Sacramento.

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To: Darrell Steinberg, Mayor of Sacramento
From: Jonathan Palisoc, Consultant & Master of Public Policy, expected 2018
RE: Sacramento Placemaking
Date: December 11, 2017
Problem.
Sacramento has often found itself in the shadow of California behemoths like San Francisco and
Los Angeles. But why? In short, it is because they are “places to be”, and Sacramento is not –
comparatively, many say, it is boring.
In the parlance of the creative economy, “placemaking” is the process of shaping dynamic public
spaces that transform where we reside into where we live. It is a process of molding our physical
environment into neighborhoods, public amenities and gathering places that reveal and celebrate
the rich character of a community. Often this manifests as public art installations, temporary
event spaces and creative development projects.
Fig. 0 – Placemaking 101.
This analysis will provide an analysis of current policy challenges blocking Sacramento from
becoming a “place to be”, as well as future policy changes and best practices from other cities
that have been used. In terms of frame, this analysis will be looked at through the Mayor and
City Manager’s eyes, as they have the most autonomy and influence over Sacramento
placemaking.
Status Quo.
Background

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Sacramento became a city when its city charter was submitted by Swiss immigrant John Sutter,
Sr., his son John Augustus Sutter, Jr., and James W. Marshall and approved in 1850.
Historically, the location of Sutter's Fort and close vicinity of the California Gold Rush created
tremendous growth for the city. Since then, the city has developed as a trade center and agrarian
focal point, being at the confluence of the Sacramento and American River, as well as center of
the Sacramento Valley.
Current Efforts
Fig. 1 – City of Sacramento Map focused on “The Grid”.
In recent times, the city has found some notoriety from its being the legislative capital of
California, “Wild West” history, having the largest city tree canopy in the US, and farm-to-fork
culinary culture. Alongside this, in 2002, the Civil Rights Project at Harvard University named
Sacramento as America's Most Diverse City. With its current population of around 500,000, it
boasts the 6th
largest city and 5th
largest metropolitan population in California. However, albeit
current efforts, Sacramento is often seen as a backwater city compared to the bay. As such,
efforts by the current city administration have been made to increase appeal. Most of the city
appeal and marketing has been directed at the “The Grid”, a nickname given by residents to the
main area of town locked in on four sides by the Sacramento River (west), American River
(north), Business Route 80 (east), and Capitol Freeway 50 (south). Proposed solutions will
mainly target this area as well, although a concerted effort should be made to expand interested
in outlying areas.
Proposed Solutions.
Executive Leadership Format
The city current executive format is that of the council-manager government. As such, the mayor
does not hold any particular power above any other councilmember. While most overwhelming
majority of cities with at least Sacramento’s population utilize the strong mayor form,

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Sacramento has been unable to pass a measure to switch. Most recently, former mayor Kevin
Johnson attempted to switch 2014 through Measure L but was defeated.
I recommend that the administration introduce a ballot measure to be voted on this November to
implement a strong mayor system. Under this system, the mayor would propose the city budget,
have the authority to appoint department directors, as well as have veto authority. However, the
council has mayor veto override authority.
As is currently, the weak mayor system creates weak political leadership. Even though there is a
large amount of interest in placemaking in Sacramento, the mayor has little power to implement
changes. Alongside this, the council makes it extremely difficult to pass changes as each is
looking out for their own district. Changes occur much slower, and the public is confused who to
contact as each has their own district representative.
A strong mayor council would give the city political leadership that is very visible. The mayor
would become the point person for all policies, and since he is only one person versus an entire
council, he can respond to the public and interest groups faster. This focal point will allow
Mayor Steinberg to articulate a vision of a “placemade” Sacramento and act on it without dealing
with the bureaucracy of the council. His veto power, as well as ability to fire and hire managers
and department headers, will give him leverage to more effectively implement all of the policies
below.
Improvements to Current Efforts
I recommend that Tre Borden be nominated and offered the newly created job of “Creative
Director”. This position will be housed in the mayor’s office and be the point person for all
placemaking within Sacramento. Having a full-time government division completely devoted to
placemaking activities will energize the efforts to make the city a place to be. And it’s not
unheard of – currently, Toronto and Manchester are two cities who have appointed Creative
Directors to try and make their city great1
.
1
http://www.azuremagazine.com/article/every-great-city-needs-creative-director/

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Fig. 2 – Tre Borden, placemaker and Sacramento native.
Once this position has been created, the Creative Director will immediately expand on three
programs that have been severely underfunded:
- Creative Edge Community Meetings
o These community meetings will be a chance for the local community to get
involved in placemaking. Creative Edge will assess the area's cultural assets and
map the community's vision for the future. Beside placemaking, these meetings
will consider the future of arts education, cultural tourism, arts and culture
funding, access and equity, neighborhood engagement, artist support and the for-
profit creative economy. As posted on the city website, the goal is to “strengthen
cultural vitality through excellent, relevant, and sustainable results that can be
implemented over the next five to seven years”2
. These meetings should be highly
promoted to local talent, as all recommendations will be sent to the City Council
for consideration in early 2018.
- Creative Economy Pilot Project
o Using funding from placemaking grants from the National Endowment for the
Arts, the city can catalyze entrepreneurial initiatives that improve the quality and
experiences of public spaces that have not been activated to their full potential.
While the city has previously funded microgrants up to $500,000, current budget
strain means that alternative funding mechanisms such as the federal government
should be considered. A minimum level of investment is made in each Council
district through the program, as to broaden appeal beyond downtown and to
ensure full Council support.
- Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission
2
http://www.cityofsacramento.org/creative-edge

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o The Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission was established in 1977 by a City
Ordinance and a County Ordinance. It is a public agency devoted to supporting,
promoting and advancing the arts in the region, usually through funding to local
artists and arts groups. Most recently, the commission has been funding local
artists to create street art on areas that have been polled as unattractive or dreary.
As to ensure equitable distribution of these grants, street artists will only be
commissioned to create art in districts they are from.
In short, higher community engagement and involvement will bring current placemaking efforts
to the next level.
Public Space
Currently, many of the public events in Sacramento are being underutilized. While the Crocker
Art Museum and Concerts in the Park have done well at promoting local talent and interest, the
farmer’s markets and Second Saturday events leave much to be desired. To increase visibility, I
recommend (1) expanding the farmer’s markets to year-round and seasonal events, as well as (2)
creating a central hub for the Second Saturday events. As is currently, most farmer’s market
locations are only held during spring and summer months; by expanding to the entire year, the
markets can capitalize on cold winter flora such as squash plants and Christmas trees. Alongside
this, the markets can be transformed for holiday events, such as christkindlmarkts, or German
Christmas markets. Vendor permit revenues will increase substantially due to this expansion, and
should cover any increased cost3
.
Fig. 3 – Farmer’s Market Main Location
While urban parks have historically been the pride of Sacramento, the have fallen into recent
disarray, mainly due to the increase homeless populations currently residing in them. To combat
this deterioration, the following policies should be undertaken:
- Park Bathrooms
o Recently, the parks system has been installing $60,000 sewage systems to deal
with used needles clogging up the system4
. To combat this, I have polled a
significant amount of homeless to find out why this is the case. I have
overwhelmingly found that needles were being flushed due to (1) a lack of trash
cans, and (2) harassment by the police at needle exchanges. Therefore, I
recommend that Public Works increase the amount of trash receptacles at parks
3
http://www.cityofsacramento.org/Finance/Revenue/Special-Business-Permits
4
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/city-beat/article185288903.html

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and that “safe zones” be created around needle exchanges so they will be utilized
more often. Alongside this, these exchanges should be located by parks and
homelessness encampments. Any savings from not installing sewage systems
should go into Public Works for trashcans, as well as a cleaning crew for park
bathrooms.
- Riverfront Parks and Public Space
o Very few major cities can boast two major waterways so close to downtown.
However, utilization of public riverfront property has diminished drastically over
the past decade. This is due to increased reports of trash, homelessness
encampments, and attacks on walkways. All of these problems can be traced back
to the homelessness epidemic currently facing the county. As the city has minimal
funding available to combat this, the mayor should look to the County &
Medicaid program for funding.
o While many cities do their part in helping the homeless, the authority for dealing
with this population lies with the County. As discovered by Mayor Steinberg
recently, there is an enormous amount of funding designated to each county
specifically for homelessness through the Mental Health Services Act. While the
city cannot expect the county to take over all homelessness services, the county
should provide a proportional amount of its funding to Sacramento in order to
alleviate the issue.
o While the federal government has traditionally been hesitant to fund Medicaid
dollars for housing as a health service, recent efforts have expanded funding in
Medi-Cal. Specifically, the Whole Person Care Pilot allows cities and counties to
apply for funding to help “superutilizers” of the health care system – incidentally,
those beneficiaries are almost always homeless. Although it has a significant
amount of upfront cost, savings can be monumental. In San Diego, their “Project
25” took 25 homeless individuals and gave them housing, a clinic, and care
manager – while these were costly, reduced visits to the ER paid back that cost
tenfold5
.
Fig. 4 – McKinley Park.
Development
5
http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/services/Pages/WholePersonCarePilots.aspx

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Studies done by the Brookings Institute and Government Finance Officers Administration
(GFOA) have shown that sports arenas are no guarantee of economic stimulus or development
for an area6
. As such, all future sports proposals must be met with significant caution for
Sacramento. Golden1 Arena, the Sacramento King’s new arena, has done significantly positive
things for development of DoCO (Downtown Commons), but mainly because it was in an
already high traffic and highly commercial area. As MLS expansion seems likely for 2018, the
City must ensure that the $250 million dollar private sector investment will be the only funding
used, as promised. As with other arenas like in Detroit and the Twin Cities, backdoor subsidies
including utility allowances and other things that can be paid for by taxpayers should not be
utilized, as they have been found to have significantly negative effects on the economy7
.
Figs 5 & 6 – Golden1 Arena and the future MLS site.
In terms of “placemaking development”, Sacramento should significantly expand its hotel
capacity. For high profile events such as the NBA All-Star Game, the league requires that any
market applying for the event must have at least enough hotel space to accommodate 10,000 out
of town guests. Currently, Sacramento can only house around 5,500 guests – a significant
amount lower. To incentivize this expansion while also alleviating affordable housing,
Sacramento should exempt hotels from select Impact Fees such as the School Housing Fee.
6
http://www.gfoa.org/sites/default/files/GFR_AUG_13_94.pdf
7
https://www.brookings.edu/articles/sports-jobs-taxes-are-new-stadiums-worth-the-cost/

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The Affordability Fee as of March 1, 2017 is $2.69 per habitable square foot of each market rate
unit. This fee, while significant, is below many other cities of comparable population; I
recommend increasing it those cities’ average amount of $3.008
.
Public Transit
Fig. 7 – Sacramento Regional Transit (RT) Rail Trains.
Lastly, the mayor and city manager must look to improve the current public transit system in
Sacramento. It continually ranks close to last in almost all measures when compared to other
cities’ systems; as such, I recommend the following:
- Reintroduce Measure B
o While the transportation system needs to be upgraded, there is no money in the
current budget for it. Because of this, I recommend reintroducing Measure B,
which is a transportation sales tax. Although sales taxes are seen to be regressive
in a sense, the tax should be promoted as helping those with lower income as fares
would be reduced. Alongside this, Sacramento should look to Denver’s FasTracks
Initiative and apply for a federal transportation innovation grant9
.
- Increase security, fare checks, and cleaning crews
o Of those riding on Sacramento RT, it was found that 30% did not pay their fare10
.
To compound on this issue, over 50% of those surveyed said that they would take
RT but did not due to the uncleanliness and perceived danger of the system. Using
funding from Measure B, the city must increase security at stations and on the rail
to reduce freeloading. Cleaning must be increased as well to attract more riders in
suburban areas.
- Expand to high population suburbs and extend hours
o Although Elk Grove is the highest suburban population Sacramento County town
that commutes to the city for work, it has no rail station. To better suit the needs
8
http://www.per.saccounty.net/PlansandProjectsIn-
Progress/Documents/Affordable%20Housing%20Ordinance/Affordable%20Housing%20Ord%20FINAL%20SIGNED
%202-25-14.pdf
9
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/05/what-works-denver-rail-system-growth-213905
10
http://www.sacbee.com/news/local/transportation/article61415112.html

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of commuters, SacRT should expand hours and to the population dense areas like
Elk Grove and Roseville. Although this will require upfront cost, demand from
these areas should increase revenues significantly in the long term.
- Change cost structure
o In Portland, their MAX transit system costs $5 for an all day pass. Sacramento’s
RT costs $3 for a single pass. While costs help upkeep in the system, Measure B
should more than make up for lost revenue if passes are made cheaper.
- Delay trolley development
o While trolleys can be exciting placemaking tools, studies have shown that they
provide little in terms of economic development if there is not a stable, broader
transit system in place11
. All trolley proposals in the Sacramento downtown and
midtown area should be postponed until the RT light rail system has improved.
11
https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/03/5-things-every-trolley-craving-mayor-
should-know-214915