๐๐จ๐๐ค ๐๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฌ ๐๐๐ฆ๐จ๐ฏ๐๐ ๐จ๐ง ๐๐ซ๐ฎ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐๐
If youโre even a little sentimental about Chicoโs history, it hurt seeing those rock walls along Bruce Road getting scooped up and destroyed like they were rubble. With views of the foothills to the east, the rock walls were the roadโs most pleasant feature. It would have been nice to have a bike path running alongside them.
That rural stretch is about to become an urban corridor. Meriam Park is building out housing for thousands of people on the west side and the subdivision called โOak Valleyโ has their highest density housing planned to line Bruce, with more low-density already being built going up the foothills.
The rock walls are being removed to make way for the expansion of that section of Bruce into a four-lane roadway, like it is along California Park. This is being done with $22 million from a state โinfill infrastructureโ grant justified by the affordable housing in Meriam Park.
But public works director Brenden Vieg is quoted in the ER saying that the housing does not require the road widening. Furthermore, for the people who live on the east side of Bruce Road most jobs and services (like in Meriam Park, downtown, or up the freeway) will require them to cross the road. Thatโs more dangerous and less comfortable on a wider roadway with fewer crossings and faster vehicle speeds.
The developments that are really counting on Bruce being wider are Stonegate and Valleyโs Edge. For cars to drive faster to and from new suburbs on some of the last vernal pool habitat and onto the foothills, the city is demolishing these beloved rock walls, spending tens of millions of dollars in the process.
Should we be surprised that Republican Assemblyman James Gallagher spearheaded the effort to secure the money for this project? The real objective is to expand Chico with big houses to attract more affluent residents. A small dose of โworkforce housingโ can buffer the noise and fumes of the roadway for the more exclusive subdivisions beyond.
Itโs 2021: we should not be building out for more dependence on car use. In 2022 we need to take back the City Council from the James Gallagher clique and their real estate donors.
