RNCC Meeting Minutes, November 14, 2011
1. The meeting was called to order at 6:59 pm by President Bea Roberson.
2. MSP approval of the Minutes from October 17, 2011 after one correction on the second page (why, not hy).
3. Representatives from the following 21 neighborhoods introduced themselves and some gave reports: Carriage Hills North, Coronado, Cortez/Stege, Country Club Vista, Fairmede/Hilltop, Greenbriar, Hilltop Villages, Iron Triangle, Laurel Park, Marina Bay, May Valley, North & East, Panhandle Annex, Parchester Village, Park Plaza, Pt. Richmond, Pullman, Richmond Annex, Richmond Hts., Richmore Village / Met. Sq., and Shields/Reid.
4. Announcements from RNCC PIO: PIO Janie Holland was absent and there were no notifications.
5. City Department Heads/City Official Reports:
Public Works: Yader Bermudez – was not present but Warren Williams spoke about the paving schedule for the next two weeks as well as Shields-Reid getting new lighting, and full rehabs at Solano Playlot and Burg Park.
Engineering Services: Edric Kwan – was not present but Michelle Leonard from Harris & Assoc. spoke about Veolia and the work they are doing in Richmond. They are mailing notices about 10 days before and hand delivering notices within 48 hours of the work being done.
City Manager: Rochelle Monk passed out a good neighbor policy put out by the city and a West Contra Costa Resource Guide. She spoke about the Special Event Permits to start next year and they need to be in to the city 30-45 days in advance. Adam Lenz spoke about a new energy plan the city is thinking about joining. It is called Community Choice Aggregation and the workshop is Wednesday November 30th at 6 PM in the council chambers. It is very important to get information, it is an opt out kind of program and it does not bring in any money to the city. He is looking into having the workshop televised ? Mayor’s office: Marilyn Langlois – Spoke about the Mayor’s anti-tagging ordinance and they were having a workshop on it 11/16/11, in the Pt. Molate room at 7 PM. They are still working on the Bicycle plan so you can go to the meetings on the second Tuesday of the month from 5:30-7:30 and give them your input. They will be looking for grants and ways to raise the 45 million needed to complete the Bicycle and Pedestrian Plan.
Police Department: Chief Magnus – There were no homicides in October and there have been decreases in robbery, car jacking, grand theft and armed robbery over this time last year. Lighting is a big way to make it harder to commit a crime. Richmond Confidential has an article about human trafficking in the city and what the police is doing to prevent this. He also updated us on the curfew ordinance and they are proud to announce that they only have a 7% repeat rate. He also spoke about people becoming commissioners of the Community Advisory Board. They will be having DUI check points within the city and in conjunction with other neighboring cities. Capt. Sappal has asked that each of the Northern district beat officers walk at least 15 minutes per shift. The other district captains will be following suit and will have each beat officer doing some time at foot patrol. The are also doing some intervention with the prostitutes on 23rd St. to get them off the street. Arresting them is just not enough.
Code Enforcement: Tim Higares – The tow contract is going before the city council and once that is passed, then they will look into council increasing parking tickets. There is a fence being built in north Richmond by SP Railroad between their property and the city’s property which the city is to do the upkeep. Also there may be some changes in the “outdoor storage” ordinance that may make it harder for code enforcement to get rid of “car blight”. They are trying to get a handle on the street sweeping and ticketing those that are parking illegally during street sweeping. There are not enough parking patrol to follow all the street sweepers but they are working on a way to get all streets swept and ticket cars that are in the way.
Environmental Manager: Lynne Scarpa – Spoke about Integreted Pest Management (IPM) to remind us why we do the least evasive way first and leave the damaging chemicals to the end. She introduced Joanne Le, who is new to our City offices but is in charge illicit discharge inspections. If you see someone making an illicit disposal, she will come out and inspect the discharge.
Planning: Hector Rojas – Passed out the latest project list and spoke about the planning roundtable meeting and some of the changes they have already instituted. They will be more planning round tables, with some being in the evening.
6. Presentations:
Heather Kulp of Chevron introduced the General Manager of the Chevron plant, Nigel Hearne and he talked a bit about himself and what he expects to do here in Richmond.
Hector Rojas from the planning department gave us a presentation on the outdoor vendor ordinance and what ideas they have for making it more open to new and different food vendors as well as putting a certain amount of permits aside for “green vendors” that will bring “greens” into the neighborhoods. This ordinance will be coming to City Council in March 2012 with work studies done in January 2012.
7. Old Business: None
8. New Business: Elections of slate. There were no nominations from the floor, Sandi Genser-Maack made the motion to vote on the slate as a whole and Paul Connor seconded it. The slate passed with no nays or abstentions. The slate of officers for the 2012 RNCC is as follows:
President – Bea Roberson, Vice President – Don Woodrow, PIO – Goretha Johnson, Sergeant at Arms – Garland Ellis, Recording Secretary – Jan Mignone, Corresponding Secretary – Jerry Yoshida, Treasurer – Naomi Williams, Directors @ Large – Stan Anderson, Janie Holland, George Schmidt
9. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:16 PM.
Thank you to Laurel Park for the cookies.
Respectfully Submitted by,
Jan Mignone
Recording Secretary