Mayor and Councilmembers:

This is the weekly report for the week ending September 10th, 2010.

• Meeting Notes

 

The next meeting of the Richmond City Council is scheduled for Tuesday, September 21st.

• Richmond’s Neighborhood Stabilization Program to Receive Additional Funding

 

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) announced Thursday an additional allocation of $1 billion for the Neighborhood Stabilization Program (NSP).  The Richmond NSP will receive an additional $1,153,172 from this allocation.  According to HUD officials, these funds should be ready to begin the obligation process this November.

Meanwhile, Richmond’s NSP has acquired 25 properties, which are now in the rehabilitation phase of the program.  Of these 25 units, 13 will be available to households with income ranges in the very low and low categories, while 12 will be available for the moderate income category. The average foreclosed home acquisition cost was $95,557 and the average rehabilitation cost is estimated at $40,317.  These costs account for the nearly $3.4 million in Richmond’s initial NSP allocation.

• Richmond Hosts National Brownfield Conference

 

The Richmond Memorial Auditorium and the Richmond City Council Chamber were the venues for a National Brownfield Executive Forum entitled “Strategic Redevelopment of Urban Centers” that was held here on September 1.  Richmond’s leadership on brownfield redevelopment, transit oriented development and sustainability, as demonstrated in our LEED Gold Civic Center office, were cited as reasons to hold the conference here.  Mayor McLaughlin opened the day workshops with welcoming remarks and City Manager Bill Lindsay gave a presentation highlighting a few of Richmond’s brownfield redevelopment and sustainable projects – Marina Bay, the Ford Assembly Building, Miraflores LEED Gold – Neighborhood Development Planning and Civic Center.  The emphasis of the day was the redevelopment of urban brownfields with higher density sustainable development.

• Economic Summit Conference and Business Exposition Scheduled for September 14 in the Richmond Memorial Auditorium

 

The Richmond Chamber of Commerce is hosting its first ever “Economic Summit Conference and Business Exposition” in the Auditorium on Tuesday, September 14.  This all day – and into the evening – event will feature Christopher Thornberg of Beacon Economics as the keynote speaker, breakout sessions and a panel discussion moderated by Bruce Kern, the recently retired Executive Director of the East Bay Economic Development Alliance.  The Business Expo, as usual, will feature local businesses in a very fun and festive setting.  The Richmond Chamber of Commerce web-site provides additional details.

• Office of Neighborhood Safety Participation in “Unity Strategy”

 

The Office of Neighborhood Safety (ONS) was invited to attend and participated in the “UNITY Strategy” convening held in Oakland this past week.  UNITY or “Urban Networks to Increase Thriving Youth” through violence prevention represents a coalition of some of America’s largest urban cities with the single goal of finding the most effective means of preventing violence before it occurs.  The City of Richmond is being considered for membership within this important coalition and network.

This meeting, which was convened and facilitated by the Prevention Institute, was designed to maximize strategic and creative input around the following areas:

• Leveraging opportunities;
• National violence prevention campaign;
• Partnerships;
• Linkages between violence and other conditions;
• Leadership; and
• Advancing the UNITY urban agenda

 

The UNITY Urban Agenda for Preventing Violence Before it Occurs: Bringing a Multi-Sector Approach to Scale in US Cities was developed in partnership with cities and was endorsed by 14 cities in April 2010.  It lays out the key elements of what is needed to significantly reduce violence in US cities and calls for investment in the development, implementation, coordination and evaluation of effective and sustainable approaches to prevent community and gang violence.  The underlying premise is that violence is a public health issue, and that public health approaches can help solve the nation’s violence problem.

Cities represented at this convening included Louisville, Detroit, Oakland, Boston, Seattle, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Houston , and Richmond California.

The UNITY Urban Agenda is supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and in part by The California Wellness Foundation (TCWF).  To learn more go to: www.preventioninstitute.org

• Public Works Department Update

 

Next week, Public Works crews will resurface Kern Street from Clinton Avenue to the City limits.

The Parks and Landscaping Division (in addition to general parks maintenance) will be performing vegetation control management along the Richmond Greenway from San Pablo Avenue to Carlson Boulevard and along the median on Cutting Boulevard from San Pablo Avenue to 23rd Street

 

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!

 

You can sign up to receive the City Manager’s weekly report and other information from the City of Richmond by visiting:

www.ci.richmond.ca.us/list.aspx

 

 

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