RNCC Meeting Minutes, June 13, 2011
1. The meeting was called to order at 7:02 pm by President Bea Roberson.
2. MSP approval of the Minutes from May 16, 2011
3. Representatives from the following 19 neighborhoods were on hand and some gave reports: Cortez/Stege, Country Club Vista, Fairmede/Hilltop, Greenbriar, Hilltop Green, Hilltop Villages, Laurel Park, Marina Bay, May Valley, North & East, Panhandle Annex, Parchester Village, Park Plaza, Pt. Richmond, Pullman, Richmond Annex, Richmore Village & Metro Square, and Santa Fe.
4. Announcements from RNCC PIO: Janie Holland announced Earthquake Preparedness for Seniors, Healthy Richmond, as well as RNCC meeting information.
5. City Department Heads/City Official Reports:
Public Works: Yader Bermudez was not present but Warren Williams, Super. of Streets was there and spoke about public works and paving updates.
Engineering Services: Edric Kwan was not present but Lynne Scarpa filled in discussing that the lateral sewer upgrade program will be all year starting in the new fiscal year (July) and you now have all year to file. They were able to help everyone and expect to do the same in the future.
City Manager/Community Coordinator: Rochelle Monk discussed the annual forum on human rights and human relations commission on collaborating to eliminate gun violence in Richmond. Adoption of the city budget should be at the June 21st city council meeting. National Night Out is August 2nd and please contact her asap if you want to block the street. There will be booths at the 3rd of July celebration
Mayor’s office: Marilyn Langlois had just come from the 3rd nniversary of the pedestrian and bike group. The city council has instructed the staff to look into having City of Richmond IDs. She will remind council members that we would like for them to attend RNCC.
Police Department: Chief Magnus introduced the newest Capt. to the Richmond police force, Capt. Manjit (Manny) Sappal. May was a good month crime wise because there was a decline in violent crimes and a 6% decrease in property crimes. The noise ordinance goes into effect like now but not all personnel has been trained on what to do but will as soon as possible. If you have a complaint about the smoking ordinance, contact the regulatory unit @ 965-4910.
Code Enforcement: Tim Higares gave us an update on One Block at a Time (OBAT). They have been directed to “Green” the alleys of Richmond and have found a “green” grant to do so. They are about ready to have a complete ticket setup so that from now on, they will collect on all tickets issued in Richmond. The are putting together the rules and regs for cleaning up the homeless encampments, The city of Fresno was fined a huge amount of money for destroying the property of the homeless. They are getting flash cams that they can move around the city for illegal dumping.
Environmental Manager: Lynne Scarpa talked about storm water and the work they are doing with the homeless that camp in the creek beds. She also talked about spiders and how they help keep the population of other insects in control.
Planning: Lamont Thompson was not present but sent a copy of the planning projects under review.
6. Presentations: CyberTran International has partnered with the city of Richmond to develop another type of light rail to work with BART.
7. Old Business: Bea Roberson went to NUSA in Anchorage Alaska, and found they have a very good school system but we are ahead of them with our sustainable parks and crime prevention. She also learned a lot about the people of Alaska and trying to sleep with 20 hours of sunlight a day.
8. New Business: Contra Costa County is putting together a general plan for Appian Way and the may be asking for money from Richmond to widen Appian Way. FYI. the county is also redistricting the county to fulfill the population change by elections in 2012. There was a discussion about the process in which neighborhood councils are contacted regarding Planning and DRB commissions. A motion presented by Naomi Williams and seconded by Sandi Genser-Maack was passed for the members of RNCC to go to city council in support of Santa FE neighborhood to have a say in what is built in their neighborhood. The was a comment made to vote next month on the concept of CyberTran.
9. Adjournment: This meeting was adjourned at 9:48 pm.
Thank you to Richmond Annex, Marina Bay and The Boilerhouse for the refreshments.