Sacramento's mayor willing to help Rio City Cafe stay open after announced closure
SACRAMENTO — The iconic Rio City Cafe in Old Sacramento restaurant recently announced it was permanently closing, and now the mayor said he is willing to help keep it open.
Rio City Cafe has been struggling since the city closed its deck due to not having the money to fix it. Fewer than 24 hours after the restaurant owner announced they were closing in August, Mayor Darrell Steinberg said there is still a chance the business could be saved.
Mayor Steinberg said Tuesday that he will open a new negotiation with the restaurant, a three-decade-old business overlooking the Sacramento River.
"It's been an emotional roller coaster ride these last couple of days, but honestly, we would love to meet the mayor," Rio City Cafe owner Stephanie Miller said. "If we could save Rio, that would be fabulous to us."
The city cut the restaurant's seating in half earlier this year when it closed the Rio City cafe deck due to safety concerns caused by the city's own deferred maintenance. The city owns the property and is in charge of maintaining it.
Due to the impact the deck closure has had on sales, Miller announced Monday that the business was closing for good.
Mayor Steinberg said he thought Miller and her husband wanted to retire.
"No. I think that was a miscommunication," Miller said.
Sacramento's city budget problems include repair work it can't afford to fix. It has $223 million in unfunded deferred maintenance this year alone. The Rio City Cafe deck repair is listed as part of that problem with a $5 million price tag.
Mayor Steinberg said he plans to launch a revitalized Old Sacramento plan as early as August using new hotel tax funding and that money will pay for the deck repair.
"How do you have a press conference with an elaborate plan you're going to put forward just weeks after a small business that's been on the water for three decades is closing the doors there?" I asked Steinberg.
"Because the story is more nuanced than 'the city did not do XYZ.' That's just not the case," the mayor responded.
Can the Rio City Cafe be saved?
"This would be super," Miller said. "This would be terrific news not only for us [and] staff but the community."
Miller said the city did reach out to her Tuesday to set up a new meeting.
She has 75 employees who were told they would all be out of a job. Now they are in limbo waiting to hear if their jobs can be saved.