This is the weekly report for the week ending March 8th, 2013.
The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, March 19th.
- Fruit Tree and Garden Seed Giveaway
On Friday, March 1st, the City of Richmond Environmental and Health Initiatives and Self Sustaining Communities hosted a fruit tree and garden seed giveaway at the Civic Center Richmond Certified Farmers' Market. Staff was on-site, alongside Tom Burchell of Burchell Nursery, our generous donor, who provided a wide variety of trees and was there to help hand-out trees and answer questions. Together, they handed out over 800 cherry, apple, peach, nectarine, pear and plum trees to residents and community gardens free-of-charge. Staff also provided a variety of vegetable and flower seeds, home compost pails, and reusable bags to residents.
Please visit www.richmondenvironment.org for more information on urban agriculture and future giveaways.
- Street Light Upgrade Projects
The City is continuing to make strides in improving neighborhood street lighting by replacing two antiquated series street light systems in the Park View and May Valley neighborhoods. The series systems were high voltage street light systems that required significant maintenance from Public Works. The upgrade to LED technology will decrease the City’s energy costs and reduce maintenance costs for the Public Works Department. The City’s Environmental Initiatives and Engineering staff are working together to upgrade all City-owned lights to LED technology.
Park View Neighborhood - New poles, pole foundations, and LED street lights are currently operational in the Park View neighborhood. The LEDs replaced incandescent street lights that were originally installed back in 1961. The streets with new lights include Cypress, Creely, Fallon, Fleming and a portion of South 55th. In addition, Ells Lane pathway and Cypress Path, which lead to Booker T. Anderson Park, have new decorative LED lights and freshly trimmed trees to add to the safety of those pedestrian-only paths. The old system continues to operate because the City is waiting on PG&E to schedule the requested power disconnect so that the old poles can be removed. There is currently no date scheduled or commitment from PG&E for the Park View disconnect. Engineering staff are continuing to engage PG&E to schedule the disconnect as soon as possible so the old poles may be removed.
May Valley Neighborhood – New poles, pole foundations, and LED street lights have also been installed along the streets of Whitecliff, Robert & Julie along with portions of Deseret, Keith and Sheldon. PG&E has scheduled this project to energize the new street lights during the week of March 25th. Engineering staff are continuing to engage PG&E to schedule the disconnect of the old system soon after so the old poles may be removed in a timely manner.
Both of these street light upgrade projects include the implementation of new security measures developed by Public Works and Engineering to alleviate the ongoing problem of wire theft in various areas of the City. Please contact Richmond Police Department at (510) 233-1214 if you see suspicious activity involving City street lights.
- City Receives Budget Award From Government Finance Officers Association
This past week, the Finance Department received notification that the Government Finance Officers’ Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA) has awarded to the City the GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Award for its FY2012-13 Operating Budget.
The award represents a significant achievement by the City, reflecting the commitment of the governing body and staff to meeting the highest principles of governmental budgeting. In order to receive the award, the City had to satisfy nationally recognized guidelines for effective budget presentation. These guidelines are designed to assess how well an entity’s budget serves as:
- A policy document
- A financial plan
- An operations guide
- A communications device
Budget documents must be rated “proficient” in each of these four categories, as well as the 14 mandatory criteria within each category to receive the award.
The GFOA is a nonprofit professional association serving over 17,500 government finance professionals throughout North America. The GFOA’s Distinguished Budget Presentation Awards Program is the only national awards program in governmental budgeting.
On Saturday, April 20th, all are invited to Richmond Tales Fest 2013 for an afternoon of fun, family literacy, and healthy living. The free event will be at the Richmond Civic Center Plaza and Auditorium from 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM. Richmond Tales Fest 2013 will feature workshops for parents on how to encourage more reading at home and a free giveaway of new and gently used books for children. Richmond Tales Fest 2013 will also kick-off Screen Free Week to encourage a week without television in your home. Free snacks, health screenings, games, crafts, and raffle prizes will all be provided. For more information, please contact Tana Monteiro at (510) 235-2066. Save the date now!
Emergency Preparedness
The North & East neighborhood group will begin meeting at the Richmond Senior Center on the second Wednesday of each month from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM for their emergency preparedness meetings.
Parchester
Sixteen participants from the Parchester Community Center attended the Disney on Ice show at the Oakland Coliseum on February 27th. The children and teenagers had a wonderful time and attended this event through the Community Access Ticket Service free ticket foundation.
Facilities Maintenance: Carpenters installed a security cage in the City Attorney’s office, completed carpet repairs and linoleum floor installation to Fire Station #61, and installed an ADA compliant employee entrance at the Employment and Training building.
Painters refinished the reading tables for the main library and areas of Fire Station #61.
Stationary Engineers installed cord reels at Fire Station #64, completed modifications to the “fresh air” intake plenum and boiler exhaust flue at 440 Civic Center Plaza, and monitored the carbon monoxide levels 3 times a day on all floors in Civic Center Plaza.
Electricians installed six electrical circuits for heaters in the Police Department Record’s office, repaired LED street lights, replaced ballasts for Marina docks “C” and “E” relamping, repaired the traffic signal knockdown at Richmond Parkway and Gertrude Avenue, and repaired the Senior Annex front light.
Parks and Landscaping Division: This week crews completed the vegetation maintenance at Booker T. Anderson Park, pruned the trees at the Civic Center Plaza and Main Library, performed irrigation repairs at various City parks, cleaned up Ells Lane, and completed the grading, composting, and over seeding along the new pathway through Nicholl Park.
New Pathway in Nicholl Park
The Tree Crew cut or trimmed trees on Virginia Avenue, 40th Street, Civic Center Plaza, and Ells Lane.
Streets Division: This week crews completed the pothole list and the resurfacing of Virginia Avenue from South 23rd Street to South 29th Street.
The Streets Signs and Lines crews installed buttons along Hilltop Drive, reinstalled eight poles, painted curbs, and painted parking stalls.
The street sweepers performed street sweeping services for the first Monday through Thursday and the second Friday in Parchester Village, Hilltop Bayview, Hilltop Green, Fairmede/Hilltop, Carriage Hills, El Sobrante Hills, Greenbriar, Hansford Heights, Via Verde, San Pablo Dam Road, Bristole Cone, Clinton Hill IV, and East Richmond neighborhood council areas.
Button Installation on Hilltop Drive
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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
Bill Lindsay
City Manager
City of Richmond
450 Civic Center Plaza
Richmond, California 94804
(510) 620-6512
Bill_lindsay@ci.richmond.ca.us
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