Forum Talks Trees with Joe Benassini and Ray Tretheway

City of TreesForum - Sacramento’s Digital Town Square checks in with tree gurus Joe Benassini and Ray Tretheway.

Joe is a Certified Arborist and manages the City of Sacramento’s urban forest.  With about 165,000 trees in out “City of Trees”, that’s no small task.

Ray served on the Sacramento City Council for nine years and is the Executive Director of the Sacramento Tree Foundation. In over 30 years, the Tree Foundation has planted over one million trees, largely through the hard work of volunteers.

These guys know their stuff, and we had hearing about the important work that they all do and we often take for granted.

The Sacramento Tree Foundation Celebrates Tree Heroes

sacramento-tree-foundationTomorrow’s Forum – Sacramento’s Digital Town Square episode will talk about Sacramento as “The City of Trees”.  In the meantime, we wanted to share some information on an upcoming fundraiser for the Sacramento Tree Foundation.

In recognition of Sacramento’s 150 year commitment to trees, the Sacramento Tree Foundation recognizes Tree Heroes: people and landscapes that best exemplify outstanding accomplishments in tree planting, care and stewardship, as well as the overall importance of trees.  This year’s event will be Wednesday, May 22nd at 5:30.  For more information, or to purchase tickets, click here.

 

Part 2 of Forum’s Conversation with Film Maker Cameron Cloutier

JanelleIn this second installment of our conversation with Cameron Cloutier, the filmmaker discusses some of the hurdles involved when making an independent film.

You may recall that Cloutier’s film, Bird with a Broken Wing chronicles the last two years of the life of Janelle Cruz.  Janelle is the last known victim of Sacramento’s notorious East Area Rapist, murdered exactly 27 years before this episode was recorded.  The man responsible for her murder and ten others, as well as over 50 sexual assaults, has never been apprehended.

Making a film is always difficult, but when you add the complexities of such a sensitive subject, it can seem insurmountable, and even a little dangerous.

 

 

Forum Remembers the Dark Days of the East Area Rapist with Film Maker Cameron Cloutier

EARForum – Sacramento’s Digital Town Square revisits a dark period in Sacramento History: that of the East Area Rapist.  Anyone who lived in Sacramento at the time will remember a community almost paralyzed by fear.

The East Area Rapist’s crimes initially centered on east Sacramento where at least fifty women were sexually assaulted between June 18, 1976 and July 5, 1979.

In 2001 the Northern California rapes were linked by DNA to murders in Southern California, where at least ten people were murdered from 1979 through 1986.

On May 4, 1986, 18 year old Janelle Lisa Cruz was bludgeoned to death in her Irvine home. Her family was on vacation in Mexico. A pipe wrench was reported missing by her stepfather and was the probable murder weapon.

Patrick and Isaac are joined in studio by film maker Cameron Cloutier, whose film Bird with a Broken Wing is based upon Janelle’s story as the last known victim of the East Area Rapist, California’s (and Sacramento’s) worst (and still uncaught) sex offender and serial killer.

Forum Goes Rural at Valley View Acres

CattleValley View Acres?  Isn’t that somewhere near Placerville?

Nope – it’s right here in River City.  In fact, it’s just ten minutes from downtown.

To those who live there, Valley View Acres is a slice of rural heaven in otherwise suburban North Natomas. This eclectic community has slowly built out over the course of decades.  It is the only community within the City of Sacramento that permits the keeping of domesticated farm animals including chickens, ducks, sheep, goats, cattle and – horses!  (Isaac doesn’t agree).

We sit down with Nick Avdis a land use attorney by day and a cattle rancher by night / weekend.  Nick is a lifelong resident of Valley View Acres and President of the community association.  Listen in and learn more about this unique, close-knit Sacramento Neighborhood.

Forum Visits Midtown: A Great Place to Live, Work, and Play

Midtown PhotoMidtown is so big, it could almost be considered  a mix of neighborhoods rather than a neighborhood unto itself.  From the Sutter District to the Handle, to Lavender Heights, Midtown provides an eclectic mix of boutiques, bars, galleries and restaurants among some of Sacramento’s most interesting (and in some cases not so interesting) architecture. Whether you live there, work there, visit there, or are passing through, you will almost certainly agree that Midtown’s unique charm and spirit are unrivaled in our City.

On this episode, Forum - Sacramento’s Digital Town Square sits down at one of Sacramento’s premier coffee houses and neighborhood hangouts, Old Soul (on the alley), for a fast paced conversation with with two Midtowners.

Richard Rich moved to Midtown after spending most his life in the burbs of other cities.  He’s had opportunities to leave, but his roots are now as deep as those of his neighborhood’s famous tree canopy.

Liz Studebaker landed in Midtown after working for a business association in San Diego.  As Executive Director of the Midtown Business Association, with 900 members, she has her hands full.  But in a short period of time she has come to know what makes this neighborhood special.  And, reportedly, she can parallel park with the best of them.

Both share with us what it is like to do business in Midtown and live there.  And both lend a perspective that shows why this is a great Sacramento Neighborhood.

The Forum Pod Squad Visits Feeding Crane Farms – A Farm in Sacramento?

Feeding Crane Farms

Picture By Debbie Cunningham

Feeding Crane Farms, located in in the Natomas basin, on the northern edge of Sacramento, is the City’s only certified organic farm.  It has been supplying the who’s who of local chefs and farmers markets throughout the region with quality produce since 2011.  And as good as they are at that – they do so much more.

General Manager Shannin Stein and Farmers Market Manager (and former chef) Paul Poore share with Forum – Sacramento’s Digital Town Square the value of locally produced, healthy foods and the need for education surrounding healthy foods and food literacy in every corner of our City, especially so-called “food deserts”.  Listen in and find out how these passionate healthy food advocates, and their small but dedicated team, are bucking the trend of large agribusiness and leading a movement that is changing the way we look at food.

We hear politicians talk about Farm to Fork.  At Feeding Crane Farms, they aren’t just talking – they’re tilling the soil and putting the “Farm” in Farm to Fork.

Check out more great local food photos at dlcunningham.smugmug.com

The North Franklin District is on Forum – Sacramento’s Digital Town Square

Franklin Boulevard's Plein Air Project

Franklin Boulevard’s Plein Air Project

Marti Brown, the Executive of the North Franklin District Property-Based Improvement District (PBID), discusses the organization’s plans for making Franklin Boulevard a regional destination.  There’s art, there’s Sacramento’s most recognizable Latino District, and there are some of Sacramento’s oldest businesses.  What more could you want if you were looking to create a thriving business district?  A friendlier streetscape and support from the multitude of local agencies would certainly help!

Franklin Boulevard was once one of the ugliest streets in Sacramento.  Now it is a boulevard of great promise yet to be realized.

A City Council Member from Vallejo, and therefore not adverse to challenges, Marti is taking on her new position with gusto, and bringing new vision to Patrick’s favorite commercial corridor.  Franklin Boulevard, the little street that could, may just be on the precipice of great things and poised to take it’s place in Sacramento as a great boulevard.  Listen in. . .

It’s the Second Installment of Jerry Perry in the Digital Town Square

Jerry Perry 2Jerry Perry was in studio last week and had so much to say about music in Sacramento, we asked him to come in again.  This segment focuses more on the current music scene and his more recent exploits, like Alive And Kicking TV, the growing Labor Day Chalk It Up festival, benefiting children’s art education programs.

Jerry also mixes it up a bit, sharing his perspective on the Downtown Partnership’s Summer Concert Series in Cesar Chavez Plaza, and the changes there over the years.

Disclaimer:  Any opinions shared by our guests, including references to feminine hygiene products, are those of the guest and not necessarily shared by Forum, it’s hosts or sponsors.

Tomorrow is the Getty Owl Run / Walk! And Today is. . . .

Getty Owl Foundation

 

 

Don’t forget that tomorrow (2/24/13) is the 2nd Annual Getty Owl Run Walk.  Please join Forum – Sacramento’s Digital Town Square to support Getty “Owl” Storm and all families affected by SMA. For more information, click here.

And, this in from Patrick, Cindy, Phil and Dale:  Happy birthday to our partner Isaac IsaacGonzalez.  There is no better partner and no better promoter of our fair city.