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…”
Chico Taxpayers Association 
Shoddy public works projects are a direct result of incompetent local government. Chico appears to have an abundance of staff ineptitude.
Thanks Scott, here’s the thing – it’s all about stealing money from the project to pay salaries and benefits Downtown. City of Chico is greedy, they always take the lowest bidder. They always use the same embedded contractor. This contractor makes their own cement to save money, and then they do the work in whatever weather, under whatever conditions, to save time. Saving money on materials and rushing a massive public infrastructure project are never good. They aren’t cutting waste, the suits still get their salaries. They take money from the actual job. The contractor is left to work within the budget they are given, leading to shoddy workmanship. These jobs take skill – people have such a poor attitude toward construction workers, but they have to have many skills and use their common sense and experience. The big machines they use to pour and smooth the cement – a very complicated computer driven machine called a “screeder” – takes a skilled operator. Who was on that machine on Bruce Road?
Thanks Scott, here’s the thing – it’s all about stealing money from the project to pay salaries and benefits Downtown. City of Chico is greedy, they always take the lowest bidder. They always use the same embedded contractor. This contractor makes their own cement to save money, and then they do the work in whatever weather, under whatever conditions, to save time. Saving money on materials and rushing a massive public infrastructure project are never good. They aren’t cutting waste, the suits still get their salaries. They take money from the actual job. The contractor is left to work within the budget they are given, leading to shoddy workmanship. These jobs take skill – people have such a poor attitude toward construction workers, but they have to have many skills and use their common sense and experience. The big machines they use to pour and smooth the cement – a very complicated computer driven machine called a “screeder” – takes a skilled operator. Who was on that machine on Bruce Road?
When it comes to municipal budgets there are pensions, and then there’s everything else.
When you look at the annual budget of any municipality, the biggest expense line is always the salaries and associated benefits of employees. And that is as it should be. Hiring top quality people to provide top quality services is exactly what one would hope for or expect from their local municipality.
If the intent is to reduce the overall expense of employees, one could look at salary levels, vacation and benefit packages, overtime and sick pay, and other very generous employee biased work rules. But all of those items combined don’t begin to match the negative impact of a defined benefit pension plan on municipal finance.
More on this soon. Taxpayers need to understand how this system drains the coffers of the local municipality.
No money, no services…
When my friend Ray Schimmel tried to explain the difference between defined benefits and defined contributions at a utility rate hearing, he was boo’d down.
Go for it. I will post whatever you got.