City staff reports not everybody has adequate internet participate in remote meetings, but Council continues to close the meetings anyway – all the while discussing ways to raise our taxes

22 Jan

In the early 2000’s, the phone company came through our mid-Chico neighborhood, replacing the phone lines. They were out there for about two weeks, our service was interrupted, and we were able to chat with them about what was going on. The senior technician told me, “people all over this town are paying for internet, but they’re not getting it.” He said the phone lines were over 50 years old, and starting to crumble. He said we were lucky to get phone service.

Well, now that he had mentioned it, we realized – since we had moved into that house in 2001, we’d immediately found that we got better reception for our phone in the front yard. We also noticed that many of our neighbors would stand in their front yards, talking on their cell phones. It was an “a-HA!” moment.

We were new to internet, it hadn’t occurred to us – our internet would be out for days at a time, and we just figured that was par for the course.

Here we are, 2022, and it hasn’t changed much. We have better phone service, but our internet is still sketchy, we’ve had to learn to turn devices on and off to reconnect. I found out how weak it really is when I tried to participate in Zoom meetings after the city closed meetings to the public in 2020. I just couldn’t get into the meetings a lot of the time, and while staff was sympathetic, they couldn’t help me – they don’t run the internet.

When I tried to “attend” a Finance Committee meeting last year, I was unable to get in. I called the clerk on my phone as instructed, but neither she nor the IT guy could get me in. When they informed committee members via email (which is funny, they could get my emails but I couldn’t get into the meeting), Randall Stone was the only member who seemed concerned. Meanwhile, Sean Morgan observed, “she must have poor internet...” – as if that was my fault?

Fast forward to Mark Orme’s scheme to sell us internet service. Orme is planning to use COVID relief money to get into the internet business – $4.8 million – telling us he can offer it at a more affordable rate. While I don’t understand the mechanics of this proposal, it’s very clear – staff and council know we don’t all have equal access, but they keep closing the meetings and telling us we can “participate” via Zoom.

https://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/local/chico-city-council-unanimously-votes-to-approve-the-interim-broadband-master-plan-moving-closer-to/article_adcd2f6a-8a18-52e2-bd9b-bbb1665c40a2.html

According to the city’s consultant ($$$$), there’s not only gaps in service, it’s based on how much you can pay. So they are shutting out people who could least afford all the taxes they are bringing up in their closed meetings.

“There are gaps in affordability in Chico and there are gaps in service availability meaning that it is not ubiquitous. There are different pricings and different availabilities in different areas of town based on the infrastructure available,” said EntryPoint Networks Solution Services Director Bruce Patterson.

That’s right, “based on the infrastructure available…” So yes, we’ve been paying for service we don’t get, and with Staff’s knowledge.

Patterson says the average person pays per megabit is around 70 cents but says he’s seen cities using this same model that people pay as little as 3 cents per megabit.

And here finance director Scott Dowell admits those of us who don’t have good internet are “at a disadvantage…” This isn’t what they said when I was struggling to get into that meeting.

“You are at a disadvantage if you do not have a speedy, reliable internet service. We’re almost shifting the concept that, shouldn’t we treat internet service as a utility that everyone should have access to at a reasonable price?” says Dowell during a phone interview with KRCR Tuesday morning.

I’m fed up with the closed meetings. When I complained to my district rep, Kasey Reynolds, she just shrugged it off. “We discussed meetings last night, we will be having the next two by zoom (while the Governor has indoor mask mandate still) then returning to in person meetings. Trust me I would rather be in person too i hate zoom!“

She has obviously heard the consultant’s report regarding the state of our internet infrastructure and service, but she unapologetically tells me that meetings will remain closed for another month, while they put the tax measure on the ballot. Having hired a consultant with taxpayer money already, in closed meetings. I’d like to see the screen door bust her right across the ass next November, but I don’t have the money to run against her, I’m hoping some good candidate will step forward. We’ll see.

So I did what I usually do, I wrote a letter to the editor.

As the city of Chico uses taxpayer money to pursue a sales tax increase measure, discusses a consumption-based sewer tax, and anticipates a state-wide rental tax, they continue to work in meetings closed to the public. Staff and council claim the meetings are available on Zoom, even while acknowledging that internet service in Chico is not equitable.

According to the city’s consultant, “There are gaps in affordability in Chico and there are gaps in service availability meaning that it is not ubiquitous… based on the infrastructure available.”

When I tried to participate in a morning Finance Committee meeting via Zoom last year, I made it clear to Staff and committee members that I was not able to sign into the meeting, it kept cutting out. Sean Morgan observed, “she must have poor internet.” But the meeting went on anyway.

Council and Staff are well aware that Chicoans do not have equal access to internet, but they continue to close meetings to the public. Furthermore, committee meetings, even though it is possible, are not recorded for further viewing. When one member of the public asked about this, the clerk informed him that is not required. That is council’s decision.

Furthermore, council and committee members are allowed to review and redact anything they do not want in the minutes, keeping the minutes held up for months at a time.

“Taxation without representation – the quandary of a populace that is required by law to pay taxes but has no say in the matter.“

Juanita Sumner, Chico CA

 

Chico City Staff (Orme) is duping the taxpayers into paying a lot more of the pensions than they are telling us

17 Jan

I was cleaning my computer files and found this report from a January 2018 Council agenda. I’ve contacted Jamie Cannon in the city Human Resouces Department and asked her to direct me to a more recent report with current figures, I’ll post any response I get from her.

http://chico-ca.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=280&meta_id=57592

This is an old report but it shows how the city’s (taxpayers’) contribution GOES UP AUTOMATICALLY EVERY YEAR, with no input from the taxpayers, while any increase in employee share has to be bargained and approved by the employees.

This report also shows that we pay ALL OF THE UNFUNDED LIABILITY, WHICH MEANS, WE’RE PAYING MORE SHARE THAN IS REPORTED IN THE “REGULAR” PAYMENTS. They don’t include the UAL when they figure shares, they exclude it and just leave the taxpayers to pick it up. The whooooooole thing!

Tomorrow night council will consider asking employees to pay part of the city’s payroll share – 3 – 6%. But no mention of what a consultant told the Finance Committee in September 2020 – “each year the city makes two types of payments to CalPERS – the ‘normal cost’ or ‘payroll’, and the ‘extra’ payments toward the Unfunded Actuarial Liability (UAL)…”

https://chico-ca.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?meta_id=79891

Look at the city’s share of the cost, and compare it to the employee shares, and then join me in demanding that the employees pay not only bigger shares toward the payroll share but pay the same share of the UAL.

Chico Staff and Council using the COnVID scam to shut the public out of meetings – meanwhile, they’re using OUR money to hire a tax measure consultant

14 Jan

Another COVID shut down – are you getting sick of it yet? Being told to wear TWO MASKS? Being told to vax-vax-vax, then BOOSTER? Then mask anyway? Get OUT!

Don’t worry, while we’re sitting around wringing our hands, Rand Paul is kicking the shit out of COVID.

Here Paul takes Fauci on over his fascist “take down” tactic – using his $420,000 salary, to “take down any scientists who disagree with him.” Paul reads directly from emails between Fauci and friends. Fauci protests like a teenager, “you just attack me...” But, as Paul asserts, Fauci’s own email trail confirms it. Hearing his own words, Fauci just keeps protesting that Paul is out to get him. “You keep distorting the truth!” protests Fauci, as Paul reads verbatim the private emails between Fauci and other “scientists”. Fauci claims this is a personal attack – wow, just like the personal attacks he initiated against doctors from Harvard, Oxford, and Stanford?

What a world we are living in. Yes, politicians are using COVID for political gain. And as a power tool, they just like to screw people!

Right now, Chico City Council is using taxpayer money like a power tool, to hire a consultant to screw a sales tax increase up our collective ass. And they’re doing it in closed meetings, under cover of COnVID. I’m going to go back to calling it “COnVID” because that’s what it is – a big CON job, a SCAM, a FLEECING of the American public. With no real science behind it, Chico City Council used hysterical calls for reinstitution of the mandates to shut down “public” meetings, oh gee, just as they are hiring a tax consultant?

Here’s a good morning stretch exercise – put both hands back there on your ass. Find your tailbone. Run your finger up from there – that’s your backbone. Learn to use it, and write to your council now, tell them to get their hands out of your purse.

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Mark Orme’s sales tax increase measure: With salaries well in excess of $100,000/year, the people who really make and implement these decisions are well-insulated from any negative impacts. In fact, they directly benefit from any increase in taxes

6 Jan

Here’s another letter writer who does not support the city’s sales tax increase measure. From the Chico Enterprise Record:

Don’t trust this council with more money

As a current taxpayer in Chico,, I do not support the proposed sales tax put forth by the city council’s conservatives. They already can’t manage the current city budget, what makes them think they can take on more responsibility? For example, millions of dollars are spent on Chico PD “overtime” pay and for Chico Firefighter’s “disability claims” right before they retire. They need to do a better job of examining loopholes and the exploitation of city funds by these groups.

This city does not need more money: what we need are people who know how to manage city funds in ways that actually support the community and address issues such as homelessness, poverty, climate change, etc. — Alicia Trider, Chico CA

I’m so glad this person is familiar with the police and fire contracts. People need to read this stuff, we are on the hook for it. The cop and fire contracts are very generous, I’ve written here about it many times. Here are a couple of posts from last year that proved very enlightening:

Q & A for your district rep: What is CTO?
CTO = “compensated time off”
Take a cup of OT and add a cup and a half of CTO, pour in some STO, and you get an IOU
Look at the calisthenics these people go through to spike their last year’s earnings and, subsequently, their pensions.

I don’t know if Trider actually read the contracts, as I have many times, but if she did, she’d find all kinds of stuff that just raises the cost of public safety for no other reason than PURE GREED.

Trider goes on to list her priorities, which put her at 180 degrees from previous letter writers. So, this sales tax measure has already raised hackles on both sides of the aisle, as I expected. The skating rink also raised hackles on both sides of the aisle, as did using taxpayer money to hire a consultant to push the measure. So far, Staff and Council seem to be putting their foot in their own doo-doo at every turn. In fact, I’d say, Council keeps stepping in Mark Orme’s doo-doo.

A tax increase is a negative for everybody – business owners and consumers are connected at the hip. Businesses need healthy consumers, and consumers need healthy businesses. Raising taxes eats people’s “disposable income,” and that means less money to spend to support local businesses. I’m not threatening to leave – think you’re gonna get rid of me that easily? I’ll just take my business elsewhere. In 2012, when disgraced ex-city-manager Brian Nakamura and despicable ex-city-manager Tom Lando initiated this conversation, I discovered online shopping, and I love it. I also enjoy a trip to Oregon now and then, where they have NO SALES TAX.

Well, I should say, this measure would be a negative for almost everybody. With salaries well in excess of $100,000/year, the people who really make and implement these decisions are well-insulated from any negative impacts. In fact, they directly benefit from any increase in taxes.

Write to your district rep, include the whole council, ask them to pull out of this dive before it’s too late.

Robert F. Kennedy on the COVID mandates: “Nobody has ever complied their way out of totalitarianism. Every time you comply the demands will get greater and greater.”

3 Jan

I hate to discuss COVID or the mandates because it attracts the biggest creeps to my website, and it’s cost me at least a few regular readers. But I had to post this article by Robert F. Kennedy, son and nephew of two of the biggest Democrats of all time, criticizing the mandates.

“No One Has Ever Complied Their Way Out of Totalitarianism – This Is the Hill We Need to Die On” – Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Releases New Year’s Statement

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.: I’m going to tell you these three things that you need to remember in this critical day and age.
1.) Once government acquires a power, it never lets it go voluntarily.
2.) Every power that government acquires, using this pandemic as a pretense, it will ultimately abuse to the maximum effect possible. This is a rule that is as certain as gravity.
3.) Nobody has ever complied their way out of totalitarianism. Every time you comply the demands will get greater and greater.

Let me repeat, a Democrat said this. That surprises me, and gives me some hope of a sane resolution to all of this, because throughout the COVID scam, this country has gone completely partisan. Democrats have been expected to follow the party line, and they’ve been absolutely fascist about it. And if they haven’t stepped up, their creepy fascist friends have subjected them to public humiliation. Suddenly, here’s a Democrat whose family has been held up as liberal icons for my entire life, telling us the Democrats are WRONG.

First of all, what he says is historically true. Look at what 911 did to our rights – you can’t fly on an airplane, or even go into an airport without a special ID. AKA “papers”. Now you have to show papers to go to a restaurant or a movie theater.

Kennedy is right, “We need to resolve here and now that this is the hill we need to die on. ” And the Democrats know he’s right too, because they’ve launched a full-on attack on the long-time entrenched Democrat.

https://www.google.com/search?q=robert+f+kennedy+on+covid+restrictions&oq=robert+f+kennedy+on+covid+restrictions&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i333.14583j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Attacks on Kennedy because he and his wife don’t see eye-to-eye on the issue, articles accusing Kennedy of “propagandism”, etc. What surprised me, were the tabloid style articles coming from longtime media standards like US News, AP, and the LA Times. This is just a hysterical tar-and-feathers party.

I don’t take partisan stands. If the government is wrong, Republican or Democrat, it’s wrong.

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If we allow the city’s sales tax measure to pass, the taxpayers will be on the hook for the outrageous pensions and benefits forever

3 Jan

A couple of letter writers weighed in recently on the proposed sales tax increase measure our city manager and council are moving toward the ballot. I don’t want to get too confident, but I’m starting to wonder if this measure will be the slam dunk the city is hoping for.

From the Enterprise Record:

More jobs, no tax increase
Here’s a novel idea. Have Chico’s “less fortunate” get jobs and become self reliant (like the rest of us) and we won’t need a city sales tax increase.— Jeff Saine, Chico

Long time local newscaster and well-known meteorologist Anthony Watts included the measure in his 2022 predictions:

Forecasts for 2022
No. 1: The legislature will pass and Gov. Gavin Newsom will sign an “exit tax” on people leaving the state for a better life. They’ll tax U-Haul, Ryder, Bekins, United Van Lines, etc. on any out-of-state move contract. This will create a black-market for clandestine movers. It will also create a reverse “Grapes of Wrath” effect; people loading up their vehicles and leaving the state to escape the “great depression” of California.

No. 2: State sanctioned theft of electricity becomes the new normal. On Jan. 27, 2022, The CPUC will approve the new NEM3 system that will create the highest solar tax in the country and hugely reduce the bill credit solar customers get for selling electricity back to the grid. It also imposes new fees for the “privilege” of connecting to the grid. NEM3 will pay 25 cents on the dollar per kilowatt-hour of electricity generated by home and small business solar owners, where under NEM2 it was 95 cents on the dollar. The result; a huge drop in installed solar on existing homes, and black-market electricians to wire solar to directly power homes instead of the grid.

No. 3: “Climate change” will be blamed for Nos. 1 and 2. Newsom and/or some idiot lawmaker will say “climate change” is the real reason people are leaving the state, and “climate change” is the reason we must steal electricity from your solar panels without fairly compensating homeowners.

No. 4: If it makes the ballot, the proposed 1% sales tax in Chico will fail spectacularly in November.— Anthony Watts, Chico

I’m fairly certain this measure will make the ballot, but I’d like to believe it will fail. Now that the city is hiring a consultant to peddle it, it’s up to us to make sure the voters get both sides of the story. Important facts have been left out of the media interpretations of this measure – most important, staff and council members have already talked about using the revenues from this measure to secure bonds, including a Pension Obligation Bond. Bonds are permanent debt. As of now the city has no bond debt. The only real obligation against the city is the pension deficit, and who’s responsible for that is negotiable. If we allow this measure to pass, we’ll be on the hook for the pensions forever.

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Will Chico Chamber endorse the city’s sales tax increase measure? Ask Chamber CEO Mark Chrisman.

30 Dec

At last, a somewhat more objective piece on the Chico sales tax measure council is working to place on the ballot (Spring ’22?) Of course it’s from the Redding news station.

https://krcrtv.com/news/local/chico-moves-forward-with-1-sales-tax-ballot-measure-business-leader-responds

The reporter didn’t go to a Chico city Staffer, they didn’t just stop some half drunk dooffass on the street, they went to the Chico Chamber of Commerce. Why is that important? First of all, the Chamber represents businesses all over town who will be affected by this increase. And, under past director Katie Simmons, goaded on by members Tom Lando and Marc Francis, they not only endorsed a sales tax increase but made an analysis of exactly where the money should go. In their January 2018 “Special Report,” the chamber recommended “$3 million for Chico PD, $90 million for roads, and $130 million for pensions…”

Here’s the blog post I wrote about it, but the report is no longer available at that link.

Chamber Special Report: $3 million for more cops, $90 million to fix roads – $130 million for the pension deficit?
What the chamber describes is a “special” tax requiring 2/3’s approval by the voters.

Yes, the Chamber was describing a “special” tax. Then Katie Simmons left to become the disaster relief coordinator in Paradise. Things have changed at the Chamber, under interim director and local businessman Mark Chrisman. While I get the idea Chrisman believes the city needs to put a sales tax increase on the ballot, he’d be more inclined to support a special tax.

“First of all, it’s a general sales tax, not a special sales tax. The general tax goes into the general fund which means it’s at the hands of the city council, how they want to spend the money,” says Chrisman during a phone interview with KRCR Wednesday. “There are two sides to this coin. There’s the consumer side paying the 1%, but then there’s the other side: how are those funds going to be used?”

Good questions, citizen Chrisman. A general tax can be spent on anything, and judging from the conversation at that May 2021 Finance Committee meeting, it’s going to the pensions.

The city of Chico knows they can’t get 2/3’s approval. At that May 2021 Finance Committee meeting, Sean Morgan made it clear he does not want to pursue a special tax. Since this meeting was closed to the public, available only on Zoom, I’ll have to quote the minutes:

“Mayor Coolidge stated we should include parks. Chair Morgan stated that if we say parks, police, and fire, that’s a special tax.”

Morgan also asked staff to look into a Transient Occupancy, or Bed Tax increase. He and Coolidge also want bond(s) attached to the tax, and Morgan wants a Pension Obligation Bond. That’s so funny, because in his preceeding report, Manager Orme denies any such desire.

“We keep hearing this is going to pensions and that is a false argument to be had.” A false argument? Really? Keep reading. Remember, these are the minutes as transcribed by the clerk and approved by every member of the committee and the city manager before they were posted.

“Chair Morgan asked if staff could bring a recommendation to Council that includes a potential sales tax, show the difference in revenue based upon a half or one cent tax, and he is not opposed to a TOT increase as long as it’s not crazy. The POB was before mass inflation and the rates have changed. He suggested using a pie chart that shows how this would all flow together.“

Services Director Scott Dowell was glad to oblige. “Director Dowell stated we’ll need more than $50 million, the City would need more like $100 million to pull that off. If we move forward on the pension obligation bonds, how will one affect the other?“

So there they were, plotting to convince us that the revenue increase would go toward infrastructure and public safety, all the while intending to use the revenues to secure a Pension Obligation Bond. The committee directed Staff to bring back another report answering those questions at either the July or August meeting. Both were closed to the public, available only on Zoom. When I tried to participate in a Zoom meeting, my computer cut out constantly, and despite messages and phone calls to the clerk asking for help, the meeting continued without me. That’s how much they care about “transparency”.

When the POB came before council, little Kami Denlay informed the group that it’s illegal to foist a tax, including a bond, without the consent of the voters. The rest of council ignored her. Fortunately I wasn’t the only member of the community that was watching, and I wasn’t the only person who reported council and Staff’s intentions to the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association. HJTA immediately responded with a Cease and Desist order, meaning, if the city moved forward, they would sue.

The city’s response was to pull all discussions regarding the POB from the public. Meanwhile, I am still waiting for the clerk to post the minutes for the subsequent Finance Committee meetings. Yeah, that’s right, closed meetings, minutes over 6 months behind. Want to know why? Because there’s really only one staffer who transcribes ALL the minutes, for every meeting. And then she has to have then approved by every member of whichever council, committee, commission or task force, and let then redact, or remove, any comment they made that they don’t want the public to see. In fact, you see nobody is quoted completely, you get the clerk’s summary of what was said. They list members of the public who address the group, but not what they say. In fact, Dave complained that the Zoom videos were not made available for the public, and the clerk simply responded that she is not legally required to do so! I heard that exchange, but it was not included in the minutes.

Knowing fully well there is a back log (there have been lawsuits over lack of minutes), you’d think Orme would hire more employees for the clerk’s office. Instead, he gave Clerk Debbie Presson a raise and then hired $100,000+ “Public Information Officer” Linda Gizzy. If you study up on the duties of the “clerk of the record,” you’ll find, she’s supposed to be our Public Information Officer. She’s supposed to insure that the people have all the information, instead, it looks like she’s doing just the opposite.

So I wrote to the clerk, asking her when the minutes would be available. I’ve been enjoying a somewhat friendly relationship with the clerk’s office, but I sure as hell haven’t had a response to that inquiry. So much for Sunshine! Oh yeah, Orme talked about that too, let me know if you agree:

“City Manager Mark Orme stated because of due diligence of staff and the policy makers, we now have more transparency and trust of the public.“

UPDATE: I never got any response from Chrisman or anybody from the Chamber, so I’m going to throw out a guess – they’ll endorse it. The chamber is partially funded by the city of Chico, they get 10’s of thousands of dollars toward their CEO salary, so I doubt they will rock the boat. Sheesh, I hope they surprise me!

Crime is most certainly on the rise in Chico – ask your gas station attendant

22 Dec

For years now crime has been on the rise in Chico, and city “leaders” have repeatedly tried to deny that fact while also telling us we need to give the cops more money, higher salaries, and “defined benefits” for all their sacrifice. Our city Staff and Council also refuse to believe that the Shelter Crisis Designation they just reinstituted has anything to do with it.

https://www.actionnewsnow.com/content/news/Chico-sees-a-rise-in-gas-station-robberies-575958411.html

Just after 6 a.m. the station in Chico located next to the Co-Op was robbed and the suspect got away. This same gas station was robbed exactly one week ago at just after 1 a.m. where the suspect also got away.

Simply put, we have criminals moving freely all over town while you can’t get a cop when you need one. It’s the funniest thing – the more we increase the cop budget, the more cops we hire, the more crime we seem to get. It reminds me of Looney Tunes – Elmer Fudd sticks his gun in the knot hole and it comes out pointed at him.

Chico Police tell Action News Now, they typically see an increase in crime during the holiday season and say their patrol teams are aware of these robberies and are working to keep adequate officers staffed for patrols to protect the community. They believe this gas station was targeted twice because it has late hours and a lot of foot traffic in general due to it being in the heart of downtown.

Here we see that the police are aware of the problem but don’t post a cop to watch the station? Are they saying this business shouldn’t exist, or at least that they shouldn’t try to provide service 24 hours a day? Cause that would mean the cops would have to provide service 24 hours a day? Maybe folks living and doing business Downtown should expect to shelter in place after dark?

This is insubordination on the part of Chico PD. They’ve allowed Downtown Chico to become a crime zone. And council just keeps handing then raises and hiring new positions. Cops use criminals to keep the rest of us in line, keep us paying our taxes.

Well, it’s raining, and not donuts. You know what that means for the rinky-dink.

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City hiring a tax measure team to pass their sales tax increase

19 Dec

On this week’s agenda:

http://chico-ca.granicus.com/GeneratedAgendaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=374

REVENUE MEASURE STRATEGY CONSULTANT
City staff released a Request for Proposals (RFP) to obtain submissions from qualified firms to advise on developing appropriate ballot language for a proposed one (1) percent sales tax measure to appear on the November 2022 general election. The RFP further requested the consultant assist on educating voters on the revenue measure and on developing materials and conducting outreach efforts to ensure citizens receive objective and accurate information related to the revenue ballot measure. (Report – Mark Orme, City Manager)


Recommendation: The City Manager is requesting authorization to enter into a professional services agreement with CliffordMoss to develop appropriate ballot language and create materials and outreach efforts to ensure citizens receive objective and accurate information related to the November 2022 revenue ballot measure.

But the meeting is closed for the COVID shut down. The best way to contact these people is in their mailbox. Find that here:

https://chico.ca.us/city-council-directory

Come on, are you just going to sit there while they use your money to propagandize the public into passing a tax measure on you?

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US Attorney reports that PG&E is not doing the ordered work on their electrical infrastructure

19 Dec

Were you left without power for days this week? Even though you pay you bill without fail? Well here’s why:

https://worldnationnews.com/independent-monitor-says-pge-has-to-work-on-its-electrical-operations/
PG&E has not been doing the work they were ordered to do after the Camp Fire

This sentence is confusing: “The company also noted that the monitor does not suspect that the company’s leaders are honest in their efforts to rectify the situation.“

If the monitor suspects the company is being dishonest, I agree. We have a property east of town, and we’ve had three different contractors from PG&E evaluate and mark trees on and adjacent to our property since the Camp Fire, asking us to open our gate so they can come in and cut the trees. We’ve showed up on the appointed day, left the gate open all day, and nobody has ever showed up. Same goes for trees marked by the same contractors all up and down the roads around our property, trees they could have taken at any time without asking for anybody to open a gate.

I sent pictures to Mike Wolcott and his former star reporter Natalie Hansen, and they never even responded, even though Hansen was doing a fluff piece on the subject.

Reading through this article, it doesn’t look like anybody is taking this too seriously, including the judge that ordered the work. So, this summer, we lost Greenville, and we almost lost Chester. Whole towns that have been inhabited by generations of tax and rate-paying citizens, just GONE.

It’s the same old story – the outrage isn’t big enough yet. How many more towns will they burn before people really get mad?

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