You’ve likely been seeing our alerts about the budget discussions at the City of Sacramento. This Tuesday’s budget committee meeting is the last opportunity for new items to be added to the 2022-2023 budget. Our ask of the city? The city needs to fund more staff positions that specifically support the acceleration of climate action.
The City’s climate action plan (CAP), the roadmap for the city’s efforts to be carbon neutral by 2045, is over 18 months late and is slated for release this summer. We want to make sure that the city has enough capacity to begin implementing the CAP measures once the plan is finalized. We don’t want the city to miss future federal, state and city funding opportunities because of a lack of staff capacity; nor do we want to wait any longer to kick off important projects like tree planting and building community resilience.
Can you help us? We need the Budget Committee to request additional climate staff positions be added to the budget. Your comments, calls, and tweets are vital to this happening on Tuesday.
Power Hour: Sac City Budget Edition – Friday May 27, 6-7pm (TONIGHT!)
Get a quick tutorial on what makes an effective public comment, leave a voicemail for a city councilmember, and plan/submit your written or verbal comment for Tuesday’s budget committee meeting. Easy way to make an impact, and a great event for new/interested volunteers! Use this link to join the hour.
Weekend Tweetstorm! – Saturday & Sunday, May 28-29
Love Twitter? Spend 2 minutes of your weekend doom scrolling time for good! We want to let the Budget Committee members know that we want more staff to work on climate action. Make sure to tag Councilmembers Guerra, Vang, Jennings and Mayor Steinberg.
Here’s a few example tweets, feel free to copy and paste or craft your own!
Retweet Sactown Magazine’s interview with Alberto Ayala and say:
- .@AQMD’s Alberto Ayala on climate and air pollution: “There’s a whole host of solutions that are known today that we should already be implementing” Let’s make sure the city is ready to do just this @CMMaiVang @EricZGuerra @RickJenningsD7!
- .@AQMD’s Ayala says climate action & adaptation is “going to require economic support funding, but also the political will to start to do some of these things.” @RickJenningsD7, @EricZGuerra & @CMMaiVang – will you support climate action at Tue’s budget meeting?
Other example tweets:
- Sac City proposed no new funding for climate staff in this year’s budget. The city must invest in more staff to work on active transportation, building electrification and community health & resilience! Will you ask for this @EricZGuerra @CMMaiVang @RickJenningsD7?
- .@TheCityofSac invests in youth development but isn’t prioritizing investing in the biggest threat to youth – climate change. Will you ask for more staff to get to work on the city’s planned climate projects @CMMaiVang @EricZGuerra @RickJenningsD7?
- Let’s get serious on climate action. @RickJenningsD7 @CMMaiVang @EricZGuerra, time to invest in some more climate staff to jumpstart action when the city CAP is released this summer.
Also, please retweet other tweets you see about this issue! Don’t just click like, it’s important to retweet and tag councilmembers. Also tag any local journalists or publications you think should amplify our ask!
The Final Showdown – Budget Committee Meeting – Tuesday, May 31, begins at 3pm
The committee will be voting to finalize the budget before sending it to the full Council on Tue, June 14. This is our last opportunity to get more funding for climate staff in the budget. We need a majority of the budget committee members (Vang, Jennings, Guerra and Steinberg) to vote to add more funding for climate-specific staff positions.
- Call into the meeting and make a verbal comment – this is fun! Use this link to enter the Zoom meeting. Click the raise your hand button… The clerk will unmute you so you can make your comment (don’t worry, no one will see you, cameras aren’t shared!) Need some help figuring out what to say? Use this handy comment making guide, and remember to ask for funding for more staff.
- Email or call one of the council members – (extra special for people who are in Guerra, Vang, and Jennings’s districts!) Send them an email comment or call their office number and leave a voicemail – your name, neighborhood, that you want more staff to work on climate action. Phone numbers and email addresses are below.
- Leave a written comment for the meeting – leave a written comment in the meeting portal. Say you “oppose” the proposed budget and reiterate the ask for staff funding.
Contact info for committee members
- Eric Guerra – eguerra@cityofsacramento.org, (916) 808-7006
- Mai Vang – mai@maivang.org, (916) 808-7008
- Rick Jennings II- rjennings@cityofsacramento.org, (916) 808-7007
- Mayor, Darrell Steinberg – DSteinberg@cityofsacramento.org, Phone: (916) 808-5300
Written by Kate Wilkins
Image by NiklasPntk from Pixabay
