Voters have until Tuesday, Nov. 5 to make their decisions for the general election. NSPR has been interviewing candidates vying for seats on the Chico City Council. In District 1, Mike Johnson is challenging Mike O’Brien. He spoke with NSPR’s Ken Devol about his background and how he would address some of the issues facing the city if elected.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Tell us more about your background and why you are running for this position?
Apart from business, I'm actually a military officer. I had 26 years so far. I've enlisted in officer military service since 1994 and so I was raised in a service mindset. I'm still a reservist, even today.
When I was in Red Bluff, they had a vacancy on the school board, and so they put out a cattle call. It was too close to the election, so I threw my hat in the ring. I had some time, of course, being self employed, and was accepted. They put me on the board. They appointed me for a year, and I found I really enjoyed kind of how the sausage is made within government. And so when I came back to Chico in 2010 that next year, I signed up for the drilling reserve status, which I've been doing ever since. And I've really enjoyed that.
I kind of reached the point this year where I’m looking at kind of the political zeitgeist across all of society as it dovetails right here at home in Chico. I’ve got an adult daughter with special needs that is at perennial risk of homelessness herself. She gets all of her services through Butte behavioral.
Seeing how the council has been bungling homelessness, bungling the official response, this endless whack-a-mole enforcement actions. The police are being worked on endless overtime because they can’t recruit. People don’t want to be cops in Chico.
I'm looking at all this over this past spring and summer, and I'm thinking to myself, I have long believed that people need to be involved in society in some way, whether it's a minimum level of just voting, or maybe serving on a jury if you had a summons. But I think there's something to be said about good people need to throw their hat in the ring.
What do you see as the most pressing issue confronting Chico?
The council itself has failed in so many ways that I think that’s the number one. The one versus six super majority right now, of the far right versus a progressive. I don't think that's good governance. I like to see more of a balance, one way or the other.
And having been attending city council meetings for some months now, and having gone back and reviewed the videos and kind of reading through the transcripts, and seeing the decision making process — that has concerned me greatly. The more I see, the the more concerned I get.
In terms of doing better, assuming that you're seated on the council, how would you correct that?
Well, first things first, we got to take a good hard look at the budget. Right now, law enforcement is getting some $36 million a year. It's almost 40% of the budget. It's just going to the cops.
So I think we got to take a good hard look at the budget if we're going to worry about public safety, which is the number one priority I think all of us have on our mind.
Nobody wants to see the homeless in public parks. Nobody wants to see them in business parking lots scaring away paying customers. Nobody wants to see them in garages, or rummaging around and sleeping overnight in parked cars. Nobody wants to see them, you know, doing drugs in public spaces or leaving out paraphernalia or petty theft and crime.
Nobody wants that. I certainly don't want that. Nobody that's on a policy track that I would support wants that. Yet that seems to be this ongoing narrative that the current council wants to scare the public, saying, ‘Well, we're gonna make you safer from these homeless monsters, we'll put more cops on the street,’ even though we've proven demonstrably, millions of dollars wasted, that that's not the solution.
The solution is you deal with homelessness. You deal with it like a cancer. Because homelessness is a cancer on society, but it's a cancer we can't cut out. We're not going to go around killing people. So how do you treat a cancer that you can't cut out? You treat it, you know, targeted therapies.
In the case of something like this, we’ve got good working examples right here in Chico. We’ve got Everhart Village that’s run by CHAT [Chico Housing Action Team], that’s next door to Butte behavioral. We’ve got the Torres Shelter run by True North. We’ve got the Pallet shelter, Genesis, that’s run by the Jesus Center. There’s so many nongovernmental organizations right here in Chico that have the subject matter expertise, they have the personnel, they have the budgets, they have the ability to fundraise. They have the ability to go out and get those grants that are needed. They’re changing lives, and in the process, as they do that, as they build these enclosed communities, fenced in, people who have lost their connection to society, it gives them a way to start again. A way to be able to have just a small little shack or a tiny house, as they call it, where it’s just a basic constructed roof over their head.
We’ve already got the knowledge and expertise right here. What they need is for the city council to get out of their way, to cut red tape, to make their jobs easier, so that they can actually do something. And this is why it’s not rocket science, it’s almost absurdly obvious. If you approach this from the perspective of, yes, I want to get the public safety factor by reducing homelessness, you get that.
As I look at how the city continues to manage their priorities, I know we can do better. I'm a military man, I'm a businessman. I'm used to paying taxes. I don't like seeing unnecessary taxes. I think there are ways that we can actually be a little more wise as we make those decisions. And I just don't get that sense from the council. That's why I think they need to go.
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Read/ listen to NSPR’s other Chico City Council candidate interviews
Editor’s note: District 3 candidate Dale Bennett, District 5 candidate Melissa Lopez-Mora, and District 7 candidate Deepika Tandon did not respond to multiple requests from NSPR for an interview.
Further media coverage of the candidates
District 1 - (Mike Johnson/ Michael O’Brien)
- In their words – District 1 (Mike Johnson and Michael O’Brien) – Chico News & Review
- Know Your Candidates: Chico City Council (District 1) – KRCR
- The race between two Mikes – Chico News & Review
Mike Johnson
- Mike Johnson thinks ‘a smarter way’ can be found for homelessness | Chico City Council District 1 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Mike Johnson: Chico City Council District 1 – Action News Now
Michael O’Brien
- Michael O’Brien sees city through public safety lens | Chico City Council District 1 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Michael O'Brien: Chico City Council District 1 – Action News Now
District 3 - (Monica McDaniel/ Dale Bennett)
- In their words – District 3 (Dale Bennett and Monica McDaniel) – Chico News & Review
- Know Your Candidates: Chico City Council (District 3) – KRCR
Monica McDaniel
- Monica McDaniel finds room for improvement in homeless policies, police staffing | Chico City Council District 3 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Monica McDaniel: Chico City Council District 3 – Action News Now
Dale Bennett
- Dale Bennett sees city ‘moving forward’ with public safety and homelessness | Chico City Council District 3 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Dale Bennett: Chico City Council District 3 – Action News Now
District 5 - (Melissa Lopez-Mora/ Katie Hawley)
- In their words – District 5 (Katie Hawley and Melissa Lopez-Mora) – Chico News & Review
- Know Your Candidates: Chico City Council (District 5) – KRCR
Melissa Lopez-Mora
- Melissa Lopez-Mora hopes to revitalize downtown | Chico City Council District 5 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Melissa Lopez-Mora: Chico City Council District 5 – Action News Now Katie Hawley
- Katie Hawley believes climate resilience needs to be addressed | Chico City Council District 5 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Katie Hawley: Chico City Council District 5 – Action News Now
District 7 - (Deepika Tandon/ Bryce Goldstein)
- In their words – District 7 (Bryce Goldstein and incumbent Deepika Tandon) – Chico News & Review
- Know Your Candidates: Chico City Council (District 7) – KRCR
Deepika Tandon
- Deepika Tandon wants to see downtown, businesses grow | Chico City Council District 7 – Chico Enterprise-Record
Bryce Goldstein
- Bryce Goldstein thinks the city can look for more housing solutions | Chico City Council District 7 – Chico Enterprise-Record
- Bryce Goldstein: Chico City Council District 7 – Action News Now