Looks like some bum’s cache has been had over by other bums as well as animals.
As soon as the weather turned warm we started noticing evidence of illegal camping in Bidwell Park. My husband came across this pile in the dense overgrowth between Bryant Avenue and Hwy 99 overpass, near the little Redwood grove north of Chico Creek.
Look at all those bicycle rims. My husband said there was a lot of copper wire in the pile, along with tools, spilling out of the old bike cart buried there in the mess. I think it’s safe to assume much of the stuff here has been stolen out of work vehicles or garages, sheds, whatever.
Yesterday the Enterprise Record ran an editorial – “Chico needs to stop going around in circles on crime problem…”
What he misses is how the county exacerbates the problem by bringing in homeless and mentally ill people for the $550 a day they bring with them. The county takes transfers from other counties, for the $550 a day, don’t be dumb. They can hold these people whether they want to be here or not, for 45 days. Without a calculator, that’s about $23,000, per person, every 45 days. According to Behavioral Health director Dorian Kittrell, that adds up to about $63 million a year.
Now translate that $63 million into crazy people wandering our streets – just last night we heard this report on Ch 24 news:
Chico Calif.—On Wednesday March 28th Chico Police Officers were dispatched to a suspicious man on the 1800 block of East 8th Street.
The man fled from the officer and then turned back and headed toward the officer.
The officer successfully deployed his department issued Taser and struck the man.
The Taser was able to keep the man incapacitated until further police officers arrived on scene and put the person in custody.
During the attempts to place the man in custody, he violently bit and resisted an officer.
The man had to be placed in a full body restraint system known as a WRAP because of his continued violence.
It was determined that the man needed medical attention based on his behavior and was transported to a local hospital.
The man was admitted to the hospital due to health concerns.
He has not been identified at this time.
No, he hasn’t been identified, and I’m guessing we won’t hear much more about it. This guy bit a cop – that’s kinda crazy, wouldn’t you say? These are the kind of people Butte County Behavioral Health is bringing here, holding for 45 days, and then releasing on their own recognizance. I’ve been told they are offered a ride out of the “Puff” – psychiatric hospital – to any of several local shelters, but are not required to take it.
When a woman was found dead along Hwy 99 near Butte College Chico campus, I searched her name and found her last known contact with police was in Oroville, where she was reported by a resident to be wandering in a private yard muttering to herself. The police didn’t arrest her, but said they offered her a ride, which she refused. She wandered off into the night and the next anybody saw of her was a half rotted corpse laying in the bushes along the freeway.
I don’t think the system is working, do you?
It’s a good question for your county supervisors – two Chico supes are up for re-election this year. Larry Wahl is running again, but Maureen Kirk has stepped aside. Four challengers have stepped up to take their seats, that’s good, they try harder when they have to jump and snap for it.
District 2 incumbent Larry Wahl, https://www.buttecounty.net/boardofsupervisors/SupervisorLarryWahl.aspx
Challenger Debra Lucero, https://debralucero.us/
In District 3 there are 3 candidates:
Tami Ritter, https://ritterforsupervisor.com/
Bob Evans, https://bobevansforsupervisor.com/
Norm Rosene, https://www.normrosene.com/
Chico Taxpayers Association 
How about that teenager,Desmond Phillips shot by Chico police last year. What was his family doing here? They sure didn’t move up for college. Seem like Chico has become a destination for the homeless, mentally ill and welfare. No wonder the police are overburdened.
Chico is a destination – people come here for all sorts of reasons. Probably the biggest problem are the carpet baggers who don’t have any stake here, just use the system to make money, then move along to a higher paid position. Like Brian Nakamura, who now works in a fluff position at UC Riverside. Chico and Butte County are a revolving door for these people, they don’t have to live with what they do to our town.
yes, Chico PD is overburdened, but giving them more money is not the answer. You can throw all the money you want at a bad cop and he/she is still a bad cop. Our cops need better training – they don’t even get as much college as an elementary school teacher. And look who’s at the college – Maloney, a bad chief. Allowing him to have further influence on the department is just stupid.
This issue will never be resolved if the bureaucrats and politicians have their way.
There’s just too much money to be made. These mentally ill transients are a cash cow. Think the bureaucrats and politicians are going to give up a penny of that $63 million without a big fight?
There are pensions to be paid as you know.
And the politicians will put pensions far ahead of their constituents.
Thanks Bob, you nailed it.
I had an experience in the park today with my visiting grandchildren that really left me wondering if I want to continue to live in Chico.
We were taking the littlest one out on his training wheels for the first time, and we were passed by a Park Ranger heading the wrong way down the north park road at a high rate of speed, lights flashing. We heard the ranger stop at the little grove of redwoods you mentioned, and as we approached we saw a vagrant, surrounded by his pile of belongings, standing alongside the road. The ranger had stopped her vehicle across the road and stood away from the man as she spoke on her cell phone or radio, don’t know which. She didn’t approach the man, and he looked dangerous to me, so I turned my family around and we headed home.
I’m never taking my grand kids to Bidwell Park again.
Wow, what a coincidence – we came along as she was radioing for medical assistance, she told us she had a medical emergency. The man stood staring out onto the road, his belongings were disheveled, we wondered if he’d been attacked. We were glad to see the ranger and thanked her as we heard the fire engine howling up the road.
I’m sorry, I never knew how to explain that kind of stuff to my kids – I don’t want them to be afraid, but I don’t want them to ignore it either.
When my son brought his girlfriend here for a visit, they brought their mountain bikes and headed for the Upper Park – they reported one bum camp after another. I wish the city would take a more proactive approach, like Redding is doing – search out the camps and arrest people, and send in public works crews to clean out the invasive, non native and dead overgrowth.