Community Archives - Page 21 of 47

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

Medical experts warn against complacency as new COVID variant appears Counties like Butte most at risk for a surge

Enloe Medical Center Chief Medical Officer Marcia Nelson

by Natalie Hanson
posted April 16

Public health experts are urging people to stay vigilant and get vaccination boosters as the new COVID-19 variant BA.2 becomes the dominant strain of coronavirus.

Experts worry that as the new variant spreads, in counties like Butte where vaccination rates and community masking are low, communities will be particularly vulnerable. read more

Final steps underway for pallet shelter site Advocates: Management style may affect outcomes

by Natalie Hanson
posted April 4

The city’s court-ordered pallet shelter project is close to completion, and advocates for unhoused people are hopeful but cautious about its chance for success.

The proposed code of conduct and the operating standards for the site are now being finalized. The city, plaintiffs and the judge must agree on these standards in order to finalize insurance and open the site on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Parkway, said Jesus Center Executive Director Amber Abney-Bass. 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

Waddell honored with Freedom of Information Award SPJ NorCal comments on ChicoSol stories

photo courtesy of Jason Halley

Dave Waddell

by Leslie Layton
posted March 16

ChicoSol contributor Dave Waddell was honored today – on Freedom of Information Day – as a “transparency champion” for work that accessed public records related to three killings involving the Chico Police Department.

Waddell received the Freedom of Information Award in the small Print and Digital division for ChicoSol stories on the killings of Desmond Phillips, Tyler Rushing and Stephen Vest. The 37th annual James Madison Freedom of Information competition awards were presented today by the Society of Professional Journalists Northern California (SPJ) chapter. read more

Lawsuit alleges violations of public records laws Writer sues City of Chico for access to documents on police killings

photo by Karen Waddell

Writer Dave Waddell shows blacked-out pages that were sent him as part of an autopsy report. His attorney alleges “excessive” redacting.

by Leslie Layton
posted Feb. 23, 2022

The City of Chico may have lost or destroyed public records related to police killings, and has stonewalled for more than a year in response to record requests, says a lawsuit filed Feb. 18 against the City.

A lawsuit filed by ChicoSol contributing writer Dave Waddell in Butte County Superior Court says the City is in violation of the California Public Records Act because of its continual “withholding of records” as well as its “excessive redactions” in those records that have been released. read more