Former Mayor Ann Rudin takes on Land Park NIMBYs

Anne Rudin barely cleared the lectern Thursday night, but her words swayed a dialogue about whether Land Park has any room for seniors.

The city's diminutive 89-year-old ex-mayor made an unplanned appearance before the Sacramento Planning and Design Commission on behalf of a 40-bed residential-care facility for the elderly. Neighbors who feared parking hassles, traffic congestion, construction noise and the size of the proposed two-story building bemoaned the project, slated for a tree-shrouded residential lot on Del Rio Road.

Rudin called those fears “overdrawn,” and cut through the audience's respectful applause with a plainspoken appeal: “I would like other people to have the same benefits that I've had living here for the past 50 years,” she said.

A neighbor with a family member at the applicant's assisted living facility at 10 Country Place said he'd support one in a less-crowded part of Land Park. “This is not the spot for it,” Steve Lahey said. “Let's put this where it belongs.”

The commission sided with Rudin, approving the planning request from John Cimino Jr., who runs The Meadows at Country Place in Greenhaven. The commission did place additional conditions that would cut down on noise and decrease the odds of overflow parking around the neighborhood.

One local supporter said he always has a place to park when he visits family and friends at assisted-living homes. “Unfortunately, they don't get a lot of visitors,” Joseph Fong said. “And that's just a sad fact.”