RNCC Meeting Minutes, March 13, 2017
1. The meeting was called to order at 7:05 pm by President Stanly Anderson. He fired himself as his Executive Secretary as he only sent out the draft version of the agenda, not the completed and approved version. There had been talk of the refreshments becoming gourmet meals instead of light refreshments. After a discussion, there was an executive decision made by the President to keep our refreshments provided by the neighborhoods as just snacks and something to drink.
2. MSP approval of the Minutes from the February 13, 2017 meeting.
3. Representatives from the following (17) neighborhoods introduced themselves and some gave reports: Belding/Woods, Fairmede/Hilltop, Hilltop District, Iron Triangle, Marina Bay, May Valley, North & East, Panhandle Annex, Parchester Village, Park Plaza, Pt Richmond, Pullman, Richmond Annex, Richmond Heights, Richmore Village and Metro Square, Santa Fe and Shields/Reid NCs.
4. Announcements from RNCC PIO: Madalyn Law were as follows; Open House and Easter egg hunt at the Parchester Village Community Center on April 14, 2017. There will be eight food emporiums this year and the first will be at Hilltop Lake on Sunday, April 30th from 12-3, there will be a workshop at the Bermuda Room on April 18, 2017 starting at 9:30 am for Is Your house in Order. The presentation begins at 10:00 am. Martinez Medical Tour on 3/17/17 and Amtrak is offering a free trip; John Gioia has county advisory board positions open and is looking for Richmond residents to fill the seats.
5. City Department Heads/City Official Reports:
Engineering & Capital Improvements: Yader Bermudez talked to us about the paving schedule returning April 1st but until then they will be working on potholes and every Friday is pothole day!. They have a couple of slides in the City, one at Rifle Range and the other at Via Verde and they are monitoring them both closely.
City Manager/Community Services: Rochelle Monk talked to us about the Community Services initiating a volunteer success coach, volunteering two to three hours a month. There will also be an Easter Egg Hunt at Nichol Park on Saturday, April 8, 2017 from 9-12 and they will also be having the Recreation Program at the same time. The Recreation Department has summer jobs for young people that are interested in being Recreation Program Leaders.
Mayor’s office: Sequoia Erasmus talked to us about the community meeting coming up to make sure that the Nevin Street Post Office. There will be another Urban Garden Contest, Earth Day is April 22nd and there will be celebrations and work parties all over the City. They Major is working on a homeless and housing issue and Bike To Work Day is May 12th. Come by the Mayor’s office to see the Niad Art Instillation he has for this year. There will be a ceremony for the Lillie Mae Jones Trail, A second meeting of the African American Task Force will occur, there will be a National Mayor’s Challenge for Conservation and a launch of the Mayor’s Community Sports Fund, you could get a grant of $500 to $3,000.00.
Police Department: Allwyn Brown was not available but Captain Mark Gagan was there in his place. Capt Gagan talked about 23rd Street and the issues that continue to happen like robberies, prostitution, and carjackings. They have a newly promoted LT in the Northern District, Lt Tim Simmons and a new Beat Seven Officer, A. Dandridge. They are working with the Family Justice Center to get the young women off the streets and using the law to sue the Civic Center Motel as a nuisance. Lt Tan is working on the drone (UAS) ordinance and policy for both the public and the police department.
Dept of Infrastructure and Maintenance and Operations – Tim Higares was not available
Planning Department: Roberta Felciano talked to us about the Urban Greening Master Plan going to City Council this month to be added to the General Plan. They are also working on some clean up of the zoning ordinances that have gone before City Council.
Fire Department: Adrian Sheppard talked to us about how they are creating their promotion lists and being ready for the next group to retire or relocate. He has found a replacement for Kathy Gerk and her name is Genevieve Pastor Cohen and she is not really replacing Kathy but taking a part of Kathy’s job since she has retired. They are working on getting all Richmond Businesses to have their business license displayed in their windows and the Fire Department is big on public service and are more than willing to help out. They are working on building up the CERT program and have a Training Team do the work that Kathy Gerk was doing with CERT. They are also working on building beautification, like keeping the area clean, adding color and greenery to the area around the Fire Stations.
WCCUSD: Marcus Walton turned his time over to the new WCCUSD Superintendent, Matt Duffy and Matt talked about some of the new things they have implemented in the district. Serra School will become the Mandarin Immersion School but they are going to try to keep many of the Adult classes there as well but will be moving some of them to Alvarado. The Serra Adult classes will be from 3:00 on. They will be doing community outreach about this move.
6. Presentations:
1) Department of Energy Solar Decathlon presentation from three Cal Civil Engineering students. The design mission is to create a zero energy house and they are to make the most of the space and design. The have designed stackable houses that can increase their living space by adding a deck. There are 13 teams in this decathlon and floor plan for the Cal group hs movable walls. Once this competition is completed, they will bring the house back to Richmond and donate it to the Richmond Community Foundation
2) Lindsay Roark from the Rising Sun Energy Center that runs a Cal Youth Energy Services Program. This is different than the PG&E program this is just for 13 sites throughout the Bay Area and they will employ 159 youth. They will bring LED lights for people and they have a feedback system so people can respond to what has been done for them. It will only occur in Richmond from July 5th through August 10, 2017. You can contact the company to book an appointment to have the youth come out to your home. They are focusing on Parchester Village and Shields/Reid neighorhoods.
7. Old Business: None
8. New Business: You were being filmed for viewing on Facebook. This will be discussed further at the Executive meeting.
9. Adjournment: This meeting was adjourned at 9:08 PM.
Respectfully submitted by,
Jan Mignone
Recording Secretary