More tents popping up in Bidwell Park

I ride my bike daily through the park, it’s a gem and I never tire of its beauty. I enter the park at Annie’s Glen, that’s the section of path that leads to the tunnel crossing Mangrove behind the Women’s Club. Currently there are 6-10 tents and two open nests there. As

I emerge on the other side of the tunnel , the area formerly designated for homeless pandemic camping, there are 6-10 tents and nests on both sides of the creek there also. The obvious conclusion is the homeless are reinbahiting those areas they were removed from some months ago.

I have seen growing communities popping up along the bike paths always close to stores and restaurants and usually in the creek habitat even if the creek is a dry channel. I am concerned that many Chico junior high and high school kids travel through Annie’s Glen through the tunnel and past all these campers each school day. If the police are unable to move the campers shouldn’t they at least patrol this section for two hours at the end of the school day? The bike cops or even the volunteers could do the job. Just a thought.

— John Lavezzi, Chico