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Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Pilot alley project to get $100,000
by Suzanne Hurt, published on September 23, 2009 at 7:45 PM
Storyline: Alleys
Work on a pilot alley project may begin next year after $100,000 in community development money has become available, Sacramento City Councilmember Steve Cohn said Wednesday.
The money is coming from unused federal community development block grant (CDBG) funds leftover from a street lighting program in North Sacramento's Ben Ali neighborhood.
Like most lighting projects, this one came in way under budget, enabling some funds to be used instead for public infrastructure in Midtown's first "alley activation" project, said Cohn, whose Third District encompasses both neighborhoods.
"Our hope is that it'll be part of a larger program that will make use of a lot more alleys," he said.
Cohn and members of an Alley Activation Committee in Sacramento see at least some of the central city's 600 alleys as under-used resources that could provide more space for business and residential development, thus preventing urban sprawl while adding to the city's charm.
"It really fits with the whole sustainability concept of making use of existing spaces and the existing infrastructure," he said.
A specific project description is needed to meet federal requirements for the funds, he said.
Within the next few weeks, the Alley Activation Committee is expected to create a plan outlining how public and private money will be used on this pilot project, which consists of two alleys stretching from 17th to 19th streets between L Street and Capitol Avenue. The goal is to create an attractive, well-lit pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly corridor, giving diners and shoppers easy access to the East End Parking Garage.
City Development Services staff will give input on the plan. Councilmembers have discretion over how CDBG money for their districts is used, so the plan doesn't need City Council approval, said senior city planner Stacia Cosgrove.
Developer Jeremy Drucker is also proposing to build a condo building on one of those alleys. Developer Aaron Zeff has proposed creating an upscale restaurant row in a third pilot alley located from 16th to 17th streets between I and J streets.
The CDBG funds may be used for such things as drainage, landscaping and lighting. Benches and other aesthetic improvements must be paid for by property owners, Cohn said.
The Midtown Business Association hired consultant Martha Lake to form a nonprofit organization to search for private and public grants and accept donations, as well as to create a collaborative partnership between business people spearheading alley activation and community-based organizations and residents. Work on applying for 501(c)3 has just begun, Lake said.
The city wants to see private investors make financial commitments to the pilot alley project and a program to activate alleys before releasing the CDBG funds, Cohn said.
The city could request bids for public infrastructure contracts by early next year, and work should start no later than spring or summer, he said.
Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.
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Census shows that midtown has long qualified for CDBG funds based on the large number of low income residents who live in Midtown and those funds are to be used to help them and their neighborhood. How much has been spent to improve their quality of life? Very little. Why?
Studies and midtown's experience is that bars and night clubs increase crime in adjacent business and residential areas. Street lighting is shown to reduce crime and save law enforcement costs. So that 100k and more that is available each year should be used for that.
But is Cohn, Fong or Tretheway, Kerridge, Thomas far sighted enough to connect those dots of safety, lighting and reduced police costs? Obviously not. Don't forget elections are coming up.
Density doesn't just happen automatically, it happens when things that promote density (like fixed public transit, mixed-use buildings and multi-family residential units) are in place. Downtown Sacramento actually used to be much, much denser than it is today, when we had all of the above. The city deliberately chose to destroy those things and reduce the city's population density, creating car-centric suburbs instead.
The remaining fabric of the central city could be stitched together by moving back to what we had until the 1950s, with more traditional modes of development and fixed-rail transit (otherwise known as neighborhood streetcars.) We still have some of the fabric, at least in the historic neighborhoods where things weren't plowed under quite so thoroughly. In order to drive density, transit must come first, then replacing mixed-use housing in historic buildings, then infill of similar buildings on vacant lots.
The difference is that many other cities do a lot better job of supporting them. San Francisco pays three times per sales tax dollar what we do for public transit--Los Angeles pays six times as much. Because they are willing to pay for their own systems, instead of cutting service and raising fares like we are, San Francisco is at least holding steady and Los Angeles is EXPANDING its public transit lines. The only difference is that they are willing to locally fund their transit systems. They're having to scramble due to the loss of STA funds--but not as much as we are.
Transit drives density. Portland turned the "Pearl" district from a nearly uninhabited industrial area into a densely populated residential neighborhood in less than a decade BECAUSE THEY BUILT THE STREETCAR LINE FIRST. Trying to build dense infill without fixed transit support means you have to include more parking, because there is no alternative to the automobile.
As for the Pearl District (I have a store there), it has been uber yippified and the area no longer offers affordable living. It went too far.
This will be news to the City Council, who on August 11th approved the continuation of City Staff working with the Alley Activation Committee, on what was presented as an open and public process, without specific decisions on which alleys would finally be chosen for development.
When this month's Alley Activation meeting was cancelled and after Bob Shallit in the Bee announced the 17th/18th/L/Capitol alley "activation" as a foregone conclusion, I called Steve Cohn's office. I asked whether the decision that this would be the first alley "activated" had been made and who makes the final decision. I was told "No" to the first and "I don't know" to the second. I also asked the same of Stacia Cosgrove. A week ago she did not have the answer that is presented in SacPress today.