SACRAMENTO – Nearly 24 hours after Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg had an outburst about the City’s inability to open warming centers for the unhoused, members of the Sacramento Council held an emergency meeting to discuss the issue.
The City Council voted unanimously to open the Southside Park pool house as necessary and two downtown parking garages with bathrooms as safe places for people with vehicles.
City Manager Howard Chan allocated $1 million to carry into next week for stand up warming centers in city-owned properties. The funds will assist community-based organizations and religious institutions to open winter shelters as well.
City officials were concerned and felt that they needed to address the situation of the unhoused community during the current storm that included gusting winds up to 60 miles per hour.
By Sasha Margulies, iHeart Media
Jan 27, 2021
Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg is urging the city council to reject the city manager s plan to add new police positions to the city budget.
City Manager Howard Chan s plan would add ten new sworn officer positions to the current city budget. Chan says it would improve the department s transparency, equity and accountability especially since the department is facing intense public scrutiny. It would also add a total of $3.6 million to the department s over $157 million budget. Steinberg explains he supports adding the positions to the next budget, which starts July 1st. He says the money available now should be used to construct affordable housing, youth programs and participatory budgeting.