On June 19th, I wrote on the Prosper Magazine blog:

It's such a bad financial deal, but I might be persuaded to vote for it simply for its value as a catalyst for developing the railyards. But now the parties seem to be backing off that. Maybe the railyards will be too hard to clean up, maybe this excuse, maybe that excuse. And now they are working on a backup location list. There is nothing that locks the parties into building the new arena anywhere downtown. So,if they don't, what's left then? Tens of millions of dollars spent and not even the possibility of spurring Warren Smith's vision of Smithsonian West or Andrea Lepore's vision of a Downtown Plaza with Saks Fifth Avenue or Bloomingdales as anchor stores. It's just not working for me.

And tonight, AP reports:

Sacramento Kings co-owner Joe Maloof surprised supporters of a new downtown arena Wednesday when he said it could be built elsewhere even if voters approve a quarter-cent sales tax to partially finance the project.

He called the Kings' proposed new home at the Union Pacific railyard "a difficult site to develop." He cited complex negotiations over transfer of ownership, the need for extensive cleanup and a lack of basic infrastructure such as streets and sewer lines.

"If for some reason it can't happen at this site, we may have to consider alternative locations in Sacramento. And we will do that," he said during a news conference at the railyard that was organized to promote the new arena.

Sometimes I just have a bad feeling and sometimes it turns out to be for a reason. It just hasn't been adding up for me and now comes the first leak in the PR dam...

Gillian Parrillo
The Sacramento Executive.com