Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE  Monday, August 11, 2003

Contact:  Phyllis Miller   916-733-3224

Blueprint Workshops Planned for
Downtown Sacramento, Del Paso Heights,
Oak Park, North Highlands

In September, Oak Park, North Highlands, Del Paso Heights and Downtown Sacramento community members will have the opportunity to give voice to how they believe the Sacramento region -- and their own neighborhoods -- should grow in the future.

The opportunity comes in the form of high-tech, interactive planning workshops sponsored by the Sacramento Region Blueprint: Transportation Land Use Study, a project of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) in collaboration with the civic organization Valley Vision and other partners

• North Highlands
  Wednesday, September 3
  6:15 p.m. - 9 p.m.
  Lion's Gate Center at McClellan Park
  At McClellan Park
  Sacramento, CA
  
  
• Del Paso Heights
  Thursday, September 4
  6:15 p.m. - 9 p.m.
  Robertson Community Center
  3525 Norwood Ave
  Sacramento, CA
  
  
• Oak Park Workshop
  Monday, September 8
  6:15 p.m. - 9:00 p.m.
  Women's Civic Improvement Center
  3555 3rd Avenue
  Sacramento, CA
  
  
• Sacramento Downtown/Midtown
  Wednesday, September 10
  6:15 p.m. - 9 p.m.
  Boys & Girls Club
  1117 'G' St.
  Sacramento, CA
  
  

The workshops come to these central Sacramento neighborhoods after months of similar Blueprint neighborhood planning exercises in communities throughout the six-county Sacramento Region, from Colfax to Galt and Winters to Placerville. More than 1,300 people participated in the workshops from March through July.

The aim of the workshops: to give citizens a chance to weigh in on how to handle the region's phenomenal projected growth. Sacramento is projected to grow from 1.7 million to nearly 3.7 million during the next 50 years, a fact that will affect every community - big and small - in the region.

In the planning workshops, participants are guided through exercises that examine how smart growth changes in land uses in their communities can affect the neighborhood's livability - minimizing traffic congestion, affecting housing affordability, and creating employment opportunities.

The workshops are intended primarily for residents and business owners in Oak Park, North Highlands, Del Paso Heights and Downtown Sacramento. Participants should RSVP by contacting Valley Vision, at 916-925-0130, or by e-mail at mail@valleyvision.org. The RSVP form is also available at the Blueprint Web site: http://www.sacregionblueprint.org.

The Blueprint project is made possible by funding and support from the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), Valley Vision, the Sacramento Metropolitan Development (HCD), California State Treasurer Phil Angelides' Office, Caltrans, Bringing Regional Issues for Discussion and Group Effort (BRIDGE), the Urban Land Institute (ULI), the Great Valley Center, the James Irvine Foundation and KVIE6, among others.

For further information, please contact Phyllis Miller, Communication Manager, Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG), at 733-3224 or pmiller@sacog.org. More information on Blueprint also can be found at www.sacregionblueprint.org.