Tag Archives: 2023

Sacramento is at a tipping point. What’s the future of housing, sprawl and racial inequality?

June 12, 2023 | By Ryan Lillis

The Sacramento region is at a tipping point. And the next few years will determine what shape we leave it in for the next generation. The region’s housing is less expensive than California’s coastal cities, a selling point that motivated thousands of new residents to move inland since the start of the pandemic. Yet housing prices and rents have skyrocketed the past three years, and fewer than one-third of residents here can now afford to buy the median-priced home. Within the past few months, the Sacramento area became a “minority-majority” region, meaning white residents now make up less than 50% of the population. Still, substantial racial disparities in income, education and access to housing persist, even after the racial reckoning of 2020. Many commercial corridors remain starved for investment, especially those running through lower-income neighborhoods.

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/sacramento-tipping-point/article276112636.html#storylink=cpy

Green Building: Why The Built Environment?

From https://architecture2030.org/why-the-building-sector/

We must eliminate all CO2 emissions from the built environment by 2040 to meet 1.5° Climate targets.

The Built Environment

The built environment generates 40% of annual global CO2 emissions. Of those total emissions, building operations are responsible for 27% annually, while building and infrastructure materials and construction (typically referred to as embodied carbon) are responsible for an additional 13% annually.

Click here to continue reading.

AB 1052 Sacramento Regional Transit District’s Ballot Authority (Support)

On May 30, 2023, ECOS submitted a letter of support for AB 1052, Sacramento Regional Transit District’s Ballot Authority.

Below is the text of our letter.

On behalf of the Environmental Council of Sacramento (ECOS), we thank you for authoring AB 1052 and express our support for the bill as it moves through the legislative process.

Sacramento Regional Transit (SacRT) continues to face reduced ridership and higher costs originally driven by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of those negative impacts continue today, along with the lasting societal changes the pandemic caused. 

We strongly believe that a robust, efficient, and cost-effective SacRT transit system benefits all people within its service area, but some projects provide more benefits to a subset of the residents living within that service area. However, if SacRT wants to place a measure on the ballot to increase a sales or use tax, or property tax, that measure must cover its entire service area.

In the wake of these changes and the ongoing financial uncertainty, AB 1052 would give SacRT the authority to ask a subset of its service area to support paying for projects that would more directly benefit that area. Many much-needed community and SacRT projects are more localized, impacting and delivering the most benefits to a geographically specific region as opposed to the entire widespread, 440-square mile SacRT service area.

We know that efficient public transit provides tremendous regional benefits. SacRT services reduce traffic, improve air quality, boost regional economic growth, create jobs, and connect neighborhoods. It also offers residents a cost-effective way to get to and from school, work, medical appointments, and essential services. In addition, it provides mobility equity, by providing greater access to opportunities and services so all members of our community can connect, thrive, and prosper. 

ECOS was founded in 1971 as a visionary and action-oriented coalition for our region.

Today the organizational and individual members of ECOS work to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve air quality, promote smart growth land use and transportation principles, promote equity in housing, promote sustainable regional water supply for all users, public health and opportunities, and promote regional habitat conservation.

We are pleased to offer our support for AB 1052 and I thank you again for carrying the bill.

Click here to read the letter in PDF.

Sustainability of the South American groundwater subbasin 6/28

The ECOS Water Committee invites you to join us on June 28 from 6:00 until 7:00 to take part in a presentation/discussion of the sustainability of the South American groundwater subbasin. This subbasin is the source of groundwater providing a significant amount of the water used by the urban areas and agricultural areas south of the American River. John Woodling, Executive Director of the Sacramento Central Groundwater Authority (SCGA), the agency that coordinates and manages a major portion of the subbasin, will be presenting the latest condition of the subbasin as reflected in the annual subbasin sustainability report recently submitted to the state. He will also describe efforts to protect Groundwater Dependent Ecosystems, shallow wells, and improve the subbasin’s monitoring and modeling programs. All of these actions are important given the plan by the Regional Water Authority to operate a water bank in the area overseen by SCGA. We are all interested to learn how SCGA plans to interact with the proposed Regional Water Bank. Bring your questions and be prepared for a thoughtful presentation and discussion.

Link to join: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6656164155
To phone in: 669-900-6833, Meeting ID: 665 616 4155

City of Sacramento Draft General Plan Update Presentation to ECOS 6/27

ECOS Climate Committee Meeting
Tuesday, June 27 – 6:00 pm start

LINK to join: ECOS ZOOM https://us02web.zoom.us/j/6656164155 or call: 1 669 900 6833, Mtg ID: 665 616 4155

6:00 Welcome and Introductions

6:10 City of Sacramento Draft General Plan Update (GPU)
Remi Mendoza, Senior Planner and Project Manager for the City of Sacramento, will share information on the City’s new draft General Plan Update. The General Plan Update includes goals for promoting the development of a wider variety of housing types and this plan also envisages interconnected centers and corridors, so that future growth is sustainable and equitable. sac2040gpu[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org

The City will host a 3rd webinar on June 29 on the CAAP and General Plan Update — https://www.cityofsacramento.org/Community-Development/Planning/Major-Projects/General-Plan.

6:40 Discussion/Q&A (GPU)

7:05 Updates and Announcements

  • Sacramento County’s Climate Emergency Mobilization Task Force – status update
  • Measure A redux – 2024 ballot measure to fund transit, etc.
  • SACOG Blueprint
  • I-80 lanes to be added between Davis and Sacramento – draft EIR expected soon
  • Community Benefits Ordinance for Sacramento City
  • Proposed development projects jeopardizing the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan
  • Regional Climate Action Plan for 7 counties, by Sacramento Metro Air District (SMAQMD)
  • Others …

This meeting is open to everyone interested in addressing some of our region’s most pressing challenges.

Click here for the agenda in PDF.