A Dream Come True to Practice Planning

After years of having pent up, underutilized urban planning energy, West Sacramento’s new City Manager finally gets the chance to practice planning, and encounters nothing but success and praises along the way.

Urban woes? Bring ’em on

Up for the challenge, W. Sac’s city manager is winning praise.

By Steve Gibson — Bee Staff Writer

http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/7994051p-8930642c.html

A small city with big city problems — a rundown waterfront, squabbling politicians, prostitutes and seedy motels — might not seem too attractive to most public administrators.

But for Toby Ross, an urban planner with a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, West Sacramento is a little slice of heaven.

Ross became city manager 13 months ago after working in upscale communities like Park City, Utah, and San Luis Obispo.

"In my spare time, I would teach the practice of economic development and planning," he said. "But the opportunity to practice it was kind of limited where I was employed."

In West Sacramento, Ross has found a job that challenges every bit of his education and training.

"It’s a community that’s on the verge of breaking out and doing some things that will make it a very different place," he said.

Since taking the $145,000 a year job, Ross has become the City Council’s point man for the city’s most difficult and long-standing problems.

Among the issues that have come to the top of the list are rejuvenating West Capitol Avenue, jump-starting development on the waterfront adjacent to Raley Field, and repairing rifts between the council and other agencies.

Improving West Capitol Avenue has particular symbolic value, because it is the city’s main street. Rundown motels, strip malls and substandard buildings dot the four-lane street. Drug dealing and prostitution also plague the thoroughfare.

Ross formed a city task force, involving a key staffer from every department, and is having its members devote 50 percent of their time looking for solutions.

The City Council recently authorized purchase of a vacant lot on West Capitol, the first of what Ross predicts will be "a series of acquisitions as we attempt to consolidate properties so we can induce private investment."

West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon praises Ross for being prepared to deal with stubborn problems that have frustrated previous city officials.

"West Capitol Avenue has its challenges to law enforcement and social services," Cabaldon said. "And he’s allocated additional resources and given the Police Department the tools it needs to deal with the underlying problems. … He’s taken on some of the obstacles that many had given up on before."

Railroad tracks, multiple landowners and overlapping regulatory agencies complicate the waterfront development.

And the city had been through years of contentious negotiations with the owners of the River Cats baseball team concerning Raley Field, an important piece of the effort to develop the waterfront.

River Cats CEO Art Savage credits Ross with moving things forward.

"He sits down and talks through things in a very reasoned way," Savage said. "He listens, you listen, and you come up with a solution. He’s a guy you want to do business with."

Some of Ross’ best work so far has been some of the least visible, such as his behind-the-scenes efforts to improve the often rocky relationships between the council and the Port of Sacramento and the Washington Unified School District.

The port, a regional maritime facility, occupies several hundred acres in the geographic center of West Sacramento. Washington Unified runs the town’s school system.

"The relationship with the port is definitely on the upswing," Ross said. He characterized his links to the school system’s leadership as "positive and professional."

Cabaldon, an outspoken critic of the port and the schools, is among officials on both sides of the issues who praise Ross’ diplomatic efforts.

"He’s spending a lot of time trying to find solutions that will help bridge some pretty wide gaps," Cabaldon said, "even when there’s been a lot of sound and fury among the elected officials from those agencies."

W. Kay Fenrich, CEO of the local Chamber of Commerce, says Ross has earned high marks with the city’s business leaders.

"He’s been interacting very well with everyone — the chamber, the port, the school district," she said. "In a town this size, those partnerships are very important."

But West Sacramento leaders say the city manager’s biggest challenge may be meeting residents’ expectations.

"With several successes under our belt, we believe we can accomplish anything," Cabaldon said. "Even though he tells us we’ve got to set limits, his level of competence kind of allows us to have these unrealistic dreams about how much can be accomplished — and how fast."

But the 55-year-old Ross says West Sacramento’s biggest challenge is money — especially a potential loss of $2 million in state vehicle license fees.

"The long-run view of West Sacramento is that we’re going to be very solvent," he said. "In the short run, our expectations exceed our financial capacity. How we transition is going to say a lot about our success."

About the Writer
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The Bee’s Steve Gibson can be reached at (916) 321-1085 or [email protected].