Construction has started on the city’s Franklin Boulevard Complete Streets Project, which will add protected bikeways, widened sidewalks and other traffic calming infrastructure to the street between Sutterville Road and 32nd Avenue.
The work will be done in phases and is expected to take until the end of next year.
The boulevard is one of the roads identified in the city of Sacramento’s Vision Zero Action Plan’s “high injury network,” which are roads with the highest number of injuries and fatalities.
According to data from UC Berkeley’s Transportation Injury Mapping System, 17 people were injured along this stretch of Franklin Boulevard between 2018 and 2022. Seven of those injuries were considered severe.
UC Berkeley Transportation Injury Mapping System data on Franklin Boulevard between Sutterville Road and 32nd Avenue.(Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio)
But with developments like this come concerns about what it means for the people already living there as the increased safety provided by the project attracts wealthier people.
Gentrification
Seth Duvernay has lived near Franklin Boulevard for three years. He said he moved there because he was priced out of his previous neighborhood.
“I used to live in Oak Park and I felt like I was part of the problem moving there, increasing rents,” he said. “And eventually I got priced out of that neighborhood and we had to move away.”
When Duvernay learned about the Franklin Boulevard Complete Streets Project, he was excited about the infrastructure improvements that would allow him to walk and bike around his community.
“There is basically no bike lane, the cars are going by at 45 to 50 mph, the businesses and driveways along Franklin Boulevard let right out [so] there's no kind of warning for a bicyclist or a pedestrian to get out of the way of a car coming into a driveway or out of one,” he said. “I've almost been hit multiple times going up and down Franklin, and it's very inconvenient to avoid Franklin because where else are you going to go?”
But he is also concerned about what it means for the people already living there.
“I am concerned about people being priced out of the neighborhood where they grew up or where their family has been for multiple generations,” he said. “I'm trying to figure out how I can point people who are long-time members of this community to get support, to not get priced out or get kicked out.”
Duvernay argued that the City Council should be more aware and involved in preventing gentrification along Franklin Boulevard noting that many who live there don't have the time to lobby for themselves.
Groundbreaking
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty and Councilmember Caity Maple during the groundbreaking ceremony Thursday, March 27, 2025, in Sacramento.(Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio)
Councilmember Caity Maple represents the Franklin Boulevard District. After a late March groundbreaking ceremony for the project, she said displacement conversations like this have been going on for years, most notably in Oak Park, which she also represents.
According to her, lower-income individuals in Oak Park received assistance through the Aggie Square settlement and community benefits agreements, which allowed for down payment and rent assistance, among other things.
“That basically gave millions and millions of dollars for anti-displacement programs and some of those programs have been ongoing for several years,” she said. “We can take a look at the data and see what works.”
But she noted that the city’s $62 million budget deficit means they need to look at other options.
“We don't have a settlement agreement with some big transformative project that's going to lead to millions and millions of dollars,” she added.
Still, she argued that the project is necessary because the infrastructure it’ll bring will save people’s lives and allow them to bike and walk safely without getting hit.
“These are simple things that happen in other parts of the city that don’t happen here, so that’s a big win for the community,” she said. “Gentrification is one of those issues that if you look all across the U.S., people acknowledge that it's a problem, but nobody’s really cracked the code.”
On the contrary, she said many multi-generational homeowners who’ve lived in these neighborhoods for a long time would gain from this.
“For them, it might be a really valuable thing to be able to see that benefit to their property value,” she said.
Business and community reaction
La Esperanza owner Jorge Plasencia speaks Thursday, March 27, 2025, in Sacramento.(Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio)
Jorge Plasencia is the owner of La Esperanza — a supermarket, deli and bakery — located along Franklin Boulevard. He delivered a speech during the groundbreaking acknowledging that construction of the project might cause temporary inconveniences for local businesses, but argued that the long-term benefits would be worth it.
“It will not only benefit us now, but in the generations to come,” he said. “People will be able to enjoy riding their bikes, walk safely and, most importantly, ride securely through the neighborhood.”
Kendra Macias Reed, director of operations for the Franklin Boulevard Business Association, said the general sentiments she's heard from businesses are mixed, with some, like Plasencia, being supportive and others being indifferent.
Her association conducted outreach in 2019 and 2020 to over 800 residents and businesses in the community, asking if these improvements were welcome.
“The overarching responses said, ‘Yeah, this is an overdue investment and a much-needed investment,” she said.
Kendra Macias Reed speaks during a Greening North Franklin community workshop Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in Sacramento.(Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio)
She highlighted a 2021 incident when a business owner lost their daughter to a traffic-related death right outside of their business along Franklin Boulevard.
“I think generally, the community and businesses are supportive of just slowing down traffic and creating a safer environment,” she said.
But that doesn't mean her association isn't aware of the risks that come with projects like these. That's why her association and La Familia — a Sacramento-based organization that provides multicultural counseling and support to families — held a workshop in late March aimed at informing community members on how to avoid displacement as their neighborhood begins to see improvements.
“It's a balance of trying to address those safety and security concerns for the residents that live here and the people who are working here in the businesses,” she said. “The reason that people come to Franklin is because this is an immigrant community. We don't want that to change. That is what makes our association, our district and our business strong.”
A slide informing community members how to avoid displacement Wednesday, March 26, 2025, at the Self-Help Credit Union at 3924 Franklin Boulevard in Sacramento.(Gerardo Zavala/CapRadio)
Luckily, the association was able to secure an EPA grant, giving them access to $250,000 distributed over three years to provide legal services for residents and businesses regarding lease assistance.
“I think those are some starting points to help our residents’ businesses stay here,” she said. “Without having the time to really create a community benefits agreement like they did with Aggie Square, we are addressing and identifying that there is a need there.”
Reed said her association has an annual budget of $300,000, which is not enough to conduct the work necessary to combat gentrification. But she argued that identifying resources should be the local government’s job, not the community’s.
“The challenge is what money is available, if any, to help us achieve those goals,” Reed added. “There's really nothing that we can ask the city for at this moment, but we will continue to advocate for it when there are dollars that they can put towards this work.”
Duvernay, a community member who attended the workshop, agreed with Reed’s sentiments. He said the City Council should do more to inform community members about the impacts these projects will have on them.
“People that live here don’t have the resources to really lobby City Council the way people with lots of money do,” he said. “Getting out the word about these workshops, tenant rights, down payment assistance and all these different things they’re doing is very important.”
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