Photo by Jon Lewis
The shuttered sports park formerly known as Big League Dreams will welcome back ballplayers and skaters, possibly as early as next month following a unanimous vote of the Redding City Council.
The city-run operation will be a barebones affair with no concessions or in-house leagues for baseball and softball. Instead, it will focus on leagues organized by outside organizations, like the Shasta Roller Hockey League, and existing tournaments and practices.
It will last for six months, during which Travis Menne, director of the Community Services Department, will work with various user groups to develop a long-term plan “necessary to ensure the Park can serve the community and work toward restoring it as a quality community asset.”
The council agreed to spend up to $200,000 to cover additional staffing, basic maintenance and minor repairs. The money will come from the city’s general fund, according to City Manager Barry Tippin.
Big League Dreams, a public-private partnership that opened in 2004 in east Redding, closed its doors in July, leaving behind a long list of deferred maintenance projects and $215,000 in unpaid rent to the city. Tippin estimated it will take about $3 million to get the ballfields into marginally playable shape and another $7 million to get the facility into its original condition.
Travis Menne. Photo by Jon Lewis
Sports park users of all ages packed the July 30 council meeting and urged councilors to do whatever is humanly possible to reopen the park. Menne said the short-term operation plan, and most likely the long-term plan as well, will rely on partnerships and volunteers.
Board members from the Shasta Roller Derby and the Shasta Roller Hockey League both expressed support for the interim operating plan and pledged their cooperation. “We were so impressed and grateful for the collaboration with the city and really appreciated their time,” said Tawny Cowell, board president with the roller hockey league. “We’re excited to be part of the solution.”
At the July 30 meeting, it was suggested the sports park could reopen using staff and administrative oversight from the adjacent California Soccer Park. At Tuesday’s meeting, Tippin said liability issues prevented such an arrangement. “They wouldn’t indemnify the city,” he noted.
Council newcomer Joshua Johnson praised Menne and Tippin for working quickly to fashion the short-term operation plan to get the sports park reopened. “I’ve never seen government move so fast,” Johnson said with a smile. Tippin declined to offer a specific opening date but promised play would resume “as soon as humanly possible.”
“I would love it to be Sept. 15, if possible, to save the fall season,” Johnson said.
In other action Tuesday, the council discussed the following:
Homeless Encampments
In the wake of the June decision by the U.S. Supreme Court upholding a Grants Pass, Ore., ordinance prohibiting public encampments, City Attorney Christian Curtis and Redding Police Chief Brian Barner updated the council on the city’s current and pending policies.
Redding Police Chief Brian Barner. Photo by Jon Lewis
At issue was the 2018 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that banning camping in areas lacking sufficient shelter beds amounted to cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th Amendment. Curtis said that ruling required Redding to modify its ordinance.
“It is important to note that regardless of any recent changes in law, the City will still place a priority on helping those in our community living without shelter through the many grants we have received and the programs we have implemented,” City Manager Barry Tippin noted in his staff report.
Homelessness and its impacts on residents, parks, riverfront areas, businesses and the overall quality of life in Redding “was definitely a priority when I took over nine months ago,” Barner told the council.
Tawny Cowell. Photo by Jon Lewis
Presently, Barner said people camping in public areas are given 24 hours of notice before any displacement proceedings. Initial contact involves a crisis intervention team consisting of two officers and a mental health worker who explain the various resources available, including shelter options. Two more contacts are made within a 24-hour period before encampments are cleared out, Barner said.
Officers are having some success in getting some unsheltered residents into housing, Barner said, but there is a subset of “habitual offenders who don’t want help” that continue to vex intervention team members.
Barner said his department will be “re-engaging with all of our partners” involved with the homeless issue with the goal of creating a task force that will meet on a monthly basis. “We want to get people help but this is the number one issue we’re hearing from the community,” he said.
Dr. Paul Dhanuka. Photo by Jon Lewis
Dr. Paul Dhanuka, a Redding physician and a Redding City Council candidate, said mental health issues and drug dependencies are at the heart of Redding’s homeless issue and proposed the city build a 30- to 40-bed facility to provide residential treatment. Tippin noted that such services would fall under purview of the Shasta County Health and Human Services Agency.
Council member Johnson said the city is making progress, noting the Good News Rescue Mission’s 17-unit tiny home community is expected to open in the fall and a former motel is expected to offer more housing options. “We are doing it,” Johnson said. “It’s coming together.”
Mayor Tenessa Audette joined two speakers in emphasizing the need for compassion, noting some 90 percent of the unsheltered population have been in Redding for years. “They are our community members,” she said.
Council member Jack Munns countered that accountability is critical. “There are people who need to be in jail,” he said. “Jail is not the first choice. It’s the third choice.”
Curtis, in consultation with Barner, will bring a revised public camping ordinance to the council at a later date, Tippin said.
Fiber-optic Internet
The council heard a report from Jason Gibilisco, a management assistant to Tippin, on the prospects of a citywide fiber-optic Internet network. Such a network was originally proposed by then-Council member Adam McElvain in 2017.
When first proposed, it was envisioned that the network could use Redding Electric Utility poles to bring lightning-quick Internet service to downtown Redding. At Tuesday’s meeting, Gibilisco said using REU’s transmission network is no longer feasible and that a full buildout of a citywide fiber-optic network could exceed $180 million.
After a brief discussion, the council agreed a more realistic alternative is to have Gibilisco explore a public-private partnership with a commercial Internet provider, possibly in conjunction with other local agencies and school districts, and report back.
