I am often asked by advocates of the current Homeless Industry, “OK Rob, what is your plan?” Tonight at the City Council meeting, once again, in the second Special Meeting in a week, we will be hearing a verbal report on the City of Chico’s plan to “end homelessness”.
While “ending homelessness” is not and has never been my goal, protecting the interests of the Citizens of Chico is my goal. In order to achieve that goal, we need a plan to end the negative impacts of unmitigated habitation of our parks and public spaces.
HERE IS MY PLAN: It is not perfect, but it is not useless either. All I can do is share it with you, and I will share it with our city council.
Please take a minute to read through this. It is 5 1/2 pages long. I would like you to have this in you mind as you hear tonight from our Homeless Coordinator and City Manager, and of course our City Council members on what they have in mind for Chico. Here is an alternative that most likely will never see the official light of day.
One thing is clear: they cannot tell me I don’t have an alternative plan. Here it is.
But, as if often the case with Chico First postings, Berry’s comments are immediately followed by a notice, “This content isn’t available right now.”
So, Rob, please, tell us your plan.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
Basically it says 1) Enforce the no camping laws in the park and 2) Establish a temporary location for the homeless 3) Clean up the mess the camps have left in park.
Thanks Jim, that seems pretty straightforward to me. I wonder why it was taken off his facebook site? Chico First seems kinda pick and choose about who is allowed to see their content. I don’t have facebook, ain’t going to sign up, and wonder how they expect to contact the voters with their exclusive platform?
The facebook groups Chico First and Citizens For A Safe Chico have gathered a large mailing list, so they can contact their members by email. This group is a right wing Political Action Committee (PAC) to promote the usual Republican agenda. They have gathered thousands of dollars in donations which they intend to use to promote Chico City Council candidates and to promote a public safety tax.
Thanks Jim, that’s what I was expecting, but they’re so secretive and exclusive, it’s hard to figure out what they are doing.
I saw the petition on CFSC, and I see Dubose and her friends are trying to say they won’t support the measure unless it’s 2/3’s, but she won’t acknowledge the fact that a 2/3’s measure isn’t necessarily “dedicated”. I don’t know whether she’s stupid or what, but Orme, and especially Constantin, have made it clear they want a measure that IS NOT DEDICATED. Constantin told various boards and commissions that he wants to use the proceeds of the sales tax measure to secure a bond. He says this will provide money for streets, public safety, etc, but none of that is guaranteed.
Rob Berry agreed with me that it’s all in how the measure is written. Yes, and right now, we have a liberal majority and two conservative shills who go along with anything the city manager tells them. They’ve hired a consultant to write the measure, which has never been fully discussed before the public.
So, at this point, I’d say, these facebook groups are a huge part of the problem. For one thing, Dubose registered her pac with the state, not locally. When I asked her for the reports she just blew me off. She’s a cop shill, no doubt about that, and I’d expect she’s hiding contributions from CPOA. But that’s just a guess.
That’s funny – my husband and I both grew up around here, we remember when Broadway Pawn was a crime problem.
Yes, Orme and Constantin want to use the tax increase money to take on new debt which is the last thing this corrupt little city needs as it is choking on unfunded pension liability.
And they won’t tell you how much the debt will be or what the debt will cost. You can bet the bond will be at least a couple hundred million. And my understanding is that typically the cost for interest and fees makes up half the total cost of these types of bonds. So 40 to 50% of the money won’t go for roads, cops or even pensions but interest and fees. That is beyond irresponsible.
But I guarantee you they will use the remaining money for the pensions before the roads or anything else. That’s what they’ve been doing a long. Why do you think the roads and everything else is falling apart?
And Constantin even admitted to the ER that any money from a tax increase could go for pensions.
And he didn’t mention to the ER taking on new debt with the tax increase money. AND YOU CAN BET THEY WON’T MENTION THAT IN THEIR SALES TAX INCREASE BALLOT MEASURE! THAT’S CRIMINAL!
The fact is they have to have this sales tax increase (and many more tax increases in the future) to save their multi-million dollar pensions. I wrote about that earlier this year:
http://chicotaxes.home.blog/2020/03/19/sales-tax-increase-necessary-to-save-bureaucrats-multi-million-dollar-pensions/
Berry knows all this and Dubose should, too. Anyone who tries to con the public into passing a sales tax increase as these two have done is definitely part of the problem, not the solution.
The solution is pension reform. See http://chicotaxes.home.blog/2020/05/15/cities-need-reform-not-bailouts/
I agree – Senator John Moorlach says, “a bond would just validate the system…the system needs to change…”
Dubose is a cop lover, which is natural for a pawn shop owner. When a friend of mine who owns a local music store found his stolen merchandise at Broadway Pawn, the cops told him the best thing to do would be buy it back! Here you have a person running a legitimate business, and the cops act like it’s his own fault that people steal from him. And then, of course, naturally, thieves sell stolen goods to pawn shops, where else? Dubose is a perfect shill for the cops, that’s why she’s running their campaign. “Public Safety Tax” – hah – the cops and fire are the biggest pension pigs in the trough, you know they want this measure to pass.
Well, I think I figured out Rob’s plan – Teri Dubose for City Council.
Read her postings on Chico First and Citizens for Safe Chico and tell me she’s not campaigning.