All posts by Jeremy Bryne

$15m Plan to Revive Old Sacramento’s Business Scene

Business news, Community, , ,

Old Sacramento may be getting a $15 million revamp thanks to riverfront project manager Richard Rich’s plans to boost tourism and local business in the area. In an effort to make a new name for the historic district, Rich proposed a wide range of improvements at a recent City Council meeting, with everything from a new Ferris Wheel or other landmark to upping local artistry and encouraging a new startup scene amongst the upper floors of old buildings.

 

Rich’s vision extends beyond just flashy cosmetic improvements. He stated that he hopes to draw attention to Old Sacramento’s entertainment scene as well as its historical position by restructuring the pedestrian experience, mainly by fixing up the K Street pedestrian tunnel under Interstate 5 and turning it into a dramatic, interactive light show. He also hopes to draw visitors of the California State Railroad Museum into the district by enhancing access to the River, adding barges and building a themed waterpark to entertain both locals and tourists.

 

Downtown Sacramento Partnership executive director Michael Ault believes Rich’s plans “would be a great addition to Old Sacramento and would enhance the entire city.” It will also boost local businesses and attract new companies to the area, doing wonders for the city.

Street Performances

Culture,

It seems that there has been some controversy on Sacramento’s street performances recently. As such, officials from The City of Sacramento have joined forces with the arts community to try to improve the relationship between the two to eliminate confusion on rights and to enhance mutual respect. One particular complaint given was noise complaints so that is also being addressed now in an overall effort to build a system that is viable for everyone.

The City then decided to give musicians an open opportunity to do what they wanted on a Saturday afternoon. With #BuskingDay2017 partnerships local businesses were subject to way larger crowds than usual, boosting their sales.

In general it’s been found to be good for the local economy too. A local city study found that cultural tourists are spending an average of $30 per person which generates an additional $112 million for the local economy every year. thereafter that is put into the community and Sacramento citizens buy and sell local too.

For the future plans are being considered on how to bolster the economy while making it more diverse and creative, involving the arts, food and technology as well. Local buskers would be most welcome to participate.

 

 

Super Sacramento Start-Ups

Economy, , ,

Sacramento really is becoming one of the top places for start-ups, technological firms and more. not only are they starting there, they are also succeeding and thriving.

One example is the SupportPay CEO and founder, Sheri Atwood who was recently ranked #5 in the “50 Women in Tech Dominating Silicon Valley. ” Her beginnings were humble. She began her journey while assembling an expense report for Symantec. During this she began wondering how it could possibly be used to benefit the problem she was encountering with child support. At that point she left her position at the firm (where she was a Vice President), learned how to code and began developing her app. Within less than 12 months she had her first 100 users and was able to identify the features that were most needed along with an ideal price point.

Very soon, Atwood realized that there were a lot of divorcees who would gladly pay if they could get their childhood affairs automated by a program. Unfortunately, other VC’s with her were doubtful about this so set a standard monthly price of $9.99. This pushed back the program, with funds decreasing. Atwood then realized she needed an investor. Luckily it seemed that at just that point she was in the right place at the right time. Two of Silicon’s most established players Marc Benioff and Tim Draper put up the $100k investment. Since that moment, SupportPay has managed to raise $4m and are now in Sacramento!

Sacramento to Become Hub for Alternative Meat Industry

Business news, ,

The future of the animal-free animal products industry is booming.  And Sacramento seems to be becoming the address for a lot of its investments.  According to a recent article in Business Insider, “seventy-one investors worth a combined $1.9 trillion are working together to put pressure on the world’s largest food companies to “future proof” their supply chains by bringing more meat alternatives to market.”

Two biochemists recently came to San Francisco and opened up their research lab for their firm Finless Foods on a bench in a basement in SoMa, conveniently just beneath their San Francisco biotech accelerator investor – IndieBio. Finless Foods is attempting to create a simulacrum of bluefin tuna fillet to help relieve the pressure on the prized – but severely overfished – species.

What companies like Finless Foods are trying to do is respond to the decrease in demand for the future of animal produce and to hack yeast cells to produce egg whites; torque plant proteins into muscle-like fibers and grow slaughter-free “duck” or “chicken” in factories. Should this be the future, it will likely be Sacramento that will become one of the global addresses for hub (along with the rest of the Bay area). The entire factory farming industry is undergoing an evolution and investments are being put into animal agriculture.

Development of Woodland City

Environment, ,

While it is taken almost four years to gain approval, now that everyone is on board, serious development of Woodland City is about to begin.  The 2035 General Plan – that will be two decades in the making – will cost around $2 million.

The document contains nine elements, comprising the main goals for the vision of the city to benefit the 57,000 residents there.  Initially, various procedures will be undertaken to align zoning codes with new codes, will occur.  This should take around two years.  For the longer-term, issues connected to land use, housing, public safety, recreation, etc., will be brought up to date as well. The Climate Action Plan has been established to shake up the community’s commitment to sustainable and renewable energy as well as the reduction of pollution.

The main goal is for the Spring Lake development in Spring Lake to be completed before any other area of expansion is approved. Those living there – many of whom moved in during the Great Recession – have been waiting a long time for the completion of various local amenities.  It is hoped that Spring Lake will be fully developed within the next decade.

Women Leading Tech Region

Business news, ,

It seems that it would not be a bad idea – financially, logistically, ecologically – for women to lead the tech revolution in Sacramento. Here are some of the reasons why.

A new accelerator for women entrepreneurs in Sacramento – FourthWave – (which was originally launched in LA in 2014 with the intention of being developed in other states) – is helping this actualize.  Pointing to Kauffman Foundation research which found that  “women-led private technology companies are more capital-efficient, achieve 35 percent higher return on investment, and, when venture-backed, bring in 12 percent higher revenue than male-owned tech companies,” Fourth Wave executives are now trying to get the women the support they need.  Most significantly what they are lacking is early capital to get started, which traditionally is discriminately given to men over women.

It was most fitting that Sacramento was the first city to adopt FourthWave.  The city has many women leaders in the tech and design community (including Cheryl Beninga, Tracy Saville and Melanie Weir) and it is becoming quite the tech hub.  This is also due to the commitment to finances and mentoring with a city grant having been given to FourthWave Sacramento.

In addition, Sacramento is working on its ecosystem which is becoming evident through female leadership.  Female entrepreneurs are working in healthtech, edtech and more and it’s working out for them being in Sacramento.

Let’s not forget also that Sacramento is actually the nation’s largest economy and thus might be able to impact other cities that are seeking to rebrand themselves within different partnerships and with women in power.

With all this in mind, Sacramento could become the next best place for women in top tech executive positions.

Traveling Electrically

Environment,

The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality District has just launched its “Our Community, Car-Share Program” in three public housing complexes (Alder Grove, Edge Water and Lemon Hill).  This will provide Sacramento residents in three public housing complexes with free access to electric vehicles.

Air Quality Engineer at the District, Steffani Charkiewicz explained that the enterprise was undertaken in order to “provide access to electric vehicles for these residents and to improve their quality of life. These vehicles will be available for short trips – a maximum of three hours at a time – and they’ll be able to go run errands, go to the grocery store, go to a doctor’s appointment, go to a job interview.”

Users will need to register if they want to take advantage of the two Kia Soul electric cars available in each neighborhood.  It is hoped that it will make it easier for residents who are having an increasingly difficult time getting around the city since buses are expensive and less reliable.

Starting as a pilot program for a year, it is funded by California Cap-and-Trade which is donating over a million dollars. Other funds are coming from other municipal agencies in Sacramento.

Top Sacramento Firms

Employment, ,

In a recent ranking of top firms by Business Journal, Sunworks Inc. was ranked as Top Solar Contractor.  The solar power solutions for residential and commercial markets, stepped up from position #4 in 2015 to the top place of #1 in 2016.

Of the ranking, CEO of the company Chuck Cargile said: “We are honored to have been recognized by the Sacramento Business Journal on this achievement. Sunworks’ local offices installed more than 56,000 AC kilowatts of generation in 2016. This achievement is particularly impressive considering that this high level of output was nearly three times the total amount installed by the #2 ranked company.”