This story is part of our January 2025 issue. To subscribe, click here.

I hope your holidays were filled with joy, family fun, good humor, good food and harmony. Are you as excited about a brand-new year as I am? I’ve always believed that new starts are a good thing, so a new year always energizes me.

I often wonder how we could have become so divided through these past years — and I mean divided in every category, even categories that make no sense at all to a civilized society.  We’ve all heard about broken family ties and broken friendships, all because of politics.  
If your household is like many others, the contest we all just lived through was less about which candidate was going to emerge victorious and more about which family member could outshout the other as they deliberated their political positions. Politics should unite us, not divide us. But with the exception of moments of national tragedies, like 9/11 and JFK’s assassination in 1963, has it ever really done that for more than a few days?  

I think it might this time. Regardless of your own political affiliation, I think business and community leaders would all agree it is wise to run our country like a well-run, well-managed and highly efficient business. Clearly voters were expressing a mood for change, and key issues that they wanted prioritized include the economy, border security, dramatically reduced crime and maintaining geopolitical peace and stability. 

One of the immediate changes we’re likely to see involves our new president’s decree, which many business leaders I’ve spoken to agree with wholeheartedly since COVID faded from daily conversation — that federal workers need to get back to the office. That would likely just be the start. This has been a soft-spoken rallying cry among so many industries that feel, often legitimately, that productivity improves when employees have the ability to collaborate in person. I truly understand how this has all evolved and stayed its course — getting ready to go to work, commuting in, working the hours, then commuting home again can be tough, especially when one has gotten a taste for working at home.

But aside from that topic, there’s so much we can all look forward to in the coming years. While I’m not one to compile a bucket list, I do believe in having a wish list at the start of each year. It’s harmless and maybe as wistful as it is wishful — but it’s a way of consolidating hope and reality.

For example, I wish, hope and believe that in 2025, we’ll see several things:

1. Sacramento continues to concentrate on one of its mightiest assets — the riverfront — including the filling-in of the Railyards with Kaiser Permanente’s new medical complex (thank you Kaiser) and many new businesses as well as residential opportunities on both sides of our waterfront. Our riverfront is a gorgeous amenity we’ve taken precious little advantage of for far too long. Keep your eye on the historic Railyards for some exciting changes, including two major housing communities; the Foundry commercial project (two six-story office buildings and 7,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space), development of the Wong Center senior apartments, expansion of the California State Railroad Museum and a great new Sacramento Republic FC stadium.

2. The presence of the no-longer “Oakland” A’s — who plan to be known simply as the A’s when they play here for what’s said to be three years — bringing competing teams from all around the country (like the New York Yankees and Baltimore Orioles) to our region. How thrilling this will be. Coupled with the continued excitement of the River Cats, we’ll definitely show the world that we’re ready for a permanent Major League Baseball club.

3. Having a new mayor and, when he or she is hired, a new city manager in Sacramento who could well bring us many new ideas about handling homelessness and urban blight. Fingers crossed on this one, that we won’t have more waffling on important quality-of-life issues, that there’ll be a political will for the (far too-many) layers of government to work together for solutions, and that our elected leaders stop playing musical chairs and run for offices for which they’re actually qualified, not just seats that become available. There’s already widespread chatter that Gov. Newsom will run for president while outgoing Vice President Kamala Harris will run for his post. While these may yet be rumors and speculation, my hope is that we have a diverse and wide-ranging cast of candidates who have outstanding leadership skills and a bold vision for our future, but haven’t alienated a large part of the electorate.

4. And returning to the back-to-work-in-the-office topic, I personally think the new year will favor companies and non-profits that welcome back their employees and that this new year will bring us an opportunity to do something as a nation, state and region we haven’t done in a long time: unite. Talk, argue, resolve. This is the way the world works and moves forward, not in petty squabbling. 

I’m an optimist by nature — and these days, an optimist who realizes that when this country wants change, all we have to do is demand nothing less. What do you think?

Winnie Comstock-Carlson
President and Publisher

–

Stay up to date on business in the Capital Region: Subscribe to the Comstock’s newsletter today.