You saw it on the news, “your tax dollars at work,” they finally open the road – it’s a piece of crap!
Last night, my husband and I did something we haven’t done in a long time – we went out at night. We haven’t been out in Chico for years – the atmosphere has gotten very unpleasant. All our favorite restaurants have closed. Downtown is a crime scene. And then you have the drunks! Who wants to be a statistic?
But last night some cousins of mine were driving to town for a high school basketball game on the South End of town, so we drove over to say Hello. Great game, I saw my teenage cousin for the first time – I picked her out of the crowd, because she looked like my grandfather, who also played basketball for the same school. It was fun. We’ll do it again.
It was good to get out, and it took us out to Bruce Road, which we had not used since it was closed for the widening.
First of all, contrary to the signs and what the city of Chico has said, Measure H funds were not a viable part of this job. Most of the money – ask Mike Mangas over at KRCR news – came from federal and state grants that have been in place for almost 10 years. The city is being dishonest about the amount and use of Measure H funds – maybe Measure H funds paid for the lies on those signs?
Measure H goes into the General Fund, and despite claims of “accounting” for these funds, we only have reports from the Finance Department. They can do whatever they want with money in the General Fund. It’s like pouring a glass of water into Chico Creek and telling people you know where that glass of water went.
Okay, you know you love this one – here’s Richard Lewis describing how the city of Chico spends money.
So let’s get back to Bruce Road. As soon as we rolled onto the new surface, on a new set of tires we just bought in October, we felt like we were on a dirt road crossing the canyon in an old stage coach. Bump-bump-bump-bump-bump! The surface of the road is riddled with bumps and lumps. The cement was not properly poured. My husband, a contractor who has been on major jobsites all over Chico, remarked that they must have poured it on the hottest day of the year. Thinking back, that’s when they poured it – when we had triple digits. Temperature and humidity really matter when you pour concrete.
The city uses the same contractor for all these jobs. They don’t use the top-rated concrete company in town, they make and set their own cement. Cement is an important job that needs to be done right, by a company that ONLY does cement. Instead the city goes cheap-ass with a construction company that makes it’s own cement. CHEAP-ASS!
As we bounced along the road, I heard Neil Young, warbling along – “It’s a piece of crap…”