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Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Next Sac Press Live: William Burg on 'What's Killing Sacramento's Suburbs' and the downtown economy
by Jared Goyette, published on July 25, 2012 at 10:51 AM
Storyline: Sac Press Live
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Who has it better in this economy: Sacramento's suburbs or downtown?
That's one of the issues we'll be exploring in today's Sac Press Live chat with local historian William Burg at 12:15 p.m. The focus of the talk will be a recent article Burg published on The Sacramento Press, "What's Killing Sacramento's Suburbs," which took a close look at the economic data in a report from the United States Conference of Mayors.
The chat will be streamed live in this article. You can join in by posting questions below, tweeting us, or just by stopping by our office at 431 I St.
We'll also discuss the benefits and challenges of life downtown with Burg and Emily Gerber, a downtown resident whose ideas for the neighborhood were recently featured by The Sacramento Business Journal.
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Conversation Express your views,
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to the issue.
Tony Sheppard
July 25, 2012 | 12:32 PM
Urban infill development is often on small, cramped, awkward lots (alleys, commercial zones, etc) with variances needed on setbacks and use. I'm currently attempting to build a tiny house within the City and it will take 4-6 months and almost $12,000 just to request a planning permit (on an $85,000 building project). It would be easier and cheaper to build elsewhere on a larger, traditional lot. The City needs people living, eating, and buying within it's boundary, not commuting to work but living and spending money somewhere else. But they don't make it easy!
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JWS
July 25, 2012 | 5:35 PM
What neighborhood are you trying build in?
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Tony Sheppard
July 26, 2012 | 2:31 AM
North Sac - the City staff are cool, but the rules change periodically and the process is difficult for an amateur.
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William Burg
July 26, 2012 | 10:09 AM
The problem is that the economics of urban infill can never match the potential of suburban sprawl strictly on dollars alone--the same $12,000 in permits and zoning changes can turn a piece of farmland that costs $5000 zoned as farmland into a lot that can be sold for $100,000 when zoned for residential or commercial housing. There is a great need for a comprehensible and consistent set of rules regarding building regulations. The status quo is tilted toward bigger developers who already know how to game the existing system, and against smaller developers and individuals working on infill, rehab, and other projects that knit the urban fabric together.
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Mark
July 25, 2012 | 4:20 PM
It's great that we are having this conservation. This in itself shows a change. I'm coming around to William's point of view. He is spot on about so many things. But Emily also makes a lot of good points -especially regarding parking. It's pretty clear that the City has been negligent of our downtown. Even though they've sent a lot of time and money trying to revive it, it's basically been a bunch of dyed-in-the-wool suburbanites running the show for years. Suburbanites are not bad people but they really cannot understand what makes a good urban place because you do have to live the life to understand it.
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William Burg
July 26, 2012 | 10:13 AM
I couldn't figure out anything Emily and I actually disagreed on. I like her idea of a high-tech solution for parking, like a "fastpass" or an app-based solution to let people find parking and pay for it via high-tech devices. All the other stuff, like the need for a downtown market, safe and clean parks, more neighborhood-serving retail options and less emphasis on bars, more live music, safer and more comprehensive public transit, and more people living downtown (including families) we had common ground too.
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TLeon
edited on
July 26, 2012 | 10:53 AM
The City has been looking at the Hi-Tech parking ideas mentioned for a year or two.
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Sergio Reyes
July 25, 2012 | 11:18 PM
At first I was like, "woah, 40 minutes??" but I actually enjoyed listening to the entire video. I love William Burg so much. Everything he says and suggests is perfect and i couldn't agree more. I'm glad he's my buddy. Emily was great, too. I really liked the idea of the St. Rose of Lima food truck herd. Lovely video!
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