It’s shameful how Sacramento leaders treat citizens who care about their city | Opinion
There is no shortage of citizens wanting to participate in government in Sacramento, which reflects well on our community. These citizens are often blown off, ignored, and disregarded by the Sacramento City Council, which reflects terribly on our community.
The city of Sacramento has no fewer than 31 commissions where citizens provide input and recommendations on a wide range of issues, from law enforcement to transportation to mosquito and vector control. The mayor nominates people for the commission and the council votes to approve the appointment. Ideally, this citizen participation leads to good decisions made by Sacramento councilmembers.
But in Sacramento, the effectiveness and importance of these commissions are minimal to nonexistent.
Keyan Bliss served on the Community Police Review Commission from January 2021 to December 2024.
Bliss felt he contributed valuable work, but believed the council did not take their recommendations seriously.
According to Bliss, of the 186 recommendations made by the commission since 2018, the council voted on only one: the use of force policy change.”
“The council has been adamant in pointing out that we are advisory bodies,” Bliss said. “We have no authority to make city department or city staffers to do anything that we recommend or advise them to do. It’s incredibly frustrating and outright infuriating. It’s a waste of our time. If all we’re there to do is to make the city look good and pretend like it actually cares about community voices and expertise and discussing and formulating public policy, it shows not only a lack of credibility but a lack of integrity.”
An underappreciated entity
An example supporting Bliss’s statement comes from the Active Transportation Commission, tasked with advising on walking and bicycling strategies in the city.
Earlier this year, when a proposed design for a new Truxel Bridge across the American River was up for vote in the city council, this commission had recommended a bridge without cars that focused on transit, bicycles and pedestrians. The council ignored their request and later voted for a bridge option that included cars.
Then, last week, the council was set to vote on how to disburse $17.9 million over three years to the Sacramento Children’s Fund for programs that focus on youth homelessness, mental health and youth violence.
There were two scenarios publicly shown in the proposed budget plan. The Sacramento Children’s Fund Planning and Oversight Commission had discussed two ways this money would be spent and had time to speak to their respective councilmembers about which one was the best.
But then at the council meeting, Councilmember Karina Talamentes brought up a third option that she worked on with Councilmember Roger Dickinson. Commission members in attendance had never seen before, much less deliberated. The commission did not see it until after the meeting had started.
Mayor Pro Tem Eric Guerra said he could not support the Talamantes and Dickinson’s scenario because it did not have any “emerging grassroots organizations.” Councilwoman Lisa Kaplan noted that, without the grassroots organizations, fewer total organizations would be funded under Talamantes’ proposal.
The council ended up voting to approve the option recommended by the commission. It included grassroots organizations. You know who could’ve helped Talamantes see the issues with her plan? The Sacramento Children’s Fund Planning and Oversight Commission. But alas, it doesn’t seem to matter to the council what these commissioners have to say.
Commissioners matter to Sacramento city government
In the past few months, we’ve seen the council ignore and undermine the commission’s role in getting the best policy implemented for Sacramento. The council cannot get anywhere with its policies without commissions. These are citizens who are using their time to see that an issue they care about has a champion.
However, if the elected politicians continue to see the hard work of commissions as meaningless recommendations that don’t deserve a response or consideration, then the value of these groups will decrease every year.
