Upper Westside Project, January 2025, N Magazine

By Dennis Spear | N Magazine | January 2025

It is incumbent upon residents to challenge projects like this that seem to plow through previous well thought out plans and agreements for the future. If there is no accountability and respect for previous plans, then why did we have the plans at all?

Read the article below to learn more about the efforts ECOS has been making to preserve open space in Natomas.

Sacramento City Council rejects anti-displacement ordinance that critics called ‘counterproductive’ December 3, 2024, CapRadio

Gerardo Zavala | December 3, 2024 | CapRadio

On Tuesday, December 3, 2024, the City of Sacramento city council unanimously rejected the Community Benefits Agreement Ordinance as proposed.

In a letter to the council, the [Sacramento Investment Without Displacement] coalition argued that the city failed to amend the ordinance with three main recommendations it made in February:

  • Ensuring residents can stay in their neighborhood through minimum benefits around affordable housing, transportation, workforce development and small/local business protections.
  • Community engagement in the negotiation process.
  • Community oversight to enforce the ordinance in a way that makes sure the community gets the benefits for their neighborhoods.

Click here to read the article in full.

Fighting for Land: We need more housing, but we also want to protect wildland, September 23, 2023, Comstock’s Magazine

By Brad Branan | September 23, 2024 | Comstock’s Magazine

The Swainson’s hawk is considered threatened in California, the result of lost habitat. Yet it is doing well in the Natomas Basin, in part because of a conservation plan that sets aside land for habitat, like the farm where the hawk foraged.

That could change due to four major development projects that are planned in the Natomas Basin. The projects would replace important wildland with homes, warehouses and other buildings.

Click here to read the full article.

Upper Westside Plan headed for Sac County supes vote in spring 2025, September 13, 2024, The Sacramento Business Journal

By Ben van der Meer | September 13, 2024 | The Sacramento Business Journal

The Upper Westside Plan for Natomas is facing “…opposition from smart-growth advocates. The Environmental Council of Sacramento, in opposing another Natomas development project called Airport South, said they worried approval of that project and its changes to the urban services boundary would open the door to even bigger projects like the Upper Westside Plan.”

Click here to read the article in full.

Don Shoup on “How L.A. can fix our scary sidewalks for the Olympics” This could work in Sacramento too. September 10, 2024, LA Times

By Donald Shoup | September 10, 2024 | LA Times

Los Angeles’ broken sidewalks are like an obstacle course, especially for people with disabilities. They are bad enough to challenge the Olympic athletes who will show up in four years.

In 2016, to settle an Americans With Disabilities Act lawsuit, Los Angeles committed to spending $1.4 billion over 30 years to make its sidewalks accessible. But a 2021 audit by the Los Angeles Controller’s Office revealed that since 2016, the city had repaired less than 1% of sidewalks. During that period, the city paid more than $35 million in settlements related to sidewalk injuries.

Donald Shoup is a distinguished research professor in urban planning at UCLA.

Click here to read the article in full.