The News & Review’s Cosmo Garvin reports that former City Councilman Josh Pane is “mounting a campaign stop the mermaid bar on K Street” and several other businesses being funded by a recent city council subsidy.

The $6 million subsidy came from a special fund set aside to support redevelopment projects by local developer David Taylor.

That just doesn’t sound right, does it? But I know that government cheese has always been around, and that there are probably businesses up and running today on the grid who wouldn’t be here if not for government cheese. Likewise I’m sure that my knee-jerk reaction against this particular subsidy would set me up as a hypocrite if the council were to subsidize a midtown Barnes & Noble, or a 65th St. Target. (Send your angry anti-corporate e-mails to: cooldmz-at-sacrag.com)

Also: the over-30 dance club would be called “Frisky Rhythm”? Gag me with a spoon…

We would be remiss if this planned testament to d-baggery were allowed to go unremarked:

[San Francisco nightclub owner George] Karpaty’s K Street proposal has some novel elements: a pizza shop with staffers doing “dough acrobatics,” a dance club targeting the 30-and-up crowd, and a bar featuring a built-in aquarium with women swimmers costumed as mermaids.

I’m trying to find the local news clip touting the mermaid idea as being “straight out of the movies” — the movie in this case being the totally relevant “Analyze This” from 1999. I’d like to see this idea carried forward into a whole block of ’90s movie-themed d-bag hangout spots. For example, a “breakfast any time” Vegas diner joint, a “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” juice bar, or perhaps a “Crying Game” hot dog shop run by women.

And let’s not forget the “dance club targeting the 30-and-up crowd.” Who really wants to see that?

Even if you didn’t grow up in a KCTC “Music Of Your Life” listening household with parents who grew up in the WWII era, it would be impossible to not enjoy The Cosmopolitan Cabaret’s presentation of Forever Plaid.

Sac-eats and I just returned from the 8pm show, where we were treated to 90 brilliantly executed minutes of ’50s and ’60s tunes in four part harmony — which proved to be the ideal antidote to the figurative election hangover. Still smiling ear-to-ear, I’m already plotting which table I need to reserve for my next visit to this show.

Continue reading “Mad About Plaid: Seeing this show once is not enough” »

Joe Sacramento (didn’t you move? ) has a great roundup of the Docks project on the riverfront near Miller Park and the I-80 bridge, including his discussion of what would happen to the Pioneer Reservoir, which I’m not sure I was entirely aware existed–it is apparently a massive sewage treatment plant across the street from the city animal shelter. Anyway it reminded me of when Marshall and Lily buy a house in the chic up-and-coming NY neighborhood of DoWiSiTrePla, only to find out it is a realtor nickname for “Downwind of the Sewage Treatment Plant” on How I Met Your Mother.

Joe claims Heather Fargo has advocated placing a Ferris wheel atop the plant, but I can’t tell if that’s a joke on his part. And that’s more a sad comment on Fargo and this city than it is a dig at Joe’s wry humor…

Perhaps all of you legal eagles out there can help me with something. The Sacramento Bee reports that a man was shot in the abdomen yesterday in downtown Sacramento. The story has a headline that reads, “Sacramento panhandler accused of shooting disabled man.” The first sentence of the story reads, “A woman panhandling in downtown Sacramento Monday pulled out a gun and shot a disabled man who refused to give her money, scattering a terrified crowd gathered at a busy bus stop, police said.”

Is there a difference between *accused* and *police said*? Throw in a photo of the “accused” and you got yourself an open and shut case…

I did enjoy this quote though:

“Why would someone ask money from someone who is obviously disabled?” asked his younger brother, Adrian Perez. “This is really outrageous.”

Do disabled people have a history of not carrying spare change? Just sayin’

Update: Bad example as the suspect has basically confessed to the crime. I do still wonder what terms the media can use, quote, etc. with regard to criminal activities.

During the I-5 construction project, the Regional Parks Department is offering at no charge a commuter pass to allow commuters to park at Discovery Park or another American River Parkway facility, to cycle or skate to work in downtown Sacramento. The pass will be valid Monday-Friday, and includes all County park facilities along the Parkway (excludes Hagan Park). The Fix I-5 project is scheduled to begin on May 30 and expected to last until early July.

Continue reading “Free ‘Survive I-5 Commuter Pass’” »

The Tower Bridge is scheduled to be closed to all forms of traffic from 9/17/07 – 11/20/07.  This shutdown will allow a widening of the pedestrian and bicycle sidewalks that, according to the Bee, are like skinny calves on a body builder.  (Let’s all absorb that for a moment)  Alternatives to crossing the river are the Pioneer Bridge and the I Street Bridge.  To stay up-to-date on all things bridge related, click here.  Or, if you have questions about the status of the bridge, please call the Tower Bridge Pedestrian and Bikeway Improvements Project information line at (916) 492-6454.  I’m quite sure that they’d like to hear from you about your not using the bridge for two months.  By the way, this whole issue prompted the following conversation in the office today:

Person 1: Man, they’re closing the bridge for two months?  How am I going to get to West Sac?

Person 2: West Sac?  Where’s that?

I still do not understand the tactics that the City of Sacramento is employing to “revitalize” downtown, K Street in particular. Read today in the Bee that the city is suing developer Moe Mohanna to force him to trade property with Joe Zeiden. This would give Zeiden the 700 block and Mohanna the 800 block. I have ranted about this in the past, and you’ll be happy (or much more likely, unhappy) to know that I’m still up for more ranting.

Continue reading “More development strong-arming on K Street” »

News10 reported yesterday that the County grand jury found that Sacramento officials “violated the public trust” in rushing measures Q and R to the ballot last fall. Ironically, it’s not a binding decision and finds nobody at fault for any specific infraction.

My own take on this saga is completely in evidence so obviously you know how I feel. However, read the PDF of the Grand Jury’s report. It is very strange. With headings like “Hail to the Kings! The Costly Illusion that City Greatness Requires the Presence of Professional Sports” and “Downtown Railyard Development – What Have We Gotten Into?” and “The Train has left and the City now has the Station!” and with language like “Has the city initiated the much wished for revitalization of downtown or has it stepped into a polluted black hole?” it doesn’t read anything like the legal document you will expect. It reads more like some snarky blog poster obviously biased against the whole deal from the start. I don’t know much about grand jury proceedings but is this normal?

Looks like the city and county officials have to respond to the findings in this report later in the year. Specifically, by “June 00, 2007.” So we’ll all stay tuned for that!

I’m getting a little behind here, working on launching a new website called BLUE MAG, an entertainment wing to my online mansion. Enjoy…

So a completely new look for the News & Review website. I think aspects of it are very attractive but it seems to me to be way too busy.

A great railyard story in last week’s issue as well. Mayor Fargo thinks that Thomas Enterprises didn’t bargain hard enough to get Union Pacific to move the tracks to accomodate the new infrastructure.

“Union Pacific should have moved their tracks. They could have done it. It would have been easy. … It’s a little bit of a sore subject, because we had hoped that our partners in all of this would be stepping up a little more, but the reality is, we wanted to get this done badly.”

So had we, Heather.