The last several months for the proprietors of Elk Grove's Dreaming Dog Brewery have been two tails. 

The first tale was of the successful launch and establishment by David and Elizabeth Brown of their popular brewery and tasting room located at the Stonelake Landing shopping center on the west side of Elk Grove. Their efforts to build a friendly, community-based gathering spot was recognized by the Elk Grove Chamber of Commerce and awarded the Brown's with the 2018 Rookie Business of the Year.  

The other tale came with the announcement by their landlord, California Northstate University, that as part of their proposed $750 million hospital, the shopping center where the brewery is located would be demolished. That news created a swirl of activity not only for residents in the nearby Stonelake and Lakeside neighborhoods but caught the Brown's by surprise as well.

In our conversation, along with brewery talk, David Brown discusses what the future may hold for the community gathering place that has quickly become a favorite for many Elk Grove residents.  

In this edition of Elk Grove News Podcast, we have a discussion with Kathy Engle of Neighbors Ensuring Stonelake Transparency - NEST.

Led by Engle's public information requests, the citizens' group has started examining documents they have received from the city of Elk Grove. Engles discusses some of their initial findings showing the depth of the relationship between the city and the for-profit medical school who is proposing the $750 million hospital in Elk Grove's Stonelake neighborhood.

 While some view California's rapidly escalating housing costs as an impediment, one company from America's Natural State is taking a contrarian view and sees a golden opportunity in the Golden State. 

Mountain Home, Arkansas-based Affordable Family Development (AFD) has announced its intent to pursue a manufactured housing site on a vacant parcel in Elk Grove. The parcel AFD purchased for their development is the long-vacant 18-acre site located on the northeast corner of Sheldon and Power Inn roads.

 As widely reported, Elk Grove recently updated its general plan.

The plan nibbles around the edges of one of California’s most pressing socio-economic problems – affordable housing. Elk Grove’s solution is predictable – cluster some rental units in a few areas and forget about it.

Social media is part of our life, and for all its ills, at times it can be educational.

Such was the case in a recent series of tweets.  

The tweets were about city council’s brushing off constituents.

 By Dan Schmitt | 

I cannot begin to imagine how devastating it must be to discover that a loved one has been ruthlessly murdered. I cannot imagine the pain, the depression and the suffering family members and friends of murder victims go through as they wait for the execution of the person on death row who was found guilty of the heinous crimes. 

Based in Monterey, California, Dayton is a policy and political consultant with 22 years of experience dealing with Issues related to construction and development.

The discussion centers on the intersection of the California Environmental Quality Act, and project labor agreements as it relates to the $750 million hospital proposed in Elk Grove, Calif. by California Northstate University.

Dayton can be followed on Twitter at @DaytonPubPolicy. 

After weeks of bombardment from Elk Grove residents over the proposed 750 million dollar California Northstate university hospital, the Elk Grove city council had a respite this week.   

Coming to their rescue was a host of big shot building trade union bosses, all of whom have contributed cash to the city council members. 

Be careful when doing online sales. 

 Although the economy is doing relatively well, residents of Elk Grove, California are taking on more high-cost credit card debt. Those were the findings of a recently released study by Wallethub.com.

In this edition, we discuss the implications of this development with Wallethub.com's personal finance expert Jill Gonzales. Other findings from WalletHub's study can be viewed here.