Thank you.

Thank you.

Councilmember Councilmember Kaplan.

Should be here momentarily.

Councilmember Dickinson.

Vice Mayor Talamantes should be here momentarily.

Councilmember Pleckybom.

Councilmember Maple.

Mayor for Temkara.

Here.

Councilmember Jennings.

Councilmember Fang.

You have a quorum.

Thank you.

Well, Mr.

Dickinson, we were going to have the little ladies' girl scouts from Robla do the pledge, but they're gone.

So since you represent Robla along with someone, the council member Kaplan.

Um lead us in the pledge and the land acknowledgement.

Please please rise if you are able for the land acknowledgement and the uh and the pledge.

Uh this is uh a pledge, uh excuse me, an acknowledgement of uh our Sacramento Indigenous people and tribal lands to the original people of this land, the Nissanan people, the Southern Maidu, the Valley and Plains Meywoke, the Patton uh Winton uh peoples and the people of the Wilton Rancheria, Sacramento's only federally recognized tribe.

May we acknowledge and honor the native people who came before us and still walk beside us today on these ancestral lands by choosing to gather together today in the active practice of acknowledgement and appreciation for Sacramento's indigenous peoples, history, contributions, and lives.

Thank you, and please join me in the pledge.

I pledge allegiance to the high of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands.

One nation, another guy, indivisible with liberty and justice for the clerk.

So, Mayor, you have two special presentations, and the first one is presented by you.

It's now riz, which is the Persian New Year.

Okay, close.

That's what I was expecting you to present.

Yeah, we all learned something here tonight.

So this, of course, is springtime and uh celebrating everything new.

We have a couple of these uh tonight.

Um so this is a traditional Persian New Year celebration.

Uh been going on for over 3,000 years, much longer than the city of Sacramento has been around here, of course.

Uh coincides with Vernal Equinox, symbolizing renewal, rebirth, compassion, and hope for the year ahead.

Um this falls on the solar um the vernal equinox, and again, 300 million people worldwide celebrate Neruz, including many here in the Sacramento area, primarily uh Persian, Afghan, Kurdish, Central Asian, and a few other cultural backgrounds.

We have a rich history of uh Persian uh descent individuals in our community, and we have two outstanding uh people in the Sacramento region here to celebrate Nerus with us today.

So we'd like to bring up first Artavan Zahadani thank you, Mayor and Council.

Uh Artie Zahadani is my my shorter name, but I appreciate the acknowledgement.

I've uh I have a pretty interesting story.

I immigrated here from Iran uh when I was about seven years old and have been a member of the community, have been try to be an active leader in the community.

You've meant the world to me.

You've been welcoming, you've welcomed our community through every celebration, and today just marks another significant date for us.

I think the mayor, when you were in the legislature, you'd have special events on this day, the beginning of the new year, which means a lot to us.

You mentioned a lot of the important uh history of our community, but for many of us, this recognition is deeply meaningful.

It's our tradition, our history, our identities, and seeing that you see this as a value, and for us to be a member of your community means quite a bit.

Uh Sacramento continues to set an example of what inclusivity means.

You're a leader in the region, and I hope other communities will follow you and set the standard.

So thank you again for everything you've done, and thank you for letting us participate.

Thank you.

Appreciate that.

We have Bardia.

I think he had a go left.

Okay.

Well, thank you for representing the Narooz contingent.

So we're gonna present a proclamation here from the city of Sacramento.

And as you're going down there, Mayor, I just want to thank Arnie for his work.

When I first uh I when I first uh I got elected, well, got appointed to the planning commission for the county.

We worked on uh portable housing projects.

So the community's always done so much for uh for the community uh for the on affordable needs.

Yes.

Thank you for the six.

Three, two, one.

Thank you guys.

Sunabla.

Oh, exactly.

So good to see you too.

Thanks.

So, Mayor, Mayor, our second presentation is recognizing the holy month of Ramadan, presented by Councilmember Dickinson, Mayor Pro Tem Gedda, and Councilmember Vang.

I'm uh meeting off here.

Okay.

We have uh representatives of uh Salaam and uh Kerr with us uh this evening uh to join us in recognizing uh Ramadan, which is uh a uh particularly sacred time of of year for uh for all Muslims across the globe.

Uh and uh I'm told they're around two million, a two billion, excuse me.

I don't want let's not get the numbers wrong.

Two two billion uh and about a hundred thousand here in the Sacramento region, is my understanding.

So um Ramadan is uh a very special and uh as I said, sacred time of year.

Uh uh it's it's rooted in truly centuries of of uh faith, reflection, uh discipline, and and generosity.

Uh I'm I'm personally delighted that uh we have uh an event coming up uh this weekend I think the E is coming up uh at Cat Cal Expo.

Uh and um if you're in that vicinity, you are gonna see a lot of people uh to say the least.

I several well, tens of thousands actually will be there to join in the celebration as we get to the end of Ramadan.

Uh and uh I'm also very very delighted that that um uh we have at least two mosques in North Sacramento, I believe.

Uh uh Majid Abraham and Iman Abu Hanfi uh Han Hanifa, excuse me, Majid.

Uh so um we're home to uh many um places of worship for for Muslims uh as well.

Uh and I think we also often uh don't realize the significance and the depth and breadth of uh commitments of uh uh uh of contributions, I should say, of those of the Muslim faith to our country.

Uh they have made our country better in innumerable ways, and we are lucky that they are part of the face and fabric, not just of the Sacramento community and region, uh but uh but truly of our uh of our nation.

So um today we are uh honoring the significance of Ramadan and uh Iid um but the the deep and lasting presence of the Muslim community and the many community-based organizations that continue to uplift and support and strengthen our our city, we want to uh celebrate uh as well.

So uh thank you for being here.

Uh and uh uh thank you to my colleagues who are who are also uh sponsoring this this particular uh resolution.

The one thing I'm uh always interested in is when Ramadan is gonna land during the year.

And and uh uh you know, I always think about it as being in the summer.

Uh but uh that's I learned this year that it actually moves with the with the with the calendar.

So maybe um shorter days are not so bad, right?

Yeah, I thought so.

So with that, um uh congratulations, thank you for being here.

We'll present the this in just a moment, but I'm gonna hand it off to uh Mayor Pro Tem.

Thank you very much, Councilmember Dickinson.

First, uh I want to want to welcome our friends uh here again, uh Ramadan Mubarak to all our community, our community uh, you know, the Muslim community here in uh in Sacramento, um, and also for the community in District 6.

And uh it's very exciting uh to see the uh the great work that's happening um, you know, not only by the community in District 6.

We have uh the Majadas Sabor uh you know that's helping the community out there uh near Stockton Boulevard uh a lot of my uh my my kids' uh soccer teammates, they uh they participate in in that mosque as well, and uh they're they're focused on bringing people together, you know, and uh and that's the exciting part, you know, bringing using faith as a way to do outreach, to bring families and community together to help each other in times of need, uh, and particularly I think during this time of Ramadan, it's it's that time of recognizing that when fasting and fasting is a community, it helps people focus themselves and on the essentials on uh what it is to uh to be um uh to be you know uh simply human and we all are simply human, so we appreciate that.

I want to thank care as well in the Salam Center, but also the good work that they're doing with SAC State, with the Southwest Asian and North African Center, the Swana Center.

Uh, we had a great presentation and a great uh uh you know iftar at the uh at SAC State.

Uh and it reminded me so much.

I I ran into old friends uh and also my old uh professors, you know.

I I think about uh you know, my my old professor Ayat, Professor Yad al-Kazaz, you know, who has done so much, raised so much scholarships for folks you know in our community.

And uh and I think this is a time that that you know it makes me proud as a council member to welcome the community here to City Hall, your city hall, and to say that uh we appreciate your work that you've done to make sure that we have an inclusive community here.

So with that, I say Sukram and then Ramadan Mubarak.

Thank you.

All right, I will close it up here.

It's such an honor to co-present with Councilmember Dickinson and Mayor Pro Tem Eric Gera.

Um, Ramadan Mubarak to uh to all of you.

Um, you know, in Sacramento, especially in District 8, our Muslim working families are the foundation of our community, and uh they're staying rooted in culture and their faith.

Uh spaces like Darul Loom plays an important role uh in that by serving not only as places of worship, but as places where families actually gather, learn and build community together.

Uh it's really important that we continue to uplift and tell the stories of our multi-ethnic communities and organization like care and salam that serves our community because representation is not just about being seen, but it's also about being heard, understood, and actually valued.

Um, I also want to take this time to recognize the contribution of our Muslim city staff as well, including Sareem Malik from District 4's office and council member uh Phil Plucky Baum's office and also Sarah Um Utamimi in my office and District 8, whose work is so critical in uh moving the city forward.

Um and as a city, uh, you know, we remain committed to supporting our communities, uplifting their stories, and ensuring that every family across our neighborhood feels seen, value, and truly um know that they belong here.

Um I would love to take this opportunity to pass the mic over to representative from Karen's Alam to speak.

Uh if you both can come up and say a few words before we present uh this resolution um good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Fozia Farouk.

I am with CARE SBCC, and I serve as a policy and advocacy coordinator.

Um it's an honor to be here as a city of Sacramento recognizes the holy month of Ramadan.

Uh for Muslims, Ramadan is a sacred month of fasting, of prayer, of dedication, reflection, and generosity.

But beyond the fasting, it's a time that calls us to be more patient, more compassionate, more present with one another.

And every evening across Sacramento, more than 100,000 you know Muslims and dozens of mosques that serve not only a place of worship, but spaces for youth, for services, for civic engagement, always meet to break fast with one another.

Ramadan reminds us of something simple, but deeply important.

When we show up for one another, we strengthen our entire city.

As Muslims across Sacramento continue observing this sacred month, we also look forward to celebrating Edelfitter.

Eats al-Fitter will be celebrated at Sacramento Unity Eve at Cal Expo.

So I warmly invite you all to join us.

And moments like this, I just want to end off really matter.

This recognition really matters because they affirm that Sacramento is a place where people of all faiths and backgrounds belong, not just in word, but in practice.

So on behalf of CAR SVCC and the broader Muslim community, thank you for honoring Ramadan and Ramadan Lobadik.

And I I neglected to mention that we also have the care office in North Sacramento.

So I'm very, very happy about that.

Sahakom, peace be upon you.

And good evening, Mayor and Council members.

My name is Omar Altamimi.

I'm proud to serve and our executive director, I want to recognize her real quick.

Sister Arwa Hori is here from Salam Center.

I'm our interim chair for the next couple of weeks, so my job is not to burn anything down or make sure that the org is functioning well.

But on behalf of Saddam Center, you know, I'm I'm deeply grateful to the Sacramento City Council for recognizing the holy month of Ramadan for joining us throughout the month for iftars and celebrations.

The gesture means so much to our community.

For most times, Ramadan is a time of reflection, fasting, prayer, and generosity.

A month that calls us to be our best selves and to serve those around us no matter who they may be.

This year, Ramadan, uh Lunar New Year, and Lent as well, all actually took place or started in the same week.

Um, you know, we know Naruz is being celebrated this week in Passover shortly as well.

And so in this time of, you know, we find ourselves in in a time of uh very strong spiritual renewal reflection and peace for many communities across the globe.

Um in fact, billions of of members of our globe are are celebrating.

Um recently, you know, at Salam we held an interfaith of Thar.

Uh we were joined by a diverse crowd, and it was an opportunity to break bread with with so many different communities.

Um and and I bring that up just to say, you know, we're we're experiencing very difficult times.

Um, you know, I I maybe this is a bit too far for me to say, but I think our country's leadership is failing us in so many ways, waging war abroad, but also here as well, um, against our communities here in Sacramento as well.

Um and really they're targeting our most vulnerable.

And so, you know, I can only pray that this time and this season of spiritual renewal can bring us together to forge a better path forward for these communities.

And and to reiterate, you know, that's why the the city of Sacramento and just the importance of this recognition has always taken a strong stand for diversity as as a strength, to recognize it as a strength.

Um, and and as we continue to think about all the difficulties we are experiencing, um, you know, tonight's resolution is just another example of what it means to be unified, to bring together that spirit of unity um to remind us that we're all one community and that it's incumbent on all of us to take care of each other um in these difficult times.

And so thank you all again, Ramadan Mubarak and an early Eid Mubarak, um, and and just thank you all for for the years of partnership.

Gotcha.

Okay.

Yeah, yeah, come join.

Oh, yeah.

I almost have texted and saying he's a little bit.

It's okay.

She's on Springback.

She hasn't spirit.

She is here in here.

Please squeeze in a little more.

Okay.

Thank you all.

One more.

One, two, three.

Thank you.

Awesome.

Thank you, everyone.

I have eight phones.

Gotcha.

Of course.

Oh, yes.

Thank you.

Yeah.

I still appreciate your followers.

Thank you.

I'm getting them from the couple of things.

Okay.

I forgot I gave it to you.

Yeah.

Oh, you're busy.

I'd love to get one for talking about all the time.

So I have your number.

Very good.

Yeah, yeah.

Great.

Thanks.

Give me a week and I'll park it in.

Oh, yeah, I forgot.

Oh, how are you doing?

Great to see you again.

Thank you so much.

There's an IFTR every night.

Sometimes.

So, Mayor, we now move to public hearings.

Um, we have item one, which is being withdrawn and will be renoticed when it does come back.

Yeah, I'd like to just maybe recognize that item one that's no.

No.

Oh.

Okay, excuse me.

Yes, Vice Mayor Talamantes.

Yeah, thank you, Mayor.

So the Orbit Gas Station or you know, station car dealership right now on Northgate.

It's being renotted, or it'll come back to council.

I'm currently in conversations with the business owners of the property and want to make sure that we can find something that we both agree on before we make it historical.

And so we're I'm excited for the conversations that will continue.

And thank you so much for to the preservation committee for uh designating it and looking forward to just further conversations.

Okay, yes, so that item is not being heard tonight.

And before we get to item number two on the discussion calendar, wanted to know the item number three related to the city of Sacramento and the Sacramento Zoological Society is also being uh postponed to a later date in the later part of April.

Uh we did want to just acknowledge that we're very excited that the zoo uh two things.

One, they celebrate a hundred years old today.

Not today, this year.

This year.

I'm not sure if today's the birthday.

But um this year they celebrate 100 years in Sacramento and they uh decided that they don't want to move, they want to stick around in Sacramento, so we want to work with them how they can remain viable here for another hundred years.

But with that, we need to make sure we have uh engagement with the community and so forth, but we're committed to making it work for the zoo for another century.

So with that, we will uh pull this item for tonight and hear it in a few weeks.

And with that, we'll proceed with item number two.

Thank you.

Item two is item two is Vision Zero Action Plan Update High Injury Network HIN development.

All right, good evening, Mayor and Council.

It is very good to be with you this evening.

Uh I know that you've had a very long day, so I will move with you know speed, but not speed and driving, um, as we talk about transportation safety.

So my name is Jennifer Donlin Wyatt, and I get to serve our city as division manager for mobility and sustainability within the public works department.

With me this evening is Sharice Padilla, who is our deputy project manager on it, and Aaron Ferguson, who is our consulting project manager on the effort.

And I'm just waiting for the slides to actually come up before I dive deep into our work.

Thank you, magic people in the back.

Um, so thank you for your time tonight.

We're here to talk about updating our vision zero action plan, and specifically, I'm gonna give you an update on the action plan work that we're doing, and then um ask about your input on developing the high injury network.

So, what is Vision Zero?

I know you're all pretty familiar with what it is, but just to highlight it's our collective commitment to eliminating transportation related deaths and serious injuries through collaboration, infrastructure improvements, and working in partnership with Sacramento's communities.

We are about one year into our update to the 2018 plan.

We're updating it for a few key reasons.

It's time to update the data.

Our old plan, our 2018 plan, included data from 2009 through 2015, and we want to update it.

So our new data is 2015 through 2024.

We're also updating it to meet new federal and state standards about what action plans have and how we identify what the high injury network is.

And tonight I will be asking you for your input on how we develop the high injury networks.

I know you've had a really long evening tonight, but I'm also looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

Because the high injury network is not only where we say, okay, this is where we need investment.

This is part of our transportation priorities plan, and it's how we decide our priorities for transportation investments.

And of course, we're always continuing to expand our community engagement and developing relationships with our communities.

Um, so we are about a year into the project schedule.

Our goal is to wrap up by the end of the calendar year, um, so we could have an approved plan uh, hopefully before your last December meeting.

And so for those uh I think most of you were not here, though some of you were when we developed the 2018 plan.

I see you who are here.

Um we identified the high injury network, which you see here on the screen on the right.

It is um the streets in the city with the highest number of severe injuries and fatalities, and it is pure data-based.

The yellow highlights that you see are the top 10 corridors, or the 10 corridors in the city with the highest number of severe injuries and traffic fatalities, and that's where we're gonna be discussing a little bit more this evening.

But first, uh, since we adopted the plan, I wanted to celebrate and take a moment to celebrate all the great work the public works has been doing since we adopted the plan because we've done a lot.

We did a campaign about how our safety is homegrown.

We reduced speed limits in school zones to 15 miles an hour throughout the city at 115 schools.

And we're working through design and implementation right now.

And of course, we developed our Northgate Boulevard plan, which is moving forward into preliminary design later this year.

So we've done a lot.

And in fact, of the top 10 corridors, we are chipping away at that work.

So here is a snapshot of Broadway, North 12th, Marysville, which is under construction as part of our quicker build effort, Stockton Boulevard, Arden, and Howe.

So we're doing a lot of work to advance those corridors with the highest numbers of severe injuries and fatalities.

And also, we're not only doing that, but we're doing citywide efforts, like looking at our set how we set our speed limits and aligning with uh assembly bill 43 to reduce speed limits where we can, updating our street design standards, having our safety response team, we're being more transparent with our collision dashboard, and what you see here with the QR code is our project dashboard, really working with our communities and making sure our council members and everybody knows the work that we're doing throughout the process.

So we're doing a lot, but we also have a lot of work to do.

So in the last 10 years of data, we've had over 22,000 injury crashes, over 1,600 severe injury or fatal crashes.

And this is something that we are working really hard to address and through good data analysis and working with our communities, figuring out how we can address that.

Well, we do know through data analysis is that people walking and bicycling are overrepresented in our KSIs or what we call killed or severely injured.

15% of KSIs involve somebody bicycling.

31% of KSIs involve somebody walking.

And this is overrepresentation because not that many people walk and bicycle in our city.

And people walking, bicycling are not the only areas where there are disproportionate crashes.

48% of crashes are in our disadvantaged communities that only hold 31% of our street network.

So today, what we're talking about, and I'd love your input on is how we develop our high injury network.

So what is the high injury network?

Well, traditionally, it's just been the network of streets that have the highest number of severe injuries and fatalities.

But we're updating that.

So new state law allows us to look at more than just crash data.

State law wanted to make sure that high injury networks across California were comparable and similar, so that how Sacramento does a high injury network is similar to how West Sacramento or Citrus Heights or the County or the Bay Area.

And so it was defined in terms of how we do it and crash data, but it also allowed us to consider other things now.

So it's we can consider crashes involving our vulnerable road users, people walking, people bicycling, youth and older adults.

It can also consider sensitive areas such as areas near schools and disadvantaged communities.

Now, this is prescribed by state law of the things that we can consider.

Other things that you might want to consider might be a little bit out of the scope of what we can do to defend identify high injury network.

And then last but not least, the high injury network can be no more than 20% of our street network.

So we did a lot of, I'm gonna say a lot of fun community engagement.

So we did traditional in-person workshops, we did virtual workshops, we uh went to places our partners, but we did a lot of neighborhood conversations, and so we went to La Familia, we went to GNA, we went to Grant High, we went to Valley High, and working with the youth, I gotta tell you, was probably some of the highlights of my last couple of weeks.

We went to Hypoo, we went to resources for independent living.

We wanted to hear from folks that we traditionally don't hear from about how what Vision Zero means to them and what uh how would they like to define the high injury network?

And so what we heard from our communities is essentially they want it all.

There are different groups, whether we were um some folks wanted to prioritize people walking and bicycling, and we heard that a lot in the in-person workshop, the virtual workshop, and the community survey that we had almost a thousand responses to.

Um we also heard that we wanted to include youth and older adults, um, especially at La Familia in at Hypoo.

Um, older adults in near schools and youth.

We heard that in the in-person workshop and with the youth at Grant High, as well as our community survey.

And then throughout most of our engagement, uh, our communities wanted to make sure that our disadvantaged communities were part of developing the high injury network.

And then essentially to boil it down to summarize the community engagement.

Our communities want us to include all the factors that we could possibly can consider in developing the high injury network.

And so that includes people walking, people bicycling, youth, older adults, and then in sensitive areas, crashes that happened near schools, and then crashes that happen in our disadvantaged communities.

So that is the summary of our work, and I'm looking forward to hearing council's input.

And I'm going to just move it back to okay.

So this is why Director Eyerman got it.

I'm able to move back.

Um, just keep this up there so we can discuss the criteria.

Thank you very much.

Thank you so much.

And public comment.

Thank you, Vice Hammer.

I have two speakers.

Richard Miller and then Sherry Martinez.

Good evening, City Council.

My name is Richard Miller, and I'm here tonight in strong support of Vision Zero bike and pedestrian safety program.

For many people, traffic safety is just a policy discussion, but for some of us, it's deeply personal.

I've lost a friend as a pedestrian hit by a vehicle.

Others I've known have been hit while riding their bikes.

I myself have had several close calls, moments that could have changed my life in an instance.

These aren't rare incidents.

These are happening on our streets to our neighbors, our families, and our friends on a daily basis.

Vision zero is not just about reducing numbers, it's about reduce recognizing that even one serious injury or death is one too many.

It's about designating streets that protect people, whether they're walking, biking, driving, it's about building a culture of awareness, responsibility, and care for our community and for targeting these areas of high incidences by continuing to invest in a safer infrastructure, better education, and stronger community outreach.

We can prevent tragedies before they happen.

We can create streets where children can walk to school, where seniors feel safe to stroll, and where cyclists feel protective and acknowledged.

It is about drivers being more aware of these and those people around them.

This program is about awareness, yes, but it's also about action.

It's also about making a commitment to safety and its priorities, not an overthought.

I urge you to continue to support Vision Zero.

Objective moving forward for a safer, more compassionate community protecting pedestrians, bicyclists, young and old that use our roadways and walkways.

Thank you for your time.

I patrol up and down the SAC Northern Trail all day.

It's about 10 and a half miles long, and I put in 40 miles a day.

So I'm going up and down the same trail.

And there are intersections that where roads cross through this trail that definitely need attention, whether that's in disadvantaged communities or wherever it falls in.

But I don't want to get um district two, have district two be left behind, and at least the SAC Northern Trail, because I'm the only one patrolling it right now.

Thank you.

Vice Mayor, no more speakers.

Okay, and we have uh Council Mayor Maple.

Thank you, Madam Vice Mayor.

Um I want to start with what I try to always do, which is just a lot of appreciation for you for for JDW, affectionately known as in the city of Sacramento, but you and your entire team.

Um we always punch above our weight as it comes as it relates to active transportation and getting the grants that that we desperately need and the money that we desperately need in the city of Sacramento to do improvements to our roadways to make it more bicycle and pedestrian friendly.

Um but we know that we still have a lot of work to do, so I just appreciate every time you come before us with something new and innovative and trying to ask us about how we can do one step further.

I just really appreciate that.

So for the item that's right in front of us, the question being uh, do we want to um prioritize vulnerable road users in sensitive areas in the high injured injury network?

Um, I say yes.

I think absolutely for me that's a no-brainer.

Um so cycling uh pedestrians, young people, older folks, obviously in schools, and then disadvantaged communities.

We already know that those are especially disadvantaged communities are some of the areas where we see the most the most crashes.

I'm learning to say crashes and not accidents.

Um, someone caught me the other day and I had to correct myself.

Um, and so uh that to me makes a lot of sense, and and so I would love to see that.

Um I think we should probably prioritize those locations.

I think it's the right thing to do, and I think it's overdue.

Um, and I think that if we're gonna prioritize our resources, which is what we have to do, uh as we're having this larger budgeting conversation over the next several months.

That's a lot of what the what we're talking about is what do we do with the money that we do have, knowing that we don't have enough to do everything that we want to do.

Um, how do we prioritize it?

So this makes a lot of sense for me.

That means we're prioritizing walking, biking kids, seniors, and communities that have been dealing with unsafe streets for a really long time.

I also want to appreciate you for the community outreach that was done.

Very robust.

I looked at the staff report and I was uh in uh in awe actually of how how many people you spoke with and different communities, and so I think this recommendation and this report really reflects that uh how many people you spoke with, and um it's kind of a resounding answer.

People feel generally kind of unsafe in our streets.

Uh the data supports that as well, and um there's a lot that we can do to make them feel safer.

So I just want to step back a little bit too um and just kind of acknowledge where we are.

Uh Sacramento adopted Vision Zero back in 2017 with the goal of eliminating traffic fatalities by 2027.

It is 2026.

Um want to say that we have a couple of my at least a couple of my colleagues here were on the the council at the time.

I was not.

Um but I thank you for your vision at the time uh for for recognizing this as a priority, and I know that it still is.

Um, but I think it's true to say we haven't seen the progress that we helped for.

Um we've lost hundreds of lives on the streets since then, uh, and we're seeing fatalities today, just a few days ago in our city.

So it's still real, uh, it's visceral.

So some of the commenters in the audience said the same thing.

Um, and we know that it's happening on the same corridors, the high injury network.

So that's why this item matters so much.

And I just wanted to ground that in that that this is yes, this item is specific.

Um, but it's a much it's part of a much bigger conversation about safety off our roads.

Um and I do want to recognize that we've we've shifted our approach.

Um, so we've done the quick build program, the transportation safety team, investment around schools, better data tools.

So if you're a nerd like me and you want to go look at the data dashboard and look at all the different uh tools that are available on our website, it really helps you visualize what is happening, what we're doing, and what improvements that we need to make.

And so I just want to really appreciate those efforts by our wonderful staff and the city uh because we know that it's a priority.

Um we also know that we have a lot more to do uh to match the scale of the problem.

So obviously, this is something that I care deeply about almost a year and a half ago.

Uh proposal I brought forward to declare a state of emergency on traffic deaths was passed unanimously at the lawn legislation committee.

It hasn't come back to the city council yet.

And I think it's really important that it does because I think that's a conversation that we need to have as a city council.

And at the end of the day, the high injury network is how we focus our work.

It's how we make sure that we're prioritizing the right places in the right communities.

So I really appreciate the update.

Um, and there's one other thing that I wanted to bring up more as context.

So there's an organization called Slowdown Sacramento.

They organize a vigil every year for every person who's lost their life trying to navigate the streets in Sacramento.

It's heartbreaking, it's grounding, and it always reminds me and us to say their names.

Um, that remember to remember that every data point that we see, every dot that we see on a map or a shaded area represents a human being and their family and their community.

Um and I hope that this is a guiding light for us to shift our urgency and our decision making.

So I really hope that one day we can reach zero and we can realize that vision.

But for now, this is one piece of the pie, and I just thank you for your work.

Thank you.

Thank you, Councilmember.

Uh, Mayor Pratem Gera.

Uh thank you very much, Vice Mayor.

First, let me just thank Sherry Martinez.

I I appreciate you, you know, coming here so many times.

Um, and and after your your uh your uh accident, not even accidentally after the the uh the assault on you.

Um and uh I appreciate the fact that you've organized people to come here and make change, uh, and that's important.

Um thank you, uh you know, Jennifer, you know, for uh for your work and for continuing to push this this no pun intended vision, you know.

Um but uh but I I do want to reflect back.

I I remember in 2015 when um it wasn't that way, like the the the framing in public works, the discussion of how engineers filled, and I know I went through engineering school, like the the discipline that of what uh engineers are taught was different, and I think it's important for us to engage early on, even with our local universities about having this uh this this point of view and this consideration in uh engineering schools, but for a simple um uh non-uh uh substantive informative part of a resolution to include pedestrian and bike safety um was pushback from the department, you know.

And I think the fact that we've had change in the department with a different philosophy has helped.

Uh, and I I do want to recognize my former colleague Steve Hanson, because um there were there were a couple of us that you know represented a lot of communities, you know, so we had different communities.

He may have had the orange uh spandex riders, but I had the people who just needed it to get to work.

So many who were trying to get to work even over in the industrial area.

In fact, I I found that the power and power in industrial area, those businesses were the biggest advocates for bike safety because of the the conflicts between the class A trucks and and and bicyclists who are trying to get to some of their places of employment there.

So to me, I think we've, as a department, we've gone and uh been moving in the right direction for philosophically.

Um yes, I think we encountered challenges financially.

Um I think those are those are big issues.

I think the failure of our our two transportation bonds has been um uh impacting us significantly.

But I appreciate the creativity in getting us on the quick builds to address those issues.

So recommendations on on what on what uh are important uh obviously clearly anything with our schools and with our schools also um to remind also and to address the issue of parents because frankly, some of the worst drivers are parents.

After they drop off their kids, they assume like there's no other kids there, you know.

And I get it, everybody uh every every parent is probably already dealing with the stress of you know, locking in that that car seat and uh and then getting to work on time, but it's I think the that level of connection with our schools is important.

So it's part of our vision zero plan.

What's the interface with our schools?

So there's the there's the the physical piece, the design engineering piece, but then there's what's our uh consistent engagement with the schools and how do we engage with those governing boards to say about the cultural change.

Um the other piece that I hear from constituents is that uh as we did vision zero and we looked at high injury networks, um uh it it was almost as and and when you describe it to uh to the community, someone has to get hurt or die before it gets into a priority list.

And when I don't call them near misses near near misses, I call them near hits because that's really what it is, you know, and um it's again a change in tone.

And so I if everyone knows where those near hits are, and so I want to think about in when we're looking at at vision zero and how we uh qualify clearly where there are an incident that has happened or multiple incidents happened, there's a engineering problem there.

Um but second, um there is uh uh where we've been reports of near uh near hits.

I'd like to figure out how we put that into the system.

And I'll bring up uh 58th and Broadway as an example.

Uh it is not on the list here, and you know, that's an area where we've done a walk study, we've done crosswalks.

It is a problem area because the way that the planning was designed, they never made contiguous streets.

So you have zigzag streets without stop signs that can help control the the traffic patterns there.

Um so I'd like to one uh look at how do we how do we identify areas that we know are problematic and get to them before an incident happens.

So I'd like to figure out a method of doing that.

Um the second uh piece when it comes to uh on on uh bike lanes, um, you know, we've had this challenge of how do we make um contiguous contiguous bike routes that can be at least class two bike routes, even if there are a few that can be uh collector corridors, uh, because we have class two to class three interfaces that make it difficult and and for people to to ride.

I mean, if you're going through Stockton Boulevard, which is already a uh a sketchy class two, and then you're interfacing on Broadway, um uh you immediately go into a class three situation.

And that is a scary, scary scenario.

So I I want to figure out okay, how do we and as we move through our our bike master plan, and I appreciate all the routes that we did.

I think that was revolutionary.

It's it's never done before.

I people like the map.

I appreciate you we having those out there, but um, but I but I think we need to identify some common routes and say, hey, we have to make this decision that this is gonna be an area where we have to make the right choices, the the difficult choices to make a contiguous class to north to south, east to west, or at least identify where the employment center locations are or school routes are to make those safer.

Um and then one other factor I'd like to put in in is um condition of the road, okay.

That road condition is just as dangerous as the design of the area.

And when you have if you I if you ride I'd drive any part of 14th Avenue, okay, from uh from power in all the way down to uh when you get to Sack City College, uh it is the condition of the road is so bad that when you're um you're there, you can easily hit a divot, a pothole, uh uh a lump, and move you into the traffic area where it becomes dangerous, you know.

And some of the places have sidewalks that you can ride on, but some of those sidewalks also have utility poles in them where you can't even get the bike through, and if you got a cargo bike, it's even gonna be a little wider to get through those.

So I think condition of the road is important factor to think about how when we're we're saying what are what are uh how do we prevent and how do we address high engineering injury networks, you know, the issue of potholes, you know, city manager.

I think that's I know we discussed that earlier, that's got to be uh a big uh a big uh component of it.

So um I'll uh I want to say uh let me go back again uh on this, and then I heard this from uh AARP as well, you know.

Uh you know, they they want to make sure that when we're looking at um our vision zero, that is for all ages.

Okay, so from people who need to move around with strollers and getting around with strollers um to uh the elderly uh who are using uh trying to use crosswalks.

I think that's a factor we need to put in there.

So uh going back again.

I think the issue of um near near hit locations where we're where we don't wait till someone is hurt or killed, condition of the roads, uh, and then also um you know connectivity on uh class two to class three interface.

I think those are those are I think priorities where I'd like to see, and as I started from the beginning, it has to start at least from the safe routes to school uh component because if if we can encourage our young kids to learn how to get to school, then we're creating a cultural change for the future.

So I'll stop there.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Um I do want to note that every single one of my major roads in my district is on this map.

Uh West El Camino, Truxel, San Juan, Northgate.

We have done a road diet on West El Camino.

We have installed new traffic lights on Northgate, hopefully slow down cars.

Uh, but you know, people still drive recklessly.

And that's where Councilmember Maple said, like, I know there's a slowdown Sacramento, and it's like we need people to drive slower after they drop off kids, or if they're late to work.

Everyone just needs to drive slower so that we can get from point A to B safely and that everyone can get home safely.

And you know, I do want to acknowledge our police department has done a lot of more uh vehicle stops for running over red lights or running over stop signs.

And for that, I'm thankful because sometimes you have to pay the price in order to change your crack your behavior.

And um I I do want to commend that.

But on this specific project, uh, or you know, on the council input, I agree with my colleagues on these priority areas.

And uh I do want to, I know you said this fact uh in your presentation, but I want to note it again.

Forty-eight percent of crashes were in disadvantaged community areas, even though those areas only make up 31% of Sacramento's roadway network.

And when you presented that right now, I just and my immediate thought out loud was that's terrible.

And it's the reality of our road conditions in Sacramento and the reality that we live in, and it's our reality and our objective here to make it safer for Sacramento.

So I look forward to to the work that continues, the transportation measures on the table uh to make sure that we can get work done so that people get home can get home safely.

So thank you for the work that you're doing.

Thank you, Councilmember Dickinson.

Thank you, uh Mayor.

Um thank you, Jennifer, for the the presentation.

I uh I am um uh delighted that we've started the quick build project on Mary'sville, and I I uh drove by uh yesterday slowly.

Drove drove by and um looked at all the cones coming out and the signs coming out, and so it's it's great to see that that underway.

Last week we we kicked off with a committee meeting the study on uh the uh Arden Way, Harvard uh uh Auburn corridor, which is also great to see.

We completed the study on on Norwood.

Um of course uh uh that needs funding, the Arden Wave will need funding.

Uh so that's that's another reality to address in due time and due course.

Um but it it is terrific to see uh the work that's that's that's going on uh in that part of the city, which I think is uh especially in this regard uh uh been uh neglected for far too long.

And I think of uh things like um uh addressing the categories that the the new state statute allows and how many places uh in uh North Sacramento don't have sidewalks at all.

Um let alone bike lanes and other other things that that some people might think of as uh as normal um would be seen as great amenities.

So there's a lot of there's a lot of work to do to be sure.

It it does to me to answer the the question you you you asked.

It certainly makes sense to me to look at these additional categories within the development of the uh network.

places uh in uh north sacrament don't have sidewalks at all um uh uh let alone bike lanes and other other things that that some people might think of as uh as normal um would be seen as great amenities so there's a lot of there's a lot of work to do to be sure it it does to me to answer the the question you you you asked it certainly makes sense to me to look at these additional categories within the development of of the uh network um uh I I do think that uh coordinating with the schools there was something that that uh the mayor pro tem said in his comments um coordinating with the schools really uh it makes sense I I I can recall years ago uh when I was uh on the on the the Board of Supervisors learning that one of the school districts that was partially within my supervisorial district had a policy that they would bust any child who couldn't walk on a continuous sidewalk to school and that meant some of their some of their kids were getting bussed as little uh as half a mile because there were breaks in the in the sidewalk so uh looking at at how the schools are addressing this uh I think uh makes sense in the context of of uh both cycling and youth in uh in these categories and of course schools are is one of the categories too so uh a suggestion to inquiry to reach out to the to the school districts to me uh makes sense the other thing that uh in particular that uh I'm thinking about as we talk about this is the location I know of uh in a neighborhood where there are are lots of I mean there are lots of uh older folks but there are also younger folks but a lot of walking a lot of people out walking and an intersection which is not the ideal intersection uh but a lot of people walk across that and and run into risk because of people who runs run the stop sign uh the the neighborhood folks have asked for a side uh crosswalk and have been told it's the policy of the city that that they can't have one because there's just sidewalk on one side of the the street but not on the other side I I really think that's a I understand the reasoning for that and in the abstract maybe it makes sense but I think that it deserves to be revisited because I'm I'm sure there are other instances but in this particular instance it's clear that if there was a sidewalk identified excuse me a crosswalk identified there it would help to alert drivers that they need to have some awareness that there can be uh pedestrians in in that vicinity so I would appreciate I would maybe that's another conversation uh um offline but I I would love to see us uh uh think about that that that policy absolutely council member email email us the location email megan and megan carters in the audience and director I mean and we can take a look at that yeah yeah that yeah I suppose that is more uh in her domain um I'm I was thinking about it just as a because what's been related to me was it's a policy of the city so uh um beyond that I think uh uh the the challenge uh that I can see in incorporating these other uh categories which as I said earlier I think makes absolute sense is there's such a such a challenge in funding that then then it may make it more difficult for us to to decide where where we go with with the funding we've got um and maybe that's not such a bad problem in its own in its own way but but uh clearly the the the element of this that ultimately needs uh our attention uh and the vice mayor actually alluded to it is is the funding issue so uh it's great to have the network but the ultimately it's about getting the work done and that's that's gonna take our dedication and hopefully the voters' dedication to to pr helping us uh find more funding to to do that so thank you thank you back to uh council member giraffe yeah this is more uh maybe a question here and maybe this is uh involves PD too but where in our vision server plan do we include also um you know the enforcement piece and uh and I'd like to revisit the the issue of camera enforcement as well it was a it was a pro it was an issue with the sheriff's department they were running the program we had issues obviously it's been a uh evolution let's put it that way right with how it got used private vendors non-private public vendors so but um but there's been a lot of advancement now in technology on cameras and license plate readers uh as well but the biggest issue that we have is speed and um and we know that uh that we have people that are going 50 miles an hour in a in a 25 mile an hour area and so not only there's the red light enforcement so you know and um uh but there's also the speed enforcement so uh you know in our in development of our vision zero plan where does that fit in how do we have that conversation the laws at the state level are now uh evolving to allow for that and uh and I'd like to know kind of and you can't put cameras on every intersection but even if we looked at our higher injury networks in those areas where we may need to make cultural change

So uh, you know, you know in development of our vision zero plan, where does that fit in?

How do we have that conversation?

The laws at the state level are now uh evolving to allow for that, and uh and I'd like to know kind of and you can't put cameras on every intersection, but even if we looked at our higher injury networks in those areas where we may need to make cultural change, people use the same routes almost every day.

We're probably gonna be addressing the people who are um uh making the wrong choices every day.

So uh can you maybe discuss a little bit of that?

I'm excited to discuss that.

Great.

Um so we work very closely with our police department through our vision zero program.

We have recurring meetings with them and the traffic team to align our work together.

Currently, uh I don't want to speak for the police department, but my understanding is there are currently six daytime traffic enforcement officers and six nighttime traffic enforcement or evening enforcement officers.

We work very closely with them and continue to, and they're a big part of our vision zero work that we're doing in developing this plan.

Um so we are partners in this effort moving forward, uh and they allocate the resources that they have to do the work that we're doing.

Um regarding um using cameras for enforcement.

Oh, great, they're here.

Chiefs here.

Okay, great.

The chiefs here.

I was I was trying to look through the window over there and say, are you guys gonna come or not?

Yeah.

And so the chief can speak about that, and then I can talk about the automated enforcement, which we are working on.

Okay, I I she has such a great job.

I didn't want to, I just want to be in here in case she had questions.

But I listened and I heard your question about um cameras.

You're right.

The red light camera program, not sustainable.

But last year we worked really hard um with our legislature, and um we the state actually hashed 720, which is your red light camera enforcement, but it has a civil penalty um and it's being managed by public works.

So I certainly don't want to speak on behalf of Matt and his shop, but I think that's gonna be um you know a kind of game changer for us on the traffic cameras.

I too am a huge supporter and proponent of the traffic cameras and the speed cameras.

Um unfortunately we're really limited by what we can do, um, and I know that there's a push at the uh at the legislator to expand that program outside of the pilot areas.

There's some great technology, we're certainly looking into it and have been looking to see what we can do to advance, you know, with AI.

But I do think 720 is a good start.

And uh, as you know, a couple of years ago we added the nighttime traffic team, and you know, we'll be able certainly can report back on um fewer side shows and a lot of the nighttime enforcement, it's been a very positive um uh thing.

And then we've got the STEP grant as well.

Well, I one chief, I want to say thank you, and then I appreciate the officers that were over on 14th and 62nd, um, ticketing folks for flying through the flashing red light, by the way.

So uh if we can have them there a little more regularly, particularly during like when we've got kids that are getting out of Hiram Johnson, that would be helpful.

Um, but I also want to throw a thought out there.

Um you know, with the techn it's not the the camera technology isn't as hardwire restrictive as it used to be, right?

Now we have we have we have now smaller units that that are more effective, and it's the citation piece that is the restrictive part.

But even if the city sent a notification saying, hey, this is the police department, we noticed your vehicle was traveling, you know, 20 miles over the speed limit, and we identified your your license plate, okay.

Uh, you know, the I I I want to figure out how is there a pilot program we can do something to notify people about that?

Because at some point I I have a feeling that the legislature is slowly moving into the direction for us to allow civil penalties to do that.

I don't know, I'm not an attorney, but if we collected uh consistent evidence of someone consistently violating the law in dangerous speeds, to me, it seems to be that there's a case that could be had either civilly if not criminally to go after those folks.

So I'm just throwing an idea out there, okay.

But um, I just I'd love to expose see where we can go from there.

You're talking to a former traffic officer, so it is my wheelhouse, but I um I'm very supportive of it.

You know, when we um I mean, years ago we used to have uh three teams of 10 motor officers, so our city had 30, you know, 30, 40 um motor officers.

We don't have that kind of staffing, so we have to rely on technology, but it'll be really interesting to see as they implement um 720, which is a civil penalty, it goes to the registered owner of the vehicle versus the driver, which um obviously um reduces a lot of the the challenges that we have with the red light program.

I would expect to see that.

And uh we've had you know, we obviously track a lot of complaints and we've notified owners.

Um, and sometimes it's like you know, they're kids driving the car and they didn't even know about it, right?

So uh we try and do whatever we can creatively, we're just trying to address the behavior, but it is in conjunction with our public works partners and all of the infrastructure, you know, it's the engineering piece that's just as important as the uh the enforcement and the education for sure.

So thank you.

Thanks, Chief.

Appreciate it.

Mayor Pertam, uh PublicWorks is advancing Senate Bill 720, which is the new red light camera program that was authored by um our very own senator uh Ms.

Ashby.

And so we're we're starting that up and moving that forward.

The technology has definitely improved, it is less expensive to operate and run.

We don't know yet how much it'll cost, but we're looking forward to finding out so that we can roll out a program uh funded through our vision zero program.

The um Assembly Bill 645, which allows for speed cameras, does not include the city of Sacramento.

We tried to get on a bill, we tried to move that forward.

Um we were unsuccessful in that.

Um it is a five-year pilot.

Um, we have kind of continually having talks at the state level about how we can be included in that program.

Um, since the city of Sacramento has the highest traffic fatalities per capita in California, um, and it's predominantly related to driving it on safe speeds.

But we are following that, and we hear your input in direction.

Thank you.

I'll I'll have some thoughts on on that issue too in a second.

But uh first go back to Mr.

Dickinson.

Um thanks, Mayor.

Actually, the comments make me um make me think about an article that was uh actually in uh in a chronicle early this week or late last week about a particularly notorious street in Oakland where where they um had put up camera.

I don't know if Oakland's one of the cities in the Oakland is one of the cities and we've had their cameras up for a couple weeks now.

But but what it made me think about was uh they said and they were going through their their non-citation period, I uh and they had issued 12,000 warnings to people who who had been uh photographed or cars that have been photographed speeding.

But it made me wonder is there anything?

Maybe this is a legal question.

Uh is there anything that would that would necessarily prevent us from just issuing warnings?

We're not not site people, but let them know that that they're that they're they they've been photographed or their cars been photographed speeding.

We can ask for a legal opinion on that.

I don't I wouldn't want I want to put the city attorney on the spot at the moment.

Um so we can look into that, and I think what we'd also look at whether or not where is the funding for those cameras to come from?

Because um, I think San Francisco's program that they rolled out is about eight million dollars to to have the camera system installed and the the noticing effort.

Um, and so we'll we'll have to look at that.

Mr.

City's Hernade, did you have anything to add to that?

Yeah, I agree with you.

Um we we generally are presempted by the DMV code, um, but uh it would be more probably a privacy issue if we're gonna be photographing people with no penalty associated with it.

There might that that would probably be the major challenge, but we could look into that.

I don't know what the reasonable expectation of privacy is when you're on a public street in a car.

Well the argument would be that you have no reason to be taking a picture of them, right?

Because you're you're not pursuing them.

You're giving them a warning.

That I'm just thinking that could be the privacy.

We can have this, we'll have this conversation.

Yeah, anyway, that it it's a thought that um you know if we if we can't get into the into the pilot, which which may not be possible, then it's it might be a rather subtle alternative to it.

So anyway, thanks, Mayor.

Thank you.

I I I think that the big picture here is um we've identified there's a problem and we're zeroing in on the streets that have the biggest um negative impact.

But I think the the big picture is what um most members said here tonight, and what you say, I know I know you uh your legendary uh JDW as a believer in this, and you'll ride your bike when it's 115 or 35 degrees.

Yes, I will.

I will.

So you are you are a true, true um believer and and follower in this, and as um Councilmember Garrett Murray said that uh, you know, too most people will ride their bike when a day's like today, right?

It's an amazing day.

So this is the bike days, not May bike month.

May came early for us here with Mother Nature.

But in some districts in North Gate and Stockton Boulevard, Del Paso Power Inn and so forth, Meadow View, like there's no option, there's not always great public transportation, and whether you worked a swing shift or what have you, and that's why all of us care about this.

It it weighs on us when we see you know those bikes painted white on streets, and you know, they're every once in a while they're on free Porterland Park or Folsom, but we see a more often areas, like you said, the 48%.

So we're locked in looking at data focusing on the areas.

And so we have identified this as our work plan, it's all about funding it.

So you know, we're trying to prioritize, and I think people will want to know okay.

You identified my stretch as a red and red with yellow, means they're really, really bad.

What does that mean?

How how soon will we get improvements?

And so, first of all, what what's the answer to that?

Do we not really see the mayor to put me on the spot?

Um, well, we have a five billion dollar set of planned improvements, and on it, we're unable to build those five billion dollars in plan improvements.

But we're making how much five billion.

So, since the year 2000, city council has adopted 700 transportation plans that in 2022 we estimated to be five billion dollars, it was probably more now because construction price prices are skyrocketing.

So, but what does that mean?

And like the red and yellow, how much is that?

If we did all those ones, what I'm not sure what the red and yellow is.

Oh, oh, those okay.

So the red dots are crashes, the yellow areas are a disadvantaged community.

Yeah, so if you just focus on the red areas, we just focus on those.

My gut is telling me it's probably about three billion dollars worth of.

Three billion, okay.

My gut, yeah.

And that's just a I guess, given that a lot of those areas lack basic transportation infrastructure, right?

So it is north and south Sacramento that don't have sidewalks, we don't have curb and gutter, we don't have the drainage.

Yeah, so this is why we identify the high injury network to figure out how we prioritize those investments, and how do we get the most effective bang for the dollars that we have?

Um, really addressing safety, uh, economic development, access to parks and schools and jobs, those are the things that we look at when we bring things forward to you.

Yeah, so that's somewhat daunting.

It is but we do have the quick build and easier fixes along the way, and so we support that.

Uh I I I think I did want to note that there was a law two years ago, and I failed you on an admit as your assembly member.

I tried to get Laura Friedman to put Sacramento in the bill, and I couldn't get a six city in there, so we didn't get Sacramento in there.

So it's a five-year five-year pilot.

I think we're in year two or three now.

So they wanted to test it.

We tried to go back the next year, like, no, we want a pilots, but I think the good news is that technology is dramatically changed.

And with technology and AI and so forth, that it's no longer decades ago that these are just money pits and speed traps and privacy issues.

You can focus on um safety and have the have the proceeds not go to the general fund but go directly to traffic improvements.

So they don't go fund other stuff, they don't fund police department per se, not anything's wrong with that, but you go fund specifically improvements on the roadway.

So I I think that um you know time's on our side, and that cities up and down California are seeing these same numbers and statistics and not seeing uh a great opportunity to fund their five to three whatever billion dollar um ledger they have.

So I think that we'll have an opportunity to revisit that.

We do have, as you mentioned, the the work zones and the red light areas, um, you know, thanks to our local legislator, but the the speed areas through on just common streets are I think the biggest piece that we need to tackle.

Absolutely.

So with that, we also have potentially um some outstanding citizens that are trying to bring democracy through their own hands and and bring this issue to the electorate this fall, and that would give us an opportunity to do more of what we're talking about here.

So uh what would that look like if that if that happened?

Well, I think it depends on how the measure sorts out and where it's identifying where funding goes.

Um, and so I've been following it from a distance, and so I think it's really focused on safety um and roadway maintenance.

And so we heard earlier about so one of my teams is the asset planning team.

We don't talk about them as much as we we I think we should, right?

So these are the teams that manage our pavement, our flight gates and our bridges, and so we're updating our pavement quality um report right now.

And so on average, our city pavement is 58 or 59 out of 100, and we have 14 million dollars a year, but really need closer to 90 million dollars a year just to maintain the current state of our pavement, not even to bring it up to a state of good repair.

And so when we look at potential funding opportunities, what we currently do now, and we would only bring this on stronger, is how do we layer everything together?

How do we take pavement money and then do safety projects on top of our pavement work that we're doing so that we can really have the most effective use of the limited funding that we have?

Okay, thank you.

Uh no further questions.

This was a uh review and comment and provide direction, which we gave you plenty.

Thank you.

So stay the course.

Thank you very much.

That's the final direction.

Thank you.

Yes, thank you.

Thank you.

Okay, next item.

So, mayor, we now move to council comments ideas, questions, AB 123 reports.

Councilmember Vane.

Thank you.

I just have an announcement and then just wanted to put a request on record.

Um, first, uh, this Saturday, really excited about our annual community conversation for District 8 happening at the Pennell Community Center, 10 to 1 o'clock.

This Saturday, uh doors open at 9 30 with light refreshments.

All of our city departments will be there, and we also have our city manager there that's gonna have her own table, and we have rotating workshops.

Um, and then I also just wanted to um ask us why you know my staff reached out um to the city manager.

But I know that uh we had a resolution to prohibit ice activities that pass through law and ledge, and it's been past 30 days, and so just wanted to flag that.

Um, wanted to make a request if someone can just send us an update when that's coming to council.

Um, and that's it.

Thank you so much.

Councilmember Dickinson.

Oh, thanks.

Uh I just have an AB124 report.

Um last week I attended the civic annual Civic Well Policy Makers Conference, uh, which brings together uh about a hundred uh local elected uh officials, cities and counties throughout California, some special districts uh to talk about issues that are uh happening in in each of our communities.

Also gives us a chance to to hear from state leaders and and others on uh uh what are important issues of the of the day.

I came home with a couple ideas, so I consider it a success.

Councilmember Jennings.

Um never been to the if you've never been to the District 8 Sweet Potato Festival, you should put it on your calendar to go in the coming years.

Oh yeah.

Uh I had the opportunity to judge for the sixth year in a row.

I think I got a couple of uh about 20 pounds that I gained from judging the the sweet potatoes that were there, and it was a great turnout.

The crowd was in part incredible, and I just want to kind of give uh councilmember my vang uh props for a great event that I really enjoyed.

Even got on the dance floor and tried to dance a few of those pounds off.

So it's a good time.

Um that you should put on your calendar.

Uh it's a wonderful event.

Uh, you'll meet a lot of the people from the community there.

So anyway, just want to give her props for that.

And then um, and just and do not judge uh sweet potato pie by the way it looks.

Well, that's just one criteria.

I know, but like I was like, I was like, this one's so pretty.

Yeah, put it in task.

You gotta look at the texture, yeah, see, flavor and the crust.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh, yeah, mayor, you were there too.

We were doing it together, yeah.

Richness, yeah, yeah.

I got to do that.

So, anyway, I'm sorry.

Who won?

It was uh it was very high stakes.

Oh gosh, I was sweating.

Yeah, and uh it was fun.

Uh one I had to check my car when I left because somebody was mad that they didn't win.

Okay.

So anyway, um, this sun this Saturday coming up on the 21st.

Uh District 7 is having its Easter egg hunt.

We want you to join us for morning filled with festive fun.

Celebration starts at 10 o'clock with photos of the Easter bunny.

So if you don't have photos of the Easter bunny planned, you can bring your family members and your your constituents out, and they can get a picture with the Easter bunny, followed by the egg hunt, which will take place at 10:30.

And we want to make sure that you remember to bring your own basket.

The event is uh filled with joy for the families year after year.

We can't wait to see everybody once again.

So, once again, this Saturday at 10 o'clock for the Easter bunny pitchers and 10 30 for the Easter.

And remember, there are many golden eggs that are in the field of 5,000 eggs that will be out there in the field.

So you gotta get a golden egg in order to get the prizes.

And there are like 10 golden eggs out there.

So you come on out.

So and then um the Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association is also having a spring fling extra veganza also this Saturday at the Sierra Curtis Neighborhood Association, their annual spring fling egg strong vote.

You need to join us.

I can't say that three times in a row.

But you got to join us from 9 to 1 p.m.

for the Easter egg parade, the egg hunt, the fun activities, and the kids' donuts and coffee.

And yes, I will be at both events, even though they're happening at the same time.

I will make sure that I'm at both events.

So come on out, join me if you will, have a good time with the kids, take some pictures with the Easter egg bunny, and uh look for the golden egg.

Okay, thank you.

Uh Mayor Pro Tem Gera.

Okay, thank you, Mr.

Mayor.

I just want to uh yeah, you know, invite everyone to to the Tahoe Talic Little League opening day.

The parade starts at 9 a.m.

And uh we're gonna get our uh our season started of the Tahoe Talic Little League.

So that'll be this Saturday, March 21st, 9 a.m.

Uh at 7401 San Joaquin Street.

It's a short parade, but let's root the home team on.

All right, thanks, Mr.

Mayor.

Okay, thank you.

This includes council comments.

So, mayor, I have six speakers for matters not on the agenda.

Okay, please proceed.

Caesar Nelson, Raquel Guiera, Santiago Vivas Rodriguez.

Is Caesar here?

Yes.

The following Caesars Raquel and Santiago City Council, City Mayor, and Mayor.

Um I'm Caesar Nelson, and here I would like to um thank the past council for what they've done.

It's due diligence about a water problem that was in uh district two at the time.

And um thank you very much.

Number two, I welcome the new city council.

Haven't had a chance to get here.

Thank you.

Umber three is uh Councilman Dickerson.

Uh your office call the other day.

We had some technical problems with wires or whatever it is, um, and the communication, so if you can have Xavier call me back or the text.

And uh thank you very much.

And Councilman Jennings, thank you very much for your return call also to uh resolve the problem.

So we're gonna have a good year.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Then Marsha Marsham Vivas Aguirre.

Hi, I'm Rick Galva Santiago.

Can he go first before me?

Yes.

Thank you.

Hi, good evening.

Uh dear members of the Sacramento City Council.

My name is Santiago Víos Rodriguez, and I'm a parent of a student currently attending Northwood Elementary School within the Twin Rivers Unified School District, and of a student that attended St.

Patrick's Academy, which will be closing in June.

Uh, the common denominator is that both systems are broken and they're failing our students, family, and staff.

The issue of this teacher strike is not just limited in its scope and impact to the families of Twin Rivers, Ornatomas Unified School Districts.

It is a sacramento issue.

As our elected leaders, I'm calling on you to put pressure on the districts to come to the negotiating table and reach an agreement with these uh for these strikes to end.

It is clear that Twin Rivers prefers to bust the union instead of reaching a compromise and bargain in good faith and real learning in the absence of our educators in the classroom is not taking place.

Additionally, this is a city issue because many of our teachers don't just uh teach in my district where I reside, but they live in all of your districts as well.

Moreover, classified staff are too afraid of retaliation, only share under condition of anonymity that their schools are not serving our students.

Um there are violations of Ed code that are impacting our students, families, and especially our teachers who cannot continue to work under these conditions.

I am a constituent of District 2, and I can only speak for myself, but I believe it's safe to say that we are paying close attention to how our local leaders are responding to these issues.

Um we know that you are deeply concerned as I am, and you want to see our teachers back in the classroom.

Our students want their lives to be restored so that true learning can take place, and our teachers have the tools to create the uh the sit uh the conditions for our students to thrive.

Um therefore, for those reasons, I'm asking you to elevate this issue, put pressure on all parties to come to a resolution.

I believe you're the catalyst that will make this change happen.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Hi, good evening, and I apologize because I wasn't planning on speaking, but I love a lot of our parents and other members are with our parents right now at the district office.

How do you guys I don't know if you guys have seen us on the news?

Um so I'm here to talk about the future of education.

Um I've been teaching for 26 years.

You know, was very excited when I first started out.

Now I can um honestly tell you that if I was a brand new teacher, I would not be a teacher any longer.

I'm very passionate about teaching my students.

So our fight right now is for the future.

Um I don't know if you guys know about our district, but starting out this year, we had a hundred on field positions with 22 students with that for with subs.

Now let me ask you guys that have children.

How would you feel if your child was being taught with subs?

So what we are asking for now is for the future.

We want teachers to meet in the classrooms.

This is unprecedented.

We are going on our ninth day for strikes.

Okay.

And so a lot of our teachers are leaving our district.

Who would blame them?

We all want to get paid.

We're in California.

It's the cost of living here.

So we're asking, I'm not sure what you guys can do.

Um, so please, I urge you if you guys can help come.

Please make sure that they are uh bargaining because we have been opening our this um speaking from our union perspective too.

We have been asking to be to meet to bargain, and we are not getting anywhere.

We only actually want to thank our assembly woman Maggie Krell.

She is the reason why they are bargaining at the table.

Now, another point is that Natoma started striking after we started striking.

They are meeting at the table for 13 hours.

When our district members are coming, the superintendent had not shown up for two of them.

We heard okay, why is that happening?

I don't know if you know that he's not coming back next year.

So we are wondering if he's really for the students, because he's not gonna have to deal with us and the students next year.

So please, please.

I don't know what you guys can do, but I implore you to please come and help.

Please.

Thank you for your comments.

Our next speaker is Mary Carmen.

Mary Carmen Vivas Aguilera.

Yes, thank you.

I know that's a difficult name to um say.

Good evening, uh, board members of uh City Hall.

Uh here, I'm here tonight because of the students in Twin Rivers Unified School District, deserves safe, properly staffed classrooms.

My name is Mari Carmen Vivas.

I'm a teacher in this district and a resident of district two.

Um today is day nine of our strike.

I'm standing here with my fellow educators because we are exhausted, frustrated, and deeply worried about what is happening in our schools.

We do not want we want to acknowledge that the board has now agreed to return to the negotiation table.

That is a step in the right direction, but it is um it is important to be honest about how we got here.

It took assemblymember Corell urging the district multiple times before that decision was made.

It should not take that level of outside pressure to prioritize our students and our educators.

Right now, schools in our district are operating without enough credentialed teachers in the classrooms.

Many students are being supervised by adults who do not know them, their needs, and their learning plans.

This means children with medical needs, behavioral plans, or trauma histories may be placed with people who have never met them before.

Schools are more than buildings where academics happen.

There are places where children are protected.

When classrooms are not properly staffed, that protection breaks down.

Our district recently settled a major lawsuit involving student safety.

Is something serious happens during the strike?

If a children is harmed because schools are not properly staffed, our entire community faces another devastating situation.

None of us want to strike.

Teachers do not want to be on strike.

We want to be back in the classroom.

So tonight I'm asking the Sacramento City Council to do two things.

First, publicly call for immediate good faith negotiation between the district leadership and educators.

Secondly, formally request that the Sacramento County of Education review whether schools are operating during the strike, meet safety and supervision.

Thank you for your comments.

Your time is complete.

Our next speaker is Mike Snell.

Then Paul, thank you for your comments.

Mike Snell, then Pablo Gutierrez.

Greetings, council, mayor, city manager.

Uh Mike's no.

I didn't want to interrupt earlier on your comment on sweet potato pie, but uh let me tell you, I have the best.

And uh yeah, it's a recipe from my family from my mom, and I built on and it's non-dairy, non-dairy at that.

So yeah, speaking on building on great things, um, I'm here just to follow up.

I've sent a um core versus non-core research report uh to the city clerk's office last week.

I know you guys are busy.

This is a budget budget season, um, but it is relevant to that because um as we look at what worked, what didn't work.

Um there's um I have a I have a seven-pillar equity workforce and economic development model that follows up with that um that I have sent to the appropriate districts and opportunity zones.

So that would be um Councilmember Dickinson, Councilmember Maple and Councilmember Vang.

budget season um but it is relevant to that because um as we look at what worked what didn't work um there's um i have a i have a seven pillar equity workforce and economic development model that follows up with that um that i have sent to the appropriate districts and opportunity zone so that would be um council member dickinson council member maple and council member bang so um your offices have a I've done an update to it just because um understanding the macro issue with gas prices inflation wage gaps and so forth uh disposable income is going to be a huge issue so I've removed the pillar that focused on expanding cannabis because I just see that as it's unfortunate it it's not really efficient for the demands and the needs of the deficit and my model focuses on how to intersect with the CIP and the needs and the focuses with um tech and AI the trades industry and the uh healthcare expansion for for both senior and and youth so um I do appreciate that you guys are still doing your parts of support core but I have a model that is still rooted in the pillars of of core and equity but just in industries that aren't short ended by federal policy.

Thank you for your comments your time is complete our final speaker is Pablo Gutiérrez good evening city council uh my name is Pablo Uteros I'm a resident of district two and I'm a substitute teacher at Twin Rivers USD.

I'm here to plea with all of you to put pressure on the Twin Rivers and the Thomas School Boards to come to an agreement with the unions and to end these strikes.

As a substitute I'm not represented by Twin Rivers United educators nevertheless I have been picketing with striking teachers at Babcock Elementary off of El Camino over the past nine weekdays.

The heat has been killing me and unlike the teachers I will not get paid because as a sub if I don't work I don't get paid.

So why am I joining striking teachers if I have nothing to gain I come from family of educators.

Both my parents are teachers I have four ancient uncles and two cousins who have their own classrooms and two cousins who also work as substitutes.

I've been surrounded by educators my whole life therefore I've known just how unvalued they are education is the most disrespected profession in our society.

Therefore I will always stand with educators fighting for a fair contract.

They're not asking for the world they're asking for the bare minimum adequate salary so they don't have to work multiple jobs adequate health care coverage smaller class sizes to ensure that each student gets enough academic attention.

Therefore I will continue to strike uh with the teachers until an agreement can be made but I come before all of you to please ask to use your awesome power as local elected to put pressure on both uh school boards to come to an agreement that favors teachers that uh you know helps them survive in this economy I will like to leave off that even though the two districts striking are in northern Sacramento I have been uh counseling for uh uh local um uh candidates who represent education and I can assure you that there are twin rivers and atomas educators located in every single district in the city so please uh use your power to uh put pressure on these boards to come to an agreement thank you for your time mayor I have no more public comment speakers thank you we have one adjourn in memory council member Dickinson thank you mayor and do you have the photo of we're gonna there we are okay I wanted to uh ask that we adjourn this evening in memory of Howard Lawrence I know a number of members of this council uh if not all of you um knew Howard uh and so uh um we we've known howard in his most recent capacity but I wanted to share a little bit of his history was actually born in Lewisville Texas which is near near uh Dallas uh dad was uh was in the army and his mom was a nurse um uh and they um uh actually moved uh before he began school to to western Nevada County uh and he grew up uh went to uh middle and high school in Auburn um he then joined joined the Navy in a and began two years of active duty uh being stationed at Pearl Harbor uh during that that time uh and uh then thereafter returned to uh to Auburn and attended Sierra College uh while working as a a school uh bus driver um in uh 1965 he uh married his his wife Cynthia and uh started his involvement uh that led him ultimately to the capacity that we all knew him in um but he became involved with the young democrats uh he uh served an internship for then uh assembly member ed Zieberg uh and uh uh as a result of that was offered a uh a position as a business representative for SCIU Local 22 uh here in Sacramento he went on to uh work with um for the culinary union in uh sacramento uh then the California School Employees uh association uh where he became director of the CSEA field office and in uh sacramento uh and uh that's when he and his family moved

Uh and uh uh as a result of that was offered a uh a position as a business representative for SCIU Local 22 uh here in Sacramento.

Um he went on to uh work um for the culinary union in uh Sacramento, uh then the California School Employees uh Association where he became director of the CSEA field office and in uh Sacramento and uh that's when he and his family moved to Carmichael.

Uh and uh so following uh uh uh his success as that as a field director in that capacity in 1984, he was a appointed director of organizing uh for the CSEA and uh had a had a zone field office that he worked out of.

Um was always a outspoken advocate and battler for uh what he believed were were just causes and did uh that for CSEA uh and retired in in 2000 from from that capacity, but but he was he he was hardly done uh for um a number of years he served as president of Sacramento Area uh congregations together or Sacramento Act uh and uh worked with with all of AC's executive directors, uh in fact served as as interim ED in 2013 in that capacity.

He was also very active in uh St.

Mark's I think Lutheran church, if I recall, serving uh on the action team as a community representative working on the local organizing committee of act at at St.

Mark's.

Uh I worked with with Howard on a number of issues over the years, uh particularly in his capacity uh as a volunteer for for ACT, including the first effort to uh have a pilot that provided um free free rides for uh um young people on Sacramento RT that uh actually later became the genesis of of what former council member Shaneer uh put together that we still uh are carrying out with with regional transfer for free rides.

Howard was also uh deeply involved in our efforts uh to address uh youth and gang violence and to build uh opportunities for for youth investment.

Um and he uh to the to the end for many of us uh uh there would be a lasting memory of uh Howard with his oxygen, nonetheless indefatigable uh and dedicated to to uh fighting for for the values and the causes that that uh were so important to to him.

Howard was also just an extremely nice guy.

He was a very, very nice guy.

Uh if if um the world was populated by Howard's uh we would we'd have a pretty good world.

World peace.

We would have world peace.

Um but Howard was also absolutely determined uh for those things that he cared about and believed in.

He was absolutely determined to fight for them uh in uh in uh uh every possible way he could.

And his impact I think uh will not be recognized by uh uh many people who have actually been the beneficiary of of his of his efforts and and his work.

But for those of us who knew Howard and knew him well, we will never forget what he meant to our efforts in Sacramento to improve the quality and character of life, particularly for those who were all too often overlooked, left behind, uh, and unrepresented.

Thank you uh for adjourning tonight in his memory.

Well said add on uh councilmember Garrett.

Yeah, nor you know, I didn't I normally wouldn't add on, but I I wanted to also you know recognize Howard before I even thought about it getting elected in electoral pollux or anything like that.

There was a group of of us uh uh young folks that would get together for breakfast at Cornerstones.

And I think Brian Dublanc was was part of that group back then.

And Howard would join us.

And so, you know, and uh and he was uh uh completely obviously not part of the not the same generation, but was willing to engage in this and such a mentor and thinking about you know how to how to be uh how to be a good advocate, let's put it that way.

Uh and uh and I think we like to your point, we need more of that.

Uh and it was just a bunch of young folks who wanted to get together and discuss, you know, policy issues and politics that was happening.

Um but I I remember his kindness that really helped us focus on, you know, and and be real about how uh how to actually solve a solution, and how to make a solution.

Um and I also wanted to one, I wanted to reflect and thank him for that, you know, his you know, impact on us 20 years ago.

But in the in this council, in this previous council, when we had some of our most difficult times when there was a unrest and the uh community friction that was occurring.

Howard stepped in and became a broker for the different parties.

And he had such a strong reputation that he could help bring together both the elected officials, community organizers, um, uh the obviously the churches together, uh, and and create a venue to rebuild the dialogue.

Uh and I think that um he never did it for credit, but I would say uh he needs to have to be recognized for helping the city move through one of its most challenging and difficult times because of his heart and compassion.

So very well eloquently said, Councilmember Dickinson, and I I think uh, you know, we we thank uh you know uh his family for sharing him with Sacramento.

Yeah, I I wanted to uh join in.

Um I I didn't know he passed away until today.

Um I remember seeing him the last couple years, and he was somebody, as you said, he came to city council quite often, and he he wasn't paid to be here, he did it because he cared.

And uh I I as a young leader first heard of ACT, and I just love the concept of you know, the Jewish synagogues, the black churches, the Lutheran churches, all working together on common issues.

Um recently it's been a lot of housing and homelessness issues, but um when we first met him, you know, he was the leader in bringing people together talking about our youth, our next generation, and and I know this council, you know, led by councilwoman Bang over here and others put that measure on the ballot, measure L, but it failed multiple times, and you know, he was the one pushing it forward along with then supervisor um Dickinson.

So he always had an upbeat um, you know, feel to him, very, very positive.

And uh and um he he he left his mark.

And so yeah, not a lot of people know his name, and people who can watch us tonight know his face, but he um he didn't live it live in the city of Sacramento, but he left his mark in the city of Sacramento and the greater Sacramento as well.

So with that, we will adjourn in the memory of Howard Lawrence.

Thank you.