Railyards funding vote postponed, draws protests over affordable housing
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
The Sacramento Railyards financing agreement has been postponed until August following a paperwork mistake, according to the city.
The Sacramento Railyards Public Financing Authority withdrew the agenda item, titled the Railyards Enhanced Infrastructure Financing Districts, on Tuesday morning. The EIFD would use taxpayer money to subsidize private developments in the Railyards district.
“We know this is a controversial item, and people may take any opportunity to challenge it that they can, so we’re trying to make it very clean,” District 4 Councilmember Phil Pluckebaum said.
The developments subsidized by the EIFD include a soccer stadium, a music hall, and a Kaiser hospital. Protesters are upset that the proposed project only designates 6% of the 10,000 new units as affordable housing.
Unite Here Local 49 spokesperson Sonya Karabel said that the union’s involvement comes from firsthand experience of the “housing crisis” in Downtown Sacramento. She and other protesters are calling for 25% of the units to become affordable housing, an anti-eviction fund, and an accessible grocery store.
“You have this once in a generation opportunity with the railyards project,” Karabel said. “Are you going to solve the problems that Sacramento is facing, or are you going to make them worse?”
Pluckebaum said incorporating affordable housing into the EIFD would undermine the funds for these projects and their developers.
“These are the projects we have to support. These are catalytic — literally catalytic, giant projects — that will change those communities for the better. And while all of us want to build more affordable housing, that’s really not on the table,” Pluckebaum said.
The Public Financing Authority introduced a similar bill last year. Unite Here Local 49 was able to garner enough resident signatures to delay the bill’s vote until this year.
Now, protesters say city leaders have redrawn the Railyards district to exclude the apartment buildings where those residents lived. This means their signatures can no longer delay the project. John Starns, a resident of one of the excluded apartments, dubbed it a “micro-gerrymander.”
“Our concerns really are finding the right place and time to appeal to your decision about budgets and how they affect us,” said Starns, addressing the council members. “The last season of our life, we’re in a building without a voice. There’s not a lot we can do to get our opinions and concerns heard.”
Karabel said the postponement will not dissuade residents from speaking out.
“We’ll be back to continue bringing that message, but we’re hopeful that this is an opportunity for them to have a little more time, reevaluate, and hopefully put the residents back in the district because it’s really anti-democratic what they’ve done here,” Karabel said.
The future date of the vote and public hearing will be postponed for at least 10 days.
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.