Today is the grand opening of a new venture called ArtBeast:

ArtBeast Studio provides open studio space, arts exploration rooms, and loads of classes so that children can dig into the arts.

It benefits the awesomely named Tubman House. For parents of little kids this is a godsend — both because of the budget and because of the lack of things to do in Sac when it is hot or raining. And I can’t say enough about the fact that they have a “pledge to the shy.” In addition to arts & crafts they have puppets and costume stuff and a music room, and in addition to free range play ArtBeast will also offer a number of organized classes. Perfect for preschool age kids or homeschooling families. This might be the coolest thing to ever hit the 916, family fun-wise. Not to mention the pretty slick Web design!

ArtBeast Studio
2226 K St.
(916) 441-1233

Glenn Hall Pool, by Midtown Grid user Julia

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.

Continue reading “City pools are practically closed” »

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.

California_Senate_chamber
by Flickr user flap

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” »

Levi Leipheimer,
by Flickr user kwc

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!

The Bee’s State Worker blog linked to a piece in the New York Times (registration required): “On furlough, but never leaving the cubicle,” by Times reporters Susan Saulny and Robbie Brown. It profiles a few state workers who are dealing with furloughs. Some, like Wendy Roberson — a state worker “in California,” — gee, that narrows it down — haven’t actually been able to take her assigned unpaid leave:

“Sometimes it’s just too busy at work,” said Ms. Roberson, whose pay was cut in February as part of the state’s effort to close a multibillion-dollar budget deficit. “You start to feel guilty.”

Roberson has other tricks up her sleeve, however:

To make extra money, Ms. Roberson teaches belly-dancing at girls’ birthday parties on weekends, something she has been doing more of lately.

A growth industry if there ever was one! By the way, it may just be me but between the State Worker blog and Capitol Alert it seems like “blogs” on sacbee.com are where all the action is.

I wanted to bring up a few points about the City’s new martial law declaration with respect to water use. First, you can be cited and fined for “leaky or faulty water lines, hoses, fixtures or other water using or distributing devices,” so make sure to maintain all your sprinklers. Second, the City itself is exempt from all the restrictions. And keep in mind these restrictions are in place now, when we’ve had unseasonable precipitation and mild temperatures; the City will enact even more stringent restrictions if we get to an actual water shortage situation.

Read the City’s ordinance (PDF)

(Hat tip to Chris Shannon of North Sac Beat)

Sacramento State outfielder Tim Wheeler was taken in the last slot in the 1st round of this year’s MLB draft, going to the Colorado Rockies as the 32nd pick. You have to be pretty stoked to be picked by a team just a few season removed from a pennant winning campaign.

Prep catchers Max Stassi (Yuba City) and Andrew Susac (Jesuit) have yet to be taken in the draft. At this point (end of 2nd round) I would assume both young men will be college bound next year. UPDATE – The Oakland A’s drafted Stassi in the 4th round. So now the kid has to choose between turning pro or going to UCLA, and I would think the prospect of playing for a Norcal team might tip the scales toward joining the MLB. I gotta think signing bonuses for 4th rounders are not stratospheric.

ABC News describes the North Korean prison camps that journalists Euna Lee and Carmichael native Laura Ling have been condemned to. This is really scary stuff that makes Guantanamo look like Monte Carlo. My heart goes out to the families and I hope that Hilary Clinton or Bill Richardson or Al Gore can bust some balls and get these ladies freed, foreign policy chess match be damned.

The Sac Bee’s coverage of state legislators voluntarily taking pay cuts includes this helpful list. Roger Niello, Ted Gaines and Dave Cox are all taking pay cuts; Steinberg, Dave Jones, and Niello give up the per diem (Cox donates his per diem); and Cox and Niello forgo the car allowance.

This means almost all of the representatives in our area who are doing something to voluntarily lower their pay, including Assemblymembers Joan Buchanan and Alyson Huber. I know it’s kind of a silly topic — I think I’d actually be okay with raising their salaries if they could get us out of this mess — but I think that does matter.