A city of trees

     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 ...