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Friday, February 10, 2012
Mayor changes tune on Westfield Group, praises its work this week
by Kathleen Haley, published on October 21, 2009 at 3:12 PM
Storyline: Downtown
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Mayor Kevin Johnson has changed his tune on the Westfield Group’s handling of its downtown plaza. After voicing harsh criticism of the company in recent weeks, Johnson told reporters that Westfield worked with the city on Monday.
At his press conference on Tuesday, Johnson noted that the company flew four of its representatives from Los Angeles to spend the entire day in Sacramento. During their visit to Sacramento, the company’s representatives attended a community meeting on revamping the Westfield Downtown Plaza and the K Street Mall, Johnson pointed out.
The representatives expressed the message that the company is “more committed and focused on Sacramento” than ever before, Johnson said.
Johnson has voiced frustration with the Westfield Group in recent weeks while urging it to upgrade the Westfield Downtown Plaza.
“I think we’re doing everything that we can to engage them as real significant partners on this,” Johnson said.
Photo by Anthony Bento.
Staff Reporter Suzanne Hurt contributed to this report. Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.
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The Parrhesiac
October 21, 2009 | 4:25 PM
Let me guess a deal was cut to have the tax payers pay to renovate Westfield.
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Scott Holbrook
October 22, 2009 | 12:16 PM
I think the only real leverage the City has is PR against Westfield, I think the Mayor realizes the tough guy approach likely is not the best way to go at this company. Developing a working relationship and give & take is the key, I do not think there are huge lines to buy struggling / declining shopping centers. Hopefully the city will provide some good incentives to Westfield, as the long term revenue I am sure will pay off great dividends!
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Zen
October 22, 2009 | 2:25 PM
I believe the City also owns the parking underneath the plaza so that is also a piece of leverage.
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Top Cat 2808
October 22, 2009 | 6:14 PM
Are you suggesting, Zen, that the City should threaten to REMOVE its parking garage, resulting in the collapse of the downtown shopping mall into an open pit!?
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Brian Steele
October 23, 2009 | 1:41 AM
Wesfield id playing KJ like a first class NBA point guard champiion who took it above the rim.
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