Going car-free and other good things

A no-cars event!
I received a press release from Mark Stemen, on behalf of the Butte Environmental Council, announcing the upcoming Chico Car Free Day.

BEC is inviting everyone in Chico to participate in this event, which will take place from 1-5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6, in downtown Chico. “[M]ultiple streets, behind City Hall, will be closed to automobile traffic to open up space for educational and fun-filled activities,” the press release said.

“The idea behind Car Free Day is to reconsider urban transport with the prospect of sharing streets more efficiently,” it continued. “This day is an opportunity for us to take personal, positive and constructive measures to reduce greenhouse gases in our community as well as enjoy the company of our friends in a quiet stroll along the tree-lined streets of downtown Chico.”

The event will be centered along Flume Street, between Fourth and Seventh streets. For more information, go to www.becnet.org or call 891-6424.

Code Blue update
In more BEC-related news, Nani Teves, BEC’s water-outreach coordinator, sent me an email advising folks that the Delta water-education field trip BEC canceled in June due to excessively hot weather has been rescheduled for Saturday, Oct. 12, from 8 a.m. (sharp!) to 5 p.m.

“With all the articles and debates about the governor’s twin-tunnels project, which proposes to reroute the Sacramento River around the Bay Delta for water supply and habitat issues, it is hard to know what to think,” offered Teves’ email. “On one hand, we are told the tunnels will solve the state’s water and Bay-Delta problems; however, on the other hand, we hear the water is really for growing inappropriate crops in an arid climate and won’t do anything to help the salmon populations. …

“BEC is hosting a road trip down to the Delta to see where the tunnels will be located, where the water will be diverted from the river, and where the muck dumps are proposed. We will be exploring historic Walnut Grove, touring the levees, seeing what subsided lands look like, and getting a deeper understanding of the project from Jane Wagner-Tyack, with the group Restore the Delta.”

Meet at the Chico Park and Ride (at highways 32 and 99) to carpool down to the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. Bring water, lunch and snacks. Space limited; RSVP required, by Oct. 11. Free, but bring $10 to donate to carpool driver. Sign up by emailing nanibay@hotmail.com or calling 891-6424. Go to www.becnet.org/water for more info.

Sustain your spirit
I ran into wonderful local guitarist Tobin Roye at the Chico Natural Foods Cooperative the other day, and he told me that he will be performing with the Paradise Symphony at the Paradise Performing Arts Center (777 Nunneley Road) at 7 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 20, at the first concert of the symphony’s annual performance season.

In the night’s program, titled Heroes, Roye (pictured) will perform Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s “Concerto in D” under the direction of conductor Lloyd Roby. The program also includes works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Richard Rodgers.

“This is a beautiful piece of music, and I am honored to have the opportunity to play it with the Paradise Symphony,” said Roye, in a later email, of the Castelnuovo-Tedesco piece. “The meticulous orchestration is elegant and light, allowing the voice of the guitar its due prominence. The melodies are highly evocative, and encompass a wide range of emotion. I think it’s fitting that the title of the concert is Heroes, because to me, this is heroic music!”

Go to www.paradisesymphony.org/tickets.php to buy tickets, or buy them at the door on the night of the performance.