City Beat

At the very least, the collapse of the city's arena plan has delayed the potential opening of a new facility.

As the city explores a "Plan B" to build a downtown arena without the Sacramento Kings, Mayor Kevin Johnson acknowledged today "we're not going to make 2015."

City officials had hoped to open a planned $391 million arena in the downtown railyard in time for the 2015/16 NBA season. That plan fell apart after the Kings' owners pulled out of a handshake agreement to help finance the project. As a result, pre-development work on the arena has been halted, making the city's target date unrealistic.

City crews have put the finishing touches on weeks of renovations to downtown's Cesar Chavez Plaza. And just in time for the park's peak season.

The first two phases of a major facelift of the park were completed just before the farmer's market returns to the plaza on Wednesday. The Friday Night Concert in the Park series kicks off on Friday.

So far, crews have installed raised planters at the corner entries to the plaza; put in new benches; made landscaping improvements; and replaced half the turf in the park. The $300,000 in work was funded by Quimby Act dollars collected from private development projects in the area.

NBA Commissioner David Stern said today that it might be best for the city and the Maloofs to go through a "cooling off period" in the arena saga.

In a meeting with the Associated Press Sports editors, Stern added it was "unfortunate to not be able to deliver on what was a very promising situation." He had nothing more to add on the arena situation, according to AP reports.

Following the collapse of the city's arena deal, the proposal's most ardent opponent says the city should still explore generating cash out of its parking operations.

Councilman Kevin McCarty told me this week the city is "sitting on an untapped asset to potentially make this city millions annually."

Mayor Kevin Johnson and City Manager John Shirey had proposed monetizing downtown parking - either through leasing those assets to a private firm or creating a city-run parking authority - to generate as much as $250 million for the proposed downtown sports arena.

It's been the dream of city planners for years: covering I-5 in downtown with a massive deck and eliminating a noisy barrier between the center city and the Sacramento River.

While plans under discussion aren't quite as grand as they once were - planners once tossed around the idea of a project costing more than $100 million - City Hall does want to hire a firm to come up with some design ideas that will increase flow from downtown streets to the riverfront area.

The City Council will be asked on Tuesday to approve a $799,178 contract with Parsons Brinckerhoff for design plans that could eventually include a bridge over I-5 at N Street, extending 2nd Street out of Old Sacramento, creating a new "gateway intersection" into Old Sacramento from Capitol Mall and building new sidewalks. A lot of that work is designed to improve access from the Crocker Art Museum to Old Sacramento.

By Tony Bizjak, Ryan Lillis and Dale Kasler
tbizjak@sacbee.com

Sacramento city officials will release details tomorrow of the arena deal reached earlier this week with the Kings, including this notable number: $255,530,000.

That's the amount Mayor Kevin Johnson and his negotiators agreed the city officially will contribute to building an arena in the downtown railyard by 2015.

The official price tag of the arena was also bumped up from $387 million to $391 million.

Three of the 13 private firms that had expressed interest in leasing city-owned parking to help fund a new arena have been eliminated from the process.

Teams needed to "demonstrate strong financial resources and have a parking operator that has substantial experience managing both on and off-street parking assets," according to a city staff report released today.

Among the teams eliminated were local firm Revitalizing Sacramento LLC, made up of local parking operator Aaron Zeff and developer Larry Kelley. Bainbridge ZKS and CMB Export LLC were also crossed off the list.

The 13 companies that responded to a request for firms interested in leasing city-owned parking operations includes several large companies specializing in parking assets, two partnerships with local ties and the largest single-profession pension plan in Canada.

City staff is examining the qualifications of each firm and is scheduled to go to the City Council on Feb. 14 to narrow down the list to the most qualified companies. After that, city staffers will ask the council to approve a formal request for proposals (RFP) that would lead to bids on the city's parking assets.

City officials are hoping to raise as much as $200 million from the leasing of downtown parking spaces, garages and enforcement. Officials have proposed using that upfront cash to help finance a new $387 million Kings arena in the downtown railyard.

The city's powerful police union supports the plan to build a new Kings arena downtown. But this isn't simply an issue of public safety.

Mark Tyndale, the head of the Sacramento Police Officers Association, said his organization has been told city police officers would handle arena security during Kings games should the facility be built.

Since 1999, those duties have fallen to the Sacramento Sheriff's Department in a deal worked out between the team and former Sheriff Lou Blanas. It's an arrangement that has "always been a little bit of a thorn in our side," said Tyndale.

Cesar Chavez Plaza - the site of Occupy protests, rock concerts and farmer's markets - will be rehabbed starting Feb. 6.

City parks officials will place raised planters at the corner entries to the plaza, put planters along J Street, extend a walkway within the park, replace tables, install new benches and replace some turf with granite. The work is expected to be completed by the middle of March.

Two more phases of the makeover will follow. The project's first phase will cost $91,000 and is funded by Quimby Act dollars collected from private development projects in the area.

San Francisco Giants president and CEO Larry Baer has this message for those trying to build a new downtown sports arena in Sacramento: "Don't give up."

Baer, the keynote speaker at this morning's State of Downtown breakfast at Memorial Auditorium, noted that the Giants organization tried multiple times to build its new ballpark before opening AT&T Park in 2000. Throughout those attempts, the franchise threatened to move twice and voters turned down four funding proposals.

"It can be done, don't give up," Baer said. "You must persevere, you must exercise patience, you must have strong leadership in the private and public sector."

It hasn't happened very often lately, but a groundbreaking ceremony was held this morning for a large multi-use real estate project in downtown.

By next year, 84 apartments and 13,000 square feet of retail will fill two Spanish-style buildings at the East End Gateway site at 16th and O streets. The $24 million project will create between 300 and 400 construction jobs.

Financing for the plan had been elusive, until developers Ravel Rasmussen Properties and Separovich/Domich received a $17.5 million construction loan from Union Bank.

As the private sector begins to examine how much downtown's parking spaces, garages and enforcement operations are worth, I thought it might be worth gauging support for leasing those facilities to help build an arena.

You'll find a poll to the right with a couple of answers. But if you'd like to expand on your thoughts, please email me at rlillis@sacbee.com.

There are a few options.

As the dust settles over the state Supreme Court's ruling Thursday that redevelopment agencies can be eliminated, there's both good news and, well, uncertain news when it comes to K Street.

First, the good news. City development officials are confident that a large plan to revamp the 700 block of K Street will not face the threat of losing redevelopment funds.

In June, the City Council unanimously approved the development agreement and financing plan for the $47.7 million project. In doing so, the council allocated $14.7 million in redevelopment funds, an action that city downtown development manager Leslie Fritzsche said designated the money as "an enforceable obligation."

It appears the Sacramento City Council will approve tonight issuing a request for qualifications from companies interested in leasing the city's downtown parking operations, the key peg in the financing of a new arena.

• Tony Bizjak tweets from the City Council meeting

Mayor Kevin Johnson and four council members have told The Bee in recent days they support issuing an RFQ. In addition to the mayor, Council members Steve Cohn, Rob Fong, Jay Schenirer and Kevin McCarty have all said they are open to the RFQ. Five votes are enough to pass the proposal.

The RFQ is a key step in the arena financing model, but it isn't the biggest step. That will come early next year, when the City Council - armed with a complete financing package that also includes contributions from the NBA, Sacramento Kings and arena operator AEG - will decide whether to issue a request for proposals seeking formal bids for the parking assets.

Proponents of a new downtown Sacramento sports arena think they have a pretty good model to follow in Kansas City.

That Midwestern city - which is comparable in size to Sacramento - opened the Sprint Center in 2007. The $276 million downtown arena was financed through both private and public sources and, even without a professional sports team as an anchor tenant, has exceeded city officials' expectations.

The public contribution to the project comes in the form of a tax on rental cars and hotels that was passed by voters. That revenue covers the annual $14 million bond payments on the project and - so far anyway - enough tax has been collected to cover those payments, keeping the city off the hook, Dennis Gagnon, a spokesman for the city of Kansas City told me today.

For the first time in 42 years, automobiles rolled onto the K Street Mall this afternoon in a moment that city officials and business leaders hope will inject new life into downtown Sacramento's historic thoroughfare.

The first car to roll onto K Street was a red 1966 Ferrari 275 GTS with Mayor Kevin Johnson riding in the passenger seat. That car was followed a parade of classic automobiles driving past hundreds of spectators in a parade-like atmosphere that even included red, white and blue confetti falling from rooftops.

"K Street is finally changing," said Steve Cohn, Sacramento city councilman.

With cars returning to downtown's K Street Mall in just over three weeks, City Hall wants to hear your memories of driving down Sacramento's historic commercial thoroughfare.

The city has set up a Facebook page - which can be accessed here - where residents can reminisce about the days when automobiles rolled along K Street. For that matter, I'd like to hear your memories as well - leave them below in the comments.

Scenes of cars meandering down K Street will be revived on Nov. 12, when the city holds a ceremony at 12th and K to officially give cars the green light to return to the mall after 42 years. Who do you think should be the first person allowed to drive down the street?

Setting up a potential showdown between a small group of protesters and city officials, Mayor Kevin Johnson said today the city should continue to uphold its anti-camping ordinance and clear the Occupy Sacramento group from downtown's Cesar Chavez Park at night.

The mayor said the protesters can stay in the park from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. - and that gives them "ample time" to voice their issues. "I don't think it's in our best interest to remove the (anti-camping) ordinance," the mayor said, adding he "wholeheartedly respects what (the protesters are) trying to do."

As the protest reaches its 13th day, the City Council is scheduled to debate tonight whether to let the demonstrators stay in the park overnight. And if no resolution is found, this is a conflict that could continue to simmer.

The City Council killed a proposal Tuesday night to permit a fifth poker card room in the city.

A group including the owner of the Capitol Casino on North 16th Street had sought to operate the fifth card room and proposed placing the facility in the former Hard Rock Cafe space at the Westfield Downtown Plaza.

Clark Rosa, who owns Capitol Casino, said his current card room has been a bonus to an otherwise neglected area and "if we were to go into the downtown area, we would be as great an asset."

A report by the Urban Land Institute has found that both a new sports arena and the city's planned transit hub could fit in land in the downtown railyard.

When designs for the proposed arena were unveiled in May, transit advocates quickly noticed that the plans called for the facility to be placed directly on the site of the planned $300 million transit hub, known by some as the intermodal facility. City planners hope to one day construct a hub for high-speed rail, light rail and buses.

But the ULI report says the two facilities not only could fit in the railyard - they could work well together.

The years-long push to move Sacramento's Greyhound bus terminal from L Street downtown is about to get underway.

City and Greyhound officials will hold a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday at a new terminal on Richards Boulevard, north of downtown and the planned railyard development. The new station will open next week, perhaps as early as next Tuesday.

Both company and city officials have lauded the move. Downtown interests have long lobbied to move the Greyhound terminal from Seventh and L Streets, complaining that it has created traffic congestion and been a magnet for crime.

A majority of young professionals surveyed by a local business group think a redeveloped Westfield Downtown Plaza is "very important" for the city's future and that City Hall should help pay for the project.

In a survey conducted by Metro EDGE, a 40-and-under branch of the Sacramento Metro Chamber, more than half of those asked also thought private investors and the city should partner in purchasing the mall.

Westfield is reportedly trying to sell the mall, which has plummeted in value in recent years. Mayor Kevin Johnson has demanded that the company improve the mall or sell, and many downtown interests see the plaza as a key peg in the area's revitalization.

K Street's revitalization takes a big step tonight.

The City Council is slated to approve the development agreement for a $47 million project that will bring 137 housing units, restaurants, boutique shops and a live music venue to the 700 block of the K Street Mall.

If all goes smoothly, the developer behind the project said he hopes to break ground by the end of the year - and finish by 2014.

The Sacramento City Council doesn't like what's being proposed for the police department budget. That much was evident during a tense Tuesday night budget hearing.

The six councilmembers who showed up for the meeting took a vote not to accept a budget proposal that would lay off 80 cops and slash dozens more crime scene and clerical positions from the department. That vote doesn't mean much, however, considering there isn't an alternate proposal on the table and the final budget won't be approved until next month.

But one proposed cut that many think will be restored is the plan to eliminate the bike and foot patrol officers from the streets of downtown - an area City Hall has poured millions of dollars in subsidies into over the past few years.

Regional leaders met again today on the Kings' future. Perhaps the most notable aspect of the meeting was the presence of developer David Taylor, who is leading a City Hall-sponsored study of what it would take to build a new arena.

The key element of that study - the cost and how it would be paid for - is still being worked out. But Taylor did provide the group with some other details.

Mayor Kevin Johnson said Taylor told the officials an arena here should be in the 650,000-square-foot range. Power Balance Pavilion is 442,000 square feet. Sacramento doesn't need something on par with arenas built in L.A. or Orlando - but it does need something bigger than its current facility, Johnson said.

Some downtown landmarks are showing their colors as a delegation from the NBA begins a tour of Sacramento today, trying to determine whether the city is a viable pro basketball market.

At the Sheraton Grand Hotel, soft purple lighting lit up the large windows looking out on to J Street. Inside, the bar will be serving purple sangrias on purple napkins.

A few blocks away, the pillars of the iconic Memorial Auditorium were lit in purple Wednesday night. And at the U.S. Bank Tower on Capitol Mall, the LED lights were also aglow in purple.

A team of urban design experts and city planners are in town this week to evaluate the development plans for downtown's J-K-L corridor and provide pointers for moving forward.

In the meantime, I'd like to hear your thoughts. What's missing from downtown? Is it housing? Retail to rival the suburban malls? An arena?

Those are some of the elements the Mayors' Institute on City Design will be looking at through Wednesday, when team members will submit their findings at City Hall. Mayor Kevin Johnson said at a morning press conference the visit was part of the city's push to "challenge some of our assumptions and invite new people with new ideas."

It's been 70 years since streetcars navigated the streets of Sacramento. The city is about to begin the process of potentially bringing them back.

Next month, a consultant team will begin a year-long streetcar planning study to evaluate routes throughout the city. The study is being funded primarily through a $300,000 federal grant from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments.

The city is asking for your input during a series of public meetings this summer. Dates will be announced later.

Do you love downtown? Show it.

The Downtown Sacramento Partnership wants you to share that love by using the hashtag #ILoveDowntown when tweeting why you love downtown.

And for those who don't use social media like Twitter, the Partnership is also asking that you leave Valentine messages on Post-it notes on the storefronts of downtown businesses this weekend and Monday.

"Local entrepreneurs are the heart and soul of our community. Local businesses are what gives downtown its character," said Lisa Martinez, the Partnership's director of Marketing and Outreach. "As you can imagine, being a business owner in today's economic climate can be difficult. We wanted to share some appreciation for the businesses who make downtown a dynamic district and go above and beyond everyday."

I'll add to this: leave a comment on the blog this weekend expressing why you love downtown.

Mayor Kevin Johnson goes on a lot of early-morning jogs. Heck, yours truly even joined him once on a pre-dawn jaunt through Oak Park the week after Johnson was elected.

But the mayor's jog this morning had to represent a first.

Johnson was joined by Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services. The pair - presumably joined by security - did a three-mile loop through Old Sacramento, past the Crocker Art Museum, down Capitol Mall and around Capitol Park. Johnson was particularly interested in showing Sebelius the view of the Capitol dome from the west as you enter the city.

Sebelius is in town to promote Let's Move!, an initiative launched last year by First Lady Michelle Obama with an aim to wipe out childhood obesity within a generation.

Here's some raw video I shot of the mayor and Sebelius greeting students at Will C. Wood Middle School on Lemon Hill Avenue:

Tonight's Sacramento City Council meeting is a pivotal moment in the city's quest to get a new sports arena built.

The council is expected to vote on working with a development team on a 90-day analysis of whether building a new complex in town is financially feasible. Four development groups are in the mix and have submitted their qualifications to the city.

Two weeks ago, the council asked the development teams to submit their resumes directly to city staffers, setting aside the recommendations of a task force appointed by Mayor Kevin Johnson.

I'll be at tonight's City Council meeting. Follow my tweets at Ryan_Lillis and look for coverage in tomorrow's Bee.