Mayor KJ?

There have been rumors for a while but today the SacTown Bee showed a picture of a smiling politician... Kevin Johnson, or "KJ" as he is known locally. KJ has long been one of the most popular SacTown products. SacTown is a small town and very proud of the few people that make it to the big time. Moving here from LA I always found it funny that Greg Vaugh did not just hit a home run when the TV news reporter gave his sports report but rather, "SacTown's own Greg Vaugh hit a home run tonight...." The same treatment was given to many others over the years like Fernando Vina, Steve Sax, Bill Cartwright and the list goes on. Players that spent time in SacTown would get similar treatment on the evening news as they were generally, except for "OP", held in very high esteem. Former King Mike Bibby got a standing ovation last week at Arco and on the evening news you might still hear a reporter talk about "former King Gerald Wallace...."

Above everybody else though, KJ has held court. He is a LEGEND here in SacTown. I remember one time, toward the end of his career, there were rumors of KJ possibly joining the King's to help mentor young point guard Jason Williams. If that had happened all productivity in the city would have stopped for the day as we celebrated. It did not happen but KJ did return home after retiring from a productive, though not hall of fame level, career. He went to SacTown High, down the road for college at Cal, a nice NBA career and now back home working on a variety of projects that the local paper tells you about. Now he is running for mayor!

Truth be told his competition is thin. The current mayor is a zero in my opinion. She is fine but unspectacular. She does her job but without any flair. She has won re-election in the past because nobody has run against her. Now she has competition... MAJOR competition. KJ is so popular here that when the SacTown Bee ran a detailed story about numerous problems, bordering on uninhabitable conditions, in some of KJ's local real estate last year NOTHING happened. NO follow up story to say he fixed them. It was as if the story never ran. Why? SacTown LOVES KJ. He can do no wrong. Though his plans to re-develop Oak Park have not yet been quite as successful as Magic's work around the country he has done a little... including a Starbuck's! He dresses nice, speaks well, smiles a lot, hangs out at the right places, lives right in the center of SacTown. Does he though?

I just did some poking around the public records, on-line, and found this down in Phoenix near the Biltmore...

Primary Owner: JOHNSON,KEVIN M
Secondary Owner:
Mail Address: 0 PO BOX 5447
SACRAMENTO, CA 95817
Site Address: 6114 N 28TH ST
PHOENIX, AZ 85016

Looks like it cost $178k with a $160k loan back in 1988 so maybe it's just his first crash pad when he joined the Sun's!? Why hasn't he sold it yet? Also, in 2006 a "Kevin M. Johnson" bought 2 acres in Phoenix for about a million bucks. Is that "OUR" KJ? Could be a different "Kevin M. Johnson" as the mailing address is in Redondo Beach and I KNOW that no self-respecting SacTown native would ever move to SoCal! Whatever the case the SacTownGuy says divest yourself Mr. KJ of your Phoenix ties because we in SacTown are PROUD of our people but not if you are planning to move back to Phoenix!

peace out.