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September 29, 2007

Horsing Around

Today was art appreciation day at the downtown plaza. Not really, but it seemed like it. The Chico Palio kicked off Artoberfest with a horse race and the Mayor's art awards were given out. Were you aware of that Chico had a Mayor's art award? I didn't know until I watched that Art Commission meeting a couple of weeks back. I wonder if there is a Mayor's blogger award? I probably wouldn't get it, but maybe I would be a runner up. I think Blogging from the Darkside by Darth Raider would probably win. The art awards were given to Shakespeare in the Park for moving to the plaza and making their plays free to attend, a developer who voluntarily put art on his Hegan Lane project, and Paula Bush, an Art Commissioner in the last term. At first I thought Bush getting an art award was incestuous and an example of the Art Commissioners just picking one of their own. Since she didn't receive the award for her art, but for her 8 year commitment on the Art Commission, I'm pacified. There's nothing wrong with that. The Mayor wasn't in town so the awards were given by our last Mayor, Scott Gruendl. The Palio itself was a fun event. There were a few hiccups. The number of race teams was pretty small, I think there were 8 or 9. The crowd was good sized and grew larger when the Loyd Family Players started pounding their drums. But the city forgot to shut down the streets for the race. Luckily interim Assistant City Manager Dennis Beardsley was around. I saw him on the cell phone, and then directing traffic from Main Street to 5th. It took a little while but the roads got closed. One thing I love about Chico are the happy hippies that dance at the various events. It's fun to see adults that aren't constrained by the social behavior blockades most of us build as teenagers. Watching them also gives me the opportunity to develop a myriad of new dance moves that I'll use to embarass my son when he's older and entertaining the opposite sex. I think Chico Velo had the most horse-like "horse". They came in last place but did so with style. First place went to the speedy Boys and Girls Club of Chico, which was probably powered by pixie sticks. I think the Palio was put on by Friends of The Arts with funding from the City of Chico. They did a good job, and I could see it get better as time passes.

Notes: I often take a number of photos for things I'm going to post about. It's always a pain figuring out which ones to use. Today I took some video with my camera and created a larger video from clips, still images, and audio. It took a little time and is pretty amateurish, but if you like it I might do it more.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Tempra Board (with some help) see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 01:18 PM | Comments (7)

September 28, 2007

Sustainability At The Core of Chico University

Sustainability At The Core of Chico University By Laura Kleinlittle- Commission Impossible Staff Writer Article Launched: 09/28/2007 12:07:02 AM PDT There are a lot of sustainable activities going on at the University of Chico. Recently I was able to catch up with Legthario Longbottom, who holds the position as the Sustainability Overlord. Legthario feels that while sustainability is a popular "buzz-word" it's much more than that to the university. It's also a marketing concept. "We're moving the entire university onto a sustainable practices footing." Longbottom stated, "We're looking for ways to achieve sustainable increases in student population, and sustainable raises for faculty. In fact we'd like to be able to sustainably build larger buildings, sustainably". Legthario stated that the by the end of 2007 the university would have a 0 carbon footprint. "We've found some unique technologies to allow us to reduce the carbon footprint the university is responsible for." He powered up his Mac and began explaining "You see, we take an overhead photo of the university, and we draw a boundary around it using something called a "computer program". Then we ignore any carbon impacts our growth has outside of the boundary. Another thing we're experimenting with is adjusting the boundary based on the day of the week. If we shrink our carbon footprint area to only include the Rose Garden on weekdays, that cuts our green-house gas emissions greatly." These and other technological advances are helping make the university more green every day. But at the heart of this movement is what Longbottom calls the Sustainable Explainable Yardstick movement (or SExY). "If you don't know how sustainable you are, and can't use that to appear better than other people. At that point it's not much good to anyone is it?" questioned Legthario. It was because of SExY that the university decided to implement its next big move on the green scene. Students will now be graded on how sustainable their lifestyle is. Longbottom explained, "We're trying to go away from things like academics and workplace training. We really want to expand our community role in influencing local elections, and give our students incentive to live the way we tell them to. Our hope is that bright, sustainable, young people will leave here with straight A's. Next year students can expect to receive demerits for driving, producing trash, and not turning in homework on double sided paper. The use of computers is also being forbidden. Computers use energy even when not actively used. University students will begin using chalk and small blackboards which make little use of wood and petroleum products. It's no longer about increased productivity for students, it's about sitting extremely still so as to use the fewest resources. When asked if faculty would adhere to new living standards Legthario replied "Well, some might, but most of us professors have kids and places where we have to be. How could my wife shop at Trader Joe's and get the kids to their equestrian classes without the Lexus SUV? The intrinsic value of our profession requires that we use more resources than others, most people can agree on that." At that point the interview abruptly ended as Legthario Longbottom wandered off muttering the word "sustainable" over-and-over again. But it's clear that big changes are coming to higher education. It may take years to update every plan and policy guide to include the word sustainable. But if that's what it takes to use the word sustainable in relation to everything the university does, people like Legthario Longbottom will be there to get the job done. Satire Alert.... I think...

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Anthony Watts, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:28 AM | Comments (7)

September 27, 2007

A Better Charretter

Photo: Councilor Scott Gruendl standing next to 1 of 3 sheets of "brainstorming ideas". In its first money saving decision yesterday the Finance Committee held a charrette without paying a consultant. Councilor Gruendl, who is a dynamic and bright individual, lead a discussion on how to educate the public on the budget problem. I've been through a few of these dog and pony shows, usually the marker is held by a consultant that showed up in a Porsche. Having a councilor hop up and take the position of ringleader was more effective. At least you knew the person writing the comments down was a decision maker, and it wasn't costing the city any money for him to play that role. I counted 4 adult members of the public (1 left early), 2 reporters (1 left early), about 15 staff members, 3 councilors, a partridge, and a pear tree at the meeting. The meeting started out with a slide presentation that was initially given to the Chico Chamber of Commerce, who has formed a budget "task force". I've referenced information from that slide show in recent posts (FYI: I'm not a Chamber member or part of their task force). The Finance Committee decided to postpone making recommendations to Council on the budget by about 6 weeks. They will now provide budget guidance to the Council at its early December meeting. The delay will allow interim City Manager Dave Burkland, and staff, time to formulate recommendations to the committee. It will also allow staff to hold 3 evening forums to educate the public. The forums will cover budget basics, a more in depth review with case studies of other cities, and employee contracts. The city bargains with 7 different units. A number of ideas and questions were asked. Councilor Wahl and a member of the public thought it might be worthwhile to ensure all taxes were being collected from annexed neighborhoods. With the large number of annexations the county might not have kept up its paperwork. Richard Ek felt that the city did a poor job by not having verbatim minutes of its meetings, and 8AM-10AM meetings would prevent most working people from attending. Debbie Presson (city employee) thought it would be good to highlight historic budget cutting. She said that just recently city departments implemented across the board cuts in expenses. I suggested the city form a citizen task force to work concurrently with staff to produce recommendations on budget cutting. Councilor Flynn felt that would dilute her authority to make decisions. I'm not quite sure how that would be the case, but she got the votes, so it's her opinion that matters. However, with two past city managers still in town, a university full of Finance professors, and some pretty big retailers in the area I think a small solid task force could be built. Maybe she thought I wanted to be on it? Wahl said that we have task forces for sustainability and everything else why not one for the budget? But the conversation just kind of fizzled out with Gruendl more or less being on the fence. It did seem odd that with so much enthusiasm for informing the public on the budget issue, there was so little enthusiasm for working with an already informed public. Gruendl said at one point that maybe we should have had yesterday's meeting at the beginning of the budget discussion. I think that's true. There's been some time wasted, but part of that was due to the transition from Jones to Burkland. The other issue is that as bad as the budget problem is the city can probably still balance its budget one more year with transfers.

Notes: I get the feeling that some city staff don't like to be questioned on details of the budget at these meetings. That's the same impression I had when discussing RDA topics last year. In reality, I probably know just enough about city finances to be dangerous (to myself). So I attend these meetings to listen and report back through this blog. I also attend the meetings to ask questions as I try not to pepper officials with emails. I tend to ask questions about inconsistencies in facts or numbers, which can be construed as criticism. For example, I stated that describing the per-capita contribution to the General Fund as "diluted by annexation" was rather pointless. Regardless of annexation those people were always buying stuff in Chico, so the sales tax contribution was never constrained by the city boundary. I asked if it wouldn't be better to look at actual dollars instead of ratios. Another example: When it was stated that the city had tied its union pay raises to a formula linked to General Fund growth to limit increases I pointed out that the most recent contract (Fire Fighters) had negotiated a flat rate percentage increase in pay. This new raise schedule was described as "more stable" for long term budgeting. So what's better, long term stability or a formula tied to the General Fund? And why did we move away from a formula right when General Fund growth is depressed? Isn't that exactly when a formula would be most beneficial? Even if annoying, it seems like the councilors benefit from my kind of questioning. And I have to wonder what the discussion would be like with no members of the public present that have reviewed the city budget. However, the emphasis now seems to be to educate the uninformed public as opposed to debating with the partially informed public. So I need to re-evaluate my role in the meetings. There are a lot of smart people in town that shy away from these discussions. Maybe I would be smart to be one of them. So here are questions for my readers: 1. Do you care about this budget stuff? 2. Do you get enough info from the E-R reporting on these meetings? 3. Are you more interested in seeing summarized budget numbers than what happens at meetings? 4. Where else do you get information like this?

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Eleanor, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:16 AM | Comments (15)

September 26, 2007

Why My Daughter Hates Me, And Other Stories

I'm going to go down to the 8AM Finance Committee meeting this morning. If I don't go I'm not sure the city officials will be able to solve the budget problem. I'm part of that essential element of the discussion called "the public". I'm also the press (digital infotainment really), the voice of the unaffiliated downtown business, the founding and only member of the Chico Father's Club (I think), co-leader of the disc golf mafia, and all-around nice guy. They don't call me and ask me to make the meeting, but that's probably an oversight. I'm guessing all of the staff and councilors will be at Cozy Diner this morning talking about me. They'll say "Hmmm, I wonder what unique thoughts Lon has into the budget problem today?", and "Isn't it amazing that he gets almost 50% of his information correct on his blog without working at the city?". This all makes me feel like part of the team. Because my team needs me I'll have to skip writing an informed entry this morning to gather information for the future. But while I'm gone I do have an assignment for my readers. I need some direction on what to write about in the future. Here are some topics I'm considering. Why My Daughter Hates Me - For 2 days my four month old has cried when I'm taking care of her, and I'm sure it's my fault. Is it something I said? The Bridge To Know Where - Point out Manzanita road expansion requires the new footbridge, and so bridge is not a duplicate of the crossing just east of it. Dam It, That Was Quick - Follow the construction of the Sycamore Pool inflatable dam which should be built in just a few weeks. $100 Million Man - If you were the City Manager and had a $100 million budget, how would you allocate the money? Wall to Wal-Mart - Dig into the EIR for the Wal-Mart super center. Wahl to Wal-Mart - Ask Councilor Wahl what he thinks about Wal-Mart. Wall to Wahl Wal-Mart - Solicit responses to Wahl's opinion on Wal-Mart from people doing business on Chico's downtown Wall street. Last count put me at 6 regular readers. So I'm expecting at least six comments when I get back at around 10AM. Do not disappoint me!

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Mark Bohn, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:09 AM | Comments (23)

September 25, 2007

Inflation And The Station

A comment in my last post suggested research into the historic percentage of the General Fund used for police and fire might be enlightening. I responded that I probably wouldn't do that because it was hard. And I didn't. But in the recent presentation from the Finance Office on the budget deficit there is a slide that discusses growth in emergency services. It actually has a number that provides this information. The subtitle of the slide is What has caused the General Fund structural deficit. There are some non-public safety costs, but most of the numbers relate to police and fire spending. Here are some of the figures it outlines. 1. There has been a 44% increase in safety staff since 1990 (47 police, 23 fire). 2. There was a 308% increase in safety expenditures since 1990 (286% police, 347% fire). 3. PERS increased from 2%@50 in 1990 to 3%@50 in 2001. Negative investment earnings at PERS created higher rates*. 4. In 1990, 59% of General Fund was dedicated to public safety, today that is 74%. In 1990 revenues to the General Fund were around $15 million, the population of Chico was 41,774 and the number of sworn officers was 62. That's one sworn officer per 673 people and $8,850,000 spent on police and fire. It's also $211 per citizen spent on emergency services. In 2006 revenues to the General Fund were around $49 million, the population was 84,396, and the number of sworn officers was 102. That's one sworn officer per 827 people and $36 million spent on police and fire. It's also $426 per citizen spent on emergency service.** I did a quick review of of the CPI-U (consumer price index) and it shows an inflation rate of 75% from 1990 (CPI-U 1990 = 127, 2007 = 202: 1982 is baseline 100). *I'm not sure where the bad investments came from. Recently the market has been moving upward, perhaps it was around 2000. With PERS increasing 445% since 2000 and costing an extra $6.6 million, this public employee retirement system seems to be at the heart of our budget problem. **A mix of numbers from different sources where some might reference 2006 and others 2007. Spending includes fire costs simply because it was easier for me to get numbers. Population figures do not include County areas which may be served in an emergency. UPDATE: In re-reading this post I think it implies that the Finance Office presentation blames the structural deficit on public safety spending. I should clarify. There are 25 slides, each with red subtitles. For example, one is subtitled Why is General Fund Revenue Per Capita so low? Two slides carry the subtitle What has caused the General Fund structural deficit? The first of those is where I found much of the information for this post. The second slide includes increased cost in non-safety departments but provides almost no numbers (it says a 25% increase in city employees has occurred since 1990). It also states that "State Takes" have drawn $17 million from the city. And it lists the declining sales tax per capita as a reason for the structural deficit.

Summary: Any discussion of statistics and dollar amounts can be skewed one way or another. You can omit data or tell an incomplete story. For this post I feel like the story is somewhat incomplete. The numbers are probably accurate as they mostly come from city documents. I showed that the rate of inflation has been exceeded by the inflating cost of public safety. But public safety personnel and training are not consumer goods. It would be fair to ask what changes have occurred in the professional police and fire services in relation to mandated training and equipment improvements over the years. These agencies may be more efficient in delivery of services, or they may be focusing more on dealing with a more aggressive society. I'm not qualified to answer those questions. But so far city staff seem to be presenting a price based argument in relation to public safety spending. It would be good to see a performance based argument presented by the police and fire.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Anthony Watts, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 08:35 AM | Comments (19)

September 24, 2007

The Dispatch Patch

Photo: Two of the four dispatch consoles at the police department. All four are located in a cubicle roughly 10' x 20'. I used to think that the police pretty much drove around picking up the pieces after a crime. I know they can't be everywhere at once, and the chances of a patrol car rolling up just as someone's about to commit a crime are pretty low. They also don't have a lot of resources available to investigate crimes. So home burglaries will probably not get the CSI treatment often displayed by Hollywood. You don't even get the Law and Order "duh-duhhh" when they show up. That opinion changed after I went on a ride-along. Our police officers are continually dealing with minor incidents, some of which could escalate into crimes if left alone. Some are a public service, like the "cat in the tree". Others are pretty much a waste of time dealing with lame people. They also perform some dramatic crowd control when our student areas begin to boil over. I referenced the Police Facilities Needs Assessment (see document here) in a post last year. This document makes an argument for improved facilities for the local police. It's also a good reference on growth and crime statistics. It shows a gradual decline in officers per 1000 citizens from 1988 until now (1.67/1000 to 1.2/1000). It shows a similar decline in non-sworn employees per 1000 citizens during that time frame. Money and discussions at the city often relate to officers on the street. But there's some indication that support needs of the force are not being met. For example, the dispatch function is sometimes difficult to keep staffed. The job is intense, with some similarities to air traffic controllers. The facility in use is old, dark, and crowded and probably contributes to turnover. On weekends the police make use of the Public Works radio band for information exchanges, while the other channels are filled with calls for service. Bathroom and meal breaks can be sparse for dispatchers when the city is going full throttle on a Saturday night. The city recently spent $18,200 upgrading the dispatch room. That's less than we spent on a downtown plaza art treatment ($24,731) to enhance the $250K chess playing area. Still, with 45% of our General Fund ($22,087,995) going to the police department it's a difficult argument to make that we need to spend more. In fact our total sales tax income to the General Fund doesn't even cover the police department's cost (43% of income, or $18,264,100). I doubt we'll achieve the staffing levels we saw in the late 80's. With the inflationary cost of police work, and other human resources, it seems like we may need to concentrate on doing things differently. A discontinued police unit called TARGET (I don't know what the acronym stands for) was described to me that deserves some attention. This unit's job was to focus on crime plagued areas until the bad element could be identified and removed. There are a handful of low income housing areas in Chico that generate significant response calls. Creating a team to investigate problem areas, ensure property owners are doing their part, and remove the bad element could be effective. It seemed to work before. Although for PR purposes a new acronym might be chosen. The question of adequately funding our emergency services is a complex one. How much is enough, and how much can we really afford, will need to be answered by elected officials. But for the public to really engage in the conversation we need to be aware that it's not just officers on the streets, but also where and how they're housed, and how they're supported that needs to be discussed.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Gregg Payne, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 06:43 AM | Comments (15)

September 23, 2007

Street Walkers and Fine Art, What Could Be Better?

Yesterday CARD held Pastels on the Plaza. In was done in conjunction with Parent Education Network and was organized by CARD's Ann Willman. Chalk was provided as well as some other tools, and a single square (4'x4') could be had with a $20 donation. On the north side of the plaza sponsors had 8'x8' squares ($50). This has been an Chico tradition, but was held elsewhere last year due to construction. I sponsored an 8'x8' square and convinced a gullible artist I know to do most of the work (thanks Gregg). The nearly finished artwork is shown above. Can you guess what the subject of the art is? Sprinkles ran a lot of people off early, but we stuck it out. We were rewarded with a TV interview which placed our sidewalk art on the local news. The crowd was smaller than in some previous years, but we did get a few city officials to come by. Park Commissioner Jim Walker and City Councilor Ann Schwab are two that come to mind. Here's some of the other artwork.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Gregg Payne, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 02:43 AM | Comments (9)

September 22, 2007

Burkland's Bypass

Photo: The image above is from a presentation given by city staff that details the history and causes of our budget deficit. Interim City Manager Dave Burkland is suggesting that the Finance Committee change direction at it's upcoming 9/26/07 morning meeting. He's recommending that they skip evaluating the long list of budget recommendations that staff provided a couple of months back. He would like to avoid that complex line-by-line discussion, and move forward with staff providing a consolidated recommendation. From the agenda... Recommendation – The Interim City Manager recommends: (1) that staff be directed to formulate specific recommendations to balance the General and Park Funds Ten-Year Financial Plan (2) that the Finance Committee provide direction on the purpose and content of public meetings that would provide effective public education on the City's financial situation.

The Good: City staff should have been providing recommendations all along. That was a request made of Greg Jones that produced the budget matrix. The budget matrix was a list and not a recommendation. In the Finance Committee meetings that I attended the implementation information, ranking, or fiscal impact of many of the items were missing or vague. One high ranked item was not even applicable to the General Fund budget problem. By changing course Dave Burkland has the opportunity to remove the passive role city staff was taking in the discussions. Previously they had cast a wide net, and were letting committee members sort out the rotten fish. This is a good decision, and an example of good leadership. Dave Burkland is moving away from directions set by his predecessor. He's moving towards a more efficient discussion of budget woes. And he's assuming the mantle of City Manager

The Bad: Based on Finance Committee desires staff will hold a number of budget outreach and education meetings for the public. While I don't have a problem with these they are an indication of existing problems with our city leadership. Why hold the meetings? The probable answer is to inform the public so they can take part in the discussion. The reality? Attending these workshops will not allow you to understand Chico's budget woes. By all means have the meetings, but don't wait for them to move forward on budget solutions. The only people that need to understand our budget problem are our elected officials . If they need workshops we're in trouble. After nearly four months of public meetings that the public forgot to attend no decisions have really been made. The last thing we need is another charrette, the first thing we need is leadership and decision making.

The Ugly: Chico's budget problems are created by internal spending and external regional economies. Chico spends 74% of its General Fund on public safety. This is on the high end when compared to similar cities. Our sales tax rate is the state default of 7.25% which is on the low side compared to those same cities. Those figures might indicate that limiting growth in public safety expenditures and a small tax increase could be an answer. But when you look at the sales tax per capita growth since 2003 you see that Chico's is nosing down at -3%. Our neighbors Oroville, Gridley, and Paradise are all up ~15%. Chico is losing its status as a retail hub in this area. The conservative argument that raising taxes doesn't raise revenue, but depresses economic activity, is probably true with Chico. An increase in sales tax could cause a decrease in revenue, and heavily impact large item retailers who sell things like automobiles. A sales tax increase also has to be sold to the public. Chico's growth has also been a factor in the financial problem, and specifically with regards to annexation. For the last 7 years growth from new development has been a pretty steady ~2%. Growth from annexation is has been sporadic with roughly 6.5% in 2001 and 5% in 2006. Property taxes of annexed areas are shared with Butte County with 55% going to the county and 45% coming to Chico. Annexation has increased the service area of the city and the need for emergency services. And unlike new development we receive no development impact fees and can't deny spotty infrastructure. By law the city must balance its annual General Fund budget. Chico has made increased use of fund transfers to maintain a balanced budget. An example of a transfer is using gas tax income, which is supposed to pay for road improvements, to pay employees instead. These transfers have been ongoing since 2002 and helped to mask the budget deficit from the public. We no longer have the monetary reserves or transferrable funds to cover the deficit. Now we balance the budget or break the law. It should also be pointed out that in July the city signed a pretty nice raise for our local fire fighters of 5% this year, and 4% each year for the next 4 years. This was unanimously approved by the Council. That increase will be a bargaining point for the police and public works unions. So the City Council seems to have decided that limiting growth in payroll expenses is not a step they're willing to take. It's possible that some regional or national change in the economy will solve this problem for us. I think that's unlikely. It's possible that some decisive leadership and unique solutions on the local level will solve this problem for us. That's pretty unlikely as well. It will come down to cutting expenses and/or raising taxes. The good thing is if they don't go with the first option, we get to vote on the second one.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Tempra Board and Gregg Payne, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 02:47 AM | Comments (10)

September 21, 2007

CARDboard Creations

Photo: CARD's Girls Sports Day with disc golf CARD's Board addressed a number of interesting issues last night. They covered attendance in CARD programs and pass through income from the city. Sales are up, expenses are down, CARD looks to be moving forward in good financial shape. They also moved some projects forward. Kid's Disc Golf: CARD's board moved towards approval of a 9 hole kid's disc golf course. The holes are close together and mostly in the open and designed to challenge kids aged 8-14 and to be used for family outings. It is planned to be located at an unused area of the Hooker Oak Recreation Area. The board voted to move the environmental documents forward into the public comment process. If unobstructed the project could be approved in November or December of this year. That would put total time for approval at around 6 months, and an estimated cost of $15,000. Roughly half of that money was for environmental documents. Practice Disc Golf Targets: CARD approved funding and placement of 3 disc golf targets for Oak Way Park. The total cost should be under $1000. The targets are galvanized steel with a "basket" design. They constitute a 300% increase in official disc golf targets in Chico, adding to the 1 target at Children's Park. They are the first publicly funded disc golf targets in our town. Gregg Payne purchased the 1 practice target in our downtown. DeGarmo Dog Park: $50,000 was approved for a 1 acre dog park to be located at DeGarmo Park. The use model will likely change, but some discussion revolved around having small dogs and big dogs allowed on different days. Planning Consultant: CARD allotted $20,000 to pay a consultant to help plan a 100+ acre park in southeast Chico. The property is in the county and the owner wants to provide massive park lands as part of a development. The concept includes the possibility of a 700 acre natural regional park, possibly managed by CARD. The terrain is similar to Bidwell Park.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Trevor Hastings, with a new CI Challenge record of 17 minutes. See comments below, or video above for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 08:41 AM | Comments (13)

September 20, 2007

The Chico Beat

There's a lot of talk about the Chico Police these days. The news reports depict an unusual rash of shootings. Opposition to the "party ordinance" erroneously portray the police as trying to quash Chico's good times. And a staggering budget deficit is at least partly attributable to good pay and benefits enjoyed by our city's emergency service personnel. So when offered a chance to do a ride-along with the police I jumped at the opportunity. I wanted to learn more about the newsworthy organization. Chico police officer Jim Parrott, a CPOA board member, offered the opportunity after reading this blog. If I had to describe Jim I'd say he's a tall guy, dresses in blue, and carries a gun (at work anyway). He's probably tall when off duty as well. I ran into Jim the night before at the Council meeting and offered to bring my own gun and uniform for the ride-along. He didn't think that would be necessary. That was probably good because the only uniform I had was a Jedi costume from last Halloween. Yesterday afternoon we headed out on patrol and toured the mean streets of Chico. I like to think of it as the Chico beat. I was ready to mix it up with some of the gun play our town's becoming famous for. What I experienced was quite the opposite and much more compelling. I watched Jim handle the police car while deftly accessing a computer terminal mounted on the dash. He exchanged messages with dispatch over the computer while receiving cell calls from a couple having a bad breakup. He had been dispatched to deal with them a week earlier, and was now acting as an intermediary to prevent the disagreement from escalating into a similar event. He said the effort was typical of attempts to keep people from getting into a situation where they might be arrested. A half dozen phone calls later and it was clear to me that he was now the authority figure that these people vented their emotions through. Later that night a call came in reporting an accident at CSU Chico near the dorms. When we arrived on scene it was determined that nobody was hurt but that the wet streets had caused a collision damaging four cars (two were parked). A photographer and reporter from the Orion showed up, not knowing they'd been scooped by CI's scrappy reporter. The young college aged drivers, still shocked from the crash, gravitated towards the two police officers present. The young people, not far from their parents nest, seemed to be seeking stability in their shook up world. The relaxed attitudes of the officers were providing that. But it was our first call that had a touch of Mayberry and created a stark dichotomy between the recently reported shootings and the life most of us experience in Chico. A call from a local market indicated a 12 year-old shoplifter was being detained by the store owner. On arrival the store owner, detainee, and the kid's dad were present. The kid lived in the neighborhood and had been allegedly pilfering for a while, and was finally nabbed. He took a single soda. I watched as Jim, the store owner, and the dad, worked in tandem to drive home the reasons why a life of crime was not the way to go. This was a play put on where everyone knew their role. But it was the guy in uniform that took the lead. He was the threat to keep you on the right path, and the opportunity for a second chance. The boy was released to his dad, and there's hope he can eventually re-enter society. An early parole is not expected. I think Jim felt a little bad that the night wasn't more lively. But in the five hours we rode together we talked about a lot of things, I saw how and where the police work, and got a feel for what our law enforcement does when they're not making the headlines. There was a common theme through all of the public interaction that I saw. Whenever the normal ebb and flow of society is interrupted we look for an authority figure. Often times that authority figure is the local police officer. When the social contract is broken we expect somebody to fix it. That's also the local police officer. I think an item on the last Council agenda is a perfect example of this. When multiple unconnected shootings occurred in Chico one of our City Council members made a pretty direct plea. Councilor Tom Nickell asked the police chief to provide a "Plan of Action" to solve the problem. This is a nearly impossible task for the police to perform. Random violent acts tethered together by the calendar are not controllable. And yet they got the call anyway. It's understandable that many of us complain about the cops. We usually run across them after driving too fast, or we find that they've left a nice note on our windshield because we've parked without paying. But when push-comes-to-shove we all pick up the phone and call 911. We do that with the expectation that that the police will show up. And they do. I try to say thanks to people around town that I see in a military uniform. That stems from my time in the military. I'm going to make an effort to say thanks to our local law enforcement officers from now on. And I think other people should consider doing the same.

Notes: I'll be writing at least a couple more blog posts on my impressions from this excursion. I'm also committed to going on another ride-along on a weekend night. I think it's important to understand the more difficult side of local police work. There's a tug-of-war between the cost of law enforcement in our community and budgetary priorities. Our police are well paid, well equipped, and well trained. The CPOA, a union, will unapologetically work towards increasing that funding. Dealing with the competing interests of conserving taxpayer money and ensuring law enforcement is effective lies at the heart of good public policy. Our civic leaders need to be clear about what they want from law enforcement. Equivocating and meandering suggestions that budgetary decisions come from the public through a charrette is not the kind of leadership our community needs. And it doesn't communicate to local law enforcement the nature of how we expect them to police our community.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Gregg 'Dillwad' Payne, see comments below for answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:18 AM | Comments (33)

September 19, 2007

Supporting The Wrong Thing For The Right Reason

Sometimes you have to support the wrong thing for the right reasons. That's a position I found myself in at the City Council last night. Until the day I die I will mock the cost of the Bidwell Park master management plan and the chess table art pieces downtown. And yet last night I spoke in favor of tacking $100,000 on to the plan's total cost. I did that because the plan just needs to be finished. The money is to be used to pay EDAW (consulting group) to address public comments submitted as part of the draft EIR. Some money might also fund other outside legal help to answer a lawyer hired by the Friends of Bidwell Park. The Council voted 6-1 to approve extra funding requested by the old General Services Director, and new interim Assistant City Manager, Dennis Beardsley(also plays Frank Hardy). Councilor Larry Wahl was the sole vote against the increased funding for the plan. He made comments like "we've been had by the consultants", "let's not throw good money after bad", and "why spend so much money on a plan that nobody will use?". You've got to love Wahl. He's become a consistently out voted voice of dissent, but that dissent is often mired in the truth. Josephine Guardino, one of the Friends of Bidwell Park* , savaged that group's position on this issue. She started by saying that no matter how the comments are answered the entire plan should be thrown out, re-done, and sent through the public process again. That's not going to happen, and it effectively lodges the FOBP into the role of unhappy potential litigant. She also stated that the plan, even with the extra work the city just funded, should be opposed legally if it proceeds. She offered to organize the comments submitted by her and other "Friends" to help reduce the city workload. But since she had just said that the city could not produce an adequate EIR by answering her questions, this offer seemed to be a pointless gesture. Guardino also pointed out to councilors that ~66% of the 180 pages of draft EIR comments were written by her, former FOBP board member Randy Abbot, and the Law Offices of J. William Yeates. The council wasn't aware of the fact that 2 people and a lawyer they hired were responsible for most of the extra workload needed to finish the park plan. Councilor Steve Bertagna commented regularly that three people were causing these problems, and we're spending money that will never make these three people happy. Councilor Mary Flynn stated that it seemed like "something else" was going on in relation to disc golf, implying that Guardino wasn't just concerned about the park. She asked Guardino to comment on that, and the response was off base. Flynn could have rephrased the question "what's your problem?". It was a good question and deserved a good answer. My tall friend Gregg Payne also spoke, and stated that an environmentalist activist once told him you could kill a project with comments. While he didn't say who that was, I'm pretty sure it was John Merz (VP of FOBP) that promoted that particular game plan. Payne also said that $100,000 could build 5 disc golf courses, and you could just remove the ones that didn't work. That's a common sense approach (when compared to spending $600K+ on paperwork) to finding a site that works. Common sense has been removed from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Councilor Scott Gruendl felt that the delay in the Bidwell Park master plan's completion was causing other projects beyond disc golf to be postponed. These include bridge and trail improvements. I would disagree with Scott to some degree. Just because the master plan is not complete does not mean an existing master plan is not currently in effect. The 1990 master plan might be used to move some of those projects forward using project level EIR's. But otherwise he is correct. The constant obstruction over disc golf is delaying the entire community from moving this issue forward. That obstruction is coming from the Friends of Bidwell Park. A fact that I hope has dawned on a City Council majority was that no matter what changes they make to the master plan it will be opposed if it supports disc golf. No matter how much time and money is spent it will be opposed if it supports disc golf. No matter how much the last 13 years of public record suggest that many compromises have resulted in selecting the existing site, that site will be opposed for disc golf. When one side of an issue is willing to compromise, and has done so, and the other side displays an entrenched obstructionist bent, I don't think the obstructionists deserve special consideration. By hiring a law firm and stalling the master plan process the FOBP are getting special attention. Their opinion, by virtue of a threat of litigation, is now outweighing the opinions of hundreds of citizens that attended many park meetings. Unfortunately for them I don't think their opinion will be seen as reasonable by a majority of the population. If last night's meeting is any indication the heightened public notice of their position will likely be a public relations train crash for that group.

*The Friends of Bidwell Park are... President - Susan Mason Vice-president - John Merz Secretary - Josephine Guardino Treasurer - Patsy Schutz Webmaster - Steve Green Board Member - Nancy Park This is a closed group that doesn't allow public membership or have open meetings. They claim to have done 6000+ hours of volunteer work in Bidwell Park. Those 6 people did not do that work. And with no membership their members did not do that work either. When I have seen the FOBP doing work it has been with a large group of teenagers being managed by Susan Mason. That kind of effort should still be applauded, but claims that the "Friends" do thousands of hours of work in the park should not be construed as the "Friends" are actually the ones doing that work. And volunteerism is not a shield against public annoyance from other activities the group might engage in.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Tom Hall, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 08:34 AM | Comments (15)

September 18, 2007

News Flash - Planning Commissioner Resigns

I've been told that Planning Commissioner Steve O'Bryan has abruptly resigned from the Planning Commission. There's no word on why, and I only have one source (but a pretty good one) so take it as an interesting rumor to pay attention to. If it turns out that he has resigned it might be to spend more time concentrating on the CI Challenge. Or perhaps he was upset he hadn't been included in the Hardy Boys fun described in a previous post. Okay, it's probably a personal issue. Update: Here is an E-R story where Steve O'Bryan discusses why he resigned from the Planning Commission. It was not to spend more time on the CI Challenge.

Posted by Lon at 03:33 PM | Comments (3)

Beardsley "Not A Hero", But Assistant Hero

Beardsley Not A Hero, But Assistant Hero By: CI City Government Reporter Laura Kleinlittle Article Launched: 09/18/2007 12:09:07 AM PDT Most of Chico's population was unaware of the intense negotiations that occurred over the last few weeks. The City Manager appoints his staff, and so as Dave Burkland rose to the top there was a gap below him for an interim Assistant City Manager. The choices were pretty easy. Burkland was left to pick either General Services Director Dennis Beardsley or citizen activist Lon Glazner. Dennis "I am not a hero" Beardsley (see article for hero quote) has a long history with the city. He's quite possibly the greatest bureaucrat Chico has ever produced. He once took all four sides of a public argument in a single meeting. It's been said by Beardsley fans that in the last decade of public work he has never used the words "yes" or "no" when answering a question. And with Chico's budget problem his ability to work outside of cost constraints on the downtown plaza and Bidwell Park master plan are skills needed by the city. Beardsley also maintains a large collection of classic Hardy Boys DVDs at his city office, and many lunch hours were spent with Beardsley and Burkland recreating the adventures of Joe and Frank. The Mystery of the Old Municipal Building was a favorite theme. Beardsley clearly has the background, history, and personal connections necessary to move up one slot in the city hierarchy. The newcomer on the scene, Lon Glazner, rose to prominence with his failed bid to become Chico's first elected City Manager. Glazner actually showed up for his interview with Burkland dressed as a super hero. Unfortunately, Glazner's hero of choice was Wonder Woman. Burkland, a Marvel Comics fan, was not impressed and was hoping for something more "Fantastic Four-ish". This later prompted Beardsley's "I'm not a hero" quote when he showed up for a meeting dressed as the super villain Doctor Doom. Glazner's history of inane and pointless attempts at humor could be useful in disarming an angry public. But his inability to not answer questions is a liability. In the end the choice was clear. Burkland needed to draw from within the city's management structure for the number two man. Beardsley got the call. He was told to show up for duty as Assistant City Manager, and to bring the keys to the Old Municipal Building as well as flashlights packed with new batteries. Because after tonight's City Council meeting there are rumors that smugglers have invaded the abandoned downtown city building that must be addressed. And their friend Chet Morton (played by Councilor Tom Nickell) has had his jalopy Queen stolen from in front of the building. Frank and Joe are needed to put this mystery to rest. Note: Satire Alert - Beardsley and Burkland don't really play Hardy Boys (not sure about Nickell). Beardsley does use terms like "yes" and "no". In fact he once told me "no", and I said "well, let's see what the Park Commission has to say about that", they also told me "no". And the City Council, who we elect, has approved every project's budget that might have been excessive.

The Real Beardsley: Beardsley catches some flak for his management style, which is pretty bureaucratic. It's not really in his, or the city's interest to take sides on an issue before elected/appointed officials do. That sometimes creates the appearance of taking all sides of an issue, and bothers some people. But he is the guy that barbecues for the lifeguards at 1-mile every year, which is a nice gesture. I also saw another side of Beardsley when working on a project in Caper Acres. For that project he was helpful, somewhat decisive, and for the most part hands-off. That really helped us get our work done. In other news: The City Council meets tonight to discuss a number of issues. Party Ordinance: Council will discuss the revised party ordinance which is described as another police "tool". I'm not sure I support it, I'm not sure I don't support it, I'm just not sure I care. GSD Supplemental Budget Request: A request for $100K to finish the already $500K Bidwell Park master management plan. Most of the work on the plan relates to disc golf. Some of the $100K will be used to respond to the 23 pages of anti-disc golf legalese submitted by the Friends O' Park. It might be interesting to watch, I expect some Councilors will come to the defense of the FOBP, after they came under some public artillery fire. I submitted a long letter to the council on this subject. However, unlike the anti-disc golf folks I don't get to drink beer at Duffy's with councilors that support them. But I'm willing to do what it takes, so they can always invite me for a beer. Flynn Requests Ad-Hoc Downtown Study Group: You go girl. Not a bad idea, however I'd point to my last post, and the fact that an ad-hoc budget study group might be a higher priority. Nickell Wants Action Plan from Police on Recent Violence: I can almost hear Chief Hagerty's response. We need more ordinance tools and manpower. I've long been under the opinion that most police work involves picking up the pieces after a crime. That makes sense since most crimes occur quickly and the police by nature of their infrastructure are responding to crimes in progress or already committed. They can't be too preventative. I don't know what the police can do to stop people from shooting/stabbing each other. I do think Chico needs to avoid overreacting to these incidents.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Anthony Watts, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 05:56 AM | Comments (3)

September 17, 2007

I Love It When A Plan Comes Together

Yesterday's E-R editorial was a good one. It focused on the budget deficit that Chico faces and the responsibility city staff has to make recommendations. When previously asked for their opinion city staff provided a list of 54 possible cost reduction/income generating ideas. The editorial correctly points out that these are not recommendations. The list did come with a form of prioritization through a vaguely defined letter grade and a column suggesting how easy a line item may be to implement. Most of the listed items did not come with information necessary to determine the item's actual impact on the financial problem. Some items on the list relate to RDA funds which are not part of the General Fund deficit problem, but part of a separate capital projects funding shortfall. Another issue with the "budget matrix" is that it has become the de facto line of assault on the budget problem. This is problematic since a rigid discussion that focuses on each line item of the matrix diverts energy away from identifying and analyzing other unlisted options. The Finance Committee (Gruendl, Wahl, Flynn) recently cancelled tonight's planned public discussion on the budget problem. This was probably a good idea since the previous committee meetings identified a lack of information related to the items listed on the matrix. The lack of relevant information was recently confirmed by Councilor Gruendl (in this E-R story). Last month I emailed a suggestion to one of the Finance Committee members that staff include at least a 1 page description of each matrix item that identifies its fiscal significance. I doubt anyone on the Finance Committee needed me to point out the lack of information, but it's a good sign that after a couple of meetings they're asking staff for more details. Another recommendation I made was that the Council appoint a citizen's task force to identify, discuss, and recommend budget reduction items. The current process requires people that get paid by the city to make and prioritize the recommendations. Recent Finance Committee meetings have been attended primarily by city employees, who would be negatively impacted if some solutions were implemented. Chico currently has a well populated Sustainability Task Force and is moving towards forming a General Plan citizen's committee. Both of these groups are supposed to identify and recommend long term policy directions for the City. I would think that a projected $112 million budget shortfall would deserve equal if not greater attention. An advisory group of citizens addressing the budget problem would provide a valuable perspective in addition to that of the city staff. It would also be better informed than random opinions expressed at public meetings. The Chico City Council should form an A-Team of non-city employees to work concurrently with staff on budget solutions.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Tovey, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:08 AM | Comments (17)

September 16, 2007

Bachelor Party

With the wife and baby visiting relatives in San Francisco this weekend I was left with the task of providing a couple of days of bachelor fun for my son and I. At first I considered taking him bar-hopping Friday night, but was unable to print an adequate fake ID. Then the kegger I had planned fell through when all of my friends were out-of-town or preparing to take their kids to the ubiquitous Saturday soccer games. So Friday night was lost to watching Voltron cartoons from the 1980's. These were ported to the tube through my PC using Netflix' new watch on demand service. That also gave me time to ponder the rest of the weekend's activities. There was the Sierra Nevada sponsored fencing competition, which had Saturday's contest at the CSUC BMU, and was free to the public. I believe today's event costs money and is at the brewery. We did that a couple of years ago and enjoyed it. But in determining the direction of Saturday's fun I had to consider all of Chico's many opportunities. This caused me to reflect on a comment my son had repeated a number of times in the last few months. He had recently stated "Dad, I've never gone fishing in all my six years of life". At first I wasn't sure how this was my problem. He could skip school and go fishing whenever he wanted. On the other hand I've got to work, write blogs, compose annoying letters to City Council members, and there's frisbee golfing advocacy that needs to be done. I'm a pretty busy guy. But with several neighbors that are avid fisher-people I was under significant peer pressure to make something happen. That's how we found ourselves at the S.E. Marler & Family Fish Farm (http://www.marlerfishfarm.com) located 9 miles south of Chico. It's across from Book Family Farm with the entrance on the east side of 99. The entrance is a little hard to find with the construction going on. The cost was $5 each for all day catch & release, and no license is required. As we checked in the manager stated that they have a lot of people that show up and really don't know what they 're doing, and that was alright with them. It was alright with me as well, as I was reaching back to my own childhood to recover information on how to tie the lures and cast the line. We spent about 3 hours on their ponds casting, talking, and just hanging out. Since we had an afternoon birthday party to attend we had to cut it short without landing the big one, but we did see a bunch of "whoppers" hop in and out of the water. The other fishermen were all dads with kids as well, and were having better luck. I'd recommend the farm to any parents that want to give their kids a shot at catching a piscine prize. And it looks like the farm is up for sale, so this may be a waning opportunity. As we walked out my son said "You know Dad, I don't think I need to go fishing anymore because it's not easy to catch fish." He must have caught the tell-tale signs of an incoming lecture. I probably stiffened, slowed my walk, and took a deeper breath, because before I could vocalize my pearls of wisdom he headed me off at the path, "But I'll bet the second time, or the third time, or the fourth time, or the fifth time is when you catch the fish. So let's keep trying". So while I didn't catch on camera that magical first fish, I did see a glimpse of what makes a mature person. Expectations aren't always met, and you don't quit just because things don't turn out like you wanted. That was nice. On the upside, we incorporated into our guy's weekend an after dark expedition wiping out local of monsters with matching disintegrator pistols. And the night ended with a 1990's remake of Godzilla vs. Kind Ghidorah, a touching and educational film about giant monsters whomping on each other. We've got a few more hours left of our bachelor party, and I think it would be a good idea to mix in a little professional football, and perhaps some dip. Because I'm really trying to build a well-rounded person, and that requires the NFL.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Tempra Board, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:02 AM | Comments (7)

September 15, 2007

The Other Chico DNA

In the 9/13/07 E-R there was a story about a 16 year-old who raped a 19 year old CSU Chico student back in 2000. He wasn't caught at the time, but DNA evidence was taken at the scene of that crime. The criminal was later caught (2004) for committing armed robberies in Chico and is serving 8 years in prison for those acts. A recent law allows DNA to be drawn from criminals and compared to evidence collected at unsolved crimes. The fellow who allegedly committed a rape in 2000 is now being shipped up to Butte County to stand trial for a crime that he may have committed. He's facing a new 20 year sentence. Technology can have some frightening side effects. It seems to be removing a lot of the obscurity most people expect when they lead non-public lives. Cell phones designed to locate you in an emergency, could also be used to locate you for other reasons. The expanded market place of the Internet means that opportunities to purchase goods and services also expose your personal information to criminals. We've yet to see a technological society use these capabilities against its populace, but if human history tells us anything it will probably happen. In the case of DNA cross checking of incarcerated criminals I think this is an appropriate use of technological advances. Criminal recidivism is well documented, and once convicted your rights as a citizen in a free society are curtailed. Keeping bad people off the street is a good thing. It would be nice if we could keep them from going bad to start with but that's an advance we haven't achieved yet. But for some reason the news story triggered thoughts of technological changes that have occurred in my lifetime. Cell phones, wide use of computers and the Internet, high speed digital transmission of data, dramatic advances in the biological sciences, and many other advances are occurring around us. It's hard to see a "golden age" when you're living in it. But the explosion of advances created by science in the last 50-60 years is stunning when you sit down and ponder it. It really makes me wonder what I'll see before I die, and what my children will see. As somebody in the technology industry I can attest to how difficult something as common as a cell phone is to design and build. Somebody in the finance line of work could probably tell us how difficult it is to produce in such quantities that they can almost be given away. In the E-R story we see a connection between the hard sciences and social sciences. If those connections accelerate the face of society will change.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Gregg Payne, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 08:23 AM | Comments (8)

September 14, 2007

MOU For Me and You?

The Chico Unified School District (CUSD) and Butte College (BC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on 9/12/07 to pursue the concept of an Early College High School, here is the MOU. Actually BC signed it in August and CUSD gave it the stamp of approval on Tuesday. The MOU allows the two organizations to receive $400K from the Microsoft Vista Sucks, But the CEO's a Nice Guy Foundation, often referred to as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The $400K is for planning only and the actual construction of a campus is not funded. It will be interesting to see if $400K is enough to plan a college-high school program. It would only cover 2/3 of the cost to plan a disc golf course. The Early-College concept allows students to attend the campus from 9th grade on. In 5 years they can earn a high school diploma and an Associate Degree. Students can accelerate the time frame to do it in 4 years. The campus would be limited to 400 students (I don't know why that is). A previous concept like this was floated to use unallocated school bond money to build the campus in Chico. This idea puts the campus at BC. The school would start with only a 9th grade and each year would add a grade. As far as student's costs go the high school portion of the school would be paid through regular public school funding. The college portion would probably be paid for through a college enrollment fee. This campus is supposed to address enrollment issues and attempt to retain at-risk students. The idea is that a lot of students are not interested in standard high school curriculum, and don't intend to go to college. These kids tend to drop out. If they can be interested in vocational training and retained through this program it's better for their future income, and for our community. One number thrown out was that a high school diploma results in an average annual income of $25K, while a junior college degree bumps that up to $49K. But there are lots of questions. Why would at risk students want to take a high school curriculum that would be harder than a standard high school? Why is CUSD pursuing a campus so far out of its district? Assuming at risk kids are not all well-to-do, how will they afford the college fees? Where will the funding come from? The presentation I heard, which was made by the leaders of CUSD and BC, was full of marketing terms. It was very business oriented and maybe that's because it was given to a business group. But They expressed concerns over competition, meeting the needs of the market, and targeting certain customers to shore up enrollment losses. Another business concept that was missing from the discussion was that of focusing on your core expertise. I wonder if this isn't a plan to shake loose bond money. Vocational training is a good option, I think. It's too bad it can't happen on existing campuses. I also wonder if our good high school students are being challenged, or if the curriculum is dumbed down. I honestly don't really know how our local schools stack up to competition, private or otherwise. I get most of my scholastic news from the Wooly Weekly (the news source for all things Emma Wilson), and I'm happy with that school so far. I think the Early College High School is a good idea, but it deserves watching since there are many hurdles it has to clear to be successful.

I sent an email to Mark Sorensen to ask his thoughts on the Early College High School Program. He sent me back a great detailed opinion. Mark went through the local education system, and I assume his three daughters did the same more recently. With Mark's approval I'd like to post his email. So let me know Mark, can I? But this brings up a good subtopic for this post. I've found it useful to maintain a stable of people whose opinions I can tap on serious subjects. This keeps me from having to form my own opinions . I've found my own opinion to often be bland, uninformed, and sometimes completely wrong. For example I once thought the $2 bill would really catch on. So here's who I keep on my list and what their expertise is. Mark Sorensen - trade schools / raising twins Larry Wahl - things that hover Mary Flynn - trigonometry / how to best use red felt pens Tom Nickell - things the police can do when they retire Anthony Watts - things to do to piss off the Beat Tom Gasgoyne - things to do to piss off Anthony Watts Gregg Payne - poles of destruction Tempra Board - european cars and airplanes Steve Bertagna - Fords from the 1960's Alan Chamberlain - words I've never used in conversation My Wife - how absolutely great I am, or am not David Little - funny ways to work "Little" into a sentence Dave Burkland - making sense out of Greg Jones' obscure filing system Evan Tcklinsgiy - memorizing hard to spell words Dave Brobst - how often I screw up its versus it's (pretty often) And that's just my short list.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Susan B. Anthony, who apparently posted a comment from the afterlife. That's the first time that's happened.

Posted by Lon at 07:33 AM | Comments (18)

September 13, 2007

Taking One For The Team

I watched the Art Commission last night. The photo above represents how I feel about that experience.. It takes about 6 months after watching one of these before I can build up the courage to to do it again. After sitting through a couple of hours of tortuous public access TV I had a feeling that's hard to describe. I think it would be similar to drinking a six pack of cream soda in a 10 minute period. That's got to be pretty close. I was bloated, on the verge of retching, and had my mind reeling from a massive sugar-like high. I think every Chicoan should watch the Art Commission at some time in their life. It actually made me question the benefits of democracy. And that kind of heretical thinking is good for the soul when taken in moderation. At one point I thought it was the "Debra Lucero Show", who gave a 30 minute monologue about Chico Palio and Artoberfest marketing material and efforts. They've got cups, and T-shirts, and what-not. And we can all expect to be barraged with Benny Hill-ish Chico Palio commercials on the tube. Lucero wasn't so bad, but after the first few minutes I pretty much got the point. It also looks like plenty of work went into the Artoberfest and Palio. But that was not the worst of it. I think the quote that sums up the meeting belonged to Art Commissioner Paul Friedlander who said "I second that emotion". There was a lot of new-agey mumbo-jumbo coming from a couple of the commish's. That's probably what sets me off. I think the meeting tweeked my chakras and my aura today feels very maroon. My absolute favorite part... there were actually book reviews going on. These were part of joyous descriptions of a trip to a public art seminar some of the commissioners made. Book reviews I tell you! For the love of God, there were book reviews! At the end of the meeting where the agenda allows for public comment the commission chair stated that the room was empty. It dawned on me that I may have been the only member of the public in Chico to suffer through that. I feel so lonely and soiled. Somebody please hold me. So as not to commit drive-by blogging I need to leave this on a positive note. Art Commissioner Kathy Barrett is coherent and capable. Art Commissioner Samantha Gale is bright, young, and is definitely smart enough to stay out of the inane conversations. And there was one newsworthy item that made the entire meeting worthwhile. I thought I heard Lucero say that Alan Chamberlain would be singing at the Chico Palio. And I thought I heard her say he'd be singing in Portuguese! Alan's a remarkable guy.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Nobody, see comments below for answer.

Posted by Lon at 12:00 AM | Comments (10)

September 12, 2007

I'm Busy Today

I'm trying to get work done, but Gregg keeps coming by my office. He told me I had to put up a challenge or nobody would like me anymore. That hurt me deeply. So even though I'm busy (see work photo above) here it is.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Nobody, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 01:58 PM | Comments (9)

September 11, 2007

Chico's Animal House

In 2006 it looked like the City of Chico was moving forward with helping pay for a needed expansion of the Butte Humane Society. The facility has long been considered too small to deal with the community's lost and abandoned animals. In fiscal year 2005-6 the City Manager proposed ~$132K of RDA (redevelopment) money for capital project 12035 - Animal Shelter Expansion. The spending was approved by the City Council, but only $5,000 was actually spent. In the following fiscal year (2006-7) the City Manager proposed ~$600K of RDA money for the shelter's expansion. But the City Council approved $0. No money is proposed for this project next fiscal year. In addition, project #12035 (the Animal Shelter Expansion) has completely disappeared from the capital project lists and the long term RDA projects. It looks like it 's been cancelled. This occurred while the city was buying Comanche Creek for more than $1 million to ease our blight caused by a lack of open space. And after spending a quarter million dollars on chess tables and their environs to fix blight caused by a lack of chess tables. The Butte Humane Society is one of the oldest non-profits in our county, and has begun a capital campaign to fund it's own needs. Over the next couple of months I'll be looking more deeply into this topic. I want to find out why the animal shelter has disappeared from our capital project list. It seems odd that what should be a popular non-profit would have it's funding quietly removed. I also want to see how the organization is moving forward developing its own resources, and let people know how they might be able to help.

The Butte Humane Society is holding an "adopt-a-thon" from September 14th-16th, with the BIG day being Saturday, the 15th. There will be a pet-fair and discounted adoption fees. The Butte Humane Society (530-343-7917)is located at 2579 Fair Street in Chico. If you're looking for a new pet now may be the time to rescue one. For the next few months I'll also be highlighting animals for adoption on Commission Impossible. Below is Lola, but many other animals needing a home can be found at www.buttehumane.org . This will be an ongoing effort that I'll continue to do throughout the year.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Tempra Board, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 06:38 AM | Comments (30)

September 10, 2007

CARD's Manager Missing? Replaced by Evil Brother?

In an E-R story this morning about CARD and legal waivers there's one bold new piece of information. From the story... "Almost no one complains about this, according to CARD general manager Jack Visconti. He told the Enterprise-Record that in the eight years he's been with CARD, he's only heard of two people who objected to signing the waiver." First we lose City Manager Greg Jones, and now Steve Visconti is replaced by some guy named "Jack". Who is Jack Visconti? Is he Steve's recreationally challenged brother? Is it just coincidence Steve's been replaced by someone with the exact same last name? I'm deeply concerned! The story is about a waiver CARD has its "customers" sign agreeing that CARD will not be held liable for injuries due to negligence. CARD instructors are paid, but they generally are not established enough to be covered by their own insurance policy. The way CARD structures its classes is that anyone can propose one (as well as the suggest the cost). CARD takes a portion of the registration fee and provides a location and some marketing in return. If complaints occur CARD might not ask an instructor back. There are also camps and classes (like swimming) that are managed by CARD employees. Personally, I think a waiver at CARD is just fine. If someone is too afraid to take Karate because they won't be able to sue at a later date, they probably should just stay locked in their homes. As pointed out in the article anybody can still sue CARD even if they've signed a waiver. Chico's Mayor Andy Holcombe, who is an attorney, is afraid the waiver will make people think they can't sue CARD. My answer to that... good. We live in a litigious society with a whole lot of bottom feeders making money off of lawsuits. If somebody could guarantee me that only deeply injured individuals would sue, I'd be happy to see liability exemptions removed. Holcombe also states that the reason people have insurance is in case they're sued. He omits the fact that insurance costs are skyrocketing due to government regulation and excessive litigation. Insurance cost, and I'm not talking health insurance, have been increasing by leaps and bounds over the last decade. Plus insurance does not cover time lost dealing with law suits, and may not cover specific issues. Anybody that assumes the cost of a law suit is a burdon easily shouldered by insurance also misses the ongoing loss of capital that insurance costs force on business. Year after year you pay for protection against legal thugs who are assumed to be waiting in the wings to club you down. It's certainly not a bill I enjoy seeing get paid. The legal system is a nightmare of costs and undefined liability for a business. CARD should do whatever it can to protect itself from getting dragged into it. Today the only people with a lawyer going after CARD have a lawsuit to stop a cell tower from going into Hooker Oak Recreation Area. This group did include a board member of the Friends of Bidwell Park, John Merz. I think the City should take a page out of CARD's operating manual. Maybe we should have local non-profits who volunteer in the park sign a waiver not to sue the city for any reason. I think that would be a useful document to have on file. And whatever you people did with Steve Visconti, bring him back! He was doing a good job. Note: The city requires people to sign a similar liability waiver when you do volunteer projects in the park. I've signed this numerous times when working on various projects in Caper Acres.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Mark Bohn, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:32 AM | Comments (8)

September 08, 2007

You've Got Questions, I've Got Answers... Sort of

In a previous blog entry I stated that the city should fund the Children's Playground improvements that it has planned. The movement towards a playground re-design came at the request of members of the Chico Mother's Club, who felt the park was becoming unusable. Some bad press related to finding a syringe in the playground bark helped move the process forward. My personal experience at that play area was that it was becoming a constant target of vandalism and a hangout for partyers and transients. I quit taking my child there because of that. There had been at least one other attempt to raise private money and improve the area, but that group fell apart and was not able to raise any funds to accomplish the project. I believe the current play structures were paid for by a local service organization. Some readers felt that the money being spent on this project would be better spent elsewhere, and that the improvements were more a facade change than the dramatic improvements required to elicit change (I'm putting words in their mouths here, and they can correct me if necessary). So I emailed the General Services Director and asked him how the council adopted recommendations were to be implemented and funded. The response I received is below. There's no mention of a funding mechanism for "phase 2" of the project. In the city's list of capital projects this one is funded to $275,000, which would probably only implement the design on the table. It can be assumed that items identified as future improvements probably won't happen with today's budget problems, unless paid for by private or grant funding. There's a couple of things regarding this project to keep in mind. Beardsley has been directed to plan the project based on recommendations described below, and it the same time limiting the project to the dollar amount budgeted. That's not an easy job, and trade-offs are made based on those requirements. Another thing is that this project is well into it's planning stage with regards to public input, but it's not complete or approved. People with recommendations for changes can still communicate concerns to Beardsley and/or the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission. Dennis Beardsley's responses are in bold. My email request is in blue. I've added a couple of comments in bracketed italics for clarification. The rest of the text below are the minutes from an Internal Affairs Committee meeting from April last year. I didn't modify any of the response, including not fixing typos.

Lon – the following are responses to each point. Responses are in bold. Your original e-mail is included in its entirety. Dennis 9-7-07 -------------------------------------------- [blue text is the body of my email request for information] In May 2006 the Council unanimously supported the recommendations of the Internal Affairs committee for improved policing of Children’s Playground. The items approved are listed below. It appears as though some components of those recommendations may have been moved to phase 2 of the project (improved lighting?). I was also unable to find cameras or panic buttons as described in item P of the council agenda (item 16 below) in the current design. I support the improvements you are working on for Children’s Playground and spoke in support of them last May at the Council Meeting. Can anybody give me an indication when and how the items below are going to be accomplished, how they are budgeted, and if they are in Phase 2 when that phase will begin and with what funding? What is the anticipated final budget? I’ve had a couple of good questions on my blog on this topic, and I think it would be worthwhile to describe to the public that reads it how the policies that were adopted are going to be executed. If possible I would like to post your responses specific to the implementation of these policies to my blog as well. Thanks, Lon Glazner [in my email I attached the minutes for 4-12-06 meeting Internal Affairs Committee (Herbert, Schwab, Holcombe). The council unanimously adopted these measures at its May 2006 meeting. General Services Director responded to each point in bold below] COMMITTEE MATTERS REQUIRING COUNCIL ACTION A. Review and Consideration of Policies Pertaining to Management of Children’s Playground, Ringel Park, and City Plaza. The Committee discussed the possible development of a policy addressing safety concerns for Children’s Playground, Ringel Park and City Plaza, including types of uses available for children, uses that might detract from family uses, signs, lighting and other items. The Chief of Police and General Services Director recommended that consideration be given to establishing a curfew for Children’s Playground and establishing a no loitering area within 50 feet of the restrooms at Ringel Park and City Plaza. Nicole Jones and Ed McLaughlin addressed the Committee on this issue. Monya Jameson, Recreation Superintendent, Chico Area Recreation District (CARD) noted that CARD has many programs they could transfer to Children’s Park, for example; summer camps, intramural drop-in sports programs, and sports camps. The only areas of concern would be restroom facilities and parking. Staff suggested CARD partner with the University for restrooms facilities. Staff indicated that a cost analysis had been done on the Police Department recommendations and many of the designs were low cost, adding there is capital project money available in the budget to fund these renovations. Response: Many of the recommendations are little to no cost and are being pursued. However, GSD (General Services Department) is seeking ways to accomplish all items both with the funding that has been allocated, donations and potential service projects. Chair Herbert made a motion to accept the recommendations provided in the Police Department’s “Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design evaluation” which includes: (1) Post proper signs at all entrances to Park. Increase frequency of signs and size. Response: new signage is included in the project presented to the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission. Exactly what that signage will be and where has not been determined. Additional “No Smoking” signs have been added. (2) Install partitions on benches to prevent sleeping. Response: All new benches will have partitions. (3) Prune all trees and tree type shrubs to 7' to the first branch. Prune all bushes 12" from ground and no higher than 36". Response: GSD continues to prune trees and shrubbery to improve site lines. (4) Utilize more frequent placement of lighting and change to halide type lighting in order to identify faces at 25'. Response: Moving light poles that are in the proposed project are in the budget. In addition, GSD will be changing existing light fixtures through either the capital project under consideration or the operation and maintenance budget. GSD has not, as of this writing, changed fixtures and tested the 25’ criteria. However, we are confident that the improved lighting, which was upgraded in the early 1990s, will be a significant improvement over what no available. (5) On the east side of Presbyterian Church - Install motion sensor lights and/or halide type lighting. Also prune the Juniper trees to 7'. Response: Staff will be discussing this and other items with Church representatives. (6) Remodel the playground equipment to a style that allows for natural surveillance. Increase lighting to halide type in order to clearly identify faces at 25'. Response: The primary focus of the current scope of work is on providing a quality and diverse play area that will be attractive, safe and appeal to a wide age group. Related improvements such as lighting, picnic tables, landscaping and benches are part of the scope. Natural surveillance is an important component of the design criteria. (7) Install skate stop devices on all curbs. Response: Where necessary, skate stoppers will be installed outside the proposed capital project. Future improvements will be designed so as not to attract this activity. (8) Install halide type lights to prevent sleeping at night and for identification purposes. Install sitting partitions to prevent sleeping. Install surveillance cameras to monitor activity. Increase patrol during the high school lunch time and other high crime times of the day or night. Response: Lighting and bench changes addressed earlier. Based on proposals to install cameras at other locations, whether or not to install surveillance cameras at this location has not been resolved. Sufficient personnel in the Police Department to monitor cameras, legal requirements to keep recorded images and sufficient quality of images that can be used for prosecution have not been resolved. The Police Department and GSD continue to coordinate surveillance and patrol with available resources. (9) Prune all bushes 12" from the ground and to a height no greater than 36" along the creek bank. Response: This an on-going requirement that can be achieved based on available resources. Work continues in this area. (10) Install bollards from creek bank to creek alongside the bridge to maintain proper access control. Response: One of the projects identified during the recent public input was re-designing the pathway and flow patterns in the vicinity of the foot bridge. The metal structure intended to discourage bicycles needs to be replaced and path alignment changed. Access control would be part of the work which may be a candidate for a service organization or future capital project allocation. (11) Increase lighting on bridge between Bidwell Mansion and Children’s Playground. Response: Improved lighting would be consideration with future improvements for this area. (12) Provide adequate maintenance to all areas of the park. Response: The park is maintained daily and can be adjusted as needed. Additional costs for the proposed improvements are under consideration. (13) Install halide lighting on the northeast creek bank, prune all shrubs to 36" in height and 12" up from ground level. Install low barrier type fencing to properly define public space. Response: Related to above comments regarding general improvements. (14) East end of Physical Science Building - Install barrier plants, high fencing, etc. to reinforce this as being nonpublic space. Response: This item will be the agenda in discussing potential modifications with the University. That meeting has not been scheduled. (15) South side of Physical Science Building - Install unclimbable 10' fence and increase the intensity of corner light as well as the lighting pattern. Response: This item will be on the agenda in discussing potential modifications with the University. That meeting has not been scheduled. (16) Northwest entrance from University - Increase lighting and install panic duress button and surveillance cameras. Response: This item will be the agenda in discussing potential modifications with the University. Taking down the walls to the amphitheater was discussed, but not recommended at this time. Chair Herbert amended his motion to include a 10:00 p.m. to sunrise curfew for Children’s Playground. Councilmember Holcombe seconded the motion. Response: One of the most significant decisions made to date has been establishing closing times for Children’s Playground and other locations. Children’s Playground is now closed to the public, except for moving through the area, from 12 Midnight to 5:00 a.m. The Chief of Police will be making a report on the new policy in late 2008. Other options mentioned to improve the area were: (1) adoption of the “Park Project” by Chico High School; and (2) installation of a bike path near the Bidwell Park bridge. Response: GSD is continuously looking for projects to involve the public. Current discussions have identified some possibilities and staff will be working with Chico High School students and faculty to encourage participation in improving Children’s Playground later this year and into 2008. Chair Herbert made a motion to forward a recommendation to the Council to direct the City Attorney’s Office and the Police Department to work on an ordinance to supplement the state loitering law to allow the City to protect the entrance ways and path ways to all public restrooms. Councilmember Schwab seconded the motion. Response: The park closings have been approved and will be evaluated to determine if any further changes in policy are needed. Recommendation: The Committee accepted (3-0) the recommendations as provided by the Police Department and the 10:00 p.m. to sunrise curfew for Children’s Park. The Committee also directed staff (3-0) to work on an ordinance to supplement the state loitering law to allow the City to protect the entrance ways and path ways to all public restrooms. Lon, I hope the above helps explain the status of enhancements and proposed improvements to Children’s Playground. If there is anything else, please let me know. Dennis Beardsley