I won’t lie – I been trying my best to ignore what’s been going on in Chico. I been doing what some people have been suggesting for years – I been minding my own fucking business. And that has been working out for me somewhat – my husband and I have got our rentals buttoned up and easier to manage, we’ve cut utility bills, we’ve even made enough room in our budget for a little tomato patch. No more $8 tomatoes, we can eat BLT’s every night if we want. I got three jars of salsa sitting in the fridge right now, I feel like the queen of England. I blew out my tomato press, and have a new one on the way.
Here’s the thing – you turn your back on a rotten apple and it just gets rottener and rottener. Oh-my-god, they hired the new city manager out of Vallejo! When I heard that news, I thought of my old cousin, bless his soul – he was on the Vallejo City Council in the 1960’s. He told me, that was when Vallejo and cities all over California made a vital mistake – they gave their city managers “executive powers”.
“A city manager serves as the chief administrative and executive officer of a municipality, operating under a council-manager form of government. Their executive powers focus entirely on managing daily operations and implementing policy, explicitly separating administrative duties from the political and legislative role of the mayor and city council.”
Yes, this reduced our city council to the position of fist puppets, essentially cheer leaders. So why bother having a city council? Because that makes “the people” feel like they are still somewhat in charge. Meanwhile, the city manager does essentially what he wants, with a rubber stamp from weak ignorant council members who think they could not possible run a city without the help of this vested, completely indemnified asshole.
What kind of crack was I smoking when I recently said I would support Kasey Reynolds? Just because I don’t like her challenger, who has made it clear she is coming to the chair with an agenda of her own? I’m starting to think we should just eliminate council and go straight to electing our city staffers.
Are the voters intelligent enough to do that? If you have an opinion on that question, chime in. I’m not interested in hearing your opinion of me or posting advertisements for your business.
Chico Taxpayers Association 