CARD still talking about a parcel tax or property assessment to build aquatic center – now they say they might fix Shapiro instead, but they’re going to get a tax one way or the other

5 Jun

While I’ve been chasing the elusive new non-profit group formed to discuss building a “megacility” in Chico, Chico Area Recreation District has put their “Aquatic Facility Advisory Committee” to bed.  But, even after having had to reduce staff to make ends meet, the  board is still talking about floating a parcel tax or property assessment to build an aquatic center.   According to the Enterprise Record and CARD board member Tom Lando, the board is finally talking out loud about an  alternative –  “rebuilding and expanding Shapiro Pool.”  That discussion has fallen along the wayside for too long – in 2009 a consultant told them that pool was in bad need of attention.

I don’t believe Lando, or Sneed or Mulowney are sincere about fixing Shapiro. They have been pursuing the aquatic center, along with ex-CARD staffer and board member Jerry Hughes.  In the article below, Lando admits, “ I think the community needs a facility including a decent pool,” Lando said.

wow, “a facility including a decent pool…”   Is he talking about a “megacility“?

I’ve been in touch with CARD director Ann Willmann about the “event” sponsored by everybodyhealthybody.org at Lakeside Pavilion. EBHB is a “non-profit” made up of a couple of out-of-town consultants and a board of local folks who’ve been involved with Chico Swim Association/Aqua Jets.  I asked Willmann how much they paid to use the Pavilion. It took her a week to respond,

“Hi Juanita, the group paid $500 for their 5 hour rental. Thank you, Ann”

I replied, asking her where I could find the rental information for the Pavilion – the CARD website only posts a picture of it and says it’s available, there’s no rate schedule or description of exactly what you get. She never got back to me on that inquiry, so I e-mailed CARD “facilities manager” Ed Johnson.

Hi Mr. Johnson,

 I would like the rates for rental of Lakeside Pavilion, weekdays, per hour, deposit, etc.

 At your convenience, thank you for your anticipated response, Juanita Sumner

He also took forever to get back to me, I had to e-mail him again before I got this response.

Lakeside Prices are as fallows. [sic]

 It is a $500 deposit that is refundable to you. For a Saturday it is $3400 separate from the deposit and for a Friday or a Sunday it is $2800 separate from the deposit. We can do an hourly rate which is the same deposit and has a minimum of 8 hours and that is $225 per hour. Sorry for the delay in getting the too you have a great Friday.

Was I not clear? I thought I asked him for week day rates.   A friend of mine who I’d cc’d had to ask again.

Mr. Johnson,  I don’t see rates for weekdays or weeknights at Lakeside Pavilion.  Do you have a published rate card anywhere?

To which he replied,

“Lakeside is $225 Per hour weekdays and weeknights. There is no discounted rate for this building.

My friend didn’t know what to make of what seemed like evasiveness – or what, incompetence? – on the part of the facilities manager. I think we both asked pretty clear questions – did he read our e-mails before responding?  But I had my answer – the regular rate is $225, and there’s an 8 hour, or $1800 minimum, but EBHB was allowed to use it for $100/hour for five hours.

What gives? If I wanted to rent that place you know they’d stick it to me. Look at those rates.  Whose friend do you have to be to get it for $100/hour, no minimum? Sounds like a good question for Ann Willmann.

Hi Ms. Willman, 

I contacted Ed Johnson, who told me that rental for the Pavilion during the week is $225/hour.  He also mentioned a minimum of eight hours, but I’m not sure if that applies to week nights or just weekends.
I’d like to know, who authorized the rental of the Pavilion for $100/hour for Everybody Healthy Body?  Did the board approve this, and if so, where can I find the minutes to that meeting? 
When and where can I view communications between Everybody, Healthy Body, and CARD?

Thank you again for your anticipated cooperation, Juanita Sumner

We’ll see if she gets back to me.

Aquatic center still a question for CARD

Staff Reports

CHICO >> Even with the budget’s positives and negatives, the Chico Area Recreation and Park District board still faces its biggest decision: Whether to pursue an aquatics center.

Long in its master plan and recommended by an ad hoc committee, an aquatics center is still a question mark for the board.

Director Tom Lando said last week he was still wrestling with building a proposed aquatic center or rebuilding and expanding Shapiro Pool, which the board ha s closed down last year because of age and repair problems. Earlier this year, a consultant and an ad hoc committee offered recommendations on an aquatics center. The consultant’s recommendation included a 30- meter by 25- yard pool, while many on the committee wanted a 50- meter pool.

Any of the several prop o sa l de si g n s wou ld mean additional costs to CARD. None of the proposals or designs offered by the consultant would bring in enough revenue to cover operational and maintenance costs.

As far as paying for the construction of an aquatics center, a consultant suggested choosing between a set per- parcel tax or a ‘ benefits assessment” tax on property owners based on property valuation. Those affected would either vote on the measures in a general election or by a mailed ballot, respectively.

Preparing for either option would cost CARD about $ 65,000 for consultant services, General Manager Ann Willmann said.

“ I think the community needs a facility including a decent pool,” Lando said. And, if CARD wasn’t going to pursue a new aquatic center, he wanted to see more money helping with the renovation of Shapiro Pool or to the Humboldt Neighborhood skateboard park renovation.

Lando said he also thought the board should pursue the update of the master plan with all the big projects it has been discussing, not all of which are included in the current plan.

Taxpayers pay about three times the “employee” share of benefits and pension

5 Jun

What a week! I’ll ask  you a question people around here have asked for ages – is it hot enough for you?

I bet you’ve been thinking about your electric bill.   A couple of months ago, I got a notice from California Public Utilities shill Cody Naylor, inviting me to a sort of private (not noticed to the public) meeting regarding implementation of “time of use” rates, for everybody, starting in 2018.  “Time of use” means, the price of your electricity rides the stock market all day, between 10 am and 7 pm. Meaning, you pay whatever electricity is selling for, at  that moment.  Right now you can volunteer for time of use, and PG&E will give you reduced rates the rest of the day. But forget about using any of your major appliances during the day – like local Fascist Mark Stemen once sniggered at me – “get used to doing your laundry in the middle of the night Juanita!” 

Well, what about my refrigerator Mark? Where’s the social equity, Mark, when people like you, on a public salary, are able to run their air conditioner all day, damn the torpedoes, while those of living on normal salaries are balancing our PG&E with our food bills? Don’t cook in the house!

Naylor had sent me the notice, telling me he hoped I’d spread the word!  What a liar – they didn’t want people to come, are you kidding. When I complained that they weren’t running ads in the paper or sending notices in bills, Naylor’s co-shill, Claudia Portillo (Office of the Rat-out Advocate) just handed me a pile of limp excuses.  She said the utilities (this was shoved into a Cal Water rate increase meeting) missed their printing deadline and the CPUC doesn’t have the money (!?!)

The utility was originally supposed to send the public hearing notice as a bill insert. However, they were unable to meet their printing deadline to include it with customer bills. Normally the customer notice is sent only once as either a bill insert (most common), or a separate mailer (used by Cal Water for these PPHs). Unfortunately, TV and radio ads are not used because of the high costs which are allowed to be passed on to ratepayers. This is also the reason notices are usually only sent once. The CPUC keeps the costs and their passing through to ratepayers in mind when working with the utility company on customer notifications.

As a government agency, the CPUC has a very limited budget and usually cannot afford to pay for ads. However, it is customary for the CPUC’s media office to write and distribute press releases regarding these types of public hearings to various media outlets. This is done in the hopes that a media outlet will be interested and pass along the information to its audience voluntarily, at no cost to the CPUC or ratepayers.

They don’t want to pass the costs of noticing on to the ratepayers? What kind of bullshit is that? Can you believe she eats with that mouth?

Well, nevermind all that – did you get the notice for the next rate increase proposal from PG&E? This isn’t about “real time pricing,” this is just another rate increase, period.  I got the notice in my most recent bill – “operate, maintain and upgrade” systems, bs bs bs.  They mean, pay off their pension debt.

When I asked Ms. Portillo and Mr. Naylor about their pensions, Portillo sent me some interesting links.

https://www.calpers.ca.gov/

There I found this pdf – “Facts at a Glance”

Click to access facts-at-a-glance.pdf

The first fact that caught my glance was there at the bottom – taxpayers (“employers”)  pay about three times what the employees pay for their own benefits. 

I  know I’ve been bitching alot about the homeless and the crimes they commit. Here we have a whole class of people who are ripping us off, and we’re just sitting here allowing it. 

Democracy is an expensive date

2 Jun

So, Joe Montes is really running for Congress? Really? Cause his city council campaign was a joke.  He dropped out without a fight, saying he’d been told, by parties he would not name, that he would just steal votes from Coolidge and Fillmer. Rolled over like a turd in a bowl, what a woos. And now he really expects us to believe he’s got the gagnas to go to Washington? I can’t imagine him doing anything but prolonging the election to November, damn the expenses cause it’s not his money.

And then there’s Jim Reed. After meeting Jim Reed during his 2014 bid for Assembly, I’m convinced he’s  just after some salary or another, any salary over 100 Grand a year would  be fine. Don’t forget that pension.

And then there’s Doug LaMalfa.  Yeah, he’s a big cowboy hat wearing redneck, but you know what – he’s our redneck, and we love him.  At least he’s really  from this area, he’s really a farmer, and he’s got a huge stake to protect. I don’t always agree with him, and he’s certainly not looking out for me, but here’s the bottom line – his interests benefit me, even if only in a trickle down sense. I’d  rather ride his coattails and take his leavings than head down the Road to Perdition with either of the other idiots.

I don’t know what’s going on in the local Republican party, why long time Republicans like Larry Wahl are mad at LaMalfa.   Do they realize – a split vote here means the taxpayers foot for another race in November – all those offices and measures cost 10’s of thousands to put on the ballot every time, Democracy is an expensive date. Or – you know what would be really funny? While Montes and LaMalfa are chasing each other’s tails around a palm tree, Jim Reed steals their clothes and walks triumphantly to Washington. 

Why am I not laughing?

Goddess, what a horrific election. I just checked in with local Repuglicken Jack Lee and he’s backing Donny Trump, speaking as though he’s been waiting for a guy like Trump to come along for-ev-er .

We have the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, and then there’s Bernie Sanders sitting in his leaky dinghy with his SEIU thugs, offering us a ride into the perfect storm.  God Bless America!

I mailed my ballot in a couple of weeks ago. I voted for Cruz knowing he couldn’t win. I can’t support Sanders, he’s the unions’ bitch. The other two – well, we’ll get one of them, but not with my vote.  

The interesting race was US Senator. I had to do some research – I googled, “who has the best chance of beating that fascist/racist bitch Kamala Harris?”  And up popped LA Democrat Loretta Sanchez, so I voted for her.  She’s a Reagan Democrat – isn’t that the same as a Republican?  Not sure, but I didn’t find anything disgusting enough about her to stop me, so I dotted in the little circle next to her name.

I voted yes on E. The county makes the dumbest proclamations for their pet groups, let’s just make a proclamation not to frack. Their big argument against this measure is that fracking hasn’t been done in Butte County, that it isn’t profitable, so will never be done.  That’s weak – they need to promise that it will never be allowed,  simple as that. I hope this one passes. Anybody who doesn’t get it should watch “Nothing But Trouble” with Dan Akroyd and John Candy.

I finally decided to vote no on G and H.   I’m sick of the supervisors spending so much $taff time into what seems to be a personal agenda for a couple of people. I wish they’d pay attention to other matters.  According to the current Butte County Community Health Assessment Report, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have recently declared national epidemics for both prescription opioid and heroin overdoses – noting that prescription opioids have become a pathway to street heroin use over the past decade . These declarations are especially concerning for Butte County as our age-adjusted drug induced death rate is roughly 3 times as high as for the state of California overall, ranking 56th out of 58 counties…”  

I would call their ridiculous persecution of property owners a poor remake of “Reefer Madness”.  Read that community health report, and send a copy to your supervisor –   http://www.buttecounty.net/Portals/21/Admin/Accreditation/Public/BC_CommunityHealthImprovementPlan_2015-2017%20.pdf

There was also a state measure to punish legislators by taking away their pay, etc, but it was not clear enough what types of things the legislators would be punished for. The whole thing was too sketchy, I voted no.

I hope everybody will make the effort to vote, one way or another. I don’t care if you go out and cancel every one of my votes, I just like the Democracy Dance.  I like to live in a vibrant and active community, and there’s nothing quite so communal as passing laws and electing leaders that regulate each others’ lives. 

 

 

 

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Remember – for every cockroach you see, there’s 20 more in the wall

1 Jun

California Public Employees’ Retirement System – CalPERS – is not suffering from simple incompetence, now we find out they are downright corrupt. The Chief Executive Officer has been convicted and sentenced to four and a half years in prison for “accepting more than $ 200,000 in bribes and trying to steer investments to help an associate.”

In a story the Enterprise Record saw fit to bury,

http://www.chicoer.com/business/20160531/california-pension-fund-ceo-sentenced-for-bribery

Federico Buenrostro admitted that he accepted cash, a trip around the world, and even allowed his associate to pay for his wedding at Lake Tahoe. A 66 year old man? What an idiot. 66 year old  men are supposed to have better judgement.  How did this man get the job in the first place? 

His associate, who committed suicide  under the pressure of the investigation, was a former investment manager and even a former CalPERS board member. These are the kind of people Jerry “The Moonbeam” Brown hires to run our state finances.  

You know, Jerry’s been investigated for stuff like this himself.

Four and a half years?  Apparently they gave him a “plea deal” – “the U. S. attorney’s office asked for a four- year term, citing Buenrostro’s cooperation in the case against Villalobos.”  That seems outrageous to me.  “As part of his plea deal, Buenrostro acknowledged giving Villalobos access to confidential investment information and forging letters that allowed firms connected with Villalobos to collect a $ 14 million commission on $ 3 billion worth of pension fund investments.”

The US Attorney admitted, “ This was one of the most startling and serious cases of public corruption in the history of the state of California…,” he said. “ That being said, Mr. Buenrostro did come for ward and admit to what he had done.”

Why is Charles Manson in prison? He’s admitted his role in the Tate-LaBianca killings, and wow, that seems to be enough to the US Attorney.

And this last detail reminds me of the post I did the other day about the local arsonist who has been arrested so many times for stalking – “Prosecutors sought the shorter sentence despite Buenrostro getting sent to jail when he violated the terms of his probation on a misdemeanor domestic violence charge by making contact with the victim, authorities say. He pleaded no contest in that case in March.”

Is that the woman he married in Lake Tahoe? 

What we are not going to hear is how this stuff is routine at CalPERS and every other state agency.

We are complete jackasses to go on putting up with this. All say “Bray!” 

There is no accountability

21 May

I got a kick out of David Little’s “Hits and Misses” column today.

“MISS >> We had to shake our heads over the issue of couch fires, not because it’s silly to assign undercover investigators to locations where furniture is likely to burst into flames, but because it wastes our public safety resources.

The fact that many of these incidents happen around the Chico State University campus near the end of the school year is disappointing, considering how hard local educational institutions work to stress civic responsibility, sustainability and recycling.”

Does this man read his own newspaper? There on Page A4, a story about a man arrested, not for setting a couch on fire, but for a “string of suspicious fires”, including an incendiary device thrown through the window of an apartment, a garbage can, and a mattress laying in the back of a pick-up.

Police arrested James Henry Newsome, who was reportedly seen by witnesses prying open a window and tossing something into the apartment that caught fire minutes later. Channel 7 News reported a young woman lived in that room, luckily she was not home at the time. Her room was gutted by fire, leaving her and five of her neighbors “homeless.“

http://www.krcrtv.com/news/local/apartment-fire-displaces-students-arson-is-possible-cause/39645572

The irony here is, this Newsome guy, in one arrest report after another for the last five years, has been described as “homeless” or “a transient.”  He’s been arrested again and again over the last five years, mostly for the continuing harassment of some person who has been granted a restraining order against him. Looking up his name in the Superior Court case index, you find one after another charge of “disobeying a domestic court order” followed by “failure to appear.” One arrest after another at One Mile or City Plaza or various business establishments in the Downtown – Mangrove Corridor. One “dismissal” after another. I don’t know why – the superior court doesn’t give those kind of details in language the layperson can understand.

Newsome is a one-man revenue disaster. Look at his history in the court index, and ask yourself – “what does it cost to entertain a jackass like this in court?” 

Is this why Butte County courts perpetuate this cycle? For the money? And Chico PD? The cops arrest them, they go the court circuit, they end up back on the street.   All the while, the cops, the DA,  the Public Defender’s office and the judges continue to get their paychecks and over 80 percent of their pension and benefits paid by the taxpayers.  Eventually, something really bad happens.

Like that apartment fire – according to Channel 7 –

“The fire was contained to a back bedroom. Firefighters said the house is split into three apartments and 12 college students live there. The back bedroom was gutted. Fortunately the young woman who lives in that bedroom was not home at the time.”

Fortunately?  The frame pushed up against the wall and the pile of ash there on the floor is all that’s left of the young woman’s bed.

Can you imagine having to make this phone call – “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Parents of a College Girl, we regret to inform you that your daughter was roasted to a turn as she slept soundly in her bed, by a guy who’s been in the custody of law enforcement about a dozen times but they’ve never managed to convict him of anything…”

We don’t have a crime problem in Butte County, we have a law enforcement problem.  

This reminded me of the story I saw on Chico Action News about a man who had closed an entire neighborhood down with a threat to set his own house on fire. An undisclosed number of police and fire personnel were on site, getting paid out the ass, for “a couple of hours.”   The media should have to translate that into  $$$$$$.  In the end, “no charges were filed and no arrests were made. The man was transported to a mental health facility.”

I wonder, what mental health facility? Will he be held under the new ruling the county supervisors passed recently, giving the county behavioral health department authorization to hold someone against their will for 45 days? $$$$$$$$$$

Police diffuse situation on Marjorie Ave

From ACTION NEWS NOW (5/16/16)  by Darren Leeds

The Chico Police Department was tied up for a couple of hours Monday evening as they responded to tense and even bizarre situation on Marjorie Avenue.

Police were dispatched to 959 Marjorie Avenue around 4:30pm after they got a call from a man at that address saying he was going to burn his house down.

The Chico PD says the name of the man is not being released. Law enforcement and Chico Fire had to close off Marjorie Avenue just off of Cohasset. The fire department shut off the gas lines to the home and neighborhood.
Police say they were able to get in touch with the man in the home on his phone and had a lengthy conversation with him. After a couple of hours, the man decided to come out of the home peacefully.

McKinnon says, “So we evacuated the surrounding houses in the event that the house caught on fire, and if the houses next to it caught on fire we needed those residents to be out of there. We blocked off the road so any vehicle traffic wouldn’t come down there and get involved. You never know.”

Lieutenant McKinnon says no charges were filed and no arrests were made. The man was transported to a mental health facility.

But if my tenants have a party of more than 20 people, and the neighbors call the cops twice in a certain number of days, I as a landlord am liable for police and fire “response costs,” a minimum of $1,000. This man won’t pay “response costs,” he won’t pay for his stay in the mental health facility, and, I’d bet my last dollar – he won’t quit being an expensive pain in the ass for the taxpayers, cause nobody is going to hold him accountable for his actions. 

I found the discussion following this article, posted at Ch 12 website, very interesting.

Laurie Tozier

Good job CPD for peacefully difusing this situaton and saving the man’s life and property. Best wishes to him on getting help, I hope he has good family.

 

Gary Martin · California State University, Chico

No charges were filed? We had to be evacuated from our house for two hours, 13 police officers spent over two hours on this call, a fire truck and ambalance were on standby. I could not return to work as the culdesac was blocked off. This is the second time in a vear that Steve has held the police at bay with threats of lighting himself on fire, I hope he gets help before he really does it. He and his wife care for a severly disabled man in a wheelchair, we have small children that live close by what happens to them! Who pays for the cost both monetery and emotional that this man has causes. Ok thanks for listening I am going to go look up JUSTICE in the dictionary

Kathy Childers

This time I hope he gets the help he needs! My son and his family live in that culdesac! Having a mentally ill neighbor should be a disclosable item when you sell a house there!!!

 
Michael Barns

I agree, I think the landlord of the mentally ill person should be made accountable for not evicting them do to the danger that they invite to the comunity.

 
Tammy Nelson ·  Client Services Manager at UnitedHealth Group

Police were here longer than he was detained! I hope the landlord is advised of all the police activity at that house, as well as the people that are paying them to care for the disabled! If he was evaluated and he needed help commit him, if he was just trying to avoid getting put in jail put him in jail! When there are no consequences for your actions people continue to do these things and even worse!

Michael Barns

Exactly if the landlords were notified that thier properties were in danger and that the tenants were a nusance maybe the city would be a safer place

 

 Michael Barns

I think that the Chico PD needs to do welfare check on the wheel chair person I believe his name is Ben and these folks are taking care of him. It does not seem to be a safe environment for a person with limited mobility, I wonder if he is a ssi or ssa receipent please someone in social services check out this story

 

Stephan Farris ·  Retired Law Enforcement at Retired

Mental health conditions are just that. A health condition and thus protected by law from disclosure. Further, people can’t be evicted for most health conditions. It would be no different than if someone tried to evict you because you had HIV or tuberculosis or some other communicable disease.
While I empathize with the neighborhood and understand the frustration at the impacts it causes to you and your families, what many of you are proposing isn’t right either.

I think we’ve got a bunch of thugs here!

18 May

Good luck Bernie!

Humana, United Healthcare are bailing out of Obamacare, other insurers will increase premiums as much as 13 percent – something you aren’t hearing from either Trump or Clinton

16 May

This is the weirdest presidential election I can remember in my adult life. Somehow they’ve managed to campaign for the better part of a year without talking about any really substantive issues.

One thing they’re not talking about is the failure of Obamacare. It’s happened just like the critics predicted – not enough people are paying in, and too many people are collecting.  The big health insurers are not making the profits they wanted.  According to this article from Virginia-based financial services company Motley Fool, two major insurers are opting out of states that signed on to Obamacare and others are set to raise premiums to “scary” new levels.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/money/healthcare/obamacares-2017-insurer-rate-requests-are-starting-to-stream-in-and-the-figures-are-scary/ar-BBt4YY5?li=BBnb4R7&ocid=mailsignout

“Worst of all, it doesn’t appear as if insurer rate hike requests are going to ebb once we get beyond 2017.”

Low enrollment, especially among healthy young people, seems to be the biggest problem.  Obama had expected the young to bear the larger burden, assuming young people would be healthier and fitter and make fewer claims while paying their own premiums. Who would sign on to something that dumb – would Barack Obama advise his daughters to sign in on to something like that? Well, he doesn’t have to, they will continue to live under the umbrella of their dad’s publicly-paid insurance until they are 24, at which time I’m going to assume they will use their considerable wealth to purchase very nice plans for themselves.

Motley Fool blames the low penalties, still “considerably lower” than the “cheapest health plans.”  True, I am not intimidated by the penalty. What intimidates me is finding myself with a policy that is not accepted by local caregivers, or a policy that won’t even get me into a hospital, much less pay for adequate care. My biggest fear with Obamacare is going into a hospital with a label on my forehead that says, “can’t afford anything, leave her in the hallway until her family picks her up…”

What is angering the big insurers is the failure of promises made regarding the “risk corridor.” Obama promised to protect the insurance companies should they not achieve the profits they were expecting – wow, is that legal? – but apparently has not. “In 2016, insurers that were losing money on Obamacare’s exchanges requested $2.87 billion in financial assistance. Unfortunately, the risk corridor doled out just $362 million, or 13% of what was requested.”

That was surprising to me – I had thought it was all about enriching the insurance companies, but here, Obama screwed them too.

Fool also blames subsidies for hiding the impact of the rate increases from most ratepayers, leaving a smaller disgruntled crowd who can’t seem to attract much sympathy for their problem. See, those who make too much to qualify for subsidies are in fact paying for those who do qualify, and they’re paying more all the time. Just like people who don’t get welfare pay for those who do get it. That pisses people off. But there are apparently too few pissed off people to make much of a wave, most of those enrolled are apparently being subsidized. Again, those healthier younger people just aren’t taking the bait, so those that do bite will bite twice as hard.

The article reports that “ Hillary Clinton has proposed building on Obamacare’s success, while Donald Trump is focused on its repeal.”   Really? I haven’t heard them say anything about it.  I’ve just heard enough carping back and forth to fill a standard 2.5 gallon toilet.

What an election.

I love that old poem – Yeats? – “what rough beast, it’s hour come round at last, slouches toward Washington DC, to be born?”  or something like that.

 

So much for public safety – city of Chico doesn’t take Americans with Disabilities Act too seriously

13 May

Bureaucracy gets a deserved bad name because it sucks up a lot of money and resources without producing anything.  Here in Chico we spend 10’s of millions – I’ve lost track of our total budget – on salaries, health benefits and pensions, but our streets are broken to pieces, our park is in disgrace, and public buildings all over town are in disrepair. Former public works manager Ruben Martinez reported a few years ago that instead of having a regular schedule of maintenance for city fixtures and facilities, the department just waited  for things to break.  This he called, “Failure Maintenance.”

Think about that. Say it a few times, and think about it good.  It sounds like the City of Chico is maintaining failure.

 I was telling my friend Jim how the city of Chico has bottomed out the gas tax fund – a cash register rings Downtown every time you gas your car in the city limits – paying salaries and benefits of people who have nothing to do with fixing our streets. Jim reminded me that the gas tax is supposed to go toward repairing streets, so I was telling him about “cost allocation.” This is the legal process by which they move money from one fund to another, “allocating” funds to pay for salaries. Here’s a simple example – if they have a meeting about the sewer facility, every body at the meeting gets their salary for that hour or two out of the sewer fund, everybody from the clerk to the city manager.  They even “allocate” an amount appropriate to pay for the PG&E  in that room for the duration of the meeting.

I first heard this many years ago – remember Jennifer Hennessy? She delivered the news to the Finance Committee, which included Mayor Mark Sorensen at that time, very casually and matter of factly, as if it was okay. Since she left in a hail of insults, her replacement, Chris Constantin, and his replacement, Frank Fields, have made it administrative policy. Moving peas under walnut shells is now the official finance policy of the City of Chico, CA.  Before he was mayor, Mark Sorensen complained they’d bottomed out the Sewer and Development funds the same way. Now you don’t hear him saying much about the red ink all over the city books, cause they juggle them so fast nowadays it’s just a blur of pink.

The other official policy Downtown is, they only fix stuff if they can get grants for it. In fact, as we have seen with the plans they made up for Esplanade, they will fix stuff that doesn’t need fixing just to get the money. And here’s the real sticker – they have to match that grant money with city funds. So, as in the case of the Downtown remodel undertaken over the last five years, with all the bulbing of the sidewalks and the traffic circles, ended up costing about 4 times as much as if they’d just fixed the sidewalks and put the ADA compliant access points at the intersections like the feds told them to do.  But, oh boy! We can get all this extra money to pay down our pension deficit if we put traffic circles and switch parking from parallel to angle parking!

The Americans with Disabilities Act was passed about 1990. Intended to make our streets and public building more accessible to people with “mobility issues” like wheelchairs, the ADA is pretty simple – if a competent wheelchair jockey can’t navigate a section of sidewalk, it’s not ADA compliant. Cracks, buckling around trees, potholes in sidewalks or streets – these don’t just prove challenging for people with disabilities – try getting a stroller out there, you find out quick, there’s whole parts of town that aren’t doable.  

And then there’s the liability. There’s a section of sidewalk across the street from my house with a buckle in it. It’s not much, it’s hard to see, but when I occasionally kick that buckle with my foot, it hurts all the way up my spine to the back of my head. Think I should talk to a lawyer about that?

I don’t remember how many years ago the city was told the Esplanade was not ADA compliant, but they’ve taken that and turned it into a gazillion dollar remodel, with over sized traffic circles and other changes necessitating the removal of many huge trees.  In the drawing I saw, the traffic  circle in front of Bidwell Mansion looks as if it will send cars right through the front doors of Northern Star Mills.

Protest led council to shelve the traffic circle plans, but only until 2017, just after the upcoming election. Wow, that’s not obvious. You’ve got Cheryl King whooping up a war dance, she’s got a basket to put your head in, so you postpone your decision until after the election. Gotta hand it to Sorensen, he knows how to handle the liberals. He won the Farmer’s Market battle, and he’ll win this one, just watch. 

Meanwhile, what about the ADA? Are they going to fix Esplanade at all? There’s miles of busted up sidewalk, and other liabilities that just need to be fixed. What about complaints about speeding? The  cops have made a big deal of patrolling it – as if it’s a big effort on their part to do their jobs, we’ll see how long it lasts.

Jim sent me a picture of ADA compliance in his neighborhood.  

Speaking of ADA, they put in these handicapped access a few years ago in my neighborhood. Nobody uses them, cars block them off, and they are full of dirt and water.

Jim says, “Speaking of ADA, they put in these handicapped access a few years ago in my neighborhood. Nobody uses them, cars block them off, and they are full of dirt and water.”         

Aquatic center proponents form non-profit, hire consultant, plan “Megacility”

11 May

Has CARD dropped plans to put a bond on the November ballot to pay for a new aquatic center?

Monday I was forwarded an invitation to a presentation at CARD’s new headquarters, Lakeside Pavilion.

You’ve been invited to participate in an event on May 10th which could be a milestone for Chico, involving large scale recreational facilities as a major community amenity and economic driver.   

 

It’s far from a new topic.  The adequacy of Chico’s facilities, the strain and economic drain travelling someplace else for events and tournaments, limited programing, limited funding, limited facilities and limited opportunities for people of all ages, etc.  All far below what could be accomplished if local talent, leadership and resources were tapped and channeled to accomplish what has been accomplished in other communities, many of which lack the talent, leadership and resources which already exist in Chico.

 

What is new is that out of this long running and seemingly endless conversation, a  catalyst non-profit has been formed to move the ball downfield.   Doing that requires community involvement and support.  Partnership and collaboration is essential!!!

 
DATE: Tuesday, May 10th
TIME: 6:30 PM

LOCATION: Lakeside Pavilion.  2565 California Park Dr, Chico, CA 95928

 

It’ll be an informative and enjoyable event on the Lake in Cal Park.  

 

Looking forward to seeing you there,

Brad Geise
EVERYBODY, Healthy Body
Collaboration and Partnerships for Athletics Facilities and Programming

530-715-0035 

Of course this invitation was not intended for me, but addressed to a local elected official who forwarded it along to me, knowing I’ve been trying to follow the aquatic center conversation.  This invitation confirms what I’ve suspected – as the public, and even the local daily newspaper, has failed to support CARD’s bids for public funding for this venture, the tiny but well-heeled group of aquatic center supporters has turned to a consultant, and formed a “non-profit” group. Ostensibly they are looking for private funding, but a quick look at their website shows a pattern of private ventures that quickly turn to the public for major funding. 

Under “FAQ’s” you will find this link:

http://sportsplanningguide.com/rise-of-the-megacilities

Here’s the bait …

Spooky Nook Sports was funded privately by its owner, Sam Beiler, for approximately $11.25 million. After traveling for his daughter’s various sports tournaments across the country, the family decided to create an indoor facility that offers quality customer service, ideal playing and spectator conditions and additional activities during downtime.

the usual sales pitch about how these facilities are a benefit to the entire community  … 

There’s no denying the impressive impact of sports tourism these days; destinations are taking their sports inventories to the next level. These herculean sports venues, or what we like to call megacilities, have generated an estimated combined economic impact of more than $200 million to date. They open their doors to competitions of all calibers where players, coaches and spectators alike will have to pick up their jaws from the state-of-the-art floors and fields.

 and here’s the switch – from the 2015 Pennsylvania Urban Land Institute report …

Although by all accounts the Nook has been deemed a success, that success has not been quantified in terms of fiscal or economic impact. 

The report goes on to detail the major traffic problems brought about during tournaments at this facility in Pennsylvania, finally recommending “The Nook” apply for public road funds to fix their inadequate private parking lot. The report describes the development of the site as “haphazard,” and recommends that the governing authorities take a harder look at the actual benefits of this development and ways to curb the problems it is causing.

Read on about a facility in Georgia – 

LakePoint Sporting Community was privately funded until it received a $32-million bond to support the next development phase: the indoor facility.

According to the Rome News-Tribune, “Bartow County Commissioner Steve Taylor said the Bartow County Development Authority issued $37 million in bonds to finance construction of the pavilion.”

According to wikipedia, Bartow County is, well, kind of poor.   The median income is only about $44,000 a year – much like Butte County. How in the hell will they pay those bonds? 

Read on about one facility after another in one state after another – entirely funded with taxpayer money.  Revenue bonds, city self-financing and hotel occupancy taxes, just to name a few sources of revenue that have been tapped to pay for facilities that have so far failed to prove any sustainable economic benefit for the surrounding area. They all create traffic problems that are addressed with more public money.

I expect the aquatic center group to follow the same tack.  They will try to impress us with their ability to attract “stakeholders,” but in the end they will try to get into our purses with this thing.

Meanwhile, CARD must also find some way to fund itself. Now they’ve privatized the backside of the CARD center and will charge money for weddings and other events. This is a conflict of their mission.  CARD was formed to facilitate recreational opportunities for taxpayers, not to compete with private enterprise to pay their own salaries, pensions and benefits. But, I will be keeping my ear to the railroad tracks, waiting for CARD to roll out another tax campaign of some sort. 

So, the aquatic center is not off the table, it’s turned into a “Megacility”.  A consultant and a group of local proponents has formed a covert group aimed at using private money to attract public money, just like a lot of other scams. It’s up to us to remain vigilant against this kind of misappropriation of public money.

The system is only as good as the taxpayers who support it.

County public works director complains our streets “are falling apart in front of our eyes” – but he still gets his $168,000/year plus benefits

8 May

What now for the Esplanade? Council has laid that decision over for after the election – cute, eh?

The real issue on Esplanade is the collapsing infrastructure – buckling, incomplete sidewalks, lack of crosswalks, high curbs that force wheel chairs out into the street.  It’s an outrage that a city the size of Chico, with a payroll of over $28 million dollars, another $12 million on pensions and health benefits, would look like this.

 

 

pothole

Cycling through my neighborhood I encountered a sink hole. Notice it’s already been patched at least once, quite recently.

 

A few years ago, former Mayor Ann Schwab make a big deal over the new “Hwy 99 Bike Trail” through town. You can see part of it from the freeway. The purple light poles and other “art treatments” – stuff like, thousands of dollars for boulders shipped in from the Eastern US – ran almost a million dollars.

What you can’t see is the section that runs through my neighborhood. Cal Trans wouldn’t grant access on the freeway overpass, so the trail leads back into the neighborhood, winding down one street and up the other, using a series of stenciled white bicycles to lead the eager traveler to and from Bidwell Park.  The actual trail was resurfaced, but, as you can see in the picture above, the surrounding streets were left to rot. 

I wonder what the purple signs cost.

As you can see, the resurfacing job follows the purple signs. I wonder what each sign cost.

Every now and then a citizen complains and a city works truck comes out to patch holes with “slobbers” left over from other road jobs.  Those patches only seem to exacerbate the pothole – within a week it’s back, even bigger.

I remember sitting in a meeting at which then-Finance Director Jennifer Hennessey explained that the gas tax fund – money that is supposed to be dedicated to fixing streets – was routinely bottomed out paying salaries Downtown. That seemed sketchy to Mark Sorensen before he was mayor – now he has sat by as city staff has manufactured ordinances allowing “cost allocation” – meaning, if a staffer attends a meeting in which the gas tax is mentioned, their salary for that meeting comes out of the gas tax fund. As well as the PG&E bill for that meeting, etc. 

You see the streets sit and rot, but City of Chico employees continue to collect their paychecks, as well as pension and benefits payments.

It’s no better in the county, according to county Public Works Director Mike Crump (Enterprise Record, Letters, 5/4/16)

It was great news reading about all the road work Caltrans is doing locally, including the resurfacing of Highway 99 in Chico and constructing passing lanes on Highway 70 south of Oroville that are all important, but what about our local roads? We can all see (and feel) our local streets falling apart in front of our eyes.

Cities and counties have been measuring the condition of our roads and bridges and the news is not good. With the existing California gas tax funding formulas, there is a clear downward trend in our local road conditions projected over the next 10 years unless our state legislators begin to address this issue.

Here in Butte County, where I am public works director, on a scale of 1-100 with 100 being excellent, our local road pavement condition index (PCI) is an “at risk” 66. We (cities and county) need more than $65 million per year over the next 10 years if we are to bring our roads up to a good condition with a PCI over 70 and this does not include the needs of our bridges, traffic signals or sidewalks. Last year, unincorporated Butte County could only afford to spend $2.5 million to resurface 25 miles of our 1,000 miles of paved roads we need to maintain. If future funding to maintain our local roads is not addressed soon, we can expect many more of our roads to fail. Please log onto savecaliforniastreets.org for more information and cool maps.

— Mike Crump, Oroville

Mike, or “John” Crump as he is listed on the county payroll, made $168,000 in 2014, and took a $28,000 benefits package. The county spent over $118 million on wages in 2014, with another $35 million going out to retirement and health benefits. All that money spent on wages and benefits – what do we have to show for that? A bunch of fat employees driving to work in their new vehicles – a lot of them provided by the tax payers (who also pay the gas tax to fill them up) – over shredded roads. 

Is Crump looking for us to tax ourselves further to pay more in wages – his wages have creeped up over $20,000/year in the last 10 years, while, as he admits, our roads “are falling apart in front of our eyes.” 

This is what keeps employers out of the North State – our backwards, corrupt, over-fed public workers and our sagging, neglected infrastructure. 

 

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