Sacramento Regional Transit charts a new direction

By Henry Li – Special to the Bee

March 07, 2017

The Sacramento Bee

Here’s a look at what’s ahead:

▪ RT will engage with broader community groups to fully understand the mobility needs and desires of our region.

▪ RT is committed to operating clean and safe trains and buses; we have prioritized security and cleaning operations, and reduced the fare-evasion rate by more than 15 percent.

▪ RT is dedicated to strengthening our finances and has tapped innovative revenue sources.

▪ RT has worked, and will continue to work, with our labor partners to build stronger employee relations, optimize processes and maximize efficiencies.

▪ RT has undergone a massive culture change, transitioning to be a more businesslike and customer-service-oriented agency.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article137016968.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/opinion/op-ed/soapbox/article137016968.html


Li, Henry. “Sacramento Regional Transit charts a new direction.” Sacbee. N.p., 07 Mar. 2017. Web. 07 Mar. 2017.

The Arch Nexus building at 930 R St

By Mark Glover

March 1, 2017

The Sacramento Bee

A Sacramento architectural design firm will host formal grand opening ceremonies Thursday at its newly renovated building along the R Street corridor, with hopes that the structure will be certified a world leader in sustainability a year from now.

 

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/business/real-estate-news/article135766848.html#storylink=cpy


Glover, Mark. “Downtown Sacramento building aims for gold standard of green.” Sacbee. N.p., 01 Mar. 2017. Web. 14 Mar. 2017.

Downtown Specific Plan NOP

The City of Sacramento, Community Development Department, as Lead Agency, has issued a Notice of Preparation (NOP) of an Environmental Impact Report for the Downtown Specific Plan.

The comment period is from February 15, 2017 to March 17, 2017.

The issuance of the NOP is to inform all responsible agencies of the decision to prepare an EIR. The purpose of the NOP is to provide information describing the project and its potential environmental effects and to seek input from responsible agencies as defined by CEQA (PRC Section 21069) and the public. Agencies should comment on such information as it relates to their statutory responsibilities in connection with the project. The full NOP is attached here and is available at the City’s Community Development Department webpage at:
http://portal.cityofsacramento.org/Community-Development/Planning/Environmental/Impact-Reports

A public scoping meeting will be held on Thursday, March 2 2017, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. at Sacramento City Hall, 915 I Street, Room 1119, Sacramento, California 95814. Responsible agencies and members of the public are invited to attend and provide input on the scope of the EIR. Written comments regarding relevant issues may be submitted at the meeting.

Comments and suggestions as to the appropriate scope of analysis are invited from all interested parties. Written comments or questions concerning the proposed project should be submitted to the following address no later than March 17, 2017 (Public counter hours are between 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.):
Tom Buford, Senior Planner
Community Development Department
300 Richards Boulevard, Third Floor
Sacramento, CA 95811
Email: tbuford[at]cityofsacramento[dot]org

Sacramento’s New Downtown

November 5, 2016

Interview By Cosmo Garvin

The Sacramento City Council is likely to approve the downtown railyards development plan this Thursday, November 10. Most of the buzz about the project has been around the proposed stadium for the Sacramento Republic soccer team.

The media has paid less attention to the amount and type of housing that will (or won’t) be built there, even though this is probably the most important part of the whole enterprise.

In Cosmo Garvin’s latest podcast, he interviewed Earl Withycombe and Alexandra Reagan of the Environmental Council of Sacramento, who say that “the current plan for the Railyards doesn’t include enough affordable housing, or enough of any kind of housing. They say the project isn’t dense enough, isn’t ambitious enough, about building a transit friendly, environmentally sound, inclusive urban core.”

ECOS comments on US-50 HOV Phase 2 Project Draft IS/EA

November 4, 2016

RE: Sac 50 Phase 2 High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) Lanes* Project Draft Initial Study [with Proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration]/Environmental Assessment

In general, ECOS is greatly concerned that this Initial Study does not adequately analyze the potential impacts of the project, and strongly recommends that a full EIR be conducted.

hov-ltr

Read our full comment letter here.

What’s an HOV lane? 
From Caltrans: The central concept for HOV lanes is to move more people rather than more cars. Some HOV lanes carry almost half of the people carried on the entire freeway.