Sacramento Councilmember Steve Hansen actually gets things done. He should be re-elected

Few Sacramento city officials are as active or visible as Councilmember Steve Hansen. District 4, which he has represented on the City Council since 2012, includes Midtown, Land Park, River Oaks and South Land Park. These areas have experienced some of the biggest growth and opportunity over the past eight years, as a new spirit of development and growth has come to Sacramento.

They have also felt the brunt of our city’s rising crisis of housing affordability and homelessness. Balancing District 4’s crises with its opportunities is a massive challenge, and Hansen has proven himself up to the task. If you want an effective leader who gets things done, re-electing Hansen is the clear choice.

It’s hard to think of a major issue in Sacramento in which Hansen hasn’t played a role. He helped Mayor Darrell Steinberg campaign successfully to pass Measure U and contributed to the mayor’s plan for a $100 million affordable housing trust fund. As the council’s first openly gay member, he led plans for Lavender Courtyard, an affordable housing community for LGBT seniors.

When it became clear that Sacramento’s schoolchildren were being swept up in an epidemic of nicotine vaping, Hansen spearheaded Sacramento’s ban on flavored tobacco products. And when tenant activists threatened to put a politically divisive rent control measure on the ballot in 2020, Hansen brokered a compromise called the Tenant Relief and Protection Act.

Hansen’s engagement and effectiveness have earned him endorsements from Mayor Steinberg and a majority of the Sacramento City Council. Hansen is quick to admit he’s not perfect and that his job is challenging. On big issues that matter most, however, you will always find Hansen working to make progress.

His opponent, environmental policy advisor Katie Valenzuela, says she can do better, but it’s not clear how. She offers up big ideas but has no clear plan to implement them in a legislative body that requires consensus.

For example, Valenzuela suggests converting the former Sleep Train Arena into a homeless shelter. But the arena is privately-owned and far from city services. In addition, concentrating the homeless in one neighborhood would require the City Council to reject Mayor Steinberg’s plan to place temporary shelter sites in each of the city’s eight council districts. It’s not clear why Valenzuela thinks she can wrangle more votes than Steinberg, a veteran legislator and former leader of the California State Senate.

Valenzuela says she would do more to solve homelessness, but she opposed Measure U, which Sacramento voters passed with 56 percent support and which is providing $100 million to tackle the problem. Valenzuela says she opposes gentrification, but she bought her first home in Oak Park, a decision she attributed to “market forces” (an explanation that likely resonates with others who buy cheap homes in economically disadvantaged neighborhoods). Valenzuela says she’ll build restrooms and lockers for the homeless throughout Sacramento, but it’s not clear where she’ll get the money (see: Measure U) or how she’ll get the votes.

Valenzuela is neither consistent nor realistic. Unfortunately, some of her supporters have resorted to negative tactics against Hansen, filing a frivolous ethics complaint with the state’s Fair Political Practices Commission and sending out a campaign mailer that made it appear he had done something wrong. In reality, the FPPC quickly rejected the complaint, likely recognizing it for what it is: a cynical campaign tactic designed to confuse voters. Valenzuela says she has nothing to do with the complaint, which was filed by an independent expenditure committee.

Here’s the truth: Hansen gets things done for District 4, and for the city as a whole. He has a tough job ahead and must do even more to reduce the suffering and poverty that have turned parts of his district into skid rows. But progressivism requires leaders who know how to make progress, and Hansen has a proven track record. His dedicated and experienced leadership will be more necessary than ever as the city begins to implement the solutions that he, along with Mayor Steinberg and his colleagues on the City Council, made possible.

The Sacramento Bee Editorial Board endorses Steve Hansen for a third term in District 4.

Editor’s note: This editorial has been updated to reflect the fact that the frivolous FPPC complaint against Steve Hansen was filed by an independent expenditure committee, not Valenzuela’s campaign.

This story was originally published February 13, 2020 at 5:00 AM.