Update on Sacramento plans for the riverfront.
Riverfront: Plans to extend walkways face large hurdles
By Deb Kollars - dkollars@sacbee.com.
Published 12:00 am PST Friday, November 23, 2007
For any city with waterfront dreams, having plenty of public gathering space along the river's edge is a crucial measure of success, often counted by the mile.
Along the downtown stretch of the Sacramento River, such waterfront pathways are so brief they are hardly visible on a map. And, as West Sacramento has discovered over the past two years, trying to add more involves a bureaucratic bog as deep as the river.
During the next several months, both West Sacramento and the city of Sacramento will push ahead with simultaneous plans to extend their riverfront parkways. Each side could use a good long jolt. Sacramento's Riverfront Promenade runs for just two blocks, while West Sacramento's River Walk covers only four blocks.
"Public access is so critical," said Michael Zilis, a principal with Walker Macy, a landscape design firm working with both cities to extend their riverfront spaces. The Portland firm has been instrumental in riverfront development in its hometown, which has three miles of continuous waterfront parkway along each side of the Willamette River.
"In Sacramento, there are very few places where you can get close to the water," Zilis said. "Your levees and industrial uses have really separated people from the river."
