The Elk Grove Mayor's Five-Point Plan to Defeat Traffic Gridlock
In 2020, candidate Bobbie Singh-Allen stood on a corner of Elk Grove and West Stockton boulevards - a stone's throw from city hall ...
In 2020, candidate Bobbie Singh-Allen stood on a corner of Elk Grove and West Stockton boulevards - a stone's throw from city hall - framed by brake lights and exhaust fumes, declaring war on the voters' Public Enemy #1 - traffic.
“I have a Roadmap for Reducing Traffic Congestion!” she beamed in a glossy mailer (see video below) while a tricked-out '68 Dodge Roadrunner roared past, doing 63 mph to run on one of those congestion-inducing red lights.
Her plan? A bold, visionary Five Point Plan.
Elk Grove voters were dazzled - not by the details, which they didn’t read, and did not resist, but by the number five. It made it seem serious enough to mean business, but short enough not to interrupt texting and posting to social media while driving.
Those five crucial points included:
1. Elk Grove Must Become a Smart City
No one knew what this meant, but it sounded like the city's Innovations Czar would fix potholes.
2. Reduce Cut-Through Traffic
A strong stance against cars that use roads for... getting places.
3. Free Transit for K-12 Students
Great news! If third graders rode buses, maybe Mom could beat the 7:15 a.m. bottleneck on Bruceville.
4. More Enforcement of Residential Speed Limits
A promise to ticket the very same people applauding it online.
5. Extend Light Rail to Elk Grove
The most ambitious point, sure to be achieved right after unicorns get DMV appointments.
Singh-Allen swept into office, a “no-nonsense” mayor with big vision and bigger mailers. Elk Grove cheered. Residents returned to social media, where they continued doing what they do best: angrily posting about traffic.
“Why is Laguna like a parking lot?!”
“Another crash on Elk Grove Blvd???”
“Do something!”
But those same residents responded with thunderous silence when the city released updates to the General Plan—the document that actually decides where homes, shopping centers, and gridlock go. One person tried to comment, but got distracted by a NextDoor viral post about potholes shaped like Elvis.
Meanwhile, Mayor Singh-Allen, ever confident, gave speeches at ribbon cuttings and posted filtered selfies at City Hall. “Progress!” she said, while another 300 homes were approved next to a two-lane road with no sidewalk.
Behind the scenes, city planners quietly expanded the General Plan—more development, more traffic. But it was fine because most voters couldn’t spell "infrastructure," knew what an EIR was, and thought "overriding considerations" was an excuse to avoid a visit from their annoying brother-in-law.
Singh-Allen knew this. They all knew it. Politicians thrived on short attention spans and long-winded promises. Smart Cities! Light Rail! Instagrammable leadership!
By 2025, traffic was worse than ever. Students still got free bus rides—if they could find a bus. Speeders still sped. And the only thing cutting through traffic was the mayor’s reelection campaign.
“We’re making real progress!” she said, waving a new mailer proof.
It had a new Five Point Plan.
No one read it.
They were too busy flipping the finger at other motorists in the traffic congestion.
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Bottom line, developers rule the roost in Elk Grove. They were given approvals to build larger projects, even though the traffic they would generate would overload the streets in the name of "overriding considerations and economic development". And in a lot of cases, they were also granted "parking deviations" to put in fewer parking spaces than required. And have you ever noticed how tiny the parking spaces are in the newer shopping centers?
It is laughable to hear the electeds promise to fix the traffic congestion when they created the problem in the first place for the benefit of the developers. I still remember one of the promises of the Measure E sales tax increase was to reduce the emergency response times. I'm still waiting for the flying ambulances that can leap over endless lines of cars and trains in a single bound!
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