RNCC Meeting Minutes, July 11, 2016
1. The meeting was called to order at 7pm by President Stanly Anderson.
2. MSP approval of the Minutes from the June 20, 2016 meeting.
3. Representatives from the following (17) neighborhoods introduced themselves and some gave reports: Belding/Woods, Castro Heights, Coronado, Fairmede/Hilltop, Hilltop District, Hilltop Villages, Laurel Park, Marina Bay, North & East, Panhandle Annex, Park Plaza, Pt. Richmond, Pullman, Richmond Annex, Richmond Heights, Santa Fe, and Shields-Reid neighborhood councils.
4. Announcements from RNCC PIO: Garland Ellis told us about a local AC Transit board meeting in El Cerrito on 7/13/16 at 5:00 pm, Zone Richmond Study session on 7/21/16 at 5:30, CERT Traffic Control class, contact Kathy Gerk, Zone Richmond Module III is now available online now, August 2, 2016 is National Night Out and there will be caravans, Rosie Rally on August 13th and they are looking for monitors for this event.
5. City Department Heads/City Official Reports:
Engineering & Capital Improvements: Rob Chelemedos told us that the City had completed the paving on Barrett, Macdonald and Ohio Aves. The ADA changes to the Richmond Auditorium will be completed by the end of the year, they are working on Safe Routes to School to be completed soon, and they will be paving Richmond Parkway from 80 to the YMCA on both sides.
City Manager/Community Services: Rochelle Monk was unavailable.
Mayor’s office: Christopher Whitmore talked about the Mayor’s Urban Garden contest and this will happen again next year, they are working on the Richmond Food Census and this will be a citywide survey, on July 27, 2016 Time with Tom will be at the CHDC offices at 1555 Fred Jackson Way, My Brother’s Keeper will be held at the Oakland Convention Center on 7/21/16 and there will employment opportunities as well as a “Winning in the Workplace” workshop.
Police Department: Allwyn Brown will be presenting so he is not speaking now.
Dept. of Infrastructure, Maintenance, and Operations: Tim Higares will be speaking with Jim Becker on the Social Impact Bond.
Planning Department: Jonelyn Whales passed out the Projects under Review but had nothing to report.
Fire Department: Chief Adrian Sheppard had to go to one of the fire stations but would try to make it back in time to report but he was unable to do so.
6. Presentations:
1) Richmond Police Chief Allwyn Brown began his presentation with a moment of silence for the fallen Dallas police officers. He talked about the crime stats and what changes we have had over the last year. The crime has gone down since last year but we had an uptick just before the end of 2015 and it continued into 2016. They neutralize one group and another one pops up. They believe that all of the Interstate 80 shootings are all gang related. On the Friday before this meeting, they had a stabbing homicide and it was the City’s 13th for the year. Of those 13 they are only working on 10 (the others are under the CHP jurisdiction) and of those 10 they have cleared 8. They have lost 5 sworn officers because of budget cuts. They have finally gotten the Ranger program under way and have 4 part time rangers that patrol parks and the Greenway. They are always on the lookout for grants and they have been very fortunate in the past and have gotten grants to help with funding. All sworn officers have completed the Complicit Bias Training and they have received approximately $2 million for the State budget. They are also going after a Federal grant that deals with safe neighborhoods. There has been many complaints about fireworks and gunshots during the 4th of July holiday. More needs to be done and it will involve the community and educating the community about why this is a not a good thing to do.
2) Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano Counties are asking for volunteers to help distribute food in the Richmond area.
3) The Social Impact Bond: Jim Becker and Tim Higares spoke about what they are doing with the Social Impact Bond. They will be giving us quarterly reports on how all this is going. They have just completed their first house at 10 South 6th Street and will have 623 17th Street finished in August. They just purchased 1025 Florida which is right across the street from Richmond Community Foundation. They have 15 properties in probate and hope that they move closer to them taking ownership and then rehabbing them.
7. Old Business: There has been some changes made to the bylaws so that starting in November 2016, all board members of the RNCC will be elected for a two-year term and will serve no more than two consecutive terms (four consecutive years). Rock Brown made the motion and Sandi Genser-Maack seconded it. We had a unanimous vote for the change.
8. New Business: There will be a WCCUSD board meeting discussing the sale of Adams Middle School on July 21, 2016.
9. Adjournment: Meeting was adjourned at 9:04 pm.
Respectfully submitted by,
Jan Mignone
Recording Secretary