Mayor Kevin Johnson has put it to the owners of the troubled Westfield Downtown Plaza: Either you're in or you're out.

The company, Westfield Group, has only another month or so to tell the city whether it will invest in its downtown Sacramento mall the way it's investing in Westfield Galleria at Roseville, Johnson told Westfield representatives and downtown business owners Monday.

"If not, we need you to not hold our city hostage anymore. We need you to sell and let the city move forward," he said. "In November or so, we need you to realize if you're in, you're in. If you're not, you're not."

For at least 11 years, the city has been negotiating over Downtown Plaza with Westfield, perhaps the world's largest shopping mall owner with more than $47 billion in investments in 119 shopping centers. In 2006, Westfield proposed a $120 million overhaul of Downtown Plaza. In May, the company postponed those plans for at least the rest of the year, while completing its $120 million reinvestment at Westfield Santa Anita in Southern California's Arcadia.

The mayor has been pressing Westfield for investment since at least August, when the company also backed out of a planned $200 million renovation of North County Mall in Escondido.

In a meeting at Cosmopolitan Cabaret Monday, Johnson said he and other city leaders are currently engaged in meetings with Westfield Group to determine whether they can make the current partnership work, or whether Westfield should sell the mall to the city or developers from Sacramento or beyond.

The mayor delivered the ultimatum during the first of two community meetings dubbed "Unlocking the Grid" that he's holding as the city works on a new strategy for K Street Mall and the downtown core. More than 100 business and property owners and others took part in the first meeting. Next Monday, Johnson plans to meet with people who live, work or visit downtown at 5:30 p.m. at the cabaret, 10th and K streets.

At the meeting's start, Johnson took a look back at decisions made in the last 50 years that cut off key streets and areas like Old Sacramento and the Sacramento River: the widening of Capitol Mall in the 1950s, the construction of I-5 and removing cars from K Street in the 1960s, construction of the suburban-style Downtown Plaza and Sacramento Convention Center in the 1970s, light rail construction in the 1980s, and tripling the size of the convention center in the 1990s.

Johnson encouraged participants to consider all of the city's assets while coming up with big-picture ideas to improve downtown and reconnect all its parts. Every decision impacts what the city will become, he said.

"We have to create an environment where all boats are rising," he said. "I don't want us to fall into doing the easiest thing to do."

Problems with safety and cleanliness were at the forefront for many. K Street Mall is plagued with "bums, lunatics, thugs and drug dealers," and the city should have a "visible police presence" on K Street until 2 a.m., said Gene Barton, who owns Marilyn's nightclub, 908 K St.

"No one's patrolling alleys. No one's down there after dark," he said.

Hannah Brantingham, the 27-year-old operations manager for 24 Hour Fitness on Seventh Street, said she didn't feel safe walking three blocks down K Street Mall to the afternoon meeting. She's concerned about the safety of employees who walk from a dirty yet expensive parking garage and about cars being stolen or burglarized there.

Another participant asked whether the city would relocate "SRO" hotels, cheap hotels providing single room occupancy on and around the mall.

The SROs have been a problem for "too long," said Johnson, who added, without going into specifics, that he's committed to not having SROs be an impediment to Westfield or other business owners.

The city should focus first on building a mass transit system to carry more people downtown, which would encourage development, said developer David Taylor.

Light rail to Davis could make it easier for UC Davis's 30,000 students to party, shop or eat downtown, said Steve Ayers, a developer and local steel company executive.

Plenty of talk revolved around how to bring more business, housing and spenders downtown. Some people suggested downtown — via retailers and restaurants — must stay open later to increase safety and make the area a more desirable place to be.

Sean Kohmescher said he keeps his Temple coffee and teahouse at 1014 10th St. open until 11 p.m., even though he loses money doing so, because that supports the kind of city he wants to live in. He suggested more business owners "take it upon themselves to create that."

While some were focused on bringing more "high-end" boutiques, restaurants and housing downtown, Kohmescher and others said the key is to have businesses that students and residents with middle-class or fixed incomes will use regularly.

Midtown works better than downtown because it has "mid-level" options, said Brook Taylor, a young professional who works in the Governor's Office of Planning and Research.

The city should focus on serving the needs of "folks in the middle" who provide a steady stream of business to the city, he said.

Suzanne Hurt is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.