Chico Taxpayers Association

The Reform California folks have had to file suit againn over illegal use of taxpayer money and resources by  public agencies to promote SB 1, the gas tax. They got video of people in Caltrans uniforms, with Caltrans vehicles, handing out “No on 6” literature.

“On Tuesday, a Caltrans work crew along State Route 78 in San Diego stopped traffic and handed each driver a “No on Prop 6″ flier! We got calls from angry commuters who were appalled at the traffic delay and the inappropriate use of our tax funds for politics! We sent a video crew out to collect the evidence — this is now an open and shut case of illegal diversion of gas tax funds for politics! (Read the full complaint and view evidence below)”

Read more and watch the video here:

RELEASE: Criminal Complaint Filed Over Caltrans Work Crew Caught Illegally Distributing Campaign Materials

“The campaign flier passed out clearly contains prohibited “express advocacy” language such as “Vote NO on Prop 6” and the Caltrans work crew member is caught on video admitting he was ‘working with Caltrans’ and ‘They just told me to hand it out.’”

Here in Chico I haven’t caught state or highway workers pulling such a stunt, but I found Chico staff using the city website “touting” the use of SB 1 funding to do various projects around town. Here’s a “news release” from the city website:

Click to access CouncilAuthorizesEsplanadeRoadRehabProject.pdf

“The adopted resolution earmarks funds utilizing the State allocated Senate Bill 1 (SB1) Gas
Tax funds for this specific project location, as required by the Road Repair and Accountability Act of
2017, also known as SB1. “

And read the description of the project – it’s not about cars, even though car drivers paid for it. After they do a quick scrape and patch they’ll be doing bike lanes and sidewalks – money that should have come out of the developer fees they’ve been deferring for years. The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1990. 

Two other high visibility projects they’re doing right now are the entrances to new subdivisions on Hwy 32 and Bruce Road/20th Street. Those  jobs should be done with developer fees, but Mark Sorensen told me that none of those nearby developments have paid their road fees.  The city has a policy that says they don’t to pay those fees until they are completely finished with their subdivisions – 20 or 30 years from now.  The city pays for the work by hook or by crook. But take note – the job starts and ends in front of the new subdivisions. That portion of Bruce Road was included on the hazards list – just beyond the new roadwork, it narrows down to nothing, with crumbling shoulders.

Start writing those letters. Go to the Reform California website for more information, and if you’d like to make a donation. They’ve got signs and stickers like the one pictured below.

It’s easy to read the Butte County budget at their website –

https://www.buttecounty.net/administration/CountyBudget/FY17-18AdoptedBudget.aspx

You’ll find a neat table of contents to save you a lot of scrolling. On page 99 you’ll find the Behavioral Health Fund. Or click here:

Click to access 12-bh.pdf

The table shows the revenues and expenditures adopted by the board of supervisors for this past year. It’s not final – we’ll have to wait until the post the “actuals” – what was really spent – in retrospect. But, you can learn alot by looking at the adopted budget.

For example, The Behavioral Health Department’s single biggest source of income is “Intergovernmental Revenues” – $53,560,837. That’s nearly their entire budget. According to the U.S. Government Accountability Office at http://www.gao.gov, “intergovernmental revenues” are “monies obtained from other governments and can include grants, shared taxes, and contingent loans and advances.” These monies exchange hands “as reimbursements for performance of general government activities and for specific services for the paying government.”

As Butte County Behavioral Health Director Dorian Kittrell told me, BCBH receives those funds for offering “beds” at various facilities, mostly the psychiatric hospital in Oroville. At that time the amount per patient per day was $550. 

I’m no math whiz, but I divided $53,560,837 by $550, and then divided that by 364 days a year. I got 266 patients per year.  

Notice the IR figure for fiscal year 2015-16 is about $8 million less than this year’s figure. Meaning, we’re taking in (you do the math) more transfers now than we were taking in 2015-16. Well, look around Chico – just the other day I saw several sprawling transient camps set up within plain sight of various streets around town. Bus stops taken over by chattering idiots waving cigarettes and screaming obscenities at whomever. My husband and I avoid Bidwell Park these days, but as we drove Hwy 32 out of town yesterday we watched a Cal Fire truck and some CHP officers routing an illegal camper who had driven his car into the scene of last month’s “Stoney Fire”. Who knows how long he’d been camping in there –  the neighbor told us he’d reported many illegal campers. 

I couldn’t find out what the current fee per day per patient is – ask your county supervisor. Ask them how many “patient transfers” BCBH orchestrated this year, and how many of those people are now on the streets of Oroville and Chico.

And watch this news story from Escalon, California.

Stanislaus County, Modesto Officials Accuse Escalon Police of Dumping Homeless Couple

Thanks Bob, for sending me this link from Dan Walters over at Cal Matters. 

https://calmatters.org/articles/commentary/despite-law-politicians-use-taxpayer-funds-for-campaigns/

Chico Area Recreation District has done exactly this – use taxpayer money to hire consultants to vet, write and campaign for tax increases. How do you fight your own money?

Like Bob asked, I also wonder – will the Enterprise Record run this editorial piece? They’ve run Walters before, pick and choose, I assume, when they’ve agreed with what he was saying.  

They ran my letter about the city’s use of it’s taxpayer supported website to promote SB 1 road work, after I resent it three times over as many weeks. I sent my letter about staff holding the park and roads hostage for a tax increase measure last Tuesday. I hadn’t seen it by today so resent. 

I wish more people would write letters to the editors of local papers. I don’t mind waiting in line to get my turn, I’d just like to see some of the remarks I’ve been getting from friends and neighbors in the newspaper. People like to bitch, it’s human I guess. Well, bitch in newsprint, it’s even more satisfying!

I’m sick of hearing idiots blame the rash of fires burning around our state on Global Warming. The problem is, Cal Fire relinquished responsibility for fire prevention about 11 years ago, leaving it up to local entities like the city of Chico and county of Butte. So far, neither of those agencies have stepped up to the plate.

The city of Chico has allowed Bidwell Park to fall dangerously into neglect. Dead trees and other vegetation through out the park are a  huge fire risk for our entire town. While City management continues to enjoy salary increases and only pays a small portion of their own pension obligation, We are told they need more money to maintain the park.

Mark Sorensen and his cronies have suggested a revenue measure in the form of a bond on our homes, for street improvements. I think they abandoned the sales tax increase measure because it’s not as sure  a thing as a bond. They say they will dedicate it to Street improvements because then they only need 51% of the vote to pass it.

The problem with dedicated funds is they can be allocated to other funds and used for whatever purpose Council and staff agree to use it. Dedicated funds also free up other money that was not restricted . The whole concept of dedicated funds is a lie they use to get us to pass these Revenue measures.

I first heard of the concept of “failure maintenance” from former city of Chico Public Works manager Ruben Martinez. Martinez reported that city buildings and other public facilities were in serious need of repair, but as usual, he complained about lack of money, while collecting a salary of over a hundred thousand a year. I guess we’ve all gotten used to hearing people who collect a salary telling us they don’t have enough money to do anything.

Ironically, I was sitting in a morning meeting with Martinez present, when a woman tried to come into the room, finding the door knob was broken. Martinez, a handy enough guy, fixed it with his Leatherman Tool.

I was sad to see Martinez go in the first round of firings under Nakamura. I have the feeling Martinez was too open with the public about the financial problems downtown. He was apologetic, while current works manager Erik Gustafsson is completely the opposite. Gustafson is constantly taking projects off the Nexus, complaining there is not enough money for anything but his $200,000 per year compensation package.

Parks manager Linda Herman does same, collecting over a hundred fifty thousand a year in compensation while telling us she does not have any money for maintenance of the park.

Ever been on a farm when the farmer’s brought out the slops bucket? Ever seen a mama pig nursing a litter  of shoats get up and run for that slops bucket, babies flying and bouncing  in every direction? That’s city of Chico employees for you, they don’t really care about the citizens, they’re just after that slops bucket.

We’ve got Mutiny on the Bounty here in the city of Chico. We’ve got a bad captain and he’s steering our ship onto the rocks just to coerce us into paying more money. I frankly believe that if we got rid of Mark Orme and his first mate Chris Constantine, and hired better management for our city, things would turn around here.

I wrote the following letter out of a serious fear that it might be too late.

Could Chico have a catastrophic fire? In fact, a fire that started in Upper Park in July threatened a subdivision in East Chico and nearly jumped Hwy 32, coming within 100 feet of  a house near the Peregrine Point disc golf course. Fire investigators told the neighbor the source of the fire was an illegal campsite.

Only days before that fire, I emailed park staff to alert them to Illegal campers using campfires at the disc golf course. On August 2  I reported another illegal camper at that spot – as of today (8/7) he is still there. The city has closed the course but failed to remove or lock the portable toilet, creating a de-facto campsite.

We’ve watched Bidwell Park deteriorate into what is defined by Cal Fire as a “Fire Hazard Severity Zone”, with fuel,  weather, and  slope for a catastrophic fire that could easily destroy hundreds of homes through Chico. The Park Director, who has expressed support for a revenue measure, has closed an unprecedented area of Bidwell Park, complaining she doesn’t have funds to remediate the damage from the recent fire.

For years city staff has practiced deferred, or “failure” maintenance, while emptying one fund after another to pay an increasing share of the CalPERS obligation. Now they are holding our park, our roads, and our quality of life hostage for a revenue measure. The results are going to be disastrous.

Chico citizens deserve better leadership and better service. Don’t buy staff threats – demand new city management.

Juanita Sumner

Last week’s fire that closed most of Upper Bidwell Park, indefinitely, should not have come as a shock to anybody, least of all City of Chico Parks Director Linda Herman.  

Thanks , at your convenience, for your anticipated reply, Juanita Sumner

Herman’s response was prompt:

From: Linda Herman <linda.herman@Chicoca.gov>

Date: 7/9/18 4:20 PM (GMT-08:00)

To: Juanita Sumner <nag.mom@hotmail.com>

Cc: Sean Morgan <sean.morgan@Chicoca.gov>, All Park Rangers <all-park-rangers@chicoca.gov>, Mark Orme <mark.orme@Chicoca.gov>, Erik Gustafson <erik.gustafson@Chicoca.gov>, Michael O’Brien <michael.obrien@Chicoca.gov>, Shane Romain <shane.romain@Chicoca.gov>

Subject: RE: Illegal camping at Peregrine Point disc golf course

Hi Juanita,

Thank you for providing this information.  We were aware of previous campers in the Cal Trans right of way up the road and with the assistance of CHP have moved them along numerous times.  However, we did not know there was a camper directly at Peregrine Point parking lot.  Thank you for also putting out the fire, which is very scary!

The Senior Ranger went up there today but did not see this vehicle.  We will also increase the frequencies of Ranger visits to see if we can catch him.  I will also let the Outsiders know to let us know if they see any suspicious vehicles/activity and to call Police Dispatch if there is an emergency.

In addition, the Rangers and the Chico Police Department Target Unit have been working hard to increase patrols to address the continual, overwhelming encampments and illegal activity that occurs in Bidwell Park and the other City parks and greenways.   

Again, thank you for alerting me to this individual.  We very much appreciate your efforts, and for helping to be more eyes and ears out there for us.

Linda

Linda Herman

Park & Natural Resource Manager

City of Chico

I wasn’t surprised that Herman and staff were unaware of the camper – all an illegal camper has  to do is be up and around by 8 am and the ranger can’t do anything. And no ranger or other staffers are coming by at night, or before 8 in the morning, or they’d have caught him red handed, walking back from the portable toilet in his skivvies. 

And I think we caught him putting his cigarette butt in the metal post at the trail head. We walk the course frequently, and he’s the only other person we see there at that hour of the morning. 

I responded to Herman, telling her that just that morning we’d been to the course, and in the time it took to walk from the parking lot to the point somebody had turned out the trash can, obviously looking for recyclables, and left the contents on the ground around the bottom of the can. It wasn’t an animal, it was a person. We’ve seen other campsites, with fire rings and ash, along the old Humboldt Road, and we realized somebody could be lurking out in the bushes along the road. We felt lucky our truck hadn’t been broken into.

I also told her we were pretty disgusted with the condition of the park, and asked her if she’d like to take a walk in Lower Park near my house. She accepted, and that was the last time I spoke to her before I heard the news about the fire.

Something I wanted to bring up in my e-mail was that the only maintenance we are seeing at Peregrine  Point is the trail maintenance agreed to by the Outsiders, the local group that got the course set up all those years ago, and made an agreement to maintain it at their own expense. But as far as I remember, that agreement just covered the course itself – the trails that lead to the various tees and baskets, the area directly surrounding the tees and baskets, and the old growth Blue Oak trees along the course. The Outsiders have been spreading bark and setting up netting to protect the trees, it looked like they had groups up there frequently judging from the work that was done. Somebody had been weed whacking the grass along the trails. 

But all around the disc course the grass was left to grow waist high and die. The old growth trees, some of their branches laying on the ground, didn’t stand a chance in that situation. When I walked the course yesterday morning with my family I could see whole stands of old trees that are caput. The big gorgeous oak tree that met visitors at the top of the trail head  leading into the course had caught fire and been pushed over by a bulldozer.

The fire destroyed a lot of the fixtures that have been installed by the Outsiders over the years.

The fire was not a surprise to me, but still a shock. I just can’t believe the way the city has allowed the park to degrade, and then let campers in. They say this fire started at Alligator Hole, at 10 pm Thursday. The park road is gated at sunset. Anybody up there with fire at 10 pm is an illegal camper. 

Remember that old saying – “for every one you see, there’s 10 in the floor boards”

Herman admitted they are aware of the campers along Humboldt Road, “the Cal Trans right of way”, so how could she not know there are others camped in the park below the canyon rim? That’s either incompetence or willful neglect.

Not long ago the park commission told rangers either get used to carrying a gun or look for another job. I believe a couple of them quit but the rest are now sworn officers and carry guns. Why aren’t they out on the Upper Park Road at night searching out illegal campers? How much time are they spending in Downtown Chico now that they are part of the police department?

This isn’t the first time there’s been a substantial fire in the Upper Park, in the same area where I’d reported illegal campers. My husband and I had been observing an entrenched homeless camp on the other side of Hwy 32, within site of the highway and the new subdivision, just below the new Cal Water storage tank. We’d reported it to the police, Officer Zuchin had responded. But again and again we’d drive by and there was the camp, a blue tarp shade structure strung from the oak trees, a big pile of burned over wood, and a trash pile that looked as though it had been accumulating for years. We could see bikes and trailers full of crap. 

Within a couple of weeks a fire started there above Yosemite, just below the illegal campsite, between highway 32 and Humboldt Road. The cause of that fire was never reported. Same with several other fires that have sprung up along Hwy 32 above Chico, including this fire that burned into Upper Park.

Here we are just above Humboldt Road.

The trails that were burned in this fire last Septemeber have not been reopened, and as far as I can see they are not performing rehabilitation. 

So, excuse me if I cancelled my walk in the park with the park director. Herman actually spoke up at one morning meeting, telling the assemblage the city needs to pass a revenue measure. At that moment I couldn’t decide whether I admired her honesty or whether I was disgusted with her point blank greed. 

I’ve fallen onto disgust, at this point.

 

 

 

Here’s an interesting article from New York magazine.

http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/07/prop-6-california-gas-tax-ballot-fight-will-be-expensive.html

Well, it seems David Little is out of town and Enterprise Record associate editors Steve Schoonover and his wife Laura Urseny have “lost” my latest letter to the editor.

The ER is what passes for journalism in our town, supposedly a “conservative” newspaper, and today they’re running a push piece about how great city finance manager Scott Dowell is for stealing a million dollars out of who knows where to pay down the employees’ pension deficit. Without one word about where the money came from.

There was no reporter at the Finance Committee meeting the other day, they get their information straight from Dowell and print whatever he tells them, without question.

Attend a Finance Committee meeting sometime and listen to Dowell describe the allocation process – there is no such thing as a budget. When city $taff overspends they just get another fund transfer.

The money from a road bond would be up for grabs to pay the pensions, just like all the other funds.

Write those letters.