'Twas two weeks before Christmas, when all through the town

Not a citizen was stirred up, because it was unknown

That their money was being given away then and there

By town leaders pretending that no one would care ..."

Happy Holidays, District Three. What's on your wish list this gift giving season? Safe sidewalks glisten and visions of street bumps dance in your heads? A life-saving stop sign, cross walk or street lighting fires the Yuletide dreams?

How far would $100,000 go in your neighborhood?

To be in on the holiday fun, contact your City Council member before the Tuesday, December 15th Council meeting and tell them how you want $100,000 spent -- or not. Handy contact info is provided below -- you can call or email or use a new feature to make an online comment via the City of Sacramento web page. (Agenda Item 18; see below).

Better be quick though -- or the money will magically disappear like Santa's milk and cookies.

The $100,000 in public funds is available from federal HUD Community Development Block Grant money, left over from a street lighting project in the Ben Ali neighborhood, which came in under budget.

The CDBG entitlement program allocates annual grants to larger cities and urban counties to develop viable communities by providing decent housing, a suitable living environment, and opportunities to expand economic opportunities, principally for low- and moderate-income persons.

The Ben Ali neighborhood is in North Sacramento, west of Business 80, east of Del Paso Blvd., between El Camino Avenue and Marconi. The $100,000 savings on the lighting project there is being recommended by City staff for use in the trendiest of hot spots in Midtown Sacramento, to beautify an alley, between 17th/18th/L St. and Capitol Avenue.

Some might argue that other projects in the Ben Ali neighborhood (or others) might need the windfall more than one Midtown alley; or that lighting some of the unlit streets in Midtown would be more of a priority than paving and lighting an alley.

But no one is arguing any of this; because there is no public discussion, no public engagement and no public outreach regarding how to use these public funds.

There are no presenters scheduled for the City Council meeting on Tuesday. The agenda item has been recommended by City staff and signed off on by the City Manager. (links below).

The private project to "activate" Midtown alleys was the recipient allocated the $100,000 by District 3 Council Member Steve Cohn, who announced in September that he did not need Council approval to decide how to use the CDBG money. Even so, the agenda item is sneaking down the chimney for Tuesday night's Council Meeting.

On August 11, 2009, the Alley Activation committee -- a group of business/property owners/developers who had been meeting for 16 months with City staff -- made a presentation to the City Council, about (from Council minutes) "Alleys within the Central Business District and Midtown Area (Districts 1, 3, and 4); Action: Reviewed the various efforts underway to activate Central City alleys and directed staff to continue working with the Alley Activation Committee on the Pilot Alley proposals, and to help identify potential funding sources."

The Council approved that staff continue working with the Alley Activation Committee, which has been directed to study up to 47 potential alleys for activation. There has been no official final determination of which alleys will be "activated." There is no one on the City Council or relevant staff or on the Alley Activation committee who will answer the simple question:

Who has the authority to make the final decision as to which alleys will be activated? When and how will that be decided?

Meanwhile, the Alley Activation Committee has determined that their three "pilot alleys" coincidentally are where they themselves own real estate and businesses; where they will benefit from the infusion of public funds and prettified infrastructure, paid for with $100,000 designated by the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development to "to ensure decent affordable housing, to provide services to the most vulnerable in our communities, and to create jobs through the expansion and retention of businesses."

The HUD website also specifies that CDBG grantees "must develop and follow a detailed plan that provides for and encourages citizen participation. This integral process emphasizes participation by persons of low or moderate income, particularly residents of predominantly low- and moderate-income neighborhoods, slum or blighted areas, and areas in which the grantee proposes to use CDBG funds. The plan must provide citizens with the following: reasonable and timely access to local meetings; an opportunity to review proposed activities and program performance; provide for timely written answers to written complaints and grievances.... "

Steve Cohn announced the availability of the $100,000 in August and urged the almost tw0 year old Alley Activation Committee to move forward ASAP. There have been no public Alley Activation meetings in October, November or December. There has never been any outreach to the residents and business neighbors that already exist on the target alley -- even after Mr. Cohn publicized that outreach was an instruction from the August Council meeting.

Meanwhile, the plans and the work go on. This week, City of Sacramento crews are out jackhammering and patching up the target alley to test underground infrastructure. The unaccountable decision about which alleys to "activate" has been made.

The vote at the December 15th Council meeting on approving the allocation of the $100,000, arrives on tiny reindeer feet on the snow covered roof; a gift to those who have designated themselves the most worthy beneficiaries of Alley Activation and the public funds that will make their private property more valuable; while District 3 residents sleep snug with visions of surviving Christmas and dreams of a Happier New Year.

http://www.cityofsacramento.org/council/index.html

http://sacramento.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=8

Tuesday, December 15, 2009
City Hall – 915 I Street- First Floor Council Chamber
http://sacramento.granicus.com/core/events/public/ecommentsform.aspx?guid=7f21710f-d995-102c-9f78-c9e72a1e1616
Item 18.
Contact: Ricky Chuck, Senior Engineer, (916) 808-5050, Tim Mar, Supervising Engineer, (916) 808-7531, Transportation Department.

Alley Activation:
Contact: William R. Crouch, Urban Design Manager, (916) 808-8013;
Stacia Cosgrove, Senior Planner, (916) 808-7110, Community Development Department.