Gateway Cities Council of Governments’ 2022 Accomplishments

• The COG Board adopted a $10 million budget, incorporating new state and county funding in the priority areas of housing and homelessness.
• The COG hosted the Second Annual Gateway Cities Energy Action Awards, recognizing cities for their efforts to become more energy efficient and more sustainable, and continued hosting the Energy Working Group for cities with participation growing to 20 member cities for 2022.
• The COG hosted an annual Faith Leaders Summit on September 14, 2022, dedicated to collaboration with the faith community in addressing the challenges of combatting homelessness in the subregion and beyond.
• The California Strategic Growth Council awarded $1.75 million to the Gateway Cities Regional Climate Collaborative (GCRCC), a new multi-stakeholder partnership comprised of the COG, Southeast Los Angeles (SELA) Collaborative, TreePeople, GRID Alternatives, and the Los Angeles County Chief Sustainability Office.
• Executive Director, Nancy Pfeffer traveled with fifty other California policy leaders to Vienna, Austria for the Vienna Housing Field Study hosted by the Global Policy Leadership Academy in September 2022 to learn more about Vienna’s historical development of social housing infrastructure.
• 1-710 Ad Hoc Committee released their Final Report in May 2022 containing comprehensive recommendations to resolve air quality, congestion, and safety issues associated with the I-710 Freeway Corridor.
• The COG Board of Directors approved the formation of the Gateway Cities Affordable Housing Trust*, a new Joint Powers Authority that will apply and advocate for the subregion’s fair share of state, regional and local funding for projects that help meet the Gateway Cities’ affordable housing needs.
• The COG’s REAP funded Inclusionary Housing Subregional Strategy was completed and presented to Gateway Cities Planning Directors. The strategy provides COG cities with the majority of the technical work they need to develop Inclusionary Housing programs of their own, should they choose to do so.
• Melani Smith, Director of Regional Development, presented elements of the COG's REAP funded housing related work program to statewide audiences at the California Forward Economic Summit and the American Planning Association’s California Conference.
• The Final Report for the Urban Tree Canopy Community Prioritization Project was released in December 2022, funded by the California Resilience Challenge, and in partnership with Loyola Marymount University’s Center for Urban Resilience, and TreePeople. Community-informed strategies for increasing the urban tree canopy were developed for the Cities of Lynwood, Montebello, Paramount, and Vernon.
• The COG Board approved the Gateway Cities Regional Broadband Master Plan on December 7, 2022, which will serve to stimulate a more inclusive economy aimed to connect vital municipal facilities as well as to increase mobility, educational and workforce opportunities for our 2.1 million residents and 76,000 businesses. 

• The COG successfully advocated for adoption by the Metro Board of Directors of a Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) for the initial construction and operating segment of the West Santa Ana Branch light rail line.
• The COG worked with Metro to secure approval by the Federal Transit Administration to enter the West Santa Ana Branch into the Project Development Phase of the Capital Investment Grants Program.
• The COG provided ongoing support to the West Santa Ana Branch City Managers TAC, including continued engagement of professional consulting services and securing approval from Metro for funding of additional technical services to provide direct support to the corridor cities.
• The COG actively supported Metro applications for state Transit and Intercity Rail Corridor Program (TIRCP) grant funds and U.S. Department of Transportation MEGA grant funds to support the West Santa Ana Branch project.
• COG representatives provided important and timely testimony to both the Assembly and Senate Budget Committees supporting increased state funding for critical transportation infrastructure investments, including the West Santa Ana Branch and Eastside Transit Corridor Phase II projects.
• The COG facilitated and supported correspondence sent by the members of the Los Angeles County Congressional Delegation and Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla requesting the Biden-Harris Administration to include $50 million in the next federal fiscal year budget for development of the West Santa Ana Branch project.
• Collaborated with the Sol Price Center for Social Innovation to develop a data story about the unique climate vulnerabilities that affect the Gateway Cities, highlighting the need for increased investment in disadvantaged communities that bear the brunt of climate change.
• Collaborated with the Sol Price Center for Social Innovation to prioritize cities based on climate vulnerability metrics and select three (Bell, Bell Gardens, and Maywood) to participate in the Southern California Regional Energy Network’s Energy Resilience Action Plan Initiative. The initiative will provide these agencies with tools to support both near and long-term energy resilience planning.
• Completed three Resilience Hub Opportunity Assessments for Bell, Bell Gardens, and Maywood in collaboration with the Southern California Regional Energy Network. Facilities within each city were selected to analyze their suitability as resilience hubs in the event of an extreme heat emergency.

* COG Board action taken January 4, 2023.