BOARD MEMBERS
On April 10th, 2019, the Midtown Neighborhood Association (MNA) seated its new board:

• Chair Danny Yost
• Vice Chair Abigail Jackson
• Treasurer Jessica Sorensen
• Secretary Patrick Wilson
• Board Member Emel Wadhwani
• Board Member Nate Hanneman
• Board Member Mayra Diaz
• Board Member Michael Heede
• Board Member Emily Baime
• Board Member Michael Weagraff
• Vacant open seat

Thank you to departing members Gabriela Chavez, Kevin Boll and Nicole Velasquez for serving your community

2019-2020 BOARD AGENDA
This year we look forward to tackling issues of bicycle and pedestrian safety, street lighting, striving for better inclusion, supporting the Midtown Business Association in their efforts to revitalize our parks, and continuing to improve the livability and quality of life in our neighborhood.

HOW DO I GET INVOLVED WITH MNA?
Become a Member
Consider joining the Midtown Neighborhood Association. Your membership dues ($15 annually) directly fund the MNA yearly budget, which we put right back into the community in the form of neighborhood social events and communications/awareness campaigns to keep residents informed.

Attend a Community Meeting
Community members are encouraged to attend community meetings, which occur every other month on the second Wednesday of the month. Community meetings in 2019-2020 will be in the following months: June, August, October, December, February, April.

Am I eligible to join MNA?
Anyone is eligible to participate in the Midtown Neighborhood Association, so long as you reside (own property OR rent), own a business, and/or run an organization within this rectangular boundary: J /15th Streets to R / 29th Streets. 

By Abby Jackson, MNA Board Member
 
The Midtown Neighborhood Association (MNA) has a mission to nurture Sacramento’s livable, vibrant, and evolving Midtown community through respectful collaboration among all classes, identities, and cultures. But via what means should the MNA carry out its mission? At the Wednesday, February 13, 2019 MNA meeting, we asked community members to describe what they think should be MNA’s focus and role in the community. Responses spanned from ideas about community development to bicycle and pedestrian safety, to advocacy and local policy work. Below is a summary of the responses:
 
Community Service

• Community clean up
• Organizing community service opportunities
• Community service
• Help the bark park

Social Events

• BYO BBQ
• Shenanigans bike party
• More hosted social events to engage young professionals/recent transplants
• Host social events

Advocacy/Legislation

• Facilitate conversations regarding city projects to interim MNA advocacy efforts
• Resident parking vs. event parking
• Advocate for more transit oriented development
• Advocate for general funds for street lights
• Advocate for affordable housing
• Advocate for more urban infill residential buildings and accessory dwelling units
• Advocate for airport public transit
• Increase awareness to pedestrian crosswalks

Other

• More bike racks
• City project education from reps
• Host “topic nights" where experts and city depts come to speak, facilitate convos around one topic
• Participate in quarterly joint neighborhood association meetings
• Build more protected bike lanes
• Invest in crosswalks with lighting
• Improve funding for streetlights and parks
• Get Portland loos (a type of self-washing bathroom) at RT light rail stations
• Install more bus stops on J street
• Improve crosswalk paint on 20th and P and 20th and Q (west side is not painted and unsafe)
• Include a City council update in newsletter
• Disseminate info from City on work related to ped crossings and safety
• Host a hearing about City matters/education

 
There are so many good ideas on this list! Do you have an idea to contribute? Comment with your idea. 

By Abigail Jackson, Board Member​

Between 2009 and 2015, 151 people lost their lives on Sacramento’s streets. As CapRadio's Bob Moffit recently reported, "the City has studied the location and factors of 151 fatalities involving vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians...79 percent of the crashes occurred on 14 percent of the roadways...The highest concentrations of collisions are downtown and in Midtown, in District 4. Almost half of all pedestrian collisions occurred in crosswalks."

While the stats are certainly alarming, walking and biking as alternative transportation modes to the personal vehicle are becoming increasingly more practical in the face of global climate change and densifying development. So how do we take the risk out of walking and bicycling?

Acknowledging that many bicycle and pedestrian fatalities involving vehicles can be prevented, how do we, as a community, start to improve conditions for walkers and bikers of the Midtown Neighborhood?

Good news--one can start to help by simply filling out the survey embedded below! Your input will give us insight as to how we prioritize MNA's efforts in improving the safety conditions of our neighborhood.

In fact, on October 10th, community members will gather at the bimonthly Midtown Neighborhood Association (MNA) meeting to learn about and discuss bicycle and pedestrian safety in the neighborhood from guest speakers of local organizations WalkSacramento and Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates (SABA), and from representatives of the City. 

Please reach out if you're interested in joining the MNA's subcommittee on bicycle and pedestrian safety: eepurl.com/dPQ9Iz