Keep Squeakin’!

18 May

So, the squeaky wheel gets the grease? Both the Downtown “revitalization” and the sewer rate increase have been put on ice because the public made some racket?

The important thing to remember is, it’s election time, and our leaders get bigger ears whenever they feel that cold breeze across their butt cheeks. Unfortunately, some people think their money talks louder than the rights of the rest of us taxpayers.

I don’t like Stoble Coffee, it’s just Starbucks with a different name and a “local” owner. When I walked in for a quick whirl, the noise level was so intense – people were shouting over each other. But it seems popular enough, and they contribute sales tax to the bottom line. I don’t have to like every business Downtown. I’ve also seen a lot of “flash in the pan” businesses over the years, that have folded up suddenly and left town, for whatever reason. Lately it’s been bad – that’s part of what is killing Downtown – the old familiar places and faces are changing, and the new places don’t stick around long enough to make an impression.

So, the thought that these Happy Wanderers would try to screw my district representative out of a vote because she also owns a business Downtown is positively offensive. According to the FPPC, ” Recusal is not required if the council member’s interest is indistinguishable from the effect on the general public.” Reynolds has also been a voice for long-time business owners who won’t be able to sustain a long-term project.

This wouldn’t be a “revitalization” for many businesses, it would be the last nail in the coffin – following really bad decisions made during the “Shelter Crisis”, COVID and subsequent downturns. It would be devastating to see businesses that fought to survive those disasters, only to be put down by further bad decisions made by the city of Chico. And especially ironic because the of the millions and millions in funding the city received for those incidents. Like the $24 million they are seeking for bike lanes, on street dining/alcohol, and “traffic calming“.

Yes, the city and the Downtown Business Owners Association have a responsibility to keep up the streets and (arguably) the sidewalks, and especially the sewer. That is all the “revitalization” Downtown needs. Business owners should never have to worry that they will be cut off from the public for any reason. Harken back to the time the sidewalk collapsed in front of Kona’s, then located on Broadway – the city told the business owner he would have to replace the sidewalk and drainage at his own expense. Kona’s – a really popular sandwich shop/bakery for years, also supplying bread to other shops – ended up relocating to Nord.

But the word “revitalization” has been enlarged beyond basic necessities to encompass a total makeover, a remodeling, changing stuff that we’ve had for over 100 years, stuff that makes Downtown special to those of us who have been paying property taxes in this town before Mr. and Mrs. “Stoble” ever showed up on the horizon.

I knew the districts would be bad, and here’s another reason – if our rep has to recuse themself it means our entire district is disenfranchised. These people, all seven, make decisions that affect all of us, and we only get to vote for one of them?

So Reynolds has my vote, for better or worse, as many times as I’ve disagreed with her and called out her poor decisions, I’m with her on this one.

Thanks Kasey. Keep squeakin’ Chico.

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Get those ballots turned in

15 May

Well it was hard but I finally finished my ballot and took it to the post office the other day. I don’t think I’d mail after today. I signed up for updates regarding my ballot from the secretary of state’s office, and that has worked out for me the past couple of years. If I don’t get a confirmation by May 31, I can go to the county and ask for a provisional ballot.

I made notes in my info guide, just in case. That was a lot of work, reading up on all those people, but I tried to be scientific. But, my husband and I argued – should we vote for people who actually represent our values? Like the guy who says he’ll protect Prop 13? Or should we vote for people who we think are more likely to win? He agreed with me on the “lesser” offices, but we voted for different candidates for governor, we’ll see what rough beast comes round in November.

Frankly, the only candidate that has made me feel strongly about turning in my ballot is Gallagher. I think he’s actually made progress in controlling PG&E rates, and he’s worked hard at getting more support for fuel reduction. I think he needs to work harder on both of those. I think he could get a lot more federal funding for fuel reduction, since the feds own a lot of property here.

What troubles me about Gallagher are his connections with Chico political action committees and the Butte County Republican party. I don’t like big politicians who use their campaign money to meddle in local elections, especially when they don’t even live in the county they’re sticking their thumb in. Gallagher needs to run his own campaign and stay out of Chico and Butte County elections.

Here’s what I reminded myself as I filled in the bubble – it’s an important seat, and his Democratic challengers are terrible, neither is qualified for the job. Worst of all, they’re engaged in a nasty little shit-fight between themselves, neither of them has much to say besides generalizations about the problems that are really facing the voters.

Whatever you choose to do, I’d get that ballot in soon.

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Election 2026: Wow, so many choices, mostly bad – have you ever been to a crap shoot?

11 May

I’ve had my voter information guide and my ballot for days, and I’m still shaking my head. When I visited a friend of mine two days ago she flipped her ballot out and laughed, “what the hell am I supposed to do with this?”

Unfortunately, most of my friends are very liberal, and I value their friendship more than politics, so I just shook my head and laughed back. One of my friends still has her Harris/Walz sign in her yard, I really want to kick it, but I just smile and ask about “things”. After the election, we all have to live in the real world together.

I have no answer for her anyway. Just over two weeks until the election and we are faced with all these names, strangers – some of whom do not even come up except on the ballot. How are we supposed to educate ourselves before we vote?

I started to read the “information guide,” but I found that pretty fruitless. For one thing, a lot of the candidates opted out of the guide, because they didn’t want to agree to the spending limits.

Whatever you do, don’t turn on the tv or look at social media, it’s just plain ugly.

I’d say the easiest way to approach this mess is the process of elimination. For one thing, if I can’t find anything on a candidate, they’re out. Frankly, this time, Democrats are out, period. And I’m holding my nose while I vote for some of the Republicans. People who take money from the agencies over which they are supposed to be watching, are out. Some of the candidates say things in their statements that are offensive to me – they’re out.

One useful thing the info guide tells us is where the money is coming from. Candidates who take money from the agencies over which they are supposed to be watching, are out – the insurance commissioner, for example, is supposed to be looking out for the customers, not the insurance companies. And so on.

The problem is, there is very little information to go on, aside from their statements. It’s a crap shoot.

In my experience, shooting at crap, usually means, crap everywhere.

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Two important items on tomorrow night’s agenda, related to your toilet and water use habits.

4 May

Busy busy busy – just got a look at tomorrow night’s council agenda. There are interesting items, but right now I think the most important item on the agenda is the discussion about reconsidering the sewer rate hike.

Here’s the agenda – https://chico-ca.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=1193

At the April 7, 2026 Council meeting, under Reports and Communications, due to being on the prevailing side of the action, Vice Mayor Bennett requested a reconsideration of March 17, 2026 Agenda Item 5.1. related to the Sewer Enterprise Study proposing a five-year sewer rate adjustment, where “Option 1” was selected in a 4-3 vote, with O’Brien, van Overbeek, and Reynolds opposed.

Council voted 5-2, (with Goldstein and Hawley opposed) to allow for the reconsideration of this item. At this meeting, the Council will take up this matter with the original staff report for the item attached for information. Recommendation: The City Clerk recommends that Council hear the reconsideration of this item and provide direction, if any.

I guess you remember how pissed off everybody was with Option 1 – a 180 percent increase in the first year. I don’t know how many sewer customers know the city also switched to a “volumetric” system –

Volumetric Calculation: The volumetric portion of the bill is calculated based on water consumption during winter months (December through March), when outdoor irrigation is lowest.

Yes, they charge you for water you already paid Cal Water for. They made that switch with that mailed ballot assessment scam they pulled a few years back. And that leads us to another interesting item on the agenda.

Item 5.1 – RESOLUTION ADOPTING PROCEDURES FOR THE CONDUCT OF PUBLIC HEARINGS AND MAJORITY PROTEST PROCEEDINGS RELATING TO PROPOSED INCREASES TO THE CITY’S PROPERTY RELATED CHARGES AND ASSESSMENTS AND FOR OBJECTIONS PURSUANT TO GOVERNMENT CODE SECTIONS 53759.1 AND 53759.2 – Continued from 4/7/26 and 4/21/26 Council Meetings

This is about that mailed ballot by which they jacked our sewer rates in the first place – it was shady, and they know it, and now the state law has changed so they have to talk about it. The city used Prop 218, which unfortunately did not set any standards by which they could do it.

Proposition 218 establishes procedural and substantive requirements for local agencies when imposing or increasing property-related fees and charges, including requirements for mailed notice, public hearings, and the opportunity for property owners to submit written protests. While Proposition 218 provides the general framework, it does not give detailed procedures for administering public hearings or addressing substantive challenges to proposed rates.

They mailed out what looked like JUNK MAIL, with no advanced media notice or detailed instructions for ratepayers to participate. The worst thing was the appearance of the notice – there was no ballot. They expected people to write their “protest” down on a piece of paper and either mail it (so sketchy), or appear at the meeting with that written notice in hand. No emails, you had to write it down in your own words and get it physically into the hands of the same clerk who sat there and let the whole thing happen. (No Debbie, I don’t trust you.…)

So, as far as I concerned, they need to revisit that volumetric charge bullshit. What do you think?

At any rate (pun intended) it’s time to be vocal in your opinion about the sewer rate increase and the way in which they have gone about it. The meeting is tomorrow night, that gives you plenty of time to put it into an email to your city reprobate.

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The Downtown remodel conversation has taken an interesting turn

29 Apr

The conversation about the Downtown sewer job and proposed remodel has finally turned around. I was frankly shocked when Mayor Kasey Reynolds closed the meeting last week after council failed to come together on any one of the proposals.

Watching the meeting on the city website, and then again watching the clip on the local news, I was also shocked but not surprised to see riff-raff behavior in the chambers. Some people think they can get their way by bullying others, and oftentimes it works. When you really care about something you need to learn to deal with bullies without bullying. You ignore them, and you stand by your beliefs.

I contacted Reynolds, and she assured me that she is also leaning toward a simple and realistic plan to fix the sewers and return Downtown streets to “what we’ve known”. She cited fiscal concerns, and indicated that a lot of the bicycle bullshit is about chasing funding “from Sacramento“. Unfortunately, at least half of that taxpayer based funding goes to city salaries and pensions, while only “43% to 50% of the total project budget directly covers labor and materials (known as hard costs), based on studies of multi-family housing projects and general construction breakdowns…”

Some council members seem to think money grows on trees, not out of the hard work of taxpayers. They won’t acknowledge what their little pet projects do to the cost of living in our town. The other problem with the Sacramento funding is that is requires a lot of matching funds from city coffers.

We all watched the 20th Street bicycle/pedestrian bridge go over budget year after year, finally costing over $23 million. $1 million of that came from the city of Chico – from the Fire Victims Trust Fund, along with local developer fees and transportation funds. Money that should have gone toward other uses that have been largely neglected.

How often do you think you will use that bridge? See any fire victims up there? How are the streets in your part of town? Ever wonder why the price of housing keeps going up-up-up? Gotta watch the bouncing ball Folks.

So I’m watching this conversation, hoping that the vocal minority will not get their way.

And I was also somewhat relieved by the show of leadership from Kasey Reynolds. Yes, I’ve complained about Reynolds’ past actions, I haven’t agreed with her very many times. I’m disgusted with the sewer rate increase and I believe they should take up Bennett’s request for another vote. But I’m with her on the Downtown sewer job.

My husband reminds me that they were going to do a traffic circle there at Bidwell Mansion, for the same kind of state funding, but public outcry changed the vote of one council member and that little boondoggle went away.

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Emily Martin: “A 200% [sewer rate ] increase in five years is not responsible governance; it is the result of long-delayed decisions, now shifted abruptly onto residents.”

15 Apr

Well, Wolcott finally printed my response to Bill Smith, regarding public salaries and where to find out more info. The more people who know the truth, the closer we are to a real conversation about public employee salaries and benefits, and the consequences of “kicking the can down the road“.

Speaking of the can being kicked down the road, Smith also mentioned the sewer rate increase. A can, a stinking can, that has been kicked around for probably 50 years or more. They’ve known the pipes were old, and leaking, leaking POOP, but they just kept kicking.

Anybody remember Chico City Council member Colleen Jarvis? Before she died of cancer in 2004, I sat in on a meeting in which she and other former council members Dan Nguyen-Tan, and Scott Gruendl discussed the last sewer rate hike – from around $25 a month to $45 a month. Jarvis wanted to be straight with the public, do the whole thing up front, tell everybody the truth. DN-T and SG both wanted to phase it in – they were a couple of total pussies, they were afraid of the public reaction. Council voted for the phase-in, meaning the sewer fund, already in trouble, would fall farther and farther behind. Fast forward today – there are still 100+ year old pipes running under Downtown and the older parts of the city, and I’ll guess they don’t even have the money to hire a consultant.

This can has been kicked around for years, without much public scrutiny. Now this sewer rate increase has finally wakened the mob – I’ll tell you what, you don’t mess with people’s toilets. When I picked up Sunday’s paper, I noticed a letter that echoed my thoughts, from a lady named Emily Martin.

“A 200% increase in five years is not responsible governance; it is the result of long-delayed decisions, now shifted abruptly onto residents.” Yup, can kicking. And then, the handing of the bag, to the taxpayers, who get left holding it.

What about Measure H? Council member Addison Winslow says that money can’t be used, because it’s General Fund money. He says not everybody uses the sewer, so the city can’t use GF money to fix the sewer. What an idiot – or does he think we’re all idiots? Martin puts him right. “That argument falls apart, even under basic scrutiny,” she responds. “We all fund services we don’t directly use…” including schools, roads, and emergency services.

Council also makes the rules for the spending of city money, without any scrutiny from the public.

She concludes, “Chico deserves a more transparent approach that reflects shared benefits and shared responsibility.” Yes, that would be nice – instead we got a mailed ballot that was deceptively printed to look like JUNK MAIL (thanks for looking out for us City Clerk Debbie Presson!), and failure to submit a written letter of protest was marked as a YES vote. Winslow sat in on that decision, a sham ballot that resulted in a FOREVER change to the rate mechanism. Without any future public vote, they can raise the sewer rate whenever they want, for whatever reason they want.

Martin echoes a letter I sent weeks ago – families and businesses are already struggling, this is just another nail in the coffin of our local economy. “This kind of increase will force real cuts to essentials and to the local businesses that keep Chico thriving.” On that note, I’m about to head for Oregon, to buy my taxable essentials. My family does little to no taxable shopping in Chico, although we did have our tires that we bought in Oregon rotated at a Chico shop and then treated ourselves to an oil change for the trip. But I realize, I’m retired, and my kid lives in Oregon – this isn’t feasible for working families. It would suck to be a family with kids in this town, unless you’re one of the privileged teat suckers known as “public servants“.

Emily, the only way to turn this decision back is to vote out the bad actors. Reynolds, Winslow and Van Overbeek are up, and they need to be turned out, like that carton of milk on the back shelf of your fridge.

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City to discuss the procedures for the conduct of public hearings and majority protest proceedings relating to proposed rate increases and assessments – they want to make it harder for us to protest rate increases

1 Apr
https://chico-ca.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=1191&meta_id=102016

Remember the frustrating process by which the city changed the rate mechanism on sewer charges? So they could raise the rates anytime they wanted?

Sewer rate increase hearing set for Tuesday (1/17/23) – if you haven’t mailed your protest get it in soon or attend the hearing

Well next week Council will discuss a change that will further restrict your right to have any voice in these rate increases – they are changing the procedure to eliminate your right to sue if you were left out of the rate protest. Meaning, if you threw that ballot out thinking it was junk mail, or didn’t get around to sending it in time, didn’t understand it, didn’t hear about it, etc, you lose your right to protest further rate increases.

Read the staff report, these people want you out of this process.

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Bill Smith: Before I start paying three times my current sewer bill, I would like to take a look at current city employees’ salaries… Thanks for asking, Bill!

26 Mar

NOTE: As of today (4/5) this letter (sent 3/25) has not been printed in the ER. Nobody has answered Bill Smith, including Wolcott/ER staff. I guess I’ll wait a full two weeks (this Thursday 4/9) and send it again!

I was laying the Sunday ER (3/15) under my cat dishes when I noticed a letter from Bill Smith, asking about the sewer bill and the pensions. Short and to the point!

Before I start paying three times my current sewer bill, I would like to take a look at the current city employees’ salaries, what their anticipated retirement will be, and what already retired city employees are drawing in retirement. Where can I see this? — Bill Smith, Chico 

Thanks Bill, good questions. I’ll answer here. It took Wolcott 10 days to print my last letter, sent on the 14th, even though I saw letters that had obviously been written AFTER mine, and printed within a day or two. Neither Wolcott or his usual pile of dipshits bothered to answer Bill Smith. The paper is in trouble, but I’m going to continue to send letters, please do same.

Bill Smith (3/15) asked about city salaries, anticipated pensions, and what retirees are already drawing in retirement. He asked where he could get this information.

There are two sites that provide this information. The secretary of state has “public pay,” at https://gcc.sco.ca.gov/Reports/Cities/Cities.aspx Transparent California is provided by the Nevada Policy Research Institute, in a joint venture with the California Policy Center, available at https://transparentcalifornia.com/salaries/2024/chico/

Both sites depend on public agencies, like the city of Chico, to provide this information. Because of delays in compliance, the figures are two years out of date, but accurate. You will find records dating back years, with annual salary increases, as well as benefits packages and total compensation.

Transparent California also figures the employee’s personal pension deficit, using pay and years of service. Employees pay between 5 and 11% toward their own pensions (70 – 90% of their highest year’s pay), the rest rides on the market and ends up on the backs of the taxpayers.

Please come to chicotaxpayers.com to join the conversation.

Juanita Sumner, Chico CA

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City of Chico talking out of both sides of it’s mouth again – telling us they will make housing “more affordable”, they continue to raise the cost of utilities with taxes and fees

15 Mar

I was looking into the proposed sewer rate increase for Chico and I found a discussion on Redditt that indicated people are pretty pissed off. I had read about a proposed 65% increase, but at last week’s meeting, they were saying like a 400% increase. We’re looking at the average customer paying almost $100 a month for sewer service. I knew that sewer “rate mechanism change” would be bad. This is what the real cost of living is about – you can’t just build more housing, you have to consider all the other costs.

I have believed for a long time that city leaders just want working class people out of town. One council and staff after another have tried to turn Chico – starting with Downtown – into a Destination! High-end restaurants, outdoor dining, now alcohol allowed outside – that’s not a family atmosphere, and the only working people they want Downtown are table waiters, bartenders, and cashiers.

Shop owners are leaving in droves, citing the parking kiosks, but I think that was just the last nail in the coffin. For years downtown businesses have been paying higher rent for less services, even while paying into a protection racket known as the Downtown Business Association. Remember when “Community Development Director” Leo DePaola was sticking Downtown businesses with rapacious fines for vandalism caused by transients?

Wait until they gut the streets for the sewer job. And if you have a minute, read the reports – there really are “secret tunnels” under Downtown, only not for opium dens, but for utilities, and for those old delivery elevators that used to open up down into the basements of various businesses. I’ve actually seen those used. These “tunnels” don’t all connect, and some of them are flooded. Last I heard the city isn’t even sure where they all are.

City of Chico officials and employees think of the rest of us as cash cows. They want us to pay for a mess they’ve been massaging for years, demanding more money from the taxpayers, just to feather their own nests, while they kick the poop can down the road.

So I wrote a letter about it!

After I sent my last letter, I received an agenda for the March 5 Finance Committee meeting. I was unable to attend, but heard later they are discussing a much higher sewer rate increase than I had read in a previous report.

City leaders like to talk about making housing more affordable, whether it’s rentals or private homes, but they fail to discuss the reality – just because a person can get a house, doesn’t mean they will be able to afford all of the associated costs. We’ve all watched PG&E and Cal Water rates rise steadily over the past 20 years, and now the city is sticking their thumb in the pie with their sewer rate increases.

Not to mention, a 5% tax on Cal Water and PG&E bills, as well as franchise taxes on PG&E and Comcast. They also have a franchise deal with the garbage companies.

These costs directly affect the cost of housing.

Where will the money go? Think you’ll see any work in your neighborhood? The Pension Stabilization Trust takes a percentage from every city fund to make the CalPERS deficit payment – will the sewer fund be exempt from the “catch-up” payments?

Election time is the best time to ask questions.

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Oh shit! The sewer rate hike is worse than I thought!

8 Mar

Well, since I wrote that last post and sent my letter off to the Enterprise Record, I received a Finance Committee agenda regarding the sewer rate hike discussion, scheduled for last Wednesday. The agenda report said they were trying to decide between phasing the rate hike in over 5 years, or just sticking it to us all at once. I was not able to attend the meeting. Judging from a letter I saw in the ER (which ran prior to mine, which is odd because it was sent after the meeting, but whatever…), they decided to stick it to us – the writer claimed they will be raising the monthly fee to $98, not the $38 I had read in an earlier report.

Yup. Remember the Great Sewer Tax Heist of 2023?

Sewer rate increase hearing set for Tuesday (1/17/23) – if you haven’t mailed your protest get it in soon or attend the hearing

I hope you learned your lesson to check your mail carefully, because a lot of people threw those away as junk mail, and now here we are. Yup,  this is a permanent tax, allowing for an annual increase without any further notice or hearings. Where do you think that money goes? Don’t expect improvements in your neighborhood anytime soon – right now, the city is busy hooking Paradise up to our sewer plant, and getting ready to tear up Downtown streets for a completely new sewer system.

Spend much time in Paradise? Been Downtown lately? Be sure to use the toilet, cause you’re paying for it.

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