Goodbye and good riddance

Soon we won’t have the roof on The Mall in downtown Redding to complain about any more. We won’t have its mold to ridicule, nor its rainy leaks, captured in City of Redding trash cans, to criticize.

Before long, no roof will exist to blame for making The Mall seem so dark and creepy. 

Sunday we gave a heads up regarding Monday’s decision before the Redding Redevelopment Agency. At issue was whether the agency would approve Redding city staff recommendations .

Would it say yes to city-staff-suggested funding sources to remove the roof as well as implement Phase 2 design work inside The Mall?

Would it say no, and guarantee millions of dollars in short-sighted roof repairs from here to eternity? 

The prevailing wisdom around town was the agency’s decision would be an Eazy Weaver affirmative slam dunk.

But in Redding, petty politics routinely shoots the holy crapola out of wisdom.

Hence, Monday night we had ourselves a potential crapshoot.

As it turned out, the meeting lasted barely five minutes.

Five minutes! That must be some kind of record. This shortest of meetings took place before an audience who may have been outnumbered by attending city staff members.

A pause here for a round of applause for Redding city staff for its creativity and tenacity to make Phase 1 and Phase 2 possible. And another round of applause to James Theimer (friend disclosure) and his Trilogy Architecture firm, for its design work on Phase 1, which enabled a theme for Phase 2.

Back to the five-minute meeting. In that time, Larry Morgon, the redevelopment manager, gave his pitch, and Councilman Ken Murray asked about a staircase (I thought that was thoroughly covered in the staff report, but oh well), and then onto the vote.

Ba-da bing. Ba-da boom.

The agency voted unanimously to go with city staff recommendations.

Mayor Mary Stegall, who deserves a crown that bears the title Mayor Mary Mall Stegall, for her dedication to Redding’s downtown – was absent. 

But she’d already done years’ worth of heavy downtown lifting, as well as begging and imploring on The Mall’s behalf. In some ways, you might say Monday was just a formality.

Either way, after the yes vote, everything seemed so weird and anticlimactic.

No fanfare. No wild applause. No whoops. No weeps or leaps for joy. Not even a peep.

No wonder. This vote followed more than a decade of dragged-on meetings, countless passionate comments, reams of reports and numerous out-of-town consultants.

Even so, after the meeting Morgon looked like a very happy man.  

“I’m truly excited about this finally happening,” he said.

That sentiment was shared by John Truitt, Viva Downtown director.

“This has been a long time in coming, going all the way back to the Downtown Specific Plan,” Truitt said.

“I’m just glad to see it moving forward.”

He spoke with great fondness about the now-uncovered north end of The Mall. He said it’s so full of light and landscaping and vistas, and, best of all, people.

Bruce and I walked there after the Redevelopment meeting. We agreed we could hardly remember what that north part of The Mall looked like when it had a roof.

The big reminders were those towering concrete pillars that once rested against The Mall ceiling.

Now they reach like slender, eager fingers toward air and sky.

By summer’s end – certainly by the year’s end – the rest of The Mall’s roof will be gone.

For good.

Good.