It looks as though the Downtown Plaza has received yet another blow. The once proposed Target store that was going to add another anchor to the mall has pulled its plans. Last time I counted there were more than a dozen empty store fronts in the mall, so this news about Target is not a big surprise. Westfield Corp. is also planning on spending $60 millions in giving the mall a facelift next year, but from what I have seen from their plans, the “upgrades” won’t do much but shifting things around and put up a giant LED screen. Target has also withdrawn its plans to rebuild a new store at its Broadway and Riverside location… I was even more sad to hear about this.
I TRULY do not mean to be rude or offensive by what i'm about to type. I am just so blown away at the way Sacramento has missed the boat as far as developing a great, livable city. it's been a trainwreck. with some of the most beautiful old buildings, a river front, and tree lined streets, sac cant get anything right. can you guys help explain that to me? i dont mean to be rude but it blows my mind. after having lived in many world class cities, i tried living in sacramento in 2005 and 2006, but it was like being stuck in a time warp and i had to relocate. these are a few things that blow my mind... why in 2008 is there still no river area development? how could anyone possibly allow a Bass Pro Outlet anchor the railyard downtown? why do sacramentans prefer big box garbage retail over boutique and specialty? how come new buildings lack ANY architectural flare style? what are you doing to retain or attract enterprising individuals that flock to properly developed cities instead? why are there hourly hooker hotels downtown? why in the name of god would you put your arena in Arden?? this is a short list of things that mystify me about the pathology of your town. i wanted so badly (and i still do) to see sacramento do things right. instead i watch the citizenry get excited about a big red bunny in the airport and a Target next to the ghetto downtown mall. I don't think the people in Sac are so tasteless and naive that the city should still be a 3rd to place to live and work, is it the leadership? Please enlighten me. i really cannot tap into the pathology that has stunted the proper development of your city and i genuinely am curious.
ReplyDeleteYes, the riverfront has seen no progress in this river city... it's one of many subjects this city has studied and planned to death waiting to long to develop while costs double making the improvement to costly to build.
ReplyDeleteSacramento's not the only city with these problems and it’s not fair to compare Sac to other world class cities. I think it really sucks that no one individual person has taken the lead to make things happen instead of letting small groups holding onto the past determines the future.
Your list is too long to discuss here, but I'm sure if we elected a strong leader who actually had the will power to make things happen instead of holding dozens of meetings to discuss issues to death, we would see results. I would like to see the whole city council voted out and have some new ideas and views come from our city government… but I don’t think that will be happening anytime soon.
well in that case i genuinely hope the right leadership comes into Sac because the intrinsics are there. youre absolutely right, it is unfair to draw comparisons between sac and "world class" type cities. i'm sure you all get sick of the San Francisco musings etc. However I do think Sacramentans could be more open to adopting certain aspects of those cities for their own benefit. Sac even has potential to be better than those places. You could avoid the overblown but load up on the character and taste. A great, energetic 2nd tier city that's livable while at the same time satisfies the things that people leave to seek out...entertainment, shopping, energy, arts, architecture. Sac has the potential it really does. I would love to see it done right.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree Todd... this city has allot of great assets that just need to be polished up. Midtown's hitting its stride right now with mixed use projects and restaurants despite the slow down in the economy. Next time the economy’s humming along, I hope most developers are ahead of the curve and get out of the ground before the next down cycle.
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