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WALKABLE-LIVEABLE-LOVEABLE! Wow! 4 bedroom 3 bath (3200sq ft) custom home with an attached guest house (2 Bedroom 2 bath 1270 sq ft) in the rolling hills of South Land Park. Only 5 minutes to midtown restaurants, sports, arts and entertainment. 5 minute walk to William Land Park. One parcel. $945,000 SHEILA VAN NOY 505-5395, CHRIS BRIGGS 834-6483

FANTASTIC RIVER PROPERTY 5.4 acre property! 3 bedroom 2½ bath with beautifully updated kitchen and generously sized dining room. The large family room is perfect for any occasion. The guest house enjoys it’s own legal address and all the features of home. Huge 30 X 36 garage/workshop, gorgeous trees! $899,000 PAULA SWAYNE 425-9715

ESTABLISHED GREENHAVEN Beautifully maintained 3 bedroom 2 bath home. Great open Àoor plan featuring Great Room with lots of windows, kitchen/family room combo with breakfast nook and ¿replace; large laundry room with cabinets. Metal roof and a large covered patio. Deep RV parking space. $387,000 PAULA LOPEZ 719-9210

RIVERLAKE AT ITS BEST This custom-built 5 bedroom 3 bath dream home has it all and more! Open, light and airy, it just exudes quality. Appreciate the attention to detail, smart thermostats, large walk-in pantry, upgraded stainless steel appliances, walk-in wine closet, two impressive ¿replaces. 3-car garage. $875,000 PAULA SWAYNE 425-9715

IMMACULATE SOUTH LAND PARK 3 bedroom 3 bath home on coveted Holstein Way. Completely remodeled in the last 3 years. Spacious open Àoorplan. New kitchen, baths, roof, water heater, HVAC, Trex deck. Resurfaced pool with dressing rooms and full outside bath. Wet bar in bonus game room! $725,000 CHRIS BRIGGS 834-6483

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CONVENIENT UPGRADED HOME A must see in the Greater Hollywood Area. Spacious 3 bedroom, 2 bath with fantastic Àoor plan. Home tastefully upgraded including a master bedroom with walk-in closet. New kitchen cabinets, new counter tops, new roof, new dual pane windows, new HVAC! $349,000 PAULA LOPEZ 719-9210

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PREMIER GARDENS OF ROSEMONT This highly desired Àoor plan built in 2004 by Cresleigh Homes. 3 or 4 bedrooms 2 baths of¿ce/den bonus room, wood/laminate Àooring, granite counter-tops, kitchen and bath ¿xture updates, stamped concrete patio, mature fruit trees, crown moldings and much more! $385,000 JULIANNE PARK 541-8403

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PARK PLACE SOUTH Desirable single story 3 bedroom 2 bath halfplex. Tile entry opens to spacious great room with cozy ¿replace. Two master suites! Larger master suite has walk in closet plus triple closet, jetted tub and stall shower. Hardwood Àoors in kitchen and dining room. Skylights in entry and both baths. $379,000 CONNIE LANDSBERG 761-0411

for current home listings, please visit:

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

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ELK GROVE CUL-DE-SAC Amazing remodeled home with a huge backyard on a cul-de-sac. 3 bedrooms 2 baths with re¿nished cabinets and granite counter tops throughout, beautiful light ¿xtures/faucets/hardware, and wood laminate Àoors. Premium lot w/ giant yard & huge patio cover. Wow! $359,000 MONA GERGEN 247-9555

Pride of Ownership $349,000

Welcome Home! $399,000

Room to Roam! $689,000

SOLD

Represented Buyers

916.203.9690 ReneeCatricala.com CalBRE# 01077144

Their First Home! $283,900

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2017 S A C R A M E N T O ' S P R E M I E R F R E E C I T Y M O N T H LY

THE GRID

By Mary Warner I N S I D E

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

COVER ARTIST Tim Mulligan Timothy Mulligan is an emerging artist who utilizes innovative techniques and different styles to discover the colors, light, and shadows of a subject. His work has been exhibited in numerous galleries in Sacramento and in the Bay Area.

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

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

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

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Submit cover art to publisher@insidepublications.com SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscriptions at $25 per year guarantees 3rd class mailing. Pay online at insidepublications. com or send check with name & address of recipient and specify publication edition.

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@insidesacbook

MAY 17 VOL. 4 • ISSUE 4 7 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 30 34 36 40 46

Publisher's Desk Pocket Beat Inside City Hall Pocket Life Giving Back Fraternal Filmmakers Building Our Future Getting There Garden Jabber Home Insight The Matchmaker Spirit Matters To Do Taking a Mulligan Restaurant Insider

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Work It Out OUR COMMUNITY SUFFERS WHEN LOCAL POLITICAL LEADERS CLASH

Interim police chief Brian Louie

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n March, the city council approved retention bonuses for the city’s police officers. In recent years, police staffing levels have dropped as city officers left for better pay and work conditions elsewhere. Looming in the coming months are contract negotiations between the city and its police union. On March 22, The Sacramento Bee published an op-ed by Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones suggesting the council has established policies that do not support law enforcement, particularly interim police chief Brian Louie. Jones made some decent points that no doubt left the mayor and council peeved. But Jones, with decades of law enforcement experience, has the right to express his views. As the mother of a son in

CH By Cecily Hastings Publisher’s Desk

law enforcement, I can understand his position. Jones considers the city police department to be top-notch. His concern is that the council has developed policies that placate law enforcement detractors. Jones also called out the untenable position that Chief Louie is in as he seeks to have his position made permanent.

My hope is that Jones and Steinberg can forge a positive relationship based upon what they agree on. As an example, Jones pointed out that the city established a police commission in recent years, appointing members with little law enforcement experience or understanding.

Jones believes that even with retention bonus payments, the officer exodus will continue. In the process, innovation will falter and self-initiated, proactive police work will decline, leading to a mediocre Sacramento County Sheriff Scott Jones department and less safe communities. Not long after that op-ed appeared, “mean.” Steinberg and de Leon sat in the front row of the packed house and Jones hosted a town hall meeting asked questions and made statements with Thomas Homan, acting director that seemed designed to incite a of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Jones stated that crowd that was already ramped up his goal was to provide a public forum emotionally. Many people, including me, were turned away from the to allay deportation fears and dispel forum. I ended up watching it online. misinformation in the community. Jones and Steinberg actually agree Mayor Darrell Steinberg, on a number of things. Both favor a accompanied by state Senate path to legalization for undocumented president pro tem Kevin de Leon, immigrants who have not committed participated in a protest rally outside crimes. Both are sympathetic to the the immigration forum. Steinberg children of immigrants who were called Jones’ decision to host the meeting with Homan “cynical” and

PUBLISHER page 8

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PUBLISHER FROM page 7 brought to the United States without documentation by their parents. And both agree that the nation’s immigration system is broken and needs comprehensive reform. At the meeting, Jones pledged that he would never allow his officers to be deputized by the federal government as de facto immigration officers. Homan told the audience that “we prioritize criminals” for deportation, focusing on those who are a threat to public safety, not people who abide by our laws. This point was clearly lost on the hyper-agitated audience, including on a skeptical Steinberg. Like just about everything else in our highly polarized nation right now, sadly there appears no middle ground on this subject. I know and respect Jones and believe what he says. With a member of law enforcement in our family, we have a perspective that others may not be able to fully understand. It has been a very rough few years for those in blue, along with their families.

I have no doubt that the mayor and council believe they are being supportive of law enforcement by approving the retention bonus plan. But they need to be careful as their actions in other areas regarding police department policy at times appear as trying to satisfy members of the vocal fringe who view law enforcement only

as the enemy. They need to keep in mind that there is widespread support in our community for the officers— and their leaders—who carry out the difficult task of enforcing our laws. My hope is that Jones and Steinberg can forge a positive relationship based upon what they agree on, rather than simply

Note: Thank you to the many folks who wrote me in support of our city’s efforts to brand itself as America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital. I want to clarify that Visit Sacramento decided, in conjunction with Councilmember Rick Jennings, to repaint the I-5 water-tower slogan. The agency also paid all the costs associated with the renaming. Artist Bob Miller sent me this rendering of what he thinks should be painted on the water tower. In my mind this is a terrific idea. Thanks Bob!

Artist Bob Miller's rendering of the I-5 water tower as he imagines it.

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reflecting the rigid left-right axis that has sadly gripped just about every issue in our city, state and country. The men and women risking their lives every day to keep our streets and communities safe certainly deserve it. So do the residents of the poor and minority communities that have the most to lose when police officers pull back, sensing that local politicians don’t seem to have their backs.

Cecily Hastings can be reached at publisher@insidepublications.com. n

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Whose Land Is It? A DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL WEIGHS IN ON THE LEVEE ISSUE

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ike the dog who chases his own tail, the city of Sacramento has squared off against itself in the battle over public access to the Sacramento River levees in Pocket, Greenhaven and Little Pocket. In planning documents dating back to the 1970s, the city repeatedly said it wants to open the levees for public recreational access. But during those same decades, the city never objected when homeowners near the levee asked for permits to build fences and keep the public out. More recently, the city devised a plan to buy so-called “recreational” easements from homeowners along the levee. The homeowners claim private property rights, but those rights have never been legally tested. The city figured it was easier to pay off the homeowners rather than meet them in court. The buyout plan could end up costing taxpayers more than $4.5 million. Rather than let a judge decide who really owns the levee, the city has simply begged riverfront homeowners to just take the money, please. Last year, the Sacramento County Grand Jury investigated the city’s strategy. The grand jury concluded the city may be throwing away tax dollars, because the state already owns comprehensive easements and controls every aspect of life along the levees.

RG By R.E. Graswich Pocket Beat

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You might think the letter would have disappointed the city, because it suggests millions of public dollars must now be forked over to give the public the right to walk along taxpayer-supported levees. But no. The city was pleased, even vindicated—its approach had found a neutral, highly credible friend. Jennings, who to his credit has worked extraordinarily hard to open the levees for public access, texted me moments after Rinke’s letter arrived. “We just wanted an answer,” Jennings’ chief of staff, Dennis Rogers, told me. “Now we have one.” But do we?

In fact, the state has owned full possessory interest in the levees since 1909.

Councilmember Rick Jennings

While embarrassed by the grand jury’s report, the city remained stubborn. The payoff strategy continues to move forward. But to hedge its bets, the city asked the California attorney general’s office for an objective opinion on levee easements and access. City Councilmember Rick Jennings made the formal request to the AG’s office.

This spring, a deputy attorney general from the Land Law Section named Nicole Rinke prepared a two-page, seven-paragraph letter for Jennings. The letter seems to fortify the city’s payment program. “Based on the information reviewed, I concluded that the (state flood board) easements are for flood control purposes and do not authorize public recreational use,” Rinke wrote.

Unfortunately, Rinke’s letter raises more questions than it answers. For starters, the lawyer writes, “The majority of the easements in the Pocket area that I reviewed were granted (to the state) in the mid1950s.” As we shall see, that wording suggests her research was not terribly deep. The letter describes specific easement rights related to levee construction and maintenance. Rinke writes, “By their express terms, these easements grant (the state) a nonpossessory interest in the underlying

land for flood control purposes, and do not include recreational uses.” Sounds definitive. And maybe Rinke is correct. But here are the problems with the facts cited by the deputy attorney general: First, I have copies of Pocket-area easements, and most are not from the mid-1950s. One is from 1909. Two are from 1917. One is from 1956. Second, none of the easements contains language that “by their express terms” grants the state a “non-possessory” interest in the land excluding recreational use. The 1909 and 1917 easements are thoroughly vague. They give the state access “for levee and reclamation purposes,” without defining what those words might have meant to a farmer selling easements 100 years ago. In fact, the state has owned full possessory interest in the levees since 1909. The state has total access 24 hours a day. And it has the power to require homeowners along the levee to seek permits for all routine activities, such as fence

construction and even gardening. The state’s authority along the levee is 100 percent—consistent with full ownership. Finally, a judge would ask about historic recreational activity along the levee—fishing, hunting, hiking. Books and newspapers indicate those pleasures have been locally enjoyed for more than 100 years. The farmers who sold the easements obviously knew about recreational activities and weren’t bothered by them. I wrote a nice email to Rinke, attached the four easements and asked whether the deputy attorney general had reviewed the older documents. I also asked how she decided the state lacked possessory interest, despite decades of 100 percent control. Finally, I asked whether she researched the area’s recreational history. The deputy attorney general hasn’t responded.

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More With the Mayor HOMELESSNESS, THE RIVERFRONT AND TAX DOLLARS

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ast month in this space, I ran an interview with Mayor Darrell Steinberg in which he talked about his ideas for reforming local government and funding transportation needs, as well as his multipronged approach to building more housing in Sacramento. This month, the interview concludes with questions on the mayor’s aggressive plans to reduce homelessness, his grappling over what to do about the convention center and his thoughts on developing Sacramento’s riverfront. First, however, there’s a major update on the mayor’s ideas for addressing housing affordability in Sacramento. You may recall from last month that the mayor and the governor have sharply divergent views on the value of subsidies for new housing construction: The mayor views such subsidies favorably, while the governor considers them a very expensive way to build new housing and one likely to produce too few housing units to have much, if any, impact on the problem of affordable housing. The mayor recently convened a closed-door meeting of local leaders in the construction and real estate industries to discuss his idea for the city to subsidize the construction of affordable housing. According to my sources, the mayor laid out his plan

CP By Craig Powell Inside City Hall

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city voters have an appetite for such a measure. Steinberg is also expected to float his housing bond idea at upcoming city council meetings.

It’s expected to cost the average car owner $120 a year in higher fees and taxes.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg

to put a measure before city voters (presumably in 2018) that would authorize the city to sell housing bonds to subsidize affordable housing construction. Bond payments would likely be financed by either a hike in the local sales tax rate, a new parcel

tax or a property tax hike. The bond issuance and tax would require a two-thirds majority vote of city taxpayers—a tall order. Steinberg pressed the business leaders to pony up the cash needed to commission a public opinion poll to assess whether

Another recent development that might also impact your local taxes is the recent blockbuster package of transportation tax hikes (gas taxes, vehicle registration fees, etc.) and transportation spending (local and state road repair and construction, as well as local transit funding) that sailed through the legislature and was signed into law by the governor. The package is expected to bring in $11 million a year for the repair of Sacramento’s roads, $10 million a year in additional funding for Regional Transit operations and about $28 million a year for county government’s road repair projects. It’s expected to cost the average car owner $120 a year in higher fees and taxes. In total, it should deliver nearly $60 million annually for road repair and transit funding to local governments in Sacramento County, which is more than half as much as the $110 million that would have been raised for local roads and transit had Measure B (the proposal to double the county’s transportation sales tax)

been approved by voters in November. Measure B lost narrowly. But local taxing agencies are publicly (and misleadingly) characterizing this gusher of new local transportation funding as a mere pittance and aren’t slowing down their efforts to put before voters in 2018 another ballot measure to double the transportation sales tax. Meanwhile, the city council will almost certainly ask city voters in 2018 to extend the city’s one-halfpercent “temporary” Measure U sales tax hike that voters approved in 2012 and that is set to expire in 2019. In recent years, the council has rejected proposals by former city manager John Shirey that it set aside a portion of the $40 million that Measure U brings in annually to soften the impact on the city budget when the tax expires. The $64,000 question: How much appetite will city voters have for a tax hike to fund payments on city housing bonds when they’re likely to be asked to approve an extension of the Measure U sales tax hike and a doubling of the transportation sales tax? If all of the tax measures pass, will that exacerbate the exodus of poor, working-class and retired residents from increasingly highcost Sacramento? Further, will an increasing tax burden impair Sacramento’s ability to attract and retain businesses, grow the local economy and create new jobs that pay well? My interview with the mayor has been edited for length and clarity. Craig Powell: I know you’re in the middle of a major debate over whether homeless folks ought to move to the front of the line in getting Section 8 housing vouchers. Mayor Steinberg: Sacramento is the only place among large regions of the state that says specifically that homeless people don’t get any preference when it comes to vouchers. The current law in Sacramento requires the demonstration of a “rent burden” when it comes to qualifying for the voucher. People on the street, by definition, are not “rent burdened.” So it’s almost a de

facto elimination of the people who, arguably, need the help the most. I know a lot of landlords are on the bubble on whether they wish to participate in the Section 8 voucher program because of existing federal regulations, which they’re not always happy with. How do you think private landlords will react to the idea that all of their future Section 8 tenants will not be people who are employed and earning incomes, but are people who are coming straight from the streets? Two things. The biggest criticism of my proposal has been “Well, you can’t just put people who’ve been homeless into apartments and expect that they’re going to succeed without any help or support.” And you know what the answer to that is? They’re right. But that’s not what Housing First is all about. It is housing combined with services and support. So we put together a services and case management budget. Our Budget & Audit Committee set aside $5 million of one-time money. Sutter Health came forward and said they’d put in $5 million and said they’d raise another $5 million. Then I got a call from one of Gov. Brown’s top health deputies who invited us to apply for a state grant that would match whatever we locally put up, publicly or privately, on a dollar-for-dollar basis. So that’s double $15 million, or $30 million. We then had our team do a budget for what it would take to match the 1,600 people who would gain public voucher units with the services necessary to keep them in housing and help them reclaim their lives. Our staff concluded that it would cost about $14.5 million over two years, including not just the services but additional rental subsidies, in addition to the voucher amount, to induce landlords to participate in the program. But is the problem that there’s not enough subsidy for the landlord or is it the nature of the tenants that they’re concerned about?

Both. So we provide enough subsidy but, in addition, we provide enough case management so that the landlord can be confident that the individual has a good chance of success. In addition to the $14.5 million to get 1,600 people off the streets, we’ll set aside another $4 million to prevent another group of people from entering homelessness, through rental subsidies, services, whatever it takes. So is any of that perfect? No. But it would be the most robust and comprehensive effort to actually reduce the numbers of [homeless] people. Everybody is dealing with the impact of this crisis. This is no longer just a downtown Sacramento issue. Is there moral hazard in what you’re doing? It appears that the most politically progressive cities, the ones putting the most effort into services and support, are also the ones experiencing the largest increases in homelessness. So is the human principle at work that, as you make people more comfortable, you’ll have more of them come

to you? Whereas, if they are less comfortable, you will have fewer come to you? Is that basic attribute of human nature at work on the question of whether we’re attracting more homeless by making services more plentiful and easily available? On the margins, I’m sure you can point to some anecdotes that are consistent with that theory, but I don’t buy it. First of all, we don’t have nearly enough permanent housing. And under that scenario, the problem is getting worse here. I know that there are the people who are treatment resistant. I’m not talking about people who are schizophrenic who aren’t capable of making logical decisions about such things. Depending on how you draw your boundaries, you can always argue that people come across the borders. To me, that can’t be an excuse for inaction, because the suffering is too great and the impact on our CITY page 15

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Top Chef THIS POCKET KID IS APPEARING ON TV FOOD COMPETITION

Publisher’s Note: This month we want to welcome writer Corky Mau to this column. And we want to offer our most sincere gratitude to Shane Singh for the many years of columns sharing news from the Pocket that preceded this one. We wish Shane the very best as his law career continues to grow and prosper.

W

hen was the last time you had a conversation about molecular gastronomy with a Sutter Middle School eighth-grader and a passionate foodie? I recently had the pleasure of meeting Adam Wadhwani, currently a contestant on Season 5 of “MasterChef Junior,” Gordon Ramsay’s culinary competition TV show for children 8 to 13. The season premiered on Feb. 9. As of this writing, Wadhwani is one of 10 remaining contestants. Wadhwani and his family moved to the Pocket neighborhood 10 years ago. When he was in the fifth grade at Genevieve Didion School, the family temporarily moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he developed an interest in cooking. He watched YouTube videos and was particularly intrigued by the first season of “MasterChef Junior.” Wadhwani asked his parents more than 400 times to let him audition for the show; his mother finally relented and took him to Los Angeles

CM By Corky Mau Pocket Life

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Junior chef Adam Wadhwani

for two days of interviews and an on-camera cooking audition. Out of 4,000 children who auditioned, he was selected as one of 40 participants to begin Season 5. Since the first episode aired, Wadhwani has earned high marks in the cupcake, fish, vegan burger and blowtorch challenges. One of his

toughest tasks was serving as team leader to cook dinner for Cal Fire and other first responders from Central California. His team had to prepare filet mignon. They faced multiple challenges, including an ambitious menu and a teammate who suffered from heat exhaustion.

So what is the famously mercurial Gordon Ramsay really like? Wadhwani says that off the set, Ramsay is friendly, engaged and nice to everyone. During filming, Ramsay yells at times, but his critiques are helpful and honest. Wadhwani says he has learned a lot about cooking techniques and food

“MasterChef Junior” airs at 8 p.m. Thursdays on the Fox channel. Show your support of Wadhwani by “liking” his Facebook fan page, facebook.com/ juniorchefadam.

BIG DAY OF GIVING PARTY AT ACC

presentation from being on the show. One thing he learned: When cooking a fish fillet, score the skin first. This speeds up cooking time, helps seasons the fish throughout and produces a nice, crispy skin. Although Wadhwani is passionate about cooking, he really loves mathematics and science—hence his keen interest in molecular gastronomy, which combines cooking with scientific tools and techniques. This often results in new and innovative dining experiences, such as cocktails in ice spheres; caviar made of olive oil; and disappearing, transparent ravioli. Wadhwani sees himself going into mathematics or engineering one day, or possibly opening a “test kitchen” where he can practice molecular gastronomy. Wadhwani loves living in a farmto-fork region. Having access to a wide variety of seasonal foods helps him create dishes to try out on family members, who are of Turkish, East Indian and Israeli origins. According to his mother, Emel, “Adam grew up exposed to many cultures, which impacts a global thinking about dishes to make.” One of his favorite dishes to make is duck a l’orange. Every Christmas, he makes creme brulee. Wadhwani deftly juggles homework, competing on “MasterChef Junior” and his other extracurricular loves: hip-hop dancing and photography. He looks forward to entering McClatchy High School next year.

ACC Senior Services will hold a Big Day of Giving party on Thursday, May 4, from 3 to 8 p.m. Live entertainment will showcase ACC’s “homegrown” musical groups (Happy Strummers, Pocket Pickers, etc.) and a Japanese taiko drumming group. Class demonstrations and a fashion show of traditional Asian attire are also scheduled.

Big Day of Giving is the Sacramento region’s annual daylong fundraising effort. Big Day of Giving is the Sacramento region’s annual daylong fundraising effort. The online event starts at midnight and ends at 11:59 p.m. People are encouraged to make online donations to their favorite local nonprofits. On last year’s Big Day of Giving, ACC received more than $15,000 in donations. This year, it hopes to double that number. ACC is made up of three facilities: Greenhaven Terrace, the Care Center and Community Senior Services. In total, these facilities employ more than 225 staffers and have more than 600 volunteers.

LIFE page 17

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Insurance Accepted! CITY FROM page 13 communities stares us in the face every day. You’ve done an extraordinary job of community outreach with stakeholders on what to do about the convention center. You’ve already held four of five public meetings on the issue. You have laid out three options. One would be to expand the convention center for a cost of $170 million to $190 million. The second would be to renovate the center at a cost that was originally estimated to cost about $95 million, but you’re now talking about $110 million. The third option would be to do nothing with the facility. Since the work would be financed by the city’s hotel taxes, what is the highest and best use of those tax dollars? Can hotel taxes be put to better use to attract more visitors than expanding or renovating the convention center would? You’ve raised some interesting alternative ideas, including one that’s been knocking about for years with no discernable progress: developing Sacramento’s riverfront. I think we can do both. I think it’s important, at least for me as the new mayor, to take this from where we started. There was a live proposal before the city council a week before I took office to spend $170 million on a convention center renovation plan, which would have spent 100 percent of the city’s hotel tax borrowing capacity on a single asset. And I asked for a timeout so I’d have a chance to

lead a stakeholder conversation to compare this option to other options and to determine what’s the best way to use these dollars to attract more visitors. I’ve become convinced that we need a convention center expansion/renovation. We do have some significant capacity issues. We don’t have nearly enough meeting space. And the way the expansion was done in the 1990s meant that there’s not nearly enough contiguous meeting space. We now have a new proposal that expands meeting space, makes it more contiguous and allows for holding more than one convention at a time, and can be done for $110 million [plus interest]. Depending on interest rates and debt capacity, that gives us the ability to create what I call a Destination Sacramento fund. I would like the fund to be leveraged a minimum of 3 to 1 with private financing. If it were a $50 million fund and it was leveraged 3 to 1, that’s $150 million of public/ private investment. At that point, we can begin a community conversation around what’s next. In my view, despite the excitement around the Golden 1 Center, we lack sufficient amenities to draw more people here. And I start with the riverfront. I think we should examine targets of opportunity for increasing visitor amenities along the entire riverfront. Craig Powell is a retired attorney, businessman, community activist and president of Eye on Sacramento, a civic watchdog and policy group. He can be reached at craig@ eyeonsacramento.org or 718-3030. n

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Pam Whitehead HELPING CANCER SURVIVORS TRIUMPH THROUGH EXERCISE

Pam Whitehead (holding the yellow sign) on Mount Tallac

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am Whitehead’s screensaver is a photo of eight people on a mountaintop, all grinning and holding signs that proclaim “I am triumph.” Those ear-to-ear smiles aren’t just because the climbers reached the top of Mount Tallac some 9,700-plus feet above sea level, but also because they’d achieved something far greater: beating cancer. Whitehead is the executive director and founder of Triumph Cancer

JL By Jessica Laskey Giving Back

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Foundation. It supports the work of Triumph Fitness, which she started to help adult cancer survivors regain their strength and stamina through exercise. After being diagnosed in 2000 with uterine cancer (caught early thanks to a pap smear), Whitehead realized that the struggle for survivors lay not in the physically, emotionally and often financially taxing cancer treatment itself, but in the misconception that after treatment, your life goes back to normal. “The more rigorous the cancer treatment, the more difficult it is on your body and the more difficult it is to recover,” Whitehead explains. “There was nothing out there when I started developing the Triumph

Fitness program to help survivors regain their strength and give them back their confidence. The common language at the time was ‘just rest and take it easy and then assimilate back into life.’ There was no notion of the benefits of exercise for survivors.” Whitehead discovered the power of exercise when she took up road biking to help raise funds for Livestrong (the cancer organization formerly known as the Lance Armstrong Foundation) after her diagnosis and radical hysterectomy. “The more I rode my bike, the more I felt I was regaining control of my life after treatment,” she says. “It was very empowering. I realized I had this opportunity to create something to help people recapture their lives.”

Whitehead set about creating a program for small groups of survivors to work out together under the guidance of professional instructors trained in cancer recovery. “It’s incredibly important that our instructors understand the issues that survivors face—they’re not dealing with the ‘normal’ population,” says Whitehead. “Survivors deal with a host of issues like neuropathy (pain, numbness or weakness in the hands and feet), lymphedema (swelling in the arms and legs) and the loss of muscle tissue, in addition to the general loss of confidence.” The program started in 2005 as a partnership with UC Davis. Through the 12-week program, twice-weekly

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sleepdesign.com classes are offered at no cost to survivors. To raise money, Triumph Cancer Foundation will hold its seventh annual Triumph Uncorked event on Saturday, June 17, at Helwig Winery. There will be live music, a gourmet picnic dinner and live and silent auctions. Proceeds will go toward the fitness program and other activities, like assembling teams of Triumph graduates to run local 5k and 10k races or summit peaks like Mount Tallac. “Everyone knows someone who’s been diagnosed with cancer,� Whitehead says. “When they’re picking up the pieces after treatment, that’s where Triumph comes in. We put them on a proper path and give them that boost of confidence. It’s incredibly transformative.� For more information on Triumph Cancer Foundation and the Triumph Uncorked fundraiser on June 17, go to triumphfound.org. Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. n

LIFE FROM page 15

ELKS EVENTS IN MAY

ACC Senior Services is at 7334 Park City Drive. For more information, go to accsv.org. For more information about Big Day of Giving, go to bigdayofgiving. org.

Elks Lodge #6 will host three community events this month. Sunday Breakfast occurs every Sunday morning from 8:30 to 11 a.m. Elks Club members cook and serve breakfast, including eggs cooked to order, for $9 per person. Children younger than 5 eat free. People, including teenagers, seeking volunteer hours should contact the Lodge Office. Jazz Sunday will take place on May 14, from noon to 5 p.m. The Sacramento Traditional Jazz Society partners with the Elks Lodge to put on this monthly event. It’s always a fun party, with three rooms of live music and dancing. Tickets cost $10 for jazz society members, $12 for nonmembers. Students pay half price; children younger than 12 get in for free. A parking lot sale will take place on Saturday, May 20, from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Note to vendors: There are only 148 spaces available this year. Vendors must register and set

ACC GOLF TOURNAMENT AT TEAL BEND On Thursday, May 11, ACC Senior Services will hold its 11th annual golf tournament at Teal Bend Golf Course. Proceeds go to ACC’s capital campaign, which supports infrastructure projects such as the expansion of ACC’s skilled nursing facility on Rush River Drive. Last year’s event was sold out. ACC expects another sellout this year. The day includes lunch served by a longtime sponsor, L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. To register as a sponsor or golfer, contact Monica Thompson at 394-6399 or mthompson@accsv.org. For more information, go to accsv.org.

up their spaces between 5:30 and 8 a.m. Vendors may purchase up to five spaces at $20 per space. There is a discount for purchasing more than four spaces. Come early as spaces always sell out! Vendor space selection is on a first-come basis. If you are interested in selling items at this event, contact the Lodge Office for a vendor information packet. Elks Lodge #6 is at 6446 Riverside Blvd. For more information about events, renting the Lodge for a special occasion or becoming an Elks Lodge member, go to elks6.com or call the Lodge Office at 422-6666.

THIS MONTH AT ROBBIE WATERS LIBRARY Free Comic Book Day: Saturday, May 6, noon to 4 p.m. There will be free fun and games for comic fans of all ages. Grow and Harvest Herbs: Saturday, May 13, 2 to 3:30 p.m. Learn how to plan and plant an herb garden. LIFE page 19

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Fraternal Filmmakers THESE SIBLINGS CREATE MOVIE MAGIC FOR THE YOUTUBE GENERATION

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rville and Wilbur Wright. The Marx brothers. Camille and Paul Claudel. Donny and Marie Osmond. The Andrews Sisters. All of these famous names ring a bell for most of us because they’re, well, famous. But what else do they all have in common? They’re siblings. Ask Sarah and Paul Kreutz, the duo behind Saul Films (a clever amalgamation of their names), what it’s like to work with your sibling and you get a couple of wry smiles followed by an immediate outpouring of respect for the other’s strengths. “Sarah is excellent at cutting the dross,” Paul says, referring to his sister’s editing skills as a writer and director. “Paul can build anything,” Sarah says, complimenting her brother’s ability to construct everything from homes (he’s a former contractor) to theatrical sets. It’s clear from spending just a few minutes with the Land Parkbased artists that they feed off each other’s energy and admire each other deeply—an amazing feat for most siblings, especially when you consider that they grew up two of six kids and 14 years apart in age. But lucky for them, that seems to work to their advantage.

jL By Jessica Laskey

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directed the independent local film “Elsa Letterseed,” an experience that gave the former model and wardrobe specialist a taste for more.

“We’re focusing on what the images are conveying and engaging people’s imaginations.”

Paul and Sarah Kreutz, the duo behind Saul Films

“We’re able to compare notes because we see things from different perspectives,” Sarah explains. They share an affinity for the spooky and the supernatural, as evidenced by their visually stunning web series “Gardner & Wells,” an animated gothic ghost story that launched on YouTube in 2015. It’s the product of years of work. After Sarah completed a full-length screenplay in 2003, they launched a Kickstarter campaign to make a live-action film. When that stalled out, the resourceful pair ended up creating an animated web series. “Gardner & Wells” manages to thrill without resorting to blood and gore. “I was very influenced by

Disney’s Haunted Mansion,” says Paul, who has worked as an art director for films in the area as well as a contractor, architect and finish carpenter. “Starting in junior high, I would build mechanical displays for Halloween outside our parents’ house in El Dorado Hills. The kids would come up to the house and say they didn’t want to be grabbed or scared, so I found a way to create things that were spooky, like a floating teapot that poured its own tea, instead of guts and gore. I like to create things that go bump in the night.” Paul’s knack for bringing beautiful if eerie ideas to fruition jibes well with his sister’s love of storytelling. In 2002, Sarah wrote, produced and

“I’ve always loved film,” she says. “Paul and I would study Hitchcock films together and discuss every detail. ‘Gardner & Wells’ has tapped into our roots in pure cinema. It’s all about mood, style, architecture, color. Every drawing tells a story.” When their attempts to raise money for a live-action feature-film version of “Gardner & Wells” didn’t pan out, the team decided to make a short animated series, putting the emphasis on drawn visuals instead of a spoken script. “We were watching a behindthe-scenes video about the Disney movie ‘Tangled,’” Paul recalls. “And we realized, instead of making a movie with people, why not make an animatic (animated storyboard)? I got the software and started experimenting with the images, figuring out how it should look and feel. The more I got into it, the more we realized there should be no talking.” Without any dialogue, the Kreutzes had to make sure that the story would

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come through—and that it wouldn’t be, in Sarah’s words, “a snoozefest.” The result is a lush visual landscape full of sharp lines, cool colors and elaborate architecture (thanks to Paul’s construction background) that’s heightened by an attention to aural detail that keeps the viewer absolutely rapt for each 4-minute episode. “We’re really making movie magic,” Sarah says. “We’re focusing on what the images are conveying and engaging people’s imaginations.” The web series eventually will feature 10 episodes. Though their ultimate goal is to create the liveaction film they initially envisioned, the Kreutzes couldn’t be happier with how the project has turned out. “Now that we have the parameters of what we want to do, we’re starting to really hone in and know ourselves,” Paul says. “It never ceases to amaze me what we can do.” Check out “Gardner & Wells” on YouTube. For more information, visit gardnerandwells.com. Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. n

LIFE FROM page 17 Read to a Dog: Saturday, May 13 and May 27, 1 to 2 p.m. Looking for a way to boost school-age reading skills? Kids can practice reading out loud to Marvin the Wonder Corgi (a registered therapy dog). Children are invited to bring their own books or borrow one from the library’s collection. Greenhaven/Pocket Community Forum meeting: Wednesday, May 24, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Facilitated by Will Cannady, a Nextdoor.com lead and instructor at School of Engineering & Sciences High School. Mr. Cooper’s Sing-a-Long: Tuesday, May 30, 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Lively music and dancing for young children and family members. Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library is at 7335 Gloria Drive. For more information, go to saclibrary. org.

MEET YOUR COUNCILMEMBER City Councilmember Rick Jennings will hold District 7 office hours on Thursday, May 18, from 6 to 7 p.m. at Robbie Waters Pocket-Greenhaven Library. The library is at 7335 Gloria Drive.

FOOD TRUCKS COME TO GARCIA BEND Food Truck Mania will be held at Garcia Bend Park on Friday, May 19, from 5 to 8 p.m. Participating food trucks include Bacon Mania, Chando’s Tacos, Cowtown Creamery, Dog Town, Drewski’s, Gyro King, Kado’s Asian Grill, Rollin Roadhouse, Smokin’ Hot Pizza, The Sweet Spot and Wandering Boba. Garcia Bend Park is at 7654 Pocket Road. Corky Mau can be reached at cmau789@sbcglobal.net. Please send items no later than the 3rd of the month for inclusion in next month’s column. n

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Bank on It NEW DEVELOPMENT WILL BRING 12 CHEFS UNDER ONE ROOF

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ome historic landmarks have a way of blending in, incongruous as they sometimes are with their surroundings. Consider the neoclassical structure with its fluted columns on the northwest corner of J and 7th streets. For the past quartercentury, except for hosting the occasional event, the D.O. Mills Bank Building has kept a relatively low profile. But that will change sometime in late summer when it opens as The Bank, a three-story restaurant and bar with 12 different chefs and cuisines. Built in 1912, the historic building was named after Darius Ogden Mills of New York, who came to California during the Gold Rush and founded a bank in Sacramento. With an exterior as stolid and immovable as the Acropolis and an interior as gilded and detailed as the Palace of Versailles, The Bank

JV By Jordan Venema Building Our Future

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could prove one of Sacramento’s most aesthetically intriguing dining experiences. In 1992, the family of Alison Cameron Ulshoffer purchased the building, and Ulshoffer’s father used it for his private offices until he retired. The building continued to host proms and weddings in a space called the Sacramento Grand Ballroom. “These walls are full of history,” Ulshoffer says. “There have been millions of people through these doors.” When the city announced plans for the Golden 1 Center, Ulshoffer’s family decided to renovate and rebrand the building as a restaurant and gathering space, somewhat inspired by their travels. “We traveled a bit, and there is a square in

Marrakesh that my father is obsessed with,” says Ulshoffer. “It’s just this gathering spot, and the thought of people sitting in the square, the environment of coming together—my father loved that community feel.” As Yolo County residents for three generations, Ulshoffer’s family hopes to facilitate community in this unique space. “We really want it to be like a neighborhood bar in a beautiful setting,” she says. “So we’re designing it not to fight the building, because it’s phenomenal as it is. Every piece of marble that comes off the wall is saved, and

anything we find is put in our archive room. We’re preserving absolutely everything that we can.” Renovation of a 100-year-old building comes with challenges, from plumbing to electrical power, but preservation is a priority, says Ulshoffer. The result will be a threestory, 30,000-square-foot restaurant with a capacity of just over 1,000 people. According to Ulshoffer, The Bank won’t feel crowded. “We’ve put almost two years into planning,” she says, “and we want it to be a little bit of everything for everybody.” That means guests can sip champagne on the mezzanine, drink craft beer in the vaults below or enjoy one of many cuisines on the main floor. For some of The Bank’s 12 chefs, this will be their first brick-and-mortar restaurant. “We want people to come here and get things they can’t get anywhere else,” says Ulshoffer. “So if you feel like oysters or pizza or Italian, there is definitely diversity, and we’ve really gathered a group with exciting talent.” Diners will

Photos courtesy of Andy Duong.

order at individual counters for each chef, and food will be brought to their tables. The Bank, Ulshoffer says, will be neither a food court nor a sports bar, and it won’t turn into a club afterhours. There will be TVs throughout the main and lower floors, and bars unique to each space. “We’re just really trying to cultivate something where everybody is welcome.” The mezzanine bar will specialize in craft cocktails, and the bar on the main floor “is going to have the most wells in town,” says Ulshoffer. A taproom with more than 70 beers on tap will occupy the lower floor, where the bank’s original vaults will be transformed into areas for dining and seating.

BUILDING page 23

Kim Scott of Mama Kim’s will become the first food vendor in The Bank. Photo courtesy of Chantel Elder.

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Out of Balance FUNDING FOR TRANSPORTATION NEEDS REALIGNMENT

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oliticians frequently tout a balanced transportation system. Such talk often occurs when new taxes are being considered. It may include a variation on the theme—namely, a call for “balanced investments” in transportation. Those notions were certainly floated during the formulation of California’s recently approved legislation to raise gas taxes and vehicle registration fees. You can bet the word “balanced” will come up again when a successor to last November’s defeated Measure B sales tax for transportation in Sacramento County is considered for 2018 or 2020. What is a balanced transportation system? Is having a balanced system a worthy goal? If it is, is a balanced investment of new tax dollars the best way to get to a balanced system? Voters should think about these questions the next time they go to the polls with a chance to make a decision on how tax dollars are spent. State legislators and city officials should think about them all the time. There is no standard definition of a balanced transportation system. Ideally, transportation systems should meet the mobility needs of all citizens, including the young, old, poor and disabled. Transportation should be both efficient and cost effective, getting people where they

S W By Walt SeLfert Getting There

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want to go quickly, conveniently and inexpensively. Generally, when people talk about a balanced system, it seems they mean multimodal transportation: a system that gives people a choice on how they get around. For a long time, the main travel modes have been walking, biking, taking public transit or driving. More lately, there’s using a ride-hailing service such as Uber or Lyft, the latest version of private transit. Do we have a balanced transportation system now? Are you kidding? To our detriment, transportation in the United States is incredibly autocentric and auto dependent. Most trips are made by car. In most cars, only the driver’s seat is occupied. Aside from a few

exceptions, cities have spotty transit service that is infrequent, slow and available only at limited times.

Walking and biking get a pittance, far less than their share of trips. In most places, there are significant barriers to walking and biking because of how we design our cities and because of all that automobile traffic. Sprawl, gated communities, big-box stores and single-use zoning

make trip distances too long to walk or bike. Many people are intimidated by the thought of bicycling or walking near fast, heavy traffic or fear having their kids cross a wide, busy street. Is having a balanced transportation system a good idea? About one in nine adults does not have a driver’s license. Further, some people with a license don’t own a car or have stopped driving because of age or disability. Children under 16 can’t drive. All told, about a third of the population needs to get around by some other means than driving themselves. For all those people, other transportation options are essential. In addition, auto dependence has many other consequences. An unbalanced system means high oil consumption, depleting a limited resource. It also means environmental damage and less physical activity, contributing to the obesity and diabetes epidemics and increasing health care costs. A system focused on automobility is costly for governments to build and maintain. Car ownership is expensive for individuals, who get saddled with taxes, depreciation, gas, parking, insurance and repairs. Having a multimodal system is both necessary and desirable. Not everyone drives, and walking, biking and transit are far better for the environment and public health. They cost less, too. Will a balanced investment in transportation result in a balanced transportation system? If you are using a balance scale and one side is heavily weighted, do you put more weight on the side that has already bottomed out? No, you add weight only to the light side. The American transportation system is severely

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CCT Box Office | 916.808.5181 unbalanced. Bringing it into balance doesn’t mean balanced investments; it means unbalanced investments in the overlooked modes that have been shortchanged for so long.

The priority has been motorists’ convenience, not the safety of walkers, bicyclists or motorists themselves. We don’t have equitable funding for each method of travel; we haven’t had it for a century. According to a household travel survey, about 75 percent of trips in California are made in a vehicle. About 20 percent of trips are made by walking or biking. Another 4 percent are made by transit. Yet the lion’s share of

SACRAMENTOCHORAL.COM transportation funding goes to building new roads and maintaining old roads. Walking and biking get a pittance, far less than their share of trips. The new California transportation tax legislation allocates about 2 percent of the funding to walking and biking, even though walking and biking account for 10 times as many trips. To add insult to literal injury (and death), cyclists and walkers are disproportionately the victims in traffic crashes. We simply haven’t made safety the top priority in transportation. The priority has been motorists’ convenience, not the safety of walkers, bicyclists or motorists themselves. We need a transportation system that truly is balanced, equitable, safe, efficient, cost effective and fairly funded. We don’t have that now. If we persist in budgeting transportation as we’ve done in the past, we’ll never get there. Walt Seifert is a bicyclist, driver and transportation writer. He can be reached at bikeguy@surewest.net. n

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BUILDING FROM page 21 One of the vaults will be reserved for private parties or conferences, she says, “which is perfect if you want to play poker with your buddies or watch a Kings game.� During the tour of one vault, Ulshoffer’s excitement was palpable when she saw a large concrete slab had been removed from the vault’s wall to create an auxiliary entrance. “Holy moley. I hadn’t seen that yet,�

she said. “There’s something new here every hour.� Ulshoffer admits the decision to open The Bank was a business opportunity made possible, in part, by the Golden1 Center. But it’s also clear that she feels genuine excitement about what The Bank has to offer Sacramento. “I can’t stress enough that this isn’t about us,� she says. “It’s about the community.� Jordan Venema can be reached at jordan.venema@gmail.com. n

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Still a City of Trees ONLY YOU CAN MAKE AN URBAN FOREST

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hether or not the water tower south of town proudly proclaims us to be a city of trees, Sacramento’s urban forest is still one of our defining characteristics. Its shade makes life worth living during searing summer heat waves. The poet Joyce Kilmer famously wrote, “only God can make a tree,” but it’s up to us to plant and maintain trees on our properties as a gift to our family, community and future generations. We can’t take our precious tree canopy for granted. We

AC By Anita Clevenger Garden Jabber

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all need to play our part. Every time I hear a chain saw in my neighborhood, I worry that another mature tree is being removed or topped (the practice of stubbing back branches, stimulating an ugly thicket of weakly attached branches). I’ve lived in East Sacramento for nearly 40 years, and I remember dozens of large shade trees that have been disfigured by improper pruning or lost altogether. It takes decades for another one to fill its space. Too often, people don’t replant any tree at all, or replace a majestic sycamore, gingko or oak tree with a much smaller tree. Neighbors have told me that big trees are more effort than they are worth and that they are glad to be free from dealing with their leaves or worrying about maintaining them. How much effort does a tree take, anyway? By choosing the right size

and type of tree, you can minimize future care requirements. A young tree needs to be properly planted, staked, mulched, watered and trained so that it develops a good structure. A mature tree continues to need periodic deep watering and regular inspections to look for dead or hanging branches or signs of disease or insect infestation. If you spot a problem, hire a qualified tree service to help resolve it. City arborist Kevin Hocker says he doesn’t understand why people don’t maintain their trees. “You maintain your car,” he says. “Why not take care of your trees as well?” Local governments maintain some control over what is done to privately owned trees. Special protection is given to native oaks and other varieties, but any big tree may require

a permit before pruning or removal commences. While trees are indeed a bit of trouble, the consensus is that their benefits are much greater. Trees are beautiful and make neighborhoods more attractive and livable. Many studies document their environmental and economic benefits, too. They clean the air, filter and replenish groundwater, lower air temperature, sequester carbon and provide habitat. A carefully placed shade tree will reduce your utility bills. Trees give our children places to climb and swing. Mature trees can increase your property value and make your house easier to sell. Hocker says that trees also produce “quantifiable health benefits.” In Japan, studies have shown that “forest bathing,” going out among trees on a regular basis, has

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both physical and psychological benefits. Trees exude airborne oils to protect themselves from insects and germs. Inhaling them improves human immune system response. On its website, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation cites studies that found spending just five minutes among trees can reduce stress, lower blood pressure, improve mood, increase ability to focus (even in children with ADHD), accelerate recovery from surgery or illness, increase energy level and improve sleep. Much as I advocate for trees, I have removed a few badly placed ones over the years. Most recently, SMUD removed a supposedly dwarf, fruitless purple leaf plum that grew into the utility lines and produced a heavy crop of sour fruits that attracted rodents and made a mess in our yard. I miss its beautiful dark-red leaves and intensely fragrant pale-pink spring flowers, and I plan to start over with the right variety. We need to plant our new plum tree close to where the old one grew. We must first deal with the stump and

INSIDE PUBLICATIONS underground roots. We aren’t willing to wait for the stump to decay, so my husband has been doggedly chopping at it. If we have it ground out, we’ll need to remove the wood chips and sawdust and replace them with soil before planting. We’ll make sure that we can dig a big enough planting hole, which guidelines say should be three times as wide as the root ball. SMUD customers may qualify for free shade trees under the Sacramento Tree Foundation’s Sacramento Shade program. We’re going to have to purchase our new plum tree, but the benefits are worth it. After all, my yard is part of our precious urban forest. Anita Clevenger is a Lifetime Sacramento County UC D Master Gardener. For answers to gardening questions, call the Master Gardeners office at 876-5338, visit their website at sacmg.ucanr.edu or come to their next open garden at Fair Oaks Horticulture Center on Saturday, May 13, from 9 a.m. to noon. The center is at 11579 Fair Oaks Blvd. For information on tree care, go to sactree.org. n

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Meant To Be A TURN-OF-THE-CENTURY HOME GETS MODERN UPDATES

JF By Julie Foster Home Insight

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ometimes things happen right on schedule. In 2012, Laney and Cori Preheim were renting a house on Land Park Drive when a home down the street went up for sale. Laney was pregnant with the couple’s first child, and the couple questioned whether they could afford the property. Rather than be disappointed, they chose not to look at the house. But on Laney’s due date, they decided to take a peek. The 2,000-square-foot home’s nice layout, big front porch, ample lot and plenty of large windows all

contributed to the couple’s decision to make an offer. “The minute we walked in, we knew it was the right house,” Laney says. But they were unsuccessful; another offer had been accepted. Seven days past Laney’s due date, their daughter was born. Three days later, the real estate agent called. The first offer had fallen through. Did they want the house? This time they scored. The house has an unusual history. Originally built in Elk Grove in

1911, it was later moved to Land Park Drive, where it was one of the first homes in the area. Many of its original features remain, including the glass lights between the living and dining rooms, a wood-burning fireplace, wainscoting, coved ceilings and an oversized front door with beveled glass. But the house needed refreshing. “Older homes always have ‘a list,’ one that seems to never end,” Laney says. “If we wanted a turnkey, no-project house, we wouldn’t have chosen this one.”

ORIGINALLY BUILT IN ELK GROVE IN 1911, IT WAS LATER MOVED TO LAND PARK DRIVE.

Remodeling took place in stages. The living room and dining room received cosmetic upgrades, including paint. A new marble hearth and glassfronted doors on shelves spiffed up the living room. The wood floors were refinished and both bathrooms were redone. Last year, the couple remodeled the kitchen with help from Curtis Popp and Dustin Littrell, owners of Popp Littrell Architecture + Interiors. “They guided us every step of the way: obtaining permits, selecting finishes and helping us pick a general contractor,” says Laney. “This was our biggest project and the most money we were going to spend, so we really wanted to do it right.” The rehabbed kitchen gets high marks for style and familyfriendliness. White marble tops the counters. Mike Ward of River Park built the stunning custom cabinets. White cabinet panels camouflage the refrigerator and two freezers. “The white has been a game changer,” says Laney. “It makes everything feel clean and open.”

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THINK ABOUT INCORPORATING NEW MATERIALS WHILE STILL RETAINING THE HISTORIC FEEL OF THE HOME.

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A comfy corner window seat provides a spot for socializing during meal preparation. Transom windows above the farmhouse sink drench the room in sunlight. The light bounces off glazed backsplash tiles by Heath Ceramics of Sausalito. Previously, the only eating space in the kitchen was a small, dropped-ceiling area with an inconvenient booth. Now, it’s a spacious pantry with whimsical birdand-butterfly-patterned wallpaper. Though Laney chose a sophisticated neutral palette throughout the home, the wallpaper provides a pop of color that Cori appreciates. “Cori laughs at me, saying, ‘Why can’t we have some color in here?”’ Laney explains. “But I think it is very relaxing.”

Off the kitchen, a once-drafty laundry room was transformed into a bright, sunny laundry room with another delightful window seat. A new deck off the back door allows easy access to the backyard. The covered sand box lets kids play outside all year, while the outdoor shower refreshes on hot summer days. Neither cavelike nor drab, the reclaimed basement is well lit, useful and snug. A coat of epoxy brightens the floor. The couple painted the ceiling and added a wine rack. By repurposing an old door from upstairs and adding a wall, they created a utility closet for the new tankless water heater and HVAC. Reusing two of the original single-paned windows from the house, they built a custom

bookcase. Recycled kitchen drawers from the original cabinets evolved into a nifty cabinet for odds and ends. Two original windows were reworked so natural light illuminates the room. A tidy desk completes the scene. “I can come down here, close the door and work a bit,” Laney says. She advises hiring a general contractor or designer with an appreciation for the older components of a house. Also, think about incorporating new materials while retaining the historic feel of the home. “If you look around here, it’s definitely modern,” she says. “But it’s an older home, and that’s why we bought the house.” Laney notes it’s tempting to “open up” a house and take down multiple

walls. The couple took a different route, choosing light paint colors, lots of white woodwork, glass pocket doors in the kitchen and French doors between the dining room and the kitchen to let light travel through the house. “We found ways to keep it open feeling but still traditional. We love our home, and the minute I come in I feel good,” she says. “That’s what’s most important. You want to feel good in your own home, and we definitely feel good here.” If you know of a home you think should be featured in Inside Publications, contact Julie Foster at foster.julie91@yahoo.com. n

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The Matchmaker SHE CONNECTS FOREIGN STUDENTS WITH LOCAL HOST FAMILIES

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ahoe Park resident Lindsay Zimmerman is a local coordinator for CCI Greenheart, a nonprofit that connects Americans with international students through cultural exchange programs. Here, Zimmerman describes what it takes to coordinate visitors from all over the world and place them with host families in the greater Sacramento area. What got you interested in working with CCI Greenheart? I had always traveled abroad for much of my life. I lived in Spain as a college student and taught English in Japan in 2008. When I got married and moved from Arizona to California, I wanted to keep my international connections. I decided to bring the world to me and Googled “working with exchange students.” I found CCI Greenheart and got an interview with Lori Tibbett (the executive regional director of the western region, who lives in Curtis Park). I feel really lucky that it’s turned out to be such a great organization. You’ve been a local coordinator for seven years. What does that entail? We’re the middlemen between the students, the host families and family members back home. We monitor the students as required

JL

By Jessica Laskey Meet Your Neighbor

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Lindsay Zimmerman with exchange students Adomas Gatelis from Lithuania, Leonardo Venturino from Italy, and Lori Tibbett.

by the Department of State. There are new requirements every year for how best to keep kids and families safe, so we get recertified through the Department of State every year. CCI Greenheart receives applications from kids all over the world at their Chicago headquarters. Then, they send those applications out to their field offices to match applicants with local families. Once we place a student with a host family, we do an initial home visit, then a second home visit about a month after the student arrives. And we have an email, inperson or phone visit once a month and at least one in-person visit per semester.

What’s the hardest part of the job? My biggest challenge is finding a family willing to take on a student for a 10-month academic year and then finding them space at a school. McClatchy is one of the schools with the most exchange students because of its HISP (Humanities and International Studies) program, but it’s a tricky process to place students there because the school is so impacted. (Two of Zimmerman’s charges are attending McClatchy this year: Leo, a senior from Italy living with an empty-nester family in Curtis Park, and Adam, a junior from Lithuania living with a family with teens in East Sacramento.) Placing students early is helpful, so it’s first

come, first served. Once we’ve fully vetted the family and international student and everything is in place (shots, records, testing, etc.), we supply the information to the school, and whoever gets the spot first gets to come. What are the benefits of participating in a foreign exchange program? Lots of people have a desire to travel, but it’s hard when you’re highschool age. Many of our participants are leaders in their home countries, so this is a way to follow through with that. It’s also a great way to work on their English. Learning in immersion is so much more beneficial when learning a language. And it gives

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HomeCareAssistanceSacramento.com I them a new cultural experience. Our organization is one of the only ones that require students to volunteer eight hours each semester. We want a little more than students coming here and hanging out with friends. It gives them a deeper experience. The students may drag their feet at first, but once they do it, they get very excited. Do issues ever arise? The visiting student is a permanent “guest” but must be treated like a member of the family, so it takes flexibility on both sides. It’s like a marriage between the student and the family. Conflicts can arise from cultural differences, personality differences—an outgoing family versus a shy student, sibling rivalry. So we try to think of these things when we’re placing the students. We also have separate contact with the host families and the students to make sure we’re operating on neutral ground to work out problems with both sides. There are so many factors to consider—we’re just the

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What’s changed over the years? Hosting can be more complicated these days. Technology can be challenging with the kiddos, but it also means they can FaceTime their host families way ahead of time and stay more connected to their home families. The exchange experience is changing. I mean, when I was in Spain, I called my mom from a pay phone on an international calling card! For more information about the exchange programs offered by CCI Greenheart, visit cci-exchange.com or email Lindsay Zimmerman at lindsayzimmerman123@yahoo.com. Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. n

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Art Preview

JAYJAY presents the work of Mary Warner and Kris Lyons through May 27. Shown right: Mary Warner’s “Through the Trees,” an oil on linen. 5524 Elvas Ave.; jayjayart.com

GALLERY ART SHOWS IN MAY Sparrow Gallery presents mixed-media photography by Dianne Poinski through June 2. Shown left: “Iridescence.” 2418 K St.; sparrowgallerysacramento.com

B. Sakato Garo presents the work of Robert Brady through June 3. Shown left: “Return #2.” 923 20th St.; bsakatagaro.com

Through May, Tim Collom Gallery will exhibit the ceramic work of Cindy Wilson. Shown above: “Canoe Girl.” 915 20th St.; timcollomgallery.com

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Northern California Arts presents a juried membership show called Artistic Journey through May 14 at Sacramento Fine Arts Center. Shown above: 2017 Best of Show “Song of the Woods” by Daphne Stammer. 5330 Gibbons Drive; sacfinearts.org/nca

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Perfect Day IT’S MORE THAN SUNSHINE AND SONG LYRICS

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o you ever have such good start to your day that you could describe it with the Mary Poppins phrase “practically perfect in every way”? In the years I served as a pediatric chaplain, those days were hard to find. However, I remember starting one such “practically perfect” day by finding a perfectly shaded spot in the hospital parking lot. Though there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, I was overwhelmed with such synchronicity that my head filled with the syrupy lyrics of “Singin’ in the Rain.” When my day starts this well, I like to reward myself with a cup of hot chocolate. Sure enough, the perfect cup was served with a greeting as sweet as the chocolate itself: “Chaplain, is that a new tie? Very cool!” On the go with cocoa, I took a tooslow elevator to the pediatric floor for a visit with my 5-year-old friend, Opal. Dressed in street clothes, Opal was awaiting discharge orders. She greeted me with the largest smile ever pasted on such a small face. “Swing me! Swing me!” she said, seizing my fingers with a full-handed grip. As we swung, I caught a glimpse of two nurses giving us one of those “aren’t they perfectly cute!” smiles. Just then, Opal’s doctor arrived. I said my goodbyes to pediatrics and wandered off toward the pediatric

NB By Norris Burkes Spirit Matters

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intensive care unit (which we pronounce “pick-u”). Why can’t every day be as flawless as this one? I thought. The PICU would give me a new perspective on the “perfect day” when I met a 13-year-old boy named Alex. Alex’s mom explained to me how they’d recently learned on a not-soperfect Mother’s Day that their son’s cancer had returned. I motioned for her to step out of the room to say more as Alex slept. Just then, an alarm called her back to his bedside. I followed. The bloodoxygen indicator told us that Alex’s oxygen levels had fallen dangerously low. Mom was the wife of a military officer, and she found her voice by issuing an urgent motherly command: “Breathe, Alex. Breathe. Take a deep breath.” Her son followed the orders, and we watched his chest rise and fall a few times. The indicator showed Alex’s blood oxygen returning to normal levels, but this mom wasn’t taking anything for granted. “Take one more,” she urged through a deep inhale she hoped he would mimic. She placed an approving hand on Alex’s forehead and said, “There, that’s perfect. Just perfect.” Suddenly, the syrupy “Singin’ in the Rain” lyrics vanished from my head and were replaced with a new song: “Holy, Holy, Holy.” I knew I was standing in the presence of perfect and holy love, and my understanding of a perfect day was instantly transformed. Who was I kidding? There was no rain in my life that I could sing in. There had been only sunshine and a slow elevator to mar my morning. Here was a mom huddled under a

downpour of anguish, holding such a full heart of loving sunshine that it transformed all who witnessed it. I was humbled to be in the presence of such holy love. It was obvious now that a perfect day needn’t be defined by events that happen or don’t happen. Nope. “Perfect” is about knowing the kind of love this young man knew, love that was there for him, no matter what, to help him in the most basic things, to love him through the best and the worst parts of his life. While Alex lived only a few more months, he gave me new perspective on what makes a perfect day, a perspective I will always hold close to my heart. A perfect day is not what happens around you; it’s what happens within you. If you spend your days loving someone and being loved, then no matter how difficult the circumstances, the day will always be a perfect day. My prayer for this week is that we find opportunities to share such perfect and holy love.

Norris Burkes is a chaplain, syndicated columnist, national speaker and book author. He can be reached at norris@thechaplain.net. n

A GIFT FOR MOM!

THEATRE GUIDE STUPID F##KING BIRD

THE DONNER PARTY

An aspiring young director rages against the art created by his mother’s generation. A nubile young actress wrestles with an aging Hollywood star for the affections of a renowned novelist. And everyone discovers just how disappointing love, art, and growing up can be. In this irreverent, contemporary, and very funny remix of Chekhov’s The Seagull, Aaron Posner stages a timeless battle between young and old, past and present, in search of the true meaning of it all.

Specially commissioned and developed by Sacramento Theatre Company (STC), this dramatic new musical chronicles the true story of the harrowing travels of pioneers who faced unspeakable trials when trapped in the high Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846 to 1847.

ANTIGONE BY SOPHOCLES

A black mother’s desire to assure her daughter escapes life’s tragic results from a poor education schemes to get the girl into a “good” school. That school is predominately white, in another school district, and is helmed by an interim principal who is a well-educated black woman. The mother finesses the principal into the effort but that relationship is rocked when a private investigator, implicates the principal in a scheme to keep the young girl in the school illegally.

Capital Stage May 3 – June 4 2215 J St, Sac 995-5464 Capstage.org

Big Idea April 7 – May 6 1616 Del Paso Blvd, Sac 960-3036 BigIdeaTheatre.org In the aftermath of a civil war over the throne of Thebes, two belligerent brothers are dead, and the newly anointed ruler, Creon, has decreed one of them a traitor whose body shall remain unburied. Antigone, sister to the slain brothers, openly defies Creon’s orders, setting the stage for a battle of wills that pits national allegiance against family loyalty.

BROADWAY SACRAMENTO PRESENTS: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Sacramento Community Theater May 17 – May 28 1301 L St, Sac 808-5181 Californiamusicaltheatre.com

Cameron Mackintosh’s spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera will come to Sacramento as part of a brand new North American Tour. Critics are raving that this breathtaking production is “bigger and better than ever before” and features a brilliant new scenic design, lighting design, new choreography, and new staging. The production, overseen by Matthew Bourne and Cameron Mackintosh, boasts many exciting special effects including the show’s legendary chandelier.

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Sacramento Theatre Company April 19 – May 14 1419 H St, Sac 443-6722 SacTheatre.org

LINES IN THE DUST

Celebration Arts Thru May 14 4469 D St, Sac 455-2787 Celebrationarts.net

TREATMENT

B Street Theatre Thru June 4 2711 B St, Sac 443-5300 Bstreettheatre.org Three long-time friends go on a camping trip to reconnect with hilarious results! In this original work by B Street Theatre company members, secrets are revealed, alliances are formed and the messiness of life is celebrated as the power of friendship proves to heal all wounds.

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Don't miss the vocal ensemble Vox Musica's last performance of the season.

TO DO

THIS MONTH'S CULTURE & ENTERTAINMENT HIGHLIGHTS

“Voices in Harmony: Music From Appalachia”

jL By Jessica Laskey

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Vox Musica Sunday, May 21, at 5 p.m. Beatnik Studios, 723 S St. voxmusica.net All-female vocal ensemble Vox Musica closes its season with a combination of bluegrass songs and folk melodies from Appalachia, including music from The Wailin’ Jennys, Gillian Welch and Alison Krauss, accompanied by the Davisbased bluegrass ensemble The Narrow Gauge String Band. Local breweries will serve craft beers before the concert.

“Snap Shots II” The Sacramento Ballet Through May 14 E. Claire Raley Studios for the Performing Arts, 2420 N St. sacballet.org “Snap Shots II” delves into the archives of co-artistic director Ron Cunningham’s storehouse of masterful choreography, with sketches from “The Great Gatsby,” “Romeo and Juliet” and “The Donner Party.”

Jewish Heritage Festival Celebrating Israel The Jewish Federation Sunday, May 7, from 1–5 p.m. Scottish Rite Masonic Center, 6151 H St. jewishsac.org Come party with The Jewish Federation of the Sacramento Region at this annual festival celebrating Israel. This family-friendly event will include food, crafts and more.

Sacramento Ballet is presenting Snap Shots II through May 14. Photo courtesy of Keith Sutter.

“Songs I’ll Never Get To Sing” Jessica Laskey and Friends Friday, May 26, and Saturday, May 27, at 7 p.m. William J. Geery Theater, 2130 L St. theatergalatea.com Yours truly (Jessica Laskey) will perform a cabaret of Broadway classics with a twist with fellow singers Jennifer Kirkham Smith, Natalie Jones, Analise Langford, Orlana Van Zandt and Jessica Futrell accompanied by Sam Schieber. The show will feature songs from musicals “The Producers,” “The Book of Mormon,” “Man of La Mancha,” “My Fair Lady” and more in ways you’ve never heard them sung before.

Have Choral, Will Travel “European Masterworks” Sacramento Choral Society and Orchestra Saturday, May 6 at 8 p.m. Community Center Theater, 1301 L Street 808-5181, sacramentochoral.com Get a sneak peek of the programming set for the SCSO’s June 2017 international tour to Latvia, Estonia and Finland at this musical preview concert featuring Mendelssohn’s “Psalm 42,” Rossini’s “Stabat Mater,” solos by singers Marina Harris, Layna Chianakas, Kirk Dougherty, Chester Pidduck, Malcolm McKenzie and Shawn Spiess and a guest appeareance by the Sacramento State University Chorus.

Concert Celebrating Women Reconciliation Singers Voices of Peace Friday, May 19, and Saturday, May 20, at 7:30 p.m. St. John’s Lutheran Church, 1701 L St. rsvpchoir.org The RSVP vocal ensemble will present a concert featuring female composers and arrangers in a variety of musical styles (jazz, gospel and classical) to benefit Saint John’s Program for Real Change. Saxophonist Keith Bohm will perform at Crocker Art Museum.

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Sunday Dinner for Two Every Sunday evening Hawks Public House, 1525 Alhambra Blvd. hawkspublichouse.com Get your week started right with good food and a bottle of wine. Hawks Public House now offers Sunday Dinner for Two, a special fixed-price menu by chef Dane Blom (formerly of Grange): Caesar salad, garlic bread and chef’s choice pasta for $45.

“How Do I Love Thee?” Sacramento Master Singers Saturday, May 20, 8 p.m., and Sunday, May 21, at 3 p.m. First United Methodist Church, 2100 J St. mastersingers.org Sacramento Master Singers present a concert that explores the highs and lows of romantic love. The program will include compositions by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Eric Nelson and David Bednall, texts by William Shakespeare and Elizabeth Barrett Browning and tunes like “Go, Lovely Rose” by Z. Randall Stroope.

“Gears” Thursday, May 11, from 6–10 p.m. Crocker Art Museum, 216 O St. crockerart.org Celebrate Bike Month in Steampunk style at this ArtMix event featuring a new installation by Pedal Theory and retro-futuristic inventions, workshops and fashions presented by Sacramento Steampunk Society and The League of Proper Villains. Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates will provide free bike valet service. Must be 21 or over to attend.

Celebrate Bike Month at Crocker Art Museum. Photo courtesy of George Young, Crocker Art Museum.

“Field Notes” UC Davis Art Studio MFA Program May 5–25 Beatnik Studios, 723 S St. beatnik-studios.com Beatnik Studios presents eight artists currently enrolled in the Art Studio MFA program at UC Davis, a two-year studio program. The featured artists from the class of 2018 include Noah Greene, Emily Clark-Kramer, Doug Loree, Joy Miller, Jodi Connelly, Ryan Meyer, Tavarus Blackmonster and Darcy Padilla working in painting, sculpture, photography and video. The opening reception takes place May 5 from 6 to 9 p.m. A student-hosted event will be held Wednesday, May 24, from 7 to 9 p.m.

Enjoy Sunday Dinner for Two at Hawks Public House, a special fixed-price menu. Photo courtesy of Esra Okar.

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The RSVP vocal ensemble presents a concert to benefit Saint John’s Program for Real Change.

Big Day of Giving Thursday, May 4 Midnight–11:59 p.m. bigdayofgiving.org Big Day of Giving is a 24-hour online giving challenge that helps raise funds for local nonprofits. The event has raised more than $16 million for local nonprofits from more than 36,000 donors since it began. Mark your calendar to join the charitable challenge. Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. n

Sacramento Master Singers will perform two concerts at First United Methodist Church this month.

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Taking a Mulligan THIS ARTIST IS INSPIRED BY LOCAL LANDSCAPES

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imothy Mulligan has worked in printmaking, watercolor, pastels and pencil, but painting is where his artistic ardor truly lies. Read on to meet the man behind the canvas. How did you first become interested in making art? In eighth grade at St. Robert Catholic School in Hollywood Park, we were fortunate to have an art teacher named Henrietta Doglietto come to our class once a week. She opened my eyes to art and helped me realize that it came naturally to me. Venturing outdoors to the fields at our school, she taught us about gesture drawing, contour drawing, pen and ink and painting with watercolors. As a tall, geeky and invisible eighth-grader, I was amazed that art was something I could do really well. Being an artist has become a part of my identity and something of which I’ve always been proud. How would you describe your style? I paint using bold strokes in an expressive style inspired by the Bay Area Figurative Movement. I also alter the texture of the paint and use hyper-colorful effects. My compositions are of real subjects and locations that are oftentimes built

jL By Jessica Laskey

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Landscapes, waterscapes and cityscapes are artist Timothy Mulligan's favorite subjects.

upon linear, minimized and reimagined forms. What other artists have influenced your style? I love Paul Cezanne’s radical approach to how he perceived his subjects; Vincent van Gogh’s ability to capture his emotions with color; Henri Matisse’s brilliant use of lines, patterns and color; Richard Diebenkorn’s ability to merge the abstract expressionist style with figurative painting; Wayne Thiebaud’s masterful use of thick, colorful paint, light and shadows and his control of the composition; Gregory Kondos’ ability to create strong compositions

using intuitive colors and to re-create forms that challenge our perception of the real world; and Latvian artist and playwright Raimonds Staprans’ dramatic and colorful compositions that isolate and intensify his subjects with basic planes of dynamic color. What inspires you? Landscapes, waterscapes and cityscapes are my favorite subjects to paint. I like to peel back the skin of what I see—land, rocks, water and sky—to expose a raw and reimagined world of heightened colors and simplified shapes and textures. As a kid growing up in the Hollywood Park area, I loved spending time

and playing sports at William Land Park. Over the years, the beauty of the park has been the inspiration for several of my paintings. When I was homeschooling my own kids, I loved teaching them by the ponds. My main goal was to make learning fun and interesting for them every day, and art was a valuable part of that education. Not only did we carve sculptures, illustrate books and paint, but I also used art as a tool to teach them many different subjects— whether to visualize math concepts, understand scientific principles or learn history by drawing the events and using symbolism.

What other mediums have you worked in? I enjoyed learning about the different printmaking processes in college. I liked the idea that you could make multiple prints from a single plate, block or stone. At this same time, I was also working on watercolors, pastels and a series of large pencil drawings based on my dreams. I exhibited these earlier works in group shows at the Crocker Art Museum, The Haggin Museum, the California State Fair and at several local art galleries. However, for the last six years, my focus has been completely on painting. What projects are you working on? I’m preparing for a solo exhibition in June at the Elliott Fouts Gallery. I’m building custom frames for all of the paintings in the show. I’ve also been working on features for five different art magazines: American Art Collector, The Artist’s

Magazine, Southwest Art Magazine and International Artist Magazine. Last year, the city of Sacramento purchased two of my paintings to display in the lobby of the County Board of Supervisors building, and one of my paintings was recently acquired for Sac City’s permanent art collection. What do you find the most challenging and the most enjoyable about creating art? I find it challenging to see a subject in a new way and to find ways to express my ideas and feelings about it. It’s also hard to decide when to stop painting—identifying when a painting has been brought to completion. But there’s nothing more exciting than the feeling of accomplishment and excitement when I finish a new painting—getting a painting to feel right and stay interesting, even when looking at it again and again. I also love discovering something special through “happy accidents” during the

painting process and traveling to art exhibits all over California with my wife, Irma, to meet other artists and collectors.

To see Tim Mulligan’s portfolio, go to timothymulliganfineart.com. Jessica Laskey can be reached at jessrlaskey@gmail.com. n

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PRESENTED BY CITY OF SACRAMENTO

Meters Matter to The City

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acramentans have witnessed Mother Nature’s water show offer up its most dramatic, full spectrum display of possibilities. Years of crackling, fire-breeding dryness followed by a sudden series of tropic-like deluges have cast water issues center stage, making it more clear than ever the power water has over our lives and landscape. The dramatics have taught us all something to be sure. For the City of Sacramento, Department of Utilities, it’s reinforced the need for care, conscientiousness and conservation around the City’s water infrastructure. To that end, city officials, engineers, water planners and countless crews are accelerating efforts to install water meters well ahead of the state mandate which calls for all California cities to be fully metered by 2025. But ahead of schedule, Sacramento’s stepped up efforts aimed to insure all residential and commercial city properties will be fully metered by 2020, according to Ian Pietz, program manager for the city’s Accelerated Water Meter Program. Construction crews have just broken ground on the final 40,000 properties to be metered. The process will take about three years and is underway now in portions of Elmhurst, Oak Park, Colonial Heights and Tahoe Park neighborhoods. So far, approximately 95,000 meters in the city have been installed. Pietz says one of the most important things to the city is for residents to know exactly what to expect when their meter is installed so there are no surprises. “The biggest issue we are trying to minimize is the impact on the customer so that when the contractor is out there customers are inconvenienced as little as possible.” he said. The city will be giving residents plenty of notice, at least five different types of notices in the form of letters in the mail to door hangers to knocks on the door by the construction crew. There is also an information phone line (916) 808-5870, a 24-hour construction inspector number residents will receive just prior to construction at their home, as well as online access

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Ian Pietz (center) and Rhea Salvador (right) of the City of Sacramento usher in construction crews via www.MetersMatter.org where residents can track construction plans to see when their street is slated to be metered. In addition, residents are invited to attend informational open houses in advance of the construction to learn more about the construction process. Residents will receive a postcard in the mail to inform them of the time and location of these open houses. “The open houses are a great way for the City to connect one-on-one with residents, prepare them for the construction that is coming and help them understand the importance of this project,” said Councilmember Eric Guerra. “I just hosted two open houses for the neighborhoods in my districtElmhurst and Tahoe Park/Colonial Heights/Oak Park- and received positive feedback on the City’s preparation and transparency around this effort.”

WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT? - Meters Matter notices will be mailed in advance of construction. Additional notices will also be distributed by construction crews approximately one week and one day before construction is expected to start. - Crews will give residents a 4-hour time frame when water will be shut off to their home or business, but most work is done in about 30 minutes. - Crews may start as early 7 a.m. by staging the area near your home. They will not shut off your water until after 9 a.m., and only after knocking on your door to make sure you’re not running a load of wash. - Before work is to begin on your meter, the city will provide a 24-hour phone number for the construction inspector responsible for your property. Any

questions or special concerns can be directed here. - All landscaping associated with the digging will be replaced as it was. In the unlikely event any plants are destroyed, the city will replace them. - Digging can occur at various locations depending on where the water main and line to home exist. Crews may dig in the side yard, back yard, park strip between the street and sidewalk or behind the sidewalk. - Crews will make individual arrangements with businesses such as restaurants, spas and office complexes so that work is done at the most convenient time. Extended, after-hours arrangements are possible to minimize impact. - Traffic will be shut down only where necessary and in such a way as to leave at least one lane open for through traffic. - Some water mains and worn pipes may need to be replaced, but not all. This will take additional time in the areas where its deemed necessary. All crews will notify homeowners if more time is needed for water to be shut off. - Approximately three months after the meter is installed, customers will begin receiving a “comparative bill.” The comparative bill shows the flat rate amount due, as well as the actual water usage and what the metered bill would be. Customers will receive a comparative bill for 12 months, and then will be automatically rolled over to metered billing. Any time during the 12-month comparative billing period, customers can opt in to metered billing. Water meters are important to create overall water use awareness and conservation as well as helping establish fair billing practices so that customers pay for the water they use, said Rhea Salvador of the City of Sacramento. “Replacing worn out 100-year-old pipelines and water mains will also help the city continue to offer a reliable water source for years to come,” she said.

Water Main & Meter Construction in Sacramento Neighborhoods WHAT TO EXPECT DURING CONSTRUCTION During construction, you could experience: • Water shutdown for up to 4 hours • Temporary street parking restrictions • Sidewalk closures and traffic delays • Construction-related dust and noise

CONSTRUCTION TIMELINE Spring 2017 Tahoe Park – Colonial Heights – Oak Park – Elmhurst

Summer 2017 Land Park – North & South Sacramento – Valley Hi

Fall 2017 Richmond Grove – Meadowview – South Land Park – Golf Course Terrace – Fruitridge – Glen Elder – East Sacramento – Tradewinds – Midtown – Downtown – College Glen Some residences in these areas will have construction in 2018 & 2019. Visit the website for the latest details.

STAY UPDATED! www.MetersMatter.org watermeter@cityofsacramento.org facebook.com/SacramentoCityUtilities/ 916-808-5870

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INSIDE’S

DOWNTOWN Cafeteria 15L 116 15th Street 551-1559 L D $$ Classic American lunch counter with a millennial vibe • cafeteria15l.com

DeVere’s Pub 1521 L Street L D Full Bar $$ Family-run authentic Irish pub with a classic menu to match • deverespub.com

Downtown & Vine 1200 K Street #8 228-4518 Educational tasting experience of wines by the taste, flight or glass • downtownandvine.com

Ella Dining Room & Bar 1131 K St. 443-3772

Firestone Public House 1132 16th Street L D $$ Full Bar Sports bar with a classical american menu• firestonepublichouse.com

Frank Fat’s 806 L St. 442-7092 L D Full Bar $$-$$$ Chinese favorites in an elegant setting • Fatsrestaurants.com

Ma Jong’s 1431 L Street L D $-$$ Beer/Wine Cuisine from Japan, Thailand, China ad Vietnam. • majongs.com

Grange 926 J Street • 492-4450 B L D Full Bar $$$ Simple, seasonal, soulful • grangerestaurant.com

L D $$$ Full Bar Modern American cuisine served family-style in a chic, upscale space Elladiningroomandbar.com

Hock Farm Craft & Provision

Esquire Grill

L D $$-$$ Full Bar Celebration of the region’s rich history and bountiful terrain • Paragarys.com

1415 L St. 440-8888

1213 K St. 448-8900 L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Upscale American fare served in an elegant setting • Paragarys.com

VOLVO OWNERS ONLY

Sacramento’s top-rated independent Volvo service and repair since 1980. Experts in ALL Volvo makes and models. • Experienced technicians • Complete repair & maintenance • Expert diagnosis & consultation • Shuttle service (just ask!) • Plush waiting lounge with wi-fi, coffee and movies • The power of product knowledge

South

Iron Horse Tavern

Red Rabbit

1116 15th Street

2718 J Street

L D $-$$ Full Bar Gastro-pub cuisine in a stylish industrial setting • ironhorsetavern.net

L D $$ Full Bar All things local contribute to a sophisticated urban menu • theredrabbit.net

Old Soul & Pullman Bar

Paragary’s Bar & Oven

12th & R Streets

1401 28th St. 457-5737

B L D $ Full-service cafe with artisan coffee roasts, bakery goods and sandwiches • oldsoulco.com

L D $$ Full Bar Fabulous Outdoor Patio, California cuisine with a French touch • Paragarys.com

Magpie Cafe

Revolution Wines

1601 16th Street

L D $-$$ Beer/Wine Urban winery and tasting room with a creative menu using local sources • rwwinery. com

Nido Bakery

Skool

1409 R Street Suite 102 L D $ Bakery treats and seasonal specialities • hellonido.com

Shoki Ramen House 1201 R Street L D $$ Japanese fine dining using the best local ingredients • sshokiramenhouse.com

THE HANDLE The Rind 1801 L Street #40 441-7463

Fat City Bar & Cafe

L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Patio Regional Mexican cuisine served in an authentic artistic setting • zocolosacramento.com

Rio City Cafe 1110 Front Street 442-8226 L D Wine/Beer $$ Bistro favorites with a distinctively Sacramento feeling in a riverfront setting • riocitycafe.com

The Firehouse Restaurant 1112 Second St. 442-4772 L D $$$ Full Bar Global and California cuisine in an upscale historic Old Sac setting • Firehouseoldsac.com

MIDTOWN Biba Ristorante

L D $ Classic burgers, cheesesteaks, shakes, chili dogs, and other tasty treats • suzieburger.com

Tapa The World 2115 J St. 442-4353 L D $-$$ Wine/Beer/Sangria Spanish/world cuisine in a casual authentic atmosphere, live flamenco music - tapathewworld.com

2431 J St. 442-7690 L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Patio Housemade curries among their authentic Thai specialties Thaibasilrestaurant.com

2000 Capitol Ave. 498-9891 L D $$-$$$ Full Bar Patio Fine South of France and northern Italian cuisine in a chic neighborhood setting • waterboyrestaurant.com

OAK PARK

Café Bernardo

La Venadita

2726 Capitol Ave. 443-1180

3501 Thurd Ave. 4000-4676

B L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Casual California cuisine with counter service

L D $$ Full Bar Authentic Mexican cuisine with simple tasty menu in a colorful historic setting • lavenaditasac.com

Centro Cocina Mexicana

Oak Park Brewing Company

2730 J St. 442-2552

L D Wine/Beer $$ American bistro favorites with a modern twist in a casual, Old Sac setting • ten22oldsac.com

Federalist Public House 2009 N Street L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Wood-fired pizzas in an inventive urban alley setting • federalistpublichouse.com

R STREET

Hot Italian

Café Bernardo

L D Full Bar $$ Authentic hand-crafted pizzas with inventive ingredients, Gelato• hotitalian.net

B L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Casual California cuisine with counter service

29th and P. Sts. 455-3300

served a la carte • Biba-restaurant.com

1022 Second St. 441-2211

1431 R St. 930-9191

Suzie Burger

2801 Capitol Ave. 455-2422 L D $$$ Full Bar Upscale Northern Italian cuisine

L D $$ Full Bar Patio Regional Mexican cooking served in a casual atmosphere • Paragarys.com

L D $ Great burgers and more. • williesburgers.com

D $$ Inventive Japansese-inspired seafood dishes • skoolonkstreet.com

The Waterboy

1001 Front St. 446-6768 D $$-$$$ Full Bar American cuisine served in a casual historic Old Sac location • Fatsrestaurants.com

2315 K Street

Thai Basil Café 1801 Capitol Ave. 441-0303

OLD SAC

2831 S Street

L D $$-$$$ Wine/Beer Seasonal menu using the best local ingredients • magpiecafe.com

Zocolo

110 K Street

POC MAY n 17

L D Full Bar $$$ Modern American cuisine in an upscale historic setting

L D $-$$ Beer/Wine Timeless traditional Southern cuisine, counter service • weheartfriedchicken.com

Willie’s Burgers

44

1215 19th St. 441-6022

L D $$ Humble Hawaiian poke breaks free • fishfacepokebar.com

L D $-$$ Wine/Beer Cheese-centric menu paired with select wine and beer • therindsacramento.com

Ten 22

(916) 971-1382 svsauto.com

Mulvaney’s Building & Loan

1104 R Street Suite 100

2005 11th Street 382-9722

How may we help you?

“Sacramento’s Volvo Service” 2009 Fulton Ave. Sacramento, CA 95825

Fish Face Poke Bar

1627 16th Street 444-3000

3514 Broadway L D $$ Full Bar Award-winning beers and a creative pub-style menu in an historic setting • opbrewco.com

Vibe Health Bar 3515 Broadway B L D $-$$ Clean, lean & healthy snacks. Acai bowls are speciality. Kombucha on tap • vibehealthbar.com n

Relles Florist & Gifts

If it’s creative... it’s here! art supplies custom framing decorative papers greeting cards

photo frames ready-made frames classes, workshops demos– and more!

uniquee gifts nery stationery aalsls journals uffffff kidstuff

Mothers LOVE flowers and SO DO WE... Gift offerings include locally made sweets, bath & body products, art, pottery & more. 2400 J Street 441-1478 rellesflorist.com

Do what’s best for you and your family. Get a Living Trust.

FREE Initial Living Trust Consultation Andy and Randy are a family

Mark J. Lamb Attorney at Law

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UArt Sacramento 2601 J Street 916-443-5721 UniversityArt.com

POC n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM

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Amaro Does Italian Right NEW R STREET RESTAURANT DESERVES A ‘BRAVO!’

I

am sometimes surprised at how few Italian restaurants there are in the Sacramento region. Sure, we have our share of pizza places— Masullo, Hot Italian, Pizza Rock and OneSpeed come to mind—that transcend the pizza-parlor genre and creep into the remarkable-dining category. And we have some classic Chianti-and-two-pounds-of-pasta places like Espanol and Serritella’s. What we lack are restaurants that combine Sacramento’s farm-to-fork ethos with exquisite Italian cooking. Excluding a few prominent chains, the only name that comes to mind is Biba. But now we have a new entry to

GS By Greg Sabin Restaurant Insider

46

POC MAY n 17

add to the list: Amaro Italian Bistro & Bar.

When it comes to the menu, the dishes put out at Amaro are absolutely lovely. The latest enterprise from the team behind Shady Lady Saloon, B-Side, Field House American Sports Pub and Sail Inn, Amaro combines modern design with classic Italian cuisine. Perched in the middle of the bustling R Street Corridor, the space carves out a lovely corner next to WAL Public Market and across 11th Street from a shuttered building that has “potential” written all over it. Compared to the nouveau-hip industrial exterior, the interior is a bit

tongue-in-cheek. A simple smattering of tables and a large, open kitchen take up the ground floor, while above the diners’ heads are gorgeous reproduction Renaissance portraits and a library of leather-bound Italian classics, all so fraudulent as to be a sardonic comment in itself. The only thing that doesn’t fit the slick atmosphere is the music—1980s pop tunes and reggae numbers—piped through the sound system. The food at Amaro is absolutely lovely. The scratch cooking, housemade pastas, freshly baked breads and high-quality desserts speak to a kitchen that is staffed by mature hands and talented veterans. The word “maturity” came to mind more than once while I was eating at Amaro. A less experienced group of restaurant owners and a less confident kitchen staff may have tried to reinvent the Italian classics. They would have been miles too clever. Instead, the group seems to have centered the culinary enterprise on

quality: quality ingredients, quality staff, quality recipes. Take, for example, the Caesar salad. Amaro’s version is simple and beautiful, made with polenta croutons and some of the best anchovy fillets I’ve ever enjoyed. Those fillets aren’t a big thing, but they let the diner know that care has been brought to bear on all aspects of the dish.

The result is a dense, oversized, luscious square of decadence. Or take the lasagna. The chef could have eschewed the basic lasagna and gone for something more refined or creative. He might have tried to emulate Biba’s lasagna, which is still the finest plate of food a diner can eat within a 100-mile radius of

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5723 Folsom Boulevard 457-1936 Sacramento. Instead, the kitchen turns out a traditional, nonnastyle piece of lasagna, made with Bolognese, béchamel, fontina and

locally sourced ricotta from Orland Farmstead Creamery, all heartily packed between layers of house-made pasta. The result is a dense, oversized,

luscious square of decadence. It’s no more sophisticated than Mom’s

RESTAURANT page 49

Dine In & Take Out • Cocktail Lounge • Banquet Room Seats 35 Lunch 11-4 pm • Dinner 4-9 pm Sundays • 11:30-9 pm • Closed Mondays

www.Espanol-Italian.com

POC n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM

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HAVE INSIDE, WILL TRAVEL

1. Whitney and Ben Dufresne diving the Mergui Archipelago in Myanmar 2. David and Denise Driever took a helicopter ride to the top of Norris Glacier and visited a sled dog camp in Juneau, Alaska 3. The Lewis family caught a rainbow on a beautiful drive through Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado 4. Edie Baker in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 5. Michelle Stewart and Jennifer Colindres at GoĂ°afoss waterfall in Iceland 6. While motorcycling in the Alps, David and Jenny Rives stopped at Rifugio Passo Crocedomini in Brescia, Italy

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

48

POC MAY n 17

7th Annual Fundraiser Benefiting Triumph Cancer Foundation

JUNE 17TH 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Join us at Helwig Winery for a special evening. Enjoy great food, wine & music while supporting a local nonprofit dedicated to helping cancer survivors!

Gourmet Picnic Dinner

Concert in Amphitheater

Live & Silent Auction

The Supper Club

Fleetwood Mask & The Big Mac Show

Hosted by David Sobon

Premiere Sponsors

Wells Fargo . Ten2Eleven Cambria USA . Carrington College . Molina Healthcare . Socotra Capital Kaiser Permanente . Sage Architecture . Milgard Windows . Alli Construction Placer Title Company . Sactown Magazine . Helwig Winery . Hanson McClain David Sobon Auctioneer . Inside Publications .

Buy Tickets Online at triumphfound.org Tickets must be purchased in advance. Sales close June 15th RESTAURANT FROM page 47 potluck lasagna—it’s simply made with more care. Another standout dish is orecchiette con salsiccia, the classic combo of ear-shaped pasta, sausage, rapini, garlic and chili that attracts my eye on every Italian menu. Amaro’s version is on point and balanced to perfection. Also worth ordering are the melt-in-yourmouth gnocchi in brown butter, the mushroom pizza and the focaccia. Seriously, the focaccia!

The sweets on Amaro’s menu are something to behold.

cotta, made with candied kumquats and citrus curd, is silky and decadent. Similarly, the tiramisu is the classic dessert brought to its most indulgent. And the house-made cannoli is a perfect expression of the genre: crispy, candied and sweet. Hopefully, Amaro and its inevitable success will shine a light on a trend that I can get behind: traditional recipes prepared traditionally without any skimping on prep time, ingredients or care. The vibe may be hip, but the food on the plate shows maturity and precision. I’ll take that combination any time. Amaro Italian Bistro & Bar is at 1100 R St.; 399-4145; amarobistrobar. com. Greg Sabin can be reached at gregsabin@hotmail.com. n

No matter the savory temptations, save room for dessert. Amaro’s sweets are something to behold. The panna

POC n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM

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May: Farm-to-Fork

WHAT’S FRESH THIS MONTH AT OUR LOCAL FARMERS MARKETS

FAVA BEANS

ARUGULA

ENGLISH PEAS

A member of the pea family, these beans have a nutty taste and buttery texture. Look for sturdy green pods with velvety fuzz. They need to be shelled and peeled before eating. Favas are high in protein and dietary fiber. Eat it: Steam them until tender and serve with olive oil, salt and lemon.

This edible annual plant, sometimes known as rocket, belongs to the same family as mustard greens and kale. Its peppery green leaves are green in salads. Arugula is a rich source of certain phytochemicals as well as vitamin A. Eat it: Tossed with extra-virgin olive oil and freshly squeezed lemon juice and topped with shaved Parmesan.

Also known as shell peas or garden peas, these sweet legumes enjoy a short season in late spring and early summer. Their pods aren’t edible, so shell them immediately before cooking. High in protein, they’re also low in fat. To eat: Boil them briefly until crisp-tender, then add to a pasta salad

GREEN GARLIC

ASPARAGUS

ENDIVE

This perennial is one of the first plants of spring. Its tender young shoots are delicious when steamed, roasted or grilled. Nutrient dense, it’s rich in B vitamins, vitamin C, calcium and iron. Eat it: Toss the spears in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then roast outdoors on a hot grill until charred.

Sown in spring, chicory seeds produce a root that’s harvested and placed in a dark, humid “forcing room.” The result: endive, the second growth of a chicory root. Crisp, with a sweet, nutty flavor, it’s a good source of potassium. To eat: Separate the leaves and top each one with a spoonful of chicken salad or edamame with miso dressing.

Also known as spring garlic or baby garlic, this young plant is a highlight of the spring farmers market. It looks like an overgrown scallion and has a mild yet garlicky flavor. Plants in the garlic family are known to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. Eat it: Use it raw in a salad or cooked in a frittata.

50

POC MAY n 17

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POC n INSIDEPUBLICATIONS.COM

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