My Mom, the 101-Year-Old Activist

So I settle in with a nice cup of coffee, open my local paper today, Sunday, and turn to the lead editorial and I read....

Chico resident Lois Van der Leun is 101 years old. In a century of living, she never felt a need to get up and speak at a Chico City Council meeting — until Thursday.

She has been a Chico resident (and E-R subscriber) since 1963. When the council started talking about massive changes to The Esplanade, she wrote a letter to the editor last month urging citizens to rally against changing “our beautiful, gorgeous boulevard.”

She showed up at the council meeting earlier this month, ready to share her opinion, but when the meeting ran late into the night, she left, like many people that night.

Undeterred, she was there for part two of the meeting Thursday night.

She was easily recognizable. She was the one in the bright green T-shirt with three words on the front: “Save The Esplanade.”

She had four of them made and gave the others to friends. The saying caught on. Another one of Thursday’s speakers echoed her words — “Save The Esplanade” — at the podium and got a round of applause.

When Van der Leun’s name was called to speak, somebody offered to bring her the microphone so she wouldn’t have to walk to the podium. She would have none of that.

She made her points, then added, “I had some more to say but I can’t remember it all — because I’m old, I guess.”

And then: “As you can see, I’m not for changing anything on The Esplanade. See my T-shirt? ... I’m hoping nothing happens to it. OK?”

With that she walked back up to her seat as the audience applauded.

Full disclosure: I’ve known Van der Leun for a decade. A retired teacher, she was a volunteer at my kids’ school, the beloved “Grandma Lois.” She somehow still remembers their names. I want to be like her when I grow up.

There were a lot of people like her at the meeting Thursday — longtime Chico residents who don’t normally show up at meetings, but felt they had to for this topic. The vast majority of speakers were older residents with fond memories and a sense of history. The “Don’t mess with The Esplanade” crowd made a strong showing.

They didn’t want changes. They wanted police to enforce the law on running red lights. They wanted bicyclists to use designated bike routes like Oleander Avenue. They wanted Chico High School to improve drop-off and pick-up zones to address the congestion it creates. They wanted pedestrians to stop being oblivious.

There were a lot of ways to fix The Esplanade without tearing it apart, they said.

Then the council tore it apart.

Most of the changes were no big deal. Increasing the crosswalk time for pedestrians, creating pedestrian refuges in the median of The Esplanade and building a two-lane bike path in the old railroad right-of-way were all easy options to approve.

Putting two roundabouts on The Esplanade near Chico High will be the decision that haunts the four councilors who voted for it because it changes the historic nature of the street much more than a bike path or a crosswalk.

Longtime resident Nancy’s Lindahl’s letter in Thursday’s newspaper hit home with me. “If The Esplanade was a natural phenomenon like, say, Bidwell Park, we would teach our children to respect it, preserve it, go around it, adapt to it and not disturb it. We would consider it part of our unique heritage, which it is.”

For a little while longer anyway.

I called Van der Leun the next morning. She was visiting with a friend, talking about the council’s decision. I told her I was stunned. She said she wasn’t.

“I knew it would play out that way,” she said. “The minute they hire a consultant to make all those drawings, they’ve already decided.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

“Personally,” she said, “I think it should go to the ballot. Citizens should be able to vote on something so important, but I don’t know if anybody will go to the trouble of challenging it.

“I know I don’t have the energy,” she said.

David Little: Longtime residents can’t make the save on The Esplanade

Posted by gerardvanderleun at April 17, 2016 8:43 PM