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In terms of weather and outdoor activities Sac obviously wins. However the problem with Sac and the reason it is "underrated" is because the city really has no downtown. When you think of a city you think of a developed urban core which is the focal point of the city. Sac's downtown and urban core is probably the worst for a city of its size... Downtown is filled with abandoned buildings and absolutely nothing to do or see.
People in Sac all live in the suburbs. This creates for a "city" of complete sprawl filled with shopping centers and parking lots. As a Sac native I think it's best for outsiders to avoid this place until it dramatically improves. There's a reason that tourists don't visit and conventions don't come here and it's not because Sac is "underrated."
Seriously Sacramento has some doubters like this posting. Sacramento always had and still has a downtown with a real grid that is very pedestrian; it also has a lot of suburb because it boomed in the 60-90's like the rest of California which was almost all suburban.
Sacramento's grid (downtown and midtown) is the same size and scale as Portlamd almost identical.
To say that there is nothing nice and happening in Sacramento is totally false and delusional.
Sacramento has passionate folks we disagree on everything especially growth; but this is an exciting time to be in Sacramento and be part of the new changes and improvements.
And Sacramento has tourists always has because it's a beautiful city, just not on a massive scale like some of of the convention cities.
Sacramento and Milwaukee both were born around the same time, mid 1800's, but Milwaukee exploded with population right from the get-go while Sacramento had steadier growth. Consequently Milwaukee has some great architecture in it's urban core, definitely more than Sacramento. Sacramento does have hundreds of perfectly gridded, tree lined, flat blocks in the downtown/midtown area though. How does Milwaukee do with integrating the river & lake? Sac has Interstate 5 splitting a portion of downtown and the river (which sucks big time) but the metro as a whole integrates pretty well with its lake and rivers and takes advantage of them.
Capitol Corridor, the Amtrak commuter train from Sacramento to the Bay Area, runs about a dozen round trip trains a day. Currently the trip is done in a bit less than 2 hours but there are plans to increase the speed to 120mph and cut times dramatically. Whats the rail connection between Milwaukee and Chicago like? I'd imagine pretty good.
Seriously Sacramento has some doubters like this posting. Sacramento always had and still has a downtown with a real grid that is very pedestrian; it also has a lot of suburb because it boomed in the 60-90's like the rest of California which was almost all suburban.
Sacramento's grid (downtown and midtown) is the same size and scale as Portlamd almost identical.
To say that there is nothing nice and happening in Sacramento is totally false and delusional.
Sacramento has passionate folks we disagree on everything especially growth; but this is an exciting time to be in Sacramento and be part of the new changes and improvements.
And Sacramento has tourists always has because it's a beautiful city, just not on a massive scale like some of of the convention cities.
I never said there was nothing nice about Sacramento. CA has tremendous natural beauty including the Sac area.
I just said Sac lacks a vibrant urban core, hence why no one really knows or cares about it. Yea it may be true that the downtown/midtown is the same size as Portland, but Portland is much more vibrant and inter-connected.
The true development failure is building I-5 between downtown and the river. All other cities build along their rivers and lakes, they don't build a huge freeway blocking the town from the water.
Sac is improving that is true, but it's literally 20-30 years behind other similarly sized cities in terms of development. Maybe things will change in the next 5-10 years, one can only hope.
Attached are some links, that show Milwaukee's Lake Michigan lakefront, the Brady Street neighborhood, the Riverwalk, and Milwaukee's Third Ward. My absolute favorite part of Milwaukee would be the east side neighborhoods along Lake Drive....I'll work on finding something that captures the stunning beauty of these areas. For now....
A new West Elm will be opening this spring in the Third Ward. The Third Ward is full of condos, with a fair amount of Chicago residents who reside here on the week-ends.
Milwaukee is the headquarters for Harley Davidson, and even though I'm not a biker, the festivities are awesome. Bikers come from all over the world, and the Iron Horse Hotel, is a favorite.
The true development failure is building I-5 between downtown and the river. All other cities build along their rivers and lakes, they don't build a huge freeway blocking the town from the water.
Sure they do, Seattle being a prime example. That's why connected waterfronts are to be treasured and why I was curious about Milwaukee's.
Yea it may be true that the downtown/midtown is the same size as Portland, but Portland is much more vibrant and inter-connected.
Sac is improving that is true, but it's literally 20-30 years behind other similarly sized cities in terms of development. Maybe things will change in the next 5-10 years, one can only hope.
Yes, Portland maybe more vibrant, but Sacramento is vibrant as well, and it will get even better as we are on the right track. Young people that care about their city and have pride in it, can make a big difference, sounds like you are starting to care more, hopefully you (as well as others) can be the change that you think Sacramento needs. Walk the streets of midtown on a Friday or Saturday night. Spend some time in one of the many bars and restaurants, walk around a lot, you will see Sacramento is more urban than you think.
You are overcritical of Sacramento, the city itself is around 480,000 population, there many other cities more suburban than Sacramento like cities in Florida, Arizona, SoCal, much of the south and midwest.
20-30 years is an exaggeration, Sacramento is about 10 yrs behind Portland in developing the urban core.
Sacramento along with San Diego and Portland were one of the first cities to build light rail in the last 30 years. In fact, much of the light rails cars are manufactured in Sacramento. The only facility in the USA.
The true development failure is building I-5 between downtown and the river. All other cities build along their rivers and lakes, they don't build a huge freeway blocking the town from the water.
San Francisco, Seattle, Boston all great cities, right, they did something worse than Sacramento, they built huge, double-decker freeways right on top of their waterfronts.
The Embarcadero Freeway in SF - because the 1989 earthquake made it unusable, they were given an excuse to tear it down and now we have the spectacular waterfront along the Bay. Are you too young to remember SF's horrible Embarcadero Freeway?
Seattle is tearing down their waterfront double decker freeway either now or soon to be.
Boston tore theirs down as well, do you remember the Big Dig in Boston.
By the way, Guess who advocated for I-5 to be built where it is now, the same person who tried to de-rail our new Arena, and she is still trying.
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