Tag Archives: Local Transportation

ECOS Letter re City of Sac Transportation Priorities Plan

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On March 15, 2022, ECOS submitted a letter to the City of Sacramento regarding their Transportation Priorities Plan. Below is an excerpt from our letter.

ECOS recommends:
1) The schedule for developing the TPP plan should be accelerated so projects can be eligible for funding sooner and built sooner.
2) SacRT’s transit system should be the backbone around which the City’s transportation projects are selected, to make existing transit station areas and transit corridors more walkable and livable. This approach is consistent with state law (SB375, SB743), regional policies (SACOG Blueprint, Green Means Go), and it would enable the leveraging of federal grants.

Click here to read the letter in full.

Comments re Sacramento’s Transportation Priorities Plan

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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.

ROGER DICKINSON

Todd Smith and Roger Dickinson to speak 3/10

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Please join ECOS’ Climate Change Committee on Thursday, March 10, 6 PM to hear Todd Smith discuss the Sacramento County Action Plan and Roger Dickinson speak about a potential new transportation ballot measure.

6:00: Welcome and Introductions

6:10: Sacramento County’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) draft was released (revised from September): https://planning.saccounty.net/PlansandProjectsIn-Progress/Documents/Climate%20Action%20Plan/Revised%20Final%20Draft%20CAP_February%202022.pdf
Comments on the CAP are due March 23.
Also March 23 (6 PM start): the Board of Supervisors will hold a CAP WORKSHOP (presentation and CAP discussion), and a presentation on its Climate Emergency Declaration’s Task Force.

Todd Smith, Sacramento County Planner, will provide an overview of changes to the CAP. Help us prepare comments. Get involved!

6:45: Transportation Ballot Measure for November election

Would increase sales tax in Sacramento County to generate almost $9 billion over 40 years for transportation improvements. Signature gatherers are being led by a coalition of developers, construction companies, and construction trade unions. As a “citizens group” (“A Committee for a Better Sacramento”; details: www.movesac.org), it needs 50%+1 for passage, rather than 67% if proposed by a government agency.

Its language is similar to the Measure A that was pulled in 2020 due to Covid … EXCEPT: $300 million to build the Capital Southeast Connector (Folsom-Elk Grove expressway [I-5 – US-50]). AND: it gives the Southeast Connector Authority the ability to determine whether it meets greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction requirements, rather than SACOG. This would lead to sprawl development and increased vehicle miles traveled, and prevent our region from reaching State-mandated GHG reduction.

Roger Dickinson will provide overview. He is Policy Director for Civic Well (formerly Local Government Commission); previously Executive Director of Transportation California, and State Asemblymember.
We will discuss our options.

7:15: Sacramento City
Transportation & Climate Workshop; Update, Climate Implementation Plan
March 15: City Council to consider and budget for transportation priorities: transit and complete streets — with infrastructure for walking, rolling, riding transit and driving.

7:25: Introduction of new ECOS activists, and their interests

Prior to adjournment, we welcome announcements, and other matters you may raise.

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

Biden is offering billions for transportation. Here’s how Sacramento can get its share

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February 17, 2022 | By the Sacramento Bee Editorial Board | The Sacramento Bee

The need for a significant change in how we move around the area has never been greater. Transportation accounts for 56% of the city of Sacramento’s carbon emissions, making it a major contributor in the region’s upsetting consistency in earning the American Lung Association’s recognition as one of the most polluted areas in the country. The smoke we inhale each fire season is a downstream result of climate change caused partly by our overreliance on cars. Long-term exposure to smoke and vehicle pollution poses an increased risk of mortality, especially for lower-income communities.

Read more at: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/editorials/article258464983.html#storylink=cpy

Learn About the California Mobility Center Dec 9

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Please join ECOS’ Transportation, Air Quality & Climate Change (TAQCC) Committee for its regular monthly meeting, on Thursday, December 9th. Details about joining this meeting using “Zoom” are provided below.

Our featured speaker will be Mark Rawson, Chief Operating Officer of the California Mobility Center, which was officially launched in March 2021. CMC is a nonprofit, public-private business acceleration hub that aspires to become a leading global innovation and commercialization center and to set the pace in electric mobility. Its headquarters will be located at The Hub: Sacramento State Research Park, located southeast of Sac State on the other side of Highway 50, and its Board includes representatives from Sac State, SMUD, Microsoft, UC Davis, and other prominent organizations.

The balance of the meeting will be devoted to updates on other active issues: the proposed citizens intiiatve to put a Sacramento County transportation tax on the November 2022 ballot, Sacramento County and City Climate Action Plans, Sacramento City Transportation Priorities Plan, the proposed expansion of the CapCity bridge over the American River, and other topics you may raise.

Note: This is the final meeting of TAQCC as presently constituted, since it will be folded into a new Climate Change Committee in the restructuring of ECOS committees. The initial meeting of the Climate Change Comittee will be the first Thursday in January, the same time and date previously scheduled for TAQCC.

When: Thursday, December 9th, 2021 at 6 pm
Where: Videoconference, hosted by Zoom
Link to join TAQCC Meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85805612058
To phone in: 1-669 900 6833, Meeting ID: 858 0561 2058