Commission Impossible

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December 31, 2007

Top 7... No... Top 11 Stories of 2007

Image: Chico's new economic development team on hearing about my use of a new gift certificate. Welcome back. I'm glad you enjoyed the vacation from having to read this rather pointless blog for the last week and more. I hope you all had a nice Christmas break as well. At this time of year everyone's doing the "top stories" story. I like to embed myself into the herd so that it's harder to cull me out. Therefore, if there's any kind of bandwagon or fad rushing through the community I seek to be somewhere around the middle of it. So I came up with the top 7 stories of 2007. Then I found out that the E-R did the top ten stories. I worked a little harder and was able to find four more important stories of 2007, making my list the top 11 stories. That's one better than the E-R. 11. 49ers not better than Patriots: The game Saturday night really put the last nail in the coffin of my argument that the 49ers were better than the Patriots. I had already determined that points and standings could not be the basis of my ranking, but instead used the colorful uniforms. I thought the niners gold and red was really a wonderful color combination. After watching the 16-0 Patriots closely in their final game I have to concede that they also have the best looking uniforms. They are number one.
10. Larry Wahl is Madam Ruby: An often overlooked but important local story was Councilor Larry Wahl's performance at the January State of the City address. Wahl caught some flak from Esplanade League members, and others, for giving his honest opinion that the city budget was FUBAR. As time has passed his less than positive appraisal of the city budget was on target, and some other councilor's sugar coated messages seem much less relevant to governing our community.
9. Emergency response to gated communities not an issue: Over the last year there was concern from many Chico neighbors. That concern centered on the various gated communities in our town and the possible delayed responses to fires due to password codes required to open the gates. Subsequent studies determined that only city workers could afford to live in gated communities. Since most responders already had the codes memorized the problem was solved. 8. Economic development will save the day: Economic development which will take 10-20 years is getting some attention on the revenue generating side of our local budget discussion. Significant renegotiation of employee contracts to reduce expenses, a 1-2 year process is being avoided. Go figure. 7. I received a Rawbar gift certificate for Christmas: The most significant development in local news this year was the fact that I received a gift certificate to the Rawbar sushi restaurant in downtown Chico. I've already used it. Of equal importance is that I received the gift from someone that lives out of town. My use of the gift certificate brought much needed outside currency to Chico, and met with the approval of the economic development team photographed above.
6. Speaking of raw fish: I was very proud that a photo I took of salmon being rescued from Sycamore Pool (1-mile) made the front page of the paper. Then I took a look at the Best Photos of 2007 slideshow by Ty Barbour, Bill Husa, and Jason Halley at the E-R (see slideshow here). They've captured the essence of news in Chico. You really should all take a look at the slideshow, there are some exceptional photographs in it.
5. Full of hot air: While the city pays the University $30,000 dollars to itemize green-house-gas emissions, the fire department still drives 6 - 40,000lb fire engines at an estimated 3 miles-per-gallon to medical calls (paralleling private ambulance services). In 2006 the engines each averaged 9750 miles of travel. The story is that our leaders want us to change the way we live, and be more energy efficient. I suspect they are willing to enact policies that force our hands. Yet our local government shows no interest in changing wasteful practices that they themselves control when those changes might impact employees. 4. Tigers eat people: Yes they do. While not a local story (see story here), the SF Zoo tiger attack it does shed some light on the reason local police shot a bear in the recent past. Large predators sometimes do the things they are built to do, kill and eat. 3. Millions of dollars spent on worthy project: After countless studies and millions of dollars the city has finally produced its study "Interpreting Left Turn Signals". This succinct piece of artistic traffic research contains pearls of wisdom such as... "Use of “Protected/Permissive” Signalization is an effective way to maximize efficiency at over-capacity intersections to reduce vehicle delays during peak and off-peak hours." That sentence alone has changed the way I live my life (see the entire study here).
2. A dam big story: Local beavers had their dams torn down and their building materials chicken wired by local "no-growthers". This powerful rodent interest story has caught the attention of national news agencies as well as the TV network Animal Planet. The animal loving network is planning a new show similar to Meerkat Manor to be centered around Chico's beaver population. Beaver Brothel will air in February on both Animal Planet and the Playboy Channel.
1. The well is empty: The biggest story of all in 2007 is the fact that the city has allocated all of it's redevelopment bond money (RDA funds). The city has used this money to cover costs for everything from fenced off open space purchases, to $68,000 picnic tables, to major road improvements, and now to partially fund a police station it can't afford to staff. All RDA money is borrowed, and therefore will cost the community interest payments. For example, assuming the $4.2 million downtown plaza is all RDA funds it will cost us $8 million plus by the time we pay it off. Our previous, previous, City Manager described the RDA as essential to city operation. The city has relied on these funds to augment or complete nearly every large project and many road improvements. Operating without this large funding cushion and with so much money allocated to human resources will be difficult. I wonder how long it will be before the RDA begins discussing a new bond issue? If they do, guess who doesn't get to vote on it? That's right, the people that have to pay it back... the taxpayer.
CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Trevor Hastings, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:02 AM | Comments (12)

December 21, 2007

Traditions

Image: Since it came out my family has watched the "Polar Express" every Christmas Eve. Polar Express is a great movie and captures that Christmas magic that can be found in kids who still believe. My son, who just turned seven, is still in that camp. I suspect this will be the last year. With a neighborhood full of kids a year or two older than him, and a school full of jaded rug-rats, the Santa days are numbered. In previous years I've jingled bells outside his window in the early mornings, left sleigh bells on the lawn, and even painted golden reindeer hoof-prints in our backyard. I've displayed the NORAD Santa tracking web site on our TV, real-time, so we could follow Santa's progress. All this was done to nudge the talk of Santa Claus, Christmas, and a belief in a broader more magical world closer to reality. Last year I found a picture of Santa Claus handing out candy canes on the internet. He had the same brand of candy canes that we had in our house. So I took a picture of our Christmas tree and photo-shopped the Santa image into our living room. Then I placed our candy canes on the table where Santa had been standing in our living room. On Christmas morning this was photographic proof that Santa had stopped by the house. Very convincing. Since this is probably the last year for my son, I've got to do something special. Perhaps leave a reindeer in his room? I haven't figured out what it is yet. But I'm thinking on it ...... We also watch "It's A Wonderful Life" every year. By the way, B-Ray, your Jimmy Stewart impersonation from those many years ago has still not been forgiven by my better half. But I will always cherish it with fond memories. Another tradition I adhere to is that every Christmas I make a gift for my son. Usually I make him medieval weaponry. It's all fabricated from wood and non-functional (blunt). There has been a spear, axe, sword, and shield. Oddly enough, I've seen him turn all of those things except the shield into a gun. This year I made a crossbow for him (again non-functional). I can't wait for him to open it. I think next year I'll diverge from the weapons and make him a train set with the tiny trees and houses. But this has been a fun tradition for both of us. He highly values these gifts. Now I have to start making something for my daughter as well. I might need a couple of elves around here. Anyway, I'm leaving town today. I won't be posting again for a while. At least until after Christmas, maybe longer. I hope all you have a wonderful Christmas, if you celebrate it. If you don't I hope you have an enjoyable holiday season. Whatever traditions you have, hold onto them, and even make a few new ones. They mark the years and define our lives for the better. Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, see you later. Did Coca-Cola invent Santa Claus. Snopes says nopes. For a brief history on the evolution of St. Nick see this link.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Merry Christmas.

Posted by Lon at 08:06 AM | Comments (8)

December 20, 2007

Hodge Podge From The Blog Lodge

Image: Your fate line Dispelling Rumors The CNR does indeed have a number of good articles on the city's budget in today's edition. The portion that I read were well informed and balanced. Here is the portion of one article that probably caused the rumor I mentioned yesterday (Chamber to City: clean house first). Both the police and fire departments are understaffed, and it's only going to get worse as the city grows. Nobody wants that, including the employees. But Gruendl still thinks a sales-tax hike will be needed, and that the unions will have a role to play is getting voters to approve it. " If we went down the sales-tax route," he said, "we'd have to say to the unions, 'We need your help if we're going to get the sales tax [increase] across [with voters]." Mayor Andy Holcombe agrees that the chamber "may be right" about the lack of voter support for a tax hike right now, but he thinks that could change. "I would like to think it would pass if there were a proper voter-education campaign," he said in a phone interview. "We're not there yet." In the meantime, Holcombe said, the community needs to determine what levels of service it wants. If it wants to maintain current levels—or increase them—it will need to pay for it, and a quarter-cent or half-cent increase in the sales tax, now 7.25 percent, would go a long way toward doing that. " I think the sales tax will be a needed tool if the city wants to keep the level of services it has now," the mayor said. It's a little frustrating to see councilors suggesting that unions, the recipients of tax payer money, need to be involved in educating the public about getting more tax money. What's more frustrating is that at least one union contract I've read allows union members to be compensated with taxpayer money for doing union work. Under normal circumstances this "union time-bank" might pay for a union representative to negotiate a contract when he/she is off-the-clock as a fire fighter. Now I have to wonder if the City of Chico will be writing checks covering the cost of union "outreach" in an effort to increase taxes. It seems as if our Mayor has not yet grasped the fact that dramatic cuts are needed. I hope I'm wrong. I like Andy, he's always been open and nice to me, and I think he's a good Chicoan. I really hope he doesn't peg all of his hopes on a tax increase. Some additional stories in the CNR that you might peruse include this recount of the Council meeting and this editorial about taxes with the fabulous Fred Davis being quoted. Fred was city manager back when the budget was calculated in doubloons. Fred's a great resource for our community, as is Tom Lando. Had they moved on from Chico we wouldn't have a depth of history regarding Chico's government that we do have.

Good Cop, Unlucky Cop The negotiation of the Police union contract was mentioned in the stories above. It's unfortunate for the police that their renegotiation will not be as quietly accomplished as that of the fire fighters. They will bear the brunt of public ire if they ask for parity with the IAFF. Separating myself from my feelings on taxes and some compensation levels at the city, I can't see how the police union would do its job without asking for a big raise. The fire fighters received a 25% raise over a six year period. The City Management group has a merit pay agreement that using current dollar awards would constitute a 24% raise in the next 6 years. Councilor Holcombe's suggestion that the unions help persuade voters to inflict financial injury upon themselves to ensure more $200K Fire Captains can escape the middle class has some political underpinnings. If the public safety unions are the recipients of sales tax income from an increase in that tax, then being against the tax is being against public safety. This could work politically, but if it fails the fire fighters will start seeing some of the public negativity that I think the police run into on their day-to-day jobs.

Fickle Fate Yesterday I listened with interest to the radio about the family that was lost in our foothills. Driving to Davis I heard on KPAY local news about the rescue effort. Then I heard on the hourly national news break that it was getting covered. In my head I figured the kids / dad were dead. As I drove down highway 113 I came across a large number of emergency vehicles on both sides of the road. A car with it's roof caved had just been pulled from a deep ditch on the side of the road. As I drove past a Sacramento radio station was reporting a multiple fatality accident on 113. On the way home from my client meeting I heard that the family in Paradise was found alive. That was great news. Then this morning I read that the people killed on highway 113 were from Chico. That's terrible news. I'm not sure what to make of it other than fate is fickle. One family survives against odds, and another is devasted on a mundane trip. But it certainly makes me want to set aside ample time for my wife and kids over Christmas break.

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

Posted by Lon at 07:18 AM | Comments (13)

December 19, 2007

War, And Rumors Of War

Image: One version of the ROV my circuit may end up on. I've got to be brief today. I'm heading down to Davis to meet with a client for a design review. I've been asked to redesign a circuit we came up with about 7 years ago that measures ground fault currents in the remotely-operated-vehicle, or ROV. The circuit measures micro-amp level currents flowing into a ground tied at the ROV chassis. As salt water or friction degrade wiring the insulation can break down causing a short circuit that can be dangerous to people or the machine. The circuit I'm designing will give an indication if that happening, and where it is occuring. I missed last night's Council meeting due to babysitting needs. I won't even have time to read about it in the paper before I'm on the road. But I thought I would post about a rumor I heard that could be interesting if true. I've heard that a story in tomorrow's CNR might have a couple of councilors suggesting a sales tax increase to benefit police and fire could be a budget solution. The councilor's names rhyme with Bundle and Mulcombe. In the mean time I have to go raise some income tax money for my community. I wish it was sales tax income, but it's not. Sorry. I promise to buy some things locally with any money I earn today.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Everyone who posted, see comments below for the answer. Gregg Payne did post first however.

Posted by Lon at 06:33 AM | Comments (6)

December 18, 2007

Sherwood Forest In Chico

Last night the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission voted unanimously to support a family disc golf course at the Hooker Oak Recreation Area. This follows a vote by CARD's Board last month to accept the project following environmental studies. The commission's vote was the final hurdle in getting approval for Chico's first official disc golf course. The course is small (9 holes) and targets are a short distance away (100'-150'). The course won't be challenging for people that have played a lot, but will be perfect for kids or for a family that wants to get outside for a few hours and have a little fun. Gregg Payne and I proposed the course on April 10th 2007, after a request from CARD that we do so (see proposal here). There were a few hurdles to the project including the presence of elderberry bushes and concerns from some horse lovers who use an unofficial path to cross where the course will be. Steve Visconti, CARD's General Manager, was able to navigate these issues with his even-keeled management style. CARD has allocated $15,000 for the course. $9,000 is the rough estimate for environmental studies, and some money needs to be spent to address the concerns of equestrians. Two weeks ago we met with CARD and made our last request related to this project. We wanted to build it for them. CARD's response was "go for it". We'll be coordinating our effort with Jake Preston, CARD's Superintendent. We have formed, and really are still forming, The Outsiders organization to make this project happen (http://www.chico-outsiders.com). In the short term we're going to organize the effort to build this family disc golf course. In the long term we hope to provide support for other outdoor recreation. Park users who mountain bike, disc golf, rock climb, and cardboard slide are sometimes under represented in Chico's public discussions. They need a voice. The kid's disc golf course is named the Sherwood Forest Family Disc Golf Course (see map here) and will have components that pay homage to the fact the Errol Flynn's Robin Hood was filmed nearby. We are building in low profile artistic tee markers to go with the new basket targets and hope to get interpretive nature signage up as well. Concrete tee pads for throwing have been designed in via the environmental studies, but CARD's Board wanted to hold off on construction of those until the course has had some use. The Outsiders are discussing a cooperative effort with the Golden Valley Bank Community Foundation to provide a non-profit umbrella for our group. Bank CEO Mark Francis had a positive reaction to the idea. We've successfully solicited the help of a Rotary Team to work on a chunk of the project. We've also been able to wrap an Eagle Scout, Dusty Carr who lives nearby the course site, into the effort. And we've raised $1,000 as a start to matching CARD's cash contribution. We'd like to do more. We still need funding from the public. Specifically we want to provide discs to kids who want to play. CARD needs some discs for their summer camps, and some local schools could use equipment. So small donations from $10-$50 can help make that happen. Larger sponsor donations of $250+ wouldn't be turned down either. There are lots of ways people can get involved with The Outsiders and make great, healthy, outside recreation a priority and reality for Chico. Check out our web site (link here), or contact me for more information (here's my Outsiders email).

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

Posted by Lon at 08:34 AM | Comments (19)

December 17, 2007

Impacts And Dodges

This is Commission Impossible's weekly review of news stories in the Chico Enterprise Record. I like to call it "Impacts and Dodges". This is an idea that I came up with on my own and nothing similar to it already exists, especially not in the Saturday E-R. Impact - Sunday's editorial fleshed out some of the questions left unanswered in the Harriman Advocates and Citizens For Taxpayer Injustice VS. City of Chico Taxpayer cell tower lawsuit, see editorial here. The paper asked and answered some good questions that hadn't been detailed in a previous news item. Here's an example... As for the impression that Harriman is an out-of-towner in it for a quick buck, well, as mentioned, he says he wanted to continue the litigation to oust the antennas. And though he's based in Fresno, he says he lived in Chico from 1996 to 2000. He and his wife own a house here and plan to move back later this month after she finishes her schooling, Harriman says. Harriman said he has heard the allegations against him — that he's just in it for the money, that he's a front for another cell phone company, and so forth. He denies the allegations. Instead, he sounds like a true believer who'll use the court system to get what he wants. Lucky us. There's more to it, and it's a good read for someone like me who wanted more details on the subject. There was no word on why people associated with the Audubon Society and Friend's O' Park were listed as appellants to the appeal on City documents (see documents here). It's possible that some of the people involved in the appeal didn't carry on to be named on the ill-fated legal challenge. But I say good job to the E-R for getting more details out. Dodge - With probably a half-dozen beaver stories under its belt I still feel like I don't truly "know" the Bidwell beavers. Are they married? Any kids? Did they move up from the Bay Area or have they been around Chico for a long time? What are their names? The beavers have been an important part of my daily news-cycle and I think the E-R could do more to personalize the riparian rodents. I'd like to know more about the beavers and get their perspective on the obstacles to development they've seen. So the E-R gets a dodge on not giving me the low-down on the creek-bound. Impact - Nothing could have had a greater impact on the budget discussion than the releasing of city salaries by the E-R. The E-R continues to be the primary source of coverage for the budget problems. I've noticed that the Chico Beat has run a couple of stories, the latest having pretty good information (see story here). The problem is that the Beat seems intent on defending salaries that if associated with a developer would be portrayed as outrageous. In the story they summarize my position on the budget as... For his part, Glazner takes aim at the city employees, in particular the fire department, for what he sees as its over-response to emergency calls. That may be an accurate description, I don't think it is, but I rarely read what I write. It was Richard Ek that pointed out publicly that the Fire Department had 8100 calls last year and 6100 were medical calls. At these calls they make sure someone gets in the ambulance and then the fire truck heads home, at 3 miles/gallon. Prior to Ek's comments I was unaware of the magnitude of calls spent doing a job parallel to private ambulance services. Prior to the E-R salary data I was unaware that some some Fire Captains earn more than our Police Chief. Furthermore, there is this recent letter-to-the-editor from Alan Gair who some people have said ran Councilor Scott Gruendl's last campaign (see entire letter here). Hardly a fiscal conservative. Those who go to fires and severe accident scenes are brave men and women. I admire them. They are courageous, willing and do a job that is vital to our society. They save our homes and often our lives, sometimes at the cost of their own. But, as the writer tells us, their time is often wasted. I believe they deserve better management. It is not right to use well-trained firemen and expensive equipment, as the writer says, "to help an elderly person get up out of bed, help somebody change a diaper ..." When my mother-in-law fell, paramedics arrived, together with a fire engine and crew. The paramedics helped her to the ambulance. We were alarmed by a mass of men in fire gear, flashing lights and sirens. Why is it necessary to use them on such calls, when paramedics are on the scene? So at least I'm not alone in wondering if the Fire Department is being put to the best use. This morning the E-R ran a story about potential cuts in the public arts program. All community groups are facing a possible 30% cut in funding, although I doubt more than 10% will actually be trimmed (see story here). Chico Arts Commission vice chair Lucille Wanee said she expects the Council will be fair in its ruling and added, "they are caught between a rock and a hard place," but suggested councilors should consider trimming city employees' benefits as a money-saving measure. " A 30 percent cut is a really big cut," Wanee said. "If they were to cut, say, 10 percent across the board for everybody, including salaries, that's one thing. But when they start looking at cutting programs instead of staff I have a problem with that." Again, Art Commissioners are not well known for being fiscal conservatives, and yet this one sees cutting salaries and benefits as an option. At one recent Finance Committee meeting a supporter of the county library correctly pointed out that the $170K cut they were facing was about the same cost as a single city employee. Many of these realizations stem from the fact that the E-R sought out and published the salary information. Without that information it would have been nearly impossible to put other cost cutting efforts into perspective. In fact the Chico Chamber's recent budget analysis had this to say about a tax increase (see budget analysis here)... The Task Force feels that the city has made some judgments regarding salaries and benefits that will lead to a negative reaction among a majority of the city’s voters when they consider whether to tax themselves more. If the city's residents were not aware of salaries and benefits then the proposed negative reaction would not exist. At tomorrow night's City Council meeting it will be interesting to see how people associated with the library and community groups use the salary data in an effort to save their own piece of the pie. These groups are generally led by people of a more left-leaning ideology. I'm not seeing a big rift along political boundaries when it comes to a recognition that the budget problem will be solved when the big ticket items get some trimming. The big ticket items are human resources.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Mark Payne and Gregg Sorensen, or something like that, see comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 07:23 AM | Comments (16)

December 15, 2007

A Round In The Chamber

Photo: The loaded Chamber before taking aim at the budget problem. Some of you may have noticed that I've laid off the budget issue for a while. With Christmas around the corner, and with so many irons in the fire, I needed a break from the research as well as attending public meetings. Could any of you tell I've been on blog vacation? But yesterday I found myself releasing a giant exhale of relief. Mark Sorensen sent me a copy of the Chico Chamber of Commerce's analysis of Chico's budget problem (here is the document they released). They spent a long time doing the research. By the time I got home Friday night Jim Goodwin (Chamber CEO) at was on TV, and the ER had posted that they would do an in-depth story today (see story here). I'm not a member of the Chamber, and certainly not associated with the task force they put together to study this issue. I had heard that they were evaluating the idea of supporting a sales tax increase. This document states that they are not supporting discussion of a tax increase until the city cuts expenses. The reason I exhaled in relief is that people like me, who think paying a Fire Captain $200,000+ is an indication of a system off track, can see the Chamber's position as supportive. When the press publishes stories with city officials commenting on budget issues they can now contact the Chamber for a distinctly different point of view. This allows for an actual debate to occur in the public square. Here are some high points from the Chamber's budget analysis. Each finding is numbered, and I'm not displaying them all, or in numeric order. They are also broken down in the document by revenue and expenses. 31. The use of comparable cities as a contributing factor in setting pay ranges can lead to unjustifiable results. Comparable cities become important only if the city of Chico is actually competing with those cities for employees. There is reason to believe that public agencies have leveraged other public agencies as “comparables” in a never-ending escalation to be “ above average” in rates of employee compensation. 28. The applicant pool for filling vacancies, including in public safety positions, has been strong. While some specialized positions may have as few as three candidates, others have had double digit responses. The Task Force believes that compensation rates do not need to continue their acceleration in order to support strong application activity. The experience of the city in creating an eligibility list is that for most positions, the city gets more than 15 applicants for each filled position. While engineering positions may draw fewer applicants (as few as three), the more common experience is that applicants outnumber placements by a ratio of at least 15 to one. In the case of firefighters, the reports given to the Task Force indicate that the city had 188 applicants for four placements. The Task Force was unable to determine from the data how many applicants are rejected outright for failing to meet minimum qualifications. 11. Growth in salaries and benefits for all city employees have substantially exceeded the growth in the CPI and population, and have substantially exceeded the growth in city revenues. Since 1997 a. the CPI has increased by 34% b. the population of the city has increased by 43.5% c. the compound rate of growth in CPI and population is 92% d. General Fund revenues have increased by 112% e. salaries and benefits for all General Fund employees have increased by 161% There is nothing about the Consumer Price Index that makes it the correct index to use for pay increases. However, over time, it provides a useful yardstick for comparing increases in pay and benefits to the purchasing power of employees. Salaries and benefits for all General Fund employees cost $14,552,031 in 1997-98. If this figure were increased by the compounded rate of growth in CPI and growth in population since 1997 (92%) rather than the actual rates, in 2007-08 the city would be spending $ 27,939,900, $10,093,8523 less than the 2007-08 budget allows, for the same workforce (calculations completed by Task Force). While salaries and wages account for the majority of personnel costs, other compensation changes have included upgrading to more generous PERS retirement plans for all employees, the city paying all or a portion of the “employees share” of the premium paid to PERS for the retirement plan, increased costs of the health insurance plan and the city paying into a fund to support health insurance premiums for post-retirement years for safety employees. The Task Force finds that the growth in compensation is not associated with any apparent growth factors affecting city operations. Those are a few of the points made in the report. There are specific discussions regarding growth in public safety (police and fire) as well as non public safety (pay/benefits/employees). The report is very easy to read, and makes some very good points. For example, it states that the $56,000,000 ten-year structural deficit is based on 3% annual increases in employee pay. The city recently approved 5% and 4% increases for the fire fighters. That means that the budget deficit forecast is too low. It also says 10 year forecasts are pretty much worthless and 5 year forecasts should be the standard used. Another salient point made early in the document is that it is illegal for the city to operate with a deficit. Transfers between funds (using gas tax to pay employees instead of fix roads) cannot continue to accommodate the growing deficit. The city must address this deficit within the next year or two to remain solvent and avoid possible lawsuits. Therefore, we can never actually have a huge 10-year deficit. This council must address this problem during their term. There is a Chamber recommendation that the city hire a consultant to help with the budget analysis. I don't think this is a good idea. We need leadership from city staff and our councilors to make tough fiscally sound decisions. Or we need to replace them. The Chamber makes a number of recommendations at the end of the document. Here is the one regarding tax increases. In the blurb there is a reference to "steps described above", these relate to a number of expenditure decreases including looking at privatization of some city services. 2. The Task Force recommends the city not ask for a tax increase at this time. The Task Force feels that the city has made some judgments regarding salaries and benefits that will lead to a negative reaction among a majority of the city’s voters when they consider whether to tax themselves more. The Task Force is concerned that the city must have the resources it needs to deliver necessary services within the city. The Task Force believes that if the city takes the steps described above, in the future the situation may be more conducive to serious discussions regarding increasing revenues.

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

Posted by Lon at 07:31 AM | Comments (6)

December 14, 2007

Merry Community

Photo: Community gifts will soon be nestled around the community tree. Since the downtown Community Tree lighting I've really felt a surge in the seasonal community spirit. Last weekend my wife and I, with the help of a babysitter, finished purchasing all of the community gifts for our various family members. As we wrapped those gifts I spent some time thinking back on the many wonderful Community Eve's and community hams I've had with my family. I think it's great that we celebrate Cesar Chaves' birthday on December 25th. Oh... you know what?... maybe it's not Chaves, but I know it's another guy with a Hispanic name. Is it Jesus Rodriguez? No... oh yes, it's the middle eastern Jesus, which explains the three Arab wise men. He was a pretty good guy, son of God too. That can't hurt when applying to colleges. Leading up to the celebration of Jesus' birthday I thought I'd list some of my all-time favorite Community gifts. Please give me a list of your favorite things. Think of it as a gentle stroll down memory lane, to a simpler and more magical time. Also, if you don't post your favorite gifts we won't know what to get you. My Favorite Community Gifts: 1. A big box of Legos, I still have these and now my son and I use them. They are probably 30+ years old. 2. Steve Austin action figure with the bionic arm and eye. 3. A red schwinn moto-cross bicycle with training wheels. 4. A fold-up play set of the Star Trek bridge, with a rotating "transporter". This is the place where Captain Kirk worked with Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four to stop the Joker who had stolen Batman's helicopter and was using GI Joe's spring loaded bazooka to threaten America. Somebody should have made that into a movie! Oh, that's right, they did. It's called Team America.

Team America Interlude: Team America may be the least politically correct movie ever made. I know some people that enjoy Team America, so here are some links to break the monotony of this post. Team America's Gary using his "acting" skills to fool the terrorists. (Without Gary's acting the Team couldn't have saved the world, warning politically incorrect representation of middle eastern languages) Team America scenes edited into the "300" trailer soundtrack (a combination of two of the greatest movies ever made, warning explicit puppet nudity on display, now you're going to watch it aren't you).

Back to the topic at hand. There are a few gifts to stay away from to ensure you have a Merry Community. Here are some examples of things you don't want to wrap up for people you love. Anal bleaching cream two of those three words should never be used together Richard Simmons Sweatin' to the Oldies DVD unless the message you really want to send is "you're fat and I'm stupid" Dan The Sausage Man sausage and cheese sampler it's not the 60's or the 70's, sending a strange man's sausage to someone else's home can't end well Sweatpants with "Juicy " written across the butt few gifts say "you'd be a great pole dancer" more effectively, don't do it, unless the recipient's name is Amber or Misty because they're destined for the pole anyway Feel free to add your worst gifts, either received or conceived.

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

Posted by Lon at 06:00 AM | Comments (18)

December 13, 2007

The Moose Is Loose!

Image: Moose gets a win. "Unfortunately, like most settlements it involves a compromise," Harriman said. That's a quote in today's Jenn Klein story on the cell tower lawsuit (see story here). The "Quotee" is Richard L. Harriman, an environmental lawyer for hire out of Fresno. Like many reasonable people Harriman expresses a strong dislike for compromise. The cell tower suit that was settled paves the way for emergency cell phone service in Upper Bidwell Park, provides CARD with a little more operating cash, and most importantly allows Richard L. Harriman to get paid. The settlement includes Harriman's legal bill being paid by the cell phone company and not the concerned citizens who brought the law suit. Who are the concerned citizens? Well, Harriman named Chico Citizens For Community Justice and Valley Advocates as plaintiffs in the legal action. In a legal action against Harriman the following claim was made describing Valley Advocates, on who's behalf Harriman has filed numerous environmental lawsuits... "... a mere shell and sham conceived by Harriman and used by Harriman as his alter ego and a device Harriman uses to create the false impression that a public interest group or an environmental group supports and sponsors the numerous lawsuits filed by Harriman in which entities like Valley Advocates appear as a plaintiff being represented by Harriman, when in fact said lawsuits are filed for Harriman's own personal and individual business purposes and used by Harriman as a form of false advertising in order to enable him to recruit unsuspecting clients who are asked to join in the purported public interest cause being pursued by Harriman." That's an interesting charge. I can't find any web references to Valley Advocates that stand alone and aren't associated with Harriman. While I have no way of knowing exactly what interests Valley Advocates has in Chico's cell service, it is instructive that this lawsuit ended with the lawyer getting paid but otherwise no changes to the project. Whose legal fees weren't paid? The taxpayers of Chico hired outside council Remy, Thomas, Moose and Manley, LLP for this adventure. We won't get our money back. By the way, hiring a law firm with a guy named "Moose" is just a great idea. I hope that's the barrister's first name. When Moose has your back there's not a whole lot you have to worry about. I can imagine getting a letter along the lines of... Dear Client, Johnson Remy Esquire The III will be representing you in court, but in the mean time were going to send Moose around to distribute some good-ole-fashioned ass kicking's. We've found that ass-kicking's can significantly reduce court time, and are helpful in persuading people not to be such dillwads. I have also previously looked into Chico Citizens for Community Justice. This group has been around for a while but doesn't seem to have consistent "members" or a web presence. There's no obvious indication that they are an actual group. Here is the list of appellants on a document found on the Friends of Bidwell Park web site (see document here). The document does not reference Chico Citizen's specifically, but is the only information I've ever seen regarding who actually appealed the Park Commissions decision to allow the cell tower. Harold Carlson Linnea Hanson Karen Kite John Merz Phil Johnson Randy Abbott Doug Perske Valley Advocates c/o Richard Harriman, Esq. I have no way of knowing who on this list might have lost interest some time ago. But isn't it newsworthy if a Planning Commissioner and one of the people whose group applied a 27 page legal challenge to the Bidwell Park Master Management Plan is involved in the Harriman legal escapades? I'm speaking of John Merz, a Friend O' The Park. I've never seen this mentioned in a story about this lawsuit. However, it was picked up in an editorial that the E-R printed after Merz was appointed to the Planning Commission. From the document referenced above comes this hard hitting narrative on how truly damaging a cell tower would be to Bidwell Park. Bidwell Park’s historic habitats are very susceptible to invasion by non-native invasive weeds that often start as ornamental plantings both in and around the park. Common methods these plants spread are by wind or by bird and native plants are often entirely replaced by these non-native plants that often do not play the important roles that native plants do in the ecosystem. A condition placed upon the resolution approved by the Park Commission (subject of this appeal) is that the masonry wall surrounding the air conditioned trailers be covered by ‘vines’. There is no indication that these would be native species, no requirement to avoid dispersal by seed, etc. For the love of god. What was the Park Commission thinking? You can't put plants in Bidwell Park, especially near softball fields whose native sod might be threatened!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is much worse than the illegal dumping of squirrels in Bidwell Park. And then there is this, which apparently comes from the existing master plan for Bidwell Park. “Each user should consider it a special privilege to use the Park, not a civic right.” That's it (more exclamations to make my point)!!!!!!!!!! Now I'm really upset. We've been allowing free public access to Bidwell Park, as if it is some kind of civic right. We need a fence around that property today. We need to issue licenses to use the park (like driving, which is also a privilege). No park licenses for illegal aliens though, not until they get insurance for their spaceships. I think there should be a little test every few years to see if you can enter the park. Possible questions... 1. Do you play disc golf or throw things for pleasure? (correct answer no) 2. Do you enjoy the park more when you think about it as opposed to actually using it? (correct answer yes) 3. Do you have misplaced mothering instincts? (correct answer yes) 4. Do ornamental plants make you cry out in anger (correct answer yes) 5. Are you opposed to hiring lawyers to drive up the cost of projects in an attempt obstruct improvements? (correct answer is no) 6. Is the park your cathedral and you have no other god? (correct answer yes) 7. Do you read Commission Impossible (correct answer, hell no, that guy is an idiot). I'm glad the lawsuit is gone. I wish the people who filed it had to pay for it. Back in late December of 2006 I posted a blog entry asking the E-R to dig deeper on these issues (here it is). I wish they would. When a group hires legal council to stop a project in town I think we should know who they are.

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

Posted by Lon at 07:02 AM | Comments (5)

December 12, 2007

Service Stations

Photo: Me, my younger, more attractive brother John Copeland, and my son last Saturday ringing the bell for the Salvation Army. BTW, my kid and I are wearing PJ's because that morning we held his 7th birthday party, a "Pajamas and Pancakes" theme. This is a good time of year to consider public service. Ringing the bell last Saturday only took an hour. I spend that much time looking for my keys every day. It wasn't too stellar of a commitment of my time. My son got a lot of credit from passer's by and family for volunteering to help out. I asked him this morning how he felt about that day. He said it felt good to be helpful, and the thing that really stood out in his mind was when people put their money in the kettle. At Rotary a few weeks back we had a High School student read the quote "You make a living out of what you get, but you make a life out of what you give." I'm sure it's a famous quote, but I hadn't heard it before, and thought it was a great way to look at things. I might add an asterisk that pointed out that some people/institutions make a living off of what you give via taxation. I think it's good for Chicoans to volunteer. But you do need to find something that's right for you. I'm not a soup line person. Nor am I an invasive weed puller. I'm not a park watcher either. I'm more of an installer or repairer. I like to work on projects that are additive. We recently planted trees in Caper Acres for "Make A Difference Day", that was a good little project. Painting Humpty Dumpty the year before was good too. If you want to take on a whole new line of service / project here are some ideas I've been kicking around but haven't got to yet. Fire Fighter Relief - I'd like to donate an X-Box 360 to each fire station so they have something to do when working long overtime hours. Payne's Butter Cupboard - My friend Gregg Payne spends so much time beautifying the community that I would like to stock his cupboard with Apple Butter so he never goes without it. Plaza Drunk Tank - I think it would be great if we could convert one of the plaza bathrooms to a drunk tank. The police could just toss a few guys in every now and then, and then come back in a few hours and let them out. This would reduce green house gas caused by transporting drunks to and from jail. Squirrel Tail Beautification - Many squirrels around town have ratty hair. I think we could really improve our town if we permed the squirrel's tails and dyed them festive colors.

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

Posted by Lon at 07:27 AM | Comments (14)

December 11, 2007

Logan's Run Amok

Photo: Image of squirrel Jedi lightsaber fight in Bidwell Park. This has nothing to do with this post, but was something I thought everyone should see. I'm hearing more often about causes and effects of global warming that are no longer bounded by reality or common sense. It may be that the press (national/international) are now playing an unintentional game of one-ups-manship. The self-loathing of some humans seems to have reached new heights, at least as far as what is being considered newsworthy. For me, the most recent example is a story out of Australia where... Professor Walters, clinical associate professor of obstetric medicine at the University of Western Australia and the King Edward Memorial Hospital in Perth, called for condoms and "greenhouse-friendly" services such as sterilisation procedures to earn carbon credits. " Every newborn baby in Australia represents a potent source of greenhouse gas emissions for an average of 80 years, not simply by breathing but by the profligate consumption of resources typical of our society," he wrote. " Far from showering financial booty on new mothers and rewarding greenhouse-unfriendly behaviour, a 'baby levy' in the form of a carbon tax should apply, in line with the 'polluter pays' principle." See the entire story here. It seems like there is a valid argument regarding the cost of children to our fellow citizens who do not procreate. There are probably dozens of ways to implement taxation policies that change peoples behavior. You could provide tax credits for people who breath less deeply and therefore create less CO2. Taxing cattle ranchers would limit methane producing livestock, and taxing grain growers would make it harder for people to afford livestock, and for people to afford food for children. You could also give a tax break to people that employ children in dangerous jobs, like being a roofer. Which brings me to my next story. This story comes out of the U.K. Had Toni Vernelli gone ahead with her pregnancy ten years ago, she would know at first hand what it is like to cradle her own baby, to have a pair of innocent eyes gazing up at her with unconditional love, to feel a little hand slipping into hers - and a voice calling her Mummy. But the very thought makes her shudder with horror. Because when Toni terminated her pregnancy, she did so in the firm belief she was helping to save the planet. Incredibly, so determined was she that the terrible "mistake" of pregnancy should never happen again, that she begged the doctor who performed the abortion to sterilise her at the same time. (See the entire story here) I suppose Ms. Vernelli is Egyptian, otherwise why would a kid call her "mummy"? Bad joke, sorry. The philosophies presented in these stories lead to a series of logical "next steps" that are interesting to consider. We would have to assume that having children, who grow to be adults, threatens life on earth due to consumption and pollution. In addition to taxing and aborting children we might support embarking on other methods of limiting humankind. Funding additional wars to prevent the negative effects of population growth might be an attractive possibility. Why stop the genocide in the Sudan? Should we UPS them some more bullets? We could biologically attack food sources in overpopulated countries. We could stop producing antibiotics. Why not get rid of medicine entirely? Think of the reduced cost in insurance. You pay $10/month and get a low co-pay on a ritualistic smoke ceremony for your cancer treatment. We could support the death penalty for minor crimes. How about we put some real teeth into the tree and party ordinances! We could eradicate certain ethnic or religious groups that tend to procreate more than others. Let's start with middle class white guys like me. Certainly, the elderly are a waste of resources, maybe a Logan's Run style carousel could help us cull the herd. But let's set the age of death at 42, I'd like to see my daughter walk and my son break into third grade. Plus I'll need a couple of years to square away the back taxes I'll owe on them. Maybe before we tax procreation and "off" ourselves to save the planet we could all try using those energy efficient fluorescent bulbs and replace the insulation in our attics. There might be a few interim steps we could try to reduce energy use before we all run like lemmings off the cliff. Just a suggestion. But for those of you that really want to be made sterile to save the planet, please, have at it. I can't think of anything you could do that would benefit humankind more than that.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Nobody, or everybody, depending on how you look at it. See comments below for the answer.

Posted by Lon at 08:07 AM | Comments (21)

December 10, 2007

Helping The Little Guy

Photo: Wonka, helping out the "little guy". Sometimes it is the big guy that makes the biggest difference to the little guys. There's a Jenn Klein story in the ER today with a couple of councilors quoted on economic development (see story here). Bertagna says, something like we usually blow a lot of smoke but this is a good priority to get behind (that specific saying often ends with a physical location where the smoke ends up being blown, Bertagna didn't elaborate on that). It seems like Bertagna is a little more liberated in his opinions since the majority shifted to a 5-2. I like his honest opinions, they seem very real. Councilor Gruendl is also referenced in Klein's story. City Councilor Scott Gruendl said at the meeting the strategy is a first step and will give the city something it can be held accountable to. Gruendl said he's repeatedly heard stores have to be a "big box" in order to make it in the local economy. "I'm tired of hearing that," Gruendl said. "I want to help the little guy." That's more of a political throw away line. How is the city going to help the little guy? Who is the lilttle guy? When the little guy tends to employ few people, generate less tax income, and go out of business more often than the big guy then what is the reason for helping the little guy? Is this like low income housing where we engage in building things that are economically unfeasible for private industry in order to right a social wrong? If so, I'm not sure economic development correctly describes the effort. Maybe socialism does? But I know Scott was just making a point that he doesn't want the city's efforts to benefit already successful businesses, but instead float the boat of locals. As one of the "little guys" here's my opinion... I don't think your efforts will effect me at all. Here are four things I learned running a business with two business partners for the last 13 years. 1. Nobody will loan you money unless you already have some. 2. Taxes and red tape keep business from growing and force small businesses to stay small. 3. The business owner is responsible for the success of his/her business. If you can't compete you will fail. If you can't sell you will fail. If you can't produce you will fail. Nobody in government cares if you succeed or fail. 4. You can measure the success of your business anyway you want. Others will measure the success of your business through your balance sheet and income statement. Those are the only meaningful yardsticks. The most important changes I've seen in my operation happened when a big guy decided to give me some business. If the city really wants to help the little guy they could consider ways to get the big guy to look at the little guy as a viable resource. That probably wouldn't cost the taxpayer any money, and is a simple matter of networking. But in the 13 years I've been in Chico the city has never been a help to my bottom line. As far as my economic development goes I suspect that trend will continue.

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

Posted by Lon at 09:10 AM | Comments (18)

December 08, 2007

Beeferino And The Best Mayor Ever

Image: Photos of the city plaza crowd for the Christmas tree lighting, and a thumbnail of the tree with its new LED "green" lights. My camera is pretty low-end but I don't want to buy a new one until I renegotiate my contract with the E-R. Last night's "Community Tree", or as we Americans call it... "Christmas Tree", lighting ceremony was a success. The tree was lit, the crowd was not, what could be better. More importantly Mayor Andy Holcombe diverged from the precedent set by our last mayor Scott Gruendl in a positive way. Last year Scott spoke eloquently about rebuilding Chico from the inside out (starting with the plaza). The problem was that nobody cared what he was saying. The weather was cold, the sound system doesn't work unless you're right in front of the stage, and Scott went on-and-on-and-on-and-on. Last night Holcombe spoke for about 1 minute and 37 seconds. He may have re-earned the moniker I previously gave gave him as "Chico's Best Mayor Ever". Good job Andy, less government is always good. The tree was lit with power saving "green" LED lights. I doubt anyone wants to do the calculation of how much power needs to be saved to pay for the cost of the lights. But of more importance to me they look pretty good. Santa was delivered by the Chico Fire Department, possibly costing some overtime pay, and with the two fire trucks emissions wiping out the savings on green house gas emissions from using the LED lights. It's possible that hiring actual flying reindeer would have been a cheaper-cleaner method, unless they had flatulence which would have produced methane. That reminds me of the episode of Seinfeld where Kramer fed Beeferino to Rusty the handsome cab horse, too funny. Really, it was a nice community event. To leave you in the holiday spirit, here's a clip from the Pogues "Fairytale of New York", one of the only Christmas songs that starts off "It was Christmas eve, babe, in the drunk tank..." It is clipped at the halfway point and resampled for only mono sound. You can buy the entire version on iTunes if you like it. fairytale_clip.mp3 What are your favorite Christmas songs?

Beaver stories abound: I've been told that my beaver related stories are lame. But for some reason I'm intrigued by the beavers in Big Chico Creek. Every time there is a news story I get this overpowering urge to write about the beavers. I resisted today, but who knows if my discipline can last. Does anyone else feel this strange and mystical pull? Here is today's story.

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

Posted by Lon at 06:41 AM | Comments (13)

December 07, 2007

I Joined The Army, Again.

Image: The Empire was not all bad. Is it possible Luke was a terrorist? Tomorrow I'll be ringing the bell for the Salvation Army. With a couple of wars going on I wasn't sure joining the army was the best idea for me and my family. But the Salvation Army assures me that security will be tight at my locale. And in the end you do what you have to do for your country. I've never wrung the bell before. I have given money to the red bucket... just change. And I'll also admit that I've found the bell ringing to be rather annoying. But in all fairness I'm generally annoyed when shopping. It's an attitude I've perfected as a defense mechanism that keeps my wife from ever asking me to go to the mall, thrift stores, or any place else where goods are exchanged for currency. I assume others are easily annoyed during the stressful, crowdy, spent-too-much-money, lead up to Christmas. So my hope was that readers could give me pointers on what not to do, or what to do. I would like to be a successful bell ringer. I'm hoping to raise $3,000 or $4,000 during the hour I'll be working. Is that realistic? Is there any way someone can get Ken Grossman down to Raley's tomorrow between 1-2PM? I do have a little experience "selling" small non-profit donations. Last summer I spent quite a few Thursday nights at the downtown market hawking T-shirts to fund raise for the Nico Project. I learned early on that standing passively behind your table gets you nowhere. You have to grab the "customers" attention, create rapport, and then close the deal with a hard sell if necessary. Most people at the market will avert their eyes when they walk by you, most of them have already formed the words "no thanks" before they even get to you. Breaking through that pre-formed barrier is the most important step. You can sometimes do that by asking the person you're approaching something completely unexpected. I tried things like "Did you know there was a sea monster loose in Bidwell Park?" or "want to see a shipwreck?". But you can also use questions like "when is your birthday?" which people will automatically answer. Questions elicit responses, whereas yelling "T-shirts for sale!" sends people running away from you. But I'm at a loss as to how to approach people while ringing the Salvation Army bell. I don't think "alms for the poor" works very well. Is the Salvation Army bell ringing such a tradition that you don't spoil it by adding that personal touch that creates interaction? Perhaps, you just say Merry Christmas, and ring that puppy?

CI Rules Committee Finding: Gregg Payne "in my tush" filed a complaint with the rules committee over the pine beetle challenge a few days back. He felt technically that Trevor had won the challenge, and if not Trevor then his guess which came before Anthony's was also technically correct. Trevor guessed "Is that a bug chewing it's way through some wood?" Gregg guessed "Looks like a bark beetle butt" Anthony guessed "It's a pine beetle" I think the "bug chewing" guess was too ambiguous to win, but the "bark beetle" was pretty close. From a fairness standpoint, I'm pretty sure Anthony has already paid to have monogrammed towels that say "I won the CI Challenge on December 4, 2007" made. So taking away his victory is not fair. What I can do is offer these fine virtual silver medals to both Gregg and Trevor. They can print and cut these out, and savor the first joint second place in CIC history. But these are only for Trevor and Gregg, nobody else should print them and cut them out. We're counting on the honor system here. I believe in you people, so don't do it.

CI Challenge: Can you guess what it is? Winner: Nobody, see YouTube clip below and let me know if you can find the fellow in the picture. The clip takes me back to my first days in an army barracks.

Posted by Lon at 06:32 AM | Comments (12)

December 05, 2007

The South Will Rise Again! Or Will It?

Image: A fanciful drawing of Park Avenue from the draft Southwest Chico Neighborhood Plan. Note the lack of back-in diagonal parking! The first home I owned was in Southwest Chico. We bought it in 1997. It was a fixer upper, and we fixer-uppered it. The purchase price was $92,000 and we had looked at a few homes in that area of town that were priced in the $70K's. Today, I think most homes in the area would sell in the $200,000-$250,000 range. Still, as far as Chico is concerned this is one area of town where first time home buyers are likely to look for a homestead. The homes themselves haven't improved since 1997, and so the increases in property value haven't morphed into better properties. Additionally, in the decade that has elapsed since we purchased that home there has been no substantial capital improvements to roads or sidewalks in the neighborhood areas. There have been some improvements to Park Avenue including a housing project for mature citizens that is pleasing to the eye. The recently released draft plan is very pretty. It has lots of drawings of quaint shops, people walking dogs and kids, and bike riders traversing wide sidewalks (see the plan here). And there is a public meeting tonight to discuss the plan (Wednesday December 5, 2007, from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM, at the Park Tower Pavilion, 2040 Park Avenue ). Will the plan change the neighborhood for the better? I think it's safe to say that the imagery presented in the plan will not become reality. What is a reality is that widespread economic growth is required for a transformation to occur. From a public funding aspect you could argue that this has happened. The Chico Redevelopment Agency (RDA) gets a piece of tax-pie called "tax increment income". When a home value is reassessed, like when it is sold, the difference in taxes on property from pre-RDA days goes to the RDA. For example if my home was valued at $50K pre-RDA and I sold it for $250K in 2007, the property taxes on $200K goes to the RDA. So dramatic increases in property values fueled dramatically higher RDA income for neighborhood improvements. Unfortunately, most of that money was not spent improving neighborhoods. There have been dramatic improvements to Chico's downtown area. These include the expensive but beautiful downtown plaza, as well as sidewalk improvements. But anecdotally it appears as though business vacancy rates are still high downtown. A sad example is the Chevy's building, which turned an interesting building into a hallmark of downtown. Except for a smoothie shop it has been vacant for years (I hear Celestino's will be opening a restaurant there). I think downtown "planning" is an apt example of the value of pretty pictures and expensive consultant driven documents. Once the project is over the emphasis on change dissipates. The documents have no lasting value, because nobody is a proponent of them. In contrast, we have people like TJ Glenn, and others, working to address the downtown issues. Councilor Mary Flynn has proposed an ad-hoc committee to bring ideas to the fore. Perhaps these citizens will have the interest and stamina to produce a result that makes sense. On the neighborhood front, you can look to the Chico Avenues Neighborhood Association for success. They managed to carve out a sizable chunk of RDA money for their part of town. Now that the RDA bonds are essentially spent, you can't help but appreciate their effort and success in making change happen where they live. To make this happen they moved outside of the planning process, and became advocates for their neighborhood (see CANA website). I certainly hope my old neighborhood sees improvements, but I don't believe the "plan" will create them. Image Below: Map of Southwestern Chico planning area

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

Posted by Lon at 05:58 AM | Comments (23)

December 04, 2007

GPAC's First Project Deemed A Success

Photo: Community Christmas Tree decorated by the GPAC. GPAC's First Project Deemed A Success By Laura Kleinlittle - Commission Impossible Staff Writer Article Launched: 12/04/2007 8:15:00 AM PST Lilly Daffoblaffer is the consultant working with the General Plan Advisory Committee. In a recent interview she described their first success. " We wanted to start the committee with a project that could garner ample community support. So we shot for a high profile endeavor that didn't require a lot of research to complete" stated Daffoblaffer. Daffoblaffer works for This Old Plan, LLC a consultant group that spun off of Public Broadcasting's award winning "This Old House". In discussing the spin-off Daffoblaffer said "We realized when working with PBS that the real money was in updating old plans for public agencies. Many of our "Old House" projects were delayed until the community they were slated for could update their Master Plans. It soon became necessary for Norm, our carpenter, to move projects along by completing EIRs. Eventually we became so good we started charging for the worK." The first project that Daffoblaffer worked on with the GPAC was determining how to decorate the Community Christmas Tree. "At first there was some confusion. We thought they were "Generals" and so we brought a militaristic design to the table." Daffoblaffer explained. "Then there was some confusion as to how many people were on the committee. We were told 7, 9, 35, 498, 4, and then 13. " But once everyone was on the same page the GPAC got right to work. GPAC member Donald Groglerfly explained, "We made sure to accommodate the vast majority of Chicoans who are having a sustainable Christmas. These are the people that won't put up lights on their homes or trees, and won't use wrapping paper. Since they're intent on flogging their backs, we figured we'd flog our own. We're replacing the standard Christmas tree lights with low energy fluorescent bulbs. And to save money we have a city staff member making double use of the bulbs. Every evening he unscrews the bulbs from sockets at City Hall, carries them over to the plaza, and installs them on the tree. In the morning he does the reverse. This will save us a lot of energy." He also explained how the tree was representative of the work the committee will be doing. "We thought the tree should represent the highest level of planning the city could achieve. So at the pinnacle of the tree, we placed the pinnacle of planning.Way up at the top is the $600,000 Bidwell Park Master Management Plan. At about a $1,000 per page we figured it had to be good, nobody's actually read it though. What's best is that since it is only paper we can recycle it when the celebration is over." Said Groglerfly. The previously mentioned city staffer was available for comments, but didn't want us to use his real name. So we'll call him John Dough. John appeared frustrated and pained when he said "Those guys are such dillwads. I tried telling them that replacing the christmas lights with fluorescent bulbs would use 10 times the energy. They kept saying that I didn't understand, and that these were "low power bulbs". And then sticking that wad of paper on the top of the tree. How stupid is that? And now I've got to leave my heated office twice a day to unscrew and screw-in dozens of light bulbs. All that for a measly $117,000 a year plus $39,000 in benefits. This is bull, I'm contacting my union." On walking away the staffer mumbled something about the tree needing a woman's touch, and then drove his Lexus from the plaza to the city parking lot to return to work. Apparently not everybody is happy with the project.

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

Posted by Lon at 08:13 AM | Comments (8)

December 03, 2007

A Little Target Practice

Image: Even the super store Target now sells disc golf equipment. Mainstreaming of disc golf will likely cause its demise. This will happen in 2200, shortly after the earth becomes an inferno. Inset image is a disc golfer's boot with tell-tale signs that disc golf has occurred. This weekend David Little, the editor of the Chico E-R, outed himself as a disc golfer. He wrote a column answering some of the questions about disc golf that he frequently gets asked by people new to the recreation (see column here). I had a sneaking suspicion he played disc golf. I once ran into Little at OSH and noticed that his boots were smeared with the debris of intentionally trampled wildflowers (see artist representation above). Being privy to some of the background communication between people who oppose disc golf I've seen some pretty startling comments. These differ greatly from the more public pronunciations that disc golf is great, it just needs to be somewhere other than Upper Bidwell Park. They range from broad comments that disc golfers intentionally trample wildflowers, use more drugs and alcohol than the homeless, don't like girls and dogs playing, caused the cost of Park Master Plan to skyrocket, can't read, and that only a handful of people play. Personally, I've been accused of being insane and dangerous, and of intentionally removing Butte County Checkerbloom from the park to protect disc golf. I've never removed plants from the park, but the former accusation I'll have to concede is accurate. Now where did I put my bloody butcher's knife? If you want to hear how some opposition to disc golf express themselves take a listen to this classic wave file that calls the targets "poles of destruction" and suggests the recipient of the message should "rot in hell" (anonymous caller *.wav file). Or alternatively listen to this rap version of the same call (rap version of anonymous call *.wav file). If you listen to only two disc golf related wave files today make it these two. They are funny, and educational. David Little finished off his column by pointing out that decisions in Chico are always political. There's some truth to that. Here are portions of the interviews performed by the E-R from the candidates that won in our last local election. These are segments about the future of disc golf. Mary Flynn (mp3 file): Groans at the question, kind of funny, but otherwise very reasonable. Scott Gruendl (mp3 file): Very reasonable, mentions some RDA stuff in relation to me that I have a different recollection of. Tom Nickell (mp3 file): Wants it moved, suggests by the airport, what if I hit a plane with my huge throws? Too dangerous Tom! By the way, all of the candidates that failed to be elected supported keeping disc golf where it is. Saving the park from people is not an issue that resonates with conservatives. From a purely political standpoint the disc golf issue is mostly about infighting on the left. If it was a left-right thing it would already be gone. To be completely honest, I didn't give a beaver's behind about local politics until the Friends of Bidwell Park decided I had to be removed from public property. So you can thank them for my blog. On the suggestion that women don't play disc golf, here's a video that shows girls got game when it comes to flying frisbees.

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

Posted by Lon at 09:20 AM | Comments (19)

December 01, 2007

Coziness A Concern

Image: CSU Chico's budget proposal for $30,000 greenhouse gas emissions study to be completed by students. The City Council recently approved spending $30,000 to fund a greenhouse gas emissions study. The request for funding came from the Sustainability Task Force, a group which I had been a member of. I do support the effort to create this "database" of gas emissions. Not because I believe that global warming will end life on earth, but because our last Mayor Scott Gruendl signed an agreement, and he should either stick to it or get out of it. This study is necessary to do the former, which is what the Council wants to do. I'm told that initial estimates for the study ranged from $25,000 to $90,000. Scott McNall, CSU Chico's Sustainability Overlord pushed for the use of a software program called ICLEI to create the database. Other college employed task force members pushed for it as well. About a third of the task force is employed by the university, including Vice Mayor Schwab. It was sometimes portrayed as a magical spreadsheet where data goes in and answers come out. Working as an engineer I know nothing complicated is that simple. What data goes in will determine if the software produces anything meaningful. After I left the task force it was decided that using interns from CSU Chico to complete the study was an option. The Council approved a $30,000 payment to CSU Chico on 11/06/07. The submitted budget is shown above (see CSUC's proposal here, page 10). It would seem worthwhile to review possible shortcomings associated with this decision. Prior to me leaving the task force I argued that using college interns to complete a study was inappropriate. One member of the task force stated that if we didn't reduce greenhouse gas emissions 85% by 2050 we'd all be dead. If a person truly believed that this study would influence life or death decisions wouldn't you want to pay professionals to do it? Would you put your life in the hands of $10/hour interns? I guess for some people the answer is yes. Secondly, no real budget ends with exactly round numbers. This is not that big of a deal, but it shows me that the proposal isn't an actual cost analysis, but an estimate or a targeted proposal. Let's also consider the fact that these students are paying CSU Chico to get an education. And now taxpayers are going to pay the students $20,000+ to further the education they're attending school for. And we'll pay the university $10,000 to train faculty and use facilities the students already paid to have access to (tuition). The project manager for this study, a graduate student, has minimal experience doing this work. He completed a study for CSU Chico and one for Fort Bragg. But does he have experience managing large groups of people and meeting deadlines? Students are not known for completing work in a timely manner, and don't have experience producing valuable work product. They are known for feeling like they already know everything. What happens if the study is flawed? Who's going to make sure it isn't? Is there errors and omissions insurance backing the producers of this information? Thirdly, I've always felt that our city staff rely on consultants too much. They throw money at consultants, whose work is rarely accepted, and then everyone runs away from decision making (look for this strategy on the budget problem). Now that we're pulling lint from our financial pockets I have to wonder if CSU Chico will be stepping in as our cheap consultant across the street. On visiting Alan Gair's www.treeaction.org web site I ran across this on the home page ("Tree Action" is seeking to enhance the local tree protection ordinance). At the Internal Affairs committee on Tuesday 10/09/07, TreeAction's proposed amendments to the City tree ordinance were presented. In spite of an initial somewhat lukewarm reaction from city staff -- "we haven't the time, the money, etc." -- the meeting became very positive. The Urban Forester, Denice Britton, and councilors Tom Nickell and Ann Schwab embraced many of our proposals and instructed staff to create an ad hoc committee to study the recommendations and produce ideas for adoption and consideration by the full council. This group to be composed of members of the public, Planning and General Services staff and members of the planning and parks commissions. The idea of getting a University and city iTree software-based project underway, in order to create a baseline analysis of the urban forest, is being considered by Deputy Mayor Ann Schwab, in her role as head of the Mayor's Sustainability Task Force, and Scott McNall, who leads the impressive CSU sustainability activities. This would lead to a practical and dollar-based evaluation of the contribution that augmenting and managing our tree cover would make to the quality of our city life. It would also justify expenditure on these tasks and possibly create a practical academic for-credit project for students. Are we seeing a trend develop? While I can't disagree with the benefit these for-credit projects provide to students, I can question the benefit they provide to the taxpayer. How is it that we pay our city employees handsomely and yet there is still a need to farm out $10/hour work to the University in order to define our public policy? And if the work isn't important enough to us to hire professionals, and our high paid city staff don't feel they should make time for it, do we really need to have it done? This relationship between activists, the university, and city officials seems like it might be getting too cozy. And now dollars are starting to flow between the groups.

Astrophotography Exhibit: The exhibit is this afternoon from 4PM to 8PM. Don't miss it?

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

Posted by Lon at 09:04 AM | Comments (4)