\n\t\t\t\t\t\tDowntown Sacramento\u2019s K Street has long been viewed as the heart of the city\u2019s entertainment district. But with several businesses now closed or preparing to reopen under new concepts, residents and city leaders say the corridor is at a critical moment.KoJa Kitchen is the latest business to close on K Street. Its owners say they plan to reopen in a few months with a new concept. But the closure adds to a growing list of recent changes nearby.Chando\u2019s Cantina-Zazon Del Mar closed in May. Nightclub Tiger shut down the same month. Brewery Ruhstaller closed last September.For many people who spend time downtown, the empty storefronts are becoming hard to ignore.\u201cEverything is closing down at such an abrupt time. I\u2019m still focused on that. I\u2019m still processing that,\u201d Sacramento resident Jordan Smith said.Another resident, Claudia Robarge, said the area appears especially troubled on one side of the street.\u201cThey\u2019re all on that side of the street. So I\u2019m definitely curious as to what\u2019s going on,\u201d Robarge said.Robarge also said weak weekday foot traffic appears to be part of the problem.\u201cThere isn\u2019t a lot of foot traffic during Monday through Friday,\u201d she said.Michael Robarge, another Sacramento resident, said safety concerns have changed how he and others use downtown.\u201cWe haven\u2019t come down here for any nightlife in a hot minute because it\u2019s just not safe,\u201d Robarge said.Sacramento City Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum, who represents downtown, acknowledged the area is under pressure.\u201cYou know, we\u2019re struggling, right?\u201d Pluckebaum said.Pluckebaum said downtown is dealing with a combination of affordability issues, public safety concerns and homelessness. He said the city is planning a more focused effort in the coming months to address some of those challenges.\u201cWhat we\u2019re going to do is a pretty concerted push here over the next few months to provide places for people to be if they\u2019re experiencing homelessness or just having other challenges \u2014 that\u2019s not K Street,\u201d Pluckebaum said.He said the city is also working with the Downtown Sacramento Partnership on short-term activations aimed at improving foot traffic and making downtown more inviting.\u201cThis summer we\u2019ll be able to do some things, some event activations, some events,\u201d Pluckebaum said. \u201cBut the long-term program here for downtown, it\u2019s going to take some years. It took us years to get to this place, and it\u2019s going to take a few more to get away from it.\u201dEven with the recent closures, some residents remain hopeful that K Street can recover.\u201cI\u2019ve always said that Sacramento bounces back. As soon as a business closes down, one comes in, in its place,\u201d Michael Robarge said.Smith said he is open to seeing something different downtown.\u201cI\u2019m up for a new ambiance,\u201d said Smith.Pluckebaum said city leaders will continue working with downtown partners to create more events and activity that draw people back to K Street.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel | Make KCRA a preferred news source in Google\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tSACRAMENTO, Calif. \u2014 \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Downtown Sacramento\u2019s K Street has long been viewed as the heart of the city\u2019s entertainment district. But with several businesses now closed or preparing to reopen under new concepts, residents and city leaders say the corridor is at a critical moment.<\/p>\n
KoJa Kitchen is the latest business to close on K Street. Its owners say they plan to reopen in a few months with a new concept. But the closure adds to a growing list of recent changes nearby.<\/p>\n
Chando\u2019s Cantina-Zazon Del Mar closed in May. Nightclub Tiger shut down the same month. Brewery Ruhstaller closed last September.<\/p>\n
For many people who spend time downtown, the empty storefronts are becoming hard to ignore.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything is closing down at such an abrupt time. I\u2019m still focused on that. I\u2019m still processing that,\u201d Sacramento resident Jordan Smith said.<\/p>\n
Another resident, Claudia Robarge, said the area appears especially troubled on one side of the street.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re all on that side of the street. So I\u2019m definitely curious as to what\u2019s going on,\u201d Robarge said.<\/p>\n
Robarge also said weak weekday foot traffic appears to be part of the problem.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere isn\u2019t a lot of foot traffic during Monday through Friday,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Michael Robarge, another Sacramento resident, said safety concerns have changed how he and others use downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t come down here for any nightlife in a hot minute because it\u2019s just not safe,\u201d Robarge said.<\/p>\n
Sacramento City Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum, who represents downtown, acknowledged the area is under pressure.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, we\u2019re struggling, right?\u201d Pluckebaum said.<\/p>\n
Pluckebaum said downtown is dealing with a combination of affordability issues, public safety concerns and homelessness. He said the city is planning a more focused effort in the coming months to address some of those challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat we\u2019re going to do is a pretty concerted push here over the next few months to provide places for people to be if they\u2019re experiencing homelessness or just having other challenges \u2014 that\u2019s not K Street,\u201d Pluckebaum said.<\/p>\n
He said the city is also working with the Downtown Sacramento Partnership on short-term activations aimed at improving foot traffic and making downtown more inviting.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis summer we\u2019ll be able to do some things, some event activations, some events,\u201d Pluckebaum said. \u201cBut the long-term program here for downtown, it\u2019s going to take some years. It took us years to get to this place, and it\u2019s going to take a few more to get away from it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with the recent closures, some residents remain hopeful that K Street can recover.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always said that Sacramento bounces back. As soon as a business closes down, one comes in, in its place,\u201d Michael Robarge said.<\/p>\n
Smith said he is open to seeing something different downtown.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m up for a new ambiance,\u201d said Smith.<\/p>\n
Pluckebaum said city leaders will continue working with downtown partners to create more events and activity that draw people back to K Street.<\/p>\n
See more coverage of top California stories here<\/a> | Download our app<\/a> | Subscribe to our morning newsletter<\/a> | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel<\/a> | Make KCRA a preferred news source in Google<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Downtown Sacramento\u2019s K Street has long been viewed as the heart of the city\u2019s entertainment district. But with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":384659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[14852,6787,83315,20628,28214,121,123,122,3607],"class_list":["post-384658","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-andres-valle","tag-downtown-sacramento","tag-homless","tag-k-street","tag-phil-pluckebaum","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news","tag-safety"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=384658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/384659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=384658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=384658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=384658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}