Letter to the Editor: let’s just get to the point – the transients are why nobody goes Downtown anymore

Evan Tuchinsky wrote another story about the Downtown parking kiosks, downtown merchants complaining they’ve seen a drop in business since those were rolled out. No, I don’t like the kiosks – the main reason – who wants to fumble around with their phone Downtown, especially after dark? Sure, Downtown regulars, mostly employees, business owners and students these days, are fine with it, but the folks who used to drive in from Gridley, Willows and other outlying areas to have their hair done, have a cup of coffee, do their Christmas shopping, etc, are not going to deal with it, they’re going to go to the malls. Shit, I buy everything on line these days, screw shopping.

My family did a lot of business in Chico when I was a kid. My grandfather was a farmer, my grandmother was a Glenn county teacher for over 50 years. My grandmother drove us all the way from Princeton/Butte City very regularly to shop in Chico. The mall was new and seemed out-of-the-way. We mostly shopped Downtown, at stores like Oser’s, where she bought her dresses, and Richardson furniture – did you know, they had business equipment at one time, she used to bring her typewriter in for repairs. We’d always hit the frosty on the way out – yeah, Mark Abouzeid tore that down. My grandfather would take us to Northern Star Mills to sell nuts and buy sacks and other equipment, then maybe Colliers for some screws, then hit one or another of the downtown coffee shops for a sandwich or some ice cream. He could have done his business in Colusa or even Woodland but he liked coming into Chico once in a while. The streets were friendly, we’d see people we knew every trip.

When I grew up my family shopped and ate Downtown as we could afford. I enjoyed taking my young children Downtown and to the campus for outings. That all ended with the transients. Night time turned nasty right away – I’ll never forget the guy who used to stand in front of Duffy’s with his pitbull, we encountered him one night and never attended another Thursday Night Concert. Then daytime turned nasty – Mayor Ted Shred was deposed by the nasty army of the night. That’s a nail I didn’t add to my letter below – the street people used to be friendly and fairly harmless, they were scared away by the crankster criminals who come in with every wave of transfers.

Can you imagine what it’s like to be a truly homeless person, down on your luck, just need a safe place to go? I can’t think of anyplace I’d recommend after dark in Chico outside your own home.

What are the transfers? If you’ve read my blog you know – the county gets money for accepting mental patients and criminals from counties all over California that don’t offer “beds” or services for these people. Shasta County regularly empties their jails due to overcrowding – where do you think these people go? I’ve documented this so many times here, I’ll say, either read the blog or read the county board agendas, look at the budget. F-search the words “governmental transfers” – the Behavioral Health Department, fat with salaries, is largely funded through these transfers, the jail also gets money from transfers. They take money, millions a year, and then they turn these people out on the streets, mostly Oroville and Chico.

In other words, our county is so overwhelmed with the transfers, they can’t serve the people that actually live and pay taxes here.

I’m tired of talking around this big elephant turd, let’s get to the point – the transients are why nobody goes Downtown anymore. So I wrote a letter about it.

While the parking kiosks may be another nail in the coffin, the current state of Downtown is the result of a long history of bad planning. How many nails does it take to close a coffin anyway?

One of the first nails in my memory was when Robin Wilson shot Spuds MacKenzie in the head, ending a 70 year old community tradition.

Another was the heavy-handed police response that ended family-friendly Downtown Halloween.

Followed by a shower of nails in the form of generic festivals like Chico Palio and Shakespeare at the Plaza, aimed to attract “the right kind of people” – tourists. Now the quarter million dollar skating rink – city management has never really showed any direct benefit to sales tax or TOT revenues from the use of taxpayer money to fund these boondoggles.

The COVID shut-down was a screw, not a nail – we’ll live with the consequences for years to come. Misspending of COVID relief money gave it a good twist.

But I think the most profoundly bad decision the council has made in the last 10 years was the declaration of the Shelter Crisis that has put our town in a legal mousetrap. It’s a frightening atmosphere Downtown, especially after dark, and sales tax transactions are falling as a result. Let’s admit that and get on with the real conversation.

There are towns all over California who don’t take transfers of mental patients or inmates, they send them. Why is Chico on the receiving end?

Juanita Sumner, Chico (for how long, I can’t say)