Local leaders in the fields of politics, business and environmentalism gathered in Sacramento on Friday to brainstorm how the region could advance its efforts to become more economically and environmentally sustainable.

The Sacramento Metro Chamber’s “State of the Region” event focused on sustainability in the area’s communities.

Chamber spokesman Hal Silliman said more than 300 people attended the event, which was held at the Hyatt hotel downtown and included a panel of local leaders and a presentation from an Environmental Protection Agency analyst. Elected officials from around the region — including Davis, Sacramento, Folsom and Citrus Heights — listened to the panel.

Matthew Dalbey, a senior policy analyst with the EPA, told the audience the Sacramento area is renowned for its “Blueprint,” which serves as a guide on sustainable regional planning.

The “blueprint” was approved in 2004 by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments.

“You all know that the ‘blueprint’ is looked on as a model for communities across the country,” Dalbey said.

Still, Dalbey urged regional leaders to ramp up their efforts.

“In order to keep on keeping on, you’re going to have to do things better,” he said.

Specifically, Dalbey asked the region to consider how its sustainable planning process can improve the economic, environmental and public health situation of rural communities and small towns.

In the discussion that followed Dalbey’s comments, panelist and West Sacramento Mayor Christopher Cabaldon countered Dalbey’s statement that the region should do a better job.

Cabaldon said he becomes frustrated with the federal government agencies working on sustainability efforts “because it seems like they’re so slow.”

He said the area’s leaders should press the federal government to move more quickly to fund the region’s sustainable projects.

Scott Syphax, another speaker on the five-member panel, said the banking industry needs to lend money to sustainable projects.

“The banking spigot is still fairly closed,” he said. To put Sacramento and the region back to work, "we’ve got to turn that back on.”

Syphax is the chief executive of the Nehemiah Corporation of America, a community group based in Sacramento. The group launched in 1994 “for the purpose of promoting homeownership and economic development for under-served populations and communities,” according to its website.

Meanwhile, City Councilman Kevin McCarty noted that the city of Sacramento earlier this month joined an effort with the Sacramento Area Council of Governments, the county and Valley Vision to apply for $1.85 million in grant money through the federal Sustainable Communities Initiative. 

Photo of Syphax and Cabaldon by Tia Gemmell

Kathleen Haley is a staff reporter for The Sacramento Press.