Downstroke

JUVIE NOT SO GROOVY: The new Juvenile Hall may be behind schedule and over budget, but that apparently isn’t hurting the county as much as it’s hurting Oklahoma-based Flintco, the project’s main contractor.

Project Manager DeWayne Gifford says the delays and cost overruns are mainly the fault of three deadbeat subcontractors. “I’ve had two subcontractors go bankrupt and one walk off the site,” Gifford said. “We took a very big loss on that project. It would be in the millions.”

Gifford said U.S. Security Systems, which was initially hired to make the facility’s massive steel doors, was the first to go under, forcing Flintco to remanufacture some key parts. Then Sacramento Masonry, a family-owned business, folded when the couple who owns it divorced. Finally, a plumbing and mechanical contractor walked off the job after trying to nearly double his bid once construction had begun. The mostly completed kiddies’ lockup is about 90 days behind schedule but should be ready by this August.

GLORIOUS PEOPLE’S PARADE: Don’t be scared off by the name. The Celebration of People Parade—which will wind its way through downtown beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday—has nothing to do with communism, socialism or gay pride, reports organizer Richard Elsom. The parade, now in its eighth year, is “an attempt to bring back the good aspects of Pioneer Days, to unite the people of Chico and the [Chico State] student body,” Elsom said.

Nevertheless, the vaguely lefty-sounding moniker may have “kept some people from participating in the past,” Elsom said. “We’re thinking of changing the name for next year. We may call it ‘Spring Parade’ or something.”

This year’s theme is “Imagine That!” which should bring the gays and commies out in full force anyway. See you there, Comrades!

STAND BACK, FAIRY SHRIMP: Five long years after voters passed a bond to build a new high school, the Chico Unified School District has a wetlands fill permit in hand. The 404 federal permit grants permission to build on a site at the corner of Bruce Road and Raley Boulevard known as Schmidbauer West. “This is far more overdue than anyone would like,” Superintendent Scott Brown said. “It’s a hurdle, for sure.”

There’s still a little matter of the CUSD not owning the property, or a southeast Chico site owned by Enloe Health System that already had the required environmental clearances. Neither owner wants to sell, but the district hopes that, with an appraisal in hand in the coming weeks, it can make an offer “sufficient to initiate discussion,” Brown said.