All posts by Jeremy Bryne

Transport Management Structure

Infrastructure,

infrastructureThe restructuring the Sacramento Regional Transit Authority (RT) will be split into six main sections: accountability, finance, partnerships, planning, safety and transit services.  This comes after 20 management positions were eliminated and 16 people were employed to clean buses, stations and trains each day. As the new General Manager and CEO of the Authority, Henry Li explained that the RT is currently going through “some significant cultural and business transformation [adding that they] want to put [their] customers first in everything [they] do.”

The goal is to turn the RT into an accountable, effective and efficient organization. And Li has the experience given his work at the Jacksonville Transportation Authority.  While there, the authority was the recipient of various awards including: Jacksonville Business Journal’s Big Turn Around Organization Award, the White House Champion for Change and the American Public Transportation Association Outstanding Public Transportation System Award.

It is therefore Li’s intention to get the Sacramento Transportation Authority to the same level.

Arts and Cultural in Sacramento

Culture, ,

museumIn an effort to bolster Sacramento’s arts and cultural industry, two real estate brokers are trying to persuade George Lucas to bring his museum to the neighborhood.

John Turton and John Mudgett (nicknamed “the Johns”) created a petition (The Empire Strikes Sac) to bring the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art to the rail yards that are currently undergoing renovation in the area. They have approached members of council, city leaders and others who have some pull in Sacramento, in order to get this project moving along.

Mind you if all else fails museum lovers could simply choose to join the Pokemon pub crawl, that came up for discussion earlier this week at the Sacramento City Council meeting.

Abraham Family Brings Fame to Sacramento

Community, ,

cleverAlready for the last few years, Tanishq Abraham has been in the limelight in Sacramento for being a child prodigy, at 13, making national news for being accepted as a UC Davis student.  But now it seems his sister Tiara is getting in on the act as well.

Tiara Abraham – Tanishq’s 12-year-old sister – can not only sing in five different languages but is also one of the youngest (if not THE youngest) students at American River College.  Thus her invitation to perform at Carnegie Hall – having beaten hundreds of others in an international singing contest – might not have come as much of a surprise to her family!

Indeed, according to Wikipedia: “Tanishq and his sister Tiara are the youngest South Asians (by ethnicity) to join Mensa and among the youngest Americans in Mensa. To join Mensa, one needs to score in or above the 98 percentile on a Mensa-approved standardized IQ test. Tanishq scored 99.9 percentile and Tiara scored 99 percentile on the test.”

Good News for Sacramento Job Seekers

Employment,

officeSacramento is encountering its lowest unemployment figures in nine years.  With gains in the construction industry leading the statistics in both month-over-month (an additional 2,500 jobs) and year-over-year gains (an additional 5,500 jobs).  According to State Employment Development Department employee Cara Welch, “the unemployment rate in the greater Sacramento area was 4.7 percent in May, down from a revised 5.1 percent in April 2016 and below the year ago estimate of 5.7 percent.”  The 4.7 percent figure is the nine-year low.

Government-related jobs are easier to find in Sacramento too.  Being the State Capitol, the region is at the pivotal part of state government with the largest focus of government jobs per capita throughout California.  The main industries are health care and professional services.

In addition, Sacramento was ranked the “Number 2 Happiest Place to Work” in a study discussed in Forbes in January 2015 of ‘The 10 Happiest and Unhappiest Places to Work in Right Now,’ from CareerBliss’ investigation of eight principal factors which influence a worker’s contentment. These are:

  1. Employee-employer/co-worker relationship
  2. Compensation
  3. Promotional opportunities
  4. Resources
  5. General work environment
  6. Company culture
  7. Work-life balance
  8. Day-to-day control of actual job.

Interestingly, Sacramento did NOT make CareerBliss’ 2016 list, despite the high employment figures this year has shown.

Food Truck Event

Restaurants,

food-truckSacramento is going to be privy to a weekly food truck event by Off the Grid.  Usually this event does not extend to Sacramento but this year it has expanded its activities.  It started performing these events six years ago, by founder Matt Cohen who explained that Off the Grid “run[s] almost 60 reoccurring markets all over the Bay Area.” This is the first year it is getting to Sacramento.

The first one of these events took place on Sunday 12 June from 11 am to 4 pm at River Walk Park and featured 22 local food vendors with a wide variety of cuisine.  Anything from top quality burgers to Indian, Chinese, Mexican and more!

The reason Sacramento has now been included by this event is because, Cohen said, that it has a reputation for being a farm-to-fork region.  He further explained that: “Sacramento is doing its own thing that is representative of the produce and the lifestyle that’s happening in the area. And I think what we’re trying to do is just put that as much forward as we can and have it be an experience that feels authentically from Sacramento.”

Testing Transportation

Transportation, , , ,

transportationSacramento does not have the best track record for transportation.  A new report on the condition of the Sacramento area’s transportation needs “shows the slowdown in funding and the need for improvements on key projects.”  With this in mind, TRIP (a nonprofit transportation research group) investigated Sacramento’s “critical long-term projects.”

What one TRIP worker, Rocky Moretti has found is that “too many of the transportation projects that are critical to Sacramento’s future have yellow and red lights.”  What does this mean in practice?  That 15 major projects in the area are either completely without funding or have partial funding available by 2020.  For example: carpool lane construction from Richards Boulevard to Interstate 5; new bridge over the lower American River and Sacramento River; riverfront street car system downtown.  According to Keri Howell, Council member of Folsom City, news from the TRIP report was welcomed, given that it “confirmed what we knew here locally, that 42 percent of the roadways in Sacramento County are in poor condition.”  The sentiment was echoed by Jeffrey Spencer, Sacramento Transportation Authority Executive, who pointed out that “of the large cities in California, we’re really lagging.”

In other transportation news in the region, a vote was held to discuss whether there should be a pilot program by West Sacramento and Sacramento cities to “plan out future transit-oriented development along a proposed streetcar line between the two cities.”  Funding for this is $1.1 million but according to Kacey Lizon, Planning manager for SACOG, this will come from a Federal Transit Administration grant. If the proposal is accepted, the streetcar line will link the two cities’ downtowns. Planning for that would involve: figuring out infrastructure needs, working alongside the private sector, taking into account historic resources and dealing with the possibility that residents will be displaced.

 

Agmen Tour

Sports,

bicycle-raceThis year, the Amgen Tour has returned once more to Sacramento.  Its philosophy, “leading the race to dramatically improve patients’ lives,” makes Sacramento “proud” to be a part of this endeavor.  According to the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors’ Chair, Roberta MacGlashan, “Sacramento County is proud to welcome the 2016 Amgen Tour of California back to our capital region.”  With this, the region gets the opportunity to “showcase [its] most beautiful areas and celebrate the tour finale here in California’s capital.”

Also in an unprecedented move, Sacramento on 22nd May hosted the race’s Overall Finish.  During the race, riders cycled south of Jefferson Boulevard, onto Highway 84 and then back to Clarksburg to Sacramento, along the Sacramento River.

The Mayor was equally happy about this event.  Kevin Johnson said:

“The City of Sacramento could not be more proud to welcome back the Amgen Tour of California and we’re excited to switch things up this year with an overall finish! There is no better way to celebrate the glory of the tour, California’s iconic landmarks, attractions and scenery and the finale of California’s most distinguished cycling event here in Sacramento, our state’s capital.”

The event is just one of the region’s attractions, that includes museums, entertainment venues and more, which make up its “culturally diverse cityscape.”

The Finances of Being Funny: Three Stooges Revival

Business news, Finance, , , ,

three-stooges-516165_960_720Get ready for some crazy fun, because the Three Stooges are soon going to be back in action. That’s right. Independent producers will soon be launching a Three Stooges action comedy that will include Sean Hayes (Larry), Chris Diamantopoulos (Moe) and Will Sasso (Curly). The three have already proven themselves when they starred in Fox’s 2012 movie “The Three Stooges” which was produced, directed and written by the Farrelly Brothers.

Certainly, the three stooges have been wildly popular with fans and those creating the newest movie expect to have a wide-reaching and enthusiastic audience as well. The new version will be produced with C3, Grand Peaks and the Exchange. C3, the owners of the Three Stooges brand, will run the film’s licensing, merchandising and promotional materials. Executive producers will include Jeff Bowler, Earl Benjamin, Robert Benjamin and O’Shea. Cameron Fay will be writing the script.

As Benjamin explained about the current undertaking, “With Sean, Chris and Will back as our Stooges and Cameron writing, this next film will be a truly unique blend of fast paced action with the hilarious mayhem of the Three Stooges.”

This is certainly a business venture worth watching – and a film that people will flock to see.

Food Waste Gets Value

Business news,

As a way of transforming food that would be wasted into a valuable commodity, Sacramento-based Valley Vision and CropMobster have teamed up with their new venture.  Valley Vision is a non-profit organization set up over two decades ago in order to “improve people’s lives.” CropMobster is a web location dedicated to the exchange of various agricultural merchandise, including food.

Together – Valley Vision and CropMobster – are making food waste into a valuable commodity.  As well, people can post job opportunities, events and ways to donate.  There is no fee for using the site.  Bay Area communities can all benefit from the non-profit side of this venture that can also ultimately become, a profitable site (helping people move up in the employment world).