Chico Taxpayers Association

Now that Valley’s Edge is off the table for a while, we should start talking about November. It’s easy to get caught up in the presidential race but there are local and state issues to which we should pay careful attention.

As of now, according to Ballotpedia, the Taxpayer Protection Act, also known as the The California Two-Thirds Legislative Vote and Voter Approval for Fee and Charge Increases Initiative (#21-0042), is scheduled to be on the ballot.

https://ballotpedia.org/California_Two-Thirds_Legislative_Vote_and_Voter_Approval_for_New_or_Increased_Taxes_Initiative_(2024)

Governor Newsom and members of the California legislature are so worried this measure will stop them from raising taxes they’ve sued to stop it, claiming the TPA is an, “‘unlawful effort to revise our state constitution’ which ‘seeks to eliminate the state’s ability to swiftly respond to emergencies and provide resources for critical services that Californians and communities rely upon.'”

https://marinpost.org/blog/2024/2/6/governor-newsom-sues-1-3-million-californians

I was trying to read old finance reports, trying to keep track of discussions regarding the TPA and Measure H, when I found some stuff that really blew my mind. I wanted to share it here immediately, but I found links that wouldn’t work and text that would not cut-and-paste. So I contacted the clerk’s office and asked them if they could load it correctly. I received a mailbox full of reports that I will try to share, but it’s going to take a lot of reading. It doesn’t make sense at this point.

In 2020 the city was already crying about lost revenues, when they had over $20 million in settlement money from the Camp Fire. Then came millions more in American Rescue money for COVID. They just recently received another $24 million in PG&E settlement money.

In one report staff says revenues were so low, they talked about deferrig the Cal PERS annual catch-up payment – that would cost them over $500,000 in interest! There were a lot of alarming little details. What I came away with, is that city council is not qualified to handle a budget of that size, and staff is suggesting projects not based on need or the community’s best interests.

Right now, I’m going to get ready to go grocery shopping, I find it’s best to get out and get it over with before the traffic shuts down the south side of town.

I woke up early for the news that Chico voters have very definitely rejected the proposal for Valley’s Edge. I don’t think that land should be developed at all, and the high density they were proposing would have been a disaster. And like my husband reminds me – it offered nothing to our town except sprawl and further strain on infrastructure.

Now the question, what will Brouhard and his investors come back with – we should keep an eye on further developments in this area. It’s currently zoned for much lower density residential.

As of late yesterday, Butte County Recorder Keaton Denlay worried that “Turnout is lower than it has been. In our last Presidential primary we were over 58%, right now we’re sitting at 26%”.

Well, I’ll say, that’s pretty sad. I mailed my ballot two days after I received it, first week in February. My husband and I checked the county website and found our ballots were received by the following Monday. Denlay blames low turnout on the weather – that’s no excuse. I think this election has been a turn-off.

One example – what Adam Schiff did to Katie Porter and Barbara Lee shows us the seamier side of politics – he spent 10’s of millions throwing them under the bus with attack ads, members of his own party, while he very obviously pushed Garvey as his preferred opponent. He really thinks he can demonize Garvey because he voted for Donald Trump. Schiff is a nasty, nasty man, who obviously believes in dirty politics. I’m tired of his “leadership” of our state – a welfare state with the highest taxes in the nation. I’m looking forward to voting for Garvey again. I might even send him 25 bucks.

People blame Don Trump for turning the election negative – they’ve got to be kidding. The mess in Washington is all on Biden. Here’s what I think is really going on – the Democrats are desperately seeking somebody else to run. Michelle Obama’s sudden announcement that she won’t run tells us they’ve been talking about it. And it’s very reminiscent of Barack Obama’s denial that he was going to run in 2008 – he told Tim Russert several times in 2006, very firmly, that he would not run, but by 2007 he was telling Russert why he should be president. Let’s see what happens with the Democrats over the next few months.

Tomorrow the Internal Affairs Committee will discuss a “$60-80 million” remodel of Downtown Chico. They plan to use American Rescue Plan money received after COVID, as well as Measure H revenues. The newspaper also reported the city will use part or all of the $24 million Camp Fire Settlement money. After they dig up the entire sewer system for replacement, they intend to completely redesign streets, eliminating still more parking for restaurant seating and new bike lanes. One plan shows elimination of car lanes.

Since I bought my house, Downtown has been “remodeled” several times, at a cost of millions each time. Seeking to increase parking, one plan turned parallel parking to lateral. After concerns were raised about accidents caused by cars backing out, a subsequent plan changed some streets back to parallel. Seeking to lower the speed at which cars traveled through Downtown, sidewalks were bulbed, putting the pedestrian out in the street as a “traffic calming measure.” At that time, they added a “Studebaker strip, the wheelchair, and high-heel accessible strip of flat walkway which lines the center of downtown crosswalks.” I don’t know if that even exists anymore, the streets are in pretty bad shape. Fancy, expensive concrete garbage bins were set at corners in the Downtown grid – they were so badly vandalized by the night people, they had to be removed. All their “experiments” were paid for by the taxpayers, at the expense of local infrastructure.

Meanwhile, the street in front of my house, annexed over 20 years ago, still needs extensive drainage, sidewalks, and resurfacing. There’s a puddle at the end of my driveway right now, created by years of garbage trucks grinding to a stop out front, that smells like an old fish pond. My tax bill is over $7,000 a year. We’ve had new subdivisions built into people’s back yards up and down my street, but promises of “street work” have never materialized. Many properties on my street, a block from Bidwell Park, are still on septic – the city wants 10’s of thousands to hook up to sewer, in addition to the work done on the owner’s property.

How’s the internet at your house, cause people in my neighborhood are still standing in their driveways to use their cell phones while their kids go to the library to do their homework. My internet providers have told me, there are too many trees in my neighborhood, that my house is too far from the street, and finally, they told us, we’re too far from the tower that is located over in college town? What? Hellooooo? Mark Orme, before he hit the road for sweeter pastures, told us we have no internet in whole sections of Chico. That conversation ended when he sidled out of town.

But Downtown gets a total remodel about every ten years. Hmmmm. I think it’s time to take out the trash.