To the editor: The north of California (with what I refer to the counties to the north of Sacramento, not to San Francisco) is our home. Reading the article by personnel writer Jessica Garrison about redistribution of districts, however, it looks more like a collection of stereotypes (“Why many voters in northern California Red Deep are furious about Newsom maps,” August 20).
Yes, our counties are largely rural. Agriculture forms the spine of many local economies. Some of the stereotypes are true, and it is no secret that our region tends to vote more conservatively. But that is not the whole story. We are also the home of universities, hospitals, cultural events, museums and growing cities such as Chico and Redding. And like any other part of California, we share the same fundamental needs: safe communities, access to medical care, good schools, affordable homes and opportunities for our children.
What was most lost the article is the frustration we feel when leaving behind. The challenges facing our region (shortage of medical care, high cancer rates and opioid abuse, suicide, low performance schools, increased housing costs and limited work opportunities) reflect those of the urban centers of California. However, our communities are routinely ignored by Sacramento.
It is easier to fire people labeling their beliefs as unpopular or out of contact than to commit to real problems. The truth is that we are not so different from our Californian companions in the south. We want good jobs, homes for our families and better futures for our children.
If in fact, the strength of our state is diversity, then we must also consider that we are much more similar than this story made us appear. Perhaps then we can begin to address the real problems we face and close the political division between the end right and the extreme left both in our state and in the country. Perhaps he will realize that limiting our voices through the redistribution of districts due to national agitation has the involuntary consequence of letting more Californians fall into the abyss that their needs are ignored.
Andrew Coolidge, boy
This writer is the former mayor of Chico.
