RNCC Meeting Minutes, May 9, 2016

1.   The meeting was called to order at pm by President Stanly Anderson. He reported that he will be going to NUSA this year with Rochelle Monk and they will be making a presentation at a later meeting. He also talked about the Berkeley Global Campus Working Group and their final  ideas to submit to Berkeley Chancellor for review and hope that he accepts much of what they have decided, and they will present later this year.

2.   MSP approval of the Minutes from the March 14, 2016 and April 11, 2016 meetings.

3.   Representatives from the following (17) neighborhoods introduced themselves and some gave reports: Belding/Woods, Castro Heights, Fairmede/Hilltop, Hilltop District, Hilltop Villages, Laurel Park, Marina Bay, North & East, Panhandle Annex, Parchester Village, Park Plaza, Parkview, Pt. Richmond, Pullman, Richmond Annex, Richmond Heights, Richmore Village & Metro Square, and Santa Fe.

4.   Announcements from RNCC PIO: Garland Ellis – the 80 freeway will be closed from San Pablo Ave to the San Pablo Dam Rd on May 14 and 15 from 11:00 pm to 7:00 am. The RYSE Center is showing a movie on the 14th and 15th of May. Pullman is having a meeting on May 14th at 2:00 PM to discuss the lane changes for Carlson and Cutting Blvds at Seaport Church, 376 South St, The Historic Preservation Awards will be held on May 25, 2016 in council chambers at 5:30 pm with a reception to follow at the Richmond Art Center, the Interim Zoning Ordinance will have another workshop on Wednesday, May 18, 2016 from 5:30 pm and the Planning Commission will meet on the 19th to discuss the Zoning Ordinance and the Sign Ordinance, and the Richmond Promise Celebration will be on June 2, 2016.

5.   City Department Heads/City Official Reports:

Engineering Services: Yader Bermudez was unavailable but Robert Chelemedos was available and he told us the Nevin Streetscape should be completed by the end of Summer. Barrett, Macdonald and Ohio Aves paving should be done by the end of May. They have started on the ADA upgrades for the Richmond Auditorium and they will start paving in Hilltop and Parchester Village.

City Manager/Community Services: Rochelle Monk – the City and JFK Park have won an award and $10,000.00 from USA Today and Newman’s Own for the Make a Difference Day project. Rochelle and Madalyn Law will be flying to DC to collect the award. In about two months, there will be a survey coming out from the City to all residents that will be asking specific questions about community centers, their hours and their services, so the City can better serve the community. The Recreation and Parks Commission will be having their second International Festivall on July 9, 2016 at Nicholl Park.

Mayor’s office: David Gray spoke about the Mayor’s Time with Tom on May 26, 2016 at Jered’s Pottery on South 19th St from 5-7, the Mayor’s Business Roundtable on 6/8 from 12:00 to 1:30 pm, and the Urban Garden Showcase, where all of the beautiful gardens in Richmond will be on display and the last day for turning in applications is June 18, 2016. The City Council will be hearing from more departments regarding their budget reports and most of City Council;s time until June will be Budget related. There are openings on many of the City’s Boards and Commissions and he would like to see them all filled. The City Council will also be seeing a presentation on Junior Accessory Housing (in-law cottages build in people’s backyards).

Police Department: Chief Brown was unavailable but Eddie Aubrey was there and this was his first time at RNCC as he is the new Manager of the Office of Professional Accountability (it replaces the old Internal Affairs office) and is located in City Hall. His contact information is eaubrey@richmondpd.net and 510-620-6666.

Dept of Infrastructure and Maintenance and Operations (DIMO): Tim Higares gave an overview of the new department his is now heading: code enforcement, abatement, facilities, landscaping and parks. They will start to use an organic spray for weeds at City Hall called Suppress Herbicidal. He has only been in the new position for about a month and he is still trying to get it all figured out.

Planning Department: Lina Velasco told us that the Interim Zoning Ordinance and Sign ORdinance will be to City Council the end of May or early June. The Planning Department is having another open house for RNCC to discuss the modules of the Zoning Ordinance on the 18th and the next time it is at Planning Commission it will be a study session as well. She also brought the planning list by neighborhoods too.

WCCUSD: Marcus Walton spoke about the 13 blue ribbon schools in the district and this year there were two Gates Millennium Scholars from Middle College HS and Hercules HS. The meeting discussing the sale of Adams Middle School will be on May 10, 2016. They school district will need more money before they can begin rebuilding any of the three schools. They will also have a new Superintendent by July 1, 2016.

Fire Department: Fire Chief Adrian Sheppard talked about the beginning of fire season and even though we received a lot of rain, there is still a lot of dry vegetation that can catch on fire. They will replace Station 66’s roof now in the dry season. They will be bringing a third truck (it carries rescue tools, and other items but no water) coming to the City soon. There will be many firefighter retirements happening and the Department will be hiring approximately fifteen new firefighters. They will be trained in EMS (Basic Life Support) as many of their calls are health related. They are getting ready to sell the Fire Department Training Center at Cutting Blvd and 37th St as it is old, in the middle of residents and they will move to 731 West Gertrude where they will not be bothering anyone. CCC will be assisting RFD in training of Advanced EMT.

6.  Presentations: 1) Vinay Pimplé (Richmond City Councilperson) and Ross Chittenden (Deputy Executive Director of Projects) were discussing the Contra Costa Transit Authority Tax Proposal – Vinay was the against or more just questioning the wording and how the City of Richmond can use the funds to pave their streets. Many of Vinay’s concerns were the language used i.e. instead of “will be required” to “strongly pursue” so if the location does not work as a “cycle street” Richmond can still use the funding for their streets. There is also the problem with doing “street diets” as it makes the cars go slower which means more pollution and more greenhouse gasses. All of this makes it much harder for cyclists to ride their bikes and be healthy.
The CCTA has asked for three .05 cent taxes (this is the third) since 1978. This will mean 2.75 million to the City of Richmond if tax passes and some of the money from this tax will help with restoring the ferry and bringing in another 30% increase in population over the next ten years. This tax will help with restoring more buses to the area, fix potholes in a timely fashion and 4% of these funds would go for bike/ped trails.
Ross Chittenden has stated that he believes that the wording can be changed to make it more flexible for the cities involved.

7.  Old Business: None

8.  New Business: There will be two RNCC By-law changes that will sent out to the membership and on next month’s agenda.

9.  Adjournment: The President adjourned the meeting at 9:06 pm.

Respectfully submitted by,

Jan Mignone
Recording Secretary