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  Weekly Report for the Week Ending Feburary 21st, 2014
February 21, 2014
 
 

Mayor and City Councilmembers:

This is the weekly report for the week ending February 21st, 2014.

  • Meeting Notes

 

The next City Council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, February 25th beginning with a Closed Session at 5:30 PM, followed by the regular agenda at 6:30 PM.

  • Richmond ESC – Excellence Serving our Community – Celebrates its First Year!

 

This week, the City of Richmond’s impact volunteering program, Richmond ESC – Excellence Serving our Community – celebrated its first year of implementation. 
Since launching in February 2013, the program has:

  • Engaged and connected over 1,500 volunteers to meaningful service opportunities and projects;
  • Inspired 832 youth volunteers (included in the 1,500 count) between the ages of 5 – 25 to lead service projects and/or serve within the Richmond community; 
  • Partnered, collaborated or supported 62 departments/programs and community organizations/groups; and
  • Secured a $100,000 grant award to support the volunteer-led initiatives of WriterCoach Connection, Read Aloud Volunteer Program, and Bring Me a Book.

 

The City of Richmond’s impact volunteering program was awarded a two-year grant in January 2012 by the S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation to plan and implement the Cities of Service model in the community.  Cities of Service is a national coalition of more than 160 cities who have made a commitment to work with their cities to advance service strategies.

To connect to volunteer opportunities or for more information regarding the program, please visit www.richmondvolunteers.org, or call (510) 237-SERV (7378).

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  • Call for Nominations – Distinguished Volunteer Service Award

 

The City of Richmond’s impact volunteering program, Richmond ESC – Excellence Serving our Community, the Offices of Mayor Gayle McLaughlin and City Manager Bill Lindsay, and the Richmond Community Foundation invite you to nominate your volunteer(s) for a Distinguished Volunteer Service Award that will recognize outstanding service in our community in the following areas of Public Safety, Beautification, Education, Health and Wellness, the Arts, and overall Excellence in Community Service. The deadline for nominations is Friday, March 21st, at 5:00 PM.

The Distinguished Volunteer Service Awards will be presented at the annual city-wide Volunteer Recognition and Awards Ceremony at the Richmond Auditorium, on Thursday, April 10th, at 4:00 PM.   For more information please call (510) 620-6511, or visit www.richmondvolunteers.org

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  • Recognized Partnership Highlight: Weigh of Life

 

Weigh of Life is a non-profit organization that provides opportunities for families to enjoy improving their health through exercise classes, nutrition education and social support. Weigh of Life offers exercise classes that include Zumba, step-aerobics, cardio-kickboxing and Afro-Latin Dance. Each class is high impact aiming to burn 300 calories within one hour. To help track results and success, participants are given the opportunity to weigh themselves. At the end of each class participants are offered a fresh fruit, vegetable or a bag of nuts. Participants are also encouraged to consume enough water to replenish that lost in the high impact aerobics class and reminded to avoid high calorie beverages for the remainder of their day.  Nevin Community Center and Shields-Reid Community Centers were chosen for Weigh of Life’s expansion as they were a recipient of the Kaiser HEAL (Healthy Eating Active Living) grant.

To learn more about Weigh of Life, and to see their schedule of activities, visit their website at: http://weighoflife.org.

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  • Openings on County Grand Jury

Contra Costa County Supervisor John Gioia office contacted the City of Richmond to advise that the Contra Costa Superior Court is currently accepting applications for Civil Grand Jury service for the 2014-2015 term.  Grand Juries are often referred to as the "citizen watchdogs" of local government, with the role of monitoring and reviewing government actions.  Serving on a civil grand jury is an important role of citizens in a democracy.

Eligible applicants for Grand Jury service must be a U.S. Citizen, at least 18 years old, a resident of Contra Costa County, and not serving in any elected office.  Applicants must be prepared to devote at least 20 hours per week to Grand Jury service, most of it in Martinez.  If you work, you must be able to be released from your job to perform jury duties.

For more information, contact the Office of the Civil Grand Jury at (925) 957-5638, or go to www.cc-courts.org/grandjury, where you can also download an application. 

The application deadline is March 28, 2014. 

  • On-Line Payment for Business License Renewals Now Available

 

The City of Richmond now offers the ability to pay Business License Renewals online using MasterCard or VISA credit cards.  Currently, the City of Richmond has approximately 8,000 business licenses in its database.  Approximately 80% of the business licenses expire December 31, 2014.  The online payments are expected to reduce the manually processed volume of renewals by at least 20%.

More information can be found at http://etrakit.ci.richmond.ca.us/Search.aspx?grp=license.

  • Paratransit – New Location and New Name

 

Paratransit has been renamed “R-Transit” and has relocated from 440 Civic Center Plaza to the R-Transit Center located at the Richmond Amtrak/BART Station at 1700 Nevin Avenue near the new parking garage off Macdonald Avenue.

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We encourage you to visit this new hub for paratransit and other transit services. The new R-Transit Center offers:

  • A one-stop shop for applications, tickets, and information and referrals to transportation services in West County and throughout the Bay Area;
  • New R-TRANSIT coupons that can be used for both R-TRANSIT van and taxi services;
  • One flat rate for taxi service;
  • Clipper card accessibility;
  • Automated phone system for reservations / cancellations;
  • Partnerships with other transit and transportation providers/non-profits;
  • Convenient hours.

 

We hope soon to be offering evening paratransit service and automated confirmations of ride reservations.

 

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Below are some frequently asked questions about the new R-Transit program:

Q. What is R-Transit?

Answer:  R-Transit, formally Paratransit, provides quality, low-cost transportation services to seniors (55 and older), persons with disabilities, low-income residents, general public and veterans that reside in the City of Richmond and the unincorporated areas of East Richmond Heights, El Sobrante, Hasford Heights, Kensington, North Richmond, and Rollingwood.

Q. How is R-Transit funded?

Answer:  R-Transit is funded by the City of Richmond, Contra Costa Transportation Authority (CCTA), Federal Transit Administration (FTA) grants managed by Caltrans and Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC), and farebox recovery.

Q. For what types of public transportation is R-Transit responsible?

Answer:  R-Transit offers specialized transportation services, such as demand response transportation, individual trips, group trips, special purpose group tours, shuttle services, nutrition site transportation, and coordination with other transportation providers, and information and referral to other transportation programs serving West Contra Costa County.

Q. What happens if I have a question or complaint? How should I contact you?

Answer:  We want to hear from you! Send us an email at paratransitservices@ci.richmond.ca.us or call us at (510) 307-8026.

Q. How is R-Transit governed?

Answer:  R-Transit is governed by the Richmond City Council.

Q. Does R-Transit partnership/contract with other vendors to provide transportation services?

Answer:  Yes. Friendly Cab provides rides for the R-Transit Taxi Service. We propose working with other vendors to provide a fixed route service in the future and be a contract provider for Medi-CAL Non-Emergency Medical Transportation.

Q. Does R-Transit operate on holidays?

Answer:  R-Transit will not provide service on the following holidays: New Year’s Day, Martin L. King Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Admission Day, Indigenous Peoples Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving Day and the day after Thanksgiving, and Christmas Day. There are other service providers (taxi), with which R-Transit has contacted that operate 365 days a year.  Please call the R-Transit Call Center for additional details.

  • City Manager Chronicles

 

I have listed below some of the topics for meetings that I have recently attended in the hope that it provides an idea of the varied issues with which our organization deals routinely.

Much of the activities of the recent week involved working on issues relating to the Richmond Housing Authority. Other activities and meeting topics during the past week have included:

  • Met with staff from the Finance Department and City Manager’s office to formulate recommendations to the City Council regarding budget amendments;
  • As part of our regularly weekly management staff meeting, I heard an interesting presentation regarding youth engagement at the RYSE Center;
  • Attended the monthly Council of Industries lunch, and heard a presentation from the proposed developer of Terminal 1;
  • Attended the quarterly meeting of the Emergency Operations Center/Disaster Council to discuss emergency preparedness issues and future training exercises;
  • Met with owners’ representatives of Hilltop Mall to discuss their marketing plans, and their ideas and concepts for re-inventing the Mall;
  • Participated in a conference call with Shasa Curl, of the City Manager’s office, and consultants to discuss infrastructure financing methods for the South Shoreline area;
  • Met with representatives from the West County Ed. Fund, along with Recreation Department staff, Alicia Nightengale of the City Manager’s office, and School Superintendent Bruce Harter, to discuss the possibility of a new pilot out-of-school time program for the upcoming summer.

 

These meetings were in addition to attending the regular management staff meeting, agenda planning, reviewing staff reports to the City Council, doing department head “check-ins,” having discussions on various personnel matters, and having short discussions with staff, community members, members of the press, etc.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about the substance of these or any other topics.

  • Continued Increase in Sales Tax Receipts

 

This past week, Finance Department staff met with the City’s sales tax consultant, MuniServices, to review sales tax figures for the third quarter of 2013.  Richmond experienced an increase of 6.3% in its sales tax cash allocation from the same quarter of the previous year.

The City has experienced steady growth in this revenue stream since 2009.  Richmond’s tax base is led by the General Retail category, which currently makes up 33.1% of the sales tax revenue.  This category is driven, to a great extent, by large retailers such as Target, Costco, and Wal-Mart.  Of significance, new auto sales increased by 6.7%, used auto sales increased by 35.3%, and energy sales increased by 35.3% during the third quarter of 2013 in comparison to the same quarter of the prior year.

Also noteworthy is that Amazon.com has made it onto Richmond’s Top 50 sales tax producers for the local extra half-cent sale tax collected for Richmond by the State Board of Equalization.

The Finance Department will continue to closely monitor the actual revenue submitted by the State Board of Equalization, the local trends developing in Richmond and the projections provided by MuniServices.

Quarterly updates are posted at: http://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/index.aspx?nid=2597

Tax chart

  • Let’s Get Covered! Affordable Care Act (ACA) Enrollment Event at the City of Richmond Council Chambers

 

In Richmond, we have over 20,000 uninsured people, many of whom could not previously afford coverage or were denied it due to a preexisting condition. We are working to change this statistic.

Open Enrollment for Covered California & expanded Medi-Cal are open through March 31, 2014. To begin your enrollment, please call the Covered California's telephone help line at 1-800-300-1506 or visit the Covered California website at https://www.coveredca.com/. Interpreters in multiple languages are provided on the telephone help line. 
Do you know someone that needs health care coverage? Many families in Richmond now qualify to receive free or low-cost health care. Take the first steps to get covered. Come to the “Let’s Get Covered!” event to learn more about ACA (Obamacare) and for an opportunity to enroll in health care coverage. At the last event we were able to serve 71 residents. The next event will take place on Saturday, February 22nd from 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM at the Richmond City Council Chambers, 440 Civic Center Plaza (1st Floor).  Open enrollment ends March 31, 2014.

PLEASE BRING PROOF OF THE FOLLOWING FOR ENROLLMENT:

- IDENTITY: Photo ID, driver’s license, or U.S. passport for each adult applying
- CA ADDRESS: Any piece of postmarked mail sent to you
- INCOME: Last 30 days of paystubs, 2012 income tax fillings, and Social Security
  cards of everyone applying
- CITIZENSHIP OR IMMIGRATION STATUS: Birth certificate, permanent resident 
  card, certificate of naturalization, or certificate of citizenship for each person  
  applying

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW – for Each Family Member:
-  Number of people enrolling (whole or partial family)
-  Birth Dates
-  Social Security numbers
-  Home Zip code

Call first Giovany Hernandez, SEIU-UHW, AT (510) 869-2244 to make sure you’re ready to enroll. To download the fliers go to the City of Richmond Health Initiatives webpage at www.richmondhealth.org.

Please consider these other Affordable Care Act resources for Richmond and Contra Costa County residents:

Resource

Website

Phone

Contra Costa Health Services: Health Care Reform 

http://cchealth.org/aca/

(925) 313-6166

Community Clinic Consortium: Morgan Westfall or Jennifer Arevalo 

http://clinicconsortium.org

(510) 233-6230

Lifelong Medical Care: Enrollment Department

http://www.lifelongmedical.org

(510) 231-9816

Lets get coveredAwards

  • 2014 Historic Preservation Awards

 

The City of Richmond and the Richmond Historic Preservation Commission invites nominations for the 2014 Richmond Historic Preservation Awards. The purpose of the Historic Preservation Awards program is to increase public awareness of Richmond’s heritage by recognizing individuals, organizations, businesses, and agencies whose contributions demonstrate outstanding commitment to excellence in historic preservation, local history or promotion of the heritage of the City.

The Awards will be presented in May, National Preservation Month. In addition to public and private buildings and structures, historic preservation projects may include media, publications, presentations and exhibits, parks, burial grounds, public art, oral history, theater productions, events and video presentations.

Below is a list of last year's award winners:

  • Orton Development, Inc. & Marcy Wong, Architect for Rehabilitating the Oil House for the Rosie the Riveter Visitor Center
  • The National Park Service & Signature Communications for the film "Home Front Heroes"
  • Susan Imboden & the East Bay Regional Park District for the Alvarado Park Oral History Project
  • Donna Powers for Establishing the Rosie the Riveter Memorial
  • Andre Thierry for Preserving Creole Traditions and Music in Richmond
  • Lois Boyle for Years of Service Preserving Richmond's History
  • Nancy Strauch & Bruce Burbaker for Restoring Access to Boat Ramp Street

 

Fire station

Eligibility: Any individual, group, organization or agency involved in historic preservation or promoting Richmond’s heritage is eligible to receive a Richmond Historic Preservation Award. The preservation project or activity (or a substantial portion of a large-scale multiple activity project) must have been completed no later than December 31, 2013.

Nomination Form: You may nominate an eligible preservation project or activity by submitting a completed 2014 Historic Preservation Awards Nomination Form to the Richmond Planning and Building Services Department. Additional details about eligibility, evaluation criteria used, and submittal requirements are found in the nomination form which can be downloaded at www.ci.richmond.ca.us/preservationaward.

Nominations are due by 5:00 PM on March 28, 2014. Feel free to call Hector Rojas, Senior Planner, at (510) 620-6662 with any questions you may have.

  • Public Works Updates

 

Facilities Maintenance:  Carpenters assisted in the Paratransit move, replaced the storefront entrance at the YouthWorks Building, and repaired the exit doors on the 11th Street parking garage.

Painters completed the Captains Room at Fire Station #67.

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Painting at Fire Station #67

Stationary Engineers installed new sinks at the Disabled Persons Recreation Complex (DPRC), repaired the water closets at Fire Station #68 and the Police Department, and repaired the furnace in the Transit Village ticket office.

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Newly Installed Sinks

Utility workers cleaned the carpets at the Police substation located on Macdonald Avenue, set-up the Council Chambers for an upcoming event, assisted in the move of the Paratransit Division, and serviced 29 city-owned facilities.

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Moving of Paratransit

Electricians attended to a pole knock-down at 19th Street and Barrett Avenue, as well as re-lamped portions of Marina Bay Parkway, Regatta Boulevard, Schooner Court and Esplanade Drive.

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Pole Knock-Down on 19th Street and Barrett Avenue

Parks and Landscaping:  The installation of the new light poles at the Shields Reid Ball Field was completed this week.

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Installed Lighting Poles at the North Richmond Ball Field

Crews continued with the installation of the new restroom facility at Booker T. Anderson Park, worked on the infield of Seawright baseball field at Nicholl Park, installed mulch around the Richmond Parkway, continued with the Elm Play Lot renovation project, and worked on the landscaping near the Plunge tennis courts.

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Seawright Baseball Field

The Tree Crew pruned, cut or ground trees around: Roosevelt Avenue, Barrett Avenue, 35th Street, 1st Street, Creely Avenue and South 17th Street.

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Stump Grinding on Barrett Avenue

Streets Division:  Crews worked from the outstanding pothole and sidewalk list and paved the drop off on Peninsula Drive.

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Patch Work on the Richmond Parkway

Street sweeping performed commercial and residential sweeping services for the third Monday through Friday in the North Richmond, Iron Triangel, North Belding Woods, Atchison Village, South Belding Woods, Santa Fe, Coronado, Marina Bay, and Point Richmond neighborhood council areas.

Signs and Lines crews repaired 30 signs/poles, fabricated 17 new signs, installed 23 new signs, replaced or installed 149 delineations/messages, and replaced 43 feet of painted curbs.

 

 

*************************************************

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

Bill Lindsay
City Manager
City of Richmond
450 Civic Center Plaza
Richmond, California 94804
(510) 620-6512
Bill_lindsay@ci.richmond.ca.us

 

You can sign up to receive the City Manager’s weekly report and other information from the City of Richmond by visiting: www.ci.richmond.ca.us/list.aspx

 

Bill Lindsay
City Manager
City of Richmond
450 Civic Center Plaza
Richmond, California 94804
(510) 620-6512
Bill_lindsay@ci.richmond.ca.us


 

 
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