About 10 years ago, my family joined a group of local disk golf enthusiasts to petition the city of Chico to legitimize a long-time “bootleg” disc golf course on Hwy 32 east of Chico – now Peregrine Point Disc Golf Course. The course has since been managed by the Chico Outsiders, who have an agreement with the city of Chico taking responsibility for maintaining the trails and tees. But the extensive trails that lead out of the course are part of Upper Bidwell Park and the parking lot at Peregrine Point has long been used by hikers and mountain bikers and is owned by the city of Chico.
About a year ago we noticed evidence that homeless people were camping in the parking lot – we found them sleeping in their cars. Increasingly we’ve also noticed evidence of cars being broken into.
There were piles of broken car window safety glass all over the ground.
There were obvious piles, like the one pictured above, but it was when I squatted down to tie my shoe that I realized how bad this problem really is. The sun came out for a brief moment, and all around me, the ground glittered with safety glass. I know the difference between safety glass and a shattered pop bottle.
I don’t know who you would report to if your car was broken into at Peregrine Point. It’s city property, but I don’t know if it’s in the city limits. I do know, since it would be under $1,000, Chico PD would expect you to report it online – good luck with that. I think you can download a form to hand over to your insurance agency, if you are insured. Neither of my kids’ cars are new, so we don’t have full coverage for them – too expensive. So, if something like that happened to one of our kids while they were shooting a round up there, they’d be TSOL.
My advice would be, don’t leave your car out of your sight anywhere in Bidwell Park.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
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