Aggie Square is a mixed-use development planned for 25 acres near the UC Davis Medical Center on Stockton Boulevard in Sacramento . It ’ s projected to provide nearly $ 5 billion in annual economic impact and 25,000 ongoing jobs , according to the university . RENDERING COURTESY OF ZGF
know if they should fix illegal dumping or not . So we don ’ t need to have that in south Sac ,” she says . “ That ’ s not equity . Equity isn ’ t having a public meeting . Equity is making sure our communities are as clean as Land Park .”
She knows these demands all too well , having spent many weeknights in city council chambers and multipurpose rooms . It took years of neighbors talking to neighbors , neighbors talking to public officials , and neighbors talking to lawyers to stop the natural-gas project in her neighborhood . While that battle raged , Sacramento Regional Transit District eliminated a bus route through her Glen Elder neighborhood , which residents spent the next several years getting restored . “ We thought , we ’ re tired ,” she says . “ What is something we can do for ourselves to help our neighborhood and get to some of the roots of these systemic problems ?”
They thought of a place called Morrison Creek . A fenced-off , littered space , its gate locked . A place that for years had been easy to ignore .
Dreaming what ’ s possible
Morrison Creek is a tributary of the Sacramento River that runs behind the George Sim Community Center in Glen Elder . Native fish used to swim through this creek on their migration journey . Not far from the creek is the Sacramento Army Depot , a 485-acre base established in 1945 and closed in 1995 that the EPA has listed as a Superfund site because waste disposal practices contaminated soil and groundwater .
Originally , the community just planned to do a creek cleanup . When they learned they could possibly get a grant from the California Department of Water Resources ’ Urban Streams Restoration Program , they thought bigger . “ Honestly , that was a really
November 2020 | comstocksmag . com 45