Hi Neighbors,
Here’s what’s been going on around the neighborhood:
MESA Keeps Growing: We are now 188 strong! Thank you all for joining, and for spreading the word. Keep up the good work for our neighborhood!
Coordinated CalTrans/City Clean-up Activity: Over the last several days CalTrans and the City worked to get services for the homeless living by the Business-80 freeway. CalTrans put up a fence along 30th Street from above C Street down past D Street. There were also encampments removed from the E Street underpass. Please share with us how this has impacted you at info@midtowneastsac.org. MESA has not received any other official news from CalTrans or the City, but there has been some mention of continued work in our area.
Criminal Activity in the Area: In the past few days we have been experiencing several smashed windows and also at least one attempted arson at businesses on 29th Street. This past week a business owner had SacPD Captain Hanson out to the location right after the window smashing/attempted arson. From this visit, 2 people were arrested and another suspect is identified.
Vehicle Code Enforcement: MESA has been working closely with Code Enforcement to remove vehicles that are parked illegally or do not have current registration and are parked on the streets in our neighborhood. Please contact us at info@midtowneastsac.org for any vehicle code violations you are witnessing. Including a street location, vehicle license plate and a picture of the vehicle parked helps get Code Enforcement out quicker. Let’s act quickly to get the City’s help with these situations. Shout out to neighbors: Your quick attention to this has had several RVs and campers moved out of the area.
MESA in the SacBee: On 3/18/22 MESA was mentioned in a SacBee Op Ed piece around homelessness and our neighborhood’s response to it. You can find the article here: https://www.sacbee.com/opinion/article259481174.html
Our Neighborhood in the SacBee: On 3/19/22 the SacBee published an article about Councilmember Katie Valenzuela being served with a notice for recall. You can find the article here: https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article259551479.html
Yellow Brick Road/Safe Route to School: On 3/16 several MESA members and Sutter Middle School families and staff met to discuss safety around the school and also to discuss Safe Routes to School. We had a good discussion around the issues. We were joined by the incoming SacPD Lieutenant for the East Command to discuss issues and also talk about how and when to report issues to SacPD. Our meeting also discussed our proposed pilot project of Safe Routes to School, our Yellow Brick Road. We discussed this idea, and talked about some of the things we are going to need from the community. These include:
- Adult Volunteers to assist students to travel safely between Midtown and East Sac during morning and afternoon times
- City involvement to create a safe route for students
- Beautification, murals and lighting of the underpasses
- Fundraising.
MESA is proud to say we did get adult volunteers and local businesses behind the project, and so far we have had $2,000 pledged toward the project. Be on the lookout for an upcoming meeting to make this a reality. Adult Volunteers to assist students to travel between Midtown and East Sac during morning and afternoon times
SacPD Reports: Captain Halstead sent along this Monthly Chief’s Report and Firearm Crime Report. Also, please find the two most recent crime reports for our areas here and here.
Crime@midtowneastsac.org: We are up and running with our crime@ email address. Let’s know what’s going on around our neighborhood. Please email concerns and criminal activity to us at crime@midtowneastsac.org
See Something Say Something: I know some of us have felt that criminal activity is not being responded to in the neighborhood. With MESA’s outreach efforts to our local representatives and our engagement with our SacPD, we are expecting more help improving public safety in our community. If you are witnessing criminal activity, report it. The SacPD nonemergency number is 916-808-5471. If it is an emergency, call 911. Put the nonemergency number in your phone so you have it when you need it.
Support our Neighborhood Businesses: Neighbors, we appreciate our friendly shop owners and encourage you to shop local whenever possible. Of course we want to encourage you to stop by the Pine Cove and Limelight if you can, and Stanley’s Donuts and Tiferet Coffee at H and 30th like to see our friendly faces. Stanley’s Donuts has been very generous to MESA at Trash Dashes and other events around the neighborhood.
What is MESA About?: MESA is a group of concerned neighbors that came together to seek help from our government officials to improve public safety in our neighborhood while working towards real solutions to get help for those who are unsheltered in our community. Our founders are neighbors, business owners, property owners and concerned citizens. As we work through the issues, we identify gaps or issues in the systems or the programs, and work to find solutions that will improve our neighborhood and the lives of those who are unsheltered today. All ideas and solutions are welcome, and discourse about the issue may bring some new solutions to light. Some things we have identified today where each of us can help make a difference is:
- Attend your City Council meetings and comment on agenda items that factor into the quality of life in our neighborhood. We’ll send updates on specific items that we are paying attention to.
- Encourage your City Council members to support our law enforcement. MESA supports our law enforcement officers, and we need to get that message to our Councilmembers.
- We encourage our members to be a part of the solution. We need to be looking at programs, ideas and events that can help us solve the issues affecting our neighborhood. Bring things up and let’s see what could lead to some real solutions to improve the quality of life for our entire commmunity.
MESA Founders Meeting 3/31: Our founding group will be meeting to discuss issues we are facing in the neighborhood. If you’d like to pose a topic or question to our group, email info@midtowneastsac.org.
MESA Member Meeting: Following up on some of the issues going on in the area, and from we hear from you, we are planning to do a members meeting soon. This may be a Zoom meeting, or a in-person meeting. Details to follow soon.
Next Trash Dash April 23rd 10 am to noon at McKinley Park: Save the Date! For more info, visit https://fb.me/e/ezzPJs9V3
Hope for Sacramento/Haven for Hope Model: What’s Hope for Sacramento? Check out www.hopeforsacramento.org, or www.havenforhope.org.
MESA Founding Members Meeting with County on 3/15/22: MESA’s founding members met with County Supervisor Serna and several of his staff on the 15th. This was an open discussion and provided all of us with new understanding of issues and programs in our neighborhood and in the county. We had very positive feedback from all concerned and will continue to foster this relationship.
Midtown-East Sac Advocates Website: Spread the word about www.midtowneastsac.org to friends and neighbors. We love having a great group involved in bringing issues to the table and working on solutions to strengthen our community. Interested in joining MESA—hit the SUBSCRIBE button. Hope to see you here soon!