RNCC Meeting Minutes, October 17, 2016

P. O. Box 5508 Richmond, CA 94805,  (510) 620-6512  www.richmondneighbors.org

1.  The meeting was called to order at 7:03 pm by President Stanly Anderson. He talked about the RNCC & League of Women Voters Candidates forum and how well it went.

2.  MSP approval of the Minutes from the September 12, 2016 meeting.

3.  Representatives from the following (12) neighborhoods introduced themselves and some gave reports: Hilltop District, Laurel Park, Marina Bay, North & East, Panhandle Annex, Park Plaza, Pt Richmond, Pullman, Richmond Annex, Richmond Heights, Richmore Village & Metro Square, and Santa Fe.

4.  Announcements from RNCC PIO: Garland Ellis only had two announcements in the folder, one was for the Richmond Bay Specific Plan that comments are due on October 18th by 5:00 pm and there will be an open house at 5:30 pm before the Planning Commission meeting at 6:30 to go over more of the Zoning ordinance.

5.  City Department Heads/City Official Reports:

Engineering & Capital Improvements: Robert Chelemedos talked to us about the Nevin Ave Streetscape from City Hall to BART is coming along and should be completed soon. The Richmond Auditorium ADA upgrades are moving along as well. You can collect sandbags at the Bayview Fire Station and the Corporate Yard. You can get up to 10 sandbags and Seniors can get them delivered.

City Manager/Community Services: Rochelle Monk told us that her highly anticipated survey should be here by Halloween. She is in need of our input on how to reimagine the community centers and how we use them and what their hours are. In mid-November, the Community Services Department will be getting two new Americorp volunteers. She really wants to hear from the teens about what programing they would like to see in the community centers.

Mayor’s office: Alex Knox/David Gray/ Christopher Whitmore – N/A

Police Department: Capt Threat spoke about homicides and the  clearance rate of 59%, they have cleared 13 of the 22 homicides as of this date. Miles Bailey has been promoted to Sgt. Violent and property crimes are down but homicides are up 35%.

Dept of Infrastructure, Maintenance, and Operations: Tim Higares – N/A

Planning Department:  Jonathan Malagon told us that they had extended the comment period for the Richmond Bay Specific Plan and he brought the Planning Department list of projects to be reviewed..

Fire Department: Deputy Chief Emon Usher talked to us about how many calls they have had so far this year (11,700) and of those 8,000 are medical calls and 540 are for actual fires. The rest are good intent calls. RFD is applying for a grant to purchase automatic chest compression machines as they will reduce the cost of Worker Comp claims. They have 75 firefighters and are planning to hire another 10 in 2017. They have promoted those that help others and they now have 5 new Captains and 2 Battalion Chiefs.

WCCUSD: Marcus Walton told us about a School Board Candidates Forum at Korematsu Middle School on Oct 24th, starting at 6:30 pm. There will be free PSAT and SAT testing on Wednesday, October 19, 2016 for Juniors and Seniors. WCCUSD Board meeting will be held at Dejean Middle School on Wednesday, Oct 19th starting at 6:30 pm. They have also done some bond refunding and this has saved the school district about 59 million dollars. Kennedy High School Varsity football team is undefeated and the JV is 8-1 for the first time in a long time.

6.  Presentations: 1) Jessie Stewart, Executive Director of Richmond Promise came to update us on how they are progressing. They are doing a lot to prepare the Seniors to be ready to go to college, from having a Senior Year Survival Guide to providing resources that will be needed to go and stay in college. They will be increasing their outreach and support. Overview of the numbers are a little disappointing, at the end of May they thought they had 384 seniors to receive scholarships but it ended up being 284 that actually received them. CCC has a program that will keep those that are not ready for a 4 year college on track to transfer in two and then be ready to graduate in two more years for a total of four. They will be doing some Richmond Promise training and they will be using their website as a tool.

7.  Old Business: Our nominating Slate for 2017 is as follows:
President – Stanly Anderson
Vice President – Naomi Williams
Treasurer – Bea Roberson
Recording Secretary – Jan Mignone
Corresponding Secretary – Garland Ellis
Sgt at Arms – Jerry Yoshida
Public Information Officer – Madelyn Law
Directors at Large – Roxie Stile, Margaret Jordan, Cesar Zepeda

8.  New Business: Commission on Aging is having a Zydeco dance on October 15th from 6-10 at the Richmond Auditorium, there will be a clean-up on 23rd Street on October 22nd from 10-12, meet at Andy’s Donuts, 23rd Street will have a Halloween trick or treating from 3:30 to 5:30 on October 31st.

9.  Adjournment: This meeting was adjourned by President Stanly Anderson at 8:46 pm.

Respectfully submitted by,
Jan Mignone
Recording Secretary