I know my comment is going to get a lot of flack but I happen to like the palm trees. They don't block signs at all, which is nice. Plus they grow vertically and we don't have to worry about their root structure tearing up the road. I do agree that in future construction endeavors we should use local indigenous trees to for landscape.

Your right, you are going to get a lot of flack....

I'll take the flack with you. I think the palm trees look great!!!!

I like the palm trees too. Too many citizens complain that the city doesn't listen to them. Well, in this case, the city listened to all the hotel owners and let them have their palms. Now citizens say the city didn't show enough leadership. Please! If the city showed more leadership and said NO, then they'd be blamed for being a bully and not listening to the hotel owners! Darned if they do, darned if they don't!! I can't wait until it's done. So far it's looking good and will only be a plus for our city.

The businesses paid nothing for the trees. The motel customers got socked with an extra motel tax. Now of course, it was cleverly not specified as such because motel taxes require a vote of the people and we won't want that. While Hilltop may look better, the problem is getting people off the freeway. Lowering prices would be better to attract customers than landscaping but hey its your empty rooms not mine.

Boycott the Businesses and let the Tourists support them. That seems to be the direction that's being taken.

Your wrong again Russell, first of all the TOT did not get increased to fund the trees nor the other improvements. The TOT tax would have gone into the city's coffers so in fact the city did pay for them.

As to those who like or don't like the palms it no longer matters, they are purchased and mostly already in place. The fact that they are ugly, do not maintain well, harbor roof rats and other vermin, have shallow root base for very heavy trees and blow down easily in high winds is of no consequence. What does matter is whether the matching plastic pink flamingos will be purchased from a US manufacturing company or Chinese?

Just to change the subject a bit, but does anyone know why they have all those lights on north market? I mean they are pretty..but one every twelve feet apart looks like total overkill.

Quite your whinning and leave. Oak run has a lot of native trees why don't you whinners move there. If a city doesn't grow it dies. Quit crying about everything being done and enjoy it. I lived here all my life and the old Redding was just too plain. This city looks great!

Most Hilltop business owners didn't want the medians to begin with, and the City had to practically force this project down their throats. From what I've been able to gather, the MAIN reason for selecting palm trees was that they will not obscure the view of these businesses to the extent that other types of trees will, while sitting on medians the business owners didn't want anyway.

And the funding for this $5.1 million project is as follows: $2 million in redevelopment funds, $2 million from REU ratepayers, and the remaining $1.1 (hopefully) from an increase to the City's motel tax - ALL of which are "public" funds.

Oh God, when are going to base your arugments on facts instead of rage. The business improvement district added 1.65% to the motel customers' bills. The City did not get the money, I never said they did. They skirted the state constitution on purpose with a business improvement district that only includes motels. A TOT increase would never of been approved by the voters. Not one motel paid for the trees. The tourist did .

The surrounding scenery is what kept me here, not medians and trees. Give me a break!

Yeah, because I'm sure that most of their business is from locals. (eyeroll) They are HOTELS for pete's sake!

I have been here all my life and a few palms aren't going to convince me that leaving is an option.

"......But Steve Gaines, head of the Hilltop Hotel Business Improvement District, said his group insisted on date palms.........."

Need we say more? The head guy is going on record stating they WANTED the palms. I don't understand why people keep beating a dead horse. They're there. If you don't like seeing them, don't drive on Hilltop. There are other ways around Redding. Hilltop will look very nice once all the eletric lines go underground, which, Patrecia Barrett, is what REU is paying for. Cities need to grow - not become stagnant. Redding doesn't need to continue looking like it did 25 years ago. Consider yourselves lucky - if you want to go see native Redding trees, it's a 30 minute drive to Shingletown. Enjoy the scenery of all the pines on the way there!

Russell your failure to understand the concept is why you will draw the absolute least of the 8 candidates. Those who know you won't vote for you and those who bother to read your nonsense certainly won't either. You are wasting your time. Save those signs and paint over the City Council and write in dog catcher next time!

"Flamingos Revealed" could be what will drive all those tourist to Hilltop Motels!

My husband calls Redding "Palm Springs North". That name really fits now.

Redding had palms in the 30s through the 50s and they for the most part all went away. Maybe they will go away again?

Check out http://www.shastahistorical.org/ and search their database using "palm" and you will see many pictures of palms all over Redding.

They wont be untied until the roots are deeper. If they untie too soon and we get a windy day, we will lose them.

Anyways, longtime no talk to! How are you these days?

Lets put PINK "FLAMINGOS" out by the plams....would look like FLORIDA..HAHAHHA

When I first saw them I thought they looked more like giant dead carrots. My only real complaint is there may be to many of them. I think two per planter would have been great. I wonder what will happen if a major drought comes along. Will the dates or leaves fall and cause accidents?

I see so many dead palm trees in the Redding area.

I love how the city is dressing up some. I just wonder about the process for deciding things.

Sure there used to be more palms around and if you remember, there rarely was any snow in Redding itself. Because a hard freeze kills these date palms, the Redding BID better pray for faster global warming since the snow staying in Redding has become an annual event instead of every 5 years like before.

in response to grape vine:

Good observation . . rarely see much if any foot traffic trodding up & down that hill. Every 48 feet would have probally been enough. It is overkill!

Palm trees are not native to So Cal either. They were brought in from other areas. It takes a lot of hard work to pollinate date trees, so they probably won't produce either.

How come no one complains about the people from So. Cal. moving here and spending their money? Out of towners are the ones that contribute significantly to the economy in Redding.
Redding = Palm Springs North? That is hysterical!
Can't wait to see what happens when something associated with the "Bay Area" shows up.

""Can't wait to see what happens when something associated with the "Bay Area" shows up.""

Me either...

Yo! Prancer,Whats happening?

Prancer2 - interesting comment. What do you base your information on? For every criminal from So. Cal. there are probably dozens of locals contributing to crime. Most of the arrests we read about are local people or from other states and cities. Zeroing in on So. Cal. is unfair. I am sure they don't appreciate criminals from Redding coming there either! Last time I checked the crime statistics, Southern California is safer than Redding.

Prancer2 - I agree about the Palm Trees! Instead of a big fancy over priced new Police Building they should hire more officers to put on the streets. Redding has some serious growing pains that need to be doctored. Unfortunately the people in control of the city/county checkbooks like to spend money on bridges (walking & driving,) fancy city/county buildings, bronze statues, business parks, etc., etc. Meanwhile dozens of empty buildings sit idle. The whole things reminds me of a bowl of jello. Lots of moving and shaking but nothing goes anywhere.

when was the last time you checked?

Los Angeles averages 2.19 times the national average.

Redding averages 0.70 times the national average

That is national crime rate averages.

What happened to having a plan for the city?

We have palms, 4 different styles of lamps, 4 purely different appearing "Welcome" signs. 2 demonstration blocks done one way and the rest of the city???

So, are we selling ourselves as a mountain(ie Shasta/lassen) gateway community, an art deco(ie sundial and statue garden at city hall), a palm community????

We need leadership.

CITY COUNCIL CANDIDATES, please take note. We need to decide NOW who, what and how we are going to proceed as a community. We are wasting money daily.

Yes, it would be better to retire here than Florida where the hurricanes come one after another. I for one would rather retire here than on the Atlantic coast. Redding is a great place to retire. We used to have two super hospitals (or so we thought). Lots of recreation is here as well.

Has anybody ever seen what it takes to maintain palm trees? The palm trees get so ugly if the dead foliage is not removed. A crane is required to reach the dead foliage. I can just hear it now; all of those who think they are so beautiful now will be the first ones to complain when the traffic is backed up on Hilltop, while they are undergoing maintenance. Or when the city cannot afford the maintenance (because they have a 32 million dollar RPD station to pay for) and they become ugly with dead foliage. I am also sure the cost for maintaining the trees will be expensive as well.
Hope the expense of the trees, the added expense of maintenance along with the traffic jams are worth the beauty some of you see.

This is from: http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bplive/2008/

Quality of life..........City stats

REDDING, CA Pop. 90,000
Personal crime
incidents (per 1,000) 4
Property crime
incidents (per 1,000) 37

ANAHEIM, CA Pop. 334,000
Personal crime
incidents (per 1,000) 5
Property crime
incidents (per 1,000) 26

LOS ANGELES, CA Pop. 3,849,300
Personal crime
incidents (per 1,000) 8
Property crime
incidents (per 1,000) 27

There are several other sources including FBI stats.

You guys are all off topic, WTF do palm trees have to do with crime in LA?

We were hoping someone would drive up from LA and steal the palm trees.

They may not be great but they are our pink flamingos and if people don't want to pay to see them they can just stay away from the "Flamingo's Revealed" Exhibit!

Don't worry too much Prancer, I dont think anyone has earned a notch yet for being off topic.

lol to your 3:11

I totally agree!

Dustybottoms2: we are talking about how money is spent in Redding on "special projects" and how, possibly, the monies could be better spent. For instance, more Police Officers could/should be hired. $293,760.00 for Palm Trees vs. hiring more officers. I guess that's WTF.

Prancer2: Anaheim has approx. 400 officers. That's roughly one officer per 835 citizens. I am told Redding has 6 officers (not counting CSO's.) That's 1 officer per 15,000 people. Is that true?

There are a lot of areas in North. Calif. that I would not care to live. Same for So. Cal. Both have lots of good things to offer.

You never deal with the facts. Just yell and scream like a little kid. Are you going to take your toys and run home now ?

You folks crack me up. I do not come from here, but who cares? This city has grown so much in the past three decades that MOST people did not come from here. The trees look great. I knew they would too. Anything would be an improvement over what we had on Hilltop. In my youth, I used to be a tree trimmer; palm trees are not difficult to take care of and they look nice. Regarding who paid for them, who cares about that either? We just added about a trillion dollars to the national debt, yet nobody seems to care about that. If they did, they would be supporting Ron Paul instead of the circus we have now. I just don't see that arguing over palm trees is putting the priorities straight.

Yeah, what he said.

Not to mention all the pigeons and their droppings underneath and all around the area.
Would have been nice to have some shade on the sidewalks where everyone has to walk.

in response to jrdsmiles:

well, when they get tall enough and we have a wet, windy winter, and one of those falls on top of one of the hilltop hotels.... lets see how fast Steve Gaines and his bunch point the finger to the city to pay for the damages!!! hahaha!

The onus for any damage to anyone whether it be upon citizen or business ought to fall squarely upon Steve Gaines and his fellow businessmen's shoulders since they INSISTED that those darn things be planted here.

Also, I wonder if Steve Gaines (or his cronies) have some self-profiting connection with the place in Coachella Valley where they were purchased. Otherwise why would they INSIST on date palms in Redding?!?! It just doesn't fit!

If palms are 'synonomous with tourism', then why didn't I see them at Crater Lake, or Bend, or Zion N.P., Yosemite, or Lassen N.P., or... well I could go on. And the city had better darn well get busy planting them all over Shasta Lake or we might very well lose our draw of tourists there!

Steve, you had better get the word out there! There are too many tourist places that are losing valuable revenue because the palm trees aren't there to draw in the tourists! Go! Steve, go!!! Tell everyone how important date palms are to tourism!!!

Like it or not, they are there.

But personally, I think I like it.

Yes, yes I do.

Enjoy!

Folks like you are funny... til you give yourself a heart attack. Then we don't have to listen to your krap anymore.

I guess that's a win-win for us. You might want to think it over for your health though.

Enjoy! :)

You are absoloutely hilarious! I recommend checking your blood pressure immediately!

-Enjoy!

another_opinion,

The City was determined to put medians (complete with trees of one kind or another) down the center of Hilltop, in spite of the fact that most Hilltop business owners didn't want them. Palm trees were chosen because they were least likely to interfere with the visability of the businesses in that area. If you're looking for someone to blame, you don't have to look any further than our extravagant city council, whose motto is "No street left unbeautified" (of course, that doesn't seem to apply to road maintenance). The Hilltop business owners were simply trying to make the best of a bad situation.

I'm sure palms will look fine in time as they mature but I don't see why we needed any trees in the middle of a busy street like hilltop. I think we will find that they are in the way and may cause traffic accidents.

They put the lights on North Market mostly for safety reasons....now we the drivers can see the pedestrians walking down the road and the pedestrians can have the feeling of being safer. I think it looks a lot better than it did before.

The Palm trees on Hill Top seems out of place and it will take a little getting used to....We all know who pays for improvements..Taxes. Somethings never change.

haahahah, who cares , its just a palm tree. if it falls on one of your cars im sure youd sue the heck out the city so stop worrying!!!!

Russy you know thats not true cyber transference does not become you.

When I read Russell's posts I can't help visualizing Elmer Fudd running around his house with a lil hunting cap and a shotgun shooting up the place and yelling "I'll get you, you wascal wabbitt you......"

In all the dressing up the City is doing, I hope they remember that rural is part of the City. We are not Palm Springs or Beverly Hills. It seems some folks are so embarrassed by what is they want to wipe it out completely.

Cowboy is part fo Redding.

I hope so is left when all the dressing is done.

the palms are there and more than likely will be there, but where are the people? Have any of us who live in shasta county ever walked the length of hilltop (with the palms) by choice, and if so why? I have been to three businesses over the course of 25 years and then it is get in, get out. Where would one stop and shop if you were out strolling on the thoroughfare after a relaxing meal. Probably back to the hotel cabana. Maybe I am missing something that every one but me knows about on Hilltop, but I did worry about the weary firefighters that truly were the only pedestrians from 44 to cypress this past summer.

It is going to be a lot of traffic accidents on hilltop now! I used to live in Palm Springs and now I feel like I'm back! LOL! Good luck and drive careful!

i like the palms, but then i like guamanian women too...

Hey Les...you got your Palms baby! I knew you would win once again!! Hey Palms beat some of the other trees out there! They do have some maintenence that goes with them....NOW WE AREN'T GOING TO SEE ANY COCONUTS on THE STREET ARE WE???? LOL....

The palm trees are looking great. We need change to keep things from getting stagnant. The nicer Redding looks, more people will want to come here. And more people mean more money and growth and that's a good thing. When you have no growth a city dies. The metal art around town looks great, the Sun Dial Bridge is fun to walk on and it's nice to watch the river from that vantage point. We just wish the community vibe was nicer. When we first moved here we felt hatred, rudeness and downright bad attitudes. Even our company visiting asked "what's up with the people here?" "They are so rude" And they came up from Central Calif. And when we visit down there the feel is different that's for sure. So Redding as a whole needs to clean it's act up or the tourists won't want to stop and stay and maybe enjoy those palms trees that they just planted for them!

haha, yea . like in lakeview oregon why dont we have some big ol cowboys??

I know what you are saying. I moved to Redding in 1978 from San Jose and it was true then and still is now. Alot of people in Redding are rude, but I guess it depends and what part of this small town you are in and to whom you are talking. I think you just have to keep your eyes open and weed out the rude and closed minded people.

Huh, I missed something. What post are you replying to?

Yeah those shifty palm trees are going to uproot and chase you up Hilltop drive! lmao!

I didn't initially like the idea because it was too SoCal, but hey it isn't a big deal and when I saw the concept art it looked really good. I've lived in cold areas all my life. I've rarely seen a palm tree in my life. lol

My Goodness, I have never heard such a bunch of whiners in my entire life. The palm trees look great.

they look good next to Marie Calenders palm trees, but what are we going to do to match the peanut shells from Logans?

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. I personally do "not" like the palm trees! A lot of people that move here from the bay area seem really down on the long time Redding locals, but did it occur to them that maybe the Redding locals liked their town the way it was. Maybe they don't want to have to move to Burney or Shingletown or someplace like that. It doesn't really matter now I guess since the change is in place. It's going to spread like it has everywhere else. Eventually everything from Redding to Red Bluff will look like one big city like it does down south. I'm ready to move back to Shingletown.

Hey Russell, do you really believe that a 1.65% tax, (which amounts to 99 cents for a $60 room) is going to deter people from staying in a Redding motel/hotel? Just how cheap are you? If the desk clerk told you the room was $60 plus taxes are you going to complain that the taxes are 99 cents higher than you're willing to pay? Are you going to get back into your car and drive down to Corning or up to Mt. Shasta? Would 99 cents keep you from staying here the next time?

Admit it, Russell, you really have no idea what you're talking about. People driving north or south on I5 aren't going to keep on driving because of a 1.65% tax and no sane and intelligent person would think that or actually post that incredibly stupid thought onto a public forum. I'll bet you never actually thought about it this way, yet you're running for office...Good luck with that.

I moved to Redding a year ago and even though I don't care if they plant palms or cactus, I love to see people trying to make this city prettier. Let's face it, Hilltop looked like downtown Oakland before they started working on it. It sure did not look like old time NorCal street...

another_opinion said, "well, when they get tall enough and we have a wet, windy winter, and one of those falls on top of one of the hilltop hotels..." /////// "If palms are 'synonomous with tourism', then why didn't I see them at Crater Lake, or Bend, or Zion N.P., Yosemite, or Lassen N.P."
--------------------------------------

Just how tall do you think these palms are going to get? The Hotels are all well back from the street and there isn't a palm tree in the world tall enough to reach any of those hotels.

I don't know that palm trees are, "Synonymous with tourism" or not but you can't be serious about your second quote listed above, can you? You do understand that different tourist locations have different purposes and different themes, right? I've been to all of the locations you listed. It's funny that you put Bend along with the 4 other locations that are more famous for their incredible natural beauty than the abundance of outdoor activities they have to offer. Bend is more of a tourist destination for people seeking outdoor activities. It's closer to being like Redding than like the other 4 locations you listed. But it's already filled with mostly native trees. You really have missed the point about attempting to beautify a city like Redding that needs some help to attract tourists rather than changing the natural terrain of a place like Yosemite or Zion. I don't think that palm trees would've been my choice to beautify Redding but you clearly missed the point of the post to which you were replying.

The palm trees are bad enough, but the medians they put in will cause accidents. You can barely get two vehicles into the turn lane for Industrial Street. I imagine it gets pretty crazy over there when Bert and Ernie's is packed. Then there's the smoke shop, which is always busy during operating hours. I had a close call there just last week. I wonder what idiot designed this mess???

I mostly agree with everything you put into your post. I know one of the hotel owners along Hilltop and he was very opposed to the dividers and the palm trees.

However, while I do think that the City Council is somewhat overzealous with their attitude of, "Beautify Redding at any cost", I do think that Redding does really need some sprucing up. It just seems that they could get some really nice results with some better planning that was based on getting the most bang for the buck instead of basing it on spending the most bucks for the bang. Kind of like a working-poor family that needs a new roof for their house and they also need a new car to haul their family and get to work. So instead of buying a nice but reasonably priced used family car or SUV and fixing the roof they buy a brand new Cadillac Escalade and they can't afford to fix the roof.

Hey, those palm trees were a bargain. Shasta County paid $30,000 each for the palm trees in front of the county admin building.

And if the pink flamingos come from china I hope they don't have lead based paint!

I'd personally like to see a fishing/outdoors theme emphasized. Something the area and surroundings are more known for.

Realityone22 said, "My Goodness, I have never heard such a bunch of whiners in my entire life. The palm trees look great."
----------------------------------

Yeah, sure, they look great, whatever...And they also cost almost $6000 a piece. Many people don't think they look so great. They're voicing their opinion just like you did. What if they had erected some really expensive artwork there instead of the trees and you thought the artwork was really ugly but many other people thought looked great? Would you keep your mouth shut or would you voice your opinion? Can you see that other people have differing opinions from yours?

The purpose of these forums is to comment on the story and the theme of this article is that many people don't like the look or the cost of the new trees. Can you put the two together?

angel_wonder3 said, "It is going to be a lot of traffic accidents on hilltop now! I used to live in Palm Springs and now I feel like I'm back! LOL! Good luck and drive careful!"
------------------------------------

How do you figure there's going to be, "A lot of traffic accidents..."? The center traffic dividers on Dana Dr. are a lot worse than the ones on Hilltop and I haven't noticed a significant rise in the traffic accidents there.

I agree that traffic dividers are a bad idea on these streets but mostly because it makes it so inconvenient to get to businesses on the other side of the street. I doubt that there will be a significant rise in accidents.

According to Ken Murray they are cheaper to maintain than real trees. I want to know if they fall down where will the city dispose of the tree? They have been deemed toxic and landfills no longer accept them. Years ago, my old neighbor had a palm removed from his property at the tune of $8000 and it was only half the size of the ones they planted on Hilltop.
I'm also wondering how much it will cost for the hormone treatments for these trees so they don't produce dates? Not only will we have the rats to deal with, but the birds too.

I grew up in Redding and left in 1972 moved to So Cal for 3 years then moved to Santa Cruz, which is where I live now. I think the palm trees are great !! When I lived in Redding (way back then..lol)it was very very different. I like it alot better now when I visit and see the changes.
Just my 2 cents worth from someone who used to live there.

Patricia is right, where does the funding come?

"There are three sources of funding. Since January 2006, the 10 hotels/motels that comprise the HHBID, have assessed their guests and collected 1.5% of their short-term room rates to raise $1.5M dollars for this project. The City Council has allocated $2M dollars from Redding Electric Utility to remove the utility poles and place utility lines underground. The Redding Redevelopment Agency has dedicated $2.0M to this project as the district is within the Canby-Hilltop-Cypress Redevelopment Zone."

http://www.hilltopdr.org/faqs

Can the money be used for other important things? According to the above mentioned web site, no.

"The Hilltop Hotels Business Improvement District was founded specifically to revitalize the Hilltop Drive area. 95% of the funds generated by HHBID’s membership are dedicated to this capital improvement project. The remaining 5% is dedicated to marketing Hilltop Drive and the formation of the organization. The Redding Redevelopment Agency is only able to use its funds for redevelopment projects. The Agency and the City Council have recognized how vital Hilltop area businesses are to our community and have identified the Hilltop Hotel Business Improvement District (an area within the Canby-Hilltop-Cypress Redevelopment Zone) as a top priority for revitalization, which is why these funds have been allocated to this project."

Yeah what you said ...most of the old-timer locals never wanted the S CAl people to come to Redding with all their "high and mighty ideas" ...thats why the nasty vibes and rudeness, we liked things the way they were, Redding wasn't dying ....it was nice and quiet ranch country! Yep I moved, I don't like Redding anymore!

....Palm trees galore, Jimmie Buffett, he don't live in Key West anymore. Feel like a Pina Colada?

Lee part of you say is:
"The City Council has allocated $2M dollars from Redding Electric Utility to remove the utility poles and place utility lines underground"

I assume you mean for the Hilltop project. That leads me to ask, what about the rest of Redding?! A week ago, we were south of town by Win River. Has anybody noticed how many utility poles are almost falling down? We saw one pole that had not one, two or three anchor wires holding it up, we counted seven! Now that is city management we can truly be proud of, hopefully the tourists won't go that direction, oh that's right some may want to gamble.

Hey folks, take a look at how bad and neglected many parts of Redding looks. Just maybe with a little more practical management, there would be enough money to improve more of Redding than just the Hilltop and the City Hall areas. Unbelievable!

I don't live in your area, but it seems that the climate in Redding might be different enough from the native environment for palms that in a few months it won't matter anyway. It'll be interesting to see what the area looks like in a year. I'll look for palms next time I pass thru.

Does remind me of Palm Springs, Santa Barbara, and Hawaii; would rather look like them, then Los Angeles, San Francisco, or 29 Palms. I may not agree on the choice or cost, but, it does have a nice feel and will look great with white twinkle lights during the Holidays.

I passed on the response I received I will not stand up for it. My post have certainly indicated my position. I am totallt opposed to palms. I think they are a bad fit for Redding.

Haven't seen them yet

And they probably look good

but not for Shasta County

It's not what we are about

LOVE the palm trees! They alone do NOT make Redding, "another Los Angeles". Please.
They will thrive in our climate and create a wonderful ambience for our tourists. Thanks Hilltop Improvement district and Redding Redevelopment agencies for sparing us more oaks and fruitless mulberries.

Palm trees look GREAT-it's about time Redding got a make over on the Hilltop area. Maybe too classy for some people?? There are several beautiful outdoor areas to bike, walk, & hike that have the pines etc. Redding has lots of beauty & the palms just add to it.