Will local officials listen on 2020 transportation measure?

December 10, 2019
By David Mogavero (Former ECOS President)
Sacramento News and Review

What Transportation Measure?

In the next several weeks, our elected officials are writing a measure for the November 2020 ballot to levy a sales tax for transportation funding in Sacramento County.

How You Can Help!

Go to sacta.org/a_board.html, find the name of your elected representative who sits on the board and call, email, text or ask them for a meeting.
Tell them:
– You don’t want more roads, but want more transit and safer streets for bicycling and walking.
– You won’t be fooled by a measure that funds the road project down the street (that your neighbor told the pollsters they like) but sacrifices the quality of our county’s future
– You will only support a transportation measure that moves our community to a socially, economically and environmentally sustainable future.
-This is most critical for those who live outside of the city of Sacramento, including in Citrus Heights, Arden Arcade, Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove and North Highlands, etc.
– Please contact your representative now and voice your concerns. By February, it may be too late.

Read the full article here.

Photo Courtesy of Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates (SABA)

Environmentalist of the Year Awards 2019 – Thank you!

We hope you had as much fun as we did at the 46th Annual Environmentalist of the Year awards reception and ceremony! We loved gathering with so many friends, family members, colleagues and supporters once again for the annual Environmentalist of the Year awards. This time we enjoyed hosting the event at a larger venue, The Atrium 916, with a real piano, and were able to add a silent auction, more socializing space, sustainably handcrafted decorations, more beverage options and more! We cannot give enough thanks to everyone who attended, sponsored or otherwise supported the event. We couldn’t have done it without you!

A very special thank you from all of us at ECOS to the awards’ generous sponsors and silent auction donors.

Additionally, we invite you to let us know how the awards event was for you, if you attended. Please send us feedback for next year at office[at]ecosacramento[dot]net. Thank you!

Photos from Environmentalist of the Year Awards 2019

(More to follow, check back here!)

[Show slideshow]

Transportation Funding and Priorities for the City of Sacramento

Action Alert

The Sacramento City Council has scheduled a workshop on “Transportation Funding and Priorities” for Tuesday, October 29, starting at 5 pm, before the regular City Council meeting at 7 pm. This meeting has a great deal of relevance for developing the City’s stance on the allocation of funding in Measure A-plus, the possible county-wide sales tax currently under consideration by the Sacramento Transportation Authority (STA). Several organizations, including the SacMoves coalition have been invited to make short presentations at the workshop, and we understand that others will be allowed to comment as well, subject to the usual two minute limit. You are urged to attend to show your support for progressive transportation policies and priorities.

Here is a link to the agenda http://sacramento.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=21&event_id=3561, and note that this Web page contains further links to a printable agenda and the staff report.

MTP/SCS 2020 Update – Comments due Nov 7, 2019

Posted September 29, 2019

Do you live in the County of El Dorado, Placer, Sacramento, Sutter, Yolo or Yuba?

Is there some way your daily commute could improve? Wish you could take public transit, walk or bicycle?

There is a plan, and your input is welcome.

The Draft 2020 Update of the Sacramento Region Metropolitan Transportation Plan / Sustainable Communities Strategy was recently issued by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) for a 45-day review period, ending November 7th, 2019.

The ECOS Transportation, Air Quality and Climate Change (TAQCC) Committee is planning to make comments.

The Draft MTP/SCS and the accompanying Draft Environmental Impact Report are available on the SACOG website.

The last comments submitted by ECOS on the plan can be read by clicking here.

Fewer trees, more asthma. How Sacramento can improve its canopy and public health

By the Sacramento Bee Editorial Board
October 15, 2019
The Sacramento Bee

We often plant trees as a symbolic gesture. We plant them on Earth Day in honor of clean air and sustainability. We also plant trees to commemorate people and events.
But trees do more than provide shade and improve landscapes. They are also critical to public health.
In Sacramento, which the American Lung Association named fifth worst U.S. city for air quality and where temperatures increasingly reach triple-digit highs, we must take the importance of trees seriously.
https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article236197713.html

Click here to read the full article.

SacRT to modernize light rail system, increase train frequency to Folsom

August 14, 2019
Emily Hamann
Sacramento Business Journal

“Sacramento Regional Transit District is in the beginning stages of a multiyear, multimillion-dollar project to upgrade its light rail system, which will include more frequent service to Folsom.
Most of SacRT’s current light rail cars are reaching the end of their useful life, and will start costing SacRT more money in maintenance and repair costs. So SacRT is upgrading to new low-floor cars. The doors on low-floor cars are level with the street, which eliminates the need for elevated platforms at light rail stops.
Most of the state funding for the project is directed toward upgrading the Folsom line, which is aimed at reducing traffic congested corridors. Some of the funding is also coming from the settlement of a lawsuit between Caltrans and the Environmental Council of Sacramento. The environmentalist group had sued Caltrans over a plan to add carpool lanes on Highway 50. As part of an out-of-court settlement, Caltrans agreed to pay $7 million toward improving the Gold Line, which parallels the freeway. “

Read the full article here.