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October 02, 2007
The Parking Stop Cop Shop
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| Photo: The view from inside the police substation in
Chico's parking structure. The Chico Police are poised to move into the Old Municipal Building on the corner of 5th and Main in downtown Chico (see E-R story here). The necessary renovation has not yet occurred but the city has budgeted $2,567,223 in its capital improvement program. The money was allotted for 2006-7 and it looks like about $167,000 has been spent. That money comes from the Chico's redevelopment agency (RDA) which has apparently been running close to empty these days. Fixing blight is a main purpose of the RDA and it's spending. A remodel of the old building is more of a blight fixin' measure than some other spending I've seen. Previous to the upcoming renovation the newest police facility in town was the parking structure substation (see photo above). I know all of you were curious what the inside of that place looks like so I arranged to get a photo. It was not difficult, I just sent the police a candy gram with a hidden camera inside the truffles. The police also share some resources with fire stations in order to have locations away from the main station to get some work done. The computers at the parking substation are networked with the main station. Officers can write reports downtown, but it sounds like the process used to do that may be technically a little behind the times. Solitaire has also been removed from the computers (I knew you'd want to know). The use of the old municipal building, parking structure substation, and fire stations fill a need for the Chico Police. That need is simply to give the officers a place to hang their hats and get some paperwork done. There's a benefit to staying close to their area of operation and not having to return to south Chico. They can spend less time driving and more time proactively working in the community by using substations. Chico is still too small for precincts to operate effectively and they would create an unnecessary duplication of resources. But the municipal building remodel is a step in that direction. Substations do not have lockers, secured vehicle parking, secure evidence rooms, finger printing equipment, CSI, explosive disposal robots, SWAT teams, or a holding cell. A precinct, by definition would have some of those things. However, if you do end up at the downtown municipal building on the wrong side of the law you might want to review this list of prison slang. That web site also has a background soundtrack that I found a tad funny. |
| Notes: In a perfect world I would have
preferred that the beautiful old building be used for a cultural purpose,
like a museum. It's not a perfect world. A regular foot, horse, or bike
presence downtown is needed. Taking a longer view, it's a good idea for the city administration to keep the old building under their thumb. In the coming decades the city will need to expand its staff. The old municipal building might provide some interim breathing room while other arrangements are made. Or its property might be used to build a larger facility. I've heard a lot of praise from the police for their non-sworn employee Debbie Collins. Part of her job is to find ways for the police to efficiently use the space they have. She upgraded the parking structure substation to make it more roomy and usable. Below is an image of the police locker room at the main station which is near bursting with gear, and the kind of space issue she has to troubleshoot. I grew up in the Bay Area just a few houses away from Collins. I can still remember when she left for Chico State. I believe I was in elementary school. It was fun to run into her at a tour of the police station last year. I don't think I'd seen her in at least 2 decades, probably more. Collins still drives a classic Ford Mustang she owned in high school. That seems to indicate a personality geared to take care of what you have, make the best use of available resources, and avoid costly purchases. It also shows an appreciation for a classic American design. I hope she's intimately involved in the renovation of the old municipal building. |
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CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Withanee, see comments below for the answer. |
Posted by Lon at October 2, 2007 05:05 AM
Comments
That's David Bromstad and his color expert sidekick. He was last years HGTV's Design Star. (Did you post this one just for me?)
His TV base of operations is in SF so maybe if you blog hard enough you could get them to come help Debbie with her space planning for the new building.
Maybe you could ask Dan if he knows David...
Posted by: withanee at October 2, 2007 08:11 AM
I was just wondering if that computer screen is looking at a video camera of what is happening on the other side of that back wall.
Less windows and more plastic flowers. and video cameras. and that explosive disposal $25k "Lost in Space" robot that you found online a couple weeks ago.
and more CI challenges of scantily clad women.
Maybe when the police substation moves over to the Old Muni Building they can use the above substation as a holding cell.
Posted by: tj glenn at October 2, 2007 11:06 AM
Maybe when the police substation moves over to the Old Muni Building they can use the above substation as a holding cell.
Or a Halo 3 nerd hall. They might need to upgrade the PC's though.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at October 2, 2007 11:49 AM
Withanee,
Of course I posted that just for you. And it is David Bromstad, the winner of Design Star. Like most of the home decor television solutions I suspect he would turn around the muni building with a fresh coat of paint and some doo-dads with faux finishes.
The girl is Danielle Hirsch his color expert and carpenter (also from SF). Although I'm curious how she got on the show without winning a competition.
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/shows_hclrs/
Don't know if Dan knows either of them.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at October 2, 2007 02:25 PM
Maybe we can donate the Chico Velo Palio horse for downtown patrol.
Posted by: Ed McLaughlin at October 2, 2007 03:30 PM
Ed,
First of all nice job on the race. It was definitely an example of "how you play the game, not if you win or lose" for the Veloites.
We could add some legs, a uniformed mannequin, and park it down at the plaza. Who knows, the scarecrow effect may be just the budget saving answer we're all looking for.
Lon
Posted by: Lon at October 2, 2007 04:32 PM