Imposter Syndrome
Steinberg’s curse was obvious: He replaced a sports star
By R.E. Graswich
October 2024
Too bad Darrell Steinberg followed a sports legend into the mayor’s office. Chasing Kevin Johnson’s shadow for eight years, Steinberg stumbled and fumbled, doomed from the start.
Homeless counts rose from 2,700 to 10,000 under Steinberg. City budgets shifted from austere and balanced to disaster zones filled with temporary fixes. The City Council patched a $66 million deficit this year. Expect worse in 2025.
On the sports front, Steinberg tried to snare Major League Soccer. He lacks a team, league, stadium and financing plan. But he’s optimistic.
Contrast these failures with the arena and cultural gathering place at Seventh and K streets built on Johnson’s watch. I was Kevin’s special assistant during his first mayoral term and know how this happened.
Primary credit for Golden 1 Center rests with the late NBA Commissioner David Stern. But Stern and Johnson produced a generational win for the city.
Stern and Johnson worked as a team. The commissioner devised the strategy. The mayor ran the plays. Together they kept the Kings in town and created a sports and entertainment district.
Absent Stern and Johnson, a boarded-up shopping mall would intensify Downtown’s troubles today.
The lack of victories and coherence over the last eight years at City Hall wouldn’t surprise Johnson. He never liked Steinberg. Kevin considered Darrell just another politician.
The disdain was mutual. Steinberg took office in 2016 eager to distance himself from his predecessor. The new mayor made homelessness his crusade. He figured his legislative connections would generate support to reduce the legion of people living on sidewalks.
But Steinberg never produced like Johnson. Sacramento Steps Forward, the nonprofit that coordinates regional homeless services, was Johnson’s creation. Steinberg leaves nothing of similar weight. Homeless camps and despair ballooned on his watch.
Steinberg brought no improvement to the unhoused crisis until his eighth year, when homeless numbers slightly shrank. The decline was likely a blip caused by new data protocols.
Steinberg’s legacy also comes up short from economic perspectives.
Kevin Johnson arrived in 2008, the depths of the Great Recession. He met a hostile City Council jealous of his showmanship and star power. The city survived with tough decisions and layoffs.
By contrast, the City Council welcomed Steinberg. He faced the pandemic supported by millions of federal and state dollars, then squandered much of the money.
Steinberg is the first Sacramento mayor to follow an NBA star. But he’s not the first to misunderstand the civic importance of sports.
For 40 years, public sports passions confused mayors and pushed them into unfamiliar positions. Sports can humiliate a politician.
In 1985, when Mayor Anne Rudin attended her first Kings game, the crowd booed. Rudin tried to explain how she supported the team’s move from Kansas City and worked to resolve zoning restrictions on land for Arco Arena.
But her fear of sprawl in North Natomas—a legitimate concern—made her an enemy of sports fans.
Sports burned Rudin again in 1989. She led the City Council in a unanimous vote to pay a $50 million relocation fee to move the Los Angeles Raiders to Sacramento.
The deal collapsed when local investors clashed over stadium ownership percentages. Raiders owner Al Davis concluded Sacramento wasn’t serious. He moved back to Oakland. The $50 million went toward neighborhood projects.
Mayor Joe Serna Jr. tried to enlist regional governments to help build sports facilities. City and county officials from Woodland to Auburn laughed him out of their offices. Frustrated by sports, Mayor Serna watched idly as West Sac grabbed the River Cats.
Mayor Heather Fargo met with David Stern at City Hall to discuss strategies for a new arena. The meeting went nowhere. Stern visited the State Capitol. He got a cigar from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Several arena plans died before Johnson became mayor.
Steinberg wasn’t a total loser. He twice persuaded voters to raise sales taxes. Johnson would not have bothered. As a rich sports star, he never liked taxes.
R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
