Those of you that have passed by the Howe Avenue or Arden Way editions of the Steve’s Pizza franchise have surely assumed they went the way of the dodo. The SP Web site indicates they are “Closed temporarily for renovations” which seemed fishy to me. Emails were sent and responses received and from all accounts both locations will be back up and running in the new year. Howe Avenue in January and Arden Way “in the next 90 days.”
This was good news to me. I hope it is to you as well.
If you’re an RT user I’m sure you know that fares are going up in 2009. An extra two bits for a single fare, and actually also an extra quarter for a transfer, up to 50 cents. So a basic ticket plus transfer is $2.75, almost double the same type of fare on SF Muni, I’m discouraged to learn. However I suppose you could pretend that all of SF would be within the “Central City zone” for Sac RT, in which case a comparable fee will only be $1.60. But that takes some pretending.
However, the silver lining is that RT riders will not experience any service cuts when 2009 comes. In fact, according to the latest “Next Stop News” the only service changes will actually be additional service on several lines.
I like RT’s General Manager Mike Wiley’s moxie; the press release about 2009 fare increases quotes Wiley: “RT could not absorb an $18.3 million raid by the state of California without asking our riders to pay more…”
What do you think though, RT riders? Increased costs or service cuts? Are you going to be happy to pay more knowing that at least for the time being you won’t have to deal with changes to your route?
You proposition 8 debaters should enjoy this one from CBS13.com.
All Golden One Banks in our area are enforcing a new dress code: no hats…”Typically, they have a hood pulled up, they have sunglasses on or they have a hat with a visor pulled down,” says Teresa Halleck, President and CEO of Golden One Credit Union.
“They” of course are the bad guys. And they have a uniform. Without this uniform their super powers are lost.
I kid the Golden One. However, pay close attention to the sign posted at the front of the bank. The forward and backward hat positions are included in this policy.
At the risk of being out of touch with the what’s *really* happening in Sacramento, I mention this sacbee.com article about a new outdoor ice skating rink scheduled to open Friday in Folsom. The details can be found at visitfolsom.com.
This article makes me wonder, however, if it is a smart idea to spend money on “extras” like this in an effort to boost local business.
I get that the intent with this project is encourage folks to shop and eat locally, but could the $248,000 be better spent helping local businesses lower their prices? Decrease their lease payments? Or is just full steam ahead and let’s see what happens?
Especially with the news that so many of the region’s cities are scrambling to save money and cut corners.
Your thoughts?
I was in the Natomas/Truxel area the other day and noticed that the new Sonic/T.G.I. Friday’s construction had all but stopped. Fast forward a few days and the Computer Pages once again come to my rescue.
At the intersection of Truxel Road and Gateway Park Boulevard, construction has been halted for a Sonic drive-thru and a T.G.I. Friday’s, which were scheduled to open two years ago.
Sonic blames the slowing economy for not completing the project. It plans to finish its Lincoln location first.
Two years ago! Man, brutal. I think we can do without another chain restaurant (Hear that, Guy?), but I’ve always wondered what the Sonic was all about. Well, apart from those irritating commercials.
I was enjoying the ehow.com recently when I came across this article on “How to Spend the Perfect Weekend in Sacramento” and it got me thinking. What is your perfect weekend in Sacramento? This article does a good job of hitting the mainstream spots. But, what is it missing? I know we like to provide information on specific events here at the Sac Rag, but I’m looking for some every week type things to do that I may not find on the Chamber of Commerce site.
Any suggestions?
Apparently the economy is like, bad or whatever. But you wouldn’t know it if you examine the booming casino market, as evidenced by the long lines to fill out applications at the new Red Hawk casino going up in El Dorado Hills. I suppose you could see this as a good sign–even in these volatile times there is enough walkin around money walkin around to create 1,700 jobs in our area. But one would hope that we Californians might have learned a thing or two about money and risk over the last few weeks!
This morning the Bee reports that 200 out of 240 full time staffers are being offered voluntary buyouts. Apparently you get an offer of 2 weeks’ pay for every year on staff. Yikers.
Kudos to the Sac Bee for its newest salary database on all of the state’s teachers. “See how well your school district pays its teachers.” Not “See how much your kid’s teacher makes.” The tool allows you to look up district average salaries and other data, and compare salaries across districts in a region or across the state. A useful tool without any of the privacy issues. This should be the model for all of the Bee’s salary databases.
I do think it is interesting that the spin has been spun somewhat on this one… “Are teachers in your area making what they deserve?” That sentiment is absent from Melanie Sill’s editorial on the backlash to the State worker pay database. Back then it was all about doing a public service, giving us information about worker compensation because “state spending [is] under pressure.” Now, it’s all about making sure your kid’s teacher is getting a good paycheck? Maybe I’m splitting hairs, but I sense that the Bee is making some much needed course corrections here.
This just in… The McClatchy company is announcing a one-year freeze in employee wage increases.
This means that if you are scheduled to receive a merit or salary review between September 1, 2008 and August 31, 2009, your review will occur one year later than scheduled. For example, if your next salary review date is March 1, 2009, the salary review will be postponed until March 1, 2010.
Ouch. The tough times continue. And two weeks’ notice, that’s rough. However, if you’re working for McClatchy and you’re…still working for McClatchy, this is somewhat of a relief?
The Sac Rag 