Sacramento nets power player in effort to boost business |Local News

With the Sacramento King's new downtown arena just 20 months away from opening, the citylaunched a new resource Wednesday in an effort to attract new businesses.

Watch report: New downtown arena partner dedicates to bring business to Sac

Barry Broome, the new president and CEO of the Greater Sacramento Area Economic Council, hasvowed, along with Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson, to make the Sacramento region the best placeto do business in California.

With more than 100 construction workers busy on the new arena, the new Entertainment and SportsCenter is becoming a magnet for new business growth.

"This is ground zero for the renaissance of Downtown Sacramento," Johnson said at a newsconference at the construction site.

The mayor was flanked by business leaders and elected officials from six counties and 22 differentcities to welcome Broome.

"First off, we have to be pro-business as a community," Broome told KCRA 3. "So when peopleconsider us for investment and the creation of jobs, we have to treat them like a customer."

KCRA 3 first interviewed Broome two years ago in Phoenix, where ironically, his job as CEO of theGreater Phoenix Economic Council was to lure California companies to Arizona. And he wasreminded of that Wednesday by one of Sacramento's top employers.

"Barry called me two days after he came to speak the first time. He tried to recruit our company toPhoenix, Arizona," said Rob Lynch, president of VSP Global and chairman of the Greater SacramentoArea Economic Council. "So I'm very happy that we've been able to recruit Barry to Sacramento."

The new downtown arena benefited from a fast-tracked environmental review.

Broome's challenge will be to streamline California's other rules and regulations for businesses thatwant to grow in Sacramento.

"Rather than going through a one-year process as an example to get a permit to build a businessbuilding, we ought to be able to get that done in a couple of weeks," said Roger Niello, of the NielloCompany and a board member of Greater Sacramento.

The group's goal is to make Sacramento the best place to do business.

"Projects like this are going to absolutely revitalize downtown," said Judd Riggs, president and CEOof Teichert Inc. and a board member of Greater Sacramento.

"Downtown is going to become a 24/7 place," Riggs told KCRA 3.

And that's music to the ears of Johnson, who gave Broome a fist bump while singing the opening lineof James Brown's "I Feel Good."

"You can feel the energy Sacramento," Johnson said.

The new downtown arena is expected to make Sacramento a destination site for food, nightlife, artsand entertainment -- not just for the Sacramento Kings, but for the region as a whole.

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