This holiday season, Grass Valley staged a celebration worthy of a Charles Dickens novel. On the evening of November 9th, the Town Cryer lead a procession of revelers, including a bagpiper and Old St. Nick, down our quaint, festively decorated Mill Street Plaza to the community Christmas tree. After a few lighthearted remarks, Mayor Arbuckle flipped the switch, the tree came alive with bright colored lights, and citizens, young and old, cheered and applauded. The Grass Valley Cornish Choir and the Bear River High School Chorus then sang Christmas carols while everyone listened or sang along.
A celebration representative of the community culture of small-town America, 2024.
Fifty-five years ago, Grass Valley staged a much different late fall ceremony. On December 16, 1969, a group of citizens and dozens of state and local politicians gathered a few miles from downtown for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. After lengthy speeches, a gold ribbon was severed, signaling the completion of the Golden State Freeway, a noisy, eight-mile concrete scar through Grass Valley and Nevada City, displacing homes and businesses and forever altering the character and the landscape of our county, despite the objections of residents, who had pleaded with the State Division of Highways for an alternate route that would have spared the towns. “Gentlemen, start your engines!” yelled the M.C., and dozens of vehicles drove in a parade to the Brunswick off-ramp, where everyone retired to a local restaurant for congratulatory drinks and lunch.
A celebration representative of the car culture of urban and small-town America, 1969.
But the 1960’s have long since passed, if the problems of the 60’s have not, and today a new generation of Grass Valley leaders are diligently softening or repairing assorted degradations over the years to our communal fabric, our ecosystems, and the character of our area.
This is a Thanksgiving shout-out to the current generation of Grass Valley leaders: to the Mayor and Town Council; to our City Manager, Tim Kiser; to our City Engineer Bjorn Jones and his engineer associates, Catharine Dykes and Eric Anderson; and to our many Public Works employees. And a shout-out as well to the citizens who have volunteered time and money to help restore our streets, businesses, parks, watersheds, and trails.
Why such effusive thanks? Let us count the reasons. First and foremost, there’s the Mill Street Plaza, declared a strategic goal by City Manager Tim Kiser in 2018 when he wrote of the need for, “a communal gathering place that preserves the town’s historical character and leads to a beautification of the city.” In 2021, our city leaders recognized an opportunity in the Pandemic shutdown, and thanks to goals explicitly linked to the need for a town square, Grass Valley was able to submit a detailed proposal that resulted in Federal Recovery funds to finance the Plaza.
Consider, as well, the other varied improvements over the last few years to Memorial, Condon, and Meutino Parks; the repaved, redesigned roads and roundabouts; the various city solar projects; the beloved, modern playgrounds; the Scotten and Condon ball fields; and last, not least, the Wolf Creek Trail.
The trail leads back to Bjorn Jones, our City Engineer. In a recent conversation at City Hall, he discussed these projects, all of which he was involved in planning or implementing since being hired as an assistant engineer back in 2006. Bjorn is tall, athletic, and articulate, yet the real source of his charm is his soft-spoken understatement. He described the Mill Street Plaza project—what some professionals might describe as a logistical and public relations nightmare—as “uncomplicated from an engineering perspective.” He described the Wolf Creek Trail expansion as “an important upgrade.”
A city engineer plans and implements many projects, and like a parent or grandparent, he shouldn’t– he knows he shouldn’t– have a favorite; but when Bjorn talks about the transformational Wolf Creek expansion, he speaks with excitement and with passion. Recently, Grass Valley was awarded a highly competitive $13 million state grant for its plan to extend the existing 1.2-mile trail along Wolf Creek west of Raleys farther alongside the creek up Mill, Colfax, Bennet, Idaho-Maryland, Sutter Streets, then connecting with the existing Loma Ranch trail system. Eventually the trail will extend from the south corner of Grass Valley to the Brunswick Basin, providing biking and walking, multiple points of access to the creek, and restoration of the creek watershed. For an inveterate jogger and walker such as Bjorn, the project represented not only personal and professional success, but also a legacy to our community.
So, here’s to you, Bjorn Jones, and here’s to your professional colleagues at City Hall who are dedicated to nurturing our communal culture, restoring our Wolf Creek Watershed, providing recreational opportunities, and enhancing the historical character of our town.
Write timothymay49@gmail.com if you have an idea for a shout out.