Hot/not 2009
’Tis the season for lists galore! What better time than New Year’s to take a “what’s hot, what’s not” look back at the year’s good, bad and unsightly.
HOT: Social networking
NOT: Playing FarmVille or Mafia Wars at
work
HOT: Sacramento’s tap water
NOT: Nestlé’s water-bottling plant
HOT: The climate
NOT: Glenn Beck
HOT: Tyreke Evans and the Sacramento Kings
NOT: Inability to watch Stanford, Cal or USC in the Rose
Bowl
HOT: Phil Angelides’ lead role in Wall Street version
of Untouchables as chairman of the federal Financial Crisis
Inquiry Commission
NOT: Wall Street making a killing in 2009
HOT: Old-fashioned vote counting
NOT: Bipartisanship
HOT: Obama’s “change” agenda
NOT: The compromises made related to that agenda because of
the threat to filibuster in the U.S. Senate
HOT: Beautiful blue 10-foot beings
NOT: James Cameron’s ego
HOT: Mayor Kevin Johnson’s engagement to Michelle
Rhee
NOT: Johnson’s “strong mayor”
initiative
HOT: Downtown Plaza redesign
NOT: Capitol Mall redesign
HOT: Green buildings
NOT: Greenwashing
HOT: Local plays where the guy gets the guy or girl gets the
girl
NOT: Seeing Oklahoma! for the 40 millionth time
HOT: Nonviolent UC Davis and Sacramento State student
protesters
NOT: The privatization of California’s system of higher
education
HOT: California as fiscal laughing stock to the nation
NOT: Elderly, blind, poor and mentally ill people go begging
in a state taken hostage by the Legislature’s minority party
HOT: Mayor Kevin Johnson’s dedication to addressing the
problems of Sacramento’s homeless
NOT: The fact that Sacramento still does not have a legally
sanctioned campground for the homeless
HOT: Overarching goal of City Manager Ray Kerridge’s
“fast-tracking” program
NOT: New homes being built in the Natomas flood zone without
permits
HOT: Kings rookie Omri Casspi
NOT: Political battle over making Bethlehem
Sacramento’s sister city
HOT: New Year’s Eve fireworks in Old Sacramento
NOT: New Year’s Eve Midtown ball drop (canceled!)