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| City Manager's Weekly Report for the Week Ending November 5th, 2010 November 6, 2010 |
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Mayor and Councilmembers: This is the weekly report for the week ending November 5th, 2010.
The next meeting of the City Council is Tuesday, November 16th.
On Saturday, October 30th, staff from the City Manager’s Office, Environmental Initiatives Division, Planning Department, Code Enforcement Division, and the Police Department partnered with Belding Woods residents and Chavez Elementary School’s principal, staff and parents to host a free disposal drop off at Chavez Elementary School. Sims Metal Recycling provided a dumpster for metal collection, and will present a check to the school based on the recycled metal collected. Hi-Tec Recycling was on hand to collect electronic waste.
The Cesar Chavez Elementary School catchment area in the Belding Woods neighborhood is one of two pilot project neighborhoods in which the City of Richmond’s health and wellness element is being implemented. The other pilot neighborhood is the Peres Elementary School catchment area.
The earthquake retrofit work along aerial tracks from Berkeley to Richmond, including the improvement of the Ohlone Greenway, was advertised for bid last week by BART. With the lengthy bid and award process through the holiday season, BART anticipates selecting the contractor around January or February 2011, with the contractor's firm scheduled to start work in late February.
Ghilotti Brothers, the contractor for the current annual pavement management program, has completed most of the overlay streets (adding a layer of asphalt on streets) and will start the slurry seal process in early November. The slurry seal is a cost effective pavement treatment consisting of a very thin layer of asphaltic sealant. The contractor will also try to complete the Richmond Parkway and Pierce Street this year, weather permitting. After that, work will be suspended during the winter and will resume in spring 2011.
Construction work within the Via Verdi open channel is complete, and San Pablo Creek is flowing through the channel. Regulatory agencies have been notified. Ancillary site weatherproofing and clean-up will be completed later this week. With the help of Randy Iwasaki, the Executive Director of the Contra Costa Transportation Authority, we have scheduled a meeting later this month with Caltrans to review state emergency funding eligibility.
The City of Richmond is a recipient of a Neighborhood Stabilization Program 1 (NSP 1) grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to purchase and rehabilitate foreclosed, abandoned and vacant homes. The Richmond Community Redevelopment Agency is administering the NSP 1 on behalf of the city, and has formed the Richmond Neighborhood Stabilization Corporation (RNSC) to implement and assure that HUD’s program requirements are met. The total award of $3,346,105 was allocated and expended by the RNSC in accordance with the guidelines and rules of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act. The RNSC entered into partnership with four (4) selected development organizations: KL Hampton Group, LLC; Parkway Housing, LLC; Mission Rich Development, LLC; and Community First, LLC. The NSP 1 has successfully completed the acquisition of 25 units, including nine (9) units targeted for low income families, and 16 units targeted for families of moderate income. Currently, rehabilitation is complete on two (2) units, and the homes are for sale. Proceeds of the sales will be rolled back into the acquisition fund to provide money for more site acquisitions. Richmond Youthbuild will rehabilitate six (6) units as part of a “Teaching Lab” for their students to receive real time construction skills training. The remaining units are scheduled to begin rehabilitation before the end of this year.
On November 3rd, staff from the Planning Department and the Engineering Department, together with staff from Fehr & Peers traffic consultants, conducted a day long site visit to downtown Richmond and the future location of the Richmond ferry service in the marina to evaluate existing conditions and potential enhancement projects for the West Contra Costa Transportation Advisory Committee (WCCTAC) Transit Enhancement and Wayfinding Plans. In 2009, WCCTAC received a statewide transit planning studies grant from Caltrans for the Transit Enhancement project to develop a plan that would facilitate the integration of transit service, and a Safe Routes to Transit grant from TransForm for the Transit Wayfinding project, to develop a plan to direct pedestrians and bicyclists to and from major transit facilities and major cities in west county and Albany through static roadway signs.
Paving crews resurfaced Esmond Avenue from 29th Street to San Pablo Avenue last week. Crews resurfaced Lincoln Avenue from 13th Street to 18th Street this week. Painters continue painting the entire interior of the auditorium. This work is expected to take approximately another week. The Parks and Landscaping Division (in addition to general parks maintenance) continued performing vegetation control management along Hilltop Drive, Tiller Park, LaMoine Park and on Canal Boulevard from Cutting Boulevard to the Port Entrance this week. Crews also removed dead pine trees in the Fairmede area.
The City has received notification from the California Debt Limit Allocation Committee (CDLAC) that additional funds are available to be used for the Qualified Residential Rental Program (QRRP) Bonds, which are tax-exempt housing revenue bonds, the proceeds of which can be loaned to developers of multi-family rental housing units to acquire land and construct new units, or purchase and rehabilitate existing units. As tax-exempt bonds, the interest rate is substantially lower than the type of financing vehicles traditionally available to developers. The developers, in turn, produce market rate and affordable rental housing for low and very low-income households by reducing rental rates to these individuals and families. Staff is in the process of researching how the additional allocations will be determined by CDLAC and how such funding might be used in Richmond.
The Richmond Police Activities League (RPAL) sponsored its 2nd Annual Halloween fundraiser this past Saturday, October 30th, at the Hal Holt Memorial Gymnasium. Approximately 150 adult supporters, guests and employees attended the event that featured music, food, libations, casino games and drawings for prizes, best costume contest and a great deal of fun. The overwhelming consensus was that the event was well done and that attendees had a great time; and further, they look forward to next year’s event.
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
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