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LAND PARK CURTIS PARK SOUTH LAND PARK HOLLYWOOD PARK MIDTOWN DOWNTOWN
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FANTASTIC LAND PARK Spacious home in Old Land Park. 4 bedrooms 3 baths, updated for today’s lifestyle. Perfect for entertaining. Parks, Transportation, Shopping and Midtown - All close by! Walk to Vic’s for ice cream, or go to the Zoo or Fairytale Town. A Happy Place! $785,000 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395
FABULOUS LAND PARK REMODEL A work of art in Land Park! 4 bedrooms (3 upstairs and In-Law quarters downstairs). 3 baths with marble heated Àoors. All new electrical, plumbing, heating, air conditioning and solid oak hardwood Àoors. Gourmet kitchen, private balcony off master. $1,140,000 CONNIE LANDSBERG 761-0411
SOUTH LAND PARK HILLS Wonderfully spacious ranch style home in desirable South Land Park. Double doors open to a beautiful entry and inviting family room with plantation shutters and view of backyard. 3 or 4 bedrooms 2½ baths, kitchen pantry living room w/ wood burning ¿replace insert. $449,000 BETH SHERMAN 800-4343
pending
ADORABLE HOLLYWOOD PARK Darling 3 bedroom home with hardwood parquet Àoors, living room ¿replace, cute kitchen and formal dining room. Central heat and air, dual pane windows and bonus rooms at the back have been used as family room and 3rd bedroom. Fruit trees and work shop in backyard. $159,000 PAULA SWAYNE 425-9715
SACRAMENTO JEWEL Beautifully renovated from head to toe - The Didion House - Rich wood, ¿ne detailing and spacious rooms. Historical in in both style, heritage and culture. 4 bedrooms 2 full baths and 2 half baths with new kitchen, three Àoors, including media room, and a full basement. $1,395,000 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395
pending
HOLLYWOOD PARK CUTIE Move-in-ready 2 bedroom home within easy walking distance of James Mangan Park! Updated kitchen and nook, updated bath; central heat and air. Nice sized backyard with small patio, 1-car garage with extra storage closet. $175,000 PAULA SWAYNE 425-9715
pending
QUALITY GREENHAVEN HOME Lee Basford built 3 bedroom 2½ bath home close to the Sacramento River. New two-tone paint, re¿nished hardwood Àoors, remodeled kitchen, master bath, Pella dual pane windows, plantation shutters and so much more! Newer landscaping, and a pool! Wow! $432,500 MONA GERGEN 247-9555
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CUTE AS A BUTTON LAND PARK Sunny home in great location! Two eating areas, hardwood Àoors and newer roof. 2 bedrooms plus playroom or of¿ce plus a converted garage which could be used for guest quarters or a home of¿ce. It has a huge bathroom, kitchenette, cathedral ceilings, and more! $472,500 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395
sold
HANDSOME LAND PARK Spanish style home in the heart of Old Land Park. 3 bedrooms 2 baths, spacious rooms, great Àoor plan, full basement and a backyard made for entertaining... One of a kind detailing and style. Paradise is personal but I think you might just ¿nd it here. $799,500 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395
A realtor who will really listen to us, and not just come in with a bunch of their own ideas—that’s what we wanted. Jamie seemed to get what we were looking for. She knew the places we like to hang out and showed us homes that made sense for our life. That was key!
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COVER ARTIST Judy Lew Loose With experience comes greater clarity and awareness in knowing my emotions. My paintings speak of feelings that are layered by multiple, intense colors. I seek to transcend the moment, capturing the beauty I see to share with you. I received my BFA in Communications Design from Pratt Institute, New York.
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LOCAL PUBLISHER Cecily Hastings publisher@insidepublications.com 3104 O St. #120, Sac. CA 95816 (Mail Only) EDITOR PRODUCTION DESIGN PHOTOGRAPHY AD COORDINATOR ACCOUNTING EDITORIAL POLICY
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Marybeth Bizjak mbbizjak@aol.com M.J. McFarland Cindy Fuller, Daniel Nardinelli Linda Smolek, Aniko Kiezel Michele Mazzera Jim Hastings, Daniel Nardinelli 916-443-5087 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 65,000 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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Under the Weather RAIN OR SHINE, THERE’S MORE INTERESTING THINGS TO TALK ABOUT
BY CECILY HASTINGS PUBLISHER’S DESK
A
s I pen this column, rain is steadily drizzling down, and I am enjoying the pure pleasure that a much-needed stormy day brings. But my joy is tempered when I hear a drought expert being interviewed on the radio. “Don’t get too excited,” the expert says defiantly. “Because unless we have a storm like this every day well into the spring, it will make no difference whatsoever to the drought.” What a buzzkill, I think. Most of us know we are way behind on our rain and snowpack levels. Of course it will take more than one storm to get us out of the drought. But I find this kind of broad-brush admonishment insulting. What do the experts think we will do? Run out and start watering our lawns every day? Resume taking long, hot showers? I think not. I absolutely love the weather in Sacramento. There is just enough change of season to stay interesting and enough sunshine to maintain my own personal solar-powered nature. The drought aside, I pay little attention to weather except as
it relates to my plans for outdoor sports. I get weather forecasts from my iPhone WeatherBug app. It gives me a pretty accurate picture of the next few days’ forecast so I can decide whether or not to cancel a tennis game. For cycling, I don’t even bother to check. Working at home most of the time, I can dress for a ride in the morning and then, when the weather looks clear, hop on my bike. For dog walking, my husband and I do the same, or even just suit up and go out in the rain.
What do the drought experts think we will do? Run out and start watering our lawns every day? But some of my friends wouldn’t miss the local morning or evening news shows for detailed weather reports. And they can talk about the weather for even longer than the broadcast runs. Having grown up in Michigan, I’d had my fill of winter snow by the time I turned 21, when I moved out west to a milder climate. Snow in winter was just part of the world we lived in. Snow days were built into the school calendar, yet I recall having only a few of them. A snow day meant getting cold and wet but still having a ball playing outside all day. This past January, a biblically proportioned East Coast snow and
ice storm dubbed Snowmageddon was forecast. But it quickly became Nomageddon when it never arrived. The “storm of the century” seems to come every couple of months now. I was at a class with a friend the day before Snowmageddon was expected to strike. When another friend of hers arrived, she exclaimed, “OMG, are your kids OK?” Startled, the woman replied, “They are fine, but why on earth do you ask?” My friend said that she knew the woman’s adult kids lived back east. The lady shook her head and sighed. Years ago I asked my mother how the conversation was with her new dinner companions after she moved to assisted living. “Fine,” she said, “if you want to talk about the weather.” A major storm last fall in Northern California was expected to bring punishing winds and widespread flooding. Even my husband—who takes protecting our home and property very seriously—went out and loaded sandbags at 6 a.m. to block our basement and office from flooding. Thankfully, nothing even close to what was predicted actually happened. I am fairly certain the news media hyperventilation about weather extremes hasn’t always been with us. I recently heard about a study that showed the amount of time spent on weather by national news broadcasts has more than tripled in the past 10 years. The conclusion was that this coverage was being driven by globalwarming or climate-change interests. While I am all for reducing emissions, conserving fuel and recycling everything possible, I am tiring of the political agenda
that seems to blame the habits of our citizens for everything that goes wrong with the weather. This especially applies to weather patterns that are seasonally normal, including lots of winter snow in Eastern and Midwest states, hurricanes and tornadoes in states that have experienced them for hundreds of years, and rainstorms all over the country. Even the rain I am listening to on my rooftop as I write was just yesterday hyped as an “atmospheric river.”
I recently heard about a study that showed the amount of time spent on weather by national news broadcasts has more than tripled in the past 10 years. But then again, maybe I’m wrong and it’s the Weather Channel that’s really to blame. But rest assured, this is likely the last time you will read about weather—other than maybe in our garden column—in this publication. After all, our urban neighborhoods have much more interesting people, places and things to experience than the weather. Cecily Hastings can be reached at publisher@insidepublications.com n
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Budgetary Soul Searching IS THE CITY COUNCIL’S ‘NEW CAUTION’ REAL OR RHETORICAL?
BY CRAIG POWELL INSIDE CITY HALL
H
aving observed the Sacramento city council for a few years now, I’ve rarely seen much more than brief flashes of budgetary prudence. Councilmembers talk the talk of budget responsibility. Then they typically approve generous (even grandiose) spending and borrowing proposals that belie their rhetoric. But after a year of approving huge borrowings ($295 million of arena bonds) and costly long-term labor contracts (12.5 percent raises for firefighters, 9.3 percent raises for police and 8 percent for most other city workers), the city council is showing incipient signs of what I dub a “new caution” when it comes to spending. To appreciate the signs, folks must understand the full extent to which Mayor Kevin Johnson now leads a transformed city council. His council critics of old are gone. Almost all the new councilmembers elected in the past two election cycles enjoyed the mayor’s backing and are supportive of him. Despite the loss of the strong-mayor initiative, Johnson is
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at the zenith of his political power. His attitude toward spending and budgetary matters is the one that counts. So what are the signs of a new caution? First, at council meetings in recent months, councilmembers, the mayor included, have expressed frustration with a city budget process that tends to largely ignore longterm impacts in favor of short-term budget decisions. They want to see more forecasts of the city’s long-term cash flows, particularly in light of the 2019 expiration of Measure U, rapidly increasing CalPERS contributions (aka the fiscal cliff) and mounting city liabilities for pensions and retiree health care costs. Second, the mayor is driving an effort to fund an independent budget analyst office that will advise the council on all budgetary matters, independent of the city manager. Information in government, as in most things these days, is power, and the city manager currently holds an effective monopoly on the city’s financial numbers. He proposes a budget in early May, and the council must adopt it by June 30, creating a high-pressure setting in which councilmembers (and city watchdogs like my organization, Eye on Sacramento) are hard pressed to digest and respond to a flood of data. While the council is supposed to provide policy direction to the city manager on the budget, in practice the city manager drives budget policy and the council is largely reactive. In early January, the council approved the hiring of staff for an independent budget analyst office ($500,000 annually). On Jan. 27,
the council turned the council’s audit committee into the budget and audit committee, with responsibility for evaluating proposed budgets, supervising the independent budget analyst, assessing the budget impact of council actions and helping the city adhere to balanced budgets. The mayor appointed himself chair of the reorganized committee and announced a much more frequent committee meeting schedule. He has announced plans to use these enhanced budgetary tools to produce, in collaboration with the council, annual directives to the city manager that will instruct him on policies the council wants to see reflected in the budget. Budget policy would be developed in committee meetings open to the public, providing a level of public input that would be unprecedented. Some may dismiss these changes as attempts by Johnson to garner more power at the expense of the city manager. But it is clear to most observers that the current budget process is less than optimal, to put it charitably. Plus, the power shift is really from the city manager to the council as a whole, not to the mayor. Johnson’s personal political power is a function of his leadership chops with other councilmembers. This is how power is supposed to be exercised in a council-city manager form of government. Finally, the new budget structure should give the public much greater influence over city budgetary decisions. Currently, the public has almost zero input into the budget the city manager submits to the council.
Previous city managers made a point of holding budget workshops at town hall meetings around the city to solicit public input. (That’s where I learned how the city budget works.) Now, by comparison, the city budget is a veritable black box. The public will be able to attend meetings of the budget and audit committee and make their case for changes in city budget policy directly to the councilmembers. Councilmembers will have the means to direct budget policy, rather than merely react to policies put forth by the city manager. Folks will also be able to buttonhole their councilmembers at the grocery store and express their views on the city budget. If the mayor and council are really astute, they’ll resurrect the practice of convening budget town halls to educate the public and develop community consensus on budgetary policy. So will improvements in the city’s budget process lead to improvements in policy? That’s the $64,000 question. The early signs are somewhat encouraging. On Feb. 10, city manager John Shirey advised the city council that the city had generated an unanticipated $17 million budget surplus in the fiscal year that ended on June 30, 2014. In almost the same breath, he recommended the council spend all but $1 million of it right away on various projects, ranging from new radios ($4.9 million) to a human resources software upgrade ($1.5 million), a new software program for managing city contracts ($1.5 million) CITY HALL page 10
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CITY HALL FROM page 8 and a further contribution to the city’s streetcar project ($3 million, for a total of $7 million). Traditionally, the council has treated surplus funds from prior years as found money and spent as rapidly as possible on things that are rarely carefully thought through or weighed against other budget priorities and constraints. In the face of a looming fiscal cliff, the responsible thing to do is for the council to put 100 percent of the $17 million into reserves, much like a family would bank an unexpected financial windfall when they know that the family’s breadwinner is expected to lose a chunk of his income in a few years. The council postponed a decision on what to do with the surplus and directed Shirey to provide greater justification for his spending plan. It will be interesting to see whether the rhetoric of fiscal responsibility matches the council’s actions. If the council decides to spend the $17 million bounty now on nonessential
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items instead of saving it, how can they credibly argue two years from now that city voters should further extend the Measure U half-cent sales tax hike?
MEASURE U SALES TAX REVENUE EXPLODES Speaking of Measure U, when the sales tax hike was put on the ballot in 2012, the city told voters that the tax would bring in $27.6 million annually. But in a report to the city council last month, city budget director Leyne Milstein reported that Measure U is expected to bring in $41.5 million in the current fiscal year that ends in June, a stunning 50 percent increase. How could the city have been so wrong in its revenue estimate? Did the city ask for a larger tax hike than it needed or expected? Milstein explained that improvements in the economy were responsible for 5 percent of the higher revenues, but the real uptick in revenues is due to pent-up demand among city residents who deferred
buying cars in the recession and are buying them in droves this year. While 75 percent of city residents purchase their cars outside of the city, a quirk in the tax law requires car buyers to pay sales taxes based on where they live, not where they buy their car. So a North Natomas resident who takes a trip to Roseville Auto Mall to buy a beautiful new Chevy won’t be able to escape the clutches of the Measure U halfpercent sales tax. Another big factor in rising Measure U revenues is a new state law that imposes sales taxes on Internet sales. (Can you spell A-M-A-Z-O-N?) You can run from the taxman, but it’s getting increasing hard to hide from him in Sacramento. City taxes of all types are increasing markedly. That’s why the city is reporting a $17 million surplus, and that’s why Measure U sales taxes are exploding. The city’s property taxes, base sales taxes, utilities taxes (on city-provided utilities) and utilities user taxes (on all other utilities like cell phones, Internet service, SMUD and PG&E) are all increasing significantly. In light of such a strong recovery in city tax revenues, it’s hard to see how councilmembers can make a credible case that voters should extend the temporary Measure U sales tax hike that’s set to expire in March 2019.
THE STREETCAR TAX One of the challenges of writing a column that involves a two-week time lag between deadline and publication is my need to be nearly clairvoyant in how the future will roll out. But I’m afraid my crystal ball is cloudy when it comes to how downtown and Midtown property owners will vote on the proposed streetcar tax. The results were to be announced on Feb. 17, after this column goes to print. In January, Eye on Sacramento issued a report on the streetcar project that was highly critical of its lack of details, uncertain costs, potential impact on future city budgets and whether the streetcar would exacerbate downtown traffic congestion instead of relieving it.
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LoreneWarren.com While downtown developers David Taylor and Mark Friedman have been cheerleading for the project and local business groups like Downtown Sacramento Partnership and Metro Chamber (as well as The Sacramento Bee) have swung behind it, EOS received a total of 40 unprompted emails and phone calls from voting property owners, every one of which expressed strong opposition to the streetcar tax. So what’s next? If the property owners reject the tax, then it’s back to the drawing board for city officials, who will likely scramble to find another way to finance the $165 million construction cost. (Projects rarely seem to completely die in Sacramento; they just go into a kind of vague hiatus.) If property owners approve the streetcar tax, an election of registered voters who live in the proposed district (mostly renters who vote irregularly) will be scheduled for April or May. To pass the special tax, a two-thirds majority of votes will be needed. A group of CITY HALL page 12
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CITY HALL FROM page 10 homeowners (who do vote religiously) in the district has begun canvassing their neighbors, urging them to vote against the project if it comes to a vote of registered voters.
ETHICS & TRANSPARENCY REFORM FORUMS On Feb. 19, the City Ethics & Transparency Project, a joint project of EOS, the League of Women Voters and many community cosponsors, held the first of several public forums at Clunie Community Center. Panelists included Peter Scheer, executive director of First Amendment Coalition; Kimberly Nalder, CSUS professor and director of Project for an Informed Electorate; City Councilmember Jeff Harris; Paula Lee, president of the league; and yours truly on behalf of EOS. The forums provide opportunities for the general public to express their ideas and opinions on city ethics and transparency reform. Following the forums, a comprehensive package of reforms will be drafted and ultimately presented to the city council and, in some cases, city voters. In case you missed the Clunie event, here’s a schedule of forums being held throughout the city over the coming months. Panelists will change with each forum. All forums will begin at 6:30 p.m.: Feb. 26, The Artisan Building (1901 Del Paso Blvd.); March 12, South Natomas Library (2901 Truxel Road); March 25, Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library (7335 Gloria Drive); April 8, North Natomas Library (4660 Via Ingoglia). Craig Powell is a local 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 718-3030.
CITY TREASURER RESPONDS The February Inside City Hall column contained inaccurate
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information represented as fact regarding the city’s debt financing plan for the downtown arena. I thought this would be an appropriate time to describe more accurately the plan, which will make up the major share of the city’s financial contribution to the downtown arena project. Once the final litigation against the project is resolved this summer, the city will sell bonds to fund most of the city project contribution. In the finance plan presented to the city council last May, we assumed a very high interest rate for the bonds of 6.7 percent, resulting in assumed annual debt service of $22 million per year. This rate estimate was well above market conditions at the time. In our finance plan, only $7.5 million of that debt service would be paid with new parking revenue, not $15 million. The rest would come from lease payments from the Kings, new tax revenues from the project and existing parking revenue coming available when current debt is paid off. Over time, as Kings lease payments and tax revenues grow, growing parking revenue will be available for other city needs. This need for new parking revenue level is based on the very high interest rate. If our bond sale were not stalled by litigation, then the bonds could be sold now at an interest rate 1.5 percent or more less than our artificially high assumption. This would result in annual debt service millions a year less than the $22 million. Reduction in debt service would result in a dollar-for-dollar matched reduction in the need to grow parking revenue. In addition, the finance plan does not include the new revenues coming to the city from the hotel project adjacent to the arena and other projects near the site. The finance plan does not include the fact that public properties transferred to the private sector will go on the tax roll. These new revenues will only benefit city services. The city has a secure finance plan based on balance and diversification, which we are implementing. There are no last-minute frantic efforts. Russell Fehr City Treasurer n
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Foot on the Gas DEVELOPER PETROVICH POURS GASOLINE ON RETAIL PLANS FOR CURTIS PARK VILLAGE
BY JESSICA LASKEY LIFE IN THE CITY
S
ome Curtis Park residents are not happy about a proposal to include a Safeway gas station in the Curtis Park Village development spearheaded by Paul Petrovich. In 2010, the city council unanimously approved plans for the $200-million-plus project, located between Curtis Park and Sacramento City College. In addition to hundreds of houses, the development includes a shopping center anchored by a Safeway grocery store. What didn’t come to light until recently was a plan to build a Safeway gas station at the site. Curtis Park residents are up at arms about this condition, revealed by Safeway late last year. “We will not proceed with the transaction … without the gas station,” Safeway spokesperson Steve Berndt has said, according to News10. “I can’t afford to go up against a big Raley’s competitively and not have the features they do.” Petrovich maintains that having Safeway as a tenant is imperative to ensure that the development attracts the kinds of customers that Curtis Park wants. According to The Bee, his firm produced a video depicting
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Catch the Young Actors Stage production of “Mulan Jr.,” playing Friday, Feb. 27, Saturday, Feb. 28, and Sunday, March 1, at 24th Street Theatre
the difference between a Safewayanchored center replete with Volvos and upscale shops and a development anchored by a discount grocery store, a grim vision of storefronts with names like El Cervesas and ABC Check Cashing. But some Curtis Park residents are convinced that a gas station in the middle of their quiet neighborhood will do more harm than good. “We don’t think a high-volume loyalty fueling center belongs in the village,” resident Nancy McKeever said in a Jan. 29 report by News10. “It certainly isn’t congruent with the results of (the) survey and it does not promote any of the elements of the neighborhood character that make Curtis Park a place where everybody wants to live.” McKeever was referring to a neighborhood survey commissioned by
Curtis Park Character Advocates and conducted last September. The survey found that 82 percent of residents “oppose additional gas stations” in the area. A meeting convened by Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association on Jan. 28 attracted an estimated 400 residents voicing the same opinion: no to a gas station. If that also means no to a Safeway and a proposed health club that says it will walk if Safeway’s request is denied, according to News10, so be it. Safeway’s permit application was due to go to the city’s Planning and Design Commission last month, according to The Bee. But Joseph Devlin, chief of staff to District 5 Councilmember Jay Schenirer, said, “The developer has put his application on hold for the time being.”
YOUNG ACTORS TAKE THE STAGE You still have time to catch the Young Actors Stage production of “Mulan Jr.,” playing Friday, Feb. 27, Saturday, Feb. 28, and Sunday, March 1, at 24th Street Theatre. Young Actors Stage artistic director Liorah Singerman has worked with three casts of nearly 100 children from Holy Spirit Parish School and Crocker Riverside Elementary School since December on the production, based on the story “FA Mulan” by Robert D. San Souci and the 1998 Disney film about a young girl from ancient China who disguises herself as a boy to help defeat the Huns. Performances are on Friday at 7 p.m., Saturday at 1, 4 and 7 p.m., and Sunday at 1 and 4 p.m. LIFE IN THE CITY page 16
A HARMONY OF TASTES Benefiting the Sacramento Children’s Chorus Friday, March 20, 2015 6:30 p.m. Sierra 2 Center, 2791 24th Street Sacramento 95818 TICKETS: $35 per person www.sacramentochildrenschorus.org FEATURING fine wines, local beer and eateries, and a silent auction.
SPONSORED BY: The Baer Family The Hancock Family
Thursday March 12th 7:00 PM Friday March 13th 7:00 7: 7 : 000
Friday March 20th * Drewski’s Hot Rod kitchen
* Chandos Tacos & Wear your Plaid
Saturday March 21st 2:00 PM
Saturday March 14th 7:00 PM
Saturday March 21st 7:00 PM
St. Francis Catholic High School Theatre 5900 Elvas Avenue . Sacramento, CA TICKETS: $10 Adults . $5 Children (under 19) www.stfrancishs.org
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LIFE IN THE CITY FROM page 14 24th Street Theatre is at 2791 24th St. For tickets and more information, call 760-8388 or visit youngactorsstage.com
Still looking for some missing branches on your family tree? Check out the Genealogical Association of Sacramento’s monthly meeting on Wednesday, March 18, at 12:30 p.m. at Belle Cooledge Library. This month’s meeting will feature guest speaker Lynn Brown, who will discuss Middle Eastern and Eastern European research. Belle Cooledge Library is at 5600 South Land Park Drive. For more information, call 383-1221 or visit gensac.org
DASHING FOR DOUGHNUTS Do you love doughnuts and staying fit? It might sound contradictory, but that’s exactly what makes the seventh annual Donut Dash on Saturday, March 7, in William Land Park a deliciously daring event.
Proceeds from the four-mile race benefit the Child Life Program at Sutter Children’s Center. Proceeds from the four-mile race benefit the Child Life Program at Sutter Children’s Center. Founder Zack Wandell—a center volunteer since 2004—saw a story on ESPN in 2009 about a similar event at North Carolina State University and decided to replicate it here. Participants receive four doughnuts from Marie’s Donuts on Freeport Boulevard (or six doughnuts holes, for the health conscious). Last year, more than 2,000 participants brought in $60,000 in
16
ILP MAR n 15
CORPS VALUES Kick off the start of spring with the return of the Land Park Volunteer Corps on Saturday, March 7, at 9 a.m. Now in its sixth season, the group meets monthly to tackle large-scale work projects to keep Land Park looking its best. Participants are treated to a complimentary light breakfast and a full lunch at noon when work is complete. All tools, plants and supplies are also provided. All you have to do is show up! Volunteers check in at the large picnic grounds directly behind Fairytale Town (3901 Land Park Drive). For more information, contact lead coordinator Craig Powell at 7183030 or ckpinsacto@aol.com
WELLNESS AND WONDER Fairytale Town is full of extra fun this month. Spring/summer hours have begun, meaning the park is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. every day, weather permitting. To celebrate the spring season, don’t miss the performance of “The Frog Prince” on Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8, at 12:30, 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. The Grimm Brothers’ classic tale will be brought to life by the Fratello Marionettes in a special production for the Children’s Theater stage. Tickets are $2 for nonmembers, $1 for members. To get your health in tip-top shape, check out the Sutter Children’s Center Wellness Festival on Saturday,
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donations for the Child Life Program. Proceeds are used for programs including Beads of Courage and Music Therapy and activities like art projects, games, toys, movies, video games, iPads and exercise equipment. These programs and activities are designed to help children and families cope with their medical experiences, educate children about their illnesses, prepare them for procedures and surgeries, offer normal childhood play and celebrate holidays and special events during hospitalization. The race starts at 8:30 a.m. To register and for more information, visit donutdash.org
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NARI of Sacramento’s most award-winning remodeling company! March 21, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The free event will feature gardening activities, games, health screenings and information on healthy child development provided by Sutter’s medical personnel. Fairytale Town is at 3901 Land Park Drive. For more information, call 808-7462 or visit fairytaletown. org
LUNCH O’ THE IRISH Casa Garden Restaurant will hold two benefit luncheons this month. On Tuesday, March 3, at 11:30 a.m., lunch will be proceeded by hors d’oeuvres and wine from Sentinel Oak Vineyard and Cellars from Plymouth. The St. Pat’s luncheon will take place Thursday, March 12, with seatings at 11:15 a.m. and 1:15 p.m. Entrees include slow-roasted corned beef brisket with colcannon potatoes and roasted vegetables and Asian noodle salad with chicken and vegetables. The Irish Eyes will provide music.
Proceeds benefit Sacramento Children’s Home. Reservations are required. Call 452-2809 or visit casagardenrestaurant.org for more information. Casa Garden Restaurant is at 2760 Sutterville Road.
READY FOR CAMP? Summer may not be on your mind just yet, but the Sacramento Zoo is already gearing up. Members-only Zoo Camp summer camp registration starts on Tuesday, March 24, at 9 a.m. General camp registration begins April 7. Have you noticed that the African lion exhibit is looking mighty full lately? That’s because the entire family—the dam, sire and three cubs—is now on exhibit throughout the day. Catch them prowling the perimeter between cat naps. Your visit helps their species worldwide. Lions are considered regionally endangered in West Africa, and an estimated 42 percent of major lion populations are declining. Because the Sacramento Zoo participates in the Lion Species Survival Plan, you get
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Free tastings at 6PM with ticket purchase. 21+ only. Presented in partnership with Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine & Food Science.
20th Anniversary Tour To celebrate the spring season, don’t miss the performance of “The Frog Prince” on Saturday, March 7, and Sunday, March 8, at 12:30, 1:30 and 2:30 p.m. The Grimm Brothers’ classic tale will be brought to life by the Fratello Marionettes in a special production for the Children’s Theater stage.
the chance to see these regal creatures up close and contribute to their survival by supporting the zoo. The zoo recently announced that in 2014, it provided more than $100,000 to support more than two dozen conservation organizations locally and around the world through projects that involve species recovery, veterinary care for wildlife, habitat research, zookeeper education, the protection of species and ecosystems and much more. This funding is generated through programs that include Quarters for Conservation and a portion of zoo memberships. Just by visiting or riding the Conservation Carousel or train, you’re helping the world’s animal populations survive and thrive. The three programs selected for special attention in 2015 are giant armadillo and giant anteater conservation, snow leopard conservation and, locally, tricolored blackbird conservation. Each of these species is facing trouble in its natural
habitat and plays an important part in its local ecosystem. The Sacramento Zoo is located at 3930 W. Land Park Drive. For more information, call 808-5888 or visit saczoo.org
TUE, MAR 17 • 7PM
What better way to toast St. Patrick’s Day than with the band The Irish Times calls “a spirit-raising concoction”? For two decades, this band hailing from County Waterford has been entertaining audiences internationally with its breathtaking vocals in Irish and English and virtuoso performances on traditional Celtic instruments. FREE Corin Courtyard concert before the show: One Eyed Reilly • 5:30PM
Robot Planet Rising An Intergalactic Nemesis Live-Action Graphic Novel
WED, MAR 4 • 8PM
HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW? The 14th annual Plant and Garden Vendor Sale will take place on Saturday, March 28, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Shepard Garden & Arts Center in McKinley Park. Give your green thumb lots to work on at this highly anticipated yearly sale sponsored by the Sacramento Perennial Plant Club. Warren Roberts, superintendent emeritus at UC Davis Arboretum, will speak at the event. Shepard Garden & Arts Center is at 3330 McKinley Blvd. For more information, visit sacramentoperennialplantclub.org Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com n
Three actors voice dozens of characters, a Foley artist creates all the sound effects and a pianist plays a cinematic score while more than 1,250 comic book panels tell a raucous sci-fi adventure on an enormous movie screen.
Anonymous 4 1865 (with Bruce Molsky)
FRI, MAR 6 • 8PM
Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the end of the Civil War
Hugh Masekela and Vusi Mahlasela 20 Years of Freedom TUE, MAR 10 • 8PM Celebrating the legacy of Nelson Mandela
Curtis Chamber Orchestra
FRI, MAR 13 • 8PM Robert Spano, conductor | Roberto Díaz, viola
Julian Sands
SAT, MAR 14 • 8PM & SUN, MAR 15 • 2PM A Celebration of Harold Pinter Directed by John Malkovich
Lang Lang, piano
WED, MAR 25 • 8PM
Donny McCaslin Group WED-SAT, MAR 25-28 • 8PM
! On Sale Now
Powerhouse saxophonist
For tickets: mondaviarts.org
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17
Judy Kent SHE HELPS FILL AUDIENCES FOR YOUNG PERFORMERS
BY JESSICA LASKEY
performs with the Land Park-based
VOLUNTEER PROFILE
company Young Actors Stage. “The artistic director, Liorah Singerman, is just the coolest, most
J
creative person,” Kent says. “Last udy Kent is no stranger to
summer, I got involved helping
hard work. The Los Angeles
with publicity for ‘Music Man Jr.’
native—and Land Park
You see these kids working so hard
resident since 1986—went to
at rehearsals and putting on these
college at UC Davis in the 1960s,
productions, you want people to
spent 10 years teaching high
come out and see them.”
school English and history in
So Kent put her new PR skills to
Madison, Wis., switched careers
work spreading the word.
and earned her law degree
“In this day and age, you’re not
at McGeorge School of Law,
going to get arts unless you do
practiced law for 25 years and
something outside of school. It has
recently retired as a felony trial
to be extra,” Kent says sadly. “Back
attorney for the public defender’s
in the olden days when my daughter
office. So when her 10-year-old
went to grade school in Madison,
granddaughter’s dance group
people took music classes at school.
needed help with publicity, Kent
They got free instruments to use.
jumped right in.
Now, with the prevalence of sports, it’s harder to get your kids exposed to arts. These productions really
“It’s great to volunteer in the arts when your day job is not at all related.”
expose kids to the arts, and they get all excited. It’s just amazing how hard these kids work.” Kent says working behind the scenes to make sure the kids perform to full houses is a welcome change of pace. “It’s great to volunteer in the
“My granddaughter, Ana Konovaloff, started taking classes at Deane Dance Center in 2008,” Kent recalls, “so I started going to their shows. It was so impressive to see the creativity that co-founders Don Schwennesen and Allyson Deane (daughter of Sacramento Ballet founder Barbara Crockett) put
18
ILP MAR n 15
arts when your day job is not at Judy Kent with her granddaughter Ana Konovaloff
into their shows. I just thought they
send), she discovered that she loved
could use more publicity, so I started
the challenge when it meant directing
volunteering in 2010.”
people to a troupe she believed in. The
Though Kent had to learn
same goes for granddaughter Ana’s
the ropes from scratch (which
other favorite pastime, theater. She
publications to contact, when the deadlines were, what materials to
all related,” she says. “I have some lawyer friends who work in volunteer legal positions, but I so much prefer working with kids.” For more information, go to deanedancecenter.com and youngactorsstage.com n
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19
The Tax Man AT HOWARD JARVIS ASSOCIATION, HE HELPS PROTECT PROP 13
BY JESSICA LASKEY
“Our first home was in the Pocket
MEET YOUR NEIGHBORS
area,” Coupal recalls. “Quite frankly, we fell in love with the area. We’re
J
now thoroughly ensconced.”
on Coupal says, “Lots of people
Coupal spent nine years with
complain about taxes, but I get
Pacific Legal Foundation working on
paid to complain about taxes.”
environmental law cases, usually on
Coupal says this with an amiable
the side of property owners impacted
laugh, but his job as president of
by overregulation. While defending
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
one particular client, Coupal saw his
is no joke. The association was
career path changed forever.
founded in the 1970s by tax revolt
“As one of the junior lawyers at
leaders Howard and Estelle Jarvis in
the time, I was assigned anybody
the wake of the passage of Proposition
who walked in the door without an
13, which decreased property taxes
appointment,” Coupal recalls. “One
by assessing property values at
day, Paul Gann walked in with a legal
their 1975 value and prohibited
issue.” Gann was a political activist
reassessment except in cases of
who had co-authored Proposition 13
change in ownership or completion of
and sponsored Proposition 4, which
new construction. Its primary purpose
placed “Gann limits” on state and
is to protect Proposition 13 and keep
local spending. Says Coupal, “I took
an eye on new tax proposals on behalf
the case and won it pretty easily and
of California taxpayers.
got a reputation for handling public
“Nothing is more creative than a
finance cases and taxpayer advocacy.”
government entity trying to get more
Thanks to this initial success
tax dollars,” Coupal says. “We’re
handling Gann’s case, Coupal met
here to enforce the provisions of the
the team at Howard Jarvis Taxpayers
Constitution.”
Association. In 1991, they hired him
Coupal’s focus for most of his
as director of legal affairs to oversee
career has been the protection of
the association’s litigation and
these provisions through advocacy
lobbying efforts.
and litigation. After graduating from
“I unfortunately never met
Marshall-Wythe School of Law at
Howard Jarvis,” says Coupal. (The
the College of William & Mary in
association’s founder died in 1986.)
Virginia in 1982, Coupal moved to
“But I was regaled with all the
California with his wife to complete
stories.”
a two-year fellowship with Pacific
During his seven years in legal
Legal Foundation before heading
affairs and since taking the reins
back to Washington, D.C., to practice
as president in 2000, Coupal has
law. Considering they’ve now lived
successfully defended Proposition
in Sacramento for more than three
140, the state’s term-limit initiative,
decades, they clearly never made it
before the California Supreme Court.
back to D.C. Jon Coupal is the president of Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
20
ILP MAR n 15
In 2005, he won a major ruling
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Though Coupal doesn’t engage in
upheld the validity of Proposition
litigation or lobbying anymore, his
62, an HJTA-sponsored initiative
work as chairman of the board of the
guaranteeing the right to vote on local
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation
taxes. He was the principal drafter of
has him focused on the future.
Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on
The foundation funds educational
Taxes Act (a measure passed by the
studies on issues like public employee
voters in 1996). Most recently, Coupal
pensions and the proposed high-speed
helped defeat Proposition 88, the
rail line that will affect California’s
statewide parcel-tax initiative, which
financial future. It also provides legal
was voted down in 2006.
representation for taxpayer advocacy
“We have a fundamentally different view than others in California when it comes to the role of government,”
( )L[[LY 4H[[YLZZ
Naturally
organizations, homeowners and individual taxpayers. “Our members are California
Coupal explains. “I’m not anti-
homeowners,” Coupal says. “We’re
government, but I believe it should
very much a grass-roots organization.
constrain itself to some core
Dues are only $15 a year. We’re
functions. Taxpayers have the right
driven by people who recognize that
to the efficient use of their tax dollars.
their homes are their No. 1 asset
There are policies in place that are
and remember back to the ’70s—or
damaging to California’s economic
remember stories their parents told
health, which is why our recovery
them—when high taxes forced them
is lagging far behind. We have the
out of their homes.”
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highest poverty rate in America, and taxes are driving young people and big companies out of the state. I believe we can address this with free enterprise.”
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21
The New DA PUBLIC SAFETY AND QUALITY-OF-LIFE ISSUES ARE ON HER AGENDA
BY ANNE MARIE SCHUBERT COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY
I
20 years ago, I developed a passion
These cases include homicides; gangs
personal sacrifices in participating in
for the pursuit of justice through
and hate crimes; career criminals;
the criminal justice process.
forensic DNA evidence and cold-case
child abuse; sexual assaults; major
prosecutions. I believe very strongly
narcotics; domestic violence; human
Truancy (PACT): Identifies chronic
that DNA evidence is the greatest tool
trafficking; elder abuse; public
truants, educates their parents on
ever given to law enforcement to find
integrity cases; real estate, public
the legal responsibility to keep their
the truth, and it is our responsibility
assistance and insurance fraud;
children in school, and provides them
to seek justice for all families that
consumer and environmental
with support services.
have been victimized by crime, no
protection cases; prison crimes;
matter how much time has passed.
juvenile cases and misdemeanors. Our
In 2000, I prosecuted California’s first John Doe DNA case, where
office files nearly 25,000 cases a year. In order to effectively prosecute
Parents Against Chronic
There is also our Gun Violence Information for Teens (GIFT) program; driving under the influence prevention programs, Before the
t is with honor and excitement
we charged a serial rapist alleging
these crimes, our office has a staff
Impact and Real DUI Court in
that I serve as district attorney
only his DNA as his identity. Within
of 170 attorneys, 40 investigators,
Schools; high school justice and law
of Sacramento County. I am so
months of filing this case, the rapist
15 victim advocates and 138 support
programs, Youth Academy and Law
fortunate to have found a job that
was identified through California’s
staff.
& Public Policy Academy; an annual
I absolutely love. Even if I won the
DNA Databank, which keeps
lottery today, I would gladly show
criminals’ DNA on file to help solve
Services is one of only three in the
for law school students; and an
up to the office tomorrow.
other cases. That rapist was convicted
state where the district attorney
annual public safety and community
and sentenced to prison.
oversees and manages the lab. It
appreciation breakfast.
My commitment to this community is rooted in my upbringing. My family
In 2002, I formed the Sacramento
Our Laboratory of Forensic
is essential to the prosecution of
diversity open house and reception
In addition, we have collaborative
has been in Sacramento for more than
County District Attorney’s Cold
many of our cases. Our 38 certified,
courts that offer support services
50 years. Growing up in the Arden
Case Homicide Unit. The unit was
industry-leading criminalists provide
and treatment instead of jail time for
area, I attended local schools and
highly successful in solving cases
the highest-quality service in trace
certain offenders who have unique
returned here in the mid-’90s. I am
and convicting murderers for horrific
evidence, toxicology, controlled
needs and circumstances, including
raising my two young boys here as
crimes from as far back as the 1970s.
substances, firearm and tool marks,
drug, homeless, veterans’ and mental
DNA, and crime scene reconstruction.
health courts.
When not prosecuting violent
well.
crime, my goal has been to design
Servicing all law enforcement
prosecutor, I am both personally and
new and innovative programs that
agencies operating in Sacramento
dedication and distinction for 20
professionally committed to the safety
work to prevent crime and better our
County, the lab processed more than
years. We are proud of what her office
and well-being of every citizen of this
community. Since 2009, I supervised
13,700 pieces of evidence in 2014.
achieved. As Jan told me often, there
county.
our Misdemeanor and Child Abuse
Our office is also active in the
is always more to be done to meet the
As a mother and a career
Unit. These assignments better
community with innovative programs
early January, my preparation for
prepared me for leading the office as a
and events. They include:
this job has unfolded over the last 25
manager and administrator.
While I officially took office in
years. My commitment to victims,
Now I am privileged to lead
Jan Scully led this office with
needs of public safety. I believe the role of a prosecutor
Citizens Academy: Provides
goes well beyond the courtroom. A
an overview of the criminal justice
prosecutor should not focus just on
justice and public safety has remained
our entire team of dedicated
system and allows for critical analysis
putting criminals in jail or prison.
steadfast as I have never had any
professionals. With more than 400
of issues and exchange of ideas and
As I have said often, the blueprint
other professional job in my life.
employees, the District Attorney’s
perspectives.
to public safety is prosecution,
The majority of my career has
Office is the largest law firm in
Outstanding Citizen Awards
been spent prosecuting violent crime,
the Sacramento region. The office
Ceremony: Honors victims and
including murder, sexual assault
receives approximately 40,000 cases
and child molestation. More than
a year from dozens of state, local
witnesses who go above and beyond to help victims and/or make great
and other law enforcement agencies.
22
ILP MAR n 15
prevention and innovation. One of my more immediate goals is to build upon our existing programs and create new ways to work with
members of the community on crime
shaping laws that impact public
prevention.
safety. California has passed laws
A significant change we have
that have dramatically changed
already made is the creation of a
the criminal justice system. These
Community & Government Relations
include AB 109, which shifted of
(CGR) Unit. CGR brings all of our
thousands of state prison inmates to
community-related efforts under
local jurisdictions, and Proposition
one umbrella. This will allow us
47, which reduced penalties for
to maximize our reach, increase
nonviolent crimes. As your District
accessibility and communication
Attorney, I am committed to being
between our office and the citizens
a strong voice for our community on
we serve, and have a greater positive
important public safety issues.
impact across the county.
These are just a few of the new
Every Sacramento Country Day School Create Inspire Explore Learn Engage Innovate
CGR will include our nationally
ideas, goals and priorities that
recognized Community Prosecution
have been set for our office. We
Unit. With funding from the
are excited and eager to seize the
Sacramento County Board of
many opportunities that lie ahead,
Supervisors, we now have five
whether it is new partnerships, new
prosecutors working in neighborhoods
programs or new ways to engage
throughout the county. Community
with our community. Through
OPEN HOUSE
prosecutors create partnerships with
aggressive prosecution and innovative
citizens, law enforcement, community
prevention programs, we can continue
April 30 • 6-7:30 p.m.
groups and businesses to proactively
to enhance the safety and quality of
address quality-of-life issues,
life for all of Sacramento.
Grades PK-12 • Independent since 1964
including blight, prostitution, graffiti and homelessness. CGR will also focus on legislative issues and take a proactive role in
Anne Marie Schubert was elected Sacramento County district attorney in November. She can be reached at daoffice@sacda.org n
saccds.org Academics. The Arts. Athletics. Every Day.
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23
Funny Man COLUMNIST SHARES HIS WRY OBSESSIONS ON BUSINESS AND MORE
BY TERRY KAUFMAN MEET YOUR NEIGHBORS
W
ho knew that business could be funny? Sacramento Business
Journal subscribers, that’s who. Since 2011, they’ve enjoyed a daily chuckle thanks to the quick wit and keen observations of local writer and columnist Ed Goldman. Now, everyone can partake of Goldman’s oddball humor and insider knowledge of Sacramento’s business, political, arts and entertainment worlds with the publication of “But I Digress: Daily Profiles and Punditry from the Sacramento Business Journal,” a compilation of Goldman’s columns. It’s actually Goldman’s fourth book. Many of his more than 4,000 newspaper and magazine articles were compiled in two previous volumes: “How to Incorporate Your Dog (And Other Solid Business Tips)” in 1985 and “On Goldman Pond” in 1987. A longtime contributor to Sacramento Sacramento Business Journal columnist and local writer Ed Goldman
magazine, Comstock’s and other publications, Goldman found himself “gentrified” out of his regular gigs at the same time the Business Journal was looking to expand its online presence. “I met with Jack Robinson [editor of the Journal], and he asked me if I could do something two or three days a week on the web,” says Goldman. “I said I could do it five days a week.” On his “clog”—a combination column and blog—he has the latitude to write on just about anything. “It’s 50-50 business and everything else
24
ILP MAR n 15
that happens in the world,” he says.
19, freelanced for the Los Angeles
at Five,” based on his experience as a
“This is right up my alley. I was
Times for a decade and taught
teenager in Southern California, was
frustrated by the monthly aspect of
business writing as an adjunct
produced twice by the Sacramento
a magazine column, but this is fun
professor or lecturer at six different
Theatre Company in 2008 and
because it’s very brief. I really have
state colleges.
directed by his daughter, fellow writer
free range.” A longer column appears in the weekly print edition.
He began writing about business when he covered an economics
Jessica Laskey. “It’s a fantasia about the myth of the summer job,” he says.
“I love catching people being
conference in San Francisco for the
When not painting, writing music
human,” he says. “The greatest
L.A. Times. “I’ve covered high tech,
or exposing celebrity secrets, Goldman
thing about writing is the unguarded
aerospace, law, science,” he says.
runs a for-profit marketing company
comment, the unprepared statement.”
“But my true loves are art, theater
and volunteers with a nonprofit
Goldman has the credentials to pull
and music.” Goldman may be the only
to support and promote emerging
out the best from his subjects: He
business writer to have had his own
businesses. As president of Arts and
started writing professionally at age
musical professionally staged. “Friday
Business Council of Sacramento,
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he helped arts organizations apply
He is perhaps more philosophical
basic business principles to their
these days than when he launched his
businesses.
career a few decades ago, but he is no
What else is there to know about
less engaged. Since he began writing
this multitalented multitasker?
for the Business Journal, “I’ve never
“People who know me only from my
had so much fun?” he says.
writing may not be aware of the fact that I was assistant director of the UCD Med Center from 1981 to 84 and first came to Sacramento to be the city’s public information officer [1976-81].” He also spent seven years
To order “But I Digress: Daily Profiles and Punditry from the Sacramento Business Journal,” call Sacramento Business Journal at 4477661. n
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as a humor commentator on Capital Public Radio, had his art displayed at the now-defunct Michael Himovitz Gallery and in national, group, and solo shows, and boasts a client list
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The Art of the Ask COMPETING TO SHARPEN SKILLS IN THE ELEVATOR PITCH
worldwide, was launched in 2008 with a focus on education. Since then, it has raised more than $1 million for educational nonprofits. But, says SVP executive director Breanna Cahill, “it goes way beyond the money. These organizations need funding, but they also benefit from being connected to the business community. The executives can help
BY TERRY KAUFMAN
them with strategic planning and so
LOCAL HEROES
T
much more.” This is Sacramento’s first Fast
his month, 10 local nonprofits
Pitch competition. Other cities,
will compete in Fast Pitch, a
including Los Angeles, Scottsdale and
contest designed to help the
Cincinnati, hold their own Fast Pitch
organizations’ leaders hone their
events.
“elevator pitch.”
“We work with organizations that
What’s an elevator pitch? It’s a
we can make a difference for,” says
short, concise summary of a request
Cahill. “Most are small, and this
or proposition. The idea: If you’re
gives them a platform to address the
asking someone for something (like
community. They need to find a way
money), you should be able to make
to explain to the community what
your pitch in the minute or two it
they do.”
takes to ride an elevator from one
Earlier this winter, the finalists
floor to another.
received feedback from the coaches
Fast Pitch provides a “pitch stage”
after presenting their draft pitches.
for nonprofit leaders. The 10 finalists
The sessions included videotaping
were assigned volunteer coaches
and comparative scoring designed to
from the business community to help
strengthen the messages and their
them refine and present their pitch.
delivery.
On March 6, each finalist will make
Teach For America is one of
a three-minute pitch to a roomful
this year’s finalists. A 25-year-old
of potential funders and community
organization, its Sacramento arm
leaders. The goal: to be able to deliver
is just in its infancy. “We have the
a clear, concise message about the
muscle of a national organization, but
organization, punctuated with an
we also need to be integrated with
“ask.”
Sacramento and aligned with local
Fast Pitch is sponsored by
efforts,” says its executive director,
Social Venture Partners, a group of businesses and philanthropists that works to strengthen the nonprofit landscape. The Sacramento organization, one of 40 SVPs
26
ILP MAR n 15
Nikolas Howard. Social Venture Partners of Sacramento executive director Breanna Cahill and volunteer Jane Tsai Weaver
Howard spent more than a decade working in education in Philadelphia, New York and Los Angeles before
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A good place to find a great dentist. Team Teach For America, Nik Howard, Linda Cutler and Bob Crowley, discuss their pitch during a recent practice session
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coming to Sacramento. “This is a
guidance to their competitors,” she
different community,” he says. “How
says. “They’re all so passionate about
do I pitch my organization to this
not just their mission and their
community? The real goal for us is
organization, but also the sector that
not to win the contest but to tell our
they’re in. A rising tide raises all
story.”
ships.”
To make his pitch, Howard received
Cutler’s foundation has a special
coaching from Linda Cutler, the CEO
interest in Fast Pitch because it
of Sacramento Region Community
manages SVP’s funds. It also provides
Foundation, and Bob Crowley, a
a database tool for nonprofits called
venture capitalist who recently moved
Giving Edge, which helps them hone
back to the region. “I tend to make
their message to donors. For Cutler,
things complicated,” Howard says.
Fast Pitch has been a perfect fit.
“I had the framework, but Linda
develop their elevator speech,
narrative.”
culminating in a significant ask,” she
is invaluable. “This is a great way to
their story more impactfully.” At least two and as many as five
education in one place,” he explains.
prizes will be awarded: judges’ award,
“The process of having nonprofits
audience pick, coaches’ choice, a
come together and pitch has been
“random act of kindness” award
really rewarding, and the coaches
and an online people’s choice. But
have given selflessly.”
ultimately, every contestant will be a 70 percent of the finalists will receive
are competitive, and we all have
some funding in the first month after
a vested interest in seeing our
Fast Pitch, just from having their
nonprofits succeed, but this has been
message heard by prospective donors.
tremendously collaborative,” says the quality and depth of passion of all of the teams.” Cutler was also inspired by the Fast Pitch experience. “What really floors me is that some of the nonprofit directors have been providing
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27
Construction Zone A REMODELING INDUSTRY VETERAN TACKLES HER OWN HOME BY JULIE FOSTER HOME INSIGHT
K
risty Lingner’s creative eye is evident throughout her 1,100-square-foot home in Sacramento’s Poverty Ridge neighborhood. Built as a single-family house in the 1950s, it was turned into a duplex in the 1970s. In 2012, Lingner bought the building and now lives in one of the two units, which doubles as a cozy, art-filled, two-bedroom home and a home office.
travel to Antelope for meetings. So Lingner began looking for a home closer to work. It took three and a half years and seven or eight offers before she found the duplex. “This works out really well for me,” says Lingner, who uses the living room as her home office. “Being close to the freeway makes meetings with all the subs easier for everyone.”
“Patience comes in when educating our clients to not only spend their money wisely,” she says, “but helping them narrow down their wants so the home will be their dream home forever, and not just the home of the moment.”
Communication and patience are key requirements for a smooth project, says Lingner. During a remodel, she helps clients through the hundreds, if not thousands, of necessary decisions. Lingner, the CFO and coowner of River City Builders, had lived in Antelope before moving to Poverty Ridge. But her commute between home and various job sites, many of them in Land Park or East Sacramento, became tedious, and subcontractors were reluctant to
28
ILP MAR n 15
“It’s a little quirky, a little unrefined, a little resourceful and a work in progress—I guess like me.”
The location offers an additional benefit: Lingner is now within walking distance of some of Sacramento’s best bars and restaurants. Lingner got into the construction business in a
roundabout way. She began working as an interior designer but discovered that design wasn’t her strong suit. “I’ve found that my talent lies in taking other people’s ideas and making them happen,” she explains. While working for local architect Michael Malinowski, she met Carl Maloney, who founded River City Builders in 1979. In 2003, when Maloney began contemplating retirement, he asked her to help run the company. After purchasing her home, Lingner painted the interior, which took two weeks. As time allowed, she tackled other projects. “This is different from what I build,” she says. “It’s a little quirky, a little unrefined, a little resourceful and a work in progress—I guess like me.”
A clock made from a collection of her grandmother’s teacups sits over the kitchen stove. Lingner assembled a whimsical kitchen chandelier from pieces of family silverware and revamped an antique transistor radio box into a sturdy storage container. She repurposed silverware she found under the freeway into kitchen cabinet pulls. A small upstairs space, which the previous owner had used as a darkroom, now serves as a craft room where Lingner makes glass beads in a process known as lampworking. (Using a propane and oxygen torch, she “paints” the glass on a rod, adding glass until she is satisfied. Then, she fires the beads in a kiln.) Lingner disliked the duplex’s kitchen linoleum. So she removed it, then applied a dark stain to the
subflooring. Wanting an inexpensive and creative way to bring new life to the room, Lingner stenciled the floor in an intricate lace pattern. She distressed it for a bit of patina, then applied a clear coating. The staircase was steep and dark. Lingner kept tripping, and she worried about her parents’ falling when they visited. She removed the carpet and stenciled the treads in white to add light and definition. In the guest bedroom, she added a set of bunk beds and, on the advice of a friend, designer Cheryl Holben, kept the original knotty-pine paneling as an ode to the original home. Lingner notes her home projects have been mostly cosmetic improvements that she could do by herself or with help from River City Builder CEO Kirk Todd and
River City Building’s construction crew.
“These have been sort of weird creative things that we wouldn’t necessarily do for our clients,” she says. “These have been sort of weird creative things that we wouldn’t necessarily do for our clients,” she says. “But I can put the guys to work
HOME page 30
ILP n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM
29
HOME FROM page 29 when they are not busy with paying projects.” Outside, Lingner added a reclaimed wood fence assembled from old corral fencing and deck boards, providing a bit of privacy for her tenant. “The only things I bought were the pressure-treated tops and bottoms and the posts,” she says. Behind the house, Lingner added a gas line and gas-burning logs to an existing brick fireplace. “I didn’t want to deal with firewood,” she explains. Being in the construction business, Lingner understands the challenges of living through a remodeling project.
30
ILP MAR n 15
After the initial interior painting job, she experienced months of turmoil while her bathroom and kitchen floor were torn up. “That’s OK,” she says. “It’s my house, and I understand the construction process. But living in a construction zone is no fun.” Communication and patience are key requirements for a smooth project, says Lingner. During a remodel, she helps clients through the hundreds, if not thousands, of necessary decisions. “Patience comes in when educating our clients to not only spend their
money wisely,” she says, “but helping them narrow down their wants so the home will be their dream home forever, and not just the home of the moment.”
If you know of a home you think should be featured in Inside Publications, contact Julie Foster at foster. julie91@yahoo.com n
ILP n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM
31
The Big Leagues SACRAMENTO AND ELK GROVE WANT THE SAME THING: MAJOR LEAGUE SOCCER
BY R.E. GRASWICH SPORTS AUTHORITY
N
ow that Sacramento is certifiably nuts about soccer, there’s an interesting race underway between our region’s two largest cities to construct a big-league stadium and bring Major League Soccer to town. One city generates gobs of media attention with overheated press conferences and high-profile investors. The other plods along, buying land and cobbling together the money to actually build a new soccer stadium. If you haven’t guessed, the first city is Sacramento. The second is Elk Grove. “It’s like the tortoise and the hare. We’re the hare,” says Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis. “Sacramento and the Republic group certainly have momentum, and we wish them the best. But we’ll be ready just in case.” Soccer fever has been driven by the Republic Football Club, which stole hearts with a triumphant debut season in 2014. But for all its marketing skill and cheap-date appeal, the Republic remains an entry-level product, affiliated with the third-tier USL Pro league, playing in
32
ILP MAR n 15
Elk Grove Mayor Gary Davis
a temporary stadium bolted together on a vacant patch at Cal Expo. The Republic and the city of Sacramento are eager to move up to the big time. They want to convince Major League Soccer to grant Sacramento an expansion team. Elk
Grove is trying to do the same thing. But the approaches couldn’t be more different. The Republic figures that by trotting out some big names as investors (the San Francisco 49ers and Sacramento Kings have
apparently put money into the Republic but won’t say how much), the MLS will approve Sacramento as an expansion city. Elk Grove has deployed a different strategy, basically the flip side of Sacramento. Mayor Davis and company believe that by setting out to build a stadium before they have a team, the MLS will realize Elk Grove is the real deal. “Look at Miami, where the biggest name in soccer, David Beckham, hasn’t been able to get a team because he doesn’t have a stadium,” Davis says. “That shows you how critical the stadium is.” When Davis—or anyone else— talks about a stadium, he’s really talking about site control and construction funding. Without those two components, you can’t have a stadium. Nothing else matters until those two pieces are nailed down. The Republic group has plans for site control at the downtown railyards, but the deal’s not done. As for stadium financing, the Republic has said almost nothing, which probably means there isn’t much to talk about. These facts suggest that, despite the presence of 49ers owner Jed York and Kings owner Vivek Ranadive, the Republic still must overcome the two biggest hurdles in stadium building: site control and funding. By contrast, Elk Grove owns the land for its project and is far along in identifying funding sources for a new soccer facility. The city bought about 100 acres of farmland and annexed it into Elk Grove. As for funding, Mayor Davis is taking a community-first approach, drawing up plans for 16 youth fields next to his pro stadium,
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which is penciled for 9,000 seats but can grow to 20,000, a desirable MLS number. “We are a soccer community, and we want that reflected in the sports facilities we build,� Davis says. “We have 6,000 kids playing soccer. And we did marketing studies a long time ago that predicted a local pro team would have the kind of success the Republic had last year.� So while Sacramento and the Republic have dominated the conversation about the MLS, Elk Grove has quietly done much of what really matters. “It’s not a competition with Sacramento,� Davis says. “We think the region deserves MLS and believe we can provide a very good option.� Soccer fans should use caution when jumping on the Republic’s MLS bandwagon. Here’s why: At some point, the team is likely to ask the city of Sacramento for money to help build a stadium at the railyards. Thanks to the Kings, the answer is probably going to be no.
Ironically for soccer fans, the Kings’ arena deal, where the city contributes about $255 million of the $477 million cost, is the main reason why Sacramento can’t help the Republic build a stadium. The basketball arena gobbled up what was left of Sacramento’s debt capacity. Now, the city can’t responsibly go out and borrow money for a soccer stadium, even if the city council wants to. Republic founder Warren Smith likes to say the MLS won’t expand into a suburb like Elk Grove, because the league prefers an urban entertainment environment with restaurants and bars. He’s right, but he’s wrong. Like all pro leagues, the MLS will ultimately go where the stadium money is greenest. Don’t be surprised if soccer’s greenest field is on Grant Line Road in Elk Grove. R.E. Graswich can be reached at reg@graswich.com n
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Power Pair TWO COUSINS JOIN FORCES TO DEVELOP A COVETED PIECE OF LAND
BY R.E. GRASWICH BUILDING OUR FUTURE
R
eal estate developers come in many formats: old, young, fat, skinny, entrepreneurial
and so on. But it would be difficult to find two developers who fit the stereotypes less than Katherine and Rachel Bardis. Chic and youthful, one recently out of law school, the other a mom with twins in grade school, the Bardis cousins present a distinctive image in the office they share overlooking the California National Guard helicopter pad at Mather Field. “Don’t let her fool you,” Rachel says of Katherine. “She’s been bred for this.” “And Rachel has a ton of experience in real estate,” Katherine says. “Between the two of us, we have a lot of bases covered.” “We’re a power team,” Rachel says. Today, the Bardis duo is etching its brand on a premier Sacramento Young master builders, cousins Katherine and Rachel Bardis, of the new infill project at Setzer
infill development: They are building the first phase of homes at the Setzer
recession’s dust settled, the Bardis
Bardis, Katherine’s father and a
industrial site stands at the foot of
historically blessed. It played a major
cousins emerged as the choice to
homebuilding legend in California.
Broadway, next to Miller Park and the
role in Sacramento’s agricultural
serve as master builder. The master
Sacramento River. It’s called North
heyday from the late 1920s through
developers are two investment
Rachel’s experience, the praise
West Land Park.
the 1960s, when the Setzer family
partnerships: North West Land Park
includes 16 years in the industry,
built wooden boxes for the fruit
and Ranch Capital.
including time with Corinthian
Forest Products property. The 32-acre
Thanks to its proximity to
The land is geographically and
downtown and recreational
and vegetable industry. In later
opportunities presented by the
years, the Broadway plant produced
waterfront, the Setzer land has been
fiberboard and frames for doors and
coveted for decades. The prospect of
windows.
“It’s an amazing opportunity for us,” Katherine says. The Bardis cousins may seem unique as builders go, but only
And when Katherine talks about
Homes and her own real estate management firm, RB Management & Sales. Christo Bardis has been among the
superficially. When Rachel mentions
region’s most successful developers,
2006, when the Setzer family decided
fanciful projects for the acreage,
Katherine’s real estate breeding, the
starting in the 1970s with Winncrest
to sell it.
from high-density housing to an
reference runs straight to Christo
Homes and later Reynen & Bardis.
building on the site became tangible in
Various developers imagined
international trade center. When the
34
ILP MAR n 15
Success turned sour in the recession,
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when Reynen & Bardis was trapped in a collapsing marketplace with too much land and not enough cash flow. The company was all but wiped out. Now on the rebound with several new projects, Christo Bardis clearly enjoys watching his daughter build upon his experiences. The Mather office that Rachel and Katherine share is down a hallway from the patriarch’s office.
They envision bungalows, detached homes, duplexes and halfplexes, each with unique, high-end options that belie entry-level prices from the high $100,000s. “I’m very proud of my dad and the legacy he built in Sacramento,” Katherine says. “That’s one of the reasons why we were chosen to do the North West Land Park project. We were able to say we have history in Sacramento, it’s our home, and we wouldn’t want to do anything less than a great project.” The women have unique concepts for their 282 homes at North West Land Park. They envision bungalows, detached homes, duplexes and halfplexes, each with unique, high-
end options that belie entry-level prices from the high $100,000s. “We’re making it really hard on ourselves by offering things like a variety of tiles and cabinets, like you’d find at the higher end,” Katherine says. “Most builders would just slap the same stuff into each unit and be done with it. But this project is too unique for that.” Bardis Homes—the company formed by Katherine and Rachel— started small in 2012. The cousins found an empty lot off Pocket Road and built four high-end singlefamily homes, which quickly sold. From there, they decided to search for bigger projects. They landed at Broadway. Despite the family connection (Rachel’s father Lou is Christo’s brother), the Bardis Homes partnership has taken time to settle. The women weren’t close while growing up, though both shared a passion for horses. As for personalities, Rachel is all business, with an impressive ability to discuss projects in crisp talking points. Katherine favors a more informal style, joking and speaking her mind. “We had separate offices for awhile but got tired of yelling at each other,” Katherine says. “The relationship works well because we’re different people with similar values,” Rachel says. Those values will be on display at North West Land Park when model homes sprout from an iconic patch of Sacramento soil. R.E. Graswich can be reached at reg@graswich.com n
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Love: All THIS COUPLE COMBINED FAMILY, EXERCISE AND TENNIS
BY JESSICA LASKEY SHOPTALK
B
ill and Margie Campbell’s business might be called Spare Time Inc., but their ownership of 10 sports clubs in the Greater Sacramento region, including Rio del Oro Racquet Club on Scripps Drive, is more than a hobby. It’s become a lifestyle. “We’ve lived for the past 22 years in the Wilhaggin area right by Rio, so I’m there almost every day,” Bill says. “Margie and I both work out regularly and play tennis.” To say that the Campbells are avid tennis players would be an understatement. In fact, the couple met doing just that when they were teenagers. “When I was learning to play tennis, I asked my pro what I needed to do,” Bill recalls. “He told me to play as many matches as I could. My first match was with Margie’s mother, who attended the same club where I played. When she beat me, I asked her who else I could play and she said I needed to play her 14-year-old daughter. I called Margie and asked her to play and the match lasted about 40 minutes, including warm-up. I didn’t win one single point.” Margie’s prowess on the court impressed the then-19-year-old Bill— she was the number-two junior tennis player in Northern California, after all. But it wasn’t until their paths crossed again years later that they became an item. In the meantime, Bill had left UC Berkeley, where he’d been introduced to tennis in the first place as a freshman, with the
36
ILP MAR n 15
Bill Campbell’s business might be called Spare Time Inc., but his ownership of 10 sports clubs in the Greater Sacramento region, including Rio del Oro Racquet Club on Scripps Drive, is more than a hobby
intention of returning on a full tennis scholarship. “I took a tennis class in my spring semester at Cal and fell in love with playing,” Bill says. “My instructor was the men’s tennis team coach and he told me that I could become a really good tennis player, so I got really involved in it over the summer. I’m kind of driven, so for the next two years, I didn’t go to sleep unless I’d played 10 sets of tennis six days a week. I got a full ride for tennis to go
back to Berkeley, but the NCAA ruled that I only had one year of eligibility left. That would have been a waste, so I went to Sacramento State instead to major in accounting.” Although Bill successfully became a CPA, and eventually the chief financial officer of a development company, his love of tennis kept calling him back to the courts. While researching a paper on tennis and swim clubs for his MBA, he interviewed the managers of 22 local
organizations, which got him thinking about starting one of his own. “After Margie and I got married, we wanted to start a business which combined our many interests,” Bill recalls. “We knew that we both loved family, exercise, tennis and the Sacramento region. We decided that creating active, family-oriented club communities was what we both wanted to do.” Thus, Spare Time Clubs, Inc. was born, taking its name from the very fact that it was a business the Campbells were running in their spare time. They opened Rio del Oro, their first site, in March of 1973 and now have 10 clubs in Sacramento, Lodi and Oakley, almost 200 tennis courts, 1,500 employees and 75 tennis pros to their name. In addition to running their thriving clubs, the couple spend their time on the Rio tennis courts, in the weight room, with their five grandchildren or, in Margie’s case, serving as the president of the U.S. Tennis Association of Northern California. “We’re the biggest provider of USTA facilities in the region and we host about 50 tournaments a year,” Bill says proudly. “We have more than 340 adult USTA teams at our clubs and six of our teams went to nationals this year.” Needless to say, the Campbells have much less spare time than they used to, but they appear to be having a ball. Ready to get in shape and tackle the tennis courts? Check out sparetimeclubs.com to discover the Campbells’ many club locations. Rio del Oro Racquet Club is at 119 Scripps Drive. n
HAVE “INSIDE,” WILL TRAVEL 1. Gina Viani, Cindy Fabian, Cookie Lawrence and Pam Perata at Rockefeller Center in New York City, New York 2. Alan and Lynne Lenhart at the Cologne Cathedral in Cologne, Germany 3. Mary Ellen Shay on Waiheke Island, New Zealand 4. Uriel Gonzalez in Laie, Oahu, Hawaii 5. Chynna and Xander Hinrichsen in front of the famous Stari Most (bridge) in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina 6. Linda and Jay Rich at Fairmont Le Château Frontenac in Québec City, Canada
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37
A Decade Later CHANGE IS INEVITABLE AS A GARDEN GROWS AND MATURES
BY ANITA CLEVENGER GARDEN JABBER
W
hether you’ve installed a new landscape on bare ground or changed some
part of your existing landscape, you probably have found that things didn’t work out quite as you planned. After all, plants are living things. Or in some cases, very dead things. In the past decade, I’ve worked with two different landscapes from A lilac can take up to seven years to mature enough to bloom
installation to maturity. One is my backyard, which my husband and I redesigned in 2005 after removing
plan, the trees by the fence were in
trees.” Gardeners often find, she says,
“semi-dwarf” citrus tree would grow
our swimming pool. Fair Oaks
one area, and the vegetable garden
that “trees aren’t our friends.”
to at least two-thirds the size of a
Horticulture Center’s Water Efficient
occupied a totally separate space.
Landscape (WEL) is a couple of years
The trees had no similar sense of
remove a tree altogether, although
space for the lemon tree that I
older, first planted by Sacramento
boundaries.
you can also thin it to open its canopy
planted against the fence. Another of
or prune it for size. Otherwise,
my trees was misidentified. Instead
County Master Gardeners in 2003.
According to Robert Kourik in
Sometimes, the best solution is to
standard, so I didn’t allow enough
While the basic layout of both gardens
“Roots Demystified,” “A tree’s roots
you’ll have to change what you grow
of a ‘Krauter Vesuvius’ purple leaf
endures, they have, of necessity,
commonly grow one-half wider
underneath. Schuncke recommends
plum, which grows relatively compact
evolved.
than a tree’s drip line (canopy), and
succulents, which have shallow roots
and bears little or no fruit, I was sold
Trees are a significant issue in
occasionally to as much as three to
and don’t mind dry conditions and
the common variety that grows twice
both of these gardens. We inherited
five times wider,” with the majority of
partial shade. She also says that you
as big and bears fruit heavily. Even
some mature trees at the edges of the
a tree’s roots within the top 18 inches
can put plants in containers in areas
if plants are identified correctly, they
gardens and added more to provide
of soil.
choked with tree roots. In my garden,
often grow bigger in Sacramento
shade and privacy. As they’ve grown,
Candace Schuncke, the local
I’ve chosen shade-loving hardy
than the reference books say. Roses,
they’ve blocked out sunlight and
garden designer and Lifetime Master
geraniums, liriope and a variety of
especially, get two or three times
sent out competitive roots that make
Gardener who helped design the WEL
ferns.
the size of those in colder climates.
it hard to grow anything nearby. I
and who still volunteers as one of
was stunned to find tree roots filling
its project leaders, says, “We have to
big plants have grown in each of
and other plants in the WEL grew
up my garden’s raised beds. On my
think hard about where to put our
these gardens. I didn’t realize that a
unexpectedly large, too.
38
ILP MAR n 15
We have been surprised by how
Schuncke found that coyote brush
In the WEL and at my house, we
garden with bamboo and a ginkgo
allowed plants to get too big and
tree, a wisteria arbor, a pond, a
woody before learning how much
vegetable garden, roses, perennial
they need to be cut back and when
borders and a woody shrub border
to do so. We’ve ended up having to
against the fence. My husband
take some of them out because they
insisted on a bit of lawn and a shade
were too overgrown or required too
tree, too. We skimped on the depth
much work to maintain. Some of
of the planting beds and width of the
the most successful plants in the
paths to squeeze it all in. I’ve enjoyed
WEL have been dwarf varieties,
the diversity but really need twice
which Schuncke says are “the
the space or half as much garden. I’ve
answer to low maintenance.” We
edited out some things and need to do
have been especially pleased with
more.
a dwarf bottlebrush, Callistemon
Schuncke says that change is an
citrinus ‘Little John,’ and a dwarf
opportunity that we should welcome.
pomegranate, Punica granatum
“After 10 years, you see things
‘Nana.’
differently,” she muses. Our gardens
to find. I brought dwarf evergreens
are different in a decade’s time. And so are we.
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Anita Clevenger is a Sacramento County UC Master Gardener. For answers to gardening questions, call 875-6913, visit ucanr.edu/sites/ sacmg or go to Fair Oaks Horticulture Center during the next open garden on Saturday, March 14, from 9 a.m. to noon. The center is at 11549 Fair Oaks Blvd. n
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39
All in the Family FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS, MAHMUD SHARIF HAS RUN A GEM OF A BUSINESS
BY JESSICA LASKEY SHOPTALK
J
ewelry is in Mahmud Sharif’s blood. The owner of Sharif Jewelers in Sacramento can trace the origins of his family business all the way back to 1930s Jerusalem.
“I always tell the kids that you have to give back to the community that has given us this success,” Sharif says. “We are so grateful, and we show that by giving our customers unparalleled quality and personal attention and giving back to charities and organizations all over the region.” “My great-grandfather started in the business,” Sharif says from his bustling store on Howe Avenue. “Then my grandfather opened the Sharif Jewelers store in Jerusalem in 1932. In the Middle East, you call
40
ILP MAR n 15
Mahmud Sharif is the owner of Sharif Jewelers in Sacramento. He can trace the origins of his family business all the way back to 1930s Jerusalem.
a business by the family name. The name is still everywhere there.” Sharif came to California as a young man to pursue his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering at California State University, Sacramento. “Every well-to-do family in the Middle East wants their oldest son to be a doctor or an engineer, and I’m the eldest son,” Sharif explains. But it didn’t take him long to realize
that he wanted to continue growing his roots in the family business. “I took jewelry classes at Sac State as well as studying engineering,” Sharif says. “Jewelry manufacturing requires a mechanical background as well, so both art and engineering came in handy. I was also making jewelry in the evening and on weekends in my garage, taking it to antique shows, flea markets, swap
meets. But I found myself doing a lot of other jewelers’ work, and I wanted to start doing my own.” In 1980, Sharif made this desire a reality by opening the first of three Sharif Jewelry stores on Howe Avenue. (His brother, Hazem, runs the downtown store, and Sharif’s son, whom he affectionately calls “the SHOP page 43
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41
Puzzle Partners A NINE-LETTER METAPHOR FOR MARRIED LIFE
BY KEVIN MIMS WRITING LIFE
W
hen we met, my wife and I were both Mondays. Now, after 34 years of marriage, she is a Wednesday and I am a Saturday. We are both longtime crossword-puzzle enthusiasts, but she prefers to work from a book of New York Times Wednesday crosswords, and I prefer a book of Saturday crosswords. Crossword puzzles in the Times get tougher as the week progresses. Monday puzzles are a snap. Saturdays can require hours of brainwork. (Sunday’s puzzle is much bigger than the rest but not necessarily all that challenging.) Life would be so much better if the universe, like Times puzzle master Will Shortz, always lightened our burdens on Mondays. Just now, I put aside a puzzle because I can’t think of a nine-letter answer to the clue “Recess activity.” When we got married, way back in 1980, Julie and I both liked to while away our few spare moments with easy puzzles. We were busy people back then and didn’t have a lot of time for brain-busting mental challenges. In those days, we deigned to solve puzzles even in magazines hardly noted for their intellectual content: TV Guide, People, etc. Now,
42
ILP MAR n 15
we are older, have no children to look after and wouldn’t be caught dead reading celebrity gossip magazines. Age has weakened many parts of us— knees, backs, eyes, reflexes, etc.—but has only enriched our vocabularies. I couldn’t beat my 22-year-old self in a footrace, a tennis game or a weightlifting competition, but I could humiliate him in a crossword-solving challenge. The same is true of Julie and her younger self. But while our vocabularies have grown stronger, our crossword puzzle preferences are no longer entirely in sync. Most days, Julie works at a demanding office job for eight hours or more. I am a freelance writer, freelance notary, freelance antiquarian, freelance bookseller and freelance anything-elsesomeone-might-want-to-hire-me-for (housesitting, babysitting, catsitting, etc.). Julie has one job that occupies a lot of hours. I have a dozen jobs that often don’t occupy enough hours. At the end of most days, my brain generally has plenty of energy to burn, while Julie’s is often exhausted. Therefore, when we sit together on the couch after dinner and seek the enjoyment to be found in a good crossword puzzle, she reaches for her “The New York Times Best of Wednesday Crosswords” book and I reach for my “The New York Times Best of Saturday Crosswords” book. She uses crossword puzzles as a means of settling her mind after a hard day’s work. I use them to stimulate my intellect and my imagination. Plenty of times, a clue or an answer that I’ve encountered in a crossword puzzle has triggered an idea for a short story, a poem or a personal essay (like this one).
I sometimes spend three days working on the same Saturday crossword puzzle. Often I will lie awake at night trying to think of a nine-letter word for “outdoor contemplation locale” (Zen garden) or “the first drink ever ordered by James Bond” (Americano). I actually like crossword puzzles that keep me awake at night. But if I had to be at work by 8 every morning, I’d probably prefer crossword puzzles that didn’t cause me to lose sleep. If crossword puzzles were metaphors for personality types, then I suppose Monday people would be slackers and Saturday people would be overachievers. But I am not a consistent Saturday in all realms of life, and Julie is not a consistent Wednesday. When it comes to financial matters, for instance, Julie is the Saturday person and I am a Monday (at best). She is not only better than I am at earning money; she is better at managing it. In regards to maintaining a clean house, I am probably a Tuesday and Julie a Friday. (God help the Monday slob who marries a Saturday neatnik.) When it comes to reading habits, I bounce all across the spectrum from Saturday (Chaucer in the original Middle English) to Tuesday (pulp paperback Westerns of the 1950s and ’60s) to Thursday (Trollope’s Barsetshire Chronicles) to Friday (“Middlemarch”) to Wednesday (Raymond Chandler) to Monday (Mickey Spillane). Where movies are concerned, I am, at best, a Wednesday. I prefer the oeuvres of Clint Eastwood and Tom Cruise to those of Francois Truffaut or Federico Fellini. When it comes to television, my tastes are embarrassingly
beginning-of-the-week. I prefer oldschool broadcast-network programs like “Castle” and “The Big Bang Theory” to cutting-edge critical darlings such as “Breaking Bad” and “True Detective.” In certain scholastic subjects, such as mathematics, I am a lifelong Monday. In others, such as history, I am an enthusiastic Thursday. My iPod contains far more Monday music than Saturday music, but that’s mainly because it’s easier to exercise to The Monkees’ “I’m a Believer” than to Ravel’s “Pavane For a Dead Princess.” We all have heard references to May-December romances, but what about the Monday-Saturday romance? Are there many cases of high-achieving brainiacs marrying frivolous slackers? Some people have characterized the marriage of playwright Arthur Miller and actress Marilyn Monroe as such a union, but I’m not sure that’s accurate. Some reports say that Monroe had a high IQ and was much smarter than the bimbos she was often condemned to portray on screen. I have a hunch that some of Monroe’s best work (“Some Like It Hot,” for instance) will outlast much, if not all, of Miller’s work. If you saw Julie and me sitting side-by-side with our crosswordpuzzle books some evening, you might assume that I was a Saturday kind of guy and she a Wednesday gal. But, like most people, Julie and I contain multitudes. In restaurants, I sometimes order the burger (Tuesday) while she orders the prime rib (Friday). She may walk away from an antique shop with a classy oil painting (Friday) under her arm, while I walk out with a poster from some 1950s horror movie about
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SHOP FROM page 40 irradiated ants (Monday). Even where crossword puzzles are concerned, we are not entirely consistent. I keep a few Thursday and Friday puzzle books around the house for days when I’m not feeling at my sharpest. And sometimes, when a particularly gnarly clue in a Saturday puzzle has been stumping me for days on end, I will turn to Julie in utter defeat and ask for help. More often than not, she’ll be able to figure out the answer in a minute or two. So if you should see the two of us walking down the street sometime, don’t make any assumptions about which of us is the smarter or better informed of the two. Depending upon the circumstances, we move back and forth across the days of the week the way a child might move back and forth across the squares of a hopscotch grid. Hopscotch! That’s it. A recess activity for children. Now I can get back to my puzzle… Kevin Mims can be reached at kevinmims@sbcglobal.net n
champ,” runs the outpost in Folsom.) Having now served the Sacramento region for more than 30 years, Sharif can safely say that his idea to continue his family’s legacy stateside was a good one. “We’re now at the point that we’re serving two generations of people,” Sharif says proudly. “People who came here to buy their wedding rings now have kids getting married who come in. I’m not kidding you: We have kids who come in as adults for wedding rings and say they remember loving the store when they were little.” That might have something to do with the tempting dish of sweets and fresh, homemade baklava that Sharif keeps stocked at each store, as well as the Turkish coffee and mint tea that he offers as part of the cultural tradition of Middle Eastern merchants. But it could equally be thanks to the warm, inviting atmosphere and high-
quality customer service that the businessman maintains.
“I always tell the kids that you have to give back to the community that has given us this success.” “We do everything in the jewelry industry,” Sharif says. “We do custom design, repair, appraisal, watches—we fix them, we sell them, we take care of them. We carry estate and antique jewelry, high-end designer names, loose diamonds. All in all, we want every customer to have a really good experience.” And it’s not just his clients who have a high opinion of Sharif’s efforts. His son, daughter and nephew
have all decided to follow in their family’s footsteps. All three earned a business degree, followed by gemology certification. And Sharif and his brother are now looking to open a fourth location in Roseville as early as next year to give the fifth generation in the Sharif legacy a place to come into their own. “I always tell the kids that you have to give back to the community that has given us this success,” Sharif says. “We are so grateful, and we show that by giving our customers unparalleled quality and personal attention and giving back to charities and organizations all over the region.” Compassion is just as much a part of the Sharif family legacy as fine jewelry, and both are clearly making their way to the next generation. Looking for that special something? Browse sharifjewelers. com or visit in person at 1338 Howe Ave.; 341 Iron Point Road, Suite B in Folsom; or 1001 K St. n
ILP n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM
43
Neighborhood Real Estate Sales Sales Closed January 1 - February 10, 2015
95608 CARMICHAEL
4419 OTIS CT $330,000 7140 MURDOCK WAY $372,500 6312 DATE PALM WAY $555,000 6357 TEMPLETON DR $200,000 4049 CHAMPLAIN LN $369,500 6437 MADISON AVE $188,000 4220 WAYMAR CT $325,000 2604 WALNUT AVE $180,000 5530 LINDA LN $425,000 3910 PARK CIRCLE LN #C $170,000 6024 CHERRELYN WAY $192,500 5140 WINDING WAY $520,000 5900 CASA ALEGRE $124,000 2844 GARFIELD AVE $250,000 6838 GRANT AVE $269,000 5969 CASA ALEGRE $110,000 6125 MERRY LN $169,900 5210 JANELL WAY $179,000 5208 JANELL WAY $192,000 6005 CASA ALEGRE $96,000 4035 OAK VILLA CIR $150,000 4404 JAN DR $299,000 2251 VAN UFFORD LN $342,500 5428 MIRIAM CT $415,500 5347 RIDGEFIELD AVE $340,000 4149 SHERA LN $169,000 2025 WALNUT AVE $280,000 6839 GOOT WAY $375,000 3405 RIVERDALE WAY $418,000 5301 ROBERTSON AVE $370,500 4700 NELROY WAY $229,000 6246 SILVERTON WAY $249,000 4809 JAN DR $325,000 3820 CALIFORNIA AVE $325,000 6319 PALM DR $389,500 5356 ANGELINA AVE $250,000 5320 MARIMOORE WAY $500,000 6125 RANGER WAY $295,000 1528 LITTLE CT $445,000 5717 JOHN RICHARD CT $200,000 3600 AFFIRMED WAY $280,000 1724 PARK PLACE DR $499,999 6875 GRANT AVE $960,000 4814 COURTLAND LN $204,500 5400 LEQUEL WAY $364,000 3817 HOLLISTER AVE $501,000 5344 HESPER WAY $247,500 6201 MEADOWVISTA DR $265,000 6400 LANDIS AVE $355,000
44
ILP MAR n 15
1800 BRIER WAY 5721 ANGELINA AVE 6407 BELGROVE WAY 3203 CALIFORNIA AVE 2908 MARCO WAY 4650 OAKBOUGH WAY 1809 BRIER WAY
$431,000 $260,000 $256,500 $420,000 $345,000 $269,900 $351,500
95816 EAST SACRAMENTO, MCKINLEY PARK 2418 P ST #A 3166 S ST 2221 D ST 2817 SOLONS ALLEY 1450 37TH ST 1915 24TH ST 3241 L ST 1261 32ND ST 3340 M ST 2217 G ST
$218,000 $310,000 $575,000 $425,000 $447,000 $500,000 $370,000 $366,000 $590,000 $373,000
95817 TAHOE PARK, ELMHURST
4940 U ST $274,000 2517 59TH ST $230,000 3132 MARTIN L KING BLVD $155,000 2232 34TH STREET $205,000 3218 9TH AVE $130,000 3547 10TH AVE $85,000 3449 10 AVE $103,500 3646 33RD ST $255,000 19 MIDWAY CT $342,500 5209 U ST $346,000 4500 U ST $295,000
95818 LAND PARK, CURTIS PARK
1855 CARAMAY WAY $310,000 817 10TH AVE $322,000 2560 2ND AVENUE $150,000 3518 24TH STREET $598,990 2629 HARKNESS ST $550,000 749 8TH AVE $325,000 3418 BROCKWAY CT $1,000,000 1837 LARKIN WAY $322,500 709 SWANSTON DR $369,000 2525 9TH AVE $510,000 2665 6TH AVE $502,500 1224 TENEIGHTH WAY $799,500 3608 24TH STREET $662,301 1817 MARKHAM WAY $435,000
3600 24TH STREET 1940 VALLEJO WAY 786 VALLEJO WAY 3502 24TH STREET 2759 SAN LUIS CT 2673 HARKNESS ST
$577,104 $354,000 $444,900 $631,165 $335,000 $365,000
95819 EAST SACRAMENTO, RIVER PARK 1001 47TH ST 1525 41ST ST 104 45TH ST 4901 C ST 3967 E ST 409 LA PURISSIMA 3997 H ST 1014 42ND ST 1511 CHRISTOPHER WY 89 PRIMROSE WAY 1105 54TH ST 900 54TH ST 941 53RD ST
$650,000 $551,450 $425,000 $545,000 $385,000 $765,000 $535,000 $865,000 $402,000 $300,000 $385,000 $392,000 $390,000
95821 ARDEN-ARCADE 3708 FRENCH AVE 4343 LOCKWOOD WAY 3109 CALLE VERDE CT 2551 IONE ST 3337 EASTERN AVE 3713 SUN SHADOWS LN 3905 ADELHEID WAY 4100 MARCONI AVE 3937 IRELAND ST 2511 MORETTI WAY 2813 LA PAZ WAY 2741 LERWICK RD 4525 ROBERTSON AVE 2581 FULTON SQ LN #72 2613 BUTANO DR 2512 GREENWOOD AVE 3001 RUBICON WAY 4308 ELIZABETH AVE 3125 CREST HAVEN DR 4305 DENNIS WAY 2857 CALLE VISTA WAY 3300 MOOREWOOD CT
$208,000 $305,000 $500,000 $200,000 $259,950 $195,000 $295,000 $233,500 $220,000 $145,000 $198,000 $179,900 $249,950 $113,500 $268,000 $275,000 $435,000 $381,500 $265,000 $235,000 $320,000 $375,000
95822 SOUTH LAND PARK 7071 WILSHIRE CIR 1932 66TH AVE 5110 ELMER WAY
$180,000 $226,000 $580,000
7581 19TH ST 1160 ROSA DEL RIO WY 1279 KENNADY LN 2797 65TH AVE 3200 69TH AVE 4971 MICHELE LN 2264 FLORIN RD 5012 MONTEREY WAY 2628 FERNANDEZ DR 5676 JAMES WAY 2133 ONEIL WAY 5421 S LAND PARK DR 1437 69TH AVE 1524 65TH AVE 3020 BEESTON AVE 2528 50TH AVE 2180 50TH AVE 2437 36TH AVE 5684 JOHNS DR 2981 LOMA VERDE WAY 6850 DIEGEL CIR 1620 OREGON DR 2200 HOLLYWOOD WAY 1113 LA JOLLA WAY
$116,000 $271,000 $440,000 $155,000 $126,500 $565,000 $125,000 $247,964 $185,929 $126,000 $164,000 $405,000 $158,000 $139,000 $173,500 $175,000 $125,000 $143,100 $199,000 $210,000 $187,500 $203,500 $286,000 $345,000
95825 ARDEN
2017 TERRACE DR $199,500 979 FULTON AVE #494 $70,000 2645 LA MESA WAY $340,000 2121 VIOLET ST $175,000 1100 COMMONS DR $435,000 115 HARTNELL PL $255,000 303 DUNBARTON CIR $450,000 2145 CORTEZ LN $144,900 2535 EXETER SQUARE LN $191,000 268 HARTNELL PL $265,000 1528 HOOD RD $131,500 2449 SANDRINGHAM RD $234,000 2470 NORTHROP AVE #9 $147,000 3211 CASITAS BONITO $160,000 2000 WOODSTOCK WAY $205,000 820 E WOODSIDE LN #5 $55,000 733 WOODSIDE LN #10 $72,508 2238 WOODSIDE LN #5 $83,800 1413 HOOD RD $111,000 2325 LLOYD $220,000
95831 GREENHAVEN, S LAND PARK 6371 SILVEIRA WAY 6912 S LAND PARK DR
$280,000 $325,000
1156 ROSE TREE WAY $267,000 6661 S LAND PARK DR $287,500 6908 HAVENHURST DR $295,000 60 PORTINAO CIR $425,000 23 SAGE RIVER CIR $302,500 14 BLACK RIVER CT $460,000 6963 WESTMORELAND WY $289,000 7408 GOLDEN OAK WAY $305,000 6919 GALLERY WAY $316,800 6990 WATERVIEW WAY $317,500 540 RIVERGATE WAY $330,750 6761 FREEHAVEN DR $290,000 6640 S LAND PARK DR $395,000 6241 RIVERSIDE BLVD #219 $131,000 6775 LANGSTON WAY $425,000 19 QUAY CT $174,000 7757 ROBERTS RIVER WY $320,000 361 AQUAPHER WAY $359,000 7629 MARINA COVE DR $850,000 7356 PERERA CIR $389,900 7476 GREENHAVEN DR $385,000 51 CAVALCADE CIRCLE $430,000 7524 MAPLE TREE WAY $249,000 63 PARK VISTA CIR $355,000 6778 PARK RIVIERA WAY $385,000
95864 ARDEN
1753 OLYMPUS DR $309,000 3204 HURLEY WAY $112,050 820 PICCADILLY CIR $609,000 389 WILHAGGIN DR $1,150,000 2137 IONE ST $380,000 1008 AMBERWOOD RD $145,000 3120 BERKSHIRE WAY $190,000 1124 AMBERWOOD RD $164,000 800 CORONADO BLVD $595,000 806 TREEHOUSE LN $625,000 1613 LOS MOLINOS WAY $700,000 4341 SURITA ST $455,000 661 CORONADO BLVD $525,000 520 PAJARO CT $775,000 3572 BODEGA CT $501,000 3313 BARRINGTON RD $170,000 4396 DORKING CT $570,000 4206 LOAZELL CT $645,000 569 KEVINGTON COURT $790,000 3677 TOLENAS CT $950,000 1649 EL NIDO WAY $383,000 110 BRECKENWOOD WY $508,000 1825 MERCURY WAY $220,000 3321 NORTHROP AVE $210,000
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45
The Notebook PRAYERS FROM A HOSPITAL CHAPEL
BY NORRIS BURKES SPIRIT MATTERS
A
s a hospital chaplain, I hear the prayers of patients who are hurting, sick and discouraged. Their private prayers are often so amazing that I’ve wished I could share them with my readers, but their privacy prevents me from doing so. I can, however, share the prayers that are written in the public journal in our chapel. Visitors are encouraged to write their prayers in the spiral notebook so others may pray with them. As you read these prayers, I encourage you to do two things. First, recall similar situations when God answered your prayers and granted his grace. Second, I ask you to offer your own prayer for the writers. Some of the prayers are simple oneliners, like the short prayer of a child asking, “Lord, help me to be a football player.” But most are deeply moving entreaties searching for healing, acceptance and understanding. One of the writers was earnestly searching for meaning: “God, or whoever, I don’t know if there is a Creator/God. I only know
46
ILP MAR n 15
that my day to leave this life will come. I just hope that the memories of my mother and father will be with me just like my parents were with me the day I was born. If there is a Creator/ God, he/she will know that I tried to live my life with a clean heart.” Some of the petitioners, like this one, were clearly scared: “Dear Lord, I need your guidance now. I don’t have my mom anymore, so my dad and I are lost. My son and his wife have a sick baby girl. I need you to help us. Please hold my family tight. I love you, dear Father. In the name of the Father and Holy Spirit.” Other prayers showed a struggle that no one wants to face: “Dear Lord, Mom’s accident crossed your desk and you approved it. Now we have to turn off the ventilator. It’s the hardest decision this family has ever made. My sister is hanging on with vain hope. Please help her see the truth and let mom go. Mom is your child, Lord. I know she has a mansion waiting for her. The rest of us have peace about letting her go. Please pass that peace on to my sister. Time is a factor, Lord. Finances are a factor, too. The life she’s living now isn’t life. It isn’t fair to mom to have to be like she is. Please help my sister to understand that we are all suffering. Give our family the strength to cross this bridge and give mom a peace that only you can give. Amen.” One writer, likely a caregiver, compared her pain to that of her patients. She expressed the guilt many of us feel when seeing our problems in the light of the tragedy experienced by others:
“Dear God, No one I know is dying or suffering, so I need to stop being a baby about my problems. I should be praying for those who truly need love and support. I’m going through a divorce, and I feel depressed all the time. However, I’m grateful for my health, friends and family. Please help me overcome this feeling of anguish, loss, anxiety and jealousy. It’s not good for my health, and I’m unable to help my patients who truly need it. Thanks for listening. Amen.”
Finally, the last page of the prayer anthology pronounces a benediction for this column: “To anyone who reads this: “I hope God answers all your prayers. The Lord is good! Amen.” Norris Burkes is a chaplain, syndicated columnist, national speaker and author of the book “No Small Miracles.” He can be reached at ask@ TheChaplain.net n
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MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS JESSICA LASKEY
JULIE FOSTER
RC Previews & Artist Spotlight
Home Insight
CRAIG POWELL
GLORIA GLYER
Inside City Hall
A Sacramento native, Jessica Laskey has written for Sacramento magazine and The Sacramento Bee. She is also a professional actress and works for KVIE Public Television as the grants and outreach coordinator.
A fifth-generation Sacramentan, attorney, businessman and community activist, Craig Powell serves as president of Eye on Sacramento, a city watchdog and policy advisory group, and Land Park Volunteer Corps, a nonprofit organization that maintains William Land Park.
Doing Good
Julie Foster is a freelance writer and book reviewer who has written for Publishers Weekly, Kirkus Reviews, Zyzzyva, Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction, Orion Magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle, Nevada Magazine, Minneapolis Star Tribune and other publications.
Gloria Glyer worked for The Sacramento Union until its demise in January 1994 and wrote Sacramento magazine’s Dining Divas column for many years. She now writes a weekly column about community fundraisers for The Sacramento Bee.
NORRIS BURKES Spirit Matters
KEVIN MIMMS Writing Life
Norris Burkes is a syndicated columnist, national speaker and author of the book No Small Miracles. He works as a chaplain for the Sacramento VA Hospital and the Air National Guard.
Kevin Mims, a longtime Sacramento-area freelance writer, has been featured in publications as varied as The New York Times, Salon.com, The Threepenny Review and Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine.
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47
Living the Dream A TEACHER FOLLOWS HIS PASSION AND STARTS AN ORGANIC FARM
BY GWEN SCHOEN FARM TO FORK
F
our years ago, Jason Cuff was a happy special-education teacher. One day, he went on a tour of the UC Davis Arboretum. The facility, located on the UC Davis campus, is open to the public and features demonstration gardens where visitors can learn about sustainable and organic farming, among other things. “It was one of those life-changing events,” said Cuff. “I turned to my wife and said, ‘You know how people say if they had their life to do over, they’d take a different path? I’d go back and do something in agriculture.’ Her response: ‘Then you should do it.’” We first caught up with Cuff at the Saturday farmers market at Country Club Plaza in Arden Arcade. It was a miserable morning with gusty wind and pounding, cold rain. He was the most cheerful person we’d ever met, given the circumstances. Recently, we visited Cuff’s Hearty Fork Farm, eight acres of land just off Highway 80 at the Kidwell Road exit a few miles west of Davis. Now, having three years of farming under his belt, he looks as though
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ILP MAR n 15
Jason Cuff, owner of Hearty Fork Farm, with some freshly harvested beets
he’s been farming a lifetime: baseball cap, plaid shirt, mud-crusted boots and jeans. That wide grin, sparkling blue eyes and big laugh we had encountered that rainy Saturday at the farmers market told the story of someone who has found his calling and loves coming to work every day. “I grew up in the Willamette Valley in Oregon,” said Cuff. “My family
worked in the ag business, and I worked on farms until I left in the ’90s for college. I loved farming, but I thought it would be impossible to earn a living on a small farm so I went into teaching.” Not long after the arboretum tour, Cuff heard about the programs offered through the Center For LandBased Learning, a not-for-profit group
that teaches teens and adults how to work in the agriculture industry. There he could learn how to make the transition from teacher to farmer. “I applied and was accepted. After two weeks, I knew that’s what I wanted to do,” said Cuff. “They introduced me to a whole world of farming on a small scale that I didn’t know was possible. I met fantastic people with farming experience and people like me who just wanted to make a life change and become a farmer.” The program lasted a year, but in six months Cuff was so eager to launch the next phase of his life that he quit teaching and planted his first crops on one acre at the center’s teaching farm in Winters. He also met another student in the program, Glen Baldwin, who became his business partner. “Together we leased the eight acres that are now Hearty Fork Farm,” said Cuff. “We bought some seed. Then we decided we needed a tractor, so Glen bought one.” With a puff of pride, he pointed toward the big machine in the middle of a field. For now, Baldwin has decided to postpone his farming adventure, so Cuff is working the land by himself. “I’m 41,” he said. “I didn’t want to wait until I was much older. I wanted to do it now while I’m young enough to handle the work.” His goal is to sell fresh, organic produce at local farmers markets and to local restaurants featuring farm-to-fork fare. “You’d be amazed at how much you can grow on a small plot of land,” said Cuff. “I’ve got seven small fields: one with herbs, another with all sorts of melons. In the summer, I grow corn in one field and tomatoes, eggplant
E
xperience Paris at the turn of the 20th century—cabarets, cafés-concert, circuses, dancehalls, and brothels. This exhibition celebrates avant-garde artists who offered a new look at modern life in a shifting society. Don’t miss your chance to view world-famous art up close and personal at the Crocker. Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen, Tournée du Chat Noir (Tour of the Chat Noir), 1896. Color lithograph, 55 7/8 x 39 3/8 in. Stichting Het Kattenkabinet, Amsterdam.
216 O Street • Downtown Sacramento 916.808.7000 • crockerartmuseum.org Live Well at Home and peppers in another. Right now, I’m growing root crops.” That seems like a lot of variety for such a relatively small space. “When you have a small farm, you need to grow a variety of things so that you always have something to sell,” he explained. “Large farms can specialize in one or two commodities. At the center’s farm, I learned how much you can actually grow in an acre. It’s a lot if you plan carefully. Plus, the land here is so fertile that it’s easy to grow just about anything.” A storm was headed toward Davis, and Cuff was anxious to get his field turned. Besides, that big tractor was waiting. “And that’s my story,” he said as headed back out to live his dream. For more information on the Center for Land-Based Learning, visit landbasedlearning.org Gwen Schoen can be reached at gwen.schoen@aol.com n
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49
Risky Bet STREETCARS IN SACRAMENTO: GOOD DECISION OR COSTLY FAD?
BY WALT SEIFERT GETTING THERE
I
n last month’s column, I wrote about the main advantages and disadvantages of a proposed
streetcar system costing more than $150 million that would run 3.3 miles in Sacramento and across the river to West Sacramento. The chief advantages are the appeal that the permanence of tracks has to developers and the “pizazz factor” of rail transit. The chief disadvantages are its costs, lack of flexibility and questionable utility as a form of transportation. Is a streetcar the best transportation system for the central cities of Sacramento and West Sacramento and the West Sacramento riverfront? A 2008 draft environmental impact report (based on a substantially different route than now proposed) said yes. However, the analysis of alternatives was simplistic and short. The report considered only buses, “rubber-tired cable cars” and light rail as alternatives. All were dismissed in a few sentences. Missoula, Mont., took a more thoughtful and thorough look at streetcar alternatives in its town. Its recommendation was to develop
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ILP MAR n 15
a “downtown circulator” with the
way and queue jumping could be
less glitz. The knock is that buses
“quality of a fixed-rail streetcar,
included to create a rapid streetcar
are boring, and there are indications
but (that) uses more cost-effective
line as well, but that drives rail costs
that plain-vanilla buses don’t attract
technology.” Missoula is a small city,
even higher. BRT vehicles can look
quite the same ridership as streetcars.
not Sacramento, but that’s something
just as sleek and sexy as modern
Bus routes don’t have the same
to think about.
streetcars. Unlike streetcars, BRT
permanence as tracks.
One technology that might be more
vehicles don’t require unique and
Trackless trolleys are virtually
effective and efficient than streetcars
expensive storage facilities and could
silent, rubber-tired vehicles that get
is bus rapid transit (BRT). Since no
be used elsewhere in the transit
their power from overhead wires
tracks are required, capital costs
system
like streetcars. Since they don’t run
are usually far less with BRT. But
Regular bus service would also
to make buses rapid, they need to
be cheaper than streetcars. Since
than streetcars in getting around
operate in separate rights of way (at
buses operate in traffic just as the
obstacles. Modern trolleys can even
least for portions of the route), not in
planned streetcars do, they would
operate without being connected to
mixed-flow traffic. Also, a technique
provide the same basic transportation
the overhead wires. Lower capital
called queue jumping can be used to
service at a lower cost, perhaps a
and operating costs mean more
allow buses to bypass stopped traffic
bit less smoothly and certainly with
frequent service is possible at less
at intersections. Separate rights of
on tracks, they have more flexibility
cost than streetcars. Being electrified
If funding flexibility existed,
like streetcars, they are cleaner than
the $167 million planned for the
in its support of the streetcar plan
improve downtown livability. I’m
buses, and their overhead wires
streetcar system could pay for a
that it is “a bet on the future of
not a betting man, but I’d say odds
provide some sense of permanence.
huge transformation in bicycle
Sacramento.” It is a bet. It is a risky
are that, as currently envisioned,
facilities downtown. Bikes can be
and high-stakes gamble. It’s too bad
streetcars turn out to be a costly fad
look like cable cars/streetcars that
faster than transit in urban settings.
that transportation decisions aren’t
instead. More people may be using
used to prowl downtown? They didn’t
Unlike rail systems, bike lanes and
based on better science. Given the
Google driverless cabs—or something
seem to attract many passengers and
paths are cheap to build. Given the
state of the art, it is impossible to
else—than streetcars in the not-so-
were eventually eliminated. Perhaps
large streetcar budget, even bike/
precisely project streetcar ridership
distant future.
streetcars that really are streetcars
pedestrian bridges could be built. Bike
and revenues or to determine
would attract more riders.
infrastructure is also inexpensive
whether streetcars really do induce
to operate and keep up. With any
development. If streetcars come
though. Some of the passenger volume
form of transit, operational costs are
to Sacramento, we can hope they
in the successful Portland and Tucson
significant: Drivers have to be paid
perform well as transportation,
streetcar systems has come because
and vehicles purchased, replaced,
their routes connect well-populated
powered and maintained. (Transit
campuses to business districts.
costs are still far lower than the
Portland State has 29,500 students,
cumulative costs of thousands of
and the University of Arizona more
individuals driving cars.)
Remember the buses designed to
It’s quite possible they won’t,
than 42,000 students. There won’t be
A bike-oriented investment would
any such connection to a residential
address life-and-death safety issues
university in Sacramento. In cities
shared by cyclists, pedestrians and
without a university link, streetcar
drivers. I submit that an equivalent
ridership has not always done well.
investment in bicycling would result
After carrying 200,000 passengers
in a much greater shift to non-
in its first year of operation, Little
automobile travel than a streetcar
Rock’s daily streetcar ridership is now
system. It would be a boon to public
340. Tampa’s daily ridership is 500.
health as well.
The Sacramento Bee editorialized
stimulate economic growth and
Walt Seifert is a bicyclist, driver and transportation writer. He can be reached at bikeguy@surewest.net n
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51
More Than Just Puddles VERNAL POOLS ARE LOVELY HABITATS THAT BLOOM IN SPRING
BY DR. AMY ROGERS SCIENCE IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD
A
Sacramento riddle for you: What am I? Bees without hives A bathtub with no drain Flowers mark the end of lives Dry shrimp will swim again. This could be a real stumper. But if you’re one of the thousands of elementary schoolchildren who have visited Sacramento Splash in Mather, you might have guessed the answer right away: vernal pools. Vernal pools are an extraordinary Central Valley habitat that not enough people have heard of. Eva Butler, who founded the nonprofit organization Splash to help local schoolchildren understand and value the natural world, says, “Fifteen or 20 years ago, most people hadn’t even heard of vernal pools. Part of the impact of Splash is now more Sacramentans know about them.” What is a vernal pool? The name gives us a hint. Vernal means spring. The most basic description of a vernal pool is a temporary pool of water that appears during our rainy season (winter and into spring), then dries up during summer and fall. But vernal pools are far more than simple puddles.
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ILP MAR n 15
Vernal pools form only in places lined by hardpan, a layer of clay a few inches to a few feet beneath the surface of the ground that is so dense, it acts like a bathtub with no drain. Unlike a puddle, vernal pools don’t drain away. Water leaves the pool only by evaporation, so pools linger until late spring or summer. During the wet phase, vernal pools come alive. They are home to a wondrous array of animals and plants uniquely adapted to hatch, feed, breed and die during this brief period. On Splash field trips, children (and adults) are amazed by what they see in a scoop of vernal pool water: an abundance of exotic creatures that resemble tiny aliens, including fairy
shrimp (a relative of “sea monkeys,” which you may remember from childhood), seed shrimp, clam shrimp, dragonfly larvae and an endangered species found only in the Central Valley, vernal pool tadpole shrimp. Interestingly, you won’t see many mosquito larvae in a healthy vernal pool ecosystem. Unlike a bucket of stagnant water on the side of your house, a vernal pool is loaded with predators that eat mosquito larvae and compete with them for food. As the water dries up, the swimming creatures leave their eggs or cysts to wait for next year, and vernal pools put on their showy spring finery. It’s the flowering phase! Primarily in April, the pools
turn into muddy ground from which dazzling vernal pool flowers blossom. Species of solitary bees emerge from underground nests to collect pollen from a single kind of vernal pool flower upon which they depend for survival. Splash organizes guided walks of the vernal pool flowers on Sundays in April. The abundance and timing of the flowers’ bloom are unpredictable but, says Butler, “No one ever leaves a Mather Field flower walk unsatisfied.” Sadly, this singular natural wonder is in danger of disappearing forever. Thriving vernal pools are part of a native California prairie (grassland) habitat. Prairie habitat has been
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utterly devastated across the Central Valley, with less than 10 percent of it left, a victim of urban development and agriculture. Sacramento retains two of the finest remaining vernal pool areas in the state (around Mather Field and Rancho Seco), but our county continues to lose thousands of acres a year of vernal pool prairie wild spaces. According to the Environmental Council of Sacramento, the County Board of Supervisors’ recent approval of the Cordova Hills development outside Rancho Cordova will destroy some of the finest remaining pools in the Sacramento Valley. “There is no local government commitment to vernal pool conservation in Sacramento,” says Butler. In addition to suburban construction, the conversion of rangeland into vineyards is another threat to local prairie. “Agricultural operations (such as vineyards) bypass a lot of regulations that normally protect vernal pools,” Butler says. “It’s legal to plant grapes right around a vernal pool. Technically, the
wetland isn’t filled in, but the prairie habitat doesn’t function any more.” Sacramento Splash is dedicated to spreading the word about these local treasures. From their educational facility near Mather Field amid numerous vernal pools, Splash workers and volunteers lead tours, host schoolchildren and maintain a website (SacSplash.org) that is the finest vernal pool education resource on the Internet. “If you take young people to explore the place they live, they let their families know there’s something special to see here,” Butler explains. “Our homegrown habitat isn’t impressive on the scale of mountains or redwoods. But on a small scale, our vernal pools are spectacularly complex and beautiful. “You don’t have to go somewhere else to see nature.” Amy Rogers is a novelist, scientist and educator. She can be reached at Amy@AmyRogers.com. Learn more about her book “Reversion” at AmyRogers.com n
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53
Doing It All CELEBRATION ARTS FOUNDER IS A ONE-MAN BAND
BY JESSICA LASKEY ARTIST SPOTLIGHT
T
he term “renaissance man” may as well have been coined for James Wheatley. As the artistic director of Celebration Arts, the multicultural, multidiscipline arts organization located on D Street in East Sacramento, Wheatley directs many of the company’s plays, teaches classes in theater, dance, music and visual arts for youth, teens and seniors, writes original pieces for performance, directs the Celebration Arts Chorale and still finds time to volunteer his time on several local boards and advisory committees. “I sleep on occasion,” Wheatley says with an easy laugh. “I retired from the state 13 years ago, so it’s great to still be so busy.” His work with the state is in fact what first brought the Los Angeles native to town many years ago, and he held positions with the departments of rehabilitation, employment development and labor relations before retiring in 2001. Even during all his state service, Wheatley managed to maintain a strong connection to his artistic roots in Southern California. “For the first few years here, I was commuting to L.A. on the weekends to continue performing” as a dancer and singer, Wheatley says. “I eventually found some people here who wanted to work together, so that’s when I decided to form a dance company.” When Wheatley founded the informal dance troupe in 1976, he
54
ILP MAR n 15
James Wheatley
quickly discovered a craving in the community for more arts education. “People heard about the troupe and wanted to be part of it,” Wheatley recalls. “I’d always had the idea of providing training and performance
opportunities for community residents—people who wanted to dance or sing or act but didn’t have access for whatever reason to bigger institutions. So it made sense to incorporate.”
Wheatley incorporated Celebration Arts in 1986 and has since built it into one of the most comprehensive destinations for artistic training for people of all ages in the Sacramento region. In addition to formal classes, Wheatley also seeks to educate the local public through theater performance. “The Celebration Theatre Company has a reputation of doing quality work and telling stories that interest people,” Wheatley says. “Many of the plays we do are local and regional premieres with AfricanAmerican themes. There are a lot more opportunities these days than when we first started, but we’re still basically the only African-American theater company in town. We pick interesting plays to attract people’s attention, but we also do pieces like Toni Morrison’s ‘The Bluest Eye’ and ‘Race’ by David Mamet. People recognize the names, which has helped draw a lot of people.” Despite Celebration Arts’ unique niche in the community, it’s not easy to keep an arts organization afloat, especially when it’s overshadowed by bigger companies. “It’s always a struggle because you have to depend on others,” Wheatley says. “We’re a small, 50-seat theater. If we were larger and had more resources, we could probably get corporate sponsors, but at our size, we depend on ticket sales and the largesse of the community. We’re an all-volunteer organization. Getting volunteers is not the easiest thing in the world. Our recent emergency fund drive, the Day of Giving and our fall fund drive helped tremendously. We’re just trying to hang in there.”
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But Wheatley doesn’t let cashflow woes get him down. In fact, he appears to be more inspired than ever. He still teaches every class that Celebration Arts offers, he writes every show that the children’s programs perform, and he even wrote last year’s holiday show, “A New Song for Christmas,” which Wheatley describes as “a drama with music.” “I wanted to do a Christmas program but I didn’t see anything that really appealed to me,” he explains. “I thought, ‘Let me try it,’ so I wrote the whole show and did all the orchestration. I had no idea it was going to have music in it, but music is my first love. And I love a challenge.” Thankfully, so do his pupils. While rehearsing for the show, Wheatley encouraged his cast to step out of their artistic comfort zones. “Because the people we have aren’t all singers, I got the opportunity to teach them about music,” Wheatley says. “A lot of them had never been in a choir. They didn’t know how to sing harmony or how to read
sheet music, so we provided the training. They ended up liking it because they’d never had that kind of approach. I demanded it from them. They said, ‘We have to dance? I’m not a dancer.’ And I’d say, ‘You know how to walk? You know your left from your right? Good, now move your arm at the same time.’ It’s been quite an educational experience.”
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St. Patrick's Day Tune-up SACRAMENTO MASTER SINGERS CELEBRATE THE BRITISH ISLES WITH 'CELTIC JOURNEYS'
BY JESSICA LASKEY RIVER CITY PREVIEWS
T
he Sacramento Master Singers wish you “Health!” this month with their rousing “Celtic Journeys” program celebrating music from the magical British Isles. Performances are March 14 and 15 at St. Francis of Assisi Church in midtown and at the Harris Center for the Arts in Folsom on March 17. Raise a glass of green beer in preparation for St. Patrick’s Day and toast the Master Singers, under the direction of Dr. Ralph Hughes, and guest dynamic duo Men of Worth as they perform both traditional and contemporary songs from Ireland, Scotland, England and Wales. The program also will feature recent works by Ireland’s Michael McGlynn, the world premiere of Sacramento composer Clifford Shockney’s “Ye Jacobites,” featuring lyrics by beloved Scottish bard Robert Burns, and some songs fresh off “Celtic Memories,” the Master Singers’ new recording project with Men of Worth’s James Keigher and Donnie MacDonald. Performances will be held at St. Francis of Assisi Church (1066 26th St.) at 8 p.m. on March 14 and at 3
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The Sacramento Master Singers perform “Celtic Journeys”, celebrating music from the magical British Isles
p.m. on March 15. Call 788-7464 to purchase tickets. A special St. Patrick’s Day performance will be held at Folsom Lake College’s Harris Center for the Arts (10 College Parkway) at 7 p.m. on March 17. Call 608-6888 for tickets. For more information, go to mastersingers.org
BIRDS OF A FEATHER If you’re squawking with anticipatory delight over the
Sacramento Ballet’s production of “Swan Lake,” don’t miss “Inside the Director’s Studio: Timeless Beauty Revealed” with co-artistic director Carinne Binda from 6 to 7 p.m. on Friday, March 13 at the ballet’s midtown studios. Binda will give attendees an inside look at the poetic passion behind “Swan Lake,” as well as a sneak peek at the ballet’s version of the piece, which returns to the Sacramento stage after a 15-year hiatus. For tickets to Inside the Director’s Studio,
call the ballet box office at 552-5800, ext. 2. Looking for a way to catch all the fancy footwork without breaking the bank? Check out the ballet dancers’ free, open rehearsals from 4 to 5 p.m. on Second Saturday (March 14) as they prepare for “Swan Lake.” The Sacramento Ballet Studios are at 1631 K St. “Swan Lake,” arguably the most famous ballet of all time, will take the stage with opulent costumes, stunning scenery and, of course, breathtaking dancing on March 26-29
at the Community Center Theater. For tickets and more information, call 808-5181 or go to sacballet.org The Community Center Theater is at 1301 L St.
THE MISSING LINK Talk about beautiful music: The Trinity Cathedral Music Series will present its resident organist and canon musician for the past 30 years, David Link, in a pipe organ concert at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 8 to benefit NorCal AIDS Cycle. For the past five years, Link has participated in NorCal AIDS Cycle, a 330-mile, four-day bike ride that raises funds for local agencies serving those with HIV/AIDS. For Link, there’s a personal connection to the cause as well as a beneficent one: He rides in memory of Kenneth Piercy, a longtime Trinity Cathedral Choir member who died from complications of AIDS in 2011. The suggested minimum donation for the concert is $10 at the door, though donations of any kind will be gratefully accepted, as they go toward funding organizations that provide testing and treatment for this preventable disease. For tickets and more information, go to trinitycathedral.org Trinity Episcopal Cathedral is at 2620 Capitol Ave. For more
information about NorCal AIDS Cycle, go to norcalaidscycle.org
DIY DESIGN Your green thumb will come in extra handy for the Relles Florist European Design Style Floral Bouquet class from 10 to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, March 14. It’s St. Patrick’s Day themed! Bring an apron and the knowledgeable staff at Relles will guide you through the making of your very own floral display piece, complete with tips and tricks on floral design and flower care, as well as all the tools and flora you’ll need. But don’t test your St. Patty’s Day luck: Classes fill up fast, so register now at 441-1478. For more information, go to rellesflorist.com Relles Florist is at 2400 J St.
NOT ON YOUR TINTYPE Are you a photography aficionado? Do you want to own a piece of history? Then don’t miss Witherell’s Auction House’s upcoming offering of a rare pair of Civil War photos to be auctioned off between March 4 and 18. The hand-colored tintypes of the 54th Connecticut Troop depict a group of relaxed men and their lieutenant, a rarity considering most photos from the time period depict
The Trinity Cathedral Music Series will present its resident organist and canon musician for the past 30 years, David Link, in a pipe organ concert at 4 p.m. on Sunday, March 8 to benefit NorCal AIDS Cycle
men in a formal line rather than a casual stance. In the foreground are a large cannon and pyramid of cannonballs. “It is so exciting to have a find like this come into our hands,” says Witherell’s chief operating officer, and “Antiques Roadshow” appraiser, Brian Witherell. “We have been entrusted with the photos of the troop, other photos of Lt. Samuel Thompson and family from the period and his sword.” Other items in the auction groups will include the Civil War discharge papers, presentation sword and horse brush of a sergeant in the Illinois Light Artillery, as well as the musket, cartridge box and discharge papers from the sergeant’s teenage son, who joined the Illinois voluntary infantry at age 16 and served until the end of the Civil War. A catalog of the items will be available prior to the auction, so hop to it! For more information, go to witherells.com Witherell’s Auction House is at 300 20th St.
LIFE IS A CABARET To hear artist Milton “510” Bowens tell it, “All Blues Ain’t Blue,” which also happens to be the title of his new solo show at Gallery 2110
If you can’t get away to New York City anytime soon, don’t fret. The River City Chorale will take you
straight to Broadway without an iota of air travel with its popular cabaret “Steppin’ Out on Broadway,” performing at the Serbian Church Hall in Fair Oaks at 2 and 4:30 p.m. on March 7 and 8. The performance will kick off cabaret-style with a traditional jazz band as you find your seats and enjoy tableside treats served by the singers themselves, as well as a no-host bar. The program will include individual acts as well as full ensemble pieces featuring thoroughly hummable show tunes from the likes of “My Fair Lady,” “Wicked,” “Les Misérables” and more. Parking is free but tickets go fast, so make sure you call now to reserve your table location by calling 3315810. For tickets and more information, go to rivercitychorale.org The Serbian Hall is at 7777 Sunset Ave. in Fair Oaks.
BLUES PERIOD To hear artist Milton “510” Bowens tell it, “All Blues Ain’t Blue,” which also happens to be the title of his new solo show on display at Gallery 2110 from March 11 through April 4.
PREVIEWS page 58
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PREVIEWS FROM page 57 The Oakland native is regionally renowned for his work depicting the African American experience in contemporary America, from slavery to the black migration north into Chicago and Detroit, where modern blues was born. As part of the Gallery 2110 mission to support nonprofit organizations, Gallery 2110 and Bowens will be donating a percentage of all sales to the Leonardo da Vinci School Blues Band and the Leonardo da Vinci Aquaponics Garden Projects. Don’t miss the VIP reception from 5 to 8 p.m. on March 12, where Bowens will share his view of the role of artists as important influences on culture, community and art history. Rub elbows with Bowens again during the Second Saturday Art Walk, unique to the Gallery’s new Del Paso location, from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on March 14. For more information, call 476-5500 or go to gallery2110.com Gallery 2110 is newly located at 1023 Del Paso Blvd.
CIRCUS, CIRCUS The circus is coming to town at Crocker Art Museum. “Ooh” and “ahh” at the Crocker’s Art Mix: Cirque from 5 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, as well as at various events throughout the month. Thanks to the ongoing Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec exhibit, the Crocker will be transformed on March 12 into an avant-garde circus spectacle complete with performances by Aerial Revolution, DJ Frenchy le Freak, the Element Brass Band, the Sacramento Comedy Spot and spookily spoton free tarot card readings. Drink specials are under $5 all night. The event is free for museum members, $10 for nonmembers, and college students receive a $2 discount. Before you get zany at Art Mix, check out the Classical Concert featuring the winner of the 2014 Mu Phi Epsilon International Solo Competition, harpist Rachel Brandwein, at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 8. The internationally acclaimed harpist will play pieces inspired by the Crocker’s ongoing
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the third annual Poetry/Art/Jazz Concert at 7 p.m. on March 7 at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center will be music to your ears. Produced in collaboration with the SFAC and the Sacramento Poetry Society, the event will feature the Brubeck Institute Jazz Quintet and Sacramento Poetry Society performance poets, who have composed original jazz and poetry (respectively) inspired by the art in SFAC’s annual “Animal House” exhibit. This highly anticipated concert sells out every year, so don’t wait to snag your tickets. Call the SFAC at 971-3713 or go to sacfinearts.org The Sacramento Fine Arts Center is at 5330B Gibbons Drive in Carmichael.
The River City Chorale will take you straight to Broadway without an iota of air travel with its popular cabaret “Steppin’ Out on Broadway,” performing at the Serbian Church Hall in Fair Oaks at 2 and 4:30 p.m. on March 7 and 8
exhibit “Of Cottages and Castles: The Art of California Faience.” Tickets are $6 for museum and Capital Public Radio members, $10 for students and $12 for nonmembers. Call 808-1182 for tickets. If March has given you the munchies, don your bib and pull up a chair for the Crocker’s monthly Farm-to-Fork Wine Dinner from 6 to 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 19. Delectable farm-fresh local fare will be presented with wine pairings that are sure to make you swoon as you swill. Spots sell out fast, so call the Crocker Café by Supper Club for a reservation at 808-1289. Wondering what the wunderkind are up to these days? Check out music by the Camellia Juniors, the youth string ensemble from the Camellia Symphony Orchestra, from 11:30 a.m. to noon on Tuesday, March 31, in the Crocker’s historic ballroom. The concert is free for museum members and free with general admission for nonmembers. For information on all events, call 808-1182 or go to crockerartmuseum. org Crocker Art Museum is at 216 O St.
SWEET SUITE
Bring your most enthusiastic vocals to the Sacramento Symphonic Winds’ spring concert, “Suite Ol’ Broadway!” The sing-along is at 2:30 p.m. on WAX ON Sunday, March 15 at Crowne Plaza The new show at ARTHOUSE Sacramento Northeast. presents the whole ball of wax— The 60-piece orchestra led by Dr. literally. The show, entitled “The Les Lehr will perform selections Whole Ball of Wax: Artwork by including Robert Russell Bennett’s Members of Sierra Wax Artists,” will “Suite of Old American Dances” and a be on display from March 12 through Broadway sing-along including tunes April 7. from “The King and I,” “The Music In what is perhaps the largest Man,” “My Fair Lady” and more. display of wax art pieces you’ll ever Tickets are $15 for general see, the exhibit will feature encaustic, admission, $10 for students and cold wax and Ceracolors (or punic seniors, and free for children under wax) artwork utilizing a minimal 10. For tickets and more information, palette, repetitive imagery and layers call 489-2576 or go to sacwinds.org of translucent or opaque wax to create Crowne Plaza Sacramento both two- and three-dimensional Northeast is at 5321 Date Ave. abstractions. It’s a celebration of the truly endless possibilities of mixed OUT OF THIS WORLD media. Don’t miss the artist reception Travel the world, and back in time, from 4 to 6 p.m. on Saturday, March from your seat at the Sacramento 14. For more information, go to Community Concert Association’s arthouseonr.com performance at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, ARTHOUSE is upstairs at 1021 R March 14, featuring the Camerata St. in the Fox and Goose Pub House Capistrano Early Music Ensemble and building. the Sacramento State Jazz Ensemble
POETS AND THEY KNOW IT Whether you’re musically or rhythmically inclined, or both,
at Westminster Presbyterian Church. Part one of the program will feature repertoire from the 17th century to the German baroque to the late French composers, all performed by the immensely talented Camerata
Capistrano Early Music Ensemble, directed by Lorna Peters. The second part of the program will spotlight the skills of young jazz soloists who are part of the Sacramento State Jazz Ensemble. The students will perform music in a variety of styles, including swing, Latin, ballads and contemporary compositions directed by Steve Roach. For tickets and more information, call 400-4634 or go to sccaconcerts.org Westminster Presbyterian Church is at 1300 N St.
WINGS AND WINE If you love wildlife, and the wild life, be sure to check out “Wings and Wine 2015,� a benefit event for the Wildlife Care Association being held at High Hand Nursery in Loomis at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 7. The Wildlife Care Association is the only nonprofit organization in the Sacramento region that specifically caters to the care of injured wildlife such as birds that are hit by cars or fall from trees. Your ticket
includes light hors d’oeuvres and a complimentary glass of wine, as well as the chance to gaze at the beautiful birds of prey—owls, hawks, falcons and eagles—that the Wildlife Care Association saves on a daily basis. Tickets are $25 and are sold in advance only; no tickets will be sold at the door. For tickets and more information, call 652-2065 or go to highhand.com For more information on the Wildlife Care Association, go to wildlifecareassociation.com High Hand Nursery is at 3750 Taylor Road in Loomis.
“Many people are intimidated to call an architect and meet with them,� says Pam Whitehead of Sage Architecture, Inc. “This open house gives them the chance to talk with various architects in an informal atmosphere.�
This open house gives them the chance to talk with various architects in an informal atmosphere.�
BUILDING BONDS Are you curious about what hiring an architect entails? Residential Architects Showcase, presented by the local chapter of The American Institute of Architects, will give you a helpful head start on Saturday, March 14, from 5 to 8:30 p.m. at AIA Central Valley Gallery.
Chat with architects from several local firms who specialize in residential architecture and ask them all your burning questions about the process of turning your design daydreams into residential reality. AIA Central Valley Gallery is at 1400 S St. For more information, visit aiacv.org
DIY DESIGN Your green thumb will come in extra handy for the Relles Florist European Design Style Floral Bouquet class on Saturday, March 14 from 10-11:30 a.m.—it’s St. Patrick’s Day themed! Bring an apron and the knowledgeable staff at Relles will guide you through the making of your very own floral display piece, complete with tips and tricks on floral design and flower care, as well as all the tools and flora you’ll need. But don’t try your St. Patty’s Day luck— classes fill up fast, so register now at 441-1478. For more information, visit rellesflorist.com. Relles Florist is located at 2400 J Street. Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Please email items for consideration by the first of the month, at least one month in advance of the event. n
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The Magic Touch AKEBONO OWNER OPENS THIRD RESTAURANT; IT’S A WINNER
BY GREG SABIN RESTAURANT INSIDER
M
y wife and I have been going to Akebono, the Japanese restaurant on Freeport Boulevard, for years. In fact, we had our first date there. The sushi is some of the best in town, and the ramen stands up to the best in the country. It’s no surprise to find a line out the door there at almost any time of day. When I spoke with owner Sai Wong several years ago, I asked if he ever intended to open another restaurant. He said that he didn’t need the extra bother, that one restaurant was enough, and that he was worried about trying to be in two places at the same time. It was a familiar refrain that I’d heard from other restaurant owners throughout the years. Yet not long after that conversation, I learned that Wong planned to open a ramen shop in Midtown. I guess a man is allowed to change his mind. His second restaurant, RyuJin Ramen House, became a magnet for hungry Midtowners almost immediately after opening. The ramen is, if it’s possible, better than Akebono’s. Much like at Akebono, the service is speedy and polite, and the interior is clean, simple and absent of frills. After he opened his second restaurant, I though Wong might take a break. But not long after, he was looking at the years-vacant space across the street on 19th and S streets that used to be Sweetwater Restaurant & Bar. Apparently,
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Enjoy teppan okonomiyaki, a Japanese-style pancake with thinly sliced pork and vegetables, topped with ginger, bonito flakes, mayonnaise and katsu saice
staring at that empty storefront just yards from RyuJin’s front door was too much temptation for him. By last October, his third restaurant, Izakaya Daikoku, was up and running. Loosely translated, izakaya means sake house or pub, and Daikoku is a Japanese god associated with wealth. Put them together and you’ve got another successful enterprise for Sai Wong. Within weeks of its opening, locals were filling the seats at Izakaya for its hearty fare and vast array of sake.
The menu is diverse, the staff quick and friendly, the interior simple. If you’re not familiar with Japanese cuisine, especially the nonsushi side of the menu, a quick peek at the vast number of dishes offered at Izakaya might seem daunting. Don’t worry; here’s a beginner’s guide. First, almost everything on the menu is served in small, sharable portions. Plan on ordering four to six dishes for a party of two. Second, if you’re a trusting soul, just tell your server the kind of things you
like, and she’ll be happy to suggest dishes for you. Third, this is not a sushi restaurant. There’s sushi on the menu, but it’s more of an appeasement than an aspiration. Fourth, the menu is laid out in sections for easy perusal: rice and noodles, soups, okonomiyaki (more about this later), fish, yakitori (skewered grilled meats), otsumami (again, more later) and sushi. Let let’s break it down. Start with okonomiyaki. It’s a mouthful, in more ways than one.
The dining room at Izakaya Daikoku
Finish off your meal with homemade Earl Grey ice cream
A thick, savory pancake filled with vegetables and meats and topped with more than one creamy sauce, it comes to the table sizzling on a cast-iron platter and is dished out in steamy, pizzalike slices to each diner. Each okonomiyaki can be customized to the diner’s preference. This isn’t highfaultin dining or sophisticated cuisine. It’s late-night bar food, meant to be consumed when you're already a bit tipsy. It’s the Japanese equivalent of a 2 a.m. burrito or a bacon cheeseburger. It’s
filling, flavorful and just a little guilt inducing. The fish dishes at Izakaya are simple and straightforward. Typically a simple piece of grilled fish with a light sauce or condiment, these plates are small and shareable. They allow the quality of the fish to speak for itself. The yakitori are also simple treats. In addition to grilled chicken, there are options like chicken liver, beef tongue and chicken heart.
Finally, a word about otsumami. Loosely translated as bar snacks or drinking foods, otsumami is a collection of dishes meant to be snacked on while drinking beer or sake. Simple treats like fried chicken or breaded port cutlet share space on the menu with more intricate bites like fried fishcake and sauteed scallops. They’re small, salty bites to eat between sips and snippets of conversation. If you’re a lover of Japanese food but rarely find yourself going outside your sushi comfort zone, come spend some time at Izakaya Daikoku. Bring some friends and order enough dishes to cover the table. Throw back some sake and beer and catch up with old friends. This is pub dining from across the Pacific. Enjoy. Izakaya Daikoku is at 1901 S St.; 662-7337; izakayadaikoku.com Greg Sabin can be reached at gregsabin@hotmail.com n
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INSIDE’S
THEATRE GUIDE IN THE RED AND BROWN WATER
Thru March 14 Celebration Arts Theatre 4469 D St. Sac 455-2787 CelebrationArts.net This play has been described as “gritty coming-of-age stories,” about love, selfsacrifice and community. It is a tapestry of West African Yonuba cosmology, woven into a contemporary story, engaging audiences in exciting and unexpected ways as they follow Oya, a promising runner, hoping to make something of herself while struggling between duty and her dreams.
HAMLET THRILL-MA-GEDDON
March 4 – March 8 STC – Sacramento Theatre Co 1419 H St. Sac 446-7501 SacTheatre.org Lightning-quick, hilarious perversion of the greatest play in the English language. This light-hearted and hilarious play looks into how far a drama club will go to preserve theatre’s age-old mantra, “The show must go on.” To sell out, or not to sell out?
BUDDY: THE BUDDY HOLLY STORY
March 9 & March 10 Harris Center for the Arts 10 College Pkwy, Folsom 608-6888 Now in its 25th amazing year, the “World’s most successful rock ‘n’ roll musical” continues to thrill audiences on tour around the world. Features the class songs, “Peggy Sue”, “That’ll Be The Day”, “Not Fade Away”, “Oh Boy”, Ritchie Valens”, “La Bamba”, and many more.
ITALIAN OPERA
Thru March 22 California Stage Theatre 2509 R St. Sac 451-5822 Local writer, Leslie Lewinter-Suskind’s zany send-up Italian Opera roasts the art, the business and everything in between. A hilarious operetta will feature Michael RJ Campbell, and Elly Award winning actress Janet Motenko.
JULIUS CAESAR
Thru March 22 STC – Sacramento Theatre Co 1419 H St. Sac 446-7501 SacTheatre.org This history play concerns the conspiracy against the Roman dictator Julius Caesar, his assassination, and the defeat of the conspirators at the Battle of Philippi. STC’s production will apply a modern concept to this classic text: The Roman Republic was where money and politics were nearly synonymous, and comparisons between pre-Empire Rome and modern America are easy to make.
THE LYONS
Thru March 21 California Stage Theatre 2509 R St. Sac 223-9568 When Ben Lyon’s wife, Rita, and their grown children gather to say goodbye, they learn that despite being a family, each of them is utterly isolated. Afraid of closeness and afraid of solitude, Ben’s death becomes a catalyst that propels them into foreign territory: human connection.
EAR FILMS
March 19 – March 21 Mondavi Center, Vanderhoef Studio Theatre 9399 Old Davis Rd, Davis 530 754-2787 Audience members are blindfolded, the better to be fully immersed in the 3D sound and cinematic musical score used to create a hyperreal aural experience. Breathing a new life into the tradition of storytelling, EarFilms produced “films” using purely audio and each listener’s imagination. The FIRST EVER feature length EarFilm, embraces the imaginative potential of literature, empowering every listener to participate in the creative process, by filling in the blanks, directing the camera angles and painting with sound.
DIA DE LOS CUENTOS
Thru March 29 B Street Theatre 2711 B St. Sac 443-5300 BstreetTheatre.org This is a world premier show written by Jerry Montoya. This show includes four hilarious, touching and sometimes spooky classic folk tales that are brought to life with music and dance in celebration of California’s Hispanic influence.
Midtown
MIDTOWN
Jack’s Urban Eats
1800 L St. 447-9440
L D $ Full Bar Made-to-order comfort food in a casual setting • Jacksurbaneats.com
Aioli Bodega Espanola L D $$ Full Bar Patio Andalusian cuisine served in a casual European atmosphere
Biba Ristorante
2801 Capitol Ave. 455-2422 L D $$$ Full Bar Upscale Northern Italian
cuisine served a la carte • Biba-restaurant.com
Buckhorn Grill
1801 L St. 446-3757
L D $$ Wine/Beer A counter service restaurant with high-quality chicken, char-roasted beef, salmon, and entrée salads
Café Bernardo
2726 Capitol Ave. 443-1180 1431 R St. 930-9191
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Kasbah Lounge
2115 J St. 442-4388
D Full Bar $$ Middle Eastern cuisine in a Moroccan setting
Lucca Restaurant & Bar 1615 J St. 669-5300
L D Full Bar $$-$$$ Patio Mediterranean cuisine in a casual, chic atmosphere • Luccarestaurant.com
Moxie
2028 H St. 443-7585
D $$-$$$ Eclectic menu in a boutique neighborhood setting
B L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Patio Casual California cuisine with counter service
Mulvaney’s Building & Loan
Centro Cocina Mexicana
L D Full Bar $$$ Modern American cuisine in an upscale historic setting
2730 J St. 442-2552
1215 19th St. 441-6022
L D $$ Full Bar Patio Regional Mexican cooking served in a casual atmosphere • Paragarys.com
Old Soul Co.
Chicago Fire
B L D $ No table service at this coffee roaster and bakery, also serving creative artisanal sandwiches
D $$ Full Bar Chicago-style pizza, salads wings served in a family-friendly atmosphere • Chicagofirerestaurant.com
Paesano’s Pizzeria
2416 J St. 443-0440
Crepeville
1730 L St. 444-1100
B L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Outdoor Dining Crepes, omelets, salads, soups and sandwiches served in a casual setting
Ernesto’s Mexican Food 1901 16th St. 441-5850
B L D $-$$ Full Bar Outdoor Dining Fresh Mexican food served in an upscale, yet familyfriendly setting • Ernestosmexicanfood.com
1716 L St. 443-7685
1806 Capitol Ave. 447-8646
L D $$ Gourmet pizza, pasta, salads in casual setting • Paesanos.biz
Paragary’s Bar & Oven 1401 28th St. 457-5737
D $$ Full Bar Outdoor Patio California cuisine with an Italian touch • Paragarys.com
Suzie Burger
29th and P Sts. 455-3300
L D $ Classic burgers, cheesesteaks, shakes, chili dogs, and other tasty treats • suzieburger.com
58 Degrees & Holding Co.
The Streets of London Pub
L D $$$ Wine/Beer California cuisine served in a chic, upscale setting • 58degrees.com
L D $ Wine/Beer English Pub fare in an authentic casual atmosphere, 17 beers on tap
1217 18th St. 442-5858
Fox & Goose Public House 1001 R St. 443-8825
B L D $-$$ Wine/Beer English Pub favorites in an historic setting • Foxandgoose.com
Harlow’s Restaurant 2708 J Street 441-4693
L D $$ Full Bar Modern Italian/California cuisine with Asian inspirations • Harlows.com
Italian Importing Company
SUBMIT EVENTS TO ANIKO@INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM
1230 20th St. 444-0307
1827 J Street 442-6678
B L $ Italian food in a casual grocery setting
1804 J St. 498-1388
Tapa The World
2115 J St. 442-4353
L D $-$$ Wine/Beer/Sangria Spanish/world cuisine in a casual authentic atmosphere, live flamenco music - tapathewworld.com
Thai Basil Café
2431 J St. 442-7690
L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Patio Housemade curries among their authentic Thai specialties Thaibasilrestaurant.com
Art Preview GALLERY ART SHOWS IN MARCH
Narrative Space: Drawings and Paintings by Joy Bertinuson and Patricia Wood will be a view until March 12 at the James Kaneko Gallery at American River College on 4700 College Oak Drive. Shown right: Sideshow by Joy Bertinuson. Visit Joybertinuson.com
ARTHOUSE on R presents The Whole Ball of Wax, a Sierra Wax Artists Membership Show. Exhibit runs March 12 - April 7. Shown left: Rise by Dawn Blanchfield. Visit arthouseonr.com
Twenty five high school students will show their best at the Mira Loma High School 2015 IB Art Show at the Sacramento Fine Arts Center from March 10 - 21. Shown right: Momentary Expression, watercolor by Katie Carson. 5330B Gibbons Drive, Carmichael
Red Dot Gallery presents a theme-oriented group exhibition called Common Threads: New/ Recent Work by Linda Welch, Melanie Bown and Stephen Schumm. Shown above: There’s Always More, a mixed-media by Melanie Bown. 2231 J Street, Ste. 101
Helen Jones Gallery presents the works of Sergey Smirnov (1953 - 2006.) Show runs through March. Shown above: "Scheherazade", mixed media on canvas by Smirov. Visit helenjonesgallery.com
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French-inspired pastries, cakes and breads handcrafted on-site every morning by artisan bakers and chefs!
FRIDAYS Doughnut Day &
SUNDAY Croixnut Day (flavor changes every week)
$25/PERSON Set menu includes: tea sandwiches, assorted pastries, macaroon, tarts and choice of organic tea (reservation required)
B R E W I N G C O M PA N Y S a c r a m e n t o ,
FRENCH TEA SERVICE
C a l i f .
Located on the corner of 9th & K in downtown Sacramento Mon-Fri 7-5, Sat-Sun 8-4 | 551-1500 | info@estellspatisserie.com
Gung Hay Fat Choy! Celebrate the Year of the Ram & Your Birthday!
The Coconut Midtown
Clark's Corner Restaurant
L D $-$$ Beer/Wine Food with Thai Food Flair
L D Full Bar $$ American cuisine in a casual historic setting
The Waterboy
Clubhouse 56
L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Patio Fine South of France and northern Italian cuisine in a chic neighborhood setting • waterboyrestaurant.com
BLD Full Bar $$ American cuisine. HD sports, kid's menu, beakfast weekends
2502 J Street 440-1088 Lunch Delivery M-F and Happy Hour 4-6
2000 Capitol Ave. 498-9891
Zocolo
1801 Capitol Ave. 441-0303
L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Patio Regional Mexican cuisine served in an authentic artistic setting • zocolosacramento.com
5641 J St.
723 56th. Street 454-5656
Evan’s Kitchen 855 57th St. 452-3896
B L D Wine/Beer $$ Eclectic California cuisine served in a family-friendly atmosphere, Kid’s menu, winemaker dinners • Chefevan.com
Español
EAST SAC If you were born in February or March, bring in your birthday party of 2 or more and receive a FREE* entrée! Buy one entrée and get a second (of equal or lesser value) FREE! Plus, the birthday person gets a complimentary slice of our famous banana cream pie.
33rd Street Bistro
3301 Folsom Blvd. 455-2233
B L D $$ Full Bar Patio Pacific Northwest cuisine in a casual bistro setting
Burr's Fountain 4920 Folsom Blvd. 452-5516
Chinese Lunar Year 4713 • Year of the Ram
Fat’s Asia Bistro Roseville 916-787-3287 • Folsom 916-983-1133 • www.fatsbistro.com *May not be combined with any other offer. Proof of birthday required. Limit 3 birthday discounts per table. Maximum discount $16. Not valid at Fat City/Frank Fat's. Valid 2/1-3/31/2015. Dine in only. Tax and gratuity not included.
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ILP MAR n 15
B L D $ Fountain-style diner serving burgers, sandwiches, soup and ice cream specialties
Cabana Winery & Bistro 5610 Elvas 476-5492
LD $$ Wine tasting and paired entrees. Sunday Brunch 10 - 2. • cabanawine.com
5723 Folsom Blvd. 457-3679
L D Full Bar $-$$ Classic Italian cuisine served in a traditional family-style atmosphere
Formoli's Bistro
3839 J St. 448-5699
B L D Wine/Beer Patio $$ Mediterranean influenced cuisine in a neighborhood setting
Italian Stallion
3260B J St. 449-8810
L D $-$$ Thin-Crust Pizza, Deserts and Beer in an intimate setting and popular location
La Trattoria Bohemia 3649 J St. 455-7803
L D Wine/Beer $-$$ Italian and Czech specialties in a neighborhood bistro setting
Les Baux
5090 Folsom Blvd. 739-1348
BLD $ Wine/Beer Unique boulangerie, café & bistro serving affordable delicious food/drinks all day long • lesbauxbakery.com
Fat City Bar & Cafe 1001 Front St. 446-6768
D $$-$$$ Full Bar American cuisine served in a casual historic Old Sac location • Fatsrestaurants. com
Opa! Opa!
The Firehouse Restaurant
L D Wine/Beer $ Fresh Greek cuisine in a chic, casual setting, counter service
L D $$$ Full Bar Global and California cuisine in an upscale historic Old Sac setting • Firehouseoldsac.com
5644 J St. 451-4000
Nopalitos
5530 H St. 452-8226
B L $ Wine/Beer Southwestern fare in a casual diner setting
Selland's Market Cafe 5340 H St. 473-3333
B L D $$-$$$ Wine/Beer High quality handcrafted food to eat in or take out, wine bar
1112 Second St. 442-4772
Frank Fat’s
806 L St. 442-7092
L D Full Bar $$-$$$ Chinese favorites in an elegant setting • Fatsrestaurants.com
Il Fornaio
400 Capitol Mall 446-4100
L D Full Bar $$$ Fine Northern Italian cuisine in a chic, upscale atmosphere • Ilfornaio.com
Grange
926 J Street • 492-4450
B L D Full Bar $$$ Simple, seasonal, soulful • grangerestaurant.com
Hock Farm Craft & Provision 1415 L St. 440-8888
L D $$-$$ Full Bar Celebration of the region's rich history and bountiful terrain • Paragarys.com
Star Ginger
3101 Folsom Blvd. 231-8888
Asian Grill and Noodle Bar • starginger.com
Thai Palace Restaurant 3262 J St. 446-5353
L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Authentic Thai cuisine in a casual setting
McCormick & Schmick’s Seafood Restaurant 1111 J St. 442-8200
L D $$ Full Bar Upscale seafood, burgers in a clubby atmosphere • Mccormickandschmicks.com
Mikuni Japanese Restaurant and Sushi Bar 1530 J St. 447-2112
DOWNTOWN
L D Full Bar $$-$$$ Japanese cuisine served in an upscale setting • Mikunisushi.com
400 L St. 321-9522
Morton’s Steakhouse
Foundation
L D $$ Full Bar American cooking in an historic atmosphere • foundationsacramento.com
Chops Steak Seafood & Bar 1117 11th St. 447-8900
621 Capitol Mall #100 442-50
D $$$ Full Bar Upscale American steakhouse • Mortons.com
Parlaré Eurolounge
L D $$$ Full Bar Steakhouse serving dry-aged prime beef and fresh seafood in an upscale club atmosphere • Chopssacramento.com
10th & J Sts. 448-8960
Downtown & Vine
Rio City Café
1200 K Street #8 228-4518
Educational tasting experience of wines by the taste, flight or glass • downtownandvine.com
Ella Dining Room & Bar 1131 K St. 443-3772
L D $$$ Full Bar Modern American cuisine served family-style in a chic, upscale space • Elladiningroomandbar.com
D $$ Full Bar Relax with drinks and dinner in this stylish downtown space
1110 Front St. Old Sac 442-8226
L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Seasonal menu of favorites in a setting overlooking river • Riocitycafe.com
Ten 22
Easter Passover &
Specials
Old-Fashioned Lamb Cake l Easter Basket Cake Lemon Zinger l Coconut Layer Cake Honey Bee l Carrot Cake l Passover Roulade CakePops l Cupcakes l Cookies
1022 Second St. 441-2211
L D Wine/Beer $$ American bistro favorites with a modern twist in a casual, Old Sac setting ten22oldsac.com
Esquire Grill 1213 K St. 448-8900
L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Outdoor Dining Upscale American fare served in an elegant setting • Paragarys.com
Estelle's Patisserie
901 K St. 916-551-1500 L D $$-$$$ French-inspired Bakery serving fresh pastry & desserts, artisan breads and handcrafted sandwiches. EstellesPatisserie.com
2966 Freeport Blvd. l 442-4256 l Visit freeportbakery.com Please order for Easter by Wed. April lst ILP n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM
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LAND PARK
Ettore’s
Casa Garden Restaurant
B L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Patio European-style gourmet café with salads, soup, spit-roasted chicken, desserts in a bistro setting • Ettores.com
2760 Sutterville Road 452-2809
L D $$ • D with minimum diners call to inquire $$ Wine/Beer. Elegantly presented American cuisine. Operated by volunteers to benefit Sacramento Children's Home. Small and large groups. Reservations recommended • casagardenrestaurant.org
Freeport Bakery
2966 Freeport Blvd. 442-4256
B L $ Award-winning baked goods and cakes for eat in or take out • Freeportbakery.com
Iron Grill
SATURDAY – MARCH 21, 2015 - 2pm to 5pm Turn Verein Hall - 3349 “J” Street Sacramento, CA 95816
Buy Tickets ON-LINE at: https://www.eventbrite.com/ (search brewfest) All tickets include: UNLIMITED brew tastings, souvenir cup, BrewFest guide; (while supplies last), & Live Music TICKETS: $30 at the door - $25 ON-LINE - VIP TICKETS - $45 FEATURING OVER 100 DIFFERENT BEERS INCLUDING…..
Belgian Ales, IPA’s, Lagers, Pale Ales, Pilsners, Porters, Stouts, Strong Ale, Wheat Beers, WIT’s, Dubbel’s, Tripel’s, Quadrupel’s, Ciders and more.
For the latest BrewFest updates please visit our website: www.capcitybeerfest.com NO refunds - NO exchanges - NO exceptions All attendees must be 21+ w/ valid ID - NO exceptions
13th Street and Broadway 737-5115
L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Upscale neighborhood steakhouse • Ironsteaks.com
Jamie's Bar and Grill
427 Broadway 442-4044
L D $ Full Bar Featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Dine in or take out since 1986
Riverside Clubhouse
2633 Riverside Drive 448-9988
L D $$ Full Bar Upscale American cuisine served in a contemporary setting • Riversideclubhouse.com
Taylor's Kitchen
2924 Freeport Boulevard 443-5154
D $$S Wine/Beer Dinner served Wed. through Saturday. Reservations suggested.
Tower Café
1518 Broadway 441-0222
Remember Or Honor A Loved One
Adopt-A-Garden
B L D $$ Wine/Beer International cuisine with dessert specialties in a casual setting
Willie's Burgers
2415 16th St.444-2006
$195 with 2” x 4” Marker $800 for 5 Years $1,500 for 10 Years Donations support garden maintenance. No physical work is required.
Please mail donations to: Friends of East Sacramento 3104 O Street #222 Sac., CA 95816
Friendsofeastsac@aol.com Visit friendsofeastsac.org
Call 452-8011
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ILP MAR n 15
Jack’s Urban Eats
2535 Fair Oaks Blvd. 481-5225 L D $ Full Bar Made-to-order comfort food in a casual setting • Jacksurbaneats.com
The Kitchen
2225 Hurley Way 568-7171
D $$$ Wine/Beer Five-course gourmet demonstration dinner by reservation only • Thekitchenrestaurant.com
La Rosa Blanca Taqueria 3032 Auburn Blvd. 484-0139 2813 Fulton Ave. 484-6104
L D Full Bar $$-$$ Fresh Mexican food served in a colorful family-friendly setting
Leatherby’s Family Creamery 2333 Arden Way 920-8382
L D $ House-made ice cream and specialties, soups and sandwiches
Lemon Grass Restaurant 601 Munroe St. 486-4891
L D $$ Full Bar Patio Vietnamese and Thai cuisine in a casual yet elegant setting
Matteo's Pizza
5132 Fair Oaks. Blvd. 779-0727
L D Beer/Wine $$ Neighborhood gathering place for pizza, pasta and grill dishes
The Mandarin Restaurant 4321 Arden Way 488-47794
D $$-$$$ Full Bar Gourmet Chineses food for 32 years • Dine in and take out
Roma's Pizzeria & Pasta
L D $ Great burgers and more. Open until 3 am weekends
6530 Fair Oaks Blvd. 488-9800
ARDENCARMICHAEL
Roxy
Andaloussia
Annual Donation:
2376 Fair Oaks Blvd. 482-0708
L D $$ Traditional Italian pizza & pasta Family Friendly Catering + Team Parties • romas-pizzaand-pasta.com
2381 Fair Oaks Blvd. 489-2000
B L D $$-$$$ Full Bar American cuisine with a Western touch in a creative upscale atmosphere
1537 Howe Ave. 927-1014 L D $-$$ Authentic Moroccan cuisine, lunch &
Ristorante Piatti
dinner specials, belly dancing weekends • bestmoroccanfood.com
L D $$ Full Bar Contemporary Italian cuisine in a casually elegant setting
Bella Bru Café
Sam's Hof Brau
571 Pavilions Lane 649-8885
5038 Fair Oaks Blvd. 485-2883
2500 Watt 482-2175
B L D $-$$ Full Bar Espresso, omelettes, salads, table service from 5 -9 p.m. • bellabrucafe.com
L D $$ Wine/Beer Fresh quality meats roasted daily • thehofbrau.com
Café Vinoteca
Thai House
L D $$ Full Bar Italian bistro in a casual setting • Cafevinoteca.com
L D $$ Wine/Beer Featuring the great taste of Thai traditional specialties • sacthaihouse.com
3535 Fair Oaks Blvd. 487-1331
Chinois City Café
3535 Fair Oaks Blvd. 485-8690
L D $$ Full Bar Asian-influenced cuisine in a casual setting • Chinoiscitycafe.com
427 Munroe in Loehmann's 485-3888
Willie's Burgers
5050 Fair Oaks Blvd. 488-5050L D $ Great burgers and more n
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MIDTOWN
SIERRRA OAKS
NATOMAS
ELK GROVE
FAIR OAKS
FOLSOM
2014 CAPITOL AVE. #100 SACRAMENTO, CA 95811 916.227.8155
3620 FAIR OAKS BLVD #300 SACRAMENTO, CA 95864 916.609.2800
2081 ARENA BLVD. #100 SACRAMENTO, CA 95834 916.285.1000
9280 W. STOCKTON BLVD #111 ELK GROVE, CA 95758 916.405.5200
5252 SUNRISE BLVD. #6 FAIR OAKS, CA 95628 916.537.2400
2340 E. BIDWELL STREET FOLSOM, CA 95630 916.948.8778
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Coldwell Banker
#1 IN CALIFORNIA
SPECTACULAR RESIDENCE AT RIVERBEND Within minutes to downtown & American River Parkway. Approx 3,009 SF, 5 beds plus den, soaring ceilings, separate family rm & fireplace, fabulous Master St, hardwood/tile flooring & new interior/exterior paint! $449,000 MAGGIE SEKUL 341-7812 CaBRE#: 01296369
RIVER PARK! Charming 3 bed, 1 bath, large lot and RV/Boat access. $395,000 MIKE OWNBEY 616-1607 CaBRE#: 01146313
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION! IT'S HOLLYWOOD...PARK! This 2bd/1ba Labor of Love has a Zen-like yard w/bonus studio/office & bath. Stainless counters, handmade glass backsplash & stained concrete flrs. One might call it California Conscious w/its drought tolerant landscape both front & rear. $349,000 JEANINE ROZA & SINDY KIRSCH 548-5799 or 730-7705 CaBRE#: 01365413/01483907 PARKVIEW ESTATES! Terrific 3 bd/2.5 ba single-story hme w/great flrplan. Fresh paint, new flring, updtd kitch w/granite cnters, frml living/dining rm w/blt-in hutch, fam rm w/vaulted ceilings & brick frplce w/insert. Remote office w/cabinets & 1/2 bath. Backyard w/ covered patio. 3 car garage. $389,900 PALOMA BEGIN 6288561 CaBRE#: 01254423
MIDTOWN LIVING! This Marshall School neighborhood inverted-loft, free-standing 1920 hm is ready for new owners! 2bds/2ba w/wrap-around porch. STEPH BAKER 775-3447 CaBRE#: 01402254
CUTE COTTAGE! Many updates. Granite counter & new cabinets in kitch, lovely doors thu-out, enclosed patio & lovely yard plus. $419,000 SUE OLSON 601-8834 CaBRE#: 00784986
THE L STREET LOFTS! City living w/concierge, quality finishes! 3 unique flr plans From the mid $400,000’s. Models Open W-M, 10a-5p. LStreetLofts.com MICHAEL ONSTEAD 601-5699 CaBRE#: 01222608
WONDERFUL LOCATION! Greenhaven/Pocket area. VERY affordable 2 bedroom 1 bathroom condo. Perfect for 1st time buyers! Lovely patio entry, living room (with access to the patio), dining area, & cute galley kitchen. $125,000 BOB LYSTRUP 628-5357 CaBRE#: 00991041
LAND PARK ESTATES Fabulous 2 story, 4bd/2.5ba custom built hm just around the corner from Park Terrace Swim Club. 3 car garage. $685,000 SUE OLSON 601-8834 CaBRE#: 00784986
CURTIS PARK URBAN BUNGALOW! Rare 2bd/1.5ba beauty w/recently updtd bathrms & kitchen. Refinished flrs, carport & easy access to light rail & dwntwn! STEFFAN BROWN 717-7217 CaBRE#: 01882787 CURTIS PARK COLONIAL CRAFTSMAN! Magnificent & spacious 4bd/2 bth w/all the vintage charm intact. Updtd Kitchen/baths & family rm for modern living. $649,000 STEFFAN BROWN 717-7217 CaBRE#: 01882787
STUNNING SLP REMODEL! 3bed/3ba, 2000/sqft+-, open floor plan, chef's kitchen, fam rm, 2 car garage, gorgeous yrd, close to the Zoo. $659,900 PALOMA BEGIN 628-8561 CaBRE#: 01254423
HOLLYWOOD PARK! Terrific 2 bed/1 bath Hollywood Park home with a fantastic “Chef’s” Kitchen. $269,000 DEBBIE TOWNE 532-2652 CaBRE#: 01305405 CUSTOM DUPLEX! Joined by separate 2 car garage. Each home is 3bd/2ba, approx 1800sqft (per seller) every thing on the .37 of an acre has been remodeled. $695,000 JAN LEVIN 341-7883 CaBRE#: 00672462
GRANGER’S DAIRY! This stately 4bd/3ba brick hm is on a .27 acre lot. Built-in pool, covered patio w/BBQ area & 3 car tandem garage. $815,000 SUE OLSON 601-8834 CaBRE#: 00784986
STUNNING REMODEL! 2/2 in Woodlake. Move in ready! Living room with fireplace, remodeled kitchen and baths. Bonus office/family room. $285,000 WENDI REINL 206-8709 CaBRE#: 01314052
SPANISH-STYLE COTTAGE IN CURTIS PARK! Located in great neighborhood! Offers a warming fireplace, formal dining room, brkfst nook, and large garage. STEPH BAKER 775-3447 CaBRE#: 01402254
METRO OFFICE 730 Alhambra Boulevard, Sacramento 916.447.5900
RIVERLAKE JEWEL! 3/4 bdrm, 3 rmdld baths, updtd kitch w/6-burner gas stove, granite/quartz cntertops, fam rm w/1 of 2 frplcs, living/dining, Brazilian cherry hrdwd/carpet/tile flrs including heated master bath flring. Concrete tile roof (2010), rmdld master deck, 4-car tandem garage, renovated lndscping. $595,000 SABRA SANCHEZ 508-5313 CaBRE#: 01820635
DESIRABLE LOCATION! Great street and lot size. Good starter home w/2bd, converted garage, HVAC, lrg patio & a lovely backyard. $310,000 SUE OLSON 601-8834 CaBRE#: 00784986
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