Construction of the Sunset Drive extension at Bryan Street.

By Allen Payton

If you drive Sunset Drive or Bryan Avenue to A Street, to turn southbound to access Highway 4 or if you drive A Street southbound and turn left on Bryan Avenue to get to the Jack-in-the-Box restaurant, as of April 11, you won’t be able to any longer.

According to Antioch’s Public Works Director/City Engineer Ron Bernal, that construction you’ve seen going on for months, where Sunset Drive terminates at Bryan Avenue, is the extension of Sunset Drive. It will curve and stop at A Street, where a new stop light has recently been installed.

So, beginning Monday, April 11, in order to turn southbound onto A Street, you’ll have to drive to the light at Sunset Drive and A Street. In addition, in order to access Jack-in-the-Box from A Street, you’ll have to turn left on Sunset Drive, proceed south to Bryan Avenue and turn left.

You will still be able to turn right onto northbound A Street from Bryan Avenue and turn right onto Bryan Avenue from northbound A Street.

The changes will make it easier and more safe to turn onto and off of A Street onto Bryan Avenue.

To view the location on Google maps, click here.

HIGHWAY LANE CLOSURES:

State Route 4:

There will be highway lane closures in the eastbound direction of State Route 4 between A St. and Hillcrest on Saturday from 12:00 am to 7:00 am.

There will be highway lane closures in the westbound direction of State Route 4 between Railroad Avenue and Contra Loma on Monday through Friday from 11:00 am to 7:00 pm.

There will be highway lane closures in the eastbound direction of State Route 4 between Bailey Road and Contra Loma on Monday through Friday from 4:30 am to 12:00 pm.

RAMP CLOSURES:

There will be a ramp closure at the Hillcrest Ave. westbound on ramp and off ramp Saturday from 12:00 am to 5:00 am.

LOCAL STREET CLOSURES:

There will be a permanent left hand turn closure from westbound Bryan Ave. to southbound A St. on April 11, 2016.

For questions or comments please send e-mail to info@4eastcounty.org.

Actual Routes May Change – Please Follow Posted Detour Signs

Boyland with his Wyoming Cowboys jersey, from his Facebook page. published with permission.

The University of Wyoming announced it has accorded a Bachelor of Arts degree upon Antioch resident Troy Lamonte Boyland, Jr. at the completion of the 2015 fall semester.

Boyland was a double major in both criminal justice and social sciences, and played offensive guard on the Wyoming Cowboys football team on a full scholarship. He is originally from San Francisco, but has been living in Antioch for the past three years.

The University of Wyoming provides quality undergraduate and graduate programs to 13,800 students from all 50 states and 94 countries. Established in 1886, UW is a nationally recognized research institution with accomplished faculty and world class facilities. Offering 200 areas of study, UW provides an environment for success. A low student faculty ratio allows for individual instruction and attention, and undergraduates often participate in cutting edge research projects.

For more information about the University of Wyoming, visit www.uwyo.edu.

Restore the Delta says to tell the Contra Costa Water Board “Say no to back room deals that sell out Delta water quality for the region”

By Barbara Barrigan-Parrilla, Executive Director, Restore the Delta

The Contra Costa Water District Board of Directors will soon be reviewing the settlement agreement that they recently signed with the Delta Tunnels plan effort. The settlement drops CCWD’s protest against the tunnels plan in exchange for a separate pipeline to deliver drinking water to its customers. We are urging all concerned residents to attend the meeting.

This may be your only opportunity to register a public comment on how you feel about CCWD’s self-interested approach to secure a water supply at the expense of the community it serves.

What: CCWD Public Board Meeting

When: Wednesday, April 6, 2016, 6:30 to 9:00 pm. (Come at 6:00 pm if you would like to organize with us prior to the meeting)

Where: 1331 Concord Avenue, Concord   

The Contra Costa Water District is choosing to exchange its present contract for Delta water deliveries for an intake above the Delta that will remove even more fresh water from the estuary. This not only puts all other Delta communities at risk for even worse water quality, but also leaves their own customers within their own district with degraded Delta water for other uses. Additionally, their decision leaves the San Francisco Bay Estuary with degraded water quality which will negatively impact that magnificent ecosystem.

Contra Costa County residents recreate in high numbers in the Delta, live around its water ways, and have regular contact with the water.  Environmental justice communities and recreational anglers fish Delta waterways for sustenance and professional tournaments, and Contra Costa County farmers depend on quality Delta water for their businesses.

Furthermore, the impacts will be exacerbated for residents in Discovery Bay for all water uses — from toxic algal blooms to waterways polluted with salt, Selenium and human carcinogens. Reducing flow through the Delta will put the estuary in a state of “permanent drought.”

CCWD’s willingness to settle is an indictment of how bad the Delta Tunnels plan really is. The Tunnels Project will have egregious water quality impacts in the Delta. CCWD should drop the settlement, and rejoin the unified opposition to the Tunnels plan launched by the entire Bay-Delta community, not cut a self-serving back room deal!

Lastly, Restore the Delta and collaborating environmental groups have in the past supported an expansion of Los Vaqueros Reservoir (and an intertie between Contra Costa Water District and Santa Clara Valley Water District) as ways to meet water needs for the greater Bay Area.  However, we are reconsidering our support of such measures seeing that Contra Costa Water District would now become a party to depriving the Bay-Delta estuary of needed flows through the Delta tunnels project. CCWD is effectively transforming the expansion of Los Vaqueros from a solution to a tool of the Bay-Delta estuary water grab.

Read our opposition to this settlement here. If you have questions, about this alert, please feel free to call our office at 209-475-9550.  We will see you, our members, at 6 pm in order to organize before the meeting on April 6, 2016. If you cannot make the meeting, submit a public comment here.

Thank you for your continued support.

The Contra Costa Water District service area includes Antioch, Bay Point, Brentwood (portion), Clayton, Clyde, Concord, Martinez (portion), Oakley, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill (portion), Port Costa and Walnut Creek (portion). To find your Director on the Board visit http://www.ccwater.com/426/Division-Map—Find-Your-Director.  If you can’t attend the meeting you can also email your Director by visiting http://www.ccwater.com/416/Board-of-Directors . and clicking on their name and then link to contact them. Antioch is represented by Directors Bette Boatmun and Connstance Holdaway.

Mike Neff with Antioch Mayor Pro Tem Lori Ogorchock.

The week of March 21 – 25 marked Meals on Wheels of America’s “March for Meals Community Champions Week,” a national campaign to raise awareness about senior needs, especially around hunger and isolation.

As a member agency, Meals on Wheels and Senior Outreach Services (MOWSOS) participated locally and invited community leaders to take part in meal delivery ride-a-longs to homebound, frail seniors around the county.

Community leaders who participated included Antioch Mayor Pro-Tem Lori Ogorchock; District V Supervisor Federal Glover; Clayton Mayor Howard Geller; Martinez Mayor Rob Schroder;  Pleasant Hill Mayor Sue Noack; Oakley Mayor Kevin Romick;  Orinda Mayor Victoria Smith; Walnut Creek Mayor Pro-Tem Rich Carlston; Pleasant Hill Councilmember, Tim Flaherty; Concord Councilmember Dan Helix; Walnut Creek Councilmember Bob Simmons; Bay Point All in One President, Delano Johnson;  Contra Costa County Office of the Sheriff, Lt. Paul O’Mary, and Deputies Katie Rhoe and Matt Buckley;  Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County Executive Director, Will McGarvey; Bay Point Municipal Advisory Council Member Debra Mason; American Medical Response (AMR), Public Information Officer, Alicia Moore and EMT’s Sarah Dotson and Jason Kalan; Dayna Wilson, Keller Williams Realtor.

“It was a great day,” said Ogorchock, who rode on an Antioch meal delivery route with volunteer driver, Mike Neff.  “Meals on Wheels and Senior Outreach Services does a great service in our community by keeping our seniors safe and healthy.”

If you or your civic or community group, are available to help, please contact Carol Louisell, Director of Community Engagement at clouisell@mowsos.org or 925-954-8736.  An on-line application, an orientation, and background check are required.

By East Bay Leadership Council

Arousing fear and outrage has proven to be an effective strategy, especially during this political season.

The past few weeks have seen a great deal of hand-wringing and outrage in the media over BART’s woes.  The service disruption between North Concord and Bay Point has brought back traumatic memories of the 2013 strike, and old animosities have resurfaced.

The East Bay Leadership Council (EBLC) hopes to put that animosity aside and focus on keeping BART running. But just as we get the government we deserve, we also get the infrastructure we deserve.  Let us be worthy of the inheritance left to us by past generations and not squander it for the sake of pithy tweets or political posturing.

The system’s age is contributing to the current problems.  Suggesting that this claim only serves some ulterior motive is false and is a distraction from the real issues.

The core BART system will soon be half a century old.  The system suffers $9.6 billion dollars’ worth of deferred maintenance and critical components now require replacement.  This work has to be paid for, and neither the State of California nor the federal government is likely to bail us out any time soon.

Whether you believe the system has been mismanaged or not; whether you ride along the screeching decades-old tracks or not; whether you personally suffer through overcrowded cars and service interruptions or not, we all benefit from a system that eases commutes, connects people to jobs, provides mobility to those with limited means, and helps keep our air clean.

The alternative is longer commutes, more polluted air, a weaker economy, and a diminished quality of life.  This is our reality.

The EBLC believes it is reasonable to question labor practices and compensation at BART.  We encourage the Board of Directors and senior management to work diligently to address these issues, and we call on the California legislature to contribute to a solution.  It is our collective civic duty to hold our leaders accountable.

Broken infrastructure is just as bad for riders as a BART strike.  We hope that BART and our region’s leaders get the message: come together and keep BART running.

We also hope that the region’s citizens recognize that investing in our infrastructure is responsible civic engagement when the system is in need of public investment.  The Bay Area is among the world’s largest economies and requires a reliable world-class transit system befitting its status.

Ultimately, vilifying public servants is no more productive than vilifying elected leaders.  Both result in a race to the bottom where the only participants left are those comfortable with a good public shaming.

It is ridiculous to think that choking off BART’s resources will lead to a better BART.

ABOUT THE EAST BAY LEADERSHIP COUNCIL

The East Bay Leadership Council (EBLC) is a private-sector, public-policy organization that advocates on issues affecting economic vitality and quality of life and represents leaders of business, industry, education, government and the nonprofit community. www.eastbayleadershipcouncil.com