Letters for December 12, 2019

Ensuring access

Re “Up in smoke” (Newslines, by Ashiah Scharaga, Dec. 5):

One a recent morning, I ran into a former Bidwell Park and Playground commissioner who expressed disappointment with my amendment to a motion on Upper Park Road, which was passed 6-1 by the City Council, allowing community access to the very end of the road. The person pointed out that the commission had spent a lot of time deliberating and crafting its proposal calling for the road to be closed at Salmon Hole.

I understand. I pointed out that the Park Commission has a slightly different mission than the council: “to preserve and enhance … Bidwell Park.” My personal perspective is that while the council also cares greatly about preserving the park, we have an implicit responsibility to assure that all citizens have access to the city’s publicly owned resources.

Sometimes that means compromise—to allow road’s-end access two days a week. We have a thoughtful, proactive and dedicated Park Commission. Those who sit on it made the right proposal based on their mission. All Chico citizens have a right to experience all of their park, but many do not have the ability to walk or bike in order to do so. I believe the council made the right decision based on our responsibility to also consider all community members.

Scott Huber

Chico

Editor’s note: The author is a member of the Chico City Council.

PG&E’s faiult, not ours

Re “Tips from Down Under” (Greenways, by Julie Cart, Dec. 5):

While reading this piece, it was obvious that all the wisdom of solving the crisis was directed at fire victims, not those who caused of the fire. PG&E has spent the last few years not doing its job. Yearly inspections of power lines, transformers, etc., were not done.

Paradise is a retirement community. You could educate, cajole, mandate all the emergency procedures known to humankind and the 80-year-olds in town could perform none of it. As of now, 16,000 residences burned down, 700 businesses burned, 85 people are dead, and not a single PG&E employee has gone to jail—a fate I most certainly would have suffered had I started the conflagration.

President Trump showed up, called Paradise “Pleasure” and suggested that California needs to rake the forests like Finland does, even though the fire began in Trump’s national forest. He brought no rakes, nor did he offer money to train Paradisians on the proper use of rakes.

He also did not give PG&E new mandates for controlling the company’s facilities as guests in the primitive areas of California. Perhaps the government should provide severe penalties, rather than rewarding PG&E with dictatorial control over who does and doesn’t get power, for failing to care for the power lines.

Jim Smith

Paradise

Homeless hostility

It’s barbaric we have people locked outside in freezing rain. It’s shady and perhaps illegal that Chico police decided, during the first freezing rain, to institute a zero-tolerance policy on sleeping beneath the awnings of public buildings. It’s outrageous we elected a liberal supermajority on the City Council and still have the laws, police and administration of a government hostile to houseless people.

We are in a housing crisis. We need legal camping sites immediately. Harassment and arrests don’t aid the situation and are a drain on city resources; so we need to trade in police officers for social workers. Ultimately, the City Council needs to get out of a backward neoliberal mentality and leverage financial resources to directly provide housing where the private sector has been falling short.

Addison Winslow

Chico

Editor’s note: For more on this subject, see Ashiah Scharaga’s report on page 8.

Two on a letter

Re “Retort time” (Letters, by Ray Estes, Dec. 5):

I couldn’t agree more with Ray Estes’ assessment of the president’s dictatorial tendencies. We are at a tipping point. The current administration represents a distinct threat not just to the United States, but to the habitability of this planet.

The corruption that Trump displays, however, should be familiar with anyone following American politics. He has certainly brought it up a notch, stacking his cabinet with billionaire after billionaire. The uncomfortable truth is that Obama did similar things with more subtlety. His cabinet was hand-picked by Citigroup, one of many examples of his capitulation to the robber barons of the 21st century. Obama did nothing to curb corporate power. He sold out the working class, people like me, who believed in him. This set the stage for Trump, who campaigned as a fake populist. The antidote for this? Nominate a true populist.

We will not defeat Trump with another standard, corporate-friendly Democrat. We already tried that, and it resulted in the horrific situation we find ourselves in. If voter turnout is high, we will win. Who can inspire a mass mobilization of voters? Joe Biden? Pete Buttigieg? Amy Klobuchar? Unlikely. Give Bernie a second look. Happy holidays.

Patrick Spielman

Chico

I can appreciate Mr. Estes’ need to call people names because he lost the election, but I will tell him that he may need to refrain from telling us that we are “poorly educated.” I am beyond baffled that you can honestly say that about millions of people in this great country.

The fact is you and the rest of the Democrats are in for another cry fest like the last time you lost. You see, none of your tries to unseat this president has worked and it is really getting to be pathetic that you and your party keep spending money chasing your tail.

I, unlike you, can refrain from calling you uneducated. But, who knows, maybe you are. To be honest, that does not mean a thing to me; it does not take an education to see how messed up the Democrats are. I mean, if you have any investments, which I assume smart people do, you will attest that Trump is great for you.

Travis Smith

Biggs

Editor’s note: Mr. Estes’ reference to “poorly educated” people refers to praise Trump gave to certain constituents during a 2016 rally in Nevada.

‘Save the trees’

It is true that if PG&E, etc., cut down every tree in Butte County there would be no trees to burn. That’s brilliant, I guess.

I have walked many times on Bidwell Avenue. The trees there along meandering Big Chico Creek make it beautiful and it make Chico.

In the case of the Camp Fire, which the convicted-and-on-probation PG&E admitted to causing earlier this year, it was a broken hook that was responsible. A hook, not a tree, was the problem. Yes, it was—85 deaths and billions of dollars in losses and thousands of families’ lives destroyed.

Trees need to be trimmed to avoid being close to electrical lines, but Chico and Butte County should not allow trees to be cut down because PG&E wants to look busy. PG&E should focus on replacing all the broken hooks.

Save the trees.

Bob Mulholland

Chico