Pubdate: Sat, 19 Oct 2013
Source: Chico Enterprise-Record (CA)
Copyright: 2013 Chico Enterprise-Record
Contact:  http://www.chicoer.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/861

HITS AND MISSES

HIT - It was the perfect example of big bank versus little bank this
week.

Chico got slapped down by its own financial institution - a big bank -
that said it could not help with the city's search for temporary cash.

In steps the little guy, Golden Valley Bank. A community bank that's
seven years old with one branch, Golden Valley said it could cover the
financial gap, which was only for a short time until money due the
city actually arrived in the city's accounts.

We lost track of how many times Chico chief financial officer Chris
Constantin said thanks at the last council meeting, but the gratitude
was deserved.

MISS - A movement is on to legalize marijuana in California, following
the path already taken in Colorado and Washington.

Honestly, it may be the only way we'll ever get a grip on the
anything-goes chaos that's engulfed the state since we gave the OK to
medical marijuana. Presumably, legalization would include licensing of
legitimate farmers and an established marketplace that could be
regulated and taxed. Legalization might be the only way to get stinky
grows out of neighborhoods and environmentally destructive pot
factories out of the foothills.

Except you know what: California will botch legalization, just the way
we botched medical marijuana. Other states where medical pot was
approved are astounded at the mess we've created here.

We fear legalization will just be another opportunity to show how
inept we are at governing ourselves.

HIT - We've often said Oroville may have more museums per capita than
any city in California, and today people have a chance to see them all
for a single low price.

For five bucks, a family of five can get access to - take a deep
breath - the Artists of River Town Gallery, Bolt's Antique Tool
Museum, the Butte County Historical Society Museum, the Chinese Temple
and Museum Complex, the Feather River Nature Center, the Lantrip
Ashtray Museum, the Ehmann Home, the Lott Home in Sank Park and the
Pioneer History Museum.

Whew.

The third annual Celebrate Museum Row event is from 10 a.m. to 4:30
p.m. Tickets are available today at Sank Park, 1067 Montgomery St., or
the Chinese Temple complex, 1500 Broderick St.

And if you haven't ingested enough history after that, the Oroville
Sunrise Rotary Club's second annual Taste of Historic Oroville runs
4:30 to 8 p.m.

There will be walking tours and a trivia contest with appetizers and a
no-host bar at the Copa de Oro, 1445 Myers St. Tickets are $25.

MISS - Residents around Pillsbury Road and El Paso Way in Chico will
be getting their pavement fixed in the wake of the sewer line
expansion project that has recently run through their
neighborhoods.

In defense of the sewer contractors, the roads were a mess to start
with, a result of the haphazard way Chico developed in the 1960s.
Those neighborhoods were built up in county jurisdiction, and back
then, the county really didn't care. The sewer trenches exposed road
profiles that are utterly inadequate to support traffic.

That said, the city should have realized that if a bunch of heavy
equipment is going to be put into a residential neighborhood, people
are going to expect improvement beyond just refilling the ditch where
the sewer pipe was buried.

That lesson has been learned, and new sewer projects will address the
predictable complaints that will follow if the roads don't look good
when the work is done.

"Hits and misses" appears each Saturday. Items are compiled by the
editorial board.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Matt