Would a Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market be acceptable? For those who are not familiar, its smaller version of Wal-Mart that basically limits itself to groceries.

Riveting... not. Yawn.

Bars in and of themselves are not the problem. People who can't moderate their drinking and/or behavior is the problem. I'm not sure what we expect the bars to do about that?

Yes, we definitely need a grocery store in Downtown! Our only options are Safeway in West Sac, Safeway in Midtown, Safeway on Alhambra, or, Grocery Outlet in Midtown.

This just sounds miserable. I don't think I have heard any one say. "Whaa there are to many bars in Portland"
Whaaa there are to many bars in SF, LA ,NYC or London or Amsterdam or were-ever.
High Density means Lots o' people near lots o' Businesses! Do you want to have cool area for the youngsters/ Hipsters to hang out and drink and Blog or don't you? The young ones (the people responsible for coolness, old people complain a lot about everything) are the people talking to other people about the fun times they had on the Grid drinking and partying. This piece sounds a lot like a complaining ol' suburbanite. With the good you get the bad. You either want to be on the map or be a quite little place no one has hear of. The 'problems' comes from young and old who don't know when to say when.

The problem is, the central city isn't all that high-density--about ten thousand people per square mile. More central city residents would justify the number of alcohol permits a little better, but currently there are some central city census tracts with one alcohol permit per 50 people--and the state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control defines "overconcentration" as one license per 2000 people. Because there aren't enough central city residents to support all of these bars, they depend very heavily on customers from outside the central city. Because these are nighttime businesses, most of these customers drive there, contributing to Midtown's notoriously high rate of DUI arrests.

Managing the problems of alcohol serving businesses is not rocket science. Plenty of cities deal with these issues successfully, and use other cities' examples as models for their own programs--despite former mayor's special assistant RE Graswich's assertion that "there is no textbook on this," (source: http://www.sacramentopress.com/headline/37111 ) shortly after Midtown Business Association and the city of Sacramento paid nonprofit Responsible Hospitality Institute, who publish textbooks for this, to advise Sacramento on its nightlife.

The issue isn't even necessarily the number of bars--it is the relative lack of new businesses that aren't bars, such as retail stores, that Emily identified as the problem. And the relative lack of downtown residents, who, if present in greater numbers, would change the ratio of residents to alcohol permits as effectively as reducing the number of alcohol permits. They would also reduce these businesses' dependence on regional visitors for business, and encourage retail stores to serve a greater number of central cit residents.

As far as what we can expect bars to do about that, Midtown Business Association has started a couple of programs--a text-based system for bars to identify potential problems, the Lavender Angels program and increased private security. But some programs, like the award-winning "Bars, Pubs & Clubs" training was cut due to budget constraints, and there are still many issues to be addressed--like how to get visitors to the central city in and out using methods that don't require them risking a DUI.

And then there's a solution used by a lot of big cities, namely directing commercial visitor traffic out of residential neighborhoods (through limited nighttime parking) and into commercial districts and parking lots/structures. But somehow suggesting solutions that prove effective in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles tend to get me accused of "small-town thinking."

There is a very small Whole Foods at the end of Haight St. in San Francisco. It is always packed! I think they (or another grocery store) could do that downtown.

ABC has already weighed in on the Burg/Gerber discussion. It determined several years ago that there is "undue concentration" of alcohol licenses in Midtown. When an area is so defined, then it is up to the city to enforce its' Public Convenience or Necessity codes, which other real cities have done to limit the costs and crime related to undue concentration. But small-town-minded Sacramento has has repeatedly failed to do. As Bill points out, Responsibility Hospitality Institute (RHI) and its Social Cities network,which MBA spent city dollars to contract with for ideas as to how to manage alcohol related crime and vandalism responsibly,is also a source but neither MBA or city take advantage of that resource too.

So what remains to be seen since working middle income residents, seniors, disabled and residents with children preceded the party bars and clubs and its patrons is whether or not 1. the party goers and defenders of nightlife will respect those residents and cease engaging in noise after curfew hours, vandalism, criminal behavior, etc. 2. when these same people "fall in love," (as Gerber says)and decide to marry or partner, they plan to remain in the central city, invest their income in buying or renting here and raising their children in our neighborhoods. 3. will encourage/ask their retired senior parents to move from the suburbs to Midtown and enjoy the quality of life the party people have created for them. That is what responsible behaving residents have done in the past and has made the central city a place thtathe bars and clubs want to locate and the party people want to be here too..

I don't live on the Grid, so I can't express a thoughtful opinion about whether or not there are too many bars. But I will say that there seems to be an article almost daily in the Sacramento Press about a new bar or restaurant downtown or one closing. Are we adding establishments or just recycling closed bars and restaurants into new ones? Can I get a head count?

William Burg: "Suggesting solutions that prove effective in cities like Chicago and Los Angeles tend to get me accused of "small-town thinking." I agree that it is smart to draw from what is working in other cities However, lets remember that one size never fits all, if a similar idea is implemented here. Sacramento is unique with its own concerns and demographic 'physique' if you will. The City Core needs to attract cater to and embrace all kinds of Sacramentans. Not just the suburbanites but the urbanites as well, if it should maintain its claim as not only the most diverse city in California, but as The Capitol itself. So I am in favor of a downtown that offers shopping entertainment and comfy places to relax, that are desirable to anyone living or visting the area. But I guess we are at an empasse as to how that should be carried out.