Moving to Chico in June - recommendations? (Paradise, Nice: crimes, high school)

[EscapeFromCalif]

Originally Posted by hye345

I lived in Chico for two years, left in October of last year… The above is a great exaggeration. I could see someone saying that about Certain parts of the bay area, or other cities around Chico (Redding, Orroville, etc) but. Chico itself is actually very charming, And relatively well kept.

Not even close to an exaggeration. Criminals are dumped into Chico by other states. Downtown, the area in/around Lindo Channel, in/around the Jesus Center, One Mile, Five Mile. . .all are overrun with transients leaving trash, excrement, and used drug paraphernalia lying around. Every single day there are police call-outs for aggressive transients, fights between several, shooting up in public, assaulting citizens in stores, etc. Mayor Stone (who's the Treasurer of at least one of the agencies "helping") & the rest of the city administration does absolutely nothing about it, they essentially tie the hands of law enforcement.

[hye345]

Originally Posted by EscapeFromCalif

Not even close to an exaggeration. Criminals are dumped into Chico by other states. Downtown, the area in/around Lindo Channel, in/around the Jesus Center, One Mile, Five Mile. . .all are overrun with transients leaving trash, excrement, and used drug paraphernalia lying around. Every single day there are police call-outs for aggressive transients, fights between several, shooting up in public, assaulting citizens in stores, etc. Mayor Stone (who's the Treasurer of at least one of the agencies "helping") & the rest of the city administration does absolutely nothing about it, they essentially tie the hands of law enforcement.

Yeah, maybe you were always in the wrong place at the wrong time or something, but I’m gonna call BS on about 80% of this... Not to mention, your user name doesn’t exactly lend it self to impartiality.

[BeauCharles]

Originally Posted by hye345

I lived in Chico for two years, left in October of last year… The above is a great exaggeration. I could see someone saying that about Certain parts of the bay area, or other cities around Chico (Redding, Orroville, etc) but. Chico itself is actually very charming, And relatively well kept.

When did you last live in Chico? It has changed quite a bit the last ten years and while there may be a bit of hyperbole to his statement there is a serious problem with homelessness, vagrancy and associated crime in Chico (and Oroville). I go to Chico very regularly (only 25 minutes from it) and have lived in the county since 2008. There is no doubt the homeless/vagrancy problems have skyrocketed since then.

[EscapeFromCalif]

Former Paradise resident, Dad graduated Chico State and taught/was principal at Honcut School, aunt/uncle and cousins have lived in Chico for 4 generations. Hoping to EscapeFromCalif, but haven't yet.

This just this week:
Resident was clearing a fire line behind his fence and found a meth kit
Transient walking & banging on doors in a neighborhood screaming he wants a taco truck
Transient throwing items out of a dumpster behind Mattress Firm at an individual (large encampment behind the store)
Female in an American flag swimsuit throwing things at cars
PD had to surround downtown park for an altercation between transients
Bike rider on a path vandalyzing and trying to break into cars
Citizen was hit and kicked at One Mile by a stranger who fled on a bike down Vallombrosa
Man assaulted a security guard at Enloe Medical Center then fled
Transient disturbance at 20th Street Park
Female transient incoherent, mumbling, rolling around by the Transit Center on W 2nd Street
Transient walked up to a gentleman sitting on a bench and hit him in the head with a water bottle
Parolee felon fired multiple shots into a neighborhood

Is that enough?

[hye345]

Originally Posted by BeauCharles

When did you last live in Chico? It has changed quite a bit the last ten years and while there may be a bit of hyperbole to his statement there is a serious problem with homelessness, vagrancy and associated crime in Chico (and Oroville). I go to Chico very regularly (only 25 minutes from it) and have lived in the county since 2008. There is no doubt the homeless/vagrancy problems have skyrocketed since then.

Originally Posted by EscapeFromCalif

Former Paradise resident, Dad graduated Chico State and taught/was principal at Honcut School, aunt/uncle and cousins have lived in Chico for 4 generations. Hoping to EscapeFromCalif, but haven't yet.

This just this week:
Resident was clearing a fire line behind his fence and found a meth kit
Transient walking & banging on doors in a neighborhood screaming he wants a taco truck
Transient throwing items out of a dumpster behind Mattress Firm at an individual (large encampment behind the store)
Female in an American flag swimsuit throwing things at cars
PD had to surround downtown park for an altercation between transients
Bike rider on a path vandalyzing and trying to break into cars
Citizen was hit and kicked at One Mile by a stranger who fled on a bike down Vallombrosa
Man assaulted a security guard at Enloe Medical Center then fled
Transient disturbance at 20th Street Park
Female transient incoherent, mumbling, rolling around by the Transit Center on W 2nd Street
Transient walked up to a gentleman sitting on a bench and hit him in the head with a water bottle
Parolee felon fired multiple shots into a neighborhood

Is that enough?

I lived in Chico from 2016 to 2018, visited downtown a lot at night, occasionally went jogging at one mile. I can count on one hand the number of times I ever experienced (or even heard about second-hand) a bad experience with a transient. Yeah, there are some homeless people, but in my experience, no where near what you find around the Bay Area or LA (in terms of density anyway). For the most part, they seemed to keep to themselves.

[EscapeFromCalif]

The incidents I related were all reported to police just in the past week. It's been dodgy for awhile, now it's getting intolerable. Recall efforts for Mayor Stone & most of the city council are underway. Pretty bad when Oroville, sometimes called the armpit of Butte County, is a better town to live in than Chico.

[Katera]

Buy fire insurance.

[evening sun]

Originally Posted by EscapeFromCalif

The incidents I related were all reported to police just in the past week. It's been dodgy for awhile, now it's getting intolerable. Recall efforts for Mayor Stone & most of the city council are underway. Pretty bad when Oroville, sometimes called the armpit of Butte County, is a better town to live in than Chico.

We go to Chico several times a week, & never have any problems. That is first hand experience.

[Radaghast]

Originally Posted by EscapeFromCalif

Recall efforts for Mayor Stone & most of the city council are underway.

They are? I hadn't heard that.

[simfam03]

I was born in Paradise CA and raised my 5 kids near Pleasent Valley High School. Nice to where they can walk to and from their various schools. Chico used to be a great place to live, but due to the high rate of crime and transients trashing our city, we are all planning on moving out of the state. Chico is a town where you can always find something to do that doesn't cost anything. Upper Park was our favorite. We have so much negativity here that we don't even have enough police force. If I could suggest one thing and don't take my word for it, but go to the City of Chico website and watch the previous City Council meetings, you will then have a better understanding what you're getting yourself into. Good Luck