Sacramento mayor on State of the City and what’s next after his term ends

Last week, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg took an unconventional approach to the annual State of the City address. 

Instead of delivering a speech behind a desk or lectern, the mayor held three panel discussions over three days in three Sacramento locations — each focusing on a different topic.

Over the course of the three events, Steinberg:

• Proposed seven changes to city regulations for live music performances, based on the newly released study on the local music economy
• Announced the city has established a new emergency homelessness response team that will be led by its fire department
• Proposed a half-cent sales tax increase, which if approved by voters in 2024 would generate $8 to $9 billion over 40 years for the city and county to spend on three key areas: affordable housing, public transportation and safer streets

While Steinberg’s chief-of-staff Mary Lynne Vellinga told CapRadio that the Incident Management Team "is already formed and is still being tinkered with but is running," the other two proposals require approval, either from the City Council or voters themselves.

CapRadio’s Mike Hagerty spoke with Steinberg about the proposals and what’s next for the mayor, who has announced he won’t run for reelection in 2024.  

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Interview highlights

How do you make it easier for the owners of music establishments to get through the red tape without cutting corners and while maintaining safety? 

Simple things, like use technology to allow to allow people to apply for a permit, shorten the time, make it one stop, and then of course, make sure that you still have the strong regulations so if there's a bad actor or somebody not following the rules, you can take the permit away from them pretty easily. 

And so we'll come forward in the fall to bring forward a set of common sense changes to the process so that we enliven the live music scene in Sacramento, by the way, not just downtown, but throughout the entire city. 

You announced a new emergency homelessness response team that will be led by the Sacramento Fire Department, the Incident Management Team. You cite the fire department's ability to respond rapidly as key in their role, which will include complaints about homeless camps on public property. 

The city is not a homeless service agency, and yet we have stepped up like never before. We have funded 1,100 beds a night. When I started as mayor, [there were] less than a hundred. Together with the county, we've gotten 17,000 plus people off the streets. And yet three people become unsheltered or homeless for every person we get off the street. Making a bigger dent in this problem is not only the right thing to do on behalf of the people suffering on the streets, but also on behalf of the neighborhoods in the business corridors. 

What's it going to take? It's going to take the city continuing to advance to create more safe ground [sites], to be able to create alternatives for people. But it's also going to require more services, more mental health services, more substance abuse services, voluntarily or involuntarily. And the city does not provide that. We have a partnership with the county, and we're working on ensuring that those services are actually made and the connections are made in those encampments. We still have a long way to go. 

Sacramento reopens sanctioned homeless campsite at Miller Park

Putting the fire department in the lead, not not doing the work alone, but leading in a genuine emergency response, is a great step. We will be more urgent, will be more organized and will have a more effective response. There is no cure, but I do believe that we, with all the things we've done and that I have suggested, the foundation that I have laid and the City Council has laid, that it is the foundation for better results. 

Hans Johnson, senior fellow at the Public Policy Institute of California, recently noted that between a decline in the statewide population and rapid construction of homes, especially traditional single family homes, we don't so much have a housing shortage in the state as an affordable housing shortage. Do you think that's a fair assessment of the situation? 

I do. I think that the cost of housing is pricing way too many people out. I gave my talk on Friday to say it's time for a new direction. It is time for city and county leaders to come together and change the formula. 

And what did I mean? I meant that instead of investing in major roadways — which harm the climate, especially if they're not mitigated — that we ought to have a climate focus and a special focus on affordable housing, especially affordable housing near our transit lines and our commercial corridors. 

So I proposed a third, a third, a third: A third for public transit and public transportation more broadly. A third for affordable housing. And the third, safe streets, including road repair. And dealing with what we call Vision Zero, doing everything we can to improve the safety of our streets, to eliminate the terrible fatality rate in our county for pedestrians and bicyclists that are killed because our streets aren't safe enough.

Your term as mayor ends Dec. 15 of 2024. What's next? 

I mean, I think there are several options that I think about in categories. I could seek a judicial appointment. I love the law. That's a possibility. I could run for state office. There's the potential of an opening for attorney general in 2026. Or I could take a third path, which is to leave public service and to do something else in my life. 

At this stage of my life, I don't feel like I have a lot more to prove. Except I want to continue to help my city and my state with these other projects that I'm working on. I always want to contribute, always want to do whatever I can to heal the world, if I can.