News
News & Guest Blog Posts
Everyday, our region’s counties and cities are taking actions to make this to best place to work, live, and play. We will share our member city and county milestones here, along with our own regional news and blog posts.
Go Time for Green Means Go
Strong support for innovative pilot program that would remove roadblocks to infill development
April 29, 2019: Sacramento’s Capitol Park is a hive of activity this month, as office workers and pollinators alike are drawn to beautiful spring blooms. But the buzz of activity in the park is eclipsed by the rush of work happening inside the Capitol building, where lawmakers are jockeying to get their priorities reflected in the state budget.
A key priority for the Sacramento region is the $400 million that Senator Richard Pan and Assemblymember Ken Cooley have requested to fund the Sacramento region’s Green Means Go pilot program.
Get on Your Bike
May is Bike Month makes cycling fun
April 26, 2019: May is coming – and with it, the Sacramento region’s annual May is Bike Month campaign. Take advantage of the beautiful spring weather and longer days to join your friends, neighbors, and co-workers in their commitment to bicycling to work, school, errands, or for recreation or training this May. This is the 15th year that people throughout the Sacramento region are working together to opt for their bike pedals over the gas pedal, get some fresh air and exercise, and take cars off the road for all kinds of trips.
Fast, flexible funds: TDM mini-grants
Applications close June 30 for projects that encourage alternatives to driving
April 26, 2019: Does your organization need funding for a great idea that would help get people out of their cars? SACOG has grants available for small non-infrastructure programs, events, or projects to reduce single occupancy vehicle trips and miles by encouraging biking, walking, riding transit, carpooling, vanpooling, and teleworking as options for reducing car trips.
Isleton Bounces Back From the Brink
“I haven’t seen this much activity on Main Street in 40 years.”
April 24, 2019: The final week of March was a good one for the tiny Delta city of Isleton and its 804 residents. On Tuesday it got a $500,000 grant from California’s Regional Water Quality Control Board enabling the city to begin planning a $5 million upgrade of its sewer system. Two days later, it closed the deal on a new bond measure replacing a disastrous 2012 bond that had been costing the city about $175,000 in interest annually. The new bond cuts that almost in half.
That’s no Menace, That’s the Phantom
Phantom Auto’s remote driver technology aims to keep AVs safe
April 16, 2019: Curious passers-by in downtown Sacramento yesterday could be forgiven for wondering why TV crews were clustered around an ordinary looking black Lincoln sedan. Sure, Sacramento mayor Darrell Steinberg was in the passenger seat but the most innovative feature of the car was nowhere to be seen: it was a remote driver sitting in their office in Mountain View, 120 miles away.
The Phantom Auto test drive was the end-cap to months of mapping and testing the 4G mobile network in Sacramento to make sure an autonomous vehicle could be safely driven by a remote operator. California law requires any company testing autonomous vehicles on public roads to have a human driver overseeing the “driverless” vehicle who can take over control when an AV encounters a scenario it can’t safely handle on its own, such as emergency road closures, construction detours and four-way stop intersections.
Transforming Government One Pilot Project at a Time
April 11, 2019: SACOG’s innovation accelerator Civic Lab was today presented with an Outstanding Achievement in Innovation award by the Alliance for Innovation. The presentation was at the Alliance’s Transforming Local Government Conference in Reno.
Are High Speed Rail’s Problems Good for the Sacramento Region?
Emphasizing connections to the Valley a plus for the region
March 28, 2019:
Opponents of the California High Speed Rail project cheered when Governor Gavin Newson said “Let’s be real” about the troubled train plan in his State of the State speech. He later clarified that he wasn’t scrapping the project but rather committing to finishing the Bakersfield to Merced portion of it.
Data Reveals Pedestrian Deaths on the Rise
Cars are getting smarter so why are they killing pedestrians at record rates?
March 25, 2019: Pedestrian deaths in the United States grew by 35 percent from 2009 to 2017, according to a new report from the Governors Highway Safety Association, reversing a 30-year decline before that. And although the 2018 numbers are still preliminary, they show the U.S. is on track to report the highest number of pedestrian fatalities since 1990: 6,277.
One Year Check-up for Sacramento’s Economy Shows Mixed Symptoms
New Brookings Metro Monitor data mixes healthy job growth with falling productivity
March 21, 2019: Sacramento had job growth of 1.9 percent in 2017, placing it 30th out of the 100 largest U.S. cities. That is according to the Brookings Institution’s 2019 Metro Monitor that was released today, which compares data on growth, prosperity, inclusion, and inclusion by race.
However, comparisons with the biggest cities in the U.S. are not especially revealing — it is more illuminating to compare the Sacramento/Roseville/Arden-Arcade metro with the cluster of cities that Brookings identifies as its peers, the American Middleweights. That list of 16 cities includes Riverside, Phoenix, Kansas City, San Antonio, Detroit, Cincinnati, and Tampa.
Looking to Office Parking Lots to Boost Housing
Rancho Cordova investigates a great example of innovative policy by using SB2 planning grants
March 19, 2019: Rancho Cordova could allow multifamily housing to be built on underused office parking lots under a policy proposal being developed by its planners.
The policy would allow multifamily development within the city’s office parks, and could lead to multifamily projects being built on vacant parcels or underused parking lots, the city’s planning manager Darcy Goulart told the Sacramento Business Journal.
SacRT Invests in More Frequent Buses as it Consolidates Routes
New bus network will roll out changes this summer
February 28, 2019: The SacRT board approved a new bus network on Tuesday night, voting in favor of a consolidated route map that will focus on “major corridors that will lead to economic growth and reduce congestion,” according to a press release. The new plan was the first major redesign of bus routes in 30 years.
Olli autonomous shuttle launch puts region on the map as a Mobility Test-bed
Sacramento State pilot project region incubated as part of Civic Lab program
February 27, 2019: Last week’s official launch of the Olli autonomous electric shuttle at Sacramento State was another step toward the driverless car future. But given that it was one of the handful of places around the world to host a pilot of the 3D-printed shuttles, it also helped put the Sacramento region on the map as a test-bed of new mobility technology.
That was one of the aims of SACOG’s Civic Lab project, the mobility technology incubator that helped the Sacramento State team have a “shovel-ready” pilot project pitch to win the Olli Fleet Challenge.
New Data Shows the Real Reason why People Crossed the Road
Landmark travel habits survey a goldmine of quality information
February 28, 2019: A new survey of travel patterns in the Sacramento region has highlighted the differences between how people get around.
Affordable housing units now open in downtown Roseville
The city to continue momentum with an additional 145 units soon
The City of Roseville has 58 brand new family housing apartments – and they’re all affordable. Earlier this month, Roseville, the largest city in Placer County, held a grand opening for the first affordable housing complex in downtown. The new Lohse Apartments were built by Mercy Housing, one of the nation’s largest affordable housing organizations, which works to build healthy communities for all people.
Clearing the Air at CARB
Green Means Go pilot program gets a good reception at California Air Resources Board
The stage was well set when Sacramento Area Council of Government Executive Director James Corless walked to the podium to update the California Air Resources Board on the innovative approaches SACOG is taking to help lower the region’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Connecting the Region, one Bridge at a Time
5th Street Bridge continues to make progress and bring regional connectivity
January 29, 2019: Connectivity between jurisdictions is key for creating a robust and connected region and the 5th Street Bridge in the northern part of the Sacramento region does just that. January marks one year since groundbreaking on the project, which is expected to open in spring 2020.
Electric Scooters Have Arrived
Kick glide fun in Sacramento and West Sacramento
JUMP launched 100 electric scooters in Sacramento and West Sacramento in February. The scooters are free to unlock and $0.15 per minute after that and will be available in the existing JUMP service area through the Uber app.
2018 was the Year of the Bike Lane
The year’s projects that made biking safer all over the region
January 29, 2019: Cities and counties across the Sacramento region have been expanding transportation infrastructure with a multitude of trail and bike lane options. These additions helped to make travelling by bicycle a real option for more residents than ever. Read on for a sampling of bike infrastructure additions in urban, suburban, and rural parts of our region.
Loomis Approves its Largest Housing Project in Years
Long-planned Village at Loomis passes by a 4-1 vote
January 29, 2019: The Loomis Town Council has approved a large mixed-use development adjacent to I-80, east of the town’s commercial center.
It includes 251 single-family homes, 117 apartment units, over 18 acres of active parks and open space, and over 44,000 square feet of commercial and mixed-use space.
The site had been designated for development since the town’s incorporation in 1984 and the project’s developer, Todd Lowell, said he had been working on it since he bought the first parcel of property in 1998.
Governor Newsom’s First Proposed Budget Aims to Boost Housing
Controversial plan would link transportation dollars to housing production
January 25, 2019: Governor Gavin Newsom’s first proposed state budget focuses on establishing a resilient budget that can withstand manmade crises and natural disasters. Included in his proposal is a substantial plan to address the state’s housing crisis and further investment in forest management. Surprisingly, for the first time in many years, the Governor’s budget summary document does not include a standalone chapter on transportation funding.