Christine Pelosi Discusses the Book She Wrote About Her Famous Mom

Mom knows best . . . especially when she’s the Speaker of the House. So Christine Pelosi decided to write a book about her mom, Nancy, the homemaker and mother of five who became a Congresswoman from San Francisco and is now the most powerful woman in U.S. politics.

2020 marks the 100th anniversary of the 19th Amendment, which gave women the right to vote, so we've started a new Q&A series called “The Women in Charge,” focusing on California women who are doing groundbreaking things in policy and politics, both here in the Golden State and around the nation.

We kicked things off by having a conversation with Christine Pelosi, a political mover and shaker herself (she’s currently Chair of the California Democratic Party Women’s Caucus), an attorney, an author and the second-oldest of Nancy Pelosi’s five children. Her latest book is The Nancy Pelosi Way: Advice on Success, leadership and Politics from America’s Most Powerful Woman.

Whether you are a Dem, a Rep, something else or on the fence, you’ll learn some good management skills and leadership savviness from Nancy Pelosi on how to manage your career and move up the ladder.

Listen to the podcast of Christine discussing her mom, and what we can learn from the Speaker to get things done and move up the ladder.

Gavin Newsom's Go-To Guy for Advice on California Business and the Economy

Our final “Policy and a Pint” of 2019 was a talk with a former dairy-farm boy from the Central Valley who is now the go-to guy for Governor Newsom about California’s economy, job growth, economic development and getting the High Speed Rail train built.

Lenny Mendoca’s mission now is to make the Central Valley the most desirable place to live in California, with good jobs, great transit, more housing and less inequality.

Listen to our podcast of this talk with Mendonca to find out how California’s head honcho of economic/ business development is doing on getting Bay Area CEOs interested in a valley that’s called something other than Napa, Sonoma or Silicon.

And because Mendoca is owner of Half Moon Bay Brewing, and moderates a similar speaker series called “Brews and Views,” we figured Ruhstaller Beer’s basement taproom in Downtown Sacramento was the best place to talk with him.

Listen to "Bringing Economic Equality to the Neighborhoods that Need It"

After the Stephon Clark shooting put Sacramento in the national spotlight last year, one of the City’s big initiatives now is this: Come up with the right jobs strategy that boosts all of its neighborhoods, especially those with less-than average employment rates and high poverty.

So how will all that go down? What will the funding be spent on, and who and where is it benefiting? How can the City’s government, businesses, and nonprofits and turn these efforts into economic growth and good jobs that boost people’s incomes and improve the neighborhoods they live in?

We hosted a Pop-Up Panel discussion around these questions, “Getting Economic Growth to the Neighborhoods that Need It.,” with some California Groundbreakers who are giving their all to do just that.

They are (from left to right) Nicholas Haystings of Square Root Academy; Melissa Anguiano from the City of Sacramento’s Department of Economic Development; Tyrone Roderick Williams of Sacramento Promise Zone; Dianna Tremblay of ICA Fund Good Jobs in Oakland; and Mariah Lichtenstern of DiverseCity Ventures.

Listen to our podcast of this great discussion — and find out how you can help them with their efforts.

Groundbreakers Q&A with Sacramento's "First Couple" of Real Estate Development

We’re talking with some of Sacramento’s mightiest movers and shakers this year, people who are bringing changes, making waves and putting California’s capital on the map in bold font.

Our first “Groundbreakers Q&A” conversation of 2019 was with two of Sacramento’s most well-known groundbreakers — literally — who are building up new hot spots in the city (and just got married recently). Katherine Bardis and Bay Miry like to go into under-the-radar parts of town and revitalize them (Miry ‘s R Street Corridor and the 700 block of K Street; Bardis’s housing community, the Mill, on Lower Broadway). As Sacramento grows up — and upward — they’re two of the people responsible for what that growth will look like.

Listen to some of this great conversation we held at Ruhstaller in February as Bardis and Miry talk about:
* their favorite buildings in Sac (that are not theirs)
* the significance of specific projects they’ve worked on
* how they see the "Bay Area effect" and the impact of gentrification on Sacramento
* innovative projects elsewhere in the U.S. that they want to bring here

Listen to "The Future of Downtown Sacramento"

John Dangberg, assistant city manager for Sacramento, had this to say about the Golden 1 Center, which opened a little over a year ago: "We've gone from a valuation of $22.5 million to well over $1 billion in value. " And with the Kimpton Sawyer Hotel, Punch Bowl Social, TheBank_629J, and a bunch of new eateries on the 700 K block opening up, Dangberg only expects that valuation to rise.

Listen to Dangberg and our other panelists in the podcast recording of our "Future of Downtown Sacramento " discussion at the Crocker Art Museum talk about housing, parking, restoring historic buildings, revitalizing the riverfront, new modes of transportation, bringing in new jobs, and putting more arts and culture into downtown.

We broke the podcast down into specific parts (refer to our "Podcast Timeframe" to go to certain sections), but the whole discussion is a great way to learn more -- and get excited about -- the future of Downtown Sacramento. There's a lot in the works.

Our "Swanky Saturday" Talk at B Street Theater

To celebrate #shopsmall, we're co-hosting a "Swanky Saturday" talk at B Street Theater with three of Sacramento's coolest small businesses.

We'll talk with the owners of Andy's Candy Apothecary , and Oblivion Coffee and Comics near the Capitol (they're both past winners of the "Calling All Dreamers" business-plan contest run by Downtown Sac) and Classy Hippie Tea in Oak Park about their businesses - why they took the plunge, how they think big, the pros and cons of doing business in Sacramento, and advice they'd give to other aspiring entrepreneurs who want to set up shop.

We'll be chatting in the Star Room of the B Street Theater before the 9 pm showing of "A Moving Day" (the LAST SHOW that will ever be held here before the crew moves to its posh new digs at the SOFIA on Capitol Avenue).

Our talk is free for anyone to attend -- grab a drink at the lobby beforehand -- but it will be even more of a Swanky Saturday on the Grid if you pair it with tickets to "A Moving Day."

The Gas Tax: Jerry Brown Won the Battle Over It This Year. Will Republicans Win the War Over It in Election 2018?

California's new gas tax goes into effect November. 1. That means most drivers will see the price of gas go up by 12 cents per gallon, diesel will increase 20 cents a gallon. Starting January 1, you'll be charged a new annual vehicle fee ranging from $25 to $175, depending on the value of your car. Even electric cars, which don't use gas, will will pay a $100 annual fee (starting in 2020).

The gas tax increase is expected to raise more than $50 billion to fund Caltrans' "Fix It First" project, which aims to repair roads and bridges, and improve traffic congestion, across the state. Will they spend it wisely?

Governor Jerry Brown fought hard to get the gas tax (officially known as Senate Bill 1) passed last April, saying "real money" is needed to fix California's transportation systems, which have gone unrepaired and unexpanded for decades.

But the state's Republicans are fighting back, actively working to repeal the gas tax. There are two separate efforts to put repeal-the-gas-tax measures on the November 2018 ballot. And they say that because their polling on the gas tax shows it to be extremely unpopular, there's an excellent chance SB1 will be repealed a year from now.

So even though the gas tax kicks in on November 1, the Gas Tax War is just beginning.

Listen to this "Policy and a Pint" podcast as we discuss the gas tax and what it consists of, where the money goes, why it's a good thing, why it's a bad thing and -- most importantly -- how it affects you as a California driver, and maybe your vote next November.


 

Kicking Off Our "Food for Thought" Series

We got a write-up in the Sacramento Business Journal about our new "Food for Thought" series, a monthly discussion with Groundbreakers who manage California's restaurants, farms, bars, breweries, wineries, etc., and are shaking up how we eat and drink -- and the way we think about food and drink.

Writer Mark Anderson sums up what we plan to do very well.

The Podcast for "Innovation City" Is Up

Mayor Steinberg kicked off the evening with his hopes, dreams and vision of innovation in Sacramento, followed by a lively two-hour discussion of tech, arts, food, government and innovation -- and how they can all tie together to boost the City's economy, culture and credibility.

Listen to the podcast, either all the way through or jump around to specific segments (use the "Podcast Timeframe" at the bottom of the page as a reference).

One highlight comes at the 2 hr, 10 min mark: How Sacramento can become the capital of "Gov Tech," and how the City, the state government and the private sector can work together to make this an innovation hub of civic technology.

But there's plenty of highlights throughout the podcast -- listen and enjoy.

By The Way, This Guy Is Coming To Our Event

Yep, Sacramento's new Mayor, Darrell Steinberg, is going to join us this Monday evening, January 23, as we partner with Comstock's magazine for a panel on the future of innovation in Sacramento.

Mayor Steinberg will start things off by taking about his hopes and dreams for Sacramento as an "Innovation City," and his plans for making that happen. Then we'll ask six great Sacramento-based innovators about how they're going to help him out.

Free admission. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Get there early to grab a seat -- the Mayor kicks off the event at 6 pm.