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• 'Moving forward'

• Aiming to reduce disease

• Meredith elected as Galt mayor

• Lodi woman, Stockton man dead in Victor accident on Highway 12

• Delta leaders laud Kamilos for public/private satellite campus deal

• Regional Roundup

• LAFCO leader sheds light on steps being taken to ensure a greenbelt

• Parade of Lights and two other holiday events on tap this week

• Local singers, musicians show off months of work at 'Handel Messiah Sing-a-Long'

November 2nd, 2009

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

November 6th, 2009

• Short sales make up nearly half of Lodi market

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi man accused of smuggling drugs, weapons for inmates at state prison

• 'I-5 Strangler' sentenced to 6 terms of life

• Jury convicts Acampo man of torture, assault of his girlfriend

• Young girl is 200,000th person to assemble AIDS, HIV care kit

• Woman in wheelchair struck by car

November 5th, 2009

• San Joaquin County considers moratorium on new Williamson Act contracts

• Speakers address Lodi Unified School District budget shortfalls, plea to keep programs

• Armed robbers still targeting Lodi shops

• Regional Roundup

• California voters have final say over $11 billion water bond

• Paul Tebbel shines spotlight on sandhill cranes

• Your complete guide to Sandhill Crane Festival

• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy

• Man wanted in Acampo homicide gives up to San Joaquin County Sheriff's detectives

• Weekend bus service to continue until Lodi City Council makes decision

• A lower Lodi Lake

• Streetside scarecrows

November 4th, 2009

• San Joaquin County sues state over prison hospital planned for Stockton

• California sends Democratic loyalist John Garamendi to Congress

• Candle fire

• Rep. Jerry McNerney sets telephone town hall for Thursday

• Jason Behrmann is unanimously named Galt's city manager

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi City Council weighs raising fares to restore some bus service

• Bicycling father raising awareness of teen suicide

• Galt City Council argues over ordinance hiring residents

• Big win for Allen Baroni in reclamation election

November 3rd, 2009

• Clarification

• Correction

• Galt considers ordinance that would require city contractors to hire locally

• Regional Roundup

• Have you seen a missing guide dog puppy in Lodi?

• Jason Behrmann is top candidate for Galt city manager

• Deputies name suspect in fatal Acampo shooting

• 500 attend service for Kyle Coumas

• Galt man dies after weekend Highway 12 crash

November 2nd, 2009

• 27-year-old man shot to death Saturday night in front of Acampo home

• Public Meetings

• Correction

• Kyle Coumas funeral today

• Regional Roundup

• Group investigates reports of haunting

• Sandhill Cranes Festival comes to Lodi next weekend

• Lamborghini lovers gather for show, fine wine, luncheon in Woodbridge

• Lodi's 'Biggest Loser' Christy Richesin runs 5K Halloween race

• Downtown Lodi trick or treat

October 31st, 2009

• Izzy Laviola and Seth Siddle-Mitchell crowned Tokay homecoming queen and king

• Tokay High evacuation

• Finishing touches on Hill House replica

• Regional Roundup

• Lodi-area Halloween events

• Lodi a reflection of Halloween's retail emergence

• Area schools have no plans of closing due to H1N1 virus

• In remembrance of Kyle Coumas

• Gated communities in Lodi

• City of Lodi settles case of mistaken identity

October 30th, 2009

• Officials hope new Highway 12 stoplight will make road safer

• Red Ribbon Week

• Logbook

• Roundup of Lodi-area Halloween events

• Lockeford soldier Kyle Coumas' funeral set for Monday

• Lodi sales tax revenue less than expected

• Regional Roundup

• Local reaction to economic growth

• Get an early start trick-or-treating in Downtown Lodi

• When there's something strange ...

• Stockton breaks ground on Delta Water Supply Project

• Possible extention of first-time homebuyer tax credit?

The following stories have received the most reader comments during the last 7 days.

• Bible is entwined with American civic life (135)
• Gated communities in Lodi (112)
• I predict: A conservative tide will rise in 2010 (99)
• The Treaty of Tripoli hoax (82)
• David Diskin is first to give an invocation under new city of Lodi policy (59)
• Here's what my father knew about the assassination of JFK (55)
• Universal health care solves big problems (37)
• Words from our forefathers (26)
• With resolve and imagination, Downtown Lodi can surge once again (24)
• 27-year-old man shot to death Saturday night in front of Acampo home (18)

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'Moving forward'

Bob Johnson ends term tonight; new Lodi mayor to be selected

Mayor Bob Johnson will hand over his gavel tonight, marking the end of his year-long mayoral term that saw the city enjoy a continued financial turnaround after years of slumping reserves.

The Bronx-born mayor, who managed City Council meetings like he was running the New York Yankees, will stay on the council for at least another year.

Mayors in Lodi traditionally serve for one year. They are elected by the five-member council, and this year's vote will be tonight.

The vice mayor often ascends to the mayor's chair. JoAnne Mounce is currently Vice Mayor.

Johnson, 69, recently sat down with News-Sentinel reporter Matt Brown at Tillie's Coffee, Tea, etc., where the mayor holds court most mornings, talking politics with groups of citizens.

Johnson talked about his past year as mayor and the future direction of the city.

Q: How often do you come here to Tillie's?

A: I usually come here every morning. Its a good way to start the morning. If you want to get a sense of this community, go to coffee shops. Ask the people; they'll tell you.

A lot of (the talk) turns into what the city is doing positively or negatively.

Q: What is the state of the city now at the end of your term as mayor?

A: I think that the theme I'm trying to reflect, I call it moving forward. I think we have made considerable progress as far as things we had to address on the short term.

I think we had to address building our (cash) reserves. That has happened. I think we had to address some significant capital projects that we had to make happen, like the wastewater plant. We had a problem with our (credit) ratings on our electrical utility; that has been corrected. So I think overall, we have made progress.

Having said all that, three, four years ago, we were literally on the fiscal ropes. You don't rebound overnight. It's been a progression.

Q: What are some of the steps the city has taken?

A: One of the steps we took was that we realized that, even though in some instances it was extremely unpalatable to drop a 20 percent (utility) rate increase on anybody at any time, we had to take some pretty big jumps in rates to catch up.

I think one of the things we've done now in most, if not all, of our enterprise funds is we are ratcheting these things to the consumer price index.

Nobody likes to see the price of bread go up. Nobody likes to see the price of milk go up. Nobody likes to see the price of gas, go up, but they do ratchet up. What we're trying to do is keep up with it. If you have a 2 percent increase in a rate, hopefully that's more palatable than a 25 percent increase.

Q: How has your life changed since you became mayor?

A: I honestly didn't realize how busy being mayor can be.

One of the things that happened was that, about the time I became mayor, I retired from my work (as a real estate appraiser). I don't know how people who are still gainfully employed handle being mayor.

I found that you're much more visible. Sometimes it's good; sometimes it's not so good, but a lot of people know you. When you're mayor and you're pushing a cart down the supermarket aisle, people will say, "Hey mayor, how you doing?"

As God as my judge, they know you are the mayor. That's good and bad. You're reaching for a loaf of bread, and all of a sudden you get whacked in the side of the head (with questions).

I love every aspect about this job. I asked for this. I knew what would happen if I got elected. It's something that comes with the job, and if I can't handle it, I can resign or I can't run for office again. But in the meantime, I'm going to do the best job I can.

Q: What accomplishments as mayor are you most proud of?

A: I'm going to say that some of the things we should be most proud of are works in progress.

We started on the General Plan. We started very strongly down the line toward redevelopment. We went ahead and worked very diligently to make sure Blue Shield stays in town, and now they are under construction. We've got many acres of prime commercial real estate ready for development, which will add much needed sales tax revenue. We've worked hard to keep the Delta College project online.

Q: What are some key issues on your radar for next year?

A: I think the two biggest things we have on the horizon are making sure we keep the General Plan on track and making sure that we carve out, within our General Plan, a sphere of influence that means the greatest in the long run to the city.

Secondly, we will be well on down the road next year on redevelopment. We could have redevelopment approved early next year, and it's anticipated that the base year for tax purposes could be 07-08. We could be very deeply into redevelopment come the middle of next year. That will be a very important project to keep on track.

Q: Do you think the people at City Hall are doing a good job?

A: Yes I do. I think it's like any large entity, you've got 400 some odd people over there. Are some departments clicking on all cylinders? Maybe not.

Q: What about the leadership?

A: I love it. I think they are doing an excellent job. I think we've got good department heads.

Think back to some of the things that (City Manager) Blair (King) has brought to the table in the three years he has been here. We've done things in the city that we've never thought about doing years ago. He's brought a lot of innovative ideas. Have they been without controversy? No. Anything new is controversial. I'm very pleased with the leadership of the city.

Q: Do you still consider yourself a political junky?

A: Oh yeah. I love it. I do.

Q: Have you been following the presidential horse race?

A: No. There are too many horses. It's sort of like a track meet; you've got four heats to get down to the final five. I'll wait to the final two or three and see what happens. From what I've seen, I can't say I'm really impressed on either side of the aisle.

Q: What about you? Are you going to run for City Council again in 2008?

A: Yeah, I'm going to run again.

I've already been talking to people about getting organized and thinking about what we have to do. Planning is very important. It's one of the things I didn't do in previous elections and I did this last election, so it proved to me that planning is important. I like my job, and I hope that people like me. We'll find out in November '08.

Q: Are you enjoying retirement?

A: I am. One of the things I told my wife: I thank God I got on the City Council. If I didn't have this job, I'd go nuts.

I don't do woodworking. I don't do gardening. I can't play golf that well. I don't have many hobbies. I've said all along local politics is my hobby. So now I get to do it legitimately. I'm having fun.

Q: What else do you like to do outside of city business?

A: That's really it. I'm a very boring person outside of City Hall.

We went to Russia this past summer. We're talking about a trip the early part of this year, but we don't know where yet. I'd love to go to Australia. Maybe one of these days I'll get there.

Contact reporter Matt Brown at mattb@lodinews.com.