An unhoused man texted me this:
“There are many of us that really dont want to or deserve to be here that are just one bad choice or bad timing of a event in our lives ... In my case it was a house fire followed by Covid and now its been seemingly impossible to find my way back”
This is probably the most upset I’ve seen
@Mayor_Steinberg
in my 2+ years covering him.
“There’s a huge storm out here. People are gonna die tonight.”
“We can’t get a goddamn warming center open for more than one night beside the county has rules? I’m sick of it”
Sacramento County is opening Cal Expo for unhoused guests starting today, ahead of the next round of storms.
They've never done that before. Story to come.
“The elder Gorman is a Sacramento resident and worked as a journalist for The Sacramento Bee from 1971 to 1978, as one of the only Black reporters in the newsroom at the time”
Via
@sirmarcussmith
PIT RESULTS:
Sacramento County’s homeless population nearly doubled in 3 years, and is now higher than SF.
On any given night, there are 9,278 homeless ppl in the Sac County, up from 5,570 in Jan 2019.
Up to 20,000 people will experience homelessness over the course of the year.
The Sacramento City Council just voted to adopt a resolution to support CalCare (AB 1400) and Medicare for All (HR 1976).
Harris, Guerra and Schenirer voted against.
@CMKValenzuela
led the charge.
STORY UP NOW: Sacramento city and county leaders voted unanimously today to ban homeless camps from the entire parkway and from blocking city sidewalks.
This is a pretty big deal.
Will take effect in 30 days.
🧵 NEW: The city of Sac yesterday carried out its largest homeless vehicle sweep since December's controversial Commerce Circle sweep.
The city towed 13 vehicles at Evergreen Street & Arden Way in North Sac. It tagged 110 there last month
With
@RENEECBYER
Covering homelessness is sad, but it also puts things in perspective.
I often feel sad that I can't afford to buy a house in Sacramento.
I live in a fourplex rental with a dog with no yard.
But then I get a text from someone with nothing. A constant reminder to always be thankful
Unhoused woman Mamie Jackson, 31, died Monday in Sac amid ongoing storms.
She was trying to get reunified with her two daughters, said Shannon Dominguez-Stevens of Maryhouse.
"Mamie was quiet and kind. Her love for her daughters and hopes for a future together were palpable."
This is absolutely appalling. We will never get more black journalists, which we desperately need in this industry, if this is the way they are treated.
#IStandWithAlexis
@PGNewsGuild
This is Melinda Davis, the unhoused woman who was one of the six people who died in Saturday’s downtown shooting.
Photo from
@ShanNDStevens
Story to be updated.
DM me if you knew her.
I’m a little late on this but Saturday marked four years at
@sacbee_news
. June will mark a decade as a professional journalist.
Saying that makes me feel old. But also so very grateful 🐝
The Sacramento City Council will tomorrow at 5 consider making Sacramento a sanctuary city for transgender people. It would bar city staff — including officers and contractors — from detaining people for seeking or providing gender-affirming health care.
Today I took a comp day and walked from Sutter’s Landing to Paradise Beach and back. I left my work phone and my jacket at home. Mila swam in the river. Didn’t see many people but the ones I did see said hello. Didn’t even leave Sac but felt a world away.
I love this city. 🌿
Some news: Today is my last day at
@TribLIVE
.
I'm going west to
@sacbee_news
to cover Sacramento City Hall, starting Oct. 29.
I learned a lot during my 2 yrs in Pgh -- never a dull moment in this city. Thank you to everyone who let me tell their stories & helped me along the way
Breaking: Sac County Board of Supes just voted unanimously to prohibit camping on the entire American River Parkway.
It will also apply near schools, libraries and other areas.
It will go into effect in 30 days.
There are body bags set up in the driveway of a house -- possibly city manager Howard Chan’s. They have names of people killed by SacPD and Sac Sheriff’s deputies. There are also yard signs with names of people who have been killed. The protesters want Chan to fire more officers
Today marks three years at
@sacbee_news
.
That’s longer than anywhere else I’ve ever worked.
I love this job, this newsroom and this city.
Keep those tips coming, Sacramento!
🐝🐝🐝
My latest on Councilman Sean Loloee:
Last week he told me that the house where he was sworn in was his friend's house in East Sac.
But images from an old real estate listing appear to show the house was actually the one his wife owns in Granite Bay.
In new batch of results, all four mayoral candidates still have a shot at making it to the runoff.
Pan still has slight lead, Cofer went from fourth to second
ICYMI (thread): California cities took over their houses, then a private company drove them into debt
This was by far the most difficult story I've written in my decade as a professional journalist.
Please give it a read.
Visuals by
@RENEECBYER
The scene at Sacramento City Council right now. Last week Ryan Messano made anti-Semitic remarks. This time this group tried to block him from speaking. Council on recess
Three unhoused men died yesterday in Sacramento.
- Michael Campo, 57, died at the hospital.
- An unidentified 68-year-old man died at the hospital.
- An unidentified 60-year-old man died in a field in the South Hagginwood section of North Sac.
Please DM me if you knew them.
A delayed thank you
@SacPressClub
for naming me a finalist for the Courage in Journalism award for my coverage of former Councilman Sean Loloee, and to my editor
@EmilieStigliani
for nominating me <3
NEW:
@CMSeanLoloee
bought the Hagginwood house on the left just before filing papers to run for council in 2019.
He says he lives there, but a man there said he's renting it.
Loloee's wife owns the Granite Bay house on the right. Loloee says it's vacant
New: A former SacPD officer has sued the city, alleging an "anti-Black culture"
Among the allegations:
- One Lt. called George Floyd protesters the "Hennessey drinking crowd" during a PD mtg
- Another Lt. was upset his team hadn't used force often enough
Three homeless men died Friday in Sacramento.
- A 64-year-old was found dead at Cesar Chavez Plaza.
- A 57-year-old died at Mercy San Juan
- A man of an unknown age died at UC Davis Med Center.
The names/cause/manner have not yet been released.
113 deaths so far this year.
@RENEECBYER
Summer and Harold Hamilton live in an RV there with their 4 kids (including 2-year-old twin boys) and 3 dogs. The city gave them 3 more days to move it before they're towed. That will be hard bc it doesn't run. Summer's dad was towed yesterday, causing her to break down in tears.
The Sacramento City Council just unanimously adopted an emergency ordinance aimed to reduce harassment of patients and staff outside Planned Parenthood clinics, proposed by
@CMKValenzuela
. It goes into effect immediately.
New:
@Flo4Sacramento
's rise to the top of the pack of Sacramento mayoral hopefuls was fueled partly by the city’s lowest-income neighborhoods, a Bee analysis found.
With
@PhillipHReese
Next batch of results coming out this afternoon
THREAD:
Last week,
@dakasler
@RyanSabalow
& I broke the story that a man indicted in a campaign-finance scheme w/ Giuliani's associates co-owns a Sac dispensary. His Sac business partner, Garib Karapetyan, is a permit holder for 8 of the city's 30 shops
LATEST: Karla Montoya, Loloee's grocery store manager, lives with her family in the Hagginwood house he says he lives in.
Edwin Montoya registered to vote there a year and a half ago.
That long precedes the window when Loloee told me he rented it out.
NEW: A day after Loloee resigned, the city has announced a new large shelter site in his district.
It’ll be at 3900 Roseville Road - a former city corp yard that has been leased to the Army Corps of Engineers.
Up to 240 people will stay in tiny homes and trailers.
Thread: The death of Melinda Davis has gotten a lot of media attention. And rightfully so. She was the beloved unhoused woman who was one of the six people killed downtown on April 3.
But several other unhoused neighbors have also died this month in Sacramento.
NEW: If Loloee refuses to resign, he could keep the seat for another year.
BUT
The DOJ has determined he does indeed live in Granite Bay (which we reported a year and a half ago)
That means there could be another avenue for council to remove him...
Today marks two years at The Sacramento Bee.
Crazy to think that two years ago, I didn’t even know about the Delta Breeze, menudo or Vietnamese spring rolls.
I love this city and its people. Thank you for letting me tell your stories.
🐝
NEW: A 74-year-old man last month froze to death along the Parkway on a night when the city and county did not open walk-up warming centers.
It was the first death of an unhoused person in Sacramento caused by hypothermia this winter.
The Sacramento City Council just unanimously approved applying for Homekey funds to turn the Best Western downtown into homeless housing. There was a long discussion and some opposition. Story coming.
NEW: Sacramento Councilman
@EricZGuerra
is the owner of at least $10,000 in Chevron stock.
As a board member of CA's leading air quality regulator, climate advocates say the investment raises questions around conflicts of interest.
With
@AriPlachta
NEW: The federal government has sued Sacramento City Councilman Sean Loloee alleging he threatened to deport employees who cooperated with a federal investigation into his grocery stores.
Council just voted 7-2 to continue to authorize SacPD to use its military equipment. The vote was promoted by a new state law.
@CMKValenzuela
got slightly choked up during her comments. She and Vang voted no. Council added amendment to require police to share new data on use
.
@Mayor_Steinberg
on CapRadio just floated an idea to change the way 911 calls are handled, either statewide or locally. If the call is about a mental health crisis, not involving a crime, he'd like to see trained social workers respond instead of fire dept and armed police.
Yikes.
The average rent for a 2-bedroom apt in Sac is now $1,625.
A person needs to earn at least $65K to afford that without spending more than 30% of their pay on housing.
20,000 state workers make less than that.
Via
@ayoonhendricks
@TheStateWorker
It's been more than two years since Sacramento police killed Darell Richards.
The city still has not released all the documents it's required to release under SB 1421.
So the Sacramento Bee has sued the city.
city used to only open warming centers only when it hit freezing 3 nights in a row. This winter, working w/ county, Steinberg was able to change it so it opens if it hits freezing 1 night, like last night. But that doesn’t take wind/rain into account...
Related: A state study last year found bird and dog feces — not human waste — are the main sources of E. coli found in the American River near the camps
They died in fields, tents, RVs, sidewalks and Roomkey motels . One man died in Cesar Chavez Plaza, across the street from City Hall. Another died in the parking lot of a veterans' resource center.
They were mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, caretakers, mechanics and musicians.
For more than two years, Sacramento County has been using an automated license-plate reader system to track and investigate welfare beneficiaries, without a state mandated privacy and usage policy.
They ended it Nov. 1 under pressure.
, via
@ayoonhendricks
The latest results were just released – it was sooo close, but unfortunately we will not be advancing to the run off. While the results released today were not what we hoped, it is not the end of our work fighting for a better Sacramento. Thank you for believing in me and my…
Seriyah Harris, 11, and Malaya Harris, 6. Daughters of Sergio Harris who was one of the six people killed.
“He was the best dad ever,” Seriyah said.
She said he would take them to the fair to go on the swing ride and play tag.
Early Sunday AM: worst mass shooting in city’s history
Monday: victim names released
Tuesday: oops! Old council districts go back in effect
Wednesday: under pressure from biz groups, council puts controversial homeless measure on ballot
What will happen today, Sacramento??
“They’re basically telling us we have to be on the sidewalk,” she said. The couple has a room in a city homeless hotel, but they still live in the RV some of the time. Both parents work during the day, and the hotel will not allow Summer’s mom into the hotel to watch the kids
Discovered the Bee’s archive room today. Dozens of file cabinets filled with newspaper clippings carefully cut out, glued to color-coded pieces of paper and stuffed in alphabetized envelopes. Kind of amazing when you think about it.
Sgt. Rodney Grassmann makes $233K (as of 2019) as Sheriff's Dept spox. But he didn't answer my emails/calls last month about a downtown bomb threat. (I had to go track him down in person).
Now, he hasn't responded at all to an email I sent Tues about something else. Transparency?
She’s been called Sacramento’s AOC.
In December when she is sworn in, she will be the youngest member of City Council, the only renter and the only democratic socialist.
Who is Katie Valenzuela?
.
@Mayor_Steinberg
just sent a letter to
@CMSeanLoloee
asking him to agree to an independent investigation regarding his residence. If he doesn’t agree, mayor will ask council. Meeting starts at 5. This may come up
The Sacramento City Council has been saying they're going to open areas for safe car camping for a year and a half. I wrote this story in August 2019.
Tonight, they're finally doing it.
The bad news: This afternoon, someone hacked my Twitter account and deleted all my tweets back to 2013.
(At one point, my profile picture was a photo of a naked cat! Fun!)
The good news: Twitter restored my access just in time for City Council.