Piles are growing at the city's old railyard. Inside the long-abandoned Southern Pacific railroad shops, there are piles of metal, wood, debris and contaminated junk. Up on roofs, white-suited, specially trained abatement workers are pulling up roofing material and roofing adhesive containing asbestos. Outside one of the shops lies a makeshift salvage yard. Georgia developer Thomas Enterprises and a contractor, Allied Environmental of Placerville, are three months into a $5 million cleanup of the historic "Central Shops," which will form the centerpiece of a 244-acre mixed-used district dubbed the Railyards. The developers envision the shops as the cultural heart of a district that will

At a news conference Thursday, Mayor Kevin Johnson introduced his "Rules of the Game" plan to build an arena and entertainment complex in Sacramento. It was held on the 25th floor of the US Bank building downtown, featuring panoramic views of the skyline with Cal Expo and the Sacramento Railyards in the background. Johnson's "rules" include coming up with a plan that doesn't depend on taxes, making sure the city is not a "stalking horse" for a deal elsewhere and utilizing experienced community members. He also announced that a task force will be established and that there will be an open call for proposals, with guidelines coming in the next few days. "I think it's time to reinvigorate a

Mayor Kevin Johnson brought up the possibility of a new sports arena in Sacramento at a press conference Tuesday. Johnson announced his top-three priorities are public safety, education and economic development, the latter of which a new sports arena could positively impact. Johnson reiterated that a new arena would be crucial not only in keeping the Kings in Sacramento, but also in terms of creating a "world-class" downtown. Currently, Arco Arena holds more than 200 spectator events each year. "We got a wake up call with the NCAA when they said we are no longer going to hold big-time college basketball in Sacramento because [we] have an outdated arena," Johnson said. Last week, after

Cleanup of historic Southern Pacific railroad shops is expected to begin late this month as the next phase of the Sacramento Railyards project kicks into gear. Hazardous materials including lead paint, asbestos, metals and other industrial toxins need to be removed from the shops, which were built starting in 1868. Georgia developer Thomas Enterprises has put the abatement project out to bid and expects to award the contract in the next few weeks, said Richard Rich, development director for the Railyards project. In its heyday, Southern Pacific practically owned the town. The railyards drove Sacramento's economy, and nearly a third of all the city's residents worked there. The shops lay

Given the state of the local economy, I wanted to share a press release regarding some encouraging news about The Railyards project.  Sacramento, CA – (Dec 3, 2008)  The developer of the 244-acre Sacramento Railyards project announced today that approximately 3,000 new jobs will be created in 2009 as a direct result of voter passage of Proposition 1C, the $2.8 billion Housing and Infrastructure Bond and Proposition1B, the $19.9 billion Transportation Bond as well as other local and federal infrastructure funds. The announcement comes as the Obama administration considers a federal economic recovery plan with a national infrastructure investment component and the Sacramento region copes w