On June 26, 2020, the Environmental Council of Sacramento submitted a letter to the City of Sacramento asking for the City’s support for the recommendations made by the Mayors’ Commission on Climate Change.
Monthly Archives: June 2020
Sort Smart! Recycling From Home in Our Region
June 9, 2020
With more people working from home and shopping online during the COVID-19 pandemic, curbside recycling carts have never been fuller.
“Both the City of Sacramento and Sacramento County saw a 15 percent uptick in the amount of curbside recyclables collected in April,” said Erin Treadwell with the City of Sacramento Recycling and Solid Waste Division. “But often, what ends up in the bin doesn’t belong there.”
To reduce cart contamination, the City of Sacramento is partnering with the County of Sacramento and cities of Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, Rancho Cordova and Galt on an educational campaign to make sure curbside recyclables stay recyclable and out of the landfill.
Sacramento County Early Action Planning Grant Support
On June 1, 2020, the Sierra Club Sacramento Group, 350 Sacramento and the Environmental Council of Sacramento sent a letter to the County of Sacramento encouraging the County to apply for an “Early Action Planning” grant.
We encourage the County to apply for the subject non-competitive grant as recommended by staff. The grant would fund mandated and non-mandated planning activities related to meeting the County’s housing needs.
We particularly support the proposed Infill Program planning, which would identify, assess, and seek to remove barriers to developing infill opportunities in the unincorporated County. According to the County’s annual General Plan Report for 2019, development of vacant and underutilized land, and revitalization of commercial corridors could provide about 33 thousand new housing units in the unincorporated area.
SacRT Expands Microtransit
The Sacramento Regional Transit District (SacRT) is expanding three SmaRT Ride on-demand microtransit zones on Monday, June 15 to accommodate increased travel demand to key destinations. The zones include Franklin – South Sacramento, North Sacramento and Rancho Cordova. They are also Adding Electric Shuttles to the “Franklin – South Sacramento Zone.”
With a total of nine active SmaRT Ride service zones, SacRT is the largest microtransit provider in the country, operating with 45 shuttles.
You can view the route maps below.
Click here to read the press release.
No More Broken Promises
By Bill Motmans and Tamika L’Ecluse
June 10, 2020
Sacramento News and Review
“…city leaders have proposed federal stimulus funds for economic development projects, including UC Davis’s Aggie Square (a major real estate development aimed at attracting biotech companies), and bolstering the local tourism industry. Neither of these proposed investments will address the immediate and enormous suffering of families, the elderly and children living in neighborhoods such as Fruitridge, Del Paso, North Sacramento, Oak Park and Meadowview. Quite the opposite, investment in Aggie Square commercial projects without a community benefits agreement that includes a large prior investment in new affordable housing and existing neighborhood businesses, will, over time, increase demand for existing housing and commercial space and further destabilize and displace residents and small businesses.
A new coalition of several organizations working in vulnerable neighborhoods, called Sacramento Investment Without Displacement, was created to ensure that public financial investment builds up Sacramento neighborhoods, rather than destabilize them. Our coalition calls on local elected officials to fulfill their commitments to voters. No more broken promises. Now more than ever, with COVID-19 disproportionately hurting communities of color and disadvantaged neighborhoods, public investment must directly and immediately provide relief to our city’s most vulnerable residents.”
Click here to read the article in full.
Click here to learn more about the work being done by Sacramento Investment Without Displacement, of which ECOS is a part.
Photo by Retha Ferguson from Pexels
City of Sacramento Climate Action Plan/General Plan Questionnaire
Note new deadline: June 19, 2020
There is still time for city residents to participate in the 2040 General Plan update and Climate Action Plan’s virtual community questionnaire, as the deadline has been extended until June 19. The previous deadline for public input was June 5. Click here to learn more.
Sacramento City is updating their general plan, including the City’s Climate Action plan. We need Sacramento City residents to fill out this online community questionnaire to make sure everyone’s needs are represented. Participate by June 19, 2020 to help the City prioritize key proposed strategies around six general topics which will be part of the 2040 General Plan. You can choose to provide input on all six topics, or just one! You might be impressed by the ideas proposed; we were!
The six general topics presented in this virtual workshop for public input are:
- Livability
- Mobility
- Climate Change
- Environmental Justice
- Economic Development
- Sustainable Growth
Each of these general topics has specific questions for participants and opportunities for additional input. ECOS encourages all of our members and allies to spend approximately 30 minutes responding to this survey opportunity by June 5th, 2020. It is very important that our City government receives robust input and support from progressive, environmentally-conscious citizens.
Available in multiple languages.
Time commitment: approximately 30 minutes
