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| City Manager's Weekly Report for the Week Ending August 31st, 2012 September 1, 2012 |
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Mayor and Councilmembers: This is the weekly report for the week ending August 31st, 2012.
The City Council is on its annual August hiatus, but August ends today. The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, September 11th.
As a reminder, the City offices will be closed on both Monday, September 3rd, and Monday, September 10th, in observance of Labor Day and Admission Day, respectively.
On Monday, September 10th from 9:45 AM to 11:00 AM, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District (BAAQMD) Board of Directors will hold a special board meeting regarding the Chevron Refinery Fire that occurred this past August 6th. BAAQMD oversees air quality policy, regulations, monitoring and enforcement within the San Francisco Bay Area. The meeting will take place at the BAAQMD offices - 939 Ellis Street, 7th Floor Boardroom in San Francisco. Free bus service from Richmond will be provided for community members that may be interested in attending the meeting. Please plan on arriving at 8:00 AM and boarding by 8:25 AM. The buses will leave from the Richmond Civic Center Plaza at 8:30 AM sharp. Due to limited space on the buses, you must RSVP in order to secure a spot. The buses will return to Civic Center Plaza after the meeting at approximately noon. Please RSVP at: http://airqualityboardmeeting.eventbrite.com/ or (510) 620-5502. For more information, please see:
This past Monday, August 27th at 10:00 AM, the City of Richmond and Contra Costa Health Services/Hazardous Materials held a public briefing concerning the investigation of the Chevron Richmond Refinery fire. The briefing was held in the Richmond City Council Chambers and consisted of updates from several agencies conducting the investigation of the refinery fire including:
Community members and press were given the opportunity to ask questions and comment on the updates from agencies. The meeting was attended by over 150 people including community members, press and public officials. The City will continue to work with all regional, state and federal agencies in the ongoing investigations and plans to hold future briefings as information becomes available.
For more information, please visit www.ci.richmond.ca.us/chevronrefineryfire2012
The City recently made street improvements along Pennsylvania Avenue beginning at the intersection at Harbour Way, proceeding to the west, and ending at the cul-de-sac west of 3rd Street. Within this stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue, the City implemented a back-in angled parking pilot project on the two blocks farthest to the west, near Peres Elementary School. The net effect of the new street improvements is an increase in the number of parking stalls, safer parking, safer pedestrian crossings for parents and students, implementation of Safe Routes to School principles, and a new bicycle lane connecting to the existing BayTrail network. The teachers and staff benefit from additional parking spaces close to the campus, and everyone benefits from the traffic calming measures that have been installed to increase safety for students, parents and cyclists. The entire stretch of Pennsylvania Avenue from Harbour Way to the cul-de-sac is designated as a Class II Bicycle Lane (see Richmond Bicycle Master Plan and (Richmond Pedestrian Plan for more project information). This implementation project is an excellent example of collaboration among multiple stakeholders: the City’s Planning Department, Engineering Services Department, Public Works Department, City Manager’s Office; Peres Elementary School, West Contra Costa Unified School District (WCCUSD); Contra Costa Health Services (CCHS) and community groups such as Pogo Park, Building Blocks for Kids, and the Iron Triangle Neighborhood Council. City Staff has been working with WCCUSD, CCHS, and multiple stakeholders to create safer school zones. The school Principal and WCCUSD staff met with City on several occasions to discuss the project and provided input during the design phase of the project. The Engineering Services Department Contractor first slurry sealed three blocks of Pennsylvania Avenue, from 7th Street to Turpin Court. The Public Works Street Maintenance crews then paved Pennsylvania Avenue from Harbour Way to 7th Street and from Turpin Court to the cul-de-sac. After all the pavement work was completed, the City’s contractor installed the new traffic striping for the entire stretch, just in time for the first day of school.
This photo shows the bicycle striping and the back-in angled parking stalls.
This photo shows the special signs that were installed
Please join us for a community workshop on the science and research proposed for the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Second Campus on Thursday, September 6th, at 7:00 PM in the Richmond Auditorium. Speakers will include Cathy Koshland, UCB Vice Provost; Jay Keasling, CEO of the Joint BioEnergy Institute, LBNL Associate Laboratory Director, and UCB Professor of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering; Dr. Susannah Tringe, Joint Genome Institute; Professor Celine Pallud, UCB Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management; Dr. Nathan Hillson, Joint BioEnergy Institute; Professor Kara Nelson, UCB Civil and Environmental Engineering; and Dr. Christie Canaria, LBNL Life Sciences Division. Please RSVP to help staff plan appropriately: http://richmondlbnl.eventbrite.com
Come to Contra Costa County’s Climate Action Plan Open House on Wednesday, September 19, at 7:00 PM in the Richmond Auditorium, Bermuda Room. The Open House will provide information on the County’s greenhouse gas emissions inventory, explain proposed greenhouse gas reduction measures and health indicators under the County’s Climate Action Plan, and review results from an evaluation of how effective proposed measures are in reducing greenhouse gases. View the flier using this link. Please RSVP to help staff plan appropriately: http://contracostacap.eventbrite.com/ .
Senior Center Dance Class Beginning August 31st, the Senior Center will host dance classes Friday afternoons from 1:30 PM to 3 PM. Instructor Julia Zhang will focus on ethnic Chinese cultural dances and participants may perform in the next Chinese New Year Celebration. May Valley Community Center Within the first week of school, the May Valley Community Center Youth Adventure After-School Program has reached maximum capacity with 50 participants.
Facilities Maintenance Division: Painters have been freshening up the paint at the Civic Center Plaza and the Auditorium. The Stationary Engineers replaced two water closets at Fire Station #67, repaired the sink and water heater at Fire Station #63, and cleaned and tested the gutter pit at the emergency generator site located at Nichol Knob. The Electricians repaired knocked down traffic signal on San Pablo and Barrett Avenues, installed a temporary traffic pole on Carlson and Cutting Boulevards, reported wire theft on Richmond Parkway and Gertrude Avenue to Contra Costa County, inspected buried conduits on Cutting Boulevard, and continued street light relamping around the City.
Conduit Inspection on Cutting Boulevard Parks and Landscaping Division: Crews are continuing the Booker T. Anderson pedestrian bridge replacement, vegetation management near Hilltop Lake Park, continuing with the Macdonald Avenue streetscape maintenance, and vegetation maintenance on the Greenway.
Hilltop Lake Park Vegetation Management
Booker T. Anderson Pedestrian Bridge Construction The Tree Crew trimmed and pruned trees along Panama Avenue for paving, Potrero Avenue, San Mateo Street, Rheem Avenue, and tree removal in Marina Green Park. Streets Division: Pavement Maintenance crews grinded the 200 block of South 46th Street, paths at Nichol Park, and worked from the pothole list. Street Sweeping had multiple sweepers down causing some areas to have limited or no sweeping. The routes swept this week were Santa Fe, Point Richmond, Marina Bay, Coronado, Metro Richmore Village, Pullman, Cortez/Stege, Park Plaza, Laurel Park, and City Center Neighborhood Council areas.
********************************************* 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 three day weekend and 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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