Mayor and Councilmembers:

This is the weekly report for the week ending April 27^th, 2007.

1.         Meeting Notes

The next City Council meeting is on Tuesday, May 1^st, convening at 8:30 AM for a Closed Session, reconvening at 6:00 PM for Redevelopment items, and followed by the regular City Council meeting at 7:00 PM.  As a reminder, the City Council goal setting retreat has been scheduled for a half day on Tuesday, May 8^th.  We are also proposing a joint meeting of the City Council and Housing Commission that evening.  We will finalize specific times and locations for the meetings on May 8^th in the very near future.

2.         Light Brown Apple Moth

Janet Schneider, Administrative Chief, attended a meeting with Supervisor John Gioia, representatives of the United States Department of Agriculture, California Department of Food and Agriculture, the City El Cerrito, and Contra Costa County Agricultural Commissioner regarding the detection of the Light Brown Apple Moth in El Cerrito and Richmond (the first detection of these moths anywhere in North America).  The first one was found here in February and, through trapping and surveying, 75 more have been detected in Marin County and San Francisco. The moth is native to Australia and causes $21,000,000 annually in lost production and control costs in that country. Over 250 plants are at risk of being attacked by the moth, including oaks, redwoods, and a wide variety of fruit trees. The moth stunts or deforms young seedlings, spoils the appearance of ornamental plants, and injures fruit tree crops.  Currently, Richmond and the other cities where the moth has been found are under interim regulatory action, which requires wholesale and retail nurseries to inspect plants and sell only pest-free plants. These moths are spreading because people are moving infested plants, fruits, and vegetables.  Consequently, residents, and community and school gardeners should not remove plant material from their yards.  Plant materials should only be disposed of at the West County landfill, through the garbage hauler or approved landscapers.  More information on this subject can be found at www.cdfa.ca.gov/phpps.

3.         General Plan Vision Workshop: Richmond’s Future Port and Industrial Base

Last Thursday the City of Richmond and the Council of Industries co-hosted a comprehensive discussion about trends in the growth and evolution of seaports.  Participants heard comments from Richmond Port Director Jim Matzorkis, along with speakers representing the Ports of San Francisco and Oakland, who discussed seaport growth opportunities and challenges.  Topics discussed included globalization, employment, and economic development and investment trends.

The message was that Richmond is well positioned to play a significant role in the regional economy as a port city; however, substantial investment will be required in order to overcome local and regional transportation and environmental constraints.  The meeting was well attended and its results will be reflected in on-going General Plan activity.

4.         Point Richmond Shores (Terminal 1) Update

As you will recall, the third design charrette for the Point Richmond Shores Project (Terminal One) was completed on Saturday, February 24^th.  Among the key points of consensus was that the “main” road – that is, the road that would handle the major traffic flow in the ferry point area – should be the scenic, shoreline road, and not the existing (or a reconfigured) Brickyard Cove Road.  Also of significance, Toll Brothers had completed a revised design of the project based on the input from the first two sessions, and presented a building mass analysis of this conceptual design.  The strong consensus by the participants was that the proposed changes to the building mass were a significant improvement from the prior Toll Brothers design of the project, and that this new conceptual design should form the basis of a new design submittal by Toll Brothers.

I spoke earlier this week with Ben Helber of Toll Brothers, who indicated that, while they are working hard to prepare plans that can form the basis of a tentative map approval, and, although they were hoping to complete such plans for Council consideration at a meeting in May, they believe that these plans will not be ready for City Council consideration until June.

We will keep you informed.

5.         Schedule for Consideration of Chevron Energy Renewal Project

As you know, City staff members and a consulting team, are working on the Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for Chevron’s proposed Energy Renewal project.  Based on the most recent schedule prepared by City staff, the draft EIR will be available on May 8^th, the Planning Commission will consider action on the project on July 26^th, and the City Council will consider action on the project at its two meetings in September 2007.

We will keep you informed as activities related to this project continue.

6.         Pavement Management Program

I have requested that Rich Davidson provide regular updates for the weekly report regarding the paving program.   Every other week, he will create a schedule outlining the streets that will either be paved, slurry sealed or crack sealed for the following two weeks.  The first report will be next week.

For your information, the arterial streets that are getting paved this year are 23^rd Street from Cutting to Ohio and from Roosevelt to Rheem; and Barrett Avenue from San Pablo Avenue to 37^th Street.   Additional arterial paving work will be done in coordination with the City’s sewer improvement projects.  Large sections of the Parkway will also be slurry sealed as part of the current year’s contract.

7.         Growth Management Checklist is Ready

On May 15^th, staff will request from the City Council authorization to submit the Measure C 2004 & 2005 Growth Management Compliance Checklist to the Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA).  Once approved, the Public Works and Engineering Departments will receive a payment of approximately $1,200,000 in “return-to-source” money, which is used to fund the City’s pavement management program.

8.         Design Charrette for Miraflores

Last Wednesday, the Housing Division of the Community Redevelopment Agency and DCE consultants hosted a very well attended community design charrette at the Booker T. Anderson Community Center regarding the proposed Miraflores development.  Several alternative site plans were discussed, and DCE will prepare modified development plan alternatives for follow-up review.

9.         Save America’s Treasures Grant Application for the Richmond Plunge

The application for the National Park Service’s Save America’s Treasures grant was submitted on Thursday.  This application was prepared by Laurie Loftus, a consulting grant writer who successfully secured the $2 million grant for the Plunge through the California Cultural and Historical Endowment.  The City is requesting $200,000 under this grant for the roof monitor replacement at the Richmond Plunge.  We should hear about the award of this grant by the end of the year.

10.       Attendance at Arts and Culture Commission Meeting

This past week, I attended a meeting of the City’s Arts and Culture Commission.  We discussed several issues related to support of arts programs in the community.  In particular, I discussed trying to form expanded strategic partnerships with non-profit arts organizations that might form the basis for the City being able to provide more general operating support for these organizations.  While no particular conclusions were reached at this meeting, I am planning to address this issue as part of the City’s budget process.

11.       Participation in Earth Day Activities

The City participated in several activities during the recent Earth Day Celebration:

·         Last Saturday, staff from the Industrial Pretreatment Program operated an informational booth at the West County Household Hazardous Waste Earth Day Celebration.  Over 450 people came by to learn about storm water and wastewater issues related to watersheds; the proper disposal of paints, yard waste and kitchen grease; the cleaning up of spills; application of fertilizers and pesticides; and, what one needs to know about eating fish and shellfish out of the Bay.  Informational flyers were handed out in both English and Spanish.  Some of the people stopping by the booth were asked to fill out a survey, which will be used in the City’s annual report to the Regional Water Quality Control Board.

·         Parks staff assisted over 20 volunteers with an Earth Day clean-up on Saturday April 21^st.  A large timber and metal piling was removed from the shoreline surf 200 yards east of Shimada Park, cut up and hauled away in pieces. Its metal alone weighed over a ton.  Large tractor tires (one weighed in at over 1,500 lbs.) were removed from the mud and surf near Edwards Park.  Six stake bed truck loads of other debris were also removed.  Frank Gonzales, Parks Supervisor agrees with the community volunteers that the day was a success.

12.       Agenda Management System

City Clerk Diane Holmes is working with City staff to implement a new automated agenda management system.  Beginning with the May 15^th City Council meeting, the agenda and related materials will be prepared, assembled, and distributed using the SIRE Agenda Plus Management System.  With the implementation of Agenda Plus, all agenda items will be created, approved, assembled into a packet, and distributed electronically.  A total of six training sessions have been scheduled for staff, with four having been completed and the fifth and sixth sessions to be held on Wednesday, May 2^nd.  The first agenda packets that will be created within the Agenda Plus system will be Council packets, with Standing Committee agendas and packets created in the system beginning June 11^th.  Councilmembers, as well as the City Manager, City Attorney, and City Clerk, will receive both electronic and hard copy packets.  The packet will be available in PDF form to both Department and division heads, and, significantly, the entire agenda and supporting materials will be available to the public via the City’s website for viewing or printing.

The City Clerk estimates that the installation of Agenda Plus will result in significant cost savings to produce agenda packets and distribute hard copy packets.  In particular, 16.5 reams of paper are currently used to produce 30 to 33 packets at a cost of approximately $594 per meeting.  To produce packets for a year requires 181.5 reams of paper at a total cost of $13,068.  These amounts will be cut by two-thirds.  Related supplies and expenses are also anticipated to l be reduced by 50%.

13.       Portable Toilets in Parks

Pursuant to City Council direction this past Tuesday night, the Parks & Landscaping Divisions will coordinate placement of more portable toilets in community parks as recommended by the Recreation & Parks Commission.  Look for these necessary facilities arriving throughout the remainder of this spring and summer to accommodate increasing park activities.

14.       New Planting in Front of City Hall

Park & Landscaping staff planted the two median islands of Marina Way South in front of City Hall.  Look for a display of color from the roses and day lilies through the summer.

15.       This Week’s City of Richmond Website Fun Facts

What documents are our community members searching for? Here are the top 10 documents downloaded from our website:

Here are the numbers of visitors for last week as compared to the prior week.

The top 10 pages they visited were:  

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or comments about these or any other items of interest to you.

Have a great week!

Bill Lindsay

City Manager

City of Richmond

1401 Marina Way South

Richmond, CA 94804

Phone:  510-620-6512

Fax:      510-620-6542

e-mail:   bill_lindsay@ci.richmond.ca.us