I am for granting a long term lease to the Redding Rodeo so they can secure financing to improve their grounds for future generations and provide much needed ADA access so all can enjoy! 

The Rodeo is an entertainment source, but it also is a large economic boost to our community!  The people who travel here for these events shop in our stores, stay in our hotels, and support our economy. 

The grounds themselves have been used for multiple purposes, including for the Stillwater Pow Wow, bringing cultural knowledge from an underserved community.  With improvements, the facility could be used for even more things!

While we do have an amazing park system in Redding, we desperately need to build out our remaining parks that are currently sitting on dedicated vacant land.  From fire risk to homeless issues, this land remaining vacant poses problems for our community. 

There are currently 8 parks that have yet to be developed at all, but we have over 200 acres of dedicated land that has been sitting vacant for years.  In some cases, it has been decades of inaction from the City to build what they had promised.  

Many of these are neighborhood parks that would serve to improve the communities they are in.  This can be done very inexpensively by partnering with local organizations who can apply individually for grants and other sources of funding. 

As a nonprofit leader in our community, I would be happy to serve as liaison between these organizations to get these parks built!

We have seen a number of developments fail to get off the ground due to governmental red tape.  We have also seen special interests get their projects off the ground with little issue due to political streamlining. 

Both of these issues are a problem.  We need to treat each project according its own merit and, if it is a benefit to the community, do as little as possible to stand in their way. 

Development is coming to Redding’s riverfront.  I will fight to make that development both sustainable and as friendly as possible to the residents who live nearby. 

I have participated in the Riverfront Specific Plan process, and I hope the city listens to the community who showed up in force to those meetings and voiced so many concerns. 

For those who were there:  I heard you.

I support this facility remaining open as it encourages a healthier community.  When the city removed a great number of little league fields, this park complex was a promise to the youth sports community. 

RSP provides youth a healthy outlet for energy with team sports, which are proven to be a positive influence on social skills, and academics.  

Formerly knows as Big League Dreams, this park was mismanaged for decades.  As one of the many who used the facilities for Softball league play, I watched the facilities slowly degrade.   Promises of repairs seemed to happen each year, and each year it became more grandiose in their scale.  Patch repairs became infield repairs, then they had a plan in place to replace the turf in their entirety.  All while operators failed to submit P&L reports to the city and they skipped out on their obligations to pay. 

There is no excuse as to why the city’s last P&L received was in 2009!  15 years later, the city now has the facility back in their control and a huge repair bill. 

Someone at City Hall should be held accountable for this gross mismanagement.  

Redding currently has the highest level in its history of sworn personnel in their police department.  This has allowed them the flexibility to work on special programs like their CIRT Teams, where mental health professionals accompany police to calls involving addicted or the mentally ill in crisis. 

They work to get these people the help they need rather than just putting them through the typical "catch and release" that the police have used in the past.  There are already results from this program where individuals have found the path away from homelessness and returned back as functional members of our community. 

Redding's Fire Departments now have 3 firefighters on every truck that is dispatched.  This may not sound like a big deal going  from 2 to 3, but that is the difference in OSHA requirements for a firefighting team to enter a burning building.    Those minutes they do not have to wait for backup to arrive could be easily the difference between life and death. 

I will budget appropriately to maintain these levels and look for opportunities to expand further public safety programs in the City.