On February 24^th, 254 third graders, teachers and chaperones from the Antioch Unified School District (AUSD) enjoyed the one hour Concert For Kids show performed by the San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco.  This field trip was organized by AUSD Music Specialist Geneva Payne and sponsored by the Antioch Music Foundation through a grant from the Thomas J. Long Foundation. Photo courtesy of Cynthia Ruehlig

The controversial One Bay Area effort by the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) and Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), to fulfill the mandates the 2008 state legislation (SB375) to develop a Sustainable Communities Strategy, has published its Draft Preferred Land Use Scenario for review.

Antioch has two areas designated as PDA’s – Planned Development Areas, which are included in the plan. They include the 400 acres around and near the proposed Hillcrest eBART Station and downtown Antioch.

Following is the press release from MTC on the Preferred Land Use Plan:

This winter, MTC and the Associated Bay Area Governments (ABAG) solicited input from Bay Area residents on various land use and transportation investment strategies. Nine public workshops were held, one in each of the Bay Area counties, that drew some 1,100 participants, along with a companion virtual workshop with 1,300 responses. In addition, 10 focus groups were conducted with community-based organizations to assist with public involvement in low-income communities and communities of color, and a statistically valid telephone survey involved some 1,600 residents. And finally, four focus group sessions, with a mix of urban, suburban and rural Bay Area residents recruited from the poll, were held in San Francisco, Walnut Creek and Novato.

The resulting draft preferred land use scenario, titled Making the Jobs-Housing Connection, seeks to demonstrate how the Bay Area’s diversity of communities and natural resource areas can retain and enhance their unique qualities and characteristics supported by a strong, globally competitive economy with housing opportunities located near job centers and transit services. It provides an overview of past and projected trends: how the region grew over the past thirty years and expected economic and demographic trends; housing access and production challenges; and the relationship of housing, employment centers and transportation infrastructure. The scenario includes projected jobs, population and housing distribution by 2040 for the region, counties, cities and priority development areas.

Coming in April is a draft preferred transportation scenario and investment strategy that, together with the draft land use scenario, will be considered by MTC and ABAG in May. A draft Plan Bay Area is slated for release in late 2012, and MTC and ABAG are expected to approve a final plan by spring 2013.

Read more about the interagency Plan Bay Area effort here.

Celebrate the 75th anniversary of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge at the Golden Gate Festival, a two-day event slated for Memorial Day weekend, May 26-27, 2012. The festival is the center point of the Bridge’s year-long 75th anniversary program and will include a historic watercraft parade, multiple music and dance stages, art installations, history and educational presentations, and the display of cars from 1937 to the present. Bridge-themed activities will span the San Francisco waterfront from Fort Point (located below the Golden Gate Bridge) to Pier 39, including the Fort Mason Center, Ghirardelli Square, the San Francisco Maritime National Historic Park and Fisherman’s Wharf. The weekend will conclude with a fireworks display and grand finale at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 27.
For additional information, go to www.goldengatebridge75.org.

With just one app, Smartphone users can plan trips on trains, buses and ferries offered by more than 30 public transit agencies. 511, the Bay Area’s traveler information system, is now offering its first smartphone app for transit users. The 511 Transit App is currently available for Android and an iPhone version will be released soon. The free 511 Transit App is a multiple-agency public transit trip planner using GPS-based location tools for smartphones. Ideal for a weekend errand, occasional trip or daily commute, the app serves both residents and visitors who are planning transit trips within the nine-county region.

The new app provides door-to-door transit trip planning and scheduled departure times for transit routes near your location or from a location you specify. It includes information for 720 routes and more than 23,700 transit stops throughout the region. An interactive, dynamic map shows routes and stops along the way, as well as your current position while on the move. Walking directions to and from stops and fares (including transfers) are also displayed.

The 511 Transit App includes data from SF Muni, BART, AC Transit, VTA, SamTrans, Caltrain, Golden Gate Transit, County Connection, Vallejo Transit, LAVTA, Sonoma County Transit, VINE (Napa County) and more than a dozen additional agencies. For a complete list of all transit agencies included in the 511 Transit app, visit the trip planning page.

Charlie Ochoa at Lynn House Art Gallery

Partner with His Wife Carmen in GATO – Give Always To Others & Company

Jesus Carlos Ochoa “Charlie – the Video Guy”

June 4, 1938 – March 10, 2012 Antioch, California

Beloved husband of 47 years of Carmen Aguilar-Ochoa, father to Carlos Jude and “Papa” to grandson Carlos, passed away on March 11, 2012 at the age of 73.

He was born June 4, 1938 in Antioch, attended Liberty High School in Brentwood, leaving before graduation to join the US Army. Charlie retired from Gaylord, leaving him the time to do what he does best, spend time on creating video documentaries for Give Always to Others & Company, with his wife and spend time with his son and grandson.  He was one of the first and most active community producers for the local cable access channel and touched many lives with the lens of his camera; preserving precious memories for the families and community members in Antioch, Pittsburg, Bay Point, Oakley and Brentwood.

Charlie was very active in the community: current President of Fiberboard Club of Antioch, past member of local scuba dive club, former member of John F. Kennedy Memorial Committee, board member of Give Always to Others & Co.  Charlie was a strong believer in good health and everyday he walked and swam at the gym. He had a smile for everyone he met, but especially for his grandchild, Carlos.  Together they spent time walking to the park, swimming in the pool, recycling cans and plastics for saving bonds for Carlos’s education, teaching him about nature in the park, enjoying watching the squirrels run up and down and feeding the feral cats.  He also enjoyed relaxing in his home in South Lake Tahoe. He spent many mornings with a group of retired friends at Jack in the Box solving the problems of the world.

Charlie is also survived by his brothers and sisters,  Ruben Ochoa of Martinez, Ofelia Pease of Brentwood, Gilbert Ochoa of Seal Beach, Grace Bustos of Oakley, and  John Ochoa of Fairfield.

A memorial mass will be held Monday, March 19^th, 10 AM at Holy Rosary Catholic Church, Antioch. The family wishes masses to be held in his name or donation to a favorite charity, such as Give Always to Others & Co.

Courtesy of the Antioch Arts & Cultural Foundation website – To see more photos of Charlie, please visit the page on their website by clicking here.

Restore the Delta would like to thank  our supporters, the members of the Delta Coalition, members of LAND, the fishing community, and our friends in Discovery Bay for turning out for Tuesday’s (March 13, 2012) legislative hearing.

About 100 people who care about the Delta came out to make sure their objections to the BDCP and the Delta Plan were heard. Contrary to the  repeated comments of Jerry Meral, the Delta is united.

And contrary to the comments of Phil Isenberg, the people in the Delta are just beginning to make themselves heard.

Special thanks to our friends who drove from Berkeley, San Francisco, and San Jose to make public statements on behalf of the Delta.  We appreciate you very much.

We also know that many of you wanted to make statements, or longer statements, and a number of you ended up watching the hearing in the hall or in the cafeteria.  We thank you for being there.  Being there (in bodily form) is a statement in itself.

It’s going to be a long, hard fight.  But step by step, we know that our message of reduced water exports, improved levees, and local water projects to increase water supplies throughout the state, will be the winning message of the day — not just for the Delta, but for all Californians.

Yours in service,

Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Jane Wagner-Tyack, Jessica Iniguez, Brett Baker

Based in Stockton, Restore the Delta is a grassroots campaign committed to making the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta fishable, swimmable, drinkable, and farmable to benefit all of California. For more information visit www.RestoretheDelta.org.

By James Ott

At the March 13 meeting, the Antioch City Council voted unanimously to approve changes to Nelson Ranch Park including a new, eight-foot-tall masonry sound wall between the park and six homes near Menona Court and Menona Drive.

Led by resident Julie Young, whose backyard abuts against the park, several neighbors of the park had come to the council in February complaining that the nearly completed park would ruin the privacy and security of their homes.

In addition to the new wall the council approved the removal of two patio shade covers and their benches which the city hopes can be used at other city parks.

The 5.4 acre, $2.5 million park had it’s final development plan approved in 1998 and was supposed to open this June, but Young, who spoke for many of the other affected homeowners, said that she and her fellow neighbors were not made aware of the park until construction began.

Because several of the neighbor’s homes face rearward to the park, where several picnic benches are a claimed 13 feet away from their back wall, Young said that her and her neighbors fear they will suffer increased noise levels and crime as well as lose their current privacy and overall quality of life.

The neighbors originally asked for the agreed upon changes plus removal of a walkway to access the park that ran behind their homes and possible removal of a large children’s play structure as well.

Council members were sympathetic to the neighbor’s plight but said they wanted to provide a reasonable solution.

“What’s missing … is the fact that there is a 582-unit residential development for which homes were sold with the expectation that a park would be in this location,” said Council member Brian Kalinowski. “Furthermore Antioch has, per capita and percentage wise, the highest [number of] under 18 youth in Contra Costa County, so there is actually a need … for the build of the park.”

The new wall is estimated to cost $65,000 with the removal of the benches and shade structures costing a few thousand more.

The cost of the changes will be paid by city park in lieu fees.

The park access walkway behind the homes will be kept open for 45 days until it is determined what affect, if any it will have on the adjacent homes.