Petition Drive to Overturn K St. Subsidy Under Way
CPR file photo of K St./Ben Adler
A group of Sacramento residents wants to overturn a controversial vote to fund a downtown redevelopment project.
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(Sacramento, CA)
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Last month, the city council unanimously approved an $8 million subsidy for a restaurant, bar and night club in the 1000 block of K Street.
The vote came after downtown and midtown business members agreed to a compromise following tense negotiations with council members.
But former city councilman Josh Pane (pronounced "PAH-nay") says subsidizing more bars and night clubs downtown is bad policy. So he started a signature drive to overturn the vote.
Pane: “The city, policy wise, should be using its resources, our taxpayer dollars out of that redevelopment zone, to be doing things the private sector isn’t doing. Student housing. Senior housing. A grocery store.”
The group has to gather more than 20,000 valid signatures from registered voters by mid-April to put the referendum on the ballot.
Many downtown businesses support the subsidy. They say it will help redevelop the blighted stretch of K Street.