I’ve been frustrated with the city of Chico’s approach to housing. For one thing, I don’t think a city has any responsibility for “providing” housing, they have a responsibility for regulating housing.
They are supposed to designate areas in which housing can be built, based on good planning practices as well as environmental and other legal restrictions. They are supposed to make sure housing in the city is up to city code, and that streets, sidewalks and sewers are maintained. But I do not believe there is any law stating that the city is responsible for providing the actual housing.
But a city profits from development – starting with builder fees, plan check fees, inspection fees, and ending up with more property tax and sales tax revenues, into perpetuity. Unfortunately the city of Chico is collecting the fees but is not keeping up with the infrastructural requirements for all these new residents. Every time I drive that section of Bruce Road between 32 and Skyway I wonder how they will fix that bottleneck at that funky little subdivision – it looks to be physically impossible. And if they build out Valley’s Edge, that part of town will shut down completely, all day, every day. You won’t be able to pull a needle out of that mess with a tractor.
It is ridiculous for the city to proclaim we need Valley’s Edge to solve our ‘housing crisis’ – who will be housed at Valley’s Edge?
Here’s how the city could help provide more affordable housing – talk to the county and the state and the feds, who are supposed to provide for social welfare. Put more pressure on those agencies like HUD to do their jobs.
For one thing, HUD could reinstate the emergency rent programs, which appear to have been unfunded since 2021. I’ve known many people – families and single people – whose marginal jobs hardly covered their rent. We need these people, they fill essential jobs. When they have emergencies such as illness or an eviction or loss of job that isn’t their fault, it would behoove all of us if they had the support of a taxpayer funded agency. When I looked at HUD’s website it said that neither the emergency rent program nor the landlord incentive program had any money left.
Landlord incentives? They offer to pay $1,000 if you sign up to take Section 8 vouchers and another $500 each time you sign a rental agreement with a qualified renter(s). But read further – not only is that program unfunded, but the Section 8 program does not offer any type of security deposit, nor does it guarantee the renter will pay their rent or take proper care of the unit. HUD needs to either provide their own housing or guarantee landlords more protection.
I would ask both HUD and Butte County to fund and manage more building/renovation of existing housing for families falling under the Chico median income of about $60,000. Neither private landlords nor developers nor the city of Chico should be expected to run a charity.
I know you’ve noticed this – the city of Chico has it backward – the more housing they approve, the more expensive housing gets…
I hope you are all a titter about our upcoming holiday. When you consider the trouble our founding fathers and mothers went to, you’d be an ass not to be grateful.
Unfortunately, the city of Chico isn’t planning any activities. What?
CARD is hosting a “community picnic” on Saturday July 1 at Community Park on 20th Street. A daytime affair, there will be no fireworks but there will be music and “entertainment”. Frankly, it’s just not the same for me if it’s not on the Fourth.
Private events listed for Tuesday the Fourth include parties at bars like the Tackle Box, as well as an outdoor drinking party hosted by the developers of Merriam Park. Both of those will take advantage of the annual fireworks demonstration at the nearby Silver Dollar Speedway. Of course if you want to get in to the races you have to pay for a ticket but the fireworks can be enjoyed just about anywhere in town.
Meanwhile, Biggs, a tiny town just south of Chico, has a pancake breakfast, a parade, a faire, and fireworks. And if you’ve never been to Butte Meadows, you might want to check it out next Tuesday –
ButteMeadows 4th of JulyParade Tue Jul 04 2023 at 10:00 am UTC-07:00 Location Sierra Steel Harley-Davidson Chico, CA Advertisement Come ride in ButteMeadows annual 4th of Julyparade! Meet at Sierra Steel on the 4th of July at 10am and we will ride up to ButteMeadows to be in the parade! The theme for the parade is “Team USA”
According to other announcements, there will be judges convened at the Mercantile. The general requirement is patriotism and points will be awarded.
Fourth of July is a big holiday, as it should be. When my husband and I traveled up to Portland in the days before 4th of July 2021 – the height of COVID – we saw that towns all the way up Hwy 5 were planning their own celebrations. Banners touted fireworks, rodeos, parades and other events. One town was looking for entrants to a pie eating contest.
I remember Chico of the past, of course – here’s a past event you might remember – a repost of a repost from 2016 –
This event has not reappeared since 2016. Chico Running Club hosted that last pancake breakfast, I believe, at the suggestion of club member and former mayor/council member Randall Stone. That was the last year we had Bob’s Pancake wagon, celebrity pancake flippers, and a band on that forlorn bandstand at One Mile.
If you’re sitting in the lobster pot, it’s hard to know when you’re done. You have to take that fork, aim it right at your ass, and punch it in there, hard. Here’s a fork – you have just been stuck with a one cent sales tax increase, a sewer rate increase, and now you’re staring at a well tax for a well you don’t own… (more on that later) What does it take to get you out of that pot?
I got good news in my email box – Finance Committee meeting scheduled for next Wednesday – June 28 – to decide whether or not to fund the ice skating rink at City Plaza for next year. And here’s something interesting I found in their report – they lost a lot more in 2021 and 22 than staff had previously reported. Read further.
If this was Major League Baseball, Somebody would be getting fired right now. Here’s Somebody’s report.
Over the years, City staff have evaluated and considered ways to enhance the downtown experience for our community, as well as an attraction for outside tourism. The plaza was an underutilized asset in the winter time and therefore, we narrowed in on the concept of the Downtown Chico Ice Skating Rink to further enhance the holiday festivities in our downtown. As a family-friendly event, this provided a means to provide an experience that people of all ages can enjoy. By having a cost-effective event for families downtown, there are other intrinsic values that it brings to get more people downtown. The Downtown Chico Ice Skating Rink was initiated and started in 2021. The original intent was to transfer management and full operating/rental costs to another group, such as the Downtown Chico Business Association (DCBA) or the Chico Area Recreation District (CARD) after the first year of operation. Therefore, the first year (2021), City staff managed the operations with support from DCBA and the second year (2022), DCBA fully managed the operations of the program with City staff still managing the setup of the rink.
Ways to enhance the downtown experience?Well, how about getting rid of the panhandlers, perverts and pedophiles? The people who break into our cars while we’re eating a super-spendy dinner or perusing overpriced crap stores? The people who shit on the entry ways of businesses and vandalize anything that can’t run away. Stop treating these people like privileged visitors and start treating the rest of us with some respect and maybe we’ll decide to come out of our homes and spend some money.
The fact that neither CARD nor DCBA came rushing forward to run this dud should tell us even more. CARD is a recreation district starving for revenues – if they thought this thing would pan they would have jumped on it. As for sponsorships – in 2021, local businesses came forward with $116,100 in donations. For 2022 only $65,196 in sponsorships. Sounds like city staff and council were the only ones who didn’t notice the rink was not only a failure but it made the public really mad. The city of Chico needs to stop doctoring their own Kool Aid.
Ottonboni also claims, “The plaza was an underutilized asset in the winter time“…? No, say what you really mean Kid – it was used as a homeless shelter, illegal campers ignored by Chico PD and city management. Downtown business owners/tenants and the general public were getting really mad. It sat there for years, got so bad, there was a flea infestation. They closed the plaza for over a month for cleaning and fumigation, and then they just let the campers take it right back.
In order to get the bums to stay out of their skating rink, the city fenced the plaza off to EVERYBODY. The first year they actually fenced off the parking places directly surrounding the plaza, eliminating how many parking spaces? So, the plaza became even more unusable to shoppers and others who pay taxes to enjoy a lively and thriving central core.
Their plans were a miserable failure – a financial loss equating to more than the salary of the staffer who picked up the idea from that consultant and pitched it further to the city – Brendan Ottoboni. Ottoboni actually left the city a couple of years ago only to come back to a new department head position and a $40,000 raise.
Ottoboni asks the committee and council “for direction”. I sure would like to give him a direction – my husband says “go to Hwy 99 and head south….” I’d like to tell him he’s a department head now and he needs to buck up and make a suggestion, like the suggestion he made that got us into this mess in the first place. If you really want a good shock read the rest of the report. Here’s a good one – to date, the city has laid out almost $500,000, out of the General Fund, for “starter costs“.
I love the passive-aggressive terminology – “negative project cost” – just say LOSS you little weasel! “The first two years resulted in losses of funding directly linked to program costs and revenues. In 2021, the program had a negative project cost of $142,557.76, and in 2022, a negative project cost of $188,779.43.” Those are not the figures I was previously given by staff. In 2021 they reported a $29,000 loss to the news media, and finance staff just gave me a figure of about $176,000. And that includes “$70,053.64 of net revenue from the DCBA.” They seem to be digging themselves deeper every time we hear about it.
“The estimated amount of funds anticipated for the startup costs this year are approximately $200,000. This will be our initial capital outlay and staffing time, with net revenues from the operations to cover a portion, if not all of this initial outlay.“
Yes, they spend OVER $200,000 on salaries for this thing. For one year.
But get a load of this – Ottoboni still wants to continue funding this train wreck – boy I just want to kick this guys ass – “While the direct revenues did not cover the startup and operational costs in each of the first two years, City Council, staff and the community have concerns on the ability of this event to be fiscally sustainable. However, there are other intrinsic values that this brings to one of our community features, Historic Downtown Chico… “
And then this – “anecdotally we have heard that businesses generally performed better during the period of the Downtown Chico Ice Rink operation…” It’s the end of June, why don’t we have the actual figures in this report? Mr. $184,000+/yr can hand us “anecdotes”?
So, every time they mention funding this dud again, I will mention the Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act, coming to the 2024 ballot. I’m not sure I need protecting, but I’d like some accountability.
* As of staff report dated 6/28/23, that’s $188,779.43…
In April I attended a Finance Committee meeting but the discussion seemed weirdly clipped – at one point, I swear to Gawd, both Staff and committee members lowered their voices as if they didn’t want anybody to hear what they were saying.
The subject was the skating rink. A finance department staffer told the committee that the skating rink had an operational loss of …. what? Her voice was so thin, I couldn’t hear the figure, but I definitely heard her saying there was a loss and council would “have to make a decision...” At one point committee chair and current mayor Andrew Coolidge slumped down in his chair, folded his arms across his chest, his comments almost inaudible, but I could hear him clearly say, “well…it’s good will… “
Somebody always has to pay for good will, and in this case, it’s the taxpayers.
In the old days, when I went to these meetings, I would just wait until the person was done talking, and, if I didn’t hear something clearly or didn’t understand, I’d hold up my hand to ask for clarification. I try to be businesslike at these meetings, I read any reports that are provided ahead of time, and I write stuff down. I keep it short, no chitter-chatter. That was how the old meetings used to be, there was a good rapport between the public and staff, and many staffers were very glad to answer questions. I’ll never forget when the consultant at the garbage tax meeting who beamed at me and said “Good question!” Chico was a smaller town then.
Well, not anymore. Mark Sorensen, our newish city manager, has put an end to “back and forth” conversations at meetings. You have to fill out a card and wait your turn to “speak”. And, they are no longer as willing to answer questions. In fact, Sorensen has instructed staff that all questions from the public must be posed as a formal “Public Information Act Request”.
So, when I emailed staff after the meeting to ask some questions,
“Hi – Reading the budget report presented at the last Fin Comm meeting, I have several questions – 1) how much money did the skating rink make this 2022-23 season? I see a figure of ($113,835) on the “City Recreation” Fund and I wonder, is that the loss from the rink? 2) What other recreation does the city sponsor out of that fund? 3) Also, where did the original $277,000 fund balance come from? Thank you, at your convenience, for either answering my questions or forwarding them to someone who can – Juanita Sumner”
I received a friendly palm of the hand in my face.
Hi there Juanita, You will need to fill out a PRA request form from the City Clerk’s office for the information that you are requesting. It’s easy though! Just follow the instructions located here:
Yes, very sweet and polite, but a new hurdle to “sunshine”. You have to create an account, password, sign in, blah blah blah. Just a hurdle, not a roadblock. I Jackie Joyner-Kersee’d it and waited for a response, about 10 days later I received it.
Was there a loss on the rink? The answer – “Ice Rink made over $237,375 in revenue, and expenses were $413,738. As of 5/31, City Recreation Fund expenses over revenues (come on, just say L-O-S-S) is $176,363. See income summary being released.” The income summary was attached, more on that later.
I had also asked what other activities were included in the City Rec Fund, because the city used to have what could be considered recreational expenses, for example, they used to pay the lifeguards at One Mile. But it looks as if that’s a new fund, created for the rink. “Currently, City Recreation Fund activity only relates to Ice Rink.”
Last, I had asked where the money had come from to fund the rink in the first place. I had seen a figure of $277,000 in the “revenues” column, I thought that was their seed money, and I assumed it had included any generous donations from Downtown businesses or the DCBA or maybe Tonya Harding. I guess I should have given a page number – they didn’t recognize the figure. But it didn’t matter, the answer I wanted was where they got it.
“Staff is not clear on $277,000 fund balance number from question. Fund started fiscal year with $157,442, which was what was remaining from original $300,000 transfer from the General Fund in fiscal year 2021-22.“
They lost $29,000 on the 2021-22 ice rink, that was on the news. I posted it here:
So they had $300,000 to start, they lost $29,000, but had $157,442 left over. I’d had to look at the budget again, it’s all there. But there are pages and pages of crap in the budget, it will make you blind looking at that shit, needle in a haystack. So I thought I was allowed to ask staff when stuff just didn’t make sense to me. Nope, asking staff just started to cost money.
“The City doesn’t have a duty to engage in questions/answers under the Public Records Act process, however the City is making an exception as a courtesy. The City will only provide records in response to future requests.“
You have to pay per page for documents, and they don’t have to explain anything, you just get a pile of figures, like this:
The document posted there by the city attorney/staff in response to my questions is interesting but it doesn’t specifically answer my questions. In fact there’s stuff that should inspire more questions. But we are no longer allowed to ask questions of staff, at meetings or otherwise. We can only make public information requests and then try to figure out what it all means on our own.
Ironically, I just got the same information from a staffer who shall remain nameless. This email from Mark Sorensen to Council, is part of a discussion about the agenda of this month’s Finance Committee meeting, which will not be made public until June 23rd. I notice he uses exactly the same words I got in the response to my questions.
From: Mark Sorensen <Mark.Sorensen@chicoca.gov> Sent: Tuesday, June 13, 2023 10:51 AM To: All City Council <All-City-Council@Chicoca.gov> Subject: Ice Rink
Mayor and Council:
We’ll be bringing the item to Finance Committee for additional conversation, but please find attached and below some data points regarding the 2nd year of operation of the ice rink.
We’ll be discussing ideas for changes that can be made to improve the economics of the effort. In the current budget, the ice rink for this calendar year is not funded.
Ice Rink made $237,375 in revenue, and expenses were $413,738. As of 5/31, City Recreation Fund expenses over revenues is $176,363.
Currently, City Recreation Fund activity only relates to Ice Rink.
The fund started fiscal year with $157,442, which was what was remaining from original $300,000 transfer from the General Fund in fiscal year 2021-22.
Well, that’s interesting – the rink is not included in the current budget. And then this weird aside –
For reasons that we do not yet understand, DCBA forwarded net revenue (for their part of the operation) that was $5,000 less is revenue than their report showed. However, they sent us back a $30,000 deposit we had given them at the outset of our agreement with them, which offset total costs in the fund.
What “net revenue” is he talking about? What $30,000 deposit? We are not privvy to agreements made between the city of Chico and Downtown Business Association, but that’s interesting. Somebody pays you back money you loaned them, and you look at it as income that offsets your costs? That’s government accounting for you. I don’t believe the rink provides that much benefit to Downtown Businesses, we’re offered no documented proof. If I were a Downtown Business, I’d feel like I was dealing with The Mob.
The city is making a decision as to whether or not to put the skating rink in next year’s budget – I say NO. Chico is not a rich town like Redding, we don’t have millionaire donors, we have to stop living beyond our means. This council that uses our taxes like Monopoly money needs to be told that. Contact council – hey, I think you can use the address Sorensen used – All-City-Council@Chicoca.gov Tell them you are sick of paying for the lifestyles and privileges of the One Percent.
I don’t know if anybody would be able to tell us – how many lawsuits is the city of Chico involved in right now? That information is not available on the Butte County Court Case Index, and if you want an answer from staff you have to submit a formal request for information and wait until the cows come home (and yeah, I mean that literally) to get an answer.
I actually did submit a request regarding the negative figure I found for the “city recreation fund” but nine days later I’m still sitting on my three legged stool waiting for Bossy to get me an answer.
But a reader sent me a tip regarding a recently filed lawsuit naming the city of Chico, three specific Chico PD officers, and id’d other involved police officers as “Does 1-50” Here’s what I found online.
The names are included but you have to “log in” to read the complaint. This is public information but see how hard they make for you to read it. I got a copy of the complaint from my reader. Apparently, officers pulled over a car that did not match the description of the car they were looking for and, according to the filed complaint, proceeded to go beyond reason in their treatment of three minors. One girl’s arm was literally twisted until she cried. A minor boy was removed from the car – I can imagine how scared he was that he would receive the same treatment as the girl he was with.
This reminded me of the story we all read about a college student who was attacked by Chico PD in 2016 after they’d seen her video taping the arrest of another person. This video, which I found on youtube, is really disturbing. I’ll tell you what really disturbs me – the officer involved, Steve Dyke, has been involved in numerous questionable actions, and he’s still a member of Chico PD. Google his name, it’s shocking that a man like that is still carrying a gun.
CAUTION: This is a video of what amounts to a sexual assault by members of Chico Police Department
Similar behavior to that you see in the video above was described in the report in the filing for the recent lawsuit. The girl involved was a minor, a teenager who made the mistake of going out without her mother after dark. Her arm was twisted until she cried, and much like what you see in the video above, the officers showed no mercy or pity. If you have teenagers, think about that next time they want to go anywhere in Chico without you.
If you have a child that’s considering enrolling at Chico State, I’d try to convince them to look at other colleges. I recommend University of Nevada, Reno, my kid had a great experience there, and they have a much better reputation than Chico State. Check out this link.
As the reader who sent me the information observes, “The city manager and chief will try to hush this up…probably a quick settlement at taxpayer expense the public will never hear about.” Yes, that’s true, they won’t talk about it publicly, they’ll hide behind “privacy”. And they’ll roll over and we’ll pay.
This is public information, you’re paying for it. This is your city, own it.
At last night’s council meeting the fire department was awarded a 10% raise to pay 5% more of their pension costs.
Pay Range Increases. 1) Effective the first pay period after ratification and approval, the City shall provide a five percent (5%) General Salary Increase (GSI) to IAFF members as specified in Exhibit B, retroactive to September 11, 2022. 2) Effective July +l, 2023, the City shall provide a five percent (5%) GS! as specified in Exhibit B.
3.10 RETIREMENT PLAN… Effective July 42, 2023, each bargaining unit member shall pay, through payroll deduction, an additional one percent (I%) of PERSable compensation in addition to previously agreed cost sharing amounts above, with employee cost share totaling five percent (5%) for Classic members and two percent (2%) for PEPRA members.
City Manager and former city council member Mark Sorensen claims, “There is no additional fiscal impact beyond what has already been budgeted.” He doesn’t want us to know how this will affect the pension deficit, and no member of council bothered to ask.
They just gave the police 20% raises, but I didn’t see any mention of higher shares. The police have already agreed to pay the additional 3%.
Here’s how these deals raise our pension debt – raising their salaries raises their pension cost, far beyond the tiny shares they are being asked to take on. Furthermore, they are not paying more, they’re only paying a portion of the city share. These agreements raise the cost without raising the payment, that’s just gas on the fire.
Sorensen knows what he’s doing, but he doesn’t care about the consequences. When he took his public salary, he drank the Kool Aid. No matter what happens to the city of Chico, no matter what happens to our “quality of life,” our property values, our kids – Sorensen still gets his money.
On a side note, I asked Staff about the ($113,000) I saw in the “city recreation” budget, and I was told I would have to fill out a public information request. We’ll see what we get there. When I did that, I saw that a lot of people have requested information about the parking kiosks, the cost, who was the consultant, etc. I’ll keep an eye on that.
The parking kiosks are another nail in the coffin for Downtown Chico. The city held a meeting with Downtown business owners the other day, even invited customers. Not only are people disgruntled, one attendee got a parking ticket during the meeting, even after he’d paid for his parking space.
Here’s something that was mentioned at the meeting that is not mentioned anywhere on the city website – if you use your credit card for these machines, you pay a credit card fee every time you park or add time to your meter. Wow. I remember when ATM’s came out, they were great! My husband used his card to buy lunch almost daily – the first month, he racked up over $30 in fees – at that time, that was about six lunches. That was the end of our ATM days. That’s one reason we are really careful how we use our debit and credit cards as well.
Thing is, if you want to use coin, aside from having a bag of coins stashed in your car, you need to drive to the kiosk, find “available parking”, get out of your car and feed the machine. Then you drive back to your space – what, and hope nobody took it? What?
Here’s something that was not mentioned at the recent meeting, but has been discussed in those day meetings – the meter has your app, and from that point on, it tracks your phone. You know you can be tracked with your phone right? You get those creepy reports from Google telling you where you’ve been the last 30 days? Former City Ass Mangler Chris Constantin reported that staff was using cell phones to track people during COVID, driving out to wherever they spotted “congregations” so they could threaten those businesses with sanctions.
Well, now the city is using your phone to watch your shopping habits. They want to know certain details, such as how far you have to walk to spend money after you park your car, they discussed that. They call it “marketing research“, I call it, “Big Brother is watching you…” And now Big Brother can send you advertising based on your shopping habits – don’t you just love those ads that slow down your mailbox? If you don’t think that’s creepy, you might want to watch Batman Forever, we have achieved Edward Nigma’s “box”.
Councilman Tom Van Overbeek has admitted as much, saying in his letter to the editor that this app will track you and make sure you are either out of that parking space or get a ticket. I wonder what they intend to do about the Downtown business owner who walked into that meeting waving a paid receipt and a parking ticket.
People have accused me at times of just complaining without offering any solutions. Various businesses offered their solutions at the meeting – most want free parking days or hours, such as free parking until 11am. They are willing to accept the kiosks, as long as there’s a way to wheedle out of it.
Here’s what my husband thinks, and I’ll agree: Downtown just shot itself in the foot again. For us it doesn’t matter – not personally – we don’t own a business there, and we haven’t patronized any business Downtown for years. But, I’ve watched one council after another pour out money for a “viable Downtown” – just throwing good money after bad. Whenever the government gets too involved in the private sector, you get problems. A viable retail sector runs itself. The city has thrown it’s dick in, and that’s where the problems are coming from. All they want out of those meters, is revenues, let’s face it. That’s what Van Overbeek seemed to be concerned with – how fast the ticketing process works. And then he blames college students – that would be funny, if it weren’t so insulting.
Van Overbeek and his cronies on council refuse to listen to the survey they ran a few years ago – people want a “clean, safe” Downtown. They meant, they don’t want bums breaking into their cars, looking over their shoulders at their ATM’s, or putting their hand on their car door to ask for a handout. They don’t want to have to lead their children down a sidewalk with filthy people sprawled out over it, or encounter human feces in front of a business entry. Use a public bathroom? Forget it. And that’s daytime. Add darkness and drunks, and Downtown becomes completely family UN-friendly at night.
Actions this council has taken very recently have just been more nails in the coffin – $1 an hour to park? Wow, there’s acres of free parking and more retail options at malls and retail centers all over town. Yeah, Raw Bar is nice, but Big Tuna and Izakaya Ichiban are just as good, less expensive, and – here’s the thing – have free parking and other retail options in the same center. And no bum tents or sprawling drunks or feces in the doorway. There are streets all over town like Nord and East that feed major retail centers, that haven’t been maintained properly for many years. But they’re putting a quarter of a million in American Rescue Money into parklets for bars Downtown?
One bail-out after another, and Downtown is still in trouble. Want to know why? While they play around with the candy toppings, they don’t provide any substance. The sewer hasn’t been maintained for 100 years. That’s what’s really going to tank Downtown – they will have to shut it down for a couple of years to tear out the streets to fix the sewer. Where will they get the money for that?
I don’t subscribe to the Enterprise Record but every now and then I read the letters section online – I find that the most interesting section of the paper, which has gone to mostly ads and propaganda. Most times I am able to read it before the wall comes up, today all I got was the following, with a quick glimpse at the name of the author – Harvey Holland. I didn’t get to read the whole letter, but I liked the opening quote.
“Undergirding the homeless movement is an entitlement mentality, one that avails itself to the benefits of a free society, yet does not obey the laws that safeguard those rights.”
That really nails it for me – I can’t stand people who scream for their rights without accepting any responsibility for their actions. I’ve dealt with friends and family members who’ve adopted that philosophy – I call it, “The Me, Myself and Irene” syndrome. “Irene” representing methamphetamine, heroin, and/or waaaaay too much alcohol.
Yep, that’s the reality of Chico these days, entitled drug addicts and criminals. They know they won’t be held responsible for taking stuff out of your yard, taking your daughter’s bike or your 11 year old’s BMX from the garage. That used to be called “stealing”, but these days it’s just a fact of life – if you don’t lock your stuff up – even that curious looking doodad hanging from your porch eaves – they will take it and nobody’s going to do anything about it.
Even locking stuff up isn’t always the answer. Car thefts are just a fact of life, and if your car is older and worth less than $10,000 they’re not even going to attempt to find it, much less get it back. My friend Dave’s locked car was stolen from the parking lot at his apartment complex. When he finally got it back, there was over 1,000 new miles on it, it had been stripped of valuable parts like the catalytic converter, was full of garbage including chits from casinos and used syringes, and was in the possession of a woman with warrants on her. That’s the only reason he got it back – she had to abandon it when the cops arrested her, and the tow truck got it before the transients got ahold of it again. I don’t believe anyone was ever charged, they acted as though Dave should be lucky to get his car back at all, completely destroyed and nothing but trash.
The cops and Mike Ramsey saw Dave’s car as an old junker, but Dave knew it as a car he had copiously maintained for years and his only source of transportation. This is life in Chico – watch your ass.
Or, demand more from your local police force. The police department gets over half the budget to tell us they can’t do anything about crime – tell your city rep the cops need to pay more of their own pensions, that’s getting down to their bottom line. Demand more from your DA – write a letter to the editor asking who will run against Ramsey and offer your support. And demand more from your city representative – my rep, Kasey Reynolds, tells me they need to offer these crazy $100,000+ salaries to “attract good people”. Let your rep know, that’s now working for us, and tell them you’re ready to fund and vote for anybody wo runs against them. I supported Morgan Kennedy in the last race, and you know what – she made a pretty good showing, and if she ran again she’d probably do better. I know she had Kasey worried – Reynolds’ PAC, “Citizens for Safe Chico” set a new funding record for the city council race.
The real problem is, it’s not just the transients and criminals who have a stake here – our ruling class is really entitled, they don’t care about our experience, they’re looking out for the One Percent. Look at Mark Sorensen’s little stucco compound over on Manzanita – you think he’s really worried about what you’re experiencing? Stand up and say something, or YOU have become the problem.
Well, you know what I love about my friend Joe Azzarito – he can’t just watch a pile of bullshit get up and walk down the street, he has to say, “Hey, that’s BULLSHIT!” So here’s what he has to say about Measure H. Thanks Joe and keep it coming.
Read this week’s articles and the supposed $24,000,000 in Chico’s budget proposals, as a result of Proposition H. How in hell can they continue to push this obvious lie? Can the Merlins in city hall staffing/and or council members explain their math? Maybe the espoused dyed in the wool Trump hater, Scott Paulo can help them. $24,000,000 in new receipts based on an added 1% comes from $2.4 billion (8 zeros) in taxable sales. That works out to $80,000 in taxable sales for every 4 person family or $20,000 from every man, women and child in Chico. With a total median family income at less than $80,000 and much of what they buy as non-taxable, how do they arrive at these ginormous tax receipts?
And don’t get me started on road repair – full repaving not just slurry and oil on nearly three-quarters of our streets are needed. I just incurred major tire replacements on our cars. Would Chico like to repay me for my automobile destruction due to their roadways being in third world condition?
Fraud, misinformation, disinformation is not limited to our federal government. It is rampant throughout our country. “Deep states” are real! They exist everywhere and are cancers that must be eradicated, if we are to survive as a country.
Joe Azzarito, Chico CA
According to Oxford, “Deep State is a body of people, typically influential members of government agencies or the military, believed to be involved in the secret manipulation or control of government policy.“
There has always been talk of a group of manipulators running the country – a real story was the Bank of Crooks and Criminals, with members like Jimmy Carter. “Also known as, ‘The Bank of Credit and Commerce’… Police and intelligence experts nicknamed BCCI the “Bank of Crooks and Criminals International” for its penchant for catering to customers who dealt in arms, drugs, and hot money.”
Were these people involved in Barack Obama’s “Fast and Furious” operation? Ask Sonny Bono. The government operates secretly, we find out years later from some reporter trying to make a name for themself, but there’s never any accountability. In Chico, the “Deep State” is made up of local businessmen and developers – Marc Francis, Bill Brouhard and others have manipulated every council as long as I can remember. Franklin Construction is one of the biggest donors at election time. Then there’s the employee unions – CPOA, IFFA and SEIU contributing thousands of dollars in every election.
Here’s a little anecdote for you – when Chico Area Rec Dist was discussing putting an aquatic center on Bill Brouhard’s friend’s south Chico property, former county supe Jane Dolan and her “activist” husband Bob Mulhullond appeared before the board to discuss environmental restrictions. Mulhullond was visibly upset about the project, and Dolan said it needed a full EIR. Bill Brouhard immediately invited Jane out into the hallway for a private discussion, and out she went. They sat in the hallway through the rest of the meeting, and since then, neither Dolan nor Mulhullond have mentioned that project again – now known as Valley’s Edge.
Yes, we have a “Deep State” – in Chico and throughout the country, it’s not just some “fringe” theory. Thanks for that letter Joe.
I haven’t had much time to think politics lately, because I been pulling weeds. It’s just amazing what a little rain at the right time of year will do. This year we got a bumper crop, all the best stickers, so we’re out there a few times a week. My husband gets behind the mower and the weed whip, then I move in on the flower beds and trees to pull the remainder by hand. I always tell my husband – you can’t mow everything, true weeds love a mower, makes them grow bigger and spread out flatter. Worse, if you hit them after they head up, you got weeds everywhere next spring.
Somebody has to keep the order in Dodge City, or at least in my yard, which is my retreat from what’s happening to the rest of Chico.
Meanwhile, council moves along in their weed bed – Downtown – trying to decide what to do, what to do. One trendy fad after another – ice rink, lateral parking, parklets, allow booze outside, and now “signage” to declare Downtown a “historic district”. As if Downtown is the only “historic” part of town?
The ice rink, by the way, continues to lose money. Last year, the first year in operation, they spent $376,000 building and operating the rink, and only took in $347,000 – $116,000 of which was from “sponsors”. That’s a $29,000 LOSS, a tab that had to be picked up out of the General Fund, or as Staff likes to call it, “The Cookie Jar”.
As usual the local media tried to put a positive spin on things – “takes in more than $347,000” Wow!
Frankly, I believe these are not news stories but press releases with a headline. You have to read the entire article to see there was a loss. Just think, $29,000 a year is what some people live on.
This year the media didn’t say anything, because the city didn’t send them a press release? Nothing to brag about, is what. At the recent Finance Committee meeting, an employee reported that the city’s “Recreation Fund” is not “on track” – meaning short. If you look at the report you see they spent over $250,000 of that fund, on what? Yeah, the ice rink, there’s no other Chico recreation – that’s CARD’s gig.
Revenues? They don’t say where the funding for the “Recreation Fund” comes from. There are no matching revenues anywhere in the report, no figures on sponsors, or the volunteer time from local contractors like Slater Construction. The staffer said she had not completed the analysis. I assume she’ll bring it back at next month’s meeting. But from what I could hear of the discussion (they all seemed to be reluctant to talk in front of me), the staffer is telling council they need to “make a decision.” To which committee member, Mayor Andrew Coolidge responded, in a very low voice, while squirming in his chair, “well, it’s Good Will …” You could hear a question mark in his voice, as if he was pleading.
A lot of people in town – the well-heeled anyway – live in a rose-colored fish bowl. They want the rink to work out, it’s part of their fantasy picture of Chico. They want Downtown to look prosperous again, because Downtown is in serious trouble. What they fail to realize – that means, you have to make it attractive to almost everybody in town, not just those who can afford $15 for a ticket and a pair of rented ice skates. These people live in their own mind, you can’t expect them to understand – or care about – the trials and tribulations of the average working family. They just want us to shut our pie holes and keep paying a higher cost of living – the cost of their lifestyle. Here we have a pack of Robin Hoods who steal from the poor and working class to feather the nests of the elite.
The Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act will be on the ballot in 2024, that’s a long time to wait, but plenty of time to tell your friends. This measure will raise the voter approval requirement for tax measures back to 2/3’s, and overturn Measure H, the city of Chico’s 50%+1 tax measure. If a government agency can’t get at least 2/3’s support for a tax measure, it shouldn’t be on the ballot. People like city manager and former councilman Mark Sorensen, along with Coolidge, Kasey Reynolds, and Sean Morgan, knew not only that this measure would never achieve 2/3’s approval, but that a simple 50%+1 measure could be spent on any whim of council, like a skating rink, and parklets for bars, subdivisions built “for the right people”, and signs that designate some parts of town as better than others.
I worked hard to tell people about Measure H, but I was out-gunned about 50-1 by people who stood to gain from that measure. This time I’m going to up my game a little, I want the TPGAA to pass, and this time there will be statewide supporters with money to back it up. If you want to join in the fun, contact me here, I won’t post your comment.
Chico Taxpayers Association 