Judge Delays Final Decision Giving Sacramento Downtown Plaza Land
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A judge delayed a decision to give Sacramento control of the final piece of property in the path of a new Sacramento Kings arena.
The demolition of Downtown Plaza is so close, even 90-year-old non-basketball fan Bill Grant is starting to pay attention to it.
"I guess this is all going to be torn down, huh?" he said.
The giant Downtown Plaza arena is planned to go up around the corner from the senior housing complex where Grant lives. He walks around the current plaza nearly every day.
"It'll be good," he said. "It'll be good for us."
In a surprise move, the judge delayed a final decision to give the city total control of the entire downtown site, but has already published a tentative ruling siding Sacramento.
That was enough to get arena supporters like Bill Camp with the Sacramento Central Labor Council lined up to talk jobs.
"We've said all along this is a benefit for everybody in Sacramento," he said. "The judge understands that."
Camp says he wanted the Sacramento Kings to sign a new agreement to keep jobs local and hire job-seekers in Sacramento's ZIP codes with the lowest employment.
"That's important to the City Council, but it's also important to the neighborhoods," he said. "This is about giving our neighborhoods a role to play in making this adventure a success."