LETTER FROM THE MANAGING EDITOR
As the Capital Region Reopens , We Show Our Resiliency Once Again
I was supposed to be at the World Trade Center on Sept . 11 , 2001 . I had flown from Sacramento to the New York area two days before for my annual girls ’ weekend with my lifelong friends from New Jersey , where I grew up . But first , I wanted to spend time in New York City . One of those friends , a CNN reporter , had arranged for me to visit the New York Stock Exchange for the closing bell on Tuesday , Sept . 11 . The stock exchange was just a few blocks from the World Trade Center . The closing bell is at 4 p . m . Eastern Standard Time , so I was going to get there early and walk around . The first plane crashed into the north tower at 8:46 a . m . The terrorists struck before I arrived .
I was shocked by what was happening , as most people likely were . I rushed to the waterfront in Hoboken , which is directly across from the World Trade Center . With all the roads and bridges closed , rescue boats started bringing stranded New York City workers there to a makeshift trauma center . ( It was the largest maritime evacuation in history .) I was the senior editor at KFBK news radio in Sacramento at the time and immediately went to work , doing live reports for 16 hours straight for three days , covering the evacuation of 500,000 workers . Growing up in New Jersey , I saw those towers being built in the early 1970s . And I saw them come down . Besides that devastating image , what stuck with me was the sheer terror on everyone ’ s faces as I scrambled around . It ’ s something I ’ ve never seen before and haven ’ t seen since .
Now , 20 years later , California and the rest of the United States are slowly emerging from another catastrophic event of massive magnitude — the coronavirus pandemic . While there ’ s concern about the stronger delta variant of the virus and low vaccination rates in some areas , there are also hopeful signs of the Capital Region returning to a new state of normalcy .
As Rachel Leibrock writes about in this month ’ s cover story (“ Reopening the Capital Region ” on page 38 ), the smash Broadway musical “ Hamilton ” is opening this month at the $ 120 million , newly refurbished SAFE Credit Union Performing Arts Center in downtown Sacramento . Broadway Sacramento has been dark for a year and a half as COVID-19 locked down the region , and now the musical theater company is getting ready to light the lights , open the doors and welcome guests .
Sports arenas and concert halls are also reopening . Music will be heard once again at the Golden 1 Center with the Eagles and Andrea Bocelli scheduled for concerts . And Sacramento Kings games will once again be open to fans at full capacity . Other venues are taking a slower approach to reopening . The Harris Center for the Arts in Folsom , for example , is going through a “ dusting off ” before welcoming the public again in the fall .
While you may not have been out much during lockdown , construction — considered an essential industry — continued at a robust pace around the region . Graham Womack talked to city officials in Roseville , Folsom , Elk Grove and Rancho Cordova about how they ’ re planning self-contained communities where residents can live , work and play (“ The Booming Burbs ” on page 52 ).
Sept . 11 taught us a lot about physical health conditions suffered by World Trade Center workers , first responders and people living in the financial district neighborhood of Manhattan . It also taught us about the trauma , post-traumatic stress disorder , and other mental health conditions caused or heightened by the disaster . The same can be said for what many people have gone through over the past year and a half of living through a pandemic . In this issue of Comstock ’ s , we explore how a Folsom startup , Opeeka , is using artificial intelligence to gather information on patients , such as physical ailments and mental health evaluations , to create a digital profile to help better treat the whole self . ( You can read Russell Nichol ’ s story “ Can Artificial Intelligence Improve Mental Health ?” on page 58 .)
America has always been known for its resiliency . From the attack on Pearl Harbor to 9 / 11 and now the COVID-19 pandemic , we have always bounced back . This time will be no different . We mourn for those we have lost but forge ahead to create a future for our children and grandchildren . This issue of Comstock ’ s shows you how the Capital Region is doing just that .
Judy Farah Managing Editor
September 2021 | comstocksmag . com 17