO DO
THIS MONTH'S CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT HIGHLIGHTS
Moods & Memories: Steve Memering
ARTHOUSE Gallery
Aug. 9–Sept. 9
Opening Reception Saturday, Aug. 10, 5–8 p.m. 1021 R St.; arthouseonr.com
This new collection of oil paintings includes local Sacramento landscapes and other areas of the world. Resident artists open their studios to the public at Saturday reception. “
By Jessica Laskey Calendar Editor
Raúl Gonzo: Color Madness
Crocker Art Museum
Through Oct. 20
216 O St.; crockerart.org
Feast your eyes on the bold, campy and colorful photographs of the Sacramento-based photographer, with a new immersive installation of Gonzo’s technicolor dream world.
Second Saturday clayARTstudio814
Saturday, Aug. 10, 4–8 p.m. 814 Alhambra Blvd.; clayARTstudio814.com
Peruse original sculptures, wall hangings, vases, plates, kitchenware, encaustic, decorative prints and more from the studio’s 16 working artists.
Naomi Bautista
PBS KVIE Gallery
Aug. 6–Oct. 11
Artist’s Reception Thursday, Aug. 15, 5–7 p.m.
2030 W. El Camino Ave.; kvie.org/gallery
View luscious landscapes, florals and figures from the 2023 PBS KVIE Art Auction Best of Show winner.
Will Peterson and Maria Winkler
Archival Gallery
Aug. 1–31
Second Saturday Reception Aug. 10, 5–8 p.m.
3223 Folsom Blvd.; archivalgallery.com
Peterson’s exhibit “No Rewind” is a series of wall hanging and freestanding architectural sculptures. Winkler shares a new series of acrylic and watercolor landscapes in “The Grape Escape, California Vineyards.”
Norma Roos
Twisted Track Gallery
Aug. 2–Sept. 1
First Friday Reception Aug. 2, 6–9 p.m.
Second Saturday Reception Aug. 10, 5–8 p.m. 1730 12th St.; (916) 639-0436 or (916) 769-2700
Retired teacher Roos presents a new collection of abstract acrylic paintings.
BIG Art
Elk Grove Fine Arts Center
Aug. 3–29
First Saturday Reception Aug. 3, 4–7 p.m. 9683 Elk Grove Florin Road; elkgrovefineartscenter.com
This annual competition fills the walls of the main gallery with oversized landscapes, still-life and figurative paintings. In the Featured Gallery, Velma Davidson presents “The Joy of Landscapes: Color for Every Season.”
LIVE PERFORMANCE
Hansel & Gretel
Sensory Friendly Dance
Saturday, Aug. 3, 1 p.m.
The Sofia (2700 Capitol Ave.); sensoryfriendlydance.org
Tickets: $5
This 30-minute ballet choreographed by former Sac Ballet dancer Christopher Nachtrab features an ASL interpreter and inclusive theater environment for the neurodiverse community.
Tower ” by Steve Memering “Tower” Steve Memering at ARTHOUSE Gallery at ARTHOUSE Gallery.
Past Due: Tales of Daughters, Duty, and Difficult Decisions
Stories on Stage Sacramento
Friday, Aug. 9, 7 p.m.
The Auditorium at CLARA (1425 24th St.); storiesonstagesacramento.org
Tickets: $15
Hear written pieces by RoseMary Covington and Alberta Nassi about what we owe our ancestors read aloud by professional actors Jude Owens and Janis Stevens.
Mud, River, Stone
Celebration Arts
Aug. 9–Sept. 1
2727 B St.; celebrationarts.net
Tickets: $25 general, $20 seniors, $15 students
Follow an African American couple’s adventure while vacationing in Africa in this play by Lynn Nottage and directed by Nashell Lynem.
Monster Jam
Golden 1 Center
Aug. 16–18
500 David J. Stern Walk; golden1center.com
Tickets and pit passes: $28–$120
Experience adrenaline-charged fun featuring world-champion athletes and their 12,000-pound monster trucks.
Movies Off the Wall: Lady Bird
Crocker Art Museum
Thursday, Aug. 15, 7 p.m.
216 O St.; crockerart.org
Tickets: $16
Watch the last movie of the summer film series showcasing movies by Sacramento native Greta Gerwig.
Hey Day Quintet’s Tony Marvelli, Brandon Au, Joe Gilman, Tom Hannickel and Tim Metz join vocalist
Susan Skinner for selections from jazz stars like Harry James, Duke Ellington, Les Brown, Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Count Basie.
COMMUNITY
Stash to Treasure Yarn Sale & Auction
Camellia City Stockinettes/Sacramento
Knitting Guild
Saturday, Aug. 24, Noon–4 p.m.
Advent Lutheran Church (5901 San Juan Ave., Citrus Heights)
Admission: free with food closet donation
Check out 45 live auction items, 100 silent auction lots and marketplace goods for sale. Proceeds go to the Guild, whose members craft items for charity.
Hack the Park Festival
Square Root Academy
Saturday, Aug. 10, 11 a.m.–2 p.m.
Esther’s Park (3408 3rd Ave.); htpfest.com
Bring the family to this free STEAMtastic wonderland featuring live science experiments, interactive booths, mural painting, food trucks and more.
Twilight on the Bufferlands Bufferlands
Thursday, Aug. 8, 6–9 p.m.
Sacramento Area Sewer District, Elk Grove; sacsewer.com/bufferlands
Explore Central Valley habitats at dusk for a chance to see beavers, river otters, muskrats, raccoons, owls and more. Admission is free. Advanced registration required. Email Chris Conard at conardc@sacsewer.com.
Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Submissions are due six weeks prior to the publication month. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n
“Lakeview”
Monster Jam at Golden 1 Center.
by Naomi Bautista at PBS KVIE Gallery.
CROSSWORD
66 Turndowns
67 Cry from Homer Simpson
68 Device for texts but not calls
69 Defib expert DOWN
1 Payment option 2 Vegas casino with an operatic name
3 Amish or Quakers 4 “That’s hilarious!”
5 Appliances at some bakeries
6 When signaled
7 Loyal Japanese dog
8 Plums that flavor gin
9 Boy toys?
10 It’ll get a few laughs 11 Animated character
12 Like a bad genius
13 “And ___ more” (birthday song addition)
24 Before now
25 Feel unwell
26 Island country northeast of Australia
27 Was wrong
28 Frame for a pane
30 “Don’t be so chicken!”
31 Spots to hang Christmas lights
32 Finn’s neighbor
35 ___ Romeo (Italian car)
36 Gravy thickener
37 Mean giant
40 Drive-in burger chain
42 Gave in
47 Listing agent’s client
48 Fla.’s “Sunshine City”
51 Computer command after cut
53 Less typical
54 “Attack” on the fridge
55 Voice above tenor
56 Without a doubt
57 Footnote abbr.
58 Dorm division
59 Remove from power
62 Ultimate fighting sport, for short
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