Stabber casts shadow on street that hopes to shine

Through the years, Del Paso Boulevard has had its share of both fulfilled promise and broken dreams.

Middle-class prosperity of the 1960s turned into 1980s decay.

Revived in the 1990s by Second Saturday art showings and a wave of redevelopment, the North Sacramento thoroughfare later saw part of its bohemian momentum partially stolen by midtown, with its lofts and trendy restaurants.

Now the working-class boulevard faces another problem: a bicycle-riding serial stabber who police said knifes unsuspecting pedestrians and then pedals away.

Police say the same man may have struck six times, including a 2006 attack that turned fatal. The attacks have residents wary.

"Yes, I'm very scared," said 23-year-old Juliana Gallego, who makes sandwiches and coffee at the Simple Cafe.

On Monday, she showed a visitor a police artist's sketch of the suspected assailant. She then reached under the cash register and pulled out a large chopping knife.

"I have this because you never know," she said.

A couple of doors down at Omar's Auto and Boat Upholstery, Mike Mendoza stopped working to say that he appreciates the efforts of Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy to help the boulevard.

"It's getting better," he said. "We could eliminate some of the bad element."

The bad element most on the minds of police, residents and business owners in recent weeks has been the serial stabber. Mendoza said if the attacker tries anything in the 1800 block of Del Paso near Omar's, he'll be ready.

"He won't be stabbing people here because we will take him to the ground," Mendoza said.

Sacramento police said they have poured significant resources into catching the stabber.

Capt. Dan Hahn, who commands the department's station covering the neighborhood, called the series "a huge headache issue" but said it shouldn't erase the progress made on the boulevard.

"Things come up like this and they could happen anywhere," said Hahn, sipping a bottle of water in front of Simple Cafe. "These things can paint an area badly, but in reality, there's been drastic change out here.

"It's really unfair to be scared to come up here because of one guy."

Hahn recalled being an officer in the area in the mid-1990s, before a sprawling median with fresh flowers rose up, and art galleries and coffee shops filled vacant storefronts.

He pointed to a boutique hotel and a trendy restaurant as signs of progress.

"It doesn't even feel like the same street," he said, adding, "Even the liquor stores look nicer now."

Besides the officers who work the street, few know Del Paso Boulevard better than Rob Kerth, who was elected twice in the 1990s to the City Council district that includes North Sacramento.

He grew up in the area and has never been the victim of a violent incident. He, too, laments that random acts of violence have damaged the community.

"It's a safe part of town," he said.

Kerth's grandfather, William Kerth Sr., originally ran an ice delivery service on the boulevard and built the Iceland Ice Rink there in 1940.

When Rob Kerth returned from Stanford after earning a master's degree in mechanical engineering, he saw that the folksy, thriving community of his youth had gone downhill.

By the 1980s, the boulevard dime store was gone and two movie theaters were closing. And as neighborhoods around the boulevard became more tattered, crime went up.

Old-timers argue that the disintegration began in 1964, when Sacramento annexed North Sacramento and its Del Paso Boulevard. Promised improvements didn't materialize. Arden Fair siphoned off business.

A resurgence occurred in the mid-1990s when art galleries and studios began to transform the face of the boulevard.

Many of those galleries remain. The Second Saturday "art walk" is still celebrated on the boulevard, although the bigger crowds now flock to midtown.

"At its peak we had 24 venues and 4,000 people a month coming to the boulevard ... to explore," Kerth said. "That momentum is gone now. We are pretty happy to get several hundred people on Second Saturday now."

The housing boom of the 1990s and early 2000 that buoyed midtown never arrived in the neighborhoods around the boulevard, Kerth said.

However, there are signs of transformation.

The boulevard's median – adorned with artwork and well-maintained landscaping – rivals other neighborhoods with more favorable reputations, and more redevelopment is planned for decayed properties.

Businesses such as Enotria restaurant, the New Faze Development headquarters, several permanent galleries, the Greens boutique hotel and Limn furniture store on nearby Arden Way class up the boulevard.

Kerth said the community always seems to be making a resurgence.

"But it has not lived up to anybody's hopes yet," he said. "In a lot of ways we are marking time."

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