Do you LOVE trees? Do you get nutty over walnut trees? Weepy at the sight of a willow? Want to cuddle with a conifer?
Be Water Smart wants YOU to make sure our urban forest stays with us for generations to come, even as climate change is projected to bring more frequent drought years.
Here are some tips for efficiently watering your trees when the weather is dry, and be sure to visit sactree.com to learn even more about caring for trees!
Here are a few of the Be Water Smart videos that can help get you started!
July 31, 2020 | By Felicia Alvarez | Sacramento Business Journal
Expansion plans at the UC Davis Medical Center and Aggie Square are continuing to pick up momentum.
On Friday, the University of California Davis released the draft environmental impact report for its long-term development plans at UC Davis Medical Center. The draft report captures all 146 acres at the campus, including the university’s planned tech hub, Aggie Square, and approximately $1.9 billion in new facilities and renovations for the medical center.
The Environmental Council of Sacramento has been working with a coalition of community members and advocacy groups to ask UC Davis to ensure that the community also benefits from this investment. Click here to learn more about the effort.
By Bill Motmans and Tamika L’Ecluse June 10, 2020 Sacramento News and Review
“…city leaders have proposed federal stimulus funds for economic development projects, including UC Davis’s Aggie Square (a major real estate development aimed at attracting biotech companies), and bolstering the local tourism industry. Neither of these proposed investments will address the immediate and enormous suffering of families, the elderly and children living in neighborhoods such as Fruitridge, Del Paso, North Sacramento, Oak Park and Meadowview. Quite the opposite, investment in Aggie Square commercial projects without a community benefits agreement that includes a large prior investment in new affordable housing and existing neighborhood businesses, will, over time, increase demand for existing housing and commercial space and further destabilize and displace residents and small businesses.
A new coalition of several organizations working in vulnerable neighborhoods, called Sacramento Investment Without Displacement, was created to ensure that public financial investment builds up Sacramento neighborhoods, rather than destabilize them. Our coalition calls on local elected officials to fulfill their commitments to voters. No more broken promises. Now more than ever, with COVID-19 disproportionately hurting communities of color and disadvantaged neighborhoods, public investment must directly and immediately provide relief to our city’s most vulnerable residents.”
There is still time for city residents to participate in the 2040 General Plan update and Climate Action Plan’s virtual community questionnaire, as the deadline has been extended until June 19. The previous deadline for public input was June 5. Click here to learn more.
Sacramento City is updating their general plan, including the City’s Climate Action plan. We need Sacramento City residents to fill out this online community questionnaire to make sure everyone’s needs are represented. Participate by June 19, 2020 to help the City prioritize key proposed strategies around six general topics which will be part of the 2040 General Plan. You can choose to provide input on all six topics, or just one! You might be impressed by the ideas proposed; we were!
The six general topics presented in this virtual workshop for public input are:
Livability
Mobility
Climate Change
Environmental Justice
Economic Development
Sustainable Growth
Each of these general topics has specific questions for participants and opportunities for additional input. ECOS encourages all of our members and allies to spend approximately 30 minutes responding to this survey opportunity by June 5th, 2020. It is very important that our City government receives robust input and support from progressive, environmentally-conscious citizens.
Over 30 cities around the world have taken action to prioritize streets for pedestrians and bicyclists in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It’s time for Sacramento to join.
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every aspect of our daily life, including how we move and what transportation we chose to do it with. Our streets and green spaces are more active than ever with residents walking and biking for transportation to essential jobs, groceries, and for physical and mental health. But our sidewalks throughout the City are too narrow to support safe social distancing, and serious infrastructure gaps in sidewalk and bike networks further reduce the ability of residents to walk and bike safely during stay at home orders.
ECOS has joined forces with Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, WALKSacramento and others to call upon the City of Sacramento to partially or fully close streets in order to keep residents safe from COVID-19, create more local public space, and continue providing safe access to essential businesses and services. Click here to read the official letter to the CIty of Sacramento.
We realize this is a challenging time of disruption, and that while everyone is pondering and planning for the “new normal” our hope is to encourage the City to expedite many of the plans it already has in place to create a cleaner, safer Sacramento for all ages and abilities, now and in the future.
Do you want better public transit and more walkable, bike-friendly, accessible neighborhoods for all? How about affordable housing at transit stations all over town? On Dec. 12 and Jan. 9, the Sacramento Transportation Authority is meeting to discuss details for a possible ballot measure in November 2020 to levy a sales tax for transportation funding in Sacramento County. It’s up to them whether this measure addresses the dire reality of climate change and the needs of all neighborhoods no matter the zip code. Find out how to contact your representative and tell them what you think! Especially important for communities like Citrus Heights, Arden Arcade, Folsom, Rancho Cordova, Elk Grove, North Highlands, etc. – Chase Kelly-Reif, ECOS Board Member
