Sacramento Mountain Lions and Lincoln Brewster

I've wanted to go to a Sacramento Mountain Lions for awhile now, but never took the time to buy a ticket and go.  With Bayside selling tickets and Lincoln Brewster performing at the pre-game "Fan Fest" and at half-time I decided to attend.  Weather and the World Series seemed to take quite a few people away from Hornet Stadium, but it was still a lot of fun to hang out with a former co-worker who now works for the PR firm in charge of the Mountain Lions, see Lincoln Brewster (from a lot closer than I am used to) and of course watch some football.  Although the Mountain Lions lost in the last seconds of the game, I enjoyed the atmosphere, the Frisbee catching dogs, being on the field for the concert, hanging with the Chick-Fil-A cows, the fireworks, seeing Denzel Washington and the enthusiasm of the fans.  Here's to hoping that tonight's game will not be my last.

"It's My Mall" - Roseville Galleria

Today marked the first full weekend that the Roseville Galleria has been open since the fire that destroyed or damaged a large portion of it.  Although more than half of the stores remain closed, many more seem to open daily and people are returning too.  Many have said that the mall is not just a place of commerce, but is a place that helps build a sense of community.

Today Westfield hosted a community spirit day with a Halloween event for children, stores handed out candy to customers and mall representatives allowed community members to write inspirational quotes on the new (semi-permanent) wall that separates the open part of the mall from the closed portion. After getting my free "It's my mall" t-shirt (this time they remembered to thank the Roseville PD, they "forgot" in last Sunday's Sacramento Bee ad), I took a walk to the far corner of the parking lot to look at all the restoration semi trucks. For now the closest thing to seeing the restoration in progress is looking at the trucks in the parking lot, but one day I hope that the media is allowed inside to see the damage and show how restoration crews do their jobs.

Roseville Galleria - Rebuilding Together

Just a quick post to show pictures of the newly reopened Roseville Galleria (as you may recall I helped break the news on Sunday). Only 41 stores open today, although about 70 have permits that basically say they can open when they are ready.  A few more, including Banana Republic will be opening tomorrow.  In speaking with a sales associate at GAP, they confirmed my suspicions that the person that started the fire (okay "suspected" arsonist) did not come out wearing GAP clothing as he originally claimed.  It was most likely Anchor Blue or a similar store.  The mall did have a smell a little bit like smoke and cleaning products, but overall was clean and comfortable.  The wall that has been constructed to block off one section includes quotes that were written on the Galleria's Facebook page.

An Accidental Omission? Roseville Galleria Ad Forgets Someone

The Roseville Galleria incident on Thursday proved to be an amazing show of coordination between dozens of agencies.  It only makes sense to thank them, right?  Well Westfield (the owner of the Roseville Galleria) decided to do just that. They asked the Roseville Police Department to compile a list of all agencies that were involved and then purchased a full page ad in today's paper.  To the casual observer the 34 agencies thanked seemed like plenty. The omission? The Roseville Police Department.

There are two basic ways to take this.  The first: They made the list and forgot to add themselves (similar to when you count a group of people and forget to count yourself).  Second: Westfield intentionally left them off the list because they could be the ones that ordered the malls fire suppression sprinklers turned off, meaning a fire that would have caused minor damage to just a few stores, caused major damage to 3/4 of the mall and will close parts of it for months.

Either way it reinforces the need to check the facts, review your work and then have someone else review it, especially before it gets published in the newspaper.  I will admit everyone makes mistakes, but it is incidents like this that serve as great reminders. (note that Newcastle Fire and Twin Rivers School District Police also helped on Thursday, but my scanner could not scan the entire page)

From a Twitter Rumor to Confirmed by News10 - Roseville Galleria Reopen

It's no secret that I'm a little bit addicted to Twitter, Facebook and the news.  It's also no secret that I have been following the fire and its aftermath closely since it began on Thursday morning.  Tonight around 5:30 I saw tweets from a friend that said she had heard a rumor that parts of the Roseville Galleria could reopen within a week.  I quickly spread that good news, saying that I hoped it was true. After a few minutes I decided to play it safe and post that it was just a rumor, I also sent the information to a friend at News10.  Soon after that the Mayor Pro Tem of Roseville posted on a friend's Facebook page (he's running for City Council) that clean up crews were making great progress, I quickly sent this information to News10 as well. Within 15 minutes of getting the information from me, she had contacted a member of the clean up team and confirmed the fact that parts of the Galleria could reopen as early as Thursday, just one week after the initial incident.

What does this show?  That Twitter is again an amazing source for information and news, but that all information must also be independently fact checked and verified.  By working with reporters and news organizations not only did a rumor become fact, the verified fact aired within 30 minutes of the initial rumor. Great job to all involved in getting this information posted and out to the public well before any other news station, the City of Roseville and Westfield.



Roseville Galleria Fire

As the news broke around 10:30 this morning, I noticed it on Twitter.  I figured it would be taken care of quickly, just another hostage situation.  By about noon everything seemed to be okay, the suspect was in custody and the bomb squad was on scene to see if there really was a bomb.  Around 1:30 everything changed. A huge plume of smoke could be seen from my office miles away and from throughout the Sacramento region.  I watched with thousands of others online as the mall we have come to know, love and frequent literally went up in smoke.

That said, this post isn't just about the fire, it's about how social media was utilized in the response.  "Roseville Galleria" quickly became one of the top 10 worldwide trending topics on Twitter (number 5 to be exact). Roseville residents and workers not only went to their office windows to look, but took out their phones, snapped and posted pictures, took videos and helped local media get a more complete picture of what was going on from different vantage points.  People on Twitter quickly found and posted links to the suspect's Facebook and MySpace pages, where sadly the suspect had been crying out for help and although people tried to help, no one knew what he was capable of.

Now Roseville sits without its mall, a source of approximately $3 million in tax revenue.  Many people who had a job this morning are now unemployed. Many people hoping to go shopping this weekend will have to look outside their own community.

On another note this incident proved something that so many other disasters in the Sacramento region have shown.  Our first responders are second to none.  The coordination of fire departments from Roseville, Sacramento and surrounding communities was superb and immediate, 27+ different engine companies and even the helicopter from Sacramento Metro Fire was helping guide fire fighters on the ground from high above (and it landed on the parking garage).  The coordination of police was also amazing.  As I was driving past the Galleria on my way home tonight the Folsom Police Department's Command Center was on its way to the scene to provide support and every entrance and turn lane into the mall was barricaded.

My mall will be closed for awhile, but the spirit of the community will shine bright. Roseville will bounce back, our mall, our meeting spot, our center of activity will be back soon.

From Staining to a Wedding

The weekend started off with a massive project at the Bradley Lodge, my dad and I stained nearly all of the main level siding and everything that could be reached from the roof.  It was a fun project and in the end it turned out great and will help protect the lodge from both sun and snow. Inside my mom and grandma worked to change over the lodge from summer to winter (clothing, sheets and decor).

Late Saturday evening I was officially invited to a friend's wedding on 10/10/10 and helped them find a beautiful hotel for their first night as newlyweds (Thank you Ashlee and The Citizen Hotel). The wedding was in the bride's parents' backyard and was truly beautiful.  The bride and groom radiated with a love and that energy was evident throughout the afternoon and evening. From the ceremony to the reception to dinner and cake it was amazing. It was a great evening to hang out with some friends and see two friends tie the knot to start a life long journey together.

Anniversary

My parent's celebrated their 39th wedding anniversary today (check out last year's post a picture from this day 39 years ago).  All I can say is Thank You.  In a year of uncertainty for me, they were there.  They were there to talk, there to help and there to take me to the Bradley Lodge for rest, relaxation, distractions and more.  They have always been supportive, always been available and always willing to help, no matter the cost or the time commitment.  I can only hope that one day, I will be to my children what they are, have been and will continue to be for me, my brother and my nephews.

Thanks!
Andrew