This Sacramento suburb is lucky to have smart incumbents in the 2024 election | Opinion

Rancho Cordova is home to 81,000 people living along the Highway 50 corridor to the east of the City of Sacramento. Rancho Cordova encompasses more than six miles of the American River and 26 miles of bike and pedestrian trails. The city has maintained nine straight years of balanced budgets and claims to be one of the most diverse cities in the nation.

The City of Rancho Cordova incorporated in 2003, but this year marks the first time residents living there will elect city council members by district.

Mayor David Sander, councilmember Donald Terry and Vice Mayor Siri Pulipati are up for reelection in 2024, representing the city’s districts 1, 3 and 4, respectively. Of those three, only Sander and Pulipati have opted to vie for reelection.

In both of those races, The Bee has decided to endorse the incumbent. In District 3, we endorse a newcomer who will bring experience and a respect for collaboration to the council dais.

District 1

Mayor Sander has been an anchor of Rancho Cordova since the community became a city.

Sander has helped to set sound budgeting principles. He has led the revitalization of key corridors such as Folsom Boulevard, and he has more than earned his national reputation, now with a key leadership role in the National League of Cities.

Sander’s new District 1 is in the northwest corner of the city, bordered by the American River to the north and Folsom Boulevard and Coloma Road to the east and south. Although Sander is running unopposed, we believe he has been an effective community leader.

District 4

Incumbent Vice Mayor Siri Pulipati is The Bee’s choice for District 4, the southernmost district in the city. The new District 4 encompasses land with the most room for development, and therefore the most opportunity for heated debate among housing advocates.

Pulipati’s opponent, Leroy Tripette, currently serves as a planning commissioner for the city and works as a government affairs representative for the Sacramento Municipal Utility District.

Disappointingly, both Pulipati and Tripette expressed a desire to see further greenfield development next to Rancho Cordova in the unincorporated county along Grant Line Road.

Creating sprawl makes no sense and neither does projects like Braden/Cordova Hills, which broke ground last month. Given how far this housing is from job centers, it will create needless traffic within the city and undermine regional climate goals.

Otherwise, we found both candidates to be knowledgeable about their new district and the city, but it was Pulipati’s experience on city council and her passion for creating family-oriented events and activities in the city that won her The Bee’s endorsement.

Pulipati’s work in promoting educational opportunities, no doubt inspired by her career as an engineer at Intel, has launched programs like the “Ranchobot Challenge” for local school children.

She has served the city well for the past four years and we believe she would serve it well for an additional four.

District 3

In District 3, Councilmember Terry’s decision to step aside after this year has opened an opportunity for four candidates in the newly-formed district to the far west that covers one of the most densely-populated and lower-income areas of the city.

The candidates include Joe Little, a local lawyer with experience defending cities and who posits himself as an independent outsider; Chris Mann, a homeless workforce project manager with the endorsement of Mayor Sander; Sergiy Pronin, a father of seven and principal at Bryte Christian Academy in West Sacramento; and Amber Verdugo, a photographer who did not respond The Bee’s invitation to interview.

In the District 3 race for Rancho Cordova City Council, The Bee endorses Mann, who has the knowledge and maturity to give Lincoln Village its first representative on city council.

Mann has nearly three decades of experience working with the homeless and homeless veterans and will give the city much-needed guidance on one of the most important issues facing California cities right now. He has personally helped people get off the streets and into housing and job opportunities.

Mann’s knowledge on this critical subject will help guide Rancho Cordova toward compassionate but firm solutions to the homelessness crisis. This is especially important, as the city is home to many of the riverfront areas that have experienced an explosive number of encampments along the American River over the past decade or more.

The Rancho Cordova City Council is guided by the experience of its incumbents — some of whom have been there since the inception of the city — and the enthusiasm of its newcomers. It is a city that can be praised for its safe streets and business-friendly policies, something other cities in the region would very much like to lay claim to, but often cannot.

The issue of homelessness will continue to be a crisis for all California cities, but we look forward to seeing Rancho Cordova’s policy decisions and (hopefully) successes in this and many other issues over the next two years.