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| City Manager's Weekly Report for the Week
Ending July 20th, 2007 July 22, 2007 |
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Mayor and Councilmembers:
This is the weekly report for the week ending July 20th, 2007.
1. Meeting Notes
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 31st. Absent any direction to the contrary, this will be the final City Council meeting before the customary hiatus during the month of August. In addition, consistent with prior years, the first meeting in September will be scheduled for the second Tuesday in September (September 11th) so that there is no potential conflict with Labor Day weekend schedules.
2. City Manager Schedule
I will be out of the office beginning Monday, July 23rd and returning on Wednesday, August 1st. Leslie Knight will be the Acting City Manager during my absence, including during the July 31st City Council meeting.
3. Upgrade to City of Richmond Credit Ratings
As you have undoubtedly heard, the City of Richmond received upgrades to its credit ratings from both Standard and Poor’s and Moody’s Investor Services. Standard and Poor’s upgraded the City’s Issuer rating two notches, from “BBB+” to “A”, while Moody’s assigned the City’s Issuer rating at “A2”, which is a one-notch upgrade from “A3”. The rating upgrades reflect a great deal of effort by many individuals throughout the City organization. The immediate effect of these rating upgrades will be approximately $600,000 in insurance cost savings on the Civic Center bonds to be issued in August.
4. “It Takes a Village That Learns, Knows, Connects” Community Fair Announcement
As I previously reported, Lashonda Wilson, Management Analyst in the City Manager’s office, and Ana Cortez of the Richmond Redevelopment Agency, organized a Community Fair to connect and coordinate with Richmond non-profits.
Richmond’s first “It Takes a Village That Learns, Knows and Connects” Community Fair was held this past Thursday and was a great success. Sixty community-based organizations (CBOs) providing a wide range of services, approximately two hundred people and representatives from the San Francisco Foundation, United Way of the Bay Area and East Bay Community Foundation attended the fair. The goals for this event were three:
· Connect members of the community with the organizations that provide essential services in Richmond; · Provide organizations the opportunity to network with one another; and · Provide support and resources to CBOs through capacity building workshops.
Community Fair participants and CBOs expressed appreciation to the City for hosting this event and encouraged future community building activities. The majority of participants indicated on program evaluations that their time at the fair was productive, and all of the CBOs that attended either the Fund Development Workshop and/or the Funders’ Panel rated both events between good and excellent. Overall, participants agreed that the City should have similar events at least a couple times per year. Many CBO’s indicated that the best aspect of this fair was the networking opportunity that it offered.
This was great work by Lashonda Wilson, Ana Cortez, and a host of other staff members that assisted with this event.
5. Castro Cove Environmental Project -- City of Richmond/East Bay Regional Park District Liaison Meeting
On Friday, July 13th, the City of Richmond and the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) held its regular liaison meeting. One of the topics of discussion was a presentation by representatives from the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the US Fish & Wildlife Services, to discuss a proposed remediation project for the Castro Cove environmental damage.
As you may recall, site investigations in Castro Cove of San Francisco Bay, immediately north of the Chevron Richmond Refinery, indicated that historical releases of mercury and residual hydrocarbons from the refinery have affected near-surface sediments in the cove. As a result, representatives from the San Francisco Bay Area Water Quality Control Board (the Water Board), together with the California Environmental Protection Agency, National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), US Fish & Wildlife Services, the California Department of Fish & Game, and other agencies (collectively, the “Trustees”), have developed a remediation plan for a 20-acre area of the cove. In addition, these agencies have negotiated with Chevron a tentative settlement for natural resource damages associated with the contamination, which would provide approximately $2,650,000 toward a Supplemental Environmental Project (SEP).
City staff members had previously met with representatives of the Trustees, and discussed possible SEP projects that might be funded using proceeds from the natural resource damage settlement. We had previously indicated to you that the leading candidate proposal for an SEP is the restoration of Breuner Marsh, which includes the lower end of Rheem Creek.
At the City/EBRPD Liaison meeting, representatives of the Trustees indicated that they are proposing a $750,000 funding contribution to the restoration of Breuner Marsh, and $1.9 million to a marsh restoration project along San Pablo bay in Solano County. Mayor McLaughlin and Councilmember Butt, the City Council liaison representatives expressed their concern that so much of the settlement amount was proposed to be used for a project outside the Richmond community.
The Trustees are planning to work with the City to initiate a process for public comment regarding the proposed SEP, and we will keep you informed.
6. Relocation of Contra Costa County Health Center
City staff members have met on several occasions recently with representatives of Contra Costa County and potential developers of the old “Toys R Us” site adjacent to the new Target development (old Montgomery Wards site). One development proposal involves relocation of the County Health Center, which is adjacent to this site, to the current parking lot area of the Civic Center that is south of the existing Hall of Justice across from the library. The relocated project would include a new parking structure and retail fronting on Macdonald Avenue. This concept will be presented to the City Council at a Study Session at the July 31st meeting.
7. Congressional Funding Earmarks
The City of Richmond’s Washington representative, Dick Kochan, reported last week that Congressman George Miller has submitted Congressional funding earmarks for the new Police Athletic League (PAL) facility ($450,000), and the Richmond Youth Academy ($100,000). We will keep you informed regarding timing and process for this potential project funding.
8. Nystrom Elementary School and Area Planning (NURVE)
As you will recall, the City of Richmond is engaged with the West Contra Costa County Unified School District (WCCUSD), along with the East Bay Community Foundation, LISC, the Richmond Children’s Foundation, the National Park Service, and Contra Costa County, on a joint planning effort that involves renovation of Nystrom School, MLK Park and Community Center, Nystrom Village, the Maritime Child Care Center, and the surrounding area. This planning effort is difficult in that it has a number of “moving parts” related to facilities and funding. The planning effort took a new turn recently when WCCUSD staff indicated that they are planning to renovate Gompers to serve the Richmond Leadership High School and the Continuation School. As a result, they are proposing to temporarily relocate the Richmond Leadership High School to the Nystrom Elementary School campus while Gompers is being renovated. We have encouraged District staff to consider other options for permanent campuses serving these uses along Cutting Boulevard adjacent to MLK Park, which would allow the former Gompers site to be used for redevelopment purposes, and which would preclude the need for a temporary campus on the Nystrom Elementary School site. We will keep you informed as this process moves forward.
9. Status Report on the Upcoming 2007-2008 Paving Program
The Engineering Department received bids this past week for the 2007-2008 paving program. As you may recall, this project was split into two work areas and bid out as two separate packages. Area A, which is mainly concentrated in the North and East neighborhoods received 7 bids with a low bid of $5,397,778. The engineer’s estimate was calculated at $6,700,000. Area B, which is mainly in the El Sobrante area of Richmond received 9 bids with the low bid coming in at $1,911,793. The engineer’s estimate was calculated at $2,100,000. The bids are being analyzed now and will be presented to Council for award in September. The list of streets scheduled for paving in the 2007-2008 program will be listed on the City’s web page next week.
10. Future Pedestrian/Bicycle Trail from Point Richmond to Point Molate
I attended a meeting last Monday to discuss the possibility of developing a pedestrian/bicycle trail from Point Richmond to Point Molate. This meeting was arranged by Councilmember Butt and was attended by the Mayor, City Engineer Rich Davidson, and representatives from TRAC, ABAG, East Bay Bicycle Coalition, Chevron, US Coast Guard (USCG), East Bay Regional Park District, BCDC, the State Lands Commission, and Caltrans. Both Chevron and the USCG expressed their interest that any trail alignment should take into consideration their concerns regarding security. Chevron agreed to fund an update to a previous trail alignment study that will look at possible locations for this connecting trail, including these security issues. ABAG representatives also indicated that they could make grant funds available to fund a portion of this study. A committee has been formed made up of representatives from the City, Caltrans, ABAG, Chevron, TRAC, and East Bay Bicycle Coalition to further the development of this trail.
11. Neighborhood Safety Director Recruitment
Over 150 brochures and 50 postcards have been mailed to public agencies, colleges, universities, non-profit organizations, businesses and minority organizations to solicit candidates for the position of Neighborhood Safety Director. In addition the job was posted on the City of Richmond, SanFranJobs.com, EastBayCareers.com, Monster.com, CareerBuilder.com and Bay AreaJobs.com websites. The recruitment deadline is August 3rd, and we are planning to convene a community panel to interview potential applicants later in August. Interested candidates can view information about the position online at the City of Richmond website or contact Leslie Knight at NSD@ci.richmond.ca.us.
12. Recreation Program Update
For your information, the following programs are currently offered at one Community Center location or more (by age group):
Ages 0-5:
Music and movement, yoga, mad science, learn to swim, parent-tot swim, dance and phonics
Ages 5-14:
Summer day camp, offering (depending on location) excursions (i.e. swimming, Great America, overnight river rafting, sporting events), sports, games, art, music, special events and themes, double dutch, cooking, gym; learn to swim, competitive swim, dance, modeling, talent show, Jr. Giants baseball, fishing
The City currently has around 250 children participating in the Summer Camp program at all of the Recreation Centers. The Recreation Complex (3230 Macdonald Avenue) has nearly 100 at that location alone.
Ages 13-19:
Evening and weekend programs, either on-going or one-time, include late night Friday/Chess group, Saturday evening program (special events and excursions), fitness, lap swim, competitive swim, dance, modeling, twilight basketball, talent show.
Adult:
Programs include ballroom dancing, line dancing, hula, fitness room (cardiovascular and weight lifting equipment), open gym (basketball, volleyball), computer lab, lap swim, family swim, therapeutic interactive recreation, dance for disabled, prom for disabled, modeling, nutrition.
Senior (55+):
Programs include Yuan Ji, aerobics, painting, line dancing, Qi Gong, bingo, strong bodies stay young, ballroom dancing, chair yoga, Yi Jin exercise, hula, tai chi, tap dancing, Chinese calligraphy, tea dance, chess, tango, swing dance, HICAP counseling, massage therapy, blood pressure screening, casino trips, home economics, card games, fitness over 50, gentle gym, salon manicure and massage, walking, mahjong, scrabble, origami, needlecrafts, puzzles, conversational Spanish, movies, giftables (beading, crochet, decorative arts, ornaments, etc.), drawing, music, sing-along, potlucks, birthdays,
Fall Senior events planned to date include Luau Party, Halloween Party, Thanksgiving Dinner, Christmas Party, Chinese New Year Celebration; adult education.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments about these or any other items of interest to you.
Have a great week!
Bill Lindsay City Manager City of Richmond 1401 Marina Way South Richmond, CA 94804
Phone: 510-620-6512 Fax: 510-620-6542 e-mail: bill_lindsay@ci.richmond.ca.us |