Thoroughly support the parking resolution, thank you for considering it before other service cuts. I urge other innovative uses of the public right-of-way to be considered as well (e.g. reopening spaces like R Street and K & 21st to increase business tax receipts).
Please support the program to provide students with transportation to school. This proposed cut would discontinue an agreement with RT to fund free rides for students thereby saving $1 million. This is a very important benefit to students and families, especially those who are disadvantaged. And this amounts to 1.5% of the $66 million shortfall in the budget and 0.06% of the total budget. It seems to me that some other way could be found in a budget of $1.6 billion other than impacting students. Please support students and families in need of transportation to school.
I strongly oppose the city’s proposal to cut the free transit ridership program for students in our region. This is an essential service and cutting funding for this program is a great disservice to our community. Children deserve safe and accessible transportation and there is no safer mode of transportation than transit. Forcing families to consider other transportation options will result in economic hardships, increase congestion on our roads, and make our climate goals even more challenging. The city council should not approve the proposed budget changes with the funding cuts to this program.
Please do not cut funding to free RT passes for the youth. This would be detrimental to our youth getting to and from school as well getting to and from work.
Dear Mayor, Budget and Audit Committee, and Councilmembers:
I appreciate the City of Sacramento staff and elected leaders who are working to find budget deficit solutions to ensure that during this deficit period, our most at-risk residents like homeless children and seniors do not lose much-needed support and services. I think it makes a lot of fiscal sense to charge for things electric vehicle charging, additional metered parking, and community center party rentals. However, a proposal to discontinue a free regional bus service for students from kindergarten through high school is a more painful cut than you think. You are saving only $1 million in voter-approved Measure U funds for a $66 million deficit by cutting a program that gets more kids to school. For many of these kids, that bus ride ensures better attendance, after-school help with homework, and free meals when they otherwise might not have enough to eat at home. It helps parents who are on low or fixed incomes better plan their monthly budgets when they need to already cover the cost of rising rent, food, and gas. That $25-50 a month in transit fare per kid adds up quick when you are already struggling. Just ask the residents of the affordable housing I work in, where we proactively work to secure free transit passes because we KNOW the difference it has made in the lives of thousands of working families.
I have seen children get ticketed – punished – for not having a bus ticket. Those families not only now have to pay for bus tickets but the fines and potentially taking off time to go to court with a child should the punishment escalate. And let’s not forget the impact on the child. The cost of putting more kids through the penal system will be far greater in the long run than a $1 million savings in your coming fiscal year.
Thank you,
Nur Kausar
Business Development Manager, EAH Housing
Sacramento Housing Alliance Board Member
Sacramento District 4 Parent
Thoroughly support the parking resolution, thank you for considering it before other service cuts. I urge other innovative uses of the public right-of-way to be considered as well (e.g. reopening spaces like R Street and K & 21st to increase business tax receipts).
Sincerely,
Matt Anderson, D4
Please support the program to provide students with transportation to school. This proposed cut would discontinue an agreement with RT to fund free rides for students thereby saving $1 million. This is a very important benefit to students and families, especially those who are disadvantaged. And this amounts to 1.5% of the $66 million shortfall in the budget and 0.06% of the total budget. It seems to me that some other way could be found in a budget of $1.6 billion other than impacting students. Please support students and families in need of transportation to school.
I strongly oppose the city’s proposal to cut the free transit ridership program for students in our region. This is an essential service and cutting funding for this program is a great disservice to our community. Children deserve safe and accessible transportation and there is no safer mode of transportation than transit. Forcing families to consider other transportation options will result in economic hardships, increase congestion on our roads, and make our climate goals even more challenging. The city council should not approve the proposed budget changes with the funding cuts to this program.
Please do not cut funding to free RT passes for the youth. This would be detrimental to our youth getting to and from school as well getting to and from work.
Nicole Gustafson
Dear Mayor, Budget and Audit Committee, and Councilmembers:
I appreciate the City of Sacramento staff and elected leaders who are working to find budget deficit solutions to ensure that during this deficit period, our most at-risk residents like homeless children and seniors do not lose much-needed support and services. I think it makes a lot of fiscal sense to charge for things electric vehicle charging, additional metered parking, and community center party rentals. However, a proposal to discontinue a free regional bus service for students from kindergarten through high school is a more painful cut than you think. You are saving only $1 million in voter-approved Measure U funds for a $66 million deficit by cutting a program that gets more kids to school. For many of these kids, that bus ride ensures better attendance, after-school help with homework, and free meals when they otherwise might not have enough to eat at home. It helps parents who are on low or fixed incomes better plan their monthly budgets when they need to already cover the cost of rising rent, food, and gas. That $25-50 a month in transit fare per kid adds up quick when you are already struggling. Just ask the residents of the affordable housing I work in, where we proactively work to secure free transit passes because we KNOW the difference it has made in the lives of thousands of working families.
I have seen children get ticketed – punished – for not having a bus ticket. Those families not only now have to pay for bus tickets but the fines and potentially taking off time to go to court with a child should the punishment escalate. And let’s not forget the impact on the child. The cost of putting more kids through the penal system will be far greater in the long run than a $1 million savings in your coming fiscal year.
Thank you,
Nur Kausar
Business Development Manager, EAH Housing
Sacramento Housing Alliance Board Member
Sacramento District 4 Parent