Winter blasts Dacquisto before he is voted Redding mayor. South City Park grant application update

Residents who live near South City Park came out in force Tuesday night, and a divided Redding City Council listened, authorizing an application for a $3.5 million grant that would trigger the redevelopment of the city’s oldest park.

The council voted 3-2 to apply for the grant. Councilwoman Julie Winter and new councilors Jack Munns and Tenessa Audette were in the majority, while newly appointed Mayor Michael Dacquisto and Mark Mezzano voted no.

The $3.5 million National Park Services grant would be used for the first phase of the project, which could include the playground, eight pickleball courts, flex lawn, entry plaza and youth area.

The deadline to apply for the grant is Dec. 15, and the city should find out if it received the money in January 2024.

Tuesday’s meeting started with controversy when Winter voted not to appoint Dacquisto mayor. She read a statement that in part said he was unfit for the position, citing his attendance record and a video of Dacquisto touring a homeless camp that he posted on Facebook, which Winter said had him “mocking and ridiculing homeless folks.” She provided a link to the video on her statement, which she emailed to the media.

Dacquisto asked Winter how long it took her to type the statement up and said it was “a hell of way to start the new year.”

It was a dramatic moment during a night full of emotion.

The vote on South City Park came after about three hours of passionate testimony from some 40 people, many of them residents of the Garden Tract, Parkview and Wildwood Park neighborhoods, and from pickleball players. They implored the council to think big and create a park that everybody can enjoy – a jab at a counter proposal to build a transitional youth baseball field.

“It’s not about personal kingdoms. It’s about community assets,” said Ericka Jones, who sits on the city’s Community Services Advisory Committee, which recommended the South City Park proposal to the park’s department.

Jean King said this is not about the pros and cons of baseball.

“What would provide the most benefit for the most people for the most time?” she said.

Allyson Harris, a sixth-grade teacher at Turtle Bay School, defended Community Services Director Kim Niemer’s vision for the park. A day before the meeting, Dacquisto told the Record Searchlight that he didn’t have the confidence in Niemer to carry out the plan, citing the problems the city has had with Big League Dreams.

“Kim has a proven record,” Harris said. “Kim has done the work. She’s engaged the community and we’re here to let you know that this is what the public wants.”

All but three of the people who addressed the council backed the South City Park proposal.

Both Audette and Munns said they had received 200-plus emails in support of the redevelopment. Audette called the correspondence “compelling” and said the emails carried a lot of weight.

“The community around this park overwhelmingly wants this plan,” she said.

Lee Lamp of West Redding Little League said the city could build a youth baseball field and still offer other amenities in South City Park, especially pickleball, suggesting the city resurface and restripe the existing tennis courts.

But Niemer said the tennis courts are past their life span, and she reiterated that a youth baseball field would take up too much room to accommodate other park features.

Speaking to the urgency of applying for the grant, Niemer said there is more money available this year, so the city would have a better chance to get it.

Niemer said the city supports youth baseball and noted that Tiger Field and the existing youth baseball field at South City Park will still be part of the new-look park.

She also said that Simpson University will not be using Tiger Field, which will free up the diamond for youth baseball when the Redding Colt 45s are not playing there.

Mezzano indicated he was going to vote for the application then changed his mind after he and Dacquisto pressed Niemer about the possibility of revisiting the design if the city gets the grant money.

"There is no wiggle room. Kim says there is no room for the baseball field and I have seen the drawings that indicate otherwise," he told the Record Searchlight on Wednesday. "They also want to replace the tennis ball courts with pickleball. I have seen the drawings that show you can accommodate both."

The $3.5 million grant requires a 50% match, which Niemer has said will come from a Community Development Block Grant Section 108 loan that the council authorized at its Nov. 1 meeting and additional park development and grant funds.

Costs for all improvements at South City Park could be up to $10 million, which exceeds the $2.5 million the city has put toward the project, “and staff is seeking additional funding to begin engineering and construction of the plan,” a council staff report said.

Winter takes the gloves off

Dacquisto and Winter have often disagreed on the council, and on Tuesday, the tensions between the two came spilling out.

After Mezzano made a motion to appoint Dacquisto as the new mayor, Winter said she would support Mezzano as mayor but she "cannot support Mr. Dacquisto to the same.”

She reminded a packed council chambers that two years ago she voted not to put Dacquisto into the rotation for mayor.

“Mr. Dacquisto did not ask why, and I chose at the time to not state my reasons to avoid embarrassing him further by this vote of no confidence,” she said.

Winter explained that she was not happy to oppose Dacquisto’s appointment but said this time the public has the right to know why.

She said the mayor’s appointment requires a huge commitment of time and she doesn’t think Dacquisto is up to the task.

“In the last four years, I have not seen that Mr. Dacquisto is either able or willing to put in the time needed. He sold his home in Redding in 2021 and moved to Mount Shasta,” Winter read from a prepared statement.

She criticized Dacquisto for often voting no while on the council.

“It’s OK to vote no, but you better have a viable alternative,” she said.

During the campaign, Dacquisto’s residency came into question. But it appeared not to matter to voters as he received the most votes in the Nov. 8 election, with Audette finishing second and Munns third.

Dacquisto lists an apartment in downtown Redding as his residence and told the Record Searchlight during the campaign that that’s where he receives his mail and pays his taxes. He also owns a home in Mount Shasta.

After Winter spoke, Dacquisto said that he will listen to the people who did not vote for him.

“The people that didn’t vote for me, I still represent. I always state the reasons (for the way I vote). I’m not going to get down in the mud and argue with Ms. Winter about it because it’s not productive for anybody,” Dacquisto said.

This article originally appeared on Redding Record Searchlight: Redding council off to a rocky start as Dacquisto becomes mayor