Midtown’s Ride Your Own Way bicycle share program wrapped up its six-month trial period this week with an average of 20 bicycle rentals per week and plans to significantly expand it under a private company in 2012. “I think the bike share is a really great program to have in Midtown,” said Midtown Business Association Streetscape Program Manager Niki Fay. “It obviously gives people a way to get around businesses quicker and easier, and the environmental benefits are great.” The bicycle share program launched in June and provided two locations with six bicycles each that were rented to riders via automated systems. Similar programs are successful in cities such as Washington, D.C., Montre

A concept to develop a restaurant row that spills out onto a Midtown Sacramento alley has frozen in its tracks. Not someone who gives up easily, developer Aaron Zeff took a step toward the alley's future use by launching a new Saturday morning event, the Midtown Bazaar, last weekend. Zeff has been talking with city officials and prospective restaurant owners about creating an upscale culinary corridor on a Midtown alley near Memorial Auditorium. But that plan — one of three pilot alley projects announced last August — is not moving forward because financing and tenants are not yet available, Zeff said. "Restaurant row is on a holding pattern, like most other retail businesses," he said.

At its June meeting, the Midtown Business Association board discussed parking policy in Midtown Sacramento, and how MBA should address the issue. At the May meeting, City Manager Gus Vina discussed a proposed tax on private parking lots to raise city revenue. Aaron Zeff, owner of Priority Parking, expressed concerns that this would force him to raise prices, and hopes to find other alternatives. MBA discussed hiring a consultant to address parking issues, but instead decided to work with other central city stakeholders, including the Downtown Partnership, neighborhood residents, state offices, hospitals, and the city of Sacramento, to work on a consolidated parking strategy. As a neighbor

A marketplace of colorful stalls will take over one of Sacramento's busiest corners Saturday. Like an oasis in a concrete desert, a new public market called the Midtown Bazaar will spring up on a parking lot at 16th and J streets — across from the Memorial Auditorium and P.F. Chang's China Bistro — and flow through an alley into a cavernous old building for a few hours each week. At least 75 local vendors offering art and other goods have already signed up for the grand opening, to be held from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. With an indoor location measuring 25,600 feet, the market will be held year-round. The old garage at 1630 I St. sports old timber trusses, a mezzanine and roll-up doors in back th

The Midtown Business Association voted Wednesday night to kick in $20,000 toward nearly $400,000 in improvements for a prototype alley running from 17th to 18th streets between L Street and Capitol Avenue. At the same time, a three-unit condo building has been under construction since February next to that alley. Construction workers have created a shell containing three condos and a garage. Developer Jeremy Drucker is building the alley-front "Stitch" project as a three-year sales model for other property owners and prospective tenants. Facing Old Soul coffee roastery, the project sits at the back of a deep lot behind a house at 1717 Capitol Ave. The building is expected to be finished

Harv's Carwash will be scrubbing vehicles for charity — and only four cents profit per car — on tax day Thursday. On April 15, the Midtown car wash will donate $16.95 from every $16.99 full service wash to WEAVE, a local nonprofit set up to prevent violence against women. Owner Aaron Zeff said Tuesday he's not tweaking his nose at the IRS by holding the event. Harv's made local and national news last month when two Internal Revenue Service agents showed up to collect on an overdue bill. Zeff owed four cents in back taxes, but the bill had grown to more than $200 in penalties and fees. "We would never tweak our nose at the IRS. The men and women of the IRS have a job to do," said Zeff, w

Sacramento's restaurants are a clear reflection of the times, with high-end establishments taking a beating and fast food expected to continue to rise in 2010. As the recession continues, top-tier central city restaurants such as 55 Degrees and Masons have closed or begun transforming into more affordable dining. Similarly high-end chains, such as Ruth's Chris Steak House, just outside the central city, and Morton's The Steakhouse, and celebrated local establishments are reported to be in trouble. Casual restaurants have also been seriously hurt by the economy. But fast-food restaurants like McDonald's are expanding and the demand for "fast-casual" restaurant concepts is exploding. "Eve

The California Capital Airshow will bring more than Thunderbirds, Raptors and historic warplanes to the Sacramento area. The show is expected to draw at least 70,000 spectators and an estimated $7.4 million to the local economy, which would be on par with last year. The fourth annual airshow will be held Sept. 12 and 13 at Mather Airport, the former U.S. Air Force base. Organizers decided to schedule the event in late summer after last year's show was held on a cold, blustery March weekend. This year, Air Force Week. will be held in various locations around Sacramento the week before the airshow. Pilots and airplane enthusiasts aren't the only movers and shakers behind the airshow. The

 A ballet school run by the mother-daughter team of Pamela and Zara Hayes has relocated to a prominent Midtown building near Memorial Auditorium. The British former prima ballerina and her daughter, who followed in her dancing footsteps, just moved "Pamela Hayes Classical Ballet Training" to a vacant building at 17th and I streets last week. The ballet school's move to the block is seen by the property owner, Aaron Zeff, as a good fit with a restaurant row he's proposing to develop on the alley. The school left a temporary shared space at 1925 U St., on the outskirts of Midtown, for a place in the heart of the central city. The school had operated in Curtis Park for about 15 years before

A group interested in transforming alleys will present three prototypes to the Sacramento City Council Tuesday. A restaurant row concept is proposed to hold a mix of outdoor cafés just steps from Memorial Auditorium. Another could contain an alley-front condo sales model. The third would demonstrate the vision for alley hardscapeimprovements. The Alley Activation Committee is proposing three pilot alleys in Midtown. Two would stretch from 17th to 19th streets between L Street and Capitol Avenue in the Handle District, and a third is proposed for the alley from I to J streets between 16th and 17th streets. "It's thinking about the whole piece of how do people live and work in the city,"

The two Midtown alleys stand largely quiet and deserted, except for the occasional rumbling delivery truck and dumpsters crouched behind buildings. The alleys have a hidden, tranquil feel in contrast to busy streets they run between. A third alley holding the entrance to Old Soul coffee house gets more foot traffic and cars heading surreptitiously to and from a state parking garage. So many cars, in fact, that they rob the alley of that serene environment. One group has another vision for what these alleys could become. They see al fresco dining in an upscale restaurant row reminiscent of San Francisco's Belden Street. They see a small, affordable, alley-front condo building that doesn'