Statement speech

Mayor Darrell Steinberg has now put a dollar figure behind his call for inclusive economic development in Sacramento’s neighborhoods—$200 million over five years.

In his annual State of the City address on Tuesday, Steinberg proposed that an economic equity fund receive $40 million of the $50 million a year in projected additional revenue from the Measure U sales tax increase approved by voters in November.

“Building up all our neighborhoods is good for all of Sacramento,” he said.

Steinberg’s plan must be approved by the City Council, which will also be getting advice from investment experts and a citizens committee.

The mayor moved his speech from the usual downtown site to the Sam and Bonnie Pannell Community Center in Meadowview, less than a mile from where Stephon Clark was killed by police officers in March 2018. The protests that followed spotlighted longstanding concerns about lack of jobs and investments in predominantly African-American neighborhoods.

The mayor said that Clark “should not have died” and that he knows there will be “real anger” if the Sacramento County district attorney decides the officers will not face criminal charges. But, he said, there are reforms underway in the Police Department to learn the right lessons from Clark’s death.