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Local leaders dig deep to dream up a use for Towers hole
By Lisa Heyamoto - Bee Staff Writer
It was about halfway through a harebrained brainstorming session when Old Sacramento Manager Ed Astone drew a very sensible conclusion, indeed.
"What do you put in a hole?" he mused, rolling the question around in his head like dough in a KitchenAid mixer. "Well, you put stuff in it."
Indisputably true. But what kind of stuff? And what sort of hole are we talking about?
What if, for example, you have a hole in the ground about a square block in area and oh, several dozen feet deep and -- theoretically speaking -- about large enough to host twin 53-story towers that could potentially house a luxury hotel, high-end retail space and 804 upscale condo units?
What could you do with a hole like that?
Well, you could replace the conjectural twin tower condo idea with a much-scaled back condo idea, say, after the twin tower idea proved too ambitious and an imaginary state employee pension fund pulled its invested money out and an L.A.-based company stepped in to fill the proverbial and actual hole at Third Street and Capitol Mall.
You could do that.
But Astone's got a better idea.
"Christmas tree farm," he says with certainty.
The unofficial mayor of Old Sac said they had a heck of a time transporting last year's 66-foot Christmas tree from a farm near Colfax to its intended destination.
A big hole, he reasons, could grow a big tree. And with his annual need combined with the requisite Christmas trees at the Downtown Plaza and the Capitol, he figures there would be at least three guaranteed buyers.
On second thought, he's got an even better idea.
"How about a monument park for all of the fired Kings coaches?" he suggests.
Only if you want Reggie Theus to never set foot downtown.
Even better, Astone says, after giving it some more thought, how about a big park sponsored by Wells Fargo, planted with field after field of deep purple heather?
The name of the park?
Astone reveals it with no small amount of glee: Wells Heather Fargo Park.
But he's onto something with the park idea.
Mike Testa, vice president for communications at the Sacramento Convention & Visitors Bureau, believes the city could use something that keeps visitors coming back.
Perhaps, he offers, a Gold Rush theme park?
Family-oriented, and with roller-coaster cars shaped like mining cars, of course.
"I think it would be a pretty good attraction in the heart of the city," he said.
But why not, ponders local development consultant Al Gianini, take something Sacramento is already known for and put that in the hole?
Gianini envisions a giant saltwater tank built solely to house the next wayward whales to wander our way.
"It would be the Sea World of Sac," he said. "That would be neat."
And while we're on the subject of water, it seems like it would be awfully easy to turn that big ol' hole into a huge public swimming pool.
That's Josko Susnjara's suggestion, anyway. The manager of Il Fornaio, which might hypothetically happen to be across the street from this mythical giant hole, says the best idea would be to pave it, fill it with sand and open it to the public.
"We'd serve sandwiches on the beach," he says, ever the businessman.
This much is certain, everyone agrees: The hole's gotta go. Because Sacramento needs a hole in the middle of downtown like it needs a ... well, you get the point.
Huh.. Christmas Tree Farm?, a block-size Sea World or a block-sized "family-oriented" (its always a family this or that in this town) Gold Rush theme park? A bunch of us were sitting around the table at the coffeehouse this morning and I was reading this article and I looked up and everyone was collectively rolling their eyes. 
Someone said "What a bunch of small town hicks".
I know they were half-joking..but I think the Ed from Old Sac and Mike from the SC&VB from might have been half serious.
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