Out running errands around Chico the last few weeks, I’ve been seeing the usual parade of transients is on the increase. They come from South Chico in the early morning with their bikes and trailers, shopping carts, backpacks, many of them toting a bunch of garbage bags, full of recyclables they’ve stolen out of residents’ recycling bins. There’s a real exodus on trash days in my neighborhood – we have our trash picked up on Thursday and then the trucks come on Friday to do the other side of the street. The bums follow the trash trucks along to rifle through the recycling bins. They know the recycling doesn’t get picked up until all the trash bins are emptied, because Waste Management doesn’t have enough trucks to do both at the same time.
We’ve seen them sprawled all over sidewalks, bus stop benches, commercial medians, you name it. The little “parklet” at the intersection of Mulberry and Pine/Cypress, along Little Chico Creek, was becoming a de-facto transient camp, with more transients out of sight under the bridges and along the creek banks. And then yesterday we noticed, the cops were rousting them in force along the creek, with two cop cars and a ranger’s vehicle. Then we noticed – no more camps at the parklet.
I realized, this is what Mayor Sean Morgan was telling me about when I complained about the incident in front of my house.
Morgan told me in a May 19 e-mail, “next week PD team normally assigned to South Campus area is heading into the parks.”
But wait, before you think the city is actually moving to solve a problem, read the agenda for this coming Tuesday’s meeting.
http://chico-ca.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=290
Councilmember Ory has submitted a request for the Council to consider agendizing the Chamber of Commerce recommendation for a revenue measure to increase police staffing and improve roads.
But Ory left something out – read the chamber report –
They want $130 million to pay down the pension deficit. Only $3 million for cops, $90 million for roads – but $130 million for pensions. Who does Ory think he’s kidding?
Although, sometimes I wonder about Ory. I stood in line behind him at my bank ATM machine when he was a candidate. He had 5 people waiting while he unsuccessfully tried to figure out how to use the machine, and rather than step aside, he just pretended we weren’t there. Every time I’ve been near him, he’s acted completely senile, including at a meeting he was chairing, when I told him a question posed to staff had not been answered. He tried to tell me that I could only make one “comment” per meeting? I had to repeat myself a couple of times over his protestations, before the speaker just interjected and answered the question. So, I couldn’t tell you for sure, whether Ory is nuts, stupid, senile, or really expects all of us to buy into his crap.
But, I do know, Chico PD can suddenly enforce laws they haven’t enforced for the last year. Why? They’ll tell us they spend most of their time hanging around campus when school is in, that they don’t have time to do anything else. What a crock.
Don’t buy into their sales tax increase pitch. They act as though we have no other choice than to pay their blackmail.
The best choice would be, get out of CalPERS, dump the pensions, clean house on management employees and institute the new 401K system where employees pay most of it.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
So it was Ory. The Snooze and Review article didn’t mention who was behind that.
That’s really sleazy to push it the way he’s doing and not mentioning the vast majority of the money goes for pensions. And those pensions are something that no one in the private sector gets. If the private sector can’t afford pensions how can the public sector? After all, the private sector winds up paying for every penny the public sector gets.
Ory needs to be voted out or better yet, recalled.
These politicians and bureaucrats have no clue what it’s like in the private sector. You don’t get any pension at all, let alone one that’s 90% or more of your highest year’s salary.
In the private sector you are lucky to get a crappy 401k and you think you’re in heaven if you get a match of a few percent. And you may have to work years at the company before you are fully vested. And if the stock or bond market takes a dive, well tough luck. The idea of a guaranteed pension with cost of living increases is something you just have to get out of your head if you are in the private sector.
Good question to ask in a letter to council – if the private sector can’t afford pensions, how can the public sector? Why is there a double standard? How can our city council simply ignore the census findings that most Chico families live on $43,000 or less?
Because they are immoral and corrupt.
I see Chico PD have again pushed the transients into the outer corridor. There’s a homeless camp at the empty storefront next to Home Depot again. They’re all over the commercial areas around the Torres Shelter, panhandling. going through trash cans, rolling their mound of garbage around in a stolen shopping cart. Yesterday at Safeway I saw a man who was wandering the parking lot looking into cars, I reported it to my checker, who said he hates to park his car there while he’s at work.
As for 24 hour restrooms – I’ve noticed as I’ve done shopping around town the last few weeks, businesses like grocery stores have restrooms open to the public during business hours, I see obvious transients using them all the time. For the price of a single serving bottle of water, they can use the restroom. In fact, I’ve seen them come right in without making any purchase and head straight for the restrooms.
Food service establishments also have restrooms open to the public, I’ve seen transients walk directly in off the street and make use of the bathroom without even slowing down in front of the counter.
Many grocery stores and food establishments around town are open 24 hours. Why are the taxpayers expected to provide 24 hour restrooms Downtown, where there is no legal camping or business open (that doesn’t provide a restroom) ? There’s no reason to be Downtown in the middle of the night, unless you are illegally camping or headed to your home.
I like you believe it’s the services offered by so many public and publicly supported agencies that bring these people to Chico, including perks like 24 hour restrooms. It’s like hanging out the Welcome sign to these people.