Elk Grove News Podcasts

In this edition of Elk Grove News Podcasts, we speak with Glenn Jackson Jr. and his mother Angela Jackson about their personal experiences related to transportation deficiencies in the Sacramento region and their real-life consequences. Mother and son have been advocating for better transit services to agencies like Sacramento Transporation Authority who is considering placing a sales tax increase...

Listeners may recall Robert Bork as the jurist nominated but not approved as a Supreme Court judge by President Ronald Reagan. Rejected for his extremist views, Bork tried to exact revenge against his perceived liberal enemies by writing Slouching toward Gomorrah.

Anyone who has heard a real estate pitch is familiar with the phrase location, location, location. This week California Northstate University made that pitch on it proposed hospital on Elk Grove’s far westside.2

As daylight shortens, sleeping patterns are affected, and consequently, you might find yourself awake in the dead of the night. If you look at your phone at these times you might find political advertisements for  California Assemblymember Jim Cooper.

In 2016 The Sacramento Transportation Authority – the STA - placed a one half percent sales tax measure on the Sacramento county ballot to fund a variety of transportation projects. That measure was narrowly rejected by voters. For 2020 the STA is again looking at placing a sales tax increase on the ballot. Our guest is is Glenda Marsh, a co-founder of SMART - Sacramento Metro Advoc...

As Americans prepare for the annual Thanksgiving celebration in the coming days, like others, we offer thanks. Our list is not inclusive of every person or event of significance, but this is a sampling of just a few things we offer thanks, Of course, we offer thanks to all our contributors - written and otherwise, and most importantly our loyal readers and subscribers.

During every Elk Grove city council meeting, there is an item on the agenda called the consent calendar. The calendar contains items of city business that are considered routine, non-controversial. In this editions of Lynn Wheat’s podcast More Than Three Minutes, Wheat discusses this expenditure and other things hidden in the consent calendar.

This week the McClatchy organization announced Saturday publication all of it daily's, including the Sacramento Bee, is being suspended which is unfortunate. How we receive news that has changed substantially and the evolution continues, but sometimes not in a good way.

In Sacramento County, there is a little-known agency whose profile will resurface like a cicada in the coming months. That agency is the Sacramento Transportation Authority – or the STA. The STA is a multi-jurisdictional agency that disburses funds from a special county-wide sales tax for transportation projects. On Thursday, November 14, the STA held their monthly meeting to discuss the possibili...

This week Elk Grove city councilman Darren Suen held what was billed as a community meeting on California Northstate University’s controversial proposed hospital project. One of the people on hand to help Suen out of the difficult situation was Elk Grove city manager Jason Behrmann.

In a session that lasted just under three hours, Elk Grove District 1 City Councilmember Darren Suen heard many pointed comments and questions from about 60 participants at a community meeting he conducted last night at the Dreaming Dog Brewery in Elk Grove's Stonelake neighborhood. Although Suen heard comments on topics ranging from traffic to homelessness, the primary focus was on California Nor...

With the switch to by-district elections in 2020, Elk Grove is in the midst of a subtle political change. With councilmembers elected by-district voters only, Mayor Steve Lee remains the only councilmember elected citywide.

A few years ago, a documentary was released about the Enron scandal called The Smartest Guys in the room. It told the story of the hubris of people like Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling. The title was apt because the Enron criminals thought they were smarter than everybody. And for a while they were. Then things collapsed. Although not criminally motivated like the Enron crew, the Elk Grove city c...

With the Elk Grove City council’s recently adopted by-district voting, Mayor Steve Ly scored a big political victory. With victory, there has to be a loser.

Last year Elk Grove city manager Jason Behrmann announced with great pride a new city hall department, The Office of Strategic Planning and Innovation. The new department was to be headed by a member of the city’s planning department, Christopher Jordan. In this edition, we’ll take a look at one simple attempt to innovate that failed that we call an Innovation Nightmare – Christophe...

Recently the Latin term Quid pro quo has been thrust into the national lexicon by Trump. Loosely translated it means something for something. This practice has been around Elk Grove since the city’s founding.

On Friday, October 11, the City of Elk Grove issued a statement regarding litigation over construction delays and cost overruns on the recently open District56 aquatics center. Given the reluctance of governmental bodies to comment on pending litigation, issuing the statement was an unusual development. In this edition, we have another conversation with Brian Erickson who as co-owner of Big B Cons...

The next time you hear the Elk Grove City Council or member of the city's executive team make claims, you would be well-served to view them with a healthy measure of skepticism. One such example of this is a recently released video by the city on the budget process.

Life, it has been said, can imitate art. Following a decade-old recommendation, former Elk Grove Citizen editor, Jeff Forward, has led us to an example that is apt for Elk Grove. Jeff' - we should have taken up your recommendation long ago - better late than never!

Even as he raised briefcases of cash from developers and labor unions this week, it appears Darren Suen is running scared as he seeks another term as the District 1 representative on the Elk Grove City Council.

Product launches can be a tricky thing. Have a good product enter the market at the right time with the right message and it can be successful beyond imagination. Conversely, if you have a product with a poorly defined audience and a confusing message, it can be a huge setback. Think of Apple's iPhone launch a little over a decade ago and Ford Motor's launch of the Edsel line about 60 years ago.

A frequent guest on Elk Grove News Podcasts has been Lynn Wheat. A smart planning advocate, Wheat is now producing a podcast on land planning and other issues of interest in Elk Grove that she is calling More Than Three Minutes. In this inaugural edition, Wheat will discuss a project in Elk Grove's Southeast Policy Area - SEPA - and its relationship to the 25,000 new jobs city leaders have promise...

The history of Jim Crow laws in the United States, which included voters suppression, is among many blemishes on America's legacy. Through the hard work of civil rights activist, Jim Crow laws were removed, but vestiges and the attitudes that enabled the segregationist laws have not disappeared. Even though it is touted for its diversity, the same mentality that institutionalized Jim Crow lingers...

Have you ever been stonewalled or the subject of ghosting? Elk Grove resident Kathy Engle discusses public document requests she has made with the city of Elk Grove that give the appearance she is being stonewalled. A request made on June 26, 2019 seeking emails from council member Darren Suen for only a two week period has not been fulfilled even though it was requested almost three months ago. W...

In a somewhat unusual moment at last night's Elk Grove City Council meeting, Vice Mayor pat Hume issued an apology to a well-regarded civil rights activist. The comments from Hume came during the hearing on what is a contentious issue for Hume, the switch to by-district elections. The apology was to Amar Shergill who has been a longtime advocate of civil rights. Hume reference the August 28 city c...