Capital Artists' Studio Tour 2013

On Saturday (Sept 14) and Sunday (Sept 15), 10am - 5pm both days, our very own Libby Harmor will be displaying her works (and selling) at her new studio located at 1001 Del Paso Road, 95815 as part of the 2013 Capital Artists' Studio Tour. If you have the time, you will not be disappointed, Libby is one talented cookie!

August Meeting Summary

Great seeing neighbors last Wednesday evening. Thank you to Dolores and Nando Santos for hosting this month's meeting. Gorgeous back yard and a very nice spread of food and drinks to boot!

Officer Zeiger was present with Sac PD to provide an overview of Police activities in our area. Aside from the removal of the homeless camp near the pump station on East Levee, things have been very quiet and that's a good thing!

As for community activities, we discussed a successful National Night Out event at Dennis' (thanks again Dennis!)  and a successful, as always, 4th of July Parade organized by our very own Libby Harmor. Thanks Libby!
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For those interested in Natomas-wide events, Celebrate Natomas is on Saturday, September 7th, 12-5pm at the South Natomas Community Center (2921 Truxel Road), it's free and a guaranteed good time for all ages!

Some folks had questions regarding the greenwaste pickup, here's a blurb from the City's website (www.sacrecycle.com): 

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Curbside collection of continerized yard waste occurs weekly. All residential properties in the City of Sacramento must use containers for yard waste disposal. Yard waste must not be placed in the street - except during leaf season. Customers who need additional yard waste service can order an additional container, use their one free appointment based clean up, or call 311 to request a free dump coupon.

Leaf Season

Citywide collection of yard waste piles will occur only in November, December and January. Please fill your yard waste container first before placing extra material out in a pile in front of your residence.

"

Safety reminder, for those who turn right onto Sotnip from Kenmar, all of us are urged to use caution as you make that turn, there have been some near misses from folks taking that turn from Kenmar onto Sotnip a bit fast and wide. 

Fall neighborhood clean up will be on Saturday, September 28th. We will be organizing at the Angel residence at 5600 Sorento Road at about 830 am. Feel free to clean up the trash in the road side ditches along your property or join us to break up into teams. 

Thanks!

Upcoming Events in Natomas

Hello everyone, here are some fun events coming up in Natomas

- Food Truck Mania - Thursday, August 22nd, 5-8pm at the N Natomas Library. More info? http://www.angeliqueashby.com/food-truck-mania

- Celebrate Natomas - Saturday, September 7th, noon - 5pm  at the S Natomas Community Center More Info? http://www.angeliqueashby.com/celebrate-natomas-2013

August 21, 2013 Meeting

This month's meeting will be on Wednesday, August 21st at 6:30pm hosted by the Santos family at their backyard oasis at 721 Barros Drive.  

On this month's agenda, among other things, we'll be catching up on news affecting the neighborhood, as well as the illegal dumping and homeless people in the neighborhood concerns. 

See you on Wednesday and thank you Santos family!

National Night Out

Tuesday, August 6, 2013 is National Night Out. Dennis Boyd will be hosting VVA's Second Annual National Night Out BBQ Potluck at his home located at 5610 Sorento Road from 530pm'ish-730pm'ish. 

July Meeting Summary

Thanks to everyone who attended last week's neighborhood meeting, another great turnout. Special thank you to the Lopez family for opening up their home to the neighborhood! Great job on the back yard, it looks spectacular!

Neighborhood cleanup and yard sale download. Angela Angel provided a summary of last month's neighborhood clean up. Volunteers filled up the entire gigantic trash container! Thank you to Michel at Vice Mayor Ashby's office for arranging the delivery and pickup of the trash container and thank you to the folks at Waste Management for their generosity in donating the container for our cleanup! The yard sale, for those who participated, was also very successful.

Police Update. Officer Zeiger from Sac PD was in attendance and provide an update on police activities in our community. All has been relatively quiet in our neighborhood, except for the helicopter a few weeks back that was called out to assist with a domestic violence call related to the homeless encampment located south of the pump station on the east side East Levee Road. Neighbors inquired as to what can be done regarding removal of the homeless encampment, Off. Zeiger reported at he would look into the matter and report back to us at a later meeting as he was not on duty the day of the incident with the helicopter.

Update from Vice Mayor Ashby's Office.  Michel provided an update of upcoming events in the district. A link to those can be found in a prior VVA blog posting. Neighbors inquired as to the status of the train horn quiet zone application with the federal agency responsible for train traffic. Michel informed us that the application is  still pending.

Natomasbuzz. Also in attendance was Brandy Boyd, the editor of the natomasbuzz.com. Other than telling us how much she covets our neighborhood (unfortunately for sale homes in the neighborhood these days are few and far between), she talked about what she's doing with natomasbuzz . It's a great site will local news and other happenings. If you don't visit the site regularly, I highly recommend that you do so! You are welcome anytime Brandy, thanks for coming!

SMUD Discussion. There were SMUD representatives in attendance that provided an overview of the proposed fee increase. They also fielded many questions from neighbors. More about the increase can be found here: https://www.smud.org/en/residential/customer-service/rate-information/2013-residential-rate-proposal/2013-Rate-FAQs.htm

Solid Waste - Greenwaste Discussion. Representatives from the City's Solid Waste Division were in attendance to listen to neighbors concerns regarding the changes in greenwaste pick up. The biggest thing being the discontinuing of the claw service during most of the year. The claw will still be used during the months of November - December and January. The remainder of the year, we will be required to use a 90 gallon green waste bin.  Many voiced concern over the amount of greenwaste they produced and the inconvenience of having to utilize the bins. Others, especially those north of Barros, who wanted the ability to opt out of the greenwaste pick up all together, though there was not unanimity on this point. The bottom line is that the City will take our comments and determine if there is any level of flexibility for this service given the unique circumstances of VVA. Options will be brought back to the neighborhood at a future meeting.

There is no meeting in July, mark your calendars for August 21st, location TBD.

Thanks!

4th of July Parade

This year will be the 26th year of the Valley View Acres 4th of July Parade! 

Participants are requested to assemble at 10am and 4930 Tunis Road on Thursday, July 4th.  The parade will begin at 10:30am. 

There will be a potluck after the parade, please bring something to share, Libby will provide hot dogs and drinks. 

If you have any questions, please call Libby at 927-0878. 

Also, if you are able to help with the preparations at Libby's place, please head over to Libby's on Wednesday, July 3rd at 8am to noon to help set up tables, chairs and to just do general prep work. 

Thank you Libby for coordinating and hosting this event year after year! 

District 1 June 2013 Newsletter

Find it here:

http://us1.campaign-archive2.com/?u=acd2c62235680684a6f725fca&id=e0641d88d0&e=c2a731e630

June 19, 2013 Meeting

Hi everyone, it's June already and yes, it's time for our monthly get together.

This month's will have a packet agenda with some pretty important stuff that will affect you and your family so I encourage you all to attend. Among other items, we will be discussing the proposed SMUD residential electricity rate increase and the changes to the City's greenwaste pickup program. Representatives from SMUD and the City's Solid Waste Department will be in attendance to field questions. The coming changes will have a huge effect on the disposal of greenwaste in our community, please come and share your thoughts.  Please spread the word to neighbors!

This month's meeting is graciously being hosted by the Lopez family at their home located at 5400 Sorento Road. We'll be meeting at 630 pm, as always.  Folks are encouraged to bring a beverage or a snack to share and their swim wear, the Lopez family has offered their pool for swimming after the meeting. Thanks Mike and Sheila!!

See you next Wednesday the 19th!

Nick

Summer of Fun

Council member Ashby's Summer of Fun has begun, its schedule of great events right here in N. Natomas can be found here:

http://us1.campaign-archive1.com/?u=acd2c62235680684a6f725fca&id=0f4a70b348&e=ebe14abaef

VVA Weather

Our very own Dennis Boyd has put up a weather station in the neighborhood, if you are curious, here's the link:

http://www.wunderground.com/q/zmw:95835.1.99999

May Meeting

Hello all, it's that time of the month again. We'll be meeting at the Brace's again this month on Wednesday, May 15 at 5021 Tunis. Meeting will begin at 630, hope to see you there!

VVA interview with Forum, Sacramento's Digital Town Square

Hello all, recently I was interviewed by Forum Sacramento. Each week, Forum brings you stories from all over Sacramento.  Through articles and podcasts and more, their aim is to talk with Sacramentans about what makes this City unique. Their plan is to visit every neighborhood in the City.  The interview is only about 30 minutes long and while I was directionally challenged during it and unintentionally failed to mention some of our long running annual events, I thought it was a good interview promoting our neighborhood.

Take a look at what Forum is about at http://forumtownsquare.com/.  And take a listen of the interview here: http://forumtownsquare.com/2013/04/23/forum-goes-rural-at-valley-view-acres/

April Meeting Summary

I hope folks are enjoying the great weather outside. We had a great meeting on Wednesday, very well attended. Thank you to all who came out!! And special thanks to Dan and Diana for hosting!!

(1) We began the meeting with a recap of the Easter Egg Hunt as well as a Creek Week clean up along Steelhead Creek (NEMDC), thanks to our always active neighbor Dennis Boyd for organizing and leading both events!

(2)  Police Update. Officer Zeiger provided an update on things to be aware of in N. Natomas. With the nicer weather comes an expected uptick in purse snatching, theft, etc. Please be aware of your surroundings when you are out in public, keep your valuables out of sight if you have to keep them in a vehicle. 

Residents inquired about recent incidents of green waste dumping in VVA, specifically on Sorento and Barros. Officer Zeiger asked that residents attempt to contact police immediately if they see someone engaging in illegal dumping in progress. Please try to get a good description of any vehicles involved, any license plate numbers, distinguishing features or markings. That being said, you should avoid confronting any such individuals, please keep your distance, there is no need to put yourself in any potentially dangerous situations. 

Some phone numbers to have handy:

      City Police Non-emergency line: 264-5471

      City Police Emergency line: 732-0100 from any cell phone or 911 from a land line

      Code enforcement or any City related matter: dial 311 from inside the City or call (916) 264-5011 

      Twin Rivers Police Department: 556-2770 (for any issues related to the half build school site to the west    

                                                                         of East Levee Road)

      Rio Linda Elverta Recreation and Parks District: 564-4234 (they have the clean up contract for 

                                                      any debris/trash in the Ueda Parkway, which include the levee)

(3) City Update.  Michel from Vice Mayor Ashby's office provided an update of recent happenings, including a recent community leadership round-table, which I attended (and whose meeting summary can be found here: http://www.angeliqueashby.com/community-roundtable-2013) and providing updates to the Summer Oasis program for N. Natomas kids and the Summer of Fun schedule. More info on the Summer Oasis program can be found here: http://www.angeliqueashby.com/summer-oasis-2013 and more info on the Summer of Fun schedule can be found here: http://www.angeliqueashby.com/summer-of-fun-2012 

(4) Input from Neighbors.  Dennis Boyd recently was a witness to a bad accident on Northgate and Del Paso Rd./Main Ave.  After contacting emergency dispatchers, he realized there was some confusion on the part of dispatchers when calling from a cell phone as to the exact location of the call for help. This was related to the fact that Northgate Blvd. intersects with 2 roads with the name " Del Paso" . Del Paso Blvd., which is located at the far south end of Northgate, near Highway 160 and Del Paso Road, which is at the north end of Northgate. Please be aware of this potential issue should you find yourself contact police or other emergency personnel. It could affect response times. 

(5) City Solid Waste Division Update.  We had two guests from the Solid Waste division that provided an update to neighbors related to upcoming changes in garbage, recycling and yard waste pick up schedules. 

After July 1, 2013, our garbage pick up day is moving to Wednesdays.  Recycling will be picked up every two weeks on Wednesdays beginning on Wednesday, July 10th. Roadside yard waste will no longer be picked up, all yard waste must be placed into yard waste bins provided by the City in order to be picked up.   That being said, road side yard waste pick up will occur during the months of November, December and January. Yard waste will be picked up weekly on Wednesdays, after July 1. Appointment based neighborhood clean up will be once again available once a year for residents, as well as a coupon for a free dump load to the transfer station on Roseville Road (available for one visit per calendar year).

For more info on this, please call 311 or visit www.sacrecycle.org 

(6) VVA Neighborhood Cleanup.  Our clean up is scheduled for Saturday, May 18th.  I encourage all of you to pick up trash and other debris from the roadside ditches in front of your homes. If you wish to be part of a more organized effort, teams of trash picker uppers will meet at the Angel's place at 5600 Sorento Road.  We are working on getting trash bins donated by Waste Management again, if we get them, they will be located near the Angel's home. A BBQ potluck will follow at 1130 or so. 

(7)  VVA Neighborhood Yard Sale. On the same day as the clean up, Angela Angel is coordinating a neighborhood yard sale which will be advertised on Craigslist and signs will be posted. If you are so inclined, you are encouraged to yard sale at your own home on May 18th. More info to come on this. 

April Meeting

Hello all, just a reminder that our regularly scheduled meeting is this Wednesday, April 17th. We'll be meeting at the Braces at 5021 Tunis. It's a treat to meet at the Brace home and their beautifully landscaped back yard!!!

Meeting begins at 630pm and will last for no more than an hour. 

Hope to see you there!