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(rshsdepot) Sacramento, CA
From yesterday's Sacramento Bee.
Happy New Year!
Bernie Wagenblast
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
With Depot, City Gets a Faded Jewel Needing Help: Downtown Amtrak Station
Has Lots of Potential -- and Problems, Say Officials Who Are Assessing
Building's Immediate Needs.
The Sacramento Bee
12/31/06
By Tony Bizjak, The Sacramento Bee, Calif.
Dec. 31--For years, Sacramento officials harbored big plans for the historic,
but downtrodden Amtrak depot in the heart of the city -- if only they could
get their hands on it.
Just days ago, in a three-way deal with the _Union Pacific_
(http://www.industrywatch.com/pages/iw/coOverview.nsp?coID=1041&ID=iw&scategory=Transportation&;
VNC=hnall&P=&F=&R=&VNC=hnall) Railroad and a railyard development company,
the city acquired what is perhaps its most prominent fixer-upper, an
81-year-old former gem that has lost its luster.
"Some of those windows, I don't believe they've been painted since World War
II," Councilman Steve Cohn said.
Long-term, city officials plan to move the building a block north, making it
the centerpiece of a transit center for several million travelers a year on
long-distance and commuter trains, light rail, buses, and maybe even a bullet
train to Los Angeles and San Diego.
But that will take decades, and hundreds of millions of dollars.
Short-term, officials and trains riders agree on one thing: The building is
in immediate need of, in the words of Mayor Heather Fargo, "some love and
care."
The previous owner, Union Pacific Railroad Co., which runs freight and had
little use for a passenger facility, put little into maintenance.
Five years ago, city officials felt the need to step in and reroof the
leaking structure so the disrepair would not worsen before they could gain
control.
That helped, but a recent tour of the back rooms revealed a largely unused
and disregarded building. Unused upstairs offices are in shambles. Paneling is
torn. Windows are broken. Junk lies in random piles on the floors. Awnings
above building entrances are rusted out.
The building also will need to be seismically upgraded, officials said, a job
that could cost millions of dollars.
City officials are rushing to reconfigure the confusing parking lot.
Meanwhile, in recent weeks, a city task force has been analyzing what initial
maintenance work needs to be done, and will issue a report as early as next week,
Assistant City Manager Marty Hanneman said.
He said it will include a laundry list of basics, like cleaning and painting,
as well as floor and window work.
Hanneman said the city also soon will conduct an analysis of what will be
needed to make the structure seismically safer.
Meantime, Councilman Cohn last week called for a city meeting with community
groups and depot users to get broader input on what can be done to make the
building a better train station.
Train riders and advocates last week heralded the city takeover of the
building as a generally positive move. Many have suggestions on what the city can
do to make the building more user-friendly.
"It's great," said volunteer station host Bob Koski of the city's move.
"(Union Pacific) let it go downhill. The city I think will take pride of
ownership in it as a gateway."
Alan Miller, executive director of the Train Riders' Association of
California, is a critic of the city's long-term plans to move the building, but said
he is hopeful the depot finally will be spruced up.
"I hope some good comes out of this," Miller said.
Although city officials have talked about bringing in offices and possibly
retail and food service, Miller warned that might be difficult.
"How much can you improve it if your long-term intention is to move it?" he
asked. "You'd have to disrupt any businesses that are going to go in there."
Hanneman said the city, however, sees plenty of potential for tenants as that
area of downtown develops.
Officials point out that a smaller sister building next door, once used as a
rail package center, has transformed into an upscale office building with a
cafe and a restaurant.
But mainly, city officials said, they want to make the building work better
for rail riders.
Richard Silver, of the Rail Passenger Association of California, said the
city and Amtrak should add more ticket windows.
The existing three windows "have become a bottleneck," he said, and could
hinder train ridership growth.
Chuck Robuck, an Auburn resident who commutes to work downtown on the Capitol
Corridor commuter train line, said he'd like to see better shelters on the
train platforms to protect passengers from the elements.
The depot itself can be stifling in summer, he said.
"I don't know if air conditioning is in the cards or not," Robuck said. But,
"they need some place where people (especially the elderly) can get out of
the extreme heat and get some respite."
Miller of the train riders' association said the city should make it easier
for pedestrians to get from downtown to the front doors of the building. He
also said the city should create a more visible and better-marked walkway from
the back of the depot to the passenger platforms, and coordinate with
Regional Transit for better bus service near the platforms.
Cohn, a transit advocate, said the city should open up space that has been
boarded up adjacent to the depot's elegant central hall.
He said he is confident the city can make quick improvements to improve the
look and feel of the facility.
"Amazing what a little paint will do," he said.
=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org
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End of RSHSDepot Digest V1 #1470
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=================================
The Railroad Station Historical Society maintains a database of existing
railroad structures at: http://www.rrshs.org