Odds and ends

I don’t know about anyone else, but I’m still recovering from the whiplash I suffered when someone first told me Brian Nakamura was leaving Chico. I fully expected letters from members of the community who saw this one coming. Several people called it from the start, but I remained open-minded. Maybe I’m not as cynical as I thought.

And then there’s the fact that Nakamura’s going to Rancho Cordova. Yikes. Let me repeat that. He’s leaving Chico for Rancho Cordova. I know of what I speak. I lived in a neighboring town and then two towns over for several years, beginning in my late teens. Back then, the place wasn’t incorporated. The area was home to corporate offices, highway-fronted businesses and janky strip malls, and some run-down neighborhoods. No quaint downtown. No amazing green space. No bustling arts community. Not much of anything that would make a suburb of Sacramento a nice place to live and work.

So, what’s the draw? Well, there’s more money. Nakamura’s starting salary: $231,000. That’s $14,000 more than he made here. Rancho Cordova’s finances are solid, so he won’t need to wield an ax. And he’ll have less responsibility, as the city government and the population are quite a bit smaller than Chico’s. A recent Sac Bee story quotes Rancho Cordova’s vice mayor as saying the hiring process, which included a national search, was a long one. The former city manager retired back in February. Considering Nakamura came to Chico less than two years ago, it seems like it didn’t take him long to decide to start looking for the next best thing—although best is subjective.

Oh, and Nakamura likely won’t be under the watchful eyes of an extremely engaged citizenry and multiple reporters and editors. Rancho Cordova doesn’t exactly have a robust newspaper industry. That aforementioned Bee story, from June 2, wasn’t in the print version of that paper. At least not in the version that came to my office.

I’ll say one thing for Nakamura and his reign in Chico. He’s sure given the CN&R a lot to write about.

In non-Nakamura news, last weekend CN&R columnist Toni Scott married her longtime boyfriend, former Chico Enterprise-Record sports reporter Nick Wilson. I couldn’t make it to the out-of-town nuptials, but judging from the pictures I’ve spied on Facebook, the ceremony looks like it was pretty epic. I couldn’t be happier for them. I’ve known Toni for several years. She started her journalism career as an intern with CN&R, before finishing grad school and eventually taking a job at the Chico E-R. The couple met in the newsroom and I’d venture a guess that was the highlight of their time there.

Speaking of interns, two new names are in our staff box. Ashiah Scharaga comes to us from Chico State, where she’s studying journalism. She’ll be arts editor of The Orion, the student newspaper, next fall. Jonathan Line comes to us from Butte College by way of Canada. He’s studying both journalism and history. And we are happy to welcome back Katherine Green, a Butte College student who’s joining us for the third time. Keep an eye out for their bylines.