Something I just thought of while I was washing out my tupperware in the office kitchen after lunch: If the state workers do have their salaries cut down to Federal minimum wage (i.e. if Arnold can find a few hundred COBOL programmers ASAP) will they get their union dues taken out of that? Or will they not have to pay their union dues?
Just in time for this week’s News & Review, I’d like to react to last week’s cover piece on burritos written by Ben Russell. Russell really seems to know how to turn a phrase, and the piece is actually incredibly informative. For example it confirmed my preference for Guerrero’s tortillas as the best tortillas at your local supermarket (or your massive soulless food chain, whatever your preference), and it taught me that the word for people from the state of Jalisco in Mexico is Jaliscenes.
Why is it that we can be out in public, hear a song we like, and purchase it instantly from our iPhone, but it still takes F-O-R-E-V-E-R to get a green light at certain intersections? I know of at least one awful light, perhaps the worst intersection ever: Sierra Boulevard and Howe Avenue.
The greater Sierra Boulevard area was the haven for many of my friends way back in our single days (including the more-than-a-friend sac-eats) so there have been countless hours lost while sitting on Sierra, waiting to turn left onto Howe. The poorly timed signal almost threw off the benefit of the location’s close proximity to our leisure activities like the bike trail, Thursday nights at Mace’s, and the formerly quintessential singles’ joint: the Lucky supermarket at Loehmann’s Plaza.
It’s practically more time conscious to drive east on Sierra, turn right on Fulton (no right turn on red, mind you), and go west on Fair Oaks, rather than wait for the left at Howe.
There have got to be other lights like this in the region, so do us all a favor and let us know the ones to avoid and any recommended alternative routes.
Having just returned from a massive road trip, I’ve got my favorite local band Jackpot on the brain. For some reason whenever I hit the road in Norcal it makes sense to have Jackpot on the stereo. Something about the mishmash of sounds–on “Shiny Things” and “F+” at least–and Rusty Miller’s creaky voice and memorable lyrics is quintessentially Sacramento to me. So Jackpot was in frequent rotation up through Glenn, Tehama, Siskiyou Counties and into Oregon. (Also: “The House at Pooh Corner” read by British actor Peter Dennis. Melancholy but hilarious.)
Continue reading “JACKPOT @ Blue Lamp Sunday, early show, $5″ »
Sac State’s new digital billboard overlooking Highway 50 is scheduled to go live today with a barrage of advertising to simultaneously distract and educate drivers, raise much needed funding and refresh the public debate about the new University branding, logo and tagline that “Leadership Begins Here”.
If you have not seen the sign, it looms 55 feet above the freeway and has a 48 by 14 foot digital face. This sucker is big. It makes me wonder if CSUS hired the same folks who design advertising for casinos. Not the ubertrendy manscaping and fake boob casinos, the ones on rural highways filled with old people. The good news is that it features new LED technology that allows the contrast to brighten or dim depending on changes in lighting conditions. Hopefully it will be less obnoxiously intrusive than the one bordering Cal Expo, which tends to lull and hypnotize me with giant images of Monica Woods and Dale Schornack.
As many as 8 ads will rotate every 64 seconds. It will also provide public information such as traffic updates, road conditions and amber alerts. Clear Channel owns and operates the sign, and has entered into a 25 year lease with University Enterprises with an initial $750,000 payment. President Gonzales has put aside almost half of that amount in an account dedicated to funding research and travel to academic conferences.
(Note: Clear Channel says that it will go live today as it did not go live yesterday.)
In a front page story today, the Bee chastises voters (presumably some of whom, you know, work at the Bee) for making the state “ungovernable” with our insistence on both mandatory spending and no tax increases.
Only 4 percent [of voters], according to a recent poll, have a “great deal” of confidence that lawmakers can do the right thing on the overdue spending plan.
But the same voters have passed laws that virtually guarantee annual spending increases for education, severely restrict what can be cut from transportation and local governments and make it virtually impossible to raise taxes.
The research that must have gone into pinpointing the voting records of every single California voter boggles the mind. Especially since nobody born after 1960 can be blamed for the passage of Prop 13 in 1978.
Continue reading “Bee to Voters: Budget Woes Are Your Fault” »
CoolDMZ wouldn’t be earning CoolDMZ’s pay if CoolDMZ wasn’t a contrarian on the Corti Brothers situation. I’m having trouble mustering a lot of sympathy for the Cortis after reading the Bee’s follow-up story today. I suppose I liked Corti Bros as much as the next guy, though my patronage of things that can be described as “upscale” is seldom to never. (Unless Nordstrom Rack counts as upscale?)
I’m not shocked that Heather Fargo called Darrell Corti and offered the city’s help in finding a new location. Would that help entail explaining how a month to month lease works? All I keep reading is that Corti fans will go wherever he decides to move, even if it is out of town. I hope there are some patrons who are be pissed that a 60 year old company allowed themselves to operate on a wing and a prayer for 20 years despite knowing how loyal their fans were. What if you live down the street, have been shopping there since 1970, and can’t drive?
AWESOME post on Natomas Buzz with an email from a Ray Trethaway aide, Dan Roth, to the Bee’s Mary Lynne Vellinga about Vellinga’s front-page article from last week about crime and low-income housing in Natomas. Roth blasts Vellinga for failing to accurately present her angle, and takes the Bee to task for its racist comment box, go figure
I don’t know what disturbs me more…this comment [from user “sacsforsaps”], or the fact that 4 out 5 people found this comment helpful.
Note to Bee: If you are going to continue with the comments thing, please add permalinks so we can more easily mock you…
The Bee reports today that the property that has housed Corti Brothers since 1970 will be leased to another tenant. CB has occupied the location since 1988 without a lease, so I suppose it is no surprise that the landlords opted to strike a deal that more than doubles the rent on the 20,000 square foot location from $12,000 to $24,000 a month. The new business will be Good Eats, a gourmet market and bistro. According to Mike Dunn at the Bee, CB will close the current location by October 15.
With their top quality selection of…. jeeze, just about anything you could want to eat or drink, I am a huge fan of CB. Since 1947, they have been on the short list of Sacramento’s best, and I hope that this continues long into the 21st Century. Let’s support Corti Brothers for as long as we can to help make that transition to a new store as quick as possible.
So, first impressions of the revamped Bee, anybody? Or do we need a few days to think about it. A few of mine: The narrow page size is “weird”; the color comics every day is great, though it seems like a waste of money; the Top Stories box on the front page is a great addition; the new photos of columnists are a great touch too (wait, that’s Bob Shallit?). I think I can sympathize with the renaming of Metro to Our Region: sometimes you just have to make a change to your product, just for funsies. For example, I think I’ll rename sac-eats. Starting tomorrow, enjoy your snarky food coverage by Tim-tom Happy-pants. Now with double the hyphenation!
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