Evicted Camp Fire Survivor Vindicated in Court, City Attorney Doesnโt Bother to Show Up, Again
๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ง๐๐ฐ๐ฌ: Larry D. Halstead is a campfire survivor who was homeless, camping in the park, and evicted during the winter sweeps, then cited when he refused to go. The charges against him have finally been dropped! We could not be more thrilled to see Larry vindicated. Read Larry's story in his own words.
๐๐จ๐ญ ๐ฌ๐จ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ซ๐๐ฎ๐ฅ ๐ง๐๐ฐ๐ฌ: Chicoโs city attorney didnโt even bother to appear. This fits his pattern. Vince Ewing is an extremely high-paid outsourced attorney for the city of Chico. During his first appearance for the lawsuit to halt the evictions of homeless people without other options, it came out that the court asked Vince to provide a list of places where people could legally camp. He hadnโt bothered, and the judge was outraged.
The judge also pointed out that the cityโs anti-homeless ordinances, most of which were authored by Vince under the previous conservative-majority city council, were illegal and unenforceable as written.
๐๐ก, ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐โ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐: Vince also told the council previously that Chico Scrap Metal had agreed to pay their legal fees if they fought the lawsuit to move them from their current, illegal location. The city spent over $200,000 fighting that suit, only to be told that CSM would not be paying those fees after all.
๐๐ก๐๐ซ๐โ๐ฌ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐: At the 4/21 City Council meeting, typically uninformed councilmember Denlay made a motion to eliminate the Shelter Crisis Declaration. Vince Ewing was asked by Mayor Coolidge if they could do this, he advised the council it was acceptable, and they voted to get eliminate it. Of course, the Shelter Crisis Declaration wasnโt on the council agenda, and this was a clear Brown Act violation. (Council is not allowed to take action on items that have not been agendized, and there was no opportunity for public comment.) When we filed a complaint about this Brown Act violation, we were told that the Shelter Crisis Declaration had to be ended by resolution, so the vote didnโt mean anythingโฆI.e., we failed to accomplish what we tried to do, therefore not a Brown Act violation. So apparently Vince Ewing doesnโt understand the Brown Act OR the way resolutions are rescinded.
๐๐๐ข๐ญ, ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐โ๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐: When a progressive majority was elected back in 2018, Vince simply stopped attending council meetings. He eventually was replaced by Andrew Jared, who showed up when required, be it to council or court, and served the city ethically and admirably.
What did the newly minted conservative city council do? Terminated the contract with Andrew Jared and rehired their old yes-man and buddy, Vince Ewing.
The city council is incompetent. The city attorney is incompetent. We are embroiled in yet another costly lawsuit because of these realities. Chico deserves better, for all of our citizens.
๐๐๐ฅ๐ฉ ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ญ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ฉ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐ก๐ข๐๐จ
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