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Wednesday, May 23, 2012
City Council likely to green-light R Street improvements
by Brandon Darnell, published on August 23, 2010 at 3:54 PM
Storyline: Local Government
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After months of delay, the project to improve R Street between 10th and 13th streets will move forward, pending City Council approval Tuesday.
Currently, that section of R Street lacks any uniformity in regard to curbs, street lighting and parking, said Tim Mar, supervising engineer for the Sacramento Department of Transportation.
The project will rebuild the curves, repave the streets and add defined parking spaces and street lighting.
Another facet of the project will be restoring the historical character of the area – which is mixed-use with some industrial, business and residential buildings.
The project was originally scheduled to start in spring, but since federal funding is financing it along with local funding – none of which is from the general fund – approval had to be gotten from Washington, D.C.
“It was quite a significant delay in getting that approval,” Mar said, adding that it took twice as long as normal due to administrative processes.
Staff is recommending the City Council award the construction contract of about $2.75 million to Teichert construction.
Darryl Hansen, estimating manager for Teichert’s Sacramento office, said he expects to break ground around Oct. 1 and finish the project by late summer, 2011.
Most of the work is concrete, as the street will be repaved with colored concrete, curbs will be built and the existing historic rail spur – currently partially paved-over – will be set off by cobblestones as part of the preservation of the area’s history.
Hansen said the project is a positive thing for the construction industry, which has been hard-hit in the past few years.
During the 36 weeks of construction, there will be times when streets are closed, but Hansen said keeping open access to local businesses is a priority.
“It’s critical to let the businesses have access,” he said.
Dino Grassini, manager of the Fox and Goose Restaurant on the corner of 10th and R streets, said he thinks the project will be good for business.
“We’re 100 percent behind it,” he said. “It will eventually benefit us, and it will draw more attention (to R Street) and bring more people down here.”
Mar said that in addition to the existing businesses benefiting, he expects more development in the area once the project is complete, including condo-type residences.
“We’re excited the project is moving forward,” Mar said. “It’s taken us probably at least five years to get to this point, and I think the corridor is going to receive a dramatic facelift.”
The City Council meets Tuesday at 6 p.m. at City Hall, located at 915 I St. The staff report for the R Street project can be viewed here.
Brandon Darnell is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.
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Anybody else remember this? Has the infrastructure issues been addressed already? Hopefully that is all straightened out before they put down a nice colored concrete roadway.
dshore - As of July 1 the City of Sacramento has been economically attacking the businesses and workers of Arizona because of the AB1070 bill passed by the Arizona legislature.
The Sacramento City Council strategy is that if they can put enough people on the unemployment line and cause enough businesses to close, then maybe that will force the Arizona legislature will repeal the AB1070 law.
There is no problem with citizen opposition to AB1070, or even for a city council to voice opposition (although I would argue that the city has more pressing matters at home). But it is quite another matter for a city council to use it's position to attack workers and businesses over the actions of their legislature.
Rob Fong initiated the Arizona boycott activity, and led the city council vote on the boycott. It is an embarrassment to his family small business legacy that he is now the leader of a policy of putting businesses and workers in the middle of political publicity stunts like this.
People in the Sacramento area are now out of work as a direct result of the Rob Fong initiated AZ boycott. And even more people in Arizona are out of work as a direct result of the boycott. These are facts that cannot be disputed.
You are clearly smart and I know that you understand that the express purpose of a boycott is to inflict economic damage in order to bring about a political change.
That is great that Rob may have helped your enterprise. That what a good city councilman should do and I applaud him for it.
But at the same time keep your eyes wide open and recognize that Rob Fong initiated, lobbied and voted for a measure with the express purpose of putting people out of work and damaging businesses. The measure has had an effect, with for example Sun State Equipment in West Sac (AZ parent company) having laid off local workers due to Rob Fong's actions.
Look at the list on my post below. There are many small businesses on this list, and each one has been directly damaged by Rob Fong's actions.
You seem to know Rob a bit. What do you think he was thinking when he decided to after business and workers? Was he naive and didn't think there are some real negative consequences? Or does he accept that unemployed workers, even local ones, are just unfortunate collateral damage?
To your point, it appears Rhode Island is doing the exact same thing with immigration checks at traffic stops, but did it in a much less confrontational way and has not drawn the boycotts and attention that Arizona has. So the fact that Fong and the others have not boycotted RI shows that they too are attempting to use the Arizona situation for a bit of political gain of their own. If its the "civil rights issue of our times" then you would think they would pursue the percieved injustice whereever it occurs, right?
That being said, I strongly feel that elected officials should not be waging economic war on other states using our public resources as weapons. It is just plain bad policy to use taxpayer resources to try to put innocent workers and businesses out of work. And it is a helluva bad precendent to set (what comes next?). And if Fong and the others pursued this for political gain as it appears they have, then it's even worse.
BTW, I saw a bit on the local news a couple weeks back that an equipment rental company in West Sac has lost all of its business with the City of Sacramento, because the parent company is incorporated in Arizona, and the company has layed off a number of workers as a result. Business is business and the city changes suppliers all the time... but to cause this kind of disruption to peoples lives just to make a statement to the Arizona legislature just seems like the most crass approach to local governance that I can imagine.
But I have to join Dinah's question: Why gang up on Fong? I've got my own issues with the man as a council member, but to say that he "HATES" small business really undercuts your credibility. Everyone knows it's not true.
Beyond that, do you really want everything you post on this site to be seen as written by "that guy who hates Rob Fong"?
Honestly, I'm just wondering. It's rhetorically interesting. You seem to be working at odds with yourself, and misrepresenting yourself in the process. Your call.
Interesting thread. I think new sidewalks and other structure on that section of the street is another solid step towards tying the whole R Street corridor together. It's positive news.
Firstly, If SacPress would provide a larger avatar I would expand the comment to “Rob Fong Hates Workers and Small Businesses” since they are of course the undeniable targets of any economic boycott.
Secondly as a constituent living in Rob Fong’s district 4 I think it’s worthwhile to focus commentary on the specific representative from my neighborhood. And I will point out I have no other beef with Rob Fong. District 4 is a built out area and there is not usually too much controversy here. In this light, Rob has provided decent service to his district constituents. But Rob is guilty of spearheading the boycott effort, and then continuing to press it until the mayor and others were on board. And do not forget that Rob alone had the “I don’t talk to voters” response to KOVR13 when questioned if his constituents were on board with his boycott decision.
Third, I would argue your point that “everyone knows” that Rob Fong isn’t a small business hater. KOVR13 was able to obtain the list of businesses being boycotted due to the council action. There are some big corps on the list like AT&T, IBM, and Petsmart, but overall I think we can agree that the majority of the companies on this list could be considered small businesses. The small business who most suffer from a Sacramento boycott are also the least likely to have any influence on the Arizona legislature to change AB1070. And these are not all just AZ workers either… I can confirm the company I saw on the local TV news story about laid off workers was Sunstate Equipment Co in West Sacramento. So yeah I think “Hates Small Businesses” is a pretty fair reading of Rob’s attitude when his actions, for example, causes Chuck’s Portable Services of North Highlands, CA with its 2 employees to lose a valuable Sac city contract (see hoovers link below). Can any reasonable person read this list of businesses and not surmise that Rob Fong is really trying to stick it to small businesses?.
There are a lot of readers who think Rob Fong and the city council should be commended for going after businesses like Sunstate Equipment and Chucks Portable Services, and I am sure to that crowd I am simply the guy that hates Rob Fong. But I have found a lot of people agree with the view that boycotting is simply wrong once they get more facts, and Rob Fong is probably the right political target for voter angst on the topic.
http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=58388190670&topic=16136
http://www.hoovers.com/company/Chucks_Portable_Services/csxkychy-1.html
AEROMARITIME AMERICA INC.
AIR-A-ZONA FLAG COMPANY INC
ALLIED WASTE SERVICES, #922
AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL SUPPLY INC
AMERICAN REFRIGERATION SUPPLIES INC
ASCENSION
AT&T
AT&T MOBILITY LLC
AT&T/MCI
ATLAS DISPOSAL INDUSTRIES, LLC
BEST EXPRESSIONS
BLIND DOG PRODUCTIONS LTD.
BOUND TREE MEDICAL LLC
BRACKETT AIRCRAFT CO., INC,
CAROLLO ENGINEERS
CHUCK'S PORTABLE SERVICES
CYLEX
EMERGENCY VEHICLE SOLUTIONS INC.
ERGOGUYS, LLC
E-S PRESS
EWING IRRIGATION PRODUCTS
EWING IRRIGATION PRODUCTS (SACTO)
FRONTIER
GLOBAL WATER
GPS INSIGHT, LLC
HORIZON
HORIZON DISTRIBUTORS, INC.
IBM CORPORATION
INSIGHT PUBLIC SECTOR, INC.
JAMES W. KESKEYS
JULIE ANN TAYLOR
KNOX COMPANY
KTEC EQUIPMENT & SUPPLIES
LENOVO INC
LINDA HENLEY-SMITH dba FOR THE GOOD TIME
MICHAEL SHOCKLEY
MLI TURBINE MANAGEMENT, LLC
MOBILE MINI INC.
MOBILE MINI, LLC - CA
MOOR PRODUCT INC dba GREENLEAF
MOTOR COP SHOP, INC.
NATOMAS CREEK LLC
NET TRANSCRIPTS, INC.
NEUTRON INDUSTRIES, INC
ONLINE SOLUTIONS
PETSMART
PROFORCE LAW ENFORCEMENT
PUBLIC SECTOR PERSONNEL CONSULTANTS INC
R&R PRODUCTS, INC.
ROBERTSON INDUSTRIES, INC.
SHIFFLER EQUIP SALES, INC
STANTEC CONSULTING SERVICES INC.
SUNDT CONSTRUCTION, INC.
SUNSTATE EQUIPMENT CO. LLC
TASER INTERNATIONAL
TELESOFT RECOVERY CORP
TRAFFIC RESEARCH & ANALYSIS, INC.
TRIM SOFTWARE INTERNATIONAL
TROXELL COMMUNICATIONS, INC.
TRUE WEST PUBLISHING
US METERING & TECHNOLOGY
WASTE MANAGEMENT OF SACRAMENTO
WESTLAKE REED LESKOSKY