John Gladding comment-76966 2012-12-11T20:48:48Z 2012-12-11T20:48:48Z I'm no fan of parking lots, but this hotel was a classic example of a bygone era. Modern hotels have displaced the 1950's era motels. Nostalgia is great, but when it comes to it, most prefer somewhere like a Marriott hotel or the like. They could have converted to apartments but that's a sketchy investment at best. Parking lot for now, but will eventually be something like a mid-level loft. John Gladding 2012-12-11T20:48:48Z John Gladding comment-70474 2012-07-05T20:56:11Z 2012-07-05T20:56:11Z The future of this area should not be painted by Home Depot, WalMart, Jamba Juice and McDonalds, as most open areas seem to fall prey to nowadays. It has a unique opportunity to transform downtown Sacramento in to a destination (think Folsom/Roseville/Davis). John Gladding 2012-07-05T20:56:11Z John Gladding comment-70285 2012-07-02T06:35:01Z 2012-07-02T06:35:01Z Good to see some things will never change Sacramento fans have always been and will always be passionate. Welcome to Sactown! John Gladding 2012-07-02T06:35:01Z John Gladding comment-64641 2012-03-05T20:40:46Z 2012-03-05T20:40:46Z PW - naming rights are part of the NBA agreements. Not sure how. Mark, it was moved away from the freeway to make room for media trucks for events and concerts. I believe the new transit center is the current historic train station, I read somewhere they would have a significant remodel as part of it. John Gladding 2012-03-05T20:40:46Z John Gladding comment-49953 2011-04-29T21:18:40Z 2011-04-29T21:18:40Z I think K Street and Downtown Plaza keep forgetting a key component to why it's not working - the homeless and undesirables that frequent the area. The first step to any revitalization has to be getting rid of the Greyhound Station and shutting down Hotel Berry. Nobody wants to live with a bunch of bums, prostitutes or crack addicts. Once the work day is over that area is a ghost town. John Gladding 2011-04-29T21:18:40Z John Gladding comment-45003 2011-02-02T21:16:08Z 2011-02-02T21:16:08Z FYI, I asked the Beyonce reference be removed. I had heard it a few times before but I couldn't find an official reference to it. I don't want to be the source for an unsubstantiated rumor! John Gladding 2011-02-02T21:16:08Z John Gladding comment-44840 2011-02-01T17:35:32Z 2011-02-01T17:35:32Z I never factored it in because arena or not, it's a separate issue. It's a loan and the Maloofs have been paying it off. As for Natomas - I think there are many solutions but Natomas shouldn't be throwing roadblocks if it's not in "the plan". They'd have probably 5 years to find a major tenant - theme park, golf course, major employer, etc... my point is that the public needs to be supportive of this project. It's not just Natomas who has a stake in this, all of Sacramento does if it is unsuccessful. John Gladding 2011-02-01T17:35:32Z John Gladding comment-44825 2011-02-01T16:42:06Z 2011-02-01T16:42:06Z It's the end of an era - My father used to catch up on today's news by grabbing the afternoon edition of the Chronicle on his ride home on BART. Nowadays, people are just reading their smartphones and scanning for breaking news on Twitter. That's reality. The Bee prints stories that are out of date by the time it's printed. If they were smart they'd be investing heavily on a better web and mobile-based model. John Gladding 2011-02-01T16:42:06Z John Gladding comment-44812 2011-02-01T07:03:49Z 2011-02-01T07:03:49Z FYI about the loan to the Kings, the Maloofs have never missed a payment, as set up by the city. People act as if they are trying to avoid it and forget it ever happened. That is not the case. John Gladding 2011-02-01T07:03:49Z John Gladding comment-44635 2011-01-31T04:56:51Z 2011-01-31T04:56:51Z Priority 1 is keeping the Kings, period. We don't have the luxury of second opinions at this point - if it's not in Natomas, they need to get on board - else the Kings will be gone, the arena will attract a handful of low-caliber events, and everyone loses. While it's true Arco is a great benefit to Natomas, it has a great opportunity to re-invent itself if there is no arena there. Perhaps they should focus on attracting another major tenant like a theme park - something Sacramento is in dire need of. John Gladding 2011-01-31T04:56:51Z John Gladding comment-42010 2010-12-09T20:59:23Z 2010-12-09T20:59:23Z Cool - look forward to it! John Gladding 2010-12-09T20:59:23Z John Gladding comment-40419 2010-11-12T07:40:30Z 2010-11-12T07:40:30Z An arena in Sacramento would cement the area for years to come... let's hope it happens! John Gladding 2010-11-12T07:40:30Z John Gladding comment-37547 2010-09-20T21:34:45Z 2010-09-20T21:34:45Z Perhaps street sweepers could be a cheap solution. Get businesses to chip in for a couple street sweepers to clean up the streets and shoo the kids away. "Too many people, not enough resources" seems to be the problem... Seems to me that if you have that many people you should be able to find a way to fund the resources. John Gladding 2010-09-20T21:34:45Z John Gladding comment-32636 2010-07-12T04:29:14Z 2010-07-12T04:29:14Z conspicuously absent is the basketball arena, which at the time was the cornerstone of the project. Great to see this thing done but that campus sorely needs a real arena for D-1 basketball. John Gladding 2010-07-12T04:29:14Z John Gladding comment-24678 2010-04-14T06:01:54Z 2010-04-14T06:01:54Z beautiful photos in there. John Gladding 2010-04-14T06:01:54Z John Gladding comment-20773 2010-01-17T19:51:16Z 2010-01-17T19:51:16Z Unfortunately, though many cities have done this, this is why it's actually more expensive: 1) You can't expand to add another level of luxury boxes (all arenas these days have 2 rows of luxury boxes - they bring in the most revenue) 2) The walls of Arco are only so wide. The already slim concourse around the arena can't possibly be expanded without knocking down 2 walls and a roof. 3) The dressing rooms for entertainers (whether they are Britney Spears of the Kings) are already way small. 4) The pipes for icemaking are laid in concrete and need to be ripped up In essence, you'd have to knock down 2 walls and a roof to do this, and you're basically starting over. The Kings would have to play in Oakland for 3 years or Memorial Auditorium (which seats maybe 3000), which would kill revenue. We don't have the luxury of having old arenas nearby. I'm not sure where people get this "least cost" option. None of this takes in to consideration that you don't want to pay for it either - you'd rather shoot down a great plan that's paid for. As for downtown needing housing - it already has housing. Not sure you have been to downtown on a weekend or weekday night lately but it's a ghost town (everyone is in midtown). It needs something to kickstart an entertainment district. The Railyards is where it needs to be. It's next to the train stations, right off the freeway, and oh yeah... it's paid for. John Gladding 2010-01-17T19:51:16Z John Gladding comment-20767 2010-01-17T09:22:54Z 2010-01-17T09:22:54Z Is Arco going to be adequate in 10 years? If they got this arena deal done, it will be 2015 before it opens. "Good enough" is not "good enough" for NCAA tournaments and major music acts like Beyonce - and that's today. Do you think Arco will still be "good enough" in 2020? John Gladding 2010-01-17T09:22:54Z John Gladding comment-20737 2010-01-17T01:11:02Z 2010-01-17T01:11:02Z 1. Arco hosts 300 events a year, 42 of them are Kings games. You do the math... just go to Ticketmaster and search Arco Arena; you'll soon see the Kings games are in the minority (and this is basketball season). I don't understand how people always conveniently forget about 250 events a year - this argument has been beaten to death. 2. The CalExpo area will be sold to developers, who often pay for many acres of land that won't be developed for many years (long term investment). The State Fair will not be moved quickly, as they have to wait for new fairgrounds. Your commentary on traffic/infrastructure, the railyards have been planned out for many years, it's part of Sacramento's master plan. 3. The fairgrounds money would likely come from the sale of the land. Keep in mind there is an existing arena and practice facility which already can be repurposed. A lot of the state fairgrounds are all temporary structures as it is. The new fairgrounds cost would not be that high when you factor in the existing buildings. 4. Not sure, but I imagine this is something that is not going to hold things up. 5. First of all, this proposal doesn't factor in who pays for it... however the guts of the building are not adequate to be rebuilt. They'd have to tear the whole thing down to start over because Arco was really build very cheaply. 6. Part of the deal factors in the loan, and the Maloofs would make good on it. If they signed a 30-year lease they'd be on the hook for 30 years. That's how a lease works. I wish people would quit trying to be so quick to poke holes in things... it's practically a free arena, people! You should be super-excited about the prospect of what this could mean to Sacramento! I know I am. John Gladding 2010-01-17T01:11:02Z John Gladding comment-15592 2009-10-15T04:45:54Z 2009-10-15T04:45:54Z cool idea... this is the future of journalism! John Gladding 2009-10-15T04:45:54Z John Gladding comment-15499 2009-10-14T04:07:41Z 2009-10-14T04:07:41Z My dad inspired me to say "Who purpled"... he thinks the word "fart" is too crass for his vocabulary, but he'll be quick to point out when someone passed gas. Thanks to him, I won some tickets! Woo! John Gladding 2009-10-14T04:07:41Z John Gladding comment-15444 2009-10-13T06:58:19Z 2009-10-13T06:58:19Z last minute purple John Gladding 2009-10-13T06:58:19Z John Gladding comment-15443 2009-10-13T06:53:17Z 2009-10-13T06:53:17Z Purple & Black is back, baby! Go Kings! John Gladding 2009-10-13T06:53:17Z John Gladding comment-15442 2009-10-13T06:51:12Z 2009-10-13T06:51:12Z ...who purpled? John Gladding 2009-10-13T06:51:12Z John Gladding comment-15441 2009-10-13T06:49:52Z 2009-10-13T06:49:52Z I BLEED PURPLE John Gladding 2009-10-13T06:49:52Z John Gladding comment-15440 2009-10-13T06:47:02Z 2009-10-13T06:47:02Z PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE PURPLE ...too subtle? John Gladding 2009-10-13T06:47:02Z John Gladding comment-15439 2009-10-13T06:45:13Z 2009-10-13T06:45:13Z I'm excited about the upcoming season... we have our purple mardi gras beads ready to go. I don't have the heart to tell them Mikki Moore doesn't play with them anymore (they just like his hair) John Gladding 2009-10-13T06:45:13Z John Gladding comment-15438 2009-10-13T06:43:34Z 2009-10-13T06:43:34Z Purple power! John Gladding 2009-10-13T06:43:34Z John Gladding comment-15437 2009-10-13T06:40:52Z 2009-10-13T06:40:52Z Purple rain, purple rain.... John Gladding 2009-10-13T06:40:52Z John Gladding comment-10100 2009-07-01T15:48:21Z 2009-07-01T15:48:21Z The reason the Kings matter - to a tourist, without the Kings, we are no different than Fresno. There's a big reason Sacramento gets an immense amount of people at the Air Shows, Track & Field Trials, Second Saturdays, RiverCats, and until recently, Kings games - this city is starved for entertainment. I don't want to have to drive 2.5 hours for entertainment. John Gladding 2009-07-01T15:48:21Z John Gladding comment-10053 2009-06-30T21:07:02Z 2009-06-30T21:07:02Z More mass-entertainment options. On any given Sunday there should be a number of entertainment options for visitors. A gold rush museum, duck (river/land) tours, a skyline-defining building like the Transamerica (with observation deck) would all be a good start. We will set this city back 20 years if we lost the Kings. John Gladding 2009-06-30T21:07:02Z John Gladding comment-8586 2009-05-31T04:57:17Z 2009-05-31T04:57:17Z Privatising parks is definitely a sound idea financially. The cuts being offered seem appropriate, though the lack of restrooms may have side effects that end up costing more. As far as K street, it seems like a pretty drastic idea. That street has been through so many transformations yet nothing works. Until you can get rid of slumlord Mo Mohanna, the city's hands are tied. I wouldn't do it because it will probably cost yet more money and I doubt it will work. Wait out the recession and try to develop more condos and lofts in the area, thus creating a demand for retail and entertainment. John Gladding 2009-05-31T04:57:17Z John Gladding comment-4630 2009-03-15T20:56:29Z 2009-03-15T20:56:29Z Great article... even greater to see the mayor commenting on this. John Gladding 2009-03-15T20:56:29Z John Gladding comment-4315 2009-03-10T06:45:58Z 2009-03-10T06:45:58Z the future of the press? I am starting to think you are reading it right now. Readers no longer have to rely on traditional media outlets. Bloggers, Twitter, AP feeds, there's so many ways for people to get it. Citizen journalism may very well be the future of news, like it or not. It's sink or swim time... John Gladding 2009-03-10T06:45:58Z