RNCC Meeting Minutes, February 11, 2013
1. The meeting was called to order, at 7:00 pm by President Don Woodrow.
2. MSP approval of the Minutes from the January 14, 2013 meeting.
3. Representatives from the following (18) neighborhoods introduced themselves and some gave reports: Carriage Hills North, Coronado, Fairmede/Hilltop, Greenbriar, Hilltop Village, Marina Bay, May Valley, North & East, Panhandle Annex, Parchester Village, Park Plaza, Pt. Richmond, Pullman, Richmond Annex, Richmond Heights, Richmore Village & Metro Square, Santa Fe and Southwest Annex.
4. Announcements from RNCC PIO: Goretha Johnson announced the play being presented at the CC Theatre, the author series put on by the Richmond Public Library Foundation as well as the PAL annual luncheon.
5. City Department Heads/City Official Reports:
Police Department: Chief Magnus brought with him, one of the 2 new LTs for the Richmond PD, Darren Monahan, and we were able to congratulate him in person, the other new LT, Ron Carmichael was unavailable. The Chief spoke about the officer involved shooting that had just occurred on Barrett Ave and “B” St behind the St. John Apartments. The District Attorney is the lead investigator for any officer involved shooting. He and Captain Mark Gagan will be going to Washington DC for a day to attend a law enforcement meeting on how to make our schools safer.
Public Works: Yader Bermudez passed out the street paving agenda for the next 3 weeks, weather permitting and a 2 page RNCC report from public works. He answered some questions about mulch, the lights being upgraded to LEDs and a few other things.
Engineering Services: Tawfic Halaby did not attend as he had no report but President Don Woodrow updated us on the Dornan Tunnel being closed because of falling concrete in the ceiling from a large gap.
City Manager/Community Coordinator: Rochelle Monk brought us a draft of the neighborhood clean-up schedule for 2013, as well as a phone list for her department. She also brought us the “Good Neighbor Policy” pamphlet that comes from the City Manager’s office and told us that you can get some made up with your neighborhood’s information on them so you can pass them out at different events your NC might have.
Mayor’s Office: Nicole Valentine was unavailable but did send a list of things that the Mayor had already done. It was suggested that the Mayor’s office be asked to bring us information for future events instead of information about recently past events.
Fire Department: Terry Harris spoke to us about a structure fire on Morningside Dr. in May Valley that was a grow house and had been using 20 times more electricity than a normal home, which wasn’t caught because the house had been rewired by a professional to bypass PG&E’s meters. They are giving smoke detectors to the elderly and needy throughout the city. Terry will be taking a trip to Chevron’s El Segundo refinery, to learn how the City of El Segundo oversees operations.
Planning Department: Kieron Slaughter was our planner of the month and he brought the planning projects under review report as well as a Notice of Violation and Order to Abate that the Planning department is passing out as warning letters. This has been really effective and by having Planning passing out these “Notices” it frees up Code Enforcement staff.
Code Enforcement: Tim Higares brought us an article on Foreclosures, the “Zombie Title”. He updated us on the housing task force that was put together by the City Manager’s office and Patrick Lynch of the Housing Department and in the last 3 months they have 6 properties with 3 pending and a couple of vacant lots on the list. They are also working on the paving of front yards which is a violation but they need to find the right way to enforce this violation as some people have had their front yard cemented for over 20 years.
Environmental Manager: Lynne Scarpa sent around a quiz relating to the 2013 calendar she handed out last month. She also passed out California Poppy seeds to everyone. She answered a question about mulch; it is a violation if mulch enters the gutters or the sidewalk as it will pollute the bay.
6. Presentations: We had Shasa Curl; City Manager’s office, Julie Sinai; UC Berkeley, Armondo Viamontes; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab, and Sam Chapman; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab give us a presentation on LBNL second location, Richmond Bay Campus. The City of Richmond has been meeting monthly with LBNL so they can be educated in the UC procurement process for the businesses in Richmond. They are in the EIR process and once they have it completed and it has been out for public comment, then they should be ready to go to the UC Regents and the Department of Energy by the end of 2013 to make this “THE SITE” and no longer refer to it as the “prefered site”. The first phase of this site is the 3 buildings that will unite the Lab’s Bio Energy Institute, Life Sciences department and the Energy department into one location. The tenants of these buildings should be moving in around 2018. There long range plan is approximately a 40 year plan and hope to grow accordingly.
7. Old Business: None
8. New Business: None
9. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:08 PM and we would like to thank the Fairmede/Hilltop and Richmore Village & Metro Square Neighborhood Councils for this evening’s refreshments.
Respectfully submitted by,
Jan Mignone
Recording Secretary