A national panel of experts brought to Sacramento by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) made a third visit to Sacramento, last week, to provide insight on how to connect the Depot District in the Downtown Railyards—one of the largest infill sites in the nation—to the riverfront, Old Sacramento, Downtown and West Sacramento. The Depot District is home to the planned intermodal transportation hub for the region as well as additional land for future development, but current access to the site is constrained. Since 2011, the City has been working with national experts from the ULI’s Daniel Rose Center for Public Leadership in Land Use to provide insight and assistance on planning efforts to rede

While the arena deal might be dead, planning for the downtown railyards remains at the center of the agenda for Sacramento, and next week, city staff will present the city council with a report on the best way Sacramento can encourage development in the 240-acre site. The basis for that presentation will be a recently-published report conducted by the city and the Urban Land Institute think tank, "Redeveloping the railyards to strengthen the urban core." This Wednesday at noon, we'll be chatting with one of people behind the ULI Report, John Hodgson, a land use attorney and founder and president of The Hodgson Company. The chat will be live streamed in this article. You can also join us

Would a Major League Soccer team thrive in the Sacramento region? The league seems to think so: Last week, MLS Executive Vice President Dan Courtemanche told KFBK radio reporter Rob McAllister that MLS is keeping an eye on Sacramento, as organization big wigs think the city has a strong fan base for soccer. “Sacramento is certainly an area that has supported us,” he said in the interview. The issue will be the subject of our next Sac Press live chat Wednesday at noon, featuring Elk Grove Mayor James Cooper, who has been looking into the possibility of his city hosting an MLS team, and Ruben Mora , Jr., the coach of Sacramento's minor league team, The Gold, which plays in the National Pr

Mayor Kevin Johnson and Think Big Sacramento leaders held a press conference Monday morning to announce a new effort for the future of the downtown railyards: the possibility of building a baseball stadium and bringing a Major League Baseball franchise to the city. The press conference was streamed live.

When news broke that Mayor Kevin Johnson's "Plan B" for the arena was officially dead, The Sacramento Press reached out to a group of local writers and thinkers who've been following the issue to get their thoughts. First on the list was Dave Weiglein, better known as Carmichael Dave, the unofficial mascot of the Kings fanbase, and the organizer of last year's impressive, but ultimately quixotic grassroots campaign for a new arena, "Here We Build."  He's currently producing his own Internet radio network at www.thecdnetworks.com. Next week we'll have interviews with James Ham of Cowbell Kingdom, Isaac Gonzalez of ranSACedmedia, and Cosmo Garvin of Sacramento News & Review. Carmichael Dave

Once “Plan B” for a downtown arena failed to materialize, the Think Big Sacramento organization shifted gears and is now taking a broader look at possibilities for developing the more than 200 acre railyards site. Several suggestions have already come up for the site, including: Major League Baseball stadium – Several news outlets (including the New York TImes, Bleacher Report and Fox Sports) have reported that the Oakland A’s may be looking for a new home. Why not Sacramento? Corporate headquarters – Now that the city has received a $15 million grant to fix up the downtown train station, Sacramento is well on its way to being a full intermodal hub, making the railyards a convenient sit

--Press Release from the Office of Mayor Kevin Johnson-- SACRAMENTO, CA – Mayor Kevin Johnson announced on Tuesday, June 19, 2012, that Sacramento will receive $15 million in Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (TIGER) Discretionary Grants from the Department of Transportation (DOT) to rehabilitate the Sacramento Valley Station at the Rail yards. “This grant is a huge shot in the arm for Sacramento and could not have come at a better time. The City has continued to fight for dollars at the federal level and today’s announcement is the result of those tireless efforts. “Thanks to the President Obama and Secretary LaHood, Sacramento will continue to transform our Rail y

The candidates in the race for mayor didn’t pull any punches at a candidate forum Saturday at the County Administration Building, despite Mayor Kevin Johnson’s notable absence. Leonard Padilla, Jonathan Rewers and write-in candidate Edgar Hilbert-Garcia took the stage Saturday to answer questions from a panel of political media experts, including Foon Rhee and Pia Lopez from The Sacramento Bee, and Cosmo Garvin from the Sacramento News & Review. Johnson’s campaign manager told media in numerous interviews leading up to the forum that Johnson would not attend because the mayor faces “no viable candidates” in the race. Padilla dismissed the comment as “ridiculous,” while Rewers suggested

Just the right temperature on a spring night right makes for a good time spent outdoors right before sunset.

Tuesday on Capital Public Radio’s “Insight” program, I talked to host Beth Ruyak about the arena deal, a local business’ history, a new bicycle event and the upcoming SactoMoFo 4. With Friday’s dissolution of the arena deal as it was planned, all parties involved are trying to figure out what to do next. While the Maloofs discussed the possibility of renovating Power Balance Pavilion, city leaders and Think Big Sacramento said Monday that they are still looking into placing an arena in the downtown railyards. A local grassroots group, Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork (STOP), is trying to gather the approximately 21,000 signatures required to place an initiative on the ballot that wou

Despite the battle between the city and Sacramento Kings’ team owners over a new entertainment and sports complex, City Councilman Steve Cohn is adamant that plans for developing the railyards site for an intermodal transit facility will continue uninterrupted. “Yes, there is absolutely an intermodal without the arena,” Cohn said Thursday at a workshop on the project at City Hall. More than 100 people attended the workshop hosted by the city to discuss the site orientation of the proposed arena at the downtown railyards along with current and future transportation facilities at the site. Until the recent arena deal fell apart, the intermodal project at the downtown railyards was slated

Think Big Sacramento Executive Director Chris Lehane said Monday that Friday’s spat with the Maloof family does not spell the end for an arena deal in downtown Sacramento, but that it was a setback that can be overcome. “First of all, we’ve continued to believe that a downtown-based entertainment and sports complex makes tremendous sense for the city and the region for jobs creation and economic development,” Lehane said. “All of that continues to exist, and I think we need to explore alternative ways to move forward.” Lehane said one option would be to follow the model of Kansas City, in which an arena was built without having a professional sports team as a partner. Another way could b

Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork (STOP) announced Monday that they will continue gathering signatures on a petition that would require large public expenses on a project in the downtown railyards such as an arena to be approved by a public vote. “We’re going to get this thing qualified for the ballot,” said spokesman Richard Tolmach. “A lot of people are stepping up and want to help us.” The group began gathering signatures over the weekend, and Tolmach said there are currently about 1,000 signed petitions. To qualify for placement on a ballot, the petition must have about 21,000 signatures. Placement on the November ballot was previously a top priority – and STOP would have needed

Friday’s news that the deal for an entertainment and sports complex is essentially dead isn’t stopping a grassroots effort to ensure large public expenditure on private ventures be vetted through a public vote. Sacramento Taxpayers Opposed to Pork (STOP) announced their goal of collecting enough signatures to give the public a vote on the arena financing last month, and they now have the petitions in-hand to start gathering signatures. “We’re still concerned that even if this plan’s dead, there may be another plan that’s either as bad or worse to spend public money on a private venture at (the downtown railyards),” STOP spokesman Richard Tolmach said Friday afternoon. The grassroots org

With a triumphant shout, Mayor Kevin Johnson cast the final vote in a 7-2 decision in favor of a financing plan to build a new entertainment and sports complex and keep the Sacramento Kings in town for another 30 years. Cheers, applause and chants of “SAC-RA-MEN-TO” broke out among the more than 250 people in council chambers Tuesday at the end of a four-hour-long City Council meeting that culminated in what Johnson called “a historic vote.” “Every one of you in the community did not give up,” Johnson said. “People far and wide all played a role and came together. I think we met every milestone along the way, and we made every minute count.” Johnson and City Council members Angelique As

Every time I visit the Railyards it’s as if the earth there itself is churning, a breathing organism. Soil is moved, smoothed over and relocated again. Ditches are dug, tunnels are built and pathways begin to take some semblance. Because I come to the site every few months or so, it’s a surprise every time. The tunnels, which are taking shape for future pedestrians stand now as cold, hard bored out portions of the ground. Aluminum scaffolding peppers the inside, creating a metal web of sorts for workers. In the future, they may be bustling veins with foot traffic and the sounds of the masses. Rail signals have also sprouted between the 5th and 6th Street Bridges, waiting for their trains

The City Council unanimously voted to keep conversations going with bidders interested in taking over the city’s parking operations – and set the stage for a Feb. 28 vote finalizing plans for a new entertainment and sports complex. “Today is about narrowing 13 (bidders) down to 10, and it’s an intermediary step to a more significant vote,” Mayor Kevin Johnson said. Council chambers were full Tuesday night, and members of the public who signed up to speak included eight opposed to the prospect of a long-term lease of the city’s parking and 30 people in favor of it. Project Manager Fran Halbakken described the bidding for control of city parking operations as a competitive process, where

Mayor Kevin Johnson toured the downtown railyards with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood Thursday, showing off the site of the future intermodal facility and – if all goes well for Johnson and the Think Big Committee – the site of a new entertainment and sports complex. LaHood stopped in Sacramento on a tour of California to discuss investments being made in job-creating infrastructure projects in Sacramento and around the country, according to a press release Tuesday. LaHood spoke to a crowd of more than 50, discussing the importance of high-speed rail in California, as well as job potential from the future intermodal facility. “This facility is what I believe is a national mode

The push to put a city parking lease to a vote fell flat Tuesday as the City Council rejected a motion to put the question on the June ballot. It was City Councilwoman Sandy Sheedy who first suggested in November that the voters should have a say in whether the city leases its parking inventory to an outside company. She conducted a city-wide poll on her website in October, which indicated that 70 percent of respondents favored a public vote on a potential 50-year lease, according to Sheedy. “The (arena) plan hinges on leasing the city’s parking for 50 years,” Sheedy said Tuesday. “I think such a massive public investment warrants a public vote.” Still, after almost an hour of public d

SACRAMENTO, CA | U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Regional Administrator Ophelia Basgal joined Congresswoman Doris Matsui in Sacramento announced on January 10 that Sacramento Housing and Redevelopment Agency will receive a $300,000 Choice Neighborhoods Planning Grant. Sacramento is one of 13 cities nationwide receiving this funding to begin grassroots efforts to revitalize the Twin Rivers Community Housing, a distressed public housing development at 321 Eliza Street, and transform the Sacramento River District-Railyards neighborhood. “All across the country, local planners are serious about rolling up their sleeves to transform distressed neighborhoods into choice n