Pocket Online presents another gallery of life in the Pocket and Greenhaven neighborhoods. These were the scenes Thursday evening July 22 along the Sacramento River levee. So if you’re into bicycling, running, boogie-boarding or swinging from a rope into the cool river, this gallery is for you. Enjoy.

Life along the Sacramento River levee

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Greenhaven and Pocket area teenagers have until Friday to submit an application to join the Sacramento Youth Commission. The Commission is looking for one member to represent Council District 7, which includes the Pocket area, and another at-large member from this area to represent young people in the city as a whole.

Commissioners will become part of the decision-making process by listening to your peers and offering advice to the City Council members on issues that affect the life of young people in Sacramento. Commissioners meet every week for an hour and a half and are paid $50 a month for their service. Commissioners serve for a two-year term.

Click here to download the application which you must turn in to the City Clerk’s Office at City Hall by 4:30pm Friday, July 16. If you have any questions, call the Youth Resource Coordinator at 916.808.8879

Thousands of Greenhaven and Pocket households rely upon the state government for some or all of their income. Once again lawmakers are having trouble coming to an accord for California’s budget so once again they are giving out IOUs to some state workers and contractors. Pocket Online gathered information from the local banks who will offer some sort of financial relief for struggling families.

First of all: there is no automatic process that will sign you up for a short-term loan. You must talk with someone at your bank or credit union to get some assistance.

Golden 1 Credit Union- According to the Assembly Rules Committee Golden 1 staff will be at the State Capitol Wednesday to assist employees of the Assembly. You can also visit the two branches near the Capitol or our local branches in the Promenade Shopping Center on Rush River Drive or on Florin Road across I-5. Click here for their flier on 0% payroll loans or click here to download and fill out an application, courtesy of Pocket Online. 

Wells Fargo Bank – Wells Fargo tells the Senate and Assembly they are willing to extend temporary payroll loans to state employees on two conditions: 1) the employee must have direct deposit into a Wells Fargo account; and 2) the employee must have their entire pay deferred. Call Wells Fargo from July 13-15 at 800.838.8111 to request the payroll advance and click here to read all of their conditions in a memo to the Senate and Assembly Rule Committee.

SAFE Credit Union – SAFE is offering interest free loans to their members affected by the state budget deadlock. They offer no-fee, interest-free loans for the net amount of your paycheck. Call 916.979.7233 or click here for more information about the program.

USE Credit Union – USE Credit Union is offering loans even for state employees who are not having their entire check deferred. If you have an account with USE, fill out and send in this deposit authorization to get a short-term loan. If you don’t have direct deposit or aren’t a member, you must become a member then fill out a full loan application. (Here is the USE Credit Union website.) If you have a loan with USE only, you may be eligible to get your loan payments deferred and should call USE at 866.873.4968.

Here is a list of all the financial institutions offering help for state employees:

• Bank of the West
• Redwood Credit Union
• Sacramento Credit Union
• California Bear Credit Union
• Educational Employees Credit Union
• El Dorado Savings Bank
• Heritage Community Credit Union
• Kern Schools Federal Credit Union
• Ocean Crest Credit Union
• Pasadena Federal Credit Union
• Patelco Credit Union
• San Francisco Federal Credit Union
• Santa Clara Federal Credit Union
• Schools First FCU (Formerly Orange Co Teachers FCU)
• Schools Financial Credit Union
• Union Bank
• Umpqua Bank
• Yolo Federal Credit Union
• US Bank

If you know of any other programs or have tips for you fellow workers leave your advice in the comments section below. We can come together and help each other out during these times of need.

The Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control announced plans Monday to spray pesticide over a large part of southern Sacramento County Tuesday and Wednesday evening. The spraying is designed to kill adult mosquitoes carrying the West Nile Virus.

There has so far been no indication of infected birds or mosquitoes in the Pocket or Greenhaven neighborhoods but as previously reported Vector Control began to get concerned about the spread of the disease weeks ago. (Read the previous Pocket Online story.) “Our surveillance efforts indicate high infection rates and that aerial treatments to reduce the number of infected adult mosquitoes are necessary in order to protect public health,” District Manager David Brown said in a statement to Pocket Online.

Vector Control inspectors have found 14 dead birds and 44 mosquitoes that have tested positive for West Nile within the last few weeks. The map below shows each of the findings. The red area is the part of the county planes will fly over Tuesday and Wednesday to spray insecticide.

You can get more details and sign-up to get email notifications of mosquito spraying in our neighborhood when you click on the map or visit www.FightTheBite.net. Pocket Online will closely follow the measures taken by the Vector Control District to slow the spread of animals and insects infected with West Nile Virus and will report developments immediately.

Map Courtesy Sacramento-Yolo Mosquito and Vector Control

Photo Courtesy EMD

“A well is a conduit for anything on the surface to get down to the groundwater table. It’s a straight shot.” Barry Marcus is the Supervising Environmental Specialist with the Sacramento County Department of Environmental Management (EMD) and he’s concerned about innocuous looking holes in the ground all over the city. These wells, all dug before 1950, aren’t on any maps but could allow chemicals and bacteria into our drinking water supply.

EMD engineers say nearly half of the people who live in Sacramento County rely upon groundwater for their daily needs. The Pocket and Greenhaven neighborhoods were, until the 1980′s, largely farmland and Marcus says wells could be anywhere. “Typically it is a steel pipe that sticks out of the ground. Usually larger than four inches in diameter. It may or may not have a steel plate welded over the top of it.  Occasionally it’s surrounded by a concrete apron. Which could be a small circle or a square or a rectangle.”

What lies beneath?

Marcus admits inspectors with EMD haven’t yet been out to the Pocket area but they will send someone out if you want to report a possible well. Marcus says it’s important to note well heads could be partially buried.  If you know that a windmill once existed on your property chances are good the windmill powered a well. Marcus also advises, “If someone has an area in their yard that keeps sinking and they don’t really know why it keeps sinking and they keep having to put dirt in that area, it’s possible there’s a well-casing there.”

Why is EMD so worried about forgotten wells in our community? Many wells are so old, says Marcus, they may have deteriorated and now allow runoff water with bacteria, pesticides, herbicides and other pollutants to flow right into the groundwater supply. That groundwater is just under the surface for homes next to the Sacramento River levee and only five feet under the dirt in neighborhoods near the edges of the Pocket area. The water table is only up to 20 feet deep through most of our neighborhoods and about forty feet deep next to I-5.

There is another concern that Marcus recounts as he tells the story of a Land Park grandmother who found her two-year old granddaughter playing near an 18-inch wide well she didn’t know was there. The girl didn’t fall in but Marcus says she easily could have fit through the loosely covered hole. In fact, earlier this year two dogs fell into a twenty-foot well near Franklin Boulevard.

If you wonder whether a steel plate or hole in your yard might be an abandoned well you can visit www.emd.saccounty.net, call the Abandoned Well Line at 916.875.8532 or email EMD-abndwells@saccounty.net.

Mobile Food Permit

We have all likely seen the men and women standing on street corners around the Pocket and Greenhaven  neighborhoods selling baskets of delicious look strawberries. Judging by the frequency these salespeople are seen in the Pocket area, many of us have bought produce from them. Tuesday Sacramento County issued a warning about a rise in unlicensed food vendors and an easy way we can tell if the mouthwatering fruit is clean and safe.

“With the downturn in the economy, many people are looking for a way to make ends meet, and often a food cart seems like a quick and easy way to earn additional income,” says John Rogers, Environmental Division Chief for the county Department of Environmental Management (EMD) in a news release. Rogers further says you should ask anyone selling food on-the-go to see their green permit from Sacramento County. (Pictured above.) So just what does a permit from the county ensure? An EMD spokesperson says the permits verify that county inspectors have made sure it is kept at the right temperature and that those selling and preparing the food wash their hands. Rogers says “lack of a hand wash sink means unwashed hands, and unwashed hands are the leading cause of food contamination.”

This warning also applies to mobile food selling trucks. If you see a street vendor without a permit in the same location more than once, you can call EMD at 916.875.8440 or email foodprogram@saccounty.net to report it. (Editor’s note: EMD wants you to let them know the time of day and location where you see the feed seller.)

Wow. We are usually not prone to hyperbole but demand for photos of the 2010 Pocket Parade has been, in a word, incredible. The gallary posted Saturday has been seen more than 17,000 times. With so much interest in our big neighborhood event for the year, we decided to post an additional 108 photos not previously published. Enjoy, compliments of Pocket Online.

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Otto Ducey, Officer Gary Dahl, Bandit and Tyler Rock (l-r)

Watching the Pocket Parade and festival at Garcia Bend Park afterward, the parade Grand Marshall probably didn’t understand all the attention focused on him. Grand Marshall and Sacramento Police Officer Bandit though would likely appreciate Otto Ducey’s senior project. Ducey and several others are raising money to buy cooling units for Bandit and the other K9 officers on the Sacramento Police force so they can withstand the ‘dog days’ of summer.

The group Bandit’s Buddies is now within $200 of their fundraising goal for the cooling units. Ducey and other students spent their time Saturday raising awareness about the project with Bandit on hand to demonstrate the need. You can support Bandit and his fellow K9 officers with a donation, accepted through July, sent to “Bandit’s Buddies” c/o 6781 Frates Way, Sacramento, CA 95831.  Please make checks out to ‘SPDK9 Association.’ Later this month, Ducey and Bandit’s Buddies will hold a fundraising night at Dude Where’s My Yogurt and you can also purchase a red, white and blue “Bandit’s Buddies” wristband for $1.00. (Date and time are not yet determined but will be added to the Pocket Online events calendar as soon as the information is available.)

Windbridge Drive is lined with children and parents who sit in the sun for hours to watch the procession of cars, floats, horse, bicycles and fire engines make their way to Garcia Bend Park. The parade this year features veterans, scouts and plenty of politics all lead by Grand Marshall Sacramento Police K9 Officer Bandit. Once you get to the park there are plenty of booths including ‘Libraryland’ featuring games like ’Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Golf Putt’ and ‘Mr. Toad’s Tossin’ Toads.’

Enjoy the more than 6 dozen photos of the event courtesy of Pocket Online. (Send your own to editor@inourpocket.com and we’ll include them in this huge gallery.)

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It’s time to get out and celebrate our nation and each other as fellow Americans. Celebrating safely this year is more than about wearing life-jackets on the river and using fireworks that don’t explode.

Because so many people will be outdoors, particularly at the Pocket Parade, the Sacramento-Yolo Vector Control wants to make sure you and your family are wearing mosquito repellent along with your sunscreen because they have this week found dead birds and mosquitoes carrying West Nile Virus. Below is a map of the locations where West Nile infections have cropped up. Click on the map to go directly to the Vector Control ‘Fight the Bite’ website for updated infection information. In a news release Thursday, District Manager David Brown warned “Many will be enjoying the weather and taking part in family BBQ’s and watching fireworks around dusk, a time when mosquitoes are most active. We urge you to wear an effective repellent to prevent mosquito bites. All it takes is one bite from an infected mosquito to get the disease.”

According to the United States Center for Disease Control the most effective insect repellents use DEET, Picaridin, IR3535 or the plant based Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus. (Click here for all the information.) Be safe this weekend and all summer long from mosquitoes and the West Nile Virus.