Alex Brown’s Comments on the State of the City Address

For those who aren’t on social media, we wanted to take a moment to share Alex Brown’s comments on Friday’s Business Summit and State of the City Address - they were spot on.

There is one thing we would add to her comments:

Police Chief Matt Madden confirmed, again, that overall crime was down in 2020. The extremist driven “safety” PAC lied about this throughout the 2020 campaign. Chico, you were sold a lie. What changed last year? The visibility of the homeless. Not the amount of crime.

The right-wing PAC’s agenda was never about “safety

Councilmember Alex Brown

“Today, on the Business Summit and State of the City Address, I've heard the term "root causes" used twice by elected and City officials. I have also heard the words "code enforcement" coupled with "root causes."

Let's be clear here: there is no evidence showing us that lack of enforcement is a root cause of homelessness. There is no evidence that shows us enforcement reduces homelessness in communities. Indeed, evidence shows us that enforcement costs everyone -- taxpayers, people experiencing homelessness, and the community.

Here's where our attention should be:

✅ Safe, sanctioned tent camping

✅ Safe, sanctioned car camping

✅ Expanded shelter beds

✅ Tiny home villages and other innovative transitional housing solutions

✅ and most importantly, affordable housing

Some may think that it is not our job to try "solving the world's problems," but they forget that many of the world's and nation's problems have very real impacts locally. It is absolutely our charge to do our part. Especially as it relates to homelessness and its root causes -- lack of affordable housing, income disparity, and lack of accessible shelter and services -- there are solutions we can implement NOW to make a major impact LOCALLY.

We need to stop being so small-minded and get to work.”

If you’d like to see the entire presentation, you can view it here.