Tag Archives: Sacramento

Plans for a California Community

Business news,

Natomas, a community in northwestern Sacramento, is the last area of Sacramento that isn’t fully developed.

This may be about to change, since there are plans to build on fields just southeast of Sacramento International Airport.

The new community could be home to 25,000 people. The plans feature an urban-style community that includes residential and commercial buildings. Early designs include 10,000 dwelling units and retail space that equals the size of five malls.

Concerned citizens are protesting the development, worried that it will affect traffic while threatening wildlife and increasing pollution.

Sacramento Native Greta Gerwig Wins Spirit Award for “Lady Bird”

Community, , ,

Sacramento native Greta Gerwig’s “Lady Bird”, an award-winning film, has brought much publicity and artistic interest to its set: Sacramento. Yesterday, Gerwig added another award to her collection at the Film Independent Spirit Awards, with “Lady Bird” taking the Spirit award for best screenplay.

Lady Bird was Gerwig’s directorial debut, and has been nominated for several awards, including Best Feature. In January it was named best motion picture musical or comedy and also won best performance by an actress in a motion picture musical or comedy  at the Golden Globes.

Though Oscar prospects seems slim, it has been nominated for five categories.

The film premiered in Sacramento and Gerwig spoke to the crowd about the autobiographical piece both before and after the viewing.

 

Sacramento To Launch New Bike Lane Design

Infrastructure, ,

Sacramento is planning to implement a new street design to protect cyclists without affecting local drivers next year. Called “parking-protected bike lanes”, the approach is aimed at separating the two modes of transportation with the help of a parking lane.

The Sacramento Bee reports:

 

Sacramento Business Impacted by New Marijuana Grow Permits

Business news, , ,

Sacramento has approved 6 commercial grow permits, and dozen of other properties have also applied for permission to grow the plant on their properties. Real estate prices and local businesses are already being affected.

KCRA 3 reports that mall business owners throughout the city are concerned. The permit process has pushed commercial real estate prices up dramatically, and as leases expire, businesses are being forced to look for new locations.

Brian Bendix and his family run one such business. Their American Stripping Company, based in Sacramento, has been in business for over 30 years.  Now that marijuana grow licenses are bolstering the real estate prices in the area, they won’t be able to afford to stay once this year’s lease is up. They, like many other, anticipate having to leave the city to stay afloat.

 

Sacramento Plans Full-Service Housing Facility for the Local Homeless

Community, , ,

Sacramento is pushing ahead a plan to move its homeless off of the streets and into a full-service temporary housing facility. Over the last two years, local homelessness has increased 30%. Sacramento City Councilman Allen Warren has been working toward a solution for months, and calls the current situation “a crisis.”

Mayor Darrell Steinberg added: “This is not just a sobering report, this is a damning report.”

Warren believes action is required now. “Let’s try and get as much done as we can while we’re here,” he says. “Why be complacent?”

His goal is to establish a full-service facility with restrooms, showers and some social services such as medical care. The cost for the project is estimated at $200,000-$300,000, and may not succeed in its mission.

“Is it a risk worth taking?” asks Warren. “Absolutely.”

He intends to move ahead as soon as the end of the summer.

CBS Sacramento reports:

 

A Growing State…A Growing Area Code

Business news, , , , ,

landlineYes, that’s right. Sacramento has gotten so big that the 916 area code will no longer suffice. By the end of 2018, a new area code will be put into place by the California Public Utilities Commission in order to “provide more prefixes and new telephone numbers to 916 customers.”

Customers will still be able to keep their current numbers (including area codes) and people throughout the El Dorado, Solano, Sutter, Yolo, Placer, and Sacramento counties will be given these additional codes. The process is set to go ahead very smoothly as it will be a step-by-step slow one.

Sacramento Job Growth Outpacing State

Employment, , ,

Jerry Brown's official picture as Attorney General and as Governor
Jerry Brown’s official picture as Attorney General and as Governor

Data shows that the Sacramento region is showing great strides towards recovery, with a gain of almost 23,000 jobs in December compared to the previous year. That number represents a 2.5 percent increase in jobs. California as a whole gained 265,000 jobs during the same period, an increase of only 1.5 percent.

The unemployment rate in the Sacramento region has also been in decline. It fell from 6.3 percent in December 2014 to 5.5 percent this past December. The unemployment rate for California shrank from 6.8 percent to 5.8 percent during the past year.

California and the Sacramento area are far from immune to job declines, especially with global markets recent volatility. The worry about another increase in the unemployment rate was alluded to by California Governor Jerry Brown while speaking to legislators, warning them to be cautious when considering spending surplus state revenue during his State of the State speech last Thursday.

The government sector shrunk by 3300 jobs during December in the Sacramento region, and the construction sector lost 400 jobs. Retail trade increased by 800 jobs, while the leisure and hospitality industry added 1600 jobs.

Plastic Bag Ban Goes Into Effect January 1st

Business news, , ,

As of Friday, January 1st, shoppers will no longer be given free of charge either plastic or paper bags for their purchases. Plastic is completely banned, while customers can still purchase either paper bags or reusable plastic bags for 10 cents a pop. Sacramento is now one of over 145 counties and cities throughout California where plastic bags are illegal for free distribution.

The ban applies to pharmacies, convenience stores and groceries. It is designed to stem the flow of junky plastic bags into landfills, lining streets as trash, and polluting waterways. Consumers will have to bring their own bags shopping, or else buy bags for 10 cents each.

One consumer took the ban in stride:

“A lot of store trips are spontaneous,” said 65 year-old Bob Maurer of Natomas. He came to the store without any bags, and was forced to purchase a few to get his groceries to his car. “It means you have to keep a bag in your car all the time. But 10 cents isn’t that much. If it’s good for the environment, it’s a small price to pay.”

Sacramento Employment Levels

Business news, ,

One of the largest school districts in the region, Sacramento City Unified, will be holding a job fair for classified employee hiring.  Among the potential employees, those invited to the fair include: bus drivers, food service assistants and occupational therapists.

Currently there are vacancies (either part- or full-time) in the areas of child development, custodians, library media technical aides, special education and bilingual assistants who are fluent in Cantonese, Hmong, Mandarin and Spanish.

Unemployment levels in Sacramento are quite high, when looking at statistics nationwide.  This year at the September 2015 analysis assembled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of unemployment was 5.2% as compared to the US average of 4.9%.  The good news however, is that the figure dropped from 6.6% of the same time period in 2014.

In addition, in a recent list compiled by WalletHub detailing the most veteran-friendly cities, Sacramento made it to the top 10 most livable cities.  The study was conducted through a comparison of one hundred most highly populated American cities.  Then, a variety of issues were assessed: housing affordability, job prospects, medical facilities and the amount of homeless veterans the city had.

Finally, according to a recent article in The Carmichael Times “Hiring in the Sacramento region has exploded. Seventy-six percent, or just over three quarters of all companies surveyed in direct contacts by phone report, have opened doors for applicants, raising the demand a full six percentage points over this same time last year. Just twenty-four percent (24%) of top regional employers surveyed between August 17th and September 17th say they are not hiring in in the upcoming months.”

So while there is always room for improvement, Sacramento is definitely moving in the right direction vis-à-vis growth in employment opportunities.