Over 15,000 miles were logged during the 12-day competition

By Allen Payton

Members of the Kiwanis Club of the Delta-Antioch presented checks of $500 each to three schools in Antioch, this week, rewarding them for their participation in the service organization’s annual Holiday Run and Walk for Health. This year, the competition was held virtually and required participants to run or walk and log their own miles during a 12-day period. The top Antioch schools that formed teams and participated in each category were Deer Valley High, Antioch Middle and Carmen Dragon Elementary. Checks were presented to the schools, this week with two done by club members on Thursday, April 15.

The students could recruit whomever they wanted to run for their team and Prospects High School, with one of the smaller teams, recruited some ultra-marathoners and almost beat Deer Valley. Both teams logged over 2,000 miles.

Paul Schorr, who has led the organizing of the event in previous years, said the club has held the competition for the past 43 years. This was their 44th year.

“Katie Young stepped up and coordinated the event, this year,” he shared.

“Close to 600 participants signed up,” Young said. “They logged their miles they walked or ran over a 12-day period. A total of about 15,000 miles were logged. A couple teams recruited ultra-marathoners.”

“And 2,000 miles were from our school,” said Antioch Middle School Principal Lindsay Wisely.

“I think you did a heck of a job coordinating,” she said to Young.

“On behalf of the faculty staff and students we are grateful for the support from the Kiwanis Club,” Wisely stated. “We have a running club on campus and plan to use the funds for equipment and prizes associated with our club.”

During the presentation to Carmen Dragon Elementary, Principal Mark Hemauer said, “we had 31 participants who completed 1,837 miles.”

Asked how he planned to spend the money Hemauer replied, “I’d like to use it for our PE program because it was a physical activity and competition for when the students come back, hopefully fully next year.”

“I really appreciate the Kiwanis Club organizing this, I’ve been a runner in past years. But continuing it this year during the pandemic and having them give back to us is really special,” he added.

Deer Valley teacher Michael Green, the school’s head coach for both the cross country and track teams, received the check on March 31, during the Delta-Antioch Rotary Club meeting.

“The funds will be used to take those same runners who helped us earn that money to multi-school invitational cross-country races,” he said.

“Thank you to the Kiwanis Club for doing these great events and I encourage others to join their club and other service clubs to serve our community,” Green said.

Club President and Antioch Unified School District Board of Trustees Vice President, Dr. Clyde Lewis shared thoughts from both of his positions.

“This is an example of community and schools working together. Our goal as a Kiwanis Club is to engage, encourage and promote collaborative opportunities,” he said. “As a school district this approach mirrors the support and relationship building that we hope to promote in our young leaders.”

 

 

Signs proclamation denouncing anti-Asian racism; also proposes youth mural project

By Allen Payton

During a press conference held Wednesday morning, April 14, 2021, Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe proposed a resolution formally apologizing for the burning down of the city’s Chinatown in 1876, a historic district in the area of the city’s downtown where it was located and funding a permanent display in the Antioch Historical Society Museum, and an historic mural project by Antioch youth. In addition, he signed the proclamation adopted by the city council during last night’s meeting denouncing anti-Asian racism. (See video of press conference)

Thorpe also mentioned an incident that occurred, yesterday an attack against two Asian women outside the County Market, the city’s largest Asian grocery store. According to Antioch Police Chief T Brooks, it was a strong arm robbery. More details will be released, today.

Following is the PROCLAMATION DENOUNCING ANTI-ASIAN RACISM

Unanimously approved by the Antioch City Council on April 13, 2021

WHEREAS, Antioch is home to diverse communities and has been for many generations;

WHEREAS, we are disturbed and alarmed by the severity and frequency of hate crimes and race-based harassment against Asians and the Asian Pacific Islander Communities associated with COVID-19;

WHEREAS, the Asian-American experience in the Bay Area is a complex and multi-faceted history; WHEREAS, the first major wave of Asians came to the Bay Area during the Gold Rush and many worked on the transcontinental railroad in the nineteenth century and were met with racial hostility and animosity;

WHEREAS, in 1876, Antioch’s Chinatown was burned down and it later became Waldie Plaza. People of Chinese heritage were banned from walking Antioch City streets after sunset;

WHEREAS, during the late-nineteenth century, anti-Chinese sentiment resulted in conflict and extremely restrictive regulations and norms concerning where Asian Americans could live and in which occupations they could work, which were often enforced with violence;

WHEREAS, today, there are nearly 1.7 million Asians in the Bay Area, constituting nearly 24 percent of the overall population. We pledge to not repeat the egregious acts of discrimination in past and present history;

WHEREAS, having Chinese ancestry – or any other ancestry – does not make a person more vulnerable to COVID-19. No race, nationality or ethnicity is responsible for COVID-19;

WHEREAS, ignorance is the lifeblood of conspiracies that hamper our ability to fight the pandemic and endanger the most vulnerable; and

WHEREAS, the City of Antioch recognizes the negative impact of institutional and structural racism, past and present.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, LAMAR A. THORPE, Mayor of the City of Antioch, do hereby proclaim that racism against Asians and Asian Americans shall not be tolerated in any form, AND we stand in support of individuals and communities targeted by association with COVID-19, AND we urge everyone to interrupt instances of racisms and

intolerance by speaking up in support of equity, justice, and inclusion.

LAMAR A. THORPE, Mayor

The mayor then presented the signed proclamation to Andi Li, Area 4 Representative on the Contra Costa Community College District Board of Trustees. Li thanked the mayor and council for the proclamation and shared some additional history of Chinese residents in Antioch and the U.S. helping build the transcontinental railroad and the levees in the Delta.

“Thank you, Antioch Mayor Lamar Thorpe and the city council, for joining many other government entities and passing the resolution to condemn anti-Asian hate crimes. Thank you, Antioch residents for supporting the API community.  I am very honored to accept the resolution,” Li said. “In America, the overall hate crime rate decreased by 7% in 2020, but against Asian Americans, it increased by 160%.  It created hardship for many Asian families including my family. The resolution is very important for Asian Pacific Islanders, especially those living in Antioch.  It let us see the support from the community during this hardship. So, thank you very much.”

Thorpe’s Proposals

Thorpe proposed “funding some sort of permanent exhibit at the Antioch Historical Society Museum.”

Dwayne Eubanks, president of the society spoke of “a permanent program with exhibits to examine our past. May is Asian Pacific Islander Month and we will be having displays.”

According to Stan Davis, Treasurer of the Historical Society, as well as the city’s former Director of Public Works and City Engineer, who has lived here since 1964, no previous mayor or council has proposed an apology for the past anti-Chinese racism and burning down of Antioch’s Chinatown that he’s aware of.

The mayor also proposed the city “designate a Chinatown Historic District with appropriate signage and story which timelines what happened, here for residents to enjoy and others to come to our community to enjoy.”

Former Antioch Mayor Pro Tem Joy Motts, who is president of the Rivertown Preservation Society, then spoke saying, “today we take the first step in recognizing a difficult part of our city’s history.” Following are her prepared remarks:

“On behalf of the Rivertown Preservation Society I am proud to be here today as we gather to ensure that the past and present story of Antioch is one that acknowledges our complex history and generations of diverse populations that built our community. Some may say that what happened in the past has no effect on who we are today. We believe this to be incorrect and that to the contrary, to not acknowledge the wrongs or intolerances of yesterday, can only make more plausible that they may happen again.  When we speak of atrocities such as 9/11 or Nazi concentration camps, for those that experienced these times, they will tell you to never forget.  To not remember, to not discuss, to not teach about acts that caused great pain, and human despair, we are most likely doomed to repeat.  Whether it effects a nation or a small community, memorializing difficult times and times of great celebration should be and frankly must be part of our story.

So, today the City of Antioch takes a first step in remembering a very tough part of our history, of our Chinese residents who were so instrumental in building our Antioch community and communities of the bay area and state of California. And what makes this acknowledgment and proclamation important and of even more significance is the intolerable hate that has most recently befallen our Asian communities during the COVID-19 pandemic.  Here, in Antioch, we will fight against racism and intolerance against people of all ethnicities and fight for equity, justice and inclusion and by doing so we will never forget.”

“Our Parks and Recreation Commission will play a role as well,” Thorpe said. Marie Arce, chair of the commission then spoke briefly of “acknowledging our wrongdoings”.

To “engage our youth” Thorpe then proposed “a downtown mural project that recognizes our Chinese American residents’ contributions to the community.”

Antioch School Board Vice President, Dr. Clyde Lewis spoke next, saying “in order for us to understand ourselves, where we want to be, we have to look at where we’ve been.” He wants to have an “encouraging conversation in moving our community forward.” Lewis spoke of his own family, his wife and children, who are of the AAPI community.

Thorpe then introduced District 1 Councilwoman Tamisha Torres-Walker, and mentioned Lewis and Eubanks, saying, “as African Americans, we know the pain of not having your government acknowledge” and offering “no apologies, no reparations…for historical wrongs.”

His fourth proposal was for “advancing a resolution that officially apologizes for the terrorizing of our Chinese residents.” That will require formal council approval and Thorpe said he will place it on a future council agenda.

Torres-Walker spoke next saying, “I stand here, today as a Black Latina in solidarity with the API community against all racial hate and harm. What side of history are we on in Antioch, in the Bay Area and across our country? We stand here before you to recognize a moment in time. We are not born hateful. Hate is learned. Antioch has chosen to rise from the ashes of a horrible past into a more inclusive future. To move forward in the future where we are not defined by our past. We have got to do differently in the City of Antioch for communities of color and poor communities.”

She then recited the Pledge of Allegiance, saying “when we say ‘I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America…I cringe, because today we still do not have liberty, which is freedom…for people in dark bodies who face harm.”

“I’m happy to stand here, today in a dark body as a Black Latina to say ‘we see you’,” Torres-Walker added.

UPDATE: She later posted the following “Full modified statement from yesterday’s Mayor’s press conference” on her council Facebook page on Thursday, April 15:

Thorpe then said he will be working with the historical society to develop the price tag for the permanent display at the museum and for establishing the historic Chinatown district.

Asked why this is being proposed now, Thorpe responded, “The impetus for this, now is we are all learning about this. As terms of this history of Antioch I learned about it when our former Mayor Don Freitas took me on a tour and told me about the tunnels. Eventually we would have gotten here because our council is very cognizant of culture and equity.”

Asked if there will be an effort to find the descendants of the owners of the land in Antioch’s Chinatown which includes Waldie Plaza and the two parking lots on each side of it that is now owned by the city, to compensate them, Thorpe responded that he will ask Eubanks to include that in the Historical Society’s research.

The funding will come from the General Fund, the mayor said, and the formal apology will be on the council agenda in early May. “I can apologize right here, right now but I think it’s more appropriate that the governing body do it…not just me,” Thorpe added.

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Torres-Walker “acknowledges” Wright, Motts for process, Thorpe reminds her she and current council voted for it;

Only 114 residents and business owners participated in the three closed door discussions; City spent $55,000 for the process;

“This report in my opinion does not reflect the views of the community and we should not change an entire organization based on its recommendations.” – District 2 Councilman Mike Barbanica

“There were not enough people of color in the discussion, not enough Black people in the room” – District 1 Councilwoman Torres-Walker

“The woman who was facilitating my group…her report out was completely inaccurate” – Mayor Pro Tem Monica Wilson

Thorpe takes dig at Barbanica and Ogorchock for voting against accepting report

By Allen Payton

During their meeting, Tuesday night, March 23, all five Antioch City Council members pointed out flaws in the process and results contained in the final report from consultants on the three Bridging the Gap Virtual Roundtable Discussions on Racial Justice and Police-Community Relations. Nevertheless, instead of sending it back to the consultants and directing them to get it right and come back with an acceptable report, the council voted 3-2 in favor of accepting it, with only District 2 Councilman Mike Barbanica and District 3 Councilwoman Lori Ogorchock voting against the motion. (See council meeting video, beginning at about the 3:55:00 mark)

The report states CNA, the consulting firm hired to facilitate the forums, performed three post-event surveys and received 63 completed surveys. “CNA prepared a summary of survey responses including all written comments that were provided,” the report explains. However, that summary wasn’t included in the report, but “that report will be delivered under a separate cover.”

Lead consultant Hildy Saizow, Senior Advisor of CNA’s Center for Justice Research and Innovation, presented the report to the council stating, “the recommendations are based on community sentiments expressed in the discussions.” Second, they were based on “CNA’s knowledge of best practices in policing” and “Not based on an assessment of APD.” Bridging The Gap Final Report

Very Low Participation

The report shows that prior to the three discussions, out of 450 residents who opened a survey “to gauge the interest and availability of potential participants” including “the best dates and times, their access to and comfort with Zoom, and their willingness to participate on camera and to read materials in advance of the conversations,” “only 65 completed it.”

Yet, the forums were still held, including the final one at 10 a.m. on a Thursday, and council members complained about the lack of participation. Initially, the guidelines only allowed 75 participants in each session, with 15 people in each of five closed-door, round table, breakout groups. The consultants later increased the number of participants allowed. According to the report, out of 75 people who registered for the Jan. 19th discussion on Police Oversight, Accountability and Transparency, 57 participated; of the 99 who registered for the Feb. 6th discussion on Racial Disparities in Policing, only 36 participated; and finally of the 125 who registered for the discussion held on the morning of February 18th, only 21 participated for a total of 114 participants out of 299 who had registered, which is less than 0.1% of the city’s estimated population of 118,000.

Both council members and police officers observed the round table discussions to listen but did not participate.

The report offered 19 recommendations for the police department to implement under each of the three discussion topics, some of which Chief Tammany Brooks has already been implementing.

Council Critical of Entire Process That They Approved and Report

The council members weren’t happy with the process, the participation levels nor the report of what was discussed in the round table groups and said little about the proposed recommendations.

“The experience I had here was quite a bit different,” Barbanica said. “And I appreciate was attempted to be accomplished here. When I first started in this process, I had set up a time to reach out…and get in touch with CNA and have a private session. I attended the meeting, it was about 7 a.m. only to find out halfway through the meeting I found out I was in another city’s meeting. I made it clear I was in support of law enforcement one of the members started laughing. I asked them ‘why are you laughing?’ I didn’t get a real warm feeling of what was going on.”

Barbanica Opposes Changing PD Based on Report

“One-tenth of 1% of our community participated in this,” he continued. “I am for a lot of the things that were brought up here, tonight and I’ve been supportive of them, transparency, more training, body cameras, recruitment, youth involvement. All for that. But one of the problems that I saw with this process is…I attended all sessions. The first session…I was keeping a tally of what people were bringing up…and there wasn’t support in the group of civilian oversight. When we went back and reported out…the facilitator said, “overwhelmingly our group supported…civilian oversight.” He emailed CNA that evening and asked to watch the video of the session. “I said the numbers aren’t adding up here to what was reported. When they emailed me back, they said… ‘sorry, that was the one area that wasn’t recorded.”

“Then I started getting calls from other people that had attended other sessions and they were telling me the same thing, what their groups were actually reporting and talked about, were not reported with the actual facilitator when they came back,” Barbanica said.

“This cost us as a community, almost $55,000 and the police department wasn’t even allowed to participate in this or give any info,” he concluded. “This report in my opinion does not reflect what the community said in those meetings and it’s such a small sample of the community that how can we change an entire organization based on that.”

Torres-Walker Takes Swipe at Former Mayor, Mayor Pro Tem

“I want to acknowledge our former council, former Mayor Sean Wright and City Council Member Joy Motts who voted for this process. It was proposed by the former mayor,” said District 1 Councilwoman Tamisha Torres-Walker said rather backhandedly. “And it was in lieu of an ad hoc committee that could have did just as much work and probably produced just as much, maybe the same results or different. We’ll never know because this process was proposed by the last council and championed by Sean Wright. So, that’s one point of fact, right there.”

“A lot of folks had reservations about the process, because we didn’t think that there would be enough participation, especially from people who have been impacted by, whether it was, you know police misconduct, harassment, whatever, what not. But we moved forward because people wanted a public process,” she continued. “Yes, participation was limited. I didn’t necessarily agree with that.”

Wanted Police to Participate “To Hear The Harm That They Pose”

“Also…I was informed that the police probably wouldn’t even participate because some people felt like it wouldn’t be safe for them to be transparent in their experience, for them to talk about their experience while law enforcement was in the room,” Torres-Walker stated. “And I specifically said ‘well, you can’t hold someone accountable if they’re not in the room to hear the harm that they pose on the community.’ Like, how can you hold me accountable as to a relationship if I’m not in the room? So, I wanted law enforcement to be in the room.”

“None of us participated,” she continued. “So, when everybody says law enforcement didn’t get to participate, they didn’t get to provide their input, nobody asked them any questions. We didn’t speak in these meetings. We were all observers. None of us fully participated. But because it was a community process, we decided that it was reasonable to step back and let the community have a voice.”

Blames Police Department for Lack of Information

“I want to highlight that there was one thing that came out in a group that I was in when we looked at the police data,” Torres-Walker continued. “People were like, what does this data say…how do we know if this data is telling the truth about the situation? This data was provided by the police department.”

“So, if you have a problem with the data, then you have to take those complaints to the police department,” she stated.

“I think there were people who felt like the report backs from the groups weren’t robust enough. I got phone calls myself,” Torres-Walker shared. “But I think it was an investment. People put in the time and we have to figure out how to make this work with some of the platform that the mayor has already put forward and we have already started to move on this council.”

“One thing I will say is that it says racial justice…and there were not enough people of color in the room, in this discussion, and not enough Black people and I want to point that out, as well,” she stated. “I also want to say that in one of my meetings someone said, ‘you know, I was here before the Blacks got here’. And I think that’s why we need to have conversations about race in this city. Because those same people are quoting Malcolm X, quoting MLK while also spewing hate about Black people. So, we really have a lot of work still to do. I appreciate this process that was recommended and championed by the former mayor and hope we can move some of this forward.”

Thorpe Corrects Torres-Walker

“This entire process was interestingly very public,” Mayor Lamar Thorpe stated refuting Torres-Walker’s comments.  “We actually voted for the very process. This council, all five of us, here voted. I brought this forward to the council to get feedback as to what direction we wanted to go in and you all voted for the very process that we were in. To create some type of ulterior narrative that something different happened was the very process all five of us either voted or we gave direction. But it was unanimous. I recall that because Rosanna and Ron brought that to me, and I said let’s take it to the council and let them decide. This was the process all five of us voted collectively.”

Ogorchock Wanted Police to Participate

“I agree that we five would not say anything. So, we voted that we would not speak. I agree 110% with that,” Ogorchock said. “But I don’t agree with our police department and police chief not give what the police department is doing. To bridge a gap, to me, all parties have to participate. If we had a conversation with our police chief we would know what he’s been doing. There’s Coffee with the Cops. So, I find it odd that had there been a conversation with him…we would have known what the police department is doing and we wouldn’t have had some of these.”

“In reading some of the stuff, it talks about youth engagement…SRO’s would have done exactly what this is saying,” Ogorchock stated.

“I don’t agree with the report. I do believe there are a lot of things that are in here, there are a lot of things that are being done,” she added.

Wilson Also Critical of Process, Report

“I have mixed feelings. I too was disappointed with the attendance,” said Mayor Pro Tem and District 4 Councilwoman Monica Wilson. “I don’t know if that was a combination of did we do enough outreach or did we do the right kind of outreach. I know we had one of the meetings, it was supposed to be a Spanish-speaking meeting. I went to all of them and two of my groups…there was two individuals that were in my previous groups. So, obviously there was some repeats going on. Some people had difficulties logging in. Sometimes they got the log-in information late.”

“The woman who was facilitating my group…her report out was completely inaccurate. I was wondering if I was in the same group,” she continued.

“I think in one meeting there were three city council members, the city manager and two officers in the same room,” Wilson shared. “I’m just going to take what was reported out…I’m just going to walk away with this is what we should be working on.”

“Yes, we can take some items and learn from them and get better,” Barbanica added. “I just don’t agree with all of them. For the record, when all of this started, I reached out to the city manager and said I didn’t agree with the process with the police department not being involved.”

“This was a conversation that the community wanted to have. We had a lot of engagement at the beginning. We know that these are difficult and challenging conversations to have,” Thorpe stated. “As our work with the committee of the whole, we will apply what we choose to apply. We already have the direction we’re going in regards to police reform. Hopefully this adds some value to our discussions as we try to move forward.

Council Splits 3-2 on Accepting Report

“Are we accepting the report? Do we need to accept the report,” he asked.

“The agenda does include a recommended action to formally accept the report,” responded Assistant City Manager Rosanna Bayon Moore.

Torres-Walker then moved approval to accept the final report. Wilson seconded the motion.

“What if I don’t accept the report. What if I don’t agree with the outcomes of the report?” Ogorchock asked.

“Then, that’s your choice. You can vote however you want,” Thorpe replied.

“Yes, you can vote however you want,” City Attorney Thomas Smith interjected. “If a majority of the city council didn’t accept the report then my thought is you can give direction whether or not something that is missing or whether there is something there. Or you can just not to accept it.”

“A lot of these things, you know they are are general categories…on that youth recommendation, were you specifically talking about cops on school campuses?” Thorpe asked Saizow, in response to Ogorchock’s earlier comment.

“No,” she replied.

City Clerk Ellie Householder did a roll call for the vote, asking the mayor last.

Thorpe Takes Dig at Ogorchock and Barbanica

Thorpe hesitated before saying “ah, yes” providing the third vote for passage of the motion to accept the report.

“I’m laughing because I didn’t want this, but I have to vote yes, because the folks who wanted this can’t even accept it,” he said.

City Clerk Ellie Householder announced the results of the vote, 3-2 with Ogorchock and Barbanica voting against.

“Unbelievable,” Thorpe added.

The annual Independence Day Celebration and Fireworks in Antioch will return to historic, downtown Rivertown, this year with the show being shot from a barge on the river. Organized by Celebrate Antioch Foundation (CAF) and Rivertown merchants, fundraising has begun, and you can be part of making it a reality. Costs will be close to $60,000 and your help is needed. Following is the fundraising letter from CAF:

Dear Friends,

We at the Celebrate Antioch Foundation hope you are staying safe and well and that you, your businesses, friends and family are weathering these most extraordinary and difficult times. Last year, at this time, we were preparing for a full year of celebrations for our Antioch community that included our annual events such as the May Art and Wine Walk, our September Peddlers Faire, our Fall BBQ Cook Off and Beer Crawl, our Christmas Holiday Parade and of course, our signature event, our 4th of July Fireworks and celebration. As we all know, COVID-19 had other plans and we were unable to hold any of our events in 2020. Although we are not out of the woods yet on the pandemic, we hope you see, as we do, that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and we can carefully plan for events for 2021. We also know that all planning must take into consideration enhanced Covid-19 safety measures and protocols for all events so when the County health Department allows us to open for events, we will be able to move forward expeditiously.

Our all-volunteer foundation believes that as vaccine distribution continues to expand and are looking at most of the adult population to be vaccinated by May 2021 that our community and families are now more than ever, in need of reasons to celebrate. Bringing vibrancy and celebration to our community has been our mission for over 10 years and we are committed to continuing this legacy.

Our fundraising this year and our request to you for sponsorship and support is specifically for our 2021 4th of July Fireworks celebration. We are ecstatic to be bringing our annual 4th of July Fireworks back to downtown Antioch with what we believe is one of the best pyrotechnics shows in the Bay Area. And with the City of Antioch’s upcoming 150th (Sesquicentennial) anniversary on July 4th, 2022, we cannot think of a better way to kick off a year of celebration for one of the oldest cities in California. We hope to include in this year’s 4th of July celebration our annual parade, live music, and a huge car show, depending on COVID-19 restrictions. Although restrictions may not allow us to include all of these usual amenities of our celebration, we are confident that restrictions, if any, will still allow for a socially distanced Fireworks show over the river that can be enjoyed by our Antioch families and east county residents.

Costs for our Fireworks Spectacular will be close to $60,000. Although we have a reserve in our Foundation, we will not be able to bring this celebration to our community without support. We are immensely proud of our 10-year history in bringing safe and family friendly celebrations to our residents and families. We know that these types of events promote a healthy quality of life, economic vibrancy and community pride. We hope you will join with us by donating for our 4th of July celebration as we look to recover, rebuild and celebrate our great community.

We have attached our sponsor’s levels information for you to review. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions. We are a nonprofit 501c3 organization and your sponsorship may be tax deductible. We look forward to your support and participation in another great Antioch 4th of July. 2021 Antioch July 4th Sponsorship Levels

Yours in Service,

Joy Motts

President, Celebrate Antioch Foundation

To make a donation please visit www.celebrateantioch.org or make your check payable to: Celebrate Antioch Foundation ID# 46-1820212. Mailing Address: P.O. Box 121, Antioch, CA 94509.

For more information contact Joy Motts at (925) 813-0036 or Michael Gabrielson at (925) 642-7031.

 

Easter is coming ! Easter is coming ! The Antioch Police Department is hoppy to announce that the Easter Bunny has made a special delivery of eggs to the police department ! Starting Monday, March 29th through Saturday, April 3rd, we will be hosting Easter Egg hunts in various locations throughout the City. Keep an eye on Facebook for more details about this event.

To honor the memories of our loved ones, to comfort those left behind, and to collectively begin the healing process, Contra Costa County will tonight hold an online memorial for more than 700 of our family members, friends and neighbors lost in the past year to COVID-19.

The first Contra Costa resident confirmed to have died from the virus passed on March 22, 2020, one year ago today. As of this morning, 734 county residents have died from COVID-19

“While we have reached a somber milestone, we do so at a time of hope. There is light at the end of the tunnel,” said Diane Burgis, chair of the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. “Remembering the people who we have lost reminds us of how far we have come in our struggle against COVID-19. It also helps us to never forget what the virus cost us.”

Millions have died throughout the world during the past year, including more than 500,000 U.S. residents, in a pandemic that has resulted in closed schools, workplaces, places of worship, and curtailed civic life.

The Hope and Healing Virtual Event begins at 8 p.m. and can be viewed live on Contra Costa Television (CCTV) or on the CCHS Facebook page. Anyone can share this link on social media to watch live: https://youtu.be/83jaK-gznSY. The event will be recorded and rebroadcast on CCTV and available at the CCHS YouTube channel.

The broadcast ceremony includes remarks from healthcare workers and community leaders, an invocation, live music and a synchronized lighting of civic centers across the county, including Brentwood, Danville, Martinez, Moraga, Pittsburg, Pleasant Hill, Richmond, San Ramon and Walnut Creek, along with Contra Costa Regional Medical Center, the Contra Costa County Administration Building and the Save Mt. Diablo Beacon.

Thanks to safe, highly effective vaccines and the hard work of Contra Costa residents to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the county is gradually emerging from the state health order restrictions that have affected every aspect of community life.

We can all play a role in ending the pandemic’s grip on Contra Costa for good – and save lives in the process – by continuing to make healthy choices that reduce the spread of the virus and protect us and our families from COVID-19, such as avoiding large gatherings and close contact with people outside the home, using face coverings and getting vaccinated when it is our turn.

Visit cchealth.org/coronavirus or call 1-833-VAX-COCO (1-833-829-2626) for information and updates about COVID-19 in Contra Costa County, including resources for finding appointments for COVID-19 vaccination and testing.