[CPEO-BIF] "Transforming Brownfields and Vacant Spaces in Sacramento, " California

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

FROM WASTED SPACES TO HEALTHY PLACES:
Transforming Brownfields and Vacant Spaces in Sacramento

Ubuntu Green/Sacramento Housing Alliance/Coalition on Regional Equity
November 2013


Executive Summary

Sacramento’s environmental justice communities have long been plagued  
with vacant lots that
are magnets for crime and illegal dumping. When coupled with the  
elimination of redevelopment
agencies and the foreclosure crisis that has hit Sacramento  
especially hard, already struggling
communities have become overwhelmed by abandoned buildings and  
uncared for vacant spaces.
Furthermore, communities of color and low-income communities have  
been historically
burdened with a disproportionate amount of unhealthy land uses, such  
as gas stations, chrome
plating facilities, waste storage plants and other heavy polluting  
industrial activities. These
problems have grown over time, as brownfields left behind by  
polluting land uses have created
vacant spaces with limited redevelopment and reuse options along with  
hazardous contamination
risks.

Community engagement on issues of land use has exposed extensive  
challenges with the
concentration of vacant spaces in some neighborhoods and the urgent  
need for action. Creating
change around this long-ignored aspect of community decay would have  
a significant impact on
families struggling to live healthy lives in this environment. The  
Environmental Justice Initiative
set out to develop a campaign that could create change around these  
issues.

The Brownfields and Vacant Spaces Campaign was initiated to address  
the prevalence of
unhealthy land uses in communities of color and low-income  
communities, with a particular
focus on Oak Park, South Sacramento, and Del Paso Heights. Through a  
robust and ongoing
community engagement process, community challenges have been  
identified and strategies have
been developed, with some already moving forward. This report lays  
out the recommendations
that will begin addressing brownfields and vacant spaces in the  
Sacramento region and create a
more equitable built environment in Sacramento.

...

To download the entire report, go to
http://www.ubuntugreen.org/pdf/FromWastedSpacesToHealthyPlaces.pdf


--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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