RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif. — The mayor of Rancho Cordova will deliver the state of the city address Wednesday night at City Hall, where she is expected to celebrate the growth of the city over the last 20 years and share plans for continued expansion.
The once agricultural community in Sacramento County became an incorporated city in 2003, a vision turned reality for Mayor Linda Budge who helped the area transform into a place with an ability to control and influence its own destiny.
“This is definitely a celebration,” said Budge. “This is a celebration of our 20 years, a million dreams and our encouragement for Rancho Cordova to keep on dreaming.”
Budge served as one of the city’s first council members and is now a five-term mayor. Back in 2003, the area had 55,000 residents. It now has more than 81,000. An additional 65,000 people work in the city, and leaders hope to give those commuters good reason to call Rancho Cordova home.
“We've actually had 43% growth in Rancho Cordova, both houses and residents. We have a wonderful community enhancement and investment fund, and that's what's bringing art, music, sports, gardening, field trips to all the elementary schools in Rancho Cordova. A lot of the town was built before sidewalks were required, so we have built sidewalks in places where there weren't any, especially around our elementary schools, so that the kids can walk to school safely. There's just all sorts of things like that, that we've been able to do just in 20 years," she said.
These are projects made possible through Measure R and Measure H, a tax approved by voters giving them a say over how their tax dollars are spent, locally. It’s advancements like these that twice earned Rancho Cordova the title of “All-American City” from the National Civic League.
“You have to demonstrate to this organization that you all are very much in touch with your community, that you take care of the community needs, that you know what the community wants and it is a very significant competition,” said Budge. “And that's not our only award aside from the that and the public works awards. We are a bicycle friendly city. We are a Tree City, USA, even our finance department has won awards over the last 20 years.”
While the area has much to be proud of, it still has its share of challenges, including a growing homeless population along the American River Parkway.
“When a jurisdiction experiences rapid growth, unfortunately, the social fabric of the community may take a hit,” said Budge. “But our police department has been really good. Our crime statistics have truly gone down, especially in the last four or five years when, because of the pandemic and angst is built up without the pandemic, so many people were seeing very inappropriate activities in their communities. We've really managed to avoid all of that.”
Addressing homelessness and continuing to reduce crime remains a focal point for the city, as it looks ahead to the next 20 years.
“People feel good about living in Rancho Cordova, or about working here or about participating here participating in our activities, and that's kind of the glue that makes this a really cohesive community,” said Budge.
The celebratory event at Rancho Cordova is free to the public. It starts at 5:30 p.m. at 2729 Prospect Park Drive, with the state of the city address expected to start at 6:30 p.m.
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