Comments re Sacramento’s Transportation Priorities Plan

On March 14, 2022, ECOS, along with several other environmental groups, submitted a letter to the City of Sacramento about the City’s Transportation Priorities Plan.

Once again, we write to implore you to act swiftly to take comprehensive and bold action to transform transportation in the City and the region. Such a transformation is nonnegotiable if we are to begin to respond to the imminent threat of climate change; it is also essential in fostering equity, addressing traffic safety, increasing the livability of our neighborhoods, and improving air quality.

Just a few weeks ago the Council held a workshop titled Climate and Transportation. Yet the Transportation Priorities Plan before you, which proposes analyzing 700 transportation projects that have been proposed by council members over the past twenty years, would appear to adopt the status quo and does not establish addressing climate change as one of the criteria. Our city is in dire need of a transportation plan that reflects the current century. Again, we urge you to direct your City Manager to set aside staff and resources to develop and implement a comprehensive active transportation and public transit framework for the city.

Click here to read our letter in full.

Climate Change Committee meeting 4/14

Please join ECOS’ Climate Change Committee on Thursday, April 14, at 6 PM!

We will hear reports from our Committee’s three teams: Transportation, Land Use, Green Buildings.
We will review the status of climate action plans in our region – cities and counties.

We want your ideas for “task forces” that our Committee should establish.
e.g., Natomas team: need to strengthen the Natomas Basin Habitat Conservation Plan.

We want to learn about your concerns, to help us identify these task forces, that you might want to join!


Agenda

6:00: Welcome and Introductions

6:10: Transportation Team Report
John Deeter, Team Chair

6:20: Land Use Committee Report

6:30: Green Building Committee Report

Updates:
6:40: Transportation Ballot Measure for November election
6:50: Climate Action Plans

7:00: Introductions by folks new to ECOS, their interests; and ideas for “Task Forces”
Nancy Hughett (ECOS Organization Development Committee Chair)

7:45: Adjourn

California’s climate action plans fall behind on equity, sticking instead to boilerplate solutions, new study says

By Manola Secaira | February 28, 2022 | Capitol Public Radio

Sacramento County’s climate action plan is almost finished. When it’s complete, it will join the dozens of other California cities and counties that have created plans to combat climate change on a local level in the last couple decades.

But despite their growing popularity, these plans aren’t without criticism. Environmental justice groups often find faults in their approach – or lack thereof – when it comes to including equity in their planning, like how they address affordable housing or funding public transportation.

Click here to read the article.

Please take this Survey: Investment Without Displacement

Sacramento Investment Without Displacement (SIWD) is a coalition of social justice organizations and residents who support building healthy communities, affordable housing, preserving cultural traditions, and the stability of neighborhoods.

SIWD is conducting this survey to gather feedback from the community about a proposed City of Sacramento policy.

The proposed policy would require developers to enter into a community benefits agreement (CBA) for new construction if the developer receives money or incentives from the City of Sacramento.

A developer is an individual or company responsible for building homes, offices, retail or commercial centers, arenas, or industrial sites.

A community benefits agreement or CBA is a legally binding document that outlines community benefits (e.g., affordable housing, park improvements, job training programs) a developer must provide to reduce the negative impact of new development on the people who live near the project.

SIWD will use the information collected through this survey when advocating with the City that the proposed CBA policy reflects equity and what the community wants.

At the end of this survey you will have the option to enter into a raffle to win a prize (for example, gift card, t-shirt or hoodie).

Blueprint Then and Now

February 23, 2022

SACOG Honors Blueprint Legacy in the 2024 Long-Range Transportation Plan

How the Blueprint transformed transportation and land-use planning for good

The creation of the Sacramento Region Blueprint was a revolutionary undertaking and compelled a critical assessment of the relationship between transportation and land use in the region. The strategy, completed almost 20 years ago, set the precedent for how metropolitan planning organizations engage in regional design. SACOG has chosen to carry on the innovative strategy’s legacy through the Metropolitan Transportation Plan/Sustainable Communities Strategy (MTP/SCS).

ECOS was key to original Blueprint, as mentioned in this article.

Local environmental groups filed a lawsuit and demanded more from SACOG and its members.

Keep reading at https://www.sacog.org/news/sacog-honors-blueprint-legacy-2024-long-range-transportation-plan.