A city of trees

     The ice rink has opened for the public in downtown Chico this week. I felt this would be interesting to write about as I had seen some news articles and letters that popped up questioning the decision of opening an ice rink, in a drought stricken state and when our city budget has been a contentious issue over the last few years. https://chico-ca.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=1006&meta_id=78572     I did some searching on Google and found the link above - A City of Chico Memorandum, in response to some Ice Skating Rink questions that were raised at a City Council meeting on 9/7/21. In it were questions relating to financial impacts, environmental impacts, and a question asking for a more clear breakdown of the revenues and expenditures.     Much of the information in here isn't too surprising. In the first question about the financial impact, it was more specifically asking if the contact for the rink were cancelled, how mu...

     Election day was November 8th, and the results are in. In a previous post, I mentioned that Chico City council district #s 2, 3, 4, and 6 were up for reelection. We now have results that show some clear winners, and some others that are a very close race.     As of the writing of this post, only one progressive candidate appears to have won their election. Addison Winslow of District 4 won with 2,027 votes vs. 1,434 votes for Nichole Nava. This was a much needed election win however, as Nichole Nava has an incredibly poor track record and is disliked by many on both sides.      The other progressive candidates were Monica McDaniel for District 3, Morgan Kennedy for District 2, and Jesica Giannola for District 6. Kasey Reynolds, part of the Schuberts business family ran against Morgan Kennedy for District 3 and be elected the councilmember. She won with 2,055 votes vs. Morgan Kennedys 1,630. Tom Van Overbeek, recently seen having a beer with R...

     Skimming through the news this week, I read that on Thursday the City of Chico is beginning enforcement of homeless encampments at Windchime Park. There were various RVs and cars lining the street. All the tents are now gone. It leaves me pondering, where are these people now? If it was that bad that it needed to be enforced, would it logically follow that they just went to camp somewhere else?      On the other side of the coin, all the trash that was left behind can be cleaned up, which is likely good for the environment of the area. Chico Public Works Director Erik Gustafson says “The idea is to limit the amount of time to have staff touch the items because it can be kind of hazardous and a safety issue. We do everything we can to prevent our staff from touching it as much as possible." The neighbors are certainly happy that there isn’t a homeless encampment in the park nearby any longer. https://www.actionnewsnow.com/news/the-time-is-up-for-the-ho...

    A unfortunate outcome of  redistricting in Chico has made headlines. It's been discovered that some people are unable to vote for a council member in their district in the Nov. 8th election. Also, a small few will be able to vote for two different council members. The City of Chico issued a press release on Monday discussing the details of how this happened and why it will happen to only some members of certain districts in the upcoming ballot. https://chico.ca.us/sites/main/files/file-attachments/10-17-22_press_release_-_election_update_with_map_0.pdf?1666052411      In 2020, the city of Chico switched to district based voting, and with that also voted in a new district map as well. From the press release: "Following the 2020 census, as required under the California Election Code and the City of Chico City Charter, boundary line modifications were made to all districts. This resulted in having some voters being moved from their 2020 Districts into new ...

I feel the next step in this journey should be to familiarize ourselves with the council members and some basic info about the districts they represent. Two members have been in the news recently due to recall notices that were served to both Mayor Andrew Coolidge representing district 5 and Sean Morgan representing district 1, but we’ll get into that later. For now, we need to be aware that there are 7 members and seven districts. Each council member is elected for a 4 year term. Not every district has an assigned member yet, but that will be resolved after the election this November. Currently, we have Sean Morgan representing district 1, Dale Bennett representing district 3, Andrew Coolidge representing District 5, and Deepika Tandon representing district 7. Districts 2, 4, and 6 will be selecting their representatives the next election. The Council selects the mayor and vice mayor from among its members to serve two-year terms, with Andrew Coolidge as Mayor and Kasey Reynolds as ...

 Hello Everyone,      This is my first blog post on my first blog ever. How cool is that. I would like to take the time for the next few months focusing on my local politics in Chico, CA. We've been in the news on larger media platforms a few times, and not for good reasons.  Photography by Tanner Wakefield      I feel that it's important to keep in touch with the environment around you. For me this includes paying attention to your surroundings. It's a vague statement but it can mean a lot of different things. It could mean paying attention to the tone and body language of your friends, co workers, and family. It could mean paying attention to the weather. It could mean paying attention to the politics in your local area. There are people in power who are making decisions that may or may not affect you. If they don't directly affect you, they could be affecting your neighbors. If policies or votes on a council affect your neighbors, then may...