The approval of the redevelopment project for the 700 block of K Street brings more than just the prospect of a revitalized block of the J-K-L corridor, it also includes financial incentives that supporters say will spur the local economy and bolster revenues for the city. Originally, developers Bay Miry, D & S Development, and Ali Youssefi, CFY Development, proposed that the city put in $16 million of funding assistance – one half of that amount in the form of a grant, and the other half in repayable loans from a variety of redevelopment agency sources. Since the initial proposal, however, Miry and Youssefi were able to tap into new funding sources for the project, including a federal p

With the approval of the 700 block project on K street, developers Bay Miry and Ali Youssefi are closer to realizing their long-awaited vision. But that vision has changed in some unexpected ways since its initial proposal. First, that vision “got a lot bigger,” Miry said. When Miry and Youssefi were awarded the project in July 2010, they didn’t have access to the interior of the buildings at the project site. “The initial proposal was very conceptual in nature,” Youssefi said. “We knew that if our team was selected we'd have the opportunity (later) to refine the project design based on a thorough inspection of all the buildings.” Once they were handed keys in late August, they had a

The proposal for redevelopment of the 700 block of K Street received the nod of approval from City Council Tuesday night, opening the way for developers to move forward with the $47.7 million project. With close to 64,000 square feet of retail space and more than 130 housing units, the project is designed to revitalize a long-ignored section of K Street with a diverse tenant mix of restaurants, boutique shops and a live music venue. If all goes as planned, developers expect to begin construction in late January or early February of next year. With their unanimous vote, council members approved the environmental impact and planning commission reports, and formalized a Developer Dispositi

More than 300 city positions will be eliminated in the coming year after the City Council passed a finalized city budget Tuesday night. Despite impassioned pleas from members of the Sacramento City Crime Scene Investigation unit and local union representatives, the 14-member CSI unit and 45 sworn police officers are on the chopping block. The budget passed on a 6-3 vote, with Council members Angelique Ashby, Steve Cohn and Mayor Kevin Johnson each voting against the measure. The new budget incorporates $4.6 million in one-time resources to close the gap for fiscal year 2011-12. It also funnels $3.36 million into the city’s economic uncertainty reserve fund. Betty Masuoka, assistant int

The number of potential redistricting maps in the running for City Council consideration dwindles to five as the city of Sacramento gets closer to finalizing a new redistricting plan. Maria MacGunigal, staff member for the Citizens Advisory Committee on Redistricting, said Tuesday that when the committee met on Monday, each member brought a list of “top five” and “bottom five” lists for discussion. At the conclusion of the meeting, committee members had decided on the “top four contenders,” MacGunigal said, plus one more map that is still under consideration, but may be eliminated at the next advisory committee meeting. City Council members will be on summer recess for two weeks startin

Approval of a final city budget that includes $39 million in ongoing cuts and the elimination of 320 city positions is expected at Tuesday’s City Council meeting, but Police Department personnel aren’t holding out hope for an 11th-hour save from potential layoffs. “The council is firm on its decision,” said Det. Mark Tyndale, Sacramento Police Officers Association (SPOA) vice president. “And we are firm in ours.” On June 7, City Council members urged SPOA representatives to consider contract concessions for its members in an effort to relieve the burden of deep budget cuts that will have a significant impact on the Police Department and public safety personnel. The SPOA has not made any

Sacramento’s redistricting process is well under way, but according to the latest report from the Citizens Advisory Committee on Redistricting, there is still much work to do before the committee makes a final recommendation to the City Council in July. As Mayor Kevin Johnson and the eight council members looked on Tuesday night, members of the committee presented an update on the work done so far and outlined what remains to be accomplished. “According to the city charter, we have six months to complete the process (of redistricting) after census data is released,” staff member Maria MacGunigal said. “We are on track to having it done on time.” MacGunigal and Committee Chair Julius Che

The City Council authorized the transfer of $100,000 of the city’s transportation funds to help support the Robla Elementary Safe Schools Project at a City Council meeting Tuesday to ensure the safety of students using of pedestrian routes in the Robla Elementary District. The $100,000 is coming from the city’s transportation funding for the Major Streets Improvement project to complete the design phase of the project and cover staff costs. The Major Streets Improvement Project was implemented “to close gaps in the city’s circulation network, relieve congestion, improve safety and provide for the efficient movement of people, services, and goods,” according to a consent report from the c

The future of mobile food trucks in Sacramento was discussed Monday night at the first in what will likely be many meetings between mobile food vendors, “brick-and-mortar” restaurateurs, city leaders and advocacy groups. The meeting, held at The Kitchen restaurant, 2225 Hurley Way, was not open to the public, City Councilman Steve Cohn said Monday morning. An ordinance limiting food trucks to operating within the city to 30-minute stops has been contested more vehemently lately. The SactoMoFo mobile food festival April 30 drew an estimated 10,000 people, prompting a closer look at the ordinance. Several gourmet food trucks, including Mini Burger Truck and Wicked ’Wich, have recently beg

Despite reports of the city’s proposals to lay off more than 350 jobs, including 80 sworn police officers, during Tuesday’s press conference, Mayor Kevin Johnson said that avoiding such layoffs will be a priority. Throughout the conference, Johnson said he wanted Sacramento to remain a full-service city and that he hopes to alleviate any distrust between police officers and the city by playing a more active role in addressing the interests of both parties. “We’re trying to preserve as many jobs as we can and keep public safety at the top of our priorities,” he added. “We’re about to pass and adopt a budget in about three weeks or so, and we do not want to be in a position where our comm

If the Sacramento Police Department headquarters moves from Freeport Boulevard to Richards Boulevard, it could save $500,000 per year, but with it comes an up-front moving cost of $1 million, according to a report released Wednesday afternoon. This would force other city departments – community development, parking services and code enforcement – to relocate from the building at 300 Richards Blvd. to City Hall, according to City Councilman Steve Cohn. The idea stems from the Police Department, which has been looking at moving its headquarters from the Public Safety Center on Freeport Boulevard for the past three years to save money, police spokesman Sgt. Norm Leong said. Being closer to

The city of Sacramento is looking for a few good designers, urban planners, architects and artists to submit their ideas to revamp Capitol Mall, between Tower Bridge and Ninth Street. The juried competition is expected to draw international attention. “Since the state turned Capitol Mall over to the city five years ago, there’s a growing impetus to do something with that space and get it activated,” said Chris Barkley of the American Institute of Architects Central Valley Chapter, the competition adviser to the city. Stakeholders in the area have been meeting over the past five years and decided to put out a call for ideas to make Capitol Mall the significant street it once was, accordin

The Sacramento Kings' majority owners reacted positively to a new plan for a proposed $387 million arena project unveiled Thursday, but admitted they're anxious to see whether the plan can be turned into reality. Developers told the Sacramento City Council a $241 million arena, with a total project cost of $387 million, could be built by early 2015 if a mix of public and private funding can be pulled together. During a two-and-a-half-hour presentation, ICON Venue Group President Tim Romani, Sacramento developer David Taylor and others on an arena development team provided the public with many details of the plan. Afterward, team co-owners Gavin and Joe Maloof told reporters they have a

Around 20 supporters of the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission attended the City Council budget hearing Tuesday afternoon wearing buttons emblazoned with the SMAC slogan: “Arts Open Daily” in response to a proposal to cut arts funding. Barbara Bonebrake, director of the Sacramento Convention, Culture and Leisure Department, presented a proposal to reduce the city’s general fund contribution to SMAC by $152,855 for the 2011/2012 fiscal year. As a result of these cuts, funding for SMAC’s Cultural Arts Awards, a program that provides grants ranging from $1,000-$25,000 to nonprofit arts organizations, would be reduced by $64,000. During the public comment section of the Convention, Cul

The R Street improvements currently under construction from 10th to 13th streets are getting a few more amenities, as construction left extra funds in an approximately $1 million $1.5 million federal grant allocated to the project. The City Council unanimously voted Tuesday to approve 13 more pedestrian benches, 13 banners affixed to streetlights and a decorative arch that spans R Street at 10th Street and a pedestrian arch over the sidewalk on 12th Street and R Street, to be constructed by Teichert Construction, the main contractor for the project. “This will be the icing on the cake to R street and will make the area more pedestrian-friendly,” Sacramento Department of Transportation sp

Sacramento City Council and hundreds of residents Tuesday night listened to details of a $1.8 million general fund cut to parks and recreation that would leave only three of the city’s 13 swimming pools open by Summer 2012 and area parks in a state of decline amid reductions in park maintenance, trash pick up and general repairs. Pools and green spaces are two potential casualties of a $39 million city deficit that could impact residents in large and small ways, including a swim on hot day or a drink of water from a park faucet. Parks and recreation director Jim Combs said six area pools would remain open this summer including George Sim, Clunie, Pannell Meadowview, McClatchy, Johnston a

The City Council approved $30,915 for the design phase of H Street Bridge Repairs Project Tuesday, which will be done by Dokken Engineering. H Street Bridge is located where H and J streets come together on the west side of the bridge. The bridge turns into Fair Oaks Boulevard and connects the areas of downtown and East Sacramento. Assistant Civil Engineer for the Department of Transportation Josh Werner said the bridge was built in 1932, and improvements were last done in 1991 to 1992 to widen the bridge and reconstruct the bridge approach on the east side. Department of Transportation Engineering Services Manager Nicholas Theocharides said that while the work being done is nothing maj

Just days after the successful SactoMoFo mobile food festival, City Councilman Rob Fong asked that an ordinance limiting mobile food vendors’ parking times within the city be reviewed with an eye for changing it. “What I’d like to ask everyone is to see if we would be willing to take a second look at the mobile food vendor ordinance that is currently on the books. I suspect that Law and Legislation is the place ... to see... if there’s a way for us to kind of accommodate what I think is a very positive and cool movement that is really going through a lot of other cities and has really positive benefits,” he said at Tuesday’s City Council meeting. The ordinance he referred to has been on

The City Council will decide within the next few months whether to stop issuing new taxi permits, and the council’s Law and Legislation Committee will take more time to decide whether central dispatching systems should be required for taxi companies. “If approved (by the City Council), no new taxicab vehicle permits will be issued or renewed,” said Dafna Gauthier, business permit manager for the city. This will limit the number of cabs, she said, referring to the moratorium. “There seems to be a consensus that there are too many taxis in the downtown area,” she added. That was one part of a proposed ordinance city staff has been working on since last October. The city’s taxi fleet was

Downtown Sacramento is going to get more bicycle-friendly over the next year and a half, as the City Council gave the nod for the Department of Transportation to begin planning more bicycle lanes for downtown streets Tuesday night. “The intent of the project is to create bike lanes on some of the most traveled downtown streets,” said Ed Cox, the city’s pedestrian and bicycle coordinator. The project will be completed in two phases. The first phase involves painting bicycle lanes on a number of streets that are already wide enough to handle the bikeways without losing any lanes or parking spaces, Cox said Wednesday. “We’re looking at J Street, I Street, Ninth Street, Fifth Street, 10th S