Published: 1 years 272 days ago
Sacramento Bee: In a letter Monday to Cal Expo and Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, state Senate leader Darrell Steinberg said he wants more questions answered before the state will consider legislation to allow the sale of Cal Expo as part of a proposal to build a new sports and entertainment facility.
Developers had been pressing in recent weeks for legislation this month to pave the way for a complicated deal that would move the State Fair to the Arco Arena site, current home for the Sacramento Kings, and finance a new arena near the downtown rail depot.
The arena site would be on land the city has agreed to purchase from railyard owner Thomas Enterprises. Arena proponents have said they do not believe Thomas's current financial problems - including potential foreclosure - will affect the arena project, which is separate from Thomas's railyard redevelopment project plans.
Much of the financing would come from the sale and private development of the Cal Expo site, according to the land-swap plan proposed this year by Sacramento developer Gerry Kamilos, and backed by the National Basketball Association.
Senate President Pro Tem Steinberg, D-Sacramento, stepped in Monday to say the time is not right. But in a letter also addressed to Kamilos and the NBA, he held out the possibility that a bill could still be considered at the end of the year.
http://www.sacbee.com/2010/08/23/2977740/darrell-steinberg-state-needs.html#ixzz0xU9rv7xr
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