Tag: homeless

Bidwell Park struggles with increased use, dry conditions Californians flock to public parks to escape lockdowns, connect with nature

photo by Leslie Layton
This photo was taken in Lower Park, that portion of the park west of Manzanita Avenue, but the total length of the park is about 11 miles.

by Natalie Hanson
posted Nov. 1

The city of Chico winds around one of the largest municipal parks in the country — Bidwell Park. Step off the sidewalk and enter the park, and the city seems to disappear. You’re under a tree canopy, on a street or trail lined with oaks, ferns and sycamores.

Park lovers -— who on most days see dog-walkers, cyclists, runners and skateboarders -– say they fear losing this precious place to climate change, wildfires, littering and human overuse and indifference. Residents and scientists say they want to see city leaders step up to protect the parks to prevent loss to wildfire and climate change -– particularly now that usage has increased. Bidwell, like many of California’s public parks, saw an increase in visitors during the COVID pandemic. read more

Survey designed to build support for sales tax measure produces good response Trust will be a problem for the City of Chico

photo by Leslie Layton
Deadline for returning the “Essential City Services” survey is April 22.

by Leslie Layton
posted April 21

A mailer from the City of Chico with a survey to be returned by April 22 is a piece in a three-phase campaign to win support for a city-wide 1 percent sales tax. The survey asks city residents to rank their spending priorities in order of importance.

Chico is one of about eight “full-service” cities in the state that don’t have a local sales tax; it receives a small portion of state sales tax revenue only. Full-service cities provide public safety and other services. read more

Friends on the Street, confined to a corner, keeps rolling In its 7th year, volunteers peeved but undeterred by fencing around City Plaza

photo by Leslie Layton
Susanne Malloy says the Friends on the Street weekly gatherings help her stay fed – but serve an even more important purpose as well.

by Leslie Layton
posted April 3

Chico’s Patrick Newman and a small cadre of volunteers continue to serve unhoused community members coffee and donuts every Sunday — seven years after the project began — gathering quietly on the southeast corner of the fenced-off City Plaza in downtown Chico.

Some five months after the City fenced off City Plaza to erect a wintertime ice rink, the fence remains even though the rink has been dismantled. Still, Friends on the Street serves coffee, donuts, sandwiches and cheese sticks to several dozen unhoused community members, gathering outside the chain link fence. Newman says Friends ran through $50,000 in cash donations in six years. read more

Settlement ends lawsuit against City of Chico Vice mayor makes 11th-hour bid to postpone settlement

photo by Karen Laslo
Evicted campers leave their site after a sweep.

by Leslie Layton / commentary
posted Jan. 15

A settlement agreement in the lawsuit related to the city’s treatment of unhoused people, signed Friday by a federal judge, could end the spectacle of chaotic mass evictions that stranded campers who had nowhere to go.

Early last year, a newly-installed City Council began a series of sweeps in parks, near waterways and on patches of grass on public land.

Journalists watched as workers came in atop tractors, rumbling through encampments where displaced people had pitched tents and had failed to move their few belongings to who knows where – until we weren’t allowed to watch. read more

Emergency shelter program shuts down Unexplained closure moves some people to the streets

photo by Leslie Layton
ChicoSol’s editor was greeted by a True North staffer and a security guard.

by Leslie Layton
posted Nov. 30, 2021

A Chico nonprofit shut down an emergency hotel-based shelter program today, and this reporter was told to leave the property at Town House Motel where residents had been staying.

The program, funded by the CARES Act, placed unhoused people at high risk for COVID or COVID-related complications in motels and hotels. The shelter program was expected to stay in place until the end of January 2022, but was ended Nov. 30 after participants were given two weeks notice. read more

Grass-roots activism rescues some Comanche residents Homeless encampments flooded; many have nowhere to go

photo by Chris Nelson
Activist Chris Nelson found Teichert’s rising pond water seeping into tents and the path out flooded.

by Leslie Layton

The winter sheltering organization Safe Space jumped into high gear today as a ferocious early storm flooded homeless encampments. But Safe Space said it was only able to shelter 35 of the hundreds of unhoused people living in encampments.

Siana Sonoquie, a Safe Space board member, said she was contacted early today by an unhoused resident of the Comanche Creek encampment who reported that the area was flooding, tree limbs were falling down and one person was missing. “We started looking for a church,” Sonoquie said. “We’re used to doing this now and have a pretty quick system, with protocols in place and a lot of practice.” read more