I received my primary ballot Monday, and I put it in the mail Tuesday. Among other important items, I put a solid NO on P and O.
O was easy – it’s an amendment to the General Plan. Here we’ve had letter writers in support of Valley’s Edge, mostly a realtor who plans to make a lot of money selling those houses, telling us that VE fits the General Plan. Why then would they need to amend the General Plan? Wake up and smell the bullshit People.
I don’t know if I need to, but let me lay out other simple reasons not to build in that swamp. There, “swamp” – that is what we call a “sufficient” reason, one good reason not to build housing – it’s a flood zone. I don’t know how much fill they were planning to use, but that area is a rain shed, it’s very moist, houses built there would be prone to intermittent flooding and MOLD every year. Those problems, like the mold problem at Chico Fire Station #5, would not start popping up until people had been living there for years. And then do what? Neither the developers nor the city would be legally responsible, and the owners, like the city, owner of Station #5, would just have to pay to fix it.
Traffic is already a sufficient reason – drive the Bruce Road corridor some weekday morning. My husband and I shop Winco on that end of town and it’s getting to be a regular daytrip. Take water, Frankly, if I have to spend my entire morning gathering food, I’d rather make a sharp left at Hwy 32 and head for Susanville – two big grocery stores in Susanville, prices, lower, no 1 cent sales tax on toilet paper. And compared to dealing with traffic and pot holes all morning, Reno is just a hop-skip-and a jump. Their Raley’s is huge, and I’ve never found a transient shooting up in the bathroom.
But what bugs me the most is that City of Chico does not take care of what we already have. We have square miles of city where there is no sewer service, no sidewalks, no drains, streets haven’t been maintained for years, and now they want to add new stuff? Again, in a swamp? I didn’t even get into fire risk. The proponents of this whole new part of town will never be responsible or liable for the mess they make, they will just walk away with the money. And the city will add PERMANENT NEW TAX BASE. Meanwhile, other parts of town will sink into the same condition as what we all affectionately refer to as The College Ghetto and Chapman Town.
Do you realize it costs over a quarter million a year to clean up bum shit and slop paint on graffitti Downtown? All assessed from Downtown business and property owners. According to the Downtown Business Improvement District Annual Report
Downtown merchants and property owners spent $394,462.64 on “cleaning and safety programs, economic vitality programs, communication and marketing programs, special projects, and administration/advocacy.”
Here’s an itemized list of what they actually spent the money on –
Abandoned Property Plcked Up
Bags ofTrash & Leaves
Garbage cans cleaned
Glass clean Up
Graff iti/Stickers Removed
Hazardous Waste Clean-up (human)
Hazardous Waste CIean-up (pet)
Seruice Call
Sharps Clean Up
shopping Carts
spill – clean Up
Street Furniture cleaned
In other words, the money goes to remediate problems caused by “street people”, including a $12,225 “administrative fee” to the city to run the program. This is a condition that has been created by Chico City Council. They have made Downtown and other parts of Chico a total shithole over the span of about five years – ever since they signed on to a scam known as a Shelter Crisis Designation. The first time they signed it they got over $4 million. Where that money went is your guess as good as mine. There has been no money since then, just a lawsuit that makes Chico PD look like the Keystone Cops. They even call it “whack-a-mole” in city reports. Now they plan to fizzle away another $24 million in Camp Fire disaster money – I know people in Paradise who are still waiting for their checks. I’d bet my last five dollars the city of Chico will fritter that disaster money away before my friends have rebuilt their destroyed lives.
They say they will do a total makeover of Downtown Chico, starting with sewers more than 100 years old. A new street design – gee, I can still remember the last one!
Frankly, I don’t think anybody on our current council is qualified to run a birthday party, much less a town. They’re for sale, every one of them. And to let them amend the General Plan every time a developer waves a hunsky at them, well, get ready for No Name City folks.
Again, solid NO on P and O.
Chico Taxpayers Association 
Hi Juanita,
I get that you don’t like the City Council, and your points about downtown have merit. But your position on VE is weak, and your misunderstanding is made clear in the second paragraph.
Why would they need to amend the General Plan? Because the General Plan is “general.” Anytime they adopt a Specific Plan, the planning area is no longer “general” and becomes “specific.” The General plan is amended to reflect this evolution in the planning process. It is routine.
It is misleading to imply that it is some kind of “cheat” that selfish realtors are imposing on an innocent and ignorant public. I believe you have higher standards for truth.
“The General plan is amended to reflect this evolution in the planning process. It is routine.”
Yes, amendments have become way too routine Mr. B. The public has spent years and a lot of staff $$$ making this “plan”, and every time we turn around the city is giving somebody a variance to the code, or letting a developer write a “parallel” code or yeah, amending the “plan” to fit some developer’s needs. Valley’s Edge is on the ballot because the public is allowed to approve amendments to the GP, or not.
As for that last catty crack, you are putting words in my mouth, I never said “cheat” or implied the public is “innocent” or “ignorant” I’m not misleading anybody. It’s only obvious this thing will be a feeding frenzy for realtors. As Edith Ann would say, “That’s the truth…(insert raspberry here)”
By routine, I didn’t mean that “cheating” has become routine, but I think you know that and are speaking rhetorically. What I mean is that the general plan is design to be amended to substitute a specific plan for the previous “general plan.” That is why it is common. When an area is undeveloped, it appears as a general plan that includes zoning. When it is developed or a more specific plan is approved, that automatically “amends” the general plan. It is not a bug, but a feature, your implications to the contrary notwithstanding.
And the public has the right to reject poor planning, and I hope they do. Rob, stop putting words and “implications” in my mouth. You need to stick to arguing with what I say instead of putting an argument out there for yourself to argue with.
As to your “cheating” comment. Yes, that is my word not yours, but your meaning of “taking advantage” is clear. Your last comment about “feeding frenzy” makes my point. You disparage an entire industry as if they are doing something wrong or harmful. Do you object to real estate brokers in general? If not, what houses are they allowed to sell without offending you?
Raspberry back at you!
I’m sorry, you’re just baiting, when you want to get back to the conversation at hand, let me know.
Well, I went to your shitstack and read what you wrote about the Valley’s Edge opponents – “I think they hate humans and view human activity as evil.”
But you say I hate realtors as a class over one true observation that I made, having twisted and distorted it. You admitted to putting words in my mouth.
Then I read that crap about your daughter and your treasure box, and I realized, you are one bitter lonely old man Rob. You hate the Tchudi’s because they have friends and a nice lifestyle. You just hate the opponents of VE because they aren’t like you, they don’t agree with you, and they have stuff you will never have.
My suggestion is go home, get a new dog, and mind your own fucking business.
Nice talking to you, if it can be called that.
Rob
wow, you are a real piece of work. You come to MY blog trying to tell me I don’t know anything, trying to bully me into shutting up, put words in my mouth, try to change the subject – look Rob, not everybody agrees with you. When I disagreed with you on your blog you invited me to leave, so I left, I haven’t been back. Bored? Come here looking for a fight? You certainly didn’t come here looking to “talk”, Old Man. So I’ll handle you like I handle the old pit bull that wanders down my street looking to shit in people’s yards – GO HOME.