I am happy that the attendance was doubled from last year and I wish the Lions success this year. However, I do wish the Lions, Sac State, or whomever could notify the surrounding neighborhoods that they planned a fireworks display after the game. Around 10:20 PM the mortars sounded like something was coming through my front living room or my neighbors house blew up.

Can't wait to see the new space. Welcome the R Street Corridor Olivia, Trisha and Jaymes.

The project recieved a SACOG Community Design Grant in 2008 for $4.6 Million. The SACOG was comprised of roughly $4.1Million of Federal funds The federal money was TEA21 funding meant for streetscape enhancements. After the low bid submitted by Teichert construction, the project had roughly $1.5 Million left over that would have been returned to SACOG/Feds if not used. The CIty, CADA, and the Community quickly came up with additional improvements for the project. The project will still return almost $1.0 Million in unused Grant funds. The Federal Earmark from 2005 was used for a different segment of the project.

The Tracks will be flush with the roadway and will not be usable. Bikes will not be tripped up while riding in this area. The tracks are meant to be aesthetic treatment and for historic reference to the rail history similar to what was done for the Historic Santa Barbara Rail Station.

The essay did not state the source of the information. The purpose of my comment/clarification was to address the concerns and reactions to the information not to place responsibility of the error.

Not outdated but an error in the EIR.

Just a clarification to the essay. The lot at 16th and R is not designated for a parking garage. The lot is zoned office commercial and the land owner has always maintained that if something gets built there it will be an office building. Additionally, the timing to submit projects to SACOG has not been set. In the last Community Grant funding cycle, SACOG did review projects in the late fall but in other years its been in January and February.

Dale. A little clarification? Where did you get the $45,000 in resident contribution to the MBA PBID? Individual resident properties are exempt from the PBID. Income producing properties greater than 4 units pay into the PBID. I am curious to how you got that figure.

Bows and Arrows will be another great addition to the R Street Corridor!

The lot is leased for Valet Parking to Randy Paragary/Priority Parking. That has been the case for a few years. Only when Priority was hired to take over the lot fro Venue/R15 did the lot become fully a valet/pay lot. The two state offices lease both the parking lots on the corner of 14th and R as part of their office lease. There is plenty of on street parking around the area at night for typical evenings. Large club and concert nights at Venue did create overspill into primarily residential areas. There was plenty of off street parking to accomadate parking demand at 14th/15th and R that is underutilized such as the Hines Parking Garage at 16th and R. That garage is now open at night and charges for parking. CADA also built addtional off street parking at 15th and Q and will providing hourly parking at night and might do the same during the day. Like it was mentioned though free/open parking on private/public off-street lots poses a liability issue and those owners whether private or public have a right to make money off the lot.

I agree the lack of solid commitment financially from Sacramento most likely didn't help but just remember that the grant program only funded 6 out of 65 applicants.

Hey chuckle all you want but Mr. Burg is correct. Buses have not been succesful for short routes in the Central City. As in other Cities the Streetcar has proven to be a more popular urban transport than a bus because of the fixed route and better headways. The construction and operating costs are lower. Look it up. Lots of data out there on it. Streetcars will be smoother. No high speeds or major elevations changes than light rail. Streetcars, like the modern system in Portland,do have "gatekeepers". In other cities both tourists and locals use them to get from place to place. Meetings, lunches, etc.

Jim Knapp it is easy to make blanket statements when you don't know what you talking about or know who I am. CADA's interest is to remove the blight on the block while the property owner waits for a time to develop the site. We are responding to comments from area residents who wanted something done with the lot. This project fits exactly into what we were created to do in the Capitol and R Street Areas. A well managed and maintained parking lot will be much better than a fenced off, empty lot that only gathers weeds, trash, and complaints from area residents. If you had any idea about our history with community gardens you would shoot that idea down without hesitation, besides there is a community garden CADA built across the street. You don't live in the area and your dollars are not being spent on the lot so pipe down.

A couple comments to your post. 1. These are not speculative plans. These are engineering/construction plans for the streetscape. Granted the construction funding does not exist yet, but you cannot get funding for projects today unless they are at the ready to construct stage. 2. The property owners have state their intentions over the years . Fulcrum properties, who owns the old Crystal Ice properties hosted a community meeting a few years ago stating their intentions. The current state of the economy and Sacramento Market has put those plans on hold. As for the other side of the street 1600 block is owned by JB Management and they have always inteneded to build an office building for a state tenant or some other tenant. The former Orchard Supply site has some toxic issues that limit what can be developed on that site. The person in control of the site has not determined the best use or approach for it . 3. If you have a better process of getting a former industrial corridor, sandwich between existing residential uses, with a number of infrastructure and toxic issues, I would love to discuss them. Todd Leon 916-323-1272

Do not put much into the rendering, especially the buildings which are not part of the plan.

Marion. My explanation does not contridict anything that the RHI process is trying to accomplish. I have just decided that you just don't get it or don't want to, either way I won't spend the time going back and forth in this venue. If you want to have conversation about the MBA Marketing and Branding project, my offer still stands that you can contact me to discuss. tleon@cadanet.org or 323-1272.

The primary goal of the project, in a nutshell, was to capture the brand of Midtown, put an identity to it, and use that to market Midtown for living, playing, and working. We all love Midtown. We may have different perspectives and view of why we love Midtown, but we all agree that it is special. No matter what logo was created the fact is there was going to be opinions. Some people were going to love it and some hate it. I have heard both and everything in between. As I wrote above, the logo and slogan is intended to abstractly represent the diverse, creative, and independent spirit of Midtown. The logo has elements that can mean different things to different people and so far it has done that. The intent however was to represent the idea that we all have a different reasons for living or visiting Midtown and this is a home to free thinkers and vibrant souls. There is something for everyone. You "go your own way" in finding what Midtown means to you and where you find it. The scribble part of the logo represents the physical grid and the spirit of exploring the grid. I know some could say that it could represent the meandering way of finding parking in Midtown and I could relate to that too. That is one perception of the brand that we as a community can address in the future. Marion - I explained that we included a number or residents in this process. Previous MBA surveys were used as background information which included residents in them. The internal focus groups had business owners of which many lived in Midtown too. The external focus groups included many people who live or lived in Midtown. The external groups were recruited at random by the firm Elliot Benson. We actually spent a good portion of the time in the project committee meetings recognizing how important the housing aspect of Midtown has led to its current success. That housing mix brings different people with different perspectives. Each resident goes a different way in Midtown to express their ideas, shop, recreate, and just be an individual. That is the brand of Midtown. Eclectic. Hip. Vibrant. Dale - I guess I am not a memorable as I would like to be. We have met on several occasions and been in the same room for various issues regarding the Central City over the years. To answer your questions. 1. I don’t know why the names of the people in the focus groups matter, however if you want to contact me or the MBA we could go over that with you. 2. If we went through a very public process of finding the brand identity, we would still be where we are now….opinions both negative and positive. We also wanted to take a viral approach to the implementation of the Brand and that is hard to do when the creative process is a very public one.

Marion. As an MBA Board member and community development professional, I am disappointed in your choice to post this editorial without first speaking to the MBA's executive director or a Board member, like myself, who was involved in the recently completed Brand and Marketing project for the MBA. The Board did not forget the RHI process or the follow up with the task force. A number of factors led to delaying the task force follow through. The Midtown Ice Rink, Holiday activities, and other MBA priorities did not allow the small MBA staff (1.75 Full time staff) to get RHI Task Force groups up and running. I think we did lose the momentum created last fall and that is unfortunate. MBA spent a lot of money to bring the RHI group into Sacramento and it would be a waste time and funds not follow up with the implementation of the report. Board members like myself were aware of the delay and asking how we could get the process back on track. It is a priority on the Board's recently approved business plan. It was not just the neighborhood residents, like yourself, who participated in the RHI process that were calling for action. I chaired the Branding project for the MBA. The primary purpose of the MBA is to help businesses of Midtown, however the branding project was not to solely create a marketing for "visitors". One of the goals of the Branding project was to put an identity to Midtown that the entire community could embrace. We wanted the eventual logo and slogan to be something that everyone in Midtown (businesses, workers, visitors, and people who live in Midtown) could rally behind and bring us all together. We know not everyone will love the logo or the slogan but as a group we feel it captures the essence of the community. Lasty, the Brand project was created through a very professional process that utilized two Midtown firms to create the Brand Identity and a Marketing Plan with it. We included both internal and external focus groups, surveys, and a committee made of Midtown business owners. There are roughly 20,000 people who reside in the Midtown community. We can't include every person but we did include Midtown residents during process. At the end of the day it will be used in the Marketing of Midtown to attract visitors both local and beyond. That is a goal of the MBA and the Midtown PBID. Lastly, the attractiveness Midtown was the hard work of not just the residents but of businesses and land owners among many more stakeholders. It was a community effort.

Bike racks are on the way.

Suzanne - Great piece. Couple corrections though. The project is actually three blocks. Also the total project funding is $8.5 Million. The funding sources are as follows: $4.5 M from SACOG, $1.5 M from a Federal Grant, $1.0 M from the City, $1.5M from CADA. The budget includes full design, enviromental clearance, and construction.