West Sacramento. Population at the time I took my seat on the Planning Commission, just over 31k.
We sit in between 2 thriving markets. Downtown Sacramento and Natomas. Both have ample retail, both strong draws that each claim revenue from my zip code.
Other outlying areas like Davis and Woodland also have thriving retail.
We, on the other hand, had squat. Our local shops were drying on the vine as it was far too inconvienient to shop in town. Most of what you wanted could not be purchased here. No TVs, Clothes, anything major. We had Food and your basic Rite Aid along with a small office supply store.
After incorporation, the City spent years trying to beef up retail but the bottom line was, it wasn't going to come.
Those who worked would shop in the outlying areas for the bulk of their needs, and it just wasn't practicle to buy Most of what you wanted, then drop by the local store to buy the notebook or pencil, they were starving for years. The only game in town, but nobody played.
Outreach to the retailers showed that they could not justify coming to our City as their was not enough population to justify the cost of building. They already got our money, in the neighboring town's stores, so why bother.
We went to the community and explained that the retail they wanted needed bodies, and we showed that we could develop the outlying areas that were pretty much growing hay for the past 20 years, with manageable impacts to our roadway system.
This community had been left dormant by the County for over 40 years, and was in much need of improvements across the board, there was no existing retail that had a large enough base to draw the improvement funds from, so growth was accepted. 5 Years to design a well balanced plan.
One of the Key Ingredients during this was my insistance that any and all development Improve existing conditions, or it was not acceptable. One of the First concerns was our existing mom and pop shops that would, by all arguments, get eaten alive by the new stores that came in. Our mom and pops specialized, the mass marketers had cheaper versions of their products, so damage was envisioned at a massive scale.
One of the community leaders and small shop owners had me speak at the Kiwanis club, and explain how I thought growing and bringing new business to town, like a Target or Walmart, could Possibly be a benefit to the people who have held on so long by a shoestring.
I explained that they were starving. The streets during work hours were empty, Lunch time they swelled, only to empty out again after 1. Nights were Dead, everyone went home. In between this time everyone was out shopping near their jobs and were going home loaded up at night, bypassing the very inconvienient mom and pops around town.
The idea was to keep people Home, take away their reason to shop elsewhere. By increasing the population and attracting the larger retailers, we would provide the means to shop Locally, and be much more convenient to the public. They had but a few years left to stay in business at their current rate of withering, so a solid investment in the City Improvements would lift everyones impression of our town, thereby increasing the availability and desireability of our shops.
Fast Forward.
West Sacramento "was" the blight of Northern California.
Today, it is one of the top few National Markets for Home Investment. We have the Largest Employment to Resident Ratio in the State. We have Strong Independant Grocers as well as a huge and thriving Union Base Manufacturing Center.
The California Fuel Cell Partnership is located here. Residential impact fees has spurred roadway improvement and school investment like the area has never seen.
Major League Ball Park to house the Rivercats, the Triple A team of the Oakland A's is on the riverfront. We built the park as a Major League facility with the intention of attracting the A's here. No public money, our park just kicked the crud out of ball teams that were insisting that public money was needed. Our Cat's are The #1 team and we reward them with full attendance at nearly every game.
Ikea is building in a location directly off the freeway and has turned this location into THE address, as opposed to simply in between 2 existing markets. Ikea draws from half the state, and has helped turn one of the main arteries up to the center from a rundown 2 lane dive of a strip into a fully rebuilt 4 lane road where every shop has invested in everything from total facade improvement to full demo and construction of new expanded facilities.
Super Walmart is coming, bring it on. Again, it was part of the plan, bring retail Home, and it has proven to be the correct idea. Local stores are expanding and gaining ground as more shoppers are exposed to them During normal business hours for a change.
Home Depot? Our 2 local hardware stores cannot wait.
The older couple who own, and still own, the newly refurbished mom and pop stationary store, and asked me to speak at Kiwanis, were one of the first ones to endorse my council campaign.
You have to think beyond the scary stuff and figure out how things work and why, then make it happen to benefit your community.
Walmart isn't the boogie man. Reacting to sound bites and hype is the scary thing.
