by Jack
Last Monday I attended a candidate forum at the Chico City Council Chambers presented by the local League of Women Voters. When I arrived for forum I walked behind the council building where path divided it from city hall. I was met by three transients who sat in the patio and they asked me what was going on inside and I told them. This is normally just a quiet break area for city hall employees, but in the evening it gets taken over by the transients.
After the presentation, about 9:30 pm, I walked back to my car on the Main Street side. My car was parked about a block away at 5th and Main, just cattycorner to the Civic Center Park. There’s a large tiled fountain in front of the council building on the west side and had recently been restored, much to the delight of a couple of young transients who were now washing their feet in it. A young transient that appeared to be with this group walked on top of the concrete wall behind the fountain, playing like he was a high wire artist. The lawn for the council building is typically filled with transients catching a few winks or just hanging out with their pals.
So, I’m now walking past the fountain and approaching the front of the old city hall on Main and two more transients sat on it’s steps, another was standing up doing stretchers. Across the street there were several clusters of transients they probably numbered 20 or more. The group closest to me at 5th and Main were talking loud, laughing and generally boisterous. A female among them was very animated and danced about, probably high on something. Before I could leave the downtown area my personal count was 36 transients hanging out, especially around the city council building and Civic Park. Their actions this night was typical of most nights in summer and fall and I think most of the downtown merchants have just about enough.
These young travelers come to Chico to have a good time, to hang out, live free and you can see them everywhere. Sometimes they’re acting like their drunk, jumping around things they shouldn’t in and around city hall and the Civic Park. Too often they’re getting high and getting into trouble. Then there’s the camping in Bidwell Park or bathing in our expensive and recently restored fountain. A week ago one of these travelers had hung his laundry up to dry in Civic Park…that was clever.
Some of these travelers arrived here by hitchhiking or on a bus, but most come here via the freight train. This is of course against the law, but the police to my knowledge don’t monitor this. Would be nice if they met the train and gave them a choice – like keep going or they’ll be arrested as they jump off.
The last bum I talked arrived this way from North Carolina. They like to come here for a reason and we can thank those who are only to willing to accommodate them. As a result, Bidwell Park is slowly being polluted with trash, human waste and urine odors.
Stabbings and thefts are way up and most recently one transient was murdered by two other transients and we now have to try them and pay their expenses for decades. And despite the Homeless Task Force (which seems to attract even more bums) and the Ambassador Program (a total flop), these transients keep multiplying and taking over. They act like they own a number of park tables and benches and they have them filled up from early morning till evening, depriving locals of traditional picnic areas, especially in the Annie’s Glen area. That’s not right.
Maybe it’s time that citizens take matters into their own hands? I would like to see citizens occupy the favorite haunts of the bums, get to their park benches and tables before they do and occupy them, forcing the bums to leave. The bums don’t own these places, but they act like they do and they intimidate families from using the park.
Same thing could happen at the downtown Civic Center Park. In the evening citizens could occupy this too and take it back while keeping an eye out for criminal behavior. Citizens could be at the council building in the evening too, to stop the illegal activity over there such as vandalizing city property or bums washing in the city fountain.
The council could do many things help get rid of the bums pouring into Chico by immediately passing ordinances like no sleeping or lying on the city hall and council lawns (YES IT IS CONSTITUTIONAL), they could have ordinances to prohibit bathing in the fountain. They could post public property that are the main problem areas for no trespassing after 10 pm. and so on. They could get creative and do a lot of things to help if they really wanted too, but the council is dominated by liberals and I think they don’t want too. They would rather accommodate these bums and therein is the problem. You may not have the support of our liberal touchy-feely crowd, but you sure would have the overwhelming support of the downtown merchants and many homeowners who have been victimized by the bums.
Street cops know only too well the multitude of problems these bums bring to Chico and they want them gone just as much as anyone, it’s just that their Chief has to be more creative and figure out how to use the law to protect Chicoans.
Jack … what a crumudgeon. The frivolous youth are frolicking in the fountain … and you get your knickers in a twist?
And it is not legally possible to trespass on public property.
And to fence and gate the town square would be a pretty petty thing to do … don’t you think?
And you’re a retiree … you need to retire to a non-college town; that’s what you need to do.
Libs, its not because we’re a college town, not at all. I like all the creative minds, the opportunities, even the student activism, but this bum crap is just opposite. These are lazy bums, drug addicts, alcoholics, professional transients, etc.
“And it is not legally possible to trespass on public property.”
Libby, wha? That’s just not true. Forrest lands are subject to hours of use or no use at all, both state and federal. In Chico we close Bidwell park at 10 pm. There are many communities that limit hours of use on public property and they pass municipal codes to enforce that. I’m surprised you didn’t know this???
Libby It would be a lot more fun if it was college kids downtown, but most of them are too scared to leave their apartments these days!
Remember when the downtown park had lots of trees and people could enjoy it? Of course, Chico had a conservative council back then.
Libs, state capitals along with lots of government building and even the White House are public properties and I’ll bet you can’t go to any of them without permission and even ID.
On second thought, please do try. I’d love seeing where you end up.
Jack your occupy idea is a good one but I’m not too sure you’d get many takers, particularly individual women.
I’m thinking it might be a good group project for any community group/s looking for a good way to serve the community. The beauty of a group is they can easily organize members so the street can be covered every day of the week without the same people having to do every day. Members could also enlist help from their non-memeber friends.
It’s a great idea. Do you think people care enough to go out of their way…or will football, fall leaves, and other concerns take precedence?
Tina, I think people don’t care enough. I mean they do care, but not enough to get off their butts and do something.
The best protest turnout we’ve ever had was from the very honest and highly responsible tea party people who were mostly from the boomer generation. They gave it a good shot and set a wonderful example when they marched on Washington. Their payoff was to be harassed and vilified by the slack jawed idiots on the far left! These are the people that can’t string a sentence together without citing the Koch brothers and a few years earlier they couldn’t talk without screaming insults at Halliburton and/or Dick Cheney.
As long as there are freebies, the bums will partake.
Perhaps it’s time to require those on the City Council, the police chief, and the Homeless Taskforce to bring the bums into THEIR homes instead of on the taxpayer’s dime.
Betcha some ideas would change pretty quick!
The transient problem is just another of many indicators that the current City Council majority has totally failed! In November we need to clean house. It is crucial that Scott Grundl NOT be reelected. Gruendl is not solely responsible for the mess this city is in, but his seniority in supporting the Progressive policies that have caused this mess and his influence on the other junior Progressive Council members places the majority of the responsibility at his feet. It is also my opinion that this man does not have the honesty and integrity that should be prerequisites for a Council seat.
Eight years ago I was part of a group called the Hooker Oak Alliance. The group was made up of local business people and residents that were truly concerned about the direction of our city. We recognized the beginnings of the City problems that are currently plaguing the City and we wanted to make sure that the best people to deal with them were elected.
We interviewed all of the city council candidates running at that time to determine who we would endorse and support. Mr. Gruendl met with us and did very well in the interview. He was well organized and and was one of the few candidates that had a detailed plan.
When it came time to decide on endorsements some of the decisions were easy. Both Mary Flynn and Tom Nickel were very disorganized and did not display a complete understanding of the issues so the group decided against endorsing them. Endorsement of two of the the other candidates was also an easy decision. That left one more endorsement and two remaining candidates, Gruendl and one other. As I remember there was a long discussion and we came very close to endorsing Gruendl. The main reason we did not endorse Gruendl was he had many plans and ideas for the city but no plans or ideas of how to pay for their cost. Looking back we were right in our evaluation. So for that election we endorsed Sorensen, Daily, and Herbert.
One of the issues at that time was Bidwell Ranch. We didn’t like the idea that the City Council was buying up land and fencing it off. Even though it was public land, the public was not allowed to use it. I was on the committee that determined the content of our mailers.We wanted to send out a mailer that addressed this issue. We settled on a photo of a boy standing in front of one of the Bidwell Ranch gates. The gate had signs on it indicating it was illegal to go inside. The message we wanted to get across was the public was being locked out of its own land. Initially we thought the boy should be holding a soccer ball while looking into this big open area with a sad look on his face because he couldn’t play there. It was then suggested a kite would be better. The boy used was the son of one of the HOA members. The kite used was the only kite the boy owned. The photo was taken and the mailer was sent out.
Several days later I heard that supporters of Scott Gruendl were claiming the mailer was some sort of gay slur attacking Scott Gruendl. The kite, the only kite the boy owned, had a rainbow on it. One of the gay community emblems is a rainbow. Therefore they concluded we were trying to attack Scott Gruendl because he is gay. I laughed when I heard this. It seemed ridicules. At no time was Mr. Gruendl’s sexual orientation every discussed in any of the meetings I attended. We all knew he was gay and it was never an issue. It seemed to me that the Gruendl supporters were trying to gain support for Mr. Gruendl by protraying him as a victim. I thought this would die out but it kept getting larger, and larger and actually lead to articles in both the ER and the CN&R. We were then accused of being homophobic by people that had no idea about the details of the mailer. They just heard we had attacked Mr. Grundl because he was gay so we were terrible people.
The Saturday before the election Mr. Gruendl was on KPAY on the Bruce Session’s show. He was directly asked “Do you really think this mailer is an attack on you because you are gay”. I was listening to the show and was happy to hear such a direct question related to the issue. Mr. Gruendl knew everyone in the HOA. He knew everyone that had interviewed him on the HOA’s behalf. He also knew that the people in the HOA were good people and would not have attached him. In other words, he knew the mailer was not an anti-gay attack. I expected him to say so and put this issue to rest. Instead he decided to use this situation to his advantage and he said he was sure it was an anti-gay attack. By doing so he smeared all of the good people in the HOA. Seems to me that attacking people by claiming they are homophobic when you know they are not is just as bad as attacking someone because they are gay. We never attacked him because he was gay. The kite was just a kite. But his actions were deliberate, and counter to the truth!
Why did he do this? The scandal gave him free publicity and gave him a boost in the election by portraying him as a victim.A man with integrity would have put a stop to the scandal. An honest man would have told the truth. Instead, he used it to his advantage.
As a footnote… I attended Mass at the Newman Center the next day after the Bruce Session’s show aired. . When it came time for the scripture reading I was in shock to see Scott Gruendl step up to the pulpit. I was further in shock when the Bible reading he read had to do with truth and honesty. The hypocrisy made me ill.
As I said above, it is past time for a change. Vote for Mark Sorensen, Andrew Coolidge, and Reanette Fillmer in November and let the people that know how to manage do so.
Right on Common Sense! And Libby, geez… wanting this community to be safe is not being a curmudgeon. Stabbings, homicides, filth, it’s damaging the quality of life in Chico. Like Steve said, students are not safe here anymore. Chico was a wonderful college town just a decade ago where couch burnings and keggers were the main threats, but not anymore. it’s not right these tough people have moved in threated so many citizens.
Jack “Their payoff was to be harassed and vilified”
There you have it. The exact result the radical leadership of the slack jawed were planned for and got. There are a lot of people that don’t get involved because they can’t stand the ugliness.
On the other hand our opposition can be nasty, derisive, ugly, mean, or evil and nobody seems to notice or mind. If its a comic they laugh uproariously and never see the hypocrisy…or don’t care. The leadership is supported all the more. Somehow conservatives became other and alien in this nation and that is just fine.
I’ll always be an optimist when it comes to America, freedom, and the power of the individual to direct his own life in dignity but I have to admit, there’s a whole passel of people making it very difficult.
More Common Sense thank you for taking the time to share that anecdote with us. It puts a cap on this discussion like nothing else could
Here Libs read these.
Man stabbed to death in downtown Chico:
http://www.chicoer.com/news/ci_26447144/man-stabbed-death-downtown-chico
Man stabbed in downtown Chico:
http://www.today.com/id/39626130/ns/local_news-chico_ca/t/man-stabbed-downtown-chico/#.VCN4uZDn92s
Chico police investigating stabbing:
http://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/chico-police-investigating-stabbing/
Police: Chico State student victim of hate crime attack:
http://abc7news.com/archive/7395173/
I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea. So, pack your little travel bag and come on up for a weekend. Let us know when you do so I can pray for your safety.
If you have kids getting ready to start college? You might want to think twice before sending them here.