‘Businesses are frustrated.’ Are changes coming to Old Sacramento after deadly shooting?

Old Sacramento has once again become an escape for residents and tourists looking for relief from the heat and a year of pandemic restrictions.

But the safety of the historic district, especially at night, is under scrutiny following a nighttime shooting two weeks ago where two people – a 21-year-old father and a 16-year-old, were killed and four others were injured. A video that was later posted to YouTube showed two people wearing red clothing firing guns along the waterfront near Joe’s Crab Shack.

The July 16 waterfront incident involved so many victims that it qualifies as a mass shooting, the second in the Sacramento area this year after a May 8 nightclub shooting in Citrus Heights that left four injured, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

The Old Sacramento shooting has prompted conversations among city leaders about whether more law enforcement is needed in the area and whether the city is doing enough to provide services for young people. Questions have also been raised about whether the design of the district, including the lighting, creates a friendly nighttime environment.

“Honestly, the businesses are frustrated because they feel like they’ve been saying that there’s a problem for months, and they’re right,” said Councilmember Katie Valenzuela, whose district includes Old Sacramento.

City officials held a community meeting on July 21 to hear from locals to try to address some of those problems. Valenzuela, Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn and Mayor Darrell Steinberg were among some of the officials in attendance.

Steinberg said businesses in the area want relief.

“They’ve suffered a lot through the pandemic,” he said. “Obviously, it’s been so hard, and they’re trying to get back on their feet. And they want to make sure that their customers can come to Old Sacramento and have a great time, and patronize their businesses and know that they’re going to be safe.”

Danny Johnson, the owner of Danny’s Mini Donuts, has lived in Old Sacramento for 15 years. He said it’s up to people to be more conscientious and look after others, but he added that police patrols have been less prevalent than in the past. Johnson said he would like officials to increase police patrols in the district.

Following the community meeting, Downtown Sacramento Partnership staff sent a follow-up survey to residents, business owners and property owners that received over 106 responses. Scott Ford, the district operations manager for the Old Sacramento Waterfront, said survey respondents wanted more done to curb street partying, intoxication, erratic driving and activities like cruising, which can add to congestion.

Scooters, which have proliferated in the area, have also emerged as another big concern in Old Sacramento.

“A majority of stakeholders were absolutely in favor of additional restrictions, I would say, on the shared rideable devices, you know, everything from limitations on the devices from a speed perspective to the sheer number of devices that are deployed in old Sacramento,” Ford said.

Ford said a curfew for scooters or new boundary restrictions is a possibility, allowing riding only in the daytime or asking people to leave them outside the perimeter of Old Sacramento.

Many who work in and frequent the district have also had issues with the lighting. Valenzuela said it does look appealing, but it isn’t energy efficient.

The Downtown Sacramento Partnership has made some strides in improving the lighting, Ford said, with the addition of string lighting to the riverfront walkway, known as the embarcadero, and in some of the alleyways as part of a pilot project. But respondents said additional investments are needed for more efficient lighting that prioritizes public safety.

“By and large, the priority (from locals) was to make sure that the district is well lit to create a safe and welcoming environment for guests during the evening hours,” he said.

Ford said the city is working on implementing additional sections of lighting for some of the district’s unique alleyways to make them safer for pedestrians and also employees working later in the night. Further investment and enhancements, he said, to existing lighting and “opportunity areas,” which include the riverfront walkway and several alleyways in the district, are still needed.

Mohamed Saadat, the owner of Capital General Store, said he hasn’t faced many problems in the area. His store is open past midnight on weekends, and he sees police stop by on patrol. However, Saadat said, sometimes people steal the T-shirts that hang right outside his store. He’s also been repeatedly asking for repairs on the boardwalk right next to his store as people continually trip on it.

Youth violence and intervention programs

Youth homicides haven’t just occurred in Old Sacramento. They’re prevalent throughout the city.

A past Sacramento Bee analysis found that Sacramento’s teens were twice as likely to be killed by homicide than the general population in 2017. For the next two years in 2018 and 2019, that changed when the city had no youth homicides, according to crime data from the Sacramento Police Department. Total homicides trended down too by about 21% from 43 in 2015 to 34 in 2019.

But despite the widespread restrictions from the COVID-19 pandemic, youth and total homicides increased. There were 43 total homicides and four youth homicides in 2020, and as of May 2021, the Sacramento Police Department said in a news release that there were 24 homicides this year, eight more than the previous by this time.

Police chief Hahn said to The Bee in December that several factors led to the homicide increase in 2020 that included people resorting to violence, gang violence, domestic violence and the pandemic.

Prior to the pandemic, there were several opportunities for young people with the city’s network of popup events, counseling and employment opportunities. But during the pandemic, community activist Berry Accius, the founder of Voice of the Youth, said any sense of structure was gone, and things went awry.

Old Sacramento is one of the few places in the city where large numbers of people can gather with a variety of restaurants, entertainment venues and strolling opportunities.

The problem, Accius said, isn’t that young people are gathering there. It’s the fact that there isn’t a sustained presence of advocates looking out for young people and keeping them from activities that might put them in danger. So the teens who are looking to cause havoc have more freedom and a greater influence over other young people around them, he said.

Accius said Voice of the Youth has been doing free volunteer work for years while the city has continually put money into police and law enforcement. On top of that, he said, more young people are showing up and acting aggressively from what they’ve seen before.

“We’re known in the community,” Accius said. “These kids will less likely push in. The kids that are running around with pistols, the kids that are the shooters that may come into this area, the kids that might be in other activities outside of just wanting to hang out, they’re going to look at that (presence) as like ‘that’s a hot spot. I don’t want to be here.’ “

Valenzuela said that Accius had been telling city officials for months that there were problems with these large gatherings of young people in Old Sacramento.

The police presence hasn’t made a difference, Accius added, as many young people have a lack of trust in law enforcement. However, he said advocates and mentors who are looking out for them and not trying to arrest them are able to foster better relationships with the young people.

It’s also about giving them opportunities, Accius said, and getting them out of situations they don’t want to be in.

Tyler McClure, a community activist with Voice of the Youth, said additional funding will allow Voice of the Youth to provide gift cards and T-shirts or hand out tickets to Sacramento River Cats or the Sacramento Kings games. This way, McClure said, the youth can get out of Old Sacramento and be in an environment where there’s more structure.

Voice of the Youth already uses its current funding to give young people jobs and take them out for several different activities like bowling, McClure said. On Fridays and Saturdays, they host a community pop-up for young people to engage in a safe environment with game trucks, food trucks and live music.

“That takes them off the streets, right, out the way, out of trouble, out of gang violence, out of causing havoc because they have nothing else to do,” McClure said.

Valenzuela wants to add more advocates and mentors in Old Sacramento from community-based organizations. She’s calling for city officials to give $500,000 from the American Rescue Plan funds to organizations like Brother 2 Brother and Voice of the Youth. The city expects to receive $112 million from the federal legislation over the next two years, according to Steinberg.

“Why are we hesitant to put funding in the pockets to protect our communities? Because then when businesses shut down, then there’s chaos when it touches the money,” said McClure. “But then we can’t be so caught up in the green that we miss out on touching our Black and browns, and that’s what happening.”

Mayor Steinberg looks for multiple options

Steinberg said the best approach to combat the rise of youth violence is a combination of approaches. This includes providing as many alternatives for young people, including popups and programs to deal with gun violence, he said. But he doesn’t believe it’s about investing solely in youth programs or law enforcement.

“I don’t believe it’s either-or,” Steinberg said in an interview with The Bee. “I believe that it is about providing more constructive and healthy activities for young men and women, for kids. And at the same time, we have to take other steps that assure people that our destinations like Old Sacramento are going to be safe.”

The city had started a network of pop-up events back in 2019, which was sponsored by the Sierra Health Foundation, after two incidents involving minors fighting at Arden Fair mall. Activities in the past included video games, a silent disco and basketball. Officials said the creation of these events was made possible with the passage of Measure U, a half-cent tax.

Steinberg said there’s been a lot of pent-up energy among young people who have been virtually shut in. Most of the youth pop-ups have been virtual, he said, as officials try to consider a variety of healthy and constructive options.

He said the city has invested more than a million dollars into community pop-ups and interventions to deal with gun violence. At the same time, Steinberg said it’s appropriate to also look at having more police officers in the area and more code and parking enforcement on the weekends. And the city has funding from the federal relief funds to deploy resources in several areas.

The violence in Old Sacramento, along with the spread of the delta variant, comes at a difficult time for city officials who are trying to reassure locals and residents to come to Sacramento and invest their money in businesses, restaurants and bars in order to recover from a devastating pandemic.

“The catch-22 is that we want more people coming to Old Sacramento, coming into our commercial corridors in our downtown and our midtown,” Steinberg said. “That’s what we want is that vitality.”

When asked whether he would consider a youth curfew, Steinberg said it’s the last resort. Most of the young people who stop by Old Sacramento come to have a good time, he said, but it’s always a few people that cause the problems.

Steinberg said the investments in Old Sacramento laid out at the community meeting included better lighting and security cameras, more code and parking enforcement and a reasonable but clear police presence during busy weekends, along with youth intervention and investment.

“I just want people to come into Old Sacramento and have a good time,” he said.

This story was originally published August 3, 2021 at 5:00 AM.