Pickin’ up trash with Joe Maloof

The Maloof Road Tour sounds ominously like the Sacramento Kings owners’ flings with Anaheim and other suitor cities last season.

Instead, on this Sunday morning, the Maloof Road Tour means something a little more Sacramento friendly. The tour is part of an 11-city, 12-week circuit highlighting skateboarding and skate contests, with stops in Rocklin and Sacramento. (The tour winds up in a Maloof Money Cup event in Washington, D.C., in September.)

On Sundays, the Maloof Road Tour stresses community service, which, as part of the local visit, means picking up trash in the heat along the American River Parkway near Sutter’s Landing.

After Joe Maloof and others bag trash and stuff it like a Samuel Dalembert block, the skaters hit the ramps at the 28th and B streets skate park, and other volunteers rest in the shade drinking water.

Being a Sunday morning, and a warm one, things are quiet and low-key. Skaters trickle in oblivious to the road tour, and the event’s RV, tricked out with skater graphics, sits like an afterthought in the corner of the parking lot.

But, as the brothers Maloof will tell you, the tour is also about extending the Maloof brand, which could certainly use a bump this year after the King’s relocation drama and the ongoing financial problems with the Palms Las Vegas casino (2 percent owned by the Maloofs).

With the brand in mind, just before the noon hour the road tour’s crew shakes things up by handing out free stuff. The skaters don’t look up from the ramps and pipes. But the girls from the Crossroads Treatment Centers—the bulk of the morning’s volunteers—perk up. For them, the brand means one thing—free T-shirts reading “Maloof U” with a skater riding through the U. The girls hit the skate hangar and sort through the piles of shirts, ready to represent. (Hugh Biggar)

Not so urgent

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors has confirmed that they will not pursue an “urgency” medical-cannabis ordinance later this month.

In June, the five-member board unanimously voted against county staff’s initial urgency ordinance, which would have banned outdoor cultivation in the county, in addition to outlawing edible cannabis and cracking down on zoning regulations for dispensaries.

Now, instead of pursuing the urgency ordinance again later this month, on July 26, the board will hear staff’s report on the topic and continue to work on a final ordinance.

The city of Sacramento took more than a year to complete its medical-cannabis dispensary ordinance, which was approved last fall, so the county process could take just as long.

There is an estimated 50 to 100 pot clubs in Sacramento County. (Nick Miller)