Who’s on first

So you’re a true local, someone who’s been here for decades and knows just about everyone. A person whose family came with the 49ers and made their money and their mark years ago. The landed gentry. Old money. Your name is either Sutter, Crocker or McClatchy. Yours is a very small group and, quite frankly, one I’m not interested in joining.

I was more interested in finding the people who currently make this place what it is, so I spent two weeks meeting people who actually make things happen around here. Wish I had the time to do more of that.

Like all recent arrivals, I wasn’t handed a program when I got off the plane. I didn’t need a Who’s Who of the well-known and well-heeled. The Social Registry wouldn’t register me anyhow. What I needed was a list of people who were interesting and made things happen. Something like, well, Sacramento’s 100.

Why in the world would we take on the weighty responsibility of determining the top 100 of anything? There are plenty of lists around, but not enough that point out the positive aspects of where we live by looking at not just the powerful, but the interesting as well.

If we can report with regularity on what we think is wrong, and do it with attitude, certainly we can bring the same insight and subjectivity to what, and who, is right with this place.