If you want to make downtown a thriving urban community, it needs to have civic ammenities that will draw people to it 7 days a week, 18 hours a day. A place people will want to live, work, visit - and spend money. And when people spend money, it creates jobs and taxes for all the other things we want. I commend Blewett and Rubicon for thinking big. Have you ever seen Pike's in Seattle or Granville Island in Vancouver - locals and tourists alike...making it a wonderful place for everyone.

Historic Montgomery Ward and Greyhound Bus Station? Kidding, right?

Surprise, surprise, I comment here...and many of you take the opportunity to attack the "chamber" as if we have some "agenda" here. I dont get it. Last time, I checked...the business community and chambers of commerce are all about creating a vibrant economy. You know....creating jobs. Jobs that pays people money, so people can spend that money and create other jobs. And then people pay taxes. And those taxes pay for services like police, fire, homeless, etc. This community can no longer depend upon all the state and federal jobs to support its economy. Our region needs to move forward and be prepared for the next positive economic wave, not sit back and let the next wave past us by.

Just for clarification. Rehabing ARCO arena was the first thing everyone has looked at. And since then, significant time and money has been spent to determine that ARCO arena is not expandable and/or a good candidate for a retrofit. It has significant structural design flaws that currently cause operational issues and can not be solved with a retrofit. Additionally, the facility was built for far less money 20 plus years ago than other arenas in comparable cities. So, at this point, we have an aging facility that is becoming functionally obsolete. If we want to attract the best shows, concerts, family events, conventions, NCAA tournaments, pro rodeo, truck pulls...not to mention keep a pro sports team, we will need a find a way to build a new world-class sports and entertainment facility. Personally, I prefer a catalytic project built in the downtown core near light rail, hard rail, existing parking lots and lots of people! Great examples are Charlotte, San Jose and Indianapolis to name a few.

Congratulations to Congresswoman Matsui and the greater Sacramento region. Improving our level of Flood Protection has been a priority for the Sacramento Metro Chamber and the business community for several years. It is great to see that the collaborative efforts in both public and private sectors to secure this needed funding has succeeded. And in the process, this type of funding helps to create local jobs with local companies which is so desperately needed right now.

In choosing Sacramento, Nestle followed all the rules for the permits and utilities needed, and leased existing space from a local property owner. Nestle has received more than 2,200 job applications in just in just two months. The company has already hired 11 people and has a local contractor and their crew of 80 people, now standing idle. Nestle has already invested more than $3 million, with another $11 million to follow. If the city council stops this project due to nothing more than political whim, council members better be ready to take responsibility for hanging that “closed” sign on the Tower Bridge. World-class cities bring businesses to town in a fair manner, they dont scare them away with bad policies made after the fact.