GOOD AFTERNOON. I’M MIKE CHERRY IN FOR LISA GONZALES. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR JOINING US. TODAY MARKS DAY ONE OF THE GOVERNOR’S FOUR DAY A WEEK MANDATE. LET’S GET A KCRA 3’S MIKE TESELLE IN DOWNTOWN WITH POTENTIAL IMPACTS THAT YOU COULD FACE IN THE CAPITAL CITY. OKAY, SO OUR ROLE THIS MORNING WAS TO COME GET A LOOK. ARE THERE MORE STATE WORKERS ARRIVING IN DOWNTOWN THIS MORNING? AND SO I WANT TO GIVE YOU A LOOK AT WHAT WE SAW HERE AT EIGHTH AND P STREET, BECAUSE THERE ARE MULTIPLE STATE BUILDINGS AROUND TALKING TO DIFFERENT WORKERS, BOTH THOSE WHO WORK FOR THE STATE AND THOSE WHO WORK PRIVATELY. THEY SAY, YEAH, PERHAPS THERE WERE A FEW MORE PEOPLE. AND YEAH, PERHAPS FINDING STREET PARKING PROVED A LITTLE MORE CHALLENGING. LISTEN, THERE. DEFINITELY. YEAH, THE STREETS DO SEEM A LITTLE MORE CROWDED FOR SURE. NOW, I HAVEN’T SEEN ANY TOUGHER PARKING YET, BUT I WILL BE PROBABLY SEEING NEXT WEEK WHERE THERE’S GOING TO BE MORE TRAFFIC. I WOULD DEFINITELY SAY THAT I HAVE NOTICED LESS PARKING DOWN THERE. I ALWAYS PARK DOWN SOUTH SIDE, SOUTH SIDE, PARK AROUND THERE, AND YEAH, THERE’S MORE PEOPLE PARKING THAN NORMAL THAN THERE WAS LIKE LAST WEEK OR LAST MONTH. SO YOU HAVE NOTICED A DIFFERENCE TODAY. YES, I HAVE NOTICED A DIFFERENCE. NOW AGAIN, A KEY POINT HERE THIS MORNING IN TALKING TO STATE WORKERS IS THAT THIS IS STILL A HOLIDAY WEEK LEADING UP TO JULY 4TH. IT IS SUMMER VACATION TIME AND IT IS JUST DAY ONE OF THIS RETURN TO OFFICE, FOUR DAY A WEEK MANDATE FROM THE GOVERNOR. SO WHILE WE’VE SEEN A LITTLE BIT OF A DIFFERENCE HERE IN DOWNTOWN WITH PEOPLE WALKING TO WORK AND TRYING TO FIND PARKING SPACES, THE BIG MESSAGE IS, THEY SAY, LIKELY AS WE MOVE FORWARD LATER INTO THE SUMMER, YOU’RE GOING TO START TO NOTICE MORE DRAMATIC IMPACTS THAN WHAT WE’RE SEEING RIGHT NOW IN DOWNTOWN SACRAMENTO MIKE TESELLE KCRA THREE NEWS. AND MIKE ALSO SAID THAT THIS MORNING T
What day 1 of governor’s return to office mandate looks like in downtown Sacramento
Updated: 2:27 PM PDT Jul 1, 2026
As Bruce Engel walked to this office along 8th Street in downtown Sacramento on Wednesday morning, he took notice of a change.”I park at Southside Park, and there were more people parking than there were last week or last month,” said Engel. “Yes, I have noticed a difference.”Amy Mey had a different take.”I haven’t seen any tougher parking yet, but I think we will next week (after the holiday), when there’s going to be more traffic, I will say that,” said Mey.Their differing perspectives offered a glimpse at what the first day of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate for state workers to begin returning to the office four days a week looked like in downtown Sacramento.On the freeways, there were no major issues or unusual congestion spots during the morning commute.However, Jackson Cooke, who is interning at a private business this summer, said today was a bit different than recent days.”There definitely, yeah, streets do seem more crowded for sure,” said Cooke.Others who preferred not to be identified, but confirmed that they were state workers, said they noticed more street parking spots taken earlier than normal.This return-to-office order comes days after Newsom said he was not backing down on his decision.Recently, the largest state workers union—SEIU Local 1000— warned that this order could cause a mass exodus of employees from California’s workforce.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
As Bruce Engel walked to this office along 8th Street in downtown Sacramento on Wednesday morning, he took notice of a change.
“I park at Southside Park, and there were more people parking than there were last week or last month,” said Engel. “Yes, I have noticed a difference.”
Amy Mey had a different take.
“I haven’t seen any tougher parking yet, but I think we will next week (after the holiday), when there’s going to be more traffic, I will say that,” said Mey.
Their differing perspectives offered a glimpse at what the first day of Gov. Gavin Newsom’s mandate for state workers to begin returning to the office four days a week looked like in downtown Sacramento.
On the freeways, there were no major issues or unusual congestion spots during the morning commute.
However, Jackson Cooke, who is interning at a private business this summer, said today was a bit different than recent days.
“There definitely, yeah, streets do seem more crowded for sure,” said Cooke.
Others who preferred not to be identified, but confirmed that they were state workers, said they noticed more street parking spots taken earlier than normal.
This return-to-office order comes days after Newsom said he was not backing down on his decision.
Recently, the largest state workers union—SEIU Local 1000— warned that this order could cause a mass exodus of employees from California’s workforce.
See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel