At the Shasta County Board of Education meeting this Wednesday at 1:30 p.m., Shasta County Office of Education (SCOE) staff will be presenting a new MTU building plan they are calling a “compromise”. The new plan paves over 47% of Magnolia Park with a building and parking lot. We find this new “compromise,” which would devastate half the park, unacceptable when alternatives exist that would leave the small park entirely alone. The new plan does appear to have a small, narrow playground area, and a greatly reduced field, but it is unclear if these small “park” areas would be open to the public and during what hours. We appreciate the SCOE’s apparent recognition of the value of the park and its tentative decision to retain a play area there. However, Magnolia Park is already small (at 1.3 acres) and serves as the only park in a densely populated neighborhood that is already designated by the City of Redding as “park deficient”. If a neighborhood with as many lots as Magnolia were being built today, Redding would require a 5-acre or larger park be included! Unnecessarily reducing the park’s size by half would be a permanent, significant disservice to current and future residents. Magnolia Park is an important and well-used asset for the community, and taxpayer dollars should not be used by public servants for its destruction until those servants can demonstrate in a thorough, transparent and unbiased analysis that no other feasible alternatives exist and that the loss of the park is not a significant negative impact to the City and its residents. At Wednesday’s Board meeting we hope to show the Board that paving over Magnolia Park is not in either their, or the public’s best interest. The major points we hope to make are: 1) The process by which they approved the project to destroy half the park lacked necessary transparency and public input. 2) The SCOE’s claims that the park is not safe are not supported by RPD crime statistics and are at at odds with the experiences of frequent park users. 3) The community values and frequently uses the park, and it is an important asset to the neighborhood and to the City of Redding. 4) The park should not be encroached on. 5) Preserving the park is ethically the right thing to do - parks are crucial for children and families, and once paved over can never return. 6) Many options exist for placing the MTU elsewhere - either at other SCOE facilities, other schools in Redding, or even at another location at the same SCOE complex. We will be asking the SCOE to put the brakes on this project until they can either locate the MTU outside of the park or they move forward with a suitable public process that includes a thorough analysis of alternatives and review of environmental impacts. We are asking for your support by showing up at Wednesday’s meeting. A strong public presence will send a powerful message. We expect our government leaders and organizations to be accountable to the will and wishes of the people they serve. And at a minimum, we expect them to follow laws that have been put into place requiring them to do so. Quietly attempting to shelter this project from the public’s eye and to exempt it from state law that would have required extensive public input and environmental review has already put the trustworthiness of this organization into question. If you are able to show up and show your support, please do so. We encourage you to speak to the Board on any of the above points if you wish (members of the public, us included, will have 3 minutes each to speak). Or, by simply showing up in support of saving Magnolia Park you are being very helpful. As large of a presence as possible at this meeting will be help us send a clear message to the Superintendent and the Board about what the public wants. The Shasta County Board of Education February meeting is at 1:30p.m. on Wednesday, February 15th, in the SCOE Board Room at the SCOE main office at 1644 Magnolia Avenue. Thank you for your support! Sincerely, Citizens for Magnolia Park