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Opinion: Neighbors not happy with developer’s lack response on McKinley Village

Riverview Capital Investments has left Sacramentans scratching their heads. The venture capital company is leading the latest attempt to develop Lanatt (called ‘McKinley Village’) the low-lying acreage tucked snugly between Business 80 and the Union Pacific tracks. What the company is not doing, however, is answering neighbor’s questions.

Four different attempts have been made to build on the site. When Riverview Capital Investments representatives met with neighborhood groups on February 12^th they presented an old plan, tweaked and recycled, and then asked the neighbors for input.

East Sacramento Preservation’s meeting generated 39 questions and requests for information. Based on the questions, it is clear that safety is the primary concern of the neighborhood. The Lanatt area is a flood plain, and the secondary levee for the area is the elevated Union Pacific track. Punching holes into the train bed for access to the development area is widely regarded as dangerous.

Additionally, the traffic impact would be atrocious. The sketchy Riverview Capital Investments plans show 400+ homes in the small area. Midtown and East Sacramento have worked hard to maintain and groom livable areas. More traffic is ruinous.

We haven’t received answers from Riverview Capital Investments, for any of our queries, nor have any other neighborhood groups. When asked for an update, Riverview Capital Investments Vice President, Megan Norris wrote, “we are still moving forward, but don’t have much more of an update to give at this time.”

Neighbors need an update. We need to know what the company is planning and doing. We live here. We need to know.

Below are the questions asked at the East Sacramento Preservation meeting.

What is your timeline for this project?

Who is building the homes, The New Home Company?

Will there be a traffic study?

Are there protected vernal pools or endangered species in the area?

What firm will do the biological studies?

Can the neighborhood pick the firm?

Can an entrance come from the freeway?

Can we change the name of the project so it has its own identity?

What are you going to do about flooding?

Is using the McKinley Park sewer wise? The system/pumping station is overused now.

What will be the housing types: all two stories?

Can there be more entrances?

What are the plans for the church area?

Are you going to coordinate with the Sutter’s Landing development?

How will you compensate for heavier traffic?

How will you connect to public transportation?

How many garages for each unit and which way will they face?

May we have a list of the design elements that are smart/green?

Do you need to label the project “green?”

Who would like to live in this development when you could buy in East Sac for the same price?

How will you accommodate baby boomers that don’t want to climb stairs…?

Won’t railroad tracks be bothersome?

What if the units don’t sell?

Are there porches on the house plans?

Who owns the property?

Are there plans for gardens, habitat restoration/marshes in free areas?

What will the zip code be?

What is your best idea for sound buffering?

Who will do your noise study?

Will there be bike trail access?

Will the coming high-speed rail run through these tracks?

How will you create access to Sutter’s Landing?

Who will pay for a pool or park? The city?

Will lower income housing be included?

Can you confirm the school district?

Can we annex this to Sac City district?

Will there be CCRs?

Will you keep to your price point?

Can the homes be torn down or remodeled by the owners?

 

 

 

What do you think of when you think of Paris? You think of The Louvre, The

Avenue des Champs-Élysées—the most famous street in the world with its

theatres, cafes, brilliantly planned gardens and fountains. You think of culture,

language, history, art, music, cuisine.

 

London. What do you think of? You think of Parliament, the astonishing British

Museum, the Tate Modern, the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square, the Tower,

the rebuilt Globe, the British Library…you think of wondrous literature and

history commemorated everywhere in a great city.

 

These cities may be called, albeit crudely, ‘world-class’, but in neither of them

do you think first of their basketball arena. You don’t tell your cab driver, “Take

me to your stadium.”

 

In Rome you think of ancient legions of conquerors, magnificent art, the

Vatican, music, Michelangelo… a sumptuous culture alive on every street. But the

only arena you visit is the ruin of the Colosseum.

 

This is the problem with Sacramentans who think another

basketball/entertainment arena (they’re now renaming and reframing the

colossus they want the public to subsidize) will somehow invest us with world-class

status. They don’t understand what truly elevates a city. Really, it’s

embarrassing, like Donald Trump being so proud of the gigantic, “T” on his

building. It’s crass, sad, and shows a shrunken worldview.

 

World-class, according to Merriam-Webster, means “being of the highest

caliber in the world.”

 

World-class would be the MOMA in New York, Golden Gate Park in San

Francisco, the Art Institute of Chicago. But don’t make me go through the

cultural hallmarks of every great city. Let’s simply recognize that sports arenas

did not catapult these places to international renown.

 

A friend recently returned from Prague. He visited the Prague Castle, opened in

870 AD, the Prague National Theatre and the Dancing House. “Did you go to

their arena?” I asked. He looked baffled. “God no. What arena? Even if they had

one, why would I go there?”

 

When friends visit we drive them through our shaded neighborhoods and they

are surprised by the trees and the winter bloom of camellias. Sacramento has

more trees than any city its size anywhere, we tell them. Also as many trees as

Paris or London. We take them to the Crocker, Sutter’s Fort, the Capitol, the Old

Sacramento State Historical Park, the Railroad Museum, the Cathedral. We eat

and drink at the great restaurants in Midtown, stroll the streets, take a drive

along the American River. We are really a fine city, and when we witness our

attractions through the eyes of visitors, our appreciation is renewed. Nobody

ever asks to see our arena.

 

So please, stop telling us that if a struggling city that can’t afford to keep its

pools and libraries open full time builds another massive arena and surrenders

parking revenue to private entities–all this to host games that cost too much

for the kids who need the pools—it will become a world-class city. By whose

reckoning? Whose standards are these? These are the decisions of a City Council

that ignores the expressed will of the people (we voted twice against another

arena) and the standards of builders who will profit. We will not profit. We will

pay.

 

Consider Detroit. It has over four ‘world-class’ arenas (all supposed to

“revitalize” their struggling neighborhoods). It also has crumbling infrastructure,

deadly and multiplying financial problems, escalating crime and gun murder,

50% unemployment, 60,000 vacant buildings, 35 thousand abandoned homes,

more people living in poverty than cars on the streets, and looks increasingly like

a place devastated by bombs or plague. Despite its ‘world-class’ arenas a

quarter of a million people have fled the city in the last decade.

 

So puleeeze, developers and others who stand to profit, don’t tell us an arena

will make us a world-class city. Don’t tell us it will bring more than a few

temporary construction jobs. Don’t patronize us. Don’t act like we’ve never been

anywhere. Don’t assume your potential profit trumps our votes. It doesn’t. Don’t

act like you know what’s good for us. You don’t. What you ought to do, in fact,

is take a few trips (not at our expense) to ‘world-class’ cities yourselves. Then

come back and open those public pools and libraries.

Pat Lynch