Market troubles

The Thursday Night Market, which during its eight-year run has become a community social event as well as an important revenue source for the Downtown Chico Business Association, has seen a spike this summer in physical altercations involving teenagers and gangsters milling around the market with little to do.

On July 29, according to the Chico Police Department report log, someone called at 7:15 p.m. to report a fight at the corner of East Third and Wall streets. In fact, the fight involving an unknown number of participants, other sources said, started at the Third Street parking structure and made its way across town all the way to One-Mile in Lower Bidwell Park.

The police log reported, “Group of subjects fighting in the Farmers’ Market … was physical, no weapons seen/none reported. Near Jack in the Box. They are kind of dispersing. Men, women, teenagers.”

Then the log reports at 7:39 p.m., “Females in a verbal. Girls fighting in Plaza.”

The log shows four officers were dispatched to the disturbances but does not report any arrests, though a police spokesperson said some arrests were made at the market.

A second incident erupted at the market on the following Thursday, Aug. 5, when two or more girls squared off again and fists reportedly flew.

Traditionally the market, which runs for 26 weeks from April through September, sees an increase in teen attendees once school lets out, said Katrina Davis, executive director of the DCBA.

“I think what we’re seeing is typical in the pattern of students right when school gets out, and we’re not talking about the university,” Davis said. She opined that after a few months of summer vacation, and as the fall school year approaches, teens get restless and, with proper parental supervision lacking, trouble ensues and manifests at the market in fights.

In a letter dated Aug. 12 to Chico Police Chief Bruce Hagerty, Davis wrote: “With a new school year approaching, the number of unsupervised youth congregating throughout the market (specifically at Third and Broadway) has increased significantly. An increase in attendance of self-identified gang members has been also noted. Over the last two weeks, tension created by this congestion has escalated, resulting in unruly behavior that finally culminated last week in a major altercation.”

Police Capt. Mike Maloney, speaking on behalf of Chief Hagerty, who was out of town this week, confirmed Davis’ assertions.

“What we’ve been having here is gang activities and a lot of action from unsupervised young people milling about with no appropriate purpose, and you get conflict between these groups,” Maloney said.

But he also said the department was confident troubles would subside when the school year started, which happened this week. Plus, the DCBA has agreed to pay the overtime for two additional officers to patrol the downtown on Thursday nights, and the department has agreed to use horse-mounted units and school resource officers at the event.

Maloney said this year there seemed to be more trouble at the market than in years past. He also noted that the department is currently stretched for resources while cutting a half-million dollars from its budget. And this comes just as the college students are back in town. Last weekend, he said, officers responding to a loud party at Seventh and Ivy streets were greeted with tossed beer bottles.

In her letter Davis listed a number of strategies that apparently had some effect at the most recent Thursday Night Market. Those included more signs telling market-goers, among other things, “No Leaning, Standing or Sitting.”

The key, Davis said, is to keep people moving.

“We get this sudden increase in 13-, 14- and 15-year-old kids,” Davis said. “Our preference is that parents would not just drop them off at the market.”

Davis said the best scenario would be “consistent police presence” to monitor the 6,000 to 7,000 people who come to the market each week, but she added that the DCBA understands the realities of budget cutbacks.

“There is nothing wrong with kids being here,” she said. “They are consumers, and they have the right to be here. We would hope that their parents are being attentive.”

She said in the future the DCBA will try to be more proactive than reactive to such problems.

The disruptive Thursdays come as the DCBA continues to try to form a new assessment district in order to increase its budget. The new district, known at the Property and Business Improvement District, would assess downtown property owners on a formula based on a combination of square footage and location.

The PBID, which would replace the DCBA, would, say its supporters, address such issues as parking and public safety and work to enhance the downtown’s image.

Some property owners have signaled opposition to the district, calling its proposal little more than a tax on downtown businesses. The controversy will most likely become a campaign issue as the Nov. 2 Chico City Council elections draw nearer.