The bathroom closure announcement is probably the most unfortunate and glaring change in the city’s gutted rec budget, but I’m really disappointed that almost all the pools will now only be open 3-5 PM. There will be no city pools open after 5pm, and several pools — including my beloved Glenn Hall pool — will be closed to recreational swimming entirely. The changes take effect Monday. Oh well, at least the kids can play in the sprinklers, right? Oh wait.
Month: June 2009
Cbs13.com illustrates
If you were to read an article about how most Sacramento parks will be closing their bathrooms (you know, because of the budget) next week would you wonder to yourself, “Bathrooms? I don’t follow.”
Cbs13.com hears your concern and helps you out with a little image to help.
What about an article that reports on a man performing lewd acts near a playground?
Officers say they found 35-year-old Alfonso Valladarez “gyrating his hips in the grass,” as if he was having sexual intercourse.
Hmm, playground, eh? What’s the big deal? Once again, Cbs13.com is there.
Do I need to see a photo of children playing at sunset while I read about a man gyrating his hips in the grass as if he was having sexual intercourse while looking toward the playground? No, I do not. In fact, just typing that sentence makes me want to vomit.
OneSpeed
The new casual fare restaurant from Waterboy owner Rick Mahan is finally open. Called OneSpeed, it’s been in the “coming-soon” stage since prohibition, which of course leads to pretty lofty expectations. Can Mahan live up? Can he deliver unlike another Sacramento over-hyped project, Hot Italian?
Damn straight he can. Stand and deliver he can. Give it to ya’ with a swift, casual kick to the culinary crotch he can. Continue reading “OneSpeed”
Most Californians …
Turns out, according to Maria Shriver, that most Californians want it all.
“Don’t close the parks, don’t cut from education, don’t cut from health care, don’t cut from anything,” said Shriver, amplifying what people tell her. “I say, ‘We have a $25 billion deficit: What would you do?'”
I told you! I spent it with my uncle in Alaska hunting wolverines!
Uh, er, sorry about that … she goes on to say:
…nearly everyone replies that they don’t want to pay higher taxes and don’t have any of their own ideas about what parts of government to cut.
Really? Nearly everyone, eh? No suggestions? Drawing a complete blank? I am sure that nearly everyone of the 10 to 15 people that read this here web log semi-regularly have an opinion or two on this topic.
What say you, Raggers?
Lance crushes competition in small town bike race
He came, he smelled, he conquered. I don’t know a lot about bike racing, but isn’t it possible for a world class cyclist to dial it down a few notches and still win a race? The headline conjures up an image of a bunch of mountain folk on rusty bikes slapped together with mismatched parts struggling up a hill and then Lance hurtling past at 50 mph in full gear. But it sounds like he greatly enjoyed the race and the city, and all went off without a hitch. I’m still not sure how they crammed that many people in such a small race area.
Meet the Master: Peet’s Tea Master Visiting Sacramento
If you’re a loyal reader of this here ‘Rag, you know that we love Peet’s, and not just the coffee. We love the stores, the employees, the posters, the immaculately clean restrooms, the not so subtle Bette Davis eyes that the fat guy at the Lyon’s Village store keeps giving me every time I go in – hell, we even love Peet’s teas, which is why we were excited to hear that Peet’s is launching a bottled tea line for retail sale and test marketing it in our fair city. To help celebrate the launch, Peet’s “Tea Master” Eliot Jordan will be holding court at several Sacramento area locations over the next week, sharing his views, opinions, and — I’m quite sure — secrets about tea farming, harvesting, brewing, recycling, composting, and scrap-booking. Here’s a schedule of Peet’s locations where you can find him in the next few weeks:
Wednesday, June 24- 9 to 10:30, 2oth & J, 1 to 2:30, Fountains at Roseville
Wednesday, July 1- 9 to 10:30 Alhambra and Folsom, 1 to 2:30, Pleasant Hill in Roseville
Wednesday, July 8- 9 to 11am, 20th & J
Family Gameshow Night Starts Tonight
Starting tonight at 7:00 is a great new event in Rancho Cordova, Family Gameshow Night. Win prizes, test your mettle at trivia, spelling bees and other great events. As a sponsor, The Sac Rag is happy to guarantee your enjoyment of Family Gameshow Night. If you don’t have a good time, your full admission price will be refunded by our writing staff.
Family Gameshow Night– 7:00
Village Green Amphiteater- Rancho Cordova- Admission is FREE
Cost of keeping CA Senators riding in style? $100 mil
After a legislative committee votes down a 5% salary reduction for state workers, Darrell Steinberg asks his colleagues in the Senate to take a 5% pay cut. A great factoid in that story is that the operating budget of the CA Senate is $100 million. That’s $2.5 million per member. For reference, that is exactly the same size as the Sacramento Fire Department’s budget. But that includes, you know, the pool … er I mean fighting fires and stuff. For a Senate, $100 million just gets you 40 people to show up — you want extras? That costs more.
Continue reading “Cost of keeping CA Senators riding in style? $100 mil”
Breaking: Armstrong and teammates to race in Nevada City this weekend UPDATED
The Union (Nevada County), all up in Web 3.0, caught the breaking news from cyclist Lance Armstrong hours ago via Twitter that he and Astana Cycling teammates Levi Leipheimer (winner of the 2009 AMGEN Tour of California) and Chris Horner will be racing at the 49th annual Nevada City Classic bike race on Saturday. Let’s hope NVC gives him a better welcome back than Sac did.
UPDATE: Word on the streets of Nevada City is that the town is “in the running towards becoming” host to the first leg of the 2010 AMGEN Tour. Cool!
Because of the budget …
Have you noticed how everyone’s favorite new crutch phrase is “because of the budget” to justify/explain away everything that is going wrong in our state? It only recently surpassed “due to the recent economic downturn” and totally leap-frogged “and the worst has yet to come” to reach the top spot.
The best example I’ve seen lately is from this article about the potential for public urination in our city and county parks with the closure of restrooms.
“We’re going to have heavy cuts to our park staff and our park maintenance and also to our recreation,” Combs said. “We’ll be closing community centers and pools and children’s programs. All the decisions are difficult. We regret this, but right now that’s what we’re forced to do because of the budget.”
In case you heard about this story and thought, hey, what the heck, I think I will relieve myself in the rose garden at McKinley Park, you better think again. The Sacramento police are on to you:
Sacramento police Sgt. Norm Leong said park visitors will simply have to plan ahead if the bathrooms are closed. Anyone caught going to the bathroom in parks may be cited, he added.
Right, as long as nothing happens to the number of police officers patrolling these areas we should be safe from public pee’rs.
The Sac Rag 