A Prayer for Chico

I had just gotten

Out of class.

It was dark out,

Raining.

I walked

Across campus

To get my bike,

Unlocked it

And rode away.

As I

Approached

A stoplight,

Out of the corner

Of my eye,

I saw a young man wearing

A black and white hoodie

With a matching hat,

Chasing after me, yelling.

I stopped at the light.

He kept coming

And yelling.

“What?” I said,

“I can’t hear you.”

He stopped

At the edge

Of the sidewalk

And said,

“You suck

the shit

out of

my ass!”

“Why are you saying that?” I asked.

“Because I’m pretty sure you do,” he replied.

I looked right at him and said, “God bless you.”

He was paralyzed.

Speechless.

His mouth

Quivered in dismay

As he stared at me

In disbelief.

I raised my hand

As if to bless him,

Gave him a low wave

And rode away.

The funny thing was,

I actually meant it.

I think he thought

I was homeless.

My long beard,

Cheap bike

And secondhand

Backpack,

Along with my

Dirty work-gloves

To keep my hands warm,

And wet clothes,

Must have painted

The perfect picture

Of a local transient.

A picture worthy of

Incurring verbal abuse;

Of which emerged

A genuine act of

Spontaneous

Christianity.

Which

Shocked

Us both.

Highlights from the 2013 Butte Countywide Homeless Census & Survey

Some interesting stats from the Butte Countywide Homeless Continuum of Care 2013 Point -In-Time Homeless Census & Survey Report (since 2011):

·      Overall homelessness in Butte County has gone down 12%.

·      Child homelessness has increased 22%

·      Those who reported sharing housing with family or a friend increased 29%.

·      Those who reported “employment/financial reasons” as the cause of homelessness decreased 22%.

·      Those who reported “no job or income” as a barrier to housing decreased 27%.

·      The most frequently reported type of living situation reported was unsheltered at 31%.

·      63% reported having lived in Butte county for five years or longer.

·      35% were chronically homeless.

·      29% reported having some college level education.

·      23% reported having a pet.

·      12% reported military service.

·      32% reported having a physical disability?

·      23% reported having a mental illness.

·      3% reported being under Post-Release Community Supervision (AB 109).

"Sit - Lie" causes people to stand and fight

Tempers flared over the controversial "Sit-Lie" Ordinance which was adopted by the Chico City Council at the Nov. 5, meeting. The ordinance makes it illegal to sit or lie down on the sidewalk in front of any Chico business. 

I'm not sure which one of them started it, but two men sitting next to me at the meeting almost came to blows.

"I aught to kick your ass," said the owner of a local business.

"Well if you're feeling froggy, then jump," said a man who supported the homeless.

"You're lucky I don't have my gun," said the business owner.

"You gonna shoot me?" said the homeless supporter.

"I aught to slap you," said the business owner.

"You ain't big enough to slap me," said the man who supported the homeless.

After the meeting, they were chin to chin at the end of the isle. 

"Are you threatening me in a public place?" said the homeless supporter, loud for everyone to hear.

"Go fuck yourself," said the business owner, as he walked away.

Other comments were made during the meeting as residents voiced their opinions on the matter. When a homeless man named Tim Brennan struggled to ask the Council why it was illegal to sleep outside, a man from the crowd said, "Smoke another one."

When Doug Gillian, owner of Crush, went over his allotted time, a man yelled, "Don't interrupt the capitalist!"

Church on the Street

Orchard Church of Chico, Sunday Night Barbecue in Downtown City Plaza

               
You could smell the coals two blocks away. I wasn't even sure anyone was going to be there after what happened at the last City Council meeting. But once the smell of charcoal hit my nose through the cool evening air, I knew it was on.

When I got there it looked like it was over. There were no barbecues in sight, and no one was eating, but people were still milling around.

I saw a man that I had met the night before at the meeting. His name was John and he was homeless. John had worked as a welder for 30 years until he got hurt.

I asked John if he Knew Pastor Jim Culp. He said yes and introduced me to him.

Orchard Church of Chico has been putting on weekly        

Pastor Jim Culp of Orchard Church

barbecues to feed the homeless for the past five years.

Recently, they were asked to obtain a permit to continue with the event. After the permit was approved, certain members of the City Council weren't sure if letting them continue was such a good idea due to all of the issues downtown Chico has been dealing with over the last few years due to homelessness.

I asked Culp what he thought about the City putting the future of their permit and their event on the agenda for discussion at the next City Council meeting.

"I think a lot of it is just a misconception of what's going on down here," Culp said.

"The misconception is that we are drawing homelessness into downtown. Instead, we're bringing people to meet it head on.

"Our goal is to be able to work with the City to find the right solution. And yet, we're very certain that this is within our constitutional right to be able to do: to be able to be here, to be able to assemble freely as a religious organization. And really, it is not within the City's purview of who we choose to gather as our congregants. And so, we don't want to fight that fight, we're willing to jump through the hoops, but we will fight that fight."

Kevin Dougherty

                                                                   
Kevin Dougherty is an Orchard Church success story.
After being asked to leave The Well, a home for homeless men who are struggling with alcohol addiction, and spending five and a half months at the Torres Shelter, Dougherty said that someone from Orchard Church stopped him from doing something stupid.

Soon after that, someone else from Orchard asked him if he had ever gone to college.

"No!" Dougherty said, "and I'm not going."

Within a week, Dougherty had filled out his application for financial aid. This Spring he will be graduating from Butte College with two associate degrees and has just applied to Chico State where he will continue to study social work and behavioral health.

As I was leaving the Plaza, a came across a park ranger named Eric. I asked Ranger Eric what he thought about the whole thing:

"This event has been going on for a while. We reached out to them to get everyone in compliance. Not to shut people down, to get people in compliance, because there's insurance involved. There's just a whole event process, and that's where we left off."

Chico's Over It

Officers of the Chico Police Department after the Special Study Session Meeting, Tuesday, October, 22

The mood at the Special Session meeting at City Hall last Tuesday was that Chico isn’t having it anymore. A year ago the town seemed more divided over the issue, between those who wanted to offer services and those who wanted to lay the heavy hand of the law down on the growing problem of homelessness in Chico. At this point, the City doesn’t seem divided anymore.

As the sleeping bags piled up on the lawn outside of the building, and transients were seen handling drug paraphernalia behind the fountain in front of City Hall, the townspeople were crying out for action.

The passing of the controversial sit-lie ordinance seems imminent, and at this point, the citizens and the Council seem prepared to give the police whatever they need to get the job done.

A New Front on the War on Homelessness in Chico

          Council Member Sean Morgan at the Chico City Council meeting Tuesday, October 15, 2013

            The battle over the homeless raged on at the Chico City Council meeting last Tuesday. This particular conflict had to do with a church feeding the hungry.

            Orchard Church of Chico had been holding weekly barbecues for the needy in the Downtown City Plaza for over five years until a park ranger recently told them they needed a permit to continue.

            Pastor Jim Culp applied for the permit, which was approved by the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission for three months.

            Councilmember Sean Morgan was surprised when he read about the decision in the “Chico Enterprise Record.”

            “Given the transient issues we are faced with downtown -- a massive amount of emails, and phone calls, and personal comments and snail-mail that I think we’re all getting (on the Council) regarding these issues -- I was a little surprised that this didn’t find its way to (the) Council,” Morgan said. 

            Morgan then decided to appeal the permit so it would be put on the agenda for discussion at the next meeting, but was told that a Council member cannot appeal a decision once the Commission makes it.

            He then decided to file the appeal as a private citizen, but again was told not to because, if he did, he wouldn’t be able to vote on it.

            “This is insane,” Morgan said, “I thought to myself, OK, (now) I understand all the jokes about government, and how none of this process works at all, and to be quite honest, I was appalled.”

            A local citizen then made the appeal, right before Morgan found out that all he’d needed to do was ask the City Manager to appeal it for him.

            “It wasn’t that I wanted this agendized so I can overturn it,” Morgan said, “it was just, I think, this is a big enough issue at this time in the City’s history that, I think, perhaps the elected officials need to discuss this.”

            After Morgan finished his self-proclaimed “monologue” on what he called the “disturbing chain of events” that finally brought the issue to the agenda, the Council voted unanimously to “hear” it at a later date without opening up the floor for public comment.

            Local activist Mark Herrera, a member of the Parks Commission, had been waiting all night to speak on behalf of the Commission and to voice his own “personal outrage.”

            “Waste of my (…) time,” Herrera said, under his breath as he got up to leave.

            When asked how he felt about the decision, Herrera said, “I’m just upset that they didn’t let the public get an opportunity to stand up. If they have the opportunity to speak about something, so should we.” He then added, “Some people just want to get rid of things instead of finding solutions.”

            Ironically, Herrera could have spoken if he would have stuck around for the “From the Floor” portion of the agenda. 

Traveler Gives his Take on Chico Homeless Situation

                                                                                                                       Photo of Jay

I spent two hours in the downtown Chico plaza on Thursday, October 10, talking to a couple of homeless women named Cherry and Robin. When I got home that night, I couldn’t find my notes.

The next morning I retraced my steps back to the plaza. I didn’t find my notes there either, or Cherry or Robin, but I did meet a young man named Jay who gave me his take on the homeless situation in Chico.

Jay doesn’t describe himself as homeless. He’s got places he could stay. He’s a traveler by choice. He loves being out in the wide-open space, living in absolute freedom, hopping trains from town to town and state to state.

Jay was polite, respectful, intelligent and pleasant to talk to. He had lived in Chico about four years ago and even attended Butte College for a semester, in between stints of living on the road. Since then he’s come through Chico a number of times, and had arrived, this time, just last Wednesday.

I asked Jay how he thought the homeless situation had changed in Chico:

“From the last time I was here, it seems like the kids are more directionless,” Jay said. “When I came here before, more people were into art and wanted to do something separate from just wasting their life away.  I met a lot of musicians here and a lot of people who were travelling. And now, there’re so many people who just stay here and get hooked on meth.

“The town’s changed too,” Jay said. “The cops, I guess for a while, really cracked down on things, put signs up, ‘no pan-handling,’ ‘no spanging.’

“I think people are just fed up with it more than last time I was here. When there were people out playing music and stuff like that, it was more acceptable.  Now, people are abusing the hospitality of strangers.

“I see it everywhere though; it’s not just a Chico problem. Chico’s gotten worse. It’s turning into more like a Portland type situation. Portland, Seattle, all those places, Philadelphia, those places are bad. It’s turning more into an urban situation.”

“What do you think is drawing so many people here?” I asked.

“The big flux of homeless people coming through here and travelling, was there was a rainbow gathering up north,” Jay said. “I’m pretty sure that’s what caused it. I came around that time, too. There were a lot of people. They found out how easy it is to live here: the climate thing, and to make money, and it’s fun. It’s fun to live here.”

“When was that gathering?” I asked

“Three Summers ago,” said Jay. “People talk about how cool it is to be here, you know. And the people are hospitable. The word’s gotten out about this place.”