It could've been worse
Sure as Winter follows Fall, comes now the post-election rhetoric. First, we were treated to the pundits explaining why people voted the way they did. After a time—usually a couple of weeks—we’re treated to the “What might happen� scenarios.
This past week, the ER posted a brilliant, funny (and only a tad mean-spirited), editorial on what might happen since the so-called liberals are now in command of a 5-2 majority on the Chico City Council. Naturally, this got me to thinking of what might happen if the pro-development slate had been elected.
Council chambers would have to be expanded so that the developers lining up to build in Chico will have a place to sit.
Of course, that new parking structure will be required so these guys can have a place to park. I suggest it be built in the City Hall parking lot so they don’t have to walk as far.
At the first meeting of the new council, the Green Line will be erased and development will be allowed out to the River. 25,000 new homes will fill the area West and South of Highway 32. At the same meeting, developer fees will be slashed 50% on a motion from Dan Herbert.
I know the county would have to agree on this, but I’m doing a worst-case scenario that includes Steve Bertagna winning his race also. This means that from the city limits north to the county line, a sea of overpriced housing and strip malls will be built. Of course, Chico will have three Wal-Mart supercenters.
When the homes are built, the neighborhood becomes a high-crime area because, without enough fees to cover infrastructure, West Sacramento Avenue remains a two-lane cattle trail, and police response time is thirty minutes. Air pollution intensifies as the new residents idle in traffic for an hour a day.
200 acres of Bidwell Ranch will be sold for 30 million dollars. Unfortunately, building roads and sewers costs the city 45 million dollars and the city’s projected 10-year deficit soars to 55 million. To close the gap, more of Bidwell Ranch gets sold, but the conservatives just can’t seem to get it into their heads that it has to be sold for more than it costs to develop, so the city goes further into the red. East Avenue is turned into a parking lot.
The new council will try to pass a 9% local sales tax rate to pay bonuses for policemen and firefighters, who have left Chico in droves because they can’t afford to live here. The new tax will also pay for street maintenance and for levee work to protect 15,000 of those new homes that get flooded every year. (At the meeting, Larry Wahl is overheard asking, “Why should the developer have to pay for what is clearly God’s wrath against the liberals in this town?�)
Chapmantown will be annexed, razed, and developed as low-income housing because, as the conservatives explain, “We don’t pay the guys who work for us enough for them to live anywhere else.�
I was at a Thanksgiving Day dinner and my hostess was truly thankful for the way the election turned out.
I couldn’t agree more. It could have been worse.