Inside Pocket Aug 2020 by Inside Publications

AUGUST 2020

POCKET

CAROL JONG

POCKET • GREENHAVEN • SOUTH POCKET • LITTLE POCKET • RIVERLAKE • DELTA SHORES Our Other Editions Serve: East Sacramento • Land Park/Grid • Arden/Carmichael

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PENDING

676 Castle River Way - $419,000 CLOSE TO SACRAMENTO RIVER. Quiet Greenhaven Pocket neighborhood. 3 bed 2 bath home with open ﬂoor plan featuring vaulted ceilings and skylights. TINA SUTER 916-247-9262 DRE-01972926 TIM COLLOM 916-247-8048 DRE-01304855

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6 Morningsun Court - $535,000 GORGEOUS KITCHEN REMODEL. Granite counter tops, stainless steel sink, reﬁnished cabinets. 3 or 4 beds, 2 remodeled baths. Original owner. Covered patio, greenhouse, fountain. MONA GERGEN 916-247-9555 DRE-01270375

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548 Shaw River Way - $501,500 REMODELED CUSTOM HARRIS BUILT HOME 3 bed 2 bath Greenhaven home with beautiful kitchen with new quartz counter tops, laminate ﬂoors and stainless steel appliances. Three ovens MONA GERGEN 916-247-9555 DRE-01270375

PENDING

9061 Weeping Fig Way - $450,000 LAGUNA PARK VILLAGE IN ELK GROVE. Single story 4 bed 2 bath with new interior and exterior paint, designer carpet, reﬁnished white cabinets. Spectacular pool. Wood pellet stove ﬁreplace. MONA GERGEN 916-247-9555 DRE-01270375

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PENDING

884 Green Moss Drive – $605,000 INCREDIBLE REMODELED POCKET HOME. 4 bed 2½ bath, gorgeous kitchen with new white cabinets, quartz counters. Engineered wood ﬂoors, new paint in and out, stone ﬁreplace. MONA GERGEN 916-247-9555 DRE-01270375

SOLD

7316 Flowerwood Way - $500,000 HEART OF GREENHAVEN POCKET. 4 bed 3 bath, large living room, updated white cabinet kitchen with granite countertops, many recent updates and featured in Red Hot Design on FYI! JULIANNE PARK 916-541-8403 DRE-01999740

SOLD

6541 Driftwood Street – $518,000 AMAZING BRICK HOME. 3 bed 2 bath home within the Didion School boundaries. Dual pane windows, French doors. ¾ thick Brazilian maple hardwood ﬂoors, two ﬁreplaces, stainless steel appliances. MONA GERGEN 916-247-9555 DRE-01270375

PENDING

4641 Hillview Way - $899,000 IN THE HILLS OF SOUTH LAND PARK. Spacious 3 or 4 bed 2½ bath homes sits on a .32 acre lot with pool. Kitchen island, mini bar, Viking appliances. Finished basement. AMANDA ZIMMERMAN 916-834-6711 DRE-02072145

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EVERY DAY IS A GOOD DAY TO MAKE YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD A BET TER PL ACE. AUGUST 2020

AUGUST 2020

EAST SAC

SUZANNE MURRAY

ARDEN

AUGUST 2020

LAND PARK/GRID

POCKET

PATRICIA PRENDERGAST

CAROL JONG

SUZANNE MURRAY

LESLIE MCCARRON

KATHY DANA

EAST SACRAMENTO • McKINLEY PARK • RIVER PARK • ELMHURST • TAHOE PARK • CAMPUS COMMONS

ARDEN • ARCADE • SIERRA OAKS • WILHAGGIN • DEL PASO MANOR • CARMICHAEL

LAND PARK • CURTIS PARK • HOLLYWOOD PARK • SOUTH LAND PARK • THE GRID • OAK PARK

POCKET • GREENHAVEN • SOUTH POCKET • LITTLE POCKET • RIVERLAKE • DELTA SHORES

Our Other Editions Serve: Land Park/Grid • Arden/Carmichael • Pocket

Our Other Editions Serve: East Sacramento • Land Park/Grid • Pocket VISIT OUR WEBSITE: INSIDESACRAMENTO.COM 3104 O ST. #120 • SACRAMENTO, CA 95816

Our Other Editions Serve: East Sacramento • Arden/Carmichael • Pocket

VISIT OUR WEBSITE: INSIDESACRAMENTO.COM 3104 O ST. #120 • SACRAMENTO, CA 95816

Our Other Editions Serve: East Sacramento • Land Park/Grid • Arden/Carmichael

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

VISIT OUR WEBSITE: INSIDESACRAMENTO.COM 3104 O ST. #120 • SACRAMENTO, CA 95816

VISIT OUR WEBSITE: NSIDE ACRAMENTO.COM 3104 O ST. #120 • SACRAMENTO, CA 95816

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

COVER ARTIST

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

info@insidepublications.com

CAROL JONG Carol Jong is a Sacramento artist who works in an abstract, impressionistic style. She explores mixed media using acrylic paint, oil stick and alcohol ink. Her greatest inspiration is the joy and beauty art lends to the world. Shown: “Stellar EPO,” acrylic and oil stick on canvas, 36 inches by 36 inches, in a private collection. Jong can be reached at pjoliver123@gmail.com.

PUBLISHER Cecily Hastings EDITOR Cathryn Rakich editor@insidepublications.com PRODUCTION M.J. McFarland DESIGN Cindy Fuller PHOTOGRAPHY Linda Smolek, Aniko Kiezel AD COORDINATION Michele Mazzera, Julie Foster DISTRIBUTION Sue Pane Sue@insidepublications.com ACCOUNTING Daniel Nardinelli, COO daniel@insidepublications.com

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AUGUST 2020 VOL. 7 • ISSUE 7 6 8 10 12 18 19 20 21 22 25 28 30 32 34 36 38

Publisher's Desk Pocket Life Reform, Not Defund Out & About Pocket Beat Voices Heard Brave New World I Can't Breathe Building Our Future Open House Farm To Fork Garden Jabber Open Studio Restaurant Insider Spirit Matters Off The Streets

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Reboot, Rethink

CRISES BRING TIME FOR INTROSPECTION AND GROWTH

n the past five months, two lifechanging events rocked the world. COVID-19 brought serious health challenges and is still taking far too many lives. The virus exposed our vulnerabilities, from hospital capacities to assisted-living safety protocols. Also exposed were the slender margins of our economic system. Then came the horrendous murder of George Floyd and the mobilization of the Black Lives Matter movement. Millions peacefully protested against racial injustice in our city, state and nation.

CH By Cecily Hastings Publisher’s Desk

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These generational events have produced incredible displays of togetherness. The challenges have led many of us to re-examine our personal, business and civic lives. Our publishing business has been upended. The many small business advertisers who support bringing you Inside Sacramento each month are still reeling from closures. Many are gone forever. Our publishing model is unique. We don’t have a top-down editorial management structure that defines traditional news organizations. We don’t have reporters and photographers waiting for stories to break. Instead, our model relies on 100 percent local and original content. The stories you read in Inside “bubble up” from the community. Our freelance writers are independent. A small editorial team, working from home, manages the content. Our writers are chosen based upon their local expertise and ability to

write meaningfully about what they know best. This includes folks who specialize in arts, community and volunteer activities, development and neighborhood planning, transportation, food, gardening and local politics. They typically follow their own leads and develop their own stories. This approach provides a place for local voices and opinions unheard elsewhere. In an endless news cycle, our approach is different. It might be described as “slow news.” Since we rarely “break” news, our content involves unique stories built over time and presented with insight, analysis and—when appropriate—opinion. For example, I have received resoundingly positive responses from our focus on Sacramento’s homeless crisis. In May 2019, I wrote a column called “Is Sacramento Dying?” It laid out the utter failure of leaders in Seattle to prevent large numbers of people from living on the streets and wreaking havoc on the city’s neighborhoods. The column

drew comparisons between Seattle and our city. The response was so overwhelming that I vowed to present a different voice on the homeless problem each month until it is solved in Sacramento. (A longterm project for sure!) Our approach was designed to help local citizens and elected officials better understand the root causes of homelessness—addiction, mental illness and family breakdown. We try to present perspectives not often heard. We want to expose policies that don’t work and even make things worse. COVID-19 has added another layer to the crisis. This month, we feature an article on the process of converting the Hotel Berry into a homeless shelter. The protests to end racism inspired us to expand our freelance network and introduce new writers. This month, we are announcing a new program to recruit community journalists, especially writers of color who bring knowledge of neighborhoods

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SACCDS.ORG/APPLY traditionally overlooked by media. Our effort is modeled on the Oakland and Sacramento Voices programs created by the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. Look for details inside this edition. In recent months, Black Lives Matter organizers have advocated the idea of “defunding the police.” Since policing is primarily a local function, we want to provide a diversity of voices on the wisdom or folly of this idea. In researching this issue, I found many African American voices that oppose defunding on the grounds that the absence of police would hurt minority communities. There are many ways to reform and improve police departments. We will examine them in months ahead. Social media and cable news never stop. Sadly, they often amplify the most angry, strident and politically divisive voices and ideas. Many people have come to rely on politicized commentators to tell them how to think. This has created a deep political divide in our country, fracturing civil discourse and threatening free speech, cultural tolerance and diversity. A friend recently noted that since we are all individuals with different backgrounds and experiences, our opinions should not be seen as right or

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wrong—but rather like the multiple facets of a diamond. America’s Founders knew free speech and the exchange of opinions was the best way to test ideas and make policy. Our community is suffering from a polarizing public health crisis, an equity and social justice crisis and an economic crisis. We want to use Inside Sacramento to encourage our readers to engage in conversation and debate. Progress won’t come from bullying and censorship. Progress requires listening, thinking, debating and trying to find common ground.

You’ve been through g a lot this year. y You owe yourself a WHOLE CAKE ...maybe two. Shhh, we won’t tell.

SUPPORT INSIDE Please sign up for our Inside Sacramento weekly newsletter, with even more local news than we deliver in print. And consider an Inside membership, staring at $19.95 a year. Visit insidesacramento.com/shop. And TAKE THE 100% LOCAL PLEDGE! Cecily Hastings can be reached at publisher@insidesacramento.com. Previous columns can be read and shared at InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram: @insidesacramento.com. n

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landscapes. She always had an interest in art, but retirement and lockdowns gave her time to buckle down. Carle is a cancer survivor. Art is therapeutic. Her favorite medium is oils and acrylics. “I started doing paintings of my family’s pets as gifts for them. Then friends asked me to paint pets who had recently passed away. I’m gratified that my artwork is part of the healing process for all of us,” Carle says. She’s completed more than 30 pet paintings and is eager to do more. To see her work, you’ll have to visit her home gallery. Carle occasionally posts photos of her art pieces on Etsy and she’s considering participating in the city’s Open Studio program next year. Contact her at tcarle3753@ sbcglobal.net.

Gerry O’Callaghan Photo by Aniko Kiezel

RIDE-BY BIRTHDAY

Connecting With Neighbors CIGAR BOX GUITARS LIGHT UP THEIR FANS

ith large gatherings prohibited and most events canceled, I look forward to my daily walk. I venture through different neighborhoods and explore new scenery. I see familiar people and greet others for the first time. Let’s meet some interesting Pocket neighbors. I never heard of a cigar box guitar until I stopped at the Free Little Library outside the home of Cristina and Gerry O’Callaghan. My mission was to drop off books and borrow a new one. I was surprised when O’Callaghan came out of his garage to show me his newest creation—a three-string cigar box guitar. “Last March, I came across a chat forum about making cigar box guitars,”

CM By Corky Mau Pocket Life

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he says. “I was intrigued after I saw a video of Paul McCartney playing one.” Making a simple chordophone didn’t look too difficult. O’Callaghan, a native of Liverpool, England, thought it would be fun. After snagging some boxes from his cigar-loving friends, he was hooked. Cigar boxes were invented around 1840. One day, someone decided an empty cigar box could be recycled into an instrument—and the cigar box guitar was born. In the Great Depression, the boxes were popular sources of music. Music legends with cigar box guitars include Jimi Hendrix, Carl Perkins and Bo Diddley. Early versions had one or two strings. Modern instruments have three or more strings. Typically, the strings are connected to a broomstick or a 1-by-3-inch wood slat and the cigar box resonator. “Six strings are too complicated for an old geezer like me, so I make them with three strings,” O’Callaghan says. He customizes each guitar, usually based on the box label. The guitar he showed me was fashioned from a My Father Cigars box, considered a premium cigar brand. It’s a birthday present for his daughter.

If you want to learn more about cigar box guitars, contact O’Callaghan at gtoc54@yahoo.com. Yes, he’ll accept donated boxes. And don’t forget to ask about his connection to another Liverpudlian named McCartney.

HEALING ART Longtime Pocket resident Teresa Carle has rediscovered her love for painting animals and California

Masayuki “Mas” Hatano celebrated his 92nd year with a drive-by birthday greeting. But this party was more rideby than drive-by. Many bicyclists, some riding from Carmichael and Fair Oaks, rode by ACC Greenhaven Terrace to greet Hatano. Michele Fortes, a retired UC Davis professor, organized the outdoor gathering. “For many years, Mas talked to my students about the Japanese internment experience. He told me his social life was pretty minimal due to the coronavirus. So I thought he’d enjoy a birthday celebration,” Fortes says. Hatano has lived in the Sacramento region almost all his life, except for three years he and his family were incarcerated at Tule Lake. “I was 14 when we left our Loomis home. At first I thought it was going to be a fun adventure. But it was no fun to live in crowded wood barracks, surrounded by barbed wire and guard towers,” he says. He’s given dozens of talks to

Teresa Carle Photo by Aniko Kiezel

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schoolchildren about his internment years. His secret for staying healthy is all about moving. He stayed active long after he retired from state employment. He pursued biking and travel, often in combination. “In my 70s, I annually biked over 7,000 miles in California and around the world,” he says. “I loved leading bike tours throughout Asia.” When he wasn’t biking, he volunteered for more than 20 years at the California Railroad Museum and California History Museum. Wishing Mas many more happy birthdays!

residents to support Vientos Mexican Cocina, a Pocket landmark. He put the word out on Nextdoor and Facebook’s The Capital Eats Local. If you visit Vientos, leave a comment on social media for Chris. He’d like to hear from you. Corky Mau can be reached at corky. sue50@gmail.com. Submissions are due six weeks prior to the publication month. Previous columns can be found and shared at the all-new InsideSacramento. com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n

TEEN SERVICE PROJECTS Twin brothers Sean and Chris Fetros have spearheaded community projects in recent months. The boys just finished eighth grade at Cal Middle School. A requirement for their leadership class was to develop a service plan. Sean held a pet food drive for the Butte County Humane Society and Sacramento SPCA. Chris’ project encourages

Masayuki “Mas” Hatano

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Reform,

Not Defund POLICING MUST CHANGE—HERE’S HOW

BY ALLEN WARREN

frican American communities believe policing is prone to abuse. They distrust police. All too often, African Americans put all police in one box labeled, “The police are generally bad for Black people.” However, not all officers are bad. Good officers get painted with the same brush as bad officers.

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The opinions African Americans hold about police are generally based on firsthand and perceived experiences. These opinions continue because members of the African American community often know little about the individuals who police them, about the police department or about law enforcement procedures. In many cases, African Americans cannot distinguish one officer from another. A recent survey of 100 African Americans in Sacramento revealed that only four people knew the names of five or more officers. The current system of policing has many problems. But two issues stand in the way of fair policing. One problem is officers who take a good, honest and balanced approach to policing are not given credit for their excellent behavior. The second problem is officers who have complaints filed against them are allowed to continuing working with little or no consequence. Sometimes, they get promoted.

One way to create a more harmonious relationship between police and the community is through increased transparency and accountability. Transparency and accountability allow the community to evaluate officers and provide information about police performance. This approach provides methods to give positive or negative feedback about officers. The feedback could be useful in determining who should stay on the force, who should be promoted and who should leave. Transparency and accountability can be quickly established. Practices are common in the private sector— as common as a sign with a phone number that says, “How’s my driving?” The time is right for us to reflect on how law enforcement should evolve. Many state and national proposals are in progress, including elimination of qualified immunity for officers. Other proposals, such as “Defund the Police,” seek to reallocate funding

from local police to other civic departments. The Sacramento Police Department should remain intact. However, city funds should be allocated to agencies that help address mental health, domestic violence, human assistance and homelessness. While recognizing the need to adequately fund police, the city must ensure the police budget is appropriate to sustain its operations. The goal is to create a more harmonious relationship between law enforcement and the community through transparency and accountability. To achieve this goal, I proposed three city ordinance amendments:

STANDARD BUSINESS CARDS Transparency and accountability can be quickly established when residents know who is policing them. To this goal, the city should require every police officer to provide a

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business card to individuals who are stopped for any reason. The business card would contain the officer’s name, badge number and an 800 phone number with a statement that says, “How’s my policing?” Additionally, the statement and phone number should be posted on police vehicles. Caller information should be automatically recorded and stored with the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission and Sacramento Police.

OFFICER WEBSITE IDENTIFICATION This amendment would mandate the creation of a website to identify police officers by Sacramento Police Service Areas or City Council districts. The website should include a biography and photo for each officer. These small bios will make it easier for residents to know, understand and connect with police.

3001 P St. Sacramento, CA

The cover art on July’s Inside Pocket edition was incorrectly attributed to Jose Di Gregario. The work was created by Kerry Cottle, an award-winning artist who lives and works in Sacramento. She earned a MA at California State University, Sacramento in 2013. Cottle has been in numerous solo and group exhibitions in recent years. Shown: “Ometer,” oil on canvas, 6 foot by 6 foot, 2015.

Visit kerrycottle.com.

MANDATORY SUSPENSION FOR SHOOTING UNARMED AND NON-THREATENING PERSONS This amendment would provide for mandatory unpaid suspension for officers who shoot unarmed and nonthreating persons. The intent of the suspension is to discourage the use of force, to end the unnecessary killing of unarmed individuals and prevent officers from shooting individuals in the back. If transparency, accountability and good community relations are genuinely desired, these are positive and efficient steps in that direction. Allen Warren is city councilmember for District 2. He can be reached at awarren@cityofsacramento.org. n

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Boards For

Change BEAUTIFICATION PROJECT RAISES FUNDS FOR YOUTH IN VULNERABLE CITY NEIGHBORHOODS

Boards For Change connects local artists with boarded-up businesses in Sacramento to support Black Lives Matter and create a community beautiﬁcation project.

ekter Juice Bar owner Kimberly Prince, ABC10 sports reporter Lina Washington and artist Shannan O’Rourke have launched Boards For Change, an artistic initiative to cover the plywood boards in business windows in Midtown and Downtown with imagery by local artists. Following demonstrations sparked by the murder of George Floyd by police in Minneapolis, Prince was contemplating the boards in Nekter’s window. She thought the plywood would make a great canvas for artwork supporting the Black Lives Matter movement. Washington and O’Rourke got involved, and now dozens of businesses are hiring local artists of color to paint their boards with inspiring images and messages of hope. Artists include Noelle Tavares, Paris Draper and renowned performance painter David Garibaldi. Washington created a GoFundMe page with the goal of raising $2,000 to donate to local Black youth organizations. But as of late-July, the page had reached nearly $14,000, with a new goal of $20,000.

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“In less than two weeks, Boards For Change exploded from being a little idea among friends to a movement gaining national attention,” Washington says. “It’s all thanks to our friends and community members in Sacramento and beyond that we will be able to make a difference through monetary donations to local Black youth organizations in Sacramento.” Once the boards are removed, the women plan to auction off the artwork to raise even more money for organizations helping youth in vulnerable Sacramento neighborhoods. Boards For Change is partnering with Sacramento Republic FC to display 20 to 30 of the completed boards in the empty seats at Papa Murphy’s Park (where the USL team plays) prior to the online auction. The auction will include the boards, as well as custom cleats donated by Sac Republic players and customized wearable art pieces. To donate or for more information, find “Boards For Change - Sacramento” on gofundme.com and follow @ BoardsForChange on Instagram.

WATER FOR HOMELESS In June, Bonney Plumbing, Electrical, Heating & Air partnered with Markstein Beverage Co. to deliver 92,000 bottles of water to Sacramento Loaves & Fishes to help people experiencing homelessness during the hot summer months.

Bonney delivers bottled water to Sacramento Loaves & Fishes. “We hope our donation can create a ripple effect and encourage other businesses in our community to support homeless shelters from Auburn to Modesto,” says Michelle McCauley, Bonney’s vice president of marketing. According to Loaves & Fishes, the average person sleeping outside must walk nearly 1.5 miles to find potable water. The nonprofit distributes more than 200 gallons of water and up to 600 pounds of ice on a regular summer day at one local site alone.

OPEN FOR BUSINESS The Sacramento Zoo and Fairytale Town rely on daily visitors to make up a big part of their budgets. Both closed due to COVID-19 in early March and finally reopened in late June. “A dedicated team of animal care and veterinary staff continued to provide daily care to each (of 500 animals), while other staff members worked from home, were furloughed or were even ultimately laid off due to the pandemic,” says Lesley Kirrene, the zoo’s director of institutional advancement and

marketing. “The organization missed out on roughly $1 million of revenue for each 30 days of closure.” Both parks turned to virtual offerings to keep their audiences engaged. The zoo started a twice-weekly Facebook Live series and weekly email newsletter. Fairytale Town “turbocharged our social media offerings so every day there was a story time or an activity or an animal introduction—and families loved it,” says Fairytale Town Executive Director Kevin Smith-Fagan. To reopen safely, both parks have implemented an online reservation system to manage park capacity, as well as touchless transactions, frequent cleaning of high-touch areas, handsanitizing stations and face masks for all staff and visitors. With changes in place, these two beloved attractions are ready to welcome the community back. “With the cancellation of so many children’s activities, the need for Fairytale Town magic has never been higher,” says Smith-Fagan. For more information, visit saczoo.org and fairytaletown.org.

Fairytale Town is back open with online reservations and safety protocols.

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The Sacramento Jewish Food Faire returns with traditional favorites, such as marble rye bread.

JEWISH FOOD FAIRE The Sacramento Jewish Food Faire is returning this year with “traditional food for nontraditional times.” Order online by Aug. 20 to pick up Aug. 30 at Congregation Beth Shalom in Carmichael. Food offerings will include deli favorites such as corned beef and pastrami sandwiches; an Israeli assortment of vegan dishes; homemade options like matzo ball soup, stuffed cabbage, kugels and blintzes; specialty treats including breads, cookies and cakes; and more—all prepared with sanitary protections in place. On pickup day, a volunteer will deliver your order to your car. Please wear a mask. To order, visit cbshalom. org/form/food_faire_orders.html.

VIRTUAL GIRL SCOUTS In response to COVID-19, Girl Scouts Heart of Central California launched virtual programming for K-12 girls. Since April, more than 3,700 girls have engaged in the programs. The online platform features a wide range of activities and topics, such as coding, self-defense, novel writing, civic engagement and even virtual at-home campouts. The first drew more than 1,600 girls from eight states. The organization also offers daily YouTube Live events at youtube.com/ girlscoutshcc and interactive webinars. Some activities are for Girl Scouts only, but many are open everyone. “We want every girl to have the opportunity to participate,” says Dr. Linda Farley, CEO of GSHCC. “We know that now more than ever, girls need support and a sisterhood to help

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them through this time of extreme uncertainty.” For more information, visit gshccvirtual.org.

PLATINUM TRAIN STATION Amtrak’s historic Sacramento Valley Station at 4th and I streets recently received the highest sustainability rating for a building: LEED Platinum. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a series of four ratings given by the U.S. Green Building Council based on a building’s energy efficiency and how little it affects the environment. “Sacramento strives to be a leader with its sustainable practices and policies,” says Greg Taylor, Sacramento Valley Station project manager. “This award sets a high mark for us because it’s the first city-owned building to receive such high certification.” The City Public Works facility has been undergoing renovations since 2012 to improve the space while maintaining its historic setting—the station opened in 1926 under the ownership of the Southern Pacific Railroad and was taken over by the city in 2006. Renovations have increased the former Superfund site’s energy performance, water efficiency and reuse of materials.

kids can’t meet in person this year, they’re still doing something special. Camp Nefesh director Lexi Nicodemus reports that during July she and fellow high school students (who would normally have served as camp counselors) offered Camp Nefesh @ Home, which included interactive Zoom activities such as scavenger hunts, yoga, trivia, virtual museum tours and camp games. Nicodemus and her team also filled backpacks for each camper with educational items and fun things like slime, Slinkys and Legos. Each backpack was then hand-delivered inside a “family box” that contained even more items to encourage group activities, like jump ropes, whiteboards, construction paper and string. “We provide a safe, fun space to play and meet new friends for these kids who have been forced to leave their homes and start a new life here,” Nicodemus says. For more information, visit campnefesh.com.

FINANCIAL EMPOWERMENT The Sacramento Financial Empowerment Center is now open providing free professional one-on-one financial counseling and coaching to local residents. FEC is a joint program of the city of Sacramento and national nonprofit Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund. Three full-time professionally trained counselors are available to help individuals and families with low and moderate incomes manage their finances, pay down debt, increase savings, build credit and access banking products. Request the service by calling (916) 808-4927 or emailing fec@cityofsacramento.org. All

appointments are currently by phone or video chat. For more information, visit cityofsacramento.org/ financialempowerment.

HOUSING FOR HOMELESS The city is taking its commitment to mitigate homelessness seriously with three new projects nearing completion in different parts of the city. In South Sacramento, east of the Pannell Community Center on Meadowview Road, a new navigation center managed by the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency now boasts two large structures built by Otto Construction that will house 100 women experiencing homelessness. Access is by referral only. Following the COVID-19 outbreak in March, Sacramento city and county officials approved a plan called Project Roomkey to open hundreds of beds in motels, trailers and existing shelters to help the at-risk population. In North Sacramento, 24 Tuff Shed-style cabins have been erected next to the Saint Paul Church of God in Christ for use as temporary homes for transitional-age youth experiencing homelessness. The site, known as the Emergency Bridge Housing at Grove Avenue, will be managed by SHRA and the city, and operated by First Step Communities. Clients at the Grove meet regularly with case managers to stabilize their lives and transition into permanent housing. For more information, visit homeless. cityofsacramento.org.

FIREHOUSE WINE In honor of its 60th anniversary, The Firehouse Restaurant has released a limited-edition 2017 cabernet sauvignon

CAMP NEFESH Camp Nefesh is the free summer day camp for refugee children founded by local teen Lucy Beckett in 2018 in partnership with Congregation B’nai Israel, Opening Doors and Elk Grove Unified School District. Even though

Girl Scouts Heart of Central California now offers virtual programming for K-12 girls.

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Camp Nefesh director Lexi Nicodemus (second from left) and founder Lucy Beckett (third from left) join other volunteers to assemble “family boxes.” that was made in Napa Valley exclusively for the iconic Sacramento restaurant by wine director/sommelier Mario Ortiz and manager/sommelier Dan Hatch under the direction of the Harvego family. Guests can purchase a bottle along with two Riedel glasses embossed with a celebratory 60th anniversary logo for $150 while supplies last. The Firehouse has also introduced a Wine Club. Membership costs $199 when you sign up and includes two bottles of hand-selected wine, wine pickup receptions, special pricing on the full wine list, a discount on the five-course Chef's Tasting Menu and free valet parking. If you can’t visit in person, The Firehouse has launched an online Wine Shop with selections from The Firehouse’s award-winning cellar and curbside pickup. For more information, visit firehouseoldsac.com.

ARDEN WAY APARTMENTS District 2 City Councilmember Allen Warren and Community HousingWorks recently announced that the Arden Way Apartments infill development project is underway. The project includes a sustainable, transit-orientated community of 128 new apartment homes located next to the Royal Oaks Light Rail Station, as well as pedestrian and bike access improvements along Arden Way. Demolition is underway and construction is scheduled to begin in the fall. The project is estimated to take 19 months to complete.

“This new apartment community will not only provide new apartment homes for 120 working families, but (will) also be a catalyst for other development and revitalization at this walkable and transit-rich neighborhood that we are thrilled to be part of,” says Mary Jane Jagodzinski, senior vice president of CHW. For more information, visit chworks.org/coming-soon.

FRONT STREET GRANT The city’s Front Street Animal Shelter recently received a $200,000 grant from the Petco Foundation to help continue its mission of providing medical treatment and adoption services to more than 10,000 animals a year. The shelter sang Petco’s praises in a Facebook post, saying, “This means so much to our shelter, and will make such a tremendous impact in helping us save lives.” Petco has supported Front Street for years through its grant program, which funds transportation, staff, supplies and costs associated with preparing animals for adoption, including spay/neuter surgeries, microchips, vaccinations and ID tags. Front Street’s Pet Pantry, which provides free dog and cat food to those struggling to feed their animals, is now open every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon. Face masks and social distancing are required. For more information, visit frontstreetshelter.org.

GEAR UP FOR BACK TO SCHOOL!

Art Supplies & Framing

2601 J Street 916-443-5721 * When you register for the UArtist Member Program. May not be combined with any other offer. Does not include Custom Framing.

Redwood City & Sacramento what it was like to live through COVID-19 in Sacramento. “We want to make sure this program focuses on Sacramento’s point of view,” center manager Marcia Eymann says. “It is the community’s reactions and thoughts that makes it personalized.” The center is accepting digital photos, videos and audio recordings detailing

UniversityArt.com

how this time has affected you and what you’ve done to cope, adapt and survive. To submit, complete the online form at centerforsacramentohistory.org.

3 TO GET READY Archival Gallery in East Sacramento will present an exhibition of work by

COVID-19 STORIES The Center for Sacramento History is seeking personal stories and artifacts to help future generations understand

The Firehouse Restaurant has released a limited-edition 2017 cabernet sauvignon to celebrate 60 years in business.

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Maureen Hood, Sean Royal and Maria Winkler from Aug. 5–29. Architectural studies from Hood and assemblage and paintings from Royal will be shown alongside new collaborative pieces the duo have created in collage and sculpture. Winkler will present “Feathered Friends,” colored pencil drawings of regional birds based on photos by Linda Hall. There will not be a public Second Saturday reception; however, visitors are welcome during regular business hours and must wear masks at all times. For more information, visit archivalgallery.com.

international bestselling author Karen Rose will speak Tuesday, Aug. 18. The series launched in May with Secretary Madeleine Albright, followed by Good Morning America anchor Adrienne Bankert in June, and retired Navy Seal and dog handler Will Chesney in July. Rose, author of 20 novels, will discuss the second novel in her Sacramento series, “Say No More.” Advanced registration is required. The events are free. Signed books can be purchased through Face in a Book (getyourfaceinabook.com) at 4359 Town Center Blvd. in El Dorado Hills. For more information, visit saclibrary.org.

MADE IN SACRAMENTO

HANDMADE MASKS Atrium, a Sacramento nonprofit, has brought together a team of talented people to create locally made masks that ship anywhere with same-day delivery in Sacramento. Funds raised from the sale of the masks will help cover lost income for local artisans and others, and buy supplies to make free masks for those in need. The online marketplace has thousands of masks in various unique styles, colors and shapes. Inventory is updated every day as new items come in and will expand to include eco-friendly locally made items over the summer. To start shopping, visit shop.atrium916. com. Also, Folsom Mask Makers, a rapidly growing group of local volunteers, has created more than 32,000 DIY face masks since mid-March for more than 100 Sacramento-area organizations, including hospitals, dentists, care homes, schools and emergency service agencies. The volunteers hail from all over Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado counties, and many are health care providers. More volunteers are needed— especially those who can sew—to meet the rising need, as are donations of materials like 100-percent cotton fabric, elastic and vinyl. For more information, visit the Folsom Mask Makers Facebook page.

SOCIALLY DISTANT THEATER Now through Sept. 5, California Stage at 25th and R streets is offering “Social Distance Theater,” performances of theater, music, poetry and art in its open-air courtyard with safe-distance seating.

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“Net Sheds,” a collage by Maureen Hood, is on display at Archival Gallery.

Producing artistic director Ray Tatar encourages visitors to “have a spiritually resuscitative time for those of us getting COVID stir-crazy.” Coproducers are California Stage, Actors Theater of Sacramento, Resurrection Theater, Teatro Espejo, Short Center Repertory, Third Age Onstage, Sacramento Poetry Center, Sacramento Playwrights, Sacramento Storytellers and Shelley Burns Music. Sign up for the mailing list to receive weekly alerts and purchase tickets ($15 or under). For more information, visit calstage.org.

STILL SINGING The Sacramento Master Singers are keeping the music alive online with a virtual rendition of the heartfelt song “100 Years” by songwriter and performer John Ondrasik (better known as Five for Fighting). The performance is now available on the Master Singers website and the group’s YouTube page. Arranged by Ryan James, the piece features choir members singing remotely, conducted by Ralph Hughes and accompanied by Heidi Van Regenmorter on piano. Subscribe to the Sacramento Master Singers YouTube channel so you don’t

miss future digital performances. For more information, visit mastersingers. org.

VIRTUAL HARVEST DAY In lieu of the in-person annual festival, the Master Gardeners of Sacramento County are hosting a special online Harvest Day 2020 on Saturday, Aug. 1, with more than 30 how-to video mini-presentations. Topics will include solving the mystery behind that less-than-perfect tomato, ways to attract helpful butterflies and bees, and how to sharpen gardening tools. Speakers will be Karrie Reid, environmental horticulture adviser, and Ed Laivo, fruit tree and edible landscaping specialist. Video topics will include composting, herbs, fruit orchards, vineyards and water-efficient landscapes. Also tune in for a live Q&A from 9 a.m. to noon. For more information and to access videos, visit sacmg.ucanr.edu.

AUTHORS UNCOVERED The Sacramento Public Library is hosting Authors Uncovered, a series of free author events livestreamed on Crowdcast. Award-winning and

Collaborative dance company Capital Dance Project has postponed its annual summer performance until next year. But in its stead, the company has launched the CDP Digital Series: Made in Sacramento. The short film series will present 11 new creations choreographed and performed by CDP artists in collaboration with filmmaker Brandon Manning and local artists and musicians. The free online films will be released bi-monthly on Wednesdays and Saturdays starting Aug. 26, with a special viewing event planned Oct. 2. To donate or for more information, visit capitaldanceproject.org. Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Submissions are due six weeks prior to the publication month. Previous columns can be found and shared at the all-new InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @ insidesacramento. n

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Traffic bridge to Riverside Boulevard in the Pocket. Photo by Aniko Kiezel

TRAFFIC ALERT

CITY WANTS TO FIX HOW POCKET MOVES

urns out City Hall cares about motorists who fly down the Florin Road West ramp from Interstate 5 and speed through the wide intersection at Greenhaven Drive. There are high-level concerns about access to schools such as Martin Luther King Jr. K-8, which lacks easy access to bike trails and forces kids to cross Rush River Drive. After years of promising to improve traffic conditions and connectivity in Greenhaven and Pocket, the City Council has decided to act. Prodded by Councilmember Rick Jennings, the city hired a consultant to examine the community’s unique traffic culture— the architecture, landscapes and engineering that allow people to move

RG By R.E. Graswich Pocket Beat

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from Riverside Boulevard to Pocket Road and points in between. The consultant charges $485,543. The contract runs through next June. Coronavirus lockdowns have slowed the project. But with luck, the results will be transformative. “This community was designed for cars,” Jennings says. “In the decades that have passed, people have changed, but the design hasn’t. It’s still all about cars.” Cars were king when the Pocket’s Portuguese farm fields were subdivided between the late 1960s and 1980s. Engineers designed wide and winding roads that flow with circular logic. Rush River gives way to Windbridge. Greenhaven converges with Florin and Gloria, which doubles back. In between are connective tissues of bike trails and smaller streets. Pathways follow the canals and greenbelt. Pedestrian and bike bridges vault the busiest streets. The community layout lacks the dull symmetry of the Downtown grid. The meandering roads provide contrast to the look-alike suburban ranch homes that fill Pocket’s interior streets: domiciles dominated by driveways and

garages. That’s what people wanted 40 years ago. Judging by the steady rise in Pocket home sales prices, it’s what they still want. But the enlightenment of 1970s suburban design creates problems in 2020. Wide streets encourage speeding. The city has tried various tricks to slow cars, from speed bumps to stop signs to motorcycle cops. But wide Pocket streets inevitably invite squealing tires and roaring tailpipes. “There are people who don’t respect the community. They think it’s OK to go 60 mph down Pocket and Riverside,” Jennings says. There are other problems. Bike trails don’t all connect. At key

intersections, cyclists meet cars. When the Sacramento River parkway levee opens to bike traffic, a promise made to residents almost 50 years ago will be honored. Meantime, street improvements can help bikes and pedestrians reach the levee. “Our streets should reflect how people get around today,” Jennings says. “People ride bikes and scooters. They walk. The street layouts should encourage those activities.” The city’s consultant, Fehr & Peers, is a leader in transportation engineering and architecture. It specializes in “active transportation,” which uses traffic designs to nudge people away from cars and into neighborhood environments by foot or bicycle. The consultants will dig into Pocket transportation habits and gather data on everything from bus stops and sidewalks to crash locations. They will figure out where people go. The study will examine traffic around schools and the community’s five main shopping centers. As key corridors are identified, solutions will come forward. Can certain streets be narrowed? Can bike paths be moved and connected? Here’s where the community comes in. Jennings says the consultants must listen to the neighbors. Six listening sessions and two community meetings are planned. A website collects feedback: www.cityofsacramento.org/ public-works/transportation/planningprojects/pocket-greenhaven. “The coronavirus has slowed us down, but this must be a communitybased plan,” Jennings says. Next year, the consultants will gather data and ideas and tell the city how to improve traffic in Pocket and Greenhaven. They will estimate the cost. That’s when commitments will really be tested. R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Previous columns can be found and shared at the all-new InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n

OUR STREETS SHOULD REFLECT HOW PEOPLE GET AROUND TODAY. PEOPLE RIDE BIKES AND SCOOTERS. THEY WALK. THE STREET LAYOUTS SHOULD ENCOURAGE THOSE ACTIVITIES.

Voices Heard

INSIDE LAUNCHES NEW COMMUNITY NEWS INITIATIVE

nside Sacramento is looking for a few good community journalists. But not just from any community. We are interested in writers from neighborhoods that historically don’t get much attention from traditional media—unless the news is bad. We want to see Sacramento’s underserved communities from a different, deeper, more personal perspective. This means we want stories by and about people who really know the neighborhoods. A little background: My list of serious journalistic accomplishments could fill a tweet, but one moment stands tall: the day Dori Maynard hired me to work for the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. Dori was Bob Maynard’s daughter. Bob and his wife Nancy founded the Institute for Journalism Education, which was renamed in his honor after his death in 1993. The Maynard Institute is a big deal in the news world. It’s the oldest organization dedicated to diversifying American newsrooms. Diversity meant everything to the Maynard family. Bob Maynard was the first African American publisher of a major daily newspaper, the Oakland Tribune. When Maynard took over the Tribune in 1979, he looked around the newsroom and

RG By R.E. Graswich

Maynard Institute Sacramento Voices 2016. Front row, left to right: Marianna Sousa, Christina Martinez, Audreyell Anderson, Kalaisha Totty, Ricardo Lopez Jr. Back row, left to right: Martin Reynolds (co-Executive Director Maynard Institute), R.E. Graswich, Sunshine Pruett, Courtny Thomas.

noticed the people there didn’t look much like the community they served. He set out to improve that. Dori continued the Maynard Institute’s work until her death in 2015. Dori hired me in 2014 to run Sacramento Voices, a news and feature website created by people who grew up or lived in underserved neighborhoods. Oak Park, Fruitridge, Valley Hi and Meadowview were well represented. The program produced some wonderful work. But after two years, our funding from The California Endowment ran out. We closed. Today, Inside Sacramento Publisher Cecily Hastings wants

to rekindle the spirit of Sac Voices. Motivated by the social upheaval that followed the killing of George Floyd, she wants to open Inside’s website, InsideSacramento.com, and printed pages to stories by community journalists with personal connections to neighborhoods typically overlooked by local media. “Inside has always been a community publication,” she says. “We celebrate Sacramento’s beautifully diverse neighborhoods. It’s time for us to expand our coverage within those neighborhoods, to find issues and people who don’t get their stories told.”

Nobody can tell those stories better than people who grew up there or live there. If you are a writer with a community story to tell—maybe about an amazing neighbor, a legacy business or an injustice—please let me know. I’ll work with you and help you get published at Inside. Together, we’ll produce stories that look like Sacramento—a perfect way to continue the mission of Bob, Nancy and Dori Maynard. R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. n

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y high school history teacher came to class one day and said, “Unlearn what you have learned.” That was all he said for the day. We made fun of him for weeks. Little did I know those words would stick with me for 50 years. Implicit bias, sexism and systemic racism are real. They are not genetic conditions. Kids come into this world unfettered by petty jealousies, greed and anger. These behavioral traits are taught through history books, storytelling, actions, words and body language. I have never met an adult who didn’t harbor some bias. It takes a lot of work to get rid of it. It’s way past time to unlearn what we have learned. Frankly, racism hasn’t changed since the 1960s and the Civil Rights Movement. We just see it more on YouTube. The protests this summer, sparked by the murder of George Floyd by a peace officer, are founded in anger and grief and recognition that in our country, freedom is not equally dispensed. There is not equal opportunity for all. But Sacramento is moving in a better direction. We are diversifying our city staff. We are determined to reflect the diversity of our city. The Sacramento Police Department is 42 percent diverse (meaning non-white males). Our recruitment through academy graduates is 69 percent diverse. The changes are not immediate, but they will make a difference. We are making investments in our youth and underserved neighborhoods—not

Brave New World OLD WAYS WON’T WORK AS CITY MOVES AHEAD

TO PAGE 23

Photo by LaReine Pia

BY JEFF HARRIS

POC AUG n 20

Mark Meeks Photo by Aniko Kiezel

I Can’t Breathe

REAL CHANGE? IT’S ALL UP TO US

BY MARK MEEKS

t was in March when I saw the Facebook meme, “I would like to exercise the 90-day return provision on the Year 2020.” As more than one person has observed, 2020 has proven to be the conflated sum of cataclysmic elements from the 1918 flu pandemic, the financial crisis of 1929 and the social seismicity of 1968. On May 25, the recorded killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police with his repeated plea of “I can’t breathe” set off a cascade of outrage, anger, reflection, introspection and demand for change with an intensity not seen before. Apparently, either as a result of choice or benign ignorance, many people, until they witnessed Floyd’s murder, were not aware of a virus more insidious and dangerous than COVID-19.

My six-plus decades of life have been lived in California. And while my African American experience is not comparable to the injustices of my parents and generations before, my story is all too familiar: a life filled with micro- and macro-aggressions, physical and verbal assaults, opportunities and promotions denied. Indeed, breathing can be and has been a challenge. I believe we have arrived at an inflection point of opportunity. Who we are now and who we will become is in our collective hands. We are the change we desire. As with someone with cancer, treatment will be uncomfortable and difficult. But ignoring its presence will lead to certain death. As a semi-retired civil engineer and present pastor at City Church of Sacramento in North Oak Park, I’ve had more than a few conversations of

outrage and a desire to be part of real change. The question often asked is, “What can or should I do?” It has taken more than 400 years of injustice to arrive at this nadir. Achieving this level of (as the youth say) woke-ness is just a beginning. Real, substantive, systemic change demands understanding and perseverance. If you want to be part of real change: first, expand your circle of friends, including developing relationships with people who don’t look like you and aren’t already neighbors or part of your social circles; second, listen (at least) twice as much as you speak, listen with the goal of understanding; third, engage with agencies that actively support and work toward racial and restorative justice. What’s often referred to as the Negro National goes, in part:

Lift ev’ry voice and sing ’Til earth and heaven ring Ring with the harmonies of Liberty Let our rejoicing rise High as the list’ning skies Let it resound loud as the rolling sea Sing a song full of the faith that the dark past has taught us Sing a song full of the hope that the present has brought us Facing the rising sun of our new day begun Let us march on ’til victory is won Change, real change, is possible. However, it’s not guaranteed. And it’s not a default choice. You are the change. I am the change. We are the change. Mark Meeks is pastor of City Church of Sacramento in North Oak Park. He can be reached at mark@ citychurchsac.org. n

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DOWN , NOT OUT CORE NEEDS RESILIENCE IN A TOUGH YEAR

Photos by Linda Smolek

Michael Ault Photo by Linda Smolek

GD By Gary Delsohn Building Our Future

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ichael Ault, executive director of Sacramento’s Downtown Partnership, has been working to put more life into the city’s core for 25 years. He has experienced his share of economic gyrations. California’s past budget crises, “Furlough Fridays” for state workers, the national housing crash that sparked the last recession and other big setbacks were painful, but largely overcome. So for the even-tempered advocate, last January’s “State of Downtown 2020”

event at the Hyatt Regency was reason to celebrate. Following a spirited 20-minute talk showcasing progress on waterfront development, six hotels, a couple thousand residential units, the railyards, Major League Soccer, the DOCO district and more, Ault ended the annual update with a slick 90-second marketing video. Sure, there were still problems that included the city’s growing homeless population, but the video featured

happy people shopping, cheering at Kings games, enjoying concerts, rallies and festivals. Sacramento was relishing its hard-earned and enviable run of good fortune. Then it stopped. All at once. With the all-consuming public health crisis and several nights of damage that distracted attention from large, peaceful protests against police brutality and racism, the oxygen leaked out of the city’s core. “When news comes that state employees have flexibility to potentially work at home through the end of the calendar year, and a lot of the big vertical high-rise buildings don’t see themselves at 80 percent capacity until the fall, that’s a challenge to us and it’s a challenge to the customer base,” Ault says. We still don’t know the impact from the shutdowns. Some restaurants and small businesses have closed and will not come back. Large public gatherings, so integral to a successful Downtown, are not on anyone’s horizon, although the weekly farmers market has returned to Capitol Mall, at least for now. Big losses are still being counted, made worse when Downtown began a gradual reopening in June, only to retract when the virus spiked. On the plus side, several hotel projects are still moving forward. A Major League Soccer team and stadium in the railyards remain on track, but the stadium has been delayed a year to 2023 due to the coronavirus. The Kaiser medical complex that will help anchor the former industrial site is also on track. Ground was broken in late June on an anticipated mixed-use project at 10th and J streets. The Convention Center expansion is well underway and proceeding. “You could argue that was fortunate timing,” Ault says. “There probably wouldn’t have been a lot of conventions had it been open, so using this down time has been a good thing.” Mayor Darrell Steinberg’s ambitious vision for the Old Sacramento waterfront is bound to slow. No one knows how much smaller the Downtown workforce that drives so much of the city’s economy will be. “There are some questions about what that workforce will look like in the future,” Ault says. “The transition that people had of working at home several months—will some of that continue long term? How do offices space themselves out? Hopefully, we’ll have a vaccine that allows us to return.”

“Are we taking this hard, personally? Yeah, absolutely we are. We’ve said many times to the staff—this is really our time. This organization was created back in the (Mayor) Joe Serna days of being an organization whose sole focus was to drive the Downtown agenda, to be a location for economic development, for investment, where the region’s best food and entertainment and social opportunities are. “You look at what clearly has been a step backwards for us, but we’re still optimistic about the future.” Optimism, hard work, creativity and commitment have been hallmarks of the Downtown Partnership and Ault’s leadership. All that and some luck and patience will be needed to get the city’s core back on track.

In 2021, the Sacramento Police Department will consume about 26 percent of our general fund—13 percent of the total budget. The SPD budget is $157 million. Since the Great Recession, we have pared back our police. In 2009, we lost neighborhood POP officers, vice and gang teams, and motorcycle traffic and parole intervention teams. We reduced responses to burglaries. Until the last contract, SPD officers received as much as 23 percent less than nearby comparable agencies (today they are just below average). We have 1.35 officers per 1,000 residents, with a higher than average crime workload. Photo by LaReine Pia People often call me to ask why the police don’t respond FROM PAGE 20 to burglaries or other violations. at the rate some people call for, but with substantial effort in the face of a The answer: In the last decade, we pandemic and looming budget deficits. substantially defunded SPD. We have built back somewhat and added My city webpage contains a list of officers. Much of what they do is programs we have funded. respond to homeless calls. Is that the There is an outcry to defund the best task for peace officers? No. police. Obviously, protecting our The City Council wants to move citizens is the city’s primary duty. We social service responses to a new are obligated to honor contracts that delivery method. I am working with have been negotiated with the police WellSpace Health to do behavioral union. These contracts were settled health and methamphetamine before the pandemic, when Measure response in an entirely different way. U sales taxes brought in better-thanprojected revenues. We were on track Changes are coming this year. The protests were mostly peaceful, to issue a housing bond to get more but a small number of people workforce housing built to alleviate assaulted police and looted businesses. rental rate hikes. We had lots of investments planned SPD showed restraint when pelted with insults, rocks, bricks and for youth and neighborhoods. The projectile fireworks. Officers sustained virus disrupted them. Sales taxes injuries. The City Council brought plummeted, but our costs have not in the National Guard and placed a changed. Core services must be curfew to help restore safety. maintained. In these tense moments, most The good news is that we have protestors and cops did a good job. $89 million in federal CARES Act The result? The City Council heard money to stem some pain. These the outcry. We will continue to make dollars will aid our businesses and workers. They will go toward projects change as rapidly as possible given our current economic predicament. to jumpstart our economy, with a

Gary Delsohn can be reached at gdelsohn@gmail.com. Previous columns can be found and shared at the all-new InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @ insidesacramento. n

focus on underserved communities. The City Council is making decisions to fund these efforts. As we recover from COVID-19 and sales taxes rebound, money will flow to Measure U projects.

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Sacramento was relishing its hard-earned and enviable run of good fortune. Then it stopped. All at once. But Ault knows Downtown’s recovery will not happen by itself. As Emilie Cameron, the partnership’s communications director notes, “It’s going to take significant resources to keep some of these businesses going. A lot of these businesses are going into significant debt right now to keep their doors open and to make sure they are still here when we get back to, quote unquote, normal.” As difficult as it has been for Ault, Cameron and the Downtown Partnership’s 50 employees to watch the core suffer, the personal despair they see among small business owners is more painful. “This has been my life, the work that we do down here, and we take the work very personally,” Ault says. “We know many of these businesses. We know their families. We know their owners. Seeing the impacts of what may very well be the inability for some of these folks to come back fully and kind of catch this next wave is genuine and we’re concerned about it.

Jeff Harris is city councilmember for District 3 and vice mayor of Sacramento. He can be reached at jsharris@cityofsacramento.org. n

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1. 2.

2020 PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST WINNERS PART 1 OF 2

1. First Place: Ken Stites 2. Second Place: Jamie Morten 3. Third Place: David Schrimmer 4. Honorable Mention: Maryann Carrasco Judged by Aniko Kiezel

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Vacation at Home CARMICHAEL COUPLE CREATE THEIR OWN HIDDEN OASIS

n 8-foot high, multi-paneled glass door off the dining room folds back, opening the home to a secluded backyard patio. At the opposite end of the vast room, a large kitchen window overlooks the front yard’s lush garden landscape. When the panoramic patio door and kitchen window are fully open—no intrusive screens involved—the effect is like standing in a serene oasis with a cross breeze that may bring in a dragonfly or two. “When designing the house, I told our architect, ‘I want to bring the outside in,’” homeowner Helen Wheeler says. Helen and her husband Frank purchased the property in rural Carmichael in 2013 to be closer to their two sons and their families. “The house was in shambles, but it was the perfect location,” Frank says. “We bought the house thinking we would remodel it.” It turned out to be a complete tear down.

CR By Cathryn Rakich Photography by Aniko Kiezel OPEN HOUSE Pat

From demolishing the old home, built in 1950, to securing the permits to moving in, the project took two and half years. “Everything is new,” says Frank, who acted as contractor and retired from the family’s equipment-supply business three years ago. Working with architect Raymond Burriss of RBDS Inc. in Rocklin, and Nar Bustamante and Ashlee Richardson with Nar Design Group in East Sacramento, the Wheelers created a modern, vibrant living space with bright, light-filled rooms. The end result is a 2,800-squarefoot abode with three bedrooms, three bathrooms and a powder room on a half-acre lot, just steps away from Ancil Hoffman Park. Construction so close to nature brought its own set of issues, such as when a fawn fell into an open trench in the backyard. “The trenches were for gas lines, so they were really deep,” Frank says. “The mama deer was frantic,” Helen says. Knowing they shouldn’t touch the baby, the Wheelers called animal control. “The guy came and pulled the deer out, and then walked him around to the back corner,” Frank adds. “When the mama saw the baby, she perked up. Mama jumped and baby jumped and off they went.” Aside from a tranquil landscape that still welcomes wildlife, must-haves for the new home were clean lines, simple finishes and ultra-high ceilings to showcase the

Frank and Helen Wheeler

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couple’s art collection. “That was the whole premise for the house,” Frank says. “We’ve always loved art, so there’s a lot of big walls and a lot of space for art.” The floors are wide-plank European French Oak. The exterior paint is “Caviar” black by Sherman Williams. “That was really scary,” Helen notes. But Bustamante convinced the homeowners to give it a try. “He said, ‘Look at the bark on the trees, look how the house will blend in.’” “At night, when we turn everything off, you can’t even see the house,” Frank adds. “It’s just black. It disappears.” Another unconventional exterior touch is the sleek roof and fascia of Corten steel, designed to rust

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after several years of exposure to the elements. “The steel weathers beautifully,” Frank says. On the interior, a striking glassenclosed entryway leads into a 10-foothigh corridor, also painted in “Caviar” black to provide a visual distinction between the living room to the left and expansive dining room/kitchen to the right. Both rooms feature dramatic walls and sloped ceilings that reach from 11 feet to 17 feet. Island and kitchen cabinets by Poggenpohl are polar-white lacquer with a matt finish. Additional white ash cabinets house a 7-foot stainlesssteel sink, complete with two faucets, “which seemed so extreme,” Helen says. “But Nar said, ‘Don’t think of it as a sink, think of it as a workstation,’ with cutting boards, strainers, bowls you can insert.” A second 4-foot sink resides in the island. The countertops are Dekton, a strong ultra-compact surface of glass, porcelain and quartz, by Cosentino. Appliances are Miele, including two dishwashers. A wall of Poggenpohl cabinets camouflages the refrigerator and houses a built-in coffee/espresso machine. The kitchen’s accent walls and range hood, as well as the fireplace wall in the living room, are Venetian plaster by Melvin Starr Plastering based in Orangevale. Venetian plaster, a blend of lime plaster, marble dust and color pigments, is an ancient technique that imitates natural stone surfaces. “It’s troweled on in four or five different layers,” Frank explains. “Mel is an artist.” Bustamante designed a contemporary bar, complete with a 135-bottle wine fridge, just off the kitchen, in a black motif with wood accents. The ultramodern master bathroom, with various shades of soothing grey with bronze undertones, is “probably

my favorite,” Helen says. “I wanted a spa bathroom.” A freestanding soaking tub with a chrome faucet backs up to a hard-troweled concrete shower enclosure with a corner cutout for additional light and architectural interest. Countertops are Dekton in a suede finish. The dramatic powder room features a black pedestal vessel sink, rough-edged walnut countertop and amber-colored crystal light pendants. The wall is covered with sheets of oxidized copper hand-painted by Helen and her sister, then gridded with a walnut trim. Back outside, the Wheelers reinvented the crumbling swimming pool, uniquely situated in the front yard, a location Helen initially hated. But with the elevated lot, the pool is set so high and back, “you can’t even tell

there’s a pool” from the street, Frank says. The couple removed overgrown brush and vegetation, but left a grove of mature olive trees. A new garden shed/ pottery studio is where the duo, artists themselves, will create ceramic works of art. “We did everything we could to have a space we would be happy in for a long time,” Frank says. Helen adds, “Every day I wake up and feel like I’m in a vacation home. I love it.” To recommend a home or garden for Open House, contact Cathryn Rakich at crakich@surewest.net. More photography and previous columns can be found and shared at the all-new InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @ insidesacramento. n

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Growing Up in the Garden

FAMILIES TURN TO THEIR OWN BACKYARDS FOR HEALTHY LIFE LESSONS

Shani Drake with her children Desean and Jenevieve Photo by Linda Smolek

wo children gently plant strawberry seeds in a bed of soft earth while their mother waters the persimmon tree nearby. It is therapeutic, restorative, peaceful. During these uncertain times, many families have turned to their own backyards to create a haven of fruits and veggies while gaining healthy life lessons and skills. In the backyard of their ArdenArcade home, Shani Drake and her two children, 5-year-old Jenevieve and 12-year-old Desean, have created a vibrant plot of earth teeming with Mexicola avocados, fava beans, strawberries, elderberries, rosemary, sorrel and purple potatoes. “Desean is one of our biggest inspirations,” Shani says. “He has food allergies so we like making fresh foods not from packages.” Desean agrees. “My mom makes good recipes,” he says. “Like watermelon berry mint salad with Peruvian cherries.” Shani was recently featured in a YouTube documentary called “Sacramento Garden Tour: Shani’s Urban Food Forest” in which she explains growing up in South Sacramento without access to unprocessed, unpackaged foods. “People are lacking in nutrition,” Shani says. “So what we do here is incorporate a lot of people who come to watch us garden for our own family.” By inviting neighbors to stroll through their garden and take samples of plants, Shani hopes to inspire a healthy lifestyle throughout the neighborhood. Although their garden has been growing since before the pandemic, Shani says her family made some changes to their eating habits to

TMO By Tessa Marguerite Outland Farm-to-Fork

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minimize trips to the grocery store. “No meat Mondays” and entire meals made with ingredients from the garden are now common practices at the Drake home. Jenevieve likes foraging on hikes for blackberries and edible flowers, collecting seeds and planting them in healthy, rich soil. Desean contributes to the garden by carrying compost in a wheelbarrow and sifting out the rocks. Desean also built a pond in the garden as a water source for the pumpkins and corn. Shani volunteers at the Oak Park Art Garden and aspires to one day teach classes in Sacramento on how to garden and provide for your own family. Lee and D’Angelo Farrand live in Carmichael with their three children, 16-year-old Anée, 3-year-old Serenity and 1-year-old Malia. Growing up, Lee recalls berry bushes in the backyard that were eventually strangled by weeds. Years later, she became a wife and mother, bought her childhood home and transformed that once neglected backyard space into a place of growth (and more berries). To eliminate the weeds, Lee blocked the obtrusive plants’ intake of sunlight by covering the ground with blankets for two months. This method takes longer than chemical solutions, but is effective and natural. Using a shovel, she then chopped up the weeds and top layer of dirt across the 8-by-35 square-foot area. She installed a

Raindrip Automatic Watering System with the help of her boss and father via FaceTime. After a visit to Green Acres Nursery & Supply and farmers markets, and watching social media tutorials, soil was fertilized and seeds were planted. “I knew that I wanted to have tomatillos,” Lee says. “We’re suckers for those in my house.” The Farrand garden is also rich with artichokes, eggplants, three different melon varieties, zucchinis, banana peppers, ancho chilies, jalapenos, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, blackberries, strawberries and more. Serenity runs barefoot in the garden every day to look for ripe strawberries. She watches her mom and helps pull weeds. “Her version of helping,” Lee laughs. During the first weeks of the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order, Lee says she was concerned for her family. D’Angelo was laid off from work. Malia is immunocompromised, so it was even more of a risk to go out in public, such as to a grocery store, during the pandemic. “We just started all going outside in the backyard,” Lee says. Together, they built a playground to keep the kids occupied while Lee gardens. Lee talks to her children about the progression of growth and the importance of knowing where and how their food is grown. “The food from the grocery store tastes nothing like fresh fruit, fresh vegetables,” Lee says.

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“I want to be in control of what my family eats and I like to have the option to know that my food comes from the backyard.” Gabrielle and Curt Menn have three children and live in Fair Oaks. Gabrielle’s farm-to-fork journey was strongly influenced by her youngest son, Tyler, who was diagnosed with autism when he was 3 years old. Gabrielle says before they had a garden it was a struggle to get Tyler to eat anything. Now 15 years old, Tyler happily eats eggs—in a “huge variety of different colors and shapes”—from chickens he helped raise and vegetables from the garden. Gabrielle grew up on a farm in Napa surrounded by open air, horses and her family’s garden. “Corn, tomatoes, zucchini, you name it we grew it,” she says. “I always wanted to be able to do that for our kids.” Now, with a greenhouse and garden shaded by a pecan tree on a quarter acre of land, she is doing just that. The Menn garden produces dwarf citrus, peppers, sugar snap peas, radishes, carrots, broccoli and artichokes. Tyler likes peeling and juicing grapefruits and harvesting kale seeds from dried pods. While he wouldn’t describe himself as a “farm

person,” he likes going outside to gather fresh fruits and veggies off the vine to eat. “It makes me feel good to pick my own strawberries,” Tyler says. For those who cannot grow a garden of their own, there are several Sacramento nonprofits, such as the Food Literacy Center and Slow Food Sacramento, that advocate for kids’ health and education. They have continued their exceptional services to the community throughout the pandemic. Some families are also finding relief through federally funded programs like CalFresh’s Double Up Food Bucks, which provides double the dollar amount when consumers purchase California-grown produce from select farmers markets. For more information, go to foodliteracycenter.org and slowfoodsacramento.org. Tessa Marguerite Outland can be reached at tessa.m.outland@gmail. com. Our Inside Sacramento Restaurant Guide and previous columns can be found and shared at the all-new InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @ insidesacramento. n

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Farm

HOME GARDEN DELIVERS FOR RESTAURANTEUR

Randy Paragary

Fresh L

ocking onto a snail with laserguidance precision, Randy Paragary delivers a lightning strike on the gluttonous gastropod. “He died during the journey,” he says. With apologies to escargot, snails would be wise to steer clear of this backyard vegetable garden.

DV By Dan Vierria Garden Jabber

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Paragary, his wife Stacy and executive chef-business partner Kurt Spataro have kept Sacramentans well fed and entertained for decades. While retaining his local dining and entertainment venues, Paragary has evolved his interests in recent years to include Midtown’s new Fort Sutter Hotel and (drumroll, please) his backyard tomatoes and other edibles. Preparing for the grand opening of the 105-room boutique hotel this fall and navigating an interrupted dining scene because of COVID-19, Paragary has found comfort and satisfaction tending herbs, fruit trees and veggies at his Sierra Oaks home. A recent backyard renewal project transformed space behind the couple’s garage from a children’s play area to a

small farm. Gone are college-age son Sam’s old swing set and slide, replaced by nine redwood raised vegetable beds designed by Stacy. A composter in the corner decomposes the garden’s organic matter. The spacious yard is dotted with fruit trees where the family harvests blood oranges, lemons, limes, apples, grapefruit, figs, avocados and olives. On this warm summer morning, Paragary surveys the beds of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, lettuces, onions, herbs and other tasty goodies. The snail is the morning’s lone casualty. A few rogue weeds earn an “I’ll-dealwith-you-later” glare. Prior to this ambitious home garden project, Randy’s only handson gardening was an occasional lone tomato plant or basil in a pot. Once the raised beds were built and planted, everything changed. Now, he introduces his precious tomatoes like a proud papa. “This one is ‘Big Beef,’ this one ‘German Pink’ and over here, ‘Rainbow,’” he says, double-checking each label. He grows about two dozen heirloom and hybrid tomato varieties. Many are cherry tomato types. “We love produce from the beds. Eating fresh is the main thing, but there’s too much production for our personal use,” he says. The abundance of fresh produce necessitates bagging and delivering the excess to Paragary’s restaurant kitchens. “The chefs appreciate the enhanced produce and it’s right-out-of-the-garden fresh and fun to grow. I get a great deal of satisfaction seeing people enjoy it.” Mint from a raised bed might find its way onto his breakfast of berries and yogurt, and later into a mojito at the restaurant bar. His homegrown Italian flat-leaf parsley has enhanced the sliced mushroom salad. Basil has crowned Margherita pizza. A slab of his tomato, plucked that very morning, has brought an acidic bite to the grilled salmon BLT at Café Bernardo. “One of our servers might inform the table, ‘By the way, the tomatoes are from Randy’s backyard,’” he says.

Paragary shuttles bags of produce from the home garden to his restaurant kitchens a couple times a week. Tomatoes and basil are daily hauls during most of the summer. Fresh, local produce has long been featured at Paragary’s restaurants, decades before the farm-to-fork movement. He was greatly influenced by Los Angeles chef Wolfgang Puck and Alice Waters, owner of Berkeley’s Chez Panisse. Waters and Puck pioneered California cuisine, the marriage of locally grown and raised ingredients, sustainability and presentation. After visits to the restaurants of Waters and Puck, Paragary had Sacramento’s first brick wood-fired pizza oven built at Paragary’s Bar & Oven in the early 1980s. Later, a kitchen was added. He scoured small farms in Yolo and Sacramento counties for the freshest produce. In the early 1990s, he and Spataro planned and oversaw a vegetable and herb garden in an open field adjacent to Paragary’s Bar & Oven at 28th and N streets. Today, the site, once dubbed “Paragary’s Herban Garden,” is a parking garage. His home garage now serves as the seed-launching area where lettuce and tomato seeds germinate by a sunny window. Paragary has become acquainted with pushing a wheelbarrow, pruning, weeding and repairing irrigation systems. But he admits he has much to learn. “I’m still not good with beets and carrots,” he laments about the root vegetable learning curve. “Except potatoes. I can grow potatoes.” Dan Vierria is a University of California Cooperative Extension Master Gardener for Sacramento County and former Home & Garden writer for The Sacramento Bee. He can be reached at masterg29@gmail. com. For answers to gardening questions, contact the UCCE Master Gardeners at (916) 876-5338, email mgsacramento@ucanr.edu or visit sacmg.ucanr.edu. Previous columns can be found and shared at the all-new InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @ insidesacramento. n

2020 PHOTOGRAPHY CONTEST WINNERS PART 2 OF 2 1. Honorable Mention: David Schrimmer 2. Honorable Mention: Anne Sandler 3. Honorable Mention: Terry Murray 4. Honorable Mention: Laura Lee Brennan

Judged by Aniko Kiezel

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Cheyenne Randall Photo by Aniko Kiezel

Making His Mark DIGITAL ARTIST ‘TATTOOS’ HOLLYWOOD ICONS

ave you seen the photo of Marilyn Monroe baring the skull tattoo on her shoulder? How about the one of Sophia Loren with the butterfly tattoo on her cheek? Or the one of Audrey Hepburn’s intricate chest tattoo? If none of these images sound real, that’s because they aren’t. They’re the clever creations of Cheyenne

JL By Jessica Laskey Open Studio

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Randall, a painter and digital artist who’s made a name for himself painstakingly photoshopping tattoos onto images of celebrities and sharing them on his Instagram account @ indiangiver. (The tongue-in-cheek handle refers to both Randall’s goal of giving back to the community and the undertones of racism he still encounters as a Native American.) The Minneapolis native has always had an affinity for tattoos—he sports several himself—and he would doodle on magazines as a kid as a precursor to his current high-tech techniques. He even toyed with the idea of training to become a tattoo artist in his 20s, but he traveled too much for his work as a carpenter to

stay at one shop long enough to build clientele. Randall was around art from an early age—his father was an artist and, Randall recalls, he “always had an easel set up.” In addition to his magazine masterpieces, Randall’s early work consisted of mixedmedia collages on canvas, paper and panel inspired by his Native American heritage. But when he joined Instagram in 2012, everything changed. “When I first opened my account, I was just like everyone else, taking pictures of my food and crows on power lines,” says Randall, who recently relocated from Seattle to South Land Park Hills after falling in

love with Sacramento during a mural project. “I started to import images into Photoshop and manipulate them (by adding tattoos) and those posts really took off. People seemed to really enjoy what I was doing. So in 2013, I decided to focus on digital work.” When Randall first started, he superimposed tattoo imagery he found on the internet onto photos of iconic stars like Munroe and Hepburn. But when the tattoo artists responsible for the imagery came forward to complain, Randall started using classic “flash” tattoos from the 1920s (think roses, anchors and skulls) instead to avoid angering anyone. As technology progressed, so did his

ambition—after getting an iPad Pro, he started drawing original tattoos directly onto the photographs to make a digital mashup all his own. “I manipulate the layers of the photo to make it look like the skin is really tattooed,” Randall says. “People think it’s just an app, but in fact it’s taken me hours and hours hovering over an iPad. This method has reinvigorated what I was doing before.” It’s also brought Randall a lot of attention. Hollywood celebrities have reached out to him through

Instagram to commission portraits of themselves tattooed in Randall’s signature style. And the artist does brisk business selling prints of his work through shops like HFA Print Gallery on R Street, which gave him his first Sacramento exhibition last July. In addition to his tattooed icons, Randall also peppers his Instagram feed with the occasional oil painting, as well as his prolific #pastingthewest projects where he installs giant images using wheat paste (not unlike

wallpaper) in private office spaces and on outdoor walls. “I love that wheat paste is sort of temporary,” Randall says. “You can get it wet and take it down, so you have to keep your eyes open and spot it before it’s gone.” Or find it on Instagram next to the photo of Barbra Streisand’s neck tattoo.

For more information, check out @indiangiver on Instagram or cheyennerandallart.com. Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. Previous profiles can be found and shared at the all-new InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n

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Food for the

Soul OAK PARK RESTAURANT BRINGS COMFORT WHEN ITâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;S NEEDED

Photos by Linda Smolek

GS By Greg Sabin Restaurant Insider

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s I write this, Sacramento County has just reordered all indoor dining to shutter. The brief window of opportunity to visit a restaurant has closed after restaurant owners were put in a literally impossible situation of making diners feel safe, and still have their restaurants be the convivial gathering places they were pre-COVID. Too many of us expected bar and restaurant owners to enforce rules they were just coming to terms with and fully understanding.

Store is open!

Curbside pickup available. School summer reading books available.

Crawford’s Books New | Used | Trade 5301 Freeport Blvd. #200 916.731.8001 crawfordbooks.net jcrawfordbks@comcast.net Tuesday – Saturday 10am – 6pm But, thankfully, for those of us who cannot cook water without burning it, or those of us who cook competently but enjoy a restaurant meal now and again, or even those that cherish the opportunity to cook for our loved ones and yet equally admire the skill and talent that go into a truly professionally prepared dinner, we still have takeout. Earlier this month, I had the opportunity to grab takeout from Fixins Soul Kitchen, Oak Park’s excellent new soul food spot. The restaurant, which opened last year, is the product of an ownership group, including former Mayor Kevin Johnson. Johnson is not without his detractors. If you wish to read about his work as mayor, or issues with charter schools, or claims against him of sexual misconduct, you can find the material. I, however, make the choice to focus on the food at Fixins, for no matter who is involved up front, the folks in the kitchen deserve accolades for putting out some of the finest food I’ve had this year. First, a quick primer. There’s often a conflation of soul food and Southern food. And while the two definitely overlap, there’s certain boundaries to be drawn.

Author Vanessa Hayford puts it this way: “Soul food takes its origins mostly from Georgia, Mississippi, and Alabama, a collection of states commonly referred to as the Deep South. During the Transatlantic Slave Trade, enslaved African people were given meager food rations that were low in quality and nutritional value…This food genre, now associated with comfort and decadence, was born out of struggle and survival.” The soul food staples we’ve come to know—hush puppies, greens, oxtails, turkey wings, gravy and the rest—came with the Black American cooks who migrated north and west from the south throughout the U.S. over the last 150 years. And, as Hayford puts it, this food once born out of struggle, now signifies comfort. In fact, it more than signifies. It truly is comfort food. The fried chicken is terrific, the mac and cheese spot on, the candied yams indulgent and the gumbo on point. There is, however, one standout dish that deserves its own writeup. Heck, it deserves its own restaurant: the fried catfish. I know, I know, there are some of you (Mom) who say you don’t like catfish. Well, you haven’t had this catfish. A single order comes with a sizable filet, bigger than the plate it’s served on (or,

during the pandemic, the box it comes in). The crust, oh lord the crust, is a shatteringly crispy cornmeal concoction that sticks to the fish in the most pleasant manner. We’ve all had fried food where the majority of the crust winds up falling off, haven’t we? This ain’t that. Seasoned with a bit of heat and a good dose of spice blend, the crust tenderly envelops that ugly, bottomdwelling fish like a mother cradling a newborn. The unbelievably moist and flaky flesh of that monstrous mudsucker could not be more delicate, more beautiful, more expertly handled than if it had been raised by hand in a Michelin star restaurant by a young apprentice, fresh faced from the French countryside. All hyperbole aside, it is, without question, the best fried catfish I’ve ever had. It comes close to being the best fried fish of any type I’ve ever had. It’s truly spectacular. It stands up to a hefty dash of Crystal hot sauce and equally stands on its own. It’s large enough to share and delicious enough to covet. It’s a special dish made by a special kitchen. In these days where comfort, more than ever, is sought, where we do not know what the future holds from day to day, and where we must focus on

coming together as a people, there’s no substitute for soul food. And, if you haven’t seen your neighbors at Fixins yet for a taste, you might just owe yourself a trip. Fixins Soul Kitchen is at 3428 3rd Ave., Oak Park; (916) 999-7685; fixinssoulkitchen.com. Greg Sabin can be reached at gregsabin@hotmail.com. Our Inside Sacramento Restaurant Guide and previous columns can be found and shared at the all-new InsideSacramento. com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @insidesacramento. n

ALL HYPERBOLE ASIDE, IT IS, WITHOUT QUESTION, THE BEST FRIED CATFISH I’VE EVER HAD.

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Listen to the Stories NOW IS THE TIME TO INITIATE REAL CONVERSATIONS

n 2011, I was at the annual National Guard Chaplain Conference in Washington, D.C., when I was sidetracked into a personal conference with a colleague. The morning session began with all the usual inspirational speeches from our higher-ups. Just before our lunch break, Chaplain Lawrence Witherspoon of Riverside, Calif., stood to make an announcement. “The African American chaplains will be taking our lunch together in a side room,” he said. “I promise we will enjoy good collegial fellowship and networking.” I whispered to the chaplains seated around me. “That doesn’t seem right. Chaplains are supposed to be about unity and love. Separate lunches encourage cliquish racial divides.”

NB By Norris Burkes Spirit Matters

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“If you feel that way, Norris,” challenged a chaplain at my roundtable, “go talk to Witherspoon.” “I can’t do that,” I said as my face flushed red. “Why is that, chaplain?” another asked in a daring tone. “Just go and have a real conversation.” It was true. I should have been able to talk to Witherspoon. After all, we’d co-led several military marriage conferences, teaching couples to have real conversations. Later the next day, I found Witherspoon and asked if he had time to have an awkward conversation. He gave a directional nod toward a few secluded chairs. I can’t recall my words verbatim, but I essentially began by admitting how likely it was that I’d say them wrong. “It’s OK,” he said. “I was a bit put off by your call for a separate meeting of Black chaplains,” I confessed. “What part was uncomfortable for you?” he asked from a script we taught in the marriage class. When I told him that I thought the meeting went against the unifying spirit of chaplains, he tossed what seemed like a random question. “Do you know how hard it’s been for African American chaplains to get promoted?” “Not really,” I answered. I only knew that we worked in an up-or-out system, meaning that if an officer was passed

over for promotion it was tantamount to being fired. “We’ve lost some good chaplains,” he said. “How is that possible?” I asked. “Promotion boards haven’t used photos for years. They can’t see your color, so you should be judged only by your performance reports.” He glanced around the room before adding, “Yes, but sometimes those performance reports are written by racist supervisors.” “Chaplains—racist?” I asked, my naivety in full exposure. For the next several minutes, he explained that there were chaplains in the conference halls known to use the N-word. But maybe worse, he gave examples of chaplains who were skillful in the subtleties of racism. “The Air Force Chaplain Corps is small and can be cliquish” he said. “Our Black chaplains need the extra mentorship that—for now—can only be found among each other.” I knew Witherspoon to be a straight talker. I’d never heard anything but truthful integrity from him. While his truth saddened me, I would have never heard it if Witherspoon hadn’t trusted me to hear his story. More importantly, his courage laid the groundwork for me to hear more about race relations. There has never been a better time in this nation to listen to the stories being offered by communities of color,

whether through books, friends or the media. So instead of expressing frustration on social media toward Black Lives Matter or Antifa, I challenge you to tune in. Listen to the painful narrative being shared by the Black community. As you listen, express gratitude for hearing their message, but don’t expect people of color to be responsible for educating you. Above all, don’t offer excuses or try to fix it. Acknowledge their truth, but don’t expect their viewpoint to represent their race any more than you exemplify yours. There is a great conversational guide from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation at healourcommunities.org. The guide will help you listen to stories and initiate discussions. I also recommend reading “White Fragility: Why It's So Hard for White People to Talk About Racism” by Robin DiAngelo. Norris Burkes can be reached at comment@thechaplain.net. Previous columns can be found and shared at the all-new InsideSacramento.com. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram: @insidesacramento. Burkes is available for public speaking at civic organizations, places of worship, veterans groups and more. For details and fees, visit thechaplain.net. n

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ACROSS 1 Lead-in to “final” 5 Door directive 9 ___ chauvinist 13 Osiris’ wife 14 Grimm beginning 15 Fluttered, like a flag 16 (What just happened?!) 17 Michelin measure of quality 19 Beehive sound 20 Going ___ (fighting) 21 Heir’s concern 22 Summed 24 Microwave 25 Companion of Wynken and Blynken 26 When the Rose Parade airs 30 Heat “unit” for chili 31 Shad eggs 32 Org. that sells stamps 36 Boo-Boo Bear’s buddy 37 Uninteresting, as food 39 Roberts who has written 225+ romance novels 40 “As ___ on TV” 41 Butter on the farm? 42 “Don’t ___ it!” 43 Due-date extensions 4/3

47 Partner of gown or trade 50 Verb that sounds like a vowel 51 Archaeologist’s dig site 52 First name of TV’s Monk 54 One may get bald with age 55 Soft touch 58 Washington chopped one down, in a myth 60 Currency in Chihuahua 61 Forum robes 62 Perfume ingredient 63 Common April forecast 64 Image of a folder, e.g. 65 Z, in sorority names 66 Acceptable DOWN 1 Relieved or exasperated sound 2 Biblical birthright seller 3 Run poorly 4 AOL or MSN 5 Theater wall hanging 6 Like many teens’ rooms 7 Ella Fitzgerald’s forte 8 She/___ pronouns 9 LeBlanc of “Friends” 10 Birdlike 11 Slow, musically 12 ___ out (barely defeated)

15 Narrowwaisted insects 18 Brought up 20 First among men? 23 Not before or after 24 National park known for its red cliffs 26 Often-blue birds 27 Spiky succulent 28 A 5-Down may be in one 29 Catch a radio show, say 33 As it were 34 Poke 35 Comic ___ (informal font) 37 Viva competitor 38 Doily fabric 42 Cheese that may be baked

44 Sounds from the MGM mascot 45 It has the same consonants as “purest” 46 “I found it!” 47 Spiny succulents 48 Committee type 49 Rival of Ragu 53 Turkmenistan neighbor 54 Factual 56 Where the Himalayas are 57 Award for “Oklahoma!” 59 Celebrity news site 60 Way to go, for some athletes

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OFF THE

STREETS

HOW MOTELS BECOME HOMES FOR HOMELESS

BY MATT LEVIN

alvador Bradford takes pride in keeping his studio apartment tidy. His converted hotel room has around 250 square feet for a bathroom, stove and mini-fridge. There is space for the trappings of a home: a shelf of Star Wars and Star Trek DVDs, and a small shrine to Jesus Christ, to whom Bradford credits his past five years of sobriety. He lives at the former Hotel Berry in Downtown and says his twin mattress sure beats the past two years sleeping on the streets of San Francisco and Sacramento. “It was horrible. I was dying, slowly but surely,” Bradford, 64, says. “People (were) having sex in the alleyways, people (were) shooting up crystal meth.” Gov. Gavin Newsom’s plan to make a permanent dent in California’s homelessness crisis—more than 150,000 unhoused individuals, including more than 100,000 sleeping outside—would create hundreds of properties like the Hotel Berry, an 80-year-old motel transformed into

POC AUG n 20

Hotel Berry resident Salvador Bradford jokes with supportive services manager Bruni Rocha in one of the common spaces. Photo by Anne Wernikoff for CalMatters. 104 supportive housing units for the formerly homeless. Newsom wants to spend $600 million in federal emergency dollars to expand Project Roomkey, a joint state and federal program that has leased more than 15,700 hotel rooms for homeless Californians deemed especially susceptible to the coronavirus. Roughly 9,600 rooms were occupied in June. Phase Two of the project is buying as many hotels or motels as possible for permanent homeless housing by the end of the year. That’s when the $600 million must be spent or returned to the feds.

California has never tried buying so many properties to house its homeless population in such a short period of time. It won’t be easy. Here’s how motels are typically converted to more permanent homeless housing:

STEP 1: BUY THE HOTEL Cost: $100,000–$175,000 per room, but varies across the state. Time: Two to three months of negotiations, not including escrow. Land isn’t cheap in California, especially in coastal regions where the homeless are disproportionately located.

Data provided by the California Hotel & Lodging Association, a hospitality industry advocacy group, indicate hotels that could be targeted by the state—budget chains like Motel 6 with 150 units or less—fetch more than $100,000 per unit in Los Angeles County. A 40-room Travel Plaza in Compton sold for $4.5 million last year. Costs are steeper in the Bay Area. Low-income housing developers caution that prices vary from region to region and according to the quality of motel. Extended-stay hotels that come pre-furnished with kitchenettes will be more expensive than deteriorating single-room-occupancy

motels, which may be cheaper upfront but require more rehab or outright demolition to turn into supportive housing. Newsom is tentatively budgeting $100,000 to $150,000 per unit. The governor hopes a glut of hotel owners, pummeled by the pandemic-induced collapse of tourism, will gladly exit the industry. That, combined with a recession-induced dip in commercial real estate prices, could mean a rare bargain.

STEP 2: GET APPROVAL FROM THE CITY Cost: Hard to quantify, but the quicker the cheaper. Time: One to two years, but much faster if Newsom gets his way. Why does it take so long? Because nobody wants to pay $10 million for a motel the city won’t let you turn into housing. Homeless housing developers must shepherd projects through a series of regulatory steps that need the sign-off of city planning departments

and sometimes city councils. One uniquely essential step for most motel conversions: getting the city to change the zoning on a motel from “commercial” to “residential” use. Newsom can’t afford an 18-month escrow while local governments review plans. It has six months to buy $600 million in real estate before the money disappears. To speed up the regulatory process, Newsom proposes to take away much of the power cities have to shape the look of a converted motel. Several cities have lodged or threatened legal action.

STEP 3: CONSTRUCTION Cost: Less than $10 million, but will vary according to type of homeless housing. Timing: Six to 12 months, depending on the type. Research suggests permanent supportive housing is the gold standard for preventing the chronically homeless from returning to the streets. But it requires a good deal of construction work.

Individual rooms must be retrofitted to accommodate stoves, sinks, mini-refrigerators and a microwave; electrical and plumbing systems for older buildings often must be updated to current code; sound-attenuating insulation might be required to prevent neighbors from disturbing one another. Per state law, nearly all housing projects using public subsidies must pay union-level wages. The “supportive” element requires a good chunk of real estate to accommodate multiple offices for case managers, and rooms for group counseling and other activities.

STEP 4: RUNNING THE BUILDING Cost: $10,000 per unit per year (but varies). Timing: Ongoing. Bruni Rocha is part of the support staff that keeps the Hotel Berry running: a building manager responsible for upkeep and repairs; a night clerk to provide security; a supportive services staffer to run

cooking classes and other life skills programs; janitorial staff to keep common spaces clean and functioning; and her, the supportive services manager. That doesn’t include the case manager from a separate nonprofit that makes sure about a dozen residents keep up with their mental health appointments, or the social worker from Veterans Affairs who checks up on the vets in the Berry. “You can’t just put somebody that was formerly homeless in a building and expect them to have all the life skills that they need,” Rocha says. “They’re used to being on the streets.” The cost of operating permanent supportive housing, or even less intensive supportive housing, adds up quickly and does not go away. Matt Levin is data and housing reporter for CalMatters, a nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism venture that made this story available to Inside Sacramento. He can be reached at matt@calmatters.org. n

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