Is Sacramento a boring city? (Ross: wedding, taxes, living)

[KC6ZLV]

Originally Posted by wburg

And it's a great place even if you don't raise a family!

Crowd fills Fremont Park for Sacramento Mobile Food Festival - Sacramento City News - sacbee.com (http://www.sacbee.com/2011/04/30/3591993/crowd-fills-fremont-park-for-sacramento.html - broken link)

Because we all know you haven't experienced culture until you have bought food from a truck.

[sacramento916]

Originally Posted by Zel Ya

I just checked the Internet. SACRAMENTO COUNTY HAD THE BIGGEST JOB LOSS OF 327 LARGEST U.S. COUNTIES IN 2010 Q 3.

State jobs in Sacramento are a driving force for the local economy. Some of county job loss must be attributed to the loss of state jobs either directly or indirectly.

With a shrinking job base, it just doesn't add up that more people are out and about. And with the high cost of gas, it doesn't add up that more people are out and about. With reduced incomes, or no income, people cut back on their expenditures. Especially discretionary spending like eating out and watching movies.

Part of your post is contradictory. You say that state jobs are NOT being eliminated. But then you later say that state workers are grim about the situation. Grim? Why are state workers grim about the situation? No jobs are being eliminated.

I can assure that the murder is still on peoples' minds. You can't lightly brush this off as a trivial matter. Many people in the Russian community are confrontational and they apparently do not want to adopt American customs and traditions.

MOD CUT is right. Sacramento has become a much more interesting city than it used to be. Take it from me, I'm a San Francisco native who's lived here since 2004.

Yes, the economy here sucks. Yes, the industries here are nowhere as diverse or wealthy as in the bay area. Yes, people are hurting. But the funny thing is that Downtown/Midtown Sacramento is FAR MORE lively than it was, even when I moved here in 2004. In fact, just in the past 3 years, there's been so many new spots and areas redeveloped and opened that the place really bears little resemblance to when I first moved here. That's one consolation for the bad economy.

Although it might contradict common sense that a city can become more lively during a recession, it doesn't when you look at the facts. Redevelopment and gentrification are ongoing and long term projects that have been happening in Sacramento. Second, the region has gained 25% more people in the past ten years, including many from the bay area or southern california who are accustomed to a more active nightlife scene. This has created a critical mass to support the burgeoning nightlife here.

Of course, people will always compare Sacramento negatively to SF or LA. But it's really comparing apples to oranges. Compared to where Sac was just five years ago, it's come a long way!

[durf]

Sacramento is not the most boring city. That honor goes to Philadelphia with its E. Market Street Galleria and the rest of Center City.

[wburg]

Here's the scene from last night on K Street, the place some commenters have described as "dead after 5 PM." These shots were taken around 11:30 PM, just after the movie premiere at the Crest Theatre let out (it was nearly a full house, about 0. In addition to the "mermaid bar" complex, there were crowds outside Cosmo on the end of the block, and a block away in each direction at Mayahuel and Blush on 12th and K, and at Parlare at 10th and J. Ambrosia, a cafe at 11th and K, has stopped closing down at 6 PM and now stays open until midnight to serve desserts and coffee to late-night visitors--and several other shops on K (including restaurants and a convenience store) now stay open late to serve this re-emerged market.

It should also be noted that this was not the only neighborhood where things were lively at midnight. A mile east at 20th and K, Sacramento's cluster of gay-oriented (although not exclusively so) nightclubs (Faces, Badlands, Club 21, the Mercantile, the Depot) are just as busy--and have their own brace of late-night restaurants. Other hotspots at 27th and J, 21st and P, 15th and R and Old Sacramento each have their own crowds, plus individual venues around town.

The question here is not "Is Sacramento's economy robust and booming?" Right now, no, it isn't, a lot of people are out of work and it may well get worse before it gets better. The question is "Is Sacramento a boring city?" and the answer is no, not around here it isn't. There have always been some interesting things to do around here if you cared to look--but now it's a lot more obvious.

KC6ZLV: Actually, yes, gourmet food trucks are quite popular in big cities across the nation. The estimated 10,000 people who showed up to eat food off a truck thought so. Apparently the crush of people 9and resulting lines for food at the trucks) caused business at nearby restaurants within a block or two to spike through the roof! I didn't make it--although I did eat some food from Tuli Bistro's mobile pizza oven at the Curtis Park home tour the same day. It was mighty fine.

[KC6ZLV]

Originally Posted by wburg

KC6ZLV: Actually, yes, gourmet food trucks are quite popular in big cities across the nation. The estimated 10,000 people who showed up to eat food off a truck thought so. Apparently the crush of people 9and resulting lines for food at the trucks) caused business at nearby restaurants within a block or two to spike through the roof! I didn't make it--although I did eat some food from Tuli Bistro's mobile pizza oven at the Curtis Park home tour the same day. It was mighty fine.

It is the truck part I don't understand. Good food is good food. Why the fuss about it coming from a kitchen on wheels?

I suppose they are good for some of the parks where refreshments aren't otherwise available, but other than that, I don't get it.

[sacramento916]

Originally Posted by KC6ZLV

It is the truck part I don't understand. Good food is good food. Why the fuss about it coming from a kitchen on wheels?

I suppose they are good for some of the parks where refreshments aren't otherwise available, but other than that, I don't get it.

Because it's street food. Great cities all have great street food. Go to any city in Asia or Europe. That's one area where the US is really lacking.

It's cheap, it's on the go, it's local. That's what's great about street food.

[KC6ZLV]

Originally Posted by sacramento916

Because it's street food. Great cities all have great street food. Go to any city in Asia or Europe. That's one area where the US is really lacking.

It's cheap, it's on the go, it's local. That's what's great about street food.

Any city? I don't recall seeing food trucks in Ireland.

[krudmonk]

Originally Posted by KC6ZLV

Because we all know you haven't experienced culture until you have bought food from a truck.

Food trucks are chic now. Get with it. We have a monthly gathering of them, too. It's a good time to be outdoors and sample many tastes.

[sacramento916]

Originally Posted by KC6ZLV

Any city? I don't recall seeing food trucks in Ireland.

I was talking about STREET food, not specifically just food trucks.

[wburg]

There has always been street food in Sacramento--just not enough of it, or in enough places.