Letters for September 27, 2018

Council’s mega meeting

Re “‘Eleventh hour’ deliberations” (Newslines, by Ashiah Scharaga, Sept. 20):

I attended the Chico City Council meeting Sept. 18 to voice my concerns about the Stonegate development in south Chico. I have lived in Butte Creek Canyon for 38 years and have recently experienced a traffic increase on lower Skyway that, during peak hours, is way beyond the capacity of Skyway’s original design.

Stonegate looks good on paper; however, I see this project as the tipping point for Chico, exacerbating traffic problems and overburdening the city’s budget for services and necessary improvements. Is this what Chico needs?

The City Council’s full agenda included several public hearings allowing speakers three minutes each; at 10 p.m., a 4-3 vote extended the meeting. Public comment on Stonegate started at 11 p.m., giving 26 speakers one minute each after waiting five-plus hours to speak.

I believe both the council members and citizens should be allowed adequate time at a reasonable hour to voice our concerns as viable input for accurate consideration. Can the Stonegate project evaluation by the City Council be complete at that late hour, and considering all intents and purposes, is this fair government?

Christine Jennings

Chico

I’d like to add to your coverage of the Sept. 18 Chico City Council meeting: There was vigorous public opposition to the Jesus Center’s transformation into a “Renewal Center”—a Robert Marbut-ish “consolidation” camp by the racetrack and all part of the plan to erase Chico’s poor and disabled, as housing (the only honorable solution) remains out of reach.

Also, there was public opposition to shortening park hours (especially the loss of four hours in City Plaza)—transparently a way to further pressure the homeless. And, many spoke against the removal of Steven Breedlove from the Chico Airport Commission; we then witnessed a morally unhinged council pass judgment on an act of conscience. (With no moral compass in hand, as is evident in the entire approach to suffering on our streets, no act of conscience can possibly meet with comprehension.)

On another subject: In response to my guest comment, concerning the Brock Turner sexual assault case, I was predictably lambasted by feminist Sherri Quammen. I’ll ask Quammen to engage in a thought experiment: Imagine two lesbians in the same circumstances as the Turner case (very drunk, symmetrically responsible—until one passes out, “digital penetration”). How much prison time for the offender?

Patrick Newman

Chico

‘Let’s consider facts’

Re “About abortion services” (Letters, by Peter Bridge, Sept. 20):

All right, Mr. Bridge, let’s consider facts. According to Planned Parenthood’s 2016-17 annual report: Planned Parenthood is barred from using federal funds for abortions by the Hyde Amendment; 8,000 people per day use its services for birth control, cancer screening, sexually transmitted infection (STI) testing and treatment, and safe legal abortions (a constitutional right); during this report’s time frame, Planned Parenthood treated 2.5 million people with 9.5 million different services; abortion makes up 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s budget; and STI testing and treatment and contraception account for 75 percent.

With the ongoing concerted effort by ideologues to make abortion illegal, Planned Parenthood often becomes the only place for women to go for their health needs, in underserved rural America especially.

Mr. Bridge, I support your right to your beliefs, but one cannot impose their beliefs on others. It is simply what our country is founded on, freedom of and from religion. I will not ask you to get an abortion if you will grant me my constitutional right to make that decision for myself, and the opportunity that Planned Parenthood gives me to do so.

Rich Meyers

Oroville

What about the farm?

Re “Second harvest” (Greenways, by Ashiah Scharaga, Sept. 20):

I am curious to know what the land that the Jesus Center farm has been growing on will be used for. How do the people on Chestnut Street feel about the sale? Do they have any input on what will be built there?

Mary Hayden

Chico

Crowd sets tone

Re “Vote for a new era of civility” (Editorial, Sept. 20):

Lack of civility is like the homeless problems some well-meaning cities face. Once people learn they can talk over others or shout and scream out of turn, it becomes a minor brawl. Same with the homeless. Once the word is out that your city is an easy mark, it becomes a magnet for those you can’t really help.

The city I worked for let people vent, then postponed any items they did not get to until the next month. Then the next month and so on. Whatever the topic was, soon the attendance dropped off and they had civil debate. The tone is usually set by the crowd.

Allan Clark

Paradise

Big signs, big money

I would like to avoid having big money running Chico City Council politics.

Big money tends to invest with a plan for a payback. Instead, I would rather have small donors sponsor candidates who have the whole community in mind. So I began to wonder, “Who is getting big money in the current race?”

Then it struck me that a simple answer was quite visible. Look at the curbside and vacant lot signs out there. The large signs must cost a lot more money. Which candidates have the large signs? It is obvious, just look around.

The large signs belong to Andrew Coolidge, Kasey Reynolds and Matt Gallaway. (I do notice that they are often nestled up close to Doug LaMalfa signs.) The small-sign candidates? Rich Ober, Alex Brown and Scott Huber. Those signs are often seen with Audrey Denney signs. Help keep the small-town quality of Chico alive. Please vote.

Robert Zadra

Chico

Public shaming

Good day, I hope this doesn’t sound whiny. It is important to many others besides myself.

The Saturday Chico farmers’ market places its porta-potties inside the three parking spaces reserved for the disabled. This has happened time and again. We who have great pain and difficulty walking have had our designated areas taken from us. At last Saturday’s market, there was a young girl in a wheelchair; I wonder where her father parked the van?

There is sufficient room for the toilets to be to the left or the right, or possibly in a line in a single space. Yet week after week they use all three designated handicapped spaces so that we cannot park. I have kindly spoken to the lady at the farmers’ market desk, but nothing has changed.

Perhaps a public shaming is in order. If that is not effective, note that the $250 fine times three spaces times three Saturdays equals $2,250—this might spark an awareness. Laws exist for those who have bad manners.

Please do the right thing. Thank you.

Gordy Ohliger

Chico

‘Coordinated assault’

The evolving charade of a Supreme Court nominee process continues as I write this. The Senate Judiciary Committee, chaired by 85-year-old Chuck Grassley, is conducting the hearings regarding the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh.

During this process, a claim of sexual battery surfaced; Dr. Christine Blasey Ford alleges that 36 years ago, when she was 15, she was sexually assaulted by the then-17-year-old Kavanaugh. Dr. Ford has asked that the FBI be directed to investigate her accusation.

The committee has asked Dr. Ford to travel to Washington, D.C., for a hearing on this matter. The ground rules set forth are: there will be no FBI investigation, there will be no witnesses called, Dr. Ford will be cross-examined by a female lawyer of the committee’s choosing. This will allow the 11 male Republican senators to hide behind their barrier of misogynist views.

There is no respect or consideration being given to her requests. The coordinated assault on her character has been launched. The accused is now the victim. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has publicly stated that they will “plow through this; Judge Kavanaugh will be on the Supreme Court.” A hearing? This will be a trial in a kangaroo court.

Roger S. Beadle

Chico

Stand by her

Twice in her life she was: Bullied. Wrangled. Forced. Pushed. Gagged. Handled. Used. Smeared. Violated and Dismissed. Thirty-five years ago by young and intoxicated men. In 2018, by old men intoxicated with power and politics.

I could speak about how she had nothing whatsoever to gain by coming forward. I could speak of my own #MeToo experiences, or those of the hundreds of thousands of other victims known and unknown. (Yes, Mr. President, the vast majority of victims never tell.) But, to pull on that thread even an inch exposes the underpinnings of so many things sad, warped and wrong: Those in power—by race, by wealth, by position, by sex or by strength—prey on those they dominate.

Aware of that larger truth, the thing to do today? Stand by a brave, patriotic, fear-facing woman doing the right thing when she so easily might not have. My work is to raise my voice in objection as we appoint an individual to the highest court in the land. A man who will profoundly influence the freedoms and rights of my daughters and granddaughters. With my granddaughters in mind, I cannot quietly stand by. I believe Dr. Christine Blasey Ford.

Jo Anne Vidal

Chico

Double standards

Remember the GOP battle cry during the Clinton years?: “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” We should apply these same standards to the new GOP poster boy, aka Roy Moore 2, or Brett Kavanaugh.

Comrade Trump calls Kavanaugh “one of the finest people I’ve ever known.” Are you at all surprised Trump would sing praises for anyone who allegedly was involved in “sexual misconduct,” when he himself (Trump) bragged on the Access Hollywood audio tapes of sexually assaulting women?

Sen. Orrin Hatch, whose former chief of staff was none other than disgraced alleged wife-abuser Rob Porter, sees “no signs of concern about Kavanaugh’s future.”

Hatch was also first in line to make sure Clinton paid for his improper trysts while in office. Senators like Hatch and Charles Grassley reek with double standards when right-wing judges are involved in SCOTUS justices’ confirmation.

Hypocrisy on display. The fires rage on. Oh, that smell …

Ray Estes

Redding

‘World-class geniuses’

Now that Republicans have suddenly disarmed North Korea, revitalized the economy, permanently preserved the planet and courageously condemned the objectification of women while simultaneously uniting Americans more than ever, I am persuaded to, at long last, finally declare loyalty to a single political party.

The most daunting challenge confronting this remedial mathematician is to calculate precisely the exact depth one must crawl in disgracing his or her family, nation and world before acceptance into this elite base of world-class geniuses.

Kenneth B. Keith

Tehama

Thanks, Bacio

Thank you to Amanda Leveroni. Bacio Catering opened its doors and donated time and delicious food to support Audrey Denney. The event was beautifully done. Chico is fortunate to have business owners like Amanda who know where they stand and participate.

Bobbi Tryon

Chico

Correction

An editing error changed the meaning of a sentence in a letter to the editor published last week (see “Commentary comeback,” by Sherri Quammen). The sentence should have read: “If he had read it or if he could possibly know what 1 in every 4 women in the U.S. experiences being raped in their lifetimes, he might better understand what it would feel like.” We apologize for the error, which has been corrected online. —ed.