Tag Cloud
Friday, February 10, 2012
Town Hall on arena ideas draws 80 people
by Kathleen Haley, published on December 3, 2009 at 9:58 PM
Storyline: Arena / City / Kings
Loading images
About 80 people turned out for a town hall meeting Thursday night to weigh in on plans for a new entertainment and sports complex. Business leaders and residents presented their ideas to Mayor Kevin Johnson’s "Sacramento First" arena task force at the Sacramento Public Library downtown.
The task force is assigned to analyze developers’ ideas for the complex. The 12-member group includes real estate, finance and communications executives. Task force members are not paid.
Johnson told the audience a new complex needs to generate jobs. “We’ve got to create jobs; we’ve got a down economy,” he said.
Chris Lehane, the task force’s co-chairman, echoed that point. “This is about economic development for the city of Sacramento,” he said. “This is about jobs.”
Michael Ault, executive director of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership, pushed for downtown as the site of an entertainment and sports center. A downtown location could encourage people to walk to the arena, he said, which would take people out of their cars.
“We do believe that now is the time and downtown is the location,” Ault said.
Steve Hammond, chief executive of the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau, also urged the task force to consider putting the center downtown. That would help the bureau attract about 17,000 conventioneers, he said. Right now, It's difficult now for the bureau to bring in those large conventions because the arena is far from hotels, Ault said.
Meanwhile, Noel Martin, the president of the Natomas Chamber of Commerce, asked the task force to select Natomas for the center. He said many Natomas businesses support the idea of a new arena at the ARCO Arena site. “When it comes to location, we feel the Natomas area is superior to all other sites,” he said. The land is available at that site for redevelopment, he added.
Ed Wiggins, a Sacramento small business owner, said he favored putting a new entertainment and sports center on K Street. “The K Street corridor from the mall to the Convention Center is really important,” he said.
Lehane said recently that the task force expects to make its recommendations to the City Council in mid-March.
Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.
Conversation Express your views,
debate, and be heard with those in your area closest
to the issue.
Leave a Comment
Unfortunately for them that well has run dry, and though I'm RELIEVED to see the Natomas Chamber advocating for their site, it doesn't appear that's what these big boys had in mind.
The P.R. tribe that KJ has assembled, complete with Chris Lehane who represents certain vested interests who are aiming for a specific outcome, seems bent on two MOST EXPENSIVE alternatives -- the reuse of Cal Expo, or plopping an arena in the Railyards project. Either of these buildouts will cost between $400 million and $1.2 billion, and will require ENORMOUS feasibility and infrastructural accommodations, along with tax subsidies, and the patience of JOB by those who live or work or travel through either area during construction.
The LEAST COST alternative would be to re-use ARCO, not only for basketball, as its current limited program was built for (yes, I realize it's used for other purposes, but if you have actually attended a concert there, you'd know it's not exactly an accoustical dream). It is an adaptable expandable building that could be retrofitted to suit multiple uses -- if smart designers are involved.
A TRUE multi-use facility might also attract working capital and operating income from sources other than basketballers, and free the place from domination by the Maloofs, who seasonally trot out their perennial threats to leave Sacramento...
A good start toward the good faith public pitch of this project would be to demand repayment of the multi-million dollar loan granted to the Maloofs, which remains unpaid. I won't hold my breath, however...
Sporto's... Who knew how little they were interested in this stuff...
IF the current arena is outdated, or simply doesn't have a large enough capacity, and you somehow manage to get the go ahead on building a new facility, the smart place to build one is right next to the current arena where we "already have the infastructure in place" (so no/minimal tax payer impact), where "it is within walking distance of several brand new high capacity hotels" (who do you think you are kidding Mr. Michael Ault, executive director of the Downtown Sacramento Partnership). Furthermore Mr. Ault, if now is the time and place to build a new arena, use "your money" to do it, not mine or any other tax payer's money....you really think this kind of project is responsible use of tax payer money when we are in economic times that see people loosing their homes???
In our future, we know the rail yard will be redeveloped. We know at some point a new arena will be built. A smart use of the rail yard would be to build a new mega shopping/restaraunt/entertainment center because K street mall is dead. K street mall will never be a serious player in the retail industry because it is too congested with downtown traffic, you are charged to park your car, you can't park any where close to the store you want to shop at which means carrying your goods back to your car and fighting off pan handlers while you do it. Let K street mall go back to offices or housing. The rail yard runs right into Old Sac so the two would still be connected.
Lastly, "bbbbmer" (hiding your name?), since you seem to want to bring political party affiliation into this, Mayor Johnson is a Democrat, you pin head. Here is a link to his Bio....http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Johnson.
Don't blame the Republicans for Democrat misconduct. The Democrats have been running Sacramento, for that matter the State of California, in the state assembly going back to 1970... here is a link for that info as well... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Legislature. Next time you want to play the blame game, look at your own political party first.
I don't give a flying fakakta whether KJ's 'registered' as a Dem -- his actions, his past, his virulence against the teachers unions, his coziness with Republican P.R. firms like Raimundo, and law firms, like Bell, McAndrews (who drafted the SMI (rather poorly, btw)), his wanton pursuit of at least the IMAGE and TRAPPINGS of authority, and his rather lurid after-hours proclivities, all qualify him as a Republican...
He's wearing this year's knockoff of Michael Huffington's empty suit, except that Michael Huffington at long last has realized the errors of his ways and now swings *our* way... probably because his ex-wife learned hers and is now a leading exponent of progressive ideas in America... Fortunately for him he can now be proudly gay, rather than hiding in the closet so many Republicans hide behind.
While most of our legislatures have been Democratic, perhaps due to their proximity to 'the people', most of our governors have been Republican for the past fifty years, and most, very comfortable with the development community.
Real estate developers, a constituency among which precious few belong to the Democratic Party, and those that do, often act in opposition to Dem interests, especially when it comes to the employment of union labor, and other meat and potatoes issues affecting people of very modest means...
It is the development community that will advantage themselves of whatever public trough funding is available for whatever buildout for this project ultimately takes place. I find it at least interesting that many developers, a class that is overwhelmingly Republican, advantage themselves with whatever public funding is available largely through Democratic largesse while simultaneously voting for GOP leaders who rail against such programs. I suppose a better term for the Republican Party is the Hypocrite Party...
Finally, yes, I use a pseudonym... I have a right to my privacy, even though it's easily pierced by persons with an i.q. above 50, and I'd rather avoid right wing zealotry and tactics, like the threats I received last summer from a couple of knuckle draggin', teabaggin', bible thumpin' compatriots...
Happy Holidays!
Seems preponderance of opinion favors a downtown location. But where downtown? Note Railyards not mentioned. But it has come up around a few water coolers, coffee bars even. So how about Westfield, DT Partnership, the City, Stan Thomas and the NBA (Let's leave the Maloofs out of this) and consider a Sports/Enternment Facility in a re-developed Westfield Mall? It's got parking, near hotels, next to K Street needing to be awakened, and fed by public transit. Therein lies Kevin Johnson's legacy.
So if we get moving we might get the Republican National Convention by the Summer of 2016!
For any questions about our terms of use, please email me at casey@sacramentopress.com.
Let's see the other guy do the same.
Please apply your 'rules' equitably... and I'll comply...