I gotta give credit to the organizers for doing something on New Year's Eve. It's cool to see the community come together around events like this. Rancho Cordova deserves some recognition because without us there wouldn't have been a ball to drop.

Well said my Sacpress friends. The "other" media jumped on the event because of a few brawls and a lack of cops but the real story was we are coming together as a community Thats real! Thanks to the Sacpress in their attempts to connect us all as opposed to deviding us.

Im for the Capitol Mall. It needs all the help it can get.

I totally agree! We live just across the river from Old Sac and were able to host friends for dinner, walk outside for the 9:00p fireworks display and then head down to 10th and K for the "ball drop." We were definitely disappointed in the lack of a "drop" but the experience was cool and can only be better next year! Capitol Mall would definitely be the best place for it. If they plan on closing a city block again next year, this would be the most advantageous city block to close, with so much open space already around for people to stand/dance/party! Cesar Chavez park tends to get all of the downtown "open-to-the-public" gigs for celebration ... switch it up a little?

And doing it on the Mall would tie it with the celebration by the river...we would be able to see the fireworks from the Mall and Old Sac!

One possible problem is that Capitol Mall and the surrounding buildings are state property, not city property, so jurisdiction issues come into play, plus the fact that Capitol Mall is not particularly well-designed for pedestrians. Other than simply crossing streets there is little provision for ADA access or alternate routes for vehicles. There are also fewer public parking garages around, and fewer (make that practically zero) restaurants/bars where people can go inside.

Remember, this was a sponsored event, put on mostly by people who owned restaurants on the K Street, intended to show people what is going on there. I don't think you would get support from those businesses if the event was held somewhere other than K Street.

That being said, assuming we wanted to leave it on K Street (and, to be honest, K Street needs all the attention it can get) how do we fix things?

First, follow earlier K Street festivals' patterns: shut down not just one street, but multiple streets. Put up multiple stages and roving entertainers and street vendors over several blocks, so there is no need to gather around one central point.

Put the ball high enough so it can be seen for several blocks, so people don't necessarily have to crowd around a single corner to see it. Add two video screens, one set up a block away in either direction, so there are multiple focal points for the crowd.

Have the police set up clearly defined entry and exit points. Have police in the crowd, not just on the perimeter. Ticket those drinking in public, arrest those drunk and disorderly.

And yes, this means that people will have to choose between going to Old Sac and watching the fireworks and going to 10th & K and watching the ball drop. That's a GOOD thing--obviously, enough people showed up to make both events VERY full and VERY lively. It's not as though either event suffered from lack of attendance! Solve the problem by putting up two more video screens: the one in Old Sac shows the ball drop, the one at 10th & K shows the fireworks show!

Basically what we did this time, and what we did for Thursday Night Market: go through slowly and ring the bell a lot.

I wasn't there, but I heard the ball was too small as well. The design itself looks awesome, however.

I dropped by K street just before the ball was dropped, and I have to confess, I was a little underwhelmed. It was a little, well, little, like Jonathan Mendick mentioned. The crowd was great though, even though I had stupidly decided to bring my bike with me into the crowd. It was a little exhilarating to see so many people out on the streets - it wasn't anything I'd really seen before in Sacramento.

A bigger ball with a longer drop would be better... maybe you have the millions of dollars it costs to do so? You have to remember that this was put on solely by the generous donations of local businesses. The city did not contribute a single dime to the event. Unlike the fireworks in Old Sacramento that cost the city $70,000.