When Kevin Johnson was running for mayor, one of the issues on which he ran was boosting economic development and jobs. He also frequently stated that he wanted to makeSacramento a "world-class city."
With 450,000 residents in the city ofSacramento, and 1.7 million residents inSacramento County, Sacramento is a good-sized city, but not a metropolis. The burning question is who really wants Sacramento to become a sizable, "big" city: politicians or residents?
Seattle has a municipal population of 602,000 and a metropolitan area population of 3.3 million, which makes it the 25th most populous city in the United States. Phoenix – Kevin Johnson's favorite city to compare Sacto with – has 1.5 million residents, and the Phoenix metropolitan area is the 12th largest metro area by population in the United States with 4.2 million residents.
Rarely do I hear a Sacramento resident state a desire for Sacramento to become bigger and more populated. It's always a politician expressing interest in making Sacramento bigger. And almost always, it's from a politician with grand aspirations for higher office, using Sacramento as a starting-off point.
Sacramento has had its share of big industry but mostly thrives on small businesses, entrepreneurs and government employees. With more than 100 neighborhood associations in Sacramento, each of our neighborhoods has more of a town feeling. And in truth, our City Council representation reflects more of a town council.
Sacramento's downtown has matured substantially in the past decade with restaurants and entertainment on nearly every block. However, the blighted eyesore known as K Street has floundered under every mayor, as has any riverfront development.
Sacramento's politicians always campaign for and claim to aspire for Sacramento to be a "world-class city." The small-town complex is more intensely felt by our elected officials and seems to be a political status problem. Residents don't suffer from obsessing over Sacramento moving into "world-class" status.
But do we even know what constitutes a "world-class city?" Is it just campaign jargon? Is it having a professional sports team? Is it importance in government or finance? Is a world-class city defined by being home to a large company such as FedEx or Wal-Mart?
The best definition I have found of a "world-class city" comes from Seattle journalist Bill Virgin,who tracks business and economic trends. He writes, "World-class business cities are those where strategic and tactical decisions are made on everything from new plant investment to developing new markets and products. They're the cities others watch and react to. World-class business cities are not guaranteed exclusivity in producing the next wave of influential products, technologies and companies – but they're a more likely incubator for them. And those products, technologies and companies are where new jobs come from."
I'm not so sure that Sacramento is strategically, tactically or decisively developing new markets or products, or putting in new plants for any industry.
It's quite the opposite with Sacramento. World-class cities are not driven by how many restaurants you have downtown or how big your sports arena is. The big cities with the Fortune 500 businesses and companies are business friendly and defined as "world class."
In other words, "Follow the money."
This is where Sacramento diverges and the split personality of big small town vs. "world-class city" is demonstrable, and the cause vs. effect becomes cloudy.
Recently I researched what it would take to open a new, small manufacturing plant in Sacramento. By the time I discovered that 22 government agencies would be involved in permitting and licensing, I realized that Sacramento is not an easy place to do business – you have to really want to be here to put up with, and even afford, that level of regulation and business prevention.
And unfortunately, the Sacramento City Council members are culpable in the process, continually adding to already ridiculous regulations, increasing city business taxes, requiring permitting that takes months to complete, air quality compliance that no company can follow, mandatory and costly business recycling, make-work fire department inspectors, unrelenting parking enforcement, conflicting building codes and utilities taxes that tax the taxes.
Sacramento is a wonderful city in which to live. It has measurable growth and has added to its arts and entertainment sophistication. Restaurants and eateries abound, tree-lined streets are welcoming and there are many excellent schools. But the business climate is unfriendly because our politicians think very small – or not at all. Offering a Fortune 500 company "tax breaks" is not going to attract world-class business to the area.
The unmemorable, ambitious politicians who make up the City Council can continue with business-as-usual if they are content with Sacramento's size and scope. But in the best interest of everyone who already owns and operates business here, they should close the Department of Business Prevention and instead start talking about ways to help grow Sacramento businesses. Cities with strong business are healthier, robust and attractive to "world-class" businesses. At this point, it's all campaign talk, and Sacramento remains a government and bedroom community, albeit a nice one.
to read the comments: Viewpoints: Sacramento 'world-class'? Not with burdens on business