Tag: Legal Services

Plaintiffs respond to City as it tries to extricate itself from Warren

Councilmember Winslow calls for more transparency
by Leslie Layton | Posted August 7, 2024

photo by Manuel Ortiz, EMS
A resident of the Alternate Site, which the City was required to set up under the Settlement Agreement.

The legal aid agency representing plaintiffs in the Warren v. Chico lawsuit has indicated it will re-negotiate the Settlement Agreement that dictates how the City must approach homelessness.

But Legal Services of Northern California (LSNC) does not seem ready to give up one requirement: That the City show there are shelter beds available prior to evicting the unhoused from public spaces.

The City Council has discussed re-negotiations in closed sessions that were held July 9 and 16 and Aug. 6, releasing information when and as it chooses. The LSNC response letter was released today by dissenting Councilmember Addison Winslow, who noted that it’s a public document that may soon be released by the City. read more

Settlement ends lawsuit against City of Chico

Vice mayor makes 11th-hour bid to postpone settlement
by Leslie Layton | Posted January 16, 2022

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

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.

I remember the woman standing outside her tent under the Highway 99 overpass in Lower Bidwell Park, barefoot, politely putting up with my interview, who then asked me if there was any way I could get her a new pair of socks. read more

Civil rights action: Chico homeless caught in ‘web of ordinances’

Lawsuit stops sweeps momentarily
by Leslie Layton | Posted April 22, 2021

photo by Karen Laslo
Activist Emily Alma holds up a “Justice Prevails” sign at the Comanche Creek Greenway April 12 after a federal judge grants a temporary restraining order, pausing evictions of unhoused campers.

Bobby Warren knows something about the crime of homelessness.

His court docket is a litany of supposed missteps, with various charges related to Chico ordinances. According to court records, he’s been caught in Depot Park when it was officially closed, stored belongings near a Chico creek, been cited for illegal camping — all examples of ways you might violate city code if you’re wandering unmoored, without an address, job or helpful relative.

Warren also must know something about misfortune: He lost his home after a divorce and cancer diagnosis. He has been fined around $2,000 for code violations, fines that came down after notices addressed to Warren were returned to the court (he sleeps outside!). The “Failure to Appear” entries mount up quickly, the docket shows. read more