By Barbara Zivica

My recent column regarding an African-American graduation ceremony in Antioch provoked a lot of response and prompted a reader to inform me about the African American Male High School Preparatory Academy (summer school). Wondering what was going on in the district, I checked their website and found out something that may have been the cause behind district decisions, which I consider to be discriminatory.

It seems that on March 26, 2015, the district issued a press release in response to a complaint brought by Willie Mims, Education Chair of the East County Branch of the NAACP, charging the district with disproportionately suspending African American students and students with disabilities.

Claire Smith, AUSD Board of Trustees President at the time said “I am so pleased to share that the Board of Education gave direction in closed session to accept a plan of action that will fortify our work in areas of student equity and access and provisionally resolve the issued raised by the advocacy organizations.”

The District’s web site now includes a non-discrimination statement. Perhaps this is the reason the district scheduled African American Male Achievement Initiative Committee Meeting dates during 2014-15 to which the public was apparently welcome, although it’s the first I’ve heard about them. The African American Male Achievement Initiative goal is to increase graduation rates for AA males, increase the number of students who graduate, decrease the number of AA male students referred to special education, and decrease the number of AA male students suspended from school.

The district’s former RAAMP program – Raising Academic Achievement Multicultural Program Charter Academy was deemed a failure by the California Charter Schools Association, and called for its closure due to low standardized test scores.

Check the district’s website in regard to information for the following programs: Credit recovery summer school, African-American Male Initiative – Bridge Program, Alternative Education, and Independent Study summer school, all held at Deer Valley High School. (June 15 through July 21, Monday through Thursday). Incidentally, these summer programs offer free breakfast and lunch as do elementary schools in the district (K-8) during June and July.

Editor’s Note: The following was received via email on May 5 but not published, until now. I apologize for the oversight and delay. Allen Payton, Publisher & Editor

Dear Editor:

It is the process in today’s internet driven world that everyone should and seems to express their opinion. Criticism, finger pointing and blame are the actions of the day. Solutions seem few and far between. This is the case with the article written by Ms. Barbara Zivica aka Watchdog.

Alarmed? You should be alarmed Barbara. The City of Antioch is moving quickly to massively reduced services and possible bankruptcy in about five years. The necessary reductions in service and staff at the City will make the Great Recession look like a walk in the park. Why? Because this Council and recent previous Councils simply want to keep kicking the financial responsibility can down the road.

I know of no business including my own that runs in such a manner. At least not for very long.

What is your solution, Barbara?

This problem cannot be budgeted away with savings. Go back and look at the Finance Director’s General Fund projections for 2017 to 2023. Don’t look at the power point presentation for 2015-2016 which is on line. That is just fluff for today. The projected negative numbers are massive; and rises quickly to a negative $28,000,000.00 for a budget projected at $65,000,000.00 in 2020.

CalPERS [the California Public Employee Retirement System] calls the retirement program a “Golden Handshake”. Sounds similar to “Golden Parachute” doesn’t it? Just who’s gold are we dealing with here anyway and can we just walk away from the commitments we have made to past and current employees? Well; legally no we cannot; and morally it would be fundamentally wrong.

What we can do is close our participation in the current CalPers system, grandfather existing employees, and move all future employees to a City “Defined Retirement Contribution” system. Or, close all participation and move all current and future employees to a new system, vesting current employees to the date of termination of CalPers participation in the old system and paying our unfunded obligation.

And, the City must take a position that the full retirement contribution henceforth must be paid in the year it is earned in any new retirement system. This is called fiscal responsibility.

What I proposed as a possible solution is an income generation from transfer fees applied to real property transfers with the entire amount collected on an annual basis going to pay the unfunded retirement obligation the City is facing as noted in the Annual Valuation Report from CalPers. Nothing else to be funded by this income stream until the CalPers unfunded obligation is paid in full. No option by this or future Councils or staff for any other use of these funds.

Coming to a real number owed to CalPers is not easy to calculate. It appears to be somewhere between $35,000,000.00 and $133,000,000.00 for safety employees and for all other employees it is between $43,000,000.00 and $123,000,000.00.

A solid unfunded number to work from would be an average of the best and worst numbers stated by CalPers. Meaning the most likely liability by the City of Antioch for all employees would be approximately; $164,000,000.00.

Why is the range so large? Because based on the numbers provided by CalPers the only way one can truly come to some understanding of what is being processed is to look at the projected number if you continue in the plan infinite or if you terminate participation. There is no projection if you grandfather current employees and move future employees to a new system.

In simple terms CalPers projects for 2015 a return of 18%. Unrealistic nonsense. Also, what is very clear is that CalPers uses funds deposited this year and every year by participant Cities to pay retired employees if the return on investment does not meet the projection. We all call that in the real world a Ponzi scheme.

But wait there is more. Because it is a Defined Benefit Program, when it really gets economically bad, CalPers can just send the City a subsequent bill for the additional funds that are needed to pay the Benefits. Or the City’s unfunded liability goes up. There is no limit, ever.

So, let me ask you one more time, Barbara. What is your solution?

Mark Jordan, Antioch

Jordan is a Real Estate Broker in and resident of Antioch.

By Acting Lieutenant Tom Fuhrmann, Antioch Police Investigations Bureau

On Tuesday, June 9, 2015 at approximately 10:11 AM, the Antioch Police Department took a report from the Quail Lodge Retirement Home that their transport bus had been stolen. The bus driver reported that he had stopped at the Safeway store at 3365 Deer Valley Road to pick up some Quail Lodge Residents. As the driver went inside the Safeway to get the residents, he left the bus running to keep it cool inside. While inside, the bus was stolen.

At approximately 1:50 PM a citizen called Antioch Police and advised they saw the bus getting on Highway 4 westbound from Sand Creek Road in Brentwood. Antioch Officers intercepted the bus traveling westbound Highway 4 at A Street and attempted a traffic stop, but the bus did not yield to the officers. A pursuit ensued at a high rate of speed continuing westbound to the Loveridge Road exit in Pittsburg where the bus started to exit, but then turned around. With the bus now traveling eastbound in the westbound lanes of Highway 4 the officers discontinued the pursuit.

The bus traveling the wrong way collided with three vehicles to include a semi-truck and a school bus carrying approximately 50 students. There were no injuries as a result of any of the collisions. The driver of the stolen bus then abandoned the vehicle and ran north, jumping the fence into the Honda car dealership on Century Court.

Officers responded to the dealership where, with the help of a police K9, they located 27-year old Pittsburg resident, Cameron Alexander hiding behind a vehicle. He was taken into custody without incident and booked into the Contra Costa County Jail for Auto Theft, Possession of Stolen Property, Felony Evading, Reckless Driving, Driving Under the Influence, Driving on a Suspended License and a Probation Violation.

This case will be filed with the DA’s Office later this week. No further information will be released at this time.

Anyone with information regarding this case is encouraged to call Detective McManus with the Antioch Police Department at (925) 779-6940. You may also text a tip to 274637 (CRIMES) using key word ANTIOCH.

Following the Contra Costa County Chiefs’ of Police Association Officer Involved Fatal Incident Protocol, Sheriff-Coroner David O. Livingston will hold an inquest into the death of Dewayne Deshawn Ward Jr. This incident occurred on February 3, 2015 in Contra Costa County.

The proceedings will convene on June 23, 2015, at 9:00 a.m., at the A.F. Bray Courthouse, 1020 Ward Street, Dept. 7, Room 2012, Martinez, California.

The purpose of the inquest, which Sheriff-Coroner Livingston convenes in fatal incidents involving peace officers, is to present the facts of the incident to a jury for their deliberation and finding on the manner of death.

The inquest is open to the public and members of the media are invited to attend. However, no photographs or video/audio recording may be taken during the proceedings.

By Allen Payton, Publisher

There’s good news in the City of Antioch’s fiscal year 2015-16 budget, due to some unexpected one-time sales tax funds from the state and an extension of a grant for police, creating a $448,000 surplus. However, there is something that has me concerned when reviewing it.

The city budget includes line items labeled “transfers out” in pretty much all departments. In each of the sewer and water funds, over $600,000 per year is transferred out.

When staff was asked by Ogorchock, at the May 12 council meeting, where those funds were going, part of the answer from City Finance Director Dawn Merchant was that a couple hundred thousand was being spent on police. Turns out, the actual figure is $319,000 from each of the two funds is being spent on police.

How does city staff and city council justify spending water and sewer funds on police? Are they guarding the pipelines, now?

Not exactly. But that’s close to what Merchant said was the reason.

“They’re protecting the water and sewer plants and pump stations,” she shared in a recent phone interview. “It’s a small percentage of the police department’s budget.”

That’s equivalent to the cost of four police officers per year, which the city needs. But, police should be paid for out of the General Fund and the additional police from Measures C and O funds. Plus, those amounts are in addition to other charged to both of the two departments’ funds.

Even more is charged to the two funds

The amount “transferred out” of the water fund, is a third of the $1,026,051 charged separately for “internal services,” such as administrative oversight. For the sewer fund, there’s an additional $221,159 charged separately, also for internal services.

Merchant argued that those amounts are based on a “cost allocation plan for every department,” based on a study done by an independent consultant.

The transfers out for police has been approved by the city council for at least four years, Merchant stated.

It’s been happening for years

Shortly after being forced out as City Finance Director, John Tasker shared with me, in 2008, that the city had been transferring out too much money from the sewer and water funds, for administrative costs. At that time the figure was about $500,000 per year and he said that no more than $300,000 was justified.

Now it’s worse.

Maybe it’s only been going on this long, because no council member questioned staff about it, before now.

It’s a serious stretch to justify the equivalent of paying for four police officers to guard the water and sewer plants and pump stations. The city council doesn’t have to approve those transfers out for police, and frankly shouldn’t.

Taking money away from its intended purposes

The impact of the transfers out, is that money won’t be there when the city needs it to expand, repair or upgrade the sewer or water systems in Antioch. So, in order to ensure there is enough money, the staff recommended and the city council raised our rates, again. According to Public Works Director Ron Bernal, one of the reasons for those increases is for – you guessed it – additional capacity purposes.

I believe this is just another example of the old legal money-laundering game governments can play. They spend the money intended for one budget item – which is a need and basic priority and responsibility of local government, such as police, roads, sewer or water – and then come back to us taxpayers and say they don’t have enough money for these vital items, and ask us for another tax increase. Don’t you find it interesting they never ask us for a special tax for non-essential items?

Council increases water and sewer rates, again

That’s exactly what our city council just did. On top of the two general tax increases we voters approved in the past few years – Measures C and O – the council just voted to raise our sewer and water rates, again.

Plus, they passed by 4-1, with Ogorchock voting against, tiered water rates, so the more you use the more you’ll pay per gallon. Is one gallon of water more expensive than another? I don’t think so.

When is enough, enough with these council members? We need them to ask the tough questions of staff and understand there’s a limit to how much we taxpayers/ratepayers can afford to keep paying.

When the final budget is adopted for the new fiscal year, later this month, I would hope the city council ends this financially irresponsible shell game and use the money in the sewer and water funds for their intended purposes. They need to pay for those fourr police officers out of Measure C and O funds, as we the people who passed them expected, and with the projected budget surplus. Leave the sewer and water funds where they belong.

By MELISSA JORDAN, BART Senior Web Producer

The Fleet of the Future train cars that begin arriving later this year for testing will have state-of-the-art climate control technology that’s not only more comfortable, but more energy-efficient as well. 

Hot cars are a common complaint from riders on BART’s oldest-in-the-nation trains. From July 1, 2014 – June 5, 2015, more than 200 riders took the time to call or email customer services with climate complaints, and many more used social media to vent with tweets like “hot as the devil’s toenails” (one of the milder ones).

BART has worked to maintain the aging HVAC — heating, ventilation and air conditioning — system on current cars, but major relief will come with the new cars, scheduled to begin passenger service in 2016. (The Board of Directors receives a semi-annual update on the new cars at its meeting this Thursday, June 11, to be webcast at www.bart.gov/board)

“An unbelievable amount of effort has gone into designing these cars to have a large number of improvements for riders,” said Ben Holland, manager of vehicle systems engineering.

Holland explained that in the current cars, the HVAC duct system is placed underneath the floor of the cars. You may have felt cool air at your side if you had a seat by the window.

“It was a very different level of ridership when BART first started,” said Mike Healy, retired longtime spokesman who was with BART since its early days. “The ideal was promoted that every rider would have a seat, and there would be this cool, comfortable air conditioning at every seat.” A November 1965 article in the San Francisco Examiner cited BART’s plan to “Pamper the Passenger,” with the pledge that “Transit passengers will ride in great comfort, with room, light and air conditioning.”

Today, as Healy noted, ridership is bursting at the seams with an average of more than 420,000 trips per day. Standees don’t get much of that precious cool air, and even less personal space than riders with seats.

BETTER AIR FLOW, MORE EFFICIENT

In contrast, the HVAC system on the new train cars will be housed under the car, but the fresh air will be distributed from the ceiling of the cars, providing better air flow throughout the space overall and bringing relief to standees with vents at the top of the car. The heating and cooling system on the new trains will be more energy-efficient, as well.

The new cars will be equipped with an energy saving mode, during which time doors will open at stations only when a passenger is standing in front of them. By opening doors only when necessary, the energy saving mode will help reduce the amount of lost heat or A/C from the cars. The doors will have redundant sensors to detect persons wishing to enter or exit the train.

WHITE ROOF DEFLECTS LIGHT

In addition to an aluminum exterior, which reflects light to help keep cars cool, the new cars also will be equipped with a white roof to further deflect heat and light away from the interior of the train. The white roof will help lessen the load on the interior cooling system, keeping passengers more comfortable and decreasing energy consumption. Finally, when all the new trains get here as they’re rolled out over time, there will be greater capacity to the system — cutting down on the body heat generated in crowded cars.

BART gets some, but many fewer complaints about train cars that are too cold than about those that are too hot, possibly because savvy travelers know about the roller-coaster ride of temperatures in the Bay Area.

THE LAND OF MICROCLIMATES

A factor contributing to the challenges of comfortable air on BART is the Bay Area’s notorious microclimates.

“It’s not unusual to have a 40-degree temperature difference in 40 miles,” said Jan Null, lecturer and researcher at San Jose State University in meteorology and climate science. “There are very few places in the United States, if not the world. with such a differential in such a relatively short space,” said Null, also a former lead forecaster with the National Weather Service. (See graphic above of sample possible temperatures in BART service area, from data provided by Null.)

The “natural air conditioning” that comes from the unique geography of the region keeps it relatively mild overall year-round, but with wide ranges among microclimates of different areas. (Often misattributed to Mark Twain, a famous quip from an unknown author is, “The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”)

The high-tech sensors of the new trains are designed to keep the inside comfortable for passengers, no matter what’s going on outside — from the sun-drenched hills of Walnut Creek to the pea-soup fog of Daly City.

WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

Meanwhile, if you’re stuck in a hot car before the new trains arrive, here are some things to keep in mind:

* The climate on each train car is individually controlled, so if yours is hot, you can try moving to another car. (An empty car on a hot day is often a clue that the air isn’t working well inside that car.)

* The train operator can’t adjust the temperature; however, they can put in a service call for a technician to check it out. Use the phone at the end of each train to speak with the operator and note the number of the car you’re on (located above the doors at each end of the car). If a technician isn’t available right away, the problem can be logged for maintenance later. A hot car typically would not take a train out of service — most riders would rather BART keep a hot train running on time than to delay everyone by taking a train out of service.

* BART is required by a California Public Utilities Commission order to maintain a high level of circuitry overload protection. Electronics are subject to damage when they become hot, and the critical functions are propulsion and communications. When potential of overload occurs, such as when it is extremely hot or extremely cold outside, the non-essential functions (such as heat and A/C) automatically shut off to preserve the critical propulsion and communications features.The blower will continue to deliver a “flow” or “vent,” but there is no heating or cooling.

Meet the Fleet is an occasional ongoing series looking in-depth at different aspects of BART’s new train cars, which are due to arrive with the first of 10 pilot cars for testing in late 2015. The first cars to carry passengers are expected to begin service in 2016. For more details visit www.bart.gov/cars

By Luke Johnson

One hundred thirty-four graduates of the Class of 2015 walked into Deer Valley High School’s amphitheater, Friday evening, for the fourth annual commencement ceremony of Dozier-Libbey Medical High School, the first under Principal Scott Bergerhouse.

Bergerhouse has been employed by the Antioch Unified School District for 31 years and has been an administrator on various campuses over the past two decades. He replaced Dozier-Libbey’s inaugural principal, Nancy Castro, in April, 2014, following a failed attempt by teachers to convert the school into a public charter school.

“Everywhere I’ve been, it has been about building positive relationships,” Bergerhouse said. “I wanted to make sure everyone understood that we’re here for the sake of kids, and we are all very passionate about kids and kids’ success.”

Dozier-Libbey is one of the most praised educational institutions in the country for its 70 percent Advance Placement Test participation with a student body minority enrollment of 77 percent. U.S. News and World Report magazine ranked Dozier-Libbey in the Top 700 schools throughout the nation.

Dozier-Libbey’s 2015 graduating class is unique, in that when the students started as freshmen in 2011, it was the first time the school had a full student body (grades 9-12). When the school was founded in 2008, it only consisted of freshmen.

Graduates have a tradition of decorating their caps, and it has grown every year. On Friday, well over half of them styled their caps, many with glitter and rhinestones and with the logo of the college they plan to attend.

“Being able to decorate our caps makes the ceremony more sentimental,” Riley Cleary said, who is a Certificate of Excellence recipient and an All-League baseball player. “I talked to a couple of Deer Valley students and asked them how they decorated their caps, and they replied with, ‘We couldn’t. Our graduation was formal,’ and they sounded kind of jealous because it is a good way to express oneself and can add a unique appearance.”