A weekend RS article about the Redding Electric Utility and their policy to evict residents who cannot pay for electricity drew hundreds of comments on Redding.com, making it easily among the most popular articles ever written there. A thread quickly developed that suggested a candlelight protest at a Council meeting. A quick read through reveals the usual level of these mostly anonymous “conversations” with interesting references to the Ruggles brothers lynching, and more negative commentary, mixed in with some possibly interesting ideas. It will be instructive to watch this unfold, if it does. Will this be Redding’s first Flash Mob?
The issue is complex. There are no simple answers. Nobody wants families thrown on the street. Many of those commenting seem to have only a vague notion of what it really means to live without power. Several comments spoke about kerosene heating, solar power, candles, batteries, etc. allowing one to live indoors without power.
The reality is far different.
As a listing agent for bank foreclosures, I saw the remaining evidence of families living in darkness. I saw the candles melted into puddles, and the resulting fire damage, large and small. I saw that the lack of a vacuum cleaner and hot temperatures result in carpets of flea swarms, and imagined children covered in bites. I saw children’s toys scattered amongst rat feces in the cold darkness. I saw food stored in unsafe temperatures and conditions. And back when there were dozens of families living in an abandoned and powerless work camp off Shasta Dam Boulevard, my wife, who is a schoolteacher, saw kids in her class with diseases nobody around here had seen since the nineteenth century. That’s the reality of living without electricity. No candlelight vigil will change that.
Maybe.
Like, I said, it will be interesting to see how it unfolds. The subtext of the comments was predictably blaming REU as heartless, serving as the straw man for trolling. The folks of REU are your friends and neighbors. They don’t want to kick families into the street either, but living without power causes big problems. What’s the answer? I don’t know. It will be interesting to see if the flash mob/protesters have anything positive to offer besides the usual anonymous comments.
Meanwhile about a dozen homeless folks hold a City Hall vigil of their own, out of the rain, in the bleachers just west of the Civic Center. Photo taken a few minutes ago. They are not watching a game, and they are likely not online posting anonymous comments either.
