Important Sac County Decisions Dec 15/16

On December 15th and 16th, the Sacramento County Board of Supervisors will be making some important decisions about local actions to save the planet.

The following agenda items are on the consent calendar:

Approve Authority To Apply For Grant Funding From The Sacramento Area Council Of Governments 2021 Funding Round And The Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant Program
Zoning Ordinance Amendments Related To Accessory Dwelling Unit Standards. Request To Amend Chapter 1, Chapter 3, Chapter 5, Chapter 6, And Chapter 7 Of The Zoning Code Related To Accessory Dwelling Units
General Plan Amendment to Adopt SMAQMD Thresholds of Significance for CEQA Analyses of Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Declaration Of A Climate Emergency

Click here to view the agendas

Climate Emergency Declaration

Our partners at 350 Sacramento have created a handy letter-writing tool for anyone to use to send a message to the Board of Supervisors expressing your support for the declaration of a Climate Emergency. Please use to button below to help Sacramento county make the right choice.

Click here to send message

Support ECOS Through AmazonSmile

When you do your Christmas shopping online, shop at AmazonSmile and you can support the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) at the same time. AmazonSmile is a simple and easy way to support ECOS when you shop for Christmas gifts, at no cost to you.

What is AmazonSmile?

AmazonSmile is a simple way for you to support the Environmental Council of Sacramento every time you use Amazon, at no cost to you. AmazonSmile is available at smile.amazon.com on your web browser and can be activated in the Amazon Shopping app for iOS and Android phones. When you shop at AmazonSmile, you’ll find the exact same low prices, vast selection and convenient shopping experience as Amazon.com, with the added benefit that AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of your eligible purchases to the charitable organization of your choice. You can choose from over one million organizations to support.

How do I shop at AmazonSmile?

To shop at AmazonSmile simply go to smile.amazon.com on your web browser or activate AmazonSmile on your Amazon Shopping app on your iOS or Android phone (found under settings on your app). On your browser, you may also want to add a bookmark to smile.amazon.com to make it even easier to return and start your shopping at AmazonSmile. When you’re using the app, always check for the “AmazonSmile” logo to ensure you’re activated for AmazonSmile.

Please choose Environmental Council of Sacramento Inc. as your nonprofit of choice. Thank you from all of us at ECOS.

Go to AmazonSmile

Request for Nominations

Since 1973, ECOS has honored local persons, groups, businesses and innovations with the Environmentalist of the Year awards. Although we won’t host an in-person event this year, we feel it’s important to honor those worthy. Please take some time and recall an event – in the past year or so – which you were taken with. Then think of the people or group which made that positive impact. If you thought this important, here is your opportunity to have that recognized. Please submit your nomination using the nomination form by Monday, December 21st, 2020.

We appreciate and will consider all nominations. We hope to host an online celebration of the awardees in the coming months. Thank you in advance for your time and effort.

Click here to view past Environmentalists of the Year.

Climate Action Plan Presentations

Climate Action Plans: What’s the Latest? How Can We Help?

At the ECOS board meeting on Tuesday, Nov 24 at 6pm, we heard the latest about the Climate Action Plans of Sacramento City, West Sacramento City, and the County of Sacramento.

Click here to download a recording of this meeting.

Cities of Sacramento and West Sacramento

How has Sacramento been following up on these recommendations?

Anne Stausboll, Chair of the Mayors’ Commission on Climate Change, presented. The Commission presented its recommendations to Sacramento and West Sacramento this summer.

Resources from Anne

Mayors’ Commission on Climate Change Report, and the supporting Technical report, are both here: https://www.lgc.org/climatecommission/

Sacramento City Council voted on ten preliminary “first year” actions: https://engagesac.org/blog-civic-engagement/2020/8/26/sacramento-city-council-embraces-slow-streets-electrified-buildings-to-fight-climate-change

Sacramento City staff update on Nov 10 to Council on the “first year” actions: https://sacramento.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=22&clip_id=4764&meta_id=605234

Sacramento City staff update on the city CAP to the Planning Commission on Nov 12: https://sacramento.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=34&clip_id=4765&meta_id=605782

County of Sacramento

Todd Smith, Principal Planner, Sacramento County, discussed the status of the County’s Community-wide Climate Action Plan. This month, the County’s Stakeholder Committee heard a presentation on an early draft.

Presentations were followed by a Questions and Answer session.

Join us at our next board meeting!

Board Meetings of the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS) happen at 6:00 pm on the 4th Tuesday of odd-numbered months.
Zoom Meeting ID: 818 6537 7865
Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81865377865
Call-in: 1-669-900-6833 | Same Zoom info every board meeting

Click here for the agenda, and links to the supplemental materials for this meeting.

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

Preserve the Kassis Property Open Space

One of the last wildlife sanctuaries along the Lower American River is in danger of disappearing forever.

The Kassis property in Rancho Cordova is one of the last sizable areas of open space along the American River Parkway. This land is home to the river’s bald eagles, deer, bobcats, foxes, hawks, owls, and many more of the Parkway’s wild residents. Endangered Swainson’s Hawk have been spotted in the vicinity. Fisherman routinely find their way to the base of this property to stand quietly in the pursuit of steelhead. Here is where the wildlife escapes to when the river floods their homes on the American River Parkway.

The City is poised to let Trumark, an out-of-town developer, wipe out a critical refuge for wildlife to build 24 million dollar homes with river views.

The upper 21 acres of the Kassis property adjacent to Folsom Boulevard should be developed, but the lower 20 acres of wildlife habitat along the Lower American River is in the floodplain and must be preserved.

Sign the petition.

Image Source: Summer M. Tribble (daughter of David R. Tribble), CC BY-SA 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Letter to UC Regents re Aggie Square

October 10, 2020

Sacramento Investment Without Displacement, of which ECOS is a member, sent a letter to UC Regents regarding our concerns about Aggie Square.

Below is an excerpt from the letter.

We are writing this letter to appeal to you and the Board of Regents to request that UC Davis and its developer Wexford Science and Technology commit to signing a Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) with our broad coalition. We believe that this project could bring great possibility and promise for the future of Oak Park and other nearby neighborhoods, the City of Sacramento and UC Davis Medical Center, if the benefits are shared widely and equity and inclusion are embraced as core values.
Before this project’s Environmental Impact Report is approved, it is a moral imperative that the UC system consider our community coalition and the impacted community we represent. The leaders of our coalition are requesting a meaningful conversation with UC Davis and its developer to address inequities and unintended consequences of this project.
The Oak park community is mostly made up of people of color, low-income people and immigrants who have carried a heavy burden for generations in the history of the development of this region. Unfortunately, deep poverty, violence, inadequate affordable and safe housing, employment discrimination and the many subtle actions of hate have deeply wounded countless promising young and old souls alike. Residents have a list of concerns about how the build-out and operation of Aggie Square will impact their neighborhoods.

Click here to read the letter in full.