Tag Archives: sacramento

Sacramento Needs Public Bathrooms

Need to go to the bathroom in Sacramento? Good luck! Unless you are close to home or happen to be somewhere where you have just been a customer (but what if you didn’t “have to go” then?) your chances of finding a toilet are slim. Even our parks are lacking. According to the Sacramento Bee, “…the city operates 205 parks, but most either have no bathrooms or have facilities with limited hours. In the central city…only 5 of 22 parks have restroom facilities.” Many times, park bathrooms are locked up without warning or notice of when they may reopen.

Many of the river access points closest to downtown Sacramento completely lack any bathrooms for beach-goers, such as Sutter’s Landing. Imagine taking your family to have a nice day at the beach, only to find that your kids or your aunt have no where to relieve themselves! That’s what Sacramento is like, and it’s time to change that.

Why? Diseases, for one thing! Now the river is full of bacterias that can make people really sick, like E. Coli.

The link to this SacBee article, published September 12, 2019, has been changed or removed and is no longer available.

Sacramento will continue to struggle with sanitation and risk of disease so long as the city refuses to provide an adequate number of public restrooms, on and off the river, for both people who are experiencing homelessness and those who are not.

Alexandra Reagan

Director of Operations, ECOS

Sacramento Two Rivers Trail Bike Trail

On September 12, 2019, ECOS and Habitat 2020 submitted a comment letter on the Sacramento Two Rivers Trail (Phase II) DEIR.

The Two Rivers Trail Phase II project will provide a 2.4 mile long multi-use path between Sutter’s Landing Park and H Street, by Sacramento State. The trail will provide residents of River Park and East Sacramento a safe, convenient, and protected path into downtown Sacramento. The overall vision is to eventually have the trail connect to the Sacramento River Parkway and create a continuous trail system along both sides of the Sacramento and American Rivers. In addition, the project will environmentally clear the next phase of the trail between Sutter’s Landing Park and the Sacramento Northern Bike Trail.

https://www.cityofsacramento.org/Public-Works/Engineering-Services/Projects/Current-Projects/Two-Rivers-Trail-Phase-II

There are many habitat issues that remain unaddressed in the Draft Environmental Impact Report.

The bottom line is that a bike trail on a levee is not only feasible, but it is the best option for the Two Rivers Trail if we want to protect the American River Parkway and its ecosystems. There are numerous other benefits to putting the trail on top of the levee as well, such as better access during winter floods.

Click here to read the letter in full.

The South Sacramento Habitat Conservation Plan is Here

By the Sacramento Bee Editorial Board
August 6, 2019
The Sacramento Bee

To say the South Sacramento Habitat Conservation Plan has been a long time coming is a vast understatement.

Two decades after the seeds were first planted, the plan is finally ready for Sacramento County supervisors to consider on Wednesday. They should approve it.

Developers would get a simplified and predictable process for federal and state environmental permits. And conservation groups would get large, interconnected areas of protected habitat, open space and undeveloped farmland.

Years of push and pull among groups representing developers, farmers, environmental and conservation interests, plus state and federal agencies, has produced a fair deal that most can support. While the success of this very complex framework depends on implementation and enforcement, that by itself is something of a miracle.

The co-chair of ECOS’s Habitat 2020 committee, Sean Wirth, has had an important role in bringing this plan to fruition.

Read more here.

North Natomas’ Panhandle Annexation Update, Jul 22, 2019, Sacramento City Express

Despite numerous concerns raised by ECOS and other organizations for over a decade, the panhandle of North Natomas has been approved for the construction of houses, schools, parks, etc. Among these concerns are flooding hazards, negative impacts on wildlife habitat, an increase in air pollution, and various other issues. This article by Sacramento City Express also fails to address the environmental and agricultural concerns related to this plan.

Sacramento votes to use eminent domain on properties for Pocket-area bike trail

Image credit: https://www.ebikeshed.com/ 

The Sacramento City Council has finally started the process of eminent domain to acquire recreation easements necessary to complete the Sacramento River Parkway.

Learn more about it in this May 22, 2019 article from The Sacramento Bee. Within that article is a reference to $210,000 that comes from a settlement agreement with Caltrans.

In 2013, ECOS obtained a commitment from Caltrans to the parkway in our lawsuit demanding mitigation for planned carpool and bus lanes on I-5. Caltrans was not obligated to pay the settlement until it was ready to award a construction contract. I believe the City of Sacramento now has those funds and is able to use them to take this critical step toward the Parkway’s completion.

We are excited to see this success in which ECOS played a role! The Friends of the Sacramento River Parkway has sent ECOS a note of thanks in light of the new vote taken by Sacramento City Council on this, which we greatly appreciate.

Unfortunately, Friends of the Sacramento River Parkway says that although voting for resolutions of necessity to start eminent domain proceedings in the Pocket, Councilmember Steve Hansen made it clear at this week’s meeting he will continue to oppose the completion of the Parkway in the “Little Pocket” area. He also convinced the city recently to seriously impede public access to the levee and to Chicory Bend Park in the Little Pocket.

Contact the Friends of the Sacramento River Parkway for ways you can get involved.