Guest Commentary – Your Voice is Needed: Vote to Kill Homelessness Measure is Tuesday
By Joshua Wood | Executive Director, Region Business |
If you want to save our City from skyrocketing homelessness, please read this message!
We are headed into some defining days for the City on Sacramento and, frankly the region. As you know, homelessness is skyrocketing in Sacramento and destroying our City and region. In response to your concerns, the business community, led by Region Business and Metro Chamber, organized a campaign together with labor unions, civic groups, and passionate citizens to bring a measure to the City this November called the Conway Plan.
The Conway plan was a comprehensive plan developed by the top legal minds in the State that would enable the City to enforce anti-campaign rules, site and build housing, and work towards reducing the total number of homeless by a drastic amount. It was such an effective, comprehensive solution that other City’s in California copied it and placed it on their ballots for November. With the Conway Plan polling at 71%, we began building a massive coalition and collecting thousands of signatures to get it on the November ballot.
When we were over half-way finished getting our signatures, the City leadership reach out. They asked for us to work with them to make some small amendments and in exchange they would place our measure on the ballot. This would mean saving the cost of paying to collect signatures and more importantly, gaining buy-in from the City leaders who we would need to implement the measure effectively. In good faith, we worked with the City…and the Council voted 7-2 to place our measure on the ballot. We won! There was great excitement about the City Approve Conway Plan finally fixing our homeless situation.
However, within 24 hours of us rescinding our official petition (which we had to do per the agreement), the City began saying they were going to pull the City Approved Conway Plan from the ballot. We were shocked and angered! Then they changed their minds. They decided to add provisions to make the measure contingent upon a list of actions by Sacramento County (which they’ve been asking about for years and KNOW will not likely happen).
We oppose this proposal that the Council will hear on Tuesday to essentially kill the City Approved Conway Plan The idea of presenting a ballot measure to the voters of Sacramento that would give a false sense of hope and have zero impact is reprehensible. Instead, the City should keep its word and let the voters vote on the City Approved Conway Plan.
The City is Meeting Tuesday at 6:00 pm to hear this horrible change. We ask that you would participate in the Tuesday meeting.
If there was ever a time to inform your employees or sign up your family and friends to save our City, it’s now. If you can get 10 people, get 10 people. If you can get 20 people, get 20. If it’s just you, that ok. But we need Sacramentans to stand up for saving Sacramento. We can provide you with talking points to help you make your voice heard.
