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Editorial: Railyard Plans, Problems: City Needs Money, Cooperation From UP

Posted on: Friday, 10 March 2006, 12:00 CST

By The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Mar. 10--Sacramento's dormant, decaying railyard seemingly got a jolt of life the other day.

A company that is seeking to buy the 240-acre site from Union Pacific unveiled a new plan on how to convert the sidings and pilings of toxic dirt into a vibrant outpost of offices, condominiums, theaters - even an entertainment district including a site for an arena. It would be a breakthrough if the city could begin planning the future of this site in earnest. But we're not quite there yet.

It's important to focus on what would constitute progress in the railyard. Another plan on paper, no matter how spiffy, is not what the city has been waiting for.

What would truly be progress? Step one is for the Union Pacific Railroad to sell the land to somebody. For years, that somebody seemed to be Millennia Associates of Georgia and a famous architect named Jon Jerde. The ownership group has evolved to be led by Georgian Stan Thomas and his Thomas Enterprises Inc. Thomas has more experience building shopping centers than renovating railyard. But beggars can't be choosers. If the railroad sells the land, and there is a capable developer to plan with the city, that would be a landmark moment.

Other landmark moments have to do with financial progress and political progress on the question of where the depot will be located. Most of the railyard remain too toxic to build upon. The 30 acres just north of the depot, and south of those big brick railroad shop buildings, are ready for renewal. But renewal can't happen until a couple of questions are answered. Will the depot be where it is now, or 1,500 feet to the north, next to the shops? And how will a new multimodal center be paid for?

The idea with most political support seems to be to levitate the old depot and move it and the tracks about 1,500 feet, so that the tracks don't become a barrier for those living and working in the expanded downtown. But is this the best option? And where will the money to do this come from? Answering these questions would be huge steps forward.

As for the plans for the arena in the railyard, it is important to note that this new plan sketches an arena on the land that is still toxic, not on the land ready to develop. This is not an arena plan that can be executed any time soon. Then again, there is no political solution on how to finance a new arena. (In case you've forgotten, the Kings want the public to foot most of the bill; all the tax solutions fare poorly in private polls; and no politician wants to stick his or her neck out too far.) The real arena problem is the mystery of where the $400 million in construction funds would come from. The inclusion of a possible site in this plan doesn't solve that.

Progress, however, has to start somewhere. The new railyard plan will either join the pile of other visions that have died, or be the start of something truly historic. Keep your fingers crossed for the latter.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: The Sacramento Bee

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