While we are long past being particularly surprised by Bay-Area transplant Rob Berry's demagoguery, we were surprised to see him openly threaten community members and city leaders last week. The latest salvo in his long drawn out war to make Chico into a pristine enclave free of the unsightly riff-raff (𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑, 𝑝𝑜𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑔𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒. 𝐴𝑙𝑠𝑜 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒 ℎ𝑒 𝑗𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑝𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑜𝑓. 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑠𝑡 𝑔𝑜𝑒𝑠 𝑜𝑛...), is this letter (see pics below) he sent last week threatening city leaders and community members with vigilante action.

We are demanding that city leadership, city council, and Chico PD publicly denounce this behavior and make clear that threats and vigilantism aren't acceptable here.

As well, we believe that city leaders should disavow these threats, and make it clear they will not, now or in the future, work with someone who threatens our community, not to mention who has repeatedly sued the city. Enough is enough.

𝐎𝐮𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐰, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐭𝐨 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐢𝐦 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐜𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬.

Send a pre-written email to city leadership with a few clicks: EMail to Demand City Leaders Take Action Against Vigilantism

Or send your own email to:

Mark Orme, City Manager: mark.orme@Chicoca.gov

Matt Madden, Police Chief: matt.madden@Chicoca.gov

𝐂𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐥:

debbi.presson@chicoca.gov, dani.rogers@chicoca.gov, stina.cooley@chicoca.gov

Please include "To City Council" in your subject line.

Dear City Leaders,

We are writing you today to express our concern regarding the above referenced letter.

As you are all well aware, Berry has spent the bulk of his tenure in this community harassing citizens, the city council, and in particular, the unsheltered population. He has obstructed solutions while actively working to make the lives of those on our streets more miserable, and repeatedly sued the city.

His recent letter to city leadership indicates he is now escalating his war on the community, threatening citizen’s arrest for those he “believes” are in violation of city ordinances.

We want to make clear that we consider this an unacceptable and alarming escalation. To the best of our knowledge, this man has a CCW and is most often carrying a weapon. For the city to fail to respond to this potential escalation, which could easily turn to violence, is unethical and likely creates liability for the city if/when he acts on his threats.

We are requesting three things at this time:

1. A copy of any response from city staff to Berry’s letter, including but not limited to the city manager, Chico PD or their representatives, the city attorney, or councilmembers.

2. That the city immediately and publicly rebuke Berry and clarify that vigilante action is unsupported and unacceptable in our community. The proper people to handle law enforcement are law enforcement personnel, not some pettifogger with an axe to grind.

3. Berry has solicited other community members to engage in this activity, and we have reason to believe that group includes convicted felons. We would request that the city advise him to immediately retract these “invitations” to aggression, and to leave enforcement to the appropriate authorities.

We want to be unequivocal in stating that until the city has designated a legal place for unsheltered people to go, and while there literally remain no open shelter beds, many of us will continue to help people move to any place that is available.

I personally want to be unequivocal on this final point as well. If Berry or his minions attempt, under any circumstance, to physically restrain myself or someone else, or threaten us with any type of weapon, and the city has not responded in an appropriate manner to his letter, we will make every effort to hold the city, in addition to Mr. Berry, accountable for his actions.

𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐩 𝐔𝐬 𝐅𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐁𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐀𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐕𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐦 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐨

𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐕𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐨

Chico, California

𝐂𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐒𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐓𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐕𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐞 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐨

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Chico, California