Reader`s view - Chico Enterprise

Transcription

W
elcome to the Enterprise-Record’s 2007
Outlook edition. This is the one time
each year when we get out of the way.
We let people who have something to
say communicate directly with our readers, unfiltered by reporters and editors who have to decide
what is and isn’t important.
There are experts and pundits represented here as
well as common folks. And then there are the second and third graders, whose perspective will
delight you.
The first two sections of Outlook have articles on
three changes people would make to improve the
community, with a few focused on more specific
elements, like changes that would make housing
more affordable.
The next two sections have updates on various
projects and initiatives now under way in Butte and
Glenn counties, written by the movers and shakers
in each case.
Then comes a section dedicated to sustainablity
— the new buzz word — and other environmental
issues.
And finally, we return to the three-changes concept, with a selection of writers talking about
changes that would help you improve your life.
Scattered throughout are offerings from the general public, who responded to an invitation we
printed in the paper, inviting them to make three
wishes for things they’d change to improve the
community.
We hope you enjoy the selections that follow.
2AA Tuesday, February 27, 2007
ENVISIONING OUR FUTURE
Enterprise-Record
Jason Halley/Enterprise-Record
A view of California Park, a large housing development in eastern Chico, from the North Rim in upper Bidwell Park.
Chico
It’s the people. It’s the neighborhoods. It’s the place.
By GREG JONES
LABELS VERSUS VALUES (THE PEOPLE)
C
One thing I have found perplexing is the
need and/or desire to label individual political
motivations. What purpose this serves beyond
polarization I am not sure, but it certainly limits
the debate from the outset in terms of possibilities. Labeling, be it political or otherwise, is
always destructive and never productive.
Values are another matter. Communicating
around values and understanding where those
values intersect create healthy debate and
expand the conversation to possible multiple
solutions.
To improve the public discourse on the community’s most pressing issues requires a discussion around values. People quickly rally around
values discussions and can see the interconnections between them much more rapidly when
those shared values are the centerpiece of the
debate.
Rather than rushing to solutions based on
political convenience, evaluating the values
being addressed and then debating the merits
hico is such a unique and wonderful
community. It’s the people. It’s the
neighborhoods. It’s the place. They
all work together to make our community a jewel, a somewhat-well-kept secret
to those beyond the northern Central Valley.
As a relative newcomer (meaning I’ve been
here something less than 20 years or so), I
have a fresh respect for what Chico is, and
what pitfalls have been avoided, to make it
unlike so many other places. The movement
between the three legs of the tripod that
keeps Chico balanced and energized, ebbs
and flows due to each of the legs’ strength as
well as the tension between them.
So, when asked “what are three things that
would make Chico an even better place” I
look to various aspects of these three elements for an answer.
of various solutions from that perspective, will
serve the community at large very effectively.
Moving toward consensus on values and
then pressing forward with a vision will have
positive impact on the future.
CONNECTIONS (THE NEIGHBORHOODS)
More than anything, having a sense of connectedness creates a sense of community. The
isolation of long commutes, anonymous neighbors, not living in the community in which you
work (or not working in the community in
which you live), all create the symptoms of
community deterioration.
We in Chico are blessed to have a strong
sense of connectedness, both civically and within our neighborhoods, but we can do better.
Accountability for reaching a communitywide
vision rests with ourselves and our neighbors.
It all starts in our neighborhoods, the first
level of the many layers of what builds a community.
The City Council recently approved the creation of a Housing and Neighborhood Services
Department within the city. This department is
going to be focused on creating partnerships
between the city’s resources and the neighborhoods served, as well as between neighborhoods and other community resources.
This small department of dedicated people
can only be the kernel of a larger effort, one
dominated by the energy and passion of you
and your neighbors to see positive change in
your smaller community that then spills into
the larger community as an example of what is
possible.
The direct and personal engagement of you
and your neighbors in tackling the issues of
concern in your neighborhood are essential to
maintain and enhance the quality of life for all
Chicoans. Let’s also not forget our neighbors in
the university, Butte College, and other institutions so crucial to our quality of life.
Chico City manager Greg
Jones, 44, has lived in Chico
since 2004, serving as assistant city manager before taking his current position 14
months ago.
Jones
INFRASTRUCTURE (THE PLACE)
Roads. Parks. Open space. Public safety.
Drainage. Stormwater management. Sewers.
Bike lanes. Trees. These are the elements of
infrastructure that combine in place making.
These “basics” create a place that is livable and
desirable, yet are often taken for granted.
The city has a great deal of work to do to
maintain our present infrastructure as well as
planning for the future. Currently, we are in a
reactionary mode in terms of infrastructure
maintenance, with resources being committed
to the most obvious cases of needed repair and
restoration.
The City Council has adopted a 10-year
financial plan that begins looking at longer-term
resource needs compared to projected available
resources. A 10-year capital improvement program will be presented this year to provide an
even clearer picture of our capital investment
needs.
These are first steps in ensuring The Place
stays healthy for us, as well as for those that follow.
We as a community are going to need to look
at alternative ways of managing and financing
See JONES, 3AA
Enterprise-Record
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
3AA
Bill Husa/Enterprise-Record
One of Chico’s newer neighborhoods based on the “new urbanism” development concept — Doe Mill in eastern Chico.
JONES
From 2AA
our infrastructure-maintenance
needs, or costs will continue to
rise due to lack of investment.
Sustaining a vital infrastructure
is critical. Tough decisions face
the community on how best to
maintain what we have.
Infrastructure is also essential to attracting and retaining
economic drivers in the community. Without healthy infrastructure, our ability to maintain a vibrant business environment will diminish.
Without a healthy and strong
business environment, our
standard of living and ability to
support essential elements of
The Place will deteriorate.
Continued attention to these
three elements will strengthen
our community. The city can
serve as a catalyst to these
efforts, but the success rests
with each of us. Local government holds a unique place in
supporting these endeavors as
the center of collective decision
making on these areas and
more, but first it would be useful to look at ourselves and
how we are contributing to the
future vitality of Chico.
ABOVE: Home building in 2006 slowed a bit as the market cooled.
LEFT: Construction of DeGarmo Park in north Chico continued
throughout most of 2006.
Enterprise-Record
Off the
beaten path
Chico needs
to build on
its strengths
By DAVE KELLEY
Chico is a terrific place to
live because it is off the beaten
path. The east is flanked by
mountains, while orchards surround the other three sides.
Insulated, not isolated, in natural beauty.
Add the cultural influence of
Chico State University, the
growing artist community and
the exceptional performing arts
and musical venues to the mix,
and Chico becomes an
extremely desirable place to be.
Changes to Chico should
build on our existing strengths
in order to maintain the quality
of life we now have. My recommendations are drawn from
my personal experience living
in other United States cities.
Portland, Ore., has a fantastic public park system that
encompasses more than 10,000
acres of land in 250 locations. It
includes Forest Park, the 14th
largest municipally-owned
park. Wherever you are, there
is a park nearby. Best of all,
they are usable and not locked
up.
Chico has Bidwell Park, the
18th largest municipal park,
but it definitely lacks in neighborhood parks — specifically,
parks that are within walking
distance of our residential
areas. So, change No. 1 is to
build more public parks.
It has been said that Kansas
Dave Kelley, a Chico resident
and Chico planning commissioner, is an architect with
Nichols, Melburg & Rosetto.
City, Mo., has more fountains
than Rome. The majority of the
fountains are really public
sculptures with water features.
The public sculpture and public art that decorates Kansas
City adds a dignified presence
to the urban fabric.
Chico needs more public art.
Chico has numerous great local
artists and many more that
want to move here if they
could only afford to set up
shop. Change No. 2 is to promote local artists and fund
more public art.
So how do more public art
and public parks get financed?
Change No. 3 is to promote
tourism. I grew up in western
South Dakota next to the Black
Hills, home to Mount Rushmore or the “four faces.” More
than 2 million people visit
Mount Rushmore each year.
That sheer volume of cars and
travel trailers would be overwhelming, but a fraction of
that amount is economically
beneficial.
Chico should market the
100-mile Wildflower Century
bike ride, the art scene and all
the outdoor activities in our
surrounding natural beauty.
The beauty of tourism is that
the economic base grows without having more people move
in permanently. So, with
tourism we get to improve our
quality of life without sacrificing the attributes that make
Chico special.
A woman sits peacefully on a
bench at One-Mile Recreation
Area in Bidwell Park, enjoying
the sunny February weather.
Participants in the annual
spring Wildflower Century ride
along Table Mountain in April
2006.
Ty Barbour/Enterprise-Record
Reader’s view
Three changes to improve our community
Localized commerce is a concept that
revolves around distance and geography.
Localized commerce includes product
origination and the destination of profits.
Peppers are a great example. Many of
the peppers eaten in our community were
grown in the Central Valley, but they could
have been grown in the north valley.
Some of the small, fancy, colorful peppers
in Trader Joe’s are shipped in from Holland.
Transporting peppers from Holland
consumes precious fossil fuels and
increases carbon dioxide emissions. The
peppers grown in Hamilton City and sold
at the farmers’ market are not only better
for our environment, but also better for our
economy. The profits that come from selling peppers stay in our community, where
the money can be reinvested in the local
economy.
Shoppers in our community should
embrace a preference for locally produced products when feasible and possi-
ble. We should eat more almonds than
peanuts. We should drink more Pale Ale
than Budweiser.
Tax incentives should be created for
locally owned businesses whenever politically feasible.
INCREASE
NEIGHBORHOOD
RETAIL STORES AND SERVICES
We need more neighborhood retail
stores and services. This allows us to
reduce traffic, fuel consumption and emissions. If we could walk or bicycle to more
retail stores and services, we’d be more
physically fit.
The university district of Chico is a fractional example of this because residents
can walk to purchase alcoholic beverages
and convenience food. But we need zoning changes and tax incentives for businesses to open small retail stores in our
neighborhoods that offer a more extensive line of services and groceries.
EMBRACE MODERATION
Our community needs to embrace
moderation. When we read things in our
local newspaper, we shouldn’t totally
embrace or wholeheartedly reject ideas
or positions.
The concept of localized commerce, for
example, is not absolute and should not
be taken to an extreme. Our community
proudly provides products to national and
international markets such as our locally
grown nuts and rice (along with locally
brewed beer). We should not try to drive
Wal-Mart or Trader Joe’s out of town. We
should shop there when we have distinct
needs that can only be met by those
retailers.
Our local leaders in government, education and the private sector should try
harder to accept differences and advocate more gingerly.
Matt York
Editor/Publisher
Videomaker Magazine
Enterprise-Record
5AA
Philanthropy, entrepreneurship and youth
By DAN NGUYEN-TAN
My three wishes to improve
our region’s civic and economic
vitality are related to philanthropy, entrepreneurship, and
youth.
STRENGTHENING OUR
COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
My first wish is that when
people think of philanthropy
in the region, North Valley
Community Foundation
(NVCF) is the first resource
they consider.
As one of more than 700
community foundations in the
country, NVCF serves Butte,
Glenn, and Tehama counties.
Community foundations
serve as vehicles for donors to
give. They help nonprofits
build endowments to provide
a sustainable income stream to
support their services.
Nonprofits with endowments at NVCF include ARC
of Butte County, Girl Scouts of
Sierra Cascade, Chico Creek
Nature Center, Chico Community Shelter Partnership, Sunshine Kids Club, and many
others.
We are a very giving community — both large benefactors and small donors.
My wish is that these
donors consider their community foundation for their
planned giving to maximize
their philanthropic impact now
and beyond their own lifetime.
What better way to leave
your legacy and change our
community for the better than
to help worthy nonprofits?
Right now, NVCF has $3.6
million in assets and has given
$400,000 in grants. I’d like to
see NVCF’s assets grow to $50
million within 10 years.
I wish several major benefactors will make substantial
challenge gifts to call on the
community to match their gifts
with the purpose of strengthening our community foundation and the nonprofits it
serves.
A strong community foundation with significant
resources can play a significant
role in positively shaping our
civic life for future generations.
ABOVE: The North Valley Community Foundation helps support
the Chico Community Shelter Partnership, which operates the
Torres Community Shelter.
LEFT: The Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is one of Chico’s success
stories.
Dan Nguyen-Tan is a recovering Chico city
councilor. He graduated from Chico’s public
schools, Whitman College, and with a master’s
degree from a no-name East Coast university
with a staggering $29 billion endowment. Dan
helped co-found Golden Capital Network and
has previously been involved with NVCF and
Big Brothers Big Sisters. Dan also writes about
local matadors on his Bullfight blog at www.norcalblogs.com/bullfight.
Nguyen-Tan
BUILDING ENTREPRENEURIAL
SUCCESSES
My second wish is that we
see an increase in entrepreneurial success stories in the
region.
We’ve got many incredible
small businesses in our downtowns and throughout the
region. And we’ve got a few
success stories of local companies, such as Sierra Nevada
Brewing Co., that have scaled
beyond our highest expectations.
Locally owned businesses
are important. But locally
owned business acquired by
larger companies at high valuations can generate significant
wealth for founders, investors
and employees beyond just
creating jobs and income.
In many cases, some of the
wealth generated by a highvalued business sale is redi-
rected back in a community to
support other start-up companies or philanthropic causes.
And there’s no better incentive for other entrepreneurs to
start and grow companies
locally than to witness the success of other local entrepreneurs.
Hewlett-Packard helped
seed other entrepreneurial success stories in Silicon Valley.
Micron made an enormous
impact to the economic fabric
of Boise, Idaho. QUALCOMM
spurred a wireless revolution
in the San Diego region.
I wish that several of our
promising companies selling
products and services outside
the region, such as ImprovementDirect, Digitalpath Networks, or others just getting
started, will achieve success
beyond our wildest imagination.
Entrepreneurship is fraught
with failure. Many business
don’t succeed.
But when they do succeed,
they can generate wealth back
to a community and catalyze a
region’s economic vitality.
I believe a few significant
entrepreneurial success stories
can ignite a region’s economic
direction.
They can inspire other entrepreneurs to dream big with
hopes of replicating more success.
MAKING A DIFFERENCE ONE
CHILD AT A TIME
My last wish is that every
child on the waiting list at Big
Brothers Big Sisters is matched
with a responsible, adult mentor.
There are hundreds of youth
in our region who are waiting
to be matched with a volunteer. Many of them are boys
with single mothers.
We know that children with
positive adult role models are
more likely to succeed in
school and in life. Communities that neglect their youth
suffer significant societal consequences.
A “Big” mentor makes a
commitment to spend time
with their “Little” two to four
times a month.
Imagine if hundreds of new
“Bigs” decided that when they
shoot basketball, go hiking,
watch movies, or participate in
any of their everyday recreational activities, they invited a
youth to accompany them to
show them that adults do care
about their futures.
As the Big Brothers Big Sis-
ters saying goes, “you don’t
have to change your life to
change his or hers.”
I know the difference volunteers like Jack Coots, Charles
Turner and hundreds of other
mentors have made in the lives
of youth in our communities.
And their lives have changed
for the better too.
Will you join them in making this wish move closer to
reality? Every child who wants
an adult mentor deserves to
move off the Big Brothers Big
Sisters waiting list to be
matched by you, your friends,
and colleagues.
Fulfilling this wish would
make a profound impact in
these children’s lives now and
will have a ripple effect of
making our community a better place for many years to
come.
Enterprise-Record
Stronger economy would make Chico better
Construction in
August 2006 of
Kohl’s department store on
Springfield Drive
added
another retail
clothing store to
Chico’s mix.
By MARTHA WESCOAT-ANDES
When asked “What three
changes would attract businesses to Chico,” you can’t
help but wonder what the bigger question is. I think the bigger question is: How can we
strengthen the Chico economy?
In assessing the economic
environment in Chico I have
interviewed more than 70 leaders in business, education, and
government about their vision
of economic prosperity for
Chico, what they see as
Chico’s assets and obstacles,
and what they would like the
role of local government to be
in economic development.
These interviews reveal a
consensus. People appreciate
Chico and quickly list its
assets: location, nature, recreation, the university, culture,
arts, heritage, community and
friendliness. People choose to
live here, and want to preserve
Chico’s uniqueness.
However, people share a
concern for Chico’s economy.
You hear it in the lament: “If
only there were jobs …”
The prosperity people are
looking for includes:
• More professional, higher
paying career paths
• More opportunities for
young and middle aged people
to work and live here
• More opportunities for
graduates to find challenging
work
• A stronger middle class
with prosperity enjoyed by a
larger portion of the population
• A more diverse industry
base
• Access to a skilled work
force;
• Less risk for businesses to
operate from Chico
• More ease in growing
business from Chico
People want to raise the
level of opportunity in Chico
Ty Barbour
Enterprise-Record
Martha Wescoat-Andes joined the city government in July as the
economic development/redevelopment manager. Before that she
worked as the vice president for administration at Butte College
for 13 years. She was instrumental in creation and implementation
of a $85 million financial and capital package, which built a permanent presence in Chico and is completing the main campus.
Her educational background is a bachelor’s degree from Smith
College in government, and an master’s in business administration from Columbia University in strategic planning.
for individuals and businesses
while still maintaining its character. People want Chico to be
a destination place to live, play
and work. This consensus of
appreciation and concern
yields a theme of “preserve
and prosper.”
Opportunities for young
and middle-aged professionals
are critical to Chico’s character.
The future of Chico’s businesses relies on attracting this
demographic. It provides the
bridge between the large college and the growing retiree
populations. The fact that K-12
enrollment has been declining
is a signal that this demographic needs attention.
THE FIRST STEP
So how do we strengthen
Chico’s economy?
First, we understand Chico
as an economic place — its
assets, values, and obstacles —
and then identify what industries are best suited to Chico’s
strengths.
What businesses can import
new dollars and export product from Chico, are in a growth
mode, and are a good fit for
Chico? These businesses will
give the community the largest
return on investment, i.e.:
quality jobs with higher wages,
taxes for public services, and
new revenue to the community.
The way we find out about
Chico as a place of business is
to ask Chico businesses with
national markets what makes
them successful here and what
would help them to grow their
markets?
Then our best strategy is to
help them achieve market
growth. We want Chico to be
the place where they can continue to thrive. They are
already heavily invested in
Chico, and are in the best position to expand.
The greatest draw for business is seeing existing businesses thrive.
The way to help businesses
thrive in Chico is to coalesce a
vision and strategy for the
Chico economy, and then collaborate to provide the assistance most needed by business.
A vision and strategy for
Chico’s economy will coordinate the efforts of education,
government and service
providers around the needs of
business. This is the first step
in creating a responsive business assistance framework.
DETERMINING THE NEEDS
Understanding the needs of
business is the next step. Businesses must have their needs
for workforce, capital, land,
space, transportation, research,
quality of life, etc., addressed
to invest in a community.
A main issue facing Chico
businesses is talent: the development, recruitment and retention of skilled people.
This is a nationwide trend.
How do we grow, recruit and
retain the talent that Chico
businesses need? This is a high
priority for collaboration. We
are extremely fortunate to have
the key components of workforce preparation (a four-year
university, a community college and a K-12 system) in our
backyard.
Another area for collaboration is creating an innovative,
entrepreneurial environment
that can foster more start-up
companies. Chico has many
innovative businesses that
have started here and grown to
be worldwide. We want more
of these successful, Chicobased enterprises.
Recently the city hosted a
meeting with 33 leaders
involved in education and economic development in Chico.
Chico has significant resources
and expertise devoted to business assistance. We talked
about the need for a unifying
vision to align our efforts and
a strategy to set our priorities
to assist business.
The city has made a commitment to coordinating this
collaboration.
WORKING TOWARD THE
GOAL
Thirdly, the city will work to
align public policy, strategy,
and implementation of services with the vision of prosperity for Chico.
As a public entity our role in
economic development is to
assist in creating the conditions
in which private investment
can occur. We impact this daily
in decisions related to land
use, building, infrastructure,
transportation, regulatory
process, redevelopment, etc.
Through the interviews people asked us to look at ways
to:
• Provide readiness to
respond to good-fit private
investment
• Optimize developed,
underutilized land and built
space
• Ensure adequate supply of
land and space
• Optimize our connectivity
to the outside world through
air, technology, rail
• Optimize infrastructure to
existing business locations
• Streamline the permitting
process and increase predictability
• Recognize “time is
money” for business in decision-making
• Evaluate disincentives to
private investment
• Optimize the economic
value of projects, i.e.: the community’s return on investment
in quality jobs, taxes, and new
revenue
• Optimize RDA dollars to
eliminate blight and spur private investment where it
would otherwise not occur
• Increase the accountability
of what we fund and articulate
the value added
• Leverage local funds to
secure more state and federal
dollars
• Assist in work force housing
• Maintain the value of
Chico’s assets and the livability of the place
People want alignment
around a policy-level vision
for prosperity, a strategy to get
there, and a commitment to
implement for results. Economic development is a longterm, strategic investment in a
place.
The city of Chico is committed to working with others to
coalesce a vision for Chico as a
place, define a strategy around
Chico’s strengths, implement
an action plan, and coordinate
city services to help the Chico
economy.
Enterprise-Record
Affordable housing for Chico
Three changes
to make local
housing more
affordable
Three keys to
the American
dream of home
ownership
By JON LUVAAS
By DAN HERBERT
Housing costs in Chico (and
all over California) have
always been tough for anyone
with below average income.
But today, home ownership
and renting imposes a heavy
burden on our middle-income
work force, first-time home
buyers, and many retirees.
Struggling to afford payments
often means sacrificing medical needs, a healthy diet,
recreation and family time.
These growing pains are hurting many of our children and
neighbors.
Chico housing costs are a
symptom of larger problems,
like the canary in the mine. For
me, understanding solutions
comes only after I fully understand the problem. Given the
magnitude of the interrelated
problems I’ll examine here, I
think that resolving our community’s housing problems
will require major changes in
the way we grow and build,
and eventually in the way we
live. That’s a lot to ask, so let
me explain why.
For most of Chico’s history,
its housing market was typical
of most California valley communities, free from the volatile
swings of urban California.
Home ownership was within
reach of the average Chico
working family.
In the recent past, the political climate has changed and
Chico now finds itself ranked
as one of the least affordable
housing markets in the nation
(in relation to average wages).
Today, when we speak of
new housing developments in
Chico, it is typically synonymous with government subsidized housing. In fact, the three
major Chico housing projects
currently under construction
are just that, low-income housing projects subsidized by taxpayers.
How do we make traditional
home ownership in Chico
attainable once again? Three
ideas come to my mind that if
applied in a balanced manner
would go a long way to providing more affordable housing
in Chico. They are availability,
accessibility and sustainability.
Availability of land (simple
supply-side economics) always
factors into the housing equation. If you are going to take
land off the market, then the
land that remains available is
going to increase in price as
will the housing built on this
more expensive land. The cost
of bare land in Chico has
increased 300 percent since
2003 from $100,000 per acre to
$300,000 per acre today.
Chico’s available building
land has, for the past 20 years,
and with increasing frequency
been constrained by the green
line, Butte County meadowfoam, fairy shrimp, vernal
pools and even the recently
proposed “gold line.” Construction of housing is now
limited to high-density infill
Photos by Jason Halley
Enterprise-Record
ABOVE: Homes were under
construction in June 2006 in a
new subdivision along
Ceanothus Avenue.
WORSENING PROBLEMS;
WRONG SOLUTION
I must begin by debunking
the notion that opening more
“growth areas” in the open
spaces around us will bring
down home prices by supplying more homes. This proposition fails for a number of reasons. First, hundreds of undeveloped acres within the urban
area are designated for growth,
but their owners aren’t building yet because it would flood
the market, make their homes
harder to sell and drive down
home prices. Lower prices are
bad for business.
Second, allowing suburban
sprawl to continue into the
foothills, wetlands, orchards
and ranch lands would only
provide more of the same —
homes affordable only to those
with above-average incomes or
who have a home equity to
sell. More of the same housing
solves nothing, while destroying the best of our surroundings.
There are three main reasons
RIGHT: Completed homes on
Arch Way were being
sold in June 2006.
Jon Luvaas, 63, is a 33-year
Chico resident who recently
retired from
his profession as a
land
use
planning
attorney and
conflict
m e d i a t o r.
Luvaas is in
his second
term as a
Luvaas
Chico planning commissioner and currently
chairs the commission.
for high home prices in Chico:
1) Prices are high all over California. 2) People want to live
here. 3) Homes aren’t being
built for average Chicoans.
More sprawl won’t fix any
of that.
Suburban sprawl ruins communities and their natural
resources. It’s the primary
cause of traffic, separating people from work, shopping and
schools, making us travel farther, slower. It forces kids off
bikes, into cars, aggravating
the obesity epidemic. All that
extra driving worsens the air
pollution that’s intensifying
heart disease and childhood
asthma and quickly exhausting
the world’s oil supply. And the
energy demands of sprawl are
America’s most significant
contributor to the emerging climate crisis, which already
jeopardizes countless species
and threatens the future of
agriculture and humanity.
Housing, farmland, wetlands, air, water, timber, oil,
our health and our climate are
all showing their limits. Some
of the early warning signs
have been around for decades,
but now the opportunities and
solutions are clear as well.
THREE STEPS TO
AFFORDABLE HOUSING
Solving today’s interconnected catastrophes requires
interconnected, holistic solu-
tions. Providing affordable
housing in Chico is inextricably linked to resolving our
habit of sprawl, our over
reliance on cars (being so
spread out), our air pollution
and health issues, childhood
obesity and asthma, and our
local role in the energy and climate crisis. As Buckminster
Fuller said back in the 70s, “It’s
all hitched together.”
Any living entity, business
or community can “live long
and prosper” only by using its
available resources wisely,
with great care for the near
and long-term future. Watch
for the early warning signs.
I believe our first step is to
stop wasting land to sprawl by
creating an urban growth
boundary — a gold line
extending from the agricultural green line on the west
around the rest of town. Chico
won’t need to occupy more
territory if we start growing
See LUVAAS,11AA
See HERBERT, 11AA
Dan Herbert is the president
of Sheraton Real Estate Management
and is the
f o r m e r
mayor
of
the city of
Chico. He
has lived in
Chico since
1973 when
he arrived
to attend
Herbert
Chico State
University.
He and his wife Kathy have
been married 28 years and
have three grown children.
Enterprise-Record
LUVAAS
HERBERT
From 10AA
From 10AA
more efficiently.
The second step is to promote more compact and
efficient development within the urban area. Since it’s
already served by streets and sewers, this makes better
use of existing infrastructure and reduces land and
construction costs per residence. There’s room for
many thousands of residences, if the city removes outdated obstacles and develops high quality design standards to assure neighborhood compatibility.
Opportunities exist throughout Chico to create
urban villages (think Longfellow) with a tasteful mix
of neighborhood shopping, recreation, offices, and
affordable, compact residences, conveniently served by
public transit. Many people who can afford a suburban home would prefer an urban village lifestyle
where walking reduces auto dependency, but village
homes aren’t being built.
Building up downtown will create convenient housing in all price ranges, stimulating the downtown
economy and rich recreational, cultural and shopping
opportunities. Many professionals, retail workers,
retirees and others are eager for downtown housing,
with less maintenance and where a car will be a seldom-needed luxury.
Underdeveloped, blighted areas like Park Avenue,
north Esplanade, Mangrove to Cohasset, Walnut-Highway 32, and several declining low-rise apartment areas
offer tremendous opportunities for mixed-use development in a redesigned, walkable environment integrating homes, shopping, jobs, parks and transit.
Third, create incentives and requirements for a
much greater housing mix in new development.
Most homes built today reflect the 1950s reality that
75 percent of households were families and 75 percent
of all homes were owner-occupied. But today, less than
50 percent of households are families, and nearly half
of them have no children at home. With lower-occupancy larger houses, ownership has crashed to only 35
percent. We must provide a greater housing choice.
Many couples and singles (the vast majority now)
want more interesting, compact home models with less
maintenance, including attached homes and townhouses. But most new homes are still built for families
with kids, including postage-stamp yards to cut costs
and without neighborhood recreation. Few are well
served by this outdated model.
Family homes and large unaffordable urban “equity
refugee” models aren’t enough. To shift toward a more
affordable, more appealing housing choice, many California cities have adopted what planners call “inclusionary zoning.” By adopting it in Chico, we can get a
true housing choice and a significant percentage of
below-market work force and lower income homes.
It’s time.
Oil shortages and global warming are forcing us to
pay attention. World scientific consensus gives us only
10 years to turn this around. If we’re willing, we will.
projects within the core of the
city, creating gridlock on already
impacted streets. Thousands of
acres in all directions of Chico
that are no more than lava cap
and weeds have been designated
“protected.” These nonagricultural areas are no longer available for well-designed streets
which would be capable of
relieving existing overburdened
roadways. These areas are now
lost to what could be well
planned neighborhoods with
parks, schools and affordable
housing.
People who would typically
live in Chico are forced to look
to neighboring communities
such as Orland and Gridley
where housing prices are typically half that of similar homes in
Chico. Ironically, these outlying
communities are removing
prime agricultural land to meet
the regions housing needs. So
while Chico protects its “green
line,” its no-growth policies are
removing much more agricultural land from our county and the
region at large.
Had families been able to
afford to purchase homes in
Chico where many of them
work, they would have avoided
pollution-creating commutes.
Chico would have received fees
generated by new development
that would have been used to
construct appropriately designed
roadways and other supporting
infrastructure.
Accessibility to the
permit/building process: One of
the largest contributors to the
costs of housing are the millions
of dollars tied up while bureaucrats and extremists pick a project apart. In fact, delay is one of
the “chief weapons” of extremists who don’t want anything
built within the city and know
that delays raise new home costs
to the point where there is often
little incentive to proceed with a
project after years of delay. We
just experienced this in Chico
this past month where the most
A home was under construction along Arch Way and Virage Lane in
this January 2006 photo.
Reader’s view
What would make Chico better?
First, Chico needs to have a
better job market. When I was
unemployed in Chico it took forever to find work, and even then
it was underpaid for the level of
skill and responsibility required.
A city the size of Chico has more
than 10 employment agencies?
That’s too many middlemen
siphoning wages from the people who actually do the work. I
made $7.25 per hour processing
Medicare claims. Not just data
entry, but actually processing
complicated medical claims. I
have often wondered which job
pays better — holding a sign
saying “Pizza $5” for Little Caesars or holding a sign saying
“Homeless God Bless” at WalMart?
Secondly, but definitely related, Chico needs to have a better
housing market. Not just homes,
but apartments. We have this
huge 800-pound gorilla that
affects the rental housing market
in Chico as well as the job market. That’s the students. They
have mommy and daddy’s
money to pay their rent and it
puts undue pressure on nonstudents who are trying to make a
living and afford somewhere to
live. Co-signers, credit checks,
double deposits, and unbreakable leases are obstacles to just
having a roof over your head. I
usually advise people who are
thinking of moving to Chico that
they should only come if they
already have a job and an apartment lined up in advance.
Finally, Chico needs to be
more business-friendly. Sure we
elected a City Council that
opposes development and wants
to turn the city into a maze of
one-way streets and roundabouts, but a city still needs an
economy to survive. We can’t all
be employed painting lines for
backwards parking spaces or
mowing lawns on roundabouts.
Some of us have to work at real
jobs. We need real jobs and
houses and real parking downtown so we can shop and yes,
we probably even need a super
Wal-Mart, maybe even two.
Blocking cell towers based on
junk science complaints and
thinking that Chico can stop
global warming unilaterally is not
good governing. It’s not even
good politics. But in Chico, unfortunately, it’s all we have.
Mark Denman
resident manager
Red Top Storage
11AA
successful “affordable housing”
builder, Aspire Homes, fought
for years for the right to develop
a project within the city limits,
surrounded by similar housing
and in accordance with Chico’s
General Plan. Had these homes
been built within a reasonable
period of time, new-home buyers would have undoubtedly
paid thousands of dollars less.
With these delays and the shortage of land created by similar
delays throughout our city, the
cost of land (and the homes built
on that land) climb higher and
higher each year.
Sustainability. When I purchased my first home in 1980,
there were nights that it seemed
colder inside the house than outside. Single pane aluminum windows and doorways lacking adequate weather stripping created
drafts and higher heating and
cooling costs. While energy costs
were much lower 27 years ago,
actual utility usage was twice as
high as what we experience
today due to these inefficiencies.
Today, “low E” windows, tankless water heaters, solar energy
systems, fluorescent lighting and
other energy saving, environmentally friendly solutions help
to lower total housing costs.
While new home prices may
continue to increase over time, it
is reasonable to expect that with
a balanced approach to new
development, Chico has the ability to maintain its charm, plan
appropriately for the future and
provide all types of housing at
various price ranges for its citizens. It has always been our
dream that Chico would be a
place where our children could
choose to settle down, buy a
home and raise their children. In
today’s Chico market, home
ownership for a young family is
virtually unattainable. There
must be a change in the nogrowth mantra of the city’s current political leadership. If not,
Chico will become an elitist community in the midst of a vibrant
north valley region and we will
lose our most valuable treasure,
our children.
A fresh look at Chico’s future
High school students advance their thoughts on what their city should be like
Students from Joe Asnault’s 10thgrade honors English class envisioned
ways to improve their community.
Railroad
overcrossing
one desperate
need for city
Improving our
community
By DeANNA SANTANA
Over the years our Chico community has been steadily growing and
increasing in population. However, I
believe we can improve our community and make it a better place by
building a bigger animal shelter for all
stray animals, building another high
school and adding more bike lanes to
our streets so people can ride their
bikes and feel safer.
I believe adding more bike lanes in
Chico will encourage people to ride
bikes to school and work more often.
If people ride their bikes more often it
will help reduce pollution and also
help people exercise.
Riding a bike on public roads without bike lanes can be very dangerous
because you’re risking drivers not seeing you and getting hit by them. So I
believe if we were to add bike lanes to
most streets it would make bike riding safer and would encourage people
of all ages to ride their bikes more
often.
Even though we currently have two
high schools in Chico, I think building
an additional school would be beneficial to all students. Currently, both
Pleasant Valley High School and
Chico High School are great schools,
however, they are at full capacity.
Both schools have too many students
and not enough classrooms.
To prevent overcrowding for future
generations, having another high
school built now would eliminate this
problem. I propose that we build
another high school, or in the alternative, have both high schools undergo
a renovation and include additional
classrooms with new desks and furniture.
The “classroom trailers” should be
eliminated entirely.
Secondly, I believe our current animal shelter is too small and overcrowded. The animals live in kennels
that are not adequately insulated.
During summer months the animals
are exposed to extreme heat (sometimes over 100 degrees), and improper
ventilation. During winter months
animals are exposed to extreme cold
and wet weather and they have very
little or no heat.
The facility is old and in desperate
need of repairs. There are many holes
in the walls and the cement floors
have many cracks. I propose that we
build a new animal shelter with bigger kennels and adequate ventilation.
A new shelter would provide food
and water for all the lost or stray animals. The shelter would also give
these animals a decent place to stay at.
Stray dogs can be dangerous,
vicious and have rabies. By having
stray dogs vaccinated it will make our
community less susceptible to rabies.
Having a new bigger shelter will
make it easier for people to find their
perfect pet to adopt and give them a
new home.
Evolution of
a small town
By MUSSARAT IQBAL
When living in a city for a whole
life, one becomes accustomed to its
ways and traditions. It becomes something unimportant and no one really
thinks about ways it can become a
better city. However, it is time to face
the fact Chico is evolving from a small
town to a large city.
There are a few differences between
this young town and those larger ones
down south and up north. For exam See STUDENTS, 2BB
By RACHEL BUSH
Photos by Jason Halley/Enterprise-Record
One of the things high school students believe would improve Chico is more bike paths and bike lanes. Above, Sara
Hubbard rides her bike past changing fall colors near Five-Mile Recreation Area in Bidwell Park.
BELOW LEFT: A Union Pacific train travels along the railroad tracks near West First Avenue. One student thinks Chico
needs an overpass over the tracks.
BELOW RIGHT: Another student thinks the community could be made better by improving shelters for dogs at the
Butte Humane Society.
In my opinion, Chico is a great
place to live. But like any other
city, there is always room for
improvements. Here are my ideas
for the three changes that could
make our community a better
place.
First off, the city needs to build
an overpass crossing the railroad
tracks in town. When trains travel
through town, which they do
daily, we as drivers, pedestrians
and bicyclists are forced to wait
however long it might take for
the train to pass. Then we wait an
additional amount of time for the
traffic flow to return to normal.
If we are running a few minutes late to school or work, this
delay can be a nuisance, yet it is
something we can live with. But
the same cannot be said for safety
or emergency vehicles such as
ambulances, police cars and fire
trucks.
When a train is passing, the
west side of town is completely
cut off from any emergency aid
that might be needed. It will only
be a matter of time (if it has not
happened already) before a victim loses his/her life because the
ambulance sent to help them was
held up by a train.
Building a central overpass in
Chico will keep the traffic flowing and ensure that emergency
vehicles will be able to reach their
destination quickly and without
interruption.
Another change that would
improve the community would
be closing Broadway to automobile traffic between Second and
Third streets. Many other cities
have already benefited from having large pedestrian walkways,
and we should too.
For one, it would improve the
safety of the downtown area, and
secondly, it would allow for more
room for local cultural events,
such as outdoor art events or
farmers’ markets. With new landscaping, all Chicoans would be
able to enjoy the enhanced beauty
of the downtown area.
Finally, I believe Chico could
benefit from supporting a local
amusement park. Obviously it
would benefit the youth of Chico,
but it would also provide people
with jobs while simultaneously
drawing tourists from surrounding areas, making Chico even
more appealing than it already is.
If a city the size of Redding can
support a WaterWorks Park, we
can find a way to support an
amusement park, preferably one
that runs a waterslide during
warmer weather and an ice-skating rink during the cooler
months.
With recreation funding from
the city, corporate fundraising,
and a lot of support from the citizens of this city, this dream can
become a reality.
Rachel Bush has lived
her entire life in Chico. She is
a 16-year-old junior at Chico
Senior High School.
2BB Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Enterprise-Record
STUDENTS
From 1BB
ple, there is no direct connection
between Chico and the larger cities of
California; there isn’t a wide assortment of career options for people,
and teens are getting themselves into
trouble due to the lack of safe options
here.
By nurturing our growing town
and improving a few of these problems, Chico can be on its way to
becoming a successful large city.
My family and I travel down south
a lot over the weekends, visiting family and such. One of the things we
have noticed is that we have to go
through many small cities before getting on a major interstate. As we discussed further, I came to the conclusion there should be a freeway going
through Chico and connecting it to
major interstates like I-5. In doing
this, Chico would be more connected
with the bigger cities down south,
such as San Francisco, L.A. and Sacramento.
If Chico were to have this, major
companies would be able to settle
here and easily move in and out of
our city. There would be extreme
changes going on in Chico, one of
them including more industry. Chico
is growing fast, so why not create bigger and better opportunities for our
people as well as the people of other
large cities?
As explained before, Chico needs
more industry. More industry would
mean more and better paying jobs. In
this city, there are only four main
options: Chico State University, Butte
College, Enloe Medical Center and
Chico Unified School District. Basically, you can either be a teacher or a
nurse to have a good job here in
Chico.
Obviously there are many other
successful jobs, but those four are the
most common. By providing more
successful jobs there can be more
money for better education in our
schools here. Chico needs to have a
variety of work options for the people
here so we can improve our standard
of living and create a better town
with a good economy.
After a long week of school, students look forward to weekends to
spend some time with friends and
have fun. Chico consists of the usual
choices, such as hanging out at the
mall, going to Tinseltown or maybe
just relaxing at home with “the
group.” These would be considered
safe outlets for teens.
However, the truth is these options
cannot meet the standards technology
has put on teens. There is no longer
any imagination and that is causing
teens to look into other ways of having fun; kids are beginning to make
wrong decisions and getting themselves into trouble.
My solution to this problem cannot
be a detailed description of what
teens want. There are many different
ways teens can have fun safely; it is
up to the people of Chico to find out
what they are. By taking polls and
asking the opinions of the teens, it is
possible to create a secure place or
events teens are interested in.
As a result, Chico would have safer
options for ways teens spend their
weekends, rather than getting drunk,
causing trouble and getting into trouble with the authorities.
Chico is not what you would call a
low economy city with a high crime
rate. However, these three opinions
on improving our city could help to
make it a better environment.
By having a freeway connecting
Chico to the bigger cities, it can be
easier for large companies to adjust,
therefore allowing more job opportunities. Through more job availability,
there can be a higher standard of living with less crime and better education for our children. Last but not
least, Chico could do with a few more
creative and economical options for
teens to have fun.
By helping to improve our city
with the guidance of a few of these
three examples as well as those from
other people, we could help a growing city become better, bigger and
safer.
Creating an
atmosphere
By KELSEY SCHWARTZ
As I sit here and consider exactly
what would improve the community
of Chico, I realize there are many
things I could list. After all, no town
is perfect. However, I will limit
myself to three problems that, as a
student at Chico High School, I consider very important and three ways
that we, as a community, can fix these
problems. I believe they will improve
the town and make it an even more
pleasant place to live for everyone.
Chico should change the focus of
the high schools. Right now, the main
focus is on math and science. These
are good subjects, but not the interests of many high school students. If
schools could give equal attention to
classes that promote creativity and
music, it would make a big difference
in the lives of many, and change the
high school experience for the better.
It would be better if schools had
enough funding for an orchestra
where players of string and wind
instruments — those who do not
want to be in band — could play
together and give concerts. I know of
many remarkably talented people
who play string instruments and
would make great additions to the
orchestra.
Also, the schools should offer
beginning classes for people who are
interested in learning a new instrument. That way, everyone can enrich
themselves in the power of music. It
would be good for all students to be
able to play for their school orchestra
or just learn in the classes, as well as
good for the schools because it would
generate a lot of money.
Something I have thought about
for a long time that would improve
the community of Chico would be to
buy back all of the old Victorian
houses from the college students. I
know there are some exceptions, but
for the most part, college students
have all of the historic and significant
houses of Chico, and they are
destroying them. It would be good if
the town could preserve this history
because it is part of what makes
Chico unique.
Unlike the cookie-cutter houses of
today, the old houses near Chico State
and the “college town” are all different, which adds to their splendor and
value. Unfortunately if someone in
Chico bought one of these houses
they would have to live near the college students and listen to them party,
or pay lots of money to restore the
house after it was so worn out.
Chico State students might be
offended and say they do not all
party and destroy property, and I am
in no way denunciating those college
students who do take care of the
One student wants to see portable classrooms at the high schools eliminated (Chico High portables are shown above)
and additional classrooms built.
houses. But there are many who do
not. For example, when my sister and
I were very young, my parents
owned a small house they rented out
to college students, and after the
occupants left, my parents would be
astonished to discover what kind of
damage they had done. The house
would be a mess, and it was a pain to
clean it up.
If college students did that to a regular house, just imagine what they
could do to a Victorian house. If we
as a community were to take back the
Victorian houses from the college students, we could make the town look
more culture rich, and even restore
the houses to their former glory.
My final idea to improve our community would be to create giant culde-sacs with neighborhood parks and
neighborhood pools. This would
encourage the people of each neighborhood to come together and have
block parties and socialize with each
other, instead of hiding in their houses and swimming in their own pools.
The town of Chico would become like
a big group of friends and introduce
an ideal for small towns.
When neighbors get together to
swim or talk, they would invite others outside the neighborhood to join,
thus starting a long chain of encountering, then talking, until eventually
everyone in town would know each
other. Then our small community
could exist in a state built on trust
and honest, human decency.
All this could start with creating
the right kind of neighborhood to
promote friendliness and benevolence
— a neighborhood where children
played games outside until it got
dark or they were called in for dinner,
a neighborhood where neighbors just
saying hello once every month or so
seemed like a thing of the past. This
ideal neighborhood would be the
start of a new generation of denizens
and it would most definitely improve
the community of Chico.
Consider these ideas while you’re
walking downtown, through the park
or on one of the many beautiful residential streets of Chico, and consider
your own thoughts as to how our
town can improve, so that together
everyone who lives here can make a
difference. All I want is what’s best
for Chico because after all, it is my
hometown.
Little by little
By ALESSANDRA SANTANA
Even though Chico is a wonderful
town to live in, it still needs some
improvements. Chico is growing and
we need to make it a better place by
making it safer, giving the homeless
shelter, and making it more enjoyable
for teenagers and children.
I would improve the community
by making it a friendlier and safer
environment. Since we live in a town
where there is a college, we have
many crazy and wild college students. On Friday nights, countless
parties are going on, and even though
Chico’s party reputation has gone
down in the past years, it still is a big
part of our community. In Chico,
drinking remains a popular form of
“entertainment” among students.
Special events like Halloween bring
out the town’s entire police force and
an army of volunteers to combat the
effects of partying.
There have been several incidents
where students overdosed because of
partying or because they want to be
in a fraternity. Adrian Heideman was
the fourth Chico State University student in five years to die from alcoholrelated causes. In 1997, 21-year-old
Justin M. Sommers died at a party
from alcohol poisoning and the drug
GHB, and in 1996 and 1998, Chance
Woodroof and Nicholas Losik died
from alcohol poisoning after celebrating their 21st birthdays by trying to
down the “traditional” 21 shots of
alcohol.
Underage alcohol use is a major
contributor to mortality in adolescents and young adults. Last Halloween, when 15,000 people came to
Chico’s downtown, 48 of the 90
arrested were under 21. This shows
that even though there were many
police, teenagers were still in danger
of overdosing.
While teenage drinking is increas-
ing, so are deaths. We can make our
community safer by making sure kids
aren’t giving money to adults who
are over 21 to buy alcohol for them.
We should have the police make an
effort to check IDs if someone looks
under the drinking age. Even though
it is hard to prevent teenagers from
drinking, our community should
make a good effort to make sure
minors aren’t served alcohol.
Another thing I believe would help
the community is more recreational
things for children and teenagers. I
think if there were more things for
teenagers and children to do, then we
would stay out of trouble. It would
give us something good to do instead
of partying, smoking, vandalizing,
etc. Although we have a theater, mall
and bowling alley, we still need more
entertainment. I think we should
have a place where people could
hang out, eat, play games and have a
good time.
I also think we should have more
sports for people to play — for example, a Chico soccer team where anyone who wants to play can play. It
doesn’t have to be competitive; it
could just be for fun. Overall, we
need more leisure activities for kids.
As my friends and I walk to lunch,
we see many scruffy-looking homeless people on the streets asking for
money. These people have nothing.
The only thing they might carry is a
blanket to sit on and a cat or a dog to
make animal-lovers want to give
them money.
I think that being without shelter is
another problem in our community. I
think we should build housing for
people who are homeless to stay in
for the night. I think we should have
a residence for women and children
and another domicile for men. Then
during the day they should try to
find a job and not take advantage of
the shelter situation. Even though
some people don’t think homeless
people deserve such luxuries, I
believe they shouldn’t have to suffer,
especially during harsh weather conditions.
I also think that if we gave the
See STUDENTS, 3BB
Enterprise-Record
3BB
STUDENTS
From 2BB
homeless a place to stay, downtown
would be safer and more enjoyable. I
believe downtown should be a place
people can enjoy shopping, eating, or
hanging out. But if there are homeless
people on the streets begging for
money, it makes the community look
poor and unpleasant.
Ultimately, if we try some of these
ideas, I believe we can make Chico
better. It will always have room for
improvements, but there’s no such
thing as a perfect town. Chico is a
splendid town to live in and with a
few improvements we can make it
even better.
Improving
Chico’s
community
By RILEY MARSHALL
The city of Chico is a beautiful
place. With its lush parks, unique
plazas, and charming downtown, it is
an all-around enjoyable place to be.
Chico is home to the Chico State University and much of the city revolves
around the college. If not revolving
around the college, it is focused on
the residents and their children. There
are many playgrounds and places
where children can go to enjoy themselves in a fun, yet safe environment.
But what about adolescents? There
are not many places where the high
school students can go to have a good
time while still obeying the law.
Changing the community to include
teenagers could benefit the city as a
whole.
High school students can too often
be found at college parties or having
parties of their own. Are these students really just trouble-makers or are
they simply looking for something to
do?
The truth is there are about two
places adolescents can go during the
winter: the movie theater and the
bowling alley. Both of these venues
are quite costly. Now, an average
movie ticket costs $7.25. If you want
popcorn, add another four dollars. A
drink? Three dollars. Just recently,
some friends and I were bored and
decided to go bowling. For three people, the cost of a lane and shoes came
to a total of $43. I was shocked and
unfortunately, so was my mother.
Parents don’t want their children
dropping $40 every time they want to
spend time with their friends.
This just forces teenagers to either
invade parents’ homes, raiding refrigerators and making messes, or “go
out.” This is a term I commonly hear
among my peers that can be translated to “go party.” It has become a
norm to go to parties just as a way to
socialize.
I don’t think this is fair. I think one
way Chico could greatly improve is
by giving teenagers a safe, inexpensive place to just go and hang out. A
possible idea is to reopen the Brickworks downtown to minors on certain nights. This would give us a safe
place to go and it’s alcohol free, fun,
and would draw many students
away from parties, as well as keep
many drunk drivers off the streets.
Traffic is always an issue in Chico.
We are lucky to not be plagued by the
terrible traffic of other cities, but we
are definitely beset with terrible drivers, and most of them I will admit,
are high school students. The city of
Chico can do nothing about the laws
set by the state regarding drivers’
education or license regulations, however I think buckling down on drivers’ ed would be a major benefit.
Many teenagers sleep through the
drivers’ ed classes, pass the permit
test after a few tries, and drive carefully with the instructor from the
DMV for 10 minutes to get their
license. Once they have it, they are
out on the streets and as fearless as
ever.
There are many great teenage drivers, but it only takes one to end
someone’s life. I think another way
the city of Chico could greatly
improve is by increasing the intensity
Another student believes Chico needs more parks around town. Above is DeGarmo Park, a larger regional park under
construction in north Chico.
of the license test, and checking up on
new drivers often to make sure they
are progressing positively.
I do not think any more laws are
necessary because it is unfair to the
responsible drivers who want their
licenses; I just think it should be harder to get your license and that only
those who are willing to work hard
for it are rewarded. If it is harder to
get a drivers’ license, fewer of the students who are out partying every
weekend will have the ability to
drive.
Too many people die in drunkendriving accidents each year which
goes to show how much effect irresponsible drivers can have on the
community. I know many people who
have gotten DUIs in the past year.
The majority of these people would
not have been putting others into
danger had there been somewhere
else they could go to be social, or
greater restrictions on driving.
On the topic of traffic, the hours
before and after school have become
a mad rush. Chico could improve this
much by increasing the use of buses.
Many major cities all over the world
depend on buses and trolleys for
transportation. I definitely do not
want Chico to become a major city,
but I do think that if more students
rode the bus to school as opposed to
depending on cars, it would greatly
improve the community.
I am a student at Chico High, and
it takes me close to twice as long to
get to school during these rush hours
than during other times of the day. If
the students that normally rode in a
car to school were compiled into several buses, the traffic would decrease
by a landslide. Not only would this
help traffic, but the use of gas would
drop tremendously.
Chico is a great place to live and I
have greatly enjoyed growing up
here. It was not until I reached high
school that I realized these changes
that could be made.
This is partly because when I was
younger, I saw a lot of these issues as
being the “irresponsible teenagers’”
fault. Now that I am one of them, I
have come to the realization that
there are so many things that could
help teenagers from being so irresponsible.
We all have under-developed
frontal lobes, so decision making may
not always turn out right.
These few changes just may help
with those problems. It would not
only help us, it wouldmake Chico a
safer, more pleasant place for you and
your children as well.
Enterprise-Record
Downtown needs to change to make it healthy
By KATRINA DAVIS-WOODCOX
What are three changes that would
make downtown Chico better?
I think most would agree that
change can be a good thing. Yet, getting people to embrace change is easier said than done. The fact is, in order
for it to remain a vital and economically healthy asset to our community,
downtown Chico needs to change.
However, finding a consensus on
what changes should be made has
been a sticking point for several
years. And now, downtown remains
in limbo, caught in the middle of a
tug-of-war between those who want
change and those who fear what
change may bring.
So these are, in no particular order,
three things I want for downtown
Chico. You might agree with me or
you might not, and that’s OK. It’s not
about being right. It’s about doing
what you believe in, and in doing so,
you just might make others believe
too.
I believe in downtown Chico and
the need to take serious action for its
future is greater now than ever
before.
Downtown Chico needs people.
People in the form of customers, visitors, employees and residents. The
only way downtown will survive and
grow depends on the people who will
live, work and play here. In order to
attract and keep them, we must provide a clean, safe and accessible environment.
This means well-lit streets, regularly cleaned sidewalks, a diverse business mix, strong “anchor” tenants,
office-based business, attractive
facades, a performing arts/convention center, sidewalk amenities and
ample, convenient parking.
Additionally, residential growth is
pivotal to downtown, and every
effort must be taken to make down-
Katrina Davis-Woodcox has been
the executive director of the Downtown Chico Business Association
since May 1998.
The illuminated fountain at the remodeled City Plaza in downtown Chico shines at night.
town residential development easier,
improve the livability of downtown
and enhance the interest in living
downtown.
Downtown Chico needs partnerships; more specifically, public-private partnerships. We have a wonderful downtown — one to be proud of
and one that I would match against
any downtown similar in size any
day of the week.
But truth be told, it’s anemic. In the
’50s and ’60s, downtown Chico, like
most historic downtowns, was considered the retail center of the community. In order to compete with
retail sprawl and the “big box” invasion, downtown has had to reinvent
itself.
Redevelopment and revitalization
projects crucial to the future of downtown will depend on investment —
both private and public. Unless and
until effective redevelopment strategies are devised to recover neglected
parcels, rehab outdated structures,
restore and reproduce historic buildings, and deliver the sound environment that attracts and retains sustainable businesses and residential
projects, downtown will continue to
survive on the cusp of economic
mediocrity.
Downtown Chico needs progress.
And by progress I mean bona fide
action. I often think, “Here we go
again,” when yet another downtown
study or analysis is recommended.
Perhaps we need to spend less time
planning and more time doing. Let’s
prioritize a few things, get them done
and when they’re completed, prioritize a few more and get them done,
too.
City staff and the City Council are
to be commended for their commitment to the community. They face the
very daunting task of balancing conflicting agendas, assigning funding
and contending with opposing political forces.
But sometimes, the best course of
action is to narrow the focus and
accomplish two or three projects with
impact. And by doing so, it can help
create something in downtown that is
often the hardest thing of all to
achieve — momentum.
As city staff presses forward with
the directive from the council to create a “vision” for downtown Chico, it
is essential that the City Council, the
Planning Commission, and city staff
prioritize downtown for attention,
investment and support. Likewise,
business and property owners who
have over the decades built downtown to what it is today must be
involved in the process.
The reality is that downtown Chico
was born out of business, grew
because of business and its future will
depend on business. The only way to
support and sustain downtown business depends on creative planning
and immediate action — the rest will
fall in place. Believe it.
Three changes that would make the Chico community better
By ALI SARSOUR
DOWNTOWN CHICO
We all agree that downtown
Chico is one of the most
important parts of the city. In
the last few years, there has
been a debate concerning parking there. Do we need a new
parking structure, or can we
use other means to alleviate
the parking problem?
The last time the topic was
discussed at the City Council
(a few weeks ago), the proponents of building a new parking structure generally thought
one was necessary to help
existing downtown businesses
expand and to accommodate
new businesses.
It seems to me that the parking spaces needed depend on
what we envision for the
downtown. To decide now
how many parking spaces we
need before we envision the
future of downtown is like
putting the cart before the
horse.
I recommend to the City
Council that a commission or
committee be created to investigate our options. We need to
create a vision by soliciting
ideas from the different groups
that would be involved,
groups like Chico Downtown
Business Association, the farmers’ market group, the university, cycling groups and others
that are interested.
INTERNATIONAL CENTER
THE UNIVERSITY
AND COMMUNITY
Another thing that would
enhance our community
involves the university. The
president of the university
should appoint a vice president for community affairs.
The city, county, Chamber of
Commerce and other groups
should help fund this office.
Gen. Bidwell was a visionary man. His donation of land
to build what is now Chico
State University distinguishes
our community from all other
communities in Northern California.
As a former Chico State student, staff member and student government activist, I am
aware of many contributions
that the university as a whole
provides to our community.
Right now, three members
on the Chico Unified School
District board of trustees are
from the university. Moreover,
The Saturday farmers’ market located in the city parking lot at Second and Flume streets offers
vegetables and fruit. Here, Terry Givens weigh contenders in a heaviest zucchini contest held in
September 2006.
the university has even more
potential to give to Chico. I
know that many segments of
our community don’t feel
affected by the university, and
some people are anti-university and feel alienated from the
campus.
The office of vice-president
for community affairs can
bridge the gap between the
various segments of our society and the university community. The university has always
exchanged programs with
institutions in other countries.
I think it can create more local
exchange programs.
Here is my last idea for
making Chico a better place: I
envision an international,
intercultural center.
One part would be a food
court serving foods that are
not now readily available in
Chico — food from countries
like Cambodia, Nigeria,
Uruguay and others.
Another part could be a
news center where people
could listen and watch news as
reported by the international
news agencies of other countries. Many of those broadcasts
are in English or could be
translated.
This center could include a
small theater that would show
international movies, plays
and other forms of entertainment.
Short classes in different
languages not offered at the
university and Butte College
could be taught to fit the needs
of small groups, such as business people and those planning to vacation abroad. One
area of this center could be
reserved for overseas business
transactions.
Chico is a wonderful community. I’ve lived here for 36
years, so I should know. However, we always can do better.
Enterprise-Record
Homeless, poor easily ignored, put at arm’s distance
By LAURA COOTSONA
“I don’t know what to do when I
see them.”
“Why doesn’t he just get a job?”
“If there is a shelter, why don’t
they stay there?”
“You know, if we keep giving them
so much help, more of them will
come here.”
“I didn’t realize there were so
many of them … where are they all
the time?”
Just like other groups in our
region, the homeless and the poor are
easily ignored and put at arm’s distance. If we choose not to see them,
we won’t have to interact with them
or help them or have them a part of
our life. We don’t have to get too
close.
And it isn’t just the homeless. Let’s
be honest. The rich are that way. Athletes seem unapproachable. Scholars
know too much. Christians are hypocrites. Muslims wear strange clothes.
It almost seems that we try to keep
people unlike us far away. Do we
have any interest in understanding
them? Or for them to understand us?
I am homeless. Some days I want
to be roaming free without the struggle of making ends meet. Most days
I’m cold. I’m wet. I need a new pair
of socks. People walk on the other
side of the street when they see me
because I make them feel uncomfortable.
I keep a dog — and they wonder
how I feed the dog when I can’t feed
myself. I do it because I want a companion, warmth, a friend. Meet my
dog, speak to me, look me in the eye.
But no one does.
They look at me and see the cup. I
don’t like the cup but I am disabled
and I can’t work anymore. I still need
money. Besides, when I earn a legitimate wage, my wages go to my first
wife. It’s a long story … back 20 years
or so. But now I’m in a bind. What
am I to do? Yes, I need money. But
you rightfully don’t give it to me.
Sometimes I choose to buy booze
or worse. I want to work, but I can’t
stand up that long. Is there a way you
can help? I want to take you up on
your offer to interview for a job, but I
don’t have a shower, or clothes, so
waking up at 7 and being there by
7:30 just doesn’t work. Is there any
way you can help me?
This one nice lady keeps telling me
to go to the shelter. See, I’m afraid of
crowds and that big room just plain
doesn’t work for me. Picky? Maybe,
but I can’t do it. I’ve tried. So, my
only other option is under the bridge.
I try to get to my appointment to get
my medication right, but the doc
won’t see me because I’m late. It is a
long story.
I can’t begin to tell you how hard it
was the first time I came to the Jesus
Center. Instead of “welcome” over
the awning, I only saw one word:
“Loser.” My dad would’ve hollered
that real loud had he seen me saunter
in through those doors.
No, I don’t go there because I get
the seat by the window. No, I go
there because I’m hungry and they
feed me and care about me.
When I get a shower, I’m thankful,
but it’s not my bathroom. It’s not my
towel. But I don’t have any choice.
My friends are done with me. My
family has plain disowned me. No
one returns my calls. Where am I to
go?
Yes, there are a lot of us, but we
learn to hide because no one wants us
The Jesus Center provides
meals to the poor and
homeless on a daily basis, and
offers special dinners on
holidays. Above, Ruthie Lee
(top) serves plates of food to
several people during the
annual Christmas dinner.
Several self-proclaimed
homeless people sit at
Annie’s Glen in Bidwell Park
in February 2006.
out and about in plain view. They
counted a lot of us the other day, but
more of us live in cars and on couches and move place to place. No one
counts us. No one wants to see us,
now do they? Isn’t it easier when
we’re kept invisible?
The questions above and the
responses below are real voices. The
sad truth is that they are merely
monologues. The average person
doesn’t understand the homeless person’s plight. They are never in the
same room. At the same table. Hanging in the same place.
So our misconceptions and our
inabilities to truly help one another
go on. Our community needs to come
together and host a place for all people regardless of our complexity or
our naiveté.
There’s room enough for all if we
take a look and try to see who I am
and who the stranger is.
If we learn about one another, our
community will no longer be a string
of disparate groups, but an integrated
whole that seeks to include everyone
regardless of their address or lack
thereof.
Laura Cootsona is assistant
director of the Jesus Center.
Enterprise-Record
7BB
Business community can learn from success stories
By JOY ANDERSON KIMBALL
The following are three ideas that I
believe would improve our community.
STAY COMPETITIVE WITH WAGES
AND BENEFITS
Over the past 30 years, we have
worked with Chico’s employers finding qualified staff to serve their businesses. At this time, not unlike the
rest of the country, it is difficult to
find qualified workers since they are
all working.
It is quite something to have the
unemployment rate in Butte County
at 5.7 percent. Although the unemployment rate is only one indicator of
the health of an economy, I don’t
recall a rate that low in all my years
working with the local labor market.
The good news is that with the
pressure on employers to retain their
staff, plus the pressure to find qualified workers, and the added pressure
of the state minimum wage increase,
we have seen wages for workers
increase pretty much across the
board.
What I would say Chico needs is to
continue to evaluate its wage and
benefit figures to ensure that it stays
competitive in this tight market. We
need to keep our talented workers
here.
FOLLOW THE LEAD OF LONG-TERM
BUSINESSES
Since 1977, we have worked with
many of the same companies. It has
been exciting to witness several of
these long-standing companies handing the baton to the next generation
of leaders. I believe this has taken
incredible courage of the existing
owners and managers to “let go” and
allow the next generation to take over
with new ideas, new staff and new
cultures.
I’ve seen several companies willing
to go through the trial and errors of
these changes. The good news is, the
next generation seems to have some
new ideas and energy, and we’ll have
those companies around for the next
generation.
For those companies that have not
put in place a succession plan, I
would encourage them to do the
work to ensure their business will
continue for our benefit of that company’s product or service and for the
benefit of the jobs those companies
provide.
RECOGNIZE AND SUPPORT THE
EXISTING RESOURCES
In this tight labor market, you
become more aware of the need for a
skilled work force. Now is the time to
partner with the schools.
Do you want the schools to be
training entry-level workers on the
basics, like a good work ethic? Then
get that input to them. Tell them we
need that training. Does your company need certain trade skills? Encourage the schools to continue to train
welders, machine shop workers,
painters, electricians, mechanics, etc.
Get involved with the schools that
do offer this training and provide
work experience for these students.
Give your input to the instructors;
give the instructors real projects to
work on. Get involved!
Joy Anderson Kimball began her
career in the staffing industry in
1977. Anderson & Associates, Inc.
works with many of Chico’s employers. Kimball is a member of the
Rotary Club of Chico, the Chico
Chamber, and a trustee emeritus of
Enloe Medical Center. She is also a
member of Chico Economic Planning Corp., the American Staffing
Association, the California Staffing
Association and TempNet, the international network of Independent
Staffing Services.
Enterprise-Record
Reader’s view
My three things to make Chico better
1. Stop the public and the city from cutting down trees
or brutally pruning them every time they want to build
something or clear the power lines. This would maintain
our tree cover, clean the air, provide shade, habitat for
wildlife and make the city more beautiful. We could easily do this by extending the existing tree ordinance to
include younger trees of 12 inches or more in diameter,
wherever they are in the city, and allow only trained
qualified city licensed arborists to do the work.
2. Allow Wal-Mart to extend its southern store but not
build a new giant in the north. This would allow all the
benefits Wal-Mart shoppers claim, without allowing two
Goliath superstores totaling more than 500,000 square
feet to dominate Chico retailing, taking more than
$300,000,000 in retail sales from existing businesses
and sending the profits to Arkansas. This will objective
retail consultants say force many existing businesses to
close and many people to lose their jobs.
This action would allow more retail diversity and customer choice, save local jobs, prevent a new threat to
Chico’s downtown, and help to preserve Chico’s unique
identity. The citizens could bring this about by supporting the action group www.chicocares.org and asking the
City Council to oppose the development, as other
enlightened cities have, by using eminent domain.
3. Encourage more of the citizens of Chico to go
downtown for shopping, entertainment and services.
The character of Chico is in its downtown, not in the
cookie-cutter “same as everywhere” big box retailers,
chain stores and shops.
We can promote the uniqueness of Chico’s downtown by supporting the charrettes and planning ideas
that are being considered now, not just impotently or
destructively sniping at them from the sidelines. The
city’s downtown will then progress, enlivening existing
businesses, attracting new ones, and building more
quality facilities.
We could build a Mediterranean city around the new
plaza using the existing Old Municipal Building and the
Old Post office as art gallery and museum. Add other
beautiful buildings, a conference center, shops, apartments, studios and underground parking. We would
then have a sparkling downtown with places to see, and
be seen, like many European cities.
We have the advantages of our wonderful climate,
friendly people and the unique qualities of our parks and
downtown. We should take full advantage of them to
embrace and manage the changes that, whether we like
it or not, will happen. We should and grasp this opportunity to enrich our quality of life. All we need is vision,
leadership and the political will — right now.
Alan G. Gair
Chico
Enterprise-Record
9BB
Three changes that could improve public safety
By TOM NICKELL
What is ahead for our community,
and what are three changes that
would improve public safety?
As our city prepares for the population growth expected in the next
decade, we are faced with significant
challenges. These challenges relate to
where future residential and commercial development will be located and
local governments’ (in)ability to pay
for the impacts of new development
on existing and new infrastructure,
facilities, public services and public
safety.
There have been future planning
and funding mechanisms in place for
future fire protection. Yet, there has
never been future planning for law
enforcement, and we need to embrace
a plan for policing for our growth in
the future.
Public safety policy shall be at the
top of all decisions in new development, annexations and growth. It is
important for the city to make sure
we have the proper staffing, and new
technologies, equipment and facilities
for the Police Department and Fire
Department to provide the most efficient service to the citizens of Chico.
Accountability for response times
to emergencies, non-emergency and
public assistance calls is very important to gain the respect and trust of
the citizens.
There must be visible patrols at all
times throughout the downtown area,
college neighborhoods and other beat
assignments. Public safety staffing is
crucial to our ability to effectively
conduct criminal investigations, narcotic enforcement, juvenile complaints, traffic enforcement, traffic
complaints, criminal street activity,
code violations, outside agency
assists, fire and medical emergencies,
community orientated policing, public nuisances, public relations, and
neighborhood enforcement.
The philosophy of public safety
has to change from reactive to proactive, especially in a town with a state
university and community college.
For the last 27 years in Chico, the
Tom Nickell, 50, has lived in Chico
since 1995, is a 23-year veteran of
the California Highway Patrol and a
current Chico City Council member.
Chico police officers Matt Wolfe (left) and Todd Lefkowitz ride motorcycles near a DUI checkpoint on West Sacramento
Avenue.
lowest ratio of officers per thousand
residents is 1.15; the highest was 1.67.
The average for the period is 1.43.
Today, the ratio is the second lowest — 1.2 officers per one thousand.
The city in fact has gone backwards.
Our current growth and annexations,
raising the city population from
79,091 to 85,128, is causing us to go
below 1.2 per thousand.
The average ratio for a city our size
across the United States is 1.7 per
thousand. The average ratio for a city
our size for the Western United States
is 1.3 per thousand. In order for the
city of Chico to be proactive per the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, our
ratio per thousand residents would
need to be 1.5.
The issue is not the hours the officers work; it is staffing at the proper
level to give the level of service the
community wants. It will be up to the
community and local government to
decide where our level of service
should be to provide the best in public safety.
Staffing ratios for the Fire Department have to be considered as well.
We must remember that when we get
a new fire truck for a station, it is not
like getting one patrol car and one
police officer. The fire truck, to be
properly staffed, needs three people
for each shift.
The purchase and use of new technologies for police and fire have positive cost benefits for the city. These
include occupational safety, decline in
on-the-job injuries, use of alternate
fuel sources for emergency vehicles,
purchasing energy-efficient equipment and replacing old personal safety equipment.
The construction of new facilities
must incorporate “green” building
codes. We can retrofit current facilities
with the latest energy-saving pro-
grams such as solar, green roofs,
wind and landscaping design.
Another example would be
installing red light cameras at intersections, which pay for themselves,
save lives and drop the accident rate.
A current example of utilizing new
technology is the city of Chico’s dispatch center — the first emergency
dispatch center in Northern California to use the wireless 9-1-1 emergency cell phone program.
Utilizing new technologies and
implementing alternative energy
sources saves the city money.
With growth comes the responsibility to have public safety facilities that
can handle the growth. This is not so
for the Police Department. There
needs to be a new police station and a
substation for downtown Chico. The
new station is currently in the planning stages and is going forward.
We currently are planning for and
building fire stations 6 and 7.
Another need is a larger dispatch
center. There needs to be an area set
aside for much-needed breaks, a locker facility for the employees and
ergonomic design.
I am a firm believer of the policy
“in-view patrol.” I believe the old
City Hall would make a great substation for the Police Department, and it
would not be hidden in a parking
structure. A substation downtown
that is visible to the citizens would be
a great plus for the revitalization of
downtown Chico.
This will enhance the meaning of
community-oriented policing. People
will visit the downtown, shop, have
dinner, walk through City Plaza, and
enjoy Chico for what we all have
come to love.
10BB sTuesday, February 27, 2007
Enterprise-Record
Supporting local businesses, organizations key to community
By MELISSA HERINGER
I was not born in Chico, but I grew
up here. I feel incredibly fortunate to
be part of a community that is so
strong and diverse. Chicoans still
greet one another with hellos, offer
friendly directions to visitors, allow
people to “cut in” in traffic, and treat
each other with courtesy.
Chico has grown and changed in
remarkable ways over the 20-plus
years that I’ve lived here, but we
haven’t lost our small-town feel. It
seems we are still just as likely to find
friends and familiar faces at community events, and as newcomers arrive,
they are welcomed into our neighborhoods with enthusiasm.
As Chico continues to grow (with
no signs of slowing down), I believe
three things are important if we want
to maintain the unique feel of our
community.
Supporting our locally owned
businesses is essential to maintaining
a strong community. I’ll admit to
occasionally falling for the cheap
goods and services offered by some
of the big-box stores that have
become a part of the landscape here,
but since becoming a business owner
myself, I’ve become very aware of
local businesses’ need for community
support.
The money we spend with local
businesses stays here in our community. It’s easy to make a few changes
for the good of our town and our
neighbors.
When heading out to dinner, why
not try a local restaurant? When
spending your three or four dollars a
day on your morning coffee, why not
step into one of our many friendly,
locally owned shops? When making
home improvements, purchase your
Melissa Heringer grew up in Chico
and graduated from Chico State.
She is the owner of Christian &
Johnson Flowers and Gifts.
Nili Bramblerry and Silona Reyman enjoy their coffee, tea and treats at one of Chico’s many locally owned coffee shops,
CoCo Cafe.
materials from one of our local hardware stores, and when ordering flowers, don’t “log on” to some national
chain — call a local florist!
You will find local business owners
very appreciative of your support —
and you’ll feel better about being a
strong, contributing member of our
community.
Another thing I believe is necessary in keeping our community
strong is supporting youth programs.
As a former member of Lone Pine 4H, Chico High Future Farmers of
America and numerous other youth
organizations, I learned about cooper-
ation, work ethic, responsibility and
the importance of older generations
teaching and mentoring younger generations. Community support at
junior livestock auctions over many
years even helped put me through
Chico State.
It’s easy to support the organiza-
tions that have so much influence in
the lives of young people. Stop at a
church youth group car wash. Buy a
Christmas tree from the Boy Scouts.
Go to a high school football game.
Buy an animal at the junior livestock
auction. Donate time, money or needed supplies to programs like the Boys
& Girls Club and Big Brothers Big Sisters. That kind of support goes a long,
long way!
Finally, the third thing that I think
will help keep Chico strong is participation in community events. The
highlights of my summer are going to
Chico Outlaws baseball games in the
evenings, and taking a stroll through
the farmers’ market.
Showing up to cheer on or participate in Chico’s Parade of Lights is a
lot of fun, as well as checking out our
Downtown Christmas Preview in
November. Slice of Chico, Taste of
Chico and Friday night concerts in
the park are also great events and
perfect opportunities to show your
community pride.
We are blessed to live in Chico. It is
my wish that none of us take our
beautiful community for granted.
May Chico remain the strong and
vibrant community that we all love,
and may we pass on our unique community spirit to many future generations of Chicoans!
Enterprise-Record
11BB
View Glenn’s
two biggest
cities as one
By RICHARD THOMAS
As a relative newcomer to Glenn
County — my 12 years needing to
extend another 30 before I could truly
be called a local — my view of the community is a little different than those
who are locals.
I never battled for The Ax and I don’t
see Artois as the “Mason-Dixon” Line. I
see the 7,000 people in each of our two
cities as a single community. Together
our population is large enough to make
a difference and we should be working
together for a common good.
The differences between Willows and
Orland are definitive, and I certainly do
not mean to discredit them. The integrity and quality of our citizens is some of
the best I have had the pleasure of
knowing.
The city of Orland has the potential to grow into a larger community in the next several years. This sign is near Orland’s northMy assignment for this publication is ern entrance on Highway 99.
to write about what I think would make
Glenn County a better place, so here
Day.
specific areas for retail/commercial and
goes.
Our cities and county need to open
industrial growth and then do the preOur unprecedented growth over the
their doors to recruit and encourage
planning of those areas so when an
last five years has been a positive step
new businesses, whether they are retail
opportunity presents, the project could
for our communities. There is always
establishments or service providers. The be fast-tracked to get the business open.
Richard Thomas, co-owner of Glenn
the “chicken or the egg” situation in
administrative process within our govAnother critical area facing our comCounty Title Co., is chairman of the
which comes first — housing for the
ernments should be streamlined and
munity is the need for a new hospital.
Orland Economic Development Compeople or economic opportunities. With approached with enthusiasm and a
Our existing hospital is over 50 years
mission, a member and past president
housing growth comes opportunity for
“let’s see how we can make this work”
old and does not meet earthquake safeof the Willows Chamber of Commerce,
new businesses and the expansion of
attitude.
ty requirements and either must be
Willows Rotary and is a director for the
existing businesses. Glenn County as a
Glenn County has a high incidence of retrofitted or moved by the year 2013.
whole needs to encourage economic
Glenn Medical Foundation.
unemployment. New business opportu- That is only six years away, a short time
development.
nities provide jobs. Those workers’
frame for such a major undertaking.
In past studies done for both Orland
earnings recirculate, and retail sales tax
The citizens of Glenn County need to
and Willows, retail sales leakage is
revenue for public services and other
become proactive in finding a solution
astronomical, nearly $100 million each
benefits spiral upward exponentially.
and to push their elected officials to act
year. Sales leakage is the amount of
Creating and planning on designated on this immediately. As a member of
lenges, from where to locate it to how to
areas for economic development is a
the Glenn Medical Foundation, I have
local dollars being spent in other comway to open those doors. We need to
first-hand knowledge of the difficulty in pay for it. These challenges will not be
munities.
resolved easily or overnight. But I know
capture the I-5 traveler, create opportumaking the existing building compliant
We need better shopping opportuninities for them to stop and visit, and
for installation of new, modern technol- one thing: If I am “bleed’n, broken or
ties, where we don’t need to travel outstroke’n,” I want to be close to a quality
ogy.
side of the county to buy a pair of shoes while here, support our economy.
first-response facility.
I believe both cities should designate
Building a new hospital has its chalor a nice piece of jewelry for Valentine’s
Rich Velasquez,
foreman of new
construction for
California Water
Service, inspects a
hole with Dave
Anderson of
Anderson Brothers
Corp. during
construction on
East Avenue.
Photos by Bill Husa
Enterprise-Record
Chico construction continues
By TOM VARGA and ROBERT GREENLAW
The city of Chico is looking forward to another busy year of construction projects. Several multiyear
projects will continue in 2007.
The Manzanita Avenue corridor
project will pick up where we left off
at Manzanita Avenue and Centennial
Avenue. Construction will resume
this spring. Bridges over Big Chico
Creek and the Lindo Channel are
being upgraded and a new pedestrian/equestrian bridge is being added.
The new bridge will be just downstream of the roadway bridge over
Big Chico Creek. This bridge will
allow those on foot, bikes, horses, and
other ways to get around to cross
more safely and conveniently.
In addition, Manzanita Avenue will
also be improved from the Lindo
Channel Bridge to Eaton Avenue next
to Fire Station No. 5.
Along East Avenue, utility undergrounding is already under way and
is scheduled to be completed by summer. The city will finish the remaining portion of the street reconstruction immediately afterward.
The balance of the Manzanita
Avenue construction is scheduled for
2008. This work includes the portion
of roadway from Vallombrosa Avenue
to the Lindo Channel bridge. Two
new roundabouts will be constructed
at the Manzanita Avenue intersections with Hooker Oak Avenue and
Vallombrosa Avenue.
By the end of the 2008 construction
season, Chico will have a new major
transportation corridor from Highway 32 to Cohasset Road via Bruce
Road, Chico Canyon Road, Manzanita Avenue and East Avenue, with
many new traffic calming features
and special facilities for pedestrians,
equestrians and bicyclists.
Other multi-year projects beginning in 2007 include the Cohasset
Road widening and East Eighth Street
reconstruction projects.
This year will see Cohasset Road
widened to four lanes from Eaton
Road north to Sheep Hollow and
widening of half the bridge across the
creek. The following year the four-
Tom Varga, 47, is the director of
Capital Project Services for the city
of Chico. He oversees the various
public construction projects within
the city. He is a longtime resident of
Chico and a graduate of Chico State
University’s engineering program.
Bob Greenlaw, 50, is the senior civil
engineer in charge of capital projects
for the city. He has served in this
capacity for both the city of Chico
and Butte County Public Works. He
has been a Butte County resident for
30 years. He received degrees in
civil engineering and business
administration from Chico State.
Mangrove Avenue was one of several roadways to get makeovers last year.
lane widening will continue to Airpark Boulevard with two-lane reconstruction extending further to Ryan
Avenue on the north side of the airport.
This project will provide much
improved access to one of Chico’s
prime employment centers at the airport. Special care was given to respect
and protect sensitive wetland habitat.
The East Eighth Street reconstruction project will run from Fir Street at
Highway 32 to Bruce Road. Scenic
road standards that were developed
in partnership with the neighborhood
will be implemented. A curvilinear
alignment of the street, with new
landscaping, a narrower street section, and new roundabouts will create
a special neighborhood street.
There will be safe access to homes,
schools, local businesses and Bidwell
Park while discouraging traffic that
has been using this street as a shortcut.
The first phase is to be built in
2007. This will be between Fir Street
and Forest Avenue. The second phase
is scheduled for 2008 from Forest
Avenue to Bruce Road.
The city is looking to build a transit center at its parking lot next to
Second Street between Salem Street
and Normal Avenue. We are also taking advantage of the opportunity to
work with Chico State University,
given that the campus is on the other
side of Second Street.
In addition to improving facilities
for the B-Line bus system, a traffic
signal is planned at Normal Avenue
as well as new bike lanes along Second Street. This improves safe transit
access for Chico State students and
encourages a variety of alternative
transportation modes.
The capacity expansion for the
Water Pollution Control Plant from 9
million gallons per day (mgd) to 12
mgd is presently completing the
design phase. Construction will begin
this summer. This work is anticipated
to take about two years.
A sizable portion of this additional
capacity will be used to fulfill the
State of California’s Regional Water
Quality Control Board’s order to
retire urban septic tanks that are
releasing nitrate pollutants into our
groundwater.
The Nitrate Action Plan is a joint
response by the city and Butte County to address the board’s order. This
plan will build the rest of the public
sewer infrastructure to allow the connection of properties with septic
tanks to a public sewer system.
The design portion for the first
phase of this process is well under
way with construction to follow as
soon as funding is secured. Construction of all the phases is expected to
take about eight to 10 years.
With last year’s success of foamed
asphalt reconstruction projects on the
Skyway, Mangrove Avenue, and
Cohasset Road, this new technology
will be applied to projects scheduled
for 2007.
This paving technique involves
recycling of the existing pavement
with a new technology that places
asphalt more quickly, thus reducing
the inconvenience of construction.
Forest Avenue will be reconstructed from the Little Chico Creek Bridge
to 20th Street. This work will go
through the intersection and continue
along East 20th Street to just east of
Highway 99.
2006 was a huge year for public
construction project throughout the
city of Chico. This upcoming year
promises to maintain that pace of
work.
Construction creates temporary
inconvenience, but the finished product provides the quality of life that
our residents have come to expect
and deserve. The city greatly appreciates the community’s patience and
understanding while these projects
are put together and built.
2CC Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Enterprise-Record
OUTLOOK & UPDATES
Notes about being sent to the principal’s office
By MICHAEL RUPP
Twelve years at Pleasant Valley
High School has taught me something: There is no way to predict the
future. Who would have thought that
we would not need a new high school
10 years after a bond measure was
passed? How can I put in writing
what will or should be built, what
changes will or should happen in this
district?
It is a great assignment that only a
retiring principal would entertain
without fear. So, let me start with
what I see happening at schools now
that is really exciting, what I am pretty sure will happen in the near future,
and what I really think should happen in the years to come.
Small groups of teachers meeting
regularly at each school to “collaborate” is the biggest change happening
in the Chico Unified School District
that will affect students positively.
Schools are adopting teacher collaboration models that provide time for
meetings during the school day for
teachers who teach at the same grade
level or teach the same subject.
What they do in these meetings is
extremely important. From lists of
state standards, teachers decide what
should be taught at each grade level
or in each type of course. They then
determine how they will know it is
learned by students.
They create tests given regularly to
students in the same grade at the elementary level or in the course at the
secondary level. Test results are discussed and used by teachers to determine if they need to repeat material
or move ahead.
Lastly, teachers decide which interventions will be used when students
don’t learn what they are supposed to
learn.
Interventions are very important.
Michael Rupp, who moved to Chico
18 years ago, is a member of Chico
Rotary and on the board of the
Canyon Oaks Property Owners
Association. After 35 years as a
teacher or administrator, including
six years at Live Oak High School
and the last 12 as principal of Pleasant Valley High School, Rupp will
retire in June, at age 61.
Pleasant Valley High School graduates are silhouetted by the setting sun before ceremonies begin.
Why allow students to fail? In this
new approach, failure is not an option
for our students.
High schools began this process
three years ago. Teachers are making
educational decisions together in
small groups. Middle schools and elementary schools are in various stages
of a similar process. Benefits are now
evident with better test scores, lower
drop-out rates, and more satisfied
teachers as well as better-educated
students.
Second, in the near future what
changes will we see in CUSD? Hopefully, we will see more communication among teachers, parents, students, administrators and community
members that is designed to combine
the collective intelligence of a group
in the decisions being made.
When it comes to facilities, the
board of trustees is right on the mark.
We need to use the money at our disposal to make CUSD schools reflect
the value parents place on education
in this community. If there is any
doubt how valuable it is, just come to
one back-to-school night at any
school here. Parents fill the school in
order to talk to teachers.
Building a Performing Arts Center
at PV, classrooms to replace portables
at Chico High School, and upgrading
athletic facilities on all secondary
campuses have to be priorities. All of
these projects directly affect students
in a positive way. It is pleasing the
board stated its agreement in a facilities workshop on Feb. 6.
Lastly, what should happen in the
years to come? Well, it’s not simply a
need for more money. To my mind it
is a change in philosophy.
It makes sense to me that if we can
all agree that decisions affecting student education should be made by
people close to the classroom where
learning takes place, it makes good
sense that decisions concerning a
school site should be made by people
who run the site.
Clearly we all have to listen to the
parents of our students and the community at large in order to set our
priorities for the expenditure of funds
and for the procedures we use. This
requires that these groups spend time
at board meetings and at school advisories meetings as well as PTA meetings, etc.
We all do better when we are
accountable to the people we serve.
Support your schools with your time,
your interest and your participation.
Enterprise-Record
OUTLOOK & UPDATES
3CC
Technology projects in the future will be varied
2
4
1
By KEN DEROUCHER
Technology over the next several years will
center around a wide variety of topics. In the
college of engineering, computer science and
construction management at Chico State University, a few of the technology application oriented projects under way include but are not
limited to:
Advances in computers, sensors and
remote control devices are at the heart of
applied research projects for Lawrence
Livermore National Laboratory, to continue to develop tools that will protect soldiers
from improvised explosive devices (IEDs) and
other dangers encountered in hostile territory.
A small remote-controlled vehicle is
equipped with a wireless camera to allow the
operator to view the surroundings and investigate dangerous situations remotely. A second,
much larger vehicle, based on a large all-terrain
vehicle, is under development with the goal of
clearing roads in front of patrols or convoys in
hostile territory where road-side bombs and
IEDs are likely to be encountered.
The road-clearing-robotic vehicle is to be
remotely controlled from the lead convoy vehicle while the convoy is moving at normal
speeds and is designated to detect an ambush
or other threats.
Reader’s
view
Three things
Chico needs
Chicoans desire an aesthetically pleasing yet economically viable city. We
offer the following three
ideas toward these goals:
1. Think “green growth”
— Understandably, Chico
will have to grow to meet the
needs of California’s population
growth.
However,
instead of becoming an
urban sprawl of massive
subdivisions with no personality and even less aesthetic,
consider developing minineighborhoods with an eye
on beauty and purpose. Doe
Mill is a good example of
new community growth that
considers both function and
form.
New developments might
offer options such as solar
panels on homes; a mix of
small backyards or shared
yards; planting of flora in a
variety of colors; inclusion of
trees. Maintain Bidwell Park
with no further encroachments such as houses on
the hills.
2. Develop a “Mangrove
Makeover” plan — Over 10
years, revitalize Mangrove
Avenue so that residents of
the Avenues can walk to a
variety of shops. Create
ways to energize and connect homes and businesses
with a “mini-neighborhood”
theme. Attract a mix of businesses, cafes, music and art
venues, a grocery.
Address the possibility of
taking out the middle lane
and putting trees in a divider.
We don’t have to stop there
— we can continue with
beautifying East Avenue.
3. Boost local business
— Chico has a small town
feel with a quaint yet bustling
downtown. In this age of the
global economy and the bigbox store, let’s maintain the
look and feel not of just any
small town, but of Chico.
Remedy the downtown parking meter problems by
returning to the former system. The current increase in
meter fees and fines discourages downtown shoppers. Say ‘no’ to Wal-Mart!
Continue overall communitybuilding events such as concerts in the park, Halloween
for children, farmers’ markets. Promote our unique
and nationally attended
events such as the annual
Yo-Yo contest.
As we grow, continue the
feel of a downtown and
neighborhoods with personality and charm.
Silona Reyman and
Sarah Valim
residents of Chico since
1977
Zero Energy Homes (ZEH) is a project to
optimize green building design in terms
of value for the four different building climate zones in Northern California with
the overall goal of achieving affordable ZEH.
The research entails
• Computer simulation
• Experimental testing of specific building
components
• Experimental testing of entire buildings
(i.e. test homes)
The primary deliverables will be a definitive
set of building guidelines for each climate zone
that would allow optimal selection of each
envelope component, the HVAC and water
heating systems and the proper on-site power
generation system.
Mechatronic engineers have developed a
GPS piloted 16 hp Kioti tractor for
automation of agriculture. In addition,
using a similar sub-meter accuracy Trimble GPS unit, a GPS triggered automated tree
planter was developed for a Colusa company,
increasing their tree planting productivity.
As labor cost is rising, the growers are
increasingly using GPS coupled with other sensors, e.g. camera vision, for automation of farming, employing fewer people, improving accuracy and increasing yield.
As research continues, the future farm, in
theory, will have a “base station” from where an
3
operator (free of dust and/or chemical hazards)
manages the farm with the help of these
autonomous or remotely controlled vehicles.
A diesel engine test facility being developed will allow researchers, faculty and
students to perform research with alternate fuels. These individuals will utilize a
Superflow SF902 Engine Dynamometer in consultation with various engines and alternate
fuels.
With multiple engine stands, different
engines can be wheeled into the facility for testing. Thus, the opportunity to test engines for
their power, torque, fuel efficiency and emission
characteristics will be available. Alternate fuel
research will focus on biodiesel from various
sources. The facility will be completed in summer 2008.
Manufacturing technology centers around
the fabrication of a novel biodiesel production system in cooperation with the University Farm. The system will convert
campus cafeteria waste oil into diesel fuel for the
farm. The research currently involves the design
and manufacturing of new fluid handling components that will help automate the process and
make it more efficient.
The College of Engineering, Computer Science and Construction Management has
embarked on an ambitious plan to re-engineer the manner in which we teach, learn
5
6
and practice technological applications with the
built environment.
Sustainability in the Built Environment (SBE)
coalesces established industry respected programs in civil engineering, mechanical engineering and construction management with
new “cutting edge” programs in concrete industry management, polymer technology, pavement preservation and building information
modeling, and complements a comprehensive
university initiative in sustainability.
Through this effort we are committed to
engaging in the campus sustainability initiative
with the goal of providing leadership in our
region and state in the built environment.
As such, one area among many we will be
involved with is the Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) aimed at transforming the built environment to sustainability
by providing the building industry with consistent, credible standards for what constitutes a
green building or project.
Although briefly stated above, additional
details about the projects and other initiatives
can be found by calling the College of Engineering, Computer Science and Construction Management office at 898-5963.
Reader’s view
Chico needs to wake up, stand up, speak up
“So think as if your every thought were to be
etched in fire across the sky. For so, in truth, it
is.”
I’ve always liked that quote. It’s from “The
Book of Mirdad,” by Mikhail Naimy, a contemporary of Kahlil Gibran.
As a mural painter, I’ve always loved the
opportunity to say something to a lot of people
for a long time.
It’s great to hear from strangers many years
later about how they were affected in a positive
way by a mural. There are plenty of other ways
that any of us can openly express ourselves,
and not even get paint on our clothes.
We have to keep in mind, though, it’s a twoedged sword. There’s no greater privilege and at
the same time, no greater responsibility than
free speech. We live in a democracy that cannot
function without it. If this 200-year-old experiment ever fails, it will only be due to apathy.
Failure to exercise the freedoms that our
grandfathers died for is no way to honor them. If
our honest beliefs are worth having, they are
worth expressing. These opinions and differences of opinions can’t evolve into any kind of
mutual understanding if they aren’t heard.
Now that you’re all fired up, just think of all the
ways to practice this responsibility of free
speech in our modern times. One great way is
by posting comments on blogs. Anyone can do
it and it doesn’t cost a dime. It’s instant and real
time dialog with hundreds of people.
Letters to the editor and voicing comments at
public meetings are still great ways to air it out
as well, but whatever means you prefer, teach
yourself about the issues, think for yourself,
stand up for yourself, and speak for yourself. If
you don’t, just remember there are plenty of
wackos out there that will be happy to do it for
you.
It just takes a little courage at first. Your enemies may become your new friends and your
friends may become your new enemies. Eventually, it all winds up in the sky in broad daylight for
everyone to see. Anything that doesn’t blow
away or go up in smoke, must have some validity and becomes worthy of our consideration
and acceptance.
There’s nothing like seeing the obvious to
make disagreeable people get agreeable. In art
classes, we call it the critique. Everyone participates, and you learn more from it than doing the
project.
In my opinion, the three things that would
most improve our community are:
To wake up, to stand up, and to speak up!
Gregg Payne
artist
OUTLOOK & UPDATES
Enterprise-Record
Butte College students
have been packing the
Chico Center parking
lot since school
opened. The high
amount of cars creates
traffic jams along
Forest Avenue.
Jason Halley
Enterprise-Record
Keeping the promise — Butte College construction program
By LES JAURON
In March 2002, the voters of Butte and Glenn
Counties approved Measure A, an $84.9 million
construction bond to complete the Butte College
main campus and to construct a satellite center
in Chico.
At that time a significant portion of the
instructional program was being delivered in
deteriorating 30-year-old “temporary” portables
— a condition that made it difficult to teach and
even more difficult to learn.
The college made four promises during the
Measure A campaign. These were to:
• Deliver the projects on time and within
budget
• Maximize state funding
• To keep the tax rate below $20.88/$100,000
in assessed valuation
• To keep as many of these construction dollars as possible in our local community.
The Butte College construction program is
now over 50 percent complete and the college
has kept each of the promises it made to the
voters when it asked them to support Measure
A. This is particularly noteworthy given that
construction costs in California have escalated
by over 50 percent since the passage of the
bond measure.
The ability of the Butte College team to consistently deliver projects on time and within
budget under these conditions has been simply
amazing. The reasons for this continued success
include programming to budget, making smart
design decisions, using a project delivery system that reduces both cost and risk, and conducting significant value engineering at every
step of the process.
To date each Measure A project has been
delivered on-time and within budget. These
completed projects are described below.
The Allied Health/Public Service Center was
completed on schedule and within budget in
January 2003. This $20.6 million project provides state-of-the-art instructional space for fire,
police, nursing and other allied health programs.
The Chico Center was completed below budget and ahead of schedule in January 2005. It
provides 18 classrooms, four computer labs,
and specialized laboratory space in the largest
community in our service area.
The Learning Resource Center was completed on schedule and within budget in January
2006. This $20.3 million project provides stateof-the art tutoring space, classrooms, and computer laboratories for the campus.
The Library Renovation/Expansion is under
construction now and is on track for on-time
and within budget completion in August. This
$18.4 million project will double library capacity on the campus, provide students with better
access to on-line resources, and add 13 classrooms to the campus inventory.
There are two remaining capital projects in
the Measure A program. The first is Instructional Arts. This project, which is being planned to
be Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) certified by the U.S. Green
Building Council, will house the Fine and Performing Arts programs.
Currently the Fine Arts are in deteriorating
portables and the Performing Arts have no dedicated space. This project will break ground in
late Fall of this year and will be complete in
early 2009.
The second remaining capital project is Student and General Services. This project, which
is also being planned to be LEED certified by
the U.S. Green Building Council, will house Stu-
dent Services and other administrative functions.
Currently half of Student Services is housed
in the Campus Center while the remainder is in
deteriorating portables — as are all of the
administrative functions. The planning for this
project is under way and it will be completed
after Instructional Arts.
We’re looking at a variety of options to accelerate this project and it will be completed in
2010 at the latest. After the Student and General
Services project is completed the space vacated
by Student Services in the Campus Center will
be converted into a Student Center.
All of the smaller projects, approximately $20
million in construction cost, were accelerated to
reduce the impact of cost escalation — with the
entire package being completed five years
ahead of the original schedule.
These projects included improvements to the
fire, police, and nursing programs; adding a
chemistry lab; renovating life science labs;
adding an athletic trainer’s facility; completing
energy efficiency projects; and renovating the
Technology and Business Education buildings.
The college has leveraged its $84.9 million
local bond to bring approximately $63 million
in state funding to Butte County. This represents almost 75 cents from the state for every
local dollar approved with Measure A. It’s really nice, for once, to see dollars from Los Angeles and the Bay area coming to Butte County.
When Butte College asked the voters to pass
Measure A it promised to keep the tax rate
below $20.88/$100,000 in assessed valuation.
That has occurred. However, even more significantly, the College has also shortened the payback time on the bonds by 15 years and reduced
the overall debt service costs by 30 percent.
The economic benefit of the Butte College
Les Jauron, 49, lives in Magalia and is currently the special assistant to the president of Butte
College. Prior to assuming that position last
September, Jauron was the facilities director for
the college and was responsible for the implementation of the Measure A construction program.
construction program has been significant.
Early on we modified our project delivery system to reduce cost and improve the capability
of local contractors to bid on our projects.
On our first project, the Allied Health/Public
Service Center, local contractors completed
about 15 percent of the work. On our current
project, the Library Renovation/ Expansion that
percentage has increased to 52 percent. To date
over $30 million dollars from the construction
program has gone directly back into our local
community.
In conclusion, Butte College has kept the
promises it made to voters when it asked them
to approve Measure A. Projects have consistently been delivered on time and within budget.
The College has leveraged Measure A to capture $63 million in state funding. It has kept the
tax rate under $20.88 while reducing bond payback time by 15 years and overall debt service
by 30 percent. To date the construction program
has pumped over $30 million back into our
community.
Overall, the program has been a remarkably
successful investment by the citizens of Butte
and Glenn Counties.
Enterprise-Record
OUTLOOK & UPDATES
5CC
Chico State campus abuzz with several capital building projects
By DENNIS GRAHAM
It is always exciting to have an opportunity to talk about the
progress of the University’s Facilities Master Plan. Although the
Master Plan was only recently approved at the September 2006
CSU board of trustees meeting, the campus is already involved
with a dozen major capital projects. In addition, there are several
other projects “on the drawing board” as future projects.
1. The photovoltaic project was recently completed and will
serve to produce renewable energy at a fixed rate for approximately 30 years. This renewable energy is equivalent
power for approximately 70 residential houses.
There are a total of 1,212 panels
installed on Acker Gymnasium and Yolo Hall.
2. The first phase of the
telecommunication infrastructure project was also
recently completed. This project provides new telecommunication wiring to 27 buildings
across the campus and new
wiring within the entire structure for 16 buildings on the campus. The phase two portion of the
project includes installation of all
new electronic equipment in all the
telecommunication rooms.
3. The foundation for the Student
Services Center has been completed.
The steel delivery is scheduled for
March 19. After installation of the
steel — to be completed by mid April
— the building will be under full construction.
4. The Wildcat Activity Center architect has completed 50 percent construction designs and the final designs will be
presented to the Board of Trustees at their
July meeting. Construction will begin
shortly thereafter and will be completed in
early 2009.
5. The Northern California Natural History Museum project is currently seeking a
design-build team. A contractor is expected
to be selected in March 2007.
6. The University Housing and Food Service project is currently in the early design
phase. It will house approximately 220 students
and have a 600-seat dining facility. It is hoped
the project can begin construction in Fall 2007
with a completion date in summer 2009.
7. A feasibility study is currently being prepared regarding a
new warehouse for the campus.
8. Plans have begun regarding the need to relocate the University Police Department facility to make way for the new Taylor II
facility.
9. An architect is being selected to design the First
Street renovation, and landscaping from First
Street at Salem Street to Cherry Street.
10. The university parking study is being
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followed by a campus
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11. Documents have been submitted to formally request the construction of a new Taylor II classroom building to replace the existing facility.
12. Documents have been submitted to formally request the
renovation of Colusa Hall to be used by Continuing Education to
strengthen and expand scholarship and teaching at the University.
Dennis Graham, vice president for business and finance, moved
to Chico from Indiana State University in 1996 after completing its
facilities master plan. He recently celebrated his 60th Valentine
birthday and is known by many as a strong advocate for sustainability practices and construction.
Enterprise-Record
OUTLOOK & UPDATES
Two different neighborhoods planned for Meriam Park
By TOM DiGIOVANNI
Meriam Park is a proposed
250-acre mixed-use traditional
neighborhood project in southeast Chico. The plan for Meriam Park
(www.MeriamPark.com) comes
from the tradition of great
American neighborhoods. It
has been designed with a range
of housing types, sizes and
prices, a mix of civic and commercial uses, and a network of
connected slow-speed streets.
We believe that neighborhoods designed and built in
this way create the best places
over the long term. The Meriam Park plan includes:
Traditional
neighborhoods — The neighborhoods of Meriam Park will
include a mix of house types,
sizes, and prices in a setting of
connected neighborhood
streets. Neighborhood streets
are intentionally designed to be
slow-speed, walkable and
pleasant. All houses will be
designed and built to be energy
efficient, durable and appealing.
Neighborhood greens and
parks — Meriam Park’s neighborhoods will contain a range
of small parks and greens
located within a three-to-fourminute walk of every home
and designed for informal
gathering or play. They will be
designed to provide intimate
public spaces for informal
gatherings, and nearby play
space for children.
Commercial and civic center — Meriam Center will be
the commercial and civic heart
of Meriam Park, and will contain small shops and restaurants, offices and a range of
potential commercial and civic
buildings and activities. Some
of the buildings will be multistory with residential, office, or
studio above the ground floor.
Meriam Center will include a
church, a day care center, and
Artist renderings (left and
below) show prospective
homes and central plaza for
the proposed Meriam Park
development in eastern Chico.
Above, birds fly near a fence
along the south side of Humboldt Road within the boundaries of the project.
the potential for other civic
uses like a ballpark, post office
or library. Central to the vision
for the place is the provision of
artistic and cultural venues and
activities to highlight and support Chico’s vital cultural life.
Creekside greenway and
habitat preserve — The plan
for Meriam Park includes the
enhancement of the 20-acre Little Chico Creek greenway and
the preservation of 44 acres of
sensitive habitat and endangered species. The greenway
along Little Chico Creek will be
restored and a portion of it is
planned for passive recreational activities, including community gardens, bicycle trails,
walking trails, and a fenced
dog park and small playground. A preserve in the
northwest portion of the site
will be set aside for Butte
County meadowfoam, a federally-listed endangered plant
species, and associated vernal
pool habitat.
Planning process — As
planners and builders, we
believe in the power of
thoughtful and careful design
at all scales (region, city, neighborhood, street, block, lot and
building) to provide robust,
adaptable, long-term physical
framework for community.
Our fundamental aim in
designing and building Meriam Park is to create a great
place over the long view, a
place that achieves both longterm economic vitality and
environmental sustainability, a
place that holds our attention,
captivates our imagination,
and over time earns our affection.
As designers and builders,
we recognize that what we do
leaves a long-term imprint, and
we make every effort to do our
work thoughtfully. The steps
we have taken in planning
Meriam Park are briefly
described below.
Chico’s heritage — The
vision for Meriam Park incor-
Tom DiGiovanni, 50, is president of New Urban Builders,
the planners and developers
of Meriam Park. He has lived
in Chico for 19 years with his
wife Carol and three children.
porates the community values
and adopted principals and
objectives contained in the 1994
Chico General Plan.
Guiding principles — The
guiding principles of the Meriam plan are to: Establish compact, complete and connected
neighborhoods; reinforce community character; protect environmental resources; provide
continuity, connectivity and
safety, and; provide housing
choice and workplace opportunity.
Charrettes and public
engagement — All planning
benefits from the interaction of
local citizens and nearby neighbors. Over a three-year period,
in workshops and meetings
large and small, we have
worked with interested mem See MERIAM, 8CC
OUTLOOK & UPDATES
Enterprise-Record
New city neighborhood department to work with residents
By SHERRY MORGADO
The coming year will be an exciting one for the city of Chico and its
new Housing and Neighborhood Services Department. By bringing
together three neighborhood-focused
resources in one department — housing, code enforcement and neighborhood services — we are committed to
working with residents to maintain
and improve the quality of life we all
love in Chico.
As the new department becomes
fully staffed, we will begin introducing new programs such as the Neighborhood Partnership Program. The
city will work with residents to develop a formal neighborhood association
recognized by the city as the representative body for that particular
neighborhood.
This initiative will lead to the
development of neighborhood plans
in the coming years. Planning is
already under way for the avenues
neighborhood and a draft report will
be ready in the next two months. The
next neighborhood plan in the queue,
for the southwest neighborhood, will
begin its process in March/April of
this year.
Neighborhood partnerships and
neighborhood planning are important
because they provide a mechanism
for diverse interests to work together
to develop a shared vision for the
community.
Restoring and preserving our existing housing stock is a key component
to neighborhood preservation and
revitalization. During the last decade,
more than half of the growth in the
city has been attributable to annexation of county islands. Some of these
areas have a concentration of aging
and substandard housing stock.
As the deterioration of housing
stock tends to go hand in hand with
MERIAM
From 6CC
bers of the community to make
the plan better.
LEED-ND — Meriam Park is
seeking certification in accordance with an emerging national standard for green development and building practices.
Known as “LEED-ND” (Neighborhood Development), the
standard has been jointly developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, the Congress for
the New Urbanism, and the
Natural Resources Defense
Council. The rating system integrates the principles of smart
growth, urbanism and green
building into the first national
standard for sustainable development. More information on
this program can be found at
www.usgbc.org.
Project environmental
review and public hearings —
The planning process and the
open dialog with nearby neighbors and the community at
large have made the plan a better one and have made people
more aware of our design
approach. However, the charrettes and public engagement
do not take the place of the normally required steps of project
environmental review and public hearings.
A draft environmental
impact report for the project
was released by the city of
Chico in November 2006. Public
comments were received and a
final EIR will soon be issued.
Following this, public hearings
with the Planning Commission
and the City Council will be
scheduled.
On a final note, the Meriam
Park is named in honor of Ted
Meriam, generally recognized
as the most influential civic
leader since Chico’s founders
John and Annie Bidwell. It is
intended not only to honor him,
but also to honor the important
traditions of civic leadership
and community service which
he embodied so well during his
lifetime.
It is our common responsibility to carry these traditions forward. In this sense, we are
reminded that the real longterm civic project is the one
which follows the construction
of the buildings and the plazas,
the parks and the streets.
While the role of the builder
and designer is limited in time,
it is an important and foundational one. We will devote all
our energy and all our skill to
be worthy of the task.
John Anderson
of New Urban
Builders shows
some drawings
to members of
the Chico
Avenues
Neighborhood
Association
during a
follow-up
meeting to an
Enloe Medical
Center charrette
at the Enloe
Conference
Center.
Chico Housing and Neighborhood
Services Director Sherry Morgado,
44, is a native of Merced. She has
lived in Chico for three years.
the development of blight, these areas
also have a high demand for code
enforcement. This means that directing additional resources to housing
rehabilitation and code enforcement
are also a high priority and vital to
our vision.
While many of our goals in putting
together this new department relate
to improving physical conditions,
such as addressing lack of infrastructure, substandard housing and
slum/blight conditions, one of our
most important objectives is to
improve access to information and
resources that support neighborhoods
in a myriad of ways.
All of our neighborhoods have
existing assets that we would like to
assist them in tapping into so that
they can flourish.
Photos by Bill Husa
Enterprise-Record
Summer groundbreaking eyed for new tower
By CHRISTINA CHAVIRA
A summertime groundbreaking is
in the works for the Enloe Medical
Center expansion.
This ceremonial dig will launch a
new five-story patient tower that will
double the capacity of the current
facility. The building will house a
new surgery department with 14
surgery suites, a new emergency
department, two new intensive-care
units, a new cardiovascular department, an orthopedic department, and
an entire floor dedicated to the care of
mothers and babies.
In all, the tower will add 191,000
square feet and 130 new beds to the
medical center.
Other features of the new patient
tower include a 12-room observation
area; four new suites for providing
gastrointestinal procedures; as well as
34 treatment bays, a trauma center
and four trauma rooms in the new
Emergency Department. A “shelled”
fifth floor will allow an additional 60
beds as needed in the future.
Completion of the tower is expected by 2010.
It’s good timing, as state-mandated
seismic requirements would require
Enloe, along with every other acuteTOP: An artist’s rendering of the proposed Enloe Medical Center patient tower.
care hospital in California, to retrofit,
rebuild or close their general acuteABOVE: Workers from Stotts and Sons Inc. move half of one of the Enloe homes to make room for the hospital’s expancare inpatient hospital buildings by
sion and new patient tower.
specific dates, if they do not meet
strict new seismic safety standards.
At Enloe, this would mean relocating several patient-care areas out of
the oldest area of the current facility,
which would further limit space in
the already well-occupied hospital.
The Century Project expansion will
allow Enloe to move these areas to
the new tower, and the historical part
Robert Adams
of the hospital, built in 1937, will be
vice president of the Enloe Foundation
used exclusively as office space.
Until the first dirt is excavated six
months from now, Enloe will continue to undergo site preparations,
The second major part of the Enloe
the construction of the tower and will
Chico State University.
which have taken place for the past
Century Project is the parking strucTo make access to the hospital easi- eliminate overhead utility poles from
few months and included the moving
ture. The four-level, three-story
Enloe’s future community park.
er during site preparations, Enloe
of the Sierra House, a 97-year-old
garage will accommodate 742 vehiThe medical center provides a
launched a free valet service for
bungalow, last September.
cles and will be located between West
monthly update about construction
patients and visitors, and has asked
During preparations for construcall non-patient-care employees at The projects in a newsletter for neighbors, Sixth and Seventh avenues on the
tion, the medical center is working to
east side of Magnolia Avenue. The
which is also available online at
ensure continued convenient access to Esplanade site to park off-campus
Mediterranean-style facade compleenloe.org/century — just click on the
hospital services. Some level of short- during the busiest hours.
ments the exterior of the new hospital
“Neighborhood Update” link.
Employees are also encouraged to
term inconvenience cannot be avoidAnother visible change at the med- tower.
use alternative transportation, such as
ed as the much-needed expansion
Created in collaboration with
ical center will be the temporary clocarpooling, bicycling and public
moves forward.
Enloe’s neighbors, the exterior design
sure of Magnolia Avenue, between
transportation, and some are choosThe last major expansion took
includes tile roofing accents, panels of
West Fifth and Sixth avenues, where
ing these options.
place in 1980, when Chico’s populacreeping fig, arbors, and space on the
the new tower will go up. The oneAnother major site preparation
tion was 63,275, compared with an
block closure is expected to take place ground level for public art.
project, already under way, is the
expected population growth of an
The third and final aspect of the
when the tower construction begins.
relocation of PG&E, AT&T and Comadditional 70,000 residents by 2020,
expansion is a community park,
Magnolia Avenue will eventually be
according to a 2005 study by the Cen- cast utilities from above ground to
which will be situated approximately
underground. This will make way for rerouted around the tower.
ter for Economic Development at
“
“
We expect to achieve our full fundraising goal through more wonderful
and generous community donations.
Christina Chavira is a member of
the staff of Enloe Medical Center’s
public relations department.
between West Fifth and Sixth
Avenues, adjacent to the new tower.
The Sierra House and the Arcadian
House will bookend the park.
A large committee comprised of
community members has been heading a $10 million capital campaign to
assist in funding the Enloe Century
Project. Under the leadership of Steve
Nettleton, the committee has raised
$7 million, which is 70 percent of the
fundraising goal of $10 million.
Bonds and the sale of Enloe’s former
Bruce Road property will provide the
balance of the cost for the project.
Many community members, organizations and businesses have donated to the Enloe Century Campaign,
along with physicians, board members and Enloe employees, who have
given more than $500,000. The largest
donation has come from Steve and
Kathy Nettleton, who in December of
2004 gave $1 million to be used for
Enloe’s Mother and Baby Care Center.
“We expect to achieve our full
fundraising goal through more wonderful and generous community
donations,” said Robert Adams, vice
president of the Enloe Foundation.
Construction and completion of the
medical center expansion is expected
to improve the economic health of the
community, and most importantly, it
will enable the hospital to continue
providing quality health care for the
community.
An expanded and modernized hospital also helps to attract physicians
and allied staff to the region. As the
north state’s population grows and
ages, it becomes ever more vital for
Enloe to expand its facility to enable
continued care for the community for
generations to come.
2DD Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Enterprise-Record
OUTLOOK & UPDATES
Envision a greater Chico — the 2030 General Plan update
By STEVE PETERSON
As the new planning director for
the city of Chico, the first thing I
noticed is that residents take great
pride in their community. Since its
founding by John Bidwell in 1860,
Chico has maintained a special feeling
of small-town living while developing
into a vibrant regional center for business, recreation, and culture.
Chico faces many growth challenges, including how to maintain
smaller town qualities and accommodate future growth.
The General Plan is a unique opportunity to develop a common vision
about how we grow in a way that benefits the whole community.
Steve Peterson was appointed
Chico Planning Services Director in
October 2006 and manages the
city’s current, long-range and environmental planning programs. Previously, he served as a long-range
planner with the city of Sacramento.
Peterson has over 25 years of planning experience at the local, regional
and state level. He has a master’s
degree in city and regional planning
from Fresno State University, and a
bachelor’s degree in public administration from Chico State University.
Plan involves several phases of work
over many years. These work phases
include data collection, description of
existing conditions, issue identification, creation of the vision, defining
growth alternatives, developing a
draft plan and environmental review,
and finally public hearings and adoption.
Citizens can track progress of the
General Plan Update by regularly
checking the city’s Web site:
www.ci.chico.ca.us/
GROWTH CHALLENGES AHEAD
Recently Chico has experienced significant growth, and more is expected.
Since 1990, the city’s population has
doubled from 43,000 to 85,000, with a
majority of the population increase
due to annexation of existing developed neighborhoods or unincorporated “islands” surrounded by the city.
As you think about the future, consider the kind of Chico that you want
to live in over the next 25 years. Think
about your neighborhood, think about
your community, think about our city.
What do you want our city to look Chico City Councilors will be looking at updating the city’s General Plan.
like?
What are the key challenges facing
us now and in the future?
What would you preserve and what WHY IS AN UPDATE NEEDED?
WHAT IS COVERED IN THE GENERAL
would you like to change?
An update is needed because the PLAN?
Beginning this summer, the city will
The General Plan comprises goals,
last comprehensive update to the
begin to develop a vision for your
policies,
programs and actions, which
city’s General Plan was completed in
neighborhood, your community, and
1994. General Plans need updating to are based on an assessment of current
your city as part of comprehensive
keep them relevant and to comply and future needs and available
General Plan Update.
resources.
with state law.
Once adopted, the document
While dated, the existing General
WHAT IS A GENERAL PLAN?
Plan continues to be a relevant guide becomes the principal tool for the city
The General Plan is the city’s “con- used by staff, planning commission- to prioritize and evaluate public and
stitution” for growth. The General ers, council members and the commu- private development projects and
Plan is a long-term policy guide for nity. The existing plan reflects the municipal service improvements.
State law requires that every generthe physical, economic, and environ- community’s desire for compact
mental growth and renewal of the city. urban form while limiting develop- al plan address seven topics (or eleAll local land use decisions must be ment to protect habitat, views and ments): land use, circulation, housing,
conservation, open space, noise and
consistent with the General Plan.
open space.
safety. A general plan may also
include optional elements specific to
Chico, including community design,
economic development, historic
preservation, downtown and a sustainability element.
WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS?
Prior to preparation of these elements, the city will undertake an
extensive public participation process
that will involve the entire community. The first step this summer will be
selection of a consultant to prepare the
update.
The preparation of a new General
FROM TOWN TO CITY
Chico’s greatest assets include an
historic downtown, attractive and
walkable streets, gracious residential
neighborhoods, Bidwell Park and
open space, art and entertainment,
and Chico State University one of the
oldest post secondary institutions in
California.
Great cities are not stagnant. They
grow, improve and evolve over time
all while preserving and enhancing
their essential sense of place. The General Plan update will provide a comprehensive opportunity for the community to develop an overall growth
strategy on how Chico will grow from
town to city in a way that preserves
what we are and provides more choices that benefit all of Chico.
Stay tuned and get involved.
Butte County General Plan 2030 — planning the future together
By TIM SNELLINGS
Why is it so important that Butte
County adopt a new General Plan?
How might that affect you? Hopefully, by the end of this column, you’ll
gain a sense of the issues.
California State law requires each
city and county to adopt a General
Plan. Known as the “Constitution for
development,” it must be updated
periodically to reflect a community’s
vision.
The General Plan update process is
fully under way. This effort, officially
named “Butte County General Plan
2030” includes the update of the General Plan, a new zoning ordinance,
and an environmental impact report.
“Our County General Plan will
outline and influence a wide range of
topics important to residents, property owners and businesses throughout
the county,” according to Board of
Supervisors Chairwoman Jane Dolan
of Chico. “The General Plan can have
positive effects on affordable housing,
reduction of traffic congestion, promotion and enhancement of agriculture as both an economic engine and
a way of life, protection of the environment, and it will define how to
locate and attract businesses that provide livable wages and economic
growth for our County and our residents,”
In September 2006, the county
selected Design, Community & Environment (DC&E) to be the lead consultant for this effort. DC&E has
assembled a team of specialized subconsultants, which includes the firms
of Jones & Stokes, to handle the biological resources, cultural resources,
air quality and noise; Gallaway Consulting to handle technical studies
and mapping concerning county deer
herds; Fehr & Peers Associates to
handle traffic and circulation issues;
Crawford, Multari & Clark to handle
the zoning ordinance update; Bay
Area Economics to handle the housing element, as well as economic and
fiscal analysis; and, Questa Engineering to handle infrastructure issues,
geology, hydrology, water quality,
hazards and safety.
A Citizens Advisory Committee
has been formed, which held its initial kick-off meetings in November
and December of 2006. The committee is made up of a broad cross-section of citizens from throughout the
county, appointed by the Board of
Supervisors.
The committee is one vehicle to
bring the public’s voice to the
process. A rigorous schedule of public
meetings, workshops and other
events is also planned, to culminate
with final adoption of the new General Plan in September 2009.
The effort includes eight series of
workshops that will address:
• Butte County’s existing conditions and key issues
• Plan alternatives
• Alternatives finalization
• A preferred alternative
• Goals and policies development
• Development of a draft of the
preferred new General Plan
• Housing
• Key zoning issues.
Each workshop series will include
four meetings: first a public workshop, followed by a Citizens Advisory Committee meeting, Planning
Commission study session, and a
Board of Supervisors study session.
Workshop series No. 1 will begin
on March 15 (check the Web site
www.buttegeneralplan.net for
details). This workshop will focus on
Butte County’s existing conditions
and the identification of issues impor-
tant to the update process.
In addition to the Citizens Advisory Committee meeting process, the
effort includes additional public participation and outreach programs that
will also involve four “area plan
workshops” which will focus on
Butte County’s broad rural areas surrounding the incorporated cities.
Another three workshops will
focus on the geographic sub-areas of
Butte County: the valley, foothills and
mountain areas.
A key part of Butte County’s General Plan 2030 strategy is collaboration with the five incorporated cities
and town included within Butte
County. On Jan. 27, a historic
city/county summit meeting was
held to begin the dialogue on planning for the future.
Special emphasis was placed on
how the county and cities can promote interjurisdictional cooperation
in the “spheres of influence” of each
city, a special area where city growth
is expected to take place in the future.
This summit meeting set a strong
foundation for subsequent individual
meetings, during which officials and
staff will work together on the pressing issues for each region. Other key
Butte County Development Services
Director Tim Snellings has been
with the county since Halloween
2005. His department includes planning, building and code enforcement. Previously, he was the Community Development Director in
Yuba County. Snellings got his start
in county service in Napa County in
1984. He received his bachelor’s
degree in environmental studies
with a minor in chemistry from
Sacramento State University in
1983.
partners in this process include the
Local Agency Formation Commission
and the Butte County Association of
Governments.
Why is this so important? Once the
Butte County General Plan 2030 is
adopted by the Board of Supervisors
in September 2009, it will become the
working policy document used for
day-to-day development decisionmaking in Butte County.
Enterprise-Record
OUTLOOK & UPDATES
3DD
Butte County Solid Waste Program – 2012
By BILL MANNEL
I was asked to don my prognosticator hat and convey what the future
holds for the waste we generate.
Twenty-seven years in the waste
management field has left me with
one impression: The only constant in
life is change. This saying is especially
true for the waste and recycling industry.
In 1989, California enacted a law
requiring each city and county to
develop programs to divert 50 percent
of waste from being buried in a landfill. Cities, counties and waste collection companies were all forced to look
differently at the waste we discarded.
Curbside recycling programs were
implemented and green waste (yard
waste) was sent to a compost facility
instead of the landfill.
Some trash once thrown away, is
now a commodity. Cans, bottles,
newspaper, and cardboard have value.
Many recycling centers pay for these
products and secondary markets have
been developed for recycled products.
California regulatory agencies
responsible have also banned household hazardous waste from landfills,
to protect the groundwater beneath.
You know these wastes as paints, used
motor oil, cleaning agents, pool chemicals, insecticides, and pharmaceuticals
to name a few. Facilities have been
built in every county to manage this
waste stream safely.
The list of banned consumer products recently extended to many common electronic devices. When buried
in a landfill, they exhibit chemical
characteristics causing them to be considered dangerous to the environment.
Thus, televisions, computer monitors, alkaline batteries, treated wood
waste, mercury containing devices like
fluorescent light tubes and thermostats
are no longer buried in a landfill.
These products fall under a new category called “universal waste.” Safe
handling practices and disposal
options for these commodities are currently being developed and/or
expanded.
Children teach their parents about
the advantages of recycling. Resource
Bill Mannel is manager of the Solid
Waste Division, Butte County Public
Works
Roger Alyworth/Enterprise-Record
A map of the Neal Road Landfill at a March 2006 Board of Supervisors meeting.
conservation is part of school curriculum. They know how much energy is
saved for every aluminum can recycled.
The moniker of the “throwaway
society” is starting to fade. Arguably,
we still waste too much, but each generation will make improvements.
Has the way we look at our waste
changed in the last 16 years?
Absolutely. Will it continue to change?
Without a doubt!
I envision that by 2012, all urbanized areas of the county will have
curbside recycling programs and curbside green waste recycling programs
driven by market forces or other influences. Large trash cans will be
replaced with small ones as more recycling options are available.
Instead of the current average
garbage generation rate of 50 pounds
household per week, the average
household will generate only about
20–25 pounds. Household hazardous
waste and universal waste will be
much easier to dispose of safely with
more convenient locations.
With a reduction in garbage destined for the county landfill, the current accelerated pace of filling the
landfill will be slowed, and hopefully
with effective recycling programs,
additional waste volumes generated
from growth in the county will be offset.
Currently, the landfill has projected
capacity until 2034. Where will the
next landfill be? The county will look
at all options for extending the life in
our current landfill as it becomes
increasing difficult and expensive to
site new landfills.
These options could include a sorting facility at the landfill capable of
extracting recyclable or reusable commodities from public self-haul, small
commercial and construction and
demolition material loads.
The public would no longer go to
the part of the landfill where waste is
buried. For safety and operational efficiency, public and self-haul loads
would use a new unloading area in
the sorting facility. No more mud or
flat tires.
A second-chance store may be located at the landfill offering reusable
items that are extracted from the waste
stream. Numerous working appliances, for example, are currently disposed of as the public quests to have
the latest and greatest device. You
would be amazed at the amount of
perfectly good items that are thrown
away. These products can easily have
another home. The County Solid
Waste Division is currently evaluating
this option, which can be realized with
a sorting operation.
A regional composting facility will
most likely be located in Butte County
and will benefit from additional green
waste generated by residential and
commercial curbside green waste recycling programs. End-product from the
composting and vermiculture operations will be highly sought after due to
increased trends in organic farming
and increased yields achieved through
application of compost “tea.”
On a state level, greenhouse gas
will continue to be scrutinized. Landfills produce methane gas which is a
by-product from the decomposition of
waste. This greenhouse gas will be an
energy source. The landfill will continue to expand its landfill gas collection system. In the years to come,
electricity will be generated from this
gas or the gas will be used to provide
an energy source, producing heat for
industrial processes.
Beyond 2012, our children will be
the policy makers and consumers, driving market forces for recycled and
“green” products. What we can’t
envision now will be reality in the
future.
Will the way we and our children
look at what we throw away change in
the future? Absolutely! Is zero waste a
reality? Time will tell.
OUTLOOK & UPDATES
Enterprise-Record
Photos by Bill Husa/Enterprise-Record
The cities of Biggs and Gridley are both actively involved in planning their future.
Protection of farmland in south Butte County
By TOM LANDO
Growth is coming to south Butte County. Major
developers from out of the area have tied up significant properties in Biggs and Gridley.
Fortunately both communities are actively
involved in planning their futures.
While it is true there are disagreements over
what the ultimate boundaries of the communities
should look like, and within the next decade the
appearance of the county is likely change substantially, there is a recognition that through-out these
changes agricultural remains an economic driver
for the region.
So while growth will likely move south from
Biggs and north from Gridley and while both communities will also spread both east and west, this
growth will be done with an eye toward the longterm protection of agricultural resources and land.
The city of Biggs has significant agricultural
employers which have defined and form the heart
of the community. The City Council wants to make
sure that these users are buffered from surrounding residential and also have room to grow. It is
Tom Lando is working with the city of Biggs to
coordinate an update of its General Plan. He is a
principal with Lando and Associates planning and
management consultants in Chico, and Chico’s former city manager.
also hoped that related uses locate adjacent to these
major employers to provide still more needed jobs
for the area.
At the same time the City Council is looking at
methods by which it can guarantee the permanent
protection of agricultural land west of the city
sewer treatment plant.
While no specific plans have been discussed,
this could include easements or the acquisition of
development rights as well as appropriate buffering between the urban and agricultural uses.
It is very important to provide for the growth to
allow the south county to become economically
healthy while protecting one of the county’s most
precious resources.
A short train rolls
through the heart
of Biggs.
Enterprise-Record
OUTLOOK & UPDATES
Glenn Medical Center making a comeback
By WOODY LAUGHNAN
Prior to July 1, 2006, Glenn Medical
Center was operated by Enloe Medical Center through a multi-year lease
agreement. Effective that date, the
operating lease was transferred to
Glenn Medical Center, Inc., a not-forprofit corporation now doing business as Glenn Medical Center.
The majority of employees were
retained and the Medical Center has
charted a course of action for the next
several years.
First and foremost, the board of
directors for the new corporation and
hospital will work diligently to
strengthen financial performance.
New services, new physicians and
new technology are all critical to
achieve this objective.
Further, the still relatively new
Glenn Medical Foundation is playing
a vital role by assisting the hospital
with fundraising to bring much of the
Glenn Medical Center in Willows has been updated with state-of-the-art equipment.
new technology on board.
In just the past few months, the
Medical Center was approved to
begin offering mammography sergrant funds to be used for conducting
For the long term, Glenn Medical
As a good neighbor, Glenn Medical
vices once again, has signed a lease
Center is reaching out to neighboring Center, like other California hospitals, such a study. The study will outline
for a new sixteen-slice CT scanner
the cost of a replacement facility,
communities. Hospital staff meets fre- must complete a major study with
scheduled to arrive in March 2007
options for a retrofit, the hospital’s
regard to facility replacement or
quently with physicians and allied
and has tripled the number of MRI
debt capacity and funding sources
health colleagues in Orland to discuss retrofitting. Senate Bill 1953, Califortests over the past year.
available for rural safety-net hospitals
nia’s seismic legislation, mandates
what healthcare services might be
“Quality Healthcare Services Right added at Glenn that would further
that must build or upgrade existing
that hospitals meet stringent seismic
facilities.
requirements by the year 2013. Those
Here at Home” has become the hospi- benefit our north county residents.
Through the California Hospital
that cannot meet the standards may
Glenn Medical Center also contintal’s motto and Glenn County and
Association and many other health
ues its work with Enloe Medical Cen- not be able to continue providing
surrounding area residents are
collaborative healthcare organizater, housing one of Enloe’s ambulance acute hospital services.
expressing their support by using
tions, there is major work under way
Glenn Medical Center is seeking
teams on site.
their community hospital.
Woody Laughnan is the administrator for Glenn Medical Center. He was
appointed to this position in April
2004 and along with hospital Chief
Executive Officer Bill Casey, coordinated the transfer of the lease from
Enloe Medical Center to Glenn Medical Center, Inc. Laughnan has over
30 years of healthcare leadership
experience. He has held similar positions with Colusa Regional Medical
Center and Benewah Community
Hospital in St. Maries, Idaho, among
others.
to encourage state officials to extend
the 2013 deadline. An extended date
would give California hospitals additional time to identify financing alternatives to bring about seismic compliance.
While we face many serious challenges in the coming years, hospital
officials, physicians and employees
are excited about the future of Glenn
Medical Center.
With such a large group of ambassadors who truly care about customer
service and quality healthcare services, we are optimistic and look forward to meeting not only today’s
healthcare needs of local citizenry but
also those of tomorrow.
Glenn County has similar problems to its neighbor, Butte
By DAN OBERMEYER
Glenn County is a 28,000-person
neighbor to Butte County’s 217,000.
However, the northern portion of
Glenn County has become a bedroom
for Chico. Much of the growth in
Hamilton City and Orland has been
driven by the growth of the larger
region and the lower cost of housing
on this side of the river.
In addition, the constraints on
growth in the Chico area have driven
many residents to drive the 10 to 20
miles from Orland and Hamilton City
to Chico.
Glenn County has many of the
same issues with managing growth
that Butte County has. Preservation
of agricultural land and the business
of agriculture is high on the Board of
Supervisors concerns.
While the board generally supports
growth and development, it wants to
make sure the values of the county
are not lost in that growth. The citizens of Glenn County value the agri-
cultural heritage and the small town
character that identifies our area.
The board struggles to balance the
desire for better housing, jobs and
services with the impacts of growth
and development. This is one of the
reasons the county is updating its
General Plan.
Solutions to regional problems will
only come from regional forums and
regional cooperation. As the counties
of Butte, Glenn, Tehama, Colusa,
Shasta, Yuba and Sutter become more
intertwined with commuters, development issues, water, job and housing needs, there will be more need to
establish a regional forum to discuss
and solve our joint problems. It
would be better for that regional
cooperation to grow from within local
governments than to be mandated by
state action.
As for the future of Glenn County,
it will be managed through the general plans for the county and the cities
of Orland and Willows. The county’s
General Plan is scheduled for review
and adoption by the Board of Supervisors this year.
In the meantime the three local
governments have development proposals adequate to address the projected growth of the county for the
next 30 to 50 years.
However, it is fair to assume that
either the projected growth rate will
need to be revised or that only about
half of those projects will happen.
The former seems more likely as California is continuing to grow and suburban and rural areas are seeing a
larger portion of that growth as the
urban areas are becoming full.
Those urban metropolitan areas are
likely to expand into rural areas
rather than see a substantial portion
of their growth be satisfied by infill
projects. We are seeing the impact of
that expansion as development interests from the Sacramento metropolitan area are behind many of the larger developments under consideration
Dan Obermeyer has been the director the Glenn County Planning and Public
Works Agency for three years. Prior to that he was in private consulting in economic development, community development, project management and labor
relations. Prior positions include community development director for Lake County and city administrator for Clearlake. He holds a master’s of public administration from University of Montana and a bachelor’s of architecture from Montana
State University.
in Orland, Willows and the county.
A Caltrans program called “California Regional Blueprint Planning
Program” is a vehicle the more urban
regions are looking toward in planning for their futures. This approach
may filter down to the less urban
regions such as our three-county
region of Butte, Tehama and Glenn.
The “Regional Blueprint” approach
advocates more compact communities with preservation of agricultural
lands and environmentally sensitive
areas high on the list. However, the
“Regional Blueprint” program is
weak on implementation as the financial structure needed to implement
regional solutions does not exist.
For example, how will communities within the region share sales
taxes generated largely by the central
cities? Right now there is no mechanism to allow or require this. How
will public services be provided when
the tax base is in another jurisdiction?
These questions need solutions
before regional issues can be
addressed.
The character
of Orland
By NANCY SAILSBERY
The character of the Orland is
strongly rooted in the agricultural
heritage of Glenn County, as well as
being influenced by the major transportation corridors of Interstate 5,
Highway 32 and Highway 99.
More recently, growth and development have been influenced by the
relative proximity to Chico, which
has stimulated residential development in Orland.
The city is currently in a period of
transition due to changing patterns of
agricultural production and an
unprecedented boom in annexations
for residential development.
Orland has a population of 6,992,
by 2006 state Department of Finance
estimates.
The city limits encompass approximately 1,981 acres.
Since 2003, the city has annexed
approximately 400 acres with more
than 1,100 residential lots. City officials continue to process requests for
annexations with subsequent residential developments that include multifamily, commercial and recreational
Orland city planner Nancy Sailsbery
has been a land use planner for 11
years. She is a graduate of Chico
State University with a bachelor’s
degree, and holds a certificate in
land use and environmental planning
from UC Davis. Sailsbery previously
worked for Glenn County and Yuba
County.
components.
The majority of this residential
growth is occurring on the east side.
Since 2003, the city has processed or
is currently processing approximately
12 subdivisions ranging from 13 lots
to more than 300 in the eastern portion.
The city is currently updating its
General Plan, which will analyze
additional growth on the west side of
I-5, as well as the eastern portion of
the city.
The city is currently at 50 percent
capacity for its water and sewer services, and has more than adequate
supplies to serve the additional
Enterprise-Record file photo
New home construction continues in many areas of Orland in Glenn County.
growth occurring to the west and
east.
Although Orland has experienced
tremendous growth in a very short
time, the city remains primarily a
small-town residential community
surrounded by a rural, agricultural
county that provides for an abundance of open space, wildlife habitat
and recreational opportunities such as
hunting and fishing, available close to
home.
The city has managed beautifully
to continue to blend a close-knit community spirit and continued, orderly
growth toward established urban
areas without relinquishing opportunities for recreation and relaxation.
Enterprise-Record
OUTLOOK & UPDATES
7DD
Master plan will guide water board for several years
By TOCCOY DUDLEY
The Butte County Department of
Water and Resource Conservation has
recently updated its strategic and
action plan, which will guide the
department’s activities for the next several years.
One of the items the department has
identified as a near-term priority is the
delineation of the recharge areas for
the Tuscan Formation aquifer system.
The current working hypotheses is
that the Tuscan Formation aquifer system is partly recharged and pressurized by infiltration of precipitation and
surface water where the formation
crops out at the ground surface.
This hypothesis is supported by the
available data, although such data is
somewhat limited. A comprehensive
study to better understand and quantify the recharge to the aquifer system
was submitted by Butte County as a
Proposition 50-funded project. Funding for this proposal, however, is currently uncertain. Consequently, the
department is moving forward with a
scaled-back version of the study, using
available resources.
The Tuscan Formation is a thick
sequence of volcanic sediments and
mudflows that are exposed at the
ground surface along the eastern margin of the northern Sacramento Valley.
These deposits extend easterly into the
upland areas of the southern Cascade
Range, and dip westward beneath the
Sacramento Valley, where they are
found at depth in the north central valley.
The Tuscan Formation is the main
source of fresh groundwater for many
of the agricultural and municipal
water users in the county, and is the
sole source of municipal water for the
city of Chico.
The first step in the proposed study
will be to develop a geographic information system (GIS) database that will
contain all the available spatial information on the Tuscan Formation
aquifer system, such as geology, soils
types, soil and formation properties,
topography, slope, aspect (direction of
ground sloping), and other physical
parameters.
By utilizing the GIS to look at this
suite of data, it will reveal places
where surface recharge to the aquifer
system is most likely to occur. These
will be areas where percolation testing
will be conducted in the future, as
resources permit to determine how
quickly water re-charges to the aquifer.
Another element of this study is to
establish multiple stream monitoring
stations (gauging stations) on major
creeks crossing the Tuscan Formation,
so total stream losses or gains to and
from the aquifer can be directly measured.
In addition to stream monitoring
stations, a series of special shallow
monitoring wells will need to be constructed along sections of each major
stream where they cross the exposed
Tuscan Formation. These monitoring
wells will be designed to monitor
water temperature profiles between
the groundwater and surface water
systems. This information will show
when and where water is leaving the
stream and recharging the aquifer, or
when and where it is discharging from
the aquifer system and adding base
flow to the stream.
Unfortunately, this activity will also
have to wait for future funding.
After this data is collected, it will be
analyzed in a comprehensive fashion.
The data will be utilized in several
simulations of the aquifer and stream
systems using the county’s numerical
groundwater and surface water model,
commonly referred to as the Butte
Basin Groundwater Model.
The output from the model will produce detailed information that will
quantify the total volume and timing
of recharge that occurs through percolation of precipitation and applied irrigation water, and from stream losses.
As the county moves forward with
the revision of the General Plan and
zoning ordinance, this information will
be critical. Decision-makers will rely
on it to decide what, if any, land use
practices should be encouraged in the
recharge corridor. These decisions will
help to preserve and protect the future
groundwater quality and quantity for
Butte County residents.
Although full funding for a comprehensive recharge investigation of the
Tuscan Formation aquifer system
Toccoy Dudley is director of Butte
County’s Department of Water and
Resource Conservation. Before
coming to Butte County, he worked
for the state Department of Water
Resources. For the last several years
Dudley has conducted technical
investigations to better understand
the aquifer systems in the northern
Sacramento Valley. Toccoy lives with
his wife Gail in Red Bluff, and has
been a resident of the north valley for
nearly 10 years.
remains undetermined at this time, the
department is working cooperatively
with various agencies to secure
resources to move parts of the investigations forward. This research is too
important to Butte County’s future to
put on the shelf and wait for the
appropriate time.
Other elements of the Butte County
Department of Water and Resource
Conservation’s Strategic and Action
Plan can be viewed at www.buttecounty.net/waterandresource/.
8DD
OUTLOOK & UPDATES
Enterprise-Record
Reader’s view
Homelessness needs to be addressed first
Homelessness is a big issue in Chico and needs to
be addressed. You can’t improve a community without
at first addressing one of its major problems. There are
1,070 homeless people in Chico.
The Jesus Center, Torres Shelter of Chico, Youth-4Change, Esplanade House and Catalyst here in Chico
can only do so much to help the numerous homeless
by giving them food, shelter and another chance for a
better life.
However there will always be some homeless who
cannot go to a shelter because of their continued drug
use or incompatibility with shelter standards. They need
a place where they can eat, sleep and just live without
having to be badgered by police who are trying to keep
the peace.
We need a homeless space — a village. One with
clinics and education training centers for them to
improve their health and skills. Trailers with running
water and proper sewage connections for them to stay
in and security supervision.
It isn’t going to be easy and it will cost the city money
that the grants won’t cover but wouldn’t it be worth it to
help our community by creating another?
This is where community involvement comes in to
make our community better. Through community
involvement we can make a difference and accomplish
our goals through a social network strongly connected
by empowered individuals. Having community involvement fairs, spreading the word through education and
media coverage is a good start.
Leadership skills, communication, and problem-solving will be a vital tool of community involvement and
through its use, will only get stronger. There is no age
limit and everyone can be involved.
Organizations already committed to helping our
community are:
• The Jesus Center (www.jesuscenter.org): For 25
years, the Jesus Center has been reaching out to hun-
Reader’s view
Forward-looking ideas needed
Our region faces tremendous and inevitable
growth pressure, but we can channel growth
into creating an economy based on forwardlooking ideas, not just on big-box retail or housing and construction. We already burst that
bubble.
This region is well positioned to become the
“green business” capital of Northern California
— a growth industry if ever there was one. We
have a university forging an identity as a center
for research, training and policy on sustainability; an educated workforce; a healthy agricultural foundation; and, compared to the congested and overpriced bay and capital areas,
relatively affordable room for businesses to
establish and grow.
We need entrepreneurs, creative thinkers
and investors who want to develop the next
generation of alternative-energy technologies;
to design the innovative consumer goods we’ll
be buying in 10 years; to exploit the growing
demand for organic agriculture.
We also have another lure for these future
business dynamos: the area’s great natural
beauty and wonderful quality of life. Pretty vistas and clean water aren’t just pleasant but
expendable — they should be seen as prodevelopment assets and incentives that must
be protected.
We still have some treasures here that have
been lost in so many other regions, and that’s
a competitive advantage.
So the change I hope for is that the city,
county, and region will stop making decisions
about growth and economic development
based on short-term, tax-base calculations
and will think long-term about attracting tomorrow’s business leaders here with smart planning, asset preservation, and a long-term,
innovative outlook. We have a lot more to offer
than acreage upon which to plop shopping
centers and bedroom tracts.
Delia Cameron
gry and homeless here in Chico.
• The Torres Shelter of Chico (www.
chicoshelter.org/index.html): Torres Community Shelter
provides shelter and related social services to people
who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.
• Chico Peace & Justice Center (http://chicopeace.org): The center works for social change through
education, community building, and direct action.
Unity is the final result of these changes that will
make our community better. When our community is
united there is less chance of violence, drug use and
crime.
As a watchful network we will be working together to
ensure our community is a safe haven and will stay that
way for years to come.
Emerald Behrens
Sustainability
It’s not about
turning out
the lights
and living
in the dark
By SCOTT McNALL and JILLIAN BUCKHOLZ
The sustainability movement is
about understanding that everything is
connected and that what we do as
individuals has an effect on people living today and on future generations.
Let me give you just one example:
Every time you take a bite of a commercial hamburger you are taking a
bite of oil. No, not fat, oil.
How is this possible?
To make a very long and complicated story short, most beef processed for
fast food comes from concentrated animal feed operations. These are marvels
of efficiency and make it possible for
us to eat less expensively.
Cattle are brought to centralized
operations and fed corn, along with
other supplements and the antibiotics
necessary to keep them healthy. Corn
is shipped from all over the country.
Corn, a highly subsidized crop, must
be heavily fertilized to achieve yields
of 250 to 300 bushels an acre. The nitrogen which is pumped on corn fields
comes from plants requiring substantial amounts of natural gas or other
fuels.
So, the hamburgers Americans enjoy
have taken a long journey and the ripple effects of your choice extend all the
way to the oil fields of the Persian
Gulf. About 20 percent of all energy
now consumed in the United States is
used to produce, ship, and distribute
food.
What about hamburgers made from
grass-fed beef grown locally? Well,
that’s a different story and not necessarily a bad one.
The point is that for people to make
intelligent decisions about how to live
their lives, they need to know about
the interrelated and interdependent
world in which we live. That’s the
mission of a university: To graduate
creative, reflective, civic-minded, and
environmentally literate students, so
they can knowingly build the kind of
world in which they want to live.
Sustainability requires us to act on
the basis of knowledge but sustainability is also rooted in ideas about how to
live as members of the human community and how to respect the biodiversity of the planet on which life itself is
dependent.
So, what do we need to do to protect our environment, to assure that
our children, grandchildren, and the
children of the world are not denied
the right to clear water and a decent
quality of life?
The actions required are not all radical, though radical ideas about what is
to be done certainly abound. Sustainability, as has been noted before, suggests a balanced approach in which
there is a simultaneous focus on economic growth that is sustainable, on
protecting the environment, and on
assuring to the extent possible that our
actions and decisions about resource
use do not limit the ability of other
humans to meet their basic needs.
What does this mean in terms of
how we actually live our lives? One of
the most immediate ways in which we
can make a contribution is to conserve
the energy we now use. On the Chico
State campus several actions are being
taken to do just this.
As a step toward taking action and
creating awareness, President Paul
Zingg signed the American College &
University Presidents Climate Commitment.
The agreement calls on campuses to
have a complete inventory of greenhouse gas emissions by the end of one
Photos by Bill Husa/Enterprise-Record
Clean air and fresh flowers are things we cherish in the north
state, and one way to retain these is to be kind
to the environment.
Another way to be kind to the environment is build
energy-efficient homes, like the New Urban development
at the Doe Mill neighborhood.
Changing from incandescent to fluorescent light bulbs is
another way to save energy, like the Chico State University light
bulb exchange program at Lassen Hall at Chico State
encourages.
Scott McNall is the provost at Chico State University and lives in Paradise. He
grew up on a farm and in small towns, loves the outdoors, hiking, fishing, and
gardening, and still wonders how he ended up with a desk job. He’s looking forward to his transition to a new role at Chico State in which he’ll focus on the environment.
Jillian Buckholz, 26, is an Ohio native who has been living in Chico since 2002
and is the sustainability coordinator at Chico State. She has been working on
various issues related to the environment throughout her undergraduate and
graduate career, and is focused on creating awareness about sustainable living.
year, and an action plan in two years
leading toward climate neutrality —
which means using renewable energy
sources and taking other actions to
have a neutral impact on the environment.
Several actions have already taken
place to reduce the university’s impact
on the environment. These efforts
include a campus greenhouse gas
inventory and the formation of an
energy sub-committee to look for
increased efficiencies, and to look at
the use of alternative energy resources.
By focusing on energy conservation
strategies, the university can assess its
overall impact on the environment and
determine ways to lessen that impact,
while teaching the importance of sustainability and acting as a model to
students and the community. We will
also share our findings on energy use
and efficiency with the community.
Students are a driving factor in the
sustainability movement on campus.
Student groups have taken the initiative to tax themselves in order to create
an account that will fund their ideas
for sustainable development projects.
Students are also raising energy use
awareness in the residence halls by
conducting energy competitions. Two
residence halls, Shasta and Lassen,
have been sub-metered and there are
displays in each hall’s lobby to monitor
real-time energy use. Students can
actually see the impact they make
when they use more or less energy
where they live.
These are just a few examples, when
student enthusiasm is involved the
project ideas are endless! The goal is to
engage everyone on campus in real
solutions to real problems.
The solutions vary from simple to
complex. There are no “miracle” solutions to energy use and conservation.
Most solutions just require the willingness and the open-mindedness to
understand there is a problem that
needs to be solved, the courage to try,
and the willingness to engage in a conversation about what it means to be an
engaged citizen and a wise steward of
natural resources.
Nobody has all of the answers; we
are all learners of sustainability, but
together we can make a difference.
That in the end is what sustainability is
about.
No, you don’t need to turn the
lights out, but you should understand
that your individual choices — about
the house you live in, the car you
drive, and the food you eat — affect
not just you, but all creatures living on
this planet.
A discussion about a sustainable
future can help to assure we make
wise choices.
2EE Tuesday, February 27, 2007
SUSTAINING THE ENVIRONMENT
Enterprise-Record
The solar array at
the Chico water
pollution control
plant is one way the
city is doing its part
for the environment.
Bill Husa/
Enterprise-Record
Chico a leader in the world of sustainability
By SCOTT GRUENDL
The city of Chico is a leader in sustainability.
Did you know that we are the home to the
largest solar array at a wastewater treatment
plant in the entire world? That’s right, California’s largest municipal solar array covers 51⁄2
acres at the city’s Water Pollution Control Plant.
The 1.1 megawatt facility tracks the sun,
increasing output by 30 percent.
This amazing project, finished one day before
the deadline, landed the largest rebate check
ever awarded by PG&E at $3,813,791 and has
already reduced city utility bills by 55 percent.
To date, the facility eliminated 2.1 million
pounds of carbon dioxide emissions or the
annual exhaust of 210 cars or 41,000 barbecues.
That’s a reduction of over 1.6 million miles of
car traffic or saving 193 acres of forest.
Throw in the solar project on top of the parking structure and so far we have saved 213
acres of forest.
The city of Chico is a leader in sustainable
economics. Whether or not you believe in global
warming, the solar project makes economic
sense.
Beyond major reductions in utility costs, the
project will produce revenue for the city, which
will come sooner than expected since the amortization period is shrinking. Over its life time,
the project has the potential to produce more
than $20 million for the city.
The city of Chico is a leader in sustainable
policy. On Oct. 17, 2006, the Chico City Council
authorized the mayor to sign the U.S. Confer-
ence of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.
On Nov. 4, I signed the agreement, making
Chico the 315th city in the United States to
adopt global warming reduction measures.
There are 12 guiding principles that encourage the city to strive for Kyoto Protocol targets.
The measures include an inventory of emissions, land-use measures, transportation priorities, adapting to clean energy, establishing sustainable building practices, improving fuel efficiency, water pumping efficiency, improving
recycling rates, promoting trees and educating
our youth.
The city of Chico is a leader in community
guidance. The Chico City Council has created
the Sustainability Task Force, led by Council
Member Ann Schwab, which will prepare recommendations on sustainability.
The group consists of 15 members, seven of
whom are appointed by each council member
and eight appointed by the mayor that must
include representatives of education, business,
environmental organizations and the community at large.
Current nominations cover the spectrum
from blogger Lon Glazner to Chico State University Provost Scott McNall, and from meteorologist Anthony Watts to recognized Professor
Jim Pushnik.
The city of Chico partners with local institutions. An emissions inventory for the city produced by Chico State graduate students is nearly complete. This is the first step called for by
the Mayors Climate Protection Agreement.
The mayor and I have engaged the university
president to solicit support for the task force.
Both the university and the college will be
needed to model and train in sustainable practices.
The city of Chico plans for its future. Recommendations of the task force will come forth as
an action plan creating the vision for sustainability. The City Council will then incorporate
the action plan into policy while searching for
help from private investment and other levels
of government to implement projects. Citizen
oversight will measure the progress of implementation and the success of the actions.
The city of Chico is changing right now. Utilizing alternate energy such as harnessing the
sun or capturing methane gas to reduce costs,
or changing traffic lights to LED bulbs or recycling roadway materials, the city has already
accomplished a lot.
The city may build the new police station
LEED compliant. The city is a hot bed for new
urbanism, which promotes compact form and
reduces sprawl.
There are many examples of success for cities
embracing sustainability. Kansas City saves
$95,000 per year through LED traffic lights. Palo
Alto saves $117,625 a year since installing efficient compact fluorescent lighting in municipal
buildings. Dallas saves $246,000 a year with a
LEED-compliant police station. Hybrid cars in
Charlotte, N.C., will offset their purchase costs
in 2.5 to 5.5 years. Landfill produced methane
gas heats schools in Maryland and Illinois.
Chico businesses should join the effort. There
are many examples of local businesses success-
Scott Gruendl, 42, has lived in Chico for 23
years. He serves as the Glenn County health
director and is in his second term on the Chico
City Council, where he served as mayor and
signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection
Agreement.
fully implementing sustainable practices including the Sierra-Nevada Brewing Co., a recognized state leader, producing 70 percent of their
energy. Or North Star Engineering, with our
area’s first LEED building.
The Chico Chamber of Commerce will be
represented on the city’s sustainability task
force, as will the Building Industry Association.
Hopefully, this may lead to a focus on sustainability by more Chico businesses.
Elected officials have the responsibility to
reduce costs and save taxpayer dollars while
spending wisely. They are also charged with
protecting the environment. If every community
in the United States took action, billion of dollars that are now being wasted could go to
improving city services, bettering schools, and
rebuilding our community’s infrastructure.
It is possible to reduce the cost of government while helping resolve global warming.
Enterprise-Record
3EE
The Massas’ strawbale house
not only saves energy, but has
a unique aesthetic quality. The
thick walls open up
possibilities for things like
shelves that are recessed into
the walls, or broad window
seats.
Photo by Gregg Massa
Life in a strawbale home: Cool, clean and it saves money
By GREG MASSA
Everyone is interested in energy conservation these days, and for good reason: conservation saves you money.
This point is felt especially during
sweltering summer heat waves, when
it seems that most of your paycheck
goes straight to PG&E to pay for your
air conditioning.
There are lots of things you can do to
tighten up your house, but if you are
building new, then your options really
open up. Because of our temperature
extremes and a large amount of rice
production, one of the best options for
this area is building a strawbale house.
In 2001, after living for several years
in a leaky old farmhouse — the curtains moved when the wind blew! —
we were ready to build a new house on
our farm. We knew we wanted a house
that could withstand the heat and
maintain a steady temperature mostly
by itself.
As rice farmers, we had an ample
supply of rice straw to work with. And
so, our dream became reality as we
designed and built our strawbale
house.
Strawbale homes first appeared over
100 years ago in the sand hills of
Nebraska. With few trees to supply
lumber, settlers baled prairie grasses
and stacked the bales like bricks to
form the walls of the house. Some of
these structures are still standing, and
became the model for the strawbale
revival that started in the 1990s.
With walls two feet thick, the insulating properties of bales are outstanding. Coated with plaster or stucco on
both sides, bale walls are rodent-proof,
fire-proof, and yes, bullet-proof!
But bales are not magic, and a poorly designed house built with bales can
easily become a house that performs
poorly, with high energy bills.
In our case, we took the passive solar
design of our house very seriously,
because we didn’t want a house that
would be hard to cool. Thus, we sited
Reader’s view
A non-native but
Chico lover speaks up
As a non-native, but Chico lover, I would like to do the following to improve Chico:
First — As part of the curriculum for police science students, go out into the most tagged areas of Chico and learn
surveillance procedures. Use this to capture the vandals and
when they go into the court system, have the judge impose a
fine for the cost of paint, surveillance and supervisory personnel and court time. They then must work off part of the fine by
doing the work to remove the graffiti.
Repeat offenders can have enhanced fines and the parent
or parents must contribute to the work for failure to properly
supervise their children. Adult vandals should have a lien on
job or property in order so satisfy any fines
Second — Any patching or paving done by any bidder for
street repairs must first present a sort of resume and proof of
the ability to smoothly pave a road with their bid. This in order
to keep drivers from costly car repairs as well as costly repairs
to the city to repave the rut filled areas of badly paved jobs.
What a mouthful!
Third — Even with events like Taste of Chico, Slice of Chico,
ice cream socials and the yo-yo contest, there is always room
for more family activities that could be incorporated.
A treasure hunt, where clues are picked up at participating
sponsors would be fun for a whole family. Entry fee (minimal)
could be part of the prize. Rules should be fair to all and be
enforced on the day of the hunt by referees. First winner
across the finish line takes the prize. Any funds raised would
be to pay staff for their time as well as advertising the event.
I thank you for your time in reading this.
Frances M. Coulbourn
Chico
the house between two large oak trees
that provide both morning and afternoon shade. The house has four-foot
overhangs to keep the sun off the walls.
East- and west-facing windows are
small, so they let in less direct sunlight.
Our ceilings are very high: a minimum of 10 feet, rising to nearly 20 feet
in our great room. The high ceilings
increase the volume of the house,
allowing hot air a place to go, as well as
increasing the amount of cement plaster in the house. The cement acts as a
thermal sink, which can suck up
tremendous amounts of heat.
We also probably work a bit harder
than most people at keeping the house
cool in the summer. We open windows
at night after the outside temperature
has dropped below the inside temperature. The design of the house allows us
to vent the hot air without using fans.
In the morning, as the outside temperature creeps past 70 degrees, we
shut the windows and let the house
coast through the day. If we can get the
house down to 70 degrees overnight,
we usually won’t need air conditioning
except during heat waves.
In addition to their energy efficiency,
strawbale homes have a unique esthetic quality. The thick walls open up possibilities for things like shelves that are
recessed into the walls, or broad window seats. We love the soft, bumpy
appearance of our walls, created by
plastering directly over the irregular
surface of the bales.
There are challenges to building
with bales also. You absolutely must
start with dry bales and keep them dry
to prevent rotting.
Bales are heavy, and it takes a lot of
muscle power to stack the walls. We
hosted a wall-raising party to get this
done, and had about 100 very kind
people show up to help us get our
walls built — we owe lots of favors!
Bale walls are also very thick, thus
increasing the footprint of your house
quite dramatically.
People often ask about the cost of
Greg Massa and Raquel Krach live
with their five children in a strawbale
home. You can link to pictures of
their house through their Web site at
www.MassaOrganics.com.
building a strawbale house as opposed
to other forms of construction. In reality, I think strawbale costs about the
same as any custom home, or maybe
slightly more due to the extra roof and
foundation that is required for the thick
walls.
However, those relatively minor
upfront costs are very quickly recovered in the reduced energy bills that
you will see over the lifespan of the
house, saving you many thousands of
dollars.
If we had to do it over again, there
are certainly things we would change
about our house. But I can guarantee
you, we would definitely build it with
bales!
Enterprise-Record
Car pooling or
using public
transportation is
one way we can
help sustain our
environment.
Bill Husa
Enterprise-Record
Sustainibility is looking at the ‘big picture’
By JIM PUSHNIK
Sustainability has crept into our everyday
conversations. The meaning of sustainability;
however, can be somewhat confusing, as it’s
used so differently by different people.
So what is this idea of sustainability, where
did it come from and what are we talking about
sustaining? What does it mean to you and me,
and why should we become actively involved
in conversations about sustainability?
Sustainability is about looking at the “big
picture;” it’s about reconciling both the longand short-term consequences of satisfying the
needs of our daily lives, maintaining the
engines of economic vitality, guaranteeing
healthy living conditions for ourselves and others while acknowledging the reality of environmental limitations. This concept is not new.
Its roots stem from the Congress of the World
Council of Churches in 1974, when representatives of this interfaith group proposed that we
should begin creating a more stable world by
working to satisfy the basic needs of all people
for clean food, water, air and shelter for an infinite future.
In 1987 the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development, looking
at the divide between developed and underdeveloped nations, re-examined and extended this
idea offering the broadest and most commonly
used definition of sustainability: “To meet the
needs of the present without depleting or
degrading natural resources, thereby assuring
future generations of humans and other organisms with the ability to meet their basic needs.”
So sustainability is a way of viewing the
world, and is an outward expression of our
value judgments about Earth’s natural capital
and the wise use of these resources. It embodies
conscious thought about the earth’s ability to
continue to supply an increasing human population with access to essential life-giving natural
resources and a concern for the other creatures
that share this planet.
Perhaps most importantly, sustainability is
about examining the way we live and how we
wish to be remembered by future generations.
Now is the opportunity for our society to step
up and assure that our children’s children will
inhabit a world better than our own.
There are clearly diverse perspectives on the
best path forward toward a better world; each
of these world views brings wisdom to the discussion.
Many people emphasize maintaining a vital
economy and robust economic growth as a
solution to ensure a better life, while others
counter that improvement of social conditions,
equity and personal health and well-being are
the most important gift we can provide to our
descendants.
Still others point to the conditions of the natural world, a need to recognize the extent of
demands that humans are placing on it, a need
for innovative technologies, creating more efficient industries and buildings, a necessity of
minimizing life-threatening pollution and the
conservation of biodiversity and life supporting
systems.
We tend to compartmentalize our views on
health, social, economic, political, security, population, and environmental issues as separate
and competing when in reality they are systematic and interdependent. The sustainability
movement is about reconnecting our views on
these seemingly disparate facets of our lives
and emphasizing that each of these influences
the others in systematic ways.
Many business leaders, politicians, economists, sociologists, scientists and environmentalists share the view that human populations
have the capability of living fulfilled lives within the natural limits of the Earth’s ecosystems if
we reconnect the “dots” and build sustainable
societies.
What’s required to become a sustainable society? We need to come together with mutual
respect for different worldviews and find common ground. We must acknowledge that we are
not separate from the natural world, but part of
it and subject to the real limitations on materials
that the earth can continue to provide to us.
We must become good stewards of our natural resources, ensuring that renewable resource
harvest does not exceed the natural rate of
regeneration, that the rate of non-renewable
resource consumption does not exceed the rate
at which developing technological substitutes
are created, and that the level of waste generation is maintained within the bounds of the
assimilation capacities of the receiving environment.
How do we go about turning this corner and
beginning to move toward a sustainable society? It starts pretty simply with you and me
making the decisions about the way we live,
choosing to reduce our personal and collective
impacts on the planet and teaching our children
to do the same. Together we can make huge
strides in easy ways by “picking the low hanging fruit.”
Just by reducing your thermostat settings 2
or 3 degrees in the winter and raising them by a
similar amount in the summer, you’ll reduce
your household contribution to greenhouse
warming gas emission by 1,000 pounds annually, along with reducing your energy bill. You
may not think this will make a difference, but
imagine all the energy use and greenhouse gas
pollution that would be reduced if everyone
just did this one thing.
What about substituting a compact fluorescent bulb for an incandescent bulb? Because
these new bulbs are more efficient, you can cut
your electricity bill by $100 over the life of the
bulb while also reducing the amount of carbon
dioxide created during the generation of electricity by nearly 500 pounds.
Jim Pushnik, 57, has lived in Chico and taught
in the department of biological sciences at
Chico State University since 1989. Since 2003,
he has served as the Rawlins Professor of Environmental Literacy and has been involved in
issues of sustainable development in education
and the public.
How about car pooling or using public transportation? Or shopping at businesses that act in
socially responsible ways? This includes businesses that choose to produce products made
with technologies that reduce pollution and
energy consumption, have no toxic materials,
and have longer useful lifetimes.
We can encourage governmental incentives
and investment strategies for the development
and implementation of new technologies that
increase energy and material efficiencies rather
than exhaustive consumption. Implementing
some of these forward-thinking strategies now
will help our businesses and economies remain
competitive in the long-term as resources
become increasingly diminished.
Our shared challenge is to create a vibrant
future for humanity with prosperity and opportunity while sustaining the earth’s nature capital on which humanity depends. Achieving this
is about seeking novel solutions to old problems and developing innovative technologies
which will increase resource and energy efficiency. It is an opportunity to create a new
growth economy; one in which we can lead the
way into the future.
Sustainability is a vision of the future that
can work for everyone.
Enterprise-Record
7EE
Sustainability education at Butte College
By MELINDA RILEY
Recently Diana Van Der
Ploeg, the president of Butte
College, joined 65 other college
and university presidents
across the country when she
signed the American College
and University President’s Climate Protection Commitment,
and designated Butte College
as a model campus of sustainability education for the 12,000
students the college serves.
The commitment is modeled
after other initiatives aiming to
reduce the amount of carbon
dioxide and other human-generated greenhouse gas emissions, and to promote a more
sustainable relationship
between humans and our natural environment.
Perhaps the most successful
of Butte College’s recent efforts
to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions was the 2005 installation of 5,700 photovoltaic
solar panels over 3.5 acres of
the campus, which provide 900
kw of energy. That’s enough to
power nearly a third of the
main campus energy demands
(equivalent to powering 300
standard-sized single-family
homes).
Phase II and III, which will
add additional photovoltaic
panels and possibly a hydrogen co-generation facility, are
in the planning stages. Once
completed will establish Butte
College as a 100 percent sustainable-energy campus.
As a benefit of these innovations and a number of energy
efficiency projects, in the past
five years Butte College has
reduced its natural gas usage
by 40 percent and its electricity
usage by 18 percent.
Other efforts to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions and
operational waste include the
college’s transportation system
that keeps 1,000 student vehicles off the road each day, and
recycling policies that divert
over 75 percent of the college’s
solid waste stream from the
county landfill.
The college operates its own
waste treatment facility and
has recently partnered with the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
and the California Waterfowl
Association to convert the
effluent waste treatment ponds
into wildlife habitats.
Food services has initiated a
composting program, facilities
and the ornamental horticulture department landscape the
campus using native species,
and the agriculture department
has recently submitted a proposal to construct a living
machine that will treat wastewater through a series of natural filters that enable the
water to be used for irrigation.
The design and construction
of three of Butte College’s most
recent buildings, the Allied
Health and Public Services
building, the Chico Center, and
the Learning Resource Center
incorporated standard sustainable “green” building features
that maximized energy efficiency, natural and recycled
materials, siting, day lighting,
and views.
Some innovations include
HVAC and lighting occupancy
sensors in classrooms and
offices designed to shut off
automatically when the rooms
are not being used, modulated
multi-zone HVAC units, water
and lavatory sensors, vending
misers, and lighting replace-
ments with lower-energy models.
The college is embarking on
a retrofit project that will modify existing buildings to reduce
energy consumption, and is
exploring strategies for retroactively obtaining the U.S. Green
Building’s LEED (Leadership
in Energy and Environmental
Design) certification for the
new buildings.
Finally, two additional
buildings that are in the planning stage — the Instructional
Arts building and the General
Student Services building (slated for completion in 2009 and
no later than 2010 respectively)
— will be designed and constructed following more stringent standards for LEED silver
certification.
In December, Butte College
became a member of the Association for the Advancement of
Sustainability in Higher Education, a consortium of 144 colleges and universities, and a
variety of businesses, non-government and government organizations in the United States
and Canada committed to promoting sustainable practices.
Van Der Ploeg has also
become involved with the U.S.
Partnership for Education for
Sustainable Development, a
national organization of college and university leaders,
religious associations, youth
groups, and media organizations dedicated to promoting
the principles of UNESCO’s
Decade for Education for Sustainable Development (2005 to
2014).
This spring, Van Der Ploeg
will also sign the Talloires Declaration, a further commitment
to sustainability education
sponsored by the Association
of University Leaders for a
Sustainable Future.
Butte College is also partnering with Chico State University on an initiative sponsored by the New York Times
and the Carnegie Foundation
called the American Democracy Project, a program that fosters student engagement in the
democratic process.
The Butte College-Chico
State partnership is one of
three community college/fouryear university partnerships in
the country and is unique in
that its unifying theme is sustainability education.
At a recent strategic planning meeting held in January,
participants designated sustainability as one of the five
themes that will guide Butte
College’s future planning decisions. Last fall, the college
developed an organizational
structure to institutionalize
sustainability education that
includes a sustainability steering committee, and sustainability curriculum, facilities,
and student life sub-committees.
This semester, the sustainability curriculum committee
is developing a project
designed to infuse sustainability topics across the curriculum.
This fall, a new sociology
course will survey the economic, social and environmental
aspects of a sustainable future,
and other new sustainability
courses are being considered in
the physical sciences, business
and agriculture programs.
Butte College plans to begin
offering certification programs
in sustainable vocational
trades such as solar installation, energy auditing, green
construction, and sustainable
agriculture practices.
Curriculum officers are
working to articulate many of
Butte College’s general education courses with Chico State’s
new sustainable management
minor within their business
administration program, and
to other sustainability programs within the university of
California system and beyond.
On Aug. 3 and 4, Butte College and Chico State will be cohosting a two-day Build Sustainable conference at Butte
Melinda Riley is from Chico,
serves as a sociology instructor in the department of social
and behavioral sciences, and
is one of the co-chairs of the
Butte College Sustainability
Steering Committee.
College’s main campus. The
conference will focus on green
building practices both in the
public and private sector.
The Student Alliance for
Sustainability, a newly formed
student group on campus, has
registered Butte College into
three national student initiatives. The Associated Students
have an environmental affairs
director and provide staff for
the new sustainability resource
center on the main campus.
And finally, this semester, a
number of students are participating in an independent
study/service learning class
that requires students to
become involved in sustainable projects both on campus
and within their local communities.
Enterprise-Record
Readers’ views
Three changes to make our community better
Three changes that would make our
community better:
1) The preparation of an innovative
General Plan that re-affirms the values
of our community — The Chico General
Plan is close to 15 years old and it is time
to seriously re-think the document. The
new General Plan needs to include policies to ensure the building of real neighborhoods rather than disconnected subdivisions, the preservation of scenic views
and vistas, and the protection of riparian
areas and special habitats.
We need a more imaginative approach
to infill development that emphasizes
design and infrastructure enhancement
along with a closer integration of development and transportation policies. The new
General Plan must deal seriously with
efforts to provide affordable housing
through such means as redevelopment
funding and inclusionary zoning.
Plan policies need to establish welldefined buffers to protect agricultural
areas and should encompass the habitat
conservation planning presently under
way by the Butte County Association of
Governments.
2) The required use of specific plans
for major developments, particularly in
areas where there are multiple
landowners — To avoid piecemeal development, a large number of California cities
and counties have required the different
landowners in a growth area to coordinate
their development objectives within the
framework of a Specific Plan.
This is a California-originated device
that combines the planning and zoning
function as it establishes an overall design
for the growth area. Streets and paths are
laid out, a park site is designated, housing
choices are offered, and mixed uses are
planned for, all with the intent to create an
integrated, livable and aesthetic pleasing
neighborhood.
Specific plan preparation is a creative
process, since the established development standards of the community need
not be followed and innovative policies can
be substituted as long as they are consistent with the city’s General Plan. The
recently adopted Northwest Chico Specific Plan is the city’s first successful use of
this valuable planning approach.
3) The building of a second municipal
parking garage in the downtown area
— A successful downtown is the heart of
any city as well as a major tourist attraction. Chico’s downtown is facing increasing
competition from commercial development
in all parts of the city, particularly in the
north and south.
The older population is not going to bike
downtown and unless bus service is doubled or tripled autos will remain the main
means of reaching the city center. Moreover, in and out-of-towners shopping at
the outlying malls and stores will not be
induced to drive downtown for eats, banking and more specialized purchases
unless they can conveniently park.
The new parking garage, however,
should be a multi-use building, with either
housing on the upper floors or stores and
offices on the bottom or, perhaps, both.
Irv Schiffman
Chico State University professor
former planning commissioner
People must believe in community, and not just in themselves
First of all I believe the answer lies within the question itself; “community.” People
must believe in community and not just in
themselves. Most people not only don’t
say hello to their neighbors, they don’t
even want to bother saying hello.
So, to begin with I’d like to see our political representatives in our community think
and act in terms of what’s best for our
community and not simply what’s in it for
themselves. They should be role models.
In other words, people should be on the
city council because they believe in doing
good for our community and not simply
because they’re developers and they can
benefit from it financially.
Second of all I’d like to see a better
infrastructure allowing for better traffic flow
as well as alternative means of transporta-
tion. We need a user friendly mass transport system as well as pedestrian-friendly
walkways and bicycle-friendly pathways
and we need to encourage people to use
these things by rewarding them with tax
incentives for not driving cars.
Third of all I’d like to see community
involvement encouraged by people for
something besides religious or the church
going public, because not everybody
wants to go to church.
I’m talking about community involvement where people come together for the
purpose of getting to know their neighbors
and to relate to and cooperate with each
other, rather than just competing against
each other for sports or racing each other
down the street to the next stoplight. Or
worse yet, fighting each other over territo-
ry such as turf wars by gangbangers that
seems to becoming so fashionable today.
God forbid you get caught wearing the
wrong color in the wrong neighborhood.
People shouldn’t have to worry about
that should they? Well, as our community
grows it will become more and more of a
problem, if we don’t do anything about it
other than thinking in terms of ourselves
rather than thinking in terms of our community.
This could be done by organizing more
community functions and get-togethers
offering people, including the youth in our
community, more fun things to do rather
than watching TV, movies and playing violent video games.
Young people would be happy to have
something worthwhile to do instead of lis-
tening to angry music while cruising up
and down the streets and other forms of
mind-numbing amusement (not to mention
using drugs and alcohol) due to boredom
and instead working together as part of
the community and feeling good about
themselves.
People like getting together. And that
includes everybody including — or maybe
especially people who are having difficulties in life. They want to feel part of the
community as well. Most everyone likes
doing things together and getting to know
each other. We can encourage that in a
healthy, friendly way. Chico can be a better
community because of it.
Phil Elkins
Forest Ranch
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hird-graders from Little
Chico Creek School, in
Bart Panek’s and Sonya
Ross’s classes, came up
with a myriad of changes they
would like to see in their community, changes they say would make
them happier.
Wendy Kingman’s secondgraders at Neal Dow School also
came up with ways they thought
their community could be improved.
Third-graders:
Bobby L. — I have a few suggestions I
would like to see in Chico. I would like a new
dinosaur museum for all the kids and adults.
Also a gold nugget museum like in Paradise.
And please less fast food restaurants!
Brian — I have one change I would like to see
in Chico. When you make paper, I have a suggestion, why not use the trees that have already fallen?
It will help the trees that are living, and we still get
our paper. I think this will work.
Jaden B. — I have some changes I would like to see
ord
-Rec
prise
in Chico. First, is to build a science museum for kids.
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Second is a fun and big amusement park. Third is more
Hus
Bill
and
train tracks that they can travel on for a longer trip.
mes .
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Last, more areas for nature instead of lots of houses.
for
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Thank you so much.
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... ore socdcseong, (abo
Branson A. — I have a few changes I would like to see
s
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e
i
in Chico. First, I would like to have an exploratorium. Secr f rs want mliver Bir
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o
s
ond, I would also like to have another baseball team in
de
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Moree third-garlal kids, lik
Chico like the Outlaws. Third, I would like to have an Air
First, stop cutting down
Som low sm
Force base in Chico because my brother is in the Air Force.
l
trees.
Next
we need more donut
a
Kacee F. — I have a few things I would like to see changing to
shops. Last, I want a bouncy house in the
in Chico. I would like to see more community pools. I would
park. These are three things that I want changed.
also like to see more dinosaur museums. The final thing I think
Spencer V. — Here are three things that I would like
Chico should have are more hotels and more motels.
better in Chico. First, I would like people to quit killing animals.
Madison M. — I have some changes that I would like to see
Second, I would like people to quit cutting down trees. Third, I
in Chico. First, I would like to see more crops in Chico. Second,
think there should be no hunting. All in all, I think people
can we have a water park, like in Redding? Last, can we just tear
should follow these rules.
down some houses in Chico because there are too many.
Ethan M. — There are three things that we should stop doing.
Sarah S. — I have three changes that I want to see in our
First, stop building houses. Second,
whole community. First, I want less air pollution from trucks and
stop cutting down trees. Third, stop
cars. Also, more soccer fields so kids can play soccer. And last,
catching wild animals. All in all, I
more club houses so kids can start clubs. Truly, please make
like Chico.
these come true. Thank you.
Brianna Nicole S. — Here are
Brittany D. — I have one change that I want in the communithree things that will make our
ty. I would love to see less drinking and driving because I keep
town better. First, make more
on hearing people are dying from that. So please stop drinking
houses for poor people. Secand driving.
ond, put bounce houses in
Kendra M. — I have two changes I would like in our commuparks. Third, help pick up
nity. I would like more police because there are a lot of bad peotrash in Chico. All in all,
ple. I would also like to have people to stop throwing cigarettes
these are things that will
on the ground. Because downtown, there are thousands of cigamake our town better.
rettes on the ground and I saw a cigarette box in a tree.
Harmony S. — Here
Seema S. — I have two changes that I would like to see in our
are three things I think
community. I don’t want any graffiti because it makes our city a
messy place. I want it to look neat for people that are new to our would make Chico a
better city. First, we
city. Next, we need more parks. We especially need water parks.
should have more
The closest water park is in Redding. If they were close by it
would help us a lot. Truly, I hope we could see the changes come parks. Next, Chico
should have more
true.
movie theaters.
Troy M. — I have two changes for our community. First, I
think Chico needs an underground subway because there are too Last, Chico
should stop
many cars on the street and it’s not safe for people to ride bikes.
building so
Next, I think we need more officers because more people are
many housdoing vandalism, stealing and killing. All in all, that’s why we
es. All in
should make these changes.
all, I think
Jennifer G. — I have a few changes I would like to see in
Chico is a
Chico. Our community needs an amusement park. Our community would also be better with a zoo. Most amusement parks and great city.
Isabella S. —
zoos are too far away to go when we have a little free time. SumHere
are the things
mers here in Chico are very hot so pools and water parks would
that would make me
be good to have. I think this would keep more money locally
Mor
happy. First, I
and it would be fun, too!
e ba
H
e
would like you to
ou re Ch seb
t at ico
tell other people
a
Second-graders:
sec Ou ll te
to recycle more so
on tlaw am
db
s
Abby B. — Here are some things we should have. We should
we have more places
ase s’ Jes like
clean the roads and sidewalks more often. We need some houses to recycle. Second, I would
on se K the
the
o
Out
for the poor. Don’t cut down trees. We need more food for the
also like for you to tell others to
Sa vacs
n
poor. Keep people safe. Be kind and nice. Let animals be free to
(
help poor people more, too. Last, I
Die left laws
Jas
..
go ) wa
play. No more slaves ever. No more mean people. Get more food would like it if you would stop cutting
on
Su
tch .
Ha
r
lley
for the people. As you can see we should have this.
f D es
down trees. As you can see, Chico is a good
/En
aw
Bo
terp
Devan B. — Here are the things I want changed in Chico.
g
place.
s. bby
rise
Ga
-Re
nd
cor
olfo
d
get
a fo
rce
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c
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More museums like the
Gold Nugget in
Paradise
2FF Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Enterprise-Record
It all begins
with ‘be’
Alan Sheckter/Enterprise-Record
Three houses of faith in the local area: (left to right) Bidwell
Presbyterian Church; a former church now converted into a
home; and the historical Magalia Church on the ridge.
Three things you can do to improve your spiritual life
I do not know what growth in the spiritual life would be outside
of a companioning community.
By REV. PEG SCHULTZ-AKERSON
The first bubble to burst about growing in the spiritual life, is
that the goal of this growth is not that we will necessarily be happier, or more productive or popular, or have a more successful life.
If our motivation to improve our spiritual life is self-centered,
then we have to question whether it is really the life of the Spirit
we are after. The joyful surprise, however, is that we end up,
nonetheless, being the foremost beneficiaries of our growth.
The book of Genesis tells us that God breathed over the void,
and life came into being (the root meaning of “breathed” here is
“spirit,” or “a movement of air,” or “breath”). Growth in the spiritual life has to do with deepened attentiveness to that divine
breath blowing over all of life.
It is about standing in wonder at the gift of simply being alive.
It is about noticing what is — noticing things we might not have
even seen at all if we were not being attentive. It is like, for
instance, my Grandpa noticing that our backyard was not just
filled with weeds, as I had seen it, but was surrounded by a happy
host of calla lilies just past the weeds. Growth in the spiritual life
is a process of waking up and noticing.
The first thing to know about “doing” something to improve
the spiritual life is to note it does not begin with “doing,” but with
being. Growth in the spiritual life isn’t something we set our
minds to accomplish. As Brother David Steindl-Rast writes in his
book “Gratefulness, the Heart of Prayer”: “The mind can recognize a gift as gift, but only the heart can rise to gratefulness.”
To grow (or improve) in the spiritual life is to awaken to our
capacity for deeper attentiveness to life as imbued with the Spirit,
even as we live in a world dizzied with distraction, consumption,
and anxiety. It is not about walking away from this world, but
about living within it differently.
So the question is: are there things we can do to grow on that
kind of spiritual level? Let me suggest three:
Peg Schultz-Akerson and her husband, Reg, are co-pastors of
Faith Lutheran Church in Chico.
BE ACCOUNTABLE IN A COMMUNITY LONGING TO LIVE A
LIFE OF THE SPIRIT
The best way I know is to be a part of a spiritual community
where we hold each other accountable for such growth. Churches,
synagogues, mosques are not clubs we join but are communities
of belonging where practices are lived out and taught and modeled — practices whose purposes are to call us deeper into
accountability as spiritual people.
Whatever spiritual path we are on, we know we do not make
ourselves. We are given life as a gift and with that gift come the
call and freedom to respond.
Of course, I can only speak as a Christian, and specifically as a
Christian shaped by particular practices, but the more deeply we
know our own place of grounding, the more clearly we can see
and appreciate the faith practices of others.
My spiritual roots teach that God lovingly created me,
redeemed me in Jesus Christ, and empowers me daily through the
Holy Spirit to participate in God’s ongoing work in the world.
Practices of corporate and contemplative prayer where we
learn to be so that our doing is redemptive, not violent; setting
aside my agendas by giving God the first word of the day and first
day of the week; gathering in community where we are encountered by spoken and visible signs of God’s loving, compassionate
presence; being sent to represent that presence in a hurting world
— these are essential to my growth in the life of the Spirit. In fact,
BE ATTENTIVE THROUGH SPIRITUAL PRACTICES
Whatever their spiritual tradition, the spiritually alive people I
know are people who are held accountable within a community of
faith by shared practices that shape their lives and their posture
towards the world.
Within Christianity such practices would be things like regular
participation in worship; support in prayer and the study of scripture; mutual listening to others and being listened to as companions on the spiritual journey; being good stewards of life and creation; serving the needs of the neighbor.
Healthy spiritual communities involve people in practices that
guide them in learning what it means to be a follower of Christ, or
learning what it means to be the best Jew they can be, or the best
Muslim, or the best Buddhist, or whatever their tradition.
We do not become spiritually mature people without being
attentive to the spiritual longing in us and backing that longing up
with practices that nurture a faithful response. A community
where that happens is always calling people to live their lives as a
blessing.
BE A BLESSING
Being a blessing is the overflow of a spiritual life. It is not just
a matter of doing good things for other people, but is rather a matter of participating in God’s ongoing restorative mending of the
world.
Through a power beyond us, our participation becomes more
than we expect or imagine. Our being a blessing is not a project we
set out to do, but is an overflow that surprises even us.
So these three: Be accountable in a community longing to live a
life in the Spirit, be attentive through spiritual practices, and be a
blessing. It all begins with “Be.”
Enterprise-Record
Changes to improve your marriage
E-R Staff
To celebrate
their love for
each other,
Michael Taylor
and Catalina
Cardenas did a
little hugging
and kissing on
Valentine’s Day
in City Plaza.
Ty Barbour
Enterprise-record
February is known as Heart Month and there’s
been sufficient publicity about improving heart
health by making changes to our eating and exercise habits.
But when it comes to making our marriages
heart-healthy — where do we start? With the
experts, of course. Six long-time local married
couples offered suggestions they thought were
helpful in keeping marriages healthy.
“Give and take,” was the first suggestion from
David and Bonnie Beebe of Chico. The Beebes
marked 55 years of marriage in December when
their daughter and granddaughter arranged a
surprise party for them at La Hacienda restaurant.
David said cooperation and “being there for
each other” were important components in holding a marriage together.
“We’ve had our ups and downs for sure,” he
said, noting the couple had lost a son and more
recently lost a grandson in Iraq. “But we’ve stuck
together,” he said.
Judy and Stan Fisher of Vina celebrated their
50th anniversary in December at Vina Community Church.
“People may not agree with this, but the No. 1
thing is having the Lord in your life,” said Judy.
Judy said a marriage can be helped by both
partners being willing to work at their union,
“because it takes two to do it.” She also said it’s
important that each half of the couple know
when to apologize. “Be willing to say I’m sorry
when you’re at fault. A lot of people aren’t willing to do that.”
Ramona and Bill Chamberlain have lasted 60
years. The Durham couple celebrated their
anniversary during a trip to Hawaii at Thanksgiving.
“Think about your vows,” was Ramona’s
advice. “That’s an important thing for me,” she
said.
She also said keeping communication open
and having family support can help a marriage
in trouble.
And fun. “We’re having fun right now. We’re
playing a card game right now. We do almost
every afternoon,” she said. “We’ve decided it’s
good for the brain,” she said.
Vilma and Ted Starnes of Durham marked
their 60th wedding anniversary by taking an
Alaskan cruise with their children. The couple
eloped Dec. 20, 1946.
“The most important thing is be friends first,
lovers second,” Vilma said. “Oh, we bicker sometimes, but we just don’t argue. With us, friend-
3FF
• David and Bonnie Beebe of Chico, married
55 years: Give and take, be there for each other,
stick together;
• Judy and Stan Fisher of Vina, married 50
years: Have faith, work together, be willing to
apologize;
• Ramona and Bill Chamberlain of Durham,
married 60 years: Remember your vows, work
on communicating, have fun;
• Vilma and Ted Starnes of Durham, married
60 years: Be friends, set an example for the children, appreciate your family;
• Joy and Daniel Toomey of Oroville, married
60 years: Respect, consideration and have
some things — but not everything — in common.
• Ted and Renee Kirkham of Chico, married
60 years: Share a common background, respect
each other and not only love but like each other,
too.
ship comes first.”
She said they always strove to “set an example
for the kids,” by raising them right.
“I think you can preach (too much) to your
children. We’re very proud of children and we
have a marvelous family.”
Respect, consideration and having things in
common were the suggestions from Joy Toomey
of Oroville. She and her husband Daniel celebrated their 60th anniversary with their daughter
and son-in-law in Las Vegas in December.
“Respect for one another’s opinions,” she
said, “and consideration in all things — decisionmaking, when it comes up with children, buying
things; you have to consider both views.”
The Toomeys, who played golf together for
years, now have separate interests and that’s a
good thing, she said. “You can have too much
togetherness. Separate interests round you out.”
Ted and Renee Kirkham of Chico were raised
within a mile of each other, and although their
families knew each other, the couple didn’t meet
until later. The Kirkhams celebrated 60 years of
marriage with family and friends in December at
their Chico home.
That commonality was important, said Ted.
“It put us on the same cultural and religious levels. It put us on the same playing field, and has
helped us a great deal.”
Respect comes next, he said. “When one of us
talks the other listens. We try to enrich our lives
through the opinions of each other.”
Friendship was next on the Kirkhams’ list.
“We’re very good friends. I love her dearly, but I
like her also,” adding they love to travel together and enjoy a game of gin rummy every night.
“Instead of falling asleep in front of the TV, we
look forward to our game.”
Enterprise-Record
Here’s how to
remember your
first home-buying
experience fondly
By CONNIE WRIGHT
Purchasing your first home
or your fifth home should be a
good experience that you can
look back upon and share the
fond memories that took place.
I remember buying a new
home once, that at midnight
when the selling agent who
represented me became so tired
she had to take a nap on our
couch. She had shown us the
house twice earlier in the
evening and had driven back
and forth across town several
times with other counteroffers.
Now we had to answer to the
final counter and she was
down for the count.
Having been a realtor for
many years prior, I sat down at
the typewriter and wrote the
counter offer. I woke her up
and off she went to get it
accepted and signed.
My husband was long
asleep and snoring and I was
pretty groggy when our agent
called at 1 a.m. to tell us, yes,
you have your house.
What wonderful times this
story brings back to me. What
fun we had over the years
telling our friends how we got
this beautiful home.
This is how it should be and
can be if you plan ahead.
There are three main categories to concentrate on to
make your home purchase successful, comfortable and with
as little pressure as possible.
COLLECT FINANCIAL RECORDS
Let’s start with “the tub,”
the gateway to successful borrowing. It’s where you collect
your financial records. Having
documentation easily available
for your lending entity can
save hours of frustration and
days of delay.
Keep your paystubs for two
months. Every time you put a
new paystub in the folder
marked paystubs, take out the
oldest stub out and shred it.
Keep paystubs for every W-2
job that you have.
Keep three years of your
federal income tax returns in
your tub. This includes your
individual 1040 returns in one
folder. If you own a corporation or partnership, keep these
returns in another folder.
Do not keep your California
returns for a lender, they do
not need them.
Keep your most recent mortgage statements for each property that you own in separate
folders. Be prepared to fax or
send them to your lender.
Your mortgage statements
show the mortgage loan number, the actual payment for
each month and weather you
have an impound account and
a breakdown of the taxes vs.
insurance and the actual mortgage payment.
This saves you time and
your lender. When your lender
is underwriting your debt-toincome ratios.
Keep your most recent credit
card statements in separate file
folders. There are times when
your credit report shows you
have a monthly payment that
might be higher than the actual
minimum monthly payment
shown on the statement. Also,
sometimes your statement
shows a zero balance when
your credit report shows a balance of moneys owed.
Whenever anyone for any
reason runs your credit report,
insist they commit to giving
you a copy of the report via fax
or e-mail the moment that they
receive it. Make them send you
an e-mail promising to do this.
Keep your asset statement at
all times, such as your IRA
statements, 401K, bank statements, stock and bonds, and
other investment accounts
(anywhere you have money).
You will always need to have
two months filed in separate
folder for each asset.
If you have pension income
or Social Security, always keep
copies of the award letters stating exactly what your monthly
award is, filed in a separate
folder.
Now that you have organized all of your paperwork
and can find everything you
need, it is time to set the loan
approval process to action.
Purchasing a new home can be a trying experience. A real estate veteran who now works in the mortgage industry offers some tips
on how to make that experience more enjoyable and less stressful.
Connie Wright has worked in the real estate industry since 1974 and began work in the mortgage
industry in 1981, founding The Wright Mortgage Co., Inc. in 1989. Wright has been giving finance
classes throughout California for the past four years and will soon offer a series of classes locally. The
Wright Mortgage Company is located in downtown Chico at 434 Broadway. You can reach Wright at
343-2454 or send an e-mail to [email protected].
Having been a mortgage
banker and direct lender in my
previous years was a great
career experience.
I was very fortunate to
attend mortgage banking
school for two years, but when
I started my own mortgage
company 18 years ago I chose
to be a mortgage broker. My
decision was based mainly the
vast array of different banks I
could represent under one
business.
Regardless of whether you
choose to work with a local
mortgage broker or one of our
local banks, you will want to
make this choice early, long
before you contact a realtor to
start looking at homes.
You are actually entitled to a
free credit report from all three
credit bureaus. Go to annualcreditreport.com and get your
annual report. Take it to your
mortgage representative and
have him review it with you.
There could be items on the
report that are not correct or
entries that are not yours.
Do not have anyone pull
your credit until you have
decided who you are going to
work with. The annual credit
report that you obtained for
free is from all three bureaus
and is highly dependable.
You should begin this
process at least ninety days
prior to purchasing. Let's call
this the 90-day countdown ...
PREPARE TO GET BETTER
FINANCING
Do not make any major purchases in the three months
prior to your mortgage application. Do not open any new
credit cards or lines of credit.
This will lower your FICO
score. Good credit history is
more important than the number of credit cards you have.
Lower your credit card balances. If possible, bring down
credit card balances to 30 percent of the available credit limit
or lower.
Check your credit report
three months before applying
for mortgage loan. Correcting
any inaccuracies takes at least
30 days, since the reports are
only updated monthly.
Avoid applying for or
obtaining a home equity line
before a new purchase loan.
This lowers your credit score
and raises your total debt balance.
Minimize shopping for
mortgage loans. You must
manage the number of times
lenders pull your credit report.
Every time you run your credit
report, your credit score may
go down five points or more.
Some clients have reported 2540 point changes in one day,
due to Internet shopping.
Mortgage interest rates are
about the same no matter
which company you call,
because they are determined
by “risk-based pricing” in the
Wall Street bond market, the
federal government and the
economy. They are not determined by different mortgage
brokers.
Credit scores are constantly
changing. Don’t be discouraged because of charge-offs,
bankruptcy, or a past foreclosure on your report. Although
these items can stay on your
report for 7 to 10 years, lenders
look primarily at your more
recent credit history — typically the last 2 to 4 years.
The key is that you have
demonstrated improvement of
your credit history after the
derogatory event.
Don’t ignore collection
notices. You may receive collection calls or letters on phone
bills, medical bills, parking
tickets, merchandise returns,
etc. Even if you do not agree
with the charges, fight in a way
that they will not make a
derogatory report to your
record at the credit bureaus.
It is not worth the risk of
damaging your credit score to
be “right” on small balances.
Remember that the cost of
higher interest on a mortgage
will be far greater than a few
small balances.
Send in payments early
whenever possible (especially
mortgage payments), be on
time with all payments. This is
the easiest way to ensure your
credit score stays up or
improves.
Now is not the time to
change jobs, careers or employment status. Your ability to
repay a loan in the lenders eyes
is dependent on this. You can
jeopardize your entire real
estate financing and purchase
transaction by making a sudden change.
A SOLID BEGINNING
There are many more facets
of preparing for your new purchase, but the outline above is
a solid beginning. Once you
and your mortgage representative have paved the way for
your loan approval you will
need lots of additional counseling on what loan programs
best suit your individual financial disposition.
Your mortgage representative needs to give you these
choices in writing along with
all of the closing costs
involved. You also need to
know about locking your interest rate.
Once all of this is completed,
your loan can be electronically
submitted for a “real” loan
approval and you can start
working with your Realtor to
find your dream property!
The process doesn't stop
here though. Your Realtor must
counsel you on home inspections, termite reports, home
warranties and above all; what
is a good buy in your market
place that has the special
amenities that you desire.
Good luck and happy memories!
Enterprise-Record
5FF
Five changes that can improve your financial future
By DAWN BUCHANAN
People often make mistakes with their financial priorities. The new year is a time to acknowledge poor financial choices and make new
healthier choices.
Here are five smart choices that will help you
improve your financial future:
1. Never pay more interest than you
have to
If someone 20 years of age took the $3.85 they
spend each day on coffee and invested the
$115.50 per month in a relatively safe investment, such as a certificate of deposit earning 5
percent, they would have approximately
$177,000 at age 60 or approximately $235,000 at
age 65.
So, before you head to the coffee shop or the
mall, ask yourself if you really need the item.
Wait 72 hours before making a decision on an
impulse buy.
Pay off high-interest, nondeductible consumer
debt first. One of the fastest ways to improve
your credit rating is to pay off or pay down your
credit cards. In fact, it might be better to pay off
the debt than to save for your retirement or contribute to your children’s college fund. The best
strategy is to pay off the credit card with the
highest interest rate first.
Another part of this equation is to stop using
credit cards unless you can trust yourself to pay
the balance in full at the end of the billing cycle.
Once you have paid off your credit card debt,
save enough cash for at least three months of living expenses; six to 12 months is preferable.
You never know when you may face a job loss
or another major event such as a fire or illness. It
is important to become a disciplined saver. Saving early and consistently when combined with
earnings can increase your net worth significantly.
2. Change your lifestyle
4. Begin saving for your retirement
Do you really need that morning cup of coffee
from the coffee shop? Ask yourself that question
daily.
Don’t wait until you are age 40 to start thinking about retirement savings. Contribute to your
401(k) retirement account as soon as you’re eligi-
3. Establish a financial cushion
ble. Take advantage of employer’s matching provisions and contribute as much as you can. The
employer’s contribution is free money. When
was the last time you turned down free money?
Ideally, people should save at least 15 percent
of their salary for retirement. The sooner you
start, the better off you will be.
The maximum annual contribution to a 401(k)
plan for 2007 is $15,500 for people in the private
sector. For people in the academia or nonprofit
sector, 403(b) plans are available with the same
limits. For people age 50 and older, there are
make-up provisions that allow you to contribute
an additional $5,000 annually.
If your employer does not have a 401(k) or
other retirement plan, you can contribute to an
IRA. The maximum annual contribution to an
IRA for 2007 is $4,000 for people under age 50
and $5,000 for people age 50 and over.
5. Plan your estate
The size of your estate does not matter. Estate
planning ensures that your wishes will be carried out. This includes a will, a durable power of
attorney, and a health care power of attorney,
which authorizes someone to make medical
decisions for you in the event that you are unable
to make them yourself. Planning ahead will save
Dawn Buchanan is a certified public accountant and shareholder at Matson & Isom, Certified Public Accountants, with more than 17
years of experience in taxation and auditing.
time and money for your heirs.
Included in estate planning is getting insurance. A full-time worker should have life insurance equal to six to 10 times their salary.
Ensure that your beneficiaries are current. The
last thing you want to do is accidentally leave
your ex-spouse your retirement plan or life
insurance.
If you are wealthy or have a complicated family situation, it is important to work with an
attorney and/or certified public accountant.
Consider giving away money during your lifetime. It can be both gratifying and savvy estate
planning. An attorney may advise you to set up
a bypass trust upon the death of the first spouse
or establish trusts for your children.
Reader’s view
What would make Chico a better place?
1. The city needs to work with Butte County and state if
necessary to protect Bidwell Park from continued
encroachment of development in the view shed of the park.
The homes that are being built along the south rim are ruining the beauty of the park. Development encroaching onto
state park land is considered a 4f environmental issue. Why
does it not apply to a city park ?
The city also needs to set an elevation restriction on further development on the viewshed out of the park. It looks
so terrible driving into Chico from the south of town and
look and see homes creeping up the hillsides to the east
above California Park. A large part of the beauty of the city
is it’s surrounding hills!
2. Signs need to placed in upper and lower park that
retractable leashes are not allowed (6-foot maximum
length). Pit bulls (American Stafford terriers) are not
allowed off a leash and shall also have chest harnesses.
List penalty amounts on the sign.
I have read many stories of pit bulls in Chico and spoke
to others in the park that have had encounters with pit bulls.
The one fellow at Salmon Hole got bit and his dog injured
(out $300 in vet bills, because the owner grabbed his dog
and fled).
I personally have had four encounters and rarely take my
dogs to the upper park anymore. My last two encounters
have been in lower park. People would feel safer.
3. Signs need to be placed in the lower park instructing
people to stop littering the creek banks and bushes with
rolled up dirty diapers. I often find them and move them to
higher ground or into a trash can so the high winter creek
flows will not send them downstream. Some diapers I found
where only feet away from a trash can.
If this does not work, maybe infants should not be
allowed in the park picnic areas are within 50-yards of the
creek. People will enjoy the park more if they do not have a
to come a dirty diaper.
Mark Petrovick
Chico
Enterprise-Record
Suggestions for organizing your garage
By LEANORA WINN
You need a locking cabinet where
you can store your paint and other
toxic materials, such as Round-up, to
keep it safe from children and pets.
If you have rags soaked with lighter
fluid or other flammable products
these should be separated from everything else or disposed of in a proper
way.
Bleach and laundry detergent
should be stored on a shelf above the
washer and dryer.
If you have a work bench in the
garage you can put up pegboard and
put hooks in the holes so that you can
hang the tools you want to reach easily. Shelves are helpful to put above
the work bench.
You can hang large-sized clear-glass
baby food jars from the bottom of the
shelves by using a wood screw to
attach the lids. You can hang them so
they are at eye-level. You open the jars
by twisting the bottoms. You can orga-
nize items in the jars, such as nails and
bolts by different sizes.
In addition to the walls, the rafters
can be used to store things. Put twoby-fours between them and use that
space for storing Christmas decorations and other things you use only
once a year. You don’t even have to
nail down the two-by-fours. Attach
hooks from the rafters and hang your
bicycles from them.
I have a rule that if I’ve stored
something in my garage and haven’t
used it in a year, it goes bye-bye. I usually donate it to a thrift store. I label
the boxes so I know the last time I’ve
used the items in it.
For those things in your garage you
never get around to fixing, you can
always look in the classified ads in the
newspaper and find people to hire
who can fix anything. You should
think about fixing things that are valuable, have been in your family a long
time or that you are attached to.
Collections, such as books and
Reader’s views
Making Chico a better place
1. Rationalize garbage collection — Garbage collection is an example of a natural monopoly, because it is so
much more efficient (and thus cheaper) to have a single
supplier servicing a geographic area.
Chico is the only place I’ve lived who has duplicative
service. Thus we have twice the number of trips up and
town each street each week as necessary. This doubles
the air and noise pollution and the wear and tear on our
roads.
With regulated rates and services, there is no advantage to this scheme. Why not either select one company
for the urban area, or if it’s somehow important to have
two providers, divide the city into zones, each serviced by
a single company. This should actually support lower
rates, due to increased service efficiency.
2. Place a moratorium on residential building until
we catch up to the growth we’ve already experienced
— In particular, there are thousands of households who
still need to be connected to the sewer system according
to the nitrate ruling. This should be done prior to connecting thousands more associated with new developments.
More obviously, while developer fees help to pay for
road improvements near the development, this does
nothing for the increased congestion and wear and tear
on other roadways throughout the city. For example, fix
the problems with Highway 99, East First Avenue, Cohasset Road from Mangrove to East Avenue, Whitman
Avenue and repair or replace the many crumbling roadways.
Bring our public library collection in line with our population.
Once the infrastructure has caught up to our current
population level, we may be in a position to welcome new
developments rather than dread them.
3. Finish the neighborhood parks — With some creative thinking, this can probably be done a lot less expensively than projected.
Corvallis, Ore., built a wonderful neighborhood playground funded by a penny drive by local school children
together with donated materials and a community work
party. The road to our own observatory was graded, as I
recall, by Butte College heavy equipment students.
Design competitions could be held for landscape architecture students.
Major design elements could be developed by neighborhood committees, who might also organize fund drives dedicated to their local park. Memorial benches or
picnic areas could be funded by those wishing to remember a loved one. Perhaps matching grants are available.
Why wait, when we could have a higher quality of life
sooner?
Patricia J. Lindsey
Chico
Leanora Winn owns a business
called “I Clean your Garage for
Free.” She’s a collector and likes to
go to yard sales.
records, should be kept in the house.
Exposure to heat and cold, to rats and
mice, could damage them. If you’re a
collector, you’re going to have to make
room for those things.
Reader’s
views
Improvements
for Chico
I would like to make the following
suggestions relating to general
improvements which would be for
the benefit of Chico and the area.
(1) Establish a memorial park
garden. This would provide an additional tourist attraction and also provide for a location for a museum and
any memorials for any qualified
group wishing to establish one.
Examples Martin Luther King, Iraqi
War heroes, worthy Chico personages etc., etc.
(2) Traffic could be speeded up
by providing painted courtesy lines
at corners to encourage drivers to
stay to the left in those busy streets
having room for two lanes, opening
up the right hand lane for drivers
intending to make a right hand turn.
(3) A suggestion box for Chico
citizens to express ideas and nurture their interest in civic activities.
Thank you.
Stan Oman
Solar power: a way to sustainability
By Anthony Watts
Sustainability is a trend that is
growing not only here, but also
throughout the world.
It is an attempt to provide the best
outcomes for human and natural
environments both now and into the
future. Essentially you could think of
it as balanced use of the planet,
where the use doesn’t outstrip regeneration.
Locally, a number of movements
have been made toward this goal,
particularly with solar power. Butte
County is particularly well suited for
solar power. Climate records show
we have 219 sunny days and 57 partly cloudy days per year on average,
which makes solar power viable. It
wasn’t always that way, and it’s only
now that solar power is becoming
economically viable due to increased
electricity costs, increased solar cell
efficiency and state rebate programs
to help home and business owners
kick-start the process.
There are three reasons to do solar
power on your home or business:
• You want the economic benefit of
reduced power costs.
• You want to do something environmentally sound.
• You have no other power options
available, such as at a summer cabin.
Most often it’s the first two, but
you should be aware of some limits
related to economics. Solar power can
be an expensive proposition to install,
even with rebates. Thus, unless you
have money to burn you have to plan
carefully to ensure that you get payback on your investment. You also
need an unobstructed view of the
southern sky.
I myself have placed two solar
power systems into use, one on my
home and another for Chico Unified
School District on Little Chico Creek
School, which is the largest solar
power system for a school north of
Sacramento.
In both cases, high power use was
going on, which made the economics
easy. My home had a deep well, a
pool, and upper and lower A/C
units, making my power bills hit as
much as $500 per month in the summer! I’m studying a design for a third
solar power system on my new home,
purchased just last year, but its energy efficiency makes the planning task
more detailed.
Typically, you’ll need to have a
power bill of at least $150-200 per
month or more to make solar viable
for your home as a retrofit. However,
if you are building a new home, planning solar into the building process is
less expensive. Some forward-think-
An awning solar
array at a home.
Courtesy of
Anthony Watts
Anthony Watts is a local TV and radio meteorologist, former School Board
Member, and hi-tech business owner. He has lived in Chico for the past 20
years.
ing developers are now offering
turnkey solar built into new homes,
such as is being done in Fresno. So
far, I haven’t seen Chico developers
offer such an option, but I think the
time is right for our Building Industry Association, Chamber of Commerce, and city government to work
together to make such an offering
practical.
The way solar power works for
homes and businesses is by a reverse
metering scheme based on time of
use (TOU). During peak power need,
times of noon to 6PM on weekdays,
electricity is far more valuable than
during off-peak times. PG&E will
credit any power generated during
those peak times as much as four
times the value of electricity used
during off-peak times.
It’s sort of like the stock market,
sell high and buy low.
To achieve this, your home or business has to be outfitted with a TOU
meter, so PG&E can track power use.
Then, when you connect a solar
power system to that, it will log when
you generate power during mid-day
peak times and when you draw
power during off-peak times. The
trick is to generate exactly enough
power to result in a net-zero energy
use, because PG&E does not pay you
back for any excess power generated.
A solar power system generates
DC voltage from the solar panels and
when they are working at peak, you
can expect a 15 percent solar-to-electricity power conversion efficiency.
The DC power from the solar cells
must then be converted and phased
to match the 60-cycle AC power grid.
This is done with DC-to-AC inverters,
usually mounted near your main
breaker box. About a 10 percent con-
version loss occurs in that process.
If you are planning to go solar,
there are a few things you should
know:
• Pick a reliable contractor experienced with the process, particularly
with the California Energy Commission rebate process, because a mistake
can cost you a lot of time and money.
• Be prepared to spend money or
to seek financing. Low cost statesponsored finance programs are
available.
• Be patient. The process takes
time, often more than you think,
especially in a retrofit. There are
applications, permits, tests and government interactions involved.
• Solar will immediately add to the
resale value of your home — that
value never decreases. So when you
get a state rebate, say for $10,000
towards the purchase, you get to keep
it as equity.
• Financing should be balanced in
such a way that it is equal to or less
than your average existing electricity
bill, so you pay yourself back. When
the system is paid off, you’ll have
zero payments for energy.
• You’ll be switched to a yearly
billing system rather than a monthly.
If your solar system doesn’t produce
enough electricity to cover all your
use, at the end of the year you’ll have
what’s called a “true-up” bill, which
could be large, but divided over the
year will be much smaller than previous monthly bills. Be sure to plan for
that.
• Right now, solar isn’t for everyone, as it’s still a rather expensive and
complicated process to install as a
retrofit. However, as solar panel efficiency increases and more companies
get online producing solar cells, the
costs will come down, as happens
with any new technology.
• There are state and federal tax
credits for any solar installation
which, when figured in with rebates,
can make the project quite attractive,
and in some cases, a very low cost.
Given that energy demands are
only going to go up, and prices will
naturally follow that demand, if you
have high electric bills or have a business that could benefit, solar power is
certainly worth looking into.
Living and teaching sustainability in Chico schools
By KATHLEEN KAISER
It was 1962 and as a high school
student, I learned to crawl under a
desk when the nuclear missiles struck.
People were building bomb shelters in
their backyards. Ironically, we all
knew Jacksonville, Fla., would never
survive if the Cuban Missile Crisis
went the final step.
I was working across town when an
air raid siren went off at noon; for several eerie moments I waited to see my
doom, knowing I would never see my
family and friends alive again.
My doomsday call was a factory
whistle. Cuba and the United States
stepped back from the brink of war
and we learned that homemade bomb
shelters only covered up the truth:
Individual solutions can’t fix a world
crisis, but neither does waiting under
our school desks.
The news about global warming
only gets worse. Scientific updates
about how rapidly man has been
changing our planet — and the potential critical junctures at which our
water, air and food would be significantly compromised — have been
issued for years. Yet as a nation and as
a global community, we waited.
Perhaps the news was not as serious, perhaps the timing was further
out, but certain was the context of
how much we might have to change
current realities to alter our impending
future. Like a tsunami on the horizon,
the calm of today belied the threat
tomorrow.
While individual solutions to our
personal consumption habits can have
a positive effect, educating our children about their potential force as
agents of change is likely the most
effective strategy.
Humans have always responded to
environmental change and challenges
through mobility and technology. The
scale of global change before us leaves
just technology and rethinking community designs — and of course, our
own commitment to change — to
ensure the future of our children.
While the federal government has
been slow to act, our own governor
and state have taken bold steps to
begin changing California’s future.
California’s fortunes have always risen
with the richness of its natural
resources and fallen when its citizens
did not plan carefully into the future.
We are now embarking on a race to
reduce our footprint on our own
shores and on our planet while we still
acknowledge growth and economic
productivity. We have to be smarter,
use more effective and efficient tech-
nology, but most of all, we have to
change.
We have seen the enormous negative impacts on our children from
community designs and technology
changes that were not planned, with a
stunning drop in physical fitness and a
dramatic increase in obesity and diabetes. We must go much further to
help our children understand how, in
our everyday lives and in our homes,
schools and work environments, we
can live more effectively on the earth,
impacting it less.
As a school board, we are stewards
for both the children and the physical
resources of our community devoted
to education. Unfortunately, the physical plant of a school is both very
expensive and in our community,
quite old. The state’s antiquated formula for deciding the effective spatial
needs for educating children does not
match current technology and knowledge about how to educate them.
We have funds we can access from
the state for modernization, and we
have funds approved by our community, to build needed resources for a
student body that is changing in size,
composition, geographical distribution
and in special needs.
How are we to maximize both our
physical resources and our financial
ones while providing the best learning
environment for our children?
Sustainability argues building now
for a future 50 years away, with physical plants which could readily adapt to
changing needs, which save maintenance costs and energy resources.
While these expenses are always
segregated by the state from actual
construction costs, in any realistic budget, maintenance and energy costs are
married for life to the design of the
building. Thus we should build in sustainability to maximize efficiency.
But sustainability also presents us
with a community model rooted in
utilizing its own resources first and
foremost, in problem-solving with a
local focus, and in constant pursuit of
learning how we might alter our own
behaviors for a more positive local,
regional and global impact. Chico
State University has already taken significant steps in this direction, as have
a number of local businesses and
farmers.
When we design, modernize and
redesign our schools to thoughtfully
and intentionally create a “green environment,” with a reduced impact on
our energy consumption and greater
interface with our local community,
our kids will be learning with us side
by side.
Kathleen Kaiser, Ph.D., 60, was
recently elected to Chico Unified
School board of trustees. She has
lived in Chico since 1972. A graduate of Florida State and Duke universities, she is a full professor at
Chico State University and served
as the faculty trustee to the State
University system board of trustees.
More will travel to school by bike,
bus or walking. They will carry their
classroom conversations home and
back again as we all consider how to
live more effective lives.
I hope that none of them will be
kept indoors by sirens that sound the
alarm for air too dangerous to breathe
and that none of them learn that hiding under our desks is a solution, but
rather that each one is capable and
empowered to change their schools
and their communities.
“It’s not easy being green!” quotes a
familiar character, but I think that
engaging right now in planning for a
effective future is to plan “green,” to
be sustainable for our school district,
for our children and their children to
come.

Reader`s view - Chico Enterprise

Transcription

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