It only took the County, oh, maybe 30 years to finish putting a sidewalk on the north side of Cottage  between Fulton and Watt. Though, to be fair, they got the part between Cottage Park and Butano done in record time - roughly 5 years. The part between Gramercy and Cottage Park was built as an afterthought for school children west of Gramercy to access Cottage School once their pedestrian routes…

A Christmas Eve tale, culled from Nextdoor:

The County has announced that it intends to raise our garbage collection rates. Information about the rate increases and how to comment on them are at the SacGreenTeam web site. In it's announcement - and to its credit - the County says it hasn't raised rates since 2010, though inflation has increased 30 percent. And the County says "new services" (you can't be sure what they are or how much they…

Though they are not final, the most recent ballot counts from the Sacramento County Office of Voter Registration and Elections might as well be. According to a Sacramento Bee article, Rich Desmond has prevailed over Gregg Fishman in the race to fill retiring Supervisor Susan Peters’ seat on the Board of Supervisors. Arden Arcade’s representatives in Congress and the state Legislature - Congressman…

According to the Sacramento Bee’s analysis of how precincts voted for President (early vote and election day totals), Arden Arcade’s precincts favored Joe Biden. That was the case for most of the Sacramento County precincts. By law, the County has until December 11th to certify the results. And there are many ballots yet to be counted, such as provisional ballots, challenged ballots and mailed-in…

Fox40 ran a story yesterday about how people got lost trying to find the Vote Center in Howe Park. Some voters had been vectored to Cottage Pool instead, some 2 miles away at Cottage Park. It turns out the problem is a longstanding goof by the Google’s Maps people. The park district has been trying to get Google to fix the problem (for years!) but to no avail. Google didn’t respond when the County…

It’s Halloween. Covid got you down? Get thee to El Prado Way between Morse and Meadowbrook in the Cottage Park district of the Cottage Creek neighborhood. It’s wonderful! (click on the slides)

The Conzelman Center at Howe Park (2201 Cottage Way) will be open for in-person voting beginning tomorrow, October 24th. Voting hours are 9-5 until election day, when the Vote Center will be open from 8am-8pm. You can also drop off your vote-by-mail ballot there.

Have you ever worked somewhere and had to attend a staff meeting where the boss and other people just droned on and on and very little got accomplished? Did you wonder why they just didn’t send everyone an email instead? So work could get done instead of wasting time? Well it seems like some of the higher-ups in Sacramento County’s wonderful bureaucracy have indeed been in such a meeting. And…

In the current election there are three seats to be filled on the board the San Juan Unified School District. Four candidates are challenging three incumbents. This is an important contest for us locally, one that’s very hard to get information about. If you read The Bee, you might not even know there was a school board election. The media is saturated with articles and ads about the presidential…

By now, registered voters should have received their ballots for the November 2020 election. Ballot drop boxes have been made available. Voting Centers are about to open. Voters can register online by October 19th (or by mail if postmarked by October 19th) and in person at vote centers on election day. See the state's voter registration pages for more information. The state has a handy web page…

The County of Sacramento Voter Information Guide for the Nov. 3th General Election has probably arrived in your mailbox by now (reminder: PLEASE VOTE). This year the County offers ballot drop boxes (Oct. 5 - Nov. 3) and Vote Centers (Oct. 24 - Nov. 3) for ballot-drops and in-person voting. Voters can also mail their ballots postage-free at mail boxes and Post Offices.

The Arcade Creek Recreation and Park District is asking people to provide input on how to spend local park money. Asking people what they want before taking action is an entirely different approach than the one the County uses. Let’s support that request by 1) responding and 2) showing appreciation. To respond, just go to the District’s survey page (https://www.acrpd.com/district-needs-assessment-…

One night back in early June someone stole a truck and tried to drive it over the pedestrian/bike bridge in Santa Anita Park in the Fulton-El Camino Recreation and Park District. The truck wound up in Chicken Ranch Slough and the car thief ran away. The bridge was trashed. Though the CHP wasn’t able to catch the guy, their investigation concluded that the truck had been stolen. That meant the Park…

The California Supreme Court has made an important ruling against the City of Sacramento. In the case of Petrovich Development Co. LLC v. City of Sacramento, the court upheld an Appellate Court ruling that found bias among City Council members who heard an appeal of a City Planning Commission decision. And the case has already had an impact on how land use decisions are made in California:

If you have ever had your air conditioner stop working during a heat wave, you know how miserable it can get. Not having air conditioning can even be life-threatening - think dehydration or heat-related illnesses. When prolonged, excessive heat is expected, local governments typically set up cooling centers for people who need refuge from the heat. The Bee published a list of the cooling centers…

Mike Grace, General Manager of the Fulton-El Camino Recreation and Park District is retiring. His successor as General Manager is Emily Ballus. The District will be holding several Park Advisory Committee meetings to say good-bye to Mike and hello to Emily and to discuss issues of security, maintenance & park use during the Covid -19 pandemic. The public is invited to attend the meetings, to be…

The Sacramento County Planning Department is about to start a project intended to lead to safer and more appealing walking, rolling, bicycling and driving conditions in a portion of Arden Arcade shown in the graphic below. The project is based on a grant from Caltrans for a “Sustainable Communities and Complete Streets Plan”. The intent is to determine design concepts and an area plan for…

The posts were removed this morning! Pedestrians and cyclists can once again move freely through the openings in the block wall at the east end of Drayton Dr. and Merrywood Dr. People in the neighborhood had been badgering the County reneging on its land use condition that required the openings for public mobility purposes when the block wall was originally built. The public wasn’t informed when…

June 29, 2020

So the saga of the poles blocking the pedestrian and bicycle access to/from Country Club Center continues. It is crystal clear that the new poles would never survive an ADA challenge. It is impossible to pass through the openings at Merrywood and Drayton with a wheelchair or a walker. But what about people who do not use a wheelchair or a walker? Think about it this way: anyone who has ever…

Yay! The long-awaited business-Costco is on the verge of opening! It is good to have a new business at Country Club Center. And Costco Business is likely to be a solid tenant for years to come. But, wait, has the County monkey-wrenched it again? Well, yes. For the last 5-6 months the pedestrian and bicycle through-the-wall access sites at Merrywood Drive and Drayton Drive have been shut for the…

If you follow our blog you know we don’t relish the downbeat stories. We love our community, our people, our neighborhoods, our businesses, and the natural world around us. It is painful to have to kick off the new year with yet another story about the County dropping the ball, the media confusing the public about our area, and the continuing neglect of the neck of the woods in which we live…