If you care about fair elections and local control, you should find this alarming. If they spend the money they have already amassed, they will have outspent the largest PAC (also conservative) in the 2018 election by a factor of 5 or 6.

For its founders and major funders, “Safe Chico” was never about safety. They have claimed for months to be non-partisan, and that they are supported by Democrats, Independents, etc. but make no mistake, far-right Republicans, many from out of the area, are trying to buy our local election.

$215,000 in cash has come in, an outrageous amount for a small local election, and that doesn’t include in-kind donations, i.e. non-cash donations such as catering for their fundraisers. For a local PAC to raise this kind of money is unprecedented – they are spending record amounts on this election.

“We are committed to remaining a grassroots organization. Our steering committee consists of 9 local folks who have all been part of our community for many years. We will not hire outside political operatives; the messages you see come from us; people who live and work in this community.”

Saturday, August 28th, was our first scheduled group cleanup. The park was lovely, as usual, and it’s a bit more so now. 45 people turned out to help us clean up Lower Bidwell Park, and together our team removed approximately 12 cubic yards of trash!

The Downtown Chico Ambassadors have been a wonderful addition to our community, and have recently hired two homeless people. Unfortunately, after months of regular employment, one of them is still homeless. We can help.

“At the same time, I found a lot of neutral spaces that allowed me to meet with people while also giving my kids the freedom to explore their new surroundings. We did rounds of Mommy and Me meet-ups at In Motion Fitness, hosted playdates at the now-gone play station at the mall, and spent hours chasing tadpoles in the waterbeds of Five Mile.”

One of the most persistent myths about homelessness has to do with their pattern of mobility and perceived benefits of locations. Put another way, it is a common misconception that the homeless populations are rarely made up of individuals who actually ‘belong’ to the community where they land. Usually, this charge is levied with the accusation that the homeless invade communities to siphon the resources away from the rest of us. This is a common argument around Chico’s polarizing relationship with the homeless, but it is far from unique. These myths have been addressed in our county as well as nationally.

Our country is more divided than it has ever been before. But Chico doesn’t have to be. We have some challenges, but we also still live in a beautiful, vibrant community, with parks and thriving, distinctive local businesses that so many of us love. Our essential character is intact.

Thanks to the formation of a new progressive political action committee, politics in Chico, California are about to get a little more positive. The PAC, Stand Up for Chico, launched this week with the goals of fostering a sense of community and shared culture in the City of Chico, focusing on solutions to the challenges facing the city, supporting the local economy, and celebrating the successes on the issues that matter to Chico citizens.