Aquatic Center efforts go underground

18 Oct

I came away from last night’s CARD board meeting feeling like they aren’t going to fully discuss their aquatic center plans in front of me because I’ve criticized them publicly. I also saw something last night that tells me, these kind of people serve on these boards to forward their own interests, CARD doesn’t really serve the community. It serves the board members’ friends.

We sat through an audit report from Mattson and Isom. The woman reminded me of a school  teacher, she was very professional and cheerful.  I won’t pretend to understand or care. Of course she found everything in order – as long as they keep records of where the money goes, an auditor doesn’t care that they spend it all on their own salaries and pensions.  She was speaking as an auditor, not a person who pays for it out of her property taxes. Of course she gushed all over the board at the end of her report and told them how thankful M&I is to get their business, leaving as they moved along to the next item.  

The bottom line was, CARD revenues are down because the board has cut programs and cut staff, but they have continued to make the payments to CalPERS for benefits and pensions. Two of the board members, Tom Lando and Ed Seagal, are CalPERS pensioners, and Herman Ellis receives a pension through Cal State Chico. The conflict of interest seems obvious to me.  But the board moved right along to “Unfinished Business.” 

A regular item on this list, the Humboldt Skate Park is of constant concern down at CARD. From the time it was built, we’ve seen that it was poorly planned, never should have been done. It’s too small, stuck in a corner of town where no kids live, and destined to be a homeless hangout. It’s concealed by that stupid fence so people can do drugs, ride bikes, even cars! and vandalize, without the scrutiny of the non-interested cops or the unknowing public.  I’s closed due to vandalism at least twice a year, for weeks at a time. It has a bigger maintenance budget than larger area parks.  

Maintenance superintendent Jake Preston showed photos taken from the internet of “brawls” and even of a small car being driven inside the gated fence.  Board member Jan Sneed reported that she went into the skate park and had a conversation with some “hardcore skaters” who told her they’d “beat up” any high school kids who tried to use the skate park.  Instead of having these losers arrested, she says they need to  be part of the committee to figure out what to do about the problems. 

Does she think this is Mayberry RFD? 

Maintenance director Preston laid out four possibilities: 

  • leave the park as is
  • close and eliminate the park
  • give it back to the city of Chico
  • create a positive atmosphere with some supervision and even programs

I was surprised when about half dozen members of the established “skate community” attended the meeting, three of them stood up to talk about ways the park could be improved. Two of them agreed the park was too small. All three agreed with Jake Preston that the park is in a horrible location. They all blame the “bums” for the drug and alcohol use, the syringes and other paraphernalia that litters the site, and the constant reek of pee. They also pointed out that the best skate parks are private and charge a small entrance fee.  They said they drive regularly to Sacramento and San Jose to pay to skate. 

The board listened attentively and respectfully to these people. One thing I’ll say about CARD meetings is, the speakers are treated better. The board members don’t go on with their bullshit philosophy for hours on end, these meetings are very businesslike. But, I also noticed a distinct difference between the way they treat the skate board park and how they later treated the  folks who want an aquatic center.

For the skate board park, they want to “create ownership” – have some non-profit take it over. For one thing, bless his heart – Jake Preston is sick of the Humboldt Skate Park. I don’t blame him. He’s being made to be a babysitter for druggies and creeps who want to hide in that fenced yard where the cops can’t see them doing deals and shooting up. Preston clearly does not want to be responsible for the skate park anymore, and neither does the board. They want to hand it off to some bunch of dummies like the Outsiders, who took on the frisbee golf course at Five Mile.  These groups can then apply for grants to do the maintenance, and CARD washes their hands of it. 

That sounds great until that group falls apart. These facilities always end up degrading with time and neglect, and turn into a problem again. And, the skate park is poorly designed, too small to be safe, and tucked away into a corner where everybody admits – the homeless have “owned” that spot since before I was born. When I was a kid, that’s where “Bidwell’s indians” used to sit around and get drunk all day along the creek. 

But that discussion ended with Ed Seagle’s suggestion to start a “Chico Skate Board  Club” to pay for some supervision of the park.  Charging a membership fee to get in, and demanding membership cards would “get rid of the riff raff,” he says. As for the “money issue,” Seagle mentions contacting local businesses, “so we don’t have to spend any money…” on a CARD owned property. Wow, great Ed, thanks for your support. The discussion ended with the formation of another committee to continue studying things – more study?    Jake Preston handed his card to the skaters as they left the room.

And then it was off and running to the aquatic center discussion, which was a whole new ballgame.  They talked about the 15 people who signed up for the committee (only one had signed up at the Sept 23 meeting), but argued over that being too many – “we’ll never get anything done with that many people,” opined one board member. Director Steve Visconti suggested the list be paired down by having each applicant submit “a letter of intent,” with information about themselves and their interest in the project. Oh? Pick and choose, eh? This committee is starting to sound kind of exclusive.   They talked about wanting more “stakeholders” on board – they only have one right now – and I’m guessing, that’s the Aquajets manager who was the only one to sign up at the Sept 23 meeting.  Aquajets are considered a “stakeholder,” but not a member of the general public? They want people with some sort of credentials, is what I get. How about this – I  can bring my cancelled tax payment checks? 

At one point in the conversation, Jan Sneed, one of the longest running members, declared that the board needed to decide whether or not CARD would take an active part in this aquatic center promotion before there was any further discussion. She seemed to feel they were violating some rule.  So, they voted unanimously to support this project.  

While they refused to talk about funding, Visconti mentioned that the next step would be for CARD to pay an artist to come up with drawing of the proposed center.   Here we go – CARD money! This is not appropriate, as far as I’m concerned, but they also chose to pay about $40,000 for a survey that they aren’t listening to. The survey indicated the public would not support an aquatic center, but Laura Urseny indicated in her article in yesterday’s ER that they still intend to pursue a bond. They refused to talk about that last night, I believe, because I was sitting right there. 

Ed Seagle did make a remark about finding a “stakeholder with deep pockets,” but that didn’t even get a response. Instead they opened the meeting to public comment, and of course the first “member of the public” to stand up was former CARD director and board member Jerry Hughes. First Hughes argued that they should have another publicly noticed meeting, try to get more members of the public “to commit”. But, he also detailed past attempts at “getting the public to commit.” Failure 40 years ago, failure 20 years ago, and he still insists we “need” an aquatic center. He ignored the results of the recent survey, which indicated, not enough support.  Two public swimming pools that CARD has refused to maintain, a skate park they are trying to pawn off on somebody else, but we NEED an aquatic center? The people have spoken again and again, but Hughes and his friends, mostly Aquajets grandparents who remember how many times this effort has failed but refuse to see why, still insist we need this ridiculous money pit.  There is NOT sufficient interest in swim sports here to build a fucking Taj Majal aquatic center, get over it!

Hughes and another speaker tried that old tack – “what an economic boon to Chico!”  One woman claimed a swim meet in brings 3,000 people to town. I don’t want to call her liar, but I would like to see some numbers on that from a more reliable source, like local hotels, restaurants and gas stations. Maybe she meant, several meets over a year? 

Here Ed Seagle broke in,  admitting, in a very frustrated tone, “The reality is, most pools barely break even…”

But Seagle had a bad case of double speak last night.  He acts like he’s uninterested, but went ahead and voted to form a committee of Sneed and Worley to oversee the citizen’s committee, and at a future meeting, they will vote to pay for the artist’s rendering.  I’ll drop a note to CARD staff, let them know I want to be noticed of these meetings.

I’ll try to keep an eye on this effort, you should too.

I find it weird that the skateboard park, which is already an existing problem, is left to “new ownership,” but this aquatic center rainbow is getting a  conceptual drawing, a  citizen’s committee, and according to the story in yesterday’s ER, a bond measure on the 2016 ballot.

When my kid’s hockey club went to CARD, asking for a spot in the facility they planned for DeGarmo Park, they told our kids NO – it’s bad for Cal Skate! They said it would be directly competitive with a local business. But here the aquatic center isn’t competition for In Motion? It isn’t going to negatively impact the school swim teams? What about PV and Shapiro pools? Will CARD close those pools due to inability to maintain them? They’re already in such bad shape that the school swim teams “are forced” to use In Motion Fitness.  This conversation was completely different than the conversation they had with our hockey club.  And completely different than the skateboard park discussion.

Why aren’t we screaming “MISMANAGEMENT” ? I sure wish the rest of you would get some letters to the paper on this. I think we could beat it down before any CARD money is spent on it.

NOTE:  I e-mailed CARD manager Steve Visconti and he has placed me on the notice list for the aquatic center committee. I’ll keep you posted. 

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CTA meeting motivates me to go looking for some new council candidates

14 Oct

Yesterday’s meeting of Chico Taxpayers was great because, for the third month in a row, we had new people come in to the meeting, with questions about  our city government.  It is always depressing to me when I think people aren’t paying attention to what’s going on, and it’s a real boot up to meet a new person or two who are ready to work to get our city back onto a rational path.  This is why I have this group – to get the information out there, find out what’s true, what’s wrong, how to fix it. 

I have to admit time and time again, I don’t have all the answers. I don’t understand a lot of what goes on Downtown, it’s all Greek to me Baby.  And they like it that way – of course they use that thick “educated” language to leave us OUT.  

Here’s a good “Book in Common,” – “This Book is NOT Required,” by Inge Bell. I read this book when it was new, but I see it is still available on Amazon.com for a pretty hefty price, so people must be reading it. Bell explains how language is used to keep our society “stratified,” or divided into distinct class groups. Education or lack thereof is used to keep poor people poor, and rich people rich, simple as that. The “educated” speak their elite language and the rest of us are left fumbling through our dictionaries. I was an English major, and I struggle to keep up with the Legis-lese they speak Downtown. Well, I do know some words too.  Those reports are intentionally obfuscated to keep the public continually in fits about what’s going on. We know something funky is going down, but we don’t have the legal tools to figure it out or know what to do about it. 

Yesterday our little discussion group concluded, this is just what Brian Nakamura and council are counting on – we’re too poor to get a lawyer. We talked about how they know exactly what they’re doing, they know they’re treading on thin legality, but they’ve calculated the risk of being busted, and they’ve figured it to be pretty low.  Just like Hemet, and all those other little towns.  Their friends – the Esplanade League and the Friends of Bidwell Park, have way more money than us, and they’re not afraid to sue. Friends of the Park has cost the city millions.  That’s what it takes to get these people to listen – a lawyer.  I know a mean ass mutha, but he makes no bones about his price – he’s told me many times, “don’t call me until you’re ready to take out a second mortgage…” 

As an example, look how many times the Chico Conservation Voters have violated election laws – Michael Worley caught red-handed sending out illegal mailers with a facetious return address, Dave Guzzetti redacted for neglecting to fill out forms correctly. Worley paid a few thousand in fines – well, I’m guessing his Chico Democrat friends paid it for him. – but that’s it, right back on the road, probably dreaming up the illegal mailer he will send out in 2014. Guzzetti was not fined, just had his wrist slapped. That snatch sniffer will never change.  I’m waiting for him to start a fight with me at the Farmer’s Market so I can mop up the parking lot with his guinea ass. 

We talked yesterday about how civility has been thrown out of politics around here. Well, that’s funny to me, having had a few experiences here that reminded me of my childhood in Glenn County. There was the Esplanade League mob that tried to run me and my family out of that council meeting. There was the time Jan Sneed tried to rope me like a calf at a CARD meeting. Both times people came at me PHYSICALLY. Laurel Blankenship’s daughter spit all over my face. 

Chico is not a civil town, and I don’t think it ever has been. It’s always been a “political hotbed,” I remember reading about it when I was a kid.  And it’s totally koyaanisqatsi. We have conservatives who don’t conserve, like the conservative majority that built all that crap through the 80’s and 90’s. Now we’ve suffered a “liberal” majority that has waged an unprecedented “war on the poor” and made our town too expensive for working class people to live in.  We talked yesterday about how the “liberals” aren’t true to traditional values of raising quality of life for EVERYBODY. No, they’ve enriched themselves by stealing from the taxpayers, taking any “discretionary” money we have, and then trying to tell us how to spend that with their “shop local” and sustainability bullshit. 

Yesterday we argued about how we should “handle” these people. When we ask questions or demand action, we are routinely held off by the forehead as they do what they want. How do we make them listen? Civil disobedience? Un-civil disobedience? Sue had a good suggestion – know your facts, keep your head, and don’t let them make you mad. She gave examples of how people had behaved toward her when she’d been out picketing. She suggested, have a partner who is ready to step in when you get frustrated. This would also work at the dais for council meetings – get together ahead of a meeting, talk about what you want to say to council, then get a partner or a few other people who will go to the podium to finish your thoughts that you couldn’t get in three minutes. Plan ahead, one person to pick up where the other left off.  

One thing that bugs all of us about speaking at council meetings is the way they respond to you after you can longer talk. Oftentimes certain councilmembers use this privilege to berate the speaker and tell everybody they were lying or wrong. Council members are allowed to babble on at will, spreading whatever bullshit lies they come up with  We need to start getting up during “Business from the Floor” to respond to their snotty comments. We have to start beating them at their own game – beating people down. 

That doesn’t mean name calling – although, I do enjoy name calling – it means, know your facts and have them at the ready.  Learn to argue with a smile, it helps you to keep from getting mad enough to lose your stride. Learn to look them directly in the eye – it’s intimidating, and it helps you to know what they’re thinking. Laugh out loud when they say something preposterous, and then say, “that’s preposterous!” 

There is an election coming up, and if we want to get rid of these fools, and I mean Sorensen too if he doesn’t wise up pretty quick, we need to get ready. The first thing would be to find at least two good candidates to go up against Goloff and Gruendl. I don’t know if I can support Coolidge – his campaign last time was pretty flakey and lame. His website had all these icons but none of them really told us anything. I didn’t see him at meetings, and I got tired of his excuse that his business keeps him busy – too busy to be a good councilor? How often would we hear that excuse, and how many times would he have to recuse himself from votes because of his various business interests? And how much of his interest in this job is self-interest? Too many questions.

I’d like to see a young person who has been watching the issues for a few years. I’d say Mark Herrera but he has not proven himself to me as an independent thinker. He’s a “John Redcorn” – tries to wax hippy philosophy all the time, but really has no working understanding of city business, it’s all sunshine and rainbowsand “can’t we all just get along and pay our taxes?” He’s a dimestore hippy, got one on every corner around here.

We need somebody who has actually been attending meetings. I guess I’ll start hitting all the meetings again and see what I come up with. Should I take a lantern? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chico is “leaking” – retail sales are down due to traveling consumers and online shoppers, Chamber CEO tries to shame us into charity shopping

12 Oct

Months ago the city of Chico, Downtown Chico Business Asses, and Tri-Counties Bank ran a retail survey, which was available on the city website, asking consumers about their shopping habits. I participated – I said Chico does not have what I want, and when they do, it’s way more expensive than I can find it in other towns or online. I waited for the results, and I’m still waiting. 

I’ve asked at meeting after meeting, I’ve sent e-mails, but I’ve been put off again and again. Now Chamber CEO Katie Simmons has announced the workshops that will focus on the survey, telling local businesses how they can cash in on our thoughts, but still no survey results available to the public. The workshops are free, and I’ve been told they’re open to the public, but Simmons is not publicizing them to the public. 

I sent an e-mail to Simmons and Economic Development $taffer $hawn Tillman, including Mark Sorensen for shits and giggles, and asked them one more time when the results of that survey will be available to the public. I reminded them that Tillman had already admitted quite a few hours of $taff time went into that survey. We’ll see if I get an answer – Sorensen still hasn’t answered me regarding the employee contracts.   He’s no better than the “liberals” – disagree with him on something, ask him a question he doesn’t like, or make an observation he’d admittedly rather ignore, and you will get the back of his hand, just like Scott Gruendl, his erstwhile rival and now apparent paramour.

Meanwhile, Simmons did an interview with “business” reporter Laura Urpsilly.   I had to laugh – you try to tell people something, but they don’t believe it until they hear it coming out of their own mouth!

Years ago, former Chamber CEO Jim Goodwin left the chamber to take the city manager position in Live Oak, a town that is flowing over with agri-money and has no fancy bullshit spending machine to blow it out their asses. Their latest “state of the city” reports that Live Oak is just Dandy!   In  fact, I think they could make it off the sales tax from that Penny Candy store – people come from freaking MILES. 

Before he left, Goodwin came before the Economic Development committee – including Goloff and Gruendl – and  gave a very damning report of Chico’s retail future. He said, little towns around here are finally getting their own economies – their own grocery stores, their own WALMART!  For many years, Chico had enjoyed being a retail hub for these towns, and Goodwin was trying to tell us, that hayride is over.  He also mentioned online shopping, but didn’t have any statistics.  Wow, that was a gobstopper of a report,  I never forgot it. But Katie Simmons and our current council act like they never heard it. 

Little Katie had to find it out for herself. According to Urpsilly, “Simmons noted the economic development team that looked over the results was ‘shocked’ at the online shopping information, including that a large percentage of shoppers go online for almost everything except groceries.

She said the ‘leakage’ — what is spent outside Chico — was also stunning.”

Simmons just won’t get it. She tries to tell us that where we shop is some kind of charity we owe to our community, we’re not supposed to be smart  consumers and save money for our families, we’re supposed to prop up businesses that can’t  compete, and pay higher prices to generate more sales tax to feed $taff.

Simmons points out percentages about local shopping and the economy.

‘If you choose Chico for shopping, that is a locally owned business, 68 cents of every dollar stays in the community. Even when you shop with a business that’s within the city limits but not locally owned, 43 cents stays in the community.

When consumers shop online or out of the area, the community loses those dollars.’

‘It’s important to think where and how we spend our money,’ said Simmons, pointing out that the higher quality of life that Chicoans enjoy mean more city services.

Also, what I’m hearing from this bitch, is that same old crap about “local businesses.” I’ll tell you what Katie, WalMart is a local business – they are located in my town, and employ my neighbors, who spend money in our local economy.   I’m so sorry, I can’t afford to shop Downtown, which seems to be the focus of this effort.  Like I said in the survey, there are few stores Downtown that cater to the working class family.  My husband, who was raised in Chico, will tell you, Downtown has become “the U District”.  And, Tillman made remarks that the survey indicated they are not “taking full advantage of the student population.”   I’m predicting Downtown will become even more unfriendly to Chicoans as Downtown businesses stretch and contort to provide whatever the students want. I’m guessing, more of the same – BOOZE AND LOUD MUSIC! 

Shopping is not a charity – a smart consumer, especially these days, shops to save money, not to prop up poorly managed businesses.   Simmons is going to have to tell businesses to be smarter – carry goods people want to buy at reasonable prices instead of trying to shove high-priced crap on us. You want more consumers Downtown? Put a grocery store Downtown, some reasonable kid’s clothing retailers and shoe stores, and more family-style restaurants instead of these spendy “bistros” where they treat you like a buffoon for bringing your kids. 

And Simmons might also want to have a talk with whoever it is trying to plant the “sales tax increase” bug in people’s asses.  I can’t believe any intelligent person would even mention a sales tax increase right now. 

Right now, I’m going out of my way to shop outside Chico because Matt Olson and whoever are running around trying to get a sales tax increase on the city ballot. I didn’t have to buy a car in Oroville – but I’m so glad I did.   Wittmeier screwed us out of $980 on our unused “extended” warranty, and I will never do business with them again,  or recommend them to anybody else. Finance officer and owner of Santos Paving,  Jackie Santos, personally told us that money would be refunded in the event “something happened,” all except for a $35 service charge!  Jackie, you are a Jersey whore with a mouth full of cat crap. Next time I see your husband George I’m going to tell him all the stuff you said about him – how he’s “one dead Portagee” if he steps out of line with you, etc. I guess you thought that impressed us, but we bought the extended warranty because we didn’t realize our car would be incapacitated before we were able to use any of it. Thanks for a good lesson – don’t trust Jersey whores.

And here’s something else funny – no ha ha – Wittmeier charged us over $3,000 for that extended warranty, Oroville Ford only wants $1400, and we bought a more expensive car. When we questioned this, the Wittmeier people essentially answered, we can do what we want.  I’m guessing that $980 went right into Santos’ pocket, to be spent on grease paint and acrylic claws. 

I learned something about that  from reading celebrity gossip – I read an interview with Goldie Hawn’s ex-husband Bill Hudson. He was talking about Hollywood stars and divas, but it applies to everybody – when you pay somebody a bunch of money, they think they’re important. When you give them a high position, they think they’re powerful. In Hollywood he says, nobody argues with them, questions them, or tells them to Fuck Off. That’s the way it’s become in Chico – the $taffers, all these overpaid divas, just think their shit doesn’t stink! They are doing whatever they want Downtown, and we’re just supposed to pay for it without question.  Katie Simmons is just another public $taffer – she gets the biggest chunk of Community Block Grant Funding – and she’s mouthing the same bullshit – “You citizens need to give us more money!” She just stands there with her hand out, like she’s some kind of royalty or something. 

Go to hell Katie.  Today I’ll be planning my Christmas shopping trip to Redding and Anderson, and in the past two weeks I’ve ordered over $100 in household goods online – everyday junk like soap and cooking aids. And, one of my favorite online sites – Lucky Vitamin – has added a whole bunch of food products.   Just keep pushing it Katie, and I won’t be doing ANY shopping in Chico anymore.  And I’m not alone.

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Chico Taxpayer’s Association off-schedule meeting this Sunday, October 13, 9am.

11 Oct

Chico Taxpayers Association will be meeting this Sunday, off schedule, because last Sunday’s regular meeting had to be postponed. 

We’ll continue our conversation about the city employee contracts, which are now up for discussion, in closed session, between Chico City Council, their consultant, and $taff.  I am hoping to get people to write letters to council asking that they hold the line and ask employees to pay their own benefits. I’ve asked Mark Sorensen and Sean Morgan to offer to pay 9 percent of employee benefits and ask employees to pay the rest, but I haven’t had any answer from them.  I fully expect them to roll over for the cops like my dog when he wants a belly scratching. 

We can also yak up the latest efforts to raise local taxes – CARD and some guy named Matt Olson. I invited Olson to come to our meeting to discuss his plans but he refused. I think it’s because, he doesn’t have a plan, but we might want to keep an eye on him.  Same for CARD – although the group I saw was pretty lame, there were a few individuals at that CARD meeting that seemed pretty determined. 

So, I will be picking up the library key today, and I hope to see you down there at 9am Sunday.  

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Koyaanisqatsi! I agree with Dave Guzzetti!

8 Oct

I oftentimes find myself wondering – why do I bother to do this?  Here I’ve been complaining about lack of Sunshine Downtown, and I have to ask – would anybody read the minutes of meetings if they were posted? Who besides me and the gals over at Truth Matters Chico are even worried about the minutes? 

Then I found this petition set up online by Jessica Allen, who I assume put up the website “Save Chico Now.” It’s been signed by 50 people, all of whom seem to agree with me that we need to get those minutes posted in a timely fashion.  Good Gawd Maude – I agree with David Guzzetti!  I hope that gives him indigestion.

https://www.change.org/petitions/chico-city-council-please-produce-the-minutes-for-the-past-6-months-of-city-council-meetings-2

The efforts seems to have fizzled a little, but not before Allen got 50 signatures.  That’s more people than I would have believed were interested.

I wrote a letter to the Enterprise Record, sent it yesterday, but I’m running it here below because I don’t know when Editor will post it.  I had to resend my last letter, which is pretty common. If you don’t get a response, resend your letters, and include dlittle@chicoer.com in the ‘to’ bar.  He will usually send a little response – “thankyou, it’s in the cue” – if you don’t get that, resend. As much as we detest each others guts, I still have some modicum of respect for Little’s integrity – the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.  Just because I disagree with the guy doesn’t mean I don’t respect him somewhat – I have yet to catch him in a lie, so I’m hanging in there. I also believe he hates liars, and wouldn’t intentionally lie. You can’t call a person a liar for their beliefs. 

I would say same about Stephanie Taber. I don’t agree with her right now, but I don’t doubt her integrity. Sure, she  can be wrong, and stubborn, and misled – who can’t? I challenge any of you to be right all the time, don’t make a mistake, don’t misstep – cause Macky’s back in town, Dear, and his teeth are shinin’ white.

I have finally come to doubt a couple of other people’s integrity – Brian Nakamura and Debbie Presson. I tried to believe the best about them, but given their actions, I feel like an idiot for trusting them.  I believe these people will tell the public anything to get their way.  Or not tell, as in this case of holding up the minutes for months on end, losing memos and documents, refusing to serve information requests. If you are friendly with her, Presson has all the time in the world to yak face about personal stuff – ask Sean Morgan –  but now suddenly she doesn’t have the time to honor information requests from the public? Doesn’t have time to post minutes for any meeting after April? I think this lady makes too much money to tell us she doesn’t have time to do her job. Maybe she should take some of that $135,000 a year salary (plus benefits and pension) and hire herself a staff? 

Here’s my letter to the Enterprise Record.  I wish some of the people on that petition would write letters too.

Chico City Clerk Debbie Presson says she struggles up to five hours transcribing minutes for one hour’s video tape of a city council meeting, citing a November 2000 council action approving  “‘action-only’ minutes, with staff to provide summary detail when needed.” This is why minutes are six months behind. 

 
 Presson decides when “summary detail” is needed, and which details to include, paraphrasing public comments, or leaving them out entirely.
 
Cities of Redding, Oroville and Willows offer up-to-date, “action only” minutes, a simple description of  motions made and passed, actions taken, etc, available in less than 30 days. They also offer videos, but the important facts are there at a glance for those who don’t have hours to sit through these meetings.
 
It is important to have the videos for better understanding of the council’s motives behind actions.  When I’ve tried to view Chico council videos online, I’ve seen “sorry, video is still processing…” When I asked Staff, I was told I needed to use Internet Explorer.  Google Chrome has over 53% of users, why aren’t our videos viewable on Google Chrome like other cities? 
 
We’re not being served. City management has eliminated positions and cut services to fund their own raises. Do they expect us to believe, if they pay one person four or five salaries, that person will actually be capable of doing the work of four or five people? 
 
Juanita Sumner, Chico

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NEWSFLASH! Juanita Sumner ready to support a bond!

7 Oct

I will admit I had almost lost hope of stopping the proposed Cal Water rate increases when I heard the good news a couple of weeks ago that the state Ratepayers Advocate (DRA) had stepped in. They suggest the increase be cut in half. 

This all due to people in Oroville, Marysville, and Yuba City,  who kicked up a fuss, made a formal complaint, wrote letters, put signs on their lawns, etc.  If you go to the Oroville Mercury Register, or the Marysville Appeal Democrat, you will  find lively chatter regarding such topics as municipally owned water companies, eminent domaining a utility company, etc.

That’s right – in Oroville they’re actually  talking about eminent domaining Cal Water. One council member says this will require a bond to pay for the purchase, but he thinks the time is right to go to the voters . Look at what people are paying, just for household water. In Oroville people are already paying $200 or more to keep their lawns and landscaping alive.

I’ll say it – I’m ready to pay a reasonable bond with limits and a sunset date if it means we could own our own water, instead of a for-profit corporation that enriches itself not only off our rates but government hand-outs as well. We can ask that the bond money be used exclusively for the purchase of the water company holdings. We can pass an ordinance that requires a publicly elected board of directors and manager, and public input regarding employee contracts. I realize, it’s a big conversation – let’s have it!

 Read about Oroville and Marysville’s efforts here:

http://www.orovillemr.com/news/ci_24119735/council-supports-no-water-rate-increases

http://www.appeal-democrat.com/articles/water-125858-city-sewer.html

 

 

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NO CTA MEETING THIS SUNDAY – regular meeting rescheduled for October 13.

4 Oct

I have other obligations this weekend so I have scheduled the monthly Chico Taxpayer’s Association meeting for October 13 – usual time and place, 9am, Chico Library.

I was happy to see a story about Truth Matters Chico in the Chico News and Review this week:

http://www.newsreview.com/chico/insider-talk/content?oid=11635933

I especially love the expression on finance department staffer Frank Field’s face in the photo – he seems to be saying, “oh oh, the shit’s about to hit the fan…”   Lately I been kind of worried they’re going to lay it all on Fields – remarks have been made to the extent that “Frank’s been here all along…” Ever been left holding the bag? Not me – I was always the one who ran to tell Gramma. 

Well, I’m off this weekend to scatter some TOT and sales tax around the sunny town of Antioch. My Christmas money is burning a hole in my pocket, but I ain’t letting it out until I’m over the Butte County line.   Some of the stuff they’ve been doing over at the County Center has me wondering – who do our supervisors work for? The garbage company? Southern California developers? “You got the money Honey, I got the time!” I’ll be sending them the same message – I will spend my sales tax elsewhere. It’s just another excuse for a road trip. 

 

 

 

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Oroville is an interesting town

3 Oct

Some of you may know my husband and I just bought a new car  – in OROVILLE!  Oroville Ford was really nice. Although I was treated nicely and professionally at Wittmeier, I would say, Oroville Ford was the best car buying experience we’ve ever had. My husband agrees. 

I try to watch other towns around Chico – not just for the price of gas and groceries, but also their political scene. What other town nearby is having the same kind of problems as Chico? I mean, I’m asking, chime in folks.

I remember Oroville having a fuss over their rec district, going through a lot of money, some accusations were made about a district director using their influence inappropriately. But I don’t recall Oroville making any recent announcements about  being on the rocks.

I just casually met their new city manager – Randy Murphy – when he stood up to offer the only constructive suggestions at the recent CARD aquatic center meeting. Murphy suggested an aquatic center should be a regional effort, with other cities and the county helping out. Murphy was not even thanked for that suggestion, CARD staff just waited for him to stop talking so they could go on exhorting the audience to support those amendments that lower the voter threshold for bond measures.

A letter writer in yesterday’s Enterprise Record says Murphy only makes $127,000 salary as manager of Oroville, comparing that to Brian Nakamura’s salary as Chico City Manager.  I wondered what kind of benefits package Murphy gets so I looked at the city of Oroville website:

http://www.cityoforoville.org/index.aspx?page=1

Nice website. You’ll find the labor agreements at the Human Resources page, which you will find under “City Services” at the top of the main page. I didn’t read those yet, you know me – I was immediately distracted by the “Minutes and Agendas” button to the right. I had to look, and sure enough, O-ville has their minutes posted through September 17, 2013. I’m just saying.

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Caper Acres Update: Abigail Lopez reports on latest volunteer meeting

1 Oct


I asked Caper Acres Volunteers leader Abigail Lopez for a report of their meeting held last week, see below.

I wish this group would be more questioning of staff expenses instead of going along with the money raising scheme. Those repairs certainly need to be made, or those fixtures removed – this maintenance should be part of a regular schedule, budgeted in, but all the money goes into Dan Efseaf’s salary, benefits, and pension, as well as those of his slightly lesser paid staff.

Another point – I remember when volunteers paid for and installed those fixtures, and I’m wondering why those groups aren’t being asked to come back in and make the repairs. This is something we all need to think about the next time some group of well-meaning volunteers want to install something on public property.  Like the memorial benches – a month or so ago, I encountered one of those which hadn’t been installed more than a year ago, and the middle board was already unattached. This stuff costs staff time to repair, and I don’t think that’s covered by the fee they charge to install the benches. Our park has been badly mismanaged for some time now, and raising money for bandaid cures does not address the core issue – salaries, benefits and pension. 

I hate to be rude to a well-meaning person like Lopez, but she’s playing Romeo to my Mercutio. I hate that! 

From Abigail Lopez of Caper Acres Volunteers:

As you may know, the sheriff’s department has come up with a plan to 
use people on SWAP, house arrest, community service workers, etc. to go 
into the park and do work to alleviate the strain on staff so that they 
can go in and do what needs to be done in Caper Acres and the rest of 
the park. ServPro has extended their contract to November 1st to allow 
this program to be implemented, but we need to show up to the City 
Council meeting on Tuesday and show our support of it. This would 
alleviate the need for us to find and organize volunteers. Of course we 
still can go and volunteer through Bidwell Park’s volunteer program and 
I and others intend to do so. This just takes the pressure off of us to 
try and rally enough volunteers to keep the park open on a day-to-day 
basis.

By alleviating that pressure, it gives Caper Acres Volunteers the 
chance to focus on other needs in Caper Acres, namely repairing and 
replacing play structures that are rotting and falling apart, posing a 
huge safety issue. It’s been in the work plan to update and replace the 
Crooked House, the Tunnel, and the Castle, but with the budget cuts 
those things have been placed on the back burner. At our meeting last 
Friday, we discussed possible fundraising projects to fix these issues. 
We’re in the process of partnering with the Chico Breakfast Lion’s Club, 
who are a wonderful resource and have lots of fundraising and volunteer 
experience to kind of be our “big brother” and help with managing the 
finances and donations raised for this. We also have been approached by 
Dr. Shane Smith of The Specific Chiropractic Center to do a fundraiser 
where he is donating 1-hour massage coupons for us to raise donations 
with. Each coupon represents a suggested $30 donation and 100% of the 
proceeds will go towards Caper Acres. One of the events we are working 
on is a Fall Festival which we intend to hold in mid-November, we’re 
working on the details of that so I’ll let you know as we get the 
details ironed out.

The Bidwell Park and Playground Commission is exploring a partnership 
between Caper Acres Volunteers and the City to allow us to help with the 
park and see what Caper Acres Volunteers role is and how we can best be 
of service. Comissioner Rich Ober, who is acting as a liason between CAV 
and the BPPC, was at the meeting Friday and gave some good insight and 
direction on what we could do. I’ll be making a statement to the BPPC 
meeting on Monday about our goals and what we would like to do for the 
park.

At last we’re talking nuts and bolts on employee contracts – ER does a story on vacation and sick day accrual

28 Sep

I was pleasantly surprised to see Ashley Gebb’s story on city employees’ accrued sick and vacation days turning into massive payments at lay-off time. Wow, at last the media is paying attention to these insane city contracts. 

http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_24196124/layoffs-come-price-tag

Gebbs explains  how employees accrue unused vacation and sick days, and then get paid for all these unused days when they leave.  Think about that – they already  got paid for those days. This system allows an employee to get paid twice for one work day.  Chris Constantin makes it sound onerous – these people aren’t getting vacations!  Hey, that’s their choice, and it works out pretty good for them if you ask me.  Gebb’s reports that this round of layoffs cost over $80,000 in vacation and sick leave payments. 

What Gebbs doesn’t mention is, those contracts are  being hashed over right now, to  be negotiated in December. It’s never too early to write to council and let them know just what you don’t like about the employee contracts. You can see those here:

http://www.chico.ca.us/human_resources_and_risk_management/labor_agreements_home.asp

I will bring copies of contracts to the next Chico Taxpayer’s meeting so we can discuss a list of items we can forward to council. The next CTA meeting is postponed to the Second Sunday in October, the 13th. 

 

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