Six years ago, I moved here from a much bigger city on the East Coast. A place where I not only grew up, but where I’d spent decades plying my trade. It seems every week I meet someone new who also moved here from somewhere else. People who could have elected to move back to the East Coast or the Midwest. But didn’t. As far as I know, none of those folks are getting really rich here. But there are some things you can’t put a price on. Like basking in a sunny 64 degree afternoon, playing golf with your friends in late January. Or sipping wine and grilling on your patio and wondering if this is a good day to gather the oranges and lemons from your backyard.

You realize that so many of the irritants that were part of life in the biggest city in the country, simply don’t exist here - from digging your car out of a snow bank to two hour commutes to thunder storm generated power failures.

You are amazed at the friendliness of the people around you…how motorists always seem to wave you over when changing lanes, how the checkout clerks at the grocery store always ask how your day is going.

But sometimes…you wonder why this region doesn’t play hard ball…why we let companies like Waste Connections and Campbell’s Soup pull up stakes without a fight…or a helping hand. The East Coast dog eat dog DNA is still with you…and as you watch the latest saga that is The Sacramento Kings unfold…you wonder how…this town get let its only major league team leave. Then you realize it happens in a lot of places…twice in fact in New York…which is how Sacramento’s Big City California siblings snagged the Dodgers and Giants…

NY could have stopped those migrations but didn’t want to spend the money for new stadiums…nor did it like being told by a couple of rich guys Walter O’Malley and Horace Stoneham how public dough should be spent…

So now the Maloof’s…who lied about ever selling the Kings have signed an agreement to do just that…for about a half billion dollars.

Now Kevin Johnson…who seems to be in the witness protection program between annual battles to save the Kings will try to do it again, and the word is he has some serious players behind him…Billionaires like Grocery Tycoon Ron Burkle, Fitness zillionaire Mark Mastrov, and maybe the local Mattress King Dale Carlesen and some other locals with deep pockets…Maybe we’re finally mad enough to pony up some dollars and in effect do what should have been done years ago…pay the Maloof’s to go away…but leave their team here.

Senate leader Darrel Steinberg is talking about an economic three pointer suggesting all that Microsoft money being generated by state contracts…could go to Apple or someone else and there’s the wild card.