http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20170418/card-to-discuss-marketing-campaign-budget
The meeting will be at the CARD center on Vallombrosa, starts promptly at 7pm, and may very well be over by 8pm, so don’t be late.
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Business Hostile Chico has different standards for different parts of town
18 AprToday the Chico Chamber and Police Department are holding a “public safety” meeting at the CARD Center on Vallombrosa. A news reporter was standing out in front of the center in pitch blackness this morning to pitch it on tv. The cops and chamber are desperate to put up a front – they want the public to think they’re on top of the situation.
This is at least the second meeting they’ve held in the “Mangrove Business Corridor.” While the chamber is supposed to represent businesses (members) all over town, the main focus always seems to be Downtown and the surrounding retail centers, the campus area, and once in a while the Nord Avenue corridor. I’ve never heard of a meeting being held in south or north Chico.
Meanwhile, there are other areas of concern, and it seems neither Chico PD nor the chamber are too worried about it.
This building at 2560 S. Whitman sits vacant for months now between Home Depot and TJ Maxx.
I reported a de-facto transient shelter at a vacant building next door to Home Depot, located on South Whitman next to Hwy 99.
https://chicotaxpayers.com/2017/03/29/bum-friendly-business-hostile/
My husband complained about the transients to a staffer at Home Depot, who indicated the problem was ongoing. (“Again?!”) When my husband returned a few days later, the transients and much of the larger trash had been removed. When we went back yesterday we found even more elaborate housing.
It looks like somebody has been living out of this cardboard box for at least a few days. There’s another “shelter” behind this one. Neither were occupied at the time, but note the knife on the ground.
From the looks of that knife, I’d say, don’t wander too close to this building after dark. Home Depot is open until 10 pm, well after dark. There to the upper left you can see the corner of the HD nursery – our truck was parked right out front of this building. I wouldn’t park that close at night.
TJ Maxx is open until 9:30 pm, and I’ve seen a lot of women and kids coming and going from that store, some of them parking over toward the abandoned building. Not that men should have to put up with this stuff either, but having been a mom with tiny tots in tow, I felt particularly vulnerable to these kind of creeps.
I got other pictures but don’t have time to post now – suffice to say, the trash meanders well into the parking lot, and lines the side of the TJ Maxx building.
Leo DePaola, the head of Chico “building services” just had a special meeting for Downtown business owners who are angered at having to pay a $150 permit fee to repair vandalized windows. DePaola, a cranky bastard, stood steadfast on that fee, saying it pays employee costs. He ain’t lying – the city has a pension deficit of nearly $180 million, you know they got costs!
The owner of the bra store says she won’t repair her windows if they don’t dump the fee. I wonder is she’s been out to TJ Maxx lately, got a good look at what the city of Chico allows in the fringe zones. I think the city’s attentions toward Downtown are a double-edge sword – I’m pretty sure some Downtown merchants would say they are put under unfair scrutiny.
While others don’t seem to get any scrutiny at all.
Stop the presses! CARD finally posting board meeting minutes on their website!
16 AprI sent a note to Chico Area Recreation District manager Ann Willmann because for years now I’ve turned to their website to look at reports of meetings and found them as much as a year behind in posting minutes.
Hi,
I wonder why there are not minutes posted for a board meeting since Nov 2016? I know the minutes have to be approved by the board, but I’ve been present when minutes have been approved, and they still haven’t been posted on the website.
Thanks for your response, at your convenience, Juanita Sumner
I’ve asked before, and been ignored, I was surprised by Willmann’s response:
Hi Juanita, the website has been updated. Thank you for your email. I have established a new process to ensure our minutes are posted in a more timely manner after approval. Ann
I couldn’t resist telling her it was about time. At least three consultants have been paid so far – make that six, including the informational meeting she presented for the board – to tell Willmann and her staff to get the public engaged in CARD’s business. Instead she seems to make every effort to keep people from knowing what’s happening – another question I’ve had to ask is, why so many “special” meetings – which only have to be noticed 24 hours ahead with a piece of paper on the front door of the CARD center.
Next time I see an 8-and-a-half by 11 piece of paper flapping on that door I’ll have to make a screeching turn into the parking lot and vault up there to see what’s happening!
CARD has already started a campaign to subtly make us believe we want to tax ourselves to pay down their $1.75 million pension deficit. Pay attention Folks, there’s pick-pockets about!
Bums putting the pressure on long time local businesses, meanwhile, $215,000/year city manager demands $63,000/year park rangers carry guns, make arrests
6 AprYesterday I went to Safeway on Mangrove to pick up some groceries, and I had to ask myself – am I shrinking, or are these carry baskets getting bigger?
So I couldn’t resist, when my checker made the usual small talk, I asked him about it. He didn’t seem too eager to talk at first, saying the baskets were sent by a contract distributor, that Safeway didn’t really have anything to do with it.
I said, “That makes sense, I notice there’s usually advertising on them.” I figured, the baskets are probably free or very cheap to Safeway because of the advertising. But the word “advertising” loosened my checker’s tongue, he said, “yeah, but with the transients stealing them and leaving them laying all over town, it was becoming bad advertising for Safeway…” So now they are just plain brown baskets, they don’t even have the Safeway logo on them anymore.
Oooooo! I get it! I actually found one of the old ones in front of my house on Palmetto. I watched it scoot along the gutter for a couple of days before I picked it up and took it back to Safeway. I just walked right in with it and dumped it in the stack by the door as I grabbed a wheeled cart. I figured a neighborhood kid had stolen it for a prank, and never mentioned it to anybody.
According to my checker, these baskets were being found in and along Chico Creek, particularly near One Mile. Well, again, that makes sense. The creeks and the park have become illegal campgrounds.
Yesterday walking my dog in middle park, I noticed another new trail, heading right into a dense tangle of blackberry and other non-native overgrowth.
Meanwhile, the city of Chico discusses arming park rangers.
http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20170405/chico-park-rangers-could-become-armed-sworn-officers
“The city is facing increased “criminal behavior” in its parks and public spaces, O’Brien said. Park rangers are encountering a criminal element with “much greater frequency” than in the past.
“’We want both the public enjoying our parks and our park staff to be as safe as possible,’ O’Brien said. ‘The issues in the park include a more sophisticated criminal element, not simply kids trying to sneak alcohol into Bear Hole or people letting their dogs off leash as in years past.’”
When I asked the checker at Safeway if they’d reported their problems to the city or the police, he frowned and shook his head. A sour “yes” was his verbal answer. I offered, “but they don’t do anything?” A sour look and a shake of the head was the answer to that.
If you look at the city’s salaries, available here:
http://publicpay.ca.gov/Reports/Cities/City.aspx?entityid=79&fiscalyear=2015
The first pages, sorted by salary, are full of police and fire employees, with salaries over $100,000/year, plus packages starting at $35,000, as high as $65,000/year.
Park ranger appears pages later, with a salary of about $63,000/year and a much smaller package.
The story in the paper says rangers have been told they have 15 months to make a decision – do they want to carry a “firearm” and make arrests in the park? Or get another job.
“On top of that, Orme ($215,000 in salary with an $80,000 benefits package) said there is no dramatic increase in revenue projected that would allow for more city employees, and resources are already limited.”
Look at the government compensation charts for the last few years – police and fire salaries have been going up-up-up. The city manager’s salary has increased by over $10,000 in the last five or six years.
I think Mark Orme should have to go out in the park and roust the bums.
CARD cut employee hours in 2013 to avoid paying for their healthcare
21 MarI’ve been cleaning through my drafts file, and here’s an article from 2013 that reports CARD cut a number of employees’ hours so they won’t have to pay Obamacare for those people. Urseny is so embedded – she didn’t even ask how many people would be cut to 28 hours. She didn’t even bother to talk to those employees about how they would manage. She has never done a follow-up to this story.
Meanwhile, management pays between 2 and 6 percent for benefits packages which range from $25,000 to $30,000/year. CARD spends about $500,000/year on management benefits for employees who make as much as $120,000/year in salary.
Chico Area Recreation and Park District hears about impact of Obamacare
By LAURA URSENY-Staff Writer
POSTED: 07/30/2013 12:01:24 AM PDT
CHICO — Like many getting acquainted with the federal Affordable Care Act, there are a lot of question marks for the Chico Area Recreation and Park District board and staff.Some of those were answered by Rose Krepelka of CARD’s insurance provider, InterWest Insurance Inc. of Chico.
“I can go for 15 minutes or for four days,” Krepelka told the board last week when she asked how deeply they wanted to delve into the Affordable Care Act — known as Obamacare.
She acknowledged there’s a lot of confusion about the new regulations, especially since some affecting businesses have been delayed to 2015.
CARD already provides medical coverage to full-time employees, but more employees will be eligible for medical insurance in 2015 with the new definition of full time.
Obamacare’s definition of full time is working 30 or more hours weekly on a regular basis.
At CARD there are 32 full-time employees, and part-timers vary from 120 to 180, depending on the time of the year and recreational offerings. The full-time-equivalent is 85, according to General Manager Steve Visconti.
Medical care coverage per full-time employee currently costs CARD about $10,000 yearly. With the new definition, CARD was forced to adjust schedules of some employees to keep them part time. Visconti said CARD’s budget couldn’t afford to provide coverage to more employees.
Individuals without medical coverage can start shopping in October, with the coverage launching in January. Individuals without insurance are subject to tax penalties at $95 per adult $47.50 per child. That jumps to $325 adult, $165.50 child penalties in 2015.
CARD’s part-time employees can find insurance from California’s health exchange, called Covered California, or from Medi-Cal, she noted.
Employees will be getting information on obtaining insurance through letters from companies like hers. In addition to that, Krepelka noted there will be “navigators and enrollers” who are trained and certified to help Californians understand Obamacare. Residents might run into them outside a big-box store or at a mall.
Krepelka said the jury’s out on how successful Obamacare will be. People who have been unable to get medical coverage because of their conditions will now be part of the system — and an expense.
Krepelka said the balance built into Obamacare is that young people, who don’t need much in the way of health care, will pay for the older people who are greater users of services.
Likely, existing insurance rates will increase for those already covered as well, she said.
“There’s information coming out weekly,” she noted, including a Californian’s ability to sign up for insurance that starts in October.
Covered California’s website address is www.coveredca.com. The exchange is also on Facebook and Twitter.
In other news, the CARD board approved the 2013-14 budget unanimously and with no discussion, but directors Jan Sneed and Herman Ellis were not at the meeting.
Time to stand up – contact CARD and ask for a copy of the survey
21 MarI have been too busy in my personal life to keep up much chatter here, but I’m hoping to post more about the CARD survey next week.
I am also hoping that people will call the CARD office (895-4711) or e-mail director Ann Willmann and ask for a copy of the survey presented to the board on March 16. The public is entitled to a copy of anything given to the board, so don’t pay for it.
Once you’ve read it over, be sure to call back and ask questions. I was relieved to see the League of Women Voter’s observer at the meeting last week, she asked pertinent questions about the survey. One thing she got out of the consultant was that respondents were chosen on the basis of where they lived.
Random eh?
We need more people like Margaret Bomberg in our community. Stand up people, or be had.
Caper Acres – four years later, nothing new
20 MarClosure of Chico’s Caper Acres is frustrating for city, parents
By LAURA URSENY-Staff Writer
POSTED: 07/31/2013 12:00:00 AM PDT
Conrad Nystrom of Chico celebrates Father’s Day with his sons Sam and Roman at Caper Acres in…
CHICO — The public and the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission weighed in this week on the budget-prompted closure of Caper Acres playground in lower Bidwell Park.Several parents spoke to the commission Monday voicing “disappointment” and “frustration” in the surprisingly quiet way the closure came about, without public input or brainstorming.
And commissioners themselves, still noting Chico’s budget woes, hoped to talk over the matter more. The fact that there was no Park Commission meeting in June, when budget strategies were discussed by the City Council, was a sore point.
Early in July, the city announced Caper Acres would only be open Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays because of staffing issues. A diminished city staff couldn’t handle cleaning bathrooms, mowing, safety repairs and other actions.
But last week, a local cleaning business called ServPro said it would take over other kinds of park maintenance for free so city staff could attend to the playground. It opened to a six-day operation Tuesday, with the traditional Monday closure continuing.
However, ServPro can only handle the free maintenance through Oct. 1, and a group of local volunteers has started to meet to figure out alternatives for keeping the playground open.
Mom Abigail Lopez, one of the organizers of Caper Acres Volunteers, said she hopes the city can embrace volunteers as do local organizations like the Humane Society.
From a meeting on Saturday that Lopez organized, other ideas surfaced, like a Bidwell Park summit to share ideas.
Acting Park Commission Chairman Richard Ober commended the volunteers on Monday, and asked the matter be placed on an upcoming agenda so “volunteers’ work could be supported.”
“I want to know why the Park Commission and public were not able to weigh in on the closure,” parent Liz Gardner told the commission. She also asked for budget specifics.
Later, Park and Natural Resources Manager Dan Efseaff said he had lost $500,000 from his budget, and has been exploring cutbacks, including ideas about abandoning lawns or pulling down old structures that need to be replaced. He emphasized that it was “an exercise” and not a plan.
“It’s not a pretty picture,” Efseaff said.
Chris Boshazy, representing Service Employees International Union, noted the work — especially tree work — still had to be done, and should be done by city employees, not private tree companies.
The city has set aside $100,000 for contract tree work.
“That $100,000 could hire back someone,” he told the commission. “This is city employee work.”
Boshazy also said the Park Commission had more power than it realizes, handing them copies of the municipal code and job duties.
“The last few months have been extremely frustrating, the way decisions were made and how cuts were made, and the lack of role of the community,” Ober said, asking for a discussion at a future meeting.
“We haven’t been asked as a community to dig deeper into our pockets,” Ober said.
Other topics that came up in regard to Caper Acres included a user tax, asking participants in large events in the park to donate a dollar to Caper Acres, and participating in the Annie Bs fundraising program.
Parents also wanted to find a way so that donations could go straight into a dedicated Caper Acres fund, rather than into the city’s General Fund.
Efseaff noted that Caper Acres has been on the Park Commission’s work plan for several years, with features desperately needing update and replacement.
Reach Laura Urseny at 896-7756, lurseny@chicoer.com, or on Twitter @LauraUrseny.
CARD survey heavily led, questions close ended – when did 28 percent become “overwhelming support”?
17 MarI was surprised to find the CARD board meeting well-attended last night, but I think more people, including city staffers and commission members, were there to hear the discussion about CARD taking park impact fees from developers. I went to hear the consultant’s report regarding the assessment survey.
Survey? 400 people in a town of over 80,000? I know – but let’s look at it anyway.
The consultant also spoke of significantly leading respondents, even asking them to choose between pitches at one point.
Can you believe that? The callers actually read these to the respondents and asked them, which one of these pitches would make you want to tax yourself and your neighbors?
Of course, respondents were chosen by demographics – they called people who lived close to various parks, for example, and found those people would certainly support a tax!
They also reported a very real confusion between CARD parks (ball fields, playgrounds and neighborhood parks) and Bidwell Park, owned and maintained by the city of Chico. I think they will try to play that confusion to their advantage.
I will post more of the survey later.
CARD meeting next week chock full o nuts
12 MarChico Area Recreation District board will hear from their consultant Thursday. EMC ran a phone survey last month regarding a bond or assessment for CARD. I would like to ask them for a copy of the results, we’ll see what they say.
CARD board will also be discussing taking over the city’s park impact fees on development.
That’s Thursday March 16, 7pm, at the CARD center on Vallombrosa.
$28 million-plus in salaries and another $12 million-plus in pensions and benefits – why does our town look like SHIT?
5 MarThe Enterprise Record, a propaganda rag that masquerades as a newspaper, ran the following op-ed the other day, as though it was a news story.
Caper Acres needs you
Renovation project a public, private partnership
By Dan Efseaff and Shane Romain
Humpty has not quite fallen, but Caper Acres needs to be put back together again. All the king’s horses and all the king’s men will not be enough, but the citizens of Chico will be able to, and we need your help.
About 60 years ago, members of the now Chico Women’s Club started hatching ideas for a children’s playground w ithin Bidwell Park. After 13 years of fundraising and construction, the efforts of the club with the support and generosity of the Chico community resulted in the official opening of Caper Acres.
Children walked through the castle-like entrance for the first time, the iconic fairy- tale themed playground transformed the world into a magical place where imaginations blossom. Generations of children have had that same experience over the years.
Caper Acres has lost some of the sparkle since its last remodel in the mid-’90s. Recent storms provided dramatic images of the destruction of the Crooked House, yet there’s been a steady crescendo as decayed and unsafe play structures are removed.
Now is the time to recapture that same community support and dedication to bring Caper Acres back to a place where children and their families can create lifetime memories. Your help is needed to make repairs and move forward with the renovation.
The city’s recent financial crisis and the loss of park staffing added to the challenges of the maintenance and critical upkeep of Bidwell Park. We must confront our aging infrastructure. The list is long: Roads, restrooms, trails, fencing and playground equipment that are either decades old or engineered for a smaller population are failing. While deferring maintenance can save money in the short term, the costs mount over time.
For example, our daily safety inspections and repairs of Caper Acres sometimes take hours each day, just to open the gates.
Updates to the park’s facilities will make them safer, more enjoyable, and more cost effective to maintain. The renewal also allows people of all abilities to enjoy this jewel. The new features will help capture the next generation’s imagination and prove to be practical from a cost and maintenance standpoint.
In 2013, the city Parks Division, Chico State University students, and local landscape architecture consultant Melton Design Group collected citizen input to improve Caper Acres, increase safety, and reduce maintenance costs. Public meetings with community members, interviews with teachers and students, moms and dads, citizens and staff, and most importantly, the children that enjoy Caper Acres, produced great ideas.
Multiple generations of Chicoans remember moments in the park presided by Humpty Dumpty and wanting to keep the dream of Caper Acres alive. The effort yielded a beautiful rendering of ideas in the Master Renovation Plan that the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission and City Council approved in 2014.
The renovation plan provides the broad concepts to improve drainage and landscaping, replaced damaged and impractical materials with low maintenance ones, add new features such as a zip line and a Monkey Face climbing structure, and much more.
While the city will provide some funding and staff to oversee the work, in reality the Caper Acres renovation is a community venture with broad support. The phase plan will help us match implementation needs with community resources that have been generously offered.
To make the plan a reality, we will rely on community donations. We have already begun some work. Over the last two years the Parks Division has been able to apply received donations toward the Caper Acres renovation. Those funds have been and are being utilized for a variety of items such as the repaired footings of the Bird Cage, added needed fall material, and removed the aged and hazardous Bunker Hill Mine.
How can you help with Caper Acres?
You can attend the Caper Acres Fantasy Fun Run on May 13. Join us for a volunteer day. Donate to the Parks Division. Buy a Caper Acres brick. Greet other park visitors and garner support. All of these types of efforts help us move forward.
As we embark on this journey, we will share milestones and provide opportunities for public input so that we can continue improving our efforts. We also report our progress to the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission. Interested citizens can get on our mailing list.
For more information and ideas on how you can get involved please email parkinfo@ chicoca. gov or call the parks office at 8967800. Dan Efseaff is the city’s parks and natural resource manager. Shane Romain is parks services coordinator.
I had to answer, so sent the following to the ER letters sections – the appropriate page for opinions such as the above.
According to publicpay.ca.gov, City of Chico Park and Natural Resources Director and Park Services Coordinator make a combined $236,000 in total compensation. That’s $118/hour, based on a 40 hour week, for two employees to tell us they don’t have enough money to maintain the park. (“Caper Acres Needs You”, 3/3/17)
According to city Public Works Director Erik Gustafson, the Butte County “Alternative Custody Service” is available for $100 a day and has been used to clean restrooms, perform vegetation removal, and clear illegal encampments. I wonder why this program is not employed for clean-up and repair at Caper Acres.
The Park Commission has discussed more citations for illegal camping and other violations, “which could add to the park revenue…” while deterring illegal activities. In 2016, 444 “warnings” were issued to illegal campers, while only 76 were cited. City manager Mark Orme explained to me that “one of the reasons for the high number of warnings is that, in many cases, the occupant moves on and removes items…” Gustafson told me the city believes these campers are protected by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, which pertain to a person’s rights within their home.
Welcome to Sanctuary City.
Juanita Sumner, Chico? CA
I had a little trouble finding these positions on the public pay website because the titles were mis-spelled in the story – the database is spelling sensitive, you have to spell it exactly right. Whoever was responsible for this story added an ‘s’ to “Park”, I had to drop the ‘s’ before the database would spit it out. Look for yourself, it’s a shocking read. Then look at our town – does it look like a town that pays out $28 million plus in salaries, with another $12.5 in pensions and benefits?
With a payroll like that, we should be able to eat off the streets, instead, we can hardly drive on them!
Chico Taxpayers Association 