The recommendations \u2014 including funding for safer street design, school travel programs and stricter traffic controls \u2014 arrived ahead of development of the city\u2019s next fiscal year budget. This year, there\u2019s an estimated $66 million budget gap<\/a> following two years<\/a> in which expenses outpaced revenues.<\/p>\n The commission\u2019s report was one of three items on the council\u2019s consent calendar labeled \u201creceive and file,\u201d meaning the recommendations were not read aloud or individually listed. It is standard city policy for commission reports to receive that designation, city spokesperson Gabby Miller said.<\/p>\n There were about 30 items total on the consent calendar, which the council approved in a single vote.<\/p>\n At the Tuesday meeting, Councilmember Caity Maple pulled the Active Transportation Commission report for public comment.<\/p>\n In advance of the meeting, 26 comments were submitted online<\/a> in support of funding the report\u2019s proposals. Three people, including commission chair Isaac Gonzalez, spoke at the meeting.<\/p>\n Gonzalez read the names of 32 people who died in 2025<\/a> in crashes on Sacramento city streets.<\/p>\n At least 18 people have been killed so far in 2026, including a motorcyclist who died Friday night after a solo collision<\/a> near 65th Street Expressway and 21st Avenue. Their names are Reema Ram, 37; Christian David Garcia Flores, 31; Eunice La Vonne Queener, 67; Maria Aurora Victoria Titman, 29; Paris Lamar Johnson, 34; Ronald Howard, 68; Kalia Giselle Cabello Fernandez, 22; Dwayne Andrew Henderson, 44; Domonik Frederick Gross, 33; Habiba Safi, 33; Miguel Ramirez Padilla, 23; William Douglas Wradge, 27; Rule Allah Yahya Smith, 32; David Mordecai Meyer, 38; Forrest Murray Coss, 70; Lue Lawrence Powell, 53; and one man whose name has not yet been released by the Sacramento County Coroner\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n Gonzalez said in an interview that he believes the council should still discuss transportation improvements in relation to the budget, even if it ultimately chooses not to prioritize them. If the city cannot fund the projects, he said, advocates could turn to other options, including a ballot measure.<\/p>\n One measure that could appear on the November ballot would impose a half-cent sales tax to fund road maintenance, pedestrian and bicycle safety projects, and transit operations. The measure, if approved by voters, would increase the city\u2019s sales tax to 9.25% and could raise as much as $70 million a year<\/a>, according to organizers.<\/p>\n During the Tuesday meeting, Maple, who represents Oak Park and the Parkway, called the recommendations \u201cactionable\u201d and said she had talked with other council members about bringing \u201ca discussion of what it would take to fund those recommendations\u201d back to council.<\/p>\n One recommendation calls for setting aside about $3 million for infrastructure projects. The city faces a 20-year backlog estimated to cost at least $5 billion<\/a>. The proposal would increase funding by about $1.1 million over last year.<\/p>\n Although the city made a Vision Zero pledge in 2017 to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2027, it has not made significant changes to its funding structure, leaving the Department of Public Works reliant on federal and state grants. Many grants require local matching funds, and higher matches can improve the chances of securing larger awards.<\/p>\n The $3 million proposal is double the average match amount for active transportation grants, according to the report, and matches the commission\u2019s recommendation from last year. The commission proposed increasing that amount by 10% annually.<\/p>\n Other recommendations from the report include allocating more funds for speed lumps and the quick-build program<\/a>, as well as hiring staff to coordinate a citywide Safe Routes to School program, and exploring a citywide ban on right turns on red lights. The report also calls for a study of transit access from transitional housing and expanding policies allowing brighter colors for crosswalks to include nearby curbs.<\/p>\n Gonzalez said the commission has turned in its report on time for the budget cycle for at least the last two years. Yet, none of the recommendations have been funded in-full<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cWe really have an intentional and realistic discussions about what are the minimum investments that we should be making in active transportation to make our city safer for all road users,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cWe\u2019re not being wildly aspirational or delusional with these recommendations. These are simple.\u201d<\/p>\n Sherry Martinez, a member of multiple cycling and advocacy groups, spoke in support of the report. She said that Maple\u2019s comment about bringing the report back to council gives her a little bit of hope, but added that she felt similarly after Maple in fall 2024 started the process for the council to consider declaring a state of emergency over cyclist and pedestrian deaths<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s hopeful,\u201d Martinez said, \u201cbut we needed change when she called (for) the state of emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n On Tuesday, the council also accepted about $1 million in grant funding from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments and about $138,000 from Measure A, a countywide half-cent sales tax for transportation improvements, for a Vision Zero project on El Camino Avenue. The corridor, from Del Paso Boulevard to the Steelhead Creek trail crossing, is among the five in Sacramento with the highest numbers of fatal and serious crashes.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a budgetary adjustment,\u201d Councilmember Roger Dickinson, who represents North Sacramento, said, \u201cbut … whatever we can do here to slow traffic down and make it safer is going to be a significant benefit.\u201d<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
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