Focused on the future, Elk Grove mayor offers optimistic vision in state of the city
Elk Grove Mayor Bobbie Singh-Allen offered a bullish outlook of a city on the move in her second State of the City address on Friday.
“We are blessed to live in a city that has hands that build and serve; a heart for community; and an eye to the future,” Singh-Allen, now in her second year as mayor, told the Friday gathering at Elk Grove Community Center at the city’s District 56.
In her roughly half-hour address, Singh-Allen touted the city’s surge of new development; its efforts to help small businesses and address homelessness; and the compassion on display when it mourned the loss of Elk Grove police officer Tyler Lenehan in January; and in finding new homes for displaced Afghan refugees.
“For a city as big as we are, Elk Grove manages to maintain a lot of small town charm,” she said. “Our community has a big heart.”
Singh-Allen pledged the city’s support for Ukrainians fleeing their war-torn country under devastating Russian attack.
“I continue to watch in horror as hundreds of thousands of Ukraine people are forced out of their country by Russian attacks,” Singh-Allen said. “As a region, I believe we must do all that we can to assist these families to adjust and succeed in the United States.”
Singh-Allen has presided over a flurry of new development, civic, commercial and residential, since taking office in 2021.
“There is absolutely no slowdown in local development and our economy,” Singh-Allen said. “From Old Town to infill, development in our city is providing new places to dine, shop, work and play.”
Amid the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic, home construction has continued nearly unabated and the city opened a new 28-acre civic park, The Preserve at District 56. Elk Grove reopened the city’s Old Town Plaza, part of a multi-million dollar refresh of the city’s eastside historic district that will include new bungalows, a new city library at Elk Grove Boulevard and Waterman Road, and saw the opening of Turlock-based Dust Bowl Brewing Co’s new taproom.
International tractor manufacturer Kubota has begun construction of a new $60 million regional distribution center on the southern edge of the city, expected to provide more than 125 permanent jobs; while work continues on the Wilton Rancheria’s Sky River Casino near Highway 99 and Kammerer Road ahead of an anticipated late-2022 opening. Passenger rail service is also on the horizon and Singh-Allen said talks continue to try to bring Sacramento Regional Transit light rail to the city.
Construction of key Elk Grove stretches of the Folsom-to-Interstate 5 Capital Southeast Connector are now complete, widening Grant Line and Kammerer roads; and Elk Grove leaders are moving closer to bringing the Sacramento Zoo to the city, extending its exclusive talks with the Sacramento Zoological Society on Wednesday.
“A new zoo could be an important economic driver in our city,” Singh-Allen said. “But, perhaps, most importantly, a new zoo has the potential to generate a lasting impact for our children and regional wildlife conservation.”
Elk Grove’s response to homelessness, housing affordability and the plight of small businesses during the ongoing pandemic — all major priorities of Singh-Allen’s first year — also figured prominently in her remarks.
Elk Grove will provide $2 million toward funding what Singh-Allen called “flexible homeless solutions,” from federal COVID relief funds. The city will distribute $2 million to non-profit organizations and another $4 million in American Rescue Act funds to help Elk Grove small businesses.
“When I canvassed the city earlier this year, I heard from so many of our local business owners. They were down, but not out,” she said. “We are optimistic that these funds will help Elk Grove businesses come back even stronger.”
Singh-Allen said Elk Grove is gaining ground in efforts to boost and diversify its housing stock, adding more housing options for the city’s seniors and opening more affordable housing projects “so people of all ages, incomes, and stages in life have the chance to make, or keep, Elk Grove as their home,” she said.
Singh-Allen also noted the city’s Overnight Warming Location program. The OWL program launched in November with local faith-based and homeless outreach organizations and took in nearly 200 people, providing temporary shelter for the city’s unhoused. Elk Grove also opened Moon Creek, Elk Grove’s third transitional house for the homeless; and recently established a homelessness task force.
“Our city works best when its hands and its heart are guided with eyes that are focused on the future,” Singh-Allen said. “The state of our city is strong because we are committed to a better tomorrow for Elk Grove.”
This story was originally published March 25, 2022 at 2:57 PM.
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