Richmond Neighborhood Coordinating Council
Building Neighborhoods Block by Block

1.  President Stanly Anderson called the meeting to order at 7:00 pm.

2.  Report from President Anderson.

3.  There were no minutes of the March 14th, 2016 meeting.  They will be approved in the future.

4.  Representatives from the following (21) neighborhoods introduced themselves and some gave reports: Belding Woods, Castro Heights, Coronado, Fairmede/Hilltop, Greenbriar, Hilltop District, Hilltop Village, Laurel Park, Marina Bay, North & East, Panhandle Annex, Parchester Village, Park Plaza, Point Richmond, Pullman, Richmond Annex, Richmond Heights, Richmore Village, Santa Fe, Shields-Reid, Southwest Annex.

5.  Announcements from RNCC PIO: Garland Ellis

6.  City Department Heads/City Official Reports:

Public Works: Warren Williams (his last appearance at RNCC; he is leaving Richmond):  Auditorium ADA updates beginning; work continues on Nevin Avenue and the median strip on Carlson.

City Manager/Community Coordinator: Rochelle Monk, now Director of Community Services: in May, City Manager and Finance Director Belinda Warner will present the budget to RNCC; she is one month into her new role – will stay with the Volunteer program and now is Director of the  Recreation Dept.  She will work with the RNCC Board on her presentations.

Mayor’s office: Alex Knox and Irene Perdomo: Richmond has a seat on the oversight committee on transportation for Measure J; City doing a study on annexation of North Richmond; Bike to Work Day is May 12th; a new survey of food stores to inventory what they carry.

Police Department: Brian Dickerson.  Subject:  “Professional Standards” moves to the 2nd floor of the Community Services Bldg. and becomes the Office of Professional Accountability (OPA).  They will offer mediation for citizen complaints against Police.

Code Enforcement: Tim Higares, Director of Infrastructure and Maintenance Management:  Code Enforcement has moved out of the Police Dept.; the biggest problem is tax-defaulted properties.

Planning Department:  Roberta Feliciano – current project list.

Fire Department: no representative.

WCCUSD:  Marcus Walton:  Dr. Harter leaves in June, so District is doing interviews in May.

7.  Presentations:

1) Tim Higares and Jim Becker, CEO of the Richmond Community Foundation:  Social Impact Bonds/Home Renovation Program. A home within 1,000 ft. of an abandoned property loses 13% of its value.  The plan is to acquire and rehab abandoned houses through grants and then to sell them to first-time buyers who already live in Richmond.  These buyers will go through Sparkpoint to learn to be buyer-ready.  This is not “affordable housing,” because that would depress the market.  There is no bidding competition.  If more than one family can buy the house there is a lottery.  Now there are 200 of these houses.  The plan is to do 40/year.  Later – empty lots.

8.  Old Business: none

9.  New Business: none

10.  Adjournment:  9:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by
Sandi Genser-Maack
for Jan Mignone
Recording Secretary

1.  The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm by President Stanly Anderson. He has returned from time off and his goal with the new format is two fold, discussing changes in the format and giving more time for presentations like we had in February and are having this month. The meeting that Planning had for the RNCC members was well attended and much was learned. There will be an open house meeting before the Planning Commission meeting on Thursday with the author of the Interim Zoning Regulations from 5:30 to 6:30. Thank you to Parchester Village and Park View Neighborhood Councils for the refreshments.

2.  MSP approval of the Minutes from the February 8, 2016 meeting.

3.  Representatives from the following (20) neighborhoods introduced themselves and some gave reports: Belding/Woods, Fairmede/Hilltop, Greenbriar, Hilltop District, Hilltop Village, Laurel Park, Marina Bay, May Valley, North & East, Panhandle Annex, Parchester Village, Park Plaza, Parkview, Point Richmond, Pullman, Richmond Annex, Richmond Heights, Richmore Village & Metro Square, Santa Fe, and Shields/Reid.

4.  Announcements from RNCC PIO: Garland Ellis reported on the school district having another facilities meeting at Kennedy High School, the Planning Commission meeting on March 17, 2016 will be for public discussion on the Sign Ordinance and the Interim Zoning Regulations, you can find out about the Zoning at www.zonerichmond.com. Richmond Main St Initiative is having a stakeholders meeting, the Voices in Cloth will be shown at the Craneway and the Red Oak Victory will start up their pancake breakfasts on April 10, 2016.

5.  City Department Heads/City Official Reports:

Public Works: Yader Bermudez- N/A

Engineering Services: Tawfic Halaby spoke both for the Public Works and Engineering Services. He updated the Nevin Streetscape and the work is to begin on the Auditorium to bring it up to ADA code with an elevator to the second floor. Public Works will be trimming City trees and other landscapes around the City.

City Manager/Community Coordinator: Rochelle Monk N/A

Mayor’s office: Christopher Whitmore sent us the Mayor’s report and there seemed to be no questions for his department.

Police Department: Captain Bisa French talked about the uptick in homicides in the last 3 weeks. They have some good leads on some of the homicides and they know that much of it is happening between Central Richmond and North Richmond gangs. There was also a drive by on Fran Way that did not hit anyone but is an odd location for a drive by. The Police is also hiring 4 part time rangers for the greenway and the parks around town. They will be ticketing people and taking notes about what is happening on the Greenway and in the parks.

Code Enforcement: Tim Higares – sent an update on the parking at garages in downtown Richmond but was not available for the meeting.

Planning Department: Roberta Feliciano talked about the interim zoning ordinance that is in the works right now. They will be having an open house before the Planning Commission meeting on Thursday so people can ask questions of Lina Velasco and Richard ? who helping write the ordinance.

Fire Department: Deputy Fire Marshall Robin Poindexter brought us a flyer on smoke alarms and how they can save lives. Check your batteries every month and change the batteries every six months even if they seem to work okay. If you have the 10 year batteries then always test them once a month but on change them every 10 years.

6.  Presentations:

1) Richmond Promise – Richmond Promise, Inc is a 501c3 whose Executive Director is Jessie Stewart and the seed money for this came for the Chevron ECIA funds that the City of Richmond will receive over the next ten years. The primary goals of this is to give all Richmond residents that graduate from Richmond high schools and have attended a Richmond high school for four years the ability to go to college. These funds cannot be used at a for-profit university and the funds are up to $1,500.00 per year for four years. Out of 800 to 1,000 graduating students , only had 469 have started the application process and only 188 have completed the process. They are hoping to use this money to be seed money and keep Richmond Promise going for more than ten years. They wanted us to help get the word out to get all of those that are graduating to sign up for and complete the application for Richmond Promise. They will report back to us over the next year and come to us earlier to help get the word out.

7.  Old Business: None

8.  New Business: None

9.  Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 8:36 pm by President Stanly Anderson.

Respectfully submitted by,
Jan Mignone
Recording Secretary