photo courtesy News 10

I just read the Sacramento Bee story that the man who allegedly shot the sea lion in the Sacramento River was arrested.  I am glad to see that the California Game Wardens that handled the case did a good job finding and arresting the guy.  Hard to believe anyone could shoot a sea lion for taking fish which is their only source of food.  The Bee story has the details so no need to rehash; you can click on this link for the full story and the comments from readers who were outraged at the incident.

A few weeks ago we heard that the City of Sacramento didn’t like the fake grass a man in Natomas installed so he didn’t have to mow his lawn.  Maybe he should consider getting a couple of goats as a green alternative to the old lawn mower.  It seems that more than one person has thought of that concept here in sunny California; there’s even one business that has goats for rent called Goats R Us.  Check out this story in the Sacramento Bee about renting goats to clear weeds and brush.

This gives us all kinds of ideas to apply the concept; we could buy a goat, rent a goat, borrow the neighbor’s goat, have the neighborhood association goat (included in our neighborhood dues of course), have the goat crew that comes once a week.  Then before you know it there will be goat napping and rewards for stolen goats, laws governing how many hours a week a goat can work, goat benefits, goat unions (no not weddings).  Then there’s the off shoot businesses; goat grooming, goat transportation (can’t just put those things in the back seat of the Volvo), and the list goes on………………

The Sacramento Bee told us today that the council will vote on Tuesday to raise parking tickets by eight dollars.  This doesn’t seem totally unreasonable to me because the state gets a portion of those fees and the increase would only cover the amount that the state takes from the parking ticket revenue.  In 1993 the state started taking five dollars from each ticket for courthouse construction, and last year raised that fee to eight dollars.  The city has been absorbing this and the increase would cover this amount taken by the state.  At least we have a warning that this increase might be coming and we can be more careful how we park so we don’t get a parking ticket and have to participate in the increased fees.  I know this is a simplified view of the situation because nobody wakes up in the morning and says “I think I’ll go downtown today and get a parking ticket.  I know the city needs the money.”  Just pay attention to your parking “P’s and Q’s” so you can save that eight bucks.

There is one other parking situation that got my attention last week when I was down on H Street close to the courthouse.  I parked at one of those places on the street that used to have a meter, but now you put your money in a pay station and it gives you a sticker to put on your window that has the expiration time.  This all sounds wonderfully high tech, but as I put that sticker on my window I realized that this was the end of an era, sort of like the time I found out the tooth fairy was really Santa Clause (i.e. mom and dad).  When there is no “real” parking meter you don’t even have the chance that someone before you put too much money in giving you that “I won the lottery feeling” when you are the lucky one that finds a meter that doesn’t say “expired”.  So we won’t get that expensive parking ticket if we take too long, almost everyone puts in a couple extra coins.  Now the city is the only one who gets the benefit of those extra coins, no lucky person who comes after you or me.  I say to our city council go ahead and increase the price of those parking tickets, just give us back our little “thrill of victory” when we find a meter with a few minutes for free.

End of a Parking Meter Era

California Budget Held Hostage

This cartoon by Rex Babin posted in the Sacramento Bee really proves a picture is worth a thousand words.  For the whole story about the state budget issue click on this link to the article in the Sacramento Bee.

Tonight at 6:00PM is the second of three debates between current Sacramento Mayor Heather Fargo and her opponent Kevin Johnson on KOVR, channel 13.  If you can’t watch at that time set your TiVo or check online after 7:00PM at Sacramento Bee website sacbee.com for coverage of the debate.

Mayoral Debate with Heather Fargo and Kevin Johnson

The Sacramento Police Department announced this week that it is severely cutting back service because of historic budget shortfalls.  Mayor Heather Fargo called the cuts “outrageous” and “unacceptable” and challenged the City Council to address the  changes at their meeting on Tuesday.  She announced that she would take a 10 percent pay cut and called on the Police Chief, City Manager, and every other city department head to do the same.  Sounds like a noble thing to do, but her opponent Kevin Johnson, thinks it is just a political ploy to help her keep her job.

I’m going to watch this debate because it sounds like the sparks are already flying and I can’t wait to see if it errupts into a real bonfire.  Good thing it isn’t the Fire Department cutting back on services!

Sacramento Mayoral Debate a Political Bonfire

I read an atricle in the Sacramento Bee today about the new look the penny will be getting next year for the first time in 50 years.  That is what I like about the Bee, real cutting edge information.  With all the financial firsts like the Wall Street bailout proposals, major bankruptcy filings, and government takeovers of large financial based corporations, the lowly penny is still newsworthy.  At least I have to say it was a very positive spin on the new designs the U. S. Mint unveiled of the government’s commemoration for next year’s 200th anniversary of President Lincoln’s birth.

Lincoln Penny

There are a couple of things the Sacramento Bee forgot to mention that I really should bring to your attention.  First of all they didn’t say that by last year’s measurement it costs the government l.67 cents to produce a penny.  That means that even the government can’t buy a penny for a penny.  This lack of value leads some people to the conclusion that the penny should go away.  While I’m not a fan of having a pocket full of pennies, and there really isn’t anything you can buy for a penny (even penny candy costs a nickel), I’m worried that if the penny goes away what’s going to protect the nickel?  And besides that it currently costs the government 9.5 cents to produce a nickel, which is even worse than the penny.

You can see what I mean though, where does the madness stop?  Before you know it there wouldn’t be any coins, and that would lead to a whole new set of problems.  Can you say “inflation”?  What would we put in parking meters?  What would we do to see who kicks off at the football game if there were no coins to flip?  I was about to say what about all those machines in Las Vegas, but you don’t even need coins for that any more, just tokens or dollars.  Look out pennies, you’re doomed!

At another level of concern about our penny and its survival, what would we do for a picture of one of our greatest presidents, at least unless we happen to have five dollars?  What about penny stocks?  And that wise and wonderful saying that Ben Franklin coined, “A penny saved is a penny earned“, how would we explain that bit of history to our children if there were no pennies.  But then again we stopped making the half-cent coin in the U. S. in 1857 and our society weathered that storm.  So if the penny does get replaced by the nickel someday, I know we will be strong and survive that as well.  I just hope some collector of extinct coins wants that jar of pennies I have on the dresser for about a dollar apiece.  Either that or the odds on those lottery tickets need to improve, since all the crazy things happening in the stock market have left my 401K feeling a lot like a half-cent coin.  Long live the penny!

Here are some money thoughts for your listening pleasure by ABBA.  Just click on this link from YouTube.

The Sacramento Bee has a new blog on their website called “The Scoop”.

The truth is their “scoop” doesn’t give you any scoop at all about Sacramento.  The only scoop they are talking about is what they are going to do to change sacbee.com.  How boring!

I think they should adopt the Nike slogan of “Just Do It!” and spare us the agonizing details of the much needed remake.  Come on, it’s your website, just figure it out yourself and get on with it.

Here’s a direct quote from The Scoop at sacbee.com.  “Sacbee.com was last redesigned in the spring of 2006, and it’s become more than clear from user feedback and the complaints we hear in our own newsroom that our site needs improvement.  Among the top complaints we want to address is that users can’t find content they know we have.  A related complaint from users of the site: why don’t we report on certain topics.  Often we do have the content users ask for but with our current site it’s not always easy to find.”

We have content, but you just can’t find it.  How lame is that?  Oh sure blame the readers for not finding the content that interests them.  Did you ever stop to think that maybe readers can’t find the “good stuff” because it’s just not there?

For the real scoop about Sacramento you need to go to sacramentoscoop.com.

Staycation has been a hot topic at the “Scoop” all week.  I was really surprised to see that the Sacramento Bee says today that’s a “hot” word in summer travel but maybe it was overhyped.  Personally I think they are just jealous they didn’t think of it first.  According to the Bee, “22 percent expect to stay at least one night in a local hotel, motel or resort during their time off from work”.  According to my calculation, considering there are almost a million people in the whole Sacramento metro area, that means over 700,000 of us are staying home.  So I’m going to make the most of my time off work and enjoy my “staycation”.

Speaking of having a good time…..I found some more “Free Stuff” to do!

The Greek Festival starts today and from 11:00AM to 3:00PM admission is Free.  After that it’s only $5 general, $4 for seniors (65+) and kids under 12 get in for free, and it lasts through Sunday.  I doubt you will find any fried Twinkies like they have at the State Fair, but it used to be called the Greek Food Festival and they have been doing this every year for 45 years so I think they have this festival thing figured out.  A three day party, those Greeks really know how to Celebrate!

This happening event is at the Sacramento Convention Center at 1400 J Street.

If you need more information call (916) 443-2033.

Greek Festival