A couple weeks ago around 6pm I was walking on the 800 Block. There was a group of teenagers loitering in front of the Kress building at 818 K Street. Two young ladies within the group were in the midst of an argument that transitioned into a full on physical altercation pouring out into the street. A car drove by and slowed as they saw what was going on. I watched as they stopped and called 911. I stopped and called 911 as well. Within about 5 minutes, a bike copy appeared and began to handle the situation. I work and walk K St a lot and I see a lot of the positive changes occurring. Cars on K is just the latest. The new venues are busy and have become a regional draw. I've talked to servers and managers at Pyramid, Quiznos, and Ambrosia. They all seem to strongly feel that the new venues, relocation of Greyhound, and now the return of cars have been a positive impact on not just revenues but also on crime. I feel the same way. More businesses and more momentum is coming too. Estelle's Bakery is opening soon. Mayahuel seems to have hit its stride. And Ella looks to have not just strong lunches and dinners but also solid happy hours. I see the plans for a significant amount of more housing, the potential sale of Westfield and what that will hopefully turn out to become (hopefully higher education related), and approval of the new Entertainment Complex and I see a lot of positive things occurring in our city which is amazing when i think about the current economic climate. That's my two cents for what its worth...

I respectfully disagree. Restaurants opening and closing is typical of any economic climate. New restaurants have opened or will be soon during the same time as recent closures. Examples: BarWest, Restaurant Thirteen, Firestone in the old CPK, and the new restaurant by the Golden Bear guys in tne old Hangar17 space. Even during the real estate and tech boom days, the place where R15/Bernardo now is failed TWICE. A restaurants closing comes for reasons much moreso along the lines of poor management, poor service, or poor food. Visibility doesn't even matter as much. In fact, lack of visibility or a certain degree of "secrecy" to a place is almost preferred and seen as "cooler" these days by many it seems. But the hope is people learn from failures and bounce back stronger and more experienced than before on their next attempt.

800J is over 90% occupied. Majority of units are market rate. Only a percentage (15-25% range) are at low income levels. And Temple was just added as a ground floor tenant...1801L has a similar affordability mix. And that project is also over 90% occupied with a long wait list for its affordable units. Downtown and midtown rental market is STRONG right now. With much much more needed.

I agree with you in theory. But post recession a full on change like what we all dream of for I5 is just not possible. Do the most with the financial capability that's possible for the immediate future and move on to the next project.

Scoured with no luck huh? Well...any public private project has to go through a City Council hearing approval process. And all council agendas, recorded videos, and result summaries are archived on city websites along with detailed staff reports that note rate of return calculations, job generation numbers, and further reasoning for the recommendation to council by staff. So, for example, the 1000 Block K St project can be found on the March 10th agenda back in 2009. The Sharaton deal similarly. Or the recent additional funding to CADA for R St Streetscape improvements on an agenda a couple weeks. Additionally, and this is important, all approved docs are public docs. Docs like ERNs, DDAs, etc. Read through these and you'll learn comprehensive NUMBERS, rate of returns, terms of loans, terms of cash flow split from projects back to a city, etc. These docs are attainable at the County Recorders office if you are skeptical about redevelopment being an inefficient tool. Additionally, depts like SHRA never approve a deal w/o annual "Cost Certification" implementation to verify a project's construction costs, revenue, expenses, rate of return to city, etc. I suggest you decide which redevelopment projects you want to look at. Then find out date approved and through City Council website read and learn the staff report, pro formas, financing, sources and uses, and associated recorded DDA/agreement. You can take it then further and through SHRA or Economic Development ask for public docs monitoring the completed project and return back to the city. And through the County Assesor you can find out the property tax generation difference before and after the redevelopment's completion for the said property and surrounding area any given tax year. I hope these thousands of additional words provide guidance on something that you seem to have had no luck with. I'd really look forward to continuing this dialogue once you've done this type of specific analysis of docs related to one or several specific completed redevelopments in addition to the "pavement pounding" I suggested before. I'd be curious then what specific concerns you still had. I also have a few questions for you: 1) What are your favorite cities in the US and why? Which are your favorite in CA and why? 2) What do you see as a more efficient alternative tool over redevelopment in order to generate additional tax revenue for city services and stimulate development in a city?