Yesterday my husband and I were running errands and working on our rentals. We had our tools and supplies and our dogs in our truck and we needed a few things at the grocery store. So, we pulled over at Mangrove Safeway and I planned to stay  the truck while my husband went into the store.

As my husband was getting out of the truck a homeless man wandered up to us and asked my husband if he might have some money that he could spare. My husband said no and I leaned forward and told him that panhandling is illegal , and I asked him to get away from our truck because our dogs were barking. We also had tools in the back of our truck and I’ve seen the same kind of stuff in piles of bum trash in the park.

That’s when the bum became belligerent and told me he didn’t have to get away from my truck. Then he accused us of trying to run over him by pulling into the parking space. At that point I became angry and pulled out my cell phone and told him I was going to call the police . Bum started yelling at my husband, “control your woman Bro !” and my  husband decided to move the truck to another parking spot.

As my husband pulled out of the parking place we were in and drove around towards another Shady spot, Bum wandered over towards the gas station, screaming at us as he went.

At this point my husband became worried about leaving us alone while he went into the store. I told him I had my cell phone, and I’d be on my best behavior and stay in the truck. That reassured him and he went into the store.

Bum went his way and didn’t return but I spent the rest of the day wondering why I bother to shop in Chico. Mangrove Safeway is getting as bad as Bidwell Park. We see bums stationed at the entrances everytime we go shopping. They panhandle us when we park our bicycle and we always feel that if we are not polite to them they’ll vandalize our bicycle  when we’re in the store. Now we encounter this guy, wandering freely through the parking lot, panhandling us while we’re there, and then what? Stealing out of our truck while we’re in the store, that’s what.

Well yesterday I got tired of being polite. I guess I felt safe because I was inside my truck with a couple of dogs that could eat your face off. This guy was not fazed.

No I didn’t call the police you know how many times I’ve reported this stuff.

I reported cars being broken into at the disc golf course and the entrance to the park on Centennial Way, and now there are paper signs, warning people not to leave their valuables in their car at these locations. At the disc golf course at Peregrine point, we noticed someone had already torn down one of the signs yesterday. We also noticed a fresh pile of broken car window glass.

What will I do about it? I’ll report it to my County Supervisor, again. We need to ask our County supervisors to stop rubber stamping the programs that bring these people in here.

And since there’s an election coming up and there are signs for Norm Rosene and Tammy Ritter all over my neighborhood I thought I would ask them about it too. If I get any response from these people I’ll be sure to post it.

Tonight Chico City Council will hear a report about how great the gas tax increase is. Public Works $taffer Brendan Ottoboni will give a report on how much money the city will receive and what project this will pay for.

http://chico-ca.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=285&meta_id=58717

$1.7 million for a ” Cold-in Place-Recycle ” of .70 miles of Esplanade.

A “cold in place recycle” means they will strip off 2 – 4 inches of existing asphalt, grind it, mix it with one or another “binding additive”, and smear it right back down on the existing base. According to “Pavement Interactive,”

http://www.pavementinteractive.org/cold-in-place-recycling/

this procedure is appropriate for streets with a stable base. Have you driven Chico streets lately? Hear that rumbling under your tires, sometimes it sounds like broken crockery? That’s the base, and it’s not stable. Roads all over Chico need to be scraped down a good two feet, and relaid. But here Ottoboni tells us, it’s just going to be another Band-aid job. 

$1.7 million for less than a mile of pavement? Does anybody ever think to ask why so much money? It’s because of the system of “cost allocation,” by which funds that are restricted to one use, like road repairs, are siphoned out to pay for salaries and benefits of people who have nothing to do with fixing the roads. Like city mangler Mark Orme – just for signing Ottoboni’s report, Orme got money out of the road fund. 

I think he should get his ass out there with a mop, start moving some tar. 

I could think of some good use for tar right now. 

I don’t think I owe anybody at Butte County GOP any apologies. 

Oh, maybe Larry Wahl. I believe Larry Wahl has made sincere attempts to further the gas tax petition, but he doesn’t run Butte County GOP.  Jim Nielsen and his staffer Saulo Londono run Butte County GOP.

Londono, who wears two hats as Nielsen’s office manager and Butte County GOP manager,  is the guy who told me in a phone call that I was being misled by “somebody from San Diego“. He said Nielsen was “devoting his personal resources” toward the petition effort…   “to make sure it gets across the finish line…”  Sounded pretty vague, so I wrote him a note asking who paid for the petition gatherers at Safeway.

“I am the one who called Jim Nielsen’s office yesterday, and believe I had a phone response from you. You referred to Carl Demaio as “somebody from San Diego” so I don’t know how much you know about the gas tax petition, but will ask,  who is paying the signature gatherers who are currently collecting signatures on the gas tax petition (as well as many other petitions for various initiatives) at Safeway stores around Chico? “

His e-mail response was as vague as his phone message.

Juanita-

Thank you for your inquiry. As I stated in my voice message to you, the information you received is not accurate. The Senator is very committed to the repeal of the gas tax. He has held multiple rallies to collect signatures and has donated a lot of financial resources to the effort. 

The local Butte GOP is also committed to the repeal campaign, having used its platform to collect signatures and sponsor rallies. The Butte GOP does not have a year round office, so while there is no place for pickup of signature forms, the Butte GOP has the forms and has delivered several packages when they are requested. 

To answer your question, I assume that the petition gatherers are being paid by the Repeal campaign, and as I’ve stated the Senator is not only in support but has already donated significant financial resources. 

I also know that Congressman LaMalfa and Assemblyman Gallagher are just as committed as well.

Hope that answers your questions. We will continue to fight hard to repeal the gas tax and we thank you for your enthusiasm. Feel free to reach out to me directly if you have other questions or concerns. 

Saulo

Some problems with this response:

• “the information you received is not accurate” – then insinuates I was told Nielsen was not committed to the repeal – no, I told him Carl Demaio had said he did not get any response from Butte County GOP – was that inaccurate?
• “a lot of financial resources to the effort” – really? how much? And paid for what?
• “The local Butte GOP is also committed to the repeal campaign, having used its platform to collect signatures and sponsor rallies” – Well,  Butte GOP may think they are committed, but that statement is not true – Butte County GOP did not sponsor the rallies, they were set up by local businessman Bud Caldwell, owner of Northgate Petroleum as well as the gas station where the two rallies were held.
• “Butte GOP does not have a year round office, so while there is no place for pickup of signature forms”   Whoa!  doesn’t even have a Butte County office? no place to sign? I’d say, why bother with Butte GOP at all? In the time it takes to get ahold of Londono (who took two days to respond to me), you could download, print, sign your own petition and have it in the mail. 
• “I assume that the petition gatherers are being paid by the Repeal campaign”   In other words, they are not in contact with Demaio’s people, they won’t mention Demaio’s name, and the campaign is called “Reform California” not “the Repeal campaign“.   He again claims Nielsen “has already donated significant financial resources.”  To whom? For what? 
• “I also know that Congressman LaMalfa and Assemblyman Gallagher are just as committed as well.”  Yeah, well they’re both up for reelection too – just another co-inky-dink? 

Saulo Londono is a carpet bagger. I got a local Republican to admit Londono is not even from Northern California, does not maintain any office in Chico. I had frankly assumed that his beef with Carl Demaio was regional, but then I did a little further digging. 

I didn’t know, Carl Demaio is an openly gay politician, having publicly married his partner about two years ago. I’m going to guess, this is why local Republicans don’t want anything to do with him. At first I couldn’t believe they’d be so petty, in this day and age, but I think there’s a huge power struggle going on in the GOP, and lines are being drawn based on lifestyle choices. A paranoid, “them vs us” mentality has taken over. 

But they expect to take advantage of Demaio’s hard work and financial contribution by using the petition drive for rallies for their reelection campaigns. Cute.

I don’t know about the statewide Republican party, but Butte GOP is in trouble. Take a look at Chico Democrats sometime – all run by “local” people. You might not like Bob Mulhullond, but he’s lived here for about 40 years, you see him at the grocery store, the gas station, and public meetings he is not paid to attend. Former council member and long time politico turned embezzler Dave Guzzetti, scumbag that he is, sacrificed a child to Chico public schools.  Mark Stemen has been working and living in Chico for at least 15 years, having graduated from Chico State in the 90’s and returning to take a job. 

Meanwhile – here’s something funny – when I googled Londono, I found he had come to America from Brazil as a child with his parents, eventually moving from Colorado to San Diego to attend college. He came to Sacramento via Fresno, having only achieved citizenship in 2014.  He took over the Butte County GOP  a few years later. I just don’t believe he could possibly have any notion of our local needs with a track record like that. I don’t believe he could be committed to anything but his own resume.

I don’t like Chico Democrats or the Democratic Action Club, they’re a nasty pack of trough dwelling dogs ruining the manger for everybody.  But fighting a locally-based and entrenched group with some snot-nosed carpet bagger is just an invitation to your own ass-kicking. 

Dude sent me an interesting article recently that sent me on a snoop.  It’s taken me days to plop out this post because I just kept reading more outrageous stuff. 

https://www.dailynews.com/2018/03/12/new-retirees-in-gardena-pasadena-and-riverside-make-200000-pensions/

We now have pensions over $200,000/year – pensions – money given to people for sitting on their asses with their mouths open like seals at the San Diego zoo. 

“Transparent California released the figures Monday as part of an ongoing campaign to raise awareness about the growing costs of California’s pension system, according to Executive Director Robert Fellner. The total amount spent on retirement benefits rose to nearly $21 billion last year, a 43 percent increase from 2012.”

“‘It is siphoning resources from public services, it is driving taxes higher,” Fellner said. “The real driver of this cost is the generosity of these benefits.'”

I immediately think of Chico’s worsening streets, the disgraceful condition of Bidwell Park, and the bums overrunning all of our public spaces.   If we complain we are told we need to pay increased sales tax, with more bonds and assessments from the school and rec districts. 

And like Fellner says, it’s the benefits – both pensions and health benefits. We’ve talked and talked about the pension deficit here – but I’ve never gotten around to the benefits deficit… it makes me sooooo dizzy.

Southern California seems to have the most egregious offenders.

“In Pasadena, pension costs have nearly surpassed the cost of current employees in the city’s Police Department, according to Mayor Terry Tornek. “

Even though Pasadena and other cities have started new hires paying more, it’s not enough – there are too many old employees. I predict many cities, like Pasadena, will have sales tax increases on this November ballot.

“when the retiree payroll is bigger than the current payroll, it’s not a good situation,” he [Tornek] said. The skyrocketing costs of pensions is one of the reasons Pasadena plans to ask voters for a sales tax increase later this year. Employees already pay more toward their CalPERS contributions and more than $5 million of that burden has shifted from the city to employees, Tornek said.

“Obviously, we’d take some legislative or some legal relief, but we still want to be fair to our employees and we want to be competitive in the marketplace,” Tornek said.”

Fair? That’s a load of crap. In Chico, former City Mangler and current CARD board member Tom Lando floated a memo to City Council in 2006 that tied salaries “to revenue increases but not decreases…” Read that again Pollyanna. When I asked then city council member and current county supervisor Larry Wahl why he would sign something that stupid, he told me he didn’t understand it.  How does someone that dumb get elected, Larry?

When the voters finally figured that out, Lando’s salary, for example, had gone from around $65,000/year to over $150,000/year, in just a few years. Current City Mangler Orme now makes over $220,000, just in salary. He pays less than 10 percent of his share of pension.

Furthermore,  “ those already in CalPERS prior to Jan. 1, 2013, are not subject to the act’s limitations. The “classic members” are largely why pensions of more than $200,000 are still somewhat common even after the reforms, said Dane Hutchings, the league’s legislative representative.”

“Classic members” – like Ann Willmann at CARD.  

So, the next one of these people that uses the word “fair” in reference to these pensions had better not be standing in my arm’s length, I’m done with their BS.

In Butte County, we have agencies I bet you never heard of that will have us on the hook for pensions. I found three of them on “Pension Tracker”

http://www.pensiontracker.org/agencySummary.php?id=157#summary

Did you know we pay the director of the Butte County Mosquito and Vector Control over $100,000/year, and he pays less than 5 percent of his pension? I bet you never even heard of the California Interscholastic Federation, but you pay their pensions.  Then there’s BCAG, BCAQM, and many more. Through these agencies the taxpayers pay out hundreds of thousands a year in pensions and benefits for, many times, less than 10 full time employees per agency.   I  think there’s five at the mosquito abatement office. There are less at BCAG. They all have boards, they get to make their own rules, and until we start rattling their chains they will continue to loot the cookie jar. 

Workers, like the guys who actually drive around spraying the mosquitoes or mowing the play fields, are not full time and do not receive benefits. Only management get benefits in these agencies, which furthers poverty in our county. Can you imagine, doing a job like spraying mosquitoes, and having no health insurance or pension coming? Being kept as a “seasonal worker” – these people have to turn to welfare to make ends meet, and that’s not good for our economy, it’s just a further drain on the taxpayer.

When I looked at Pension Tracker, I saw the words “actuarial” and “market” valuation, and the term “smoothing.”  I’ll put it in a housewife’s terminology – and then I have to get some tortilla dough going – they have tricks to make the pension deficit look smaller to doofusses like us. I found a good blog about that –

http://neighborhoodeffects.mercatus.org/2012/06/07/actuarial-camouflage-part-i-asset-smoothing/

– I’ll try to pick it up there next time, on “Up Shit Creek Without a Paddle, with This Old Lady”.