Last Thursday, a California court of appeals said accountability should take a number and wait in Sacramento.  Over the last 96 hours, I contemplated the consequences of waiting for City Hall to reform itself.  The time for waiting is over.  The question isn’t whether Sacramento should reform its government.  The question is how.

In the next two weeks, the Sacramento City Council has the ability to give voters a chance at immediate reform. The council can place a charter reform initiative on the June ballot.

The council can take the first substantial steps toward reform simply and openly in the next two weeks.

Tuesday night at City Council, I will ask my colleagues to place a collaborative executive mayor reform package on the June ballot.

My request will be based on charter review ideas that have been circulating for the past year.

I have listened to suggestions and concerns from across our city. I believe these collaborative reforms will resonate with the entire community, even among my critics.

The time has come to spell out in simple language a handful of points necessary to make executive mayor reform work in Sacramento.

In the next week, I will ask city staff to draft the appropriate resolution, which the council can place before voters in June.

From the start of this process, the only thing I have asked is for the citizens of Sacramento to have the right to vote on reforming their government.

If a majority of voters aren’t interested in reform and believe the system is fine, so be it.

But the people of Sacramento must be allowed to vote on reform, as soon as possible. Not next winter. Not in two years. Not when it’s convenient to elected officials.

Our city can’t afford to wait.

As you may know, last Thursday the 3rd District Court of Appeal denied our request for urgency. Pundits have suggested that the court's decision was a "death blow" to the charter reform initiative to modernize Sacramento's outdated governance structure. They are wrong. We will not allow the courts to deny the will of the people to vote on the future of their city.

On August 6, 2009, five Council Members voted to honor the request of over 50,000 people by putting the charter reform initiative on the June ballot (Councilmembers Ray Tretheway, Lauren Hammond, and Robbie Waters, and Mayor Kevin Johnson).

They will have the opportunity to again honor the will of the people by putting the initiative back on the June ballot.

(Read today's Marcos Breton article in the Sacramento Bee)

Send your city council member an email urging him/her to vote to give Sacramento the right to vote in June.

District 1: Ray Tretheway
District 2: Sandy Sheedy
District 3: Steve Cohn
District 4: Robert Fong
District 5: Lauren Hammond
District 6: Kevin McCarty
District 7: Robbie Waters
District 8: Bonnie Pannell

Some may contest that the strong mayor proposal is the answer to Sacramento's antiquated charter -- but no one can argue that the voters should not have the right to decide for themselves on Election Day.

lots of people think that yesterday’s ruling was the “death blow” to our strong mayor effort.  i heard a lot of “gee, sorry” and “oh well”s  yesterday.  i want to let you know that my reaction has been quite the opposite.  if anything, i’m more determined than ever to make sure we’re moving forward aggressively on this effort.  why?  it’s simple.

1)     this is the right thing for the city-  we brought this initiative forward because it’s time to take sacramento to the next level as a city.  we’ve outgrown the current structure and if we’re going to take bold, aggressive actions to grow our city, we need the right leadership and accountability structures.  this core belief and what’s in the best interests of the city has not changed.

2)     this action was another indication of how strong the pull is to remain the status quo-  the court is basically saying, “wait”. we can’t afford to wait.  we’ve been waiting far too long.  unless we fight hard to change the way things work, the powerful pull of the status quo will have us waiting and talking about change forever, but never really moving things forward

3)     this is a blow to democracy- at the end of the day, like strong mayor or hate it, we have to let the people decide.  we had 50,000 people sign petitions to make this change in their government. for elected officials and special interests to block this effort is fundamentally undemocratic and undermines the foundation on which our government was built.

these basic facts are what caused us to pursue this effort and they haven’t changed.  nothing worth fighting for is easy to achieve, and this initiative shows that.  instead of retreating at this time, it’s important for us to brush ourselves off and getting moving again.

so now what?  we’ll be spending the next 96 hours determining our option and course of action for ensuring the initiative can be voted on in june.  we need to be clear in all of our communications that we’re exploring all alternatives and remain undeterred in our effort. this is still right for the city.  we still need to change the status quo.  this is an insult  to democracy.  we will not stand idly by when faced with this reality.

i’ll be in touch soon with more details about our plan moving forward.  thank you for remaining steadfast in your support.

get ready!

You are invited to join Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, Former Mayor of San Francisco and Speaker of the Assembly, The Honorable Willie Brown, and Fox News Commentator and Pollster Frank Luntz for an exclusive luncheon and a "No Holds Barred" discussion.

Details:

Thursday, February 4, 2010
12:00 - 2:30 PM

Luncheon:
12:00 - 1:00 PM
Cosmo Cafe
1000 K Street, Sacramento
$5,000 Event Sponsor
$1,000 per person

Open Forum:
1:00 - 2:30 PM
Crest Theatre
1013 K Street, Sacramento
$100 per person

*Luncheon participants may attend the open forum for no additional cost

Seating is limited, so reserve your tickets as soon as possible!

RSVP to Halcomb Associates at 916.687.8239 or mahangrp@citlink.net

Cooperation isn’t a tough word to pronounce.  But it can be tough to build cooperation between cities and the federal government.  That’s changing in Sacramento, in a big and positive way.  At City Hall today (January 28, 2010), we gathered more than 30 representatives from three federal agencies – housing, environment and transportation – and their counterparts from the city.  They shared ideas and worked on developing best practices toward creating jobs and economic development in the Sacramento region.

This is the part of government work that excites me: taking a cultural issue that’s existed for years or even decades, and changing it to benefit our city.

The feds are good people. So are the people who make decisions on the state and local levels. But getting them all to cooperate has never been easy.

For years, the simple way for federal money to pass down to cities was through state agencies. The feds liked it because it was easy.

The problem was, a lot of money never trickled down. States found a million ways to pull a dollar here, a dollar there, away from cities.

Now that’s changing. Thanks to help from Congresswoman Doris Matsui, we are establishing direct relationships with our federal friends.

Today, we toured them around our major downtown infill developments at the railyards and Township 9. And they met with our Sacramento First Task Force for a new entertainment and sports complex.

As President Obama said in his State of the Union speech last night, there’s nothing more important than jobs creation and economic development.

There’s no place where jobs creation is more important than Sacramento. Our unemployment tops 13 percent.

The development of the railyards and Township 9 is all about jobs. Same with a new entertainment complex. These are the biggest infill projects in our region. As our city builds out and becomes stronger, our region will prosper.

The work ahead is difficult, but will only get easier with more cooperation between City Hall and our friends in Washington.

About time.  It took two embarrassing controversies in the city’s community development and utilities departments, but finally, at long last, the Sacramento City Council is using words such as “accountability” and “the buck stops here.”  The question is, how can the buck stop in nine separate places? How can anyone be accountable to nine chief executives?

The answer is, they can’t. Nine bosses won’t work. Nine bosses create nothing but confusion, mixed messages and skewed direction. And no accountability. The buck stops everywhere, and nowhere.

And while our residents lose jobs and homes, we point fingers and argues about who’s to blame.

Consider the evidence: The city is enduring this embarrassing run largely because of mixed messages received by employees.

On one hand, staffers are told to change their old ways and “get the customer to success.”

So they find creative tools to push building permits forward, to keep parks green and pick up illegally dumped trash, to make life easier for folks to invest in Sacramento.

Outstanding goals.

But when those creative tools turn out to be a little too creative, the roof falls in and city council starts pounding the table and shouting about the indignity of it all.

But scandals are exactly what you must expect in a city run by nine chief executives, each with a separate portfolio and agenda.

I ran for mayor with a simple agenda: keep our streets safe and reform City Hall.

Stop business as usual. End the status quo. Drag the city charter out of the 1920s, and join modern emerging cities across the U.S. in the march toward an executive mayor system.

Many cities get it. That’s why they are attracting new jobs and businesses and diversifying their economies, even during the recession.

How do we respond in Sacramento?

We count up the scandals and pound the table.

The solution is obvious: Reform the charter and bring real accountability to City Hall.

Today Mayor Johnson launched ‘Bank on Sacramento’ in an effort to help thousands of Sacramentans experience the financial benefits of opening a bank account.  Sacramento is one of seven cities selected for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's ‘Bank on California’ initiative, a collaborative initiative that will give over 30,000 unbanked households in Sacramento access
to mainstream financial products and services.

The overall goal of ‘Bank on California’—the nation’s first statewide initiative of its kind—is to help
100,000 Californians without checking or savings accounts open starter accounts at banks and credit
unions.

The goal for Sacramento is to help 6,000 unbanked Sacramento residents open a no or low-cost starter checking or savings account and get on the path to financial stability.

“’Bank on Sacramento’ is a great opportunity for our city. At the end of the day, people will be able to
keep more of their paycheck at a time when money and resources are scarce. In addition, our economy will reap the benefits of residents establishing bank accounts and building a credit history. This is a win-win for Sacramento.”

Without a bank account, Sacramento residents pay expensive fees for financial services through checkcashers and payday lenders that banks and credit unions provide for little or no cost. Personal safety is also a factor when carrying/storing cash.

Currently in Sacramento, fees from check cashers and payday loans total nearly $17 million per year,
according to the Brookings Institute.The average worker will also throw away more than $40,000 over a lifetime (about $800 per year) on check-cashing and payday lending services - services that are free or less expensive with a bank account.

‘Bank on Sacramento’ will actually save Sacramentans millions of dollars and serve as a gateway to
financial stability and security. With checking and savings accounts, more Sacramentans can establish
savings, build a credit history, gain access to lower-cost sources of credit and invest for the future.
‘Bank on Sacramento’s starter accounts are also safe, easy to open and maintain, and are effective.
They are low cost, have no monthly minimum balance requirement, are federally insured, allow several forms of identification and provide “second chance” accounts for people who may have mismanaged accounts in the past.

Underserved Californians aren’t the only people ‘Bank on California’ will help – banks and credit
unions will also gain core customers.

Mayor Johnson has partnered with Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, former President Bill Clinton,
city mayors, the FDIC, federal and state regulatory agencies, financial institutions and community
groups to put this innovative plan into action.

To date, 11 financial institutions, 48 community organizations, totaling over 150 coalition members
have joined ‘Bank on Sacramento.’

Financial institutions include Bank of America, Bank of the West, BBVA Compass, Chase Bank,
Citibank, Patelco Credit Union, SAFE Credit Union, Schools Financial Credit Union, Travis Credit
Union, Union Bank, Wells Fargo.

A whirlwind visit to Washington set up major dividends for Sacramento.  Three areas of huge concern – jobs, education and flood protection – were pushed forward in meetings with President Obama and cabinet members as part of my work with the U.S. Conference of Mayors last week.

Politically speaking, it might have been the worst week in a year for President Obama, coinciding with the upset victory in the Massachusetts U.S. Senate race.

But the president wasted no time on political pity. He immediately focused his attention on the needs of people in cities across America, including the residents of Sacramento.

The focus must be on jobs creation, the President told the mayors. He said federal money must be used for workforce development in cities. And cities and suburbs must cooperate, he said.

“Strong cities are the building blocks for strong regions, and strong regions are essential for a strong America,” the president said.

President Obama echoed some ideas I have been pushing for the past year. As the president noted, these things aren’t necessarily complicated.

“There are some needs that are simple,” he said. “Access to good jobs, affordable housing, convenient transportation that connects both, quality schools and health services, safe streets and parks, and access to a fresh, healthy food supply.”

I met with U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and discussed strategies for improving our schools.

We focused on the need to increase the choices available to parents and students, and programs to evaluate classroom success. We also discussed the infusion of federal dollars under the President’s Race to the Top program.

I was honored to be placed in charge of the Task Force on Public Schools formed by the U.S. Mayors group, which represents about 80 percent of residents in our nation.

On flood prevention, I joined New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin to demand reform in the federal response to domestic natural disasters.

Our goal is to speed up federal response and reform the insurance industry to make sure emergency victims get immediate help.

We will also push to improve emergency preparedness as we work with Congress and the President to enact reforms.

My week in Washington was extremely valuable. I was able to meet with our nation’s leaders and focus 100 percent on three areas of critical concern to Sacramento: jobs, education and flood protection.

Anybody who knows anything about the financial world knows what it means to have Goldman Sachs on your side. Simply put, Goldman is one of the largest, most influential and important investment organizations in the world. And now Goldman is helping Sacramento find a way to build a new entertainment and sports complex. I’m thrilled by the news.

The addition of Goldman as advisor to the Sacramento First Task Force may be the biggest news since the formation of the Task Force.

What Goldman brings is essential - the potential to finance the project, line up financing or identify potential investors from around the globe.

Even with a world-class bank on board, there are no guarantees. Money markets are extremely challenged these days. There’s no deal until there’s a deal.

But let me tell you, having Goldman helping Sacramento is huge.

One problem Sacramento always has is the ability to attract top-level talent and attention.

You see this problem in the lack of diversity in our economy, our reliance on state government as an economic engine, our lack of corporate headquarters.

Thanks to our weak governance structure, Sacramento hasn’t been able to compete against more aggressive cities when it comes to attracting business, money and corporate attention. The financial world looks past us.

The lack of corporate attention means we miss out on jobs and investment. It’s one of our biggest problems, because corporate attention translates directly into local jobs.

Making the investment and financial communities aware of Sacramento must be a top priority. Getting Goldman to help the Task Force is one step in that direction.

Another benefit with Goldman: Nobody can out-maneuver Sacramento in negotiations when we have a world-class investment institution on our team.

When I formed Sacramento First, I laid out the “Rules of the Game” for building a new entertainment and sports complex. One rule involved negotiating from strength. Another involved not being used as leverage.
With Goldman providing help and advice, we are ready to negotiate from strength.

Let the world know: The people of Sacramento are leaders when it comes to volunteering. If you have any doubts, consider the excellent news that Sacramento has won a $200,000 grant from Cities of Service and the Rockefeller Foundation. The money will go toward increasing our levels of volunteerism.

The grants, paid over two years, come from a new, privately funded program to encourage citizen service across America.

Dozens of cities applied for the money, but only 10 were selected – cities with proven records of volunteer service.

In Sacramento, volunteerism is part of the landscape. When we began our Sacramento Volunteers initiative with the Mayor’s Challenge last year, we hoped to log 500,000 hours in 2009.

Honestly, that was an optimistic number. Some people thought we would never get there. We blew it away by October, and in January, we are pushing toward 1.1 million hours. It’s incredible.

Now we’re getting national attention. The $200,000 will be used to hire a Chief Service Officer and create a city-wide service plan. New partnerships will be developed. Our volunteer outreach will improve even beyond our excellent 2009 performance.

Most importantly, the grant will allow Sacramento to take service to the next level, to help solve some of the most pressing issues and challenges facing our city.

I’m already getting calls from mayors across the country asking for advice on volunteer programs.

Nothing makes me more proud on this Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service than to have cities pointing to Sacramento saying, “We want to be like you.”