The wet and windy storm that's moved into Northern California has brought widespread electrical outages, roadway flooding and a growing number of reports of falling trees and limbs.
At one point, there were 25,000 customers without power in the Sacramento Municipal Utility District, said spokesman Chris Capra. Crews were responding to about 100 separate outage incidents.
Sacramento registered 1.44 inches of rain as of 1:15 p.m. Wind gusts up to 45 mph were reported at Sacramento International Airport.
Northern California is expected to experience a fairly strong storm with 1 to 2 inches rain predicted in Sacramento, according to Johnnie Powell, forecaster for the National Weather Service in Sacramento.
ON THE ROADS
Caltrans reports it is about to block the fast-lane on southbound I-5, beginning at 12:30 p.m., for what officials say should be 90 minutes while crews work to free up a blocked drain pipe in the center median that is causing flooding on all five lanes. A drain on a nearby shoulder has been cleared, but six inches of waters to cover the road. While the freeway remains open, but traffic is backed up.
Caltrans rebuilt the storm drain system on that section of freeway last year. Dinger said those pumps are working, but debris collected over the summer apparently is clogging the drains.
"We have a pretty big traffic jam out there now," Caltrans Mark Dinger said.
Meanwhile, the CHP is reporting a rash of noon-hour collisions on local freeways and streets. They include a non-injury accident blocking a lane on northbound Interstate 5 downtown and a crash on westbound Interstate 80 east of Truxel Road. There is freeway flooding reported also on a section of Highway 99 just south of Martin Luther King Boulevard.
California Highway Patrol reports flooding on eastbound Highway 50 at the connection to I-5 near West Sacramento.
Interstate 5 and Seamas Avenue reopened at 11:45 a.m., Caltrans reports. A big rig traveling southbound about 6 a.m. crashed at Seamas near the South Land Park area. Two lanes of northbound I-5 were closed for commuters heading into downtown Sacramento, and traffic was backed up several miles to Hood-Franklin Road.
At one point during the morning, the Sacramento Traffic Management Center's incident page reported a tree down across the roadway at Gerber Avenue and T Street, a truck spinout on eastbound Interstate 80 just west of Marysville Boulevard, traffic signal lights out in Orangevale, and a blown electrical transformer that set a utility pole on fire along Jackson Road.
Around the Sacramento region, winds and rain had caused all kinds of problems, said Gonzales of the CHP. "Boulders are in the roadways, trees are being knocked down and limbs are in the streets. Motorists should be very aware. All the problems related to weather are here."
Commuters from Elk Grove reported drives up to two and a half hours into downtown Sacramento.
POWER OUTAGES
SMUD crews are making headway restoring electricity to thousands of customers throughout the region, with the lights going back on for more than 15,000 of them so far.
Late this morning, SMUD officials estimated more than 25,000 customers were without power because of the winds that lashed the region in the first major storm of the season.
But spokesman Chris Capra said at about 2 p.m. that about 9,600 were still without power and that 13 line crews -- consisting of four to eight workers each -- and 21 individual troubleshooters were out trying to restore power.
"We've got plenty of bodies on the street," Capra said. "It's just a matter of getting them to the areas where they're needed."
There was no large single area without power, Capra said, adding that spot outages were being reported throughout the region, where SMUD serves more than 592,000 customers.
"I have no real concentration (of outages)," he said. "These are very widespread, from the dozens to the hundreds."
As of noon, Pacific Gas & Electric was reporting 34,000 customers were without power in Solano, Yolo, Colusa, Sutter, Yuba, Nevada, Sierra, Placer and El Dorado counties.
Source Sac Bee
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
Saturday, October 10, 2009
2009 Pumpkin Patch Map
It's October and Halloween is right around the corner.
Enjoy the map and hope you find the perfect pumpkin!
Source Sac Bee
Enjoy the map and hope you find the perfect pumpkin!
Source Sac Bee
Friday, October 9, 2009
Work to start on new Sacramento light-rail route
It may look like the train to nowhere. But Sacramento Regional Transit officials are convinced it's an example of how to do transit right.
Despite financial woes, RT breaks ground next week on step one of a long-standing plan to build light rail from downtown to Natomas and, eventually, the airport.
The first step is a short one, running a lonely mile through vacant land from the county courthouse at Eighth and H streets to a terminus amid warehouses and back offices in a largely industrial area on Richards Boulevard.
Extension of the line over the American River is unlikely to happen before 2014, the airport connection not before 2017, RT officials said.
Until then, the little starter line to the corner of Richards and Seventh Street will be left to stand on its own.
For RT it represents a ride into the unknown at a tough time.
Cost estimates jumped from $37 million to $44 million at the last minute, forcing the agency to scramble to borrow money.
RT does not have money in its current budget to run trains once the line opens � expected in November 2010 � but RT officials said recent fare increases and internal cuts should free enough to fund a modest two-train line until the economy improves.
"Better to get these projects in place now," RT General Manager Mike Wiley said. "It will be more expensive later."
The bigger mystery, however, is how many riders will board the trains in an area where few now live and where redevelopment is only beginning.
RT officials acknowledge ridership numbers will be low at first. Fewer than 300 boardings per weekday are projected at Richards Boulevard in the first year � less than at the RT rail system's other terminus stations.
Sacramento City Councilman Ray Tretheway, an RT board member, brushed that aside, saying he is excited that for the first time light rail will go in first, then will help shape development.
"The risks were weighed, and I think we made the right call," he said. "To have transit there first is huge."
Typically, RT has wedged new light-rail lines into developed suburban areas, arriving as an afterthought to communities of car commuters.
By going in first, planners say, light rail and its stations can become focal points of new, urban-style, transit-oriented communities.
"It gives us opportunity to establish transit as the mode of choice as people move in," Wiley said. "It's a new test for us."
Mike McKeever, head of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, the regional transportation planning body, said he will be watching with interest.
"It can actually play a role in transforming the land use in the area," he said.
When that happens is uncertain. With the economy down, officials said they don't know how long it will take for development to hit stride.
Several area landowners said they are laying groundwork now for dense housing, office and retail development near the rail line.
They hope to attract what developer Steve Goodwin calls "urban pioneers" � young couples and empty-nesters � who want to live near downtown and the river, and use transit for some daily travel.
Goodwin's project, called Township 9, will be directly linked to RT's Richards Boulevard light-rail station. Goodwin's company will help pay for the station.
The Township 9 development, when built out, could have 2,300 dwelling units near the station, mixed with offices and neighborhood stores.
"Yeah, it's a risk for RT, and a risk for us, but those are the kinds of risks required to spur development in areas that are landlocked," Goodwin said.
The city of Sacramento already has moved some offices into the Richards area, and the California Highway Patrol will have moved nearly 1,000 employees to a new headquarters there by the end of this year, officials said.
The huge downtown railyard is slated to become a development of housing, offices, stores and entertainment venues in the next decade. RT plans to add a light-rail station to its line through there as development occurs.
For now, the line's two trains, each with one car, will start near the 13th Street station between R and Q streets, run on existing lines among other trains to Eighth and H streets, then set out on their own up Seventh Street to Richards.
Planning for the line � called the Green Line � has been on fast-forward for a year, but RT had to jump a sudden hurdle last month when construction bids came in high.
The new estimate, $44 million, forced RT to borrow from a developer-fee account and from funds set aside for future improvements on the Gold Line to Folsom. The bulk of construction money is coming from RT's share of local Measure A transportation sales tax funds.
Getting the line built soon may turn out to be important for another financial reason, RT officials said.
RT is considering going to the ballot in November 2010 to ask Sacramentans to help finance more transit projects. Wiley said he wants the Green Line built before election day, to show voters the agency can get projects built, even in hard times.
Recent delays getting financing may have put that in jeopardy.
"I am not ready to give up yet that we will have a ribbon cutting prior to an election," Wiley said. "It is an extremely aggressive schedule."
Other transportation officials in the region have said a November 2010 funding request from voters may be too soon, and say 2012 may be a more realistic option.
Source Sac Bee
Despite financial woes, RT breaks ground next week on step one of a long-standing plan to build light rail from downtown to Natomas and, eventually, the airport.
The first step is a short one, running a lonely mile through vacant land from the county courthouse at Eighth and H streets to a terminus amid warehouses and back offices in a largely industrial area on Richards Boulevard.
Extension of the line over the American River is unlikely to happen before 2014, the airport connection not before 2017, RT officials said.
Until then, the little starter line to the corner of Richards and Seventh Street will be left to stand on its own.
For RT it represents a ride into the unknown at a tough time.
Cost estimates jumped from $37 million to $44 million at the last minute, forcing the agency to scramble to borrow money.
RT does not have money in its current budget to run trains once the line opens � expected in November 2010 � but RT officials said recent fare increases and internal cuts should free enough to fund a modest two-train line until the economy improves.
"Better to get these projects in place now," RT General Manager Mike Wiley said. "It will be more expensive later."
The bigger mystery, however, is how many riders will board the trains in an area where few now live and where redevelopment is only beginning.
RT officials acknowledge ridership numbers will be low at first. Fewer than 300 boardings per weekday are projected at Richards Boulevard in the first year � less than at the RT rail system's other terminus stations.
Sacramento City Councilman Ray Tretheway, an RT board member, brushed that aside, saying he is excited that for the first time light rail will go in first, then will help shape development.
"The risks were weighed, and I think we made the right call," he said. "To have transit there first is huge."
Typically, RT has wedged new light-rail lines into developed suburban areas, arriving as an afterthought to communities of car commuters.
By going in first, planners say, light rail and its stations can become focal points of new, urban-style, transit-oriented communities.
"It gives us opportunity to establish transit as the mode of choice as people move in," Wiley said. "It's a new test for us."
Mike McKeever, head of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, the regional transportation planning body, said he will be watching with interest.
"It can actually play a role in transforming the land use in the area," he said.
When that happens is uncertain. With the economy down, officials said they don't know how long it will take for development to hit stride.
Several area landowners said they are laying groundwork now for dense housing, office and retail development near the rail line.
They hope to attract what developer Steve Goodwin calls "urban pioneers" � young couples and empty-nesters � who want to live near downtown and the river, and use transit for some daily travel.
Goodwin's project, called Township 9, will be directly linked to RT's Richards Boulevard light-rail station. Goodwin's company will help pay for the station.
The Township 9 development, when built out, could have 2,300 dwelling units near the station, mixed with offices and neighborhood stores.
"Yeah, it's a risk for RT, and a risk for us, but those are the kinds of risks required to spur development in areas that are landlocked," Goodwin said.
The city of Sacramento already has moved some offices into the Richards area, and the California Highway Patrol will have moved nearly 1,000 employees to a new headquarters there by the end of this year, officials said.
The huge downtown railyard is slated to become a development of housing, offices, stores and entertainment venues in the next decade. RT plans to add a light-rail station to its line through there as development occurs.
For now, the line's two trains, each with one car, will start near the 13th Street station between R and Q streets, run on existing lines among other trains to Eighth and H streets, then set out on their own up Seventh Street to Richards.
Planning for the line � called the Green Line � has been on fast-forward for a year, but RT had to jump a sudden hurdle last month when construction bids came in high.
The new estimate, $44 million, forced RT to borrow from a developer-fee account and from funds set aside for future improvements on the Gold Line to Folsom. The bulk of construction money is coming from RT's share of local Measure A transportation sales tax funds.
Getting the line built soon may turn out to be important for another financial reason, RT officials said.
RT is considering going to the ballot in November 2010 to ask Sacramentans to help finance more transit projects. Wiley said he wants the Green Line built before election day, to show voters the agency can get projects built, even in hard times.
Recent delays getting financing may have put that in jeopardy.
"I am not ready to give up yet that we will have a ribbon cutting prior to an election," Wiley said. "It is an extremely aggressive schedule."
Other transportation officials in the region have said a November 2010 funding request from voters may be too soon, and say 2012 may be a more realistic option.
Source Sac Bee
Thursday, October 8, 2009
California gains stimulus funds for broadband Internet
California will receive some of the first federal stimulus money to close the so-called digital divide, but it's angling for much more.
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration awarded the first four grants under its State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program.
The California Public Utilities Commission landed about $1.8 million to collect and verify the availability, speed and location of broadband Internet service across the state, plus $500,000 for broadband planning costs over four years.
Indiana, North Carolina, and Vermont also received grants totaling about $4.5 million under the program.
Sunne Wright McPeak, president and CEO of the California Emerging Technology Fund, a nonprofit group underwritten by four merged phone companies to oversee one effort to expand the use of broadband, said Tuesday that California's award is a good start but that the state is hoping to receive as much as $1 billion in additional stimulus money to expand broadband service statewide.
"We hope it's going to happen over time," she said. "This particular pot of money was processed separately, but there's much more yet to be awarded."
The competition among states for the big money is enormous. McPeak said there are $28 billion in applications from states, nonprofit groups and others for an available $4 billion.
To complicate things further, several federal agencies are involved in the process. McPeak said the first round of larger awards likely won't be announced until late November or early December.
One of the key considerations in the process will be what constitutes a rural area, and how best to bring broadband service to those regions.
That issue also was emphasized in a report released Monday by Valley Vision, the nonprofit Sacramento-based think tank. The three-month Regional Broadband Scoping Study investigated ways to improve digital access in the six-county Sacramento region.
The study said regional businesses, particularly in health care, stand to benefit from high-speed, digital access, but current assets are "underutilized and there is no cohesive strategy to improve the status quo."
Valley Vision's study noted that "broadband is the education backbone for the region, critical to bridging the digital divide for both parents and children, and to foster economic development. Yet many rural school districts lack broadband access and availability ... "
The federal stimulus money for expanded broadband service is a byproduct of a key Obama administration goal: getting more Americans hooked up to high-speed Internet.
California's situation is typical of the nation. About 96 percent of California households have access to a high-speed Internet connection, but 45 percent of residents don't have broadband connections in their homes because of geography, disabilities, a lack of English skills or poverty.
Most of the state's 4 percent lacking broadband service are in less-populated rural regions that aren't financially attractive enough to lure big companies.
McPeak pointed to studies showing that the faster the Internet connection, the more people will use it. She said it's unacceptable that almost half the residents of a state with California's reputation for embracing cutting-edge technology are not hooked up to broadband.
Check out our new podcast at www.housetalkonline.com
Source Sac Bee
On Monday, the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Telecommunications and Information Administration awarded the first four grants under its State Broadband Data and Development Grant Program.
The California Public Utilities Commission landed about $1.8 million to collect and verify the availability, speed and location of broadband Internet service across the state, plus $500,000 for broadband planning costs over four years.
Indiana, North Carolina, and Vermont also received grants totaling about $4.5 million under the program.
Sunne Wright McPeak, president and CEO of the California Emerging Technology Fund, a nonprofit group underwritten by four merged phone companies to oversee one effort to expand the use of broadband, said Tuesday that California's award is a good start but that the state is hoping to receive as much as $1 billion in additional stimulus money to expand broadband service statewide.
"We hope it's going to happen over time," she said. "This particular pot of money was processed separately, but there's much more yet to be awarded."
The competition among states for the big money is enormous. McPeak said there are $28 billion in applications from states, nonprofit groups and others for an available $4 billion.
To complicate things further, several federal agencies are involved in the process. McPeak said the first round of larger awards likely won't be announced until late November or early December.
One of the key considerations in the process will be what constitutes a rural area, and how best to bring broadband service to those regions.
That issue also was emphasized in a report released Monday by Valley Vision, the nonprofit Sacramento-based think tank. The three-month Regional Broadband Scoping Study investigated ways to improve digital access in the six-county Sacramento region.
The study said regional businesses, particularly in health care, stand to benefit from high-speed, digital access, but current assets are "underutilized and there is no cohesive strategy to improve the status quo."
Valley Vision's study noted that "broadband is the education backbone for the region, critical to bridging the digital divide for both parents and children, and to foster economic development. Yet many rural school districts lack broadband access and availability ... "
The federal stimulus money for expanded broadband service is a byproduct of a key Obama administration goal: getting more Americans hooked up to high-speed Internet.
California's situation is typical of the nation. About 96 percent of California households have access to a high-speed Internet connection, but 45 percent of residents don't have broadband connections in their homes because of geography, disabilities, a lack of English skills or poverty.
Most of the state's 4 percent lacking broadband service are in less-populated rural regions that aren't financially attractive enough to lure big companies.
McPeak pointed to studies showing that the faster the Internet connection, the more people will use it. She said it's unacceptable that almost half the residents of a state with California's reputation for embracing cutting-edge technology are not hooked up to broadband.
Check out our new podcast at www.housetalkonline.com
Source Sac Bee
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Perspectives 2009 at Convention Center
Perspectives 2009, which the Sacramento Metro Chamber of Commerce bills as its premier business networking event, will be Friday at the Sacramento Convention Center.
Speakers for the 15th annual event include former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, financial commentator Jane Bryant Quinn, "Flags of Our Fathers" author James Bradley and columnist/entrepreneur Guy Kawasaki.
Ken Robinson, an award-winning writer and international consultant, has been named as a replacement speaker for Howie Long, the former standout defensive lineman for the Oakland Raiders.
Perspectives 2009 will be from 10:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are $195 for chamber members and $245 for nonmembers.
To register or obtain more details, go to www.metrochamber.org/perspectives or call (916) 444-1919.
Source Sac Bee
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Cooler fall weather blows in this weekend
It will feel like fall in the Sacramento Valley this weekend, but folks in the Sierra can expect wind, rain and possible snow flurries.
"If you are headed to the mountains, you should be prepared for possible winter conditions," said Holly Osborne, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Sacramento.
Dry, gusting winds of 50 mph are forecast today for the Sierra, reaching as much as 85 mph on ridgetops. Because of the winds, Osborne said, red flag fire warnings will be in effect until 4 p.m. on the east side of the Sierra, including the Lake Tahoe and Reno areas.
Possible showers this afternoon could turn to snow tonight, with dustings down to the 5,000-foot elevation. Because the ground is relatively warm, Osborne said, little accumulation is expected.
In the Sacramento area, highs will be in the mid 70s today, dropping to about 70 degrees Sunday. Winds from the south will pick up today, but will be replaced by 10 mph to 20 mph winds from the north tonight.
Temperatures are expected to climb back into the high 70s and low 80s by the middle of the week, Osborne said, noting that the average temperature in the Sacramento area this time of year is 84 degrees.
The Red Bluff and Redding areas also will see cooler weather this weekend with highs around 70 degrees today and in the low 60s Sunday. Winds from the north will range from 10 mph to 25 mph. Highs are expected to return to the mid 70s and low 80s by mid-week, Osborne said.
Source Sac Bee
Fall is finally here! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and stay warm!
Friday, October 2, 2009
KB Home aids schools with gift of computers
Los Angeles-based KB Home partnered with Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson to deliver more than 50 computers to the Elk Grove Unified School District on Thursday.
KB Home employees delivered donated desktop and laptop computers, along with keyboards and flat-screen monitors.
District officials said Johnson's office worked with officials of the district and KB Home to facilitate the donations after learning of the district's need for computers.
Source Sac Bee
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