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A28 u.s. news
Diaranson 13 aPriL 2022

Sacramento shooting is latest struggle for downtown strip

the NBA’s Sacramento Kings 100,000 workers home and nine people and wounded 17
and a regular stop for major forcing some businesses to just after midnight at a bar in
concert tours. The shooting close. Now about 45,000 the main entertainment dis-
happened on a block that’s people work downtown daily, trict for the city of 140,000.
home to high-end nightclubs according to the partnership. Sandy Gudorf, president of
but also dotted by vacant the Downtown Dayton Part-
buildings that once housed As employment fell, crime nership, said officials mount-
coffee shops and restaurants. rose. Aggravated assaults, ed an “intentional strategy to
Police have made two arrests burglaries and vandalism reclaim the district” after the
connected to the shootings, were up in 2020 and 2021 shooting.
but no one has been charged compared to the five pre-
with homicide. The violence vious years for a roughly Within three weeks of the
“came at a really pivotal mo- 100-square block area that violence, there was a free
ment for downtown,” said includes the Capitol and the performance by Dave Chap-
Sacramento City Council- arena, according to Sacra- pelle, who lives outside the
woman Katie Valenzuela, mento police crime data. city. The community rallied
(AP) — The mass shoot- the successes and challenges who represents the area. to support local businesses,
ing that police say was a many U.S. urban centers are The city’s central hub has but it took time for people to
gun battle between rival facing as struggles with crime A century ago, K Street was a also served as the epicenter feel comfortable returning to
gangs that left six dead and homelessness persist de- bustling, diverse center of ac- for protests focusing on racial nightlife. The pandemic hit
and 12 wounded earlier spite revitalization efforts. tivity. But the strip struggled justice and police miscon- just as that activity was re-
this month shook the as people moved into the duct. Protesters in 2018 shut bounding, Gudorf said.
downtown core of Cali- Though Sacramento is home suburbs — giving way to de- down a downtown freeway
fornia’s capital — and cre- to more than 500,000 people, cades of failed revival efforts, entrance and blocked fans Sacramento Mayor Dar-
ated another challenge for it’s considered sleepy by Cal- including the construction of from entering the arena af- rell Steinberg repeatedly
a city trying to redefine ifornia standards. The deri- a mall in the late 1960s and ter Sacramento police shot said people should continue
itself as a destination for sive nickname “Cowtown” the launch of a light rail com- and killed a young Black to feel comfortable going
more than just govern- grew out of its agricultural muter line in the 1980s. man. Then demonstrations downtown.
ment workers. roots. in 2020 over the police kill-
A fresh wave of investment ing of George Floyd in Min- Rachel Muro, a manager
In recent years, downtown Today, downtown is at the came to the area about a de- neapolis swept the city. Many at the locally owned Capi-
Sacramento has benefited center of the city’s efforts to cade ago, with new busi- downtown properties were tal Books several storefronts
from billions of dollars of de- become an entertainment nesses opening on K Street vandalized and some were away from the shooting, said
velopment but has been rat- and food destination. Local as part of an effort to revive ransacked. downtown has problems
tled by rising crime, protests officials have worked to re- downtown after the financial like any city but that people
resulting in property dam- brand the city as “America’s crisis. The Golden 1 Center’s Now Sacramento is among should not avoid it. The
age and an economic drub- Farm to Fork Capital,” a nod 2016 opening sought to build the ranks of cities recover- bookstore’s owners recently
bing caused by the pandemic. to a large number of well- on that, helping generate $6.7 ing from recent mass shoot- opened a board game cafe
Now, the city is reeling from regarded restaurants that get billion in nearby investment ings. Since 2017, there have just around the corner.
the aftermath of the April 3 ingredients from the region’s and spurring the opening of been 133 mass shootings in
shooting, when at least five many farms. 150 new businesses, accord- the U.S., according to a data- Elsewhere on the block, the
gunmen fired 100 shots as ing to the Downtown Sacra- base compiled by The Asso- area’s troubles are obvious,
people left bars and night- A major part of the revitaliza- mento Partnership business ciated Press, USA Today and with many office and restau-
clubs. tion is a six-block strip of K group. Northeastern University. rant spaces vacant. Home-
Street anchored by a renovat- lessness downtown and else-
The violence just blocks ed convention center and the Then the pandemic hit, Dayton, Ohio, in 2019 was where in Sacramento has
from the Capitol highlights Golden 1 Center, home to sending many of downtown’s shaken when a gunman killed been a vexing problem.

With aid to spend, schools look for students who need help

(AP) - Schools across America are racing to behind. Similar tests are being used in Virginia’s they had nowhere to turn when they had trouble
make up for time they lost during the pan- Fairfax County, which is allotting larger shares of with math problems.
demic by budgeting billions of dollars for tu- funding to schools with lower scores. Chicago is
toring, summer camps and longer school days prioritizing students using a ranking system that “There was a lot of giving up — it was hard,” Ri-
and trying to untangle which students need factors in their grades and also rates of COVID-19 vera said.
help most urgently after two years of disrup- and violent crime near their homes.
tions. Her daughters, Elizabeth and Amerie Allder, have
“Understanding completely where students are since found support through a local tutoring pro-
Many schools saw large numbers of students fall and what those gaps or challenges might be for gram, Boston Partners in Education, but Rivera
under the radar when learning went online for the them — that is going to be a challenge for us,” said wonders whether their school knows how her
pandemic. Many skipped class, tests and home- Debbie Durrence, the data officer for Gwinnett daughters are doing.
work. Record numbers of families opted out of an- County, Georgia.
nual standardized tests, leaving some districts with “I’m not sure because every time you meet with
little evidence of how students were doing in read- Her team, which serves the 180,000-student dis- someone, they give you something different,” she
ing and math. trict, has started tracking a new metric: “missing- said. “Some teachers say they’re doing great, others
ness.” In regular reports, the team aims to log what say they can do better.”
Now districts are trying to address that lack of in- is known about each student’s learning progress,
formation by adding new tests, training teachers but also what is unknown. Schools have been asked
to spot learning gaps and exploring new ways to to help fill in gaps, and students are being tested
identify students who need help. In many districts, more frequently.
the findings are being used to guide the spending
of billions of dollars in federal relief that’s meant For students, disruptions related to the pandemic
to address learning loss and can be used in myriad are still reverberating. Now that Lorena Rivera’s
ways. twin daughters are back in the classroom in Bos-
ton, some of their teachers have quit mid-year
New York City is adding three rounds of testing or gotten sick with COVID-19. The 14-year-old
this year, hoping to pinpoint which students are twins struggled with virtual learning, feeling like