Only nice words must be said about the city’s eminent domain actions against NIMBY residents in Pocket and Little Pocket.
The NIMBY are people who tried every trick to delay the Sacramento River Parkway Bike Trail, a regional gift promised 51 years ago.
By using eminent domain to secure riverfront easements north of Garcia Bend Park, the city shows it’s ready to pave bike trail gaps from Freeport to Old Sac and onto Folsom.
Rather than argue with a handful of obstructionists along the river, the city is using legal authority to end threats of lawsuits over purported property rights.
Eminent domain leaves no room for argument. Lawyerly maneuvers can’t stop the process. Work to finish the bike trail should begin in 2027.
But since my job is to second-guess whatever the city does, I have some thoughts about the way City Hall handled its recent humiliation over the trail. The humiliation came from the Central Valley Flood Protection Board.
For a decade, the flood board supported the city’s plans to finish the levee bike trail. This summer, the flood board suddenly reversed gears.
The flood board handed out four permits that let residents build fences across the levee and barricade the forthcoming bike path.
This was crazy. The flood board—a state agency with members appointed by the governor to serve the public—became handmaidens for a few NIMBYs determined to block public access to the river.
Flood board members didn’t rationally explain their actions, probably because the truth was too embarrassing. It was obvious what happened backstage. NIMBYs threatened to sue. Wracked by cowardice, the flood board folded.
The city didn’t fold. The planning department sent two representatives armed with a protest letter. They asked the flood board to deny the fence permits. Mayor Kevin McCarty stood up before the flood board and said allowing new fences would harm the city.
The pleas were ignored. The flood board ran scared.
Here’s where the city messed up. Rather than have the planning department and mayor speak, the city should have sent its police and fire chiefs to explain why fences across levees are dangerous.
A child would understand. Safety crews have a much easier time responding to riverside emergencies on an open, paved bike trail than a soggy gravel levee barricaded by chainlink fences every few hundred yards.
Riverfront NIMBYs whine about their safety when the bike trail opens. Several flood board members feigned sympathy to this nonsense, though the flood board has no duty to provide private security.
Police and fire officials could have made NIMBYs eat their own safety argument.
When I mentioned this strategy to City Hall officials, they nodded. Another missed opportunity after 51 years of frustration.
Residents all over town are angry about the new fences. They’re mad at the flood board. I tell them not to worry. NIMBYs and their fences are irrelevant.
What matters is this: the city is moving upstream, taking easements with eminent domain. With that action, private levee fences instantly become city property.
Levee gates swing open. Fences come down. The flood board resumes its chores as an incidental agency inspecting levees.
Grab a bike and enjoy the views.
R.E. Graswich can be reached at regraswich@icloud.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram: @insidesacramento.
