Archive for June, 2011

Park District’s Semi-Secret Senior Discount

Monday, June 20th, 2011

You probably didn’t spot the Notice of Public Hearing published by the East Bay Regional Park District on June 15th. Let me enlighten you.

Qualified senior citizens (62 years or older) who own property in the East Bay Regional Park District’s East Contra Costa Landscape and Lighting District can obtain an annual assessment discount of 50% for the 2011-12 fiscal year; basic assessment rate is $19.70.

Income qualifications are as follows:
Household: Annual Income:
1-2 persons $31,800
3 persons 37,400
4 persons 45,100

Frankly, I’m disgusted that EBRPD only ran a inexpensive teensy tiny public notice 2 weeks before deadline to advise low income senior citizens how to save a few bucks. The district doesn’t hesitate to continue to raise our parcel taxes, publish an expensive semi monthly Activity Guide and pay their administrators high salaries and large pension/health benefit packages See below for the total cost of employment figures for some of the district’s administrators.

Retiree – General Manager Patrick O’Brien $346,209
Asst. General Mgr John Escobar 300, 208
Asst. General Mgr. Ted Radosevich 287,222
Asst. General Manager Robert Doyle 278,429
Asst. General Manager David Collins 269,360
Asst General Manager Timothy Anderson 265,914
Human Resources Manager Susan Gonzales 249,813
Assistant General Manager Richard Anderson 243,145
Retiree-Assistant Gen. Mgr. Rosemary Cameron 238,891
Police Captain Mark Ruppenthal 222,381

Qualified senior citizens must apply by June 30th for the discount. To obtain an application write to NBS, 32605 Temecula Parkway Ste 100, Temecula, CA 92591 or call NBS (800) 676-7516. (Be sure to have your parcel number.) When I phoned, the person on the other hand seemed surprised and asked how I found out. Well, I always read the public notices, that’s how!

East County Veterans Fun Run

Sunday, June 19th, 2011

Possible Changes for Antioch in State Redistricting Plans

Sunday, June 19th, 2011

Proposed new congressional district map for Antioch and far East County

By Allen Payton, Publisher

The California Citizens Redistricting Commission released their first draft maps of state legislative, congressional and Board of Equalization district maps during a press conference on Friday, June 10 and no one was completely pleased. That could mean they probably did something right.

It could mean most of Antioch and far East County will get new representation in Washington, D.C., because the proposed maps include Antioch in a northern San Joaquin County congressional district where no member of Congress currently lives.

While leaving most of the cities and communities in Contra Costa County whole, they split the county into four congressional districts, four Assembly districts and three State Senate Districts. The congressional districts must be equal in population of either 702,904 or 702,905 (since the state’s total population of 37,253,956 isn’t evenly divisable by 53). But a one percent (1%) deviation has been allowed by the Commission for the Assembly districts (which have an equal population of 465,675) and State Senate districts (which have an equal population of 931,349).

The proposed congressional district map combines Antioch, Oakley, Brentwood, Discovery Bay, Bethel Island, Knightsen and Byron in Contra Costa County, with Mountain House, Stockton, Lathrop, Lodi and most of the rest of the communities in San Joaquin County to the north, connecting the two areas by Highways 4 and 12. Just like the current congressional districts, the line is split at the Antioch-Pittsburg city limits, except for a small section of Antioch, in the southwest part of the city, with a population of about 4,800 residents, that was cut off from the rest of the city along Somersville Road.

In order to recombine that area with the rest of the city, other parts of the proposed district need to move into an adjacent district. If it’s not the same district from where the population was transferred, then a domino effect takes place and changes to multiple districts must be done by the mappers.

The good news is, following the press conference, a variety of the Commissioners stated that if the population shifts can be made and the districts remain balanced (that is equal in population), then they will consider alternative maps. So changes to the proposed maps are still possible, before the Commission must make its final decision by August 15.

The proposed State Assembly map for Antioch.

The proposed State Assembly district map keeps Antioch with Pittsburg and Bay Point, as well as combines it with Brentwood, Concord, Pleasant Hill, Martinez, Pacheco and Clayton. However it splits off Oakley, Discovery Bay and the other far East County communities and combines them in a district with Galt in Sacramento County, Lodi in San Joaquin County, most of Solano County, plus Woodland and Willows in Yolo County.

Nesting is the final criteria on the list in Proposition 11, which the voters passed in 2008 that created the commission and gave it the responsibility for redrawing the state legislative district lines (Proposition 20, which voters passed last November, added the congressional districts to the commission’s process). That places two Assembly districts inside a State Senate district, since there are 80 Assembly districts and 40 Senate districts.

The Commission’s proposed map takes the Assembly district in which Antioch was placed and combines it with the adjacent district which includes Lamorinda, Walnut Creek, the San Ramon Valley and the Tri Valley cities of Dublin, Pleasanton and Livermore in Eastern Alameda County.

The proposed State Senate district for Antioch and most of Contra Costa County.

The Commission will hold hearings in the Bay Area and Northern California over the next two weeks, in Stockton, San Jose, San Francisco and Sacramento to receive input on the draft maps. They will then direct their consultants to draw the 2nd draft maps for which they’ll receive written and emailed input before deciding on the final maps.  For more information visit the Commission’s website at www.wedrawthelines.com.

Brown Vetoed Best Budget Option

Saturday, June 18th, 2011

By Susan Bonilla
Assemblywoman, 11th District

Wednesday, the Democratic members of the Legislature passed the State’s budget. This budget was on-time, it was balanced, and we were able to exercise a majority vote to pass the budget for the first time since the 1930s. The voters of California made this possible by removing the 2/3 budget vote requirements when they passed proposition 25 last November.

Governor Brown vetoed the budget plan, saying that without additional revenue, he would pursue more cuts to education and public safety, putting us on the road to a dangerously uncertain future. Our educators and teachers cannot adequately plan for the coming school year without a stable budget plan put in place immediately. After multiple years of severe budget cuts we cannot expect our schools to absorb billions more in reductions without unacceptable impacts upon the children and young people of California.

We can’t fix a $25 billion deficit in one year without doing irreparable harm to our children in California. To solve all the structural issues, we need a multi-year plan that does not continue to catch education in the middle. The budget the Democrats submitted may not contain all the elements the Governor seeks, but it is the best solution to protect our children and public safety.

The on-time budget, while not the path we preferred, solves the remaining deficit for this budget year. It includes a $600 million reserve, and puts California on a path toward eliminating the structural deficit with continued commitment to corrective budget actions in the next few years. The on-time budget is balanced through the use of one-time solutions, including deferrals and realistic assumptions regarding already higher revenues.

It completes the work we began in March when the Democratic legislature voted to enact 9 billion dollars of very difficult cuts primarily to Health and Human Services and Higher Education, disproportionally impacting California’s children.

Assembly Democrats have agreed all along with the Governor that a balanced approach of cuts and voter-approved tax extensions was the best way to address this year’s and the state’s long-term budget deficit. California voters should be allowed to extend existing revenues. The repeated refusal of Legislative Republicans to support the Governor’s original budget plan has left Democrats with few options.

East County Mayors Symposium

Friday, June 17th, 2011

Billy Martini Show at Bases Loaded

Friday, June 17th, 2011

THIS FRIDAY @ Bases Loaded! June 17th, 9pm: The Billy Martini Show – 70’s Musical Tribute BEACH BASH!

Please Turn Off Your Cell Phone

Friday, June 17th, 2011

We desperately need to establish some cell phone etiquette in this country. I am so tired of standing in line behind someone at the checkout stand at Safeway who is talking on the phone about something terribly earth-shattering, like what she was wearing last night at the party, and completely ignoring the poor checker trying to do her job.

This happened to me just today. The checker asked for the woman’s Club Card, a question the woman would not have missed had she been paying any attention. But since she was talking non-stop on the phone, she did not scan her card. When the bill was totaled, the woman was then very irate that the total was more than she expected, and it took another 5 minutes for her to check out because the checker had to re-ring some items to show their prices to her.

Well, OK. If you’re not going to pay attention to what’s going on around you, you might miss some important stuff.

And don’t even get me started on texting. You’ve probably seen the woman on YouTube who is texting while walking, and texts herself right into a fountain. I call that swift justice.

Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I think people should be respectful and courteous when conducting transactions in a store, at the doctor’s office, at the bank, or pretty much anywhere people are engaged in business-related communications. For that matter, what can be so all-fired important that you have to either have a phone in your ear yakking while you are shopping or you have to be texting while you’re walking down the street?

What did these people do before cell phones? How did they cope? Was life so completely bereft of joy and happiness because they couldn’t broadcast their most trivial thought every moment of the day?

In this 21st century of Facebook, Twitter, cell phone conversations, texting and other non-contact sports, maybe it’s time to return to some 20th century social interaction that doesn’t require any technology.

So here’s what I propose: let’s try talking to each other face-to-face. When you’re in the grocery store, at the gas station, in the bank, at the mall, hang up the phone, stop texting and smile at the person next to you. Strike up a conversation with someone in line with you. Talk to the nice checker as she’s ringing up your purchases. Wish her a nice day for a change.

Hey – at least it’s a start.

Shelley Daley

Two-Year-Old Fractures Skull After Second-Story Fall

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

On June 15 at 1:40 p.m. a two-year-old boy was upstairs watching TV with two of his older siblings, one of whom is 18 years old, in a home in the 5600 block of Plumbridge Way.

At some point the toddler leaned against an open window/screen and fell to the driveway below. The child was flown to Children’s Hospital in Oakland and was in surgery at the time of this writing. His condition is very serious. This appears to be a tragic accident and is currently under investigation.

As of 8 a.m. on June 16 the child was in stable condition with a fractured skull. No foul play is suspected.