Newest articles on The Sacramento Press written by William Burg

The $250 Million Challenge: Downtown Streetcar Corridor

2013-03-29T06:36:54Z

Yesterday, Sacramento Press contributor Tony Sheppard challenged fellow readers and contributors to share what they would do with a theoretical $250 million, in a way that might bring a greater return than a basketball arena. I started writing a comment but, as often happens, it ended up being an article in itself. So here it is.

Step 1: Build the Downtown/Riverfront Streetcar: $130 Million.

Streetcars are often called "development-oriented transit" because they promote growth of transit-oriented neighborhoods along their right-of-way. Portland is the canonical example of a new city streetcar line spurring growth in the "Pearl" District, a mostly vacant industrial district until installation of a streetcar line, and today Portland's most densely populated neighborhood. Their investment of $89 million prompted $2.5 billion in private development. Tampa, Florida's TECO line has spurred $600 million in additional public projects and $700 million in private investment.

The cities of Sacramento and West Sacramento cooperated on a draft streetcar plan in 2008, and revised that draft plan in 2011, approving a route from West Sacramento's city hall over the Tower Bridge, north to the Sacramento Valley Station and the edge of the Railyards, back down K Street through the heart of Downtown, and ending up at 19th and K Street in Midtown Sacramento. The project had an estimated cost of $125-135 million. The Memorandum of Understanding between the two cities was updated at the most recent Sacramento City Council meeting, but was kind of overshadowed by other items on the agenda. One of the funding mechanisms suggested for building a streetcar line, used in Portland and other cities, is a parking management plan. Parking revenue is used to repay construction costs for streetcar lines, and market-priced parking encourages streetcar use and "park-once" parking by providing a way for people to get around a neighborhood without a car. This plan is ready to go, the city of West Sacramento has collected extra sales tax revenue for years in anticipation of a streetcar line, but Sacramento has not backed up our neighbor city with construction funds. By funding the process locally, we don't have to wait for future rounds of federal funding that might never arrive. By partnering with the city of West Sacramento, the city of Sacramento won't have to come up with those funds alone.

Step 2: Add market-rate housing along the right-of-way: $70 Million.

We're not the only city with a troubled downtown mall. Providence, Rhode Island's "Providence Arcade" was in even worse shape than Downtown Plaza--it closed completely in 2008 due to a lack of tenants. Providence Arcade was originally built in 1824 (older than Sutter's Fort) and is a National Historic Landmark, so rather than knock it down for a new project, they decided on a different strategy. With an investment of $7 million, they built 48 small-scale urban lofts (between 300-500 square feet) and 14 small shops, aimed at local businesses instead of conventional mall chains. Before the mall reopened, they had a waiting list of tenants twice as long as the number of available spaces.

Assuming we want to think larger than Providence, but use the idea as a model, a fund of $70 million could be used to create 10 times as many market rate small apartments and shops in existing buildings along the streetcar alignment. So they have a National Historic Landmark? So do we--in Old Sacramento. Most of Old Sac's ground floor shops are full, but about half of the upstairs offices are vacant. Old Sacramento's residential buildings, however, are almost always at capacity, suggesting a greater unmet need for housing. Old Sacramento's restored historic buildings and reconstructed buildings can fill vacant spaces with residents, bringing economic activity to the district and "eyes on the street" A streetcar that lets Old Sacramento residents easily serve basic needs without a car would also address concerns about lack of parking access and permits in their neighborhood.

Outside of Old Sacramento, there are many other downtown buildings along the streetcar alignment that sit vacant, including city-owned properties like the Plaza Building, or privately owned upstairs rooms currently sitting vacant like those above Procida Florist on J and 12th or Hamburger Pattie's on J and 17th, that could be reactivated by adding residents interested in small, efficient places to live in the downtown core. Today's generation of professionals actively seek homes in the heart of downtown, and new high-tech companies choosing headquarters look for facilities in emergent downtowns. They prefer urban neighborhoods where their prospective employees can find the amenities they seek, including housing within walking distance of the office.

In addition to 480 apartments, this project would pay for 140 small stores, with priority for locally owned businesses, to open along the streetcar right-of-way. These stores could go into the ground floor of currently vacant buildings, especially long-vacant and blighted spaces like the ground floor retail space of the Renaissance Tower at 8th and K Street, vacant for over a decade.

Complete the 800 K Project: $30 Million.

Across K Street from the Renaissance Tower is a vacant quarter-block at 8th and K Street, and three buildings at 8th and L Street, including the Bel-Vue Building. A proposal for this block was cut short by the end of redevelopment, but a portion of the $250 million (along with existing funding sources like the $5 million MOPA fund held by the City of Sacramento) could reactivate the dormant 800 Block project, to construct a new mixed-use building at 8th and K and rehabilitate the Bel-Vue. This project included both larger market-rate housing and smaller mid-income housing on the site. A recent article in the Sacramento News & Review mentioned the hesitance of banks to fund urban infill projects that don't meet the standard suburban mold, but a city fund to create these projects could provided needed construction dollars in a way that meets contemporary market needs.

Each new downtown resident spends a much larger proportion of their disposable income within the downtown district than a commuter or suburban visitor--at an approximate ratio of 20:1. 500 downtown residents, spending money in their own neighborhood, have an economic effect equal to 10,000 visiting suburban residents. But, in addition to their own spending power, the presence of an additional 500 or more new downtown residents will draw visitors. The stores opened to serve the daily and occasional needs of downtown residents will also serve the needs of visitors and commuters. Friends and family visiting downtown residents will also become patrons of downtown businesses, and recreation/entertainment venues will draw both local and regional customers. And these downtown residents are far more likely to work downtown, meaning they won't add more cars to our highways at rush hour.

Some may have noticed I haven't mentioned the Downtown Plaza property in this plan. That's because, geographically, it is probably the best spot for a sports arena and entertainment complex of some type. But a more economically healthy downtown, one based on mixed use instead of solely focused on drawing suburban visitors, will be much better suited to draw increased private investment and make a downtown arena economically feasible with a smaller ratio of public investment to private expenditure.

Disclosure: William Burg is President of Sacramento Old City Association.

Arena plan puts the 'king' in parking

2013-03-26T19:13:51Z

In order to build a downtown arena, Sacramentans will have to give up that which they hold dearest: free parking. The funding plan requires expansion of on-street metering downtown, and will increase parking rates at city lots. The arena’s presence dramatically changes the economics of private parking lots, in ways that threaten the main funding source for the arena.

By releasing the term sheet at the absolute last minute, on a Saturday night, followed by a Monday city holiday and a crashed City of Sacramento website, the opportunity for public review is so limited that it is effectively nonexistent. Three days is simply not enough time for a detailed look at the term sheet, but it was sufficient to find a major flaw in the funding plan.

Arena Construction Funded by Parking Plan

The city’s contribution to the arena plan includes $38 million in private land given to the arena developers, the $5 million in Sheraton MOPA Fund money, and $212.5 million in bonds to be repaid by future parking revenues.

What repays those future parking revenues? The city’s public-owned parking spaces downtown, both city-owned lots and street parking. Today, the city owns 5721 on-street parking spaces between F Street, P Street, Front Street and 17th Street, and 8580 spaces in city-owned lots and parking structures, for a total of 14786 city spaces. Of those 8580 lot/structure spaces, 3700 are inside Downtown Plaza and will be given to the developer. Some will be demolished, others will become a portion of a 1000 space “VIP” parking area inside the arena. 181 of the city-owned spaces are on Lot X, the city block between 3rd, Capitol, 2nd and N Street, and Lot Y, at 2nd and O Street near the Crocker Art Museum, with 85 parking spaces. This leaves 4,614 off-street spaces, or a total of 10,335 city-controlled parking spaces—30% fewer spaces than currently exist.

City Parking Supply Will Shrink—But Profits Expected To Triple?

The revenue generated by the city’s parking spaces (not just downtown, but citywide) creates a $9 million profit to the city. In order for the arena financing plan to work, it must generate enough money to pay off that $220 million debt in 35 years, and replace a portion of the $9 million in lost revenue that currently goes to the General Fund. A $220 million bond with a 35-year term and 5% interest requires payments of about $16 million per year. The “backfill revenue” chart on the Term Sheet assumes $3 million from increased parking revenue and $625,000 from parking revenue during ESC events. Thus, in order for the arena plan to break even, parking profits have to increase from $9 million per year to $20 million per year, with 70% as much downtown parking, effectively a tripling of parking revenue profits while losing one-third of the parking spaces that supply the revenue. The only way to accomplish that goal is to dramatically raise parking rates, and increase metered hours for the on-street parking spaces that represent more than half the downtown parking supply.

Metered Parking Hours Must Extend To Pay Debt

Currently, except in a few high-traffic areas like around Music Circus, street parking in downtown Sacramento is unmetered after 6 PM on weekends. This means that no revenue is generated at night or on weekends. In order to increase revenue and pay for those bonds, Sacramento’s street meters will have to run until midnight or later. Otherwise, arena visitors can park on the street without paying—at least, the first 5721 visitors to arrive downtown, minus spaces occupied by the cars of downtown residents. This practice is common in cities with high demand for parking spaces at night. Of course, visitors could always park farther from the arena, such as in Midtown, and walk downtown, if Midtown parking meters stop charging at 6 PM. If Midtown’s parking spaces get overly clogged at night, they might have to charge for late-night parking too, just to make space for Midtown visitors. And because there are more residents in Midtown than Downtown, most of whom do not have off-street parking, arena visitors will have to find spaces among Midtown residents’ cars and the cars of those visiting Midtown restaurants, clubs and theaters. There are only about 4500 street parking spaces in the Midtown business district, and a 2006 City of Sacramento parking study found that Midtown’s street parking at night is almost as crowded as Downtown’s street parking during the day.

Private Parking Competes with City Parking

Under the proposed arena plan, private parking lots will not have to pay any additional fees. At Thursday’s meeting at City Hall, City Manager John Shirey said that the term sheet will not include a tax on private parking lots. This means that, while an arena will bring much revenue to downtown Sacramento’s private parking lots, none of that revenue will go to pay off the new debt for the arena. Since public parking will become more expensive, private lots that charge less than city lots will draw customers. Because this plan makes parking lots much more profitable, property owners in the central city will have more incentive to convert their downtown properties into parking lots or parking structures, vs. new amenities like housing, retail or offices. Parking lots are a poor generator of city revenue, and a dreadfully poor use of premium downtown land, but if they bring the most immediate profit, parking will become the “highest and best use” for many downtown lots.

The term sheet also gives the new arena operators several downtown Sacramento properties for development, including 8th and K Street, the aforementioned Lot X, Lot Y at 2nd and O Street, and part of the 3700 Downtown Plaza spaces (presumably, about 1000 will not be demolished.) The instant profitability of downtown parking means that, rather than developing these lots, the ESC development team could create an instant, untaxed revenue stream by converting these areas into parking lots.

How Will Nighttime Metered Parking Affect Downtown and Midtown Businesses?

Few subjects in Sacramento are as delicate as the issue of parking. Businesses in downtown and midtown Sacramento generally do not have their own parking lots, and consider free street parking in the evenings essential to draw visitors downtown at night. Past plans to extend metered parking hours or restrict parking in residential areas near business districts inevitably meet enormous resistance from the business community, business associations, and downtown visitors used to parking on the street at night without charge. This would all change with an arena. Yes, there would be many more downtown visitors coming to the arena, but many who may have come to downtown or midtown events might choose to visit other neighborhoods if parking downtown (or midtown) at night means paying $20-30 in a parking lot, or even parking at a meter on the street.

How Can The City Limit Its Economic Risk?

The funding plan depends on people using city lots, rather than private lots, to generate revenue, but does nothing to ensure that those city lots will be used. It gives the developers large plots of downtown land but does nothing to ensure that these lots will not become new parking lots, as much a blight on the urban landscape as a vacant lot. There are three simple modifications of the term sheet that can increase city revenue, create a new funding stream, and help ensure that the lots given to the arena team have a higher and better use than parking.

First: Add an event surcharge to private lots within 1 mile of the arena, and place a moratorium on new parking lots. The arena will create massive new numbers of nighttime visitors and an enormous new income stream for private parking lot owners. In addition to the city’s spaces, there are about 30,000 spaces in privately owned lots and structures. Many sit vacant at night, but this new opportunity for evening business will open their doors. A 5% surcharge, like the surcharge proposed for arena events, means that parking operators that benefit from the arena’s presence will also contribute to its financing.

Second: Add a requirement that the ESC investors do not use properties given by the city for new parking lots. If these investors already plan on uses other than parking, adding the requirement that they not use them for parking is no loss to them. The lots closest to the arena site will become prime real estate for adaptive reuse or new construction, and a simple restriction on the site will help ensure that construction there goes vertical instead of remaining horizontal. The exception to this rule could be the three lots (Downtown Plaza lots, Lots X and Y) that are currently in use as parking structures. Charging the same 5% surcharge to the ESC operators mentioned in my first point will contribute to paying off arena debt—under the current agreement, the arena operators are not obligated to pay any new fees for use of these spaces.

Third: To protect Downtown and Midtown businesses and facilitate parking for their customers, create a citywide validation program for city lots and street spaces. This would work similarly to validation programs at Downtown Plaza: buy something at a Downtown or Midtown store or restaurant, and receive hours of validated parking at city lots. A citywide program will create uniformity and simplify a validation program. This will encourage people to use city lots or street parking, allow visitors to avoid some or all parking charges if they patronize central city businesses, and limit displacement of downtown business patrons by arena visitors.

Sacramento Deserves A Better Plan--And More Time For Public Review.

The proposed arena plan has many improvements over the 2012 plan. The arena has a better, more central location with access to highways, public transit and existing downtown amenities. The private investors are better capitalized, and willing to pay a higher proportion of the arena costs. But this plan’s fatal flaw is its dependence on a shrinking supply of parking, with no means to limit competitors for that parking supply. Parking will become more expensive if this arena is built, and free parking downtown will become a memory—this is an unavoidable consequence of the arena plan’s main funding mechanism. A parking surcharge for private lots, a requirement that ESC investors cannot turn their new properties into new parking lots, and a validation program for central city businesses can create a new funding stream, encourage development of vacant properties into something other than parking lots, and protect existing businesses. This reduces the risk to the city’s general fund and makes better use of city assets being given to the arena developers.

Without these three additions, the arena term sheet violates the city’s fundamental rules of engagement. It jeopardizes the city’s general fund, and does not make the best use of city resources. Tight deadlines and high pressure should not ease public scrutiny and detailed review of the term sheet. If such serious flaws can be found in the term sheet in only three days, what other unidentified and unexamined weaknesses does it contain? Sacramento deserves better than this.

Sources:
2006 DKS Associates’ “Sacramento Central City Parking Master Plan”

http://www.cityofsacramento.org/transportation/parking/central_city_parking/

2013 Sacramento arena term sheet
http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?meta_id=396718&view=&showpdf=1

Disclosure: William Burg is a Sacramento resident.

TDA Forum: Who is the Downtown Generation?

2013-03-18T08:44:59Z

On Monday, March 18, Turn Downtown Around presents a Public Forum, a discussion of how downtown Sacramento reached its current state, what its situation is today, and what can be done by regular citizens to create positive change in our urban core. I was asked to talk about how we got here. If we want to turn downtown around, this implies that, at some point, downtown Sacramento was going in the right direction. How did that Sacramento differ from the one we know today, and how can we recapture some of that spirit? What lessons can we learn from the past--both the mistakes to avoid, and the useful elements that we can use today?

[Note: Read the live blog of the forum as it happened here.]

The subject is broad, and impossible to cover fully in a 15 minute talk, but I will focus on the issue of housing. Downtown Sacramento once had about 30,000 more residents. During the 20 year period from about 1950 to 1970, the central city's population was halved, primarily from downtown, and has grown only slightly since then. Today, Sacramento's central business district has a population density of only seven people per acre, lower than suburban neighborhoods like Land Park or East Sacramento.

While still perceived as a "high density" neighborhood due to its enormous number of jobs and growing number of entertainment and dining venues, there are few housing choices available for anyone interested in living downtown. I'll talk a bit about why this loss of population was no accident, but deliberate policy, and what the consequences of those decisions were.

However, this talk isn't all gloom and doom. Over the past century, successive generations of Sacramentans came together downtown. It was a place to work, to celebrate, to meet friends, and a place to call home. Even when downtown Sacramento was losing its population and businesses moving to the suburbs, people still found reasons to be downtown. In an era when moving downtown was actively discouraged, some people fought the tide toward the suburbs and built communities and businesses in the central city. The call of city life brought them close to downtown, not just to visit, but to stay.

I'll share stories and photos from my most recent book, Sacramento's K Street, and new research and pictures from my forthcoming book, some that have never been presented in public before. They will include views of downtown Sacramento before the wrecking ball, and the stories of local entrepreneurs, artists, musicians, thinkers and innovators.

Younger visitors to the Forum will see images of Sacramento history that aren't mentioned in the standard narrative (the one that considers little outside Sutter's Fort, the Gold Rush and the Transcontinental Railroad worth mentioning.) Older visitors will see a Sacramento they might remember, one that is almost forgotten, but whose memory is still alive.

And then, we'll ask the question, where do we go from here? If you are interested in the question, and want to help find the answers, we'd like to hear from you.

Turn Downtown Around Open Forum

Monday March 18, 6:00 PM

Downtown Plaza--enter on L Street beween 5th and 6th (go up the escalator) or from K Street via the rotunda (turn south through the doors when you reach the 6th Street rotunda at the kids' play area.) All are welcome to attend--of every generation.

The Sacramento Press will live blog the forum. Join in via Twitter with the hashtag #LetsTDA.

Disclosure: William Burg is a freelance writer and historian, and part of the "Turn Downtown Around" committee.

The Great Prune Bear

2013-02-21T05:54:43Z

During the late 19th and early 20th century, American cities showed their stuff by holding elaborate fairs. They showcased the host city with specially designed fairgrounds and elaborate exhibits. First popular in the mid-19th century, they reached new heights with the Chicago Columbian Exposition in 1893. National in scope, these fairs featured exhibits from around the country. Trends in architecture, agriculture, transportation, entertainment, technology and urban planning were set at these fairs, and a successful fair could bring great honor, investment and migration to the host city. In 1904 and 1905, two separate but related fairs were held in St. Louis, Missouri and Portland, Oregon. California was well represented at both events, and one of the most memorable exhibits was the “Prune Bear” provided by the Sacramento Valley Development Association.

The 1904 St. Louis fair was held to honor the centennial of the Louisiana Purchase, an event that became the setting for the 1944 Judy Garland film Meet Me in St. Louis. During this era, California was still establishing itself as an agricultural powerhouse. After the Gold Rush and Comstock silver rush waned, California settlers realized the enormous potential of California’s fertile soil and other natural resources. Those who came to get rich quick and failed found work as farm labor, and those who did get rich often reinvested their profits into massive industrial farms and agricultural processing facilities. Only two million people lived in California, but our agricultural output was prodigious. The San Francisco Bay Area was known for its orchards, and the citrus crops of Los Angeles were already becoming symbols of California’s true gold. Irrigation and levee improvements in the Central Valley facilitated a transition from cereal grains to fruit and vegetable production, and California’s fledgling wine and beer industry was just starting to make a name for itself on an international scale.

At the 1904 fair, Santa Barbara County built a tower 100 feet tall of olive oil containers. San Francisco’s “California Fruit Canners Association” created a display of canned fruit, meats and soups, while the city of Redlands provided a display of jams, jellies and marmalades. Los Angeles County, the state’s leading agricultural producer, built a booth resembling a Mission style building of enclosed plate glass counters of crystallized fruits, canned and potted meats. California’s dairy regions sent life-sized statues of women and animals sculpted from butter and cream cheese. Santa Clara County, the state leader in plum production, also built a Mission style display of prunes and apricots. They drew visitors by giving away free samples of California prunes, and a pamphlet of prune recipes, to every visitor. Word of the free prunes spread throughout the fair, causing a “run” on the Santa Clara exhibit, which was soon exhausted of its stock.

In 1900, representatives of the 12 counties making up the greater Sacramento Valley formed the Sacramento Valley Development Association to market the valley’s agricultural products. Each county sent one director, and Sacramento, the urban center of the region, was always strongly represented. The Sacramento Valley display at the 1904 fair showed the full bounty of the valley’s agricultural products, but its centerpiece was a life-sized model of a grizzly bear reared up on its hind legs, made of prunes. The “Prune Bear” had gleaming teeth and flashing electric eyes, attracting visitors to enter the exhibit. Visitors were given a folder of information promoting the advantages of the Sacramento Valley and could enter a contest, guessing the number of prunes used to construct the bear. Winners took home large boxes of choice prunes. This much-maligned fruit already had a bad reputation, and the term “full of prunes” was considered the equivalent of “full of hot air,” but marketing efforts like the Prune Bear and Santa Clara’s mission display were intended to popularize the product and also the regions where they were grown.

In 1905, Portland hosted the Lewis and Clark Centennial Exposition, a bookend to the 1904 fair commemorating the famed American explorers’ arrival on the west coast. California was well-represented at this fair too, subsidized by $100,000 from the California state legislature. A special California building was designed with four entrances, each designed to resemble a different California mission. Many of the 1904 exhibits were duplicated, while others were embellished. Alameda County brought a display of their fruits and vegetables. San Francisco provided displays of Spreckels sugar and a 20 mule team made entirely of borax by the Pacific Coast Borax Company. Pacfic Portland Cement Company built a concrete fountain simulating the Vernal Falls, with running water. Los Angeles sent a display of game ducks, leather and citrus fruit. Santa Clara County recreated their popular Prune Castle, featuring San Jose’s “Fig Prune Cereal Company.” Ventura County sent an elk made of dried beans, and the Southern California Walnut Growers’ Association built a dramatic life-size elephant made entirely of walnuts. The creative architecture and sculpture made of California foodstuffs seemingly garnered more attention and praise than Gladding-McBean’s display of their legendary terra cotta tile. Olive companies from Oroville, Oakland and Ojai displayed their oils, coordinated by the Los Angeles Olive Growers’ Association. A temple to Baccus showcased California wineries, including Sacramento’s J.H. Hayden strawberry wine and California Winery’s “Cordova” brand (bottled at 21st and R Street), endorsed in 1905 by President Theodore Roosevelt. Southern Pacific Railroad provided discounted rates for exhibits traveling to Portland, and the California railroad giant had its own display, featuring photographs of its national railroad network and the mighty machines produced in Sacramento’s own Central Shops and Sacramento Locomotive Works.

According to the final report of California’s participation in the Portland fair, Sacramento County featured more items than any other county display, including a model hop farm constructed of hops by Lovdal Brothers of Sacramento, a pyramid of beer bottles from the Buffalo Brewery in the shape of a giant beer bottle, a 12-foot high mural of the Great Seal of California made entirely of beans, and a model of the California State Capitol constructed of nuts. Other Sacramento products included Pioneer Pickle Works pickles, Capitol Paste Company’s pasta, and T.H. Burden Company’s “Grandma’s Pepper Sauce.” In the California Building’s central rotunda, guarding the Capitol Building model, stood a new Great Prune Bear. In addition to its electric eyes, the 1905 Prune Bear featured a “graphophone” in its jaws (an improved Edison gramophone that played wax recording cylinders.) Reports do not document whether the graphophone played music, spoke a pre-recorded speech, or simply emitted bear-like growls, but the speaker is clearly visible in photographs of the 1905 bear.

After the Fair, some of the displays, photographs and exhibits were stored at Sutter’s Fort for use in future fairs and exhibits. The life-sized elephant made of walnuts was moved to the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce building, where it stayed for many years. Others were more temporary in nature and either disassembled, discarded, or perhaps eaten; those made of butter or cream cheese probably just melted. The fate of the Great Prune Bear is unknown, but its legacy remained, as it was one of only a few displays of the 1904 and 1905 fairs photographed for stereograms and other publications reporting on the Fair. Newspaper reports and later accounts of both Fairs often mentioned the bear, so while its existence was ephemeral, many found its regular presence at both fairs profoundly moving.

(Note: This story was inspired by Andrew Weymouth of “100 Tacks,” a radio documentary based in Portland, Oregon. He contacted Sacramento County Historical Society via our voicemail line, asking for more information on the Prune Bear. I had never heard of it, but curiosity sent me on a wild goose chase to find the story behind this strange chapter of Sacramento’s marketing history.)

Hear the radio show "100 Tacks" online via Soundcloud here:

More information about the "100 Tacks" radio show and more images of the Bear and its fair: http://onehundredtacks.tumblr.com/post/43604935341/the-great-prune-bear-first-set-of-accompanying

Disclosure: William Burg is vice-president of Sacramento County Historical Society.

Sacramento Heritage Dessert Tour

2013-02-01T07:13:10Z

Join Sacramento Heritage, Inc. on Saturday, February 9 for a "Dessert Tour." This two-hour stroll through Midtown Sacramento's residential and business district will visit architectural treasures, share stories of the city's past, and include delicious desserts from four of Midtown's most popular purveyors of sweets. Proceeds benefit Sacramento Heritage Inc., a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to protecting and maintaining Sacramento's architectural treasures.

For fans of historic architecture, the tour will feature a look at Midtown Sacramento's diverse architectural styles, including 19th century Italianate and Queen Anne, early 20th century Craftsman and revival styles, and even Mid-Century Modern apartment buildings. Those interested in local history will learn about Sacramento's first streetcar line, the first permanent home of the California State Fair, and why midtown Sacramento has a railroad running through the middle of the neighborhood. But a neighborhood is more than just buildings, so the tour will also explore the lives and stories of some of the fascinating people who lived in these neighborhoods, including tavern owners, doctors, department store executives, real estate developers, mad widows, and many more. Board members of Sacramento Heritage Inc., including local historian William Burg, will lead the tour.

This two-hour stroll will cover approximately two miles on foot, including four stops for dessert, including Midtown Village Cafe, Rick's Dessert Diner, Trey B Cakes and Devine Gelateria. A dessert at each stop is included in the tour price.

Tickets are sold via BrownPaperTickets.com and must be purchased in advance, no later than Thursday, February 7. The tour costs $30 and is open to all ages. The tour is limited to a maximum of 30 people, so buy your ticket before they run out!

Sacramento Heritage Dessert Tour: Saturday, February 9, 2013, Noon-2 PM

Tour begins at Midtown Village Cafe, 1827 I Street, Sacramento.

Advance ticket purchase is required by Thursday, February 7!

Purchase tickets at: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/299059

Sacramento Heritage, Inc. was incorporated by the City of Sacramento in 1975 as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation governed by a nine-member volunteer board of directors appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the City Council. The board includes representatives from the City’s Preservation Commission, Planning Commission, Housing Code Advisory and Appeals Board, and the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Commission, in addition to at-large members with expertise in preservation, history, housing, construction and finance. Since its founding, the organization has helped provide grants and loans to historic properties, conducted historic property surveys, sponsored preservation workshops, conferences and events, and has produced walking tour brochures of many of the City’s historic districts. For more information about Sacramento Heritage, Inc., please visit our website at http://www.sacramentoheritage.org

Disclosure: William Burg is a board member of Sacramento Heritage, Inc.

Where did the downtown population go?

2013-01-03T07:19:19Z

Many who visit downtown Sacramento note that, on evening or weekends, it seems like a ghost town. There is little pedestrian traffic, and most businesses are closed. In some ways, downtown Sacramento became a ghost town when half the central city’s population was forced to leave, and their homes were destroyed. Perhaps the ghosts of 30,000 former residents wander the streets, wondering what happened to their downtown neighborhood?

The drop in Sacramento’s downtown population after 1950 is easy to see using census data. The US Census tracks population down to the “Census Tract” level, neighborhood-sized chunks of about 4,000 people. In 1950, the portion of Sacramento now known as “the grid,“ or “downtown” and “midtown,” the rectangular zone from the Sacramento River to Alhambra Boulevard between the B Street railroad levee and Broadway was often called the “Old City,” the original city limits.

Fourteen census tracts are within this boundary, numbered 4-14 and 19-21. In 2010, three census tracts (9, 10 and 11) combined into Tract 11.01. The information in this article was derived from United States Census reports, and a paper by Prof. Robin Datel and Dennis Dingemans, “Historic Preservation and Social Stability in Sacramento’s Old City,” published in Urban Geography, 1994.

Downtown in 1950 – 58,000 people

In 1950, the Old City held more than 58,000 people, representing almost half of Sacramento’s population of 138,000, and about a quarter of Sacramento County’s population of 277,000. State government was not Sacramento’s largest employer then. Most worked in the massive Southern Pacific locomotive shops and railyards just north of downtown, the Western Pacific main shops in Curtis Park, or one of the enormous canneries, mills and other factories along the Sacramento waterfront, R Street and the city’s north edge.

About 5,000 migrant workers lived along the waterfront, where hiring halls connected laborers with farms throughout the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys; about 15% of California’s agricultural hiring was done there. Sacramento’s streetcar system ended a 75-year operating history, with the last streetcars taken out of service in 1947. Sleek new General Motors buses replaced the streetcars in the same year, but an upsurge in private automobile ownership was already clogging downtown streets.

The most heavily populated tract was Tract 7, the old “West End” that now includes Old Sacramento and Downtown Plaza, with 5,866 residents. Most were the aforementioned migrant workers and the population of Sacramento’s Chinatown, nearly 80 residents per acre. Southside Park (Tract 21) was a close second with 5,832 residents, followed by Mansion Flat and Boulevard Park (Tract 5) with 5,426 and Tract 12 (around Fremont Park, south of Capitol between 12th and 21st) with 5,376. Each of these four residential tracts averaged about 40 residents per acre. Tract 8 (Capitol to R Street, river to 7th), with 4,467 residents, was the home of Sacramento’s Japanese neighborhood, whose residents had recently returned after internment during World War II. This tract also included much of Sacramento’s African American community, tripled in size during World War II, filling jobs, homes and businesses vacated by the Japanese during the war.

The smallest tract was Tract 10, H and Capitol between 7th and 12th, the neighborhood Downtown Sacramento Partnership calls “The Kay,” with only 1,338 people in 25 blocks, or about 21 residents per acre. Tract 10 was the heart of the business district, filled with department stores, movie theaters and office buildings, so those 1,338 residents were crowded into dense apartment buildings and residential hotels.

Overall, there were 19,318 “housing units” in the old city, including single-family homes and apartments, but often not counting boarding houses or residential hotels. 27.8 percent of these housing units, about 5,000 homes, were owner-occupied. The remaining 72 percent were rentals. By comparison, 63 percent of Sacramento County’s households were owner-occupied in 1950.

Major changes were in store for downtown Sacramento. Massive federal highway projects were underway, and millions of returning World War II veterans were eligible for subsidized home loans. These loans were often not usable in downtown neighborhoods, considered “redlined” and thus unsuitable for FHA or VA loans. Redlining discouraged investment and depressed property values because they were considered a higher risk for home loan default. Redlining was the result of several factors, the most important being the race of a neighborhood’s residents. Between 1949 and 1954, a series of federal laws were created to address the problems of downtown districts, commonly called “redevelopment.” The mid-1950s included a unique method of paying for redevelopment, called “Tax Increment Financing,” a means of paying for construction via bonds to be repaid by the increased future property value of redeveloped land. Sacramento pioneered tax-increment financing on an urban scale as a way to pay for redevelopment projects.

Downtown in 1970 – 27,000 People

Redevelopment was originally intended to replace substandard housing in America’s downtown slums, but the policies of redevelopment changed quickly. Few redevelopment projects were executed until 1954, when the requirement that housing within a redevelopment zone be replaced within the same zone was removed — a neighborhood’s families could be relocated elsewhere and the properties converted to commercial use. Instead of focusing strictly on the worst slums, the term “blight” was used to describe neighborhoods that were not slums, but those likely to become slums. Redevelopment zones often became the site of major public landmarks, high-profile business districts and retail areas, like the St. Louis Arch or San Francisco’s “Japan Center,” but these projects generally displaced most or all of the neighborhood’s original residents.

This was the case in Sacramento, where the densely populated West End and Japantown neighborhoods were emptied to make way for Capitol Mall, state office buildings and private commercial buildings, the K Street pedestrian mall, Downtown Plaza, and Old Sacramento. Construction of Interstate Highways 5 and 50 removed entire rows of city blocks, displacing more people and destroying homes. The Southern Pacific and Western Pacific Shops remained open, but required less manpower as the railroads converted from steam to diesel-electric locomotives, and railroad passenger travel slowed dramatically.

As the canneries and other industries along the waterfront docks relocated to the Port of Sacramento in West Sacramento or other sites outside the city, industrial jobs within the city disappeared, and the homes started to disappear too. Between the 1950 and 1970 census, Sacramento’s central city population dropped to 27,205, a loss of over 30,000 people. Hundreds of small apartment buildings replaced older houses, intended for entry-level employees of the expanding state government or Downtown Plaza.

Downtown was not considered a place where any sensible person would want to purchase a home or raise children, so virtually no new single-family homes were built during this era. The number of housing units dropped to 16,522, despite the new apartment buildings, due to the demolition of thousands of single-family homes and older apartments. Owner-occupied housing dropped to 13.3%. Some neighborhoods were replaced with parking lots, offices or garden apartments. One project, Capitol Towers, was constructed as an example of things to come — a “superblock” of low-rise apartments with a mid-rise tower at its center, leaving no trace of the city neighborhood it replaced, and a total capacity of about 25 percent of its previous population.

The most dramatically altered neighborhood was Census Tract 9, between Capitol and R Street from 7th to 12th, where the population of 2,388 dropped to only 120. Tract 10, “The Kay,” dropped to only 120, losing more than 90 percent of its population. The old West End still had 1,131 residents, in part because of Sacramento’s main jail, whose several hundred residents were counted in the census, but the neighborhood lost almost all of its residents not behind bars. Even the neighborhoods least affected by redevelopment like Newton Booth/Poverty Ridge (Trac t 19) dropped by one-third, from 4,353 in 1950 to 2,823 in 1970, due in part to Highway 50 demolishing blocks between W and X Street. Tract 14, now the heart of Midtown (between H and Capitol, 21st to Alhambra) lost half its population, dropping from 4,216 to 2,176.

By contrast, Sacramento’s city and county population exploded during this period. By 1970, Sacramento County’s population had more than doubled to 631,498 and the city grew to 257,105. Downtown went from nearly half the city’s population to less than 10 percent in less than 20 years.

Downtown in 1990 – 31,000 people

Between 1970 and 1990, the tide began to turn. Abundant postwar funding for federal projects like highways and redevelopment dwindled away in the wake of the Vietnam War and economic recession. Efforts to save the Alhambra Theatre from demolition, while unsuccessful, helped ignite interest in restoring and repairing Sacramento’s architecture, including its residential neighborhoods spared the bulldozer and wrecking ball. Young people, including college students, counterculture hippies and a newly empowered gay and lesbian community, moved to the central city seeking inexpensive rent and a more tolerant atmosphere than the suburbs.

A new generation of state workers who wanted to live closer to their workplace began buying up dilapidated homes, sometimes using credit cards as the homes were still redlined, and formed a club to exchange tools and techniques for restoration of older homes, the Sacramento Old City Association. The city’s first preservation regulations slowed the demolition of older homes and promoted incentives to fix them up. Redlining eventually became illegal, and people could once again purchase central city homes using conventional home loans. The newly formed Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) slowed the demolition of downtown apartments south of the State Capitol and created a limited amount of new housing, and Sacramento’s first clusters of low-rise condominiums popped up on long-vacant parcels along P and Q Streets, in the shadow of downtown office buildings of the previous decades. In 1987, electric railroads returned to Sacramento streets via Sacramento Regional Transit’s first “Light Rail” line.

The gains of this era were modest. Tracts 4 and 5 (Marshall School/New Era, Boulevard Park/Mansion Flat) became the most populous districts with 3,939 and 3,754 people, still well below their 1950 levels, because fewer homes were demolished (except along 29th and 30th Street, where the Capital City Freeway stood.) The central city’s population grew 5 percent during the 1970s and 11 percent during the 1980s. Tract 9 was still the least populated with 275 residents, up from a 1980 low of 69 people. Alkali Flat lost several hundred due to expansion of Crystal Dairy’s industrial facilities and new Sacramento County administration and courts buildings. The rate of ownership housing dropped to 11.1 percent in 1990. Housing units increased to 18,512, an increase of about 2,000, primarily small apartment buildings, public/senior housing, and a few low-rise condominiums like the Stanford Park townhomes at 16th and P Street.
The city of Sacramento’s growth continued at a slower rate, reaching 369,365 by 1990, and Sacramento County’s population rose to over 1 million. Only 3 percent of Sacramento County’s residents called the Old City their home in 1990.

Downtown in 2010 – 30,000 people

Despite the growing interest in Sacramento’s central city and some new infill, the population of the Old City has lost about 2 percent of its population in each of the past two decades, with a population of 30,544 in 2010. Some of this loss may be attributed to gentrification and rising property value, and the loss of hundreds of inexpensive SRO rooms. Sacramento’s central city still has a large quantity of affordable rental housing compared to most other Sacramento neighborhoods, intermixed with more expensive apartments and even more expensive ownership housing. This has created neighborhoods of mixed incomes that preservation economist Donovan Rypkema calls “economic integration.”

Census Tract 7 saw a boost in population when the new Main Jail was completed, holding 2,400 inmates, but adding little residential vitality. In 2010, 2,806 people lived in Tract 7. In addition to the jail, there was new housing constructed in Old Sacramento (the iLofts and Orleans). Despite a few well-publicized efforts to build new residential condominiums (the Saca Towers at 3rd and Capitol) and the Daniel Libeksind designed “Aura” at 6th and Capitol) there was little residential growth in Census Tract 7.

In 2010, census tracts 9, 10 and 11 were combined into a single tract, 11.01, reflecting the permanent loss of residential population. In 1950, 6,530 people lived in these three tracts combined, but in 2010 only 2,047 called Tract 11.01 home. This tract saw an increase of only about 150 residents between 2000 and 2010. Marshall School/New Era Park still led the central city in residents with 3,667 people, but Mansion Flat/Boulevard Park was overtaken by Tract 12 around Fremont Park, from 12th to 21st between Capitol and R Street, with 3,323 residents. New CADA residential projects, and lofts like the 14th & R building, increased the population of this tract. Despite this limited growth, none of the central city census tracts comes close to the population it had in 1950.

The number of owner-occupied units dropped even more, with only 2,015 units (including condominiums) in 2010, of 20,129 residential units — an ownership housing rate of just over 10 percent. Compared to 1950, when ownership housing was 27.8 percent, there were about 5,300 owner-occupied homes — now there are only 2,015 owner-occupied homes. Despite the reputation of neighborhoods like Midtown and Southside Park as districts of single-family historic homes, they are a tiny minority of the housing stock, while 90 percent of the housing is rental.

While the loss of 30,000 downtown residents had a profound effect on downtown, the population of Sacramento always grew decade after decade, primarily due to annexation and new suburban construction. Cities like St. Louis and Detroit lost more than half a million people during the same era, greater than the entire population of Sacramento! Downtown Sacramento has an extremely high jobs/housing balance, with three times as many people working in the central city as it has residents, a figure which is responsible for crowded commutes during the weekdays but a relatively unpopulated downtown at night. Midtown and Downtown are regional destinations for nightlife entertainment.

But while Midtown’s clubs are as well-attended by neighborhood residents as visitors from other parts of the region, Downtown has almost no residential base to support local businesses, and the perception of the central city as a nightlife hub has caused friction between business owners and neighbors. There has also been an increase in crime, including several high-profile homicides.

Downtown in 2030 – ???

Urban planners, civic boosters, business leaders and real estate developers look back at historic photos of K Street at its peak and lament downtown Sacramento’s loss of urban vitality. Some blame the demise of the downtown business district on the 41-year period when K Street was a pedestrian mall, but that was a desperation measure, as downtown Sacramento’s businesses were already suffering by the 1960s. Some claimed that highways would be the savior of downtown, but they made the central city as easy to leave as it was to enter, and easier still to avoid entirely, while the highway’s path destroyed thousands of homes. Some blamed a lack of parking, but the parking demands of 90,000 commuters from other parts of the region already fills tens of thousands of parking spaces, while downtown residents need not own a car at all if they work in the same neighborhood.

The missing factor in the downtown equation is people. Once people were removed from downtown, either willingly or unwillingly, few had any reason to return, and the businesses they supported closed. Until there is sufficient housing for thousands more central city residents, downtown Sacramento has little hope of revival, and even the encouraging signs of recent successes are vulnerable to the next economic downturn or political shift. Residents bring economic stability and political representation to a neighborhood; if Sacramento’s central city still contained 58,000 people, it would have sufficient population to comprise its own City Council district.

Midtown also lost population, but enough remained for restoration by community activists, small businesses and neighborhood residents. Visitors are more comfortable in a neighborhood where people are visible on the street, and are encouraged to join in the neighborhood by friends and coworkers. Today, there are apartments for rent and homes for sale (if limited in number and often high in price) in Midtown, and despite its problems, it is considered a desirable and expensive neighborhood, held up for other cities to emulate. But downtown Sacramento has very little rental housing, and virtually no for-sale housing. Its empty streets are less comfortable for visitors, and there are few downtown residents to encourage their friends to come visit. The sites of boom-era residential condo towers Capitol Towers and Aura sit vacant, while the sites of entitled but still unfunded buildings like the Metropolitan at 10th & J and the Cathedral Lofts at 11th & J prevent use of existing building stock, leaving blocks to sit vacant and unused for untold years. These placeholders for nonexistent buildings present downtown visitors with the impression that these blocks have been simply left to rot.

Could Sacramento’s downtown be back up to 58,000, or even more, by 2030? It is possible, but details of how to do that will require another article. By regaining its lost population, downtown Sacramento could once again become a vibrant, lively central city. There is room downtown for a mixture of entertainment, employment, commercial activity, public transportation, and tens of thousands more downtown residents, who can then join commuters, visitors and friends from the greater Sacramento region in the intricate dance of modern city life. Such a city would be very familiar to the ghosts of those 30,000 missing Sacramentans – a downtown more like the one they called home.

Disclosure: William Burg is President of Sacramento Old City Association, a historic preservation and urban planning nonprofit.

"Sacramento's Urban Pioneers" at Midtown Village Cafe

2012-12-06T08:22:08Z

In the 1970s, a wave of young people, including Sacramento State students and state employees, moved to Sacramento’s central city, drawn by inexpensive rents, beautiful homes and tree-lined streets. Many shared an interest in craftsmanship, sharing techniques to restore older homes and create unique works of art, and used these skills to fix up their own houses or started businesses to help others turn faded homes back into gems. Tim Holt, publisher of Sacramento's Suttertown News weekly newspaper, called them “Sacramento's Urban Pioneers--New People in Old Houses.” They left a legacy of art, craftsmanship, entrepeneurship, neighborhood activism, and restored historic homes. Join us for a presentation by Susan Ballew of photos capturing life in Midtown before the term "Midtown" had been coined, followed by a panel discussion featuring stained glass artist Mickey Abbey, Suttertown News publisher Tim Holt, and home restorers Bob and Roberta Rakela.

Challenges faced during this era included disinterest in maintaining central city neighborhoods by the city of Sacramento, whose redevelopment plans considered Victorias and bungalows "obsolete forms of housing," problems obtaining home loans from banks due to redlining, and the technical difficulties of repairing century-old homes by hand. The panel will share some of their stories of tenacity, creativity and celebration. They connected with each other and formed organizations to promote a better quality of life in Sacramento's urban core, and protection for these historic neighborhoods, that have survived to the present day. Their efforts also marked the turning point for Sacramento's central city, and facilitated its transition from a disused neighborhood targeted for demolition into the cultural and entertainment destination for our region, and home to thousands of Sacramentans willing to pay a premium to live among the restored architectural treasures that line Midtown streets.

The Preservation Roundtable will also feature presentations by Friends of the McClatchy Library about their new book Memories of McClatchy Library, Sacramento County Historical Society’s new book Daisy's Legacy and upcoming Taste of History event, preservation project updates by City of Sacramento Preservation Director Roberta Deering, and updates about the Sacramento Intermodal Depot's planned rehab and expansion by City of Sacramento Senior Architect Greg Taylor.

Sacramento Preservation Roundtable "Sacramento's Urban Pioneers"

Saturday, December 8

9:00 AM-Noon

Midtown Village Cafe, 1827 I Street, Sacramento

Brunch, coffee, beer and wine are available for purchase. There is no price for admission and this event is open to the public.

The Sacramento Preservation Roundtable is a quarterly forum for local history and historic preservation organizations, hosted by Sacramento Old City Association. For more information about SOCA, visit http://www.sacoldcity.org.

Note: The astute and cynical will note that a marketing organization called "Sacramento Regional Marketing Campaign" used the name "Urban Pioneers" as part of a campaign to attract Bay Area young professionals to Sacramento about ten years ago, in the wake of the dot-com bust. This earlier use dates from the mid-1970s, and the "pioneer" of that era was considerably less plastic, more crafty, and if the photos for this presentation were any indication, a lot hairier.

Disclosure: William Burg is President of Sacramento Old City Association.

Opinion: Are you okay with "The Kay"?

2012-10-12T01:26:30Z

Editor's note: The author of this piece, William Burg, will participate in a Sac Pres live chat on K Street this Wednesday at noon. Plan to watch? Please RSVP on our Goole+ page. You can also catch Burg live and in person at the California State Archives on Tuesday at 7 p.m. as he presents on his book, "Sacramento’s K Street: Where Our City Was Born". Event detials can be found here.

This week’s Sacramento Press scoop about Downtown Sacramento Partnership’s new “The Kay” marketing strategy was met with reactions ranging from grudging acceptance to outright ridicule. The marketing campaign was paid for by DSP, downtown Sacramento’s business association, funded by downtown property owners. This campaign hopes to redefine the blocks of K Street between Seventh and Thirteenth, traditionally the heart of Sacramento’s downtown retail/entertainment district. Recent attempts at downtown rebranding include “The Handle” (Capitol Avenue from 17th to 20th) and the “Sutter District” (along 28th between J and O Street) or Del Paso Boulevard’s “Uptown” campaign. The campaign would include banners, signs and bike racks along K Street, but would not actually change the street name.

Rebranding of neighborhoods is nothing new. What we now know as Downtown Plaza and Old Sacramento were once known as the “West End,” Capitol Mall was once “Japantown,” Southside Park was once “The Arizona District” before its eponymous park was built, and before William Land Park was built, the area south of the Old City Cemetery along the Riverside Road (before it was Riverside Boulevard) was called “Homeland.” Streets like Broadway and Alhambra Boulevard were renamed after beautiful new theaters (the Tower and the Alhambra) demanded names less prosaic than Y Street and 31st Street. The same rule applied to neighborhoods like Boulevard Park, built atop the old state racetrack. Sometimes new rebranding efforts failed to catch on, like the early 20th century move to rename Poverty Ridge (the hill along 21st Street south of R) as “Sutter’s Terrace,” a name that failed to ignite Sacramentans’ imagination. Even “Midtown” is really just a rebranding campaign used to differentiate the business district of downtown Sacramento from its mixed-use ring of residential neighborhoods. That campaign was so successful that many now refer to Sacramento’s central city, including downtown, as part of Midtown. The name has such cachet that areas clearly outside the central city, like the Alexan Midtown apartments east of Broadway (called the Trammell Crow condominiums prior to their construction) to avoid associating its neighborhood, the Alhambra Triangle, too closely with Oak Park, while the neighborhood of North Oak Park between Sacramento High School and Stockton Boulevard has been pushed by realtors as the “Med Center” neighborhood, for basically the same reason. However, the “Midtown” name apparently came from both resident groups and local businesses using it before it became popular and eventually caught on. No paid consultant was involved.

K Street looms large in Sacramentans’ minds, becoming such a potent symbol of Sacramento’s destiny, successes and failures that I wrote a book about it. Rebranding such an iconic part of the city is a risky proposition. The last time it was tried was during the late 1960s. While K Street was the Sacramento region’s primary shopping destination from the Gold Rush through the 1950s, by the mid-1960s it was in rough shape, thanks to competition from suburban malls and the removal of thousands of downtown residents via redevelopment and demolition (which is how “Japantown” became Capitol Mall.) What we now know as Downtown Plaza (until recently, Westifeld Downtown Plaza) was the boundary of the West End, a district containing hundreds of bars, nightclubs, taxi-dance halls, burlesque strip clubs, pool halls, arcades, all-night moviehouses, pawn shops, liquor stores, thrift stores and agricultural hiring halls. The district’s residential hotels, boarding houses, shelters and alleys were populated by thousands of migrant workers, railroad boomers and retirees, along with winos, prostitutes, and gangsters. The waterfront, where hundreds of thousands of tourists visit the Delta King and Railroad Museum today, was still an active railroad freight yard and industrial switching area, owned by Southern Pacific, traditionally more concerned with moving freight than the concerns of civic reformers.

Redevelopment of K Street was intended to completely sweep away this neighborhood and recapture some of the sales tax revenue that had abandoned K Street and shifted to suburban malls. Anchored by a Macy’s at 4th Street (drawn with the promise of an interstate highway just a block away at 3rd Street), the Downtown Plaza shopping center took over the blocks between 4th and 7th Street, and the block between 3rd and 4th became a massive parking lot for the new Macy’s store. The blocks between 7th and 13th were transformed into pedestrian malls in 1969, capped by the new Convention Center and Community Center between 13th and 14th in 1973. The angular, Modernist forms of concrete sculpture filled the middle of the pedestrian mall, intended to function as a symbolic map of California, with placid waterways and jutting mountains. But most adults didn’t get it, and to the kids of Generation X the concrete sculptures were just things to play on—or, later, ideal terrain for urban skateboarding. Over the long term, the K Street Mall was not a financial success, in part due to its location too far away from Sacramento’s exploding suburban populations.

While subsequent generations may not have spent much money at Downtown Plaza and the K Street mall, they understood what a mall was, and their main complaint with K Street (in addition to its distant geographic location) were the inevitable differences between the suburban version of a mall and K Street’s version. Suburban malls had free parking, while downtown parking was limited by tens of thousands of commuting downtown workers who took over any free parking lots. Suburban malls were in private, controlled-access buildings and exclusively retail, visited primarily by middle-class suburbanites, while K Street was still a public street. Many of the West End’s occupants simply moved east into downtown hotels, so its population remained far less suburban, and it also became a favored hangout for hippies and idle teenagers. Suburban malls were also family-oriented places, very G-rated on their public face. While redevelopment had closed down K Street’s burlesque strip clubs, there were still adult bookstores and peep shows along K Street, and movie theaters advertising “Teenage Psycho vs. Bloody Mary” and “Deep Throat” did little to encourage families to linger. The “Old Sacramento” waterfront was dramatically changed, cut off from the city entirely by Interstate 5 and denuded of its population, a transformation so abrupt that most people assume the six blocks of Old Sacramento was the entire city during the Gold Rush, and that it was always known by that moniker. The “West End” was wiped away entirely by rebranding, demolition, and a liberal application of federal redevelopment funding. But, even after more than 40 years, downtown Sacramento and K Street are still associated with poverty, crime and difficult parking (sometimes by people who haven’t visited downtown since “Deep Throat” was still showing at the Esquire Theatre)—but also with nightlife, expensive restaurants and a growing interest in urban living. None of these things are found in suburban malls, but they are a common feature in urban downtowns, and it is becoming harder and harder to escape the fact that K Street is the heart of just such an urban downtown, and not a shopping mall.

So, are efforts like “The Kay” similarly doomed to failure, or are they an effort to move away from the failed methods of the past 40 years to attract a suburban audience to a failed simulation of a suburban shopping experience? From reactions seen in Sacramento Press and social media, the “the” goes over like a lead balloon, but people like the spelled-out “Kay.” As Sacramento News & Review editor Nick Miller mentions in today’s “Midtown & Down” column, a similarly-groomed $50,000 rebranding campaign for Midtown was launched in 2010, with a slogan taken from a Fleetwood Mac song and a squiggly-line logo that looked more like someone trying to find parking near Zocalo than a symbol evocative of Midtown living. While Midtown Business Association still uses the logo, it abandoned the full-force “branding” campaign with the arrival of its new director Elizabeth Studebaker, who has instead shifted funds into more pragmatic efforts like black-and-red MBA trashcans and power-washing along 21st Street. It seems that despite Sacramento’s common use as a product test market, we’re somewhat resistant to marketing shibboleths and slogans—to the point where, according to rumor, the 2010 MBA rebranding motto “Go Your Own Way” only won out narrowly over the more-prosaic “Keep Midtown Janky.” Sacramentans clearly love Midtown, so much that residents are willing to endure high rents and occasional neighborhood weirdness to live there, and visitors are willing to endure heavy traffic and are even willing to pay for parking just to hang out here. But, while we love it, we don’t want to be told what it is or why we love it—least of all by product-marketing types.

Similarly, people clearly want to love K Street, or we wouldn’t have spent 40 years and millions of dollars trying to spruce it up. Others clearly don’t love it, because they have no interest in the urban experience, but perhaps that’s not sufficient reason to ignore those who still hope for a resurgent downtown. However, as some Sacramento Press readers point out, rebranding is not a substitute for public safety, cleanliness or other improvements that improve the pedestrian experience, from lighting and street vending to late-night public transit and more retail stores—or, perhaps, convincing more downtown restaurants and eateries to stay open past office workers’ lunch hours. Rebranding efforts by Downtown Partnership are just part of their approach—their “Fight the Funk” team power-washes streets, their Navigators try to connect indigents with social services, the Guides direct people and keep an eye out for trouble in Downtown and Old Sacramento, and their marketing team coordinates events on K Street and tries to inform the public about them in a timely fashion. A catchy district name, at best, is a wrapper on a package that is less important than the contents of the package—but the wrapper is what we see first. And while a marketing campaign can give a district focus, an urban downtown is not a Disneyland-style theme park; no marketing campaign or redecorating efforts can fully control the granular, evolving and interactive nature of street life. No force can fully control it. At best a group like Downtown Partnership can merely set up the conditions to allow it to happen. Visitors in a city are not just passive receivers of entertainment, like folks at home watching TV or surfing the Web; they become part of the dance of street life. Boys sitting at a sidewalk café watch girls strolling down the street, while the girls strolling down the street watch the boys sitting at the café. Theorists like Jane Jacobs called this “the casual public sidewalk life of cities.” Mall cops call it “loitering.”

Not every piece of marketing advice is golden, no matter how much you spend on it. The marketing firm that spent thousands test-marketing Crystal Pepsi in Sacramento thought they had a winner, as did the makers of Zima, but both are long since consigned to the cultural wastebasket, along with the Midtown “Go Your Own Way” slogan and “Sutter’s Terrace” in what is either Midtown, Poverty Ridge, the Homes District, Alhambra or part of the Newton Booth Neighborhoods Association boundary, depending on who you ask and when. But regardless of how much money gets spent on a rebranding campaign, those responsible for it should not become so attached to it that they have to argue with their potential customers over its validity or its value, especially parts of it that don’t perform as advertised. The “The” met with immediate revulsion and ridicule—but a mere mention of the word “Kay” set off memories of Christmas on K Street, dinners at Tiny’s Waffles and Hart’s Cafeteria, dancing at the Trianon Ballroom and feature films in Technicolor at the Fox Senator and the Crest, and shopping at Weinstock & Lubin and Breuner's. So perhaps “Kay” is big enough to bridge the gap between the suburban visitor and the urban offerings of K Street—assuming that the present inside that sentimentally-loaded package matches up to the expectations of those who dare to open it.

“Cities have the capability of providing something for everybody, only because, and only when, they are created by everybody.” –Jane Jacobs, The Death and Life of Great American Cities

Disclosure: William Burg is President of Sacramento Old City Association.

Noisefest 2012: Musical Chaos, Loud Noises, and Brunch

2012-10-03T18:16:00Z

This weekend (October 5, 6, 7) is Norcal Noisefest, Sacramento's annual gathering of experimental musicians, noise artists and musical outsiders from around the country. This Noisefest is the sixteenth held since the festival's founding in 1995, making it one of the longest-running festivals of its kind in North America.

Because noise is a profoundly unpopular musical genre, most people are unfamiliar with noise--there have never been any commercially successful noise musicians, although many successful musicians (from the Velvet Underground to Sonic Youth and Radiohead) have experimented with noise. The linked video below is a four-minute summary of what you are likely to see and hear at the Norcal Noisefest:

The Noisefest is not a music festival for those comfortable with traditional music. It is an exploration of what lies beyond the edges of music--peeling back the layers of musical form to see what sits underneath, and exposing it to an audience, in all its mixtures of ugliness and beauty. This year's festival features approximately 38 performers at three different Sacramento venues. Friday night's session at Luna's Cafe (1414 15th Street), starting at 7 PM, is a more intimate setting for solo performers and duos, like locals Deadly Nightshade and The Tulpa Effect and visiting acts like New York's Fisted Lizard or Blood Into Water from San Jose, capable of fitting on Luna's small stage. While the venue is small, its intensity is unparalleled, and provides a traditional warm-up to the Noisefest.

Saturday's session at Sol Collective (2574 21st Street) is a larger venue for acts that require more space, with a brutal eight-hour schedule of noise performers, including Rocklin's own Liver Cancer, Oakland's Styrofoam Sanchez, Crank Sturgeon from Portland, Maine, and the evening's special guests, noise legends Bastard Noise. The show will begin at 3:30 PM with a collaborative set by Northern California acts Venetian Veil, Chopstick and Medicine Cabinet. Sol Collective's back room will host our Noisemall, where this year's Noisefest performers will show off their musical wares, effects pedals and electronic devices, and assorted disturbing swag.

Sunday's matinee session at Bows & Arrows (1815 19th Street) starts at noon, and features jazzier acts in a more casual environment, like Lords of Outland and Eurostache, although some of these acts will still leave traditional jazz fans reaching for their earplugs, like solo artists C.J. Borosque and Moe! Staiano, and ending with a set by Sacramento jazz/noise deconstructionist daemon Instagon. In between bands on Sunday, DJ Missy Mark will play soothing sounds, and Bows & Arrows will serve brunch (brunch is separate from admission, except for those who purchase all-weekend passes.) The Noisemall will be held on the Bows & Arrows back porch for last-minute musical purchases.

Each day of Noisefest will also feature the return of our NOISE TOY GIVEAWAY raffle: purchase tickets at the event to enter a drawing for valuable noise merchandise, including NOISE-SAC box sets (featuring a copy of every NORCAL NOISEFEST compilation album), GRUNDLE contact microphones, and the featured prize for each day, locally built AUDIBLE DISEASE effects pedals!

All NORCAL NOISEFEST 2012 events are all-ages. Each day of noise costs $10 and includes earplugs. An all-weekend package is available for $40, and includes admission to all three days of the Noisefest, a commemorative button/event pass, a Norcal Noisefest T-shirt, a compilation CD of eighteen of this year's Noisefest performers, a Noisefest sticker, and a coupon for a free Sunday brunch entree at Bows & Arrows. Tickets may be purchased at the Noisefest itself, at MIDIKAT BOUTIQUE (1115 21st Street), PHONO SELECT (2312 K Street) or online via BrownPaperTickets at http://norcalnoisefest.brownpapertickets.com .

NORCAL NOISEFEST 2012: October 5-7, 2012

Friday October 5: LUNA'S CAFE, 1414 15th Street, 7 PM-11:30 PM

Saturday October 6: SOL COLLECTIVE, 2574 21st Street, 3:30 PM-11:30 PM

Sunday October 7: BOWS & ARROWS, 1815 19th Street, NOON-4 PM

All shows $10, all-ages. Weekend pass $40, includes T-shirt, CD, sticker, button and NOISEBRUNCH.

A full list of performers and schedule is viewable at the Norcal Noisefest website, http://www.norcalnoisefest.com

Norcal Noisefest 2012 is funded in part by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission's "Microgrants" program.

Disclosure: William Burg is executive director of the Norcal Noisefest.

Historic Home Tour in Poverty Ridge Neighborhood

2012-09-10T15:31:01Z

On Sunday, September 16, 2012, SOCA will hold its 37th annual Historic Home Tour, featuring seven beautiful homes in the Poverty Ridge neighborhood. This year’s tour includes the McClatchy House (now known as the Ella K. McClatchy Library) designed by Rudolph Herold, the Roan-Didion House (briefly the residence of Sacramento author Joan Didion) designed by Seadler & Hoen, and a new infill residence at Tapestri Square, designed by Craig Hausman, plus four more historic homes. Docents will guide visitors through the interior of each house. Tickets are on sale now via http://socahometour.brownpapertickets.com

According to local legend, “Poverty Ridge” got its name during the 1850s when residents living near the waterfront ran up the ridge to escape Sacramento’s frequent floods. In the late 19th and early 20th century, Poverty Ridge became an affluent neighborhood, home to Buffalo Brewery founder Herman Grau, Sacramento mayor and real estate developer Dan Carmichael, and Sacramento Bee editor Charles K. McClatchy. Some attempted to rebrand the neighborhood as “Sutter’s Terrace,” but the name never stuck.

The Roan-Didion House was owned by the family of Joan Didion, whose family in Sacramento went back to the pioneer era. This home was briefly Joan's residence while she was a teenager, staying with her aunt to attend high school, because her family had moved to a new home on Fair Oaks Boulevard inconveniently far from school. Didion also lived in another Poverty Ridge home around the corner. She left Sacramento after high school, but wrote about life in Sacramento in essays and fiction. The Roan-Didion house is also significant as the work of local architecture firm Seadler & Hoen, advocates of the Prairie School of architecture and designers of other dramatic Sacramento buildings in neighborhoods like Boulevard Park. The home was recently purchased and given a "green rehab" by local architect Matt Piner.

The McClatchy Library was originally designed by Rudolph Herold (architect of Sacramento's historic city hall, Masonic temple, Capitol National Bank and Hall of Justice) as a home for Sacramento Bee publisher Charles McClatchy and his wife Ella In 1940, the home was given to the Sacramento Public Library as children's library. The upstairs level is normally not open to the public, but docents from the Friends of the McClatchy Library nonprofit will guide visitors through the whole house.

Infill projects are increasingly important in urban neighborhoods, and in Poverty Ridge, Tapestri Square is the largest example. Located on the site of a Poverty Ridge estate demolished in the mid-20th century for an office building, construction of these detached row houses halted briefly after the collapse of the housing bubble, but is once again underway. Designed by Sacramento architect Craig Hausman, the homes come in three different sizes. Other examples of urban infill in Poverty Ridge and nearby Newton Booth neighborhoods include Craftsman at 20th and S and 2500 R Midtown, who will be represented at the street fair but not on the tour.

The home tour will also feature a street fair on 22nd Street between U and V Street, featuring local contractors and artisans specializing in historic home rehab and remodeling, history organizations, and local artists and businesses, plus gourmet popsicles by Popcycle. Starting at 11 AM, The Freebadge Serenaders, Autumn Sky, Parie Wood and Garage Jazz Architects will perform live in front of the McClatchy Library. The street fair is open to the public; no admission is required.

Many homes in the Newton Booth, Poverty Ridge and Alhambra Triangle neighborhoods (bounded by R Street, 19th Street and Highway 50) will feature homemade signs detailing neighborhood history, part of the “If This House Could Talk” project: http://ifthishousecouldtalk.wordpress.com has more information.

The tour costs $25 on the day of the event, from the ticket booth at 22nd and V Street, or $20 in advance via Brown Paper Tickets, or from the following retailers: The Avid Reader, 1600 Broadway; Collected Works, 1019 L Street; 57th Street Antique Mall, 875 57th Street; and Time Tested Books, 1114 21st Street.

Sacramento Old City Association (SOCA) was founded in 1972 as a historic preservation and urban planning organization, dedicated to the livability of Sacramento’s historic neighborhoods. For more information, contact SOCA at (916) 202-4815 or visit www.sacoldcity.org.

SOCA 2012 Historic Home Tour

Sunday September 16, 2012, 10 AM—4 PM
Sacramento’s Poverty Ridge Neighborhood, 22nd and U Street

http://socahometour.brownpapertickets.com

Disclosure: William Burg is President of Sacramento Old City Association.

"Rock 'N' Roll High School" at the Crest Theatre

2012-08-18T07:08:26Z

This Saturday night, the 2012 Trash Film Orgy season will close with a showing of Roger Corman's "Rock 'N' Roll High School," the end of a six-week series of the finest trash cinema seen on the screen of the beautiful Crest Theatre.

SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 11:00 PM! Admission $10 ($1 off for those in awesome costumes), 18+ only. At the Crest Theatre, 1013 K Street, Sacramento.

"Rock 'N' Roll High School," released in 1979, stars PJ Soles, Vince Van Patten, Clint Howard, Mary Woronov, and The Ramones. PJ Soles stars as Riff Randall, biggest Ramones fan at Vince Lombardi High. The soundtrack is a veritable who's who of late 1970s rock, most prominently featuring The Ramones, legendary three-chord wonders and object of Riff Randall's obsession. Roger Corman, better known for drive-in horror and action films, originally intended to make a film called "Disco High" until a pair of young writers told him that teenagers didn't go to discos--they loved rock and roll. This last-minute switch set the stage for a classic exercise in cinema insanity! Filmed in Los Angeles, far from the Ramones' home base of New York City, LA punk fixtures Darby Crash and Lorna Doom (both members of The Germs) were extras in the film.

In addition to the film, the TRASH FILM ORGY always includes copious bonus features, including the wildly interactive Trash Action Sideshow in the lobby, beer and wine in the Crest Lounge for those 21+, and this week, a live performance by Sacramento's own three-chord punk legends The Secretions! Doors open at 11 PM and the film starts at midnight!

For more information about the Trash Film Orgy, visit their website, which features information about other TFO Productions events, and their independent film company--makers of "Monster from Bikini Beach," "Planet of the Vampire Women," and the forthcoming "Badass Monster Killer"!

Save a wait in the long line outside the Crest by ordering tickets in advance and pick them up at will call!

Disclosure: William Burg will DJ in the theater before the film begins, playing songs by Sacramento rock & roll bands past and present.

"Sacramento's K Street" Book Signing at Time Tested Books

2012-08-14T00:28:39Z

On Wednesday, August 15 at 7:00 PM, Time Tested Books (1114 21st Street, Sacramento) hosts a book signing and talk for my new book, "Sacramento's K Street: Where Our City Was Born."

From its early existence as a path from the Sacramento River to Sutter's Fort until the present day, K Street was the axis upon which the city of Sacramento turned. From its beginnings as a riverboat dock and nexus for stagecoach lines, K Street grew into the city's main business street. Fortunes were made and lost along K Street in the tumultuous decades of disaster and ambition that followed the Gold Rush. This era ended with the completion of America's first transcontinental railroad, a project started almost 150 years ago at the foot of K Street. But this was not the end of K Street's story--it was just a prelude.

As Sacramento's first generation of entrepeneurs moved on, a new generation took their place, creating business institutions including banks, department stores, grocery stores and hotels. Waves of immigrants came to Sacramento to find work and created their own businesses, with K Street as the center of a diverse downtown. Sacramento's Chinatown, or "Yee Fow," was just north of K Street, and our Japantown, or "O-fu," was just to the south. Other ethnic neighborhoods, each with their own businesses, churches and cultural institutions, made K Street a remarkably diverse, lively and engaging place. It was a center of commerce and entertainment, but also an urban neighborhood that thousands called home.

In the early 20th century, K Street became the hub of a network of interurban railroads spanning from Chico to Stockton and Oakland. A second transcontinental railroad, Western Pacific, arrived at the far end of K Street. Visitors could choose from a variety of hotels, restaurants, theaters, department stores, arcades and other entertainment. They could even visit the restored Sutter's Fort on K Street's bucolic and tree-lined eastern end. At the same time, Sacramento's new merchant class, living on the eastern end of K Street, built new neighborhoods, including the city's first suburban tracts, all connected to K Street by streetcar. Their new Sacramento Chamber of Commerce held celebrations and public festivals on K Street while planning a future of growth outside the city limits.

K Street was the hub of Sacramento's urban culture. K Street's central location made it the natural choice for citywide celebrations, marches, and public events, from the city's earliest days. The sounds of jazz spilled from Sacramento nightclubs and dance halls, vaudeville theaters and burlesque houses. Prohibition in the 1920s muted these tones but did not still them, as Sacramento gained a reputation as a place where alcohol still flowed freely. Restaurants and cafes, ranging from inexpensive eateries for workers to fine dining for senators and governors, were found here too. Vaudeville stage acts were slowly overtaken by a succession of amazing motion picture palaces, culminating in the Alhambra Theatre at the eastern end of K Street at 31st Street, a landmark so impressive that the street where it sat was renamed in the theater's honor.

The book ends with the fight to save the Alhambra Theatre in the early 1970s, and explores the complex and often misunderstood reasons why K Street fell from its status as the city's heart.

Most photographs were provided by the Center for Sacramento History, and some from private collections. Sources included interviews with Sacramentans who shared their memories of K Street, theses, government reports, newspaper stories, autobiographies and archaeological reports. Secondary sources included works of local history, like Sacramento County Historical Society's Golden Notes series, and academic treatises on urban history and the Progressive Era, in order to better connect Sacramento's urban heritge to the national narrative.

In addition to the book's subject matter, I will also share some stories that couldn't fit into the book--including a few fascinating tales (and photographs) discovered immediately after the book went to print! Copies will be available for sale.

Who: Presentation/book signing by William Burg, author of Sacramento's K Street: Where Our City Was Born.

When: Wednesday, August 15, 7:00PM

Where: Time Tested Books, 1117 21st Street, Sacramento

Disclosure: William Burg is the author of "Sacramento's K Street: Where Our City Was Born." 50% of royalties generated from book sales go to the Sacramento History Foundation.

What's Killing Sacramento's Suburbs?

2012-07-20T04:05:14Z

On July 19, the United States Conference of Mayors released a report entitled “Metro Economies Report: Outlook-Gross Metropolitan Product, and Critical Role of Transportation Infrastructure.” From this snooze-worthy title, the Sacramento Bee produced an article titled “New report says Sacramento’s economy was among worst in U.S. last year.” (http://www.sacbee.com/2012/07/19/4642197/new-report-says-sacramentos-economy.html )

The Bee article also includes a quote from Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, second vice chair of the US Conference of Mayors: "The quality of this nation's workforce and its economic growth is directly tied to the quality of education. We must focus on ensuring our children access to the best education possible to prepare them for the future challenges of the expanding global economy." However, the Bee article did not include a link to the study or the source of the quote, which might lead a reader to believe that the focus of this study was on the quality of education in American cities, and how awful Sacramento is. A look at the study itself demonstrates how out of context both this quote and the Bee article actually are.

The United States Conference of Mayors Website: http://usmayors.org/
The Full Report: http://usmayors.org/metroeconomies/0712/FullReport.pdf
Key Findings: http://usmayors.org/metroeconomies/0712/KeyFindings.pdf
The Press Release: http://usmayors.org/metroeconomies/0712/PressRelease.pdf

The full report is pretty thick—it includes a summary explaining the meaning of gross metropolitan product, including the highest and lowest of the United States’ 100 largest metro areas (the measure that puts Sacramento near the bottom.) But, despite Johnson’s quote, the report does not discuss the importance of education at all. The word “education” appears twice in the entire 141 page report (including appendices), in both cases referring to “education & health services” as an overall sector of the job market, not referring to the state of education and its importance to the workforce. Johnson’s reference to education seems like a non sequitur when compared to the actual subject matter of the report.

The big issue, according to the report, is the state of America’s transportation infrastructure, indicating that American spending in this sector lags far behind that of Europe, and even farther behind China. The report begins its analysis with, “Infrastructure repair and reinvestment is a crucial means of jumpstarting the US economy and positioning the nation for future economic growth. These investments stimulate our economy in two ways: first by creating jobs directly during planning and construction phases. Second, by creating jobs in the long-term by making the nation’s transportation lines less congested, more efficient, and more competitive.” (p. 6) The report also states that these investments should be focused on existing metropolitan areas, where potential returns are the greatest, and where existing congestion can be relieved by providing transportation alternatives. The report defines transportation infrastructure very broadl. Modes mentioned include shipping and ports, air transportation, rail, highways, and public transit. The report also cites California major metro areas as places where commuter costs were kept down by increases in public transportation, carpooling and telecommuting, while pointing out that congestion costs skyrocketed in inland metro areas like Bakersfield, Riverside, and Oxnard-Ventura, where fewer transportation investments were made.

The report also identifies the chemical and plastics industry as one of the hottest growth areas in the United States, attributed to the drop in natural gas prices brought on by new methods of gas extraction (better known as “fracking.”) This job sector is very minor in Sacramento’s metro area, employing just a few thousand workers.

The Numbers

The report is mostly a series of appendices with statistics of American metro areas. Sacramento’s metro area, the Sacramento-Arden-Arcade-Roseville MSA, includes Sacramento, Yolo, Placer and El Dorado Counties. Rather than indicating the health of the city of Sacramento alone, these figures reflect our regional situation—as much as some try to deny it, cities like Roseville, Folsom, Citrus Heights, Rancho Cordova, West Sacramento, Davis, Woodland and Elk Grove are all tied together economically and socially with the city of Sacramento. Our economy had a value (Gross Metropolitan Product, or GMP) of $93.29 billion in 2011, about 5% of California’s nearly $2 trillion overall economy, and roughly proportional to Sacramento’s population, about 2.2 million of California’s about 40 million people. That $93.29 billion puts us a bit behind metros like Columbus, OH and Austin, TX, and slightly ahead of Las Vegas, San Antonio, Milwaukee and Nashville. Page 56, a chart of real GMP and employment growth rates, identifies our metro as having lost 0.3% of gross metro product in 2011, but having gained 1.9% in 2012—another chart (Real GMP Growth Rates) on page 71 indicates the trend since 2008 is an even more dramatic reversal, from a drop of 3.0% in 2008-2010.

The index also lists congestion costs, associated with transportation infrastructure. Metros with the highest costs in this sector are generally the biggest metros in the nation, like Chicago, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Houston and New York. Sacramento is ranked 45th, with relatively little increase in congestion. Sacramento’s metro area ranks 41st in freight tonnage, shipping more than 110 million tons through the Port of Sacramento, Union Pacific, city highways and roads, and air freight hubs like those at former Mather AFB. This represents 4.4% of our gross metro product; despite our traditional role as a transportation hub, moving freight is a relatively small part of our metro economy. From 1990 to 2010, our workforce grew from 618,000 to 809,000, and is projected to reach 931,000 by 2020. Our metro population growth in the next 30 years is expected to bring us from 2.2 million people to 3.4 million by 2042.

So, What Was That About Killing The Suburbs?

Okay, so I admit to a certain amount of hyperbole—in part, the title of this article is in response to a Sacramento Business Journal blog post (and following Sacramento Press article) titled “What’s Killing Downtown?” that seemed to focus almost entirely on what was good about downtown, except people spare-change you sometimes and parking isn’t convenient. It’s a non sequitur that had nothing to do with the article, just as the Mayor’s remarks about education (and the Bee's article about his comments) had nothing to do with the report it accompanied.

The numbers from the USCM report, taken out of context, can be used very easily to make Sacramento look bad—based on our rate of economic growth, things do look pretty grim. But as grim as things have been here since the collapse of the housing bubble, nearby metros like Stockton and Modesto were even harder hit (with 1.0% and 1.7% loss in gross metro product) while coastal areas grew. But by comparison to other parts of inland California, Sacramento’s metro area almost constitutes a bright spot.

In order to get a clearer sense of job numbers, it is necessary to look at labor statistics for the Sacramento metro area (source: http://www.calmis.ca.gov/htmlfile/msa/sacto.htm , http://www.calmis.ca.gov/file/lfmonth/sacr$pds.pdf .) Labor statistics from May 2011 to May 2012 do indicate a drop of about .2% in civilian labor force, but a 1.2% increase in civilian employment. Breakdowns of employment by industry show that only 69,000 of our metro area’s 815,000 workers are in goods producing industries, like farming, mining and logging, manufacturing, and construction. Construction makes up about half of that number, 32,600 workers, a number that dropped from 35,900 just since last year, and from nearly 70,000 during the boom. This abrupt drop in construction jobs was a direct result of the collapse of the housing bubble. Because the Sacramento metro area’s primary consumer product was suburbs, when the market for that product went away, so did a significant portion of the region’s manufacturing jobs. That number has yet to recover, and our suburban areas don’t show much sign of recovery either—many housing and commercial developments on the outer edges of the urban perimeter sit half-constructed, like Elk Grove’s vacant mall, while some suburban tracts were cleared for development but never actually built.

The Sacramento MSA’s largest job sector is the service industry, with more than 500,000 workers, more than 60% of the workforce, in sectors ranging from trade, transportation and utilities, information, professional and business services, health care, hospitality and food service. In the service industry sector, the biggest employment drops were in arts, entertainment and recreation, hotels, publishing, and building supply stores (another effect of the building crunch?) and “nondepository credit intermediation” (otherwise known as the credit industry—no surprise there, another effect of the collapse of the housing bubble.) But overall, the service industry hasn’t fared as badly as construction, having only lost about 10% of its workforce numbers since the height of the boom.

Similarly, the government sector, traditionally considered the Sacramento metro area’s most important “industry,” has also been generally stable. 2011 government job numbers of 224,600 have only dropped about 5% from their high of 238,000 at the height of the boom. Government often has that effect—government centers don’t jump as high during boom times, but they don’t fall as far during crunch times, making them stabilizers of their local economies. While California’s government is facing rough tides, it is unlikely that this state will become any easier to govern anytime soon, or that our state will be able to manage its affairs without a government. If the future of the Sacramento metro area’s economy is to diversify beyond its current base, the answer could be to promote a dramatic increase in manufacturing something other than suburbs for state employees to live in.

All this brings us back to the actual focus of the US Council of Mayors’ report—the need for better transportation infrastructure. In this sector, Sacramento has some positive signs and even some things to crow about. While assorted arena projects have crowded the headlines of the past year, work on Sacramento’s intermodal rail depot and improvements to the Union Pacific freight mainline have continued unabated, and are nearing completion. Federal TIGER funds to rehab the passenger depot will modernize and restore the station. An expanded passenger depot provides Sacramento with the capacity for more passenger rail transportation, which can ease road congestion by shifting commuters to other transit modes. Straightening out the UP mainline means more freight passing through the Sacramento metro area more quickly, promoting traffic in our direction and away from other transportation bottlenecks. Our expanded metro airport is another plus in this department—as are recent improvements to the Port of Sacramento, on the Yolo County side of the river.

Recent incremental improvements to service on Regional Transit bus and light rail lines, and the opening of the “Green Line” to Richards Boulevard, are a starting point, but as others have mentioned in response to the article about the state of downtown, Sacramento’s metro area needs serious improvement in public transit—more light rail, more buses, more streetcars, more regional bus and heavy rail. This brings us again to the problem of the suburbs. New development on the outer edges of the urban boundary is the hardest to serve with transit, and thus the biggest generator of automotive traffic, and congestion of our existing transportation network. Every new subdivision means more cars competing for space on the same aging highway system—and adding lanes to a highway system generally does not relieve congestion, it merely spurs more horizontal growth. On the other hand, infill and development within the existing urban footprint, not just downtown but in nearby neighborhoods and municipalities like West Sacramento, are easier to serve by transit and other modes. Every future resident of West Sacramento’s riverfront development or the CADA lofts on R Street is one less commuter jockeying on the highway with all the other commuters from Elk Grove, Roseville and Rancho Cordova. During the boom, what was killing the suburbs was the next wave of suburbs—and in its wake, the shift in economic priorities that reduced demand for that consumer product. As the center of Sacramento’s transit network as well as its economic hub, adding transit modes to reach Sacramento’s central city make traffic (and life) easier for residents of outer suburbs by relieving congestion while also facilitating economic growth.

So, maybe Sacramento isn’t so bad off when it comes to near-future transportation infrastructure development, but we have plenty of room for improvement and development of other sectors of our economy. What about manufacturing? If the country really needs more transit infrastructure, and national priorities follow the US Conference of Mayors’ recommendations, then there will be opportunities for metro areas able to manufacture the things needed by transportation networks—like trains, buses, trucks, streetcars, cars, and the multitude of devices and materials needed to build and upgrade transportation networks. Facilities like Siemens, who manufacture streetcars, light rail vehicles and even heavy-rail electric locomotives, would grow in importance, and there is room for more manufacturing capability. Transit modes powered by electricity will depend on power generation capacity, and Sacramento's region already has a head start in renewable energy technology via SMUD. Even bicycle manufacturing could become an important economic sector, as interest in cycling grows and cities focus more on economical and compact bike infrastructure to facilitate getting around city centers and nearby suburban neighborhoods. The skills and energy of workers who once built suburban tract homes could be re-harnessed to build transportation infrastructure, vehicles, and the new kinds of housing and commercial places that will be better suited to these upgraded transit networks.

I realize that not everyone is as into numbers as I am, but by looking at the numbers, and the real subject matter of the US Conference of Mayors report, I came away with a very different assessment of Sacramento’s situation and near-future priorities than the Sacramento Bee. Hopefully, those willing to look past the surface and examine the details will come to similar conclusions, and act on them.

"Images of the Alhambra" at the Urban Hive

2012-06-07T06:40:29Z

In 1972, the Alhambra Theatre, a 45 year old Moorish Revival movie theater at Alhambra and K Street, designed by architect Leonard Starks and considered one of the city's most treasured landmarks, closed its doors when the building was sold to the Safeway supermarket chain. Over the next year, Sacramentans waged a "Save the Alhambra" campaign to prevent its demolition, uniting local musicians, students, politicians and architects. Despite fundraisers, benefit shows, a public vote and even a "sit-in", the Alhambra was demolished in 1973. The Alhambra became a symbol of Sacramento's potential, envisioned as a community theater or rock music venue but lost to the wrecking ball. The fight led to Sacramento's first survey of its historic buildings, spurred the city's first preservation ordinance, and inspired community organizations that continue to the present day.

This installment of the quarterly “Sacramento Preservation Roundtable” features “Images of the Alhambra,” a collection of photographs taken by CSUS Hornet reporter Doug Taggart, of the rock & roll and vaudeville benefit shows held at the theater in the fall of 1972, and the building’s demolition in the spring of 1973. These shows were part of the “Save the Alhambra” campaign that unsuccessfully tried to prevent the demolition of the Sacramento landmark. Dennis Newhall, former KZAP music director and curator of Sacramento’s Rock & Radio Museum, will provide commentary about some of the Sacramento rock bands who played this show. SOCA President William Burg will also comment on the story of the “Save the Alhambra” campaign and the theater’s history.

The Preservation Roundtable will also feature:
• Presentation by City of Sacramento senior preservation planner Roberta Deering, with updates about citywide historic preservation and adaptive reuse projects.
• Update on Old Sacramento’s newly revised general plan by California Department of Parks & Recreation staff.
• Special presentation by Jennifer Gates of California Preservation Foundation about the imminent closure of many California historic post offices, including downtown Sacramento’s post office and federal building--a building by the same architect who designed the Alhambra, and discussed in this month's Sactown Magazine by editor Rob Turner.

SACRAMENTO PRESERVATION ROUNDTABLE—Images of the Alhambra
Saturday, June 9, 2012, 9:00 AM-Noon
The Urban Hive, 1931 H Street, Sacramento
Cost: $5.00 requested donation—continental breakfast provided

The Sacramento Preservation Roundtable is sponsored by the Sacramento Old City Association (SOCA) with the assistance of The Urban Hive. For more information, please contact SOCA at info@sacoldcity.org or call (916) 202-4815.

Disclosure: William Burg is President of the Sacramento Old City Association.

Eastern Star Hall Fundraiser

2012-04-27T04:42:57Z

The Save the Eastern Star fundraiser features live music by Sacramento swing jazz favorites Mumbo Gumbo and the discount jazz stylings of the Freebadge Serenaders. Master of ceremonies Matias Bombal will introduce the performers. Locally-produced "Ruhstaller" beer will be available for those over 21. Tickets are $25 in advance via Brown Paper Tickets, $30 the night of the event--Saturday, April 28 at 7 PM.

Sacramento’s Eastern Star Hall was built in 1928 as a meeting hall for the Order of the Eastern Star, a Masonic women’s organization. It is one of only four buildings constructed for the Eastern Star organization, and the only one still surviving and in active use. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a fine example of Romanesque Revival architecture, and a rare example of local buildings devoted to a women’s organization.

The building is still utilized by the Eastern Star organization and rented to local community organizations like Sacramento Swingtime and Sacramento Old City Association, but time has taken its toll on the building, and repairs must be made to keep the building safe and sturdy. The local Eastern Star organization does not have the resources to repair the building. This event will raise funds needed to fully assess the building’s condition and begin repair work that will keep this architectural treasure an active and vital part of our community. It will also help show the public that the Eastern Star Hall as beautiful inside as it is on the outside!

The Order of the Eastern Star is a Masonic-affiliated women’s organization, founded in 1850. The first Eastern Star chapter in Sacramento was founded in 1879. Most Eastern Star organizations used Masonic facilities for their meetings, and the Sacramento chapter met at the Masonic Temple at 12th and J. In 1923, members of five Sacramento area Eastern Star chapters organized to design, fund and build their own hall, under the leadership of Mabel Boyd Seymour, a past Grand Matron of the organization. Fundraising efforts took five years, and was based on the sale of twenty thousand $5 shares of stock in the building. Each chapter purchased shares, and sold them to other organizations. The lot purchased for the building was at 2719 K Street, across the street from Sutter’s Fort.

The building was designed by the architectural firm of Coffman, Salsbury & Stafford in the Romanesque Revival style. An architect’s drawing of the building includes five people in front of the building, all women. The women in the sketch were dressed in contemporary 1920s fashions, with bobbed hair and knee-length skirts, and one behind the wheel of an automobile. This sketch provides insight into the changing role of women in the 1920s, and reflects the intended purpose of the building as the home of a women's organization. The building was completed in 1928, and used for both public and private functions. Many local schools used the hall’s grand ballroom for dances and social functions. A fire in December 1936 temporarily closed the hall, but it was quickly repaired and reopened. Located directly across from the reconstructed Sutter’s Fort, the hall became one of many social institutions around the Fort’s perimeter on the eastern end of K Street.

Save the Eastern Star Hall Fundraiser

Featuring MUMBO GUMBO and THE FREEBADGE SERENADERS

Master of Ceremonies MATIAS BOMBAL

Sponsored by Midtown Neighborhood Association, Sacramento Old City Association, Capital City Preservation Trust and Ruhstaller Beer

Date/Time: Saturday, April 28, 7:30 PM
Location: Eastern Star Hall, 2719 K Street, Sacramento
Website: http://sites.google.com/site/eshasac/
Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/233520

Disclosure: William Burg is President of the Sacramento Old City Association and a board member of Midtown Neighborhood Association.

SCHS Presents: A Night at the Zanzibar

2012-03-12T20:00:35Z

Sacramento County Historical Society's 2012 awards dinner and fundraiser is themed "A Night at the Zanzibar," featuring dinner by the Dante Club, a talk by historians Keith Burns and Clarence Caesar about the Zanzibar Club, one of the most legendary of Sacramento's long-lost West End jazz nightclubs of the 1940s, and a live performance by the Harley White Jr. Orchestra performing big-band jazz from the era of the Zanzibar. SCHS will also present its annual awards for publication, education and historic preservation.

Hear the Harley White Jr. Orchestra here: http://www.reverbnation.com/harleywhitejrorchestra

Members of Sacramento County Historical Society and event sponsor the Sacramento Old City Association may purchase tickets at discounted prices for themselves and their families. Member-priced ticket purchases will be compared against member lists; non-members will be required to pay the balance at the door, or join SCHS.

SCHS Presents: "A Night At The Zanzibar" 2012 Awards Dinner, Tuesday March 27, 6:00 PM

At The Dante Club, 2330 Fair Oaks Boulevard, Sacramento

Order tickets online via http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/219781 before March 20.

Ticket Options:

Tickets must be purchased in advance. TICKET SALES END ON TUESDAY, MARCH 20.

$40 for members of Sacramento County Historical Society (SCHS) or the Sacramento Old City Association (SOCA) and their families.

$50 for non-members.

$100 Contributor level: This price includes meal and your name listed in the evening's event program. This price includes a $50 (for non-members) or $60 (for members) tax-deductible contribution to Sacramento County Historical Society.

Menu Selections:

Half Roasted Chicken
Crusted prepared with Ricotta Cheese, Herbs, Bell Peppers,
Olives and Capers in a Tomato Sauce

Dante Club Prime Rib
A House Classic served with Au Jus and Creamy Horse Radish

Vegetable Ravioli
Vegetable Ravioli with Red Wine Peperonata Sauce

(All dinners include salad, bread, dessert, wine and coffee.)

Dinner starts at 6:00 PM, awards and history presentation at 7:00 PM, music at about 8:30 PM.

Disclosure: William Burg is Vice-President of Sacramento County Historical Society and President of the Sacramento Old City Association.

District 4 Candidates Forum

2012-03-08T16:19:50Z

Sacramento Preservation Roundtable – Spring 2012

Date: Saturday, March 10, 2012 from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon
Place: The Courtyard Building, 1322 “O” Street near the corner of 14th & O Streets

Continental Breakfast served * $5 requested donation to cover breakfast

The Sacramento Preservation Roundtable is a quarterly gathering of community organizations to share information about historic preservation projects and policies, adaptive reuse and green building, heritage tourism and local history, and other topics of interest within the city of Sacramento. The featured agenda item at this Preservation Roundtable is a forum and debate for City Council candidates in District 4, including the central city, Land Park and Willowcreek. Prepared questions will focus on issues related to historic preservation, public transit and land use, but the public will have the opportunity to submit questions, and to meet the candidates one on one after the program.

9:00 Welcome and Introductions

9:10 Updates and announcements

- City of Sacramento Preservation Office updates

9:15– Presentation of development of Lot 9B, 1610 17th Street. Two proposals: Louis Kaufman, Architect & Arcade Homes, Craig Hausman, Architect

10:00 – Break

10:10 – May is Preservation Month Event – Jane’s Walk, a weekend of local walks and bicycle rides combining urban planning, historic preservation, and the ideas of planning guru Jane Jacobs. For more information see www.janeswalk.net – William Burg, SOCA President

10:15 – District 4 Candidates Forum

*Moderators will take written questions to ask the candidates; question cards will be available at the event.

District 4 City Council Candidates: Steve Hansen; Phyllis Newton; Terry Schanz; Michael Rehm; Kai Ellsworth; Joe Yee

11:45 – Questions and answer session with candidates

12:00 – Closing remarks / Announcements

Sponsored by the Sacramento Old City Association

Contact SOCA at sacoldcity@gmail.com or visit http://www.sacoldcity.org for more information.

Disclosure: William Burg is President of Sacramento Old City Association.

Mather Field author talk at Historical Society, Tuesday Jan. 24

2012-01-23T06:28:36Z

Sacramento County Historical Society Presents

Images of America, Mather Field by James Scott and Tom Tolley

Tuesday, January 24, 7:00 PM
Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society Building, 5380 Elvas Avenue, Sacramento

Join us on January 24th at 7:00 pm, as historians James Scott and Tom Tolley present a history of Mather Field from prehistory
to closure and introduce their book: Images of America, Mather Field. Born from America’s need to train aviators for the Great
War, Mather Field has sat sentinel to the east of Sacramento for nearly a century. Overnight, the base transformed a lonely domain of cattle and vineyards into an aerie where fledgling “man-birds” were taught to fly and kill. Although readapted to focus on fire control and mail delivery between the wars, Mather still inspired, and was home to 1930 Air Corps maneuvers. World War II renewed Mather, as training bomber crews and repatriating veterans of the Pacific War helped create what was becoming a self-sustaining city of churches, schools, and burgeoning neighborhoods. Through two world wars and the tense years of the Cold War, this base has changed into a suburban mélange of aviation, business, and housing in the shadow of California’s capital city. Copies of the book will be available for sale and signing.

A native of Portland, Oregon, James Scott has been a librarian at the Sacramento Public Library for the last 11 years. He is a graduate of Marquette University and holds Master’s degrees in European history and library science. He is currently studying to become a certified archivist, and speaks and writes on antebellum Sacramento and the Central Valley’s World War One experience.

Tom Tolley has worked for the Sacramento Public Library for over 25 years, the last 12 as a library technician in Special Collections. A Sacramento resident since 1964 with an active interest in the region's popular culture and social history, he collects books and information on a variety of topics including motion picture history and genre fiction.

For more information about Sacramento County Historical Society, visit http://www.sachistoricalsociety.org

Disclosure: William Burg is vice-president of Sacramento County Historical Society.

"Strong Mayor" Proposal at Secret Public Meeting

2012-01-09T08:47:34Z

On January 7, 2012, Sacramento city staff held a public meeting about the newest proposal to change the city charter, the “Checks and Balances Act of 2012.” However, this public meeting was not announced to the general public—instead it was directed at a small group of neighborhood leaders.

I found out about the meeting via the chair of the Midtown Neighborhood Association, who received an email on December 27:

From: Raihane Dalvi
Date: December 27, 2011 2:19:11 PM PST
To: Raihane Dalvi
Subject: Checks and Balances Act of 2012

Dear Neighborhood Leader,

I'm writing to request your participation in an important discussion before the city of Sacramento.

As you may know, a broad coalition of community leaders are working to update our charter to make government work better for the voters of Sacramento. Along with our office, they recently presented the "Checks and Balances Act of 2012” [attached], a new proposal to restructure city governance, promote higher standards for ethics and transparency, and create an independent redistricting commission to draw council district boundaries in the future.

The Mayor and Council will review this plan at the January 17 council meeting. In advance of this meeting, we would like to invite you and your members to a "Neighborhood Summit" on Saturday, January 7th from 8-10 am. The summit will provide the opportunity to discuss the plan and gather your ideas and feedback.

Please email me or call (916) 808-8827 if you and your members would like to participate. In addition, we are happy to organize separate small groups or one-on-one meetings if you feel that would be beneficial.

Thanks in advance, and happy holidays!

Sincerely,

Raihane Dalvi
Assistant to the Chief of Staff
Office of Mayor Kevin Johnson

Apparently, this email was only sent to a handful of neighborhood leaders, not a formal public announcement or meeting notice—nor were the media informed. I responded to the email, and forwarded it to our neighborhood’s email list (and a couple of other neighborhoods’ email lists and Facebook pages.) I responded to the email and was told I would learn the location in a later email. It kind of reminded me of underground “raves” where you had to call a phone number a few hours in advance to find out where the party was. A few days before the event, I got another email informing me of the location—the Boys and Girls Club at 1117 G Street. Ms. Dalvi encouraged me to share the meeting details, which I did, using mostly the same social media and email lists.
The meeting was somewhat sparsely attended—about 20-25 people showed up, including several neighborhood activists and a few local print and Internet media representatives. Mayor Johnson’s chief of staff, Kunal Merchant, ran the meeting, reviewing a PowerPoint presentation and responding to questions.

Merchant described adoption of a “Strong Mayor” form of government as a natural progression for cities, one adopted by cities once they reach a certain size, and a more modern form of government than the council/manager form. I asked him if he was aware that Sacramento already had a “Strong Mayor” charter, from 1893 to 1911, prior to the council/manager charter adopted in 1920. Merchant replied that the era of our old “Strong Mayor” charter was indeed an era of great corruption. However, he replied that the late 1890s and early 1900s was an era of high unemployment and economic instability, where a small percentage of the population had most of society’s wealth, and thus an undue influence on the political process. Such conditions simply didn’t resemble the present day.

The structure of the new city government would place the city manager under the direction of the mayor, who would select the manager. The city council would increase to nine members, and elect a council president. The mayor would submit a budget to the council, instead of the current system where the city manager presents the budget to mayor and council. Merchant spent much time discussing concerns about city managers, stating that a poorly performing city manager was difficult to remove, and that we had four city managers in the past year, an indicator of dysfunction in city government. A member of the audience asked if this was the case—one city manager left voluntarily, one interim manager was rejected by the Council, and two were a two-person team deliberately hired as short-term interim city managers until a permanent manager was selected. Merchant agreed that City Manager Kerridge probably left under duress, but insisted that this condition was not healthy for the city, and it was more important for the city manager to be responsive to the Mayor’s vision than to have to respond to the wishes of the City Council. He did concede that in large cities, there is a need for a professional city manager who is trained in working with the bureaucracy, freeing the mayor to advocate on behalf of the city and interface with the public, as Kevin Johnson currently does.

Merchant spent considerable time discussing the ethics provisions of the measure: a proposed Code of Ethics and an Ethics Committee. No details were included regarding exactly what this Code of Ethics should be—as with many portions of the proposal, Merchant states that these will be worked out in the near future. Another audience member asked Merchant why this Ethics Committee would be, as written in the proposal, advisory only, as opposed to other cities where an Ethics Commission has actual statutory power and authority. Merchant replied that several options were considered and this seemed like the best one.

Concerns were raised about the costs of adding a ninth council district immediately after redistricting. The new proposal includes redistricting be shifted to a redistricting committee that would not be selected by the Mayor or Council, but did not specify who would actually choose the committee. Other audience members asked why it was so important to shift the city budget from the City Manager to the Mayor. Merchant replied that people generally expect that the Mayor submits the city budget, and it is too much to expect voters to understand how the system currently works, so it would be best to re-arrange the system to reflect their expectations. Several audience members took issue with this point, because Merchant had mentioned several times earlier in the presentation that we should “let the people vote” and that voters were savvy enough to see through any attempt at manipulation by special interests. Are the voters smart enough to understand the new proposal, but not smart enough to understand the current system?

Merchant summed up his presentation by reiterating that the supporters of charter change over the past two years have been very patient so far (although he didn’t identify who those supporters were) and that it was time to let the people vote. But in 2012, corporations are “people” and money is considered “political speech” as a means to obtain votes. There are still few answers regarding exactly who these “people” are, and how many dollars they are contributing to the “vote.” Another term heard often during the presentation was “transparency”—however, “transparency” is another word for “invisibility,” and many of the factors behind all three Strong Mayor proposals are seemingly invisible to the general public.

There are some hints, however: in 2010-2011, a group called the “Sacramento 60” tried to persuade council members to adopt the second “Strong Mayor” initiative, and lost a vital ally when City Manager Ray Kerridge resigned:

http://www.sacbee.com/2011/08/12/3832880/business-groups-pac-may-boost.html

Members of this group have created a Political Action Committee, or PAC, called “Better Sacramento”, and while the website has no details about the organization, the article linked above is clear: they have formed in order to support Mayor Kevin Johnson and the Strong Mayor efforts, and to support opponents of any City Council candidate who chooses to directly oppose either one.

http://www.bettersacramento.org/

Currently the website is pretty bare, except for a link to donate money. According to the Secretary of State’s office, the contact phone number for this PAC is the law office of Bell, McAndrews and Hiltachk, the law firm of Tom Hiltachk, the author of the original 2009 “Strong Mayor Initiative.” The link to donate money is via a company called “DonateSafe,” a company founded by Shawn Callahan, who was active in “Sacramentans for Accountable Government,” the original “strong mayor” group.

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/snog/blogs/post?oid=1370763&fb_source=message

A second group, Sacramento2020, also has a website:

http://sacramento2020.org/

They don’t have a link to contribute money, but are encouraging people to send a form email to City Council to support the “Checks and Balances Act.” Sacramento2020 is registered to Danny Rentschler, owner of a PR firm that has done work to promote Mayor Johnson’s “For Art’s Sake” program (a program whose latest director just resigned, about a year after the previous one.)

http://www.midtownmonthly.net/blog/head-of-for-arts-sake-resigns/

Merchant’s final slide included some upcoming key dates regarding this issue. On January 12, 2-3 PM, there will be a panel discussion with public policy professors at One Capitol Mall, Suite 300. Mayor Johnson has called for a vote regarding this initiative at the January 17 City Council meeting. If a majority of the Council agrees, this measure would be on the June 5 ballot, the same ballot where Kevin Johnson will face re-election.

My question, as a neighborhood activist and Sacramento resident, is this: Who is writing the checks to support the “Checks and Balances Act of 2012,” and how big are their bank balances? If they are working for greater transparency in government, why hide behind the cloak of a PAC? And why hold a public meeting on the new charter without telling the general public about it?

Disclosure: William Burg is a board member of Midtown Neighborhood Association.

City Seeks Arena Input

2011-10-27T05:48:37Z

As part of the Entertainment and Sports Complex project, the City of Sacramento has posted a "Notice of Preparation" for an Environmental Impact Report, or EIR. The public has until October 31 to provide comments to help city staff determine what factors should be considered in this important document.

The Notice of Preparation can be found on the City of Sacramento's website in PDF format:

http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/planning/environmental-review/eirs/documents/ESCNOPFINAL.pdf

Reports like this EIR are written to comply with the California Environmental Quality Act, or CEQA, which requires that California governments consider the effects of their projects on the state's environment. Environmental review involves more than just the natural world, although elements like air, soil and water pollution are important factors. Also considered are a project's effects on traffic, noise, historic and cultural resources, transportation and parking, population and housing, and economic effects. Cumulative effects of multiple projects are also considered, as well as a project's potential effects on other locations (such as the effects on North Natomas if Power Balance Pavilion is replaced by a new arena.) The EIR should also consider alternatives to the proposed project. Environmental review is not intended to prevent all negative environmental effects of a project. The EIR is a disclosure document, intended to show what potential effects a project could have on a community, the people, places and things around it, and consider options to prevent, limit, or mitigate those effects. The EIR shares information about these possible effects with the general public.

Participation by citizens is a critical part of the environmental review process. Cities depend on citizens and groups in their community to keep them fully informed of all the possible factors regarding a project that they may not have considered. By providing letters indicating areas the city should address in its EIR, we can help the city consider more factors, risks and effects, and perhaps even limit later liability by identifying a simple solution to a problem early in the process. The City of Sacramento opened the public comment period for this EIR on September 28, but the comment period closes at 5:00 PM on Monday, October 31. Comments regarding anything the EIR should consider must be received by that date and time . Both organizations and individuals are welcome to send letters or emails to the contact address below.

Comments and suggestions as to the appropriate scope of analysis in the EIR are invited from
all interested parties. Written comments or questions concerning the EIR for the proposed
project should be directed to the environmental project manager at the following address by
5:00 p.m. on October 31, 2011. Please include the contact person’s full name and address in
order for staff to respond appropriately:

Tom Buford, Senior Planner,
City of Sacramento Community Development Department,
300 Richards Blvd., Third Floor, Sacramento, CA 95811.
Tele (916) 808-7931
E-mail: tbuford@cityofsacramento.org

Disclosure: William Burg is a Sacramento resident and full-time skeptic.

Norcal Noisefest 2011: Six Days of Noise!

2011-09-27T07:12:56Z

Norcal Noisefest 2011, Sacramento's fifteenth annual gathering of experimental musicians and noise artists, returns this week for a six-day noise marathon featuring over 50 performers from across the continent.

Starting on Wednesday September 28 and running every day until Monday October 3, this year's Noisefest has expanded in both time and space: on Thursday night, simultaneous shows will occur in both Sacramento and San Francisco, followed by an on-air Noisefest performance on KDVS, 90.3 FM, in Davis. All other performances take place in Sacramento--at the Naked Lounge downtown, the Geery Theatre in Midtown, Luna's Cafe, and Sol Collective at the edge of Curtis Park.

Noise is difficult to explain. Like abstract art is to representational art, noise attempts to liberate music from the traditional constraints of musical form, to explore the outer edges of musical experience. Founded in 1995, the Norcal Noisefest features explorers reporting back from those edges, to share their sensory discoveries with the city of Sacramento.

All shows are all-ages, admission is $10 per day and includes earplugs.

An all-week festival pass for $40 includes admission to all shows, a Noisefest T-shirt, a copy of this year's compilation CD "Noise Warning," and a commemorative Noisefest pin--and earplugs. Purchase tickets at the door or online via Brown Paper Tickets:

http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/194346

For updates and more information visit http://www.norcalnoisefest.com

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2011- 8pm
NAKED LOUNGE DOWNTOWN, 1111 H STREET, SACRAMENTO
DELAYED SLEEP (sacramento)
MERDIQUE (seattle,wa)
klowd (sacramento)
SMITE! (sacramento)
KEVIN CORCORAN / WES STEED (sacramento)

THURSDAY, SEPT 29, 2011 - 7:30p - 10p
Wm.J.GEERY THEATER, SACRAMENTO,CA, 2130 L Street
NIGHT NURSE (sacramento)
PETE VON PETRIN (san francisco)
CHOPSTICK (sacramento)
VENETIAN VEIL (sacramento)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 - 8pm
LUGGAGE STORE GALLERY, SAN FRANCISCO, 1007 Market Street
XOME (sacramento)
+ - ERROR (Germany)
MARLO EGGPLANT (olympia,wa)
DARYL SHAWN/LAURIE AMAT (new york/san francisco)

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 - 11PM
KDVS, FM 90.3. DAVIS,CA
stream @ www.kdvs.org
MATT KRETZMANN (sacramento)
CHAD E. WILLIAMS (sacramento)
LIVER CANCER (rocklin)
WES STEED (sacramento)

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 2011 - 7pm
LUNA'S CAFE, 1414 16TH ST, SACRAMENTO
INSTAGON (sacramento)
MARLO EGGPLANT (olympia,wa)
+ - ERROR (Germany)
NOISEPSALM (camino)
CJ BOROSQUE (richmond)
DARYL SHAWN/LAURIE AMAT (new york/san francisco)
ENDIF (reno,nv)
ONE INFINITE LOOP (medford,or)
DESTROY DATE (los angeles)
LORDS OF OUTLAND (san francisco)
THURSDAY, SEPT 29, 2011 - 7:30p - 10p
Wm.J.GEERY THEATER, SACRAMENTO,CA
NIGHT NURSE (sacramento)
PETE VON PETRIN (san francisco)
CHOPSTICK (sacramento)
VENETIAN VEIL (sacramento)

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2011 - 3pm
SOL COLLECTIVE, SACRAMENTO,CA, 2574 21st Street
BIG CITY ORCHESTRA (san francisco)
+DOG+ (los angeles)
XOME (sacramento)
ACTUARY (los angeles)
THOMAS DIMUZIO (san francisco)
XDUGEF (los angeles)
ENDOMETRIUM CUNTPLOW (northridge)
LIVER CANCER (rocklin)
STRIATIONS (concord)
UBERKUNST (sacramento)
OVERDOSE THE KATATONIC (seattle,wa)
MOE! STAIANO (san francisco)
TRALPHAZ (san francisco)
JOLTHROWER (wet planet)
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF PLANET DWARF PLUTO
(los angeles)
DETH SIKE (seattle,wa)
THE TARAVAL TECHNIQUE (san francisco)
ACCIDENTAL MEMORIES (sacramento)
CARTOON JUSTICE (san francisco)
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 - 8pm
LUGGAGE STORE GALLERY, SAN FRANCISCO
XOME (sacramento)
+ - ERROR (Germany)
MARLO EGGPLANT (olympia,wa)
DARYL SHAWN/LAURIE AMAT (new york/san francisco)

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2011, 4pm
LUNA'S CAFE, 1414 16TH ST, SACRAMENTO,CA
VANKMEN (oakland)
HOLLY HERNDON (oakland)
MEDICINE CABINET (tracy)
BLOOD INTO WATER (san jose)
THIRTEEN HURTS (pleasant view,co)
HYPNOTIC INJECTION (sacramento)
ORBLESS (oakland)
WELTSCHMERZ (san francisco)
BABY BEAST (vancouver,CANADA)
THEE AHMISH (huntington beach)
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2011 - 11PM
KDVS, FM 90.3. DAVIS,CA
stream @ www.kdvs.org
MATT KRETZMANN (sacramento)
CHAD E. WILLIAMS (sacramento)
LIVER CANCER (rocklin)
WES STEED (sacramento)

MONDAY, OCTOBER 3, 2011 - 7:30pm
NEBRASKA MONDAY WEEKLY EXPERIMENTAL JAZZ SERIES
WELCOMES NOISEFEST CLOSING NIGHT
LUNA'S CAFE, 1414 16TH ST, SACRAMENTO,CA
RITUAL WASTE [w/Jon Bafus] (sacramento)
LUCIO MENEGON (new york,ny)
ROSS HAMMOND (sacramento)
DONKEY FLYBYE [of Smegma] (sacramento)
LOUD ODD BASS (sacramento)

Disclosure: William Burg is Director of Promotion for the Norcal Noisefest.

Historic Home Tour in Marshall School Neighborhood

2011-09-12T19:57:35Z

Sacramento Old City Association 36th Annual Home Tour
What: A tour of 8 historic buildings in the Marshall School neighborhood, and street fair at 27th and J Street.
When: Sunday, September 18, 10:00 AM-4:00 PM
Where: Marshall Park, 27th & J Street, Sacramento
How Much: $20 in advance, $25 day of event

On Sunday, September 18, the Sacramento Old City Association (SOCA) presents its 36th annual tour of historic homes in Sacramento’s central city. Each year, we offer an inside look into the beautiful and historic buildings that line Midtown and Downtown streets, and some of the newest infill development projects in the city. This year’s tour of the Marshall School neighborhood, in the northeastern quarter of the central city between F and J Street, features homes in the Queen Anne, Craftsman and Neoclassic styles. In addition to seven residential buildings, this year's tour includes a rare inside look at the Sacramento Eastern Star Temple, a National Register listed 1925 Romanesque Revival building.

The tour starts at Marshall Park, at the corner of 27th and J Street. A street fair at the park features local contractors, architects, builders and artisans specializing in historic home rehab and remodeling, local businesses, artists and crafters displaying their wares, local nonprofits, advocacy and local history organizations.

Local musicians Tender Cinders, Garage Jazz Architects, The Freebadge Serenaders, and Emile Dalkey will perform at the street fair in the center of Marshall Park, starting at 11:00 AM.

Those attending the tour will get an inside, guided tour through each building, provided by volunteer docents, including members of the Marshall School New Era Park Neighborhood Association, SOCA, and the Sacramento Art Deco Society. Tour participants can also show their tour wristband for a 15% discount in the restaurants of the nearby Sutter District. The tour costs $25 on the day of the event, or $20 in advance via www.brownpapertickets.com. The street fair is free and open to the public.

Started in 1975, the SOCA Home Tour was created to showcase historic homes in neglected central city neighborhoods. Members showed off their home-repair projects and shared techniques, tools and advice. As these neighborhoods became the Sacramento region’s favorite destination for culture and entertainment, the home tour has grown into a celebration of central city life, including art, culture, business, transportation and transit, entertainment, history, downtown living, and the irreplaceable beauty of Sacramento’s historic neighborhoods. The tour is also a fundraiser that helps SOCA carry out its mission to preserve and enhance a high quality of life for Central City residents, businesses, working people and visitors.

Tickets can be purchased online at https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/187298
For more information about SOCA, visit http://www.sacoldcity.org

Sponsored in part by Midtown Monthly Magazine, The Sutter District restaurants, and Midtown Business Association

Disclosure: William Burg is a board member of the Sacramento Old City Association.

"The Greenest Building" Film Showing at Crest Theatre July 25

2011-07-18T06:55:43Z

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, is this well-intentioned planning with devastating environmental and cultural consequences?

On Monday, July 25th, “The Greenest Building,” a new hour-long documentary by Eugene, Oregon film producer Jane Turville, will be screened at the Crest Theatre, 1013 K Street, Sacramento. The film presents a compelling overview of the important role building reuse plays in creating sustainable communities. Narrated by David Ogden Stiers, “The Greenest Building” explores the myth that a “green building” is a new building and demonstrates how renovation and adaptive reuse of existing structures fully achieves the sustainability movement’s “triple bottom line” - economic, social, and ecological balance. The film reveals: (a) how reuse and reinvestment in the existing built environment leads to stronger local economies that can compete on a global scale, (b) that sense of place and collective memory, while intangible, are critical components of strong sustainable communities, and (c) the direct correlation between reuse of existing buildings and a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, degradation of the natural environment and overuse of precious natural resources.

If you are interested in buildings, community development, sustainable communities or just plain want to find out if existing buildings really are worth keeping, plan to attend this special event. “The Greenest Building” starts at 7:00 pm. The panel discussion starts at 8:00 PM, and will feature Matt Piner of Pinerworks Architecture, Roberta Deering, LEED AP BD+C, Senior Planner for Historic Preservation, City of Sacramento Community Development Department, Bay Miry of D&S Development, Ray Nalangan of SMUD, Susan Rainier, AIA, LEED AP, of USGBC and UC Davis, and Craig Hausman, AIA, Hausman Architecture. This panel will help relate the ideas presented in the film the film to recently completed and upcoming preservation projects in Sacramento.

From the film's website:

"At the start of “The Greenest Building” narrator David Ogden-Stiers poses the question “Might it be that the greenest building is the one that is already there?” The answer at the end of the film is true for buildings, as well as all consumer products – “Reuse is key to triple-bottom-line sustainability.” Why? When we reuse any consumer product, whether it be a plastic milk jug or a ten story building, we automatically reduce our consumption of natural resources as well as recycle that item either for its original purpose or for a new purpose. An item doesn’t necessarily have to change physically (as in plastic bottles into carpet) in order to be recycled. In fact, synonyms for “recycle” include “reprocess”, “salvage”, “recover”, and “reuse”. In building reuse, it’s often called “adaptive reuse.”"--Jane Turville, producer

This film is presented by the Sacramento Old City Association (SOCA) in conjunction with Wagging Tale Productions and the assistance of the Crest Theatre.

For more information, visit http://www.sacoldcity.org or www.thegreenestbuildingmovie.com.

The Sacramento Old City Association promotes actions that preserve and enhance a high quality of life for Central City residents, businesses, working people and visitors. The organization works to achieve balanced and harmonious relationships among residential, commercial and employment uses in the Central City.

Disclosure: William Burg is a board member of the Sacramento Old City Association.

"Jane's Walk" Urban Planning Walks

2011-05-04T05:27:47Z

Sacramento Jane’s Walk 2011: Saturday, May 7 and Sunday, May 8

Jane’s Walk USA is a series of free neighborhood walking tours that helps put people in touch with their environment and with each other, by bridging social and geographic gaps and creating a space for cities to discover themselves. Since its inception in 2007, Jane’s Walk has happened in cities across North America, and is growing internationally. Sacramento’s Jane’s Walk series incorporates elements of urban planning, neighborhood advocacy, urban history, and architectural history, to demonstrate how a neighborhood’s physical form promotes its walkability, sustainability and economic and social vitality. All tours are free of charge; show up at the starting point at the designated time in comfortable walking shoes. No RSVP is necessary.

In 2010, Sacramento's first Jane's Walk series took place on May 1 with four simultaneous tours. This year, five total tours are being held over two days; except for the Oak Park and Southside Park tours, the tours are held at different times, so people can attend more than one.

Sacramento Jane’s Walk Schedule

Saturday, May 7

Alkali Flat
10 AM – Noon
Tour Guide: Luis Sumpter, Sacramento Old City Association Board Member
Starting Point: Shine Coffee, 1400 E Street
SOCA and Alkali Flat Neighborhood Association board member Luis Sumpter will lead a tour of Sacramento’s oldest surviving residential neighborhood, Alkali Flat. This tour will visit local architectural landmarks, neighborhood businesses, adaptive reuse projects, and new mixed-use projects under construction.

Midtown
2 PM – 4 PM
Tour Guide: William Burg, Sacramento Old City Association Board Member
Starting Point: Mondo Bizarro, 1827 I Street
William Burg, historian and author of Sacramento’s Streetcars, will guide this tour of Midtown’s mixed-use business corridors and adjacent residential neighborhoods, from the days of Sutter through the streetcar era to the present day. The tour will focus on walkability, transit, mixed-use neighborhoods, and Midtown’s legacy as a regional epicenter of creativity and art.

Sunday, May 8

Southside Park
10 AM-Noon
Tour Guide: William Burg, Sacramento Old City Association Board Member
Starting Point: Callahan Bandstand, 7th and T Street, Southside Park
William Burg, historian and author of Sacramento’s Southside Park, will lead this tour, focusing on the neighborhood’s rich cultural diversity, transportation, landscape and urban design, neighborhood activism, and adaptation to changing neighborhood roles.

Central Oak Park Walking Tour
10 AM-Noon
Tour Guide: Tom Sumpter, Oak Park Neighborhood Association
Starting Point: Guild Theater, 2828 35th Street
Neighborhood activist Tom Sumpter will lead a tour of Oak Park’s historic business district along Broadway and nearby landmarks, designed by Sacramento State geography professor Robin Datel and using a tour brochure published by the Center for Sacramento History.

Downtown: From the Railroad Tracks to the Civic Center
2 PM – 4 PM
Tour Guide: Melisa Gaudreau, Sacramento Heritage Inc. Board Member
Starting Point: Sacramento City Hall, 915 I Street
Historic architect Melisa Gaudreau will lead a tour of downtown Sacramento, focusing on Sacramento Heritage Inc.’s new tour of the Civic Center area along H, I and J Street between the historic Southern Pacific passenger depot and City Hall.

About Jane’s Walks
Jane’s Walk USA honors the legacy and ideas of urban activist and writer Jane Jacobs who championed the interests of local residents and pedestrians over a car-centered approach to planning. Jane’s Walk USA helps knit people together into a strong and resourceful community, instilling belonging and encouraging civic leadership.

All Jane’s Walk USA tours are given and taken for free. These walks are led by anyone who has an interest in the neighborhoods where they live, work or hang out. They are not always about architecture and heritage, and offer a more personal take on the local culture, the social history and the planning issues faced by the residents. Jane Jacobs believed strongly that local residents understood best how their neighborhood works, and what is needed to strengthen and improve them. Jane’s Walks are meant to be fun, engaged and participatory – everyone’s got a story and they’re usually keen to share it.

Thousands of people have taken part in a Jane’s Walk USA. Past walks have explored a wide range of urban landscapes, from social housing slated for redevelopment to areas with a rich architectural and cultural heritage, to teen hangouts and secret gardens. Walks are led by individuals and small groups. Some are focused around historical themes more than geographical areas, for instance, some strolls have been built around ideas like the history of the bicycle, gay and lesbian history, places of relevance to the homeless, the history of ‘skid row’, and urgent planning matters facing certain neighborhoods.

About the Sacramento Old City Association
The Sacramento Old City Association promotes actions that preserve and enhance a high quality of life for Central City residents, businesses, working people and visitors. The organization works to achieve balanced and harmonious relationships among residential, commercial and employment uses in the Central City. To achieve these goals the Sacramento Old City Association works to:

•Increase public awareness of the irreplaceable historic, architectural and cultural resources of the Central City
•Gather and disseminate information useful in the preservation of structures and neighborhoods of Sacramento.
•Advocate the policies and positions of the organization to the appropriate public agencies and private parties.
•Build and strengthen coalitions with other organizations working to achieve similar goals.
•Promote a quality urban environment through the encouragement of compatibly designed and constructed housing, commercial and office buildings.

For More Information about Jane's Walk or the Sacramento Old City Association:

http://www.sacoldcity.org
http://janeswalkusa.wordpress.com/

Disclosure: William Burg is a board member of the Sacramento Old City Association.

Review: Eight Views of the Tower Bridge

2011-03-10T07:11:43Z

Sacramento City College's theater department, City Theatre, presents a program of eight short plays at the West Sacramento Community Center "Black Box" Theatre, at 1075 West Capitol Boulevard. The plays all center on Sacramento's iconic Tower Bridge, ranging from the historic to the fantastic.

Because the City College's campus theater is currently undergoing renovation, they have moved their 2011 program to the "Black Box" Theatre, a new facility in West Sacramento. This location provides a most fitting setting for plays with this subject--chances are good that those who attend will cross over or pass within view of the Tower Bridge on the way to the theater.

Eight playwrights composed short one-act plays inspired by the bridge, but each evening is just half of the total program, with four plays per night--Program A and Program B. This review is of Program B (I didn't get a chance to see Program A.)

"Fishing on the Sacramento River", the first play of Program B, introduces the audience to the history of the Tower Bridge via a family fishing together within sight of the bridge. The family's patriarch tells stories of when he worked on the bridge and details of its inaugural day, while his family alternately battles, bonds and tries to catch a fish.

"The Mason Jar" is the story of a group of eccentric friends on a short trip to the Tower Bridge to pay tribute to an old friend, and on the way, make a new one in an unexpected place.

"The Bridge Committee" is a fantasy explanation of the Tower Bridge's origin, portrayed by a group of strange creatures from beneath the earth's surface, attempting to restore their dwindling powers of levitation.

"Roland of the River" is a day in the life of the Tower Bridge's first bridge operator, and a resident of the nearby riverbank, and the bridge operator's lunch.

All of the plays are comedies, featuring a lot of well-delivered and snappy dialogue and more than a few laughs. The student actors were all quite skilled, and the play seemed without technical flaw--if anyone flubbed a line, they covered it well enough to be unnoticed by the audience. Costumes and props were simple and minimal, relying mostly on the audience's imagination to make up for a junior college props budget, but enhanced by projections of the Tower Bridge on the back wall of the theater. There is some adult language and one simulated gunshot in the production, but nothing particularly shocking. All of the stories were themed around bridging the distances between people--between family members, between friends in conflict with each other, between strangers on the street, and between communities who must work together for a common goal. The Tower Bridge's beauty, classic design, utility and history are all acknowledged and celebrated, but all are secondary to the bridge's purpose--to span a gap, and allow people safe passage to the other side.

This weekend is the last weekend of the play's run: schedule is below.

Eight Views of the Tower Bridge: A Local Playwrights Festival

West Sacramento Community Center Black Box Theatre, 1075 West Capitol Blvd., West Sacramento

Program A: March 11, 8:00 PM, March 12, 2:00 PM

Program B: March 12, 8:00 PM, March 13, 2:00 PM

Tickets are $15 general and $12 discount (student ID, seniors, disabilities and SARTA members) for Friday and Saturday evenings, $13 general and $10 discount for Saturday and Sunday 2 PM matinees.

http://www.sacramento365.com/event/detail/441129192/Local_Playwrights_FestivalTower_Bridge_Eight_Views_of_the_Tower_Bridge

800 K Street Plan at Preservation Commission

2011-03-02T02:13:31Z

This Wednesday, March 2, the City of Sacramento's Preservation Commission will review and comment on plans for the 800 block of K Street. This plan follows the February review and comment for the 700 block of K Street, (a project of D&S Development and CFY Development) by the Preservation Commission, later presented to Design and Planning Commission.

City of Sacramento Preservation Commission

Wednesday, March 2, 5:30 PM, City Council Chambers, New City Hall, 915 I Street, Sacramento

Agenda for the Preservation Commission meeting can be found here:

http://sacramento.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=21&event_id=144

This project, selected last summer as one of two projects for the 700 and 800 block of K Street, is presented by David Taylor Interests, Domus, CIM and Zeiden Properties. After input by the city of Sacramento, the project now includes 200 apartments (the original plan called for 110) varying in size from 450 to 1100 square feet, and 20,000 feet of retail space, on a lot of approximately 1.1 acres. Two new buildings will be constructed, at 800 K Street and 801 L Street, and the historic Bel-Vue Apartments/American Cash Apartments building will be restored and renovated. The 800 K Street building will be six stories tall, not including a basement parking level at Sacramento's original street level. The 801 L Street building will be five stories. Affordability levels will vary within the project, ranging from low and moderate income to market-rate units. Potential tenants for the ground floor retail units were not specified in the staff report.

The complete report for the 800 Block proposal can be found here:

http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=21&event_id=144&meta_id=218914

This item will be received for review and comment, most likely to be followed by presentations to Design Review and Planning Commission in the coming weeks.

This month's Preservation Commission will also feature public hearings on two items: a recommendation for the Broadway Triangle project, a mixed-use project planned for Broadway between 34th and 36th Street that will include several landmark buildings in the Oak Park/Broadway historic district, and a recommendation for district signs, art, and bicycle furniture for the R Street Corridor between 10th and 13th Street.

Details about the Broadway Triangle project can be found here:

http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=21&event_id=144&meta_id=218908

The R Street streetscape plan can be found here:

http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=21&event_id=144&meta_id=218910

The Preservation Commission will also review a staff report regarding whether or not to recommend the California State Printing Plant on North 7th and Richards Boulevard to the City Council as a city landmark. Staff report can be found here:

http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=21&event_id=144&meta_id=218912

Pictures accompanying this article were taken from the City of Sacramento staff report, linked above.

Holiday Display at 10th & K

2010-12-09T21:06:04Z

Sacramento County Historical Society's holiday display at 1001 K Street formally opened on November 26, but its operation continues through the beginning of the New Year and it attracted attention from passersby even before the display formally opened.

The display uses figures originally built by the Gaffney Display Company in the 1950s, used in Breuner's Department Store holiday display windows. This tradition began in Sacramento in 1934, continuing until 1974. Gaffney figures were used throughout the Breuner's chain, but have been absent from K Street for decades. More information on the historic Breuner's displays can be found in this article:

http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/40096/Department_Store_Holiday_Display_for_K_Street

Construction of the display started in early November, utilizing the talents of a team of volunteers. Some were SCHS members with experience in museum display construction and art. Local artists involved with the "Matrix Arts" organization lent their talents. Some filmmakers from local film company TFO Productions took some time off from producing their new feature "Planet of the Vampire Women" to lend a hand. And some were just Sacramentans willing to help out. Mark Gaffney, owner of the figures and the still-operating Gaffney Display Company, provided the figures and his expertise in setting up the display. About 60 individuals, businesses and organizations contributed funds and materials to the display project, both through our online Indiegogo fundraising effort, solicited donations, and an appeal to Historical Society members.

The project, located in the dramatic corner window of Sacramento's landmark 1946 Roos-Atkins building, combines the historic figures with a newly designed setting entitled "Winter in the City." Set in approximately 1910, the display portrays a Sacramento streetcorner, with a department store and movie theater inspired by Sacramento buildings demolished long ago (the Edison Theater and Weinstock-Lubin department store that once stood on the 400 block of K Street.) A Sacramento streetcar, returning from Oak Park, is located on the K Street side. A family is transfixed before the store window, the parents appreciating the holiday lights while the kids detail which of the toys inside the window they want. A young couple exits the movie theater, hailing the streetcar for a ride home. A bell-ringing Santa, inspired by the "Volunteers of America" fundraising Santas, stands on the corner welcoming passersby. The display is intended to portray the era when K Street (and downtown Sacramento) was the shopping, entertainment and transportation hub of the Sacramento Valley, as well as a densely populated urban neighborhood that was busy day and night.

The display operates from 11 AM to 11 PM on weekdays, and on weekends the lights and animated figures keep running until 2:00 AM. The display will remain in operation until the first week of January 2011, when the figures will be returned and the lumber used to create the display will be donated to a local theater company.

This Saturday, December 11, the Sacramento Old City Association and SCHS will host the quarterly Preservation Roundtable across the street at 1000 K Street, inside the Cosmopolitan Cabaret. The Preservation Roundtable includes updates and information from local history and preservation organizations, and runs from 9 AM to noon. The featured speaker of this quarter's Preservation Roundtable is Mark Gaffney, who will talk about the history of the Gaffney Display Company and their involvement with the Breuner's animated window displays, as well as the story of this year's holiday display. The presentation will end with a visit to the display site at noon.

Sacramento Preservation Roundtable

Saturday December 11, 9 AM-12 PM

1000 K Street (Cosmopolitan Cabaret), Sacramento

(Photos 1 and 2 by William Burg. Photos 3-11 by M. Parfitt. Photos 12-14 by Gretchen Steinberg.)

Department Store Holiday Display for K Street

2010-11-05T05:16:22Z

Sacramento County Historical Society
Holiday Window Display Project
Roos-Atkins Building, 1001 K Street, Sacramento CA
Grand Opening of Window Display: Friday, November 26, Noon

This November, Sacramento County Historical Society will recreate a full-sized holiday display window on K Street, using animated figures that once graced the windows of the Breuner’s department store in downtown Sacramento. The display will occupy the window of the former Roos Bros. department store building at 1001 K Street, the northeast corner of 10th and K. Setup will take place during November 2010, with a “grand reveal” of the completed display the day after Thanksgiving, November 26, at noon. The display will remain in place until the first week of January, 2011.

The Downtown Sacramento Partnership is an active participant in this project, with contributions from the Sacramento Old City Association, Capital City Preservation Trust, Midtown Neighborhood Association, Matrix Arts, and SCHS members. The property management and real estate firm Colliers International has provided access to the ground floor picture window of the historic Roos-Atkins Department Store. This enormous window on a feature corner provides an ideal place to celebrate K Street’s legacy and usher in its future.

The theme for the 2010 Holiday Display Window is “Winter in the City,” an urban scene set in downtown Sacramento circa 1910. Store windows containing period gifts and merchandise, a nickelodeon movie theater, a K Street streetcar, and lighted architectural elements will reflect the holiday season. Animated Gaffney Display Company figures will interact with each other and their surroundings. Local artists and SCHS volunteers will create the display setting. The window will also include historic photos of original Breuner’s display windows,other downtown department stores like Weinstock & Lubin, Roos Bros. and Kress, and past holiday celebrations on K Street, provided by the Center for Sacramento History. Interpretive panels will explain K Street’s historic role as a shopping, entertainment and cultural destination. We hope this celebration of K Street’s history can also serve to inspire its future, and recreate the sense of wonder of holiday seasons past.

Sacramento County Historical Society is organizing the fundraising effort. We are close to our funding goal, but we need your help to bring this tradition back to life on K Street. Please consider a tax-deductible donation to this project via Indiegogo.com by using the link below:

http://www.indiegogo.com/Winter-in-the-City-?a=52855&i=addr

The idea for this display window started last year, after a presentation by Gaffney Display at an SCHS meeting that resulted in a smaller window display at Grebitus & Sons Jewelers--see that story below:

http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/18787/Historic_Holiday_Display_at_10th_L

William Burg, Vice-President, Sacramento County Historical Society
SCHS is a 501(c)3 nonprofit dedicated to promoting and sharing local history through publications, education and special events.

For more information about SCHS, please visit our website at http://www.sachistoricalsociety.org

Photos 1-8: Courtesy of the Center for Sacramento History. Photos 9-11: Taken by William Burg. Photo 12: Author's collection.

Norcal Noisefest 2010: Sandpaper for the Eardrums

2010-09-29T04:49:10Z

On October 1 and 2, Sacramento's annual Norcal Noisefest returns for its 14th festival. Founded in 1995 with a two-year hiatus in 1998 and 1999, the Noisefest (sometimes known as the Northern California Experimental Music Festival) is a weekend-long gathering of experimental musicians from across North America who come to Sacramento to provide an audio experience unlike anything else around. The Noisefest was described by Sacramento News & Review writer Julie de la Torre as "the musical equivalent of taking sandpaper to your eardrum, but in a good way." (http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content?oid=1747208) Noise is not for everyone--but for those seeking musical experiences ranging from the subtle to the challenging to the bizarre, the Norcal Noisefest has no equal.

This year's Noisefest takes place on Friday October 1 and Saturday October 2, split into three distinct sets, called "The Good, The Weird, And The Ugly."

Friday night's performance at Luna's Cafe, 1414 16th Street, features acts from the more melodic end of the noise spectrum, like Bay Area free-jazz improvisers LORDS OF OUTLAND, dark ambient industrial from local performer HYPNOTIC INJECTION, or Mexico's DARRYL SHAWN.

Saturday's show at Sol Collective, 2574 21st Street, starts with a set of the weirdest acts to perform at the Noisefest, including Davis' MUCKY THE DUCKY, Placerville's gothic etherealists NOISEPSALM, and Sacramento's favorite teenage noise performer TARANTULA PRINCESS with her new musical collaborator RAT SKULLS. Houston's THOMAS HELTON will provide a break from the unrelenting volume by performing musical experiments on an acoustic stand-up bass, followed by a set-ending ritual by San Francisco's BIG CITY ORCHESTRA.

The final set, also on Saturday night, "THE UGLY," features the most brutal and ear-punishing power electronics, like locals XOME and LIVER CANCER, Portland, Maine's CRANK STURGEON, and Los Angeles' PULSATING CYST. Gabber master VANKMEN from Oakland and Los Angeles wunderkind PEDESTRIAN DEPOSIT will join Sacramento acts like JOLTHROWER and CHOPSTICK to test the abilities of your earplugs to resist unrelenting waves of sonic ugliness.

All shows are all-ages. Admission for each day costs $10, but a full weekend package costing $25 includes not only admission to both days, but also a Noisefest T-Shirt, the 2010 Norcal Noisefest compilation CD "The Junk Drawer Is Open," and a Noisefest commemorative pin.

Tickets can be purchased at the event or in advance via Brown Paper Tickets: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/124396

FREE EARPLUGS are provided upon request, and are highly recommended for those attending the Norcal Noisefest.

NORCAL NOISEFEST 2010

Day 1 - session 1
October 1, 2010
Luna's Cafe
1414 16th Street
Sacramento, CA
STARTS 7 PM

LORDS OF OUTLAND (SF)
+DOG+ (LA)
DENTAL WORK (MI)
PETE VON PETRIN (SF) (formerly FOGNOZZLE)
BASIDIOMYCOTA (LA)
MEDICINE CABINET (tracy)
E YARD (Santa Rosa)
HYPNOTIC INJECTION (sac)
DARRYL SHAWN (mexico)
HOLLY HERNDON (SF)
LIFELINER+ (SAC)
CALM INFERNO ARCHIVES (san jose)

Day 2 - session 2 & 3
October 2, 2010
Sol Collective
2574 21st Street
Sacramento, CA, 95818
STARTS 2 PM

BIG CITY ORCHESTRA (SF)
UBERKUNST (sac)
XOME (sac)
CRANK STURGEON (porland,ME)
EN NIHIL (LA)
VANKMEN (oakland)
INSTAGON:mixer set (sac)
ACTUARY (torrance)
CHOPSTICK (sac)
LIVER CANCER (sac)
klowd (sac)
MUCKY THE DUCKY (davis)
OVERDOSE THE KATATONIC
(seattle,WA)
PEDESTRIAN DEPOSIT (LA)
SHARKIFACE (SF)
JOLTHROWER (wet planet)
WRONG HOLE (LA)
STYROFOAM SANCHEZ (oakland)
THOMAS HELTON (houston,TX)
MAMA BURIES (davis)
NOISEPSALM (camino)
TARANTULA PRINCESS' RAT SKULLS (sac)
CMBLS (oakland)
REPTILE ALIEN (huntington beach)
INK ON SUIT (orangevale)
PULSATING CYST (los angeles)
HEATING METALLURGICAL SCHIONS (riverside)

$10 per day--$25 for full membership including T-shirt, CD and button. All shows are all-ages.

For more information including set times, consult the Norcal Noisefest website: http://www.norcalnoisefest.com

This year's Norcal Noisefest was made possible in part by the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission's "Microgrants" program.

Disclosure: William Burg is director of promotion for the Norcal Noisefest.

photos: 1. Noisefest flyer. 2. Actuary 3. Crank Sturgeon 4. Daryl Shawn 5. Dental Work 6. Instagon 7. Jolthrower 8. Overdose the Katatonic 9. Pedestrian Deposit 10. Pete von Petrin 11. Styrofoam Sanchez 12. Wrong Hole 13. +DOG+ 14. Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission logo

SOCA Home Tour in Bungalow Row

2010-09-17T07:38:25Z

On Sunday, September 19, the Sacramento Old City Association presents its 35th annual Home Tour, focusing on the homes of Q Street's Bungalow Row and Winn Park. Sacramento Press reporter Brandon Darnell detailed the story behind the Home Tour here:

www.sacramentopress.com/headline/35635/Historic_homes_to_open_for_tour

The home tour's "base of operations" this year, where tickets are sold, is located in Winn Park, at the corner of 28th and P Street. Winn Park is also the location of the tour's street fair, featuring local contractors, artisans, crafters, artists and organizations. At the center of the park, near the fire relay station that is one of the stops on the tour, musical performers will play from 11 AM to 3 PM.

Performers scheduled are Ross Hammond, Chris Harvey and Tim White (of The Alkali Flats), Bobby Joe Ebola and the Children MacNuggits, and the Freebadge Serenaders.

At the street fair, local developers ZETA Homes will have information about their new residential project planned for 25th and R Street. Dave "I Do Windows and Doors" Clark will demonstrate how restoring wood windows can be cheaper and far greener than replacing wood with vinyl windows. Practical Cycle will share information on their upcoming local history bike rides. Midtown Business Association will share their upcoming events, and downtowngrid.com will offer coupons and gifts from local businesses. Several authors of Arcadia Publishing's books on local history will be present to sign and sell books. Archivists from the Center for Sacramento History and representatives of the Sacramento Old City Cemetery will share information on their organizations. Two stained glass artists, Mickey Abbey and Richard Graf, will feature their arts at either end of the park. CLUCK, the Campaign to Legalize Urban Chicken Keeping, will share information on their efforts. Local artists like Kitten Kustom Wares, New Old Jewelry and Carolyn Hess Handmade Quilts will display their crafts, while fine arts by Joy Gee of Matrix Arts, Mareia de Socorro, Nicholas Roberts and Greg LaTraille will be on display.

If you are planning on attending the "Sac Cycle Chic" bicycle ride, the ride will end at the Street Fair. For more information on Sac Cycle Chic:

www.saccyclechic.com/

The street fair will take place in the eastern half of Winn Park, but there will still be plenty of room for picnics and gatherings.

35th Annual SOCA Home Tour
Location: Bungalow Row and Winn Park, 28th and P Street, Midtown Sacramento
Description: Join us for the 35th Annual SOCA Home Tour. This year we are celebrating the 100th birthday of Bungalow Row. A street fair featuring artisans and craftspersons specializing in historic properties will be held in Winn Park at 27th & P Streets. Home Tour tickets will be available at the street fair. The street fair is free.
Start Time: 09:00 AM to 4:00 PM
Date: September 19, 2010

Tickets are $20 in advance and $ 25 the day of the event

Advance tickets can be purchased after August 22nd at the following locations:

The Avid Reader, 16th & Broadway

Collected Works, 4525 Freeport Blvd. next to Capitol Nursery

57th Street Antique Mall, 57th & H Street

Joann’s Elegant Gifts, 1019 L Street

Green Sacramento, 919 20th Street

For more information on SOCA:

www.sacoldcity.org

SCHS Presents: Rick Spencer at Gold Rush Days

2010-09-03T05:59:10Z

Rick Spencer Concert at Gold Rush Days, Sunday Sept 5, 4 P.M., Old Sacramento “Tent City” Stage

SCHS is proud to sponsor a public historic music program by historical troubadour Rick Spencer, followed by a 5 PM performer reception/discussion (for SCHS members only) in the Eagle Theater. Rick is known internationally for his work as a historian, researcher, singer, songwriter and performer of music in the American folk tradition. Some of his musical selections for this event will include campaign songs written for the 1856 Presidential campaign of John C. Fremont, early California explorer, one of the first two Senators from California, and the first Presidential candidate fielded by the fledgling Republican Party. The concert is free and open to the public on the "Tent City" stage, and starts at 4:00 PM.

In addition to his work as a musician Rick Spencer is the executive director of the Dr. Ashbel Woodward Museum in Franklin, CT. For more information you can visit Rick Spencer's website at www.catfeather.com. The concert, and the SCHS member reception, are both near Front & I Street in Old Sacramento, on the "Tent City" stage. Gold Rush Days are quite the party (see sacramentogoldrushdays.com ), so come out early for the best parking opportunities. The event runs Friday through Monday, with Sunday’s hours from 11- 7.

For more information about the Sacramento County Historical Society, visit our website at www.sachistoricalsociety.org

Disclosure: William Burg is Vice-President of the Sacramento County Historical Society.

Grocery Outlet: Then and Now

2010-08-21T00:12:37Z

When I wrote Sacramento: Then and Now I wanted to show some images that were missed in other local history books, but were immediately recognizable by people who lived in the neighborhoods portrayed. I chose the image of the grocery store at 17th and Capitol because it was just this sort of place: ordinary, but recognizable and essential. At the time, it was still Rick's Uptown Market--one of the hazards of a book titled "Then and Now" is that the date of publication immediately becomes a new "Then."

The building is about 100 years old--I am pretty sure, but not positive, that it was constructed in about 1910. It was constructed as the Perkins and Company grocery store, selling food as well as dry goods and other essentials. Perkins & Company was first established in the town of Perkins, about seven miles east of Sacramento by Thomas Calley Perkins, renamed in his honor from the earlier name of Brighton. Thomas' son, Charles Calley Perkins, expanded the family business to Sacramento in the early 1900s, so this store was probably his idea. More about the history of Brighton Township, including Perkins, can be found in this a free online book called Stories of the Land by Paula J. Peper. The book was published by Stonebridge Properties, who currently plan to develop the Perkins/Brighton area into a new Sacramento County subdivision.

When the Perkins Store was built, Capitol Avenue was still known as M Street, and a streetcar line ran down its center. Paving was becoming commonplace in that decade, so the road may have been macadamized, but there was still a lot of horse traffic in addition to the streetcars, bicycles, pedestrians and a growing number of automobiles. Like most streetcar routes, M Street's property values were higher than adjacent blocks, so buildings on the street were more commonly commercial, multi-family dwellings or large, expensive homes of prominent families.

The Perkins & Company Store went out of business in 1944, but it served as a neighborhood market after Perkins closed: by the 1950s, it was a Raley's store. More recently it was part of the Compton's Market local chain, and most recently Rick's before closing and reopening as a Grocery Outlet store.

As the photos show, other than covering up some of the street-side windows with stucco, the store hasn't changed very much. The mural, now in mid-restoration/enhancement, gives a little bit of flavor, not strictly what the building actually looked like but enough to evoke the past. In the past week, Sacramento lost one of its oldest market buildings to fire, but places like the old Perkins Store, reopened today as a Grocery Outlet, still function in their historic role. As Sacramentans redisciver their central city, buildings like this one and places like neighborhood markets will have an important role to play. Perhaps this building could serve the neighborhood as a grocery store for another hundred years?

"Promenade on K" plan at Shady Lady

2010-07-09T14:56:29Z

On Saturday, July 10, D&S Development will host an event with information about the "Promenade on K," their proposed project for700 block of K Street. The event will take place at the Shady Lady, 1409 R Street, from 6 PM-8 PM. Complimentary food samplings from local retailers will be provided. The Shady Lady is one of several local businesses interested in joining the K Street project. They propose a mid-sized music venue to fill a much-needed niche in the local live entertainment scene, along with multiple restaurants and bars within the venue. This, along with other local businesses, will provide the retail component, while D&S provides mixed-income housing above and behind the retail stores.

According to Bay Miry of D&S, "The focus of our proposal is for it to be a balance between boldnessand doability. The proposal consists of 136 workforce apartments above unique predominantly locally operated retail. All while historically preserving the existing buildings. Think our 14&R project but albeit on a grander scale. Evidence of equity and financing has been given to the City. The amount of subsidy our proposal requests per unit is significantly lower when compared apples to apples with the other proposals. All ground floor retail tenants have already been identified!"

On Tuesday July 13, the Sacramento City Council will assign an Exclusive Right to Negotiate for the K Street project. The city's selection committee chose the D&S project and David Taylor's 700/800K, LLC, to share the project. An ad-hoc committee of City Council members chose the Rubicon Partners project. The City Council meeting will select a proposal for further work by city staff, an important step towards revitalizing K Street.

D&S has also set up a website where the public can show their support for the project to the city council, mayor, and city manager: www.700block.com

Saturday July 10, 6-8 PM

The Shady Lady, 1409 K Street

Becoming an American at Lincoln School

2010-07-04T20:11:13Z

The following is an excerpt from Ernesto Galarza's autobiography, Barrio Boy, which tells the story of the Galarza family's immigration from Mexico to the United States. Ernesto grew up in Sacramento and attended Lincoln Elementary School, on the site of the PERS "Lincoln Plaza" building. Lincoln School's student body was primarily made up of immigrants who came to Sacramento from all over the world. In Barrio Boy, Galarza wrote much about how his school experiences helped shape his identity as an American. Here, he writes of his experiences starting first grade in Miss Ryan's class at Lincoln, shortly after arriving in Sacramento from Mexico:

'During the next few weeks, Miss Ryan overcame my fears of tall, energetic teachers as she bent over my desk to help me with a word in the pre-primer. Step by step, she loosened me and my classmates from the safe anchorage of the desks for recitations at the blackboard and consultations at her desk. Frequently she burst into happy announcements to the whole class. "Ito can read a sentence," and small Japanese Ito, squint-eyed and shy, slowly read aloud while the class listened in wonder: "Come, Skipper, come. Come and run." The Korean, Portuguese, Italian, and Polish first graders had similar moments of glory, no less shining than mine the day I conquered "butterfly," which I had been persistently pronouncing in standard Spanish as boo-ter-flee. "Children," Miss Ryan called for attention. "Ernesto has learned how to pronounce butterfly!" And I proved it with a perfect imitation of Miss Ryan. From that celebrated success, I was soon able to match Ito's progress as a sentence reader with "Come, buttefly, come fly with me."

'...Like the first grade, the rest of the Lincoln School was a sampling of the lower part of town where many races made their home. My pals in the second grade were Kazushi, whose parents spoke only Japanese; Matti, a skinny Italian boy; and Manuel, a fat Portuguese who would never get into a fight but wrestled you to the ground and just sat on you. Our assortment of nationalities included Koreans, Yugoslavs, Poles, Irish, and home-grown Americans.

'Miss Hopley and her teachers never let us forget why we were at Lincoln: for those who were alien, to become good Americans; for those who were so born, to accept the rest of us. Off the school grounds we traded the same insults we heard from our elders. On the playground we were sure to be marched up to the principal's office for calling someone a wop, a chink, a dago, or a greaser. The school was not so much a melting pot as a griddle where Miss Hopley and her helpers warmed knowledge into us and roasted racial hatreds out of us.

'At Lincoln, making us into Americans did not mean scrubbing away what made us originally foreign. The teachers called us as our parents did, or as close as they could pronounce our names in Spanish or Japanese. No one was ever scolded or punished for speaking in his native tongue on the playground. Matti told the class about his mother's down quilt, which she had made in Italy with the fine feathers of a thousand geese. Encarnacion acted out how boys learned to fish in the Phillipines. I astounded the third grade with the story of my travels on a stagecoach, which nobody else in the class had seen except in the museum at Sutter's Fort. After a visit to the crocker Art Gallery and its collection of heroic paintings of the golden age of California, someone showed a silk scroll with a Chinese painting. Miss Hopley herself had a way of expressing wonder over these matters before a class, her eyes wide open until they popped slightly. It was easy for me to feel that becoming a proud American, as she said we should, did not mean feeling ashamed of being a Mexican.'

The K Street Plan: Local, Green, Historic and Affordable

2010-07-02T06:09:33Z

Disclaimer: This article is my opinion, given as a central city resident and board member of the Sacramento Old City Association. I am not an employee of any of the firms involved, nor the city of Sacramento. I am enthusiastic about this project because it represents the best combination of historic preservation, new development, downtown infill, fiscal responsibility, and promotion of local business, culture, and heritage.

In December 2009, the city of Sacramento asked local developers for plans to revitalize the 700 and 800 blocks of K Street. The project area occupies about one city block, around 2.5 acres, on two half-block lots. Four teams submitted proposals, and a five-member committee met three times to review the responses and select a recommendation to the city council. Their recommendation was based on experience, quality of vision and concept, relationship to local goals, proposed tenants, financial feasibility and delivery schedule. Based on these criteria, the committee chose elements of two proposals: the Promenade on K, proposed by D&S and CFY Development, for the 700 block, and a proposal by David Taylor, CIM, Zeiden Properties and Domus Development for the 800 block.

The Recommended Plan

The proposal for the 700 block includes 136 apartments along the alley side of K Street in a new mid-rise structure, with underground parking at Sacramento’s original street level. The apartments range from 450 to 1200 square feet, studios to 2-bedrooms. 37,840 feet of retail will occupy the ground floor of the existing structures on K Street. The front 90 feet of each building will be retained, and the two landmark buildings on the block retained entirely. The second floor of the historic buildings will also become apartments, and the building basements will be retained for storage or retail use. Because the 700 block has abundant street space, outdoor patios and kiosks will surround the walkway on K Street, creating an expansive outdoor room adjacent to the newly-remodeled St. Rose of Lima Park.

The 800 block will include new buildings on the corner of 8th & K and 8th & L, and the historic Bel-Vue Apartments will be restored and returned to residential use, a total of 110 market rate and mixed-income units, including three-bedroom units intended for families. Parking will be accessed via the alley and L Street, and will not be visible from the street. All buildings will have ground-floor retail, totaling 32,530 square feet. This project team is also considering acquiring the historic Kress and Montgomery Ward buildings, for conversion to mixed-use residential, but because these buildings were outside the project scope (the city does not own them) they were not included in the proposal.

Keep It Local

The proposal for the 700 block includes Letters of Intent from retailers interested in participation. Rather than seeking chain or out-of-town tenants, the D&S proposal sought local businesses. These include popular local eateries, like Old Soul Coffee, who plans a French bistro and wine bar, or Kru, who plans a ramen/yakitori restaurant and sake bar. Three of these potential tenants (Crepeville, Shady Lady and and Burgers & Brew) each plan live music venues in addition to a restaurant and bar. The Shady Lady letter points out Sacramento’s lack of mid-sized music venues, and suggests that this project could fill the glaring need for venues larger than small Midtown bars but smaller than the Memorial Auditorium or Crest Theatre. But it’s not all about music and drinks; the owner of “Top This” Frozen Yogurt wants to create a late-night dessert diner, adding cakes, pies and sundaes to their product mix. Rima Boutique and Muse Salon want to open boutiques selling clothing, accessories and artwork. Specifics on the 800 block’s retail mix were not available, but their team includes Z Gallerie’s Joe Zeiden, who has extensive experience bringing retail to downtowns throughout the state. Because all of these businesses can also operate during daytime business hours, they are useful to the tens of thousands of downtown commuters for lunch, daytime shopping, or after-work dining and entertainment.

Local business is complemented by the local residences included in the project. Affordable housing means employees of a yogurt shop or boutique can live in a nearby unit instead of commuting to work from the suburbs, and downtown office workers can walk from office to home, utilizing local retail options in their own neighborhood. Housing directly above K Street on the second floor, and along the alley, means greater safety through “eyes on the street,” complemented by evening activity in restaurant patios and street vendor kiosks. Many of K Street’s problems take place on vacant, disused properties where there are no residents or tenants. Bringing more housing and late-night business back to K Street means more safety by design. In many ways, this plan is a larger, more ambitious version of D&S’s recent success at 14th and R Street, where a dark, unused warehouse was turned into 12 residential units and a row of eateries and mixed retail, using a historic building, local businesses, and green design.

Keeping it Green on K Street

“Green” is a word that gets used a lot, so much that the meaning is sometimes obscured. This proposal for K Street is green in several important ways. It proposes using green and sustainable methods, plus solar and wind power generation on rooftops. Both blocks include green roofs as inner courtyards for tenant use. Adding downtown housing and the units’ proximity to transit means less driving and consumption of gasoline. Restoration of the existing buildings, instead of demolition, saves those buildings’ embodied energy, uses less energy than new construction, and reduces the load on our landfills.

This project is located at the nexus of both existing Light Rail lines and the Green Line to Richards Boulevard now under construction, with local bus access on both side streets. Recent changes allowing bikes on K Street, and proposed additional bike parking on the street and in the buildings, encourages biking to and from the project. Enhancing the streetscape, adding dense residential and greater security by design promotes walking and transit use. Project residents who work nearby, instead of in distant suburbs, won’t have to drive to work, and won’t have to go far for entertainment or dining.

“The greenest building is one that’s already built” is an old adage of the preservation community. Construction of a new building requires tremendous energy, an amount equal to decades’ worth of the building’s annual energy consumption. Old buildings, especially those built prior to 1940, were built when energy was more expensive, and were designed for more efficient use of energy. They are generally built of durable materials like brick, stone, and old-growth timber. They required less energy to create than high-energy materials like concrete and steel. Their energy cost has long since been paid. Demolition of old buildings is also energy-intensive, and sends most of those irreplaceable building materials to landfills, where they are joined by new buildings’ construction wastes (which makes up about half the contents of our landfills!) Saving old buildings is about more than aesthetics; it is the greener, cleaner and less wasteful choice.

Restoring K Street’s Legacy

K Street has been the heart of Sacramento since the Gold Rush, and it has played many roles over time. Younger people know it as the home of Light Rail and the Downtown Plaza mall, those in middle age remember the old pedestrian mall with its “tank traps” and fountains, and the older generation recalls the era of cruising K Street in hot rods in the 1950s and 60s. But all of these eras took place while K Street was in decline, and represent desperate efforts to bring suburban visitors back downtown. The era of K Street’s greatest vitality was during the early 20th century through the 1940s.

American downtowns boomed during this time, and Sacramento was no exception. K Street was a shopping street, home to every department store in town, with small specialty shops ranging from herbalists to bookstores. It was also a place for entertainment, including theater, vaudeville, movies, dining, live music, and dancing, although even then it was not Sacramento’s only entertainment district. It was also a place that thousands of Sacramentans called home, living in apartments above retail storefronts. These included modest rooms with a bath down the hall for working people, efficiency apartments for middle-class professionals, and elegant “palace hotels” for wealthy businessmen and legislators who wanted close access to the capital and the city’s financial district. Public transit reached through the city and the region, bringing visitors to K Street, but many called it home.

Teenagers and adults walked downtown on summer evenings, enjoying the respite from the heat, knowing that even at midnight, something was happening on K Street. Because people were always there, it was a safe place to visit. In the mid-20th century, this changed as suburbs grew, shopping centers and malls appeared, and redevelopment emptied the central city. Highways intended to bring people back downtown only made the central city easier to leave, and expensive redevelopment plans brought a few visitors during the day but the city still emptied at night. Sacramento’s legacy as an urban place was ignored, suppressed, and almost forgotten.

This project brings K Street back using a proven method: provide an experience and a place that cannot be duplicated anywhere else in the region. Residential options and transit means that the automobile takes a back seat—you can have a car and live here, but you don’t need one. Unique entertainment and local retail means that shopping and dining and music is different than what you find in any suburban shopping center. Preservation of historic buildings means that K Street’s true history as a vibrant, urban place is apparent to visitor and resident alike, not simulating the past in Disney style, but using the lessons of the past to shape Sacramento’s urban future.

Putting the “Fun” in Funding Sources

In these cost-conscious times, many criticize the use of public subsidy for downtown reinvestment. However, when compared to the costs of subsidized suburban sprawl, subsidizing downtown infill levels the playing field. The “free-market” solution would mean allowing downtown Sacramento to decay entirely, until property values became lower than undeveloped rural land—a nightmare scenario. However, those calling for frugality have a valid point. City resources are limited, and any project on K Street must make the best use of public funds.

For this project, the city provides the land and existing buildings on the site. The recommended project utilizes the buildings, instead of demolishing them, making use of these valuable resources. For the 800 block, the project team has asked to use $16 million in funds that were set aside for a future redevelopment project by David Taylor’s company, and about $6 million in local, state and federal funds for the south half of the 800 block, including rehabilitation of the Bel-Vue. On the 700 block, the project team asks for two $8 million loans, one forgivable upon completion of the project, and one that would be repaid with interest.

One consideration when cities fund public projects is local benefit. Construction projects create jobs, but not all construction projects create the same number of jobs. New construction projects spend about half on materials and half on labor. Rehab of existing buildings spends closer to two-thirds on labor and one-third on materials, because fewer materials are needed and rehab is more labor-intensive. This means more local jobs per public dollar spent. Those dollars directly benefit the local economy, because workers spend the money they earn in their community. Materials for preservation rehab also tend to come from local sources, rather than materials from outside the community, so more of the construction costs also benefit the local economy.

Really Good, But Not Perfect

While the project has many strengths, there are some weaknesses. Downtown Sacramento lacks a grocery store. Existing corner markets and drugstores have limited options, and farmer’s markets do not operate in winter, creating “food deserts” for downtown residents. The closest market is Safeway, accessible by light rail, but downtown needs a more complete neighborhood market offering fresh meat and produce. The development team should consider a market as part of this project.

While transit is close by, service ends after 9 PM, making transit useless for late-night visitors. While transit budgets are outside the scope of the project, better public transportation would complement a transit-oriented project like this.

Finally, while developer David Taylor is well-known for his ability to complete a project, his projects are often criticized as being architecturally conservative and plain. The 800 block plan includes only volume sketches, not detailed renderings, so we do not know how it will look. Similarly, the 700 block’s new residential units must measure up architecturally to the historic buildings they will complement. The eclectic existing architecture of K Street, from Gold Rush brick to Art Deco terra cotta to 21st century high-rise steel and glass, means an unlimited palette for a talented architect.

On July 13, Sacramento’s City Council is scheduled to select a project for K Street. The recommended project is an excellent choice for Sacramento. It embodies and builds upon our city’s history and culture, promotes local business, and brings more housing across all income levels to K Street at a reasonable cost.

For more details about each of the four proposals for K Street, check the city of Sacramento's website:

www.cityofsacramento.org/econdev/development-projects/700KStDevelopmentProjectConcepts.cfm

Supply, Demand and Midtown Parking

2010-06-18T01:41:14Z

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 neighborhood resident, I agree with Mr. Zeff’s assessment. Taxing private parking lots, causing increased parking prices, will make neighborhood parking worse. In order to reduce costs, raise revenue, encourage use of private lots, and make parking more convenient and safer, Midtown must eliminate free parking.

Midtown Parking: A Shortage of Supply

Any product’s price is based on supply and demand. Street parking in Midtown has a very limited supply, and demand to park there is high. Any first-year economics student can tell you what happens when a good with low supply and high demand is underpriced: a shortage occurs. Midtown’s parking shortage is apparent every Second Saturday, every weekend, and more and more, even during weekdays around popular restaurants and nightclubs. Parking until 6 PM is metered or limited through much of the central city, but after 6 PM, and all day Sunday, parking is free. Because the peak hours for restaurants, nightlife, and public events like Second Saturday are all after 6 PM, the free parking results in street congestion.

“Free” parking seems like a good thing, but of course, free parking isn’t really free. Street maintenance, repair, lighting and safety costs money. Neighborhood property owners, both residents and businesses, subsidize “free” parking with property taxes, city fees and costs to repair curbs and public right-of-way. Also, when a parking shortage exists, “free” parking has other problems: Because there is no charge for its use, people take up spaces for longer periods of time. Cars cruise around blocks multiple times looking for a space, adding to traffic congestion and air pollution. Cars park in residential neighborhoods, displacing parking spaces of Midtown residents, many of whom have no off-street parking options. Thus, people do not use garages or lots unless the neighborhood is completely full. If prices at parking lots rise, visitors will cruise for a spot that much longer, and press farther into neighborhoods. This often causes conflicts between neighborhood residents and businesses. And if visitors arriving in cars cannot find parking, sometimes they will just keep driving—right back out of the neighborhood.

Making Parking "Just Right"

The solution to the parking shortage is to eliminate this subsidized “free” parking, and simplify the confusing network of 15 minute, 30 minute, 1 hour, 2 hour, and metered zones with an overall central city parking policy that charges an appropriate amount to visitors. This amount should be low enough to be reasonable, but high enough to discourage people from sitting on a parking space without limit. The objective is a “Goldilocks price”: Not too high, and not too low. Ideally, street parking should be 85% capacity: mostly occupied, but generally a space or two will be available on each block. This means that street parking is convenient, limiting “cruising” for a space, and visitors can find parking close to their destination. People seeking all-day or longer-term parking are best served by private parking lots or garages. Because “free” parking is a private lot’s main competition, its elimination means more business for parking providers. Commuters would have more incentive to use daily parking instead of running to feed meters or re-park in 2-hour zones. Because they occupy all-day spots, they can shop or dine during rush hour and drive home at their leisure. Midtown residents can use current residential parking permits to park without charge in their own neighborhoods, but if they park in business districts away from where they live, they too have to pay for parking. This encourages neighborhood residents to leave their car at home, and walk to visit Midtown businesses, something many residents already do. Using Web-based tools, residents could order one-day parking permits for visiting friends to park on the street; Sacramento’s parking department is already working on a plan to implement this system.

Many Midtown businesses are concerned that their customers complain about the cost of parking. I would suggest this is a good thing: if a customer is in your business complaining about parking, it was obviously cheap enough that they paid for it. They will probably have the same complaint the next time they visit your business, and the time after that, but it’s not high enough to keep them away. Since daytime parking is already metered in much of the city, the rates paid by daytime visitors would probably not change. Evening hours for parking meters also recognizes that Midtown is no longer a place where the streets roll up at 6 PM. Visitors who spend $100 or more on dinner and drinks at Mulvaney’s or L Wine Lounge won’t balk at spending a few dollars to park, especially at a convenient space or clearly marked lot close to their destination.

In a survey conducted by MBA, a business owner and resident called for free parking because, “The only party that benefits from parking fees is the city. It drives people away from doing business in Midtown especially in this economy.” But there is a solution, used in cities like Pasadena, CA (see article link below). Instead of going to the city, parking revenue can be diverted to the neighborhood by creating a joint powers authority. In Pasadena, street parking funds pay for streetlights, repaving, trash cans, signage, tree trimming, benches, and other amenities. Parking funds go directly to improve the neighborhood. This means businesses, visitors and residents all benefit from a cleaner, safer, more beautiful neighborhood. Pasadena’s parking meters announce how the funds are used (see photo), but the results are obvious on their business streets, where parking is available and business is flourishing.

By contrast, the Westwood Village district of Los Angeles tried to address their parking issues by reducing prices at meters and encouraging free parking. Their business district has suffered, due to parking congestion that discourages visitors, and they have limited funds to maintain or beautify the district. Parking garages in Westwood Village have less business because they cannot compete with free parking.

While residents and businesses don’t mind taking parking funds out of the city’s hands, the city of Sacramento, eager to cut costs and raise revenues, may disagree. But there are benefits for the city, too. By extending evening and weekend enforcement, those who park illegally will be subject to fines. Fines from parking violators become added city revenue. Because the parking meter funds improve the neighborhood, the city’s economic burden is reduced; instead of using city funds to subsidize “free” parking for visitors and provide neighborhood amenities, street parking pays for it. Beautified business districts with correctly priced parking attract more customers and do better business, increasing sales tax and business occupancy tax revenue. Clean, safe, comfortable residential neighborhoods result in more investment, higher property value and increased equity, raising property tax revenue. That’s the kind of “tax increase” businesses and residents can live with—the kind that results from greater economic prosperity.

Urban Thinking for an Urban Place

Residents of suburban neighborhoods, used to large, free parking lots, may be uncomfortable with the idea of paying for parking. But, to quote MBA board member Michael Heller, who commented on the issue at Wednesday’s meeting, this is “suburban thinking in an urban place.” The only way to make Midtown’s parking as plentiful a suburban district is to demolish Midtown entirely and rebuild it into a copy of Arden Way, Fulton Avenue, Florin Road or other car-centric suburban business street. Those streets have their own strengths, but none compare to Midtown as a center of culture, nightlife, walkability and mixed use. Yes, there would be more parking, but Midtown’s unique character, its walkable streets, its shade trees, its historic architecture, its culture, its businesses, and its lively urbanity would be utterly destroyed. Nobody visits America’s great walking cities and comes home with stories about how easy it was to find parking!

Midtown is a unique neighborhood that draws regional visitors and national attention. Like the suburban residents of other great cities, Midtown Sacramento’s visitors are welcome, but they must learn that parking is not free. If they see clearly that parking fees can beautify and improve a neighborhood they already like to visit, while making parking safer and more convenient, they won’t mind paying. A comprehensive central city parking district, designed by and for business, residents and government, can solve many of Midtown’s parking problems. A tax on parking lots already struggling to compete with “free” (taxpayer-funded) parking is the wrong answer. It will make parking worse, not better, because it does not address the real problem of supply and demand.

Thanks to Aaron Zeff of Priority Parking for providing the article on Pasadena’s solution to the problem of free parking. The article is available online here:
“Turning Small Change Into Big Changes”
shoup.bol.ucla.edu/SmallChange.pdf

Midtown Business Association website:
www.mbasac.com
MBA Board agendas and minutes:
docs.mbasac.org/BoardAgendas/

Recent “Streetsblog” post on the cost of “free” parking in San Francisco:
sf.streetsblog.org/2010/06/17/san-franciscos-own-oil-spill-the-wasteful-hunt-for-free-parking/#more-237841

Pasadena parking meter photo from "Turning Small Change Into Big Changes" article referenced above. Street photos by author.

SCHS Presents: Sacramento's Underground

2010-05-22T01:11:54Z

Sacramento County Historical Society Presents:
Sacramento's Underground, a presentation by Heather Downey

Date: Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Time: 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: 5380 Elvas Avenue (Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society Building), Sacramento

All Ages--Open to the Public

Before the long-anticipated Underground Tours kick off this summer in Old Sacramento, SCHS will host a talk about the origins and significance of the city’s underground sidewalks and raised streets.

Sacramento is the only city in California with raised streets and the lingering architectural features known as the “underground.” On the surface, the raising of Sacramento’s business district offers accounts of mishap, controversy and, of course, the pioneer-entrepreneurial spirit that has come to define the early history of not only the city, but the Western United States in general. Additionally, the history of this construction project illuminates the opinions and experiences that characterized the first and second generation of Sacramento citizenry while underscoring the one thing they had in common: the desire to ensure that their city remained economically and politically viable. Such an interpretation of Sacramento’s “underground” opens doors to enrich and expand Old Sacramento visitors' understanding of the city’s history, while also connecting that past to larger trends in American Western and urban history.

This month’s speaker, Heather Downey, is a graduate of Sacramento State’s Public History program. She is the subject matter expert for Sacramento’s forthcoming Underground Tours, and has designed two interpretive displays describing floods and street raisings in Sacramento.The underground sidewalks, and the interpretive plan for the tour, are the subject of her Master’s thesis.

For more information about the upcoming underground tours, visit the Sacramento History Museum website:

www.historicoldsac.org/education/tours.asp

For more information about the Sacramento County Historical Society, visit the SCHS website:

www.sachistoricalsociety.org

Disclosure: William Burg is vice-president of the Sacramento County Historical Society.

K Street Projects Will Be Heard at Preservation Commission

2010-04-07T04:55:45Z

On Wednesday, April 7 at 5:30 PM, Sacramento's Preservation Commission will meet at City Hall, 915 I Street, in the main council chambers. In addition to other agenda items, they will hear staff reports and provide direction regarding the four projects proposed for the 700 and 800 blocks of K Street.

Due to changes in the way the Preservation Commission reviews projects, and due to the relatively low number of hearings in recent months, the Preservation Commission does not meet every month. The April 7 meeting will be the first held in 2010; the others were canceled because there were no scheduled hearings.

The general public first viewed the projects proposed for the 700/800 blocks of K Street on March 22: one by D&S Development and CFY Properties, one by David Taylor, CIM and Joe Zeiden, one by John Saca, John Bagatelos and Bridge Housing, and one by Rubicon Partners, St. Anton Partners and Preferred Capitol Advisors. The Preservation Commission will add their review and comment, since the properties in the project area include several historic landmark buildings, in addition to some potentially historic buildings not currently on the city register. Several of the proposals also involve other historic buildings not in the project areas.

Other projects to be reviewed at the Preservation Commission include a presentation about the Powerhouse Science Center, a museum planned for a riverfront site and another historic buildng, the old PG&E powerhouse, and a plan for structural and life safety upgrade to the Sacramento Valley Station, another Sacramento landmark, as part of the overall rehab and expansion of the intermodal depot.

In addition to these projects, the Preservation Commission will discuss policy. The Minimum Maintenance Sub-Committee, which deals with how the city addresses historic properties allowed to fall into disrepair, will provide a report. The Historic/Cultural Resources Survey Committee will report on historic building surveys performed for the city, some of which could result in new historic districts. There will also be opportunity for the public to comment on each of these projects and policy items, and to present items not on the agenda.

The full agenda can be found here:

www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/meetings/commissions/preservation/2010/pc_agenda_4-07-10.cfm

City of Sacramento Preservation Commission April Meeting

Wednesday April 7

New City Hall
915 I Street- 1st Floor, Council Chambers
April 7, 2010- 5:30 P.M.

William Burg is a board member of the Sacramento Old City Association

4 Proposals for K Street

2010-03-21T19:25:18Z

On Monday, March 22, the city of Sacramento will host presentations by the four development groups interested in building a project on the 700 and 800 blocks of K Street. This meeting will be held at Old City Hall, 915 I Street, in the 2nd floor hearing room, at 5:30 PM.

The four groups who responded to the Request for Qualifications (RFQ) include:

* Bridge Housing, Saca Development and Bagatelos Development

They propose 360 units of housing, a renovated Bel-Vue, 48,000 square feet of office not on Agency property, and 33,000 square feet of retail.

* David Taylor, CIM Development, Domus, and Zeiden Properties

They propose 110 housing units, including a renovated Bel-Vue, 60,000 square feet of retail and 57,000 square feet of office.

* CFY Development and D&S Development

Their project for the 700 blocks includes retaining the facades on the 700 block, building new units to the alley including 136 residential units and 37,000 feet of retail space.

* Rubicon Partners, St. Anton Partners, and Preferred Capitol Advisors (Sacramento Alliance Team)

This proposal requires the entirety of the 700 and 800 blocks, including properties not under Agency control, to create 400 residential units, a 2000 seat entertainment venue, 175,000 square feet of retail including a grocery and farmer's market, 150 high-end luxury condos, and a 375 room four-star hotel.

This presentation will allow the public to learn more about the development groups and the proposals. More information about the proposals can be found here:

www.cityofsacramento.org/econdev/news/documents/700800LK_RFQ_Update.pdf

This meeting will be followed by interviews between the developers and a city-appointed selection committee (at this time, the makeup of the selection committee is unknown to this writer, but the city created the committee on March 15) on March 25. The City Council is expected to decide on a development proposal in April or May of this year.

To learn more, come to the meeting and meet the developers and city staff, who will present the four project proposals.

Monday March 22, 5:30 PM-7:00 PM

Old City Hall (915 I Street)

2nd Floor Hearing Room

Disclosure: William Burg is a board member of the Sacramento Old City Association (SOCA)

"Sacramento's Breweries" Book Featured at Two Signing Events

2010-02-22T01:00:52Z

Tuesday night's regular Sacramento County Historical Society monthly meeting will not feature beer, but copies of Sacramento’s Breweries will be available for sale, and author Ed Carroll will sign books and give a brief talk on Sacramento brewery history.

In addition to the Golden Notes signing, the meeting will also feature James Scott and Tom Tolley, presenting their new book Sacramento’s Alkali Flat by Arcadia Publishing. They will also give a brief talk on their book, will have copies for sale and be present for signing. SCHS members can pick up their free copy of Sacramento’s Breweries early at this event; for non-members, copies cost $15.

Sacramento’s Breweries, by historian Ed Carroll, is the story of Sacramento’s breweries from the Gold Rush through Prohibition. Not long after the first settlers arrived in Sacramento, brewers took miners’ gold dust in exchange for golden lager. By the start of the 20th century, Sacramento’s breweries turned the grain and hops of the Sacramento Valley into beers enjoyed in Sacramento and exported across the West Coast, Central America and even Asia.

The book is illustrated with historic photographs provided by the Center for Sacramento History. If you are an SCHS member, you can pick up your complimentary copy of the book on February 23, and have it signed by the author! If you cannot make it to the event, we will mail the book to paid SCHS members starting in March.

Extra copies of the book will be available for sale for $15. The book is also available for sale at Beers Book Center, 915 S Street, Sacramento. For more information about the Sacramento County Historical Society, please visit www.sachistoricalsociety.org

The New Golden Notes Title
Sacramento’s Breweries
And The New Arcadia Press Title
Sacramento’s Alkali Flat
Book Release and Author Talks
Tuesday February 23, 7:00 PM
Sierra Sacramento Valley Medical Society
5380 Elvas Avenue, Sacramento

Disclosure: William Burg is President of the Sacramento County Historical Society.

City Council Approves Historic Plaque Program

2010-02-10T08:20:44Z

On Tuesday February 9 the Sacramento City Council authorized the use of the Sacramento city seal for use on plaques to be fabricated through the Historic Properties Plaque Program, a project of Sacramento Heritage, Inc.

Sacramento Heritage Inc. is a nonprofit organization incorporated by the city of Sacramento to promote and preserve Sacramento's architectural heritage. The Historic Properties Plaque Program allows owners of properties that are either listed Sacramento landmarks, or contributing buildings to Sacramento historic districts, to purchase bronze plaques for display on their properties. The cost of the plaques will be paid by the property owner, should they choose to participate. Plaques will be available in two sizes--a smaller size for residences and a larger size for commercial buildings. Many other cities use plaque programs to highlight their historic buildings and districts, promoting heritge tourism and interest in local history. Plaques in other cities vary in construction, from simple metal and enamel signs to cast bronze. Sacramento's program will use cast bronze. Other plaque programs are state-sponsored, like the California Historic Landmarks program, or privately funded, like the plaque programs of the Native Sons of the Golden West or E Clampus Vitus.

Now that the program has been approved, the Sacramento Heritage Inc. website will soon add information on how to order a plaque. Lists of the city's official landmarks and historic districts can be found via the City of Sacramento's Preservation Department webpage:

www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/planning/preservation/

Lists of landmarks and contributors are found in he Sacramento Register of Historic and Cultural Resources, downloadable as a PDF document on the Preservation Department page above. Buildings that are not currently landmarks (criteria for nominating buildings as landmarks are on the Preservation Department website) cannot receive plaques unless the building is nominated and approved by the city of Sacramento. In order to be eligible, the historic value of the building must be documented and presented to the city--not every building can make the grade, and simply being an old building is not enough to make a building historic! Current owners of listed landmarks and contributing buildings should be able to order plaques once ordering information is finalized and modifications to the website are made.

At Tuesday night's City Council meeting, the item was pulled from the consent calendar by Councilmember Steve Cohn for discussion by the City Council. He supported the project, but took a moment both to acknowledge the program and to point out that the current City of Sacramento city seal seems outdated, and that the city might consider redesigning the seal. After a brief discussion about the seal, the measure was passed unanimously by the City Council. Details of the project and decision can be found via the City Council website:

sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=8&clip_id=2196&meta_id=191152

More information about Sacramento Heritage Inc., including the Historic Plaque Program and other programs, can be found on their website:

sacramentoheritage.org/

Historic Holiday Display at 10th & L

2009-12-07T07:06:23Z

Those passing by Grebitus & Sons Jewelers at the corner of 10th and L Street this month will see a piece of Sacramento history in the window; a trio of life-size animated figures (a man, a woman and a dog) in front of a Christmas tree. The figures are products of the Gaffney Display Company, the family firm who created the figures for the Breuner's furniture store chain's annual Christmas window display.

The idea started at November's Sacramento County Historical Society meeting, where Mark Gaffney gave a presentation on the history of Gaffney Display Company and their years providing animated figures for Breuner's. Mark's parents started Gaffney Display in 1936, and Mark has carried on the family tradition. The Gaffney figures were used to create whole animated scenes, placed in windows throughout much of the Breuner's furniture store chain. The store was founded here in Sacramento, but at its height had about 40 stores throughout United States. New displays made their debut at the Oakland store, then were moved to Sacramento the following year, then to Reno, and so on to approximately a dozen stores that hosted holiday displays. The Gaffney family drew sketches to design the scenes, designed the mechanical workings of the figures, and built the figures with papier-mache exteriors, often using members of the Gaffney family as models for creating molds of hands and arms. The figures are not as slick as Disney animatronics, but maintain their own unique charm. Breuner's stopped hosting holiday displays in its store windows in the 1980s, and the firm went bankrupt in 2004. The stores are gone, although the company still sells furniture via the Internet. The Gaffney family still stores many of the display figures, and still works in the commercial display business, in addition to Mark's other career, winemaking.

After the presentation, an idea arose during the question-and-answer period: Why not re-create a Breuner's display in a store window downtown? The simple answer was that such a window would require two things--a window, and some money. Several ideas were fielded, but one person at the meeting took the extra step to turn an idea into action: Bo Grebitus, of Grebitus & Sons Jewelry. The Breuner's displays were a cherished memory for many Sacramentans over the years, including Bo and his brother Ted. They contacted Mark Gaffney and arranged to have a small display set up in the window of their jewelry store. Their location, recently relocated from inside Westfield Downtown Plaza to the corner of 10th and L, is located on a busy pedestrian corner where many people can see the display. The display is simple, consisting of a man and woman decorating a Christmas tree, while a dog jumps up for a bite of a decorative popcorn garland.

The Grebitus brothers had other reasons to be interested in the Breuner's displays. Their mother Elizabeth was the daughter of C.H. Breuner, president of the Breuner's department store. As the children of two families with deep roots in the city of Sacramento, hosting a display of the historic Breuner's displays was more than a piece of local history; it was also a chance to share part of their family history.

The animated figures operate during regular store hours, until approximately 6:00 PM. After the store closes, the figures must be turned off, otherwise their movement would activate the store's motion sensor alarm. They will remain on display through the end of December.

What is the Norcal Noisefest?

2009-10-14T20:30:56Z

"So what do you mean by noise?"

That's probably the #1 question about the Noisefest, except maybe "Do you have any earplugs?" The answer to the latter question is simple (yes, we do) but the first question is more complex. People know what noise is in the general sense, but not very many know what noise is in the musical sense. In some ways, the Norcal Noisefest is intended to answer that question by showing people what noise is, instead of simply telling them.

The 2009 Norcal Noisefest, formerly known as the Northern California Experimental Music Festival, is the thirteenth festival in a series orignally started in 1995 here in Sacramento, intended to bring noise music to the public ear. Festivals typically feature at least 20-30 performers; this year, approximately 49 bands will perform at the three-day festival. Since its creation, the Norcal Noisefest has grown from a little-known oddity held at the Guild Theater in Oak Park to a nationally-recognized music festival. The festival has received multiple Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission "ArtScapes" grants and a commendation from the City of Sacramento for its contribution to Sacramento's musical culture and promotion of Sacramento as an arts destination. Most of the performers at the Noisefest are from northern California (both Sacramento and the Bay Area) but performers come from around the country (and around the world.) This year's least local performer is CHINAPAINTING, a collaboration between Jim Goodin of Brooklyn, New York and Daryl Shawn of Oaxaca, Mexico. Other out-of-town performers like Chicago's VERTONEN and Albequerque's FATHER OF THE FLOOD and RAVEN CHACON will join locals like JOLTHROWER, SUPERZAPPER RECHARGE and HYPNOTIC INJECTION. From elsewhere in California come bands like ACTUARY, LACES, RUBBER O CEMENT, THE TRANSHUMANS, and many more.

Day 1, Friday October 16, takes place at Luna's Cafe, at 1414 16th Street, starting at 7:30 PM. Luna's is a small venue, but well-suited for noise and much appreciated by Noisefest regulars.

Days 2 and 3, Saturday October 17 and Sunday October 18, take place at the Greens Hotel, at 1616 Del Paso Boulevard, starting at 2 PM Saturday and 1 PM Sunday. The Greens is a new venue for the Noisefest, and this year marks the return of the Noisefest to Del Paso Boulevard (the 2003 Noisefest was held at 1001 Del Paso and the original Horse Cow Gallery.) At the Greens Hotel, we will perform in a semi-detached courtyard building where performers can play at full blast without disturbing hotel patrons--although most (if not all) of the people staying at the Greens Hotel this weekend will be those attending and playing the Noisefest.

Admission for each day costs $10, and a full-weekend package is available for $40 that includes admission to all days, this year's Norcal Noisefest compilation CD, a double-sided Noisefest T-shirt, and a commemorative pin that allows admission to all shows. Admission also includes complimentary earplugs.

One problem with an event like the Noisefest is that there are absolutely no commercially successful noise performers, so it is impossible to compare noise musicians with anything you would hear on the radio (aside from college stations like KDVS.) Some people consider avant-garde rock groups like Sonic Youth or Radiohead to be noise, but in some ways they are a fusion of noise and rock. If you took a noisy avant-garde rock song and subtracted the traditional musical elements (melody, harmony, lyrics, chorus/verse structure) you would be left with something similar to noise, but it is difficult to explain a musical form by what it doesn't have. Put simply, noise is difficult to explain, but easy to experience--as long as you don't mind the volume. For those who like to stretch their musical tastes to the limit, noise is the final frontier of music. Often, curious visitors who are unfamiliar with noise emerge from the Noisefest with one of two reactions. Some come out very irritated, exclaiming "I didn't know it was going to be just noise!" Others come out intrigued and inspired, struck by the possibilities of music that doesn't play by the rules.

www.norcalnoisefest.com contains full details of this year's Noisefest, including listings of all performers and festival schedule.

Disclosure: William Burg is director of promotion for the Norcal Noisefest.

A 10-Step Plan To Fix K Street, Or: The Legend of the Skyscraper Fairy

2009-10-12T03:55:54Z

As a Sacramento resident keenly interested in the history of K Street from the gold rush to the present, I have read many opinions regarding the best ways to fix the ongoing problems of K Street. Some have been proposed recently, ideas that I view with a mixture of amusement and horror. Most involve returning to the mistakes of the past while clearly avoiding its successes. In order to take the best from the past while avoiding some of its mistakes, I have selected some favorites. I can take credit for none of them, as they are all ideas that have been suggested at other times and places, but they seem like the best of the lot to me. This ten-point plan varies in scope from the very simple and inexpensive to the rather complex and expensive, some are short-term solutions while others are longer-term solutions for better times, but all of them are practical. I can provide more detail about most of these points if requested.

1. Accept that the Skyscraper Fairy does not exist.

Many landlords along K Street have no apparent interest in maintaining or improving their properties. Some are convinced that as long as they own the land, the magical Skyscraper Fairy will give them uncountable millions for the land where their decaying buildings sit, and will replace them with shiny new skyscrapers. Thus, they have little interest in maintaining or tenanting their buildings. The result is under-utilized or vacant buildings whose facades continue to crumble. Despite the Downtown Partnership’s efforts to power-wash streets and alleys, buildings allowed to fall into disrepair, inhabited only by bats and squatters, make our historic buildings into eyesores. Ideally, the city’s code enforcement division would issue stiff fines to property owners who allow their buildings to fall into disrepair, in order to prevent demolition by neglect. Unfortunately, the city of Sacramento is also one of the guilty parties, and one of the strongest believers in the Skyscraper Fairy. City-owned properties currently sit vacant, awaiting their own savior in the form of a deep-pocketed developer who will brush aside the old building and provide badly-needed money to build something else. Given K Street’s current state, this is unlikely—the only propositions so far are dependent on generous subsidies from the city of Sacramento. Until both the city and K Street property owners can be dispelled of their belief in the magical skyscraper fairy, their properties will continue to rot.

2. It’s time to leave the shopping mall in the past.

K Street was a bustling place until the 1950s, when most of Sacramento’s population moved out of the central city, the residential neighborhoods adjacent to downtown Sacramento were demolished, and the city streetcar system was replaced by highways and automobiles. Suburban malls were closer to the new suburban neighborhoods and had plentiful parking, while K Street was far away and none of the stores had parking lots. The K Street pedestrian mall of the 1960s and 1970s was a desperate move to woo suburban shoppers by simulating a suburban mall, including demolition of nearby buildings to provide parking. But the suburban malls were still more convenient, and their parking lots bigger and more obvious, so K Street’s rebirth as a mall of the 1970s failed. A 1990s re-vamp that enclosed the section from 4th to 7th Street has become another failure, due to its failure to move beyond the idea of a suburban mall downtown.

A new generation of city planners has noted that shopping centers of the 2000s look a lot like old downtowns, with stores that copy historic styles and a mixture of pedestrian paths and driveways. These planners have decided that this is the future of K Street, and call for a return of cars to K Street so they can pretend K Street is a new suburban "power center," the 2010s equivalent of a shopping mall. But those suburban “power centers” are still closer to suburban shoppers, and their parking lots are still bigger. If K Street is simply opened to cars and its facades remodeled to emulate new suburban shopping centers in North Natomas, how can the result be any different from the last two attempts to disguise downtown Sacramento as a suburban mall?

3. Cars, no. Bikes, yes.

The simplest change to energize K Street will cost very little: permit bicycle riding on K Street. Bike riding is already on the rise, and the freedom to bike on K Street would turn it into the main cycling corridor of the central city, free from the vehicular mayhem of J and L Street. Provide a few bike racks so bike riders can stop and shop as well as ride through, and the numbers strolling past store windows will dramatically increase.

4. Shrink light rail to streetcar size.

Until the 1940s, K Street had transit in all sizes. On K Street itself, streetcars ran from the heart of downtown to Midtown, Southside and nearby suburbs like Land Park, Oak Park and East Sacramento. These cars were small, typically 30-40 feet long, about the size of a modern bus, and operated at speeds up to 25-30 miles per hour. Like a bus, they worked reasonably well with traffic, but because they had fixed rails they had a smoother ride and a predictable path, making them more comfortable for riders. Trains ran every ten minutes during the day, and “owl” runs carried late-night travelers all night.

On the corner of 8th and K Street, interurban trains ran in both directions. Passengers from Woodland, Chico, Stockton and even Oakland could hop on the train and get off on K Street. These trains were bigger, 60-80 feet long, and operated in trains as long as 6-8 cars. They were taller and wider than streetcars, and could reach 60-70 miles per hour going flat-out through the countryside. They ran on 8th Street because K Street was far too busy to handle the big trains.

Today, modern Light Rail trains are more like the interurbans than streetcars. With 80 foot long bodies and operating in four-car trains, they are not well-suited to playing the role of a streetcar. By through-routing Blue Line trains north via the upcoming 7th Street extension and connecting to North 12th Street via Richards Boulevard, light rail trains could bring passengers from Folsom, Rancho Cordova, South Sacramento and North Highlands to K Street without crowding pedestrians off the street.

Meanwhile, the streetcars can return to K Street. Some of Sacramento’s historic streetcars exist in unrestored condition in private collections, but modern streetcars offer amenities like air conditioning and ADA-accessible low-floor entryways. They can run on the existing K Street tracks while leaving more room for pedestrians and bikes. Using existing light rail lines and sharing their tracks, these streetcars can link nearby neighborhoods and connect with light rail. Extending streetcar lines into existing neighborhoods and new development areas costs less than one-third the price of light rail extensions and drives population density, economic investment and reduces the need for cars and parking. Run them until after 2:00 AM to give downtown visitors an option to leave their cars at home—especially if they plan on drinking.

5. Legalize street life.

This is another cheap and easy solution. Part of Second Saturday’s success is its prolific use of street music, performers, and vendors, but its monthly status creates a feast-or-famine condition. A permit program to allow music, performance and vending at any time means that visitors to K Street won’t need to check their calendars before going downtown. Street music and vending also gives local entertainers and small businesspeople a stepping stone to a retail storefront or a musical career. Musicians and vendors will promote activity, give walkers a reason to stick around, and attract visitors to enjoy the street life. This also does not rule out special street festivals and special events above and beyond the day-to-day activity, and maintaining K Street as a pedestrian walk maintains this valuable civic amenity for more public festivals. Both everyday street life and special events will draw visitors from within Sacramento, the surrounding region, and tourists from out of town.

6. Tours bring tourists.

Despite the demolition of the past few decades, K Street still retains a remarkable number of historic buildings, proud evidence of our architectural heritage in stone, terra cotta and concrete. Many cities use local tourism programs to bring visitors into the heart of the city, but to most visitors, Sacramento’s history ends at the edge of Old Sacramento. Efforts to alter this perception have been minimal. The Downtown Sacramento Partnership has a guided tour program, but it is minimally staffed, minimally funded, and minimally advertised. Downtown visitors looking for local history information are likely to come up empty-handed. Sacramento needs a full-strength tourism program worthy of a city with such a rich and diverse history. K Street, the walking street at the heart of the city, can be the center of such a tour program, with more tours branching out into nearby downtown streets and our architecturally rich residential neighborhoods. History tours appeal both to visiting tourists and to locals interested in learning more about their city's past.

On K Street, the potential star attraction of local tourism is right under your feet. Sacramento’s underground sidewalks, the result of a street-raising measure intended to keep the city above flood waters, run the length of K Street from the river to about 12th Street. Many are demolished, but enough material remains to allow a tour to weave in and out of underground sidewalk spaces, sunken alleys, basements, and even below-surface businesses. Combined with the dramatic story of the raised streets, and some entertaining and colorful stories from Sacramento’s history, the potential of an underground sidewalks tour is unlimited. In Seattle, local booster Bill Speidel turned a walk through clammy underground sidewalks in a notoriously bad part of town into a million-dollar tourist attraction that is known worldwide, drawing as many as 300,000 visitors a year and employing as many as 50 full-time staff. There is no reason that Sacramento can’t do the same.

7. Bring on the nightlife.

If a suburban mall isn’t the answer, what will bring suburban residents downtown? The answer is simple: Give them something the suburbs don’t have. Sacramento is best known for its quiet suburbs, the result of a decades-long whitewashing operation to conceal our party-animal past. The rowdy days of the Gold Rush, the proliferation of local breweries and wineries, our almost total refusal to acknowledge Prohibition, the legendary jazz and blues clubs of Sacramento’s West End, and even last year’s New Year’s Eve party (2,000 expected, 12,000 attended) burst through the “town where nothing happens” façade. It’s time to face the truth, and bring more nightlife down the length of K Street. This doesn’t just mean bars, it also means late-night restaurants, theaters, live music venues, dance clubs, movies, spas and salons, comedy clubs, coffee shops, and other imaginative options for entertainment. Cooperative parking agreements with state parking lots can provide tens of thousands of parking spaces, and better public transit can carry revelers home in safety.

8. Shop local, even if you’re from out of town.

The shopping-mall consultants are half right about K Street—it does need more than nightlife to survive. Daytime and early evening traffic means retail stores and services in between the state-employee lunch rush and the arrival of the dinner, drinks and dancing crowd. However, national chain stores are hesitant to expand, even if bribed into doing so. And again, suburban visitors won’t drive downtown to a store in their local mall. The answer is, again, to give them something the mall doesn’t have: unique, local stores. Local businesses keep money in the local economy, stimulate local employment and provide a unique character that chain stores simply can’t match. Encouraging local businesspeople to rent storefronts on K Street should be a city priority. Matched with neighborhood-serving retail like food markets, cleaners, drugstores and small department stores, locally-based retail on K Street should appeal to suburban shoppers, out-of-town visitors, and central city residents. As stores fill and crowds start to appear, instead of having to beg national chains to locate on K Street, they will appear on their own, smelling money to be made.

One idea we might lift from San Francisco: the much-adored Metreon, high-tech consumer wonderland, is falling on hard economic times, with many vacancies. Earlier this year, a full-time farmer’s market moved into the Metreon, and has already proved a popular destination. A permanent farmer’s market on K Street, instead of the current sporadic weekly markets, would provide fresh foods to a neighborhood where none are sold. Downtown workers, visitors and residents would all benefit from a convenient source for the Sacramento Valley’s agricultural bounty.

9. Living on K Street shouldn’t mean sleeping directly on it.

The destruction of the downtown neighborhoods near K Street was followed by the destruction of thousands of inexpensive rental rooms, commonly known as SRO hotels, where thousands of workers lived. As inexpensive housing disappeared, the poorest people did not. Out of necessity, they made their home on the streets. Many are still there, and as existing SRO stock is phased out of service and homeless services disappear, their numbers grow. They will not vanish and they will not simply move away, because they have nowhere to go and no alternative. The only way to reverse this trend is to replace the housing that was lost. This replacement housing need not be here on K Street, but it needs to be somewhere. Our only alternative is to accept the presence of people sleeping on the streets as an unalterable condition, and tell them that their suffering is necessary and unavoidable—or to simply remain in denial of the problem, which amounts to the same thing. As a people, as a city and as a nation, I think we are capable of better than that.

But it isn’t just the poorest that need housing in the central city. Housing for all income levels should be included in new development projects, but putting it into existing buildings would be even easier. Many formerly residential buildings were converted to office use in the 1960s and 1970s, so why not convert the abundance of vacant upper-story office space back into residential units? This housing should cross the economic spectrum: SRO units for the disabled and seniors, low-income units for service employees, workforce housing for office employees, and high-end, high-up housing for the high rollers. A truly urban life results when you can see all the way across the economic spectrum just walking down the street. That can’t happen unless the street has places for all of them to live, dine, work and shop. Again, not all of these places have to be directly on K Street, but they should be close enough to walk there in a few minutes. Restoration of residential buildings will preserve their architectural value, bring life back to the neighborhood, fill a great social need, and jobs restoring and maintaining the buildings will create more employment than comparable levels of new construction.

10. Have faith, be good, and the Skyscraper Fairy will come.

Part of the current mentality of property owners on K Street is based on outdated models of how downtown development should happen. For decades, cities were assumed to be teeming pits of an imaginary disease called “blight” that could only be cured with wrecking balls and a liberal application of public-funded redevelopment dollars, designed to push out “undesirable” tenants and solicit only the coveted suburban émigré to return to the central business district, and then only to spend money and leave, never to live. Today’s cities don’t work like that anymore. People want to live in cities because they want the amenities of urban life unavailable in the suburbs. If K Street can offer those amenities, not a sanitized Disneyland version and certainly not a copy of a suburban mall, they will grow interested in K Street. If they are interested, they will come to visit. If there are places to live, and things to see and do, they will want to move downtown. Once enough people have moved downtown that there is no longer room in existing buildings, and people feel safe and secure in neighborhoods that are well-maintained, high-rise developers who understand how cities work will look at K Street and see dollar signs. Instead of developers seeking handouts to build on K Street, they will come with money in hand where they think they can make even more.

And when they do, the Skyscraper Fairy will visit the property owners and civic leaders who took care of their buildings, who encouraged vitality and street life instead of a tax write-off, who promoted transit and walkability, and drew people back downtown to share in K Street’s uniqueness, character and history. She will shower them with money and riches and blessings, and cranes will rise on K Street, filling the gaps between the last century’s architectural gems with bright, tall new buildings. Yes, Sacramento, there is a Skyscraper Fairy, but she has very high standards.

William Burg is a board member of the Sacramento Old City Association. This story is a guest editorial opinion, and does not represent the opinion of Sacramento Press or its editors.

Old City Cemetery Tour and SCHS Fall Social

2009-09-24T06:45:43Z

The Sacramento County Historical Society presents its Fall Social & Barbecue Under the Stars in the Old City Cemetery

When:
Saturday, September 26, 2009 5:30 PM - 10:00 PM
Where:
Sacramento Old City Cemetery, 1000 Broadway

Sacramento's city cemetery was established in 1849 with a donation of 10 acres of high ground by John Sutter. Among its first internments were the victims of Sacramento's 1850 cholera epidemic. Some notable residents of the old city cemetery are city founder John Sutter Jr., our first mayor Hardin Bigelow, and Central Pacific founder Mark Hopkins. Thousands of other Sacramentants inhabit the cemtery, from all walks of life. Tour guides will introduce you to some of the cemetery's fascinating inhabitants, and explain some of the history of the cemetery, on two guided tours through the property. Bring a flashlight!

The evening will also feature musical performances by Agent Ribbons, Dead Western and The Freebadge Serenaders.

Admission for non-SCHS members is $10, FREE for SCHS members.
Dinner is an additional $15 for members or non-members; there is limited availability for dinners, please ask at the front gate.
Menu is BBQ brisket and chicken (veggie burgers on request), potato salad, cornbread, beans, coleslaw, soda and cookies, provided by JR's Texas BBQ.

The event will take place inside the Old City Cemetery; please park in the parking lot across the street near 10th & Broadway, as the cemetery's main gates will be closed by the time the event lets out and cars parked inside will not be able to exit! Gates will close at 6:30 PM so please arrive promptly.

This event is open to all ages.

Funds from this event will benefit the Sacramento County Historical Society (a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit) and the Sacramento Old City Cemetery Committee. For more information about the Old City Cemetery Committee, visit www.oldcitycemetery.com and for more information about SCHS, visit www.sachistoricalsociety.org

Note: This is not the same tour as the popular Lantern Tours given by the Old City Cemetery Committee in October. That tour is already sold out, so if you want the chance to experience the Old City Cemetery after dark, this is your opportunity!

Disclosure: William Burg is President of the Sacramento County Historical Society.

SOCA Home Tour in Boulevard Park

2009-09-17T04:46:33Z

On Sunday, September 20, the Sacramento Old City Association will hold its 34th annual historic home tour in the Boulevard Park neighborhood. Tour hours are from 10:00 AM until 4:00 PM.

The SOCA Home Tour is an annual event, and the main fundraiser for the Sacramento Old City Association. This home tour includes an inside look at eight restored historic homes in Boulevard Park. Tour visitors can walk through each of the homes on the tour to see how the workmanship of historic homes is often as beautiful on the inside as the outside.

The Home Tour also includes a street fair, including artisans and craftspersons specializing in historic home repair and restoration, local artists, crafters, photographers and artisans, and community organizations. Live music will be provided by Julie the Bruce, Andrew Surber and "Drum Polygon." The Sacramento "Capitol A's" Model A Club will display their restored antique cars throughout the tour. CLUCK (Campaign to Legalize Urban Chicken Keeping) will raffle a chicken coop and other prizes at their booth.

Tickets for the Home Tour cost $20, but you get a $1 discount if you arrive on a bicycle. Tickets for the fair can be bought at the site of the tour: the SOCA tour booth will be located on the corner of 21st and G Street, directly in the street median. Visiting the homes requires a ticket, but the street fair is free, and will run along 21st Street between F and H Street.

This year's tour is located in the Boulevard Park historic district, a neighborhood that is visually distinct due to the landscaped street medians running down 21st and 22nd Street. These medians were part of a real estate development project dating to 1905. Located on the site of the old Union Park racetrack, Boulevard Park was the first planned development of the Wright & Kimbrough real estate firm. The development's boundaries were from B Street to H Street between 20th and 22nd, with a portion of 23rd.

When the neighborhood was built, a streetcar line ran along H Street from downtown to McKinley Park. Many of the most elegant Boulevard Park homes were located facing H Street, with more modest but still beautiful homes closer to C Street. C Street had its own streetcar line, but freight trains also ran on the same tracks until 1953! In addition to the landscaped medians, three blocks in Boulevard Park have small central park areas located in the center of the block, in a space normally occupied by backyards and alleys. Covenants on property deeds required minimum setbacks, prohibited high fences and noxious uses, and made provision for shared tenancy of the alley parks. These features gave the neighborhood a pleasing, park-like look that is still apparent a century after its construction. The current Boulevard Park neighborhood includes an area beyond the original development. Homes in the neighborhood are a mixture of Craftsman and Prairie, Classical Revival, Colonial Revival, Spanish Revival and other revival st yles. Elsewhere in the neighborhood are Victorian homes of the Queen Anne, Stick, Shingle and Italianate styles.

Boulevard Park is one of Sacramento's most beautiful and well-known neighborhoods, and this year's SOCA Home Tour provides a unique look at the architecture, culture and creativity that make our city a great place.

SOCA's Web site can be found at: www.sacoldcity.org and includes membership information, details of SOCA activities and events, and updates about planning and preservation issues in Sacramento's central city.

Disclosure: William Burg is a board member of the Sacramento Old City Association.

Photographs taken by Randy Lum.

Sacramento Historic Bike Ride: Southside Park

2009-08-27T21:27:37Z

This summer, a group of Sacramento State graduate students and local history enthusiasts began gathering once a month to take a bike ride through Sacramento's historic neighborhoods and share their knowledge about local history, historic architecture and cultural heritage. Two rides have occurred so far. The next will take place on Sunday, August 30, at 9:00 AM, in the Southside Park neighborhood. Riders will meet at the site of the Robert E. Callahan Bandstand in Southside Park, near the corner of 7th and T Street, at 9:00 AM.

Built on a former slough, Southside was inhabited by generations of immigrants and working-class families. The neighborhood's many ethnic communities, including Portuguese, Italian, Mexican and Japanese, came together in Southside Park, the neighborhood's namesake. Whether for fireworks displays on the Fourth of July, for a trip back to Gold Rush days at Roaring Camp, or simply to paddle the lake in a rented boat, Southside Park provided a place of respite and recreation in this bustling city. The neighborhood surrounding the park faced many challenges as Sacramento grew, but its residents faced these challenges with a tradition of political activism, community participation, and a strong sense of civic pride that is still evident today.

The Sacramento Historic Bike Ride is a free-form event: riders will decide where the tour should go. There are several sites I hope to visit in order to tell the story of the Southside neighborhood's diverse history, culture and development, but there is plenty of room for everyone's participation. If you have a story about the neighborhood, a historic site, a significant person, or a good story, please feel free to share it! The tour will run until about 11:00 AM. There is no cost to participate in the tour.

For those that may be interested, I will bring copies of my books, Sacramento's Southside Park and Sacramento's Streetcars, for sale at $20 each, and will happily sign them for you.

800 K/L-Belvue Demolition Plan Returns To City Council

2009-08-24T18:59:58Z

On Tuesday, August 25, the Sacramento City Council will hear a proposal by developers Bob Leach and Parkcrest Development to build a hotel at the corner of 8th and K Street and a parking structure at the corner of 8th and L Street, a project that would require demolition of city landmark the Bel-Vue Apartments and adjacent buildings. The meeting will be held at New City Hall, 915 I Street, at 6:00 PM in the main City Council chambers.

The item was originally to be heard at the August 11 meeting of the City Council (see sacramentopress.com/headline/11884/City_to_decide_on_fate_of_BelVue_Apartments_and_Berry_Hotel_today ) but was taken off the agenda at the last minute. According to the staff report, the "Exclusive Right to Negotiate" between the city of Sacramento and the developers expired on Sunday, August 23, but city staff can still work with the development group while a new RFQ (Request for Qualifications) is being prepared, a process that should take about 90 days according to the staff report. If city staff and developers cannot reach an agreement, the new RFQ will request proposals from other developers and development groups for a different project on the 800 K Street site.

Also according to the staff report, city staff had not fully analyzed the new proposal as of its submittal date of Friday, August 21, and could not provide complete comment. One change from previous proposals is a change to requested exemption from the hotel's "Transient Occupancy Tax": instead of 100% exemption from TOT for 10 years, they are asking for 50% exemption for 14 years. According to the accompanying financial documents, this would add up to approximately the same total subsidy for the project, but over a different span of time.

Another change is that Mohammed "Mo" Mohanna is no longer listed as a member of the development team. The staff report does not specify whether another investor has joined the team in Mohanna's place, or whether one of the existing investors will contribute more funds to make up for Mohanna's financial contribution to the project, or why this change has taken place. Most of the financial commitment comes from the Korean firm Consus, but the city has not yet received a formal commitment with complete terms and conditions from Consus.

The staff report does mention that the original "Exclusive Right to Negotiate" for this project occurred as a condition of a lawsuit settlement between the city of Sacramento and Mohanna, in addition to the city's payment of about $18 million to Mohanna for the land.

The total subsidy for the project is estimated at $31.5 million in land and tax exemption (both transient occupancy tax and tax-increment fund exemption.) This amount does not include the money previously paid to Mohanna for the property as a result of the lawsuit settlement.

The staff report does not address the issue of a potentially competing hotel project planned for the corner of 10th and K Street, nor does it address the issue of the demolition of the Bel-Vue landmark.

The staff report for this item can be found here:

sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php

The agenda for this week's City Council meeting can be found here:

sacramento.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php

City to decide on fate of Bel-Vue Apartments and Berry Hotel today

2009-08-11T08:36:49Z

On Tuesday, August 11, the Sacramento city council will decide whether to give away the half-block from K to L on 8th Street, containing the Bel-Vue Apartments and several other buildings to developers Bob Leach, Mohammed Mohanna and Parkcrest Development. The land was recently purchased by the city from Mohanna at a price of $18.6 million, and the developers are asking not only for free land but several years of tax-free operation. The net cost to the city will be about $34 million, 25% of the total investment for the project, in return for about 10% of the return. The proposed project is a 300-foot luxury hotel at 8th and K and a parking lot on 8th & L where the Bel-Vue stands. The project would destroy all surviving structures on the project site. In addition to the landmark Bel-Vue, the 1895 Feldhusen Building and the circa 1910 Sam's Club building would be demolished, although neither has the status of city landmark.

The proposed project would also demolish two half-blocks of Sacramento's underground sidewalks, along the corner of 8th and K Street. The sidewalks are still clearly visible from the alley, as the photograph above shows. As with the loss of the Bel-Vue, approval of this project would mean the loss of structures that, despite having fallen into disrepair and disuse, are part of the city's historic fabric. By restoring these elements instead of demolishing them, the city can maintain resources that cannot be duplicated in modern construction, and provide valuable downtown housing and a potential historic site of great tourism interest.

The staff report mentions that city staff and the developer have not been able to come to agreement on business terms, due to the low rate of return for the city and the large investment the project represents. The "Exclusive Right to Negotiate" (ERN) between the city and the developers has been extended twice in order to work out details, but city staff is still not confident in the developer's proposal. The council has been asked to advise city staff how to proceed.

Full staff report is visible here:

sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php

In slightly brighter news, at the same meeting the City Council will hear (and hopefully approve) a plan to restore the Berry Hotel, just across the street from the Bel-Vue. The hotel was acquired by the city after another developer's plan to restore the building failed last year. The hotel is currently being vacated by the city, and is almost completely vacant. This plan would restore the interior of the building, providing long-needed repairs, and reopen the Berry as permanent housing for very low income individuals. The Berry has filled this role for years, but if this plan is approved, the building will be completely renovated and restored, and a social services agency will provide a staff person to work with disabled residents. The staff report is visible here:

sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php

These two projects are almost polar opposites. The restoration of the Berry Hotel promises to bring back a city landmark, restoring to occupancy a 1920s hotel. The project will house those least able to find housing, those with very low income, and it will be completed for far less than a new project of similar scale would cost. Across the street, the Bel-Vue was occupied by tenants until shortly before it was taken over by SHRA. It will be demolished and replaced with a parking structure. The proposed hotel project will be utterly infeasible without a massive subsidy, one that a city in the throes of a financial crisis cannot afford. Perhaps the City Council will review the Berry project and consider what else they might do with the Bel-Vue, a city landmark and apartment building, for less money than the developers' subsidy.

The meeting will be held at New City Hall, 915 I Street, Sacramento, at 6:00 PM in the main council chambers.

The full city council meeting agenda is viewable here:

sacramento.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php

(In the interest of disclosure, I oppose the demolition of the Bel-Vue and plan to attend in order to voice my opposition to the 8th & K project--and my support for the restoration of the Berry Hotel.)

Underground Sidewalks Update at Preservation Commission Meeting

2009-08-03T18:05:16Z

This Wednesday, August 5, Sacramento's Preservation Commission will hear an update on the "Underground Sidewalks" survey project. This survey has explored much of Sacramento's surviving underground sidewalk structures, and is preparing a detailed report on their current condition and historic context. An earlier meeting, held in March, outlined what the survey would do(sacramentopress.com/headline/5128/City_Will_Survey_Underground_Sidewalks) and this meeting will present the initial findings of the survey team and report their progress. The final report on the underground sidewalks should be completed by September of this year.

The meeting will be held at Sacramento's City Hall, 915 I Street, in the City Council chambers on the first floor. The meeting starts at 5:30 PM and the Underground Sidewalks survey will be the first of several staff reports presented at the meeting.

A complete agenda of the Preservation Commission meeting can be found here:

www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/meetings/commissions/preservation/2008/PC_Agenda_8-05-09.cfm

Sacramento's underground sidewalks are a side effect of a massive street-raising project, executed from the 1850s to the 1870s and intended to keep downtown Sacramento above water during the region's frequent floods. Brick walls about 12 feet high were built at the street edge and filled with dirt, but the spaces between the buildings and the street were left open, and were the building owner's responsibility to cover and fill. Over the past 130 years, many of these spaces have been filled in or demolished by subsequent development, construction and sidewalk repair.

This survey, funded by a local nonprofit and a matching state grant, is intended to document all of the surviving "Underground Sidewalk" spaces in downtown Sacramento and research the methods used to build these structures. The survey will have many potential uses, possibly including the creation of a historic district, or facilitating an "Underground Sidewalks Tour" program similar to that found in Seattle and other cities. The public will have an opportunity to ask questions and provide comments to the Preservation Commission and the consultants conducting the survey.

The City Preservation Commission was created by the City Council. Its powers and duties include: to develop and recommend to the City Council preservation policies appropriate for inclusion in the General Plan and other regulatory plans and programs of the City and to provide oversight relative to the maintenance and integrity of the Sacramento Register of Historic and Cultural Resources; to review, nominate, and make recommendations to the City Council on properties eligible for listing in the Sacramento Register as Landmarks, Historic Districts and Contributing Resources as set forth in the Historic Preservation Chapter, Title 17, Chapter 17.134, of the City Code; to review and approve preservation development projects of major significance and appeals of Preservation Director decisions per the Historic Preservation Chapter, Title 17, Chapter 17.134, of the City Code.

Meeting location: New City Hall
915 I Street- 1st Floor, Council Chambers
August 5, 2009 - 5:30 P.M.

"Buffy" at the Trash Film Orgy

2009-07-31T07:20:03Z

The ninth annual TRASH FILM ORGY series is halfway done, with three weeks remaining in this year's blood-soaked rock & roll monster extravaganza! If you haven't had a chance to visit this year's TFO, you already missed FLASH GORDON, SATAN'S CHEERLEADERS and CHOPPING MALL...but it's not over yet! This week's offering is the original theatrical version of BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER!

If you haven't been to the Trash Film Orgy before, it is more than just a movie--it is a whole experience! The "Trash Action Sideshow" features fun activities in the lobby, the "Retro-Trash Lounge" features entertaining artifacts from RETROCRUSH.COM, and pre-show and intermission on-stage performances and contests make TFO an amazing, unique and often profoundly weird entertainment value! The TFO is a hotbed of local musical, comedic and dramatic talent. Several TFO alumni have moved on to careers in television, stand-up comedy, modeling and late-night horror hosting. Its organizers are working on their second feature-length film, PLANET OF THE VAMPIRE WOMEN, and its current performers include members of two local comedy troupes, "ICUP" and "I Can't Believe It's Not Comedy!" Come see the best of Sacramento's late-night cinema entertainment at the TRASH FILM ORGY!

SEE the 1992 film that started the Buffy phenomenon! With Kristy Swanson, Donald Sutherland, Rutger Hauer, Luke Perry, Paul Reubens and Hilary Swank. And don’t miss the incredible VAMPIRE PROM!

TRASH FILM ORGY-the World’s Most Amazing Midnight Movie Show returns for its 9th incredible season!

Bringing you the best in 35mm Exploitation and Cult Cinema, TFO promises the ultimate theatre experience! With LIVE Bloody Stage Shows, Original Shorts, Audience Participation, Games, Costume Contests, Prizes and much, much MORE-you won’t believe your eyes!

This year’s festival features many exciting surprises… including the return of special guest stars and the TFO’s original host FRANCOIS FLY!!! You’ll be sure to cry your eyes out if you miss ANY of these exciting shows!

It all happens SATURDAYS at MIDNIGHT in the Fabulous and Historic CREST THEATRE located at 1013 K Street in Downtown Sacramento. 916-44-CREST
COME EARLY! Doors open at 11:30 for the Incredibly Interactive Trash-Action Sideshow and Music!

The TRASH FILM ORGY is adult fun for trash fans 18 and Over ONLY! And for trash fans 21 and over, the RETRO-TRASH LOUNGE serves beer and wine!

Tickets are $9.50 per show.
Cool Kids that come in Awesome Costumes can save $1 on admission. We recommend DECADES for all your costume needs!

www.trashfilmorgy.com has all the details about this year's series, plus photos of past shows if you want an idea of what to expect!

(In the interest of full disclosure, the author of this article is a participant in the Trash Film Orgy.)

Land Giveaway at 8th & K

2009-07-16T18:06:30Z

City plans to demolish the Bel-Vue and adjacent buildings were mentioned in my Sacramento Press article on July 3 ( http://sacramentopress.com/headline/10159/City_To_Demolish_Landmark_BelVue_Building ) but at the time the developer and financing organization behind the project were not identified. Since then, both have appeared, along with an additional partner. The financier, Consus Asset Management, is a new player in Sacramento. The developer, Bob Leach, just completed another Sacramento project, the Le Rivage Hotel. The other player in this project is a well-known name in K Street real estate, Mohammed “Mo” Mohanna. All three are asking the city for $18.6 million in free real estate and several years of tax forgiveness once the project is complete, and they want this done immediately, before public input and analysis by city staff and commissions can be completed.

Since my earlier article saw print, these parties were mentioned by articles in the Sacramento Bee, in Bob Shallit’s columns:
http://www.sacbee.com/shallit/story/2005107.html

In this column, Shallit mentions South Korea based Consus Asset Management (http://consusgroup.com/ ) as the primary financier, willing to put up $91 million for construction. Lead developer Bob Leach, builder of Le Rivage Hotel, made contact with Consus through local hotel builder Parkcrest Development. Also on the project team is Mohammed “Mo” Mohanna, who recently owned the land until the city paid him $18.6 million for it, after a lengthy series of negotiations, complex legal maneuvering, and the demolition of the buildings on the corner of 8th & K Street. The article mentioned that the developers were hoping for some tax breaks on this project.

Shallit followed this up with a second column:
http://www.sacbee.com/shallit/story/2017611.html

Here, the developers have urged the city to move quickly or risk losing financing. They have asked the city to give them the land, currently city-owned, for free, and to forgive taxes on the hotel for the first few years of its operation. Transferring the land quickly would also mean that there would be no time for an Environmental Impact Report to be completed, and before issues like the demolition of the Bel-Vue have had an opportunity to be fully reviewed by city staff, Preservation Commission or Planning Commission.

This issue will go before the Sacramento City Council on August 4. The city of Sacramento has held an Exclusive Right to Negotiate (ERN) with Bob Leach and Parkcrest, extended for 45 days on June 9, but that ERN expires on Friday, July 24.

The unspoken irony in the developers’ demand is that the city of Sacramento just paid nearly $20 million to wrest the property out of Mohanna’s hands, and are now being asked to give the property back to him. They are also asking for a free hand to demolish a Sacramento landmark, and forgiveness of future taxes, which means that it will be many years before the city of Sacramento sees any economic benefit or return on their investment of $20 million, their donation of a half-block of prime downtown real estate (by the city’s own valuation, worth the $18.6 million paid to Mohanna) and their sacrifice of irreplaceable historic buildings. This free giveaway would also add up to far more than the taxpayer-funded donation provided to developer David Taylor to rehabilitate three existing buildings on the 1000 block of K Street, a move that sparked widespread public criticism.

Why is there a need for such urgency? One possible answer is that there is another hotel project planned for K Street, only two blocks away. Unlike the project at 8th and K, this alternate project would require no historic buildings to be demolished. This project does not require the full Environmental Impact Report, instead using a far simpler process called a Mitigated Negative Declaration (MND.) The MND identifies the developer behind the project as "10th & K Developers, LLC" and mentions that it will include 180 rooms in a 12-story building with ground floor retail. Could this simpler, less complex project be the competition that worries the developers behind 8th and K, and enough of a problem to make them demand a massive public subsidy from the city of Sacramento for a project that will not have to pay taxes for many years, and action fast enough to short-circuit public debate and review by city staff?

Meanwhile, the deadline for public comment on the Notice of Preparation is approaching. According to Jennifer Hageman of the city of Sacramento’s Economic Development Department, part of the process will include a public scoping meeting to present this issue to the public, but as of this writing no date has been identified for such a meeting.

To give public comment about this issue, contact Jennifer Hageman of the City of Sacramento’s Community Development Department at jhageman@cityofsacramento.org or (916)808-5538. Written comments should be sent to Jennifer Hageman, City of Sacramento Community Development Department, 300 Richards Boulevard, Sacramento, CA 95811. Comments are due before 4:00 PM on July 27, 2009.
K ST MND 7-1-09 800klEIR eir3

Sacramento Zine Symposium

2009-07-08T21:21:01Z

The term "zine" is not just a contraction of the word "magazine." Zines are homebrewed magazines, produced by individuals or small groups, typically in small numbers and with limited distribution. The world of zines was inspired by Soviet-era samizdat networks (illicit duplication of forbidden literature via photocopies) and the science fiction fanzines of the 1960s and 1970s (mimeographed or Xeroxed small-run magazines sent to small groups of dedicated SF fans.) The heyday of zines was the late 1980s through the mid-1990s. A typical zine was created on a typewriter or word-processor or even handwritten, with hand-drawn or clip art illustrations. Music zines were probably the most common, but zines existed for many obscure topics not covered by large-scale press. Local copy shops, independent record stores and alternative distribution networks like Factsheet 5 made zines a simple way for individuals to speak their minds, share their ideas and communicate with others of like mind in their own community and around the world. Many zines were distributed by hand or via local record stores or bookstores, while others were traded by mail with other zine writers like pen pals. A few were picked up by magazine distributors like Tower Records, and exposed to readers around the world, but most zines remained obscure. The popularization of the World Wide Web made electronic expression easier and more practical, making zines seemingly obsolete.

In this month's Midtown Monthly, I wrote an article about Sacramento's zine history, profiling local zines from the late 1980s and early 1990s. I claimed that zines seem like an archaic form of communication today, due to the advent of the Internet. However, zines are alive and well in the 21st century, and KDVS DJ Sharmi Basu wants to prove it by hosting the first Sacramento Zine Symposium. It takes place this Saturday July 11th at the Brickhouse Gallery, 2837 36th Street, in Oak Park.

The Sacramento Zine Symposium is a showcase for all the alternative press that is underrepresented in the sacramento/davis/norcal community. It's a chance to make friends, network, and share your experience or lack thereof in the world of zines. Vendoring, food, everything, is FREE, featuring KDVS DJs and food by Food Not Bombs Sacramento

Schedule of events:
1-130pm: Intro [What is a Zine?]
130-2: Lunch
2-245: Workshops [Distro]
245-315: Break
315-4: Workshop [Binding/Screenprinting]
4-430: Break
430-515:Workshop [Alternative Press Culture]
515-545: Break
545-7: Dinner, Ending speech

Date: July 11th
Time: 1-10pm
Place: Brickhouse Gallery 2837 36th St. Sacramento, CA 95817

This event is all-ages, and admission is free.

City To Demolish Landmark "Bel-Vue" Building

2009-07-03T21:28:18Z

The city of Sacramento has announced its plans to demolish the Bel-Vue Apartments, a registered city landmark, in order to clear land on 8th Street for a potential future parking structure.

Located adjacent to the now-vacant corner of 8th and K Street, the Bel-Vue was built in 1910 as the American Cash Apartments. Built in the Craftsman style with Asian overtones, the three-story brick building contains apartments above a commercial ground floor. When the Bel-Vue was built, it was one of many downtown apartment buildings. If it was built today, the Bel-Vue would be described as a mixed-use, transit-oriented infill project. The building is currently owned by the city of Sacramento’s housing and redevelopment agency, the result of a complex land exchange between Mohammed “Mo” Mohanna, Z Gallerie owner Joe Zeiden, and the city of Sacramento. This land exchange was part of the currently stalled plans to rehabilitate the 700 block of K Street.

The city’s plan is to prepare an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) containing two possible alternatives for buildings to be built on the site, and then demolish the existing buildings. One alternative is a pair of residential towers 300 feet high, running from K Street to L Street along 8th, originally proposed by former owner Mohanna and developers John Saca (of the failed 301 Capitol Mall project) and John Lambeth. The other alternative is a 300 foot hotel tower at the corner of 8th and K, currently vacant, and a six-story parking structure on the site of the Bel-Vue and the other buildings at the corner of 8th and L. There is no developer or investor specified in the EIR notice of preparation; the city of Sacramento plans to create the EIR and demolish the Bel-Vue and nearby buildings on speculation, in case a developer appears who is interested in constructing the buildings the city has proposed for the site.

When the city of Sacramento acquired the Bel-Vue building and its neighbors, it was an occupied apartment building with several retail tenants on the ground floor. There were also commercial tenants in the adjacent buildings, and apartments above most of those buildings. The city of Sacramento evicted the residents, and today only one retail establishment, a Chinese restaurant, occupies the Bel-Vue, aside from a parking garage in one of the buildings facing L Street.

All of the buildings on the site have a role in local history. 815 L Street, constructed in 1915, was most recently the site of a nightclub of the same name. In 1957, the site was one of the original Sam’s Hof Brau locations. The side of the building, invisible from the street, still bears a painted mural advertising Sam’s. La Rosa, an Italian restaurant opened in 1927, occupied the site before the Hof Brau. On the corner of 8th and L is the Feldhusen Building, a two-story building with ground floor retail and residences upstairs. It was built in 1895 and remodeled in 1954. It was home to many businesses including grocery stores, dressmakers, and the Diamond Club Tavern card room.
Buildings like the Bel-Vue were once commonplace in Sacramento, but over the years they have become very rare.

Today, some developers seek out historic buildings for residential projects, converting them into modern apartments or condominiums. Local companies like D&S Development (http://www.dandsdev.com) have completed projects like the Old Sacramento iLofts and 1409 R, and are now restoring the historic Maydestone Apartments at 16th & J Street. Architect Mike Malinowski, contractor Bruce Booher and CFY Development helped convert the Globe Mills grain mill complex into unique residential lofts. At the Railyards, developer Thomas Enterprises will make the historic Southern Pacific shops buildings the focal point of a new downtown neighborhood. Other adaptive reuse projects like the Citizen Hotel, MARRS, the Cosmopolitan and the Firestone Building show how vacant historic buildings can be made into exciting, unique urban destinations. Projects like these are often more popular than newly-built projects because they offer one-of-a-kind places to live, work and play in an urban setting. They appeal to those who want to be close to the action of the central city and their downtown workplaces, or just like the unique character of historic buildings. Instead of demolishing the Bel-Vue, the building could easily be repaired and returned to its role as a place to live, with businesses on the street to serve downtown’s residents. Restoration of historic buildings is also a greener option than new construction, as it needs far fewer building materials and requires far less landfill space (where the demolished building’s components would end up.) If sales of recent projects like the 1409 R lofts (opened in April and already two-thirds sold) are any indication, these projects are popular even in slow economic markets, while urban infill projects in new buildings are far less successful. Historic buildings can also qualify for tax credits and other incentives that can make rehabilitation cheaper than demolition and new construction. In the right hands, the Bel-Vue could be a gorgeous, attainable new home for Sacramento’s residents for another hundred years.

In recent years, the city of Sacramento has seen many proposed projects fail to materialize. The failure of projects like John Saca’s 301 Capitol Mall towers at 3rd and Capitol resulted in ugly, gaping pits in our city’s urban fabric. Projects like the 700/800 block, bogged down by unexpected resistance and a poor economy, sit languishing, waiting for a better plan to appear. Projects that encourage the demolition of landmarks encourage speculators to allow their historic downtown properties to sit vacant, deteriorating for years or even decades, with the hope of an eventual skyscraper-shaped payoff that may never arrive. More forward-thinking developers could turn the same buildings into Sacramento's urban showpieces.

No developer or investor has been named by the city to actually build this project or pay for it, and even if a developer and/or investor does arrive, if they want to make significant changes to the plan they would need to complete a new environmental document, making this effort worthless. The sacrifice of one of Sacramento’s irreplaceable historic buildings would be for nothing. And even if the city’s long shot is successful, and a developer does build the project, we will lose a historic landmark and a quarter-block of potentially useful buildings for a six-story parking garage in a neighborhood with many underutilized parking garages.

SCHS Presents: Sacramento Rock & Radio Museum Tour

2009-06-22T20:00:52Z

The Sacramento County Historical Society Presents:

Rock and Radio Museum
Tour & Talk

With Dennis Newhall and Mick Martin

Tuesday, June 23, 2009, 7:00 PM

907 20th St., Sacramento (between I & J streets)

Longtime media producer and onetime KZAP disc jockey Dennis Newhall and KXJZ "Blues Party" radio show host Mick Martin will reminisce about rock for SCHS at the newly reopened Rock and Radio Museum. The museum is on the site of Sacramento's 1980s rock nightclub, the Oasis Ballroom.

Begun 10 years ago as a display of Newhall's collection of rock music memorabilia from the 1950s to the present , the collection has grown to over 2500 pieces and an informal museum. It is normally open to the public only during Sacramento's Second Saturday art walks.
When the Nakamoto studio relocated last fall, the museum shut down. However the Tucker Media Group (audio and video production) moved in this spring, and invited Newhall to re-hang the collection.

The museum reopened this month for Second Saturday. But the opportunity for a private viewing with Newhall and Martin is special.

Admission is free and all ages are welcome to attend.

For more information about the Sacramento County Historical Society:

http://www.sachistoricalsociety.org

Sacramento Preservation Roundtable, Saturday June 13

2009-06-12T16:52:11Z

Sacramento's Preservation Roundtable is a quarterly gathering of local history and historic preservation organizations, intended to share current information on local preservation topics, public policy, events, and plans in progress. Everyone is welcome to attend.

Preservation Roundtable - Saturday June 13th
9:00am to Noon at the Young Ladies Institute – 27th & N Sts. (1400 27th Street)
Continental Breakfast * $5 donation

6/13/09 AGENDA:

9:00 Welcome & Introductions
9:10 Preservation Issues & Updates:
- CA State RR Museum Foundation - Kathy Daigle
- Capitol Dist. State Museum & Historic Parks-Pati Brown
- DOC (Devel. Oversight Committee) update
- City Preservation Office - Roberta Deering
– Hwy 50 HOV lane –Kathleen Green & Karen Jacques
– Minimum Maintenance for Historic Structures – Tim Brandt Preservation Commission Chair
- Capitol City Preservation Trust Awards –Kay Knepprath & Fred Turner
- Sacramento City School District’s Bldgs. on the block-i.e.-Jefferson School at 18th & N Sts.

10:30 Speakers – Budget Impacts on Historic Preservation –David Kwong and Roberta Deering-Questions & Answer session

11:50 Announcements
12:00 ADJOURN

Sponsored by:
Page & Turnbull, Architects & SOCA (Sacramento Old City Association)

Next Preservation Roundtable meeting is Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009 at the School House in Old Sacramento

Local author speaks on history of religion in Sacramento

2009-06-11T16:24:39Z

City of Man, City of God:
The Catholic Church and the Shaping of Sacramento

On Friday, June 12, 2009, SAMCC will unveil a new photographic exhibit, City of Man, City of God: The Catholic Church and the Shaping of Sacramento. The exhibit depicts the role that people of faith played in shaping Sacramento’s urban agenda, from the 1850s to today. The evening will include an address by Dr. Steven M. Avella on his recently released book, Sacramento and the Catholic Church: Shaping a Capital City. The event is free and open to the public. It begins at 7:00 p.m. at SAMCC, 551 Sequoia Pacific Blvd, Sacramento.

The Catholic Church, present in Sacramento from the city’s beginnings, has had an important influence on Sacramento’s culture and development. Yet the character of Catholic life has also been shaped by the city’s diverse social, cultural, and political makeup. The exhibit and lecture will examine the interplay between the city and one community of faith in the creation of Sacramento’s urban agenda. Topics discussed include the geography of the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, the early struggle of assimilation by various ethnic groups, and the conflict between religious and secular forces over caring for the hungry and homeless. The evening is not a history of the Diocese of Sacramento, rather a look at Sacramento as a case study of the role a religious denomination played in the development of an American western city.

Dr. Steven M. Avella grew up in Sacramento and has written prodigiously about his hometown. Avella is the author of two recent books on Sacramento, The Good Life: Sacramento’s Consumer Culture and Sacramento: Indomitable City. He is on the faculty of Marquette University, where he teaches courses on religion and American life. He is currently engaged in writing a biography of Charles K. McClatchy, a former editor of the Sacramento Bee. Dr. Avella will sign copies of his book, which will be available for purchase that evening.

For more information please call (916) 264-7072 or visit the SAMCC website at www.cityofsacramento.org/ccl/history/index.html

Second Saturday Needs Volunteer Crossing Guards

2009-06-04T03:09:35Z

Second Saturday has grown in popularity during the past few years, to the point where Sacramento police have asked for citizens' help. Because of declining budgets and the growing crowds at Second Saturday, there are not enough police available to perform crossing guard duty. To that end, Midtown Business Association Executive Director Rob Kerth sent out the following email:

"Hi Folks,
Our Sac PD Captain, Dana Matthes, is looking for a few good people to do crossing
guard duty on 2nd Saturday. If you've got the urge to help out, or know someone
who might, please give her a call at 808-4511. They have a training program to
get you all ready.
Thanks!"

Riverboat Gambling on the Delta King

2009-06-01T20:14:34Z

On June 5, the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation will host a Riverboat Casino Night on board the Delta King Riverboat, providing a colorful look at the world of the riverboat gambler. This event will feature authentic 1850s games of chance, including Chuck-A-Luck, Faro and Shut the Box, as well as more familiar games like poker and roulette. Also featured are a silent auction, live music and entertainment, and food and drink, all appropriate to the Gold Rush era. Re-enactors in period attire will add to the atmosphere of the event. While period attire is not required for those who attend, it is encouraged. Several stores in Old Sacramento, including Sacramento Dry Goods on Second and I Street, specialize in historic styles of clothing for those wishing to attend in full 19th century finery.

The event is a fundraiser for the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation and the Sacramento History Museum. Last year, the Sacramento History Museum split from the Discovery Museum and became part of the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation. Part of the change involves a dramatic renovation of the museum’s first floor, but part involves raising public awareness of the Museum with events like the Riverboat Casino Night. According to Museum public relations specialist Lindsey Meyers, “In the past our events have not necessarily tied in with Sacramento history, and that is exactly what we are trying to change. We want to focus on Sacramento history and the river is a huge part of how we became a city.” In order to highlight the evening’s focus as an educational event, authenticity and historic accuracy are the number one priority. “Even the food is historically accurate,” said Meyers. If the event proves successful, it could become an annual event on board the Delta King. As Sacramento’s last authentic riverboat, the Delta King provides an ideal site for an evening of Gold Rush era gambling and entertainment.

Riverboat Casino Night takes place on Friday, June 5, and starts at 6:00 PM on the Delta King Riverboat in Old Sacramento. Tickets cost $45 for Historic Old Sacramento Foundation members, $50 for non-members. Tickets can be purchased by calling (916)264-7059 or by visiting the Sacramento History Museum at 101 I Street. Guests must be 21 years of age or older. All proceeds will help support the exhibits and programs at the Historic Old Sacramento Foundation’s Sacramento History Museum.

Preservation Commission Approves Depot Plan

2009-05-22T06:04:42Z

On Thursday night, Sacramento's Preservation Commission held a special meeting to review plans to expand and refurbish Sacramento's historic passenger depot. The depot's environmental impact report includes two alternatives: a "move the depot" option that would involve rolling the historic building 400 feet north to meet the new track alignment, or a "don't move the depot" option that would build an expanded station between the current depot and the new track alignment. The commission was asked to provide their recommendation to City Council as to whether the city should move the station or not.

Union Pacific's railroad tracks adjacent to the depot currently form a sharp S-curve that limits the length of passenger trains that can safely pull into the station, and limits the maximum speed of freight trains passing through the city. The tracks' current location also puts freight trains very close to waiting passengers, with no barriers or other protection between trains and people. Union Pacific wants to straighten out the S-curve into a single tangent. By smoothing the curve, freight trains could travel more quickly, eliminating a traffic bottleneck. By providing separate freight tracks and limiting access to them with a fence, passengers waiting on the platform would be safer.

The issue of the historic depot has been a contentious point since the original plans to relocate the tracks appeared in the late 1990s. Preservation advocates are concerned that if the depot is no longer adjacent to the tracks, it will be replaced by a new building and the historic building will fall into disuse or disrepair. The city's objective is to maintain the depot as an "intermodal" station, a station where passengers can move between many different transportation modes: car, city bus, intercity bus, light rail, commuter train or long-distance train. Sacramento's passenger station is one of the busiest in the country, serving over a million passengers a year, and rail transit providers expect dramatic increases in rail passenger traffic in the coming decades, so either plan must allow for growth.

In 2007, the Sacramento City Council selected a radical plan: rather than abandon the depot, the existing depot would be moved to a new site adjacent to the tracks on giant rollers. Once relocated, the new depot would be put back into service. Over the past two years, staff have examined the plan more closely but had concerns about the feasibility of moving the depot. In order to cover all of their options, the report on the depot plan included two alternatives: a "move the depot" plan and a "don't move the depot" plan.

Both plans involved three phases. In Phase 1, the tracks are to be relocated and a surface path built from the depot to the new location. In Phase 2, temporary landscaping improvements would be added, along with an underground concourse allowing access to passenger train platforms without crossing freight tracks. This phase would also include some cosmetic and seismic retrofit to the depot. Phase 3 is split into two options.

In the "move the depot" option, two city blocks would be freed up for residential development, and a triangular structure would be built behind the depot to provide shelter to embarking passengers. In the "don't move the depot" option, the historic building would still serve as an entrance but a large structure similar to an airport concourse would be built behind the depot. Access to the tracks would be via this elevated concourse or via the underground tunnel completed in Phase 2. This structure would also contain a Greyhound bus terminal and drop-off points for local buses, and be adjacent to a relocated RT Metro light rail line. The bus functions would also be present in a "move the depot" scenario, but located at different points around the depot. Both plans include provision to make space for future high-speed rail lines, and both plans include space on the existing lots for new development. Another feature of both plans is a secondary tunnel at the western edge of the tracks, where "red cap" operated vehicles can transport limited-mobility and disabled passengers to the tracks.

Sacramento's city staff support the "don't move the depot" alternative, on the basis that it would be cheaper, provides more space for expansion, and avoids risks to the historic structure associated with relocation. The "move the depot" would provide less space for expansion, and the walk from entrance to tracks would be shorter, but the relocation would cost more than would be saved by building a smaller station expansion.

Some members of the public voiced concerns about the "don't move the depot" alternative. Kay Knepprath of the "Save Our Rail Depot" (SORD) Coalition stated that the city has already agreed to move the depot, and reiterated concerns that if the depot loses its connection with the tracks, it will no longer be used as a passenger station. City attorney Cheryl Patterson addressed the latter issue by mentioning that federal transportation funds will be used to pay for restoration of the station, and those funds require that the building continue to serve a transportation function. In other words, if it stops being a train station, the money must be returned. The operator of the local Yellow Cab franchise asked that, regardless of which option was selected, sufficient parking space for cabs be provided in the plan.

The Preservation Commission voted 5-2 to support staff's recommendation to select the "don't move the depot" option. Their recommendation will be passed along to the Sacramento City Council for a final decision on Tuesday, June 2.

A copy of the Preservation Commission agenda, including PDF copies of the environmental documents regarding the proposed track relocation and depot move, can be found here:

http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/meetings/commissions/preservation/2008/PC_Agenda_5-21-09.cfm

SCHS Presentation: M Street, the West End, and Capitol Mall

2009-04-27T17:19:26Z

The Sacramento County Historical Society Presents:
M Street and Sacramento's West End
When: Tomorrow, April 28, 7:00 PM
Where: Sacramento Valley Medical Society Building
5380 Elvas Avenue
Sacramento, CA 95819

Cost: Free

What/Why: At this month's Sacramento County Historical Society meeting, SCHS President William Burg will present a historical perspective of the evolution of M Street/Capitol Avenue between the 1850s and the 1950s. Drawing on photographs mostly from the Sacramento Archives and Museum Collection Center (SAMCC,) the presentation will cover the area's early residential neighborhood, featuring the homes of prominent Sacramentans like Leland Stanford and E.B. Crocker, the industries along the waterfront, and the multicultural neighborhoods that formed in the 19th and early 20th century. Finally, the presentation will review the effects of the redevelopment era on the neighborhood, and its transformation from a neighborhood into Capitol Mall.

Ample parking is available behind the building and along Elvas Avenue.

http://www.sachistoricalsociety.org

This is a presentation I originally gave to a group of architects, developers and electeds last February, on the history of M Street and how it became Capitol Mall. This presentation will be an expanded version, with more of the story of who lived in the West End and why it became the target for redevelopment.

Local History Articles Available Online

2009-04-21T17:30:50Z

For over 50 years, the Sacramento County Historical Society has published articles and books on local history. Originally, these were small digest-sized publications, published under the title "Golden Notes." Many are long out of print, but contain articles and information about local history that is difficult or impossible to locate anywhere else.

In order to help promote local history and share information with researchers and the general public, the Sacramento County Historical Society has made over 40 years worth of SCHS "Golden Notes" books available online, in PDF format. They represent a valuable resource for those seeking information on local history on an amazing array of subjects.

The "Golden Notes" issues can be found here:
http://www.sachistoricalsociety.org/goldennotesPDF.cfm

Disclosure: I am the President of the Sacramento County Historical Society.

www.sachistoricalsociety.org

Midtown Neighborhood Association Meeting Thursday April 16

2009-04-13T18:33:36Z

On Thursday, April 16, the Midtown Neighborhood Association will hold its general membership meeting. The meeting will be held at the Trinity Lutheran Fellowship Hall, 1500 27th Street, at 6:30 PM.

Until last month, the Midtown Neighborhood Association (MNA) was the Winn Park/Capitol Avenue Neighborhood Association, a neighborhood group that has worked to make the central city a more liveable place since 1991. Recently, the WPCANA board of directors voted to extend our boundaries, taking in the area from 15th Street to 19th Street between J and N Streets. Because the name was already a little unwieldy, and because the city of Sacramento's planning maps just refer to WPCANA's underlying neighborhood as "Midtown," the board decided to change the name. The name also reflects the growing profile of Midown in the central city.

The association's current boundaries are J Street on the north, 15th Street on the west, 29th Street on the east. To the south, from 15th to 19th Street, N Street is the boundary; east of 19th Street, it is R Street. The reason for this rather unwieldy shape is because the neighborhood south of N Street between 15th and 19th is part of CARSA, the Capitol Area/R Street Association.

MNA's objectives include serving as a liaison between residents and local government, advocating for policies and actions that benefit neighborhood residents, providing a non-partisan forum for discussion of area concerns of mutual interest, maintaining communication within the neighborhood on issues including historic preservation, planning proposals, community problems, traffic, health and safety, and other actions that affect residents, and monitoring notices for new projects / development in Midtown neighborhoods.

Topics for the general membership meeting will include street lighting, street trees and our urban forest, parking, Sutter Hospital expansion plans, and alley development. There will also be opportunities to share neighborhood concerns and ideas.

Light refreshments will be provided.

For more information about MNA, visit the website at http://www.sacmidtown.org or join our Yahoo! group email list at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sacmidtown/ .

(Full disclosure: I am a board member of MNA.)

City Council to Throw Out Fair Election Ordinance

2009-03-31T19:04:00Z

Today's (Tuesday, March 31st) Sacramento city council meeting includes an item on the "consent calendar" (meaning a group of items expected to be non-controversial) that would eliminate portions of Sacramento's campaign finance law. This change would remove any fundraising limits for organizations called "independent expenditure committees" and also raise campaign contribution limits for political candidates.

What is an "independent expenditure committee," you might ask? Wikipedia defines them as: "In elections in the United States, an independent expenditure is a political activity intended to assist or oppose a specific candidate for office which is made without their cooperation, approval, or direct knowledge. Most commonly, this takes the form of advertising. In some cases, independent expenditures may far exceed direct spending by the candidates' campaigns. Groups which frequently make use of independent expenditures include political party committees, political action committees, and 527 groups."

Some examples of "independent expenditure committees" include groups like MoveOn.org or the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth (527 groups) or the Democratic National Committee or Republican National Committee (political party committees.)

The full report can be found here:

http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=8&event_id=80&meta_id=174038

The reason given for this change is the risk of a court challenge. During the last election cycle, attorneys representing independent expenditure committees, one supporting former Mayor Fargo and one supporting current Mayor Johnson approached the city. They wanted to spend money beyond the current spending limits to support their respective candidates, and threatened to sue the city over their campaign-finance laws based on the following precedents:

N.C. Right to Life, Inc. v. Leake, 525 F.3d 274 (4th Cir 2008) and Arkansas Right to Life State PAC v. Butler, 29 F.Supp.2d 540 (W.D. Ark. 1998)

The city, faced with the threat of lawsuit, declared that the city would not enforce its spending-limit laws during the last weeks of the election. Now, the city government plans to eliminate these laws entirely. It is not being discussed as a city council issue, but passed with a series of purportedly non-controversial regulations. Its result will probably be an even greater level of influence for developers and other moneyed interests, while restricting the ability of members of the public who are not wealthy or backed by the wealthy to run for public office.

If you are interested in providing feedback to the City Council, or asking them to take this item off of today's consent calendar, please call the City Council members at the numbers below. The item in question is Item 5 on the consent calendar: Ordinance Amendment: Ordinance Amending and Repealing Various Sections of Title 2 of the Sacramento City Code Relating to the City's Campaign Chapters (Contributions and Spending)

Kevin Johnson
Mayor
Mayor's Office
916-808-5300

Ray Tretheway

Ray Tretheway
District 1
916-808-7001

Sandy Sheedy
District 2
916-808-7002

Steve Cohn
District 3
916-808-7003

Robert King Fong
District 4
916-808-7004

Lauren Hammond
District 5
916-808-7005

Kevin McCarty
District 6
916-808-7006

Robbie Waters
District 7
916-808-7007

Bonnie Pannell
District 8
916-808-7008

City Will Survey Underground Sidewalks

2009-03-27T16:47:23Z

Date: Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Time: 5:30-7:30
Location: Historic City Hall, 2nd Floor Hearing Room, 915 I Street

On Tuesday, March 31, the city of Sacramento invites downtown property owners and community members to a Public Workshop to find out about the Raised Streets-Hollow Sidewalks Historic Survey. Join the Public Workshop, learn about the survey and ask questions.
-----------------------
This survey, funded by a local nonprofit and a matching state grant, is intended to document all of the surviving "Underground Sidewalk" spaces in downtown Sacramento.

In the 1860s and 1870s, Sacramento's Board of Trustees undertook a project to raise downtown Sacramento's streets above flood levels by building brick walls at the edges of the downtown streets and filling those walls with dirt. This resulted in streets as much as 12 feet higher than their original level. Building owners either used teams of screw jacks to elevate their building to the new street level or simply made their second floor into the new ground floor. Because the building owners were responsible for the space between their building and the street, most built brick vaults over the sidewalk area, leaving the old sidewalk as a covered but accessible underground space. Most of the street raising was done between approximately I and L Street, from Front Street along the river to 12th Street to the east.

Over the intervening 130 years of development, new construction and redevelopment destroyed or damaged much of the original underground sidewalk areas, to the point where only a handful remain. This survey will document surviving remnants and research the methods used to build these structures. The survey will have many potential uses, possibly including the creation of a historic district, or facilitating an "Underground Sidewalks Tour" program similar to that found in Seattle and other cities. For those interested in learning more about the survey, the methods used, or those who hope to take a peek inside the history of Sacramento, this public workshop should be very interesting.

Sacramento's underground sidewalks have become the subject of local legend, and there are many myths associated with them. Most bear little resemblance to reality, but excite the imagination. They even appear in works of historical fiction, like James D. Houston’s Bird of Another Heaven:

"Soon another man spoke, his voice soft, almost a whisper. “I have heard of tunnels,” he said, “underneath the city of Sacramento and they are lined with the doors and windows of buildings, built there many years ago. I have not seen this, but I know a fisherman who is part white and part Indian. He was down there when he used to clean the streets. He tells me there is a city underneath a city, with streets and alleyways, built before the great flood, and dark as tunnels now. Anyone who died in the floods, this is where their spirits go.”

Hopefully, this survey will help us more fully comprehend a well-known but little-understood aspect of Sacramento history.

DOC Urges Deregulation of Planning and Design

2009-03-25T16:54:36Z

Sacramento's Development Oversight Commission is proceeding with its plan to merge the Planning Commission and Design Commission into a single body. Despite the overwhelmingly negative response from the current Planning and Design Commission members and the general public, the latest version of the DOC's proposal includes even less citizen input: instead of a seven-member board with two developer representatives and five members of the general public, the new proposal recommends five developer representatives and two members of the general public, in addition to the greatly reduced number of public meetings.

From a historian's perspective, the consolidation of these bodies into a single, smaller group has an interesting parallel with California history. In 1879, California lawmakers held a constituional convention to revise California's constitution and reflect the changes to the state since the original 1849 constitution's writing. One issue they hoped to address was the influence of the Central Pacific Railroad, whose power dominated state politics from the time of its completion a decade earlier.

The 1879 rewrite of the California Constitution included the creation of a three-member Railroad Commission, to deal with railroad issues. The original intent was to create an independent body to review railroad law, and remove it from the political influences of the State Senate, many of whose members were elected because of Central Pacific's money and influence. Central Pacific welcomed the creation of the new Railroad Commission: instead of having to bribe half of the state senate, they now only had to bribe two of the three members of the Railroad Commission to ensure decisions in their favor.

From Panama Bartholomy, Planning Commission member:

"The City Development Services Department and the Development Oversight Commission have posted a schedule (http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/customer-service/CommunityAnnouncements.cfm ) of the community meetings where they have and will be presenting the DOC’s proposal to eliminate the Design Review Commission, move most planning decisions to the staff level out of the public forum and reconstitute the Planning Commission with a 75% developer membership.

"Despite posting the schedule and location of the meetings there is no time given for any of the upcoming meetings so any resident or neighborhood group would not know when to attend the meeting, negating any benefit of having the schedule online.

"It also now appears that the DOC’s original January 6 proposal has changed to even more heavily favor developer interests over neighborhoods. In their original proposal (http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/meetings/commissions/planning/2008/documents/DOC_letter.PDF) the DOC proposed a new Planning Commission to be made up “of seven members, with at least two of the seven required to have professional experience in architecture, landscape architecture and/or urban planning.” The City handout presented by Bill Thomas, Director of Development Services, at the February 23 Neighborhood Alliance Group (NAG) meeting (http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/documents/SUMMARY-CHART.pdf) proposed a Planning Commission of seven members, with five-representatives from the development community and only two of the general public. Sometime between January 5 and February 23 the City and DOC decided that the original proposal did not limit the general public’s involvement enough and decided that all development decisions in the city should be made by either the development community themselves or by city staff with orders to “Get the customers to success”.

"The City has now set April 30 as the date that the City Council will have a workshop on this issue. There they will decide on whether or not to continue to pursue this proposal.

"Community leaders that value the two-year old Design Review Commission’s role in ensuring the protection of neighborhood identity need to contact their City Councilmember before this meeting to express their views on the DOC’s proposal.

"Those that value a citizen oversight Planning Commission over a developer dominated rubber stamp Planning Commission need to attend each of the public meetings in the newly posted schedule (http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/customer-service/CommunityAnnouncements.cfm) and ask the DOC and City why staff feel the public should no longer have a role in planning decisions that affect their neighborhoods.

"To keep up on these meetings and all activities related to this proposal feel free to join the Neighborhood Efficiency, Accountability and Transparency (NEAT) Coalition at its Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=69072329545).

"Here is the schedule of the next meetings where the proposal will be shared with select community members:

Curtis Park Community Meeting
March 25, 2009

Oak Park Neighborhood Association (Oak Park Community Center)
April 02, 2009

South Area Community Outreach Meeting (Pannell Community Center)
April 06, 2009

North Area Community Outreach Meeting (South Natomas Community Center)
April 13, 2009

City Council Workshop
April 30, 2009"

Sacramento Preservation Roundtable at Shady Lady Saloon, 14th & R Street

2009-03-13T20:08:13Z

The Spring Sacramento Preservation Roundtable will be held this Saturday, March 14, 9:00 AM

Held at The Shady Lady Saloon - 1409 R Street
A tour of the building following.
Discussion on "Minimum Maintenance of Historic Properties" & Neighborhood involvement.

Presentation by the Development Oversight Commission about the DOC's deregulation proposal and the elimination of the Design Review Commission

CADA (Capitol Area Development Authority) will present the latest projects & plans for the 18th & N / O Street Area

Juice, rolls, coffee, $5 Donation, students w/valid ID attend free

Sponsored by CADA, D&S Development &SOCA

http://www.sacoldcity.org

Date: Saturday, March 14, 2009
Time: 9:00am-12:00pm
------------------------------------------------

Forwarded by Panama Bartholomy of the City of Sacramento Planning Commission:

The City, and potentially members of the Development Oversight Commission (DOC), are expected to present to the Preservation Roundtable on Saturday March 14 (http://sacoldcity.org/WebCalendar/view_entry.php?id=17&date=20090314) the DOC's proposal to eliminate the Design Review Commission, move the majority of planning decisions to the staff level and overhaul the membership of the planning commission so that it contains only two non-development community members.

Please come out to the event to see if the City or DOC has prepared the requested analysis that identifies what problems the DOC’s recommendations are attempting to fix, what the costs and assumed benefits of the changes will be and how the City will preserve neighborhood input in development oversight.

This presentation is not posted on the City website and there are no other identified presentations to be found on any City website before the rumored late-April City Council workshop on this issue. This may be one of your last chances to provide input into this incredibly important proposal to overhaul the City’s development oversight public input process. Please come out an let your voice be heard to call for an elegant development review process that is efficient for our developers and City staff, inclusive of our neighborhood concerns and will enable us to continue to strive to be the most livable City in America.

The meeting will be held in the New Shady Lady Saloon at the corner of 14th and R Streets, 9:00 AM, Saturday, March 14.

The meeting will include a presentation from Capitol Area Development Authority (CADA) on the latest projects & plans for the 18th & N / O Street Area and a tour of the new Shady Lady Saloon.

Please note that there is a $5 donation requested by the Preservation Roundtable to cover the costs of food and beverages.

Wild Turkey in Newton Booth

2009-03-12T16:42:09Z

On Wednesday a wild turkey was spotted in the Newton Booth neighborhood...and not the sort you find at the Round Corner, but the feathered kind, at the corner of 27th and V in the field across from the old Newton Booth school. According to neighborhood resident Morris Lum:

"a turkey was spotted at the vacant lot at 27th Vst
it flew up the tree
and walked across the freeway ramp and back
he's peck'n around the grass
watch out for the big claws

wed 6pm

I put out a plate of mashed potaoes and cranberries
for it to eat . . . : )"

Wildlife isn't unknown in Midtown, mostly creatures like opossums, skunks, and the occasional raccoon. A wild turkey is something kind of unusual around here, and maybe a bit special. Ben Franklin once argued the idea that the wild turkey would make a better national bird for the United States than the bald eagle:

"I am on this account not displeased that the Figure is not known as a Bald Eagle, but looks more like a Turkey. For the Truth the Turkey is in Comparison a much more respectable Bird, and withal a true original Native of America . . . He is besides, though a little vain & silly, a Bird of Courage, and would not hesitate to attack a Grenadier of the British Guards who should presume to invade his Farm Yard with a red Coat on."

Photos by Morris Lum

City To Close Historic Berry Hotel

2009-02-27T06:42:17Z

On Tuesday Feb. 24, the City Council authorized the purchase of the Berry Hotel from its latest owners, developer AF Evans. Despite the efforts of the developer to restore the hotel and maintain its use as housing for those with very low incomes, the city will soon close the Berry, without a plan to reopen it.

Built in 1929, the Berry was part of Sacramento's downtown hotel district, interspersed with theaters and department stores on the blocks near K Street. The Berry and other hotels like the Clunie, the Land, the Sacramento and the Clayton offered nightly rooms to some, while others were rented on a monthly basis. In the era after World War II, downtown hotels faded in popularity compared to the new motor hotels. As redevelopment changed the face of downtown Sacramento, destroying many rooming houses downtown, hotels like the Berry became more strictly residential hotels, renting almost entirely to monthly tenants. Because the rents were generally less expensive than other housing, those with the least money to spend moved into these hotels. By 1929 standards, the Berry was a comfortable and luxurious place; by the 1970s and through today, it was housing of last resort, one step above living on the street. These hotels became known as "single room occupancy" hotels, or SRO hotels.

In 2007, AF Evans and Trinity Housing purchased the Berry with the intent of renovating the hotel, but maintaining its role as an SRO. To make this project feasible, AF Evans applied for Tax Credit Allocation Committee (TCAC) low-income housing bonds. Housing developers can obtain tax credits when building low-cost housing, which helps make low-cost housing more economically feasible. A non-profit developer like AF Evans does not need tax credits, so these housing bonds can be sold to another company who needs a tax write-off. AF Evans' objective was to use the money generated by the sale of the bonds to repair the interior of the hotel, replace its aging plumbing and electrical systems, and retain almost all of its 109 rooms. A number of rooms were to be converted to ADA-accessible use, but all would be affordable units. The agreement also included provision for an on-site case manager who would provide supportive services for residents of the hotel who are disabled or senior citizens.

The current economic crisis made the sale of tax-credit bonds nearly impossible, as very few businesses are in need of a tax write-off. The bonds could not be sold, and AF Evans returned the tax-credit bonds to TCAC. They have tried to maintain the hotel, and have spent considerable time and effort figuring out how to repair the building, but the costs of repair are far greater than the income that can be generated from rents. Because they planned to vacate the hotel, rooms were not rented out as they became vacant, and the hotel currently has only about 50 tenants. Due to their inability to fund the project, AF Evans and Trinity Housing decided to give up sell the hotel to the Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency (SHRA) for $1.

SHRA considered several scenarios before deciding on closure. Keeping the hotel open in its current state is not possible due to the deteriorated state of the building. Carrying out the developer's plan to restore the hotel would cost about $13 million, and would still require relocation of the building's occupants while construction was underway. On February 12, the SHRA board decided that the hotel should be closed until better economic times. This plan will still cost about $2.5 million to relocate the current residents and secure the building. AF Evans had developed a relocation plan in order to temporarily move residents during the building renovation. With the ownership change, the city is now responsible for carrying out the relocation plan, but instead the move will be permanent.

The closure of the Berry means that Sacramento's stock of SRO hotel rooms will drop by 108 units. In 1986, there were over 1000 SRO units in Sacramento, down from about 4000 units in the 1960s. In 2006, the city of Sacramento passed an ordinance committing to the maintenance of the remaining 712 SRO hotel rooms in downtown Sacramento. If rooms were lost, the city of Sacramento is responsible for creating replacement units. Since the ordinance was passed, two hotels have closed, leaving about 630 units, with no replacement units built or under construction. After the Berry closes, about 520 SRO units will remain.

SRO housing is, admittedly, the housing of last resort, but in these economic times, many people are in dire need of affordable housing. If they cannot find housing they can afford, they can become homeless. As low-income housing in rooming houses and SROs has disappeared, homelessness has grown into a national epidemic. SRO hotels are often indifferently maintained, but they are preferable to a tent by the river or a spot on a park bench. As the number of SROs shrink, the number in tents or on park benches grows. Can we afford to wait until better economic times when the need for affordable housing is greatest in times like these?

Another factor in the story of the Berry is the historic nature of the building itself. The building is not listed on the current list of city landmarks, only because the city has not placed it on the existing landmarks list, which supplanted an earlier citywide list of historic buildings. Past surveys of Sacramento's historic buildings identified the Berry as a priority structure, worthy of preservation for its architectural merits and its association with Sacramento's history. Even its connection with Theodore Kaczynski, the infamous Unabomber, who briefly stayed in the Berry, adds to the building's legacy. Loss of the Berry Hotel would rob our city of part of its architectural heritage, as well as a home for 108 people with few other options for housing.

There is another alternative to allowing the Berry to sit vacant, at risk for another fire like the one that destroyed the buildings at the corner of 8th &K, or those on 9th & J years earlier. Compared to new construction, $13 million for 108 units of very low income housing is practically a bargain price. Because restoration of historic buildings requires more labor than materials, a restoration project would mean more jobs for Sacramento construction workers than a new project of similar size, and require far less consumption of raw material than a new building. It would also prevent the Berry from becoming another boarded-up vacant building downtown. Because the building will continue to deteriorate whether or not it is occupied, that $13 million repair figure will only grow with time, so the sooner the project is taken up, the less it will cost. Fast action would also reduce the risk of disaster by fire, or demolition by neglect. As a renovated building, properly run, the building could become an asset to the community, and a place of hope for about a hundred Sacramentans. As a vacant hulk, it can only represent lost hopes and missed opportunities.

City Closer to Eliminating Design Commission

2009-02-21T18:41:05Z

At the Planning Commission meeting on February 12, members of the Development Oversight Commission presented their proposal to eliminate the city of Sacramento's Design Commission by integrating it into the Planning Commission. This action would take most planning decisions out of the Commission's hands, assigning them to city staff, with fewer public hearings. This effort was met by surprise and disapproval by the Planning Commission, and also by the 20 or so members of the public who spoke against the effort at the meeting.

Development Oversight Commission member Brian Holloway assured people that this was only the beginning of a large-scale outreach program, that they had not yet formulated specific recommendations, and it would be many months before any action would be taken, but the letter they had sent to the Mayor regarding this action included very specific recommendations. Now, less than two weeks later, the city council is being asked to draw up a new ordinance to put these changes in place permanently. The massive outreach effort will consist of one meeting with the Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group, a monthly gathering of central city neighborhood associations and advocates, the day before the City Council meeting.

In brief, this change means that many projects that currently go before the Design Review Commission or Planning Commission will be approved by staff, with no board review. If people want to appeal a design decision, they have to pay a $500 fee to air their concerns before the Planning Commission. But even then, the Planning Commission will be smaller and have less power. $500 is chump change to a developer working on a multi-million dollar project, but to neighbors and small neighborhood associations, it is significant enough to give many groups pause. The change in threshold also means that many of the projects that most directly affect existing neighborhoods, like small infill projects, are the ones least likely to be heard.

The Development Oversight Commission is a think-tank of developers and contractors, paid by the city to suggest changes to the city's planning process. One member of the public at the February 12 meeting, a former Planning Commission member, suggested that eliminating the Development Oversight Commission might be a simpler cost-saving measure.

Here is the letter sent by Planning Commissioner Panama Bartholomy regarding this issue:

---------------------------

Dear neighborhood association, or neighborhood, leader:

At the February 12 Planning Commission meeting the Development Oversight Commission (DOC) members and City staff committed to an extensive public outreach effort to collect input from the community on their proposal to eliminate the Design Review Commission and "move most planning decisions to the staff level" :

http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/meetings/commissions/planning/2008/documents/DOC_letter.PDF.

Now the City Council has on its February 24 agenda an item (#8) to direct the Council’s Law and Legislative Committee to begin work on an ordinance to implement the recommendations:

http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=8&event_id=74&meta_id=171047.

The DOC and City staff have not provided any analysis to show the problems in the current process that the recommendations would address, nor the benefits expected from the implementation of the recommendations. In fact last year a Sacramento Business Journal survey of developers found that the City ranked first in the region for permitting process: http://sacramento.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/2008/03/31/focus1.html. If this is the case is there the need for such a hurried process? Could there be enough time for community members and neighborhood groups to engage with the DOC and City on the most efficient and effective way to oversee development in the city?

The consent calendar is reserved for items with no controversy or questions of content. At this point without any clarity on the intent, nor benefits of such a significant change to our City’s development oversight process and lacking any input from groups besides the development community this direction from Council does not meet that criteria.

Please contact your council member to ask that the direction to the Law and Legislation Committee to begin work on this item be withdrawn until our community can work with the City to craft recommendations that ensure transparency and efficiency while preserving citizen participation. Council member contact information can be found here: http://www.cityofsacramento.org/council/index.html.

The DOC will make their first presentation to a community group next Monday, February 23, at the regularly scheduled Area 1 Neighborhood Advisory Group meeting at the Hart Senior Center (27th & J streets). The meeting starts at 6:15, I am told the DOC presentation will begin soon after 7:30.

Here is what is known about a schedule for this issue:

February 23: DOC presentation to Area 1 NAG, Hart Senior Center (27th & J streets). The meeting starts at 6:15, I am told the DOC presentation will begin soon after 7:30.

February 24: City Council to consider providing direction to Law and Legislation Committee to begin work on ordinance on March 17, New City Hall, 2:00: http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=8&event_id=74&meta_id=171047.

March 2: DOC monthly meeting: http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/meetings/commissions/development-oversight/2009/, location TBD

March 17: City Council Law and Legislation Committee, Committee potentially begin work on ordinance, City Hall, 12:30 pm.

Thank you all for your efforts to ensure that Sacramento continues to provide efficient services to all parts of our community.

City to Eliminate Design Commission

2009-02-12T17:55:35Z

This article was forwarded to me by Panama Bartholomy, a neighborhood activist. If you have a chance, come to City Hall tonight (915 I Street, New City Hall council chambers, 5:30 PM) and tell the Planning Commission that you don't want the city to shut its citizens out of the planning and design process.

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On Thursday the Sacramento Planning Commission will have a public hearing on a proposal (http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/meetings/commissions/planning/2008/documents/DOC_letter.PDF) by the Development Oversight Commission (DOC), a City-appointed group comprised almost entirely of real estate developers, architects, and business consultants, to eliminate the City's Design Review Commission and change the development approval process in the City so that City staff will make most planning and design decisions administratively, leaving no opportunity for public input.

The reasons you and members of your association should come to the hearing at City Hall on Thursday February 12th at 5:30pm to testify against this proposal:

1. This attempt to reduce citizen and citizen-commission input and oversight of development in our community has undergone no public vetting from community groups that will be affected by such a fundamental shift in our City's development.

The proposal was developed and sent directly to the Mayor with no input from the Planning or Design Review Commissions. More importantly, the proposed ordinance was not brought to any neighborhood association or other community-based organization that normally comments on development in their communities.

This is not the kind of transparency and open government practices that should be an essential part of such a fundamental change in our community's development approval process.

2. The proposal will greatly reduce opportunities for Community input

The proposal will eliminate the City's Design Review Commission and fold its responsibilities into the Planning Commission and shift “…the majority of decisions to the staff level..”. The movement of “…the majority of decisions to staff level…” will likely reduce community involvement from the development review process. Communities have a right to be able to comment on projects that will be built in their neighborhood.

Even after moving most decisions to the staff level, by eliminating the Design Review Commission the public loses one of the two opportunities they have left to comment on development projects proposed in their neighborhood. The recommendation would squeeze all public input on a project into one meeting where every issue with design or planning will have to be settled. This will almost certainly create the types of extremely long meetings that discourage public involvement and will force complex decisions that have long-term impacts on communities into unreasonably short decision-making time frames.

Reducing opportunities for citizens to be involved in projects in their neighborhoods decreases transparency, will cause more projects to be appealed to the City Council and will increase the likelihood of lawsuits to block projects. This will decrease the effectiveness of the development review process.

Please come to the Planning Commission hearing and comment on this item and let the City know that you think the public should have a role in development decisions in our City. Please distribute this email to other residents who would come to testify in support of preserving the role of the citizen in our city's development.

The recommendation can be found here: (http://www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/meetings/commissions/planning/2008/documents/DOC_letter.PDF) and the meeting is at the New City Hall, 915 I Street, 1st Floor- Council Chambers, February 12, 2009 at 5:30 P.M.

City Council Holds "Strong Mayor" Initiative Workshop Feb. 3

2009-02-02T22:26:05Z

http://sacramento.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=8&event_id=74

Tomorrow, the Sacramento city council will discuss the "Strong Mayor" initiative. The workshop will include a summary of Sacramento's past charter changes, a comparative analysis of the "Strong Mayor" initiative compared to charters in the ten largest California cities, and the legal means by which the City of Sacramento may change its charter.

A staff report for the meeting on the "Strong Mayor" initiative can be found (in PDF form) here:

http://sacramento.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=8&event_id=74&meta_id=169120

The meeting will take place on Tuesday, February 3, at 6:00 PM. It takes place in New City Hall, 915 I Street, in the first floor Council Chamber.

The public is welcome to attend and participate in City Council meetings; those wishing to speak to the council can fill out a speaker slip, indicating which item they would like to address, and speak for three minutes.

Strong Mayor, Weak Ethics?

2009-01-12T22:39:09Z

Lately, many people who signed up to be on the "Sacramentans for Obama" email lists have received emails inviting them to come to events and sign petitions in favor of Sacramento's "Strong Mayor" petition. Kim Mack, one of the principal organizers of the "Strong Mayor" petition, is also involved with "Sacramentans for Obama." The directors of "Sacramentans for Obama" were apparently unaware of this misuse of their mailing list, and are investigating the matter. If Mack made unauthorized use of the "Sacramentans for Obama" mailing list to promote this Kevin Johnson-backed initiative, what other liberties will the parties pushing the "Strong Mayor" initiative take with personal information gathered for an entirely separate cause?

In an age when email use is commonplace but many of us find ourselves deluged by unwanted spam, people do sign up to receive information about political or social causes that concern them. Using an email list gathered for one purpose to promote an unrelated cause is considered, at the very least, a breach of etiquette, and definitely a breach of trust. Perhaps the organizers simply assume that everyone who signed up for "Sacramentans for Obama" is a Kevin Johnson supporter, or that people simply could not tell the difference between Barack Obama and Kevin Johnson, but in either case this sort of misuse of an email list is inappropriate.

Even more troubling is that a December 15 event, billed as a Sacramentans for Obama event, turned out to be an announcement and recruiting event for the "Strong Mayor" initiative drive. Will this misuse of an email list be followed by attemts to manipulate people who supported Obama for president, but did not support Kevin Johnson for Mayor, or the "Strong Mayor" initiative?

Cities like Sacramento revised their charters in the early 20th century in order to avoid the historic corruption of city "machine" politics. Mayors elected by powerful political "bosses" handed out government contracts and jobs as favors to the men who elected them, not on the basis of fairness, fiscal prudence or ethics. The council-manager system was introduced to professionalize city government and restore public trust in city officials. If the backers of the "Strong Mayor" initiative wish to prove that Mayor Johnson is worthy of much greater power, and the trust of the public, antics like misuse of the "Sacramentans for Obama" mailing list, and deceptive public events for Obama supporters, sets a very poor example.

Who Fills Your Potholes?

2009-01-07T17:28:18Z

If your street has a pothole, who fixes it? Recently, Mayor Kevin Johnson's initiative campaign mentioned potholes as an example of how proposed changes to the city charter would work. A document on the initiative's website reads:

"Here's an example: if you want a pothole on your street and you call the Mayor's office to get it fixed, the Mayor's office would not take action. It would have to ask the City Manager's office to take action. Then the City Manager would decide whether to fix it. Under the new system, your call to the Mayor's office would result in the Mayor ordering the pothole fixed."

Are decisions as mundane as pothole repair actually made by the mayor or the city manager? A little searching on the City of Sacramento website turned up the answers. As it turns out, neither statement is true.

The city of Sacramento has a Street Services division. Like other city departments, they can be reached directly by dialing 311 anywhere in the city of Sacramento. Information on Street Services, including many frequently asked questions, can be found here:

http://www.cityofsacramento.org/transportation/street/questions.html

Street Services handles pothole issues directly. In a city the size and complexity of Sacramento, many functions are handled at the ministerial level, by city staff, rather than by the mayor or city manager. Potholes are a simple problem, with a simple solution that our city employees are equipped to solve. The mayor has bigger issues to address. If you call the Mayor's office (or the City Manager's office) to fix a pothole, they will refer you to Street Services.

So, the question is: do the proposed changes to the city charter mean that the Mayor will have to sign off on pothole repair, instead of the current system where it is done by city staff without involvement of either the mayor or the city manager? If not, then what do the changes to the charter really mean? Are there more realistic examples of what these changes will mean, other than rhetoric about "more responsive government"?

And who watches the potholes?

Sacramento: City of Saloons

2008-12-12T22:54:54Z

Talking to people who grew up in Sacramento in the 1930s-1950s exposed me to an aspect of Sacramento that I never expected. Despite its reputation as a place without much nightlife, Sacramento has a long history as a town that stayed open late, played as hard as it worked, and was seldom short of musical entertainment. At some point Sacramento got a reputation for being stodgy and unexciting, and most of us who grew up here assumed that was the case, but the historical evidence simply doesn’t back that up.

The best description of Sacramento night life in its early days comes from Mark Twain:

Territorial Enterprise, February 1866
LETTER FROM SACRAMENTO [dated February 25, 1866]
”I arrived in the City of Saloons this morning at 3 o'clock, in company with several other disreputable characters, on board the good steamer Antelope, Captain Poole, commander. I know I am departing from usage in calling Sacramento the City of Saloons instead of the City of the Plains, but I have my justification -- I have not found any plains, here, yet, but I have been in most of the saloons, and there are a good many of them. You can shut your eyes and march into the first door you come to and call for a drink, and the chances are that you will get it. And in a good many instances, after you have assuaged your thirst, you can lay down a twenty and remark that you "copper the ace," and you will find that facilities for coppering the ace are right there in the back room. In addition to the saloons, there are quite a number of mercantile houses and private dwellings. They have already got one capitol here, and will have another when they get it done. They will have fine dedicatory ceremonies when they get it done, but you will have time to prepare for that -- you needn't rush down here right away by express. You can come as slow freight and arrive in time to get a good seat”. –Mark Twain

While working on my Southside Park book, I spoke with Billie Kanelos of Old Ironsides. She described one of her favorite pastimes as a teenager, walking downtown to the Dairy Maid, an ice cream parlor, for banana splits. But this wasn't an activity that she did right after school, then home in time for dinner at 6 or 7 PM, but rather at about 11:00 PM after seeing a movie on K Street. The Dairy Maid, like a lot of other Sacramento eateries, was open until midnight or later, and occupied by people of all ages.

It wasn't the only place, either; K Street and J Street had dance halls, theaters, nightclubs and restaurants that were open well into the evening, some all night. Some of the most popular were the Trianon Ballroom above the Fox Senator Theater on K Street (one of about a dozen downtown movie theaters), and nightclubs like the Mo-Mo, Congo and Zanzibar Club along M Street. Many restaurants were open late or all night, with fare ranging from Italian dinners to Chinese food to waffles.

Sacramento had many breweries, the biggest of which was the Buffalo Brewery on 21st and P, and several wineries, including the California Winery just across R Street from Buffalo Brewery. Hop fields were plentiful around Sacramento, to meet the breweries’ demand. While much of the beer was exported (Los Angeles was a huge consumer of Buffalo Brewery’s beer) a plentiful amount was for local consumption. One of downtown Sacramento’s best known Victorian era buildings, the Ruhstaller Building on 9th and J, was the taproom for Captain Frank Ruhstaller’s brewery on 12th and H, the Capital City Brewery. Buffalo Brewery’s taproom, the Buffalo Club, stood on 19th and S Street until being demolished a few years ago.

Prohibition, the nationwide ban on alcohol in the United States from 1920 to 1933, slowed down the official production of alcohol, and closed many breweries and wineries, but even then, Sacramento was notorious as a “wet” town, with many speakeasies downtown and in the outlying farm communities. At one point, officers of nearby military bases forbade their soldiers entry into Sacramento, due to Sacramento’s reputation as an easy place to get a drink. When Prohibition ended in 1933, legendary tavern Old Ironsides received Sacramento’s first official liquor license after Prohibition. It should be noted, though, that by the time Old Ironsides opened its doors, there were already other bars operating that had not yet bothered with the formality of obtaining a liquor license.

Others I met during my research for the book talked about the K Street cruise, Sacramento’s original cruise. Although in the 1950s and 1960s downtown Sacramento was changing, largely due to the explosive expansion into the suburbs and redevelopment pressures, there was still plenty to do downtown.

Redevelopment had a profound effect on downtown Sacramento, including both its nightlife and its population. The Capitol Mall project destroyed most of the residential neighborhood along M Street, including the aforementioned Mo-Mo, Congo and Zanzibar clubs, while Interstate 5 destroyed whole downtown blocks. One objective of downtown redevelopment was to reduce the population of the central city from its 1950s level of about 32 residential units per acre to a more suburb-like 8 residential units per acre. To accomplish this, 75% of downtown’s population had to be removed. Many of the remaining 25% could not afford the limited number of garden apartments that replaced earlier multi-story apartment buildings, rooming houses, and other residential buildings, resulting in an almost complete shift in the neighborhood’s population.

By the end of the redevelopment era, Sacramento’s downtown was almost depopulated, except for the several thousand residents of the old waterfront residential hotels. These hotels were closed, and either demolished or converted into non-residential structures as part of Old Sacramento. Because redevelopment-era case workers did not consider single individuals to be residents, working only with families, they were ineligible for relocation assistance or alternate housing. So they moved from their old homes into other hotels along K Street, some of which are still used as residential hotels.

One unintended effect of this depopulation was the elimination of most of the customers that came downtown, either on foot or by streetcar, to eat, drink and be entertained. Remaining businesses suffered because their customers now lived much farther away. Sacramento’s middle class had moved to the suburbs, and car-centric places like shopping centers, suburban movie theaters and drive-ins, and new indoor malls were more convenient than driving downtown to shop on K Street. Parking was limited, the streetcars were gone, and walking was no longer practical. Before long, downtown Sacramento had changed dramatically. Without customers with money to spend, the handful of remaining businesses had little reason to stay open late, or to stay open at all. New businesses focused their attention on the remaining market, mostly office workers who left at night. It was this era that gave Sacramento its reputation as a place that rolled up its sidewalks at 5:00 PM.

Winn Park/Capitol Avenue Neighborhood Association voting to oppose change in tree policy

2008-12-08T19:16:37Z

Below is the letter that is being voted on by the board of the Winn Park/Capitol Avenue Neighborhood Association (for those unfamiliar with WPCANA, we are the neighborhoods between K and R Street from 19th to 29th, recently adding a few blocks around Fremont Park to its area. The policy shift doesn't actually streamline the planning process--it moves responsibility from Parks & Recreation to Development Services, and changes the appeal body from Parks & Recreation Commission to Planning Commission, but doesn't actually take out any steps. It has not yet been approved (emails are still coming in) but I expect it to pass, and join letters by NBNA and other neighborhood groups in formally opposing this change in regulation.

December 8, 2008

Mayor Kevin Johnson
New City Hall
921 I Street 5th Floor
Sacramento, CA 905814

Re: Proposal to Move Tree Appeals to Planning Commission

Dear Mayor Johnson,

The WPCANA board is opposed to moving the appeal process for the removal of any trees from the Parks and Recreation Commission to the Planning Commission.

Under the change that is currently being proposed, the Development Services Manager and his staff would be able to approve the removal of city trees at any time that a developer wants this done. The public would then have to appeal the approval to the Planning Commission instead of to the Parks and Recreation Commission.

Planning staff and the Planning Commission have no expertise with regard to trees and no basis for making reasonable decisions about them. The Central City has already lost far too many healthy trees to development projects and this change will make it much easier for developers to remove still more healthy trees. This is not a responsible way to treat the great legacy that these trees represent.

The draft 2030 General Plan talks about livability and sustainability as major goals. Trees are key to both and Sacramento has been blessed by having a great number of majestic trees planted and preserved over the last century. They provide necessary shade and make our hot summers much more livable. They help clean our dirty air, provide oxygen, sequester carbon and reduce the need for air conditioning. Sacramento should be looking for ways to preserve more of our trees, not creating new policies that make it easier to remove them. We owe it to future residents to do for them in planting, protecting and continuing Sacramento’s heritage of trees what was done for us.

Sincerely,

Matt Piner, Chair
Winn Park Capitol Avenue Neighborhood Association

Cc: Ray Kerridge

The R Street levee

2008-10-14T10:02:18Z

R Street has been a railroad corridor for almost as long as Sacramento has been a city, but it was once part of our flood protection system. In 1854, engineer Theodore Judah planned the first railroad in California, the Sacramento Valley Railroad (SVRR), using R Street as its main line through town on its way to Folsom. However, in the 1850s, flooding was a regular occurrence in Sacramento, and our complex series of levees and street raisings was only beginning. In order to keep the new railroad line above water, a levee was needed along R Street.

The original map of Sacramento included plans for streets as far south as Y Street (now Broadway), but when the SVRR was built there were few homes south of R Street. The levee stretched from R Street at least a mile to the east, gradually meeting the higher ground to the east. In addition to keeping the railroad high and dry, the levee protected Sacramento from flood waters coming from the south. However, in 1861 the R Street levee accidentally contributed to Sacramento’s most destructive flood.

On December 9, 1861, Sacramento’s northern levee along the American River broke. As flood waters poured into the city, they were stopped by the R Street levee. Instead of protecting the city from flooding, the levee stopped water from leaving the city. A hole had to be punched in the R Street levee in order to allow the waters to drain.

By 1900, a new levee system was in place throughout the Sacramento Valley. The railroad route along R Street was still important, but the levee was no longer needed. In 1903, the levee was removed, and the tracks relaid at their current level. Today, the only remnant of the R Street levee is at the cross streets near Third, Fifth and Sixth Streets, where the street rises and then drops at R Street. This elevated section was needed to keep tracks on R Street level, and to permit the tracks to rise up to the level of the wharves along Front Street, where the riverfront levee still keeps the waters at bay.

Removal of the R Street levee made development south of the tracks far easier. Within a decade, a beautiful new neighborhood was built south of the old levee, with a new city park, Southside Park, at the neighborhood’s center.

William Burg is the author of Sacramento’s Streetcars and Sacramento’s Southside Park, both by Arcadia Publishing. His new book, Sacramento: Then and Now, will be released on September 30, 2008.