Sacramento arena task force picks Kamilos-Taylor plan for railyard site
So let me get this straight. R.E. Graswich, the man who has time and time again spoke out AGAINST the Malofs and how Sacramento doesn't not need the Maloofs, or the Kings, is Mayor Johnson's Special Assistant??
Wow....
For a Mayor that has made it his main purpose to get a new Entertainment and Sports complex built come hell or high water, that sure is an interesting choice for Special Assistant. I'm not sure if worries me that Graswich may have ANY input, or if it's a sign that he needed a job after a working for a sinking paper, and he's had to swallow his pride and go along with all of this since the Mayor is pro Kings and pro Maloofs.
When this plan gets done, which I hope it does, I want to see Graswich's face having to stand next to the Mayor as he announces the date which construction will begin after the land swap deals have been inked. I hope Graswich has to cry himself to sleep for years to come.
Wow....
For a Mayor that has made it his main purpose to get a new Entertainment and Sports complex built come hell or high water, that sure is an interesting choice for Special Assistant. I'm not sure if worries me that Graswich may have ANY input, or if it's a sign that he needed a job after a working for a sinking paper, and he's had to swallow his pride and go along with all of this since the Mayor is pro Kings and pro Maloofs.
When this plan gets done, which I hope it does, I want to see Graswich's face having to stand next to the Mayor as he announces the date which construction will begin after the land swap deals have been inked. I hope Graswich has to cry himself to sleep for years to come.
I don't know why I even look at comments on the Bee site. Reading so much ignorance makes my eyes bleed. 
Many of them arguments make no logical sense at all.
No one can afford to go to games, so let them go. Unemployment is so high and the economy will be bad for years!
Hello...the Kings leave and a major sacramento employer leaves. 1,000 jobs gone. Not to mention two major investors are offering to pour one heckuva a lot of money into Sacramento. Which will create jobs for years in construction and associated job fields. The city gets to collect lots of permit, inspection fees and sales taxes downtown and at the converted Cal Expo sites.
Cal Expo will take years to fully develop out, meaning many jobs for years. It will bring in all those sources of revenue during that time (right now they get nothing from the site, because its state land). Commerical projects will pay property taxes. Some businesses will pay state and local sales tax. Those who buy homes there will pay property taxes, assessments and impact fees. The city will lose some of that on the new Cal expo site, but it's much less acreage, although I think its a much better location for the fair and they don't use a lot of the current site anyway.
I could go on, but I'm ranting too much. They don't want to pay for an arena, but now that that's not really an issue they thinkup a bunch of other arguments. Too many people just spend their lives knocking everything and everyone down. They would have thought the Declaration of Independence was full of really bad ideas.
Many of them arguments make no logical sense at all. No one can afford to go to games, so let them go. Unemployment is so high and the economy will be bad for years!
Hello...the Kings leave and a major sacramento employer leaves. 1,000 jobs gone. Not to mention two major investors are offering to pour one heckuva a lot of money into Sacramento. Which will create jobs for years in construction and associated job fields. The city gets to collect lots of permit, inspection fees and sales taxes downtown and at the converted Cal Expo sites.
Cal Expo will take years to fully develop out, meaning many jobs for years. It will bring in all those sources of revenue during that time (right now they get nothing from the site, because its state land). Commerical projects will pay property taxes. Some businesses will pay state and local sales tax. Those who buy homes there will pay property taxes, assessments and impact fees. The city will lose some of that on the new Cal expo site, but it's much less acreage, although I think its a much better location for the fair and they don't use a lot of the current site anyway.
I could go on, but I'm ranting too much. They don't want to pay for an arena, but now that that's not really an issue they thinkup a bunch of other arguments. Too many people just spend their lives knocking everything and everyone down. They would have thought the Declaration of Independence was full of really bad ideas.
Last edited:
I don't know why I even look at comments on the Bee site. Reading so much ignorance makes my eyes bleed. Many of them arguments make no logical sense at all.
No one can afford to go to games, so let them go. Unemployment is so high and the economy will be bad for years!
Hello...the Kings leave and a major sacramento employer leaves. 1,000 jobs gone. Not to mention two major investors are offering to pour one heckuva a lot of money in Sacramento. Which will create jobs for years in construction and associated job fields. The city gets to collect lots of permit, inspection fees and sales taxes downtown and at the converted Cal Expo sites.
Cal Expo will take years to fully develop out, meaning many jobs for years. It will bring in all those sources of revenue during that time (right now they get nothing from the site, because its state land). Commerical projects will pay property taxes. Some businesses will pay state and local sales tax. Those who buy homes there will pay property taxes, assessments and impact fees. The city will lose some of that on the new Cal expo site, but it's much less acreage, although I think its a much better location for the fair and they don't use a lot of the current site anyway.
I could go on, but I'm ranting too much. They don't want to pay for an arena, but now that that's not really an issue they thinkup a bunch of other arguments. Too many people just spend their lives knocking everything and everyone down. The would have thought the Declaration of Independence was full of really bad ideas.
Many of them arguments make no logical sense at all. No one can afford to go to games, so let them go. Unemployment is so high and the economy will be bad for years!
Hello...the Kings leave and a major sacramento employer leaves. 1,000 jobs gone. Not to mention two major investors are offering to pour one heckuva a lot of money in Sacramento. Which will create jobs for years in construction and associated job fields. The city gets to collect lots of permit, inspection fees and sales taxes downtown and at the converted Cal Expo sites.
Cal Expo will take years to fully develop out, meaning many jobs for years. It will bring in all those sources of revenue during that time (right now they get nothing from the site, because its state land). Commerical projects will pay property taxes. Some businesses will pay state and local sales tax. Those who buy homes there will pay property taxes, assessments and impact fees. The city will lose some of that on the new Cal expo site, but it's much less acreage, although I think its a much better location for the fair and they don't use a lot of the current site anyway.
I could go on, but I'm ranting too much. They don't want to pay for an arena, but now that that's not really an issue they thinkup a bunch of other arguments. Too many people just spend their lives knocking everything and everyone down. The would have thought the Declaration of Independence was full of really bad ideas.
What I find dissapointing is that the Bee blindly puts up a "popular comment" on the web page of the article, almost implying to those who don't know better that this is the consensus opinion of the region. More often than not, the "popular comment" is a negative one. Now I think, and I'm giving the Bee the benefit of the doubt on this, is that they take the comment that gets the most recommended hits and automatically puts that up as the "popular comment" or at least I hope so. If that's not the case, the bee is just in bed with those who don't want a new arena to go up.
And even if they are just automatically putting up the comment based on recommended hits, it's not a good policy as the bee should know that the comments will be negative based on history. It would make sense for the major area paper to at least make an attempt to get behind a major project like this and putting up those comments don't do the project any favors. I guess they are paranoid of losing subscribers if they don't toe the ignorant poster line.
And even if they are just automatically putting up the comment based on recommended hits, it's not a good policy as the bee should know that the comments will be negative based on history. It would make sense for the major area paper to at least make an attempt to get behind a major project like this and putting up those comments don't do the project any favors. I guess they are paranoid of losing subscribers if they don't toe the ignorant poster line.
Agreed although I got a kick out of putting one of them in check today. Someone said "And how much do the Maloofs contribute? Didn't think so" as if to imply that the Maloofs aren't paying a dime. I replied with a simple "300 million over 30 years in the form of rent and am not sure about parking revenue".
I was gonna be even meaner by saying that this fact could be found in paragraph 12 or whatever in the article that we are commenting on but I'll save him the embarassment unless he comes back with some smart a** reply like "how the ^$% do you know this?"
I was gonna be even meaner by saying that this fact could be found in paragraph 12 or whatever in the article that we are commenting on but I'll save him the embarassment unless he comes back with some smart a** reply like "how the ^$% do you know this?"
Last edited:
I don't know why I even look at comments on the Bee site. Reading so much ignorance makes my eyes bleed. Many of them arguments make no logical sense at all.
No one can afford to go to games, so let them go. Unemployment is so high and the economy will be bad for years!
Hello...the Kings leave and a major sacramento employer leaves. 1,000 jobs gone. Not to mention two major investors are offering to pour one heckuva a lot of money into Sacramento. Which will create jobs for years in construction and associated job fields. The city gets to collect lots of permit, inspection fees and sales taxes downtown and at the converted Cal Expo sites.
Cal Expo will take years to fully develop out, meaning many jobs for years. It will bring in all those sources of revenue during that time (right now they get nothing from the site, because its state land). Commerical projects will pay property taxes. Some businesses will pay state and local sales tax. Those who buy homes there will pay property taxes, assessments and impact fees. The city will lose some of that on the new Cal expo site, but it's much less acreage, although I think its a much better location for the fair and they don't use a lot of the current site anyway.
I could go on, but I'm ranting too much. They don't want to pay for an arena, but now that that's not really an issue they thinkup a bunch of other arguments. Too many people just spend their lives knocking everything and everyone down. They would have thought the Declaration of Independence was full of really bad ideas.
Many of them arguments make no logical sense at all. No one can afford to go to games, so let them go. Unemployment is so high and the economy will be bad for years!
Hello...the Kings leave and a major sacramento employer leaves. 1,000 jobs gone. Not to mention two major investors are offering to pour one heckuva a lot of money into Sacramento. Which will create jobs for years in construction and associated job fields. The city gets to collect lots of permit, inspection fees and sales taxes downtown and at the converted Cal Expo sites.
Cal Expo will take years to fully develop out, meaning many jobs for years. It will bring in all those sources of revenue during that time (right now they get nothing from the site, because its state land). Commerical projects will pay property taxes. Some businesses will pay state and local sales tax. Those who buy homes there will pay property taxes, assessments and impact fees. The city will lose some of that on the new Cal expo site, but it's much less acreage, although I think its a much better location for the fair and they don't use a lot of the current site anyway.
I could go on, but I'm ranting too much. They don't want to pay for an arena, but now that that's not really an issue they thinkup a bunch of other arguments. Too many people just spend their lives knocking everything and everyone down. They would have thought the Declaration of Independence was full of really bad ideas.
Man some of these people are just against progress. One guy said that if they move Calxpo to Natomas he'll no longer go. Well, goodbye then! We certainly don't want to put you out by making you travel futher. What a bunch of losers.
Yeah people complained about traffic and parking when Arco 1 went up in 1985. End of life as we know it... blah blah blah. There will always be a group of citizens who are against everything. Public opinion isn't what needs to be worried about on this deal. It's the concern over Cal Expo and their part of the deal. This deal has lots of moving parts, but the public is not voting and that was the biggest obstacle to a new arena.
Actually, I had a chance to walk around the general area of Staples and there is a rather large parking structure a couple of blocks away. It serves the Nokia Theater, a brand new Regal Cinema complex and other establishments/offices in Nokia Plaza. The LA Convention Center buildings are just a couple of blocks away, too.
The new Giants ball park has parking for only 5,000 vehicles. Transit happens to be good there. BART also stops right in back of the A, stadium next to the Warriors arena and is heavily used by fans.
I went to United Arena in Chicago, that seats 22,000 and it was full that night. That's more people than a new Sacramento Arena is supposed to hold. We road the El train and walked a couple of blocks. We were not the only ones and plenty of transit busses dropped off and picked up right in front of the arena. There was parking, but not a ton of it.
Finally, are poeple ignoring the fact that the city would like to see the arena and transit center in one building? They could then use State and Federal transporation dollars to help build the structure. Even if they are not in one building, the intent is to have it very close by. It shouldn't need as much parking. Thank goodness, because it eliminates having an arena sitting in the middle of acres of asphalt with no nearby places to walk to like restaurants and stores.
Californians really need to get over their car fetish and get behind more and better transit systems. Its just the cheaper and environmentally healthier way to get around. Its also the normal way to get around for thousands of people in other big cities. We used mass transit and walking to get everywhere we wanted to go in Chicago. Same in Washington DC and NY.
The new Giants ball park has parking for only 5,000 vehicles. Transit happens to be good there. BART also stops right in back of the A, stadium next to the Warriors arena and is heavily used by fans.
I went to United Arena in Chicago, that seats 22,000 and it was full that night. That's more people than a new Sacramento Arena is supposed to hold. We road the El train and walked a couple of blocks. We were not the only ones and plenty of transit busses dropped off and picked up right in front of the arena. There was parking, but not a ton of it.
Finally, are poeple ignoring the fact that the city would like to see the arena and transit center in one building? They could then use State and Federal transporation dollars to help build the structure. Even if they are not in one building, the intent is to have it very close by. It shouldn't need as much parking. Thank goodness, because it eliminates having an arena sitting in the middle of acres of asphalt with no nearby places to walk to like restaurants and stores.
Californians really need to get over their car fetish and get behind more and better transit systems. Its just the cheaper and environmentally healthier way to get around. Its also the normal way to get around for thousands of people in other big cities. We used mass transit and walking to get everywhere we wanted to go in Chicago. Same in Washington DC and NY.
Indeed. Good luck finding a parking lot for the Verizon Center here in DC... there isn't one! Now, California's car culture and the simple layout of West Coast cities makes this unrealistic in the short term in Sacramento, but I think putting the arena in the railyards where there is potential to tap existing and new mass transit lines makes a lot of sense. Personally, I plan to eventually live in the Bay Area for a while, and I look forward to taking the bullet train up for Kings games
Problem is, often they don't go anywhere useful. I use Sacramento as a prime example.
I would absolutely love to be able to get on light rail somewhere near where I live (Galt area) and get to a Kings game, or the airport, or Davis, or the Roseville Galleria, or Arden Faire Mall, or Sac State, or any other number of locations. Problem is light rail in Sacramento is useless unless you want to go to the Downtown Plaza. Um, yippee? Yeah, it helps some folks with their commute, but college students and people going to PLACES can't use it at all in any manner that makes sense.
And by not extending it to outlying areas it doesn't work well for helping commuters.
I would absolutely love to be able to get on light rail somewhere near where I live (Galt area) and get to a Kings game, or the airport, or Davis, or the Roseville Galleria, or Arden Faire Mall, or Sac State, or any other number of locations. Problem is light rail in Sacramento is useless unless you want to go to the Downtown Plaza. Um, yippee? Yeah, it helps some folks with their commute, but college students and people going to PLACES can't use it at all in any manner that makes sense.
And by not extending it to outlying areas it doesn't work well for helping commuters.
