Voters have until Tuesday, Nov. 5 to make their decisions for the general election. NSPR has been interviewing candidates vying for seats on the Chico City Council. In District 7, Bryce Goldstein is challenging incumbent Deepika Tandon. She spoke with NSPR’s Ava Norgrove about her background and how she would address some of the issues facing the city if elected.
*Editor's note: NSPR made multiple requests for an interview with District 7 incumbent Deepika Tandon through email, social media and phone and received no response.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Why do you want to run for the Chico City Council?
I moved to Chico to work on climate action plan implementation and outreach for the city. Working for the City of Chico led me to see the ways that our city needs to do better on sustainability and climate action. That led me to advocating city council for sustainability and better planning, including prioritizing infill development rather than sprawl like Valley's Edge.
It also led me to realize that we need to take proactive action toward addressing our housing crisis, especially in the wake of the Camp Fire because we have a homelessness issue, and we also have a housing crisis that impacts working families and young professionals. It impacts everybody.
I've been going to city council for seven or eight years. I also served on the Planning Commission for four years and now I serve on the Climate Action Commission. All of these things have led me to realize that we need leaders at the city council level who are passionate and ready to put the work in to make our community better.
What do you see as the most pressing issues facing Chico?
Homelessness and housing, which I believe are in many ways the same issue. Those are my top issues, along with transportation, and tied into all of those are sustainability and climate action. We have a traffic safety issue in addition to an issue of the physical condition of our roads.
As a transportation planner, I know that these things are inherently intertwined. The way that we have funded and designed our roads has been flawed, and we haven't been putting in the funds to maintain our roads, let alone redesign them.
But I'm going to be an advocate for ensuring that our core neighborhoods, where the most people live, where the most people are paying into the Measure H tax fund, that those neighborhoods get their roads addressed in a timely fashion before any roads at the edge of the city.
I served on the Planning Commission for four years, and in that time, we approved everything from the Housing Element update to little things like lot splits. What I learned from that position on the Planning Commission was that we are vastly underbuilding the housing needed for working class people. We aren't building enough housing that's affordable to the families in our community, to the students, to the people who want to get out of homelessness but can't afford an apartment.
Meanwhile, according to our statewide, regional housing needs allocation numbers, we have been building more than enough expensive housing for above moderate income levels. So when the proposed Valley's Edge development at the edge of Chico came to the Planning Commission toward the end of my term, it was a great example of how we shouldn't be building housing.
We need to be focusing on developing sustainable, walkable and affordable infill development and figuring out how we can remove those barriers to letting people live in the best areas of our city — the areas closest to transit stops, grocery stores, close to our local businesses. If people live near downtown or near our businesses along our other corridors, they're going to shop there. If people live at the edge of town, they're more likely to order things online and go to Sacramento for big shopping trips. We should be investing in the core of our community, and that looks like a better transportation system. That looks like building housing and infill areas.
We need to be building enough housing for everybody. We need to make sure that there is affordable housing, transitional housing, shelters and spaces where people can camp safely with management so that nobody has to be sleeping in our parks. Right now, there are more tents than before. In Annie's Glen, there's more trash, and this is an issue for everybody, regardless of your political party, but it's been really polarized for years. And unfortunately, I haven't seen our current city council majority address homelessness in a proactive way.
They've been forced into funding the Pallet shelter and establishing the Eaton and Cohasset site because they were sued. Now, the city council, the majority, would like to get out of the Warren v. Chico settlement agreement. We need a city council that will actually prioritize proactively addressing homelessness through a multifaceted approach. That multifaceted approach to me, needs to include a managed camping space. Managed meaning that there is security, that there are dumpsters for trash, that there are bathrooms, sanitation facilities and cooking facilities, and in that space, people can sleep, they can take a shower, they can do the things that they need to meet their basic needs, and ideally be connected to behavioral health services, mental health services and job opportunities.
From there, people can transition into more long-term shelters, hopefully transitional housing. Ideally, many of them can move into permanently renting their own apartment or living in a CHAT house or other supportive housing.
What sets you apart from the other candidates?
My opponent is the incumbent for District 7. She's served for four years, and I don't feel that she's represented our community well. I don't believe that she's done much. Recently, she has agendized some good things, but I feel that that's only because there's an election coming up. My opponent has voted along party lines with the Republican majority of the city council. I believe that the city council, as a nonpartisan position, means that we shouldn't see a block of people with one party affiliation voting all the same way. Or at least, there should be justification for why people are voting in that same way.
My opponent for District 7 has tended to just vote along party lines, without explanation. She's voted against the interests of her community. My district voted very heavily against Valley's Edge. My opponent, Deepika Tandon, voted for Valley's Edge. My opponent has not been responsive to community members who want to talk about issues in the community. I'm not running to represent me. I'm representing my community in District 7, as well as citywide to some degree. I want to know what's going on in my community so that I can agendize fixing those things on the city council.
Anything else you’d like to share with our listeners?
I grew up in the North State and Chico has always been one of my homes. But one of the things that drew me to live here and to stay here is that we have a good music scene, we have public art, we have a university, and it's a fun and beautiful place to live. I think some of that's been lost in our austere government that lacks any transparency, that shuts people down for voicing their opinions. I want to bring a little element of joy back to our local government. I want to see Chico just continue to be the wonderful fun place that it is, I want all the things that drew me to want to live here, to be present for future generations, and that includes our city's walkability, our urban forest canopy, our music scene, public arts, our beautiful parks.
We need to protect these things, and we need to protect people's ability to afford to live here. So, I'm really passionate about working with our community organizations to try to remove barriers to building affordable and missing middle housing. I want to address homelessness and make sure that our streets are safe for everybody.
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Read/ listen to NSPR’s other Chico City Council candidate interviews
Editor’s note: District 3 candidate Dale Bennett, District 5 candidate Melissa Lopez-Mora, and District 7 candidate Deepika Tandon did not respond to multiple requests from NSPR for an interview.
Further media coverage of the candidates
District 7 - (Deepika Tandon/ Bryce Goldstein)
- In their words – District 7 (Bryce Goldstein and incumbent Deepika Tandon) – Chico News & Review
- Know Your Candidates: Chico City Council (District 7) – KRCR
Deepika Tandon
- Deepika Tandon wants to see downtown, businesses grow | Chico City Council District 7 – Chico Enterprise-Record
Bryce Goldstein
- Bryce Goldstein thinks the city can look for more housing solutions | Chico City Council District 7 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Bryce Goldstein: Chico City Council District 7 – Action News Now
District 5 - (Melissa Lopez-Mora/ Katie Hawley)
- In their words – District 5 (Katie Hawley and Melissa Lopez-Mora) – Chico News & Review
- Know Your Candidates: Chico City Council (District 5) – KRCR
Melissa Lopez-Mora
- Melissa Lopez-Mora hopes to revitalize downtown | Chico City Council District 5 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Melissa Lopez-Mora: Chico City Council District 5 – Action News Now Katie Hawley
- Katie Hawley believes climate resilience needs to be addressed | Chico City Council District 5 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Katie Hawley: Chico City Council District 5 – Action News Now
District 3 - (Monica McDaniel/ Dale Bennett)
- In their words – District 3 (Dale Bennett and Monica McDaniel) – Chico News & Review
- Know Your Candidates: Chico City Council (District 3) – KRCR
Monica McDaniel
- Monica McDaniel finds room for improvement in homeless policies, police staffing | Chico City Council District 3 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Monica McDaniel: Chico City Council District 3 – Action News Now
Dale Bennett
- Dale Bennett sees city ‘moving forward’ with public safety and homelessness | Chico City Council District 3 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Dale Bennett: Chico City Council District 3 – Action News Now
District 1 - (Mike Johnson/ Michael O’Brien)
- In their words – District 1 (Mike Johnson and Michael O’Brien) – Chico News & Review
- Know Your Candidates: Chico City Council (District 1) – KRCR
- The race between two Mikes – Chico News & Review
Mike Johnson
- Mike Johnson thinks ‘a smarter way’ can be found for homelessness | Chico City Council District 1 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Mike Johnson: Chico City Council District 1 – Action News Now
Michael O’Brien
- Michael O’Brien sees city through public safety lens | Chico City Council District 1 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Michael O'Brien: Chico City Council District 1 – Action News Now