All five incumbents have failed our community, over and over

By Allen Payton

After much consideration, thought and prayer, and watching and reporting on the current council members for the past two, four, six and eight years for Mayor Pro Tem Joy Motts, Mayor Sean Wright and Councilman Lamar Thorpe, Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock and Councilwoman Monica Wilson, respectively, none of them has earned the right to be re-elected and Thorpe certainly hasn’t earned a promotion to Mayor.

They have all failed in their positions, responsibilities and commitments, except for two: approving needed new housing and police which they have approved the hiring of additional officers. But it took the passage of two tax increases by we the people! One big exception to this one success is for Wilson who overpromised and underdelivered. She’s the last remaining member of the 2013 city council which promised us 22 more police “immediately” if we passed Measure C, the first half-cent sales tax increase. Yet, it took SIX YEARS for that promise to be fulfilled to get us from 89 sworn officers to 111.

In the meantime, she and other councilmembers voted for pay raises both for the police officers and the rest of city staff – twice. That’s wrong. Plus, it took the passage of Measure W and a doubling of the sales tax before the commitment was fulfilled.

Worse, all of them used the false base amount of 82 sworn officers, beginning in the fall of 2013, after Measure C passed that November. By that time the Antioch Police Department had lost seven more officers from the 89 on the force when the measure was put on the ballot in July. That’s playing games with our tax dollars and our safety. Unacceptable. Fail.

Economic Development

Second, they’ve failed us in economic development with only the approval of four cannabis businesses, which only two have so far opened, to show for their efforts. Oh, yeah. A new city logo as part of the $400,000 branding campaign which all five council members undermined when the news of them removing Kenny Turnage from the Planning Commission for his controversial comments about COVID-19, instead of merely censuring him, went not only national, but international, as well.  That was a successful attempt by Wilson to eliminate a competitor for her re-election bid. But she labeled his comments racist which they weren’t. Yet, the other four council members went along with her effort and it resulted in negative national media for our city.

Three of them, Thorpe, Motts and Wilson, recently voted to postpone the mixed use Delta Fair Village project at the old Food Maxx location, which would have provided a needed boost to that part of town, along with 4,000 square feet of new retail space and renovation of the remaining existing 73,535 square feet of retail space. But they wanted a Project Labor Agreement to please their union backers. They said it was about cleaning up the property even though that requirement was in the development agreement and had to be done, first, before construction could begin. They lost any leverage they had over the property owner and developer and delayed the economic improvements for that part of Antioch, by voting to postpone his project indefinitely. Fail.

“Positive News” Propaganda Website

The city hired a Brentwood-based webmaster to develop and operate their own “positive news” website that the East Bay Times labeled “propaganda” because they claimed the local media wasn’t publishing enough positive news about the city. So, using our tax dollars they’ve gone into the news business, competing with local businesses, and worse, undermining their own economic development efforts. How? Because there are no ads for local businesses on their website (which is a good thing), like there are on the local media company websites for people to click and go to those businesses’ websites to shop and see what they have to offer. All the city has to do is send the local media the same articles they’re posting on their site, some of which are being paid to be written by a Brentwood resident, who works with the webmaster, and we will publish them and save the taxpayers’ money. Another failure.

Rivertown

In Rivertown, they’ve dragged their feet for five years on nine city-owned parcels while in exclusive negotiations with one developer, dating back to when Steve Duran was City Manager (whom Wright, in his first few months in office, successfully worked to fire). New state laws passed last year now require city-owned land to be offered for low- to moderate-income housing, first. So, the nice condos or townhomes that the old lumber company lot is zoned for can’t be built.

Why did that happen? Because Motts still wants a park and event center on the property, which the new state laws allow, and is the largest parcel of the nine, even though she and the Save The Yard folks failed to get enough signatures to place an initiative on the ballot to support the proposal, and have never come up with the money to pay for it. Plus, a few years ago, the City changed direction with the downtown park proposed at Waldie Plaza, instead. The mayor and other council members took no action on selling the nine parcels. Wright failed to even place the item on a council agenda, which he has the sole power to do. Fail.

The council members also haven’t done anything to remove the eyesore of that house floating near the piers on Tom Trost’s property, who moved it there years ago to force the city to include his land under the water in their Downtown Specific Plan. That was approved in 2015! As Gabe Makinano’s Vision 2020 states, it’s Rivertown, not shantytown. The city needs to pay to move the house and put a lien on Trost’s property for the costs. That’s how things get done. Fail.

Finally, they’re not dealing with the homeless problem in downtown as they promised property owner and investor Sean McCauley. All they’ve done is string more lights in Waldie Plaza making it difficult to sleep there at night and put some portable toilets in downtown – which is good so the homeless have a place for that. So, far McCauley has purchased six buildings in Rivertown, including both the building and the land for Smith’s Landing Seafood Grill and the Riverview Lodge, which he’s working to improve, right now. He’s also brought three new food and drink establishments, with one more expected to Rivertown. The city needs to work with him to ensure the success of those businesses. Fail.

Homeless

They’ve also failed us on homeless. Last December all five councilmembers voted to spend over $500,000 to help the homeless in Antioch, to get them off the streets, out of the cold and wet of winter, out of the encampments and into transitional housing. All they’ve done so far is pay for some portable toilets in downtown and hired a consultant at $73,000 per year! The 5 FEMA trailers are gathering dust in the city’s maintenance yard. Now three of them, Thorpe, Motts and Wilson want to spend up to $1 million per year of taxpayer money to take over an entire motel on E. 18th Street as transitional housing for the homeless. Fail.

Hiring Staff & Consultants

They’ve hired consultant, after consultant, and a Public Information Officer at a cost of $96,000 per year, based in San Francisco, who so far has sent out less than 12 press releases in over a year! They recently approved the hiring of a new assistant city manager – right before an election. That’s irresponsible. What if the new council members don’t click with her? They also approved hiring a moderator for the community forums, that have yet to be held, at a cost of $100,000! Fail.

Community Forums

The big push to have community forums on police reform and race relations with all five councilmembers participating have gone nowhere. Wright and Thorpe are the subcommittee members. They held one forum to discuss what they were going to do with the rest of the forums. But the council has yet to hold another one, ignoring the input and concerns from over 800 members of the public who took the time to offer their comments. Ultimately, Wright is responsible because as mayor he sets the agenda and calls the council meetings. Fail.

Development, Property Rights, Politics & Waste of Tax Dollars

Instead of letting the voters decide on both The Ranch and the Let Antioch Voters Decide (LAVD) initiatives (rather ironic) in 2018, four of the current council members (except for Motts who wasn’t elected until later that November) decided for us and approved both of them, downzoning and devaluing the land of four adjacent property owners by over 97%! Two of those property owners sued the City costing our tax dollars and they won in court, twice, and both initiatives were tossed out. Then all five council members approved The Ranch project earlier this year, and the council was required by the judge to place the LAVD initiative (Measure T) on the November ballot.

Here’s the worst part. They all know the measure will have no affect because of the signing into law last year by Gov. Newsom of SB330 which prohibits cities from downzoning residential property by council action or initiative. Yet, they all had the gall to endorse Measure T, because they all want to get re-elected and were afraid the majority of people would be against new housing development and would vote against them. They showed a serious lack of leadership. Instead of telling we the people the truth, they all chose to play politics – and with other people’s property. Major failure.

LGBTQ Flag on City Hall Flagpole

Another failure was when the council voted to fly the controversial and divisive LGBTQ rainbow “pride” flag on the city hall flagpole, before establishing a flag policy. Then they adopted a flag policy that is so restrictive it pretty much prevents any other groups from having their flag flown at city hall. Fail.

Cancelling July 4th Fireworks

This year the council failed us, again and on our nation’s and city’s birthday when they allowed the July 4th celebration and fireworks to be cancelled by city staff and the Celebrate Antioch Foundation. They allowed the Juneteenth Celebration to happen just a few weeks before, which was great. But, they wouldn’t let us have the fireworks show, and according to Wright, it was out of fear that it might attract the “wrong element” to our city because of the protests going on, and threats of looting, around that time. It really wasn’t about COVID-19. Instead, fireworks still happened in Antioch causing more calls for service by ConFire than any other city in the county. The people will not be denied. They need to learn that. That’s disappointing and another failure of leadership.

Election Season Antics

During this campaign, all five council members have been playing games with the truth, injecting partisan politics into races for non-partisan office and attacking other candidates – including with false accusations. The worst have been both Wright and Thorpe who have been falsely attacking each other on their voting records and personal lives.

Thorpe’s signs say he’s a “Leader Who Listens” yet he deletes comments he doesn’t like on his social media pages. Wright’s signs say “Uniting Not Dividing Antioch”, yet his nasty campaign tactics have served to divide us further. For that I’m very disappointed in him. Plus, he’s refused to even talk or meet with the protesters – who are his constituents that he also represents. Wright doesn’t have to agree with their positions. But he should at least be willing to listen to anyone in our city.

I’ve lost confidence in all five council members’ ability to lead, solve problems and meet the needs of our community. I endorsed Wright and Thorpe four years ago with the hopes they could get things done. But, they haven’t. I also endorsed Ogorchock both times she’s run, in 2014 and 2018. While she’s the best of the five, I can’t endorse her, again this time. Her endorsement of Diana Becton for District Attorney in 2018 was the straw that broke the camel’s back for me, as our DA has been working to undermine our public safety with her radical, criminal justice reform proposals.

Sean needs to go back to focusing on what he’s good at and that’s the Chamber of Commerce, for which he’s continued to serve as the Chief Operating Officer during his term as mayor, and advocating for economic development, from the outside. Motts needs to focus on being president of the Celebrate Antioch Foundation where she does good work with downtown and other community events, like the annual July 4th celebration and fireworks. (When we’re allowed to have them).

Thorpe’s votes for the mixed-use Wildflower Station, the city’s first transit oriented development project and the new homes in the Sand Creek Area are positives and will benefit the city. But, he’s been way too divisive and has coalesced with the side that is pushing their Berkeley and other big city-style progressive politics and protests that don’t belong here. Lamar should spend his time focusing on his career and family.

Lori can continue to focus on her real estate business and be a community volunteer, and share her love for seniors and others, that way.

New Leadership for a New Direction

So, I’m recommending a clean sweep of all five council seats. Although he’s green and raw, and he recognizes it, Gabe Makinano has a heart for Antioch, has served in the trenches working to solve problems and meet needs, and is not afraid to get his hands dirty and do the tough work. Gabe is the only candidate for mayor who has offered a vision for the direction he’d like to see Antioch head in with a variety of positive things he wants to see accomplished for the benefit of the residents. Check out his Vision 2020 plan on his website. Makinano will truly be able to bring our city back together in unity. He’s faced his own challenges in life, but God got ahold of him and changed his heart and his life’s path. I believe he’s the leader Antioch needs at this time. Gabe’s willing to learn but he will have a steep learning curve.

That’s why we need to also elect Manny Soliz to the city council in District 1, because of his previous experience as Mayor Pro Tem and Councilmember, and now on the Planning Commission. The Stanford educated business owner, Soliz can serve in the role of “elder statesman” in effect, showing the others the ropes.

We also need new leadership in District 2 with Mike Barbanica, who has both business experience, owning a real estate brokerage, and law enforcement experience being a former police officer. He’s a take action guy, too. Tony Tiscareno had his time on the council, and I’ll give him credit for voting to approve the Wildflower Station mixed-use project at Hillcrest and Deer Valley Road. But it’s time for new blood and new leadership.

In District 4, the choice was easy. Wilson has been on the council for eight years and really doesn’t have much to show for it. Her claim to fame is the Red Sand Project, which while nice and the issue of human sex trafficking is important, there are more pressing issues that affect most Antioch residents that she should have been focusing her time on. Wilson means well, but when she interjected race, twice in her attempt to get rid of Turnage as a potential campaign opponent, then referring to her three “white” council colleagues, that’s totally inappropriate. I say eight is enough. The clear choice in that district is Sandra White, who has both management experience in her job and community leadership experience as Chair of the Police Crime Prevention Commission. She’ll be able to hit the ground running once elected.

The toughest decision was in District 3. I’ve worked with Lori Ogorchock over the years and she’s been open to other viewpoints. But, she’s had six years and there are just too many votes that she’s taken that I don’t agree with and it’s time for her to step aside and pass the mantle of leadership on to someone else.

While I appreciate Nichole Gardner’s passion and compassion for the homeless in Antioch, we don’t need a single-issue candidate on the council, and her approach in seeking solutions has been disrespectful of both the council members and police. She needs to learn to be much more diplomatic if she wants to get things done.

Finally, I considered Marie Arce who shows a lot of potential, and serves as Chair of the Parks & Recreation Commission. I appreciate her service. But her support of more cannabis businesses in Antioch was a deal breaker. That’s not the kind of economic development that will help our city, but actually hurt our ability to attract businesses to town.

So, I have chosen to endorse Antwon Webster, who is a sharp, young man and has a seriously important job with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, in logistics. He hasn’t lived in Antioch very long. But, neither did I when I was elected in 1994, just three-and-a-half years after moving to Antioch. (I had actually only lived here a year when I was first asked to run for mayor.) I think he’ll be the youngest member of the new council. But Antwon will do fine in his new role.

One thing I want to add and that’s about candidate for mayor, Rakesh Kumar Christian who has contributed some important issues to the campaign that should be considered by the new mayor and council members. His life experience, as an immigrant from tough beginnings, to success in business and the field of science in America, brings a different perspective that represents a variety of our city’s residents which enriches our community, and I appreciate his willingness to jump into the race, this year.

Please join me in voting for new leadership and new direction for Antioch and create a positive, upward spiral for all of our future.

By Antioch Police Department

The Antioch Police Department was awarded a $53,000 grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS).

The safety of everyone traveling on our roadways is the focus of a grant awarded to the Antioch Police Department. The grant will assist in the Antioch Police Department’s efforts to reduce deaths and injuries on Antioch roads.

We are excited to be working with OTS and eager to use these grant funds to improve traffic safety within our city. Traffic safety has always been a top priority for our agency and community. This grant will assist us in reaching our traffic safety goals.

The one-year grant is for the 2021 federal fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021.

The grant will fund a variety of traffic safety programs, including:

• Patrols with emphasis on alcohol and drug-impaired driving prevention.
• Patrols with emphasis on awareness and education of California’s hands-free cell phone law.
• Patrols with emphasis on education of traffic rights for bicyclists and pedestrians.
• Patrols with emphasis on motorcycle safety
• Patrols with emphasis on awareness and education of primary causes of crashes: excess speed, failure to yield, failure to stop at stop signs/signals, improper turning/lane changes.
• Community education presentations on traffic safety issues such as distracted driving, DUI, speed, bicycle and pedestrian safety.
• Collaborative efforts with neighboring agencies on traffic safety priorities.
• Officer training and/or recertification: Standard Field Sobriety Test (SFST), Advanced Roadside Impaired Driving Enforcement (ARIDE) and Drug Recognition Expert (DRE).

Funding for this program was provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety, through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

 

$21.6 million total for program; approved as a consent calendar item and the last item on the agenda without discussion; no appraisals included; Glover, Kramer split on issue; appraises at $16.7 million

By Daniel Borsuk

The light will be left on for homeless, now at the Motel 6 in Pittsburg. Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors may have quietly went about unanimously approving $21.6 million for the purchase of the motel and almost two years of operations, as part of the state’s Homekey program to help the homeless find shelter, food, jobs and get social services, but the Board’s consent action on Tuesday also demonstrates how far apart two political candidates – longtime District 5 Supervisor Federal Glover and challenger Contra Costa County Assessor Gus Kramer – are on the issue of homelessness.

The agenda item was quietly acted on as a consent item, and the last on the agenda. There was no discussion on the item, nor were copies of the two appraisals by the county’s Public Works Real Estate Division included with the agenda. Attempts to obtain the appraised value for the property from members of the Board, County Administrator David Twa, and the Public Works Real Estate Division were unsuccessful prior to publication time. However, Supervisors Federal Glover, in whose district the motel is located, as well as Candace Andersen and Diane Burgis said they would work to provide the information. The only documents included with the agenda item were the purchase and sale agreement and deed of sale. Motel 6 Pittsburg – Purchase & Sale Agrmt final 10.12.20

Located at 2101 Loveridge Road in Pittsburg, the County, with the state’s financial assistance decided that acquisition of the Motel 6 will increase the number of shelter beds permanently available in East County from 20 beds to 174 beds, a 770 percent increase.  In addition to providing shelter, the program, funded under the state’s Home Key Program, would provide health care, behavioral health and other services to residents.

Contra Costa, along with the counties of San Francisco, Alameda and Santa Clara have now drawn state Homekey funds in the fight to solve homeless issues.

“This will be a great opportunity to get people off the street,” said Supervisor Glover who faces Kramer in a November 3rd face-off election because neither candidate drew enough votes to surpass 50 percent threshold of the total votes in the March election.  In that March election, the District 5 Board Seat had three candidates competing for the District 5 seat covering the communities of Antioch, Alhambra Valley, Clyde, Crockett, Hercules, Martinez, Mountain View, Pacheco, Pittsburg, Port Costa, and Rodeo – Glover, Kramer and Martinez businessman Sean Trambley – and no candidate had mustered votes exceeding 50 percent of the votes counted.  As a result, Glover and Kramer are in a run-off election on November 3.

The Contra Costa County Behavioral Department will operate the county’s Homekey program.

County Assessor Kramer, who must appear in Superior Court Judge John Cope’s court room on today, for a jury trial on civil “corrupt or willful misconduct” charges took a different view on the Board of Supervisors’ action to acquire the 174-room motel from OKC of Pittsburg for use as a homeless  facility.

Kramer lashed out at his political opponent Glover and other supervisors for spending $21 million.  “It’s a great program, but it is a waste of resources,” he said. “What a horrible investment.  Shame on the Board and Federal.”

Kramer did offer a potential solution to the homeless problem in the county and perhaps the state by creating camps like what occurred during the Great Depression where job, health and other public services would also be provided to individuals.

10/27/20 UPDATE: Asked for copies of the appraisal, Chief Assistant County Administrator Eric Angstadt responded, “I’m only aware of one appraisal. It was contracted out. I can give you what the topline is, but the appraisal is not available until after escrow closes.”

“The appraised value is $16.7 million at $96,000 per room,” he stated. “It’s 4.2% above the appraised value.”

Asked if the appraisal was done internally or contracted out, Angstadt said, “We always contract out appraisals. We have staff with real estate licenses. But I don’t believe we have any licensed appraisers on staff.”

“The state was very public about how much they were willing to pay at $100,000 per room,” he continued. “So, it didn’t leave us with much room to negotiate.”

“We have not signed the purchase and sale agreement, yet. That will happen once we finish the due diligence. We are working our way through all of it. It’s scheduled to close escrow on November 10th,” Angstadt added.

Orange COVID-19 Metric Next Week?’ 

Supervisors were informed that by next Tuesday the county should transition into the orange COVID-19 criteria, Contra Costa County Health Services Director Anna Roth said.  “We should meet the orange metric next week,” she said.  A move to an orange metric would mean the removal of further restrictions on some businesses.

Since the County declared a State of Emergency because of COVID-19 in March, there have been 18,214 cases and 236 deaths, Roth reported.

The health director encouraged the public to continue to wash hands, keep their distance, and stay home from work or school if they felt ill.

Four Abatement Actions

Supervisors acted on four abatement actions at the recommendations of the Conservation and Development Department.

Properties the Supervisors took action on were:

Property at 2738 Dutch Slough Road, Oakley, owned by Elmo G. Wurts, for $8,141.20; property at 0 Stone Road, Bethel Island, owned by Thanh Ngyyen for $6,964;  property at 4603 Gateway Road, Bethel Island, owned by Franks Marina for $5,591.20; and property at 3901 La Colina Road, El Sobrante, owned by Rudolph N. Webbe for $3,256.70.

Supervisors did not hear any comments from either property owners or the public on the abatement items.

Please check back later for any updates to this report.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

 

 

 

Joy Motts

Candidate for Antioch City Council, District 1

Current Mayor Pro Tem, City of Antioch

Former Antioch Unified School District Trustee -2010 to 2014, President 2012 to 2014

Retired Residential Mortgage Finance Consultant and a current Non-Profit Executive

Top Issues

Creating a vibrant community that supports an enhanced quality of life and helps individuals, families and businesses thrive. Key components: keeping our neighborhoods safe, addressing blight and illegal dumping, tackling homelessness, supporting our youth, spurring private/public investment, and taking measures to alleviate social injustice.

Bringing quality jobs to Antioch that can support individuals and families to live, work and play in their community. Key components: strategic marketing, updating infrastructure, corporate outreach and developing strong regional partners we will make Antioch an attractive place for new employers.

Revitalizing Historic downtown and North Antioch community. Key components: working with local developers and property owners to spur investment, policies and actions to support new business, vibrancy and renovations, promoting community events, and creating a downtown restaurant district.

Top Accomplishments

*Spearheaded the renovation of Antioch High School

*Key leader in creating and sustaining the Celebrate Antioch Foundation

*Created the City Homelessness Task Force

*Supported hiring of 33 new police officers, doubled code enforcement/ abatement departments

*Led in creating Antioch’s first Project Labor Agreement

Joymotts.org

joymotts@gmail.com

925-813-0036

Includes base annual salary of $315,000, with performance-based incentives

By Timothy Leong, Public Information Officer, CCCCD

At their October 14, 2020, meeting, the Governing Board approved the contract for Dr. Bryan Reece to become the ninth permanent Chancellor of the Contra Costa Community College District (District). The Chancellor Emeritus of California Community Colleges was hired by a board vote during their meeting on Sept. 22. (See related article)

“We are excited to work with Dr. Reece because the District needs a strong and visionary leader to meet the challenges we face,” said Governing Board President Rebecca Barrett.  “He brings an exemplary higher education background and experiences that will help us address the social justice and equity issues we face, particularly for our students. We look forward to the transformation and innovation our District will make under his leadership that will increase the success of our students.”

Dr. Reece has been working in higher education for over 30 years, with 15 years of academic and private sector leadership experience. He has taught Political Science as a tenured community college faculty member for 19 years and has a documented record of moving community colleges in directions that improve the academic success for students across all groups and has particular expertise with student populations from historically underserved communities.

Dr. Reece has been a transformational figure at three California community colleges, including Cerritos College, Crafton Hills College and Norco College. His most recent accomplishment came under his leadership as the President of Norco College where he organized college and community leaders into teams that implemented programs to improve the lives of students, community members, and college personnel.

“I am honored the Governing Board has selected me to lead this great District,” said Reece.  “Our future success can only happen if we all work together for the good of our students. I look forward to the challenge of bringing together our trustees, faculty, classified professionals and managers as we engage more deeply with our community and business leaders, and transform the lives of our students as they achieve their educational goals with us.”

Dr. Reece will start work on November 1, 2020, and receive a base annual salary of $315,000, with performance-based incentives. The contract will run through June 30, 2022, at which time the Governing Board can consider up to a two-year extension based on an evaluation that exceeds expectations.

Dr. Reece has a Bachelor of arts degree, Master of arts degree and doctorate in Political Science from the University of Southern California.

About the College District

The Contra Costa Community College District (CCCCD) is one of the largest multi-college community college districts in California. The CCCCD serves a population of 1,019,640 people, and its boundaries encompass all but 48 of the 734-square-mile land area of Contra Costa County. The District is home to Contra Costa College in San Pablo, Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, as well as educational centers in Brentwood and San Ramon. The District headquarters is located in downtown Martinez.

 

 

Manuel (Manny) Soliz, Jr.

Candidate for Antioch City Council, District 1.

City of Antioch Planning Commissioner.

Previous Offices: Mayor Pro Tem & Councilmember, 1996 – 2000

City of Antioch, Parks & Recreation Commissioner, 1994 – 1996 and 2016-2018.

City of Antioch, Planning Commissioner 2018 to present.

Occupation: Financial Advisor and Small Businessowner.

Top Issues: Public safety and clean neighborhoods and streets, Economic development, A humane approach to the homeless, well thought out, logical and realistic city planning.

Top Accomplishments:

1.  In my previous term, hiring additional police and code enforcement to dramatically reduce crime and code violations city wide.
2.  Refinanced existing Mello Roos bonds that reduced the public indebtedness by over $15 million and reduced the payback period by over 9 years.
3.  Worked with telecommunications companies to place fiber optics along Lone Tree Way, paving the way for future retail businesses in Antioch.
4.  Approved Slatten Ranch and Williamson Ranch retail centers on Lone Tree Way.
5.  Worked and fought to include citizen oversight and a sunset to Measure W.

MannySoliz.com

www.Facebook.com/MannySoliz4Antioch

mannysoliz4antioch@gmail.com

(925) 384-2629

 

1,443 to be low- to moderate-income units; 43,942 total units allocated for Contra Costa cities

Methodology emphasizes equity for projected 441,000 additional housing units needed Bay Area wide

“Housing Element Law emphasizes that all Bay Area communities have to share the increased state planning number…” – ABAG President and Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin

Public comment period begins Oct. 25

The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG)’s Executive Board at its meeting Thursday evening, Oct. 15 passed the Regional Housing Needs Allocation (RHNA) proposed methodology — a mathematical formula by which the state Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD)’s requirement that the Bay Area plan for more than 441,000 additional housing units during the 2023-2031 RHNA cycle will be distributed among the region’s nine counties and 101 cities and towns. New state laws — as well as the region’s strong economy and related job and household growth over the past decade — are also a significant reason for the growth in HCD’s determination, which will require the Bay Area to plan for 253,000 more units than required in the 2015- 2023 RHNA cycle. ABAG RHNA 10-15-20

Under the proposed methodology, communities in Contra Costa County would be expected to add 43,942 housing units, about 10% of the total. Antioch is allocated a total of 2,481 more housing units, with 1,443 of them low- to moderate-income units.

Communities in Santa Clara County would be expected to account for about one-third of all new units to be incorporated into the housing elements of Bay Area jurisdictions’ general plans, and San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland are expected to have the highest expected planning numbers for individual cities.

ABAG President and Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguin commented, “Housing Element Law emphasizes that all Bay Area communities have to share the increased state planning numbers.  The adopted proposed methodology is the best way to share the housing responsibility among all our region’s local governments, to encourage housing in areas with good access to jobs and in locations designated by the state as high-opportunity areas, and to meet fair housing and greenhouse gas reduction requirements.”

With the Executive Board’s action, ABAG on Oct. 25 will open a public comment period on the proposed RHNA methodology. The comment period will include a public hearing at the Thursday, Nov. 12 meeting of ABAG’s Regional Planning Committee, after which both the committee and the Executive Board will again weigh in on the methodology. If approved, ABAG will submit this draft methodology to HCD for review, likely in January 2021, and then use the state agency’s recommendations to develop a final methodology and draft RHNA allocation in spring 2021. Release of the draft allocation would then kick off an appeals period in the summer of 2021, with the final RHNA allocation assigned to each of the Bay Area’s local governments in late 2021.

According to the California Department of Housing and Community Development, “Since 1969, California has required that all local governments (cities and counties) adequately plan to meet the housing needs of everyone in the community. California’s local governments meet this requirement by adopting housing plans as part of their ‘general plan’ (also required by the state). General plans serve as the local government’s ‘blueprint’ for how the city and/or county will grow and develop and include seven elements: land use, transportation, conservation, noise, open space, safety, and housing. The law mandating that housing be included as an element of each jurisdiction’s general plan is known as ‘housing-element law.’

California’s housing-element law acknowledges that, in order for the private market to adequately address the housing needs and demand of Californians, local governments must adopt plans and regulatory systems that provide opportunities for (and do not unduly constrain), housing development. As a result, housing policy in California rests largely on the effective implementation of local general plans and, in particular, local housing elements.” Each of the regions in the state must develop a plan for their Regional Housing Needs Allocation and Housing Elements.

The allocation methodology is a formula for accommodating the Bay Area’s total housing need by quantifying the number of housing units — separated into above-moderate, moderate, low and very-low income categories — that will be assigned to each city, town and county.  The allocation must meet statutory objectives and be consistent with the forecasted development pattern from Plan Bay Area 2050. The final result of the RHNA process is the allocation of housing units by income category to each jurisdiction. Each local government must then update the Housing Element of its General Plan and its zoning to show how it can accommodate its RHNA allocation.

The proposed RHNA methodology was developed by ABAG’s Housing Methodology Committee (HMC) after nearly a year of meetings and technical analysis. The HMC process provided a forum for local elected officials, staff from city and county governments, various stakeholder groups, and members of the general public to formulate a data-driven proposal.  Members of the HMC were selected from a diverse pool of applicants and included representatives from each of the nine Bay Area counties.

President Arreguin praised the HMC for its challenging work: “The proposed methodology represents a big accomplishment not only for the HMC or for ABAG, but also for our region.  The committee members’ involvement in this complicated and sometimes contentious process brought together very diverse voices to develop a methodology that works for the entire Bay Area.”

Additional information about the proposed methodology and the RHNA process is available on ABAG’s website:  https://abag.ca.gov/our-work/housing/rhna-regional-housing-needs-allocation.

Founded in 1961, ABAG is the regional planning agency for the Bay Area’s nine counties and 101 cities and towns, and is recognized as the first council of governments in California.

Allen Payton contributed to this report.

By Timothy Leong, Public Information Officer, CCCCD

The Contra Costa Community College District (District) has decided to offer predominantly online courses and student services for the entire 2020-21 academic year because of the COVID-19 pandemic. A limited number of students will continue to be allowed on campus to attend hard-to-convert courses and labs — strict adherence to county social distancing guidelines will be enforced to ensure student and employee safety. The District has been operating remotely since March 16, 2020.

“We thought it was best to make this decision as early as possible to give our students, classified professionals, faculty and administrators the opportunity to plan accordingly,” said interim chancellor Gene Huff. “This has been a challenging time for many of our students who are taking online courses for the first time, and we want to thank them for their perseverance and flexibility. Our many support services like tutoring and counseling are ready to assist our students achieve their academic goals with us.”

Registration for spring 2021 courses begins in November and depends on a student’s priority. To view what classes may be offered, students should visit their InSite account or college website of their choice for specific details.