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Friday, February 10, 2012
Arena project, green initiative topics in State of the City address
by Brandon Darnell, published on February 25, 2010 at 6:43 PM
Storyline: State of the City Address
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Mayor Kevin Johnson called for city government reform, the launching of a green initiative, increased public safety and moving forward with the arena project at his second State of the City address Thursday.
“The state of the city is in our hands,” Johnson told the members of the Sacramento Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce. “The key is not about getting hit, it’s about getting up again.”
Johnson discussed the hits the city has recently taken, including an increase to 13 percent unemployment from about 5 percent just a couple years ago, high crime rates and lackluster business performance, but he emphasized the need to be optimistic.
“This is our time, Sacramento,” Johnson said.
He highlighted four areas of focus to bring Sacramento back to a stable economic environment and make it a world-class city.
Downtown
Johnson’s first goal is to strengthen the downtown core. Saying the success of Sacramento is in its neighborhoods, he stressed the need to make them successful.
His plans for doing that are to “put cars back on K Street” and actively bring in new retail stores to revitalize the currently pedestrian-only mall. He said he also intends to “unlock the grid,” making it easier to access the downtown area from all parts of the city by removing the current barriers that hinder the free flow of traffic. One way to do that would be connecting roads that currently do not intersect.
Another goal is to develop a viable plan for the Downtown Plaza mall over the next few months, which currently has one third of its retail space vacant.
Green Initiative
With New York being the capital of finance, Los Angeles being the capital of the entertainment industry and the Silicon Valley being the capital of the technology industry, Johnson said he wants to make Sacramento the capital of the green industry.
“I strongly believe Sacramento has the potential to be a national leader when it comes to green space,” Johnson said, adding that he wants to make Sacramento the “Emerald Valley.”
In developing jobs in the “green sector,” Johnson said Sacramento will be a host to myriad new jobs on all wage levels, which can help diversify its employment.
“Sacramento is over-dependent on government jobs,” Johnson said. “We need to diversify.”
Johnson compared the possibility of harnessing a new green industry to the Gold Rush.
“We have the opportunity to have a Green Rush,” Johnson said.
Arena Project
“We need a new entertainment and sports complex in Sacramento,” Johnson said.
His comments followed a panel discussion with members of the Sacramento First Citizens’ Task Force, which was formed in November.
During the panel discussion, member Larry Kelley gave a brief outline of the seven proposals the task force has received thus far, which range from using the current Arco Arena site in Natomas to bringing the new arena downtown to the railyards, the docks or the K Street Mall.
“This is something the voters have voted down previously,” Kelley said. “It’s something I think we need as a community. People don’t know where Sacramento is.”
Member Christopher Lehane said that a number of public hearings regarding the complex have been very helpful and provided the task force with “an enormous amount of information.”
The task force will release its report to the public March 11 and bring it to the City Council March 16.
“I do think this is a unique opportunity for this community if done right,” Lehane said.
Johnson – who was not present for much of the panel discussion – said Sacramento is in a better position than ever before when it comes to discussing the topic.
“We should, as a council, come up with a consensus with what we want to do going forward (with the arena project) within 30 days of receiving that report,” he said.
He added that that will be before the end of the Kings’ season.
There are a couple of major hang-ups with the project, however.
“I can’t tell you yet where (it will be located) and how we’re going to pay for it, but we have made a lot of progress.”
Friery said there will eventually be a “ripple effect” in money coming into the city through sales tax dollars and job opportunities if the complex is located downtown.
Johnson and task force members said the arena will not only be about basketball, but an “entertainment and sports complex.”
One of the proposals would locate the arena at the current Cal Expo site and include a theme park.
Metro Chamber CEO Matthew Mahood said the sports and entertainment complex is a necessity to Sacramento.
“A properly located entertainment and sports complex will create thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in economic benefits for the entire region.”
Mahood added that a report released Jan. 7 from the task force predicts that building and running the new complex will create 4,095 jobs.
Reforming City Hall
Johnson’s fourth main point in bringing the city back on track was his ongoing goal to reform city government.
“We’ve outgrown our current structure,” he said. “I think it’s very difficult to have nine bosses and nine separate agendas.”
Though he didn’t use the term “strong mayor,” he did call for a system with an executive mayor, term limits and an independent budget analyst.
The City Council approved the independent budget analyst Tuesday in a move Johnson said was a step in the right direction.
“I believe we can come to a compromise,” Johnson said, adding that he hopes to bring the issue before voters on the November ballot.
“We’re going to do all of this if we have a spirit of cooperation,” Johnson said. “We have to put aside personal differences.”
Johnson admitted to not being perfect in that area thus far.
“I take full responsibility for the fact that I have not done a good job in this area,” he said, “but I can only do so much on my own.”
Johnson said the recent resignation of City Manager Ray Kerridge is a sign of the “broken system.”
After commenting that Kerridge “epitomized the very best of what a public servant should be,” Johnson addressed him, and said his legacy will be “bringing us all together, so thank you very much.”
Other Points
Johnson commended Sacramentans on their volunteerism over the past year, acknowledging the 1.5 million volunteer hours that tripled his goal of 500,000. This year he is asking Sacramentans to double that and volunteer for a collective 3 million hours, which he said equals about 12 hours per resident over the year.
Public safety was another topic Johnson brought up, citing that Sacramento is the second most dangerous city in California for violent crime – behind only Oakland. He is asking the council to find the money to hire 30 police officers with a goal to increase the ratio of officers from one and a half officers per 1,000 residents to two.
But there is still the projected $35 million-$40 million budget deficit to contend with as well as the fact that FEMA is requiring Sacramento to address the levees that are currently in violation of federal requirements to prevent floods.
Despite the obstacles standing in Sacramento’s path, Johnson remained optimistic.
“We’re going to get through it,” he said. “Sacramento is not going to cower in the corner and wait this recession out.”
Audience members had mixed reactions to Johnson’s speech, but said they hoped for the best.
“I thought it was awesome,” said Jeff Pemstein, a homebuilder. “Sacramento is a great city.”
Pemstein said he is confident that the economy will turn around and Sacramento will once again head in the right direction.
Brian Seymour, who works in emergency project restoration, said he thinks Johnson is very energetic.
“He obviously wants to see this city grow,” Seymour said.
Seymour said there were no surprises in the speech, but he characterized Johnson’s remarks to Kerridge as “unceremonious.”
“Hopefully the Council will be able to play in the same sandbox," Seymour said, but when asked if he thought it was a real possibility, he replied, “Not really.”
The budget deficit was of concern to Mahood, who wrote in a press release that the “gap can’t be closed with smoke and mirrors. The mayor and Council are going to have to make some tough decisions to get a balanced budget.”
Mahood also said the Council will have to make cuts to departments where spending is out of proportion to their counterparts in comparable cities.
Picture 1: Metro Chamber CEO Matthew Mahood
Picture 2: Sacramento First Task Force members, from left, Larry Kelley, Tom Friery and Christopher Lehane and moderator Carl "Tobey" Oxholm III.
Picture 3: Mayor Kevin Johnson
Picture 4: Mayor Kevin Johnson delivers his State of the City address to the Metro Chamber.
Photos by Tia Gemmell
Riverfront Media Photography
www.phototia.com
Brandon Darnell is a copy editor for The Sacramento Press.
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2010 is going to be one tough year for our favorite City's leadership and I for one am going to do everything humanly possible to help them all succeed.
He says because he's made himself available that he's accountable. VISIBILITY DOES NOT EQUAL ACCOUNTABILITY. I have met with the mayor. He looks at you, doesn't hear what you're saying, and then goes on and on about what HIS vision is. He is not a good listener. That's evident when you meet with him and also if you see him fiddling with his phone while people are addressing him and the council and meetings.
Just because he's out in the community doesn't mean he's accountable. He enjoys the attention. I think he feels if he graces us with his presence, we are oh so lucky. He still did the whole SMI in a back room without input from the community. He does a lot of backroom stuff. That's how he works. He PRETENDS to be accountable by being visible. Not the same thing...at all.
Education- he's wasted a lot of time on something that has nothing to do with his office. We have a new school board (his cronies are off of it now, that goodness), and a new superintendent who is very proactive and making some serious changes. Kevin is the last person who should be dealing with schools. St. HOPE is all smoke and mirrors and if anyone were to research it (like I have), they would be astounded by the deceit and fraud. Not impressed....not related to the mayor's office.
Gang summit, homelessness? He did his usual thing, graced people with his presence and that should make everything better. Both were failures, both were just superficial in the end. What action came from the gang summit? What changed? Homelessness? That was a joke because he went to the media with his solution to have the homeless go to Mather and didn't even bother to check with the mayor of RC or Mather to see if that was feasable. He just wanted to 'appear' he had a solution. That's rather typical.
Crime- getting worse. We got federal funds by the skin of our teeth no thanks to him and his debarment from receiving federal funds. I don't think bragging about that is very wise. His ineptidue at running St. HOPE cost the city dearly by causing panic and having to incur the cost of trying to figure out what do do. This mayor has cost the city more money than he's helped get. Mostly by his SMI costs, and his debarment of federal funds costs.
Two successes- volunteerism and arts initiative. Great, but these are fluff to me in such difficult times. They are nice, but we have many other pressing issues that he should be spending time on. So these don't impress me much.
Have you ever heard of Narcissistic Personality Disorder? Perhaps you should look it up and it will help you know/understand just what type of person your brother is.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder
So Ronnie, just the usual smoke and mirrors. He's a performer like Arnold. He uses his charisma and his performing skills to fool everyone. Well, almost everyone.
Taking credit for the work of others seems to be the foundation that Johnson stands on. .
He's more hypocritical than a Senate Republican, and just as deceptive...
Comment: "Is Sacramento moving backward with K Street?"
Article: Paved-park movement
Turning pavement into pedestrian plazas is catching on nationwide, Haryati said, pointing to New York City's move last year to close parts of Broadway to traffic and open them to pedestrians. Mayor Michael Bloomberg said this month that the experiment was so popular, he was making the closures permanent.
San Francisco isn't trying anything close to that scale, but is instead using what Haryati called "urban acupuncture" - small, targeted changes.
Newsom will announce the list of plazas and parklets today at the city's newest plaza at Eighth and 16th streets. It and a plaza at Guerrero Street and San Jose Avenue have been in use since last fall but are getting their official mayoral ribbon-cutting today.
Most importantly the freedom from big bass and howling Harleys draws me to this area. Please do not change this.
Thanks Dale for bringing this concern to this forum.
Wish the mayor could ride a bike around town and feel the peaceful easy feeling it brings.
I think it has been pretty much established, that people who walk or stroll tend to stop in at interesting looking businesses. Drivers do just that--drive by. Free parking is a key however, so visitors can get out of their cars to stroll to see what might be of interest.