The city has more confidence to put itself in the running in light of the success with the Sacramento River Cats and the city's wooing of the state Department of General Services into the former Money Store headquarters. There is a lot of available land near Raley Field for an arena, Montemayor said. Geographically, it's more convenient than the railyards, he said, and it has plenty of parking and freeway access. It's extremely convenient for Old Sacramento and downtown Sacramento. Although West Sacramento is confident about the strength of its location, the city is not confident about its ability to help financially.
Safe streets have to be a higher priority than building an arena.
West Sacramento, however, possibly could be one participant in a public-private partnership, he said. Arenas are difficult to build without public subsidies of some form. And it's unlikely that Sacramento residents would be willing to pay for an arena all by themselves, considering the Kings are a regional attraction. Any special tax imposed on the region's residents would require a two-thirds vote of the people. Although many loopholes have been closed, some jurisdictions still might try calling it a general tax, which would require only a 50 percent vote of the people.