By Allen Payton

In response to Governor Jerry Brown’s April 1st Executive Order and the Contra Costa Water District’s recent decision on water rationing due to the severe drought California is experiencing, the Antioch City Council will consider implementing new rules and setting a required public hearing for adoption, at its regular meeting, Tuesday night, April 28.

The governor has mandated “a reduction in usage by 25% across the state with reductions proportionate to relative per capita 2013 water usage,” according to the staff report for the agenda item.

The staff report also states, May 12 is the final date for the city and all other water agencies in the state, to have a drought program in place. At the public hearing, scheduled for that night, the council will consider adopting mandatory water conservation measures.

The city’s focus will be on outdoor irrigation, and staff is recommending adding two new items each, to the lists of prohibited activities for residential customers and non-residential customers in Antioch.

The staff report further states, “Violations of prohibited activities are punishable by fines of up to $500 for each day in which the violation occurs.”

To view the complete council meeting agenda, click here.

The council meeting begins at 7:00 p.m., following a special study session on parts of the budget at 6:00 p.m., in the Council Chambers at 200 H Street in downtown Antioch or viewed either on Comcast Channel 24 or via live streaming video on the city’s website at www.ci.antioch.ca.us.

Panorama view of the new Eells Stadium at Antioch High School from the Home side grandstands. Photos by Luke Johnson

View from the Visitors’ side.

By Luke Johnson

The anticipation is finally over. Antioch High School’s brand-new and approximately $7 million stadium, is now complete and ready for use.

The original Eells Stadium, named for coach Walter “Dutch” Eells, was constructed back in 1955. The new field features artificial turf with Antioch’s signature logo of a panther jumping through an A on the 50-yard-line. The end zones are gold with the north side reading “Antioch” and the south side reading “Panthers” in black lettering. Uniquely, there is black turf surrounding the field representing the sidelines.

A long-awaited and much needed, rubber track was laid down around the field. AHS had one of the last remaining dirt tracks in the Bay Area and has not hosted a track meet in over five years. The stadium also includes upgraded facilities and equipment for every track and field competition.

New entrance for Antioch High’s Eells Stadium.

Contemporary bleachers, with seating for a maximum capacity of 3,241, were constructed and painted gold, along with a multipurpose building that is used for concessions, storage and restrooms. Also a new and improved weight room was built near the portable classrooms, which is closer to the locker rooms and easier accessible for PE and other athletic programs.

The stadium, built with a portion of the $56.5 million from the Antioch school district’s Measure B bonds, for improving Antioch High, benefits football, track, soccer, graduation ceremonies and the annual powder puff game, which will be the first event hosted in the luxurious complex Friday night, April 24, as the Panthers take on the Deer Valley Wolverines.

On August 28, Antioch’s varsity football team will have its home opener against Acalanes. Athletic Director Steve Sanchez expects a packed house that night and said some tickets will have to be for “standing room only.”

For more information on Antioch High athletics, click here. For more information on Measure B, visit www.antioch.k12.ca.us/measureb.

Hundreds of Belshaw Elementary School students will sit down to a surprise on Thursday, April 23, 2015: a meal made from foods grown in California and prepared freshly just for them. And, if organizers of California Thursdays are successful, this will become a regular part of menus for Antioch Unified School District students as well as students across the state.

The program is predicated on the simple logic that California children will benefit from more fresh California-grown food. Forty-two school districts, large, small, urban, suburban and rural, that collectively serve over 250 million school meals a year, are participating in today’s statewide rollout. Schools in the Antioch district, alone serve almost 2,500,000 meals annually.

But implementation of California Thursdays is far from simple. The district’s nutrition service director, Stephanie Siemering, has worked countless hours alongside her counterparts statewide to reform an entrenched, centralized food system that ships produce around the nation, sometimes moving California produce out of state before returning it, highly processed, to the district. Added to that are the challenges of creating recipes that kids enjoy and that meet federal standards, finding local farmers who can supply local schools, training staff to cook and serve fresh meals, and encouraging students to try them.

The Antioch district has collaborated with other districts in Contra Costa County to plan for the event. The school districts in Contra Costa have planned their menus together and have taken the unique step of purchasing food together from local farmers. This collaboration has meant that the districts combined were able to order over 3,000 pounds of local produce to serve to their students.

Why bother? The district knows that buying, preparing and serving local California food is a triple win.

“Whenever we serve fresh, locally grown food to children with these recipes, they devour it,” says Zenobia Barlow, Executive Director of the Center for Ecoliteracy. “That alone is a victory. Properly nourished children are healthier and ready to learn. California Thursdays also benefits local economies and the environment.”

So, on Thursday, students at Belshaw Elementary School will enjoy menus featuring healthy, student-tested recipes cooked from scratch with local ingredients. Options range from farm fresh sub sandwiches to chicken and asparagus rice bowls, to a full salad bar that includes California grown produce. Students will also have an opportunity to taste test a future California Thursday recipe, Summer Chicken Stew.

California Thursdays was originally developed and successfully piloted with Oakland Unified School District a year ago and rolled out to an additional 14 school districts this past October. The program includes scaled recipes, staff training, and procurement guidelines to assist schools in their transition to a healthier, more sustainable meal program, as well as a website with resources for teachers and parents at www.californiathursdays.org.

Nourished Students Are Better Learners

Less than one in ten children consumes enough fruits and vegetables a day, yet studies show that kids are more likely to eat school meals if the food is fresh and attractive. This provides an ideal opportunity for the district’s food service staff to have a major impact on the community and students’ lives.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, better nutrition improves academic grades and standardized test scores, reduces absenteeism and strengthens memory. 57 percent of Contra Costa County children live in food insecure households, and another 33 percent are overweight or obese. Since many kids consume over half their day’s calories at school, it is important that the district ensures that the meals it serves are healthy and balanced.

Nutritious school meals also make perfect financial sense. Healthy kids put less strain on school districts’ health, counseling and special education services, while lowering absentee rates and improving school finances. School districts are funded based on how many kids show up to class, so it’s worth investing in quality meals that children are more likely to eat.

In addition, California Thursdays will take taxpayer funds that might otherwise go out of state and redirect them back into the local economy. Economists say that every $1.00 spent on local food fosters $2.56 in local economic activity. Every job created in the production of local food also leads to an addition of more than two new jobs within the community.

“California Thursdays is a great first step in celebrating all that California agriculture has to offer,” says California Department of Food and Agriculture Secretary Karen Ross. “It brings awareness to the fresh, wholesome and seasonally appropriate bounty of our great state. If we feed our children good, healthy food, if we connect them back to the place and the people and the practices that it came from, I think we’re going to have great decision makers in our future.”

The Center for Ecoliteracy and its partners are planning to expand today’s California Thursday to a weekly program and invite more school districts to participate. Antioch Unified School District will start monthly and expand weekly district-wide during the 2015-2016 school year.

For more information about the California Thursdays program, visit www.californiathursdays.org.

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Enter at the Fair Office or on-line – it’s fun and easy!

Want to enter something in this year’s Contra Costa County Fair? Imagine the thrill of winning a blue ribbon at the Fair for a special talent. Think you own the best pig, bake the most delicious apple pie, make a beautiful quilt, or have an uncanny knack for making crafts? Be sure to enter the Contra Costa County Fair’s competitive exhibits – and join the thousands of Contra Costa County residents who enter exhibits each year in the Fair. There are hundreds of categories and specialty contests for adults and children.

Now is the time to complete the paperwork for those entries. The Contra Costa County Fair’s Exhibit Handbook, which includes all the information you need to enter exhibits, is now available on the Fair’s website at www.ContraCostaFair.com. Both paper entries and online entries are currently being accepted. Simply visit the Fair Office in Antioch or log-on to the Fair’s website at www.ContraCostaFair.com to complete the entry process.

The Fair is accepting paper entries until April 25^th and on-line entries will be accepted until May 1. In order to accommodate exhibitors, the Fair Office will be open from 8am – 5pm on April 25^th to accept paper entries. If you prefer to enter online, visit the Fair’s website from now until May 1^st at midnight to complete the process.

This year’s Contra Costa County Fair is May 28^th – May 31^st. For information, visit www.ContraCostaFair.com or call the Fair Office at (925) 757-4400. If you’re interested in receiving a copy of the Fair’s free electronic newsletter, visit the Fair’s website to sign up.

Owners of small businesses in Antioch and East Contra Costa County are invited to learn how to increase their business opportunities with the state of California during a free workshop on Thursday, April 23, in Antioch.

Co-sponsored by Assemblyman Jim Frazier, the California Department of General Services and the Antioch Chamber of Commerce, the State of California Small Business Certification Workshop will run from 10 a.m. to noon at the chamber office, 101 H St., Unit 4.

Staff members from the Department of General Services will walk participants through the process of becoming certified to do business with the state, the first step in bidding for and soliciting service contracts from state agencies.

Participants who wish to become certified during the workshop itself should bring a laptop computer; their business’s three most recent federal tax returns; their Federal Employer Identification Number (FEIN); Secretary of State number; the home address of their business officers, partners and member/manager; Dun & Bradstreet number (if applicable); Contractors State License Board number (if applicable); and keywords (255 character-limit; don’t use periods or commas and do not repeat words).

To register for the workshop, call the Antioch chamber at (925) 757-1800.

To contact Assemblymember Jim Frazier please visit his website at www.asmdc.org/members/a11/ or call his District Offices at 707-399-3011 or 925-778-5790. Follow Assemblymember Jim Frazier on Facebook and “Like” him for updates on events and happenings in the 11th AD.

By H. Maria

Ever thought about why things are as they are? “Lack of pride,” and “rude, ugly behavior” often comes up. Mutters of “no structure” are loud. Never forget the ever mentioned, “somebody” who malingers on his or her job. Granted, “lack of pride” and “rude behavior” are problems. Structure, as we define it, might just bear the largest share of responsibility.

Before we compartmentalized ourselves so neatly, we defined structure in different ways. We experimented and learned. Children were taught behaviors of respect, kindness and good manners, so all could work together, harmoniously. Skills were developed and passed on to do whatever needed doing, whenever it needed doing. We planted and hunted, prepared meat and cooked it. We made tools, built shelters, wove fabrics, took children in hand as needed…

We are so much more evolved now! In this modern and advanced age we pack ourselves in orderly little boxes. A proper plumber only plumbs, a web designer only designs websites. When help is needed a specifically defined worker is dispatched, by someone who only dispatches. When a child has the misfortune of being born to parents who do not parent, a child is lost, sometimes, that child becomes an angry outlaw and that brings us to the problems we are facing.

Each day we head to our little box. One day the way is marked by graffiti. The next day it is befouled by filth tossed by the side of the road. Shopping trips are hindered by children behaving horribly. We take offense, and can’t help but think, “how awful, THEY should clean that up,” or “those parents should parent!” Should someone suggest we take care of the problem ourselves, we are offended, “Not My Specialty!”

“Values,” of course, should only be taught at home and in the church of choice. Teachers should never address bad behavior, because teachers should only teach. Crossing over into any other area of responsibility is thought of as ill advised, and maybe even suspect. It’s often disparagingly said of someone willing to learn and do many things, that “he or she, is just a ‘Jack of all trades and master of none.’”

In our perceived perfect scenario children are always well raised, there is always enough money, and enough staff. If people behave badly there is enough police, equipment never fails, and of course we always have enough rain… But, perfect just doesn’t exist. Murphy’s law is always in force. Mayhem happens.

There isn’t an abundance of “theys” that can do everything. We stopped making them. Things have been changing since the ‘80’s. We are being forced, more and more to multi-task. That word was born of the elimination of so many employees from the workplace. The survivors were expected to take on the tasks of the dismissed.

In 20-plus years hence, this experience has leaked into almost every field of endeavor. We struggle and struggle to stay in our box despite the returned time for the willing, skillful and multitasking Jack-of-all-trades. It’s been done before. It happened in the time of humanity when all of knowledge and beauty was nearly destroyed.

It started with a few people and evolved to what we know of as the High Renaissance. DaVinci produced near divine art, as well as war machines. For the lucky few, hard at work in those little boxes a steady income continues.

What has not continued is “the way things used to be.” Things are changing and not necessarily for the good. If we wish to keep our changing world on an even keel, more often than not, we have to open a side on that box.

Continued drought conditions prompt unprecedented action locally and statewide; affects Antioch; Board to consider temporary pricing adjustment, $500 fines

On April 15, the Contra Costa Water District (CCWD) Board of Directors unanimously approved an update to their existing drought program to now require 25 percent water use conservation and implement additional prohibitions deemed wasteful during drought times. This update responds to the Governor’s order announced on April 1 mandating a 25 percent reduction in water use statewide; this statewide mandate on water conservation is a first in California.

While California is experiencing serious continued drought conditions, local agencies are putting together updated programs to encourage conservation. The CCWD Board of Directors approved updates to their program requiring 25 percent conservation and implementing additional prohibitions on wasteful water use during a drought – such as limiting outdoor irrigation to no more than twice a week.

“The CCWD restrictions do effect us as we are buying all of our water from CCWD for the rest of the year and, if no rain/snow until the water quality in the river allows us to pump again,” said City of Antioch Public Works Director/City Engineer Ron Bernal. “This year we anticipate purchasing 95% of our water from CCWD.”

When asked if that is the reason for the city’s proposed increase in water rates, Bernal responded, “That’s part of the reason. Buying water from CCWD at a cost of $10 [million per] year as opposed to pumping from the river creates a significant cost to the program.”

At a public hearing on June 3, the CCWD Board will consider a temporary pricing adjustment on the unit cost of water, a fine for violations of the prohibitions, and adjusting the baseline to 2013 water use -all in compliance with the state regulations. As proposed, the temporary pricing adjustment would only apply to households using over 200 gallons per day and would end once the emergency order is lifted.

According to the CCWD website, “Violators could be subject to fines of up to $500 and suspension of water service subject to board approval.”

Beyond local conservation programs, the state is taking action to implement projects intended to encourage conservation. The Save Our Water campaign is being broadcast statewide.

In an effort to protect water quality in the Delta for water users and fish, the state is moving forward with a rock barrier that would physically help deter sea water intrusion into the southern part of the Delta. Why should CCWD care about this barrier? It all comes down to water quality. CCWD’s water intakes are in the Delta, and salinity intrusion from the Bay is an issue for water quality. With drought conditions, less fresh water is available to flow through the Delta. While this temporary barrier could cause temporary inconveniences for those using those waterways, CCWD supports the decision to install the barrier as the water quality implications could have longer term impacts on Delta water users, fish, the environment, etc… The last time the state did this was during the 1977 drought.

All said, this drought is serious and agencies are implementing actions that are necessary to protect residents and the environment. Some are unprecedented, but so are the drought conditions statewide.

The Contra Costa Water District is governed by five elected Directors, each representing a division of approximately 110,000 people. The Board of Directors normally meet in regular sessions on the first and third Wednesdays of each month. Meetings begin at 6:30 p.m. in the Board Room at the Contra Costa Water District Office, 1331 Concord Ave. in Concord.

For more information visit www.ccwater.com/drought2015.asp.