Archive | Uncategorized RSS feed for this section

Answer from Butte County mosquito district director regarding pension liability – $1,803,155

25 Feb

Hello Juanita,

Sorry I was unavailable for your call this morning, we were having our monthly staff meeting.  The District’s retirement administrator is CalPERS.  The District’s management and employees currently pay 3% of the employee share.  Commencing on January 1, 2018 District management and employees will pay 4%.  The District’s health care provider is Anthem Blue Cross through Golden State Risk Management Authority.  District employees are 100% covered and District employee family members are 80% covered under a Anthem Blue Cross high deductible plan.  The District does not offer post retirement benefits.  As of June 30, 2015, the District reported net pension liability of $1,803,155 for its share of the net pension liability of the Plan.

Let me know if you have any other questions.  I’m usually available from 5:30 AM to 4:30 PM.

Matt

CARD to go for assessment – how about they pay their own pensions?

24 Feb

CARD has announced plans to assess property owners, not just for  their proposed aquatic center, but for all their mismanagement problems.  Like I predicted, they will throw out a “wish list” of everything from the aquatic center to new ballfields to a regular cornucopia of activities at DeGarmo Park.

Thanks Jim, for doing the research on assessments, I knew they were bad.

From a San Luis Obispo County document, this definition of “assessment.”

An assessment becomes a lien on parcels of real property to pay for “special benefits” the parcels receive from a project. The lien may be paid off by property owners in a lump sum or may be paid annually with property taxes.

This particular document pertains to a proposition to tax the citizens of San Luis Obispo County for a waste water treatment plant. Here’s a more general document regarding California Assembly Bill 218, passed by a very stupid population back in 1996.

http://www.californiataxdata.com/pdf/proposition218.pdf

This law seems to set up reasonable boundaries for setting up new taxes, but the voters should have read it more closely. Since then, just recently really, the legislature has lowered the threshold by which voters can pass these assessments to only 58 percent.

To me, that’s rule of mob. More people than that ought to have to agree on something before it is instituted in law.  This new rule sets up a giant separation of our voters. In other words – This Means WAR. Driven by the Have’s, who got theirs by ripping off the Working Class.

Read it – the more property you have, the more your vote is “weighted” in these elections. Because they pay more, you might argue, based on the value of their property – not true, that’s not usually the way this tax works.  

Remember the “Mosquito Tax”?  Here’s the break-down on that, from the Butte County Mosquito and Vectors District assessment passed in 2014:

“Homes of one acre or less pay $9.69 plus eight cents for each additional acre. Owners of vacant land will pay $2.42 per parcel. Apartment complexes are assessed $3.85 per apartment up to 20, and 97 cents after that. Farmers will pay 8 cents per acre and undeveloped rangeland is assessed 2 cents an acre.”

The rich will not pay the lion’s share of the mosquito tax – the working class will shoulder this burden. While the big property owners will say, “we pay more!” they must bow to the fact that there are more working class and poor in this town than “One Percenters.”  If you buy a home you pay the developer’s assessments, if you rent you pay the landlords’ assessments. We working class taxpayers will pay more than the developers and the landlords, even more than the rice farmers who breed mosquitoes.

The CARD assessment will likewise fall hardest on homeowners and renters.

Ever wonder what the mosquito tax pays for? Well, for starters, we get district manager Matt Ball, at over $125,000 in salary, paying just 3% of his own pension – 70 percent of his highest year’s salary, available at age 55. To do what? Sit around that Taj Majal (we also paid for) out on Otterson Drive, yakking with his $70,000/year secretary, who pays less than 3% of her package as well?

I called the district (that’s 533 – 6038) to ask a couple of questions.   At 9:05 am, the $70,000 secretary who answered the phone told me “we’re in a meeting right now,” and asked for my phone number so  could return my call. I don’t play that shit – I asked her, when can I call back and talk to Matt Ball?

“Why don’t you try back about 1:00?” she suggested, without a hint of cheer.

I said I would, thank you! I don’t know whether to believe her or not though – is management really in a meeting, or just come in when they get around to it?  So I e-mailed Mr. Ball, asking him about the pensions. I asked him which entity administered their pensions (CalPERS is not the only one) and what’s their pension liability. We’ll see if he gets back to me. Ball previously told me that district employees only pay three percent of some very generous pension and benefits programs.

Over at CARD, director Ann Willman makes about the same salary as Ball, but pays NOTHING toward her benefits. Wow. CARD’s unfunded liability, for just a handful of management types, as of June 2014, is about $1.7 million. That’s after a $400,000 “side fund payoff” made in 2012.

Ever wonder, who is responsible for these decisions? Well, your county board of supervisors and your city council are among the entities that name the members of the board that governs the mosquito district. The CARD board is elected by the voters, long term member Jan Sneed receiving over 9,000 votes in 2014. These commissions rubber stamp the compensation packages, I often wonder, do they even read them? 

Here’s the thing – it’s not their money.

But, again People – yeah, you the People over there – you are responsible for this mess. These districts have open meetings, they are ruled by the same public information laws as everybody else, all you have to do is start paying attention.  Haven’t you ever wanted to buy a bag of popcorn and attend a meeting? Make a phone call to ask snoopy questions? You know you do! Come on!

All it takes is a little push to knock down a house of cards.

 

 

The state of our city is disgraceful

30 Jan

At yesterday’s “State of the City” address, Mayor Sorensen admitted that pension liability is the biggest problem we face, that only 51 of our 400 and something employees are under the new “post retirement reform” laws (meaning they pay 50 percent of  their own benefits instead of 9 percent like the others), but cried like a baby that we “have no control” over the situation.  Soon we will be paying 41 percent of their pensions, while most of our employees pay 9 percent. We’ll pay more next year, and the year after that. We don’t have the money – that’s why they call it a “liability.” 

Sorensen even had the nerve to say, the city is putting their “deficit” to bed soon. If you look over the meeting agendas of late, you will see how they have separated the pension deficit from the budget – a second set of books – to hide the millions we owe on pensions for long-gone city employees. 

Mayor Sorensen might be a master chef and book cooker, but his daddy must have been a glassmaker, cause we can see right through him.  Although, I don’t think Sorensen can see past the end of his own nose. He simply has to protect the pensions, because he’s going to get one when he retires from his job as city manager of the little town in the orchards, Biggs.

Knowing people in town are pissed off about the condition of city and neighborhood streets, letter after letter asking that the Esplanade be left alone, and just another letter this morning describing our City Plaza as a “refugee camp,” Sorensen apparently didn’t touch those subjects. Fair weather mayor. Instead he’s going to spend a bazillion more dollars on gadgets for the cop shop. 

Like Nextdoor, the website that was touted as a kind of “Neighborhood Watch” on the computer? A big crime fighting tool? I wouldn’t know, apparently I was held out of most conversations because I did not have a “neighborhood group.” None of my neighbors were joining, nor were they interested. When I asked to be added to another group they simple never responded.  So,  I was left out of most conversations, left with general postings like, yard  sales, ad for local services, now and then a report of a suspicious activity, and meandering chatterfests about what neighbors were doing that would come to a halt as soon as somebody got their nose out.

Frankly, I began to wonder – are there even 100 Chicoans signed up for this service?

Then, after I’d been signed on about a month,  they sent me the notice about their “privacy” practices, including this blurb about cookies:

Server Logs. We automatically collect information created by your visits to our website and use of our apps, your use of Nextdoor, and your interaction with the messages we send. This information may include the browser you are using, the URLs you came from and go to, the model of your computer or mobile device, the operating system version, IP address and protocol used by your computer or mobile device, your mobile device or app identifier, and usage and browsing habits. We use this information to provide and improve our Services, to diagnose and resolve problems, to analyze trends, to help target offers and other ads (if and where applicable), to monitor aggregate usage, and to gather broad (aggregate) demographic information.

You can configure your browser to reject cookies, but doing so will prevent you from logging into our website. Our systems are not configured to accept browsers’ Do Not Track signals.”

So, I realized, this was the entire idea behind Nextdoor – gathering data for advertising. Wow.  And, I never found any useful news – I know there are car break-ins and other property crimes going on within a mile of my house but nothing ever turned up on Nextdoor.  My husband and I are able to find out more about what’s going on in our neighborhood simply by taking a rake out to our front yard and puttering around for half an hour. We also walk the hood at different times of night and day, we try to stay in touch with our neighbors. Having face time with neighbors is probably the best way to keep your hood safe.

Chico PD has credited chatter on “social networking sites” with helping them solve certain crimes, but they’ve never named Nextdoor so I don’t know what sites they’re talking about. I’m sure they watch Facebook, I’m guessing it looks like a scene from “Batman Forever”.

Take a good look, this is what you look like to passersby when you’re texting. So much for technology and crime fighting.

I didn’t hear Sorensen’s whole speech, I had to rely on the media! I didn’t hear him talk about the crime rate. But I did read a back page story about a guy who was just arrested in October for stealing a car – grand theft auto – furthermore, assault on a “police animal” – and just got arrested for essentially the same thing again this week.

http://www.chicoer.com/general-news/20160129/chico-police-nab-man-allegedly-spotted-in-stolen-pickup

In fact, Anthony Raymond Beck seems to bust out and steal a car quite frequently. In 2013 he was arrested and convicted for stealing a  car under the influence of drugs and booze, causing injury and property damage, but let out on probation in January 2014. By March he had violated his probation, arrested again for obstructing a police officer. He was arrested three times within a week in April 2015, released “O/R” each time, even after found with burglary tools.

He was arrested a total of six times in 2015, found with drugs and needles, burglary tools, under the influence, with stolen cars, yadda, yadda, yadda.

And now another stolen car. This guy is a crime spree. Why is he still out there, endangering the public safety? 

The cops will tell you it’s because these crimes have been lowered to misdemeanors by the voters. The jail is overcrowded, and they are forced to release criminals without serving a sentence, because of the voters.

No, it’s because their salaries and benefits eat the budget so that we can’t build a decent and sufficient jail. Now we are told we must pass a bond to pay for improvements at the jail or we will be at the mercy of criminals.

I feel like we’re at the mercy of the public workers. When will we get these people to do the right thing, pay their own way? 

 

Tags: ,

I think we all agree we need some level of help for homeless people, but we need to be asking questions about the expense and lack of results

28 Jan

 

After I read about the Torres Shelter threatening to close it’s doors, I went about researching the kind of salaries they pay down there. I couldn’t find director Brad Montgomery’s salary info anywhere, but I did find an ad for a counselor to address clients at both the Torres Shelter and the Jesus Center – salary about $42,000/year.  This position was offered through Northern California Catholic Social Services, which I was surprised to find gets most of it’s funding through the county Behavioral Health Department. Look at the wages they are offering and the duties they heap on.

For example – $13.40 an hour for these  “Minimum Employment Qualifications” – Experience working within the foster system, court system and/or with volunteer preferred. Must have reliable transportation, valid driver’s license and insurance. Must be able to multi-task and have solid computer skills; especially Word and Excel. Needs to be able to communicate verbally and in writing, documenting work on a computer is a required. The successful candidate will be able to work independently, use good judgment and be part of a team.

The list of duties would insinuate a lot better salary. This particular position does not offer paid benefits but ” is eligible to participate in our benefits package including: medical, dental, vision, EAP and life.”  On $13.40 an hour, you’re supposed to provide your own insured vehicle, gas to drive it, and then pay for your own health benefits? And this is a position that includes hands-on duties with clients. Wow.

https://nvcss.org/careers/

Meanwhile Butte County Behavioral Health Director Adrian Kittrel, who does not work with  clients, makes over $200,000 in salary and pays less than 10 percent of his own benefits and pension.

This is the typical lop-sided situation with most public agencies. This is why they have trouble filling these positions.

On another job website I found positions listed for Chico Area Recreation District – a “coordinator” who works with social media from their office gets a salary of  about $42,000, with benefits paid by the taxpayers (CARD management pay nothing for their benefits). Meanwhile other CARD positions – those who actually run the activities for the public and supervise our children – pay less than $15 an hour. These are part-time positions – 25 to 27 hours – that do not come with any health or pension benefits. You’re working too many hours to get another job, but you can’t make enough money to support yourself.  Most of CARD’s jobs are poverty level  jobs, while they pay their general manager over $120,000/year, and she pays nothing toward full health care and pension.

Researching this topic I came across a very interesting article about doctor burnout. The author just happens to be a psychiatrist.

http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2016/01/doctor-beat-burnout-can.html

She is pretty frank about her disappointment in the medical sector. Her biggest problem seems to be over work and a “factory” atmosphere at her job. This prevents her from doing her best for her patients, and that adds to the frustration and depression. 

It is interesting to hear from the other side of the coin, this goes a long way to explain the patient’s miserable experience.

And you may feel same – I’m frustrated that we pay for this. Butte County Admin Officer Paul Hahn says over half the county budget goes to behavioral health and other services for the indigent. The money does not seem to solve the problem, it only results in more behaviorally disturbed and indigent people being brought into our county. In Chico it’s becoming a total disaster.

This morning my husband and I cleaned our garage and took our horde of recyclables over to The Work Training Center. I asked my husband to drive me over to take a look at the Torres Shelter, I have not had a good look at it for years.  The first thing I notice are what looks like cars being lived in, parked along the street outside the center, along the Costco parking lot. It looked like a gypsy camp. According to their website, “guests” are only allowed to check in from 4:30pm to 6pm. If they want to check in at another time, they must call between the hours of 10am and 3pm to make an appointment with shelter staff.  The shelter is “open for guests from 4:30 pm – 6:40 am daily.”  

I’ve heard complaints that the clients are “kicked out” at about 7am. I don’t know if there is a meal in the morning, but I think the Jesus Center offers a breakfast. There used to be a shuttle service that picked up those who do not have cars, took them to the Jesus Center, or various public agencies around town, because local businesses were complaining that they stayed in the area, “milling around” the commercial sector. That shuttle was largely funded by city of Chico, who discontinued their funding last year. So now you find this little encampment surrounding the shelter, out in the public  right of way, cars full of flotsam everywhere but the driver’s seat, windows covered with old tarps, a van with foam core over the front windows. A little group of dirty and disheveled men working under the hood of a car that looked like it should be headed for the scrap yard. It looks like any other homeless camp.

Last year when we were at Chico Locker one afternoon, my husband and I noticed the same scene in the parking lot surrounding the Jesus Center. A dilapidated motor home sat behind the JC building, some crappy cars, even a tent, all  obviously occupied. We wondered how that could be going on, the Jesus Center was supposed to have all these rules. Not long after that conversation, we heard Bill Such was being let go. We realized, he’d been allowing the laissez faire camping. We found out, a new board had taken over, a bunch of realtors, bankers, business people. They were ready to hold a higher bar for the center.

This is what needs to happen at the Torres before I am willing to support them in any way. I don’t think they should get city funding, and I think donors should ask more questions about why this shelter is so expensive to run when it is of such marginal service. 

 

 

 

Tags: , , ,

You public employees are nuts if you think we are going to pay down your $220 billion unfunded liabilities – pay your own bills, you slackers

19 Jan

 

We’ve been hearing about this budget surplus in Sacramento – now hear this, from an article y Jonathan J. Cooper of Associated Press:

But even as the governor and lawmakers debate how to spend a budget surplus, there’s a looming financial hurdle: Unfunded pension and health care liabilities of $220 billion for future retirees who work for the state and the University of California system.

Wait, shouldn’t that $220 billion been included in the total deficit? How can you have a budget surplus when you owe $220 billion?

As the Brown administration prepares to enter labor talks this year, the governor is seeking changes to help the state cut future costs, warning there’s “a serious long-term liability.”

Oh, you don’t say?!

Over the past four years, the Legislature moved to improve the financial outlook for the state’s largest public-employee pension systems, the California Public Employees Retirement System and California State Teachers Retirement System. Brown is now setting his sights on a rapidly growing retiree expense, health care. He’s asking workers to pay more to fund those benefits.

Get out! Asking workers to pay their own way! Stop it!

Reform advocates warn that failing to address unfunded liabilities will ultimately require higher taxes or cuts in other government services so the state can pay for its obligations to retired workers.

I guess that makes me, a reform advocate.  I don’t really like the word “reform,” cause they can turn that word in any direction, like a .45. “Reform” can just as easily mean, taxpayers pay more.

The state has promised an estimated $72 billion in health care benefits for its current and future retirees, an amount that will increase to more than $300 billion over the next three decades, according to the governor’s Department of Finance.

The bill for retiree health care has historically been paid year-by-year, about $2 billion in the proposed 2016-17 budget. Brown proposes prefunding benefits similar to the way the state pays for pensions — by paying into a trust fund that accrues investment returns over time, reducing the amount of money that taxpayers must contribute in the future.

In negotiations with public-employee unions, he’s asking state workers to pay into a fund through a deduction on their paychecks. The state would pay an equal amount.

“Over the next three decades we’d have enough money to basically eliminate that unfunded liability going forward,” Finance Director Michael Cohen told the California Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday.

That sounds like a no-brainer to me – have the employees pay ALOT MORE. But here’s the catch – if we expect them to pay their own benefits and pensions they want pay increases.

Brown’s budget proposal includes $350 million for pay raises that could be used as a bargaining chip in labor negotiations. The state is actively negotiating with four of its 21 bargaining units, including corrections officers, firefighters, scientists and maintenance workers. Talks with 15 others open this year.

The governor points to an agreement last year with state engineers as a model he’ll pursue with other bargaining units. Engineers agreed to pay an escalating portion of their paycheck toward their future health care benefits, eventually reaching 2 percent of salary, matched by the state.

Two percent of their salaries?

“The employees would not be too thrilled with paying the state’s bill” for retirement, but the agreement on the whole was viewed as acceptable, said Bruce Blanning, executive director of Professional Engineers in California Government, the union that reached the deal. The three-year deal included pay raises of 5 percent and 2 percent, he said, and there’s a chance to renegotiate before the health contributions are fully phased in by 2019.

Prefunding health care can help protect the benefits, but asking employees to contribute is part of the give-and-take of collective bargaining, said David Lowe, chairman of Californians for Retirement Security, a coalition of public-employee unions, their members and retirees that has fought to preserve the current pension system.

“That’s a legitimate way to ensure that the benefits get funded into the future,” Lowe said. “It’s just a question of figuring out how much the employees are willing to pay … and bargaining it.”

Find out how much they are willing to pay? Has anybody ever asked the taxpayers how much they are willing to pay?

“Reforms” enacted to date have done nothing to slow this train.  Public workers are determined to rip off the taxpayers.

“We can see from where the numbers are going how it’s going to crowd out education and all the other California services, and it’s ultimately unsustainable,” said Rob Lapsley, president of the California Business Roundtable. “The governor has to address it now and he’s been clear that he’s going to try to do that.”

I don’t see that, I see a big  train wreck ahead. Public workers have gone completely crazy.

Sipple vs. City of Chico – lawsuit settled over illegally collected Utility Tax

18 Jan

I wrote about this lawsuit, filed in 2011, a couple of years ago.

https://chicotaxpayers.com/2014/11/26/sipple-et-al-v-city-of-chico-city-of-chico-has-been-accepting-illegally-collected-utility-taxes-again/

It’s finally been settled, and was discussed by council in closed session at their Dec. 1, 2015 meeting, but I don’t know what they are going to do about it, how much of the money is owed by Chico, or any of the details. I just know, they illegally collected and kept money out of people’s cell phone bills, and when we found out, they tried to get us to make it legal at the ballot box. When we overturned it, they only refunded part of the money they’d taken from us. They still spent our taxes fighting the suit as long as they could. 

I wonder if “Bob H.” has anything to say about this? 

[Settlement of Lawsuit – New Cingular Wireless, LLC, Donald Sipple, John Simon, Kark Simonsen, and Christopher Jacobs – $3,038,832] Ordinance authorizing settlement of the lawsuit filed by New Cingular Wireless, LLC, Donald Sipple, John Simon, Karl Simonsen, and Christopher Jacobs against the City and County of San Francisco for $3,038,832; the lawsuit was filed on May 27, 2011, in Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. BC462270; entitled Donald Sipple, et al. v. City Of Alameda, et al.; other material terms of said settlement are dismissal of the crosscomplaint filed by the City and County of San Francisco against New Cingular Wireless, LLC, and AT&T Mobility, LLC. 11 Be it ordained by the People of City and County of San Francisco: 12 Section 1. Pursuant to Charter, Section 6.102(5), the Board of Supervisors hereby 13 authorizes the City Attorney to settle the action entitled Donald Sipple. et al. v. City Of 14 Alameda. et al., Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. BC462270 by the payment of 15 $3,038,832 and by dismissal of the cross-complaint filed in the same action by the City and 16 County of San Francisco against New Cingular Wireless LLC and AT&T Mobility LLC.

Be it ordained by the People of City and County of San Francisco: 12 Section 1. Pursuant to Charter, Section 6.102(5), the Board of Supervisors hereby 13 authorizes the City Attorney to settle the action entitled Donald Sipple. et al. v. City Of 14 Alameda. et al., Los Angeles Superior Court, Case No. BC462270 by the payment of 15 $3,038,832 and by dismissal of the cross-complaint filed in the same action by the City and 16 County of San Francisco against New Cingular Wireless LLC and AT&T Mobility LLC. 17 Section 2. The above-named action was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on 18 May 27, 2011, and the following parties were named in the lawsuit: Plaintiffs New Cingular 19 Wireless LLC, Donald Sipple, John Simon, Karl Simonsen, and Christopher Jacobs; 20 Defendants City and County of San Francisco, City of Alameda, Alameda County, City of 21 Albany, City of Alhambra, City of Arcadia, City of Arcata, City of Baldwin Park, City of 22 Beaumont, City of Bell, City of Bellflower, City of Benecia, City of Berkeley, City of Burbank, 23 City of Calabasas, City of Cathedral, City of Ceres, City of Chico...

Melanie Bassett, DCBA – city not providing “really necessary services to keep the Downtown vital and vibrant”

10 Jan

 

I get very frustrated by the missing links in the “homeless” conversation. Different groups are having very different conversations, and working in opposite directions on this issue.

Some see it as an issue of housing helpless people – I believe this attitude has attracted people from all over the United States, people who are not necessarily helpless, who don’t necessarily want that kind of help. What they come here for is the tolerable weather and the laissez faire attitude toward criminal activity.

The other day, I read the kind of horrific front page story I had always feared would come to Chico. A “homeless” couple had murdered another “homeless” woman at a de facto camp in Oroville. I won’t relate the details, I hate reading stuff like that. I will share what I found on the Butte County Superior Court website – these people had been arrested several times over the previous year, in Chico, and the man had recently been released from prison.  They were using crank, and that’s kind of hard to miss. They were released “O/R” – own recognizance – time and time again. Finally they got into a methamphetamine motivated rage with this woman they knew, and they killed her at least 50 times.

Years ago when I was a young woman living, working and going to college in the Sacramento area, I became aware of “crank.” I had some customers at my night job who casually offered me some, but I was a “health nut” back then, working out at a gym, eating protein shakes. I used my fitness routine as my polite excuse, not realizing – these people were politely offering me what amounted to rat poison.

But now I was aware of the stuff.  Suddenly it seemed everybody around me – from customers at my retail job, co-workers at my manufacturing job, and even old friends from high school – was on crank. I did not hear about it at college, my friends at college were too stressed out to do drugs.  It had become the drug of choice for working people – it was cheaper than coke, more available, and it made you want to work like a bastard. I had a friend who got on it when he was on a crew that installed garage doors. Within a few months he had his entire crew on it. Not only was he getting garage doors installed all over the greater Sacramento area, he was making extra money off his co-workers. 

Cranksters are under a spell. When they’re on that stuff they think the world is great, they think they can do anything. But, as you could expect, the comedown is at least as dramatic – you don’t want to be the one holding money when your friends are out of crank. 

When I think back on it I remember an almost surreal feeling that I couldn’t trust anybody I knew. I had friends steal out of my purse, threaten me, and bully me to loan them money, or even my car. I had co-workers offer me drugs and when I didn’t accept they never spoke to me again – how do you work with people like that?  Tension was building at my manufacturing job as my supervisor became aware of the problem and began to sort out employees. He was an older guy, remembered “crystal meth” from his “hippy days”, and feared he might have to purge the whole staff and institute drug testing – very expensive all the way around.

Talking to my boss, I felt we were the last people in town who were not on crank.  So, I took my grandma’s suggestion and transferred to Chico State. Growing up in Glenn County, I had visited Chico many times as a child, shopping, movie theater, Easters at One Mile, Grandma’s ear doctor, etc.  I loved Chico as a child, it was shinier and prettier than Willows, with more ice cream shops.

 As an adult, the first thing I noticed about Chico was the huge emphasis on booze and partying. As I drove into town from the Westside, I saw groups partying, drinking beer in their front yards at 10am. I thought, “I’m too old for this…” But, family and friends helped me find a good part of town to live in, instead of “The Ghetto,” and I stayed. 

Sacramento seemed a million miles away, a stinking island teeming with leeches. 

Almost 30 years later (gasp!), I have made my home and raised my kids here, and suddenly the town seems to be teeming with leeches.  Call me Slow, but it took me a while to realize what my friends who get out more had already concluded – Chico is full of creepy cranksters. Look at these people – they’re gaunt, their skin is tight and sallow, their eyes are baggy, and if you come close enough, you smell their constant nervous sweat. Just yesterday I observed a campful of them at the post office annex on Vallombrosa – Safeway moved the recycling enterprise but these people just camp in the old location anyway. 

This is a problem all over town. You might have heard they found a dead body along the freeway out past 20th Street – next time you drive Hwy 99, look at the bushes, they have old mattresses laying in there, the trash indicates regular camping.  I see the same thing along the freeway and in commercial parking lots in North Chico.

Downtown Business Association and  even Chico Chamber would have you believe this is just a Downtown problem. Council and staff have spent hours, and money, on the Downtown problem. I was just listening to an interview with DCBA director Melanie Bassett on Alan Chamberlain’s podcast news show “Chico Currents.” 

Bassett was talking about the private security hired by DCBA to patrol Downtown Chico. “This whole idea happened as a result of the city not having the financial resources to provide some of the really necessary services to keep the Downtown vital and vibrant.”

You mean, cops?

The police have cried that  they don’t have the employees to protect our town, so DCBA has hired private security “for our merchants Downtown, so they have someone to call, and someone to respond quickly to issues that they’re experiencing…”

Bassett added that DCBA is “working on private funding” for the patrols. According to their website, DCBA is currently working with the city to reassess merchants in the “Downtown” grid for fees, they say the fees have not been raised for a long time. You have to pay DCBA to locate your business Downtown.

So, what about the rest of town? I’m seeing these freaks walking down my street, I see them in gross numbers near my rentals. I hear reports of break-ins around my neighborhoods. I have transferred all my mail to my post office box, but I can only access that between 7am and 10pm because of “security concerns”.  

Council just handed the cops a bunch of guaranteed raises and okay’d more hiring. Again. They keep giving the cops more money, but the problem is not getting better. I’d say, it’s getting worse. 

When I related the story of the stabbing of a passerby by a homeless man in Sacramento, Ann Schwab laughed out loud at my narrative. She found my description of a man being “stabbed in the gut” with a 12 inch knife to be comical. I had related it because the homeless man had been a regular fixture around Downtown Sacramento, I’d see him almost every day walking the K Street mall as I changed buses in a sea of commuters. People called him “Jesus” because he wore bedsheets and would hold his fingers up in blessing as you walked by him. One  day, he was “initiating” some young woman in the bushes alongside Sutter’s Fort, and a man who was on his way to Sutter Hospital to see a friend thought it was a sexual assault. “Jesus,” whose real name was Jerry Paddy, pulled a long knife out of his sleeve and stuck the man right through his “abdomen”. The man died within minutes, never saw the ambulance coming. 

Reading about these two who murdered the third, people who wandered the streets of Chico at various times, according to arrest reports, really woke me up to our “homeless” problem. Up til now it’s just been disgusting – both having to move among these creeps every time I go out and about, and also having to put up with a police force that is overfed and unable to do it’s job. 

What really frustrates me now, is that if you complain about this problem, the cops just hold their collective hand out for more money.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: , ,

Mayor Sorensen runs a racket

6 Jan

Last month Chico city council brought the “noise” and “disorderly events” ordinances up for an overhaul. Chico PD complained that both these ordinances were straining their workload but needed to be changed so that they could better enforce them.

The Number 1 problem with the noise ordinance was that most people were complaining about construction sites operating before 7 am and after 7pm. So, they extended construction hours from 6am to 10pm.  This, says our mayor, is to address OSHA rules about extremely hot weather.

Mark Sorensen ought to have to wear a t-shirt listing his sponsors – Chico PD and Franklin Paving.  Franklin Paving was a major donor to former Chief Mike Maloney’s PAC, which paved Mark Sorensen, Reanette Fillmer, and Andrew Coolidge’s path to council, so those three will be forever grateful.  During a construction boom, construction companies just want to get that money as fast as they can – they don’t give a rat’s ass about their employees.

As for the “party” or “disorderly events” ordinance, the cops say they needed to drop the section requiring one or more citizen complaints before they are allowed to wade in like Clint Eastwood and bust up a party. They said, and Enterprise Record editor David Little claimed in an editorial, “The primary flaw with the existing law was it required a citizen to sign a complaint, a step that could and sometimes did result in retaliation.”

Little explains, “The police said the old ordinance wasn’t doing its job. They’d enacted it just 41 times since it went into effect and hadn’t cited anyone, despite averaging more than 1,700 party complaints each year. That sounds to us like the ordinance is working.

But police say they go back to the same addresses night after night, which to them is a sign that the ordinance isn’t working.”

No, Editor, that is a sign that the cops isn’t working!  1700 complaints and they haven’t cited anyone? They say they go back to the same addresses night after night – the old ordinance allows them to cite on the second complaint.

Eliminating the requirement for a complaint allows Chico PD to pull over and investigate any gathering over 20 people that officers suspect to be “out of control.” If they decide to break up the party, they are allowed to bill the “responsible party” for their “response costs” – overtime etc for every city employee who comes on scene.

The responsible party may very well be the person who hosts the party. But if no one steps forward to take responsibility for the party, the homeowner is considered to be the responsible party. In the case of high school kids partying while the parents are away, this is legitimate. But, how can a landlord be responsible for a party when they don’t reside at the house?  The law limits what a landlord can demand of their tenants – it’s not legal to tell your tenants they can’t have their friends over for a reasonable and orderly gathering. The problem being, here, the police get to decide what is “orderly.”  The landlord hears it later – despite what the tenants have to say.

This ordinance also allows the police to notify the landlord of a “disorderly event” by mail.  All they have to do, is say they mailed the notice, and if a second offense occurs at the same address, they can bill the property owner for “response costs.”

The police say they expect landlords to evict after the first offense.

All this to protect neighbors who were harassed after they placed complaints?

After I read Little’s editorial, I wrote him a quick e-mail asking if he knew of any specific incidences of a citizen being harassed or “retributed” against for making a complaint.

He replied, “At the meeting, an officer mentioned that people who called and signed a complaint sometimes were subjected to vandalism. Specifics may be contained in the video, or I can ask Ashiah what specifics were mentioned, but she’s not in the office right now and I don’t want to pass along secondhand information.”

In past, Little has held my letters, demanded I take stuff out, because he didn’t believe something I said had really happened that way.  I don’t know where he gets off treating me that way, everything I’ve ever told him has turned out to be true. In one incident, he got the other party to admit they had been lying when they initially denied my report. I tell what I see and hear, from meetings at which no notes are taken.  I take copious notes, and I keep them stored, anytime anybody wants to see them, I’ve got piles of notes.  I write down names, I ask more questions, I write and write.

I didn’t want to make him mad, but I thought the coverage of this ordinance has been very sloppy journalism. I responded, “Now listen, I don’t mean to be flip, but what’s the difference between that and “second hand,” or “anecdotal” information?”

His excuse: “Ashiah said she has heard it several times during discussions of the noise ordinance. She can’t recall whether that was in a committee meeting, on Tuesday’s discussion of the noise ordinance (before the party ordinance) or in conversations with city officials away from meetings. I too have heard that residents are hesitant to complain.”

Even I was shocked, this is a new low for Editor Little.

Wanting to give the poor beaten down bastard another shot, I e-mailed the police department on the website:

“I have heard there have been retaliations against folks who have complained about their neighbors’ parties – where can I find the record of these complaints?”

I got this response:

 Web PD (web-pd@Chicoca.gov)
 
1/04/16
Hello Ms. Sumner,

I do apologize for the late response to your email.

I am told this is not information that is tracked by us so there isn’t any “record” to refer you to. But you are welcome to look through the media log (public information we provide for the news media, etc) that we have available at our lobby counter.

Regards,

Bret

Chico Police Department”

Well, there you have it – there is no evidence of any complaints of retribution from complainants.  It’s a racket, cooked up by the cops, perpetuated by the mayor, and endorsed by the local daily editor. They are now allowed to bill property owners for doing the job they are already getting paid for.

The city has handed the cops, and fire, very generous contracts. They don’t have the money to pay for the stuff they promised them, so they are turning to the taxpayers.

As a landlord, I screen my tenants, but I still don’t know what I am getting until they have moved into my house. Sometimes they look great on paper, they have friends and relatives who pose as ex-landlords, they use old information that is hard to verify. A couple of the worst tenants I ever had were recommended to me by a former city council member.

What would I do if I found out my tenant was having an out-of-control party? Shouldn’t I, as a taxpayer, be allowed to call the police if the party goers refuse to desist, just as I would call the police if I came home from vacation and found my house had been robbed?

But, for a second incident, I am charged? Here’s the sitch –  I’ve had tenants trash my house as they were moving out because I’d terminated their lease.  I can’t expect taxpayer supported public employees to help me without paying extra?  Would I be charged if my house was robbed twice?

This is another money grab by Chico PD.

And what else really bothers me about this whole thing is the concerted effort on the part of agencies, including the newspaper, that are supposed to work on behalf of the voters and taxpayers.

And then, as if he’s messing with us, Little printed a cartoon Dec. 29 – “The Anecdotal Evidence Detective”.  Ha, ha, ha, joke’s on us.

Cal Water comes on strong with propaganda blitz in Visalia

29 Dec

I was not surprised that as soon as I found out about the city of Visalia’s plans to look into ownership of their own water system, I also found Cal Water has mounted a mis-information campaign.

Yesterday I posted Visalia Mayor Steve Nelsen’s letter to the Visalia Times Delta, explaining why the city is thinking about buying out Cal Water. Actually, I wouldn’t even call it “thinking about buying out” – how much would any of us know about that? Call a realtor? What?

The city is making a very legitimate effort not only to learn the facts but to get the public involved in the discussion. Of course, Cal Water intends to put their foot in the middle of the facts and grind the conversation out like an old cigarette butt. Independent Thought Alarm!

The first volley is underhanded and sneaky. Letters to the newspaper, not from Cal Water employees, but from employees of a popularly unknown company that serves Cal Water and other utilities by manufacturing and installing the infrastructure by which these utilities “serve” us.

You’ve seen that episode of “Twilight Zone” and you’ve seen the parody on “The Simpsons”. You know what Cal Water means when they say they “serve” people.

After Mayor Nelsen’s letter appeared in late November, these two letters turned up December 11.

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/opinion/2015/12/11/visalia-electeds-favor-water-takeover-lose-vote/77118758/

There’s no doubt in my mind that California’s tax-and-spend policies have burdened the middle class and driven business from our state. That’s one reason I chose to make Visalia my home; affordability when it comes to cost of living, and for the most part, responsibility when it comes to decisions made by our elected officials.

Unfortunately, recent actions by our local government could be construed as anything but responsible. Their move to start a takeover of our water system from Cal Water is not only reckless, but has also been done under the table and without public input. This is a mistake and it’s incredibly disappointing.

I will be opposing the water takeover and supporting Cal Water. I will also be thinking very carefully about how I vote when our elected officials are up on the ballot; any councilmember who supports this won’t be getting my check next to their name.

Dylan Byer

Visalia

Wow, Mr. Byer, what a load of manure you’ve shoveled out here. You didn’t come to Visalia for the affordable cost of living, you came as an employee of Western Utilities Transformer Services. Glassdoor reports the average salary at WUTS in the mid $70,000 range, which is more than one and a half times the median income in Visalia. WUTS works for Cal Water and other utility companies, so it’s in their best interests to take public opposition out of the CPUC process. 

Please note that Mr. Byer does not offer any real information regarding this issue, but misinformation. He says this conversation has been had “under the table,” even though the mayor has written a letter to the newspaper about what’s going on a couple of weeks previous.

Here below is a letter from a woman whose husband is employed by WUTS. She threatens that just having a conversation and moving forward with a study is going to “indebt us for years to come.” 

Her grammar alone is enough to send anybody away screaming. How do you talk to people like this, with the childish threats? “water takeover”?

Ratepayers and taxpayers beware: The City of Visalia is about to make a grave mistake and we’ll be the ones who pay for it.

If City Council moves forward and conducts the study to take over our water system from Cal Water, it will indebt us for years to come.

In order to avoid poor service, higher rates and new taxes, join me and stand against the water takeover!

Rachel Telfer

Visalia

Published a couple of weeks later was the following letter, supposedly signed by 57 Cal Water employees, including Utility Workers union shop steward Juan Cisneros:

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/opinion/2015/12/24/city-playing-political-games-lives/77838706/ 

Why is the city playing political games with our lives?

Juan Cisneros12:02 a.m. PST December 24, 2015

Imagine for a moment that one morning there is a knock at your door. When you open the door, the people standing there tell you that they are from the IRS and that they are going to come in to determine how much your house and belongings are worth just in case they decide to seize them from you, but that you really don’t have anything to worry about.

http://ow.ly/d/492T

Of course, their assurance that you don’t need to worry would fall on deaf ears, not only because it obviously isn’t true, but also because you probably wouldn’t have heard much after “we’re from the IRS.”This hypothetical scenario became all too real for the 61 local employees of Cal Water, which has been Visalia’s local water utility since 1926. On Nov. 5, Visalia’s City Attorney sent a cold, emotionless letter to Cal Water notifying it that the city was going to conduct an appraisal of Cal Water’s property and business in Visalia ahead of possibly trying to seize them through eminent domain. City staff told Cal Water that it really doesn’t have anything to worry about.

Does City Council not realize that Cal Water is as much a part of the Visalia community as anything else in our city?A few weeks later, Mayor Nelsen asked in these pages whether Visalia needs Cal Water, and laid out his case for taking over the water system. Worse, he accused each and every employee at Cal Water of being unconcerned about Visalia’s residents and the well-being of the community.

Does Mayor Nelsen not realize that we are residents of Visalia? That we shop at local businesses? That many of us grew up here? That our children go to school here? That we work tirelessly every single day to make sure that everyone in Visalia has safe, reliable and high quality water service?

And just a few days ago, the city issued a press release saying they were going to delay consideration of trying to put Cal Water out of business. The press release made it clear, though, that the city was still going to complete the appraisal of Cal Water’s property and business in Visalia. And Mayor Nelsen all but said that the city hasn’t taken the option of a government takeover off of the table, just that they are going to wait a little while before making a decision. Perhaps the city was just trying to tell us, again, that we really don’t have anything to worry about.

Do City Council and Mayor Nelsen not realize that they are playing political games with our jobs, families, and lives?

Just as you would be rightfully worried if the IRS showed up at your house one morning, we are worried that the City Council is trying to put Cal Water out of business and, in the process, steal our jobs and livelihoods.

We serve this community because it is what we love to do, and ensuring you and your family have safe, reliable water service is what we are here for. We’d normally never ask for anything extra in return. This Christmas, though, would you indulge us with one small gift: Please let City Council know that there are no circumstances under which you will support a government takeover of the water system and that it should stop playing political games with our lives.

We truly appreciate your support! From our families to yours, Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Juan Cisneros, a Cal Water employee since 2006 and secretary/shop steward of the Local 205 of the Utility Workers of America, signed this letter along with 56 other local Cal Water employees.

So now we have the official hysteria campaign from Cal Water. The hyperbole is going to get so thick, you will need a gas mask. 

 

 

Tags: ,

City of Visalia ponders public ownership of their water system

28 Dec

Erma Bombeck said, “The grass is always greener over the septic tank.” She meant, be careful when something looks good, you better know what’s under it.  As I’ve studied the process by which our utility rates are increased, I’ve begun to think about public ownership. It sounds like a simple solution to the ever-increasing rates,  but I’m wondering – is there a cesspool under that lush, green grass? Sometimes it’s a good idea to take a long look and a good sniff.

Recently the city of Visalia, at the direction of their city council, began to investigate the possibility of taking ownership of it’s water system from Cal Water. Having gone through the CPUC rate increase process with past cases, Mayor Steve Nelsen explains in a letter to the Visalia Times Delta, “we realized just how little impact a local government can have on its water supply when the delivery system is provided by a for-profit, investor-owned utility, that is traded on the New York Stock Exchange, managed from their corporate office in San Jose, and governed by the CPUC in San Francisco.”

I hear that. While I’m thrilled that the city of Chico and County of Butte have decided to formally protest this latest Cal Water rate increase, I’m worried the system is very heavily stacked against them. I hope they are ready to take it all the way to San Francisco. I believe they can beat back this latest proposal somewhat, but at this point, our rates are already onerous, and Cal Water wants more.

Mayor Nelsen describes how this process will be an opportunity for the public to learn more about utility ownership.  “Recently, the City of Visalia requested an appraisal of the water system in Visalia owned by a Bay Area firm, California Water Service Company (Cal Water). Once we have that information, sometime around the first of the year, the City Council will consider if the City might benefit from owning and operating its own water system. If it could make sense financially, there will be opportunity for public discussion about whether or not the City should pursue acquisition of the system. Our City Council firmly believes the citizens have a right to information about how a city-owned water system would affect them. Getting the appraisal is only the first, but necessary, step.”

Yes, the citizens have a right to information, but it is obviously not in Cal Water’s best interest to share this information. They don’t want the ratepayers to know the real reason behind rate increases – here Nelsen explains the relationship between rate increases, increased earnings per share, and larger dividends.

“What became abundantly clear is that Cal Water’s primary allegiance is to its stockholders: to improve the stock value and to pay out large dividends to shareholders…To that end, the corporate officers at Cal Water have done a good job managing profits: they have had five consecutive years of increased earnings per share, and have given larger dividends each year since 2010. The market price has increased more than 32 percent, and the net income has increased more than 50 percent in that same time period. Of course, we should not be surprised. Cal Water asked for 89.9 percent rate increases for 2011-2015, and the CPUC approved half of the requested increase — 44.1 percent. These rates have actually increased much more due to automatic increases that the CPUC has authorized Cal Water to make, such as the Water Rate Adjustment Mechanism (WRAM). Cal Water is guaranteed to meet its revenue requirements as approved by the CPUC, creating a situation of little or no incentive by Cal Water to inform or educate citizens about conservation. When Visalia conserves, meaning Cal Water sells less water in the Visalia district, Cal Water is automatically allowed to increase rates. Increase rates they have, every year, automatically — on top of the CPUC approved rate increase.”

Another interesting point Nelsen makes, and I agree – Cal Water, despite warnings, does not really seem serious about stopping water waste. 

“Though rates are important, water supply and conservation are critical. In April of this year, the Governor of California issued the mandate to Visalia to reduce water consumption by 32 percent, or face up to a $10,000-per-day fine. Cal Water is responsible for establishing and implementing a plan that will result in the mandated reduction. Unfortunately, there has only been a 26.1 percent composite reduction in Visalia. Cal Water has specific data on water use by household, business, and neighborhood, but they have been either unable or unwilling to share that information with the City. They have also failed in aggressively using the data themselves to target high water users. From July to September, the company reports issuing only 190 warnings and no penalties. During the same time, the City of Visalia could only directly address the issue through windshield surveys and citizen complaints. The City warned 1,222 citizens not to over-water, and issued 170 citations to citizens who continued to waste water. And, if a citizen does get a citation, the City implemented a program where they can avoid first-time fines by attending the City’s water school. The program was initiated by the City in order to inform and educate citizens about conserving one of our most vital resources, water.”

Chico did an excellent job of cutting back – Cal Water reported we cut usage by 43%.  Still we were penalized with onerous tiered rates and fines for going over budget? And if you stay at or below your budget, you get a WRAM charge. 

The CPUC reacted to our complaints about WRAM – they have instituted statutory rate increases that will bypass public participation. 

So, Visalia feels they have nowhere to go but public ownership. I think we should pay attention to this conversation. 

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/story/opinion/2015/11/23/visalia-need-calwater/76234252/

← Older Entries
Newer Entries →