All posts by Jeremy Bryne

California GOP Convention

Politics,

Sacramento’s Hyatt Regency Hotel and Convention Center just hosted the California GOP Convention, which was attended by thousands of supporters and members of the Republican Party. As Congressman Darrell Issa said:

“I’m excited to be joining Californians from all over the state at this year’s organizing convention.  It’s an exciting time for Republicans. There is a lot of work to be done in Washington to protect Californians and position us for a more vibrant future.”

Up for discussion are a variety of issues including: agriculture, economy and jobs, education, government transparency, healthcare, immigration and more.

Business Booming in El Dorado Hills

Business news, , , , ,

With additional tenants moving into El Dorado Hills, the Town Center continues to enjoy growth, boosting the economy.  A staggering 19 businesses signed leases for over 32,000 square feet and will be (or are already) opening soon.  According to co-general partner of the Mansour/Nagle Partnership Tony Mansour, last year was really great for the area.  This sentiment was echoed by his partner, Kevin Nagle who explained that their “strategy that [they] began executing two years ago is yielding excellent results. The new tenants, offering a wide range of services, are loving the traffic and that attracts other great businesses.”

Some of the new businesses that have opened include: Blow Me Away, Coastline Travel Advisors, EDH Insurance Solutions, fitRide, Folsom Lake Eye Care, Tea Xotics and The Game Room Adventure Café. In the near future, these will be joined by C. Knight’s Steak House, Keller Williams, Paramount Equity Mortgage and Pure Barre.

Perhaps Norman Roos was correct in his article in Nico Rivolta promoting the benefits of starting a business in Sacramento when he said:

“Without question, Sacramento offers many features that appeal to the start-up community – attracting innovators and investors from all over. Real estate prices, both residential and commercial, are a big part of that appeal. In San Francisco the he median list price per square foot is $847, as opposed to the $164 required in Sacramento. This greater affordibility creates two benefits to startups: on one hand, it allows entrepreneurs to quickly and efficiently move into viable work spaces from which to launch their products and ideas, and secondly, it makes it easier for those same entrepreneurs to actually live in the community in which they work; something that has become near impossible for startups in the San Francisco area.”

Either way Sacramento seems to have quite a lot to offer for business owners in the region.

Sacramento Weir Openings

Infrastructure, ,

Last month witnessed the opening of supplemental gates on the Sacramento Weir.  This was the action of the California Department of Water Resources and marked the first time in 10 years that these had been opened.  The move was undertaken following the manifestation of heavy storms throughout the region.

Historically, Californians have loved water. Opening this infrastructure (which is 100 years old) was quite the spectacle.  It required someone to use a long, hooked pole to manually unlatch all of the 48 wooden floodgates.

But, as interested as Sacramentans may have been, it seems sleep won through since state workers opened the weir while it was still dark, very early in the morning.  Still, those who wanted were able to catch a glimpse of the water thundering over the weir and into the Yolo Bypass, thereafter flooding the plain and protecting Sacramento city.

Weirs can be beneficial to cities such as Sacramento. They are extremely simple devices used to measure open channel flows and are inexpensive with an easy installation process.  Further, weir boxes can be helpful in cases where flow is above ground and water flow is piped.  In the case of Sacramento, the weir used flushes excess water into the Yolo Bypass floodplain from the Sacramento River system.  This ensures Sacramento and neighboring river towns are less likely to get swamped.

Sacramento Workers More Optimistic

Economy,

With the new US President it seems a lot of workers in Sacramento are feeling optimistic.  They believe – according to a new report – that Trump will be “good for the regional economy.” And so far there is potential evidence of this already in the works.  According to San Francisco’s Federal Reserve Bank CEO and President, John C. Williams, there has already been a significant enhancement to Sacramento’s labor market, with an additional 120,000 jobs in the metro area since 2010, following the housing crash, recession and high unemployment rate.  Today unemployment stands at almost 5 percent (less than half of what it was back in 2010).

This optimism most definitely fits in with Sacramento City’s pledge last August to become a Fab City. This 50-year-commitment renders the city the first of its kind on the Pacific West Coast to honor the MIT-spearheaded proposal, the Fab City Initiative. This means (according to its description) it will be a “new urban model for locally productive and globally connected, self-sufficient cities.” If successful, Sacramento will create for itself a micro-economy that can be sustained locally, which will render it independent from economic challenges nationwide.

Citizens will be able to produce what they consume, focusing substantially more (if not completely) on its own home-grown food, etc., enhancing its very own economy.

Why Small Businesses are Setting up in Sacramento

Business news

It appears that more businesses are coming to Sacramento.

Sacramento Metro Chamber in partnership with Sac State School of Business are working together at the Small Business Development Center. The center serves 8 counties, 8 regional hubs including Sacramento.
The Metro Chamber took on this endeavor because it fits with their mission to “support businesses and help them grow within our region.” After two years of operation, much has been achieved between December 2014 and 2016 including:
1. 73 new businesses that were created within the region
2. 320 new jobs that are employing people in the area and retaining 186 jobs through those businesses
3. 119 loans that infused over $21 m capital into our small business community.

The Swearing in of Sacramento’s New Mayor

Community

In December of last year, Darrel Steinberg was officially sworn in as the new Mayor of Sacramento. He is the city’s 56th Mayor. He was elected for this post in June of last year and boasts a history of local politics. A Democrat, Steinberg was leader of the California State Senate’s majority party between 2008 and 2014 as well as the California Senate President pro Tempore. Prior to that he was a California State Assembly member (from 1998 to 2004) and even earlier, a member of the Sacramento City Council (a position he took on in 1992 for the duration of six years).

Curtis Park Building

Restaurants, , ,

A new café is hopefully sprouting up.  Sacramento’s Curtis Park has an office building which is hoping to have its application approved for creating a family-friendly café at 2750 24th Street.

If it meets city planning guidelines, the Craft House will be 4,300 square feet and will feature indoor and outdoor seating as well as a sound wall to stop any noise generated from outdoor seating impacting the neighborhood, which is largely residential.  It will be open between 8 am and 8 pm so as not to “negatively impact the local residents,” while at the same time, bringing together “locals, providing a sense of community.”

There will be other green initiatives at the café such as a green screen which will reduce light from windows.  A trash enclosure will be placed on commercial zoning (the building being zoned for office use so will thus require a zoning administrator restaurant permit).

Property records show the owner as being Rainbow Montessori’s Larry Rodenborn who purchased the building in July of last year for $560,000 from the Northern California Lions Sight Association.

New Business Openings in the Area

Business news, , ,

What is new – business-wise – in Sacramento?  Right now, there are plans for a new Dunkin’ Donuts branch to be in East Sacramento, across from Corti Brothers which should open in the middle of next year.

But that’s not all.  For fashion lovers, they will be pleased to hear about the new Country Club Plaza additions, which might be quite welcome for those who have dunked a few too many donuts.  Yes, a much needed exercise center – Planet Fitness – is due to open TODAY at the Watt and El Camino Avenue retail center. Early in 2017 hungry burger lovers will be pleased to hear about the opening of the Flaming Grill Cafe as well as the hibachi buffet.  Later on in the year it is hoped a new movie theater will be opening too.

Meanwhile downtown Sacramento is getting a new investor.  A building that has multi-purposes will be able to  now get much-needed renovations, especially in the office areas.  Elvidge Family LP is investing $11.62 million in the 1007 Seventh Street building.

Living History Events

Culture,

state-parkLater on this month, California State Parks and Sutter’s Fort State Historic Park will be offering the public two Living History events.

For those interested in the history of the area – back in 1846 – visitors to the Park will be able to join docents clad in period attire who will act out what day-to-day life was like back in that time. Between 10.00 and 17.00 during the day the participants will be able to talk to the blacksmith, barter with the trade store clerk and engage in other regular activities that were a part of life back then. Cameras are allowed and pictures can be taken while seated in the covered wagon.

Then, between 18.30 and 20.00, every 10 minutes Candlelight Tours will set off.  There will be no regular lights, just the use of candles to light up the Fort for the guides to direct small groups into the more intimate rooms so that they can see what it was like for those who picked up their families and went to seek out a better life in early California.  The participants get to listen in on discussions typical discussions that took place in homes of Fort inhabitants about their neighbors and comment on 1846 current events.  The last part is partaking of a piece of pie and hot drink while discussing which 1846 story was their particular highlight.

So get ready for this November 21st event.  At $7 per adult and $5 per youth (with kids five years and younger for free) this brings today’s locals in line with how Sacramento living was for people centuries ago.