RNCC Meeting Minutes, January 11, 2010
1. The meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM by President Roberson.
2. MSP approval of the Minutes of the meeting of December 14, 2009.
3. Representatives from 14 neighborhood councils introduced themselves and gave a report. Two members from the Brickyard Cove Neighborhood were there to observe. Robert Rogers from Richmond Confidential was present to observe and possibly work with the RNCC to get their stories out. Rogers is a graduate student of journalism at UC Berkeley and manages the online news service: www.richmondconfidential.org.
4. City Department Heads and City Official Reports:
- Planning: Lamont Thompson handed out list of active projects. There will be a public study session on the General Plan on January 26 and the draft EIR report will be out in February or March 2010.
- Public Works: no report
- Mayor’s Office: Marilyn Langlois handed out a sheet of activities in the City from January to March 2010. The Mayor will give the State of the City address and hand out community service awards at the next City Council Meeting.
- City Manager/Community Coordinator: Rochelle Monk was not present but sent a message that the list of free Clean-up dates for neighborhoods will be given out at the next RNCC Meeting and a thank you to Neighborhood Councils for reducing mailing costs.
- Police Department: Chief Magnus reported on new hires, 11% reduction in overall crime rate, 911 cell phone calls now come directly to Richmond, upcoming meetings with Beat Officers and Neighborhood Councils, the updating of the policy manual for the RPD and his views on current legislation in Sacramento legalizing marijuana.
- Environmental Manager: Lynne Scarpa talked about integrated pest management and the dangers of pesticides in our streams and bay. She gave handouts for neighborhoods that offer alternative ways to manage pests. Bring Back the Natives Garden Tour slated for May.
5. Presentation by Jim West of Kimley-Horn & Associates, selected by the City to conduct a traffic safety study. Steven Tam from the City Engineering Department was also present. The purpose of the study is to establish a methodology to identify intersections and street segments that lack adequate traffic safety and to prioritize improvement projects to address the deficiencies. A first step is to coordinate with Neighborhood Councils via a survey that will also be on the City website. RNCC members expressed that this has been done several times before without any results and expressed doubts about the project.
6. Announcements & RNCC PIO, Naomi Williams: In order to save paper, announcements will be given orally by Williams and posted in the meeting room. President Roberson pointed out the topics of the posted items and it was suggested that this was a good idea. Representatives can review those that interest them during the break or after the meeting. Eleanor Loynd had several other additional announcements.
7. Old Business: Daytime curfew: Williams will endorse the curfew on behalf of the RNCC at the next Public Safety Meeting.
8. New Business: RNCC website: www.richmondneighbors.org. Jim Jenkins, web master, reported that there have been virtually no hits or comments on the website during the last year and asked the RNCC to consider taking the website down. All costs associated with the website have been paid and it is not costing us anything to keep it up at the moment. Some suggestions were made about marketing the website more and adding more information to the website. No decision was taken.
The noise ordinance has not yet been presented by the City Council, so the RNCC will take up this issue at a later date.
9. Thank you to Point Richmond and Richmore Village for providing food for the meeting. The next general meeting will be February 8, 2010. The next RNCC Board meeting will be January 25, 2010.
Respectfully submitted: Kaye McKleroy, Recording Secretary