Letter to the Editor: Redding City Leaders Say They Want Public Input. Their Actions Don’t Back That Up.

Photo by Arisa Chattasa on Unsplash

Editor’s Note: The following letter was sent by environmental group North State Climate Action to City Manager Barry Tippin, cc’ing Shasta Scout, on October 10. We’ve published the letter here with NSCA’s permission.

At North State Climate Action, we are aware that written comments on the General Plan Draft and the Environmental Impact Report for the new General Plan were due by August 28, prior to a regular Planning Commission meeting in which the Draft Plan was on the Agenda.

August 28 was a widely publicized deadline on the City’s website and in public announcements. However, as acknowledged in the mid-September Planning Commission meeting, many written comments that were submitted on time were not delivered to the Commissioners before the meeting.      

The City appears to place much emphasis on transparency to Redding residents and makes many gestures that appear to be intended to encourage active participation from residents in developing the General Plan, the Riverfront Specific Plan, etc. Indeed, the motivation for residents to meet the announced deadlines prior to specific meetings of the PC and the RCC only exists because we assume comments will be delivered in a timely fashion to the elected and appointed officials who are the current decision-makers for Redding.   

We are very disappointed to learn this instance of withholding the General Plan comments has occurred. It is yet another example when written comments did not reach their intended destination prior to the meeting date for decision-making at the City.    

This is not merely a minor oversight in our view. It points to what is perhaps an intended dysfunction of local government. The citizens of Redding deserve to be heard. When citizens fulfill all the City’s scheduling requirements and yet their comments still are not received by the decision-makers prior to meetings in which their comments would have been relevant, this destroys public trust that some of the City’s employees have so assiduously been working to build. Who is it at the City who is responsible for the decision to withhold written public comments from the PC in this case? There is a pattern that points to intention. It’s preposterous to put something of this scale on the implied inefficiency of clerical staff. There were 10 business days between August 28 and September 12. The comments could have been delivered 2000 miles in that time via pony express.   

The City needs to explain why the General Plan written comments were not delivered to the Planning Commissioners well before the September 12 Planning Commission meeting. Citizens who care enough to actively participate in the local government deserve to be confident that their voices will be heard and considered in a timely manner.  

North State Climate Action (NSCA) is a nonprofit 501(c)3 that includes volunteers across California’s far north state region, including Shasta and adjoining counties. Our mission is to promote solutions addressing the climate crisis through education, collaboration, and action in our communities. They can be contacted through their website: nsclimateaction.org