Sacramento City Council Rejects Community Benefits Agreement Proposal

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By Robert J. Hansen | OBSERVER Staff WriterThe Sacramento City Council rejected a proposed ordinance at its Dec. 3 meeting that would have required any major development that receives $10 million or more in city funding to enter a community benefits agreement.Neither businesses nor residents had been happy with the proposal.“Sometimes when nobody agrees that means we’ve reached a good compromise and sometimes it means we just missed the mark, and I think that the latter is the case today,” outgoing Councilmember Katie Valenzuela said.A community benefits agreement is a contract between developers and the city, designed to ensure specific community benefits in exchange for support for the project. These benefits often include hiring local residents, providing workforce training, creating affordable housing, and preventing displacement of nearby residents.Kim Williams, director of Sacramento Investment Without Displacement, explained that the goal of the agreement was to protect long-standing residents – often in economically disadvantaged and minority communities – from gentrification and displacement caused by major developments.“We want our city to prosper … but not at the expense of people who have poured their blood, sweat, and tears into this city for generations only to be pushed out,” Williams said.Ultimately, neither Sacramento Investment...

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