City Beat

In one breath, Mayor Kevin Johnson tells us how little he thinks of his competition. But then he insists his re-election campaign is not taking anything for granted.

So which is it? Both, apparently.

The mayor sent out an email to supporters this morning telling them he is "not taking anything for granted in what is expected to be a low turnout election." That statement follows others by the mayor and his campaign dismissing the quality of his challengers.

It's one of the most powerful positions at City Hall. And once again, the city attorney job is helping to fuel a political stand-off.

The City Council is looking to replace the recently-departed Eileen Teichert. The council plans to use a headhunter and most members want to have a new, permanent city attorney on the job this fall.

Mayor Kevin Johnson doesn't agree with that timeline. He thinks the council should wait to appoint its top legal adviser until after the November election, when at least two current council members - Rob Fong and Sandy Sheedy - will have given up their seats. The mayor wants their replacements to have a voice in who is named to the post.

Former Mayor Heather Fargo apparently hasn't gotten over her loss to Kevin Johnson three years ago.

Fargo has endorsed mayoral candidate Jonathan Rewers in his bid against Mayor Johnson, the Rewers campaign announced. Fargo was defeated by Johnson in 2008.

"I think in the past three weeks I have proven that I am the most qualified candidate to be mayor, have presented a clear plan and agenda, have given the voters the respect they want by going to their events and asking for their vote, and now I have the endorsement of someone who has served this city as mayor and delivered," Rewers said in a statement released by his campaign.

The City Council will discuss today the notion of a ballot measure in November to raise the sales tax in the city.

While the council will not yet vote on whether to place a measure on the ballot, some council members have already expressed support for a tax increase to fund core city services, including police protection, firefighters and parks.

Mayor Kevin Johnson does not appear to support a tax increase. Speaking at an event showcasing the production of energy-efficient air conditioners by Sacramento-based Beutler Corporation, Johnson told reporters this morning he would rather seek to solve the city's budget problems through economic development and job creation.

Mayor Kevin Johnson will be in Los Angeles tonight for a fundraiser hosted by L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. But it's also an event that could have an impact on Sacramento's ongoing - although faded - arena effort.

Tim Leiweke, the chief executive of arena operator AEG, is one of the co-hosts of the fundraiser being held at The Ritz Carlton at L.A. Live, an entertainment district developed by AEG. Leiweke's company had agreed to operate Sacramento's downtown arena and Johnson is still hoping to attract the firm to the city, despite the arena effort's collapse.

Wealthy philanthropist Eli Broad - whose education reform interests are similar to Johnson's - and former L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan are also listed as co-hosts of the Johnson fundraiser.

A pair of City Council races should be a good gauge of the mayor's political influence.

Mayor Kevin Johnson is backing former NAACP branch president Betty Williams in her run against Councilwoman Bonnie Pannell for the district representing Meadowview and other south Sacramento neighborhoods.

Johnson is also supporting developer Allen Warren in the packed north Sacramento race to replace Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy, who is stepping down.

He may have side-stepped the issue a bit last week, but Mayor Kevin Johnson now says the battered city budget will be his focus this month.

Johnson told reporters this morning that he wants to be "actively involved" in trying to convince the city's public safety unions to agree to contribute to their pensions. Faced with a $15.7 million deficit, city budget officials said nearly 100 cops and firefighters will be laid off if those workers don't pay the full share of the employee contribution of their CalPERS retirement plans. The city would continue to pay the employer share.

The budget was released on Thursday, the same day the mayor began talks with the owners of the Sacramento Kings in an attempt to revive the city's collapsed arena deal. The mayor was not immediately briefed on the budget and Johnson didn't answer budget-related questions from a television reporter on Thursday.

At the very least, the collapse of the city's arena plan has delayed the potential opening of a new facility.

As the city explores a "Plan B" to build a downtown arena without the Sacramento Kings, Mayor Kevin Johnson acknowledged today "we're not going to make 2015."

City officials had hoped to open a planned $391 million arena in the downtown railyard in time for the 2015/16 NBA season. That plan fell apart after the Kings' owners pulled out of a handshake agreement to help finance the project. As a result, pre-development work on the arena has been halted, making the city's target date unrealistic.

Leonard Padilla now seems convinced he'll be Sacramento's next mayor. But he graciously offers to reserve a job for Kevin Johnson.

The well-known bounty hunter and five-time mayoral candidate said as much in an email exchange with an NBA fan relations rep. Padilla sent out a copy of the email exchange today.

Padilla has objected to the public financing of a new downtown sports arena, a thought he shared with NBA Commissioner David Stern in a recent note. The NBA thanked him for his response - touching off the following statement from Padilla:

Mayor Kevin Johnson and Kings co-owner George Maloof spoke again this morning and have decided to meet in person within the next few days in what will likely be a make-or-break session.

The mayor told reporters this morning that the next sit down will probably determine whether the city's collapsed arena deal is back on, or if "we don't have the makings of a deal." Asked how confident he was that a deal would be resurrected between the city and its NBA team, Johnson said he was "hopeful rather than confident."

A Maloof spokesman told The Bee's Tony Bizjak that the meeting would take place in Sacramento on Thursday morning. But aides to the mayor said they had not confirmed their schedule.

Mayor Kevin Johnson isn't breaking all ties with the Sacramento Kings franchise.

Johnson will present basketball hall of famer Oscar Robertson with a key to the city at City Hall on Friday. The public event is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. in the first floor foyer.

Robertson played 12 seasons, including from 1960 to 1970 for the Cincinnati Royals (the Royals would later move to Kansas City and then Sacramento). His No. 14 jersey has been retired by the Sacramento Kings.

Sacramento City Attorney Eileen Teichert, one of City Hall's highest-ranking officials, has resigned.

In a letter to Mayor Kevin Johnson and members of the City Council today, Teichert said she has been "presented with an opportunity to continue my career as a municipal lawyer with an excellent organization closer to my family in Southern California." Her letter can be found here: TeichertMemo4-4.pdf

"Although I will miss the many talented and dedicated City officers, staff and elected officials, I must pursue this opportunity," she said.

Amid an acrimonious backdrop at City Hall, the Sacramento City Council has begun a meeting at which it will decide whether to move ahead with crucial pre-development work needed for a new downtown sports arena.

Live Twitter updates from The Bee's arena team: City Council arena vote

While the council is expected to approve the work, members of the council are also expected to voice frustration with the family that owns the Sacramento Kings over a dispute regarding who will cover the pre-development costs.

Mayor Kevin Johnson voiced his own anger earlier today, when he lashed out at the Maloof family during a press conference, calling their statements that the family never agreed to pay for pre-development costs of a new arena "disingenuous." The mayor also accused the Maloofs of "tactics and antics that are not becoming of a true partnership."

The man who seeks to operate Sacramento's proposed sports arena was introduced today to the public.

Tim Leiweke, the president of international arena operator AEG, told reporters at City Hall that his firm is making "a huge commitment" to the project, but that he feels strongly "Sacramento is a good bet." AEG has committed $58.75 million in upfront costs to the $391 million project.

"We'll have one of the great arenas not just in the US, but in the world, and Sacramento will be a different community," he said.

All of that Sandy Sheedy For Mayor talk has fizzled.

Sacramento's chief arena opponent has apparently opted not to run against Mayor Kevin Johnson, despite a lot of chatter at City Hall today that she would. The deadline for Sheedy to file her campaign papers has come and gone. For the record, she never returned my phone call today.

As a result, Johnson will run against five candidates with little or no political experience.

There's a lot of talk at City Hall today that Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy is going to jump into the mayoral race.

Several insiders told me today that Sheedy is considering running against Mayor Kevin Johnson and that she plans to file her campaign documents today. If she is, she has until 4:30 p.m. today to file those papers to meet the city's deadline for mayoral candidates to declare.

Sheedy has not returned my phone call seeking comment.

With the City Council expected to approve a non-binding financial plan for a new downtown sports arena tonight, Mayor Kevin Johnson told reporters this morning that "we're on the verge of doing something very special."

"We're finally at the point where we have one single vote, one moment in time to totally transform the downtown community and Sacramento for generations," he said.

The council is expected to approve a "term sheet" for a $391 million arena. The city has proposed contributing 65 percent of the project cost, mostly through either leasing or borrowing against downtown parking.

Mayor Kevin Johnson finally has an opponent.

Sacramento bounty hunter and four-time mayoral candidate Leonard Padilla told me today he is definitely running against Johnson after pulling candidacy papers from the city clerk's office on Tuesday. Padilla's main campaign issue: the arena.

"I don't want the Maloofs (who own the Sacramento Kings) given one red cent, much less a quarter of a billion dollars," he said, referring to a proposal for the city to lease downtown parking to help finance a new sports arena.

Sacramento Supervisor Phil Serna said today he is not running for mayor, ending weeks of speculation that he might take on Mayor Kevin Johnson.

In an email sent to the media, Serna said he wanted to remain focused on "job growth in places like McClellan Business Park, Downtown Sacramento and the Power Inn Corridor, and I'm dedicated to protecting the American River Parkway."

"Running for mayor now would put campaigning over continuing to give my attention to these and other priorities," he said. "I'm not prepared to do that."

Marriage rights activists are stepping up their pressure on Mayor Kevin Johnson to join dozens of other elected officials in supporting gay marriage.

Supporters of gay marriage were expected to drop off 338 signatures this morning at City Hall urging Johnson to join the Mayors for the Freedom to Marry. Despite telling reporters last week that he would read the pledge, Johnson still hadn't read it as of this morning.

"Sacramento is one of the most diverse cities in America and a city like ours needs leaders willing to stand up for all of us," Sam Catalano, president of the Stonewall Democrats, said in a statement. "Supporting marriage equality helps make our city stronger both socially and economically. We are all exceptionally hopeful that Mayor Kevin Johnson stands on the right side of history and we eagerly await his response."

For quite some time, opponents of Mayor Kevin Johnson have sought a candidate to challenge the mayor in the June primary. While no one has formally stepped up, talks appear to be getting more serious behind the scenes.

Those talks are being charged by a poll released nearly two weeks ago - found here MayoralPoll1-31-12.pdf - that showed fewer than half of those surveyed would vote to re-elect the mayor. More than half wanted to elect an unnamed "someone else."

The poll was clearly put together - and then distributed to the media - in an attempt to convince a candidate to run against Johnson. It was funded by the Sacramento Building Trades Union.

Mayor Kevin Johnson's latest strong mayor plan goes head to head with a proposal to create an elected charter review commission at tonight's City Council meeting. And the mayor is making it pretty clear where he stands.

Johnson told reporters this morning he thinks "the charter commission idea needs to be dumped." Councilman Kevin McCarty has proposed placing the creation of a charter commission on the November ballot.

"I don't think it's in anybody's best interest and I feel like it's a reaction to the initiative that I brought forward," the mayor said.

Mayor Kevin Johnson expects negotiations on the funding plan for a new downtown Kings arena to intensify, now that 13 firms have expressed interest in leasing the city's parking operations.

The mayor told reporters this morning that the city is "on track and in striking distance" of developing a financing plan for the $387 million arena. City officials are hoping to raise as much as $200 million for the project from the leasing of downtown parking garages, spaces and enforcement.

With more than a dozen firms expressing interest in those parking assets, the mayor said "it's going to be constant negotiations with (arena operator) AEG, the Kings and the NBA and all the interested parties" as the sides work on a funding plan before a March 1 deadline. If a plan does not materialize before then, the NBA has told the Maloofs - the family that owns the Kings - that they can explore moving the franchise.

Following a federal appeals court ruling today that California's same-sex marriage ban is unconstitutional, Mayor Kevin Johnson said he would look at a petition signed by dozens of statewide politicians that promotes marriage equality.

While the mayor said he "certainly respects" the court's decision today, he repeated his personal belief that "marriage is between a man and a woman." But, he added, "I strongly oppose discrimination when it comes to our constitution."

Johnson has been urged by the Stonewall Democrats club to join the Mayors for the Freedom to Marry, "a bipartisan coalition of over 100 United States mayors dedicated to promoting marriage equality in their communities, state, and our nation."

The news out of Seattle this weekend that city officials are discussing a plan for a new arena in that city - and that they're monitoring the situation here - is so far having no impact on Sacramento's own arena work.

"We are focused on one thing and one thing only: what is in the best interest of the people of Sacramento," Mayor Kevin Johnson told me in an email. "And to that end we have put in place a plan that we believe is good for the League (the NBA), good for the team (the Kings) and, most importantly, good for the City when it comes to jobs and protecting the taxpayers."

At the very least, news that Seattle has a new arena plan in the works tells us one thing: there's potentially a new suitor for the Kings, should Sacramento's own arena deal fail.

A man by the name of Leo threw his wallet at the mayor during the City Council meeting. The mayor didn't flinch, the wallet struck the dais in front of Johnson and the man was escorted out the City Council Chambers - without further incident - by three police officers.

Leo is a regular at council meetings, showing up dozens of times over the past few years. He was apparently angry at the mayor and City Manager John Shirey for not doing enough to help him regain his identity, which he said was stolen.

The incident also included Leo criticizing the oil companies of killing of fish in the ocean, which "also killed off the fishing industry." At one point, members of Occupy Sacramento applauded for Leo.

Union bosses, local Democratic operatives and neighborhood activists have all spent the last three years taking shots at Mayor Kevin Johnson. But not until Tuesday night had someone actually thrown something at the mayor.

A man by the name of Leo threw his wallet at the mayor during the City Council meeting. The mayor didn't flinch, the wallet struck the dais in front of Johnson and the man was escorted out of the City Council Chambers - without further incident - by three police officers.

Leo is a regular at council meetings, showing up dozens of times over the past few years. He was apparently angry at the mayor and City Manager John Shirey for not doing enough to help him find his missing identification.

The Sacramento City Councilman thought to have the easiest path to re-election in June may end up facing a well-heeled opponent.

Developer Jon Bagatelos - who is Mayor Kevin Johnson's chief fundraiser - appears certain to run against Councilman Kevin McCarty in council District 6, representing Elmhurst, Tahoe Park and several other neighborhoods on the southeast side of the city.

"I'm definitely going to run unless someone gives me a reason not to run," Bagatelos said this week.

A new poll commissioned by opponents of Mayor Kevin Johnson shows that fewer than half of those asked are likely to vote to re-elect the mayor. But with just five weeks left before the filing deadline, Johnson's opposition has been unable to come with a candidate.

The poll - conducted by EMC Research and paid for by the Sacramento Building Trades Union - showed 46 percent of the 400 city voters asked would vote for an unnamed "someone else" in the June primary. Another 41 percent said they were definitely or probably going to vote for Johnson.

While the mayor had a favorable rating of 53 percent, other results showed 30 percent of voters think "Johnson gets things done;" 34 percent said the mayor is "someone we can count on;" and 31 percent think he has the right priorities. The poll can be found here KJpoll1-31.pdf.

One of the region's most respected political groups is supporting placing Mayor Kevin Johnson's revamped strong mayor plan on the November ballot.

The League of Women Voters' board voted to support placing the proposal on the ballot. The board has not decided whether it supports the measure.

The City Council is scheduled to debate whether to place the measure on the ballot next week. However, there appears to be more City Council support for a ballot measure seeking to create a charter review commission to explore changing how the city is governed.

Mayor Kevin Johnson focused on three of his favorite topics during the annual State of the City address today: the arena, the green economy and education. The common theme for all three topics was the city's battered economy.

"None of us can afford to wait for the economy to recover on its own," the mayor said. "We have to take bold actions and determine our own destiny. We have to make the impossible possible."

On the city's ongoing work to finance a new downtown Kings arena, the mayor said he was launching a campaign to raise $10 million for the project from fans and residents. The "Brick by Brick" campaign will allow people to purchase engraved bricks to be placed in front of the proposed facility.

The city's powerful police union supports the plan to build a new Kings arena downtown. But this isn't simply an issue of public safety.

Mark Tyndale, the head of the Sacramento Police Officers Association, said his organization has been told city police officers would handle arena security during Kings games should the facility be built.

Since 1999, those duties have fallen to the Sacramento Sheriff's Department in a deal worked out between the team and former Sheriff Lou Blanas. It's an arrangement that has "always been a little bit of a thorn in our side," said Tyndale.

The historic transformation of the City Council could mean a shift in the balance of power at City Hall.

With the announcement Monday that Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy would not seek re-election - combined with Councilman Rob Fong's decision to also step down this year - six of the nine seats at the council dais will have different representatives from just four years ago. That's an incredible shift for a City Council that had been a safe haven for incumbents for nearly 20 years.

With so many seats changing hands, it's worth exploring who benefits.

A new model is emerging for keeping city parks and community centers open as the budget ax continues to chop away at those assets.

Neighborhood groups and businesses are stepping in to do what City Hall can't. The latest example of that involvement is in east Sacramento, where neighbors and businesses raised money and formed an organization to keep the Clunie Community Center open.

Flanked by supporters of the center, Mayor Kevin Johnson said this morning that the movement was "an example of us saving something historic in our community." The 75-year-old Clune Center serves 100,000 people a year.

As he gets ready tonight to ask the City Council to place his latest plan to overhaul the City Charter on the June ballot, Mayor Kevin Johnson has gained the support of one of the city's most influential political figures.

Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, said Monday he was endorsing Johnson's plan - dubbed the Checks and Balances Act of 2012 - saying it is "a solid and responsible proposal."

However, while Steinberg's support is a boost for the mayor, the local Democratic Party remains critical of the mayor's plan.

He doesn't have a serious opponent, but that hasn't stopped Mayor Kevin Johnson from amassing a large war chest for his re-election effort.

Johnson's campaign chief Steve Maviglio told me this morning that the mayor raised $546,775 in 2011. Campaign finance figures will be released later this month for all candidates involved in city races.

The fundraising total leaves Johnson with $410,385 on hand, according to Maviglio (Johnson still owes himself $500,000 from a loan he made to his 2008 campaign).

Mayor Kevin Johnson said today he was concerned that a decision by city officials to delay soliciting interest from the private sector in taking over downtown parking operations could "send a message to the NBA that something is not quite on track" with the city's bid to finance a new downtown sports arena.

Johnson told The Bee's editorial board that he was not consulted by City Manager John Shirey's office before the decision was made a few weeks ago to push back the release of a request for qualifications from Dec. 22 until Monday. And he said he disagreed with the decision.

City officials are counting on generating as much as $200 million in upfront cash for the $387 million arena by leasing downtown parking spaces, garages and enforcement to a private company.

Two former mayors are supporting Mayor Kevin Johnson's latest proposal to overhaul the city constitution.

Former Mayors Phil Isenberg and Jimmie Yee are endorsing Johnson's plan and will serve as "honorary co-chairs" of the measure's political campaign, according to a news release sent out by the campaign this morning.

Under the plan, Sacramento would be governed by a "mayor-council" form of government, transitioning from the current system in which the unelected city manager handles most day-to-day operations.

Supporters of Mayor Kevin Johnson's latest effort to revamp the city's governing structure released the findings of a survey today that shows support for both the mayor and the proposal.

A survey of 504 likely city voters by pollster FM3 showed 63 percent favored the "Checks and Balances Act of 2012." A memo summarizing the poll's findings was released to the media and supporters of the proposal, which can be found here: MaslinPoll.doc.

Voters particularly liked giving the mayor the authority to propose the budget, subject to City Council approval (67 percent support); giving the mayor veto authority over budget items, subject to council override (67 percent support); and having the mayor and council jointly appoint the city manager, as they do now (66 percent support).

Perhaps it was the euphoria of the Kings' victory over the L.A. Lakers on Monday. Or maybe it's the holiday spirit. Either way, Mayor Kevin Johnson seems more and more confident about Sacramento's chances of building a new downtown sports arena.

Johnson told reporters this morning, "I think we're going to get it done." City officials are trying to finalize a financing plan for the latest proposal, a $406 million facility in the downtown railyard.

Still, the mayor said the city is "at a critical juncture."

Mayor Kevin Johnson today proposed an overhaul of the way the city is governed.

Well, sort of.

Johnson was noticeably absent during a morning press conference at which the "Checks and Balances Act of 2012" was announced. The mayor will ask the City Council next month to place the measure on the June 2012 ballot.

By Ryan Lillis
rlillis@sacbee.com

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, local law enforcement officials, community leaders and faith-based groups said Tuesday they were shifting the way they deal with gangs and will focus on prevention and intervention tactics.

Speaking at the Boys and Girls Club on Lemon Hill Avenue, the mayor said a task force he put together earlier this year would embark on a three-year plan on tackling gangs. Many of the programs the task force will work on are already in place, but the mayor said the new plan would help to coordinate those efforts.

The gang task force was formed in the wake of community outcry after two people - including a young mother - were gunned down outside a south Sacramento barbershop last December.

Mayor Kevin Johnson is proposing a June ballot measure to overhaul the city's constitution, a plan that is expected to include a strong mayor initiative and a proposal to create an independent redistricting commission.

Johnson will ask the City Council at a Jan. 17 meeting to place the measure on the June ballot.

The mayor requested that council discussion at the end of Tuesday's City Council meeting. He said his supporters have drafted the language for the plan and asked City Attorney Eileen Teichert to analyze the proposal.

It appears the Sacramento City Council will approve tonight issuing a request for qualifications from companies interested in leasing the city's downtown parking operations, the key peg in the financing of a new arena.

• Tony Bizjak tweets from the City Council meeting

Mayor Kevin Johnson and four council members have told The Bee in recent days they support issuing an RFQ. In addition to the mayor, Council members Steve Cohn, Rob Fong, Jay Schenirer and Kevin McCarty have all said they are open to the RFQ. Five votes are enough to pass the proposal.

The RFQ is a key step in the arena financing model, but it isn't the biggest step. That will come early next year, when the City Council - armed with a complete financing package that also includes contributions from the NBA, Sacramento Kings and arena operator AEG - will decide whether to issue a request for proposals seeking formal bids for the parking assets.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of their debut album, Sacramento rock legend Tesla will be given the key to the city today by Mayor Kevin Johnson.

The ceremony is scheduled for noon today at the Rock and Radio Museum on 20th Street in midtown. The mayor is expected to be joined by band members Jeff Keith, Frank Hannon, Brian Wheat, Troy Luccketta and Dave Rude.

We don't know when Mayor Kevin Johnson's strong mayor initiative will re-emerge. But we probably have a good idea what it will look like when it does.

As I wrote over the weekend, the mayor and his advisers are debating whether to revive the strong mayor proposal for the June primary election or hold off until the November ballot.

The plan favored by the mayor's team likely resembles the proposal they floated last summer, when the City Council rejected Johnson's wishes to have an initiative drafted by the city attorney.

Mayor Kevin Johnson is about to co-host the California Hall of Fame ceremony. In the meantime, he's been nominated for another shrine.

Johnson - who achieved stardom as a point guard for the NBA's Phoenix Suns long before he entered politics - was added recently to the list of nominees for the Basketball Hall of Fame's class of 2012, NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper reported Tuesday on Twitter.

Howard-Cooper noted that Johnson is a long shot for induction into the Hall of Fame, but described him as a "credible candidate." For you basketball junkies, Johnson averaged 18 points and nine assists per games in 12 seasons.

It should come as a surprise to no one: The city's firefighters and many in the region's development community are throwing their support behind Mayor Kevin Johnson in his re-election bid.

He's still having trouble with some members of his own political party, however.

Recent endorsements of Johnson by the firefighters and builders follow the support of many well-known elected officials in the Democratic Party that I will report on in an upcoming Bee story.

Even as he gets the support of those elected officials, Johnson is still having a hard time with the local Democratic clubs and the unions that are closely aligned with those organizations. The reasons are varied - some of them are political, some are personal - and I'll explore those reasons in greater depth in my article.

The ongoing NBA lockout may not have slowed Sacramento's push to build a new downtown sports arena. But does it hurt public support for the project?

Mayor Kevin Johnson doesn't think so, even as the City Council prepares to make a critical vote in the coming weeks on the project's financing plan.

Johnson told reporters once again today that the project is about more than basketball. Still, the Kings would act as the anchor tenant of a new arena and many still view the proposed facility as a basketball arena.

Mayor Kevin Johnson cut a trip to London short and attended tonight's City Council meeting.

Johnson was in London attending the World Travel Market, one of the world's largest tourism conferences. He was part of a delegation marketing Sacramento and California to international tour operators.

Had Johnson missed tonight's meeting, it would have been his 10th absence of the year.

The Kevin Johnson World Tour is stopping in London this week.

The mayor is attending the World Tourism Market, one of the largest tourism trade shows in the world. He is part of a team of California tourism officials and celebrities marketing the state to tour operators from around the world.

Local tourism officials and the mayor's office are touting Johnson's appearance as a marketing gold mine for the city. But it also means Johnson will likely miss his 10th City Council meeting of the year.

Mayor Kevin Johnson's truancy has reached new heights.

The mayor will miss his ninth City Council meeting of the year tonight, his staff said. And with that, Johnson will pass former Mayor Heather Fargo's highest absence total for a single year.

Johnson is in Washington, serving on a panel at the GreenGov Symposium, a conference run by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The mayor's office said the White House requested that Johnson attend the discussion to talk about progress made by the city in the green technology sector, including a recent $100 million program launched to fund energy-saving retrofits of office buildings.

There are a lot more questions than answers in the ongoing political tiff over the poll commissioned by Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy's that showed city residents want to vote on any proposal for a new sports arena that involves public assets.

It has been reported that Sheedy is the focus of a complaint made to the Fair Political Practices Commission last week. Copies of the alleged complaint were circulated to the media over the weekend, but there's a problem: the FPPC hasn't received the complaint, according to Gary Winuk, chief of the commission's enforcement division.

There's something else that doesn't make sense. The name on the document is Robert Langdon, a Rosemont resident who wasn't even surveyed by Sheedy's pollsters. And, based on an email exchange I've had with Langdon, it's not clear he knew he was filing a complaint.

The political tiff continues over the poll paid for by Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy's re-election campaign that showed city residents want to vote on any proposal for a new sports arena that involves public assets.

Sheedy is now the focus of a complaint made to the Fair Political Practices Commission. The charge: Sheedy didn't tell those who were called that the poll was paid for by her campaign.

But there's something about that complaint that doesn't quite make sense: it was made by a guy who doesn't live in the city and wasn't surveyed by Sheedy's pollsters.

He may not have serious competition yet, but Mayor Kevin Johnson is campaigning like a guy facing a fight.

The mayor raised $20,000 on Friday night at a fundraiser at downtown BBQ joint Sandra Dee's. The guest of honor was Detroit Mayor Dave Bing, who like Johnson made his name as a star player in the NBA.

"Dave has been a success throughout his life, both on and off the court," Johnson said in a written statement. "As Mayor of Detroit he has taken a challenge and created an opportunity to make the Motor City a thriving city once again. I'm honored to have his support."

Setting up a potential showdown between a small group of protesters and city officials, Mayor Kevin Johnson said today the city should continue to uphold its anti-camping ordinance and clear the Occupy Sacramento group from downtown's Cesar Chavez Park at night.

The mayor said the protesters can stay in the park from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. - and that gives them "ample time" to voice their issues. "I don't think it's in our best interest to remove the (anti-camping) ordinance," the mayor said, adding he "wholeheartedly respects what (the protesters are) trying to do."

As the protest reaches its 13th day, the City Council is scheduled to debate tonight whether to let the demonstrators stay in the park overnight. And if no resolution is found, this is a conflict that could continue to simmer.

Officials with the city of Sacramento, the NBA, arena development group ICON/Taylor and arena operator AEG will hold their first key meeting in Dallas on Wednesday to discuss the construction of a new sports arena in the downtown railyard.

According to a memo written by City Manager John Shirey, the sides will have a "preliminary technical discussion."

"Following this discussion, we will lay out the process and timeline that formal discussions and negotiations will take place," Shirey wrote. "Our collective goal is to reach a definitive financing plan by the end of the year."

Photos of Sacramento's "wedding of the year" are out.

OK, so that wedding didn't take place in Sacramento. But the marriage of Mayor Kevin Johnson to education reform advocate Michelle Rhee in Tennessee earlier this month was certainly talked about a lot around here.

Sactown Magazine has the exclusive photos, which are included in this month's issue. The folks at Sactown sent me one of those shots and it's included below.

While Sacramento city officials have indicated they may hold off hiring some of the 25 officers to be funded by a recently awarded federal grant, Mayor Kevin Johnson said today that "wasting even a minute in the race to restore officers is not acceptable."

The city was awarded Wednesday with $8.1 million in U.S. Department of Justice grants. The timing couldn't have been better for the city, which laid off 42 cops just three months ago.

But both Police Chief Rick Braziel and City Manager John Shirey have said the city could hold on to some of the funding until the 2012/13 budget next June. That budget is once again projected to have a shortfall and banking some of the grant money might ease potential cuts to the police department.

The Sacramento City Council will take a pivotal vote tonight on whether to hire a team of consultants to lead the city through the early stages of constructing a new sports arena downtown. But with just a few hours remaining before the debate, it was unclear if the plan had unanimous support from the council.

City Manager John Shirey has recommended hiring a team of lawyers, investment bankers and other consultants to help the city look at potential funding sources, plan for the project's construction and help represent the city in negotiations with the Sacramento Kings and the National Basketball Association.

The total cost of the consultant team would be $555,000.

Mayor Kevin Johnson's re-election bid got an early financial boost from an old friend.

The city's firefighter union cut a check for $10,100 to the Johnson campaign, said campaign spokesman Steve Maviglio.

Local 522's support of the mayor isn't surprising. The public safety unions have been the mayor's most loyal allies in his first three years in office.

Mayor Kevin Johnson traded his colleagues on the City Council on Tuesday for the president of Mongolia.

The mayor was at the United Nations - yes, the United Nations - for a sustainable energy forum attended by dignitaries and business leaders from around the world. Among the speakers at the event: former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the prime minister of Turkey.

At Johnson's table sat several business leaders, as well as Mongolian president Elbegdorj Tsakhia and Meltek Sato Kilman Livtunvanu who is, of course, the prime minister of Vanuatu. No word on whether the mayor was able to line up any foreign investors for a new arena back home.

Mayor Kevin Johnson announced today that he is running for a second term, saying "Sacramento has come a long way, but it still has not met its potential as a city."

Speaking before a crowd at the Capitol Academy charter school in Oak Park, Johnson said he would run an aggressive campaign that will include "listening sessions" around the city and door-to-door canvassing.

So far, the only candidate lined up against Johnson is bounty hunter Leonard Padilla.

With plans to build a stadium for the A's in San Jose still dragging on, baseball fans in Sacramento will continue to cling to the prospect of moving the franchise here. Mayor Kevin Johnson certainly supports that idea.

Johnson - who was drafted by the A's as a shortstop out of Sacramento High School - told reporters today that "Sacramento is a baseball town" and that he thinks "we have a city that has an ability to support more than one professional team."

That being said, Johnson said the city's priority must be to keep the Kings in town and build a new basketball arena.

Mayor Kevin Johnson is expected to announce his re-election bid on Wednesday.

In an email to supporters, Johnson said he would be "making a major announcement" on Wednesday at the Aspire Capitol Heights Academy, a charter school in Oak Park.

It has long been expected that Johnson would seek a second term in the June primary. So far, only local bounty hunter Leonard Padilla has expressed an intent to run against Johnson.

Mayor Kevin Johnson and his fiancée, education reformer Michelle Rhee, were married over the weekend.

The couple was married on Saturday at Blackberry Farm, a luxury hotel in the Great Smoky Mountains outside of Knoxville, Tenn. About 40 relatives and close friends attended.

"We had a small ceremony with an intimate group of family and friends and are thrilled to be starting our lives together," the mayor said in an email to The Bee. "We want to thank everyone who has sent us well-wishes, as we are so appreciative of the support."

Photo caption: Mayor Kevin Johnson high-five's a student at Peter Burnett Elementary School during the first day of school Tuesday morning. Photo by Bryan Patrick

Mayor Kevin Johnson is "strongly thinking about announcing plans to run for reelection soon," he wrote in an email to supporters today obtained by The Bee.

Johnson has said multiple times that he intends to run for a second term, but has never said outright that he would seek re-election next year. His email suggests he will run.

"I'm excited to get started - can't thank you enough for all you've done and continue to do," he wrote.

It appears Cowtown is about to become Chickentown.

The City Council seems poised to approve an ordinance tonight that will allow residents to keep laying hens in backyards. That's sure to please members of the "slow food" movement and those already keeping chickens.

While some residents still have their reservations, one person who has changed his mind and now supports backyard chickens is Mayor Kevin Johnson. And all it took was a chat with one of Northern California's best-known chefs.

Rarely has an issue with such narrow focus elicited this kind of impassioned response at City Hall.

See the redistricting maps here

But that's the case with the debate over which City Council district should represent the tiny neighborhood of Med Center - a debate that will once again find its way into the Council Chambers this evening. The council is scheduled to take up the matter at its 6 p.m. meeting at City Hall, 915 I St.

At issue is a proposal for new council district boundaries that must be adopted by Sept. 6. Under the plan, District 6 would take on Med Center and its 1,000 or so residents, combining it with Elmhurst, Tahoe Park and other neighborhoods on the southeast side.

Councilman Kevin McCarty is offering a compromise in the squabble over who gets to represent the small neighborhood of Med Center.

McCarty told me this afternoon he's open to keeping the Sacramento Charter High School campus with the council district representing the rest of Oak Park. The rest of the surrounding Med Center neighborhood and the UC Davis Medical Center campus would still transfer to his Elmhurst/Tahoe Park district.

McCarty said the Sac High issue - which has been met with keen interest by Mayor Kevin Johnson's office - had become a distraction. He acknowledged there is "an emotional link (between the school and Oak Park) and I respect that." I have a call into the mayor's office to get their reaction.

As expected, several dozen people showed up for Tuesday night's City Council meeting to protest a redistricting plan that would separate the small Med Center area from neighboring Oak Park.

Roughly 70 people testified before the council in what was at times a heated two-hour event. The council could not respond to the concerns, given that the matter was not on the evening's agenda and open government laws prohibit the council from discussing issues that haven't been placed on an agenda.

That didn't stop several in the audience from hollering at members of the council for an explanation.

We now know when and where the proposed financing plan for a new downtown sports arena will be unveiled.

Rich Ehisen, president of the Sacramento Press Club, announced during Tuesday's luncheon that the menu of funding options for the proposed $387 million facility would be revealed during the Press Club's Sept. 8 event.

While precise details of the financing plan are still unknown, Chris Lehane, the chair of the task force, said in a new release this morning that it will include "contributions from both the public and private sectors, including the Kings ownership group, arena developers and operators."

Petitions are being signed. Politicians and their staffers are canvassing door to door. Emails accusing the other side of malfeasance are filling up inboxes.

And it's all over a small - but incredibly symbolic - neighborhood many people have never heard of.

Of all the political battles to take place within City Hall the past three years, the fight over which council district should represent the residential neighborhood of Med Center has been perhaps the most colorful. And it likely will reach the next level tonight, when dozens of people from both sides are expected to testify before the City Council.

Mayor Kevin Johnson thinks the region could meet his goal of providing 2,400 permanent shelter beds for the homeless in time for this winter's wet and cold weather.

Sacramento Steps Forward, the mayor's non-profit organization founded to address the region's homeless issue, has helped identify more than 2,000 beds so far, officials said today. Johnson's goal was to find 2,400 before next year.

While officials are ahead of schedule on finding permanent housing for the homeless, "there are still far too many people who are homeless" in Sacramento, the mayor said.

As expected, the City Council voted overwhelmingly late Tuesday to approve a contract for the new city manager that will make him the highest paid employee in the city's history.

John Shirey is scheduled to start Sept. 1 and will earn roughly $306,000 in salary and benefits. His base salary of $258,000 is the highest of any city manager in the region and is equal to Sacramento County Executive Brad Hudson.

The council approved a three-year contract for Shirey by a 7-2 vote. It's the first time Sacramento's city manager has been under contract.

The job of Sacramento city manager is about to become much more lucrative.

In a contract expected to be approved by the City Council on Tuesday, newly-appointed city manager John Shirey will make a base salary of $258,000. With retirement contributions, health benefits and allowances, his annual compensation will hit $305,940.

That's roughly $35,000 more a year than the previous two full-time city managers - Gus Vina and Ray Kerridge. Shirey's base salary will be equal to the region's highest-paid local government official, Sacramento County Executive Brad Hudson.

Mayor Kevin Johnson thinks the way the city's redistricting process has unfolded stinks. And he wants to make some changes.

The mayor was very critical today of the way the council has settled on the final six maps it is considering for new council district boundaries. Two of them were submitted by council members - Sandy Sheedy and Steve Cohn.

"That discredits, in my opinion, the whole process," the mayor said. "We say 'integrity,' we say 'involve the public,' and then we put two maps out."

City Hall wants to fix what some officials think is a hostile business environment in Sacramento.

The city is launching an effort aimed at speeding up development and doing away with regulations criticized for scaring businesses away from the city, officials announced today.

The process will begin over the next few weeks, when the city's Community Development Department will move toward placing permitting processes online, reducing fees associated with solar projects and creating "express lanes" for some projects.

A majority of young professionals surveyed by a local business group think a redeveloped Westfield Downtown Plaza is "very important" for the city's future and that City Hall should help pay for the project.

In a survey conducted by Metro EDGE, a 40-and-under branch of the Sacramento Metro Chamber, more than half of those asked also thought private investors and the city should partner in purchasing the mall.

Westfield is reportedly trying to sell the mall, which has plummeted in value in recent years. Mayor Kevin Johnson has demanded that the company improve the mall or sell, and many downtown interests see the plaza as a key peg in the area's revitalization.

The city police union will survey its membership to gauge interest in officers contributing to their pensions and other benefit concessions.

Any agreement on pensions and benefits would have to come with a condition, the union said: cops, community service officers and dispatchers could not be laid off during the life of the union's current contract, which runs to 2013.

Police officers agreed to their current contract in 2009, delaying raises in the process. That agreement avoided police layoffs at the time.

The city public safety unions are firing back at Mayor Kevin Johnson after the mayor told reporters this week that the police union must discuss pension reform if it wants to save the jobs of cops.

In a letter to the mayor, Brent Meyer, the head of the police union, and firefighter union boss Jaymes Butler said the mayor's comments "deeply concern us and leave us more frustrated than ever."

Police officers and firefighters do not pay into their pensions. If they did, city budget officials said it would save the city millions.

In his strongest words to date on the subject, Mayor Kevin Johnson said today that city cops must discuss contributing to their pensions in order to save the jobs of dozens of officers being laid off this week.

There is little to no chance that such an agreement could be solidified before the final day of the fiscal year on Thursday, when police layoffs go into effect. Cops have already begun handing in their badges and 42 officers are slated to lose their jobs, part of a city budget plan to fill a $39 million deficit.

But the mayor said that he and other members of the City Council are "desperately reaching out" to the police union and was hopeful that discussions would continue into the summer.

Mayor Kevin Johnson is returning home today from a weekend U.S. Conference of Mayors event in Washington, D.C.

A highlight of the trip was a Monday meeting in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, where Johnson joined President Obama and 13 other mayors to discuss job growth. Mayors told the president attention should be paid to infrastructure development, regulatory reform, summer job programs and high-speed rail systems.

It's unlikely, however, that the mayor introduced himself as "Little Barack." You might remember Johnson telling Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert after the 2008 election that people were calling him "Little Barack" because he had been elected Sacramento's first African-American mayor.

A few names stuck out from the regional arena task force named this week by Mayor Kevin Johnson.

One of those names was Darius Anderson, a well-known Sacramento developer and lobbyist working with Ron Burkle, the billionaire who has expressed interest in buying the Sacramento Kings. Anderson was named to the task force's executive committee, which will take on a major role as the group investigates potential funding mechanisms for the $387 million arena project.

Burkle and Anderson's overtures earlier this year were met with outright anger from the Maloof family, who own the Kings.

Mayor Kevin Johnson wants the city to save police jobs. But he doesn't know how to make that happen.

Hours before the City Council was scheduled to embark on intense budget negotiations, the mayor told reporters this morning that his "focus is that we do not reduce the sworn officers" on the police department. The city manager's office has proposed laying off 80 officers, a plan that will be debated tonight as the council addresses a citywide $39 million deficit.

"I think the primary role of government is to make sure our streets are safe and secure," Johnson said. "It's fundamental to how we operate."

A new - and large - political action committee has its eyes set on Sacramento City Hall.

Tired of what they think are slow and outdated development processes, roughly 60 businesses and eight building trade groups have formed Region Builders. The committee is spearheaded by the influential Sacramento Regional Builders Exchange.

The group will enter into the political fray soon, recruiting and campaigning for candidates for next year's City Council races. Four seats are in play.

Of all the budget hearings to take place at City Hall over the next six weeks, none may be as intense as tonight's, when proposed cuts to the police department are rolled out in detail.

The police and fire unions will be there in force, scheduling a press conference before the 6 p.m. hearing to criticize proposals to lay off 80 police officers and shut down fire rigs. Cops, firefighters and neighborhood activists will also be there, as will the media.

But three key people won't be there.

The mastermind behind Kevin Johnson's election as Sacramento mayor says his client is more popular with voters than his colleagues on the City Council.

Political consultant David Townsend said a poll he commissioned found half of all Sacramentans are satisfied with Johnson's performance, but fewer than 40 percent of those surveyed are satisfied with the council.

The poll was conducted by Jim Moore. Townsend was the consultant who worked on Johnson's successful 2008 mayoral run, and he continues to be one of the mayor's chief political advisers.

Johnson hasn't said for sure whether he'll seek a second term next year. And since we're several months away from campaign season, the existence of a poll concentrating on the mayor shouldn't be seen as a sign that he's launching a re-election effort just yet.

We don't know what the future holds for the Kings beyond the 2011-12 season. But team co-owner Gavin Maloof is saying some things about the franchise that might give fans some optimism for the upcoming season.

After an hour-long meeting with Kings sponsors today, Maloof told reporters the team would take advantage of its available salary cap space this off-season. Also of note: Maloof said the Kings would try to re-sign guard Marcus Thornton and center Samuel Dalembert.

"We have money, we have cap space, we have the most cap space of any team in the NBA," Maloof said. "That's how you win. You need players. And we have money and we're going to spend it."

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, left, and Gavin Maloof share a laugh during a season ticket holders luncheon where the two talked about support for the Kings. Photo by Randy Pench

The Maloofs are becoming a visible part of the rebranding of the Sacramento Kings.

That effort takes another big step this afternoon, when Gavin Maloof joins Mayor Kevin Johnson at a 1 p.m. luncheon with Kings sponsors at the Sheraton Grand. Gavin and his brothers, Joe and George, already spent several hours earlier this week calling sponsors and luxury suite holders after deciding to keep the team in Sacramento another year.

Meanwhile, a team of the NBA's top marketing specialists are in town helping the Kings reconnect with season ticket holders. While not giving out numbers, Chris Granger, executive VP of the NBA's Team Marketing & Business Operations group, said the response to season ticket renewals has "exceeded even our most hopeful expectations."

We're going to hear a lot of people weigh in over the next few months on how to finance a new arena for the Kings. But one voice heard this week is having a particularly strong impact with fans.

Former Kings great Chris Webber is saying he has private investors lined up to help fund the construction of an arena. Speaking Monday on TNT, Webber said the city must prove it deserves the team and that there's a lot of work to be done.

"Within this year, we're going to make some special things happen," Webber said.

Regional leaders met again today on the Kings' future. Perhaps the most notable aspect of the meeting was the presence of developer David Taylor, who is leading a City Hall-sponsored study of what it would take to build a new arena.

The key element of that study - the cost and how it would be paid for - is still being worked out. But Taylor did provide the group with some other details.

Mayor Kevin Johnson said Taylor told the officials an arena here should be in the 650,000-square-foot range. Power Balance Pavilion is 442,000 square feet. Sacramento doesn't need something on par with arenas built in L.A. or Orlando - but it does need something bigger than its current facility, Johnson said.

In a sign the region is moving one step closer to keeping the Kings in Sacramento for another year, Mayor Kevin Johnson is coordinating a meeting between local corporations and NBA representatives on Tuesday during which companies will agree to make deposits on their sponsorship and ticket commitments to the Sacramento Kings.

With the deposits, officials are seeking to solidify $10 million in corporate pledges gathered by the mayor and the local business community.

Details of the meeting are still being worked out, but it is expected to be held Tuesday morning and be followed by a press conference. At least 30 business representatives are expected to attend the meeting.

Mayor Kevin Johnson will meet with regional political leaders on Wednesday in an attempt to show the NBA that Sacramento isn't alone in the drive to keep the Kings.

Details of the meeting are still being worked out, but it is expected to involve representatives from across the six-county region. A delegation of NBA officials in town later this week will also be introduced to some of the regional leaders.

"(The NBA) is going to want to know what's different this time than the previous times when we've tried to do a new entertainment and sports complex and failed, and I think there's a political will and leadership," the mayor told reporters this morning.

By Ryan Lillis
rlillis@sacbee.com

Minutes before the Kings took the court for perhaps the final time in Sacramento, Mayor Kevin Johnson sounded defiant. It was a markedly different tone for a guy who just weeks ago said the process of losing the team felt "like a slow death."

"I just don't believe it's the last game here, that's the bottom line," he told me Wednesday night in a tunnel underneath Power Balance Pavilion. "I figure we're a resilient community and we're going to figure out a way to get it done."

Does he have the answer? We'll soon know. The mayor is meeting today with a group of NBA team owners to pitch Sacramento as a viable pro basketball city.

As he tries to convince the NBA this week that Sacramento is a city worthy of a pro basketball franchise, Mayor Kevin Johnson will be joined by the guy at the forefront of the latest effort to build a new arena in town.

Tim Romani, president and CEO of the ICON Venue Group, will accompany the mayor during his presentation to the NBA Board of Governors in New York on Thursday. ICON is working with Sacramento developer David Taylor on a City Hall-sponsored arena study due out next month.

"I want the NBA to know that even though we've had failed attempts in the past (at building a new arena), I think it's a new era in Sacramento," the mayor told reporters this morning. "Whether the Kings are here or not, our commitment is to go forward with a new facility in the next four years."

Sacramento City Hall and the attorney who drafted Mayor Kevin Johnson's halted "strong mayor initiative" are on the hook for more than $114,000 in legal fees to the labor boss whose lawsuit killed the initiative last year.

In a tentative ruling issued Wednesday in Sacramento Superior Court, attorney Tom Hiltachk and the city were ordered to split $114,158 in fees to the attorneys for Bill Camp, head of the Central Labor Council.

Camp had filed a lawsuit in 2009 seeking to block the strong mayor initiative, arguing the measure went beyond a mere amendment of the City Charter and therefore could only have been proposed for the ballot by the City Council or a charter commission. Johnson had proposed the initiative and a council vote had placed it on the ballot.

Mayor Kevin Johnson isn't too upset that the Maloofs have refused a demand for written assurance that the Kings' owners will repay a $77 million loan to the city if they bolt for Anaheim. He's certain the loan will be repaid.

Still, as the mayor told reporters this morning, "it's not in the best interest of the Maloofs to not make good on paying here in Sacramento and expect to be embraced by another city in Anaheim." And should the team decide not to pay, the mayor said he expects "lawsuit after lawsuit."

How worried are you that the loan won't be repaid?

Four days before the Sacramento Kings' deadline to ask the NBA for permission to leave town, Mayor Kevin Johnson will plead the city's case to the league's team owners.

Johnson said Thursday he will address the league's Board of Governors in New York on April 14. The Kings are negotiating a move to Anaheim and have until April 18 to ask for permission to relocate.

The mayor's priority is to explain the importance of the Kings to Sacramento and promote efforts to build a new arena.

It wasn't good riddance, but Mayor Kevin Johnson told reporters today he'd be willing to accept a Sacramento Kings move to Anaheim as long as the team pays its loan to City Hall.

"I think the mindset of the city is to make sure that they fulfill their obligation," the mayor said. "And if they do that, then I don't want a messy divorce, I don't want to be a poor sport about it, it's their decision. And quite frankly, if they don't want to be here, then I'm going to be OK with (them moving) and I think our community will be OK with that."

Johnson said the Maloofs, who own the team, told him on Monday that they intend to pay off a $77 million loan they owe the city. George Maloof repeated that message to The Bee.

Dates with his mom. Cute text messages. Sundays at home watching "Mad Men."

That sums up the relationship of Mayor Kevin Johnson and Michelle Rhee, according to an interview the couple recently did with Marie Claire magazine.

Johnson told the magazine's Andrea Todd that he and his fiancée "text and email 'lovey-doveys' throughout the day" and that Rhee handles the couple's wardrobe. He said the couple is very compatible and that he has to "restrain myself from firing off an email or making a phone call" when Rhee is criticized in the press.

If the Kings end up leaving, no one will ever be able to say Mayor Kevin Johnson didn't prepare us. But are Kings fans coming to terms with their team's shaky future?

In a theme that has repeated itself over and over again for the past several weeks, the mayor told reporters today that "I feel like we are dying a slow death right now, it feels like drip and dying by a thousand cuts. Every day it's a different clue the Kings are going to Anaheim."

Despite his pessimistic outlook of the situation, Johnson said he opposes boycotting the April 1 Kings game, as was suggested recently by local PR exec Doug Elmets.

Following up on a phone call he received March 4, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and City Hall have assembled a care package to be sent to "Patrol Base Sacramento," a Marine outpost being constructed in Afghanistan.

Johnson spoke with Staff Sgt. Anthony Silva III, a Marine fighting in Afghanistan who asked for a U.S. flag, a California flag and a sign that reads, "Sacramento City Limits" to place at the base's entrance. Johnson got those items - along with a table full of snacks and sporting goods.

"I'm very proud of the city staff who came together," the mayor said Tuesday.

In yet another sign he is operating under the assumption the Kings are leaving, Mayor Kevin Johnson told reporters today that he has arranged to speak with the former mayor of Charlotte, N.C., about how that city dealt with losing an NBA franchise - then getting a team back.

"There are things that we can do to prepare for life after the Kings, if they do in fact go to Anaheim," the mayor said.

Charlotte had the Hornets until 2002, when the team moved to New Orleans. Right after that move, the NBA promised Charlotte would get an expansion team two years later. It's hard to imagine that kind of promise being offered here until a new arena is built.

If you've been looking for a chance to tell Mayor Kevin Johnson what you think about the Kings' possible move to Anaheim and the push to build a new arena and entertainment center in Sacramento, now's your shot.

The mayor is holding office hours Thursday evening at the Genevieve Didion School in the Pocket. The event is being packaged as "A Night of Public Safety," but it also seems like a good opportunity for city residents to let their opinions be known on all things Kings.

Those who show up at office hours typically get about five minutes of face time with the mayor.

Mayor Kevin Johnson's campaign to build a new sports arena in town is becoming less and less about the Kings.

That point was made even clearer this morning at the mayor's weekly press conference, when he said it is "in Sacramento's best interest to build a new entertainment and sports complex."

"We're not building it for the Kings and we're not building it for the Maloofs (the family who has a primary ownership stake in the team)," the mayor said. "We're building it for our community. It's about quality of life."

Despite television news reports to the contrary, the city-sponsored development team looking at the financial feasibility of building a new arena in town has not stopped working amid the Kings' uncertain future here.

Adam Mendelsohn, a spokesman for developer David Taylor, told my Bee colleague Tony Bizjak this weekend that the study may take "a little longer" than the original 90-day timeframe because of the Kings' relocation negotiations. But Taylor and arena giant ICON Venue Group have not stopped their work and the Kings' cloudy future "doesn't dramatically affect our ability to get this done," Mendelsohn told Bizjak.

I asked Mayor Kevin Johnson's office whether they had heard the work was being put on hold, and the response was the same. "Absoluely not," said mayoral special assistant R.E. Graswich.

A little piece of Sacramento is headed for the battle grounds of Afghanistan.

Mayor Kevin Johnson said he received a phone call on Friday from Staff Sgt. Anthony Silva III, a Marine fighting in Afghanistan. Silva had three requests of the mayor: a U.S. flag, a California flag and a sign that reads, "Sacramento City Limits," much like the signs on freeways.

Silva told the mayor his unit is building "Patrol Base Sacramento." The Marine couldn't share too much with Johnson, but told the mayor the city limits sign would stand at the entrance of the base.

Could it be that Sacramento is powerless in the fight to keep the Kings?

Mayor Kevin Johnson certainly seems to think so. At an afternoon press conference, the mayor said he does "not think Sacramento can influence the outcome" of the Maloofs' decision on whether to move the team to Anaheim.

There's a couple of reasons Johnson is saying that about the team's owners.

His city's budget is running on empty. He's hoping the Kings stay, just a little bit longer.

But Mayor Kevin Johnson must be feeling a little bit better this morning after sitting down on Wednesday with legendary rocker Jackson Browne.

Browne was in town to perform at the Community Center Theatre. Before the show, however, he attended the mayor's Greenwise meeting at the Crocker Art Museum. Johnson and Browne also sat down for 20 minutes alone to talk about charter schools and Browne's advocacy to rid the world of plastic bags.

By Ryan Lillis
rlillis@sacbee.com

Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson finally met with the Maloofs on Wednesday.

After days of trying to arrange a meeting, Johnson sat down with the owners of the Sacramento Kings at Power Balance Pavilion before Wednesday night's game against Portland, the mayor's special assistant, R.E. Graswich, said.

The sides met for 40 minutes. In an e-mailed statement, Johnson said the sides "had a candid and productive conversation about our mutual goals and interests."

"I made clear that our community wants the Kings to stay, but we are fully aware that this is ultimately their decision," Johnson said. "The Maloofs understand that regardless of what they choose, I will join with other leaders across the region to fight for what's best for our community. This includes developing a new entertainment and sports complex, with or without the Kings. I fully expect to continue an open, direct and proactive dialogue with the Maloofs as we all move forward."

Kings ownership and city officials have done little, if any, talking in recent weeks as the team considers whether to move to Anaheim.

Team officials reiterated Wednesday they were not commenting publicly on the issue of the team's future or the effort to build a new sports arena in Sacramento.

Also Wednesday, the mayor spoke with National Basketball Association Commissioner David Stern. The conversation was described as "positive" by Graswich, with Johnson updating Stern on the successful effort by Kings fans to sell out Monday's game.

No significant developments on the city's efforts to build an arena or the Kings' negotiations to move to Anaheim were discussed in the mayor's conversation with Stern.

When it comes to the Sacramento Kings' cloudy future, Mayor Kevin Johnson is talking like a guy who has turned much of his attention to Plan B.

Asked at a morning press conference how confident he was that the Kings would not strike a deal to move to Southern California, the mayor responded, "The likelihood of them leaving is probably greater than them staying, but it's not a done deal."

Meanwhile, Johnson said he has begun speaking with elected, business and labor officials around the region to see what can be done to keep the Kings in town. If that campaign is not successful, the push for a new arena will continue, he said.

We should soon get a glimpse of what Mayor Kevin Johnson and homeless advocates have planned for a "Safe Ground" homeless facility.

Kunal Merchant, the mayor's chief of staff, told me this afternoon that city officials, homeless advocates and officials with the Sacramento Steps Forward organization have nearly developed a plan for a Safe Ground. The strategy includes size control, security and funding.

The last - and clearly the most contentious - element left to hammer out is location. The full strategy should be communicated to the public within the next few weeks.

Don't count Mayor Kevin Johnson among those with a strong opinion about whether we should be allowed to keep chickens in our backyards.

At a press conference on Monday, the mayor was asked by Capital Public Radio's Ben Adler if he had any thoughts on a City Council Law and Legislation Committee item scheduled for later today on legalizing backyard chickens.

The mayor's response was, simply, "No."

One of the arguments made in support of backyard chickens is that the animals provide a local and sustainable food source. So given that the mayor said in his State of the City that he wants 20 percent of the food purchased in Sacramento to be produced locally, his apathy toward this subject is a bit surprising.

A team of urban design experts and city planners are in town this week to evaluate the development plans for downtown's J-K-L corridor and provide pointers for moving forward.

In the meantime, I'd like to hear your thoughts. What's missing from downtown? Is it housing? Retail to rival the suburban malls? An arena?

Those are some of the elements the Mayors' Institute on City Design will be looking at through Wednesday, when team members will submit their findings at City Hall. Mayor Kevin Johnson said at a morning press conference the visit was part of the city's push to "challenge some of our assumptions and invite new people with new ideas."

Mayor Kevin Johnson goes on a lot of early-morning jogs. Heck, yours truly even joined him once on a pre-dawn jaunt through Oak Park the week after Johnson was elected.

But the mayor's jog this morning had to represent a first.

Johnson was joined by Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. The pair - presumably joined by security - did a three-mile loop through Old Sacramento, past the Crocker Art Museum, down Capitol Mall and around Capitol Park. Johnson was particularly interested in showing Sebelius the view of the Capitol dome from the west as you enter the city.

Sebelius is in town to promote Let's Move!, an initiative launched last year by First Lady Michelle Obama with an aim to wipe out childhood obesity within a generation.

Here's some raw video I shot of the mayor and Sebelius greeting students at Will C. Wood Middle School on Lemon Hill Avenue:

Tonight's Sacramento City Council meeting is a pivotal moment in the city's quest to get a new sports arena built.

The council is expected to vote on working with a development team on a 90-day analysis of whether building a new complex in town is financially feasible. Four development groups are in the mix and have submitted their qualifications to the city.

Two weeks ago, the council asked the development teams to submit their resumes directly to city staffers, setting aside the recommendations of a task force appointed by Mayor Kevin Johnson.

I'll be at tonight's City Council meeting. Follow my tweets at Ryan_Lillis and look for coverage in tomorrow's Bee.