RNCC Meeting Minutes, October 21, 2013
1. The meeting was called to order at 7:03 pm by President Don Woodrow.
2. MSP approval of the Minutes from September 18,2013.
3. Representatives from the following 18 neighborhoods introduced themselves and some gave reports: Carriage Hills North, Eastshore, Fairmede/Hilltop, Greenbriar, Hilltop Village, Iron Triangle, Marina Bay, May Valley, North & East, Parchester Village, Park Plaza, Pt Richmond, Pullman, Richmond Annex, Richmond Heights, Richmore Village/Metro Sq, Santa Fe, Shields-Reid.
4. Announcements from RNCC PIO: Goretha Johnson started the meeting without any announcements in her folder but we quickly added the Make a Difference Day at Belding-Garcia Park Oct. 26th, the RAC Skeleton Fest Oct 26th and the Red Oak Victory Veteran’s Day event November 11th.
5. City Department Heads/City Official Reports:
Public Works: Yader Bermudez was unavailable but Warren Williams – Streets division gave us the paving schedule for the next 3 weeks; talked about the theft of copper in the light poles and what it takes to repair them so we all have light again. They are fixing up 3 area parks, Belding-Woods, Lucas Park and Pt. Molate Beach Park.
Engineering Services: Tawfic Halaby was unavailable and we had no replacement.
City Manager/Community Coordinator: Rochelle Monk was there but had to leave but she did pass out some information about Richmond Cares and a letter from City Manager Bill Lindsay about whether the City is thinking of trying to pass a sales tax or parcel tax to increase their coffers.
Mayor’s office: Nicole Valentine spoke to us about the City Council’s’ proclamation for the Extra Mile as well as green house gas mitigation. She is also looking into urban agriculture zones. The Mayor visits San Quentin inmates especially those that are from Richmond and many of those make amends to the city of Richmond. There was a question about eminent domain and Nicole said that they are very far away from making those decisions.
Police Department: Chief Magnus spoke to us about the groundbreaking ceremony on November 1st at 10am for the Family Justice Center and would love for everyone to attend. They have hired a tech to work for the RPD in the capacity of a CCTV technician. He will be able to repair, move and install the CCTV cameras we have now at half of the cost as the company they were using. They are also promoting 1 person to Lieutenant and 2 to Sergeants. They have made an arrest in the most recent homicide at 45th and Cutting. There has been a major decrease in vehicle theft, 23% compared to the same time last year. They are still in phase one of the Predictive Policing and they are looking into either having body cams or glasses cams for the officers. It will increase the ability to bring people to trial as in many cases they are much different when the arrive in court.
Code Enforcement: Tim Higares was unavailable but the Chief told us about roosters being a violation of the noise ordinance and that code enforcement was working to make parking enforcement more regulated.
Fire Marshall: Deputy Fire Marshall Robin Poindexter reminded us it was Fire Prevention Week and gave us some holiday hints to keep us safe: Always get your tree flame retardant, be very careful if you deep fry your turkey, check all your lights before using them and make sure they are UL rated, the same for extension cords, use a power strip to protect from overloads, don’t leave candles unattended and always unplug your lights after 90 days of use.
Planning Department: TBD no one was available.
Environmental Manager: Lynne Scarpa was unavailable.
6. Presentations:
1) Ana Cortez, Richmond Community and Economic Development Agency and Energy Efficient Program – was not available.
2) Kyra Worthy, Executive Director, 4Richmond – Kyra has been the interim Executive Director and was just given the job for real. She brought us some goody bags with a t-shirt and information about 4Richmond. They have a steering committee of 32 (both Bea Roberson and Naomi Williams are on) and you can sign up for their weekly newsletter to hear what they are doing in the community. They have sent 2 kids to Fisk University and helped install the cameras on 23rd Street. They will donate to RPD to help them get the lapel cameras the Chief was talking about. They work with the parents to help get the kid to college and they are working with PAL because they do not want to duplicate what is already happening in Richmond. They have brought the Chabot Science Traveling Show to all the s chools in Richmond. They hire Richmond high school kids to do flyer delivery around the City.
7. Old Business: Reading of the 2014 Election Slate minus 2 positions. There was much discussion regarding the Recording Secretary position as it is very important and Jan Mignone, the current Recording Secretary has termed out. A motion was made by Janie Holland to extend Jan Mignone’s term as Recording Secretary for another year unless they can find another person to fill the position. This motion was seconded by Naomi Williams and there was more discussion and the motion was tabled by President Don Woodrow and will be revisited at the November meeting if we do not have a full election slate.
8. New Business: President Don Woodrow has secured the Senior Center for the RNCC holiday meeting and swearing in ceremony.
9. Adjournment: Occurred at 8:47 PM
Thank you to Hilltop Villages and Iron Triangle Neighborhood Councils for providing tonight’s refreshments.
Respectfully Submitted by,
Jan Mignone
Recording Secretary