Tom van Overbeek thinks Downtown is more important than the rest of Chico’s “strip malls” – do you agree?

Council member Tom van Overbeek has agendized a discussion for this week’s Internal Affairs meeting –

Agendize a discussion about changing the references to Downtown Chico in Chico’s public
documents and signage to “Historic Downtown Chico”.
Downtown are what define a city. When you think of Chico you think of Downtown, not one of
the strip malls. When you respect and preserve the history of a town, you are preserving and
respecting its personality and character. Downtown Chico has a unique personality due in large
part to its’ rich and interesting history and our numerous historical buildings. Referring to
Downtown as Historic Downtown Chico will bring attention to the uniqueness of the Downtown
district.
Councilmember van Overbeek
District 6

https://chico.ca.us/sites/main/files/file-attachments/11-06-23_internal_affairs_agenda_packet.pdf?1699026767

I believe this will pass without argument and money will be spent to “rebrand” Downtown Chico. It’s really a desperate attempt to save Downtown Chico, which has suffered from one bad council decision after another over the last 10 or so years. And lack of decision – like, when will they make much needed repairs on the sewer lines? Is that part of the “historic” designation? Historic sewer lines that are leaking into ground water and threatening our drinking water supply? Yeah, let’s all get cholera, that’s historic!

I wish local business owners would sue the city, or better yet – sue the city run Chico Chamber of Commerce and Downtown Business Association for collecting fees from local businesses without really doing anything for them. These people are running our city right down the toilet, quite literally.