This morning I saw the paper – my teeth are old, and my dentist told me, if I didn’t quit grinding them all the time he would be taking them out. So, I when I read the paper, or watch the local news, I’ve adopted the habit of holding my mouth open, teeth wide apart – I know, it looks stupid, but it’s going to save me a fortune in dental work.
Cause today, right there on the front page, was a picture of a business I remember since very young childhood. The door was covered with plywood – oh wow, just like the post office annex! There was council woman Kasey Reynolds, owner of Shuberts, flanked by Chief Sitting Lame Ass and Mayor Again? Ann Schwab. I wonder if Schwab was wondering what I was wondering – why didn’t they hit Campus Bicycles?
I’m just so sick of the lawlessness. Oh sure, I better not congregate with my congregation in church, and any business that dares to stay open is shamed, bullied, and threatened into closing up shop while still cajoled to pay their employees. But St. Patrick can continue to take over Downtown Plaza with his “feedings” and the NVHRC can still hand out free needles to heroin and meth addicts and dealers every Sunday.
Oh sure, you know the PUBLIC employees don’t miss a paycheck, even though they have been on reduced hours, most of them off on Fridays, since long before the Coronavirus Panic.
Wow, this is a lot better than grinding my teeth.
The president says it’s “time to get back to normal.” I agree. I think the county and city need to end their imaginary state of emergency, because it is creating a real state of emergency. So I wrote a letter to the editor about it.
As city leaders posture over coronavirus, the real epidemic in Chico is crime.
During the week of March 5, a fire was started in a trash bin inside the post office annex at the main branch on Vallombrosa. There are over 3,000 mail boxes in that annex. The mail that was in the boxes on the night of the fire is still being held indefinitely while the matter is being investigated. Box holders are expected to line up at the main desk during business hours to collect their mail. I got no response from the police chief or the fire chief when I asked if any suspect was charged.
Sometime overnight March 27 Shubert’s Ice Cream front door was taken off by a person caught on security camera wearing a mask and using bolt cutters. This criminal act was done right out on a public street in a well-lit area.
Whether or not Shuberts was a political target, criminals have become more brazen as the coronavirus shutdown continues, while the talking heads Downtown discuss “suspending the rules”. I agree with President Trump – this country needs to pull it’s collective head out of it’s collective ostrich hole and “get back to normal.” As long as transients are allowed to congregate for feedings at Downtown Plaza or free syringes at Humboldt Park, I think it’s safe to get out and have an ice cream with your friends, and talk about the upcoming election.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
I didn’t even see the last letter you sent published. Was it?
Yeah, but Wolcott dumped 8 or 10 other letters that day, it was just buried. So, I posted it on Chico Enraged.
Another example that for our city government, what’s most important is virtue signalling, next to pensions, of course.
First things first, is the only way to get local news to subscribe to the ER? The post office burned, who knew? My friend’s daughter’s house burned down the same day, who knew? Schubert’s Ice Cream Parlor vandalized–saw it on Facebook. Dead bodies on busy streets! Subscribe now!
Chico is a news desert, which is pretty much my definition of dystopia. Makes me want to apologize for all the crap I gave Tim Bousquet.
No, I wouldn’t recommend a subscription. I have one now, I don’t know if it’s limited in some way because Wolcott gave it to me free, but again and again people bring stories to my attention that I didn’t see. The website sucks, it takes forever to load because of all the bling. I would not recommend paying for it.
When I have a minute, I just google “News Chico CA” and see what comes up. There are actually a lot of other local news sources, even Ch 7 often covers Chico better than the ER.
Ha ha – no need to apologize to Bousquet! He was as slanted as anybody, with his own set of “facts”. It would be nice to have a subjective paper, but I know that’s tough to find.
The following article and quote will be coming to Chico sooner than later:
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2020/03/30/dont_let_states_rob_covid-19_funds_to_bail_out_pensions.html
Now that Congress has passed its broader humanitarian aid packages in response to the COVID-19 virus, it’s likely that the nation’s most fiscally irresponsible states will request bailouts for something completely unrelated to the virus: their bankrupt pension plans.
Bad as that may be, it’s likely some sort of assistance will materialize from Congress. If that happens, any support should be conditioned on pension reform.
Thanks BC – yet another scam coming out of COVID! When, where and how will it end? Stay tuned!
Something interesting I saw in that article is “pension protection clause” – here we call it “The California Rule”. I wonder if that’s what everybody calls it. I think we need to confront the CR, but I have to find out more about it before I can discuss it further.
There’s alot of stuff we need to talk about – terms like “collective bargaining”.
Here’s another thing we should talk about – what is “true reform”:
“Defined contribution plans, cost of living reforms and increased retirement ages are all part of the suite the federal government should require. And for states that have constitutional protections, lawmakers must commit to removing them or lose out on aid.”
A lot of people don’t know the huge difference between “defined contribution plans” and “defined benefit plans” And here’s something funny – to the public sector, cost of living increases are a good thing, to the private sector they’re a bad thing! Finally, I think most people are shocked how young public employees are allowed to retire, and would like to discuss it publicly for a change, instead of being held out of the conversation.
very christian of you…
this is the ID I got for this message –
you are scum
dogshit@horse.ass
98.208.16.168
Dear Mr/Ms. Scum, that’s your “IP” number. It’s specific. If you contact me again, I’m going to talk to the webmaster.
I know you are a city employee or hanger on, and this is only the beginning. I’m ready.