The thorny issue of public safety, or the growing lack thereof, surfaced repeatedly at Tuesday’s meeting of the Redding City Council.
It first popped up in the form of a proposal by Councilman Gary Cadd to prohibit the outdoor cultivation of medical marijuana within city limits, much as last November’s passage of Measure A banned outdoor grows in the unincorporated areas of Shasta County.
Cadd said he continues to receive calls and emails from residents complaining about neighboring pot farms and he said the problem will get worse as Measure A drives more growers into Redding.
Cadd’s proposed ban ran into an immediate objection from Councilwoman Missy McArthur, who noted she was the “only member up here who has been through all the iterations of the city trying to deal with this.”
Until stricter federal laws align with California’s progressive policies, the city would be best served to “let sleeping dogs lie” and hold off on any local marijuana legislation, McArthur said. “We have a problem; if we back away, it will get worse,” Cadd countered.
Councilwoman Kristen Schreder said she supported McArthur’s motion to put any marijuana bans on hold until state and federal laws achieve some sort of alignment. “It seems like it’s a moving target out there,” Schreder said. “I’d rather exercise caution right now.”
Mayor Francie Sullivan and Councilman Brent Weaver also expressed support for continuing the matter, while both said they would be happy to revisit the issue. McArthur’s motion passed with a 4-1 vote; Cadd cast the lone dissenting vote.
The issue of crime reappeared when City Manager Kurt Starman outlined his “Blueprint for Public Safety,” a wide-ranging strategic plan that calls for a series of cooperative measures with Shasta County.
Starman’s proposal, which he described as “a very broad and ambitious scope of work,” was requested by Weaver, who made improved public safety a key component of his successful council campaign.
Three work groups, led by Police Chief Robert Paoletti, Redding Fire Chief Kevin Kreitman and Shasta County Administrative Officer Larry Lees, will report to a steering committee composed of Starman, Lees, Sullivan, Sheriff Tom Bosenko, Paoletti and Kreitman.
The work groups, steering committee and other collaborators—including the Anderson Police Department, California Highway Patrol, Marshal’s Office, Department of Fish and Wildlife, Department of Corrections and the FBI—will be coordinated by a consultant.
Starman estimated the consultant’s fee will be in the neighborhood of $90,000, with Shasta County expected to cover up to a third of the cost, and creation of the full blueprint may take up to eight months.
Cadd expressed support for the blueprint, but said he wanted to take some action now and asked if it would be possible to dip into the city’s reserves for $250,000 to jumpstart parts of Paoletti’s action plan.
Starman advised against picking out individual programs to fund, like the Safe City Project’s proposed sobering center, and encouraged Cadd to wait until a concrete plan is in place.
“I think this is very exciting and I’m looking forward to moving ahead,” said Weaver, who added that he liked the idea of the plan being “data driven.” Weaver then relayed a pair of anecdotes to illustrate the issue’s importance to him.
The first was a note from a longtime Parkview neighborhood resident who said she no longer felt safe in the home she had occupied for 40 years. The second was a sobering conversation with a realtor who told Weaver he had just heard from some well-heeled homebuyers who opted out of a million-dollar house after hearing reports of Redding’s crime rate and homeless problem.
“We hear you,” Weaver said to the audience. “If we want to improve our city, we have to address the elephant in the room.” The council then voted 5-0 to proceed with the Blueprint for Public Safety.
In other action Tuesday, the council:
— Voted 4-1, with Cadd dissenting, to disband the Electric Utility Commission. The seven-member commission was established in January 2013 to advise the council on matters pertaining to the Redding Electric Utility.
At the Dec. 16 council meeting, McArthur expressed concern that the commission placed a burden on the short-staffed utility and questioned its cost effectiveness. Cadd countered that the commission served a valuable watchdog role and that its cost, estimated at $45,800 a year, was a drop in the bucket compared to the utility’s $165 million budget.
— Voted 5-0 to deny Verizon Wireless’ appeal of the Redding Planning Commission’s earlier vote to deny issuing the telecom giant a use permit to erect a cell phone tower on Locust Street in the Garden Tract.
Jon Lewis is a freelance writer living in Redding. He has more than 30 years experience writing for newspapers and magazines. Contact him at jonpaullewis@gmail.com.
