This week we continue exploring how and why to travel after a disaster, and head up the road to Redding, a river city situated on the northern rim of the great Sacramento Valley.
We don’t think of Redding as a valley town, and it really isn’t, because it’s located on the edge of wildness, mountains rising up behind it like a spectacular curtain. Redding’s the last serious supply stop before you head out backpacking or fishing, or on a river adventure, serious bike ride, or family houseboat or camping trip. It’s the cultural hotspot for far northern California, home to the north state’s own PBS TV affiliate, a newly revitalized Cascade Theater, and that stunning Sundial Bridge spanning the Sacramento River adjacent to Turtle Bay.
Redding also happens to be an ideal spot to start a conversation about how to rebuild and recover after a raging wildfire, because the trauma that is still active in Paradise happened here too—just months ago, when the shockingly intense Carr Fire roared from Whiskeytown right into town, and even jumped the Sacramento River north of the city, raging on, from west to east.
The reason Redding is ideal to kickstart a conversation about fire recovery is because that process is already happening here, as part of a major “revisioning” for downtown—changes soon to be visible everywhere, thanks to some $200 million in grant funding secured by the city. The desire to redo downtown has been strong here for quite some time. Work to get plans and funding in place has been underway for years.
Redding is the crossroads for far northern California, its downtown core literally divided and conquered by Interstate 5 and multiple state highways as a direct result. The idea here is to create an inviting, livable, yes, even walkable and bike-friendly downtown—one nonetheless connected to the surrounding wilderness—even in this most unlikely of new-urbanism locations.
Right now, it’s all happening on California Street downtown. This community revisioning process even has a temporary headquarters, in an abandoned warehouse, thanks to a grant from the local McConnell Foundation—California Street Labs, a pop-up space at 1313 California Street. Everyone, including tourists, can come visit on Thursdays and Saturdays, to share ideas and participate in particular experiments. Come on by, to witness a downtown already in the process of transforming itself.
California Street Labs, which formally opened on October 6, is the brainchild of Anne Thomas, founder of Shasta Living Streets,an active local supporter of livable community design and development. The lab warehouse truly is an experiment, and an experimental space. It’s an exercise in “tactical urbanism,” she says—a place where community members can test out new ideas and possible directions to build a “vibrant downtown and a great city,” addressing questions that come with life in the 21st century. The point is to just try things, see which ideas might work, might attract a following. Artists, entrepreneurs, young families, retirees, business owners, come on down!
The Carr Fire and its traumatic aftermath actually postponed the planned opening of California Street Labs, which is more than a little ironic. This experiment and others like it—where everyone can get involved—are central to a new vision for Redding. But they are also key to reimagining Paradise, a town that now needs much more than a traffic-calmed downtown. Paradise will need a whole new vision for itself, some of which Redding already has. Visiting Redding, seeing and supporting what’s already happening there, is a good first step in supporting the rebuilding of Paradise.
