Tuesday morning on Capital Public Radio's Insight, Sacramento Press and Jeffrey Callison caught up on last week's crazy City Council meeting, the end of Brew It Up! brewpub and the potential hire of a new city manager. There were fireworks at City Council over redistricting last week, with two members of the council introducing their own plans to compete with the four chosen by the citizen's committee out of the 37 that were submitted. Politics re-entered the picture as members tried to protect incumbents' districts. The arena financing discussion took an interesting turn this last week, when the Think Big Sacramento committee introduced the idea of selling some of the nearly 2,000 prope

City Planning commissioners gave the go-ahead Thursday to a residential building project at 24th and T streets that has been a source of contention between the developer and residents for months. The proposed two-building, five-unit residential apartment complex met opposition from neighbors almost as soon as it was proposed by developer Andrea Rosen last September, and the project has since undergone numerous changes in both concept and design. “It’s been over 10 months and staff put up with a lot of twists and turns on the route and destination,” Rosen said. “But I think this is an exciting, well-designed project, and it will add value to the neighborhood for decades to come.” Initial

My weekly Tuesday morning visit with Jeffrey Callison on Capital Public Radio’s “Insight” was full of news about changes in city leadership, plans for new bridges and changes at Midtown’s oldest yoga studio. The most important thing at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting will be the decision on a redistricting plan. We have taken several looks at this issue over the last few months, but tonight is the beginning of the end game. The final choice is Aug. 22, but now is the time to be heard. There were four or five finalists, with different complications – including potentially pitting council members against each other for reelection – and a couple of sure things, such as the consolidation

My regular Tuesday morning visit with Jeffrey Callison on KXJZ's "Insight" was full of transportation news, from the new airport terminal to the new Greyhound station to bikes, bikes, bikes! The new Greyhound station opens today, nearly a year ahead of schedule. This is a long-awaited change that should help both the revitalizing of the River District around Richards Boulevard north of downtown, and downtown itself, where the existing station has been a magnet for loitering, drug dealing and other crime. The building is also one of the "greenest" in the region. It will also be more convenient for people outside of the downtown area, since Richards is easily accessible by freeway to large

What: The Greenest Building Documentary Film, followed by a panel discussion on the connections between historic preservation, green building and economic sustainability. When: Monday, July 25 at 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM (Movie 7:00 PM, discussion panel 8:00 PM) Where: The Crest Theatre, 1013 K Street, Sacramento How Much: Free! Over the next 20 years, Americans will demolish one third of our existing building stock (over 82 billion square feet) in order to replace seemingly inefficient buildings with energy efficient “green” structures. Is demolition in the name of sustainability really the best use of natural, social, and economic resources? Or, like the urban renewal programs of the 1960’s, i

The first flights will take off Oct. 6 from Sacramento International Airport's nearly $1.1 billion Central Terminal B complex, officials announced Friday at the California State Fair. The airport expansion, dubbed “The Big Build,” was initially budgeted at $1.27 billion. It will replace a 44-year-old, far smaller terminal and will be completed seven months ahead of the originally scheduled opening. The complex was expected to start operating in March of 2012 when construction began in 2008. Hard economic times led Sacramento County Airport System officials to scrap plans for an airport hotel and a new parking garage. Airport officials chose an early October opening date so the new termi

Retail space on a prime Midtown corner is getting a lot of attention from restaurateurs after Spin Burger Bar suddenly closed there earlier this month. On Thursday, Rocklin resident Paul Singh toured the 2,800-square-foot store, where he and partners in Monsoon Indian Bar & Grill of Toronto are considering opening an Indian restaurant and bar by the same name. Many other restaurant owners have already checked out the space at 1020 16th St. Spin Burger's owner, SRO Inc., closed the restaurant's doors July 5, said commercial real estate broker Bobby Rich with Retail West. The Haines brothers, who own 33rd Street Bistro and several other area restaurants under SRO, converted a Bistro 33 at

The arena campaign committee, Think BIG Sacramento, hosted a four-county bus tour Thursday to spread the message that a new sports and entertainment facility will benefit not just the city of Sacramento but the entire region. The group released a "Capitol Corridor Impact Report" showing 55 percent of the people going to basketball games and other events at the Sacramento Kings' current facility come from outside Sacramento County. And almost 75 percent live outside the city, committee Executive Director Chris Lehane said Thursday at a press conference in El Dorado Hills. The report was compiled using three years' statistics from the National Basketball Association. Actual numbers of aren

Sacramento officials believe a new arena can be integrated with a future regional transit center in the historic downtown railyards – making this one of the country's most eco-friendly sports and entertainment facilities, Assistant City Manager John Dangberg said Tuesday. At Tuesday night's City Council meeting, Dangberg gave council members a status report nearly halfway into a 100-day technical review of a proposed arena. The $387 million project is on an expedited schedule to be in operation by May 2015. One of the most critical issues being reviewed is the need to coordinate construction of an arena with the previously planned transit center. Both structures would be built on a site

Tuesday morning's visit with Jeffrey Callison on KXJZ's "Insight" was full of some pretty good news, from the airport's new Terminal B being nearly ready to open, cars back on K Street and news of a proposed Firestone Public House to replace California Pizza Kitchen at 15th and L streets. The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors voted down an ordinance to close all the cannabis dispensaries in the county. Now a group of cannabis dispensary owners and stakeholders are proposing working with the county to create an ordinance similar to the city's, which allows dispensaries but regulates them. There are estimated to be as many as 65 dispensaries operating in the county, in addition to the

On Tuesday evening, the City Council will consider revising a local ordinance that will bring the city one step closer to seeing cars on K Street for the first time in more than 45 years. The revised ordinance will change a city code that has been in place since the early 1960s that defined the five blocks of K Street between Eighth to 12th streets as a “pedestrian mall,” closing it to vehicular traffic. “It was something that was happening in a lot of places back then,” said Denise Malvetti, department manager at the city’s Economic Development Department. “Cities were trying to replicate the suburban experience, and they created a lot of these pedestrian malls. It was a failed experime

Sacramento International Airport's nearly $1.1 billion Central Terminal B complex is expected to open this fall – months earlier than originally scheduled. When construction began in 2008, the terminal project was expected to cost $1.27 billion and was scheduled to open in spring of 2012. The project will open months ahead of that because of changes in construction plans due to the recession. Plans for a hotel and new parking garage were dropped to save money. A new garage will be built once there is enough need. Other cost savings were found during a simultaneous design and construction phase, , airport spokeswoman Gina Swankie said. The construction schedule was later revised to refle

New Sacramento Railyards Project Manager Fran Lee Halbakken said she became a civil engineer because she loves solving problems. Halbakken is now tackling challenges with one of the city's and country's largest redevelopment projects after starting in her new role June 27. At nearly 240 acres of combined private and city land, the railyards project is so big it will virtually double the size of the central business district. The key position was created at a critical stage of the massive undertaking. The private portion of the site has a new owner and the projects’ housing plan must be revised in light of the recession. Also, plans for a new regional transit center must be coordinated wi

Think BIG Sacramento launched an effort Thursday to recruit 1,000 people from Merced to Redding to rally support for a new arena. The arena campaign committee also announced plans to hold a public design contest for a space adjacent to the new facility as part of that effort. The committee is asking regional residents and community leaders to help spread information and gather supporters for the drive to build a new sports and entertainment complex, state Senate staffer Greg Hayes, a member of the arena committee, said in a Thursday morning press conference outside the MARRS Building at 1050 20th St. Later this month, the committee will announce full details of a contest that could enab

Jeffrey Callison and I discussed a number of local news stories on Capital Public Radio's Insight on Tuesday morning, including the transition between Sacramento county executives, a report on the possible benefits to the region of a new arena, new restaurants opening and a new exhibit at the California Museum.  Friday was the last day of work for more than 200 city employees, including 42 sworn police officers and other police department employees. We spoke with the three city council members who voted against the cuts. We spoke with the three council members who voted against the cuts and asked them why.  The recently renamed Think Big Sacramento (formerly Here We Build) arena committe

A new downtown arena could draw 3.1 million visitors to the central city each year and bring the region more than $7 billion over 30 years, according to a report released Thursday by an arena campaign committee. The 37-page report on an arena’s expected impact to the region was released to reporters at a press conference at the Sheraton Grand Sacramento Hotel. "In downtown Sacramento, there's a considerable economic boost, just by the fact that there really isn't a facility like that," said Cathleen Dominico, author of "The Economic Engine Report: An Economic Analysis on the Regional Impact of an Entertainment and Sports Complex," during the press conference. "If you can create a downto

When I visited with Jeffrey Callison on Capital Public Radio's Insight Tuesday morning, the news was better than usual: topics included the improved financial picture for the city regarding the redevelopment of K Street’s 700 block, a new Goodwill for downtown and news of Jackie Greene’s new band. After its unanimous approval by the City Council last week, Sacramento Press reporter Melissa Corker detailed the improved financial outlook for the development of the 700 block of K Street. With some new federal money secured, the city’s investment shrank from $16 million to $14.7 million, which means the city will now get about 40 percent of the return the block will stimulate, through taxes o

Final approval of the 700 block of K Street, a new executive for Sacramento County, local entertainment and building fees going up and a new park proposed for Midtown are among the topics discussed Tuesday by David Watts Barton and Jeffrey Callison on Capital Public Radio's Insight. Tonight's City Council meeting will include a vote on the final approval on the 700 block of K Street. It's gone through every level of approval and this means that they will be able, as Bay Miry told me, to do what we know how to do, which is build stuff. They're talking about 14 businesses on that block, including a tapas bar, a nightclub, restaurants and bars. This has the potential to transform K Street an

The Sacramento region will have to get creative to come up with a public-private financing plan that might work to build a new arena – possibly coming up with funding sources never tried in other cities before, a prominent sports financing expert said Thursday. Sacramento will need a unique financing model, partly due to the community's "limitations" in size and past efforts to gain voter support for public arena funding, Barrett Sports Group owner Dan Barrett told a crowd gathered for a town hall meeting at the Central Library. The media market is relatively small, which makes it less lucrative, and there aren't a lot of potential corporate sponsors here. Other challenges come from diff

Dads teach their kids all kinds of things – sometimes even skills that allow them to build shopping centers and redevelop historic properties as big as Globe Mills and Sacramento’s K Street Mall. When kids go into the family business, a father's ability to impart lessons gets taken to a whole new level. Sons who've followed their dads into development in three families say there are pros and cons to doing so – with the biggest benefits being the valuable instruction they've gotten from their fathers. Ali Youssefi was doing investment banking in San Francisco when he decided to return to Sacramento to join his father, Cyrus Youssefi, at his community development firm, CFY Development, In