A keep-it-simple solution for the park

I am in the park 350-500 times a year and am delighted to see the work on Peterson Drive. I agree with the keep-it-simple folks.

If I were in charge … I’d close South Park to vehicles but continue to allow them one-way on Peterson. Closing off Peterson to cars would have a large negative impact on the use of those picnic spots, especially for families with kids and older folks with strollers, wheelchairs, coolers, chairs and the host of things taken to those beautiful spots.

There are also the people with out-of-town guests who want to give them a tour of our beautiful park. Additionally, vehicles and pedestrians are not a problem, but when you add bikes, it creates a few tight spots. That said, I have never seen a collision in 25 years.

I would add a striped traffic lane down the center of Peterson marked for bikes and cars, and leave both sides for pedestrians, with the encouragement to move to the right. The cars should remain as they are, one-way, and most of the bikes will fall into a similar pattern.

Pedestrians can go both ways and will mostly fall into a pattern of upstream to the right and downstream to the right. In the numbers of encounters, most people show common sense and yield when needed. Bikes should have a bell and a few riders could be more courteous.

Lastly, I’d rework the connecting bike paths. They are dangerous in many places.

— Tim Edwards, Chico

Words guaranteed to cause an eye roll

I’m a busy guy, so I came up with a way to only read some of the letters to the editor. There are words that make it clear it’s not a serious letter. Some of those words are communist, “hates America”, fascist, Nazi, attack, elite, tyrant, oligarch, insane, destroy, plummet and skyrocket.

— Bob Gustafson, Oroville

Don’t spend money just to spend money

My husband and I are lifelong Chico residents. We are 79 years old. We have enjoyed Bidwell Park all our lives. Our sons and our grandchildren have always thoroughly enjoyed time in the lower park, as well as the upper park area.

We have seen almost eight decades of park use. We have never felt the entrances and exits have needed to be changed for any reason. We have spent our entire lives walking, biking and driving into and out of this half-mile south park area without incident.

The cost of changing this half-mile, when it doesn’t need to be changed, is ridiculous!

The beautiful historic entrance on the south side of the park should not be closed to anyone. It is a lovely way for Chico to say “welcome” to our town and our unique and much-loved Bidwell Park.

There is no good reason to close the entry and exits already in place and then turn around and create two new ones at an exorbitant cost.

The road on the south and north sides of lower Bidwell Park needs to be repaved, but that’s all that needs to be done.

There are many more detailed reasons not to spend our money on an imagined problem that many people do not want.

Do the right thing: City Council members, rescind your vote on this proposal. Open it to public discussion. Vote again, this time for Option 4.

— Judy and Sam Simmons, Chico

Questions decisions by Chico City Council

The plan for South Park Drive includes three pairs of maze gates where cars enter the park from Woodland Avenue. These gates are dangerous for senior citizens and can lead to injuries.

I can attest to having trouble with them on the airport path. The Urban Bikeway Design Guide of the National Association of City Traffic Officials states “”do not add maze gates.” A simple stop sign for cars would be more effective for bike and pedestrian safety. For the past 25 years, I’ve biked lower park extensively and never encountered a problem between cars and bikes and pedestrians.

I urge the City Council and staff to more adequately do their homework and consult experts. Recently the council committed to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a yearly blood test to detect early asymptomatic cancer among our toxic smoke exposed firefighters. The test, Galleri, has not been approved by the FDA or recommended by the American Cancer Society. Bayesian and conditional probability analysis shows that out of 10 positive tests, only one would be a true positive. Investors are already grumbling and considering suing the company.

Another example, staff and developers insist that Chico will grow by 1% per year into the future reaching 200,000 by 2040. The US Census Bureau predicts only 1/2 percent growth nationwide until 2050 then falling to less than one tenth of 1%. We can limit ourselves to infill within the city limits to fulfill our housing needs.

Please council do your homework.

— Julian Zener, Chico