Place – Page 2 – Sacramentality

Who We Are: A Union Town

September 4, 2017September 2, 2019 DevinLeave a comment

Happy Labor Day

Nothing like Labor Day for us to get back to work. Minor issues like the birth of a child impeded our ability to keep up with the site for a few months there. We will have some catching up to do over the next few months and, happily, we have a fantastic new member of our team, Caity Maple, to help us make that happen. We have some fantastic guest writers lined up to write from time-to-time as well.

But for now, in honor of Labor Day, let us talk about organized labor and the Sacramento in our continuing series, “Who We are.”

For too long, Sacramento has struggled to not just find, but to really celebrate, our identity. We have grappled with an identity crisis. Whether it is our Sac’o Tomatoes cow-town roots or perceptions that we are little more than a pit stop between San Francisco and Tahoe, too often we find ourselves with a chip on our shoulder, trying to keep up with the Joneses but distracting ourselves from the fantastic, unique, comfortable city that we all share. Throughout this series, I use data to explore different aspects of Sacramento to try to help us understand — and celebrate — Who We Are.

Union membership has been in a well-documented decline for the last half century. Nationally it dropped from about 1 in 3 in the mid-sixties to 1 in 10 today. California’s membership levels have declined as well, dropping from a similar 1 in 3 to about 1 in 6 today. Meanwhile, despite declines in California, overall, and nationally, Sacramento’s union membership has remained basically flat (with significant year-to-year fluctuations) over the past thirty years.

; LaborDecline

Source: UnionStats.com

This isn’t solely a product of Sacramento’s concentrated state workforce, although the majority of Sacramento’s public sector are union members. Over eleven percent of the private sector workforce is organized as well, 73% higher than the national average and 26% higher than the state.

The decline in union membership has been linked to the decline in the middle class wages, lower non-union wages and increased inequality – although not everyone agrees.

Here in California, however, we can see that inequality play out pretty clearly across the state’s various metropolitan areas. The lower the union membership, the higher the inequality. Sacramento and Riverside have the highest union membership among large metros, while having the lowest levels of inequality.

UnionInequality

Source: Author’s Analysis based on UnionStats.com & Economic Policy Institute data

On this Labor Day, while celebrating the important victories labor has won for all working Americans, we in Sacramento can also celebrate organized labor’s sustained strength in our city.

Full Disclosure: The author has been a member of the United Food and Commercial Workers, the United Auto Workers and is currently a member of SEIU, Local 1000.

How long can sports survive its business side?

March 29, 2017December 17, 2019 Devin2 Comments

The NFL’s last domino for the time being has fallen. After the Chargers and Rams left St Louis and San Diego in favor of sharing the nation’s second largest media market and with the City of Oakland having clearly moved on (Mount Davis’ ROI proved pathetic after its PSL financing mechanism fell apart), the Raiders are now moving to Las Vegas. Each of these franchises left countless passionate, loyal fans behind for the promised riches of a larger market and a new stadium.

8220739_web1_las-vegas-stadium---0702_8220739

I have been a pretty big sports fan for most of my life, but today I worry about the next generation of sports fans and the games themselves. At the end of the day, what are we rooting for? The players increasingly come and go. The owners are just some random billionaires. What’s left? The laundry? Personally, I root for the teams that I root for (Oakland Athletics, Golden State Warriors & San Francisco 49ers) largely out of the nostalgic connection to my childhood. I cannot wait to take Henry to his first Sacramento Kings game and expect I will develop more of a connection to the team as they become a part of Henry’s childhood.

I never cared that the Coliseum was looked down on by the league or minded sitting in the nose bleed seats. I have fond memories of sitting huddled under a blanket at chilly April night games with my family. I never cared that the Run T-M-C and later 90s Warriors teams were terrible defensively, I just enjoyed how much fun it was to watch all those points being scored. The first NBA game I ever went to saw the Warriors and Nuggets combine for 320 points . What kid wouldn’t love that?

I have struggled to maintain my connection over the years as the A’s have continuously threatened to move away (made worse by my childhood hero facing steroidal disgrace). Would I still root for them? Would the laundry’s connection to my childhood be enough, even if they were no longer from my hometown? Probably not. So should they stay there perpetually despite the MLB choosing to relegate them to small-market status because of favorable territorial rights bestowed on the Giants? That’s a harder question to answer. The Las Vegas Raiders answered that forcefully, breaking the hearts of many longtime, loyal Oakland fans. The The Los Angeles Chargers and Rams broke their San Diego and St. Louis fans’ hearts just as callously over the last year.

Should we blame them, given the economics of the situation?

That’s a tough question to answer. But I will answer it this way: Professional sports, as a business, has always been built on the loyalty and irrational exuberance of a prideful, local fan base. That was a good business for many, many decades. It made a lot of people a lot of money, while bringing pride, joy and sometimes the most beautiful kind of suffering to their communities. Over the last two decades, though, professional sports have gotten a major taste of national TV dollars. With that taste, they have become addicted and are shifting their business model to ensure they get more and more. Loyalty matters less because they are cashing in when you are tuning in, no matter which team you root for. But there are two problems with that model (aside from any ethical questions):

First, the centralized national TV model is dying and ESPN is a big part of what is driving consumers to cut the cord. The technology on this is accelerating and the current model is unlikely to survive to the end of the next decade — it might not even survive this decade. Once we’ve shifted to an a la carte system, the NFL, etc will either have to put up a serious financial barrier to entry for fans, in order to generate TV revenue, or else figure something else out.

Second, if you cut the relationship between communities and their sports teams, you are going to stunt the development of future fans. My friends in Oakland and San Diego are not likely to teach their kids to love the Raiders or Chargers. Most of them will probably largely just forget the NFL exists. If you live in San Diego and can go to the Beach in November, why would you spend that time in front of a TV? I love football, but I love football because of the 49ers. If you cut off that relationship, football is meaningless to me. I couldn’t care less about college football. Why? It’s the same sport, that doesn’t make sense. Simple, I went to non-BCS colleges, so I have never developed a connection to and really could not care less how it plays out. If the A’s move from Oakland, Henry will never watch their games or likely any others. He will never grow up with a relationship to Major League Baseball and he’ll find something else to do with his time and money. He may not even grow up with a relationship to Minor League Baseball, given the Rivercats own lack of loyalty. I’m not sure if he’ll be better or worse off because of it, but I’m pretty sure MLB will lose out just like I’m pretty sure the NFL is losing out by alienating the 17th and 20th largest metropolitan areas in the country. But hey, Mark Davis, Art Spanos, and every other NFL owner, just got a little richer, so I guess the economics work out in the short run.

At least one NFL owner, Stephen Ross of the Miami Dolphins, seems to get it, in casting the lone ‘No’ vote, he said:

My position today was that we, as owners, and as a League, owe it to the fans to do everything we can to stay in the communities that have supported us until all options have been exhausted. I want to wish Mark Davis and the Raiders organization the best in Las Vegas.

As he so often does, Jack Ohman succinctly cut to the heart of the issue:

FutureofSports-Ohman

I have said it before and I will probably say it again, it is much too soon to meaningfully claim Sacramento’s new arena to be a financial success or failure. That said, I am glad that with the Kings’ new home locked in, my son will not have his little heart broken by the Kings leaving his hometown for at least the next several decades.

Of course, any readers now yearning for a simpler time in sports may wish to attend the State Library’s upcoming event, “Sacramento Baseball from the 1870s to the River Cats” on April 5th.

FutureofSports-LibraryBaseball

Does Old Sacramento Need Saving?

March 16, 2017March 16, 2017 DevinLeave a comment

You might have heard, the City of Sacramento built a new arena downtown. Some people are very excited about it. Others a bit less so. That divide may last for a while. It will take a number of years for either side to develop meaningful evidence of whether it was a good idea for spending a quarter billion dollars. In the mean time, everyone who cares about Sacramento’s future should be rooting for the arena’s success, but more importantly, looking to smooth out any problems that may arise.

One concern I have been hearing widely is that parking costs related to the arena are undercutting the public’s ability to patronize Old Sacramento’s businesses and cultural amenities. As one Old Sacramento business owner puts it, “We’re withering on the vine down here.” Speaking for myself, as a parent, when deciding where to take my child for a fun afternoon, paying a $15 parking tab would definitely be an impediment. That said, attendees of an arena event might stop by one of Old Sacramento’s businesses or be reminded of the fun times their family has had at the Railroad Museum.

So is Old Sacramento in trouble?

Thanks to the good folks at State Parks and the City of Sacramento, I was able to quickly acquire the data to start to investigate the question, how did the arena impact attendance at the Railroad Museum and revenues for the local businesses?

Despite the concerns voiced by many, attendance at Sacramento’s venerable Railroad Museum has been steady through the first half of the Golden 1’s inaugural season. This may represent a small disappointment, after about two years of steady growth, but it is far from a catastrophe.

Railroad Attendance

How about the businesses? That data is a little less timely, only running through the third quarter of 2016, missing the Kings season, but it does show a small 2.4% decline over the prior year. It may have been impacted by the loss of parking at the mall or difficulties related to construction. It may also have just been a small correction after growth of 5.7% the prior year. The revenue has bounced around quite a bit, so we should avoid reading too much into a small change. I am told that revenue was down modestly this winter, but that could just as easily be explained by the extreme weather.

It is unclear to me if Old Sacramento needs saving from anything except the freeway, but there is nothing like a good controversy to drive progress. As a part of his “Destination Sacramento” campaign, the mayor and some business leaders are pushing to kick the area up a notch as well. Ideas include public art, water taxis, expanded dinner cruises, additional events, best of all, a terrace that would literally allow visitors to dip their toes in the river and, worst of all, a new name.

The terrace would be amazing. The challenge would be dealing with the numerous layers of bureaucracy involved with ensuring our region’s flood safety. Public art, as well, whether a series of tomato on a fork statues or a statue commemorating the sesquicentennial, would be fantastic. I suspect at some point one of my colleagues at Sacramentality will write on the economic benefits of public art. I wonder about the value of water taxis that do not really have anywhere to go, but I would not write it off.

Here is another idea. The City could use perceptions of difficulty on game days, whether real or imagined, as a marketing ploy the rest of the time. It could offer discounted parking on non-arena days and blast it out on social media, email lists and the morning shows as “family fun days.” Best yet, the program would cost virtually nothing.

Who We Are: A City of Trees

March 14, 2017March 16, 2017 Devin4 Comments

In seeking “to make sure that everyone on Interstate 5 knows that Sacramento is America’s Farm-to-Fork Capital,”Sacramento’s friendliest water tower has managed to stir up some controversy. It has riled up a number of this author’s neighbors in Nextdoor Pocket and received a thumbs down from at least one bicyclist. Not surprisingly, Ray Tretheway, the Executive Director of the Tree Foundation prefers the old version.

“It symbolizes why people think so highly of Sacramento – because of its glorious tree canopy. It’s the best (motto) for today and for the future.” – Ray Tretheway

Our city’s Pulitzer Prize winning political cartoonist, Jack Ohman also offered a number of colorful alternatives (click the link to see all of them). The State Hornet even suggested the tower “can go fork itself.”

Ironically, when the water tower was originally painted in 2003 (at the behest of then Councilman Robbie Waters), the city turned down ideas focused on agriculture to run with the “City of Trees” motto instead. Today, having come to embrace our agricultural heritage, proponents of the change point out that Sacramento is America’s only Farm-To-Fork Capital (most similar cities prefer the term ‘Farm-to-Table‘) but that it is one of many that claim the moniker City of Trees.

Sacramento’s urban forest has been recognized as among the best in the nation and even the world. With 23.6% covered in trees, Sacramento has it made in the shade with the Sacramento Tree Foundation and SMUD encouraging us to do the planting.. Our city was also among the original cities designated as a “Tree City USA” by the Arbor Day Foundation in 1976. Sacramento State was even named a “Tree Campus USA.” Clearly, while we are not the only City of Trees, Sacramento is among the very most deserving of the title.

Trees are also very much worth celebrating. They cut pollution, increase land value and even make you feel younger. They offer incredible bang for the buck in dealing with modern infrastructure and environmental concerns, especially carbon dioxide and other air pollution. The name is also the inspiration for the City of Trees music festival, adding to the cool factor. They also make our city a particularly good destination for an urban hike.

One would hope that Sacramento could be both pro-tree and pro-fork. Celebrating our agricultural and culinary heritage should not have to come at the expense of our urban forest. One wonders if, with a bit more artistic/desktop publishing creativity, both of these identities couldn’t be celebrated side-by-side. Better yet, give the trees back their water tower and create something new to celebrate our beloved tomatoes. Perhaps our city could take inspiration from Chicago’s cows or Austin’s guitars and create a public art program celebrating both our love of forks and tomatoes?

We should also take care to frame these conversations and subsequently policies in a way that works to the benefit of the community as a whole. Too often, the immense co-benefits of urban forestry tend to miss the most at-risk populations. Sacramento is no different. The cities more affluent neighborhoods in Council Districts 3 (22%), 4 (25%), 5 (19%) and 7 (21%) have high levels of canopy coverage, while more at-risk neighborhoods in District 2 (15%), 6 (14%) and 8 (12%) have more modest canopies. District 1 (5%) may cease to be such an outlier in a few years as its newly planted canopy has time to grow. (Similarly, I would tend to doubt that any more of the benefits of FtF trickle down to the residents who need them most — prove me wrong, advocates, prove me wrong!)

Opportunity for equality abounds in Sacramento’s universities

February 21, 2017February 21, 2017 Devin1 Comment

They say that education is the great equalizer.

The Equality of Opportunity Project, led by Stanford economist Raj Chetty (cue Mugatu: That Raj Chetty’s so hot right now!) has provided a tremendous dataset to help us test this axiom. The team assembled data from 30 million college students, demonstrating how America’s colleges and universities contribute to income mobility.

The resulting report focuses on success as the frequency with which colleges move students from the bottom income quintile to the top. This combines a measure of access (share of students in the bottom quintile) with a measure of success (portion of those students starting in the bottom quintile who are able to reach the top). This is a reasonable approach, but not the only one or, necessarily the best one. Many elite universities (Ivy League and similar) score well on the success measure. They specialize in sending a narrow, already high-achieving group of students into the top income bracket. Those elite universities universally score quite low on the access measure. When the Chetty team combine those two score, the elite universities are graded middling or worse.

By contrast, some public colleges and universities have 30% or more of their students coming from low income families. Most of them, however, send a relatively small share of those students into the upper income brackets. South Texas College, for example, draws 52% of its students from the lowest income quintile. Not surprising for a small college in impoverished Hidalgo Texas. Of those low-income students, only 13% are able to advance to the top quintile.

While both measures have an important story to tell individually, I wonder about the value of conflating access with efficacy. Doing so is meant to allow for a meaningful comparison between highly selective schools and public colleges and universities that, by design, do not have admissions policies designed to weed out 90% or more of their applicants. Ultimately, the approach is rife with selection bias and is grading schools on a measure that few have much control over. With the exception of the most selective universities, this measure of access is not primarily a function of policies, outreach strategies, or other administrative decisions. Rather, the makeup of the student body is defined by the community they serve as well as the ability of the local high schools to graduate students with the basic qualifications needed to proceed to college.

I also wonder about the value of focusing on whether colleges move students from the bottom quintile into the top. Has a college failed if it helps its graduate move from poverty as a child to the middle class? Is our goal affluence or bust? Perhaps those Ivys should consider it a failure, but most college should not. In fact, in terms of sheer arithmetic, doing so is effectively setting up a requirement that everyone be above average, which usually only works out in Lake Wobegon.

I prefer to focus on the share of low income students that are able to move into the middle class or higher (which I am defining as the top two quintiles) and make more narrow comparisons among comparable colleges and universities. Is it truly meaningful to compare Columbia University with State University of New York (SUNY) Stony Brook? Would a low income 18-year-old chose Stony Brook over Columbia? Should they? Despite SUNY scoring nearly three times as well by Chetty’s measure, the answer is no. If accepted, from a future earnings perspective, any student should jump at the opportunity to attend any of the elite universities. Columbia scores poorly on Chetty’s measure, though because they admit relatively few low income students. Instead, I would offer that it is more meaningful to compare Columbia to its Ivy League companions and Stony Brook to other SUNY campuses and perhaps other comparable state universities.

So how does Sacramento fare? Our flagship university, Sacramento State, excels, 22^nd among the 375 comparably “selective” public universities in the country and second among the non-technical CSUs. Sixty-four percent of low income Sacramento State students were able to move up into at least the middle class, edging out San Diego, Fullerton and Long Beach and trailing only San Jose (69%). This ranks better than a number of elite universities, including Duke, Amherst and UNC Chapel Hill, as well as two UCs, an outcome that is particularly impressive given Sacramento’s moderate income levels. Overall the top of these rankings is dominated by technical schools, CSUs and SUNY campuses.

So would a low income student be better off attending Sacramento State than Duke? Individual experiences of course vary, but according to Chetty’s class mobility data, yes, the average low income student will earn more money after attending Sacramento State than Duke University, at a fraction of the cost.

Looking across the causeway, Davis also represents well. With 71% of low income students finding their way into the middle class or better, the Aggies are third among the UCs, but ahead of both the Bears and the Bruins.

What is most impressive, though, is that unlike Columbia, Duke or even UC Davis, Sacramento State (and the CSU system, overall) is lifting the prospects of low income students, regardless of SAT scores. Given that most of these students stay in the region, the success of Sacramento State is not just helping these indviduals, it is lifting the economy of the entire region.

Who We Are: A City of Choice

January 31, 2017January 24, 2018 Devin1 Comment

There are certain places in this country that people who are born there rarely leave. A seemingly astounding 40% of the country lives in the same place they were born. This phenomenon has been well documented by countless nostalgia-rock and country songs.

Not surprisingly, these folks cite connection to family, comfort, and a feeling of fitting in as their reasons for staying put. They tend to be less educated, but perhaps surprisingly, not lower income. They also tended to vote for Donald Trump.

Movers tend to be moving to opportunity. This includes higher educated professionals, who tend to move to higher cost urban areas. It also includes less educated folks, often leaving these same urban areas for lower cost regions with growing economies, especially in the sunbelt, or longer commutes in inland California.

who-we-are-choice-map — Census Migration Flows (Brown: Net Immigration to Sacramento; Blue: Net Emmigration)

Sacramento is not the top California destination of movers. Not surprisingly, dynamic Bay Area counties top the list (among larger counties). Los Angeles’ more affordable, inland neighbors, San Bernardino and Riverside have also been benefiting from the coastal housing crunch. We top other regions, though, and are above average as a destination, with 5.3% of our neighbors new to the region in the last year, compared to 4.9% across the state.

More notable, though, is the high level of immigration, combined with a relatively low rate of emigration. Other counties with a high share of movers also typically have a high share of leavers. San Francisco County averages a net domestic loss of nearly 14k per year, Alameda County nearly 2k, San Mateo County over 2k. In the Bay Area, only Contra Costa County (despite the lowest immigration rate) didn’t lose population to domestic migration. A lot of folks choose to move there – to try to make their fortune; for education; for the premium night life – but before long, many of them decide to leave, often in search of more affordable housing and a quieter place to raise a family.

Sacramento, by contrast, is a city where people choose to move and, subsequently, choose to stay (net domestic immigration of 4k per year). This author is a perfect example. Having grown up in the Bay Area and spent my college years in Los Angeles, I moved to Sacramento a bit over a decade ago. Honestly, I did not know what to expect. Aside from attending a couple of political events at the Capitol, one (perhaps) excessively enjoyable weekend with a college buddy and (naturally) driving past on my way up the mountains (as a rafter, rather than a skier), I had spent less time in our state’s capital than our nation’s. Less still in the neighborhoods beyond the domes.

No, Sacramento was never part of my plan, but life brought me here in 2006. A year later, those circumstances no longer offered any reason to stay, but Sacramento had started to grow on me. I still planned to return to the Bay Area at some point, but was in no need to hurry back. Within a few years, though, Sacramento had become home. With a good career going, I had no reason to leave. With my wife, many new friends, and involvement in a number of community organizations, I had many reasons to stay.

Sacramento has the best of both worlds. With an unemployment rate that’s better than the state average and housing prices that are still reasonably affordable, it provides an affordable home for nearly everyone. With distinct, unique neighborhoods it provides a place where everyone can fit in and feel like part of the community.

Sacramento offers a modern economy and a place we can really call home. It is no wonder people choose to move here – and no wonder people, like me, choose to stay.

Statistics based on ACS 5-year data.

Take a (Urban) Hike!

January 25, 2017 Katie6 Comments

Sacramento is one of the most walkable cities in California. In 2014, house selling and buying website Redfin named Sacramento one of the 12 cities where you can affordably live in a walkable community. Moreover, Sacramento has a strong commitment to walkability and adopted a Pedestrian Master Plan over a decade ago.

Why Take an Urban Hike?

I don’t need to tell you to “get your steps in”—you’re probably hearing that from your smartphone as you read this. Walking really does get you to your healthy New Year’s resolution fitness goals. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over one-third of Americans are obese, which can have serious health consequences. On average, the annual cost of medical care for a person with obesity is $1,429 higher than a person’s that maintains a normal weight. Walking is a simple way to get people to be more physically active. When people are “physically active [they] live longer and have a lower risk for heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, depression, and some cancers.”

Walking under Sacramento’s tree canopies also has health benefits. According to the Sacramento Tree Foundation, there are health benefits to urban forests, such as “lower crime rates, reduced stress, and increased social cohesion”. A recent study using data from the California Health Interest Survey concluded that people are healthier, primarily due to weight loss/obesity reduction and improved social cohesion, when living in neighborhoods with more tree cover.

Off the Beaten Path: Urban Hike Suggestions

In addition to the health benefits, taking an urban hike is one of the best ways to get to know your Sacramento neighborhoods! (And yes, there’s much more to see than just Downtown Sacramento…) Our neighborhoods are wonderful communities, each with their own charms. Capitol Park, Old Sacramento, and Land Park are Capital City must-sees, but, chances are, you already take your visiting family and friends to these classic Sacramento sites. Below, I include suggestions for urban hikes that take you further into Sacramento’s neighborhoods and communities.

McKinley Park/East Sacramento/J Street

The charming and vast McKinley Park sits just on the “other side” of the freeway from Midtown Sacramento. With its beautiful and newly renovated Rose Garden, large family and friends picnic sites, kids’ playground, open fields, tennis courts, and ~1 mile walking/running track, this is a great place to be physically active and simply spend an afternoon outside. While you’re there, you can feed the ducks and geese, visit the on-site library branch, or take a dip in the neighborhood pool. If you get thirsty, head over to Tiferet Coffee House at H and Alhambra Streets. After you’ve had your fill of McKinley Park, take a walk through the lovely East Sacramento neighborhoods with their early 1900s craftsman and brick houses. Walk up J Street for a beer at Bonn Lair, Czech food at La Trattoria Bohemia, tacos at Cielito Linda or Midtown Taqueria, or an amazing meal at Formoli’s.

Broadway/Oak Park

Spend a whole day (maybe a weekend!) walking, eating, and drinking your way down Broadway. West of Highway 99, catch a movie and some dessert at Tower Theatre and Café; take your pick of tasty Thai food at Taste of Thai and Chada Thai; enjoy a beer at New Helvetia Brewing; and, sample one of Sacramento’s classic neighborhood ice cream parlors at Gunther’s. East of Highway 99, experience Oak Park’s thriving restaurant and business scene, which certainly reminds me of Portland’s Hawthorne and Alberta Districts. Pick up some coffee and refreshments at Old Soul, enjoy Mexican food at La Venadita, and take a break from your boutique shopping for a beer at Oak Park Brewery.

R Street Corridor/Midtown to Downtown

Tree canopies and Victorian homes meet teeming urban food and shops in Midtown Sacramento. Sacramentans are well aware of J Street staples such as Tres Hermanas, Harlow’s, Centro, and Rick’s Dessert Diner and the Handle District’s (18^th/19^th and L Streets) incredible eats and drinks, including Mulvaney’s, Water Boy, Aioli’s, The Press Bistro, Zocalo, Devine (gelato!), the Rind, Paesano’s, Old Soul, Rubicon, Broderick’s, and many more.

However, the up and coming area of Midtown is further down the alphabet: R Street, extending into Downtown. Start at Fish Face at R and 11^th streets in the Artists’ Lofts for delicious poke and fresh sushi handrolls, wander the shops and gallery near Fox and Goose across the street, take yourself into the Shady Lady for an afternoon cocktail at R and 14^th, and wander over to woodsy Fremont Park, the square block in the center of an increasingly bustling corner of midtown at 15^th and Q streets. Check the calendar to make sure that you catch one of the great outdoor community events at the Park (such as Chalk It Up) while you’re on your stroll. Enjoy dinner at Hot Italian, Magpie, or Orchid Thai and get after dinner coffee at either Insight or Naked Lounge.

Sutter’s Landing

Take your favorite pet, your swimsuit, bocce ball set, and your walking shoes up to Sutter’s Landing (28^th and C streets). Walk/bike/drive up across the levee on 28^th street across the train tracks and suddenly find yourself in the middle of open land with river access. There’s a great dog park with stunning views of the Sacramento skyline (particularly at sunset); bocce ball courts; a skate park; and, a trail that takes you right up to the shores of the river (within 100 yards of the parking lot!). Grab your camera to take breathtaking river and railroad bridge shots as you walk along the river’s shores. It’s perfect for a quick dip to cool off during Sacramento’s scorching summers too.

So, what are your favorite urban hikes in Sacramento? Please let me know in the comments below!

Sacramento Needs a New Flag

January 18, 2017February 2, 2018 Nick8 Comments

Sacramento, I love you. But it’s time we had a frank discussion about our flag.

It’s… well, ugly.

Behold:

Sacramento’s flag reminds me of that type of inoffensive abstract art that is the go-to for corporate hallways. There is a lot to dislike here, from the lack of symmetry, the odd blobs in the corners, the unappealing color palette (and two different shades of blues?), to the Rorschach test of what’s being depicted.

And it’s not just me who hates our flag. The world does. In 2004, the North American Vexillological Association conducted an internet beauty pageant asking the public to grade the municipal flags of America’s 150 biggest cities. Sacramento’s scored a 4.97 out of 10. Not the worst of the bunch – get it together, Pocatello – but it’s still a failing grade.

Which is too bad, because a city’s flag can be a source of civic pride. If you go to Oakland, for example, you will see the city’s official logo – an Oak tree – everywhere. People actually tattoo the city’s tree on their arms. Like the Kings logo does for basketball fans, a city flag can help rally and unite its citizens and become a part of that city’s identity. But for a municipal flag to go from obscurity to mainstream it needs be appealing, instantly recognizable, and easily reproducible.

Sacramento’s flag is none of those things. But the good news is that while Sacramento is California’s oldest city, her flag is one of the state’s newest, and we have not shied away from rebranding in the past…

Meet the New Flag…

The history of our current flag dates back to 1989. In honor of Sacramento’s 150-year anniversary, the city council appropriated $25,000 for city celebrations, including $5,000 “for the design and fabrication of a new City Flag.” A team of five volunteer artists from the Art Directors and Artists Club of Sacramento set to the task, generating four options for council consideration. After nine months of design, public review, and debate, our city’s new banner was finally unveiled by Mayor Anne Rudin at the Radisson Hotel to top off the Sesquicentennial celebration.

The four contenders.

As one flag expert delicately put it, Sacramento’s flag has a distinctly “modernistic design.” Or, as one internet wag put it, “Sacramento… what the f— is going on there?”

What is going on there, for those interested, is a potent bouillabaisse of symbolism. To wit:

“White represents the city’s virtue, strength, and bright future. The two blue sections represent the city’s rivers (the Sacramento and the American), green stands for the agricultural heritage, and the gold color represents the gold miners so important in the history of California and of Sacramento, the center of the Gold Country and the 1849 Gold Rush.”

…Better than the Old Flag.

But, as ugly as the present city flag is, it is orders of magnitude better than the third grade art project that was its predecessor. Behold again:

Much like its clip art, the old flag has a colorful history. By 1964, Sacramento was one of the last major cities without an official flag. This gave E. A. Combatalade, the enterprising founder of the Sacramento Camellia Festival Association, a grand idea. He approached the city council about adopting an official flag to mark the city’s 125-year anniversary. (Sound familiar?) They agreed. Working with a flag manufacturer and an assistant editor at the Sacramento Bee, he designed a flag steeped in Sacramento’s 19^th century heritage:

“Centered at the hoist is the C. P. Huntington locomotive, in profile toward the fly, commemorating Sacramento as the terminus of the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. … Centered at the fly is a Pony Express rider on horseback, headed at full gallop toward the hoist, marking Sacramento’s role as the western terminus of the Pony Express. … In the lower center … is the state capitol dome, denoting Sacramento as the state’s capital. … [A]bove the dome is a bearded miner, kneeling by a stream, panning for gold, and symbolizing the discovery of gold in California.”

And what flower adorns the base of the capitol dome? Combatalade’s beloved Camellia – Sacramento’s official flower.

Can there be a good flag?

It turns out there is no law that municipal flags have to be unattractive. There’s actually an excellent TED talk on how to Make Local Flags Great Again.™ And, in fact, the good people at the Vexillogical Association have distilled down the designing of a smart local flag to five key principles:

Keep it simple.
Use meaningful symbolism.
Use two to three basic colors.
No lettering or seals of any kind.
Be distinctive.

Consider, for example, four city flags that beautifully illustrate these design principles:

These are simple but memorable designs, using bold colors, that tell a story of what each city is about. The fleurs-de-lis on New Orleans’ flag is a nod to that city’s French heritage; Denver’s flag nestles the city below the Rocky Mountains; Chicago’s blue strips represents the two branches of the Chicago river and each star a major episode in the city’s history; and Phoenix … has a phoenix.

Third Time’s the Charm

The last two flags were adopted to celebrate Sacramento’s 125-year (1964) and 150-year (1989) anniversaries. Unfortunately, Sacramento’s 175-year anniversary (2014) has already passed – but that does not mean we should wait until the 200^th to commission a new flag.

Sacramento in 2017 is a city undergoing a renaissance. The arts, culinary, and sports scenes are booming; downtown is metamorphosing into a landmark destination; and residents from all corners of the map are excited to live in and claim the city. Even outsiders are recognizing that – gasp! – Sacramento is cool.

Let’s seize this electric moment, and give Sacramentans a banner to finally match our pride in our city.