Dear Editor:

I wanted to respond to your “Perspective” concerning the Card Room issue and Commissioner Thorpe which will move to a ballot measure at a sizable cost to the citizens of Antioch.

I will not stand to criticize Mr. Thorpe or to analyze his position; nor will I defend him. I do not know if he was used or was an active participant, and truly I don’t care one way or another. What I do know is that Commissioner Thorpe serves at the pleasure of the Council and may continue or not based on an evaluation of his whole work for the City by the Mayor and Council.

The question is: How did the Council not see this coming? With the issues raised concerning Kelly’s Card Room, it’s failure and the reaction of the City something like this initiative was bound to come along.

There was a filing and a collection of signatures wasn’t there? This didn’t happen in a vacuum did it? Where was the City Administration to advise the Council? Where was the City Manager? Where was the oversight? Where was the leadership?

So we end up in a “bind”. “Bullied”? Well, that is because there is a lack of leadership and vision. After all, when you don’t keep your eye on the ball, you miss. Big miss here. Just swinging at air.

Throughout your article there is frustration almost to the point of anger. I understand. The cost to our City is substantial, but you and I both know businesses love monopolies and a lack of competition. It produces big profits. And there is obviously big money involved or an out of town Casino wouldn’t have stepped in and spent time and money creating this situation.

Bottom line this may be the most current time the City of Antioch is placed in this type of situation but without improvement in leadership and vision, I assure you that it will not be the last.

Mark Jordan

Antioch

Lynne Leach

Today, candidate for County Supervisor in District 3, Doug Hardcastle announced he has received the endorsement of former State Assemblywoman Lynne Leach.

While in the Assembly for six years, Leach represented almost all of what makes up District 3, including the East County communities of Oakley, Brentwood, Discovery Bay, Bethel Island, Knightsen, Byron and parts of Antioch, as well as Blackhawk, Diablo and Camino Tassajara, in the San Ramon Valley portion of the Supervisor district.

“What impressed me about Doug is that he has taken so many of the necessary steps, both as a member of the Ironhouse Satinary District Board and Oakley City Council, and is now well prepared to be a member of the Board of Supervisors,” said Leach. “Plus, his small business experience and community service, it just makes a lot of sense.”

“He is one of the best, well-rounded candidates you could imagine,” she added. “That’s why I’m supporting him for County Supervisor.”

A leader in the Assembly, Leach served as Vice Chair of the Assembly Education Committee in her second and third terms. She also served on a variety of committees, including Transportation, Insurance, Business and Professions, Jobs and Economic Development, Aging and Long Term Care, Joint Legislative Audit and the Master Plan for California Education (Kindergarten through Higher Education).

“I appreciate Lynne’s endorsement, and her time and counsel in my campaign,” Hardcastle said. “Plus, her great experience serving the same communities that I will be serving as Supervisor.”

Doug Hardcastle was elected to the Oakley City Council in 2012 and recently completed a year as Mayor. From 2000 to 2012 he served as a Director on the Ironhouse Sanitary District Board, for which he served as President in 2010-2011. He currently serves on both the Transplan Committee and the Tri Delta Transit Board of Directors. Doug and his wife Lyn own Hardcastle’s RV in Oakley and have for over 40 years. Doug was selected Oakley Business Person of the Year in 2006. He’s a life-long resident of Contra Costa County. For more information visit www.doughardcastle.com and follow the Hardcastle campaign on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @doughardcastle.

Supervisor District 3 includes Oakley, Brentwood, Discovery Bay, Blackhawk, Diablo, Camino Tassajara, Bethel Island, Byron, Knightsen and a portion of Antioch. The election is on June 7, 2016.

Steve Barr, courtesy City of Brentwood

Today, Wednesday, February 10, 2016, Brentwood Councilmember Steve Barr announced his intent to run for Contra Costa County Supervisor District 3.

“After careful consideration I have decided to seek the office of Supervisor and represent the residents of Far East County and the communities of Blackhawk and Diablo,” Barr said. “I feel it is the right time for me to use the experience I have gained serving the Brentwood residents for the last five years on the city council and make a positive contribution to the Board of Supervisors on behalf of District 3 residents.”

In 2005 Steve was appointed to the Liberty Union High School District Board of directors and was elected to the board in 2006. He served as President of the Board in 2008 and completed his term on the school board in 2010.

Steve was elected to the Brentwood City Council in 2010 and served as Vice-Mayor in 2011 and 2012. In 2012 he ran unsuccessfully for Mayor of Brentwood against Bob Taylor. In 2014 Barr was re-elected to the council in an uncontested election.

While on the City Council he has served on the following city committees: Operating and Capital improvement Budgets, 10 Year Fiscal Model Plan, Downtown Specific Plan, General Plan Implementation, Sewer/Water/Solid Waste rates, School Inter-agency Council, and Land Use and Development.

He was appointed to the East Contra Costa Fire District Board of Directors in 2011 – 2014 and was recently reappointed in 2016.

Steve has been active in the Brentwood community in various roles including coaching youth sports, soccer, CYO basketball and Pony baseball, has chaired community events such as the 1996 Brentwood Cornfest, the 2014 Harvest Time Festival and co-chaired the Brentwood Art Wine and Jazz Festival for three years. He served as President of the Liberty High School Athletic Boosters and Liberty High School site council from 2002- 2005.

Steve is a third generation Contra Costan and lived in Pleasant Hill from 1956 to 1978, Martinez from 1978 to 1981 and in Brentwood since 1981. He has been a licensed contractor for 35 years specializing in structural concrete and custom pools, and currently is providing contracted construction management services for a processing plant in Ripon California.

Steve and his wife Kathy have lived in Brentwood for 35 years. They have a daughter Kristin age 32 of Yuba City and son Paul age 29 of Walnut Creek.

This brings the number of candidates for County Supervisor in District 3 to six, including Oakley City Council Doug Hardcastle, NAACP East County Branch President Odessa Lefrancois, East Bay Regional Parks District Board Member Diane Burgis, Antioch Mayor Wade Harper and Antioch Councilwoman Monica Wilson.  The Primary Election is on June 7th and if no candidate receives a majority of the vote, the top two candidates with the most votes will face off in the General Election in November.

By Allen Payton

Lamar Thorpe, his wife and one other Antioch resident just put the City in a bind. The Council was forced to either adopt an unnecessary ordinance from an initiative for which they were the proponents and funded by an out of town casino, to limit the number of card rooms in Antioch from two to one, or spend between $132,771 and $177,028 on a special election.

While the Council chose to allow the initiative to go to the ballot, I hold Thorpe personally responsible for costing Antioch taxpayers that amount of money that could be used, instead to pay for at least one police officer for a year.

Here’s the crazy part. Thorpe is a member of the Antioch Economic Development Commission and was nominated by Mayor Wade Harper and appointed by the City Council. He’s supposed to be working to help grow the local economy. Instead, he’s chosen to be a shill for the California Grand Casino in Pacheco, to limit competition for them and creating a monopoly for the only current card room in Antioch, the 19th Hole.

Whether or not you agree with gambling, as I do not, the issue is what is the role of a member of the Antioch Economic Development Commission? Doing the bidding for out of town interests to limit competition in our city is not one of those.

Lamar Thorpe. Herald file photo.

A representative of the same people behind the initiative approached me, last fall. I told them flat out no way would I be a front person for them, even though I oppose gambling, as it violates my faith. I don’t want an out of town business dictating what we will or won’t do in our city.

Thorpe chose to go the opposite direction, thinking this might help him to advance himself politically, possibly in another run for City Council. He lost his race in 2012 after he wouldn’t admit to something he did in college, and continued to lie about it, blaming the student newspaper.

The worst thing is he didn’t even have the guts to get up from his seat in the audience and speak at the Council meeting, and identify himself as the leading proponent, when Mayor Harper asked for the proponents to get up and speak. Instead he let the California Grand Casino’s attorney speak.

For that reason alone he should have never been appointed to the commission, nor by Councilwoman Monica Wilson as one of her Stand By Council Members. She also appointed Thorpe’s wife as one. Wilson should also immediately rescind those appointments.

While there may not be a financial conflict of interest for Thorpe in what he did on the card room initiative, he has a serious conflict because he’s been working against his responsibilities as a commissioner, as well as the interests of both the commission and the City in general.

It’s time the Council voted to remove Thorpe from the commission, and send the message out to all commissioners and residents that this is not acceptable behavior for anyone who wants to serve the City in a leadership or representative position.

According to City Manager Steve Duran’s latest Weekly Report, a family owned company, Delta Fresh Operators, LLC, will open soon in the recently closed Fresh and Easy building at Lone Tree Way and Golf Course Road. With 60 years of grocery experience, Harley and Dennis DeLano plan to open a neighborhood market with fresh meats, produce, organic products and prepared foods by April.

Delta Fresh Foods will have cashier checkers, stockers and baggers, anticipating about 50 employees and is seeking to hire locally. The 13,860 square foot building will be going thru some light renovations in the coming months to get the building ready for the new concept. The DeLano family owns two other grocery stores: Westlake Market in Davis and Fairfax Market in Fairfax, California.

For more information visit www.fairfaxmarket.net and www.westlakemarket.net.