Sacramento Investment Without Displacement Website
Great news! Sacramento Investment Without Displacement now has their own website. Please visit siwd.org to keep up with this project and our efforts to protect our community members.
We are now fundraising for our legal fund.
What is Aggie Square?
Aggie Square is to be located at the UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento. The plan is to develop 20 acres of campus property into additional research facilities and mixed-use development for students and employees of UC Davis. Aggie Square will include spaces for research, housing, dining, and businesses. It is UC Davis’ vision that Aggie Square fosters an environment that can advance the University’s academic programs as well as contribute to a strong, healthy community.
How is ECOS Involved?
The Environmental Council of Sacramento is a partner in the Community Development Action Team, one of six action teams under the Building Healthy Communities (BHC) Sacramento Hub, funded by The California Endowment. The Community Development Action Team (CDAT) has identified the potential impacts of Aggie Square as a major concern for some of Sacramento’s most underserved communities. A new nonprofit has been formed, called Sacramento Investment Without Displacement, to campaign for the community to benefit from UC Davis’ large expansion. ECOS is grateful to be a part of this powerful coalition of social justice advocates, equity-focused organizations and community partners.
Please visit Sacramento Investment Without Displacement’s website for the latest.
What are the Concerns?
It’s possible that Aggie Square can exacerbate gentrification in the surrounding Sacramento neighborhoods, or it can lead to economic growth through increased opportunities for local residents.
How do we invest in the neighborhoods most impacted by UC Davis without displacing long-time residents and local businesses?
Impacts of Gentrification
Gentrification [is] the influx of capital and higher-income, higher-educated residents into working-class neighborhoods.
Displacement occurs when housing or neighborhood conditions actually force moves…Displacement can be physical (as building conditions deteriorate) or economic (as costs rise). It might push households out, or it might prohibit them from moving in, called exclusionary displacement. Displacement, whether physical or economic, may result from disinvestment as well as investment.
From the Urban Displacement Project at the University of California, Berkeley https://www.urbandisplacement.org/sites/default/files/images/urban_displacement_project_-_executive_summary.pdf
What are the Environmental Issues?
These social justice issues align with ECOS’ mission to achieve regional and community sustainability and a healthy environment for existing and future residents. In addition, sustainable growth is the only way our region can achieve our greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, as set by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG). We need to create neighborhoods in which people have the option to avoid driving a car in their daily lives. This means a sufficient amount of affordable housing in the urban core, where there will always be entry-level jobs at which employees do not make enough income to afford market-rate housing.
Furthermore, it is imperative that Aggie Square not exacerbate the gentrification of Oak Park in the City of Sacramento. The environmental movements of the past have failed to include people who are most oppressed in the United States, those who are poor and/or people of color. In John Muir’s day (late 1800s), National Parks were created but Indigenous Peoples were forced off of the lands first. In the 1960s, environmentalists succeeded in getting the federal government to pass several keystone environmental protection acts, such as the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, however segregation and racism ran rampant, and many people of color ended up in neighborhoods where the benefits of these acts were scarcely reaped. Today, research shows that you can determine how long the average person will live by that person’s residential zipcode. We cannot make these mistakes again. We all depend on clean air, clean water and a healthy planet on which human life can be sustained. We must lift up all people, or our planet will not survive.
Letter to UC Regents
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.
Environmental Review Process
The environmental review for Aggie Square Phase 1 is being done in a document called of “Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the University of California, Davis Sacramento Campus 2020 Long Range Development Plan Update.” For additional information and to access the Draft SEIR and Draft 2020 LRDP Update, please visit https://environmentalplanning.ucdavis.edu/sacramento.
Community Responses to the Notice of Availability of the Draft Supplemental EIR
On September 16, 2020, the following letters were some of the many submitted in response to the Notice of Availability of the Draft Supplemental EIR.
Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS)
Sacramento Investment Without Displacement
Community Responses to the Notice of Preparation
On March 10, 2020, several organizations submitted comment letters on the Notice of Preparation.
Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS)
Investment Without Displacement
Tahoe Park Neighborhood Association
Aggie Square News
Sacramento considers tax break for UC Davis project. Some worry it will fuel gentrification
October 27, 2020
The Sacramento Bee
Community Seeks Aggie Square Partnership
September 28, 2020
The Sacramento Observer
Councilmembers back call for community benefit ‘commitments’ on Aggie Square
September 18, 2020
The Sacramento Business Journal
A $1.1 billion project will mean thousands of jobs in Sacramento. Will renters be displaced?
September 14, 2020
The Sacramento Bee
Environmental review for UC Davis’ 150-acre Sacramento campus moves forward
Jul 31, 2020
Sacramento Business Journal
Aggie Square’s first phase anticipated to cost $1.1 billion
Jul 7, 2020
Sacramento Business Journal
No More Broken Promises
June 10, 2020
Sacramento News and Review
Coronavirus may cause a $90 million hit to Sacramento’s budget. How City Hall is responding
April 15, 2020
The Sacramento Bee
Innovation without gentrification?
April 1, 2020
Sacramento News and Review
Experts: Sacramento Could Be The First Economy To Bounce Back After Coronavirus
March 26, 2020
CBS Sacramento
UC Davis Medical Center previews plans for $1.9 billion expansion
February 24, 2020
Sacramento Business Journal
Anti-gentrification effort aims to shape Aggie Square
February 18, 2020
Sacramento Business Journal
UC Davis is posting updates on Aggie Square here: https://www.ucdavis.edu/news/aggie-square
More About Displacement and Equity
Investment without Displacement, from ClimatePlan (Fact sheet)
Urban Displacement Project at the University of California, Berkeley
LA proposes putting ‘anti-displacement’ zones around luxury development, November 13, 2019
It’s aimed at helping renters in a one-mile radius around new buildings
Mayor Lee’s ‘jobs agenda’ made life worse for many San Franciscans, August 12, 2019
New study shows that attracting high-skilled tech jobs to cities in the name of creating jobs has a net negative impact on the working-class population.
Do low-skilled workers gain from high-tech employment growth? High-technology multipliers, employment and wages in Britain, November 2019
Low-skilled workers benefit from new employment, but average wages fall, particularly once housing costs are considered.
Nashville Major League Soccer Community Benefits Agreement
Parks for All, Not Just the Privileged: Data-Driven Approaches to Park Equity
Community Benefits Agreement
As detailed in the report by Center for Regional Change on Aggie Square, a Community Benefits Agreement would provide a legal promise to benefit the community in ways that residents and local business owners need most.
What is a Community Benefits Agreement?
CBAs are contractual agreements between represented community groups and developers that detail specific benefits a developer will provide to the community in exchange for public support of the proposed project. Common examples include changing elements of the project itself based on community feedback, dedicating a percentage of jobs and contracts to residents or other stakeholders, and funding projects such as affordable housing, public space, or youth programming.
From ShelterForce
To be Continued…
This page will continue to be updated regularly, so check back for new information. Please contact us at office[at]ecosacramento[dot]net if you would like to be involved.
