Growing Awareness, Part Two
I think it should be every child's right to have access to a safe place to play outside and interact with other youth. I was fortunate to grow up on street that dead-ended into a small apricot orchard a short three-minute walk from my house. I have fond memories of climbing trees, collecting ladybugs and butterflies, and throwing dirt clods.
Not only do Chico's vacant lots and remnant orchards provide a sense of wonder for those who walk through or past them, but they also provide habitat for the urban wildlife that set Chico apart from surburbia-ville: Yes, there are the squirrels, but there are also many species of amphibians, birds, reptiles, and insects that all continue to make their homes in and among the hundred-year-old valley oaks and black walnut trees that keep watch over our neighborhoods, reminding us of Chico's natural roots.
Many argue that that's what Bidwell Park is for. And Lindo Channel. And our large community parks (both existing and planned).
But not everyone lives a five-minute stroll from One Mile.
In my neighborhood, there is a pleasant trail along Lindo Channel that is a 10-minute stroll (much of it braving traffic, as the sidewalk is intermittent), but the most accessible open space is the orchard across the street, which crossed by a pleasant dirt bike path.
Infill happens in this town--even at the smallest rate of growth. The vacant lots and fields and orchards will become human dwellings. But I make two requests of developers, and to Chico community:
First of all, when you build, make it nice. Build us places to live that enhance our neighborhoods. Build in a way that respects our environment, both human and natural. Don't build us dwellings that stick out like an SUV surrounded by bicycles. Rather, build us homes where the walkway to the front door comes off the sidewalk rather than the driveway. Build us homes where the most prominent feature is a front porch, rather than a the garage. Build us homes that can be sold on its merits of energy efficiency and use of sustainable building materials, rather than solely on square footage.
There are plenty of examples of thoughtless construction in this town, houses built solely for the purpose of a builder who wants to turn around and make a quick profit, with little or no regard as to how the building relates to the overall character of the neighborhood. We have the ability to do better. Much better.
Second, leave some of the land alone. It doesn't have to be very big, but leave us something, some part of each lot, so that everyone can have access to a safe place to gaze up at a woodpecker in a tree. I am not asking for every orchard to be turned into a community park, but some small pocket parks would be nice, one to three tenths of an acre in size, open spaces among the new developments, where the some of the wild trees are left standing.
A safe, five-minute walk from our homes.