Sometimes, there’s no better analogy than a sports analogy. In our efforts to build a new entertainment and sports complex, the comparison fits. We finished the first quarter. We built a 10-point lead. But we’re a long way from the final buzzer. This week, the Sacramento City Council unanimously accepted the recommendations of the Sacramento First citizens Task Force to move toward an exclusive right to negotiate with developers who created the “convergence” plan to replace Arco Arena.
The plan is complex and simple at the same time. Let me leave the complexities for now and explain the simple part:
Convergence means taking three important pieces of land in Sacramento – Cal Expo, Arco and its adjacent property, plus the downtown rail intermodal site – and creating an economic machine.
That machine will produce the opportunity to build a new entertainment and sports complex and new State Fair for our region.
That’s the simple explanation.
Click here to watch my press conference on the details of the convergence plan.
Aligning the pieces to build the machine will be incredibly complicated. It will require cooperation and positive working relationships among the city, state legislature, governor and Cal Expo board, plus private developers.
Can it work? Absolutely. Will it work? Time will tell.
The city council’s unanimous direction this week was the first step. Now city staff is working up a 180-day agreement that will require developers to secure legislative and financial support.
There will be milestones and deadlines. The public will be informed every step along the way.
In upcoming weeks, we will discuss major benefits to Natomas, which can become home to a world-class, 21st century State Fair and exhibition grounds, a true showcase of California’s history and potential.
We will talk about the thousands of jobs that will be created by a project that involves three vast locations and more than 500 acres.
And we will talk about the economic development that accompanies a revitalized downtown – all while putting the taxpayer first, not being used as leverage, negotiating on even terms and thinking in and out of the box.
If our team effort succeeds, we will be at halftime before the 2010 holiday season.
And at halftime, I always expect nothing less than a 15-point lead.
4 Comments
Add Comment