Column from Mike Wolcott at the Chico ER Addresses Myths

We were wowed by Mike Wolcott’s column in today’s Chico Enterprise Record.

“I’ve been in this chair long enough to learn one thing: I do not have the answer for ending homelessness in Chico.

I’ve also noticed many of you think you have the answer, and it goes something like this:

“We should just buy all of these people a bus ticket and send them back to wherever they came from. They come here for the benefits. Everybody knows Chico is the place to go for homeless benefits.”

Sometimes the story goes a little deeper than that. People say (and if I’ve heard this once, I’ve heard it 100 times) “I heard somebody was in Hawaii and the waitress asked where they were from and they said ‘Chico’ and the waitress said ‘Oh, that’s where all the homeless people go.’ So everybody knows that about Chico.”

I don’t doubt the story is true, but I’ve heard it so many times — often presented as smoking-gun evidence of why homeless people are flocking to Chico — I almost feel as if I were sitting at that table with a Mai Tai.

The part that gets me is this: Some people believe if the good citizens of Chico would just stop handing out free meals every day (and, heaven forbid, socks on Sundays), all of these homeless people would go away, and our town would be pristine and practically homeless-free once again.

Well, let’s take a look at that…’

Do yourself a favor and read the rest of the column. 😃