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| City Manager's Weekly Reports for Weeks of July 13 and July 20 July 20, 2012 |
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Mayor and Councilmembers: This is the weekly report for the week ending July 20th, 2012.
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for this Tuesday, July 24th, beginning with a Closed Session at 5:30 PM, and with the regular agenda at 6:30 PM. As a reminder, the City Council will also meet on July 31st before starting its August hiatus.
As you will recall, Edric Kwan left his employment as City Engineer with the City of Richmond to accept a position with the Town of Moraga. To provide immediate oversight for implementation of the City’s capital improvement program, I have asked Alan Wolken, recently retired Redevelopment Manager, to return to the City on a part-time basis. Alan will work approximately half time, overseeing project management and administrative functions in the Engineering Department, and will also be available to assist in “winding down” the former Redevelopment Agency. He returns to the City on Tuesday, July 24th.
The public will have an opportunity to hear from representatives of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and University of California, Berkeley about the proposed LBNL second campus at the Richmond Bay Campus Community Workshop on Thursday, July 26th, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM at the Richmond Auditorium. The Richmond Bay Campus of LBNL will have deep and far-reaching impacts in the Richmond community, and the public’s involvement in offering thoughts and ideas throughout the planning process is critical to delivering a successful project. Find out more about the Richmond Bay Campus: www.ci.richmond.ca.us/lbnl. Please RSVP for the community workshop: www.richmondbaycampus.eventbrite.com so that staff can effectively plan for the estimated attendance.
Recent data from PG&E shows that the City of Richmond is the leader of all Contra Costa cities and has the most homes participating in the Energy Upgrade California program. Energy Upgrade California provides homeowners with rebates up to $4,000 to complete energy efficiency upgrade work on their homes. Richmond’s success can be attributed to residents’ ability to combine up to $5,000 from the City’s Richmond Recovery Rebate (R3) program with the Energy Upgrade California rebate. By utilizing both these rebates, residents have the ability to increase the efficiency of their homes, reduce energy bills while improving home comfort, durability and health. The graph below demonstrates that most participating homes are able to achieve an energy reduction between 20-50 percent. To learn more about rebates for home assessments and upgrades from the City’s R3 programs and Energy Upgrade California, please visit www.richmondenvironment.org or contact the City Manager’s Office at (510) 620-5458.
The Finance Department’s Purchasing Division has received the Achievement of Excellence in Procurement award from the National Purchasing Institute. This is the third consecutive year that the City has received this award. Presentation of the award will take place in January, at the Annual Conference of the California Association of Public Procurement Officials in Napa, California. This prestigious award is earned by those organizations that demonstrate innovation, professionalism, productivity, e-procurement, and leadership attributes, and is well-deserved by the City of Richmond Finance Department’s Purchasing Division.
Transportation “Easy Go” Project The Greenprint Transportation "Easy Go" project has been awarded a $343,000 federal grant through the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for the expansion of the "Easy Go" Carshare and Kids Shuttle program to additional Richmond neighborhoods. The City of Richmond Easy Go transportation offers the following programs:
In November 2011, the City approved the Greenprint "Easy Go" transportation project, charting a new course for the City, particularly with regards to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and financing future sustainable transportation improvements. Under the Easy Go Transportation Project, an essential investment is made stationing on-site shared vehicles on multi-family lots, commonly termed “soft” measures, that include transportation demand management (TDM) initiatives such as ridesharing, a bicycle program, a transportation climate action campaign, sustainable transportation options serving low-income travelers, and pedestrians, and safe routes to school improvement initiatives. The Greenprint “Easy Go” Transportation Project offers the following services:
The Richmond Circular Shuttle began its second year of operations on July 1st 2012. The service is funded through the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and can be accessed within a five mile radius to multiple health facilities and clinics, pharmacies, businesses, recreation, residential communities, and employment centers for those traveling to and from the El Cerrito Del Norte and Richmond Intermodal BART stations. To provide the highest level of quality, dependability, reliability, and customer service, riders board the free “Richmond Circular Shuttle” at any of its scheduled 11 stops. Buses arrive every 15-20 minutes during commute hours from 7:00 AM to 7:00 PM (excluding weekends and holidays). The objectives of the service is to ensure mobility and access by linking key regional destinations through reliable public transportation services including buses, and the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and Amtrak for all of Richmond residents to travel to and from San Francisco and other Bay Area destinations. To meet evolving transportation needs, the service promotes quality and reliability. The Marina Bay route currently has the highest ridership with continued increase in boarding at the Civic Center and the Richmond BART station. The most frequent patron request is the addition of service hours for the Marina Bay shuttle service routes. Valor Community Awareness and Outreach has started to promote the Richmond Circular Shuttle to residents, visitors and Richmond businesses, to increase service in other scheduled areas. For additional information on any of the transportation service plans, please contact the City Manager’s Office at (510) 620-6869.
In the fall, Imani plans to return to college for additional certifications in technology. Indeed, his life is taking off!
The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) has awarded the Native American Health Center (NAHC) a 1-year planning grant in the amount of $300,000 for the Expansion of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and their Families program. The purpose of this grant is to develop a comprehensive strategic plan for improving and expanding services provided by systems of care for children and youth with serious mental health conditions and their families. The City of Richmond Office of Neighborhood Safety will serve as the fiscal agent for this grant. The US Department of Health and Human Services through the 2012-13 SAMHSA System of Care Expansion Planning Grant award specifically funds strategic planning efforts to improve and expand Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) children and their families through Urban Trails Richmond.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Technical Assistance Services for Communities Program is conducting a Technical Assistance Needs Assessment for the United Heckathorn Superfund Site in Richmond. You can view more information about the technical assistance program at www.epa.gov/superfund/community/tasc. Community members are invited to apply for educational and technical assistance to better understand and become involved in the United Heckathorn cleanup process. If you are interested in providing your input on technical assistance, please contact Krissy Russell-Hedstrom at 719-256-6701 or krissy@skeo.com.
Facilities Maintenance Division: Carpenters repaired the automatic entrance doors at 450 Civic Center Plaza, repaired the apparatus room doors at fire stations #61 and #68, and replaced the entrance door to the Carpenter Shop at the corporation yard. The new roof hatch for the Richmond Memorial Convention Center has arrived and will be installed on July 24th. A large crane will lift and place the hatch, causing the parking to the rear of the building to be restricted. The painters completed the exterior of fire station #66 located at 41st and Clinton Avenue.
The Stationary Engineers repaired the automatic gate at fire station #62, repaired the wheelchair lift at 440 Civic Center Plaza, and relocated the portable restroom to fire station #66. The electrical shop repaired the traffic signal at Richmond Parkway and Hensley Avenue, replaced two knocked down poles in Marina Green Park, restored power to the Kerning overpass, and continued with the re-lamping of street lights around the City. Parks and Landscaping Division: Parks crews are preparing for the ribbon cutting of the Bioswale on the Greenway, removed furnishings to prepare for the Burg Park Play Area rehabilitation, completed turf irrigation renovation work at Marina Green park, continued with the tennis court renovations at the Plunge, completed fire fuel management in the Point Richmond area, stump grinding and landscape clearing on Macdonald Avenue across from the Bart Station, vegetation management on Richmond Parkway from Bay Vista Park to the Giant Highway off ramp, and turf fertilizing and aeration in the Marina Bay Landscape and Lighting Assessment District.
Streets Division: Pavement maintenance paved in Parchester Village on Leke Way, Bradford Drive and Johnson Drive.
Regularly scheduled commercial and residential routes for the third Monday through Friday are North Richmond, Iron Triangle, North Belding Woods, Atchison Village, South Belding Woods, Sante Fe, Coronado, Marina Bay, and Point Richmond Neighborhood Council areas. * * * * * * 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
Mayor and Councilmembers: This is the weekly report for the week ending July 13th, 2012.
The next meeting of the Richmond City Council is Tuesday, July 17th, beginning with a Closed Session at 5:30 PM, and with the regular agenda at 6:30 PM. As a reminder, the City Council will also meet on July 24th and July 31st before starting its August hiatus.
Chad Davisson, the City’s Wastewater Program Manager, is leaving employment with the City of Richmond effective August 3, 2012, to accept a position with the City of San Mateo. Chad has indicated that his work with Richmond “has been the most satisfying and rewarding period of (his) 25-year career in the public sector.” From my perspective, Chad has been a significant asset to the City in dealing with very complex issues regarding the City’s wastewater programs, and he will be greatly missed. Over the next several weeks, he and I will be discussing ways in which to keep the wastewater programs and projects in Richmond moving forward after his departure. I’m sure that you join me in wishing Chad, with deep appreciation, the very best in his new position.
On June 27th, the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) officially awarded the City of Richmond a $496,000 Priority Development Area (PDA) Planning Program Grant to prepare a South Richmond Specific Plan (“Plan”). The Plan will help implement the City’s vision to transform a currently underutilized industrial waterfront into a revitalized, mixed-use, pedestrian-oriented district anchored by the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory’s Second Campus. The grant proposal was prepared by Richmond’s Planning and Building Services Department. The Plan will cover the General Plan 2030 “Change Areas 15 and 16” (see the Land Use section of the adopted General Plan at www.cityofrichmondgeneralplan.org for maps of these areas), and the scope includes the preparation of an accompanying Environmental Impact Report for the Plan. For more information regarding this project, please contact Lina Velasco, Senior Planner at (510) 620-6841 or via email at Lina_Velasco@ci.richmond.ca.us.
From the S.D Bechtel Foundation The YouthWORKS Division of the Employment & Training Department has received, for a second year, a $75,000 grant from the Bechtel Foundation to support a year around effort by the after-school Academic Program, coordinated by Straight Talk on Prison (STOP) and its Executive Director, Pedro Lespier. The second year of funding represents a $25,000 (50%) increase over last year’s funding. The S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation primarily supports the development of future leaders in the business community. Thanks to the efforts of their Program Manager, Robert Joseph, they have expanded that priority to address the development of future leaders in troubled communities. YouthWORKS represents the most ethnically diverse, at-risk community that they have ever funded. One of the requirements of the funding is to implement a service based community learning program. YouthWORKS has partnered with the National Park Service, and their education coordinator, Ranger Matt Holmes, to assist with the development of the service learning component. The classroom based portion of the service learning component is implemented by STOP, with curricula based on the National Crime Prevention Council’s CommunityWORKS program. Ranger Holmes has initiated and nurtured the transition from classroom to worksite and has succeeded in creating the kind of relationships that are needed to bridge program and community. In the upcoming year, Mr. Lespier will be implementing an accredited course he has designed related to urban agricultural science, and YouthWorks is working with the school district to ensure that program participants receive high school credit for this after-school program. Other outcomes of the Academic Program for the 2011/2012 year include 14 out of 14 high school seniors receiving their full diplomas – the first 100% year since the inception of the program four years ago.
The public will have an opportuity to hear from representatives from the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) and UC Berkeley about the proposed LBNL second campus at the Richmond Bay Campus Community Workshop on Thursday, July 26th, from 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM at the Richmond Auditorium. The Richmond Bay Campus of LBNL will have deep and far-reaching impacts in the Richmond community, and the public’s involvement in offering thoughts and ideas throughout the planning process is critical to delivering a successful project. Please RSVP for the community workshop: www.richmondbaycampus.eventbrite.com so that staff can effectively plan for the estimated attendance.
During the summer, the Richmond Library’s LEAP (Literacy for Every Adult Person) program is one of the few places where adults can continue to learn and improve their English skills. Although Catholic Charities, The Latina Center and the Adult School are nearby resources, the need for English Language classes remains strong, with consistent enrollment in all LEAP programs. Currently LEAP offers English as a Second Language (ESL) at the Nevin Center and at the main LEAP site.
LEAP’s ESL program serves adults from all over the world. In addition to our paid staff, we have dedicated tutors who meet weekly with individual students. We also welcome City staff to become volunteers and work with our ESL learners.
The Bayview Branch Library at 5100 Hartnett Avenue has children’s toys available for checkout with your Richmond Public Library card. Toys provide a fun, enriching way to help your young child to learn faster and develop their cognitive and motor skills. Most of the toys in this collection are for ages 3 to 6, with a few suitable for older and younger children. Toys are checked out one at a time, and may be kept up to four weeks. All toys will be sanitized and inspected between borrowings.
We invite you to view the City of Richmond’s video highlighting the Contra Costa College’s Center for Science Excellence (CSE). CSE provides support for financially and academically underrepresented students majoring in biological, computer and physical science, technology, mathematics or engineering (STEM fields) at the college. CSE partners with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL) to provide funding and LBNL research opportunities to CSE students. The City of Richmond will continue to partner with Contra Costa College and LBNL to maximize opportunities for creating STEM career pathways in Richmond.
On July 9, 2012, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) hosted a Technical Assistance Community Workshop for the United Heckathorn Superfund Site in the Richmond Inner Harbor. You can view more information about the technical assistance program at www.epa.gov/superfund/community/tasc. Community members are invited to apply for educational and technical assistance to better understand and become involved in the United Heckathorn cleanup process. The EPA’s technical assistance consultant is Krissy Russell-Hedstrom from Skeo Solutions and can be contacted at krissy@skeo.com. You can view more workshop photos by using this link.
On July 12, 2012, Contra Costa County hosted a Climate Action Plan Open House at the Richmond Council Chambers to receive community input on preparation of the County’s Climate Action Plan. Supervisor John Gioia provided an overview of the County’s Climate Action Plan. During the open house, community members indicated support for various actions under topics including energy, land use and transportation, water, solid waste, agriculture, and public health through a dot exercise. Other open houses were hosted in Oakley and Rodeo. The County’s draft Climate Action Plan is expected to be released in the fall. You can view open house photos by using this link.
The project to repair the Via Verdi sinkhole is continuing, and the El Portal road closure is ongoing. Stormwater Pollution Prevention best management practices continue to be implemented throughout the construction site, in accordance with State of California requirements. These are monitored daily by the on-site biologist. The hillside terrace excavation at the corner of El Portal Drive and Via Verdi is complete. El Portal Drive is being excavated within the construction site boundary. The existing open channel has been dewatered in accordance with U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and California Department of Fish and Game permit requirements. On-site biologists monitored the dewatering process. The open channel bed is being prepared for installation of the new concrete culvert. Temporary shoring -- beams and lagging with tie-backs -- is being installed at various locations along the alignment of the culvert, in order to protect existing buildings and structures near the construction site. The shoring at the upstream open channel headwall location is complete; the shoring near the intersection of Via Verdi and El Portal Drive is currently being erected; the downstream shoring at the culvert endwall will be installed in the near future. Utility companies have completed the temporary relocation of their utility lines, ensuring that the residents of the Sobrante Glen neighborhood will receive uninterrupted utility service throughout the duration of the culvert replacement construction project.
Culvert Headwall area: The culvert headwall area has been dewatered and shoring has been installed to protect the Creek View Condominiums property, visible in the background.
Hillside terrace: The hillside terrace at the intersection of Via Verdi and El Portal Drive has been excavated.
Facilities Maintenance Division: The electrical shop repaired the traffic signal at 23rd Street and Nevin Avenue, installed and removed the power pedestals at Nicholl Park for the dedication of the tennis courts, and continued with the re-lamping of street lights around the City. Parks and Landscaping Division: Parks crews are preparing Shields Reid Park for the upcoming music festival, performing vegetation management in the El Sobrante area, completed weed abatement in some areas of Point Richmond and along Richmond Parkway and Parr Boulevard, and landscape maintenance along the Bay Trail and Civic Center Plaza. The Tree Crew trimmed and pruned Sycamore trees along Barrett Avenue from Harbour Way to 7th Street and continued with the tree pruning along Hilltop Drive and Interstate 80. Streets Division: Pavement Maintenance paved Barrett Avenue from Harbour Way to 7th Street.
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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
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The program continues to thrive with increased rental reservations. Combined rentals for May and June 2012 totaled 341 hours from both the Richmond Village Carshare POD and Hilltop Mall Carshare POD. Additional Community Awareness and Outreach city-wide has commenced in July to promote all of the Easy Go programs. 
With a winning smile, Imani exclaims that LEAP (the Richmond Library’s literacy program) is the spot, especially if you are an adult and don’t know where to start. Why? According to Imani, since he got his GED, his life is taking off. Prior to enrolling at LEAP in 2010, Imani tried to study with HEALD, a private vocational college. The financial obligations stopped him in his tracks. He attended LEAP throughout the next year, receiving his GED in May of 2011. During his time at LEAP, his mentor/teacher Virgil Weekes referred him to one of our partners, the Stride Center. Imani had a great aptitude for computers and graduated from the Stride Center in December 2011. Within the next four months, Imani found himself employment. Imani now provides technology support at major companies when he isn’t volunteering in our LEAP computer lab. Imani offered the following comment: 10 % of life is what happens to you, but the other 90% is how you react.
