Building Our Future

Aggie Square, the innovation hub taking shape at the UC Davis Health Center campus on Stockton Boulevard, is a big deal. One of the biggest ever for the university and the city.

It’s also a big deal for nearby neighborhoods, especially Oak Park, which experienced the downside of being next to the booming health campus while receiving few of the benefits.

Mayor Darrell Steinberg, a champion of the project with UC Chancellor Gary May, called the $1.1 billion development “the single biggest economic initiative for the city in decades.” He tells me he feels so good about Aggie Square he will deliver his final State of the City speech there Sept. 19.

Sacramento needs new housing in all varieties, locations and price ranges. This reality is part of what makes the American River One high-rise apartment proposal on the American River near Downtown so intriguing.

The 3-acre site at Bercut Drive off Richards Boulevard was home to the Hungry Hunter and Rusty Duck restaurants, torn down years ago.

Now, property owner Steve Ayers, who also owns the Elks Tower, has city approval to build four residential apartment towers ranging from 11 to 18 stories in a city that hasn’t exactly embraced high-rise apartment living.

I’m partial to downtowns. Growing up in Chicago, nothing was more exciting than a trip to the Loop, where the energy and attractions were better than anywhere else in the city or suburbs.

The comeback of downtowns after years of suburban flight became a familiar story the past few decades. Downtown was where the action was, where you went to see a play or concert, shop at the best stores, eat at the finest restaurants.

Downtown is a healthy city’s front door, welcoming workers and visitors. Because such a large part of the population works and spends leisure time there, a strong downtown is the economic engine that pays for many city services.

Dan Dunmoyer, president and CEO of the California Building Industry Association, likes to cite numbers when asked about the state’s housing crisis.

“In 1963, we built 331,000 homes in California and the population was half what it is now,” he says. “Last year, we built about 120,000 and we have a population at least twice that size.”

We can do the math. Prices are driven largely by supply and demand. California is woefully short on supply.

To dig deeper and get the homebuilder perspective, I reached out to Dunmoyer, who I enjoyed working with when I was Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s speechwriter. Dunmoyer was the governor’s cabinet secretary, juggling multiple complex issues.

But first, Dunmoyer politely corrected me. We don’t have a housing crisis. We have a housing policy crisis.

California has an estimated 31 million registered motor vehicles, nearly twice as many as Texas, the next closest state. All those cars make the work of Mellissa Meng and her colleagues at North Natomas Jibe vital.

North Natomas Jibe is a nonprofit devoted to making it easier for people to walk, bike and use public transportation. Meng is executive director.

Add John Hodgson and Bob Chase to the long list of prominent Sacramentans frustrated with city government’s response to homelessness.

Unlike some critics who hate to see encampments but offer no solutions, these two friends, both in their 70s, pursue creative ways to make a difference.

For the past three years, Hodgson, a land-use attorney and developer, and Chase, an architect with a history of public service, worked with colleagues from the Urban Land Institute and American Association of Architects Central Valley to promote their plans for transitional housing throughout the city.