Is Sacramento still paralyzed by its past, as Joan Didion once suggested?
Nearly five decades ago, author Joan Didion ruminated on the “peculiarity” of her hometown, which she claimed was paralyzed by a past no longer relevant.
“Sacramento is a town which grew up on farming and discovered to its shock that land has more profitable uses,” she wrote in “Notes From a Native Daughter.” The old families, she added, “are closing ranks, preparing for the long night, selling their rights of way and living on the proceeds.”
We were reminded of these passages last week upon reading the first installment of The Bee’s “Road to Recovery” series. Various business leaders were asked about the region’s long-term economic prospects.
“The housing industry is really what pulls the economy out of recession,” said Russ Davis, a vice president at Elliott Homes. “Always has, probably always will.”
There’s a fair measure of truth to Davis’ observation. The development industry is an important part of this region’s private sector, employing an estimated 56,000 people. When land and housing values start to rebound again, it will undoubtedly restore many thousands of jobs.
Yet if the Sacramento region simply goes back to its past, it will continue to be be whipsawed by periods of boom and bust. This area must work to lessen its over-reliance on real estate jobs and state government employment. Its business and political leadership must think bigger, and lay the groundwork for a new form of prosperity.
Some of that groundwork is already being laid. The influx of new solar power companies and other “green-tech” businesses is encouraging. So is the relocation of small but innovative businesses such as Gregory Mountain Products, which moved its headquarters to Sacramento in 2008.
While the Silicon Valley – with its universities and culture of innovation – will be continue to be Northern California’s economic engine, Sacramento offers attractions for many new enterprises.
The cost of living is more affordable here. We have universities and government functions – such as Cal-EPA – that certain businesses, such as green-tech firms, want to interact with, and draw talent from.
Yet as a region, Sacramento faces a problem: It doesn’t think of itself as a region, one that must compete in a global economy. During the boom years, its localities acted like localities, too often competing with each other instead of cooperating.
Contrast that with Denver. When Mayor John Hickenlooper visited Sacramento last week, he described how Denver had reached out to surrounding municipalities, building alliances and working together to secure federal funds. That cooperation led all 32 mayors of the region to win voter support for a sales tax increase to expand rail transit across the Denver region.
Contrast that with our local situation.
Regional Transit serves a single county in this region – Sacramento – and amid the state’s financial crisis, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is gutting its budget and that of other transit agencies. Service is being cut back, and leaders in surrounding counties have shown little interest in partnering with RT on a wider regional system.
Expanded transit in this region could help link job centers and universities – including a planned university in Placer County – just as the the Bay Area and its schools are linked by BART and CalTrain.
This is where Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson could play a leading role. Johnson invited Hickenlooper to Sacramento largely to extol the virtues of Denver’s strong-mayor system. Yet whether or not Johnson ever wins voter approval for enhanced mayoral authority, he can start building bridges now with his regional counterparts. And his counterparts should have good reason to be receptive. Expanded transit is a legacy project that should be equal with all of their other priorities.
To be sure, the expansion and diversification of this region’s economy will hinge on forces outside of the actions of individual governments. In coming decades, the growth of China and new economies in Southeast Asia will reshape trade and investment in ways we can only begin to imagine. Various U.S. metropolitan areas will be winners and losers, based purely on geography and other factors they can’t completely control.
And yet many regions are positioning themselves for the 21st century, which should prompt Sacramento to ask itself: What is our vision? And can we take advantage of this slow period to imagine a future that breaks from the mind-sets of the past?