Sacramento is the friendliest city in California. Should we spread the word? | Opinion
Moving to Sacramento in 1991 from soulless Silicon Valley was the smartest thing I ever did. I realized it on the very first day, when despite a bone-chilling winter fog, a neighbor came knocking on the door to welcome me to town.
In my 35 years here, I have watched Sacramento try to claim one identity or another, most with little success and rarely with true introspection. The latest civic brainstorming was Tuesday night at the Sacramento City Council, where the nine elected members sought to prioritize how to spend hotel tax funds to advance the economic well-being of the capital city. And then, out of the blue, Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum of District 4 said something that hit home.
“If we make the brand of Sacramento, even more than City of Trees and Farm to Fork, the most welcoming city in the country, I think we will just continue to yield benefits down the road,” Pluckebaum said.
He was absolutely right. But do we have to do anything more than be our collective selves?
I grew up in Orange County and San Diego. I worked for 16 years for a Los Angeles-based agency, and prior to that, 8 years in San Jose. One relative or another has lived in San Francisco my entire life.
Sacramento is the friendliest city in California. Period.
It’s because we are here in the humble heartland. It makes our hearts as warm as our summer weather.
There is no reason to have pretense here. We do not have to be slaves to fashion. We do not have to spend hours a day in a car. Cowbells and all, we have long been comfortable in our own skin, ready to share and to welcome. At the downtown arena, we will pay to watch just about anything, even a professional basketball team that hasn’t been a champion for a record 75 years. Yet we come back for more, screaming at the top of our lungs and hoping for a victory that will ignite a purple laser on the arena rooftop, beaming toward the heavens.
Despite the growth, we retain a human connection to our land and our water. And we have come from every corner of the globe, every walk of life imaginable. Add it all up, and there is no place like Sacramento in California. We are our best-kept secret.
Sacramento’s history is tied to the Gold Rush launched in 1849, and over the years, branding has sought to frame us according to our past or how close we are to somewhere else, such as the Sierra, San Francisco or Napa.
Back in 2001, for example, the Sacramento Convention and Visitors Bureau launched the “Discover Gold” branding effort. I winced at the time. Thankfully, the campaign quickly fizzled. Gold is our past and certainly something to share in our riverfront historic district. We are the collective attribute of Sacramento today.
Surrounded by agriculture and with tomato blossoms now beginning to set in countless backyards, Sacramento has been Farm to Fork long before the name was ever coined. Our exploding restaurant scene has taken the concept to ever higher levels.
What truly sets us apart, however, is the joy and friendship around the table. That, after all, is what a true Sacramento meal is all about.
At the Tuesday City Council meeting, Pluckebaum mused on how Sacramento could share its love. “This needs to be a welcoming and comfortable place for guests, a place where people feel valued and cared for, a place that everyone feels like there’s attention that’s paid to them,” he said.
A city that doesn’t have real heart in its DNA couldn’t possibly pull this off. All Sacramento would have to do is put its mind to it.
Officially naming Sacramento as California’s friendliest or welcoming city probably isn’t necessary or even wise. We’re not particularly good at branding.
Sacramento once lacked civic confidence. It long acted as if it were in some other city’s shadow. Others are bigger, or taller, with signature structures or landscapes.
But my sense is that the chip that was once on Sacramento’s shoulder is fading. And for good reason. All it takes is to visit some other California city and then come home in relief. Landing at the airport, after passing over the Sacramento River and the rice fields, never gets old.
Here in the flattest of flats, Sacramento can’t ever possibly put on airs. Nor would we. We are who we are. That we think nothing of welcoming the new neighbor, as the Sacramento thing to do, is what truly sets us apart.