Mayor Kevin Johnson

[Uk kings fan]

Firstly i want to thank him and his team for doing everything to hold onto the team, and i hope he can continue giving his all for the city of Sacramento

However this thread isnt about what he is currently doing it is about how he came about being the mayor of Sacremento. I wasnt supporting the Kings in 2008 when he ran for mayor and i was wondering if anyone could help answer a few questions i have

1. Why did he run for mayor.... How does a former NBA player become a politician??
2. What were his policys he ran with... were they Kings based at all???
3. Was he widley supported at the time of election?? i can see the results but i dont know the other cadidates was he seen 'as the best of a bad bunch' for example??


Thanks Guys

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Don't have all the answers but during his NBA career he became a community activist helping restore the Oak Park area of Sacramento, which was one of the preeminent centers of gang activity in the late 80s/early 90s.

His partner (now wife) Michelle Rhee was the chancellor of the Washington DC school district so he had a lot of big time connections politically.

I didn't live in Sac during his campaign so I don't know if saving the Kings was an overt part of his campaign but I do know that many people who voted for him presumed he would be the guy who finally took action on an arena.

 

[Darth Divac]

How does a former NBA player become a politician??

By being epic.

 

[kennadog]

He came back to Sacramento intending to help his old neighborhood, by investing there. Oak Park is one of the poorest areas of the city. To further help the kids in Oak Park he opened the St Hope Academy, a charter school. That's actually how he met Michelle Rhee.

I think he was frustrated by what he saw as a city that was making business investment in our city very difficult. Ultimately decided that he needed to run for Mayor, if he wanted anything to get done in Sacramento, his hometown. He is quite different from the usual mayors, with the possible exception of Mayor Joe Serna. Sacramento is one of the largest cities in the US to have what is called a "weak mayor" system. Our mayor doesn't really have more power than any of the other council members. So most of our mayors have been lukewarm personalities, with little drive to rise above the system.

KJ has unsuccessfully tried to switch to a strong mayor system, which is usual for cities of the size of Sacramento. I think it would only have a chance to succeed if it wouldn't take effect until a new mayor was elected. That being said, he has been a much stronger, more forceful mayor than is the norm here. It has garnered him a lot of enemies and detractors, also. He still won re-election last year. If it wasn't for KJ being mayor, Sacramento would have lost the Kings to Anaheim in 2011. Furthermore, Sacramento would be without any arena, with no hope of getting a new one.

 

[krong1170]

Its funny when I was young I was in San Francisco and the Suns were in town to play Oakland. My uncle who I was with tried to get an autograph from him-was a total <insert expletive>. My uncle hadn't taken the cap of the pen and KJ just dropped everything in disgust and walked away. But now, because of his efforts, all is forgiven.

 

[The Hammer]

I am friends with the legendary former Kennedy High School basketball coach Spider Thomas, who coached against KJ. Spider would tell us stories about KJ in high school. One, that he was just simply an amazing player. But Spider would also be careful to mention what a great person KJ was, even as a young man in high school, speaking very highly of KJ's character.

KJ was already well known in Sacramento for being involved in the community with St. Hope and Oak Park, even while he was still in the NBA, and then moreso when he retired and moved back. He was a household name, and his name was respected. Kennadog mentioned he garnered enemies as a mayor trying to change the system, but there was none of that when he was doing the St. Hope stuff. Just pure respect and appreciation for our hometown kid coming back to make a difference. It was pretty amazing the transformation he helped foster with that neighborhood, and people knew it.

From the St. Hope website:
http://www.sthope.org/history-1.html

St. HOPE began in 1989 in a portable classroom at Sacramento High School as an after school program named St. HOPE Academy. Founded by NBA All-Star and Oak Park native Kevin Johnson, St. HOPE is a nonprofit community development corporation whose mission is to revitalize inner-city communities through public education, civic leadership, economic development and the arts.


Over the last 19 years, St. HOPE has dramatically improved Oak Park through its holistic community development approach, and has made a major economic impact and contribution in the community. St. HOPE has started, attracted or catalyzed the creation of 20 businesses throughout the community resulting in nearly 300 jobs. These efforts have generated a significant infusion of capital in the community, including more than $10 million in economic and real estate development investments.


Over the last five years, St. HOPE has birthed two major revitalization projects that combined have initiated an education and economic resurgence in the underserved, inner-city community of Oak Park, California. In May 2003, St. HOPE opened the 40 Acres Art and Cultural Center, a 25,000 square foot mixed-use facility located in the heart of Oak Park's commercial district. Housing a Starbucks, a bookstore, a barbershop, 12 loft-style apartments, a world-class art gallery and a 200-seat theater, the complex won distinction from the California Redevelopment Agency with the “Award for Excellence in Mixed Use Development” in 2004. The goal of 40 Acres is to create a destination locale that would serve as a catalyst for economic and cultural renewal.


Shortly thereafter, St. HOPE opened St. HOPE Public Schools, a preK-12 independent public charter school system that is currently comprised of seven schools. The goal of St. HOPE Public Schools is to provide Oak Park youth (as well as young people living in similar communities across the country) with a continuum of high quality education from preschool through high school; an education that prepares students for success in a four-year college as well as instills within them a commitment to serving others.

You can't win a mayoral campaign just running on keeping the Kings, but it was very clear that KJ knew that losing the Kings would devastate the city. He had many things he was running on, but he occasionally mentioned the Kings. In any case, I am pretty confident he knew that it might come to something like what is transpiring now, and that he was motivated, even back then to meet that challenge. It's my opinion that the average voter knew that electing KJ by far gave us the best change to keep the Kings.

So, if the question becomes: Did the citizens of Sacramento elect Mayor Johnson in order to keep the Kings? I would say, in part, absolutely. But remember, KJ is much more than an arena and Kings advocate, and he never would have been elected Mayor if people thought that's all he was. He just so happens to be a great leader, civic visionary, and has a clear understanding and track record of how to economically and socially revive urban neighborhoods.