Mayor and Councilmembers:

This is the weekly report for the week ending February 12th, 2010.

1.         Meeting Notes

The next meeting of the Richmond City Council is scheduled for Tuesday, February 16th beginning with a closed session at 5:00 PM and with the regular agenda beginning at 6:30 PM.

2.         Presidents’ Day Holiday

The Richmond city offices will be closed on Tuesday, February 15th in observance of President’s Day.  Enjoy the three-day weekend!

• Port of Richmond Participates in National Port Summit

 

The Port of Richmond Executive Director Jim Matzorkis attended the National Port Summit in San Diego on February 4th and 5th.  Port Directors throughout the United States convened to meet with U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood to discuss the critical needs for our nation’s ports.  The primary issues that were addressed were port facility infrastructure, highway and rail transportation infrastructure, waterway dredging, homeland security, environmental program, and current and future funding for these critical needs. 

Secretary Lahood concluded by asking the ports to immediately create a 5 to 6 member advisory task force to work directly with the Transportation Department to identify the most critical short term projects and programs for both large and smaller ports alike.  An action plan would then be created to solicit legislative support in Washington to address these priorities. The California Association of Port Authority (CAPA) member ports plan to have a seat on the task force.

4.         Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) Training

Throughout the week, the Fire Department has been undergoing Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training at the Fire Training Center.  The training is conducted by the Industrial Emergency Council (IEC) from San Carlos and was developed to teach fire department and other emergency personnel the latest mitigation procedures when responding to a possible WMD incident.  This included information on how to best handle chemical, biological, radiological, and explosive materials.  Classroom instruction in the morning was followed by hands-on drills in the afternoon.  Several outside agencies including the Chevron Fire Department, the San Ramon Valley Fire District, and Contra Costa County Health Services also took advantage of this very important training.  Two of the instructors, Battalion Chiefs Nicholas Corrado and James D’avolio work for the New York City Fire Department and are members of the Special Operations/Haz Mat team.  Their knowledge and expertise on this subject matter was invaluable in helping everyone learn more about protecting the public during a WMD event.

5.         California Boys and Men of Color Initiative

Office of Neighborhood Safety Director DeVone Boggan has been selected to sit on a statewide Learning and Leadership Network for the California Boys and Men of Color (BMOC) Initiative.  One hundred and twenty BMOC practitioners, policy advocates, system and institutional actors, media experts, academics, and researchers have joined a statewide workgroup to address policy issues and challenges facing boys and men of color.  The California Endowment views BMOC as a key population group to address and believes that their success can serve as an indicator for improved outcomes among low income people and communities of color.

The BMOC Learning and Leadership Network will work towards developing a policy intervention agenda and a strategy for implementation during 2010.  The Network is organized into five working groups to address the following content areas:  Foster Care; Juvenile Justice; Workforce Training and Economic Development; Education; and Health.  Director Boggan will provide leadership in the area of Juvenile Justice. 

• American Public Works Association Inspector’s Workshop

 

The Engineering Services Department developed a partnership with the American Public Works Association (APWA) to host a 2-Day Construction Inspector’s Workshop on February 10th and 11th.  The City hosted and provided successful training to 57 inspectors from 28 Bay Area municipalities.  Our courting of APWA may lead to utilizing the City’s Auditorium for their future annual conferences.

• Recreation Highlights

 

The following are highlights from the Recreation Department for the current week:

• Black History:  The Senior Center will host an evening of celebration and recognition of community and history on Saturday, February 13th, from 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. for $6 per person.  Tickets are sold at the Richmond Senior Center, 2525 Macdonald Avenue.

 

• Valentine’s Day:  The May Valley Community Center will host a Valentine’s Day party for the After-School Program participants ages 6 to 14 on Friday, February 12th, at 3:30 p.m.

• Valentine’s Dance:  The Disabled Person’s Recreation Center will host a Valentine’s Dance on Friday, February 12th, from 7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. for participants ages 16 and over for $5 per person. 

 

• Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA Youth Basketball League:  The Youth Sports Program, in collaboration with YMCA, Salesians Boys and Girls Club, El Sobrante Christian School, Richmond PAL, City of San Pablo, and WCCUSD, is conducting the Winter/Spring Jr. NBA/Jr. WNBA youth basketball league with approximately 40 teams, ages 7 to 14, participating.  Games are held at Richmond PAL, Recreation Complex, Salesians Boys and Girls Club and the Coronado YMCA on Tuesdays through Saturdays.

• Public Works

 

• The Electrical Department crews have been working very intensively in restoring electrical services to the Park Plaza streetlight system damaged by the recent storm systems.
  
  The system still has some bad spots. The crews have narrowed these problem areas down to 5 poles and will continue working through the weekend to replace the existing wiring to try to get it back to service as early as possible and coordinate the re-activation of the system with PG&E.

• The Parks & Landscaping Division crews are working actively in preparing all parks for the upcoming Spring Recreation and Sport programs.

 

• As a result of the previous week’s stormy weather conditions, the Public Works Electrical Department crews continue to restore numerous traffic signal and street lighting outages throughout the City.

• The Streets Division crews continue to catch up with all the potholes created by the last few weeks of storms.

 

• The Public Works Spring paving program is scheduled to start on February 16th, 2010 (weather permitting) on Hazel Avenue from Yuba Avenue to City limits.

 

Happy Valentine’s Day

 

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
450 Civic Center Plaza
Richmond, California 94804-1630
Phone:  510-620-6512
Fax:  510-620-6542
E-mail:  bill_lindsay@ci.richmond.ca.us